Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 210. Timely Change.

Happy that Emeric was letting him have his way, Laien clasped his hands together and gave the golden-haired king a polite, yet far from subservient, bow. Then, once Emeric nodded back at him, he turned towards his various companions. “Arslan, what do you want to do?” he inquired, looking at the five-year-old that was comfortably leaning against his father. “Will you and your father come over to stay with us as guests or will you guys be staying with the rest of the White Guard for the time being?” he asked with a meaningful smile. He trusted that he knew Arslan’s personality that the young boy’s choice would be as he expected, but it was convenient to settle the subject in front of everyone.

“I think we will stay here,” Arslan responded, then tried to glance at Mustafa’s face, who in turn nodded at him with a smile. “Mm.” Arslan smiled happily, too, then looked back at Laien. “I’ll stay with father until he goes into seclusion. Then I’ll join you guys up there,” he said in a straightforward and confident manner. This kind of conversation alone was normal for Arslan himself and those who had been accompanying him for the past month, but the look in Mustafa’s eyes only warmed further due to it. He had noticed it right after reuniting with his son two days ago, and while chatting with him on their way to Academy City, he had grown further convinced that Arslan had matured a lot thanks to this short yet dangerous journey. Now, even in such a brief exchange of words, he could see how steadfast Arslan had become; and he couldn’t be happier for him.

“Mhm,” Laien nodded, his lips remaining curved into a smile. Arslan chose to do as he had expected him to, and he agreed with that choice of his wholeheartedly. “You guys…?” he half-asked, his eyes stopping at Johan, Albert, and Sarah. Considering that Johan had sworn to follow Arslan, it wasn’t quite right for him to be asking Johan’s group if they wanted to tag along to Heaven’s Quarters. However, he would feel bad if he didn’t pay them any attention, too, so he could only resort to asking them about their intentions in such a vague manner.

“Thank you,” Johan said in an unexpectedly confident way, surprising Laien and Yin quite a bit. “I decided to follow Arslan, so I’ll stick with him. I’ll come along to your place when he does,” he added with a smile, thus causing Laien and Yin to grow even more startled. The two of them had been worried that Johan would be in low spirits after Jacob had sacrificed himself to save their lives, but judging by the bright look in Johan’s eyes and the natural smile he was able to show, the boy was able to recover his positive mental state fairly quickly. In comparison, it looked like it was Albert who was still worried and unsure what to do, probably because Sarah appeared to be rather dejected and seemed to not even be listening to the conversations that were going on around her.

“Got it,” Laien grinned at Johan, thus making the boy laugh in embarrassment and scratch the back of his head. Having spent quite some time with Laien, how could Johan not recognize the look of approval that Laien gave him and not notice the clear hint of admiration in Laien’s eyes? So far this kind of a look was mostly reserved for when Mikaela would make improvements in his training with Laien, but today, it was him who received it. It was a small thing, but it mattered to him a lot.

“What about you guys?” Laien inquired, his gaze moving towards the earliest bunch of companions he had had on this journey. Many of the seven guards had received lethal wounds in the last moments of the battle with Yimar Maar’s and Abdain’s forces, but thanks to the timely arrival of Azuresky and Emeric, they had all been healed back to life by the water and light-element experts. Some of them had even made further improvements in their cultivation bases, with Ruan advancing to the third Realm of Heroes, Gahar to the fourth Realm of Heroes, and Ethane moving half a step into the Realm of Heroes. With a little more accumulation of Qi, that regular guard of the Valius Family, who would have never had any hopes of advancing into the next major Realm, would be able to make his life-long dream come true. As for the other four, while their cultivation advancements weren’t as great, they had reaped a lot of benefits, too. They would definitely be able to grow stronger in the near future, as long as they took time to digest and improve upon their new insights.

“Thank you for the offer,” Ruan said, a smile naturally emerging on his face. “But I feel like it will be better if we stay here. We’d only be getting in your way if we moved to Heaven’s Quarters with you and it’s not like we stand to gain any benefits by going there. I believe our lives will be more than comfortable enough in the Earth’s Quarters and who knows, we might be able to learn a thing or two from the many experts we’ll be staying with,” he expressed his stance and just to be sure, he took a look at the other six to see if they had any objections. After that final clash from three days ago, even Liza and Jin tactfully acknowledged him as a leader of their small group, so this time, he spoke for everyone. As for Gahar, the man apparently had no interest in leading others. Moreover, his silent and secretive personality wasn’t suited for such a thing, in the first place.

“Sure,” Laien responded briefly. “Do come to visit us tomorrow before noon, though. Preferably around ten in the morning,” he added with a meaningful smile. While with the exception of Gahar, the strength of those seven was nothing to write home about, they did follow him into the dangerous war with Yimar Maar and Abdain when they didn’t have to. They had also played a role in holding off a few of the experts who had broken past all the main lines of defence, so he thought that he should reward them accordingly. That being said, he had only thought about this matter now, having taken the two days long ride to relax his mind and cultivate leisurely. Saying that he hoped they wouldn’t mind would be too much, as he didn’t care enough if they were flustered because of something like that, but he would be glad to see it if they didn’t mind his attitude.

“We will,” Ruan responded with a calm smile. “Sure as hell we will.” Whereas Liza supported the claim in a uniquely enthusiastic way. Out of the seven, who could all guess why Laien wanted to see them, it was none other than Liza who was smiling the brightest. Be it as it may, she was a mercenary at heart, so while she liked Laien and Yin, she worked mainly for money and not just for friendship.

“That’s it, then,” Laien said merrily. “What now?” he asked Emeric, wondering if they would be able to go to their new temporary home straight away.

“Up we go,” Emeric replied, once again causing the expressions on the faces of many of those present to crumble a little. Be it the way Emeric had started treating Laien two days ago or the way he was speaking to Laien currently, it made many of them wonder if Emeric was still the same extremely arrogant yet immensely talented King they knew. The extent to which King Emeric favoured Laien and showed leniency towards his casual behaviour, it made them feel disbelief and jealously in equal amounts. Some of them were even tempted to try their luck and try seeking favour with Emeric in a similar fashion, but their better sense prevented them from attempting such foolishness. They could enjoy their wishful thinking as much as they wanted, but they understood that the only thing they could hope to get from Emeric if they approached him in the way this black-haired boy was doing, was a harsh reprimand at best and a military punishment at worst.

“Haha.” Chuckling in amusement, Azuresky drove his horse onward and followed beside Emeric. “Let me tag along too, it will save you some explaining,” he mentioned and exchanged a glance with Emeric, who snorted and turned his eyes back to the road ahead of them. Azuresky, however, knew that it was how this old rival of his was expressing his agreement, so he didn’t take the cold shoulder Emeric was giving him to heart. After all, he knew full well why Emeric was acting annoyed, but he wasn’t about to miss out on the rare opportunity to tease this blockhead.

“So, old friend,” Azuresky began saying with a wry smile, while Emeric already rolled his eyes in disgust. Naturally, since Laien and Yin were following behind them, he was using Qi to restrict the range of his voice. “How come you’re treating that boy better than even me, your best friend? Don’t tell me you’re thinking of betrothing your second daughter to him or something along those lines?” he asked, smiling so brightly that his white teeth were showing. To be fair, it wasn’t only their children and the various experts from their countries who were stunned to see Emeric treat Laien so well. It made one wonder whether Emeric didn’t hit his head in a bad spot when no one was looking.

“What foolishness,” Emeric said with a sigh. “It’s not that I treat you worse, it’s just that you would annoy me to no end if I didn’t set the borders. As for that kid, I can tell what thoughts are behind his words since, on the fundamental level, the way we think isn’t all that different. As for my second daughter, don’t be an idiot. She’s still only three. What would be the point in that?” he explained somewhat resignedly, knowing that Azuresky would keep nagging him if he refused to speak. Considering that the two of them would inevitably interact often during the next two or three months, he much rather preferred to suffer through this pointless conversation early on.

“Fine,” Azuresky said while suppressing a sigh. He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to feel angry because Emeric considered him to be mostly annoying or happy since he didn’t deny that he was his best friend, but there was something else that kept bothering him. “But that still doesn’t explain why you’re giving the boy so much of a leeway. Don’t get me wrong, given the story Casimir and Anna told us, I’m all in favour of developing a good relationship with them. I do intend to see if they’re going to get close to our geniuses, too. If an opportunity happens and some feelings develop, I wouldn’t mind marrying off one of my nieces to them, either. However, I can’t help but feel that you’re being weirdly nice to that boy,” he mentioned, giving Emeric a suspicious look. He had known Emeric for hundreds of years, so he knew how unusual it was for him to give in to someone else. Out of all the things, it wasn’t the benefits Emeric offered Laien which were the most surprising to him, but the way in which Emeric seemed to accept Laien acting so unrestrained around him.

“You’re overthinking it,” Emeric replied and shook his head. “I always told everybody that if they can propose valid points, they can make me change my mind. I simply feel that the boy’s opinion holds some value, so I would be a hypocrite if I demanded him to act according to our etiquette despite that. I intend to see this approach through and confirm whether acting flexibly in relations with others will bring benefits or if it’s going to be disadvantageous. We will see how it works with the people from those northern tribes, but that being said, it’s been going well so far with the boy. His actions during the past two days prove that he indeed follows the principles he espouses,” he explained thoughtfully. Then, after a moment of consideration, he chose to say a few more words to clear things up with Azuresky and give his old friend a clear picture of the matter.

“He repays my concessions with further respect instead of taking it as a sign of weakness. This can be seen in his eyes, not necessarily in his words. At the same time, be it hostility or respect, neither stop him from speaking his mind before me. More importantly, his words have value to them. Obviously, most people aren’t like this boy, so there’s no point in changing my approach towards them too much. Still, there should exist some people with whom I should be able to develop better relationships, if I can find common ground with them, that is. For the time being, I intend to try finding such people, and I want to see if this new approach can work on people other than Laien.”

While Emeric’s attitude remained casual the entire time he was speaking, Azuresky’s expression had long since turned rigid. Forget the way Emeric was being lenient with Laien, hearing about the degree to which that boy’s words have influenced Emeric shocked Azuresky to the core. This old rival of his, did he not realize how great of an affair his sudden change in attitude was to those around him? It was no strange thing if a tree shook under a gust of wind, but when this same wind moved an immovable mountain, it would naturally cause people to be shocked to the extreme!

Once again, Azuresky couldn’t help frowning at the sour aftertaste which this situation left in his mouth. How many times had he and many others tried to convince Emeric to be more flexible? Hadn’t they used arguments similar to those of Laien’s many times? Was it just that their approach didn’t resonate with Emeric’s heart and mind in just the right way and at just the right time? As frustrating as it was, however, he was glad that Emeric was finally willing to open up to new perspectives. Yet, this very thought also brought back the countless unpleasant memories of people trying to convince him to dethrone the old Royal Family of the Kingdom of Bolan and himself never agreeing to their requests and pleas no matter which approach they took with him.

Ironically, what Azuresky intended to be him teasing Emeric backfired thoroughly and caused his mood to dampen. In what way was he better than Emeric to criticize this old rival of his for being inflexible and self-centred? It had taken his dear close family being hurt, and many of his relatives and trusted experts being slaughtered, for him to take action in the fit of rage. In comparison, Emeric appeared to be the more reasonable one since all it took to change his mind were words.

“How come,” Emeric began saying as he glanced at Azuresky. “You’re the one frowning when I’m being forced to explain those obvious things to you? If you weren’t listening, forget about me repeating myself,” he stated, wondering just what was it that Azuresky was so confounded by. As far as Emeric was concerned, his own approach to life didn’t change one bit. Perhaps using Laien’s words, he had decided to change his attitude towards some things since it was within his natural disposition to do so, and since he had come to consider that change as possibly beneficial, too.

Considering this much, he truly didn’t understand why Azuresky and everyone else kept reacting so strongly to those changes at every little step, even demanding explanations from him. Hadn’t he always been clear with his attitude with his family, friends, and subordinates? Seeing all those secretly shocked looks everyone kept giving him those last two days was beginning to annoy him. However, even Azuresky didn’t seem to concede the point after he had taken the effort to explain his thoughts in detail to him, so he saw no reason to attempt to do the same with those less intelligent people. If even Azuresky wasn’t able to immediately accept that explanation, no one would.

“It’s nothing.” A few seconds later, Azuresky replied with a sigh. “I was just thinking that I’m jealous of you. At least you were able to change your stance before your stubbornness came to bite you in the ass,” he said with a weak smile, the embers of fury still burning quietly within his eyes. He had enacted bloody revenge for the immediate grievances from three years ago, but he would never be satisfied with slaughtering those inconsequential minions of the Great Prophet. No, one day, not all that long from now, he would invade Arkaria. He would head for their Capital City while slaughtering everyone who dared to block his path. He would raze the Capital City to the ground, kill the Great Prophet with his own two hands, and exterminate all the followers of this damnable fanatic!

He had been restraining himself for so long. For far too long! He could tolerate a lot, but anyone who harmed his family would die a gruesome death!

“I was never stubborn.”

Yet, just as Azuresky was riling himself up, the few ridiculous words Emeric spouted in reply to him scattered the storm that was brewing in his mind as if it was a lie.

Then, after he blinked a few times in quick succession in his daze, the corners of Azuresky’s lips started trembling as Emeric’s matter-of-fact-stated words kept repeating themselves in his mind. Finally, Azuresky could no longer bear with it and erupted with booming laughter, not even caring to suppress its reach with his Qi. Emeric wasn’t stubborn? Wouldn’t pigs have to grow wings and start flying if it was a true statement? But, wasn’t Emeric still less stubborn than himself? If so, then perhaps they really were going to see some flying pigs later in the day! Thinking about such silly things, Azuresky was unable to contain his laughter for quite some time.

Meanwhile, Emeric merely sighed and continued looking ahead. He had gotten used to Azuresky’s unusual outbursts of amusement long ago, but for the God’s sake, rarely was he able to figure out what was so funny to that annoying man. He believed that he understood quite a lot about Azuresky’s personality, but Azuresky’s sense of humour eluded him, as always.

“We greet the two Kings.”

A few deep breaths’ worth of time later, their small group of four riders arrived by the gates leading to the highest layer of Academy City, the Heaven’s Quarters with their ten large mansions. At the gold and silver-imbued gate stood two guards with the cultivation of martial masters of the fifth rank. It was those two men who greeted Azuresky and Emeric, yet unlike most of the subjects, the two experts only clasped their hands and gave the two Kings a casual, slight bow. This surprised Laien and Yin a little bit, but for the time being, they chose to find a better time to inquire about it.

“Greetings,” Azuresky replied to the two guards and even Emeric nodded his head, neither of the two Kings appearing to mind the behaviour of the guards. What Laien and Yin didn’t know, however, was that Academy City was established with it being a semi-independent organization in mind, so unless all four Kings of the Holy Union wished to intervene, they wouldn’t be able to overrule the Rector’s decisions. At the very least, not as far as the internal matters of the Academy went.

“Call the Rector over,” Azuresky said to the guards, his tone edging much closer to a command than a request. In the end, the only one who the four Kings had agreed to respect was the Academy’s Rector. When Azuresky and Emeric had come to an agreement about a matter like Laien and Yin’s, they weren’t about to waste their time minding the formalities. The two of them fully intended to walk into Heaven’s Quarters with the two boys first and leave all the talking for later.

“With all due respect.” Seeing that Azuresky and Emeric were urging their horses onwards, the two guards stepped in and blocked them after just a split-second of hesitation. “Even if it’s you two, Warrior-King Azuresky, King Emeric, we can’t allow you to enter Heaven’s Quarters without an invitation. If you wish us to relay a message to one of Heaven’s Order Students, we’ll be more than happy to oblige. However, if you intend to break the rules, we’ll have to stop you here,” one of the two guards said respectfully. However, despite his calm words, anyone would be able to notice that he was clenching his spear a little too hard and his face was a little too pale.

“You’ll stop us?” Azuresky asked, a wry smile emerging on his face. “You believe you’re capable of that?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. Looking the man who had just spoken up in the eye, he released some of his aura, his smile growing wider when the two guards paled visibly and started sweating. He tilted his head slightly, glancing at the men’s shaking hands and legs. Yet, despite the apparent fear those two were experiencing, neither of them moved out of the way.

“Impressive,” Azuresky laughed, the pressure he was exuding disappearing in the blink of an eye. “Sebastian won’t mind doing us a little favour, so just go get him while we wait inside. We brought him two new Heaven’s Order Students, so he should be overjoyed,” he said to the flabbergasted guards. Then, before any of the two men had a chance to recover, he waved his hand slightly and sent a powerful yet gentle gust of wind towards the large gate and pushed it open.

Feeling helpless, the two guards stood where they were while the four riders went past them. Even when wind-element Qi dissipated and the gate closed behind them with a whang, the two of them didn’t react. Only a long moment later, once they calmed down, did one of them rush to inform the Rector about what had happened. Least be said, however, the two of them wished they could forget about today’s events as soon as possible. The shadow of death which they had momentarily felt looming over them was nothing to laugh at! Even if they were Sebastian’s subordinates all the way from the times back in the Kingdom of Banxi, Azuresky was simply too frightening to deal with.

“They do look nice,” Laien commented with a lighthearted smile, having just finished chuckling at the small display of power by Azuresky. “Are there any differences between those mansions?” he inquired, but could already somehow guess the answer without an answer. From what he could tell, the ten mansions were built in five layers, the first counting four mansions, then if he was right from the distance, twice two and twice one. In other words, a hierarchy between those in Heaven’s Quarters still existed and it was surprisingly clear, at least more so than he had expected.

“A few,” Azuresky responded, a bit surprised that Laien was asking him instead of Emeric. “But those won’t be too relevant for you since you’ll be staying here temporarily. The prestige from a higher position is one thing, more authority within Academy City is the second, while additional cultivation resources are the third. The last one and more is what you’ll be able to enjoy either way, as long as you do well in the spars with the five monsters, naturally. As for the mansions themselves, there’s no difference in their basic setup. You’re free to redecorate yours as you please during your stay, though, but I’d like to ask you not to go too overboard,” he explained and glanced over his shoulder, sending the two boys a meaningful look. They would only be staying here for a bit, so it would be inconvenient if they ‘remodelled’ the mansion’s fundamental structure.

“Right!” Before Laien and Yin could reply, Azuresky spoke up again, sounding as if he had only remembered something just now. “Technically speaking, both of you will receive the position of a Heaven’s Order Disciple, so you should receive two mansions. What do you think about it?” he inquired. He was slightly curious as to what the choice of those two boys would be, but he would be lying if he said that his expectations didn’t lean towards one of the answers. If he wasn’t right about this little prediction of his, he would likely be both disappointed and intrigued, though just a little.

Faced with such a question, Laien couldn’t help but laugh in amusement and even Yin revealed a wry smile. “We’re fine with one,” Laien said with a smile. There was no need for the two of them to occupy two of those huge mansions when they would be staying together in one of them the entire time. So, there was also no reason for them to inconvenience Azuresky and Emeric any further.

“Good,” Azuresky said and nodded, a content smile present on his face. “As you know, we have five monster-level talents in the Holy Union and all of them are enrolled in this Academy. Out of the available mansions, three from the first four, one from the next two and once again one from the further two, are occupied. I wonder if you have any preferences as to where you want to be placed?” he asked, probing the characters of the two boys yet another time. Even if they wanted to act humble in front of him, he would be able to tell from the small involuntary reactions of their bodies and the slight fluctuations of their auras, so his judgement would be fairly accurate regardless.

This time, before answering, Laien exchanged a glance with Yin. The two of them exchanged a smile and soon afterwards, Laien gave their reply.

“The fourth one in the first layer will be good.”

Hearing Laien say so and seeing Yin appear to be in an agreement, Azuresky couldn’t help but smile warmly at the two youths. The two of them weren’t putting up a false front before him, so his evaluation of their character could only rise further. He had no complaints about their strength, though he would have loved to see them display it with his own eyes, and their character was more than agreeable, too. Secretly, he promised himself to increase the number of benefits he was going to offer them, especially if they would manage to have a good influence on Academy City.

“Let’s go, then,” Azuresky said heartily. “We’ll show you around your mansion while we wait for the Rector to come,” he added and turned his horse to the left, leading their group into one of the two alleyways at the first level of Heaven’s Quarters.