Titus
Christopher put his chin on his fist, deep in thought.
Titus watched this scene with a strange feeling in his heart.
'He has tattered clothes and is covered in blood. He looks just like someone who had been in this forest for a long time. Actually, that might be the case. But what was he doing?' Titus then thought of Silver that was currently walking next to the carriage like it was just taking a casual stroll.
"Sir, if I may ask." Titus gathered up his courage and called out.
"Hm? Yeah?" Christopher was snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the guy.
"What exactly were you doing in the forest?" Titus decided to just say it straight and Christopher blinked.
"I was training." Titus also blinked.
'Training?' He furrowed his brows.
"What sort of training?" Titus asked again and Christopher shrugged.
"Nothing much, fighting monsters to polish my skills and train Silver." Christopher lied through his teeth.
"I see. So the reason your attire is so tattered is because…?" Titus didn't finish the question.
"Yeah I found something I couldn't handle. But that doesn't matter now does it?" Christopher asked and Titus shook his head.
"No, I guess it does not." Titus replied while shuddering inwardly.
'What sort of thing did he fight that forced him to look like this?' The thought sent shivers down his spine.
'Best not to provoke him at all.' He reaffirmed in his heart.
Meanwhile
Still, he resisted the urge to bring the sword out at the moment due to Titus who was still in the carriage.
"By the way sir. Are you truly unaffiliated with any force?" Titus suddenly asked again, causing Christopher to roll his eyes.
"If you want to try and rope me in again then my answer is still no." He replied and Titus shook his head.
"No sir. I just find it hard to believe that you were able to achieve such high levels of power on your own." Titus said and Christopher gave an amused laugh.
"I guess you're right. Most people need someone to rely on if they want to get somewhere. But no, I achieved all of this by myself." Christopher said confidently.
'Yup, all roughly 6 hours of hard work.' He laughed deviously in his heart.
"Amazing." He heard Titus mutter.
"What about your tamed beast? How did you obtain him?" Titus asked.
"Oh. Well he and his pack tried to kill me, so I killed all of them and made him follow me. He was pretty submissive afterwards." Christopher answered truthfully as there was no need to lie.
"Wow! You're amazing sir." Titus said with gleaming eyes and Christopher felt slightly amused.
'Yeah, dignified or not he's still not even in his twenties yet. Guess this is how he really feels towards things.' Christopher thought before suddenly remembering something.
"Right. Why were those guys attacking you? Do they not know what family you stem from?" Christopher asked and Titus became slightly solemn.
"Well, no. Actually, even if I was the child of the Emperor, I doubt they would have cared." This statement made Christopher's eyes widen. Still, he let the boy speak.
"Those guys are from a very mysterious organization that call themselves the Voidwalkers. We don't know a whole lot about them as they only started rising recently. Only that they serve some sort of higher power called the Void, and they wish to bring everything towards Oblivion." Christopher blinked.
"So they're a bunch of maniacs that don't care a whole lot about their own lives." Christopher said and Titus nodded.
"That about sums it up." He replied.
"But that doesn't explain why they attacked you though? It couldn't have been a simple terrorist attack. Unless they had a way to prepare for the fallout of such a thing. And even if they did, angering one of the most powerful families in the Empire doesn't seem like a wise thing to do. Unless…" Christopher stared at Titus who squirmed.
"The benefits of doing so outweigh the risks. And in that case. You must have something on you that they want. That must also be why you didn't try to get to the capital via teleporter. Nor did you carry a large entourage since that would make you too conspicuous." Christopher finished and Titus squeezed his eyes shut as if trying to not acknowledge the fact that he had been found out.
But in the end, he just sighed and looked at Christopher with a forced smile.
"As expected of sir. You are very smart." He said with a tone of defeat. Christopher didn't think it was anything much though, all the clues were there, he just needed to piece everything together and arrive at the conclusion he did.
"So what is it?" Christopher asked and Titus looked down.
"I-... That's confidential." Titus said, not daring to look Christopher in the eyes.
He closed his eyes expecting him to get annoyed or something.
"I see. Alright." But to his surprise, Christopher just shrugged and rested his hand back on his chin.
"Huh?" Titus said in confusion and looked at Christopher in confusion.
"What? You were expecting me to pry?" Chritopher shook his head.
"I'd rather not get myself involved with whatever is going on amongst you nobles. That's a headache I'm not in the mood for. As long as whatever it is doesn't affect me, then I genuinely do not care." Christopher said. He wasn't lying.
What he desired right now was to get strong enough at the moment. He had no urge to get himself involved with things going on behind the scenes. Those matters would take care of themselves. He on the other hand needed to focus on himself.
"I, see." Titus replied, honestly not sure if he was happy or disappointed.
After that, the two of them chatted about some more things, and Titus realized that while Christopher was very strong, he actually had a decent personality and wasn't sophisticated or deceitful about everything like the nobles he was used to talking to.
He spoke what was on his mind freely and if he didn't want to tell him something, he would just say so.
'He's strong, and seems like a pretty decent guy!' Titus was pleasantly surprised.
He was so used to keeping an unreadable expression or saying lies left and right. And most conversations were usually about business or trying to use the other party. Sure he had his siblings, but they were usually out and about. So it was very refreshing to have a genuine conversation with another person.
'This kid is quite trusting. Guess he was used to talking to other people like a robot. And he's opening up a lot since I'm conversing with him so casually.' Christopher observed. However, he didn't really mind.
'I guess I'm already growing somewhat fond of him myself. Plus it wouldn't hurt to know someone so important.' Christopher thought as he continued to chat with Titus.
***
'So this is the Capital huh?' Christopher thought as he looked at the towering black gold walls that were almost thirty meters tall.
Even in the night, he could clearly make out the shining runes that covered the surface of the walls. As well as the soldiers that patrolled its tops.
'I've seen them in the old Christopher's memories. But it's still something to see myself. I wonder what they would look like if I had them enhanced by my dimension.' He wondered and almost let out an evil laugh. In time.
Before the entourage and the carriage got too close to the walls, Christopher had Silver stay inside the dimension. He didn't want to draw attention by showing off such a high profile beast, however late it may be in the night.
Soon, the group reached the entrance. And there was a squad of guards there, all of them looking alert.
When the group approached, Hughes, who still looked somewhat injured, got off his horse, and from what Christopher could see, he showed the guard some sort of token. The moment he did, the guard nodded and motioned for the ones near the gate to open it.
A few seconds later, the carriage was inside the walls.
"Perks of nobility eh?" Christopher said while playfully raising a brow and Titus smirked.
"It has its pros and cons." He said.
Christopher looked around as the carriage moved. The city was divided into three areas. The commoner/middle class section which was the outermost ring and made up about half of the space in the capital.
Then there was the nobility section that took up another 30% of the capital. And obviously, it was where all the higher class nobility lived.
Finally, the last twenty percent was the Emperor's palace as well as where the Empyrial soldiers were stationed.
"Would you like to come and stay the night with me at the palace or would you like me to drop you somewhere and you come in the morning?" Titus asked.
"They will allow me to stay in the Palace?" Christopher asked, genuinely surprised.
"Yeah. With my authority anyways. So what do you say?" Titus asked, his eyes shining.
Christopher thought for a moment. And in the end, he didn't see why not.
"Alright."