Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 208. Emeric’s Favor.

“If anything, it’s impressive,” Casimir said with a helpless smile, not knowing whether to laugh or cry when he saw Laien and then Yin chase after Emeric. “I don’t know if it’s about a logical approach, but that’s probably not so simple. If getting through to your father was so simple, then he wouldn’t be known far and wide for his inflexibility and stubbornness. You know, it’s kind of hard to admit it before myself that Laien managed to get through to your father in such a seemingly easy way,” he commented wryly, having self-reflected both on the process of the argument between Emeric and Laien and on his own subsequent thoughts and emotions. He had been just as startled and confused as everyone in the beginning, but the broad picture was quickly becoming clearer to him.

Perhaps getting through to Emeric was always so simple in execution, but if one considered all the circumstances needed for such an incident to happen, then only then would it become clear just why the events of the last moments were so incomprehensible to everyone. After all, for Emeric to even consider conceding his position the other party had to fulfil quite a few conditions, all of them more unlikely than the previous one. First, someone would have to have the guts to argue with Emeric, then he would have to have a clear and logical point in support of his own argument, and finally, Emeric must have been at the very least not entirely correct in his own original assumption. For those three circumstances to happen at the same time, it could only be described as ridiculous.

“You seem happy,” Anna commented sourly. “Why do I suddenly feel like punching you in the face?” she murmured, knowing that thoughtful ‘ooh!’ expression of Casimir’s all too well. She usually found them adorable, but this time, when she failed to understand how could the argument between her father and Laien have led to such an outcome, she couldn’t help feeling annoyed. She had been suffering at the losing side of each and every argument she had ever had with her father during her sixteen years of life, but Laien managed to win one just after meeting her father for the first time! To make the matters worse, as far as she could see, Laien and her father were currently engaged in a conversation as they waited for all the troops to get into a formation, and the two appeared to be quite friendly with each other! And to think that the two of them had started their relationship with a very dangerous argument with even some threats being thrown around! Ridiculous!

“Let’s get moving,” Casimir said wryly, attempting to ignore the subject for the time being. He knew Anna’s competitive spirit well enough to realize that she would be pouting for at least half a day if he explained his thoughts to her immediately, so he could only act silly to avoid that. He would bring the matter up sometime later, one she will have calmed down, thus avoiding the small disaster.

Luckily for Casimir, Anna merely snorted in annoyance and didn’t continue the subject. The two of them soon joined the hundreds of riders that were shifting their ranks and moved to the forefront, where the likes of their fathers, the Captains of their Royal Guards, Mustafa, and Laien and Yin, were. By the looks of it, Julien and his remaining thirty or so subordinates were intending to ride outside of the main unit, so with the White Guard taking the right flank and the four units of Royal Guard alongside the White Sword Units on the left flank, the formation quickly took shape.

“Just how,” Anna mentioned, having taken a spot in the second row from the front with Casimir and a few other high-ranked experts. “How did they suddenly get so friendly?” she asked, feeling somewhat resentful. She could see and hear the conversation about Academy City between her father and Laien, and she could tell that the two weren’t merely exchanging superfluous pleasantries but were genuinely leading a comfortable conversation. Seeing her father act this way towards a random kid, she was beginning to feel somewhat resentful despite knowing that she shouldn’t. Yet, how was it fair that her father had treated her so harshly ever since she could remember but was so quick to concede ground to Laien? Would he have been nicer to her too if she had been just as stubborn and impolite, if not outright rude, as Laien had been?

“Probably not,” Anna thought and proceeded to let out a heavy sigh. She was no fool by any degree of reasoning so even though she didn’t really get why her father and Laien were suddenly being so chummy with each other, she wasn’t about to dig herself into a hole full of silly assumptions. She did feel bad about what was going on, but she was able to separate her feelings from cold reason. Had she not been able to do at least this much, then she wouldn’t have had the face to call herself Emeric’s daughter nor would she have ever fallen in love with a man like Casimir.

Meanwhile, Laien, having learned from Emeric that the Holy Union’s Academy City was roughly four thousand kilometres away or in other words, about a day of high-paced ride away using highest-quality mounts, proceeded to ask away any questions that interested him and happened to come to his mind. “I assume this Academy City is jointly managed by the four countries of the Holy Union? I didn’t see it on the maps, so was it created recently?” he inquired, wanting to learn a little bit more about the present four northern Euleanian countries. He had learned the basics from Raphael and had had the rough picture thanks to his classes with Tei’ru from back in the day, but he lacked the fresh information. And, if he wanted to learn about the behind-the-scenes details, there no better person to ask than one of the two greatest influences of the Holy Union, King Emeric himself.

“If two years ago can be considered recent, then yes,” Emeric answered straightforwardly. By this point he had given up on acting reclusive, not having expected that Laien would chase after him to continue the conversation. He couldn’t even be bothered to mention or at the matter, care, that Laien and Yin were riding in the first row, which should have been reserved for him, Azuresky and Mustafa. He had a hard time admitting it, but he found talking with Laien to be surprisingly refreshing now that he had recognized that worth of the boy and was able to look at him with an open mind. Unlike all others, perhaps with the exception of Azuresky, Laien treated him half-casually, only maintaining the necessary degree of politeness in his speech, though even that was disappearing with each sentence the two of them exchanged. Had it been anyone else, he would have never tolerated such an attitude, but Laien’s talk about Dao Heart had strangely resonated both with his logical mind and with his usually silent heart, so he was willing to close an eye to it.

“The intent behind Academy City was to allow our younger generation of experts to learn from and compete with each other, but it only took its final shape this winter so it’s not surprising that outside maps don’t include it just yet. That being said, whether you decide to stay there only for a few days or for a longer time, it should provide you with a suitable environment for cultivation.”

“Mhm,” Laien nodded, confirming that he understood and remaining oblivious to the many flabbergasted looks people behind him had while listening in and seeing that Emeric wasn’t getting angry or reprimanding him. “With your permission, we were planning to stay in the Holy Union between three to four months. The ‘we’ I’m speaking about is Yin, Arslan, two youths from the Ruishi Federation, Raphael and Mikaela, and myself. Since all of us are in a way involved in the Three-Way alliance proposal, I hope it won’t be a problem for us to stay,” he said with a smile, minding to muffle the range of his voice with his Qi towards the end. After all, the Three-Way Alliance was still something that only the higher-ups of the respective countries knew, so he didn’t want to spread the new for no good reason, even if those around were trustworthy people.

“That’s good news,” Emeric responded contentedly and revealed a slight smile, one which would have undoubtedly caused many people to faint in disbelief were they to witness it. “Whether the talks of the Alliance conclude successfully or not, I assure you that the five of you will be welcome in our Academy City. If I recall correctly, that Raphael you mentioned should be the top talent of the Ruishi Federation’s younger generation while Mikaela ought to be Elder Samuel’s youngest son?” he asked after giving an awkward cough in the middle of his words. He didn’t need Laien to confirm the identity of the two boys since he knew it as the matter of fact, but no matter how thick-faced he was, he couldn’t help feeling embarrassed to treat Laien so generously right after they had an argument. Thus, he attempted to continue the conversation as to not linger on the awkward moment.

“Yes, exactly,” Laien said with a clear smile. Unlike Emeric, he wasn’t bothered by the one hundred and eighty degrees change in their attitude towards each other, so he acted as lightheartedly as he usually would. “I can’t say for sure about the other three, but Yin and I are planning to spend the majority of our time cultivating. We made some gains in the past two months and we need to consolidate them properly before moving further forward. Still, I know that Raphael and Mikaela, and most likely Arslan too, will be more interested in things like sparring with others. The two of us could join in from time to time too, so it would be great if it could be organized,” he mentioned, mostly for the sake of the trio of his friends. He and Yin had more than enough of practical experience so they didn’t need to spar all that much in the near future, but Raphael, Mikaela, and Arslan could surely use some tough competition with the kids from northern Eulene.

“Naturally,” Emeric said calmly. “Even if you didn’t bring it up, we’d have brought it up ourselves. Be it for a few days or a few months, it would be a pity not to let our youngsters experience the vastness of the world. The system is already in place, so your three friends can easily join it temporarily and train with everyone else, or only spar if they so prefer. As for you two, some of our first-class talents could use an eye-opening experience since the bad trend of underestimating our neighbours has been taking place in the Holy Union recently. In some places, this pride is deserved, but in others, all it does is limit the future achievements of those children by making them complacent,” he explained, unknowingly having taken to speaking his mind thoroughly when speaking with Laien. Maybe it was because he was interested in Laien’s thought process and since he wanted to learn more of Laien’s mind, he felt it was only right that he expressed himself in just as much depth? Possibly, though it wasn’t something he had chosen to do after considering it consciously.

“Personally,” Emeric continued, seeing as Laien’s response was to give him a confident, wry smile. “I’m curious to see how you and your friend, the two monster-class talents according to Casimir, compare to the five monster-class youngsters of our countries. While it would be convenient, I don’t care all that much if you decide to fight with the first-class talents, but I wouldn’t mind giving you two some additional benefits if you took some time to compete with our little monsters,” he said without beating around the bush. Regardless of the outcome of those spars, he was confident that both parties would be able to benefit from them. As for his offer to give Laien and Yin some additional benefits, it from his desire for the two boys to give their best in those spars and possibly directly share some advice and insights with their Holy Union’s five little monsters.

“Yeah, it would be great,” Laien replied after exchanging a look with Yin. “Fighting with talented people is always worthwhile. That being said, since we’re on the subject, regarding those benefits you mentioned, King Emeric… do you think it would be possible for the two of us to also have a spar with you and Warrior-King Azuresky, too?” he inquired somewhat daringly, causing quite some surprise to pain itself on Emeric’s face and also on the face of Azuresky, who was listening in.

“Outrageous.” After a second, Emeric said with a laugh, causing Anna and a few others to almost fall off their mounts from sheer disbelief. “But also quite smart. I will give you the benefit of the doubt and consider that you made this request thinking that this way, you will be able to gain the most within the reasonable bounds that we’re willing to give you. Since it’s actually quite convenient, I’ve got a proposition for you. Azuresky, do you mind?” he elaborated and gave Azuresky a questioning look. Be it as it may, he couldn’t speak for both of them but at the same time, he didn’t feel like explaining his intentions to Azuresky and only then asking Laien if he was fine with it.

“I don’t,” Azuresky replied with a grin, one which made Emeric a little mad for some reason. Still, since he was being given free rein over the matter, Emeric snorted and spoke without reservations. “Azuresky and I will first have to take care of the subjugation of the northern barbarians, so our spars will have to wait at least a month. Since you’re planning to stay this long anyway, I’ve got a proposition. There’s two of you and five of our little monsters, so all in all ten spars. The more of those you win and the more convincingly you win, the more Azuresky and I will support your growth. Of course, things like allowing our little monsters to improve considerably or exchanging insights with them outside of the spars will be counted in, too. If you feel like it, you can even spar a few times with our first-class talents. In other words, the better influence you have on our younger generation the more you will get from the two of us. How about it?” he offered, thinking that it was a fair and mutually beneficial deal, albeit skewed towards the side of those two youths. To be fair, he had only chosen to put it forth since he came to have an unexpectedly positive impression of Laien and additionally, he also looked very favourably upon Yin in the first place.

“Gladly!” Laien said eagerly. It would have been a hassle to go around looking for sparring partners, but he could guess that Emeric intended to send all the challengers directly to them. In the grand scope of things it wouldn’t take all that much time to spar with those five ‘little monsters’ as once he and Yin were done consolidating their new insights and abilities, they would surely find some spare time to spar with those first-class talents, too. Towards the second part, he wouldn’t have been all that motivated had it not been for Emeric’s proposition, but now with tangible and large benefits in sight, how could he not look forward to those fights? Those four months were bound to be busy!

“I’m in, too,” Yin added with a meaningful smile, amused that Laien got so excited that he immediately agreed without pretending to at least exchange a look with him. They had no need for those things thanks to their Spiritual Link, of course, but at least until they got strong enough to not care if others came to know some of their secrets, it was better to keep up appearances.

“Good,” Emeric said contentedly. Then, he revealed a thoughtful expression and brought another matter up after a moment of consideration. “If you two don’t mind, I’d like to leave Anna and Casimir in charge of you during the next four months. There are many internal issues to handle in our countries, so adding your matters to their duties shouldn’t be too much for them,” he suggested, all the while carefully observing Laien’s and Yin’s reactions. He was yet to see Laien and Yin interact with Anna and Casimir all that much, so he wanted to confirm what the attitude of those two boys was. Yet, when Laien gave him a sly smile, he realized that he had gotten angry with Laien for doing the exact same thing but between himself and Azuresky and couldn’t help but flush slightly in embarrassment. He wanted to argue that the perspective was different back then, but since he had already conceded the point to Laien, it would be hypocritical to do so, so he could only groan silently.

“It would be great,” Laien said with a laugh, leaving the wordless exchange between him and Emeric behind. He only wanted to tease the golden-haired King a little and he had achieved that, so he was more than satisfied. On the other hand, he could only grin when he noticed that weird look Azuresky was giving him as if saying that he had never seen Emeric act so weird before. Forget this entire wordy conversation, Azuresky had never seen Emeric take another inch and assume other’s position without asking at all. Well, Emeric was right that if he sent Anna somewhere then Casimir would almost certainly end up going to the same place, too, but the lack of consideration towards the formal process shown by Emeric was on the level of the palace’s horses meowing instead of neighing.

“That’s enough chit-chat for now,” Emeric said calmly, his usual stoic expression returning to his face. “Go ask Anna or Casimir if you have any more questions. If there’s anything those two can’t answer, we might clear those matters up during our sparring session, depending on your performance,” he stated and gestured Laien and Yin to move to the second row. He didn’t mind those two sticking at the forefront during the conversation, but if they were planning to remain here, then he would still get angry with them. After all, he only became more accommodating towards Laien and he wasn’t planning on letting him do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted.

“Thank you,” Laien said with a smile and clasped his hands. He bowed slightly first towards Emeric, then towards Azuresky, and once Yin did the same the two of them retreated good ten meters backwards. The two of them were satisfied for the time being, feeling that they have chatted enough. They felt quite happy and relaxed, too, so even though it wouldn’t be all that long before their group reached Aegis, two hours at most, they decided that they might as well cultivate a little bit. They weren’t tired either way, so it was better than wasting this time and doing nothing.

“Later on,” Laien began saying in his mind. “We should take time to talk with those three, too,” he said, his eyes wandering towards Albert, Sarah, and Johan. Since they didn’t have enough horses to give them out as per the best possible comfort, the three ended up riding on one mount. Still, with how big the saddle was and how thin the three were, it wasn’t that much of an issue. That being said, while Johan appeared to be dozing off while resting his back against Sarah, the two teenagers looked fairly pale. Maybe it was because of the high tempo of the ride, but what was more likely was that they were both shaken by Jacob’s death, of which Laien and Yin themselves had only learned from Sirius when they were taking a bath this morning.

“Yeah,” Yin nodded, agreeing thoroughly. “Though instead of talking, it might be more effective to exchange a few words and then just spend some time with them as we would at any other time,” he suggested. Whether those three would be able to deal with their trauma on their own or not, he didn’t feel that prying too deep into their thoughts would work out well. Perhaps in Johan’s case, it would be fine since they were fairly close to him, but Albert and Sarah would have to figure everything out on their own. The most they could offer them was a shoulder to lean on, and especially in Sarah’s case, it was only out of consideration for their friendship with Johan.

Having agreed upon one last matter and seeing as no one was approaching them to talk, Laien and Yin slowly immersed themselves in their various insights, soon entering a half-meditative trance. Neither of them really focused on one particular field or insight, allowing their minds to wander as they pleased within the bounds of cultivation-related matters. This method wasn’t a particularly effective one in terms of gains, but it was akin to relaxation to the two of them, so they didn’t mind. As eager as they were to consolidate their foundations and to start sparring with those young talents of the Holy Union, their original plan was to rest for at least three days, after all.

While Laien and Yin cultivated in a relaxed manner, time flew uneventfully and soon their entire group reached one of the Fortresses stationed along Aegis and smoothly went through it. In the Holy Union, no one in their right mind would question Azuresky and Emeric when they were bringing people into their lands, not to mention that the two Kings had gone out of their way to send the Captains of their Royal Guards ahead to inform the stationed General of their intention to pass.

However, while passing through Aegis went without any delays at all, they all stopped behind the fortress when they were met with three people waiting for them on their own mounts. The most eager of the three turned out to be the fourteen years old youth, the second son of Azuresky’s, Alexander. Behind him were, much to Laien and Yin’s surprise, General Adrian and the man’s youngest daughter, the ten years old Eve. Did this girl stubbornly insist on moving here to wait for Alexander on the boy’s way back from informing Azuresky and Emeric of the trouble? If so, then she was more smitten with Azuresky’s second son than they had thought, especially considering that General Adrian looked like he couldn’t decide if he wanted to smile or cringe when looking at his daughter unhesitatingly following after Alexander and moving to greet the two Kings.

The two parties of two exchanged brief polite formalities, then the younger two moved further into the group while the older two were approached by General Adrian and proceeded to exchange some words. Once the General stopped concerning himself with the puppy love of his youngest daughter, his expression fell when he finally noticed that there was not one member of the Black Sword in the returning group while the White Sword was reduced to half their original number. However, once Azuresky and Emeric expressed their opinions on the matter to him, Adrian’s expression slowly eased up before becoming a bit helpless and a bit hopeful. Losing so many of his best auxiliary units was a painful blow, but since the two Kings saw it as a worthy exchange, he could only trust them.

Meanwhile, Alexander rode up to Casimir and the two of them exchanged a look. The two brothers didn’t need words to express their thoughts to each other, but Casimir couldn’t help but say while smiling happily. “Good job, you saved our assess.” At some other time, Casimir would have hugged Alex too and tousled his younger brother’s hair, but out of consideration for Eve being here, he refrained from embarrassing him too much. “Is she going with us?” he asked instead, then laughed when Alex and Eve immediately blushed at the thought of implications of this question.

“Mhm, yes,” Alex said meekly, his eyes wandering around the saddle and neck of his horse. He himself hadn’t thought that Eve would force General Adrian to move to this Fortress and wait for their group to pass when moving southwards to help Casimir and Anna. Yet, when he saw this girl waiting for him when he arrived a few dozen minutes after his father and Emeric passed through the Fortress, he could no longer have doubts about just how much Eve liked him. Least to be said, he liked her a lot too, so when she had suggested that she wants to stay with him for some time, he had agreed without thinking and ended up having to apologize to General Adrian for not asking him for his opinion beforehand. Only after some scolding and forcing him to promise to take good care of his daughter and not do ‘anything stupid’ did the man relent and allow him to take Eve along.

“You’re in luck then,” Casimir said with a grin. “We’re heading to Academy City and we’ll most likely be staying there for a few months, so you two sweethearts will be able to spend a lot of time together and even train a bit too while at it,” he said playfully and laughed alongside Anna when Alex and Eve started blushing furiously. Technically speaking the two of them weren’t even going out with each other yet, so having Casimir tease them was a rather embarrassing experience.