"All right… I am going," Zaos said after arguing with those two for half an hour. "If it is just an escort job, then I will do it, and I won't bring anyone. Also, Drannor. You can start looking for someone else to teach you magic."

"You are still angry, huh," Drannor said.

"Angry… angry you say," Zaos said. "I will bring my big sword on the trip, and then I will walk right behind hoping that I will trip on a pebble, and then I hope that the sword will pierce your back."

"I guess mad would be more fitting…" Drannor frowned.

"Whatever, I am leaving," Zaos said and then walked toward the gate.

"But it is too early," Drannor said.

"If I stay here any longer, I might not be able to hold back my killing instincts," Zaos said.

Zaos left while taking deep breaths. He really looked pissed off. Usually, he manages to keep his cool no matter what, but now it seems that Drannor surpasses the limits of what Zaos deemed acceptable.

"What is with you so suddenly?" Ameria asked.

"You are starting to annoy even me," Ameria said.

"I had to do at least that much. Otherwise, Zaos wouldn't come," Drannor said. "The guys seriously need to relax, and a day of swimming in the river might do the job."

"Yeah, it might do," Ameria said. "Zaos will have enough time to get angry and snap at you."

"Well, if you have any better idea, you can say it now," Drannor said. "Do you remember the party? Even the shyest kids danced at least once, while Zaos stayed in the same place for three hours. He is going to waste his youth at this rate."

"You are thirteen. You don't have the right to talk about someone else's youth," Ameria furrowed her eyebrows. "Anyway, I seriously thought that he wouldn't come, but he ended up accepting… but he doesn't want to bring this girl with him. I am kind of interested."

"Me too, maybe we should pay a visit to him on his day off," Drannor said.

"You really want to get beaten up by Zaos, huh," Ameria said. "You convinced him to come. Now I want to see how you will convince Zaos to come while not wearing any armor or carrying any weapon."

"What are you talking about? There is no way Zaos will… yeah, he will definitely come fully armored," Drannor said and then facepalmed. "He seriously needs to learn how to relax…"

A few hundred meters away from the castle, Zaos was walking toward the commercial district. Since he won't be able to spend his day off with Nyana, he figured out that he should at least buy her some gifts. Although he was trying to keep some distance, he couldn't help but spoil his little sister a little bit.

"I have no idea what she likes, but… a magic book might be good, but I don't have much money left, and I don't know which spells she already knows," Zaos muttered. "Some sweets should be fine. I heard girls her age love that."

After spending the rest of the day studying, as usual, Zaos thought he would have to deal with the situation created by Drannor only on the day of the trip. Still, much to his annoyance, his father decided to talk about it on the next training day.

"I heard that you were going on a short trip with kids around your age," Laiex said. "Considering your stubborn nature, I thought that you would refuse it."

"I did that I had to do, that is all," Zaos said. "This kind of thing won't happen again; I will make sure of it."

"Is that so," Laiex said. "Well, these parts of the kingdom have been pretty calm lately, and since this isn't an official trip, no one will know that the princess will leave the capital. That being said, don't lower your guard. Maybe this might become a good experience for the future."

"You should say that to the others who are going solely to have fun and couldn't care less about her safety," Zaos said.

Sometime later, Zaos headed toward the garden in the castle, and this time, he found Drannor and Ameria there. It seemed that he wouldn't be busy until the day of the trip, and although Zaos told him to look for a teacher, he assumed that Zaos was joking. Suddenly, Zaos concluded that it was time to make what he said to his father happen… he will make sure that such a thing won't happen again.

"Hey, Ameria, did you know that you can use elemental magic to enhance certain aspects of your body?" Zaos asked.

"No, how can I do that?" Ameria asked.

"Like this," Zaos showed his clenched fist becoming brown, and then he punched the soil.

The area around them trembled a little, and when Zaos moved his hand, he showed a hole on the ground and some cracking marks. That had been one hell of a punch considering someone of Zaos's age and size.

"Interesting, right?" Zaos smiled. "What do you think, Drannor? Can you block an attack like this?"

"… With the right weapon, perhaps…" Drannor said after he stepped backward.

"But if you don't have a weapon to block it, right now, could you do it?" Zaos asked.

"I don't think so?" Drannor stepped back again.

"If I tried to hit your head with a punch like this, would your head endure the damage?" Zaos asked. "If you tried to block with both arms, do you think your arms could endure it?"

"No…" Drannor replied.

"I guess so," Zaos said. "Remember this when you think once again of annoying me."

"Calm down, Zaos. There is no reason to get this angry," Ameria said.

"I forgot to say one thing as well," Zaos said. "Both of you, don't try to meet Nyana. You are curious, Ameria, that is a good quality. However, if you overstep your boundaries, you will have to look for another teacher as well."