Chapter 101: A Surprise Opportunity to Get Stronger

Julius was embarrassed. He had lost track of the day and didn’t know that it was the weekend. So when he showed up to the field where his Physical Training Class was and nobody was there it was a forehead-slapping realization. It took him way longer than it should have and he left with his face completely red.

He had to make the walk of shame back to the cafeteria, hoping that nobody had just seen him waiting for class to start in the middle of the field. He did see Edgar and Aubrey at breakfast though. Lily was still probably sleeping and the other’s whereabouts were unknown.

After breakfast though, he got some interesting news. Declan had messaged him on his communication stone and told him that he had something to give to Julius. He wanted him to come and see him at the guardhouse whenever he was free.

He had gotten this message as Edgar, Aubrey, and himself were walking toward the training facilities. They had all wanted to throw in some practice before their day got started. He had to apologize and explain what was going on. Luckily they were both understanding and told him to let them know if he wanted to do something later.

He promised them that he would contact them when he was on his way back. There were still some things he wanted to try with them.

And so he was on his way back to the city. This time he didn’t stop at any cafes or shops, he headed straight toward the guardhouse. It was surprisingly busy out though. He didn’t know if there was something that was going on this weekend, but it was way more crowded than usual.

He ended up having to wait behind several large groups to get where he needed to be. Every step seemed to result in him bumping shoulders with another person. He was tempted to just hire a carriage to take him. He had the money and it would probably be much faster at this rate, but he held off. There was no real rush and he could use the fresh air.

When he finally arrived though, he felt like he had just gone ten rounds with Gabriel. He was not even physically exhausted, he was mentally beaten. He even used [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal] to try and help his exhaustion and was let down that it didn’t help that much. It seemed like the skill didn’t help emotional trauma as much as physical ones.

On the bright side, he did see someone he hadn’t seen for a while in the common area when he walked through the doors.

Silently, Julius crept forward and got as close as he could before poking the large man in the back. Orus turned around confused and looked around for the person who poked him.

All he saw was Julius’s big goofy smile staring at him from below. At first, Orus didn’t seem to know what to do, not saying anything but just staring right back at Julius. But he quickly recovered as the realization hit him and threw his arms around Julius, bringing him closer for a long hug.

Some of the other guards had taken notice and stopped to see the spectacle. They smiled at the interaction, most of them recognized Julius from when he had stayed here. One guy even patted Julius on the back as he was walking by.

Orus finally let him go but still kept him at arm’s length.

“Rae and Declan told me some stuff but I want to hear it from you,” he told Julius with a big grin.

Julius and Orus found themselves a table away from most of the noise. There Julius gave a brief overview of his time at Goldencrest. He talked about his first few days and what it was like, as well as how he met the others. He told Orus about his classes and some of his teachers, and how he liked them.

They were in the middle of their conversation when Declan came in. Julius had let him know when he was getting close to the guardhouse, so he had been expecting Julius. He was still the vice-captain though and had other things to attend to before he could see Julius.

Declan walked up and ruffled Julius’s hair, before sitting down next to him. “You got here pretty fast,” he commented to Julius.

“You think so? I thought I was slow. By the way, what is up with all the crowds?” Julius had almost forgotten about it until Declan had brought it up.

“You don’t know?” Declan asked him confusingly.

“No idea. Should I?” Julius asked.

Declan shook his head. “No, I just thought that it would be a big deal at the academy,” he told Julius.

Julius looked between the two of them before asking, “So what’s the big deal then?”

“Princess Reinera is transferring to Goldencrest and many people want to get a chance to see her,” Orus said.

“Yeah, it has been quite a nightmare security-wise. Luckily we are on the outskirts of Heston so we won’t see as much traffic, but some of the other districts are having a hard time containing all the people. I had to send many of our own guards to help out,” Declan explained.

“Why would they care about a princess that much?” Julius didn’t get why so many people were clamoring to see just a glance at this girl. Maybe it was like having Taylor Swift come to your town. He wasn’t sure though, he didn’t know enough about this princess to have a good idea.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Reinera Luminous is the direct daughter of the Emperor and his wife, she has a perfect light affinity, as well as inherited their Bloodline ability. I am shocked that you haven’t heard about this before. It has been news for the past week,” Orus said to him.

Yeah, about that…