Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 213. Bittersweet Revelation.

“They’re in here, indeed,” Laien said with a wry smile as soon as his inner turmoil cooled down a bit. He suspected that Azuresky and Emeric had long since noticed that there was something ‘wrong’ with their interspatial rings from their awkward reactions, but it wasn’t like they were going to ask to confirm the numbers personally. At the very least, he doubted that either of the two Kings would want to lose face with them in such a stupid way, so he intended to act a bit shamelessly and thus said, “Thank you very much, Mister Rector. I can’t wait to cultivate using these.”

“Mine are correct, too.” Sensing Laien’s intentions, Yin joined in, his smile fluctuating between a playful and a slightly embarrassed one. “I’d also like to give my thanks to Mister Rector,” he added, all the while having to give his best not to chortle as he repeated the ‘Mister Rector’ part Laien had come up with. At this point, even someone who knew Laien just a little would be able to tell that something was blatantly wrong with this situation. And, as expected, Azuresky and Emeric wore awkward expressions on their faces, not too sure how to react to their shameless act.

“I’m glad I counted right.” Finally, Sebastian joining in was the last nail to the coffin, one that caused the two Kings to cringe inwardly. Even if they were to thicken their faces enough to ask to inspect the two interspatial rings, they weren’t willing to put themselves in a position from which they could no longer retreat. So, even though the two of them weren’t used to doing so, they could only force themselves to smile and pretend that they hadn’t noticed anything. At the same time, they wished that this moment could pass and be forgotten by everyone sooner rather than later.

“If that’s all,” Laien began saying, choosing to take his gains and leave with them before Azuresky or Emeric got to the point of getting angry. “Then should we part ways here for now? I’m sure all of us have things they want to or have to do,” he suggested casually. Of course, he did realize that in a different situation, his words would come off as too forceful, but he had a feeling that they were the best choice for everyone to smoothly get out of their current little predicament.

“That would be good,” Emeric said without bothering to hide his relief. “If anything else you two might need comes to you later, just send a message either to Sebastian or one of us. As long as it’s nothing too excessive, we will accommodate you,” he reminded, mostly to avoid too much awkwardness while ending the conversation. He and Azuresky had already stated their intentions clearly enough, so he refused to believe that Laien and Yin didn’t understand them. Alas, even though he would usually avoid saying anything pointless, this time he wanted too badly for the topic to move on to care about those comparatively unimportant details.

“Thank you,” Laien said while suppressing a chuckle. Having spent quite some time chatting with Emeric these past two days, he could easily tell how uncomfortable the golden-haired King was feeling. However, despite finding Emeric’s reactions amusing, he knew not to take it too far. He might have started getting along well with Emeric, but it wasn’t quite at the point yet where he could openly tease the man without fear of repercussions.

“That’s it, then,” Azuresky said, standing up from his seat. “We will come to get you tomorrow at seven in the evening. Since the burial ceremony will be starting at eight, we will have enough time to arrive and calm ourselves down,” he said, his tone returning to its usual calm and collected state. The burial of those who served their countries was an event deserving great respect, and he agreed with this sentiment in his heart and mind. So, no matter how thrown-off he had been before by the unexpected collusion between Sebastian, Laien, and Yin, his thoughts had soon calmed down.

Seeing that Azuresky and Emeric were about to leave, Sebastian gulped down one more glass of liqueur before putting most of the things on the table back into his interspatial ring. What he did leave behind were, naturally, the two bottles of wine which he had taken out for Laien and Yin to enjoy. “You probably ate on your way here, but since it’s still early, would you like breakfast today, too?” he inquired amiably. Great food and drinks were very high on his list of priorities in life, so, of course, he wouldn’t leave his precious guests without these luxuries to enjoy.

“We’re fine, thanks,” Laien replied cheerfully. Although he wasn’t someone who would have trouble asking if he wanted something, he appreciated the sentiment.

“Got it,” Sebastian said with a nod. He glanced at Azuresky and Emeric, who exchanged slight nods with Laien and Yin and proceeded to leave in a little bit more of a hurry than usual. This small thing was enough to make him chuckle as he gave Laien and Yin one last look, then followed the two Kings with a wry smile on his face. Although those two fogies were good at managing their territories and leading armies into battle, they really knew too little about how to butter other people up. Especially those geniuses who were capable of getting accepted into the Heaven’s Quarters, what was some more labor on the part of the Academy if they could give them enough elemental stones to use freely?

“They’re so pig-headed,” Sebastian mused on their way out. “Haven’t they learned yet that the carrot and stick approach only works if someone lacks motivation? If you attempt to use it on someone who’s already extremely motivated, you’ll fail to gain his favor at best and offend him at worst. Those geniuses enjoy having more than enough resources to cultivate without restraint, even if they were to never use up most of them, like the case of our elemental stones. Not to mention that giving them a separate gift of non-restricted elemental stones is nice and all, but not giving them the resources designated purely for cultivation is degrading the value of the gift. Eh, those who never had to worry about such things won’t understand the hearts of the commoners.”

“But, oh well.” Having complained enough in his heart, Sebastian smiled, no longer caring about those small things. It wasn’t up to him to try and change those two fogies, and he had salvaged the situation in his favor anyways, so there was no harm done. In the first place, those two weren’t good enough with reading people to know where to use which approach, so him lecturing them would be like preaching to a donkey and expecting it to transform into a horse.

“That being said,” Sebastian mused, his expression turning neutral while the look in his eyes became thoughtful. “It’s been a long time since I saw kids who were so strong and with such a bright future in front of themselves, yet with eyes as pure as those two. Although I can’t be sure until I get to know them better, I’m pretty sure that they are the types to repay grace and grudge in kind. Those kinds of people are the best potential friends and allies. However, from what those two fogies told me, the boys are highly individualistic, too,” he considered carefully, trying to figure out what kind of approach would be the best to take when facing Laien and Yin in the future. Admittedly, using his gut feeling and instincts was great for getting the gist of another’s personality, but he never would have gotten to where he was in life if that was all he had been relying on to establish relationships.

“Comparatively speaking,” Sebastian murmured inaudibly. “It’s harder for me to get a good read on that green-haired one. With Laien, anyone who heard of his gal to get into an argument with Emeric and his balls to stick to his stance throughout it would be able to get a clear picture of what his personality is. If I had to describe him in one sentence, I’d say that he’s someone who’s open about his likes and dislikes, and someone who values his friends greatly once he makes them. The latter can be clearly seen from how much he and Yin had done for Mustafa’s kid, while the former one, heh,” he thought, unable to prevent a sly smile from sneaking onto his face. If he could, he would have paid a hefty sum to witness the argument between Emeric and Laien in person! The argument in itself was amazing enough, but the fact that it ended with Emeric conceding the point was simply unthinkable.

“Forcing it won’t work,” Sebastian concluded straightforwardly. Laien’s type, as far as he could tell, was one that enjoyed the feeling of being in control of the situation and of the overall flow of events. If he ended up giving Laien the impression that he was being manipulated into doing something—or worse, feeling a specific way—that would only result in forming a grudge with the boy. Thus, the best approach was to let him have as much freedom as possible and simply open up as many opportunities for beneficial interactions and events as possible for him. Naturally, satisfying his needs in terms of cultivation came without saying. Regardless of that deal between the boys and those two old fogies, he intended to offer them all the knowledge and resources he could.

“The bigger problem is Yin,” Sebastian thought, his expression twisting a little. He was rarely in a situation where he knew so much about someone and yet understood so little about them. Thus, he couldn’t help but feel frustrated about the whole thing. “Apart from him getting along with Laien, I can’t tell much more about what he likes or dislikes. The extent of what I know about him specifically is that, according to Emeric, he seems like a polite youth. Yet, be it from his first encounter with Azuresky or with me, it’s clear that he’s extremely competitive, too. I know too little to assume anything else with a reasonable degree of certainty, so I can only look up more information about him and carefully probe him while he’s staying here.”

Having come to a conclusion in regards to Yin, Sebastian’s mood once again turned for the better. As far as he was concerned, not understanding someone wasn’t the biggest problem in and of itself. The biggest problem would be if one acted rashly without knowing that he didn’t understand the other party, then persevered in his obliviousness, thus escalating the conflict even further. Still, even if you understood someone, it took no small amount of skill to get on their good side without appearing disingenuous. The moment the other party noticed that you were trying to court favor with them while only pretending to agree with them was usually the moment the entire scheme crumbled. Thus, in Sebastian’s experience, it was important to avoid compromising one’s own principles when trying to get on someone else’s good side since, in the long-term, such actions would lead solely to bad endings.

“That reminds me.” Sebastian clicked his tongue. “Weren’t some of the southerners sent my way a few days ago? They should have finished the information processing yesterday, so they should arrive in two or three days. I’ll have to be careful with them so no major conflicts escalate like in the past,” he thought, failing to suppress a sigh. The differences between the southerners and northerners of Eulene were considerable, so even though he didn’t put much effort into the paperwork side of his responsibilities, he had still been extremely busy for the past twenty years. The only good thing was that, since he had amassed considerable experience in terms of solving those conflicts, especially last year when Academy City was finally getting up on its own two legs, he no longer felt as stressed by the prospect of another group of southerners arriving and disrupting his hard-earned peace.

“Sebastian.” As he was dozing off in his own little world, Azuresky’s voice brought him back to reality. “We’ll be going back north as soon as the burial ceremonies are over. Make sure that no unexpected delays happen,” Azuresky reminded sternly, knowing well Sebastian’s tendencies to slack off whenever possible. The last thing he wanted to happen was some random argument beginning before the ceremonies, so he wished for all the participants to be told to behave. After all, there were bound to be relatives of the deceased members of the Royal Guard and of the White Sword and Black Sword units who would feel resentful over the deaths of their loved ones. Not everyone was capable of seeing the broad picture, and even those who could would still often disregard it when sacrifices were demanded of them and not of others. Such was human nature.

“I’ll see to it,” Sebastian promised. He knew full well that many of those who died this time around had powerful and influential relatives, so taking certain measures to prevent any great escalations was definitely a good idea. However, although he didn’t say it out loud, he felt that going too far in pacifying the potential troublemakers wouldn’t be worth the hassle for two reasons.

On one hand, it would be bad for their relations with those influential families, and on the other, it wouldn’t necessarily be a good thing for Laien and Yin, either. After all, he didn’t think that those two boys were fragile flowers that needed to be sheltered from wind and rain, so if one discounted the unpleasantness of the potential troubles during the ceremony, it would be a good experience for them as both people and practitioners. With some luck, those two might be able to benefit in some unexpected ways as long as they faced the situation with an open mind. And, considering what he knew about those two, he thought it likely that they would do as he expected.

“Guiding the young, eh?” Sebastian thought with a smile on his face, having just parted the ways with the two Kings who rode off on their mounts. “That’s why you two are too bound by the old rules. I told you more than once or twice that this generation is special, and unlike us, they can seek opportunities and not just hope for them. Of course, if some fool tries to ‘help’ them in an overly obvious and shameless way, he might damage their trust in the people around them and hamper their growth instead. That’s why it’s only right to push the events along, if possible, and it’s almost never right to manufacture them,” he mused, all the while considering which families and which people he was going to approach. He couldn’t tell them anything too obvious, either, so he had to work the details out beforehand so that the ceremony would unfold just as he wanted it to.

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Having stuffed himself full with breakfast, Laien leaned back against the small hill of pillows that were piled on top of the sofa. He adjusted his position a little, making himself comfortable within the soft fluffiness, all the while musing that mixing the Euleanian and Arkarian eating customs made for a truly comfortable experience. The standard high table allowed eating to be easy and not messy at all, while adding the pillows and fluffiness to the seats instead of using chairs or benches made for a great way to relax right after the meal, without having to move anywhere else with a full stomach. Add to that the exquisite quality of food provided by Academy City and the two full days of rest he and Yin had been able to enjoy, it was as close to heaven as the two of them could imagine.

“Well, with one exception,” Laien murmured, glancing at the white envelope which he had thrown to the side right before eating.

‘Consider me amazed, from your favorite examiner.’

Who else could have snuck a letter with something like that written on it into the cart with their breakfast? Laien doubted that the cooking staff in Academy City knew of their situation with the Shadow Trials since Azuresky and Emeric had issued a gag order on their personal information and all events related to them, but even if someone knew, they wouldn’t have made such a tasteless joke. The only explanation which made sense was that this letter really came from the Guild of Shadows, and was either delivered by their agent in Academy City or by one of the all-powerful Shades. Considering that the Guild of Shadows was home to people like Altair and that martial master of the ninth rank who intervened on Mustafa’s battlefield, it wouldn’t be surprising if they were able to get in and out of Academy City’s restricted areas with ease.

Wincing in a mixture of helplessness and anger, he reached out for the envelope while Yin was still munching on the last few fruits on his plate. He tore the top of the letter open and took out the folded piece of paper from within it, then scanned the carelessly written words with his eyes.

‘Congratulations on passing the Shadow Trials!~ You deserve some rest, so I’ll approach you once you leave the Holy Union. So, relax the best you can. I promise you’ll get your rewards and your explanations when we meet~’

‘See you then, my two little Shades.’

‘Best Regards, The Guildmaster~’

Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, Laien let out a heavy sigh and sank back into the pillows. Should he be happy that the Trials were behind them or worried about the extent of the power the Guild of Shadows appeared to possess and the plans those people might have for them in the future? According to what Mustafa told him, that martial master of the ninth rank wasn’t the Guildmaster. If so, then exactly how strong was this crazed bastard? Could it be that he was an Immortal? Just the thought alone was causing Laien to feel nauseous. If that Guildmaster was indeed so powerful, then wouldn’t they be absolutely helpless to resist any of his whims? Such a prospect infuriated him, as out of all the things he hated, being helpless to control his own fate was on top of the list.

“You know,” Yin began saying in a lighthearted tone. “It might sound stupid, but I think we should take that guy’s advice and relax. If he’s really as powerful as you think, and I tend to agree with you on that guess, then isn’t there nothing we can do anyway? At least in the short-term,” he said while licking his fingers clean, then dipping them in the bowl of water and wiping them with a towel. Once he was done with cleaning his hands, he looked at Laien with a smile and added, “The best thing we can do is to focus on growing stronger so that we can shake him off as soon as possible.”

“I get it,” Laien said with a sigh. “I get it, but it’s still frustrating,” he grumbled quietly, even though a greater part of his anger had dissipated thanks to Yin. Soon afterwards, he calmed down entirely, unable to resist the gentle smile on Yin’s face. He wasn’t all that willing to admit it, but perhaps there were times when not resisting pointlessly and going along with the flow of the river was the right choice. Since Yin was confident that it was one of those times, he could only trust him.

“What do we do now?” Laien asked after storing the letter in his interspatial ring. “We’ve still got an hour or so before those guys are supposed to come,” he added. Usually, they would fill any inconvenient waiting time with some training, but they had decided not to train at all for at least three days and if they felt like it, until the end of the week, so for five days. The two of them felt that even light meditation would be cheating, so they had spent yesterday chatting, playing games, and reading casual books, and they intended to spend the remainder of their break in the same way. Just one such training-free and worry-free day was enough for them to feel considerably reinvigorated both in body and spirit, so it was obvious how much fatigue they had accumulated.

“Mmn.” Yin raised his hands above his head and stretched his back, letting out a quiet moan. “How about we spend some time with Arion and Bellicose?” he suggested after giving the matter a brief thought. Once they had arrived at the Ruishi Federation, they had naturally ended up spending all their time training or playing with Arslan, Raphael, and Mikaela. Because of that, they had failed to groom their horses at least once per day like they had been doing early on during their journey. Now, those two stallions had even become elite mounts, so all the more so, they deserved some caring and attention for all the work they had been doing without showing any fear or disobedience.

“Sure,” Laien agreed. They would be able to kill some time without getting bored, not to mention that in the first place, grooming their horses was a good idea. “Let’s put those away then and get going,” he said merrily. Heaven’s Order Students enjoyed a plethora of privileges in Academy City, one of which was, as they had discovered, a special hidden room right outside their underground training space and within the main Training Quarters where they could ask to have their meals delivered to. Although it was a bit of a hassle to go down there to retrieve the food, they thought it was better than having someone unfamiliar entering their living quarters twice every day.

What was news to them, though, was that processed food of high quality apparently couldn’t be stored in interspatial rings for prolonged periods of time. They had asked the server about it yesterday in the evening, wondering why the food was being delivered to them in a cart instead of in an interspatial ring. From what they had been told, even unprocessed food, if not cooked and eaten early, would lose its vitality as time went on, not to mention the meals that were cooked. They might not rot within an interspatial ring thanks to the sterile environment and the usual lack of air within the subspace, but as the server had told them, once the inherent vitality within the food was gone, it would no longer be suitable for consumption for stronger practitioners.

“It’s curious,” Laien said musingly. “I get that the south is more or less isolated, but it’s weird how little we know about the common sense things from the rest of the world. Be it the usefulness of magic and its branches, raising horses into elite mounts, smithing interspatial rings, or knowing which foods are best for practitioners to eat. Can it be that it’s really just the result of us being isolated geographically and, on top of it, having little interest in the rest of the world? Or is there some other underlying reason for this state of affairs in the south? It makes me wonder what happened after the Durash Empire fell ten millennia ago, during the Dark Ages,” he mentioned half-randomly, allowing his thoughts to wander freely as they descended further and further underground.

“I’m not sure either,” Yin responded with a slight smile. “I’m sure some of Grandfather’s books describe the ancient times, but I wasn’t interested in anything that wouldn’t be immediately useful to me getting stronger back then, so I haven’t read any. I guess that some of the oldest influences on the Starlight Continent will have some records of the Dark Ages and perhaps even of the late Durash Empire, but there should only be two… maybe three forces that have detailed knowledge of the events from ten thousand years ago. The Forbidden Lands, the Guild of Shadows, and maybe Alen and his clansmen have some records, too,” he elaborated casually. Unlike Laien, he wasn’t all that interested in the world as a whole, but he didn’t mind entertaining a conversation about it.