Chapter 13: Voices of Glory (Part 2)

After the introduction of the eight Main Noble houses, we took a lunch break. Captain Rizzou reminded that we would resume on time, after one hour of lunch break. However, this time, we won’t be in the assembly hall, but instead the Elemental Circle main courtyard, which was situated in front of the main entrance.

Lunch. The period that I grow to love while I was here.

Why?

It’s because the chefs here served extremely delicious food. And I was right. The aroma alone was deliciously mesmerizing. If I’m not careful with my own manners, I might be jumping to the buffet table and helped myself like a thirsty horse running at full speed for the river.

Even though there were many people from various backgrounds here, the way the food and drinks served were like a royal banquet. I never attended one though, but since I heard back then from Mr Frodu, the boss I used to work with back in the Brotherhood’s only tavern, a royal-like banquet was where outlandish foods and drinks were served and we could take anything we wanted to our hearts’ contents. And there would be maids and butlers who went around the hall to offer various drinks to us. The service here was top notch indeed.

Perhaps this was what was meant by being an Elite. This was one way to entrench the sort of luxury life that most people could only dream of. I could hazard a guess that most here were not nobles nor royalty anyway. The sheer difference of levels of services due to them being an Elite was very huge, even from the best of what a high-class restaurant or any inn could offer. Work hard and you would get rewarded as what we were having, right now and more.

In the midst of my pondering, someone walked past by me and unfortunately, hit me on the shoulder from the back.

“Hey, shorty. Move it!!”

A loud voice could be heard that suddenly broke my thoughts.

“Uhh? W-Well… Sorry?”

I apologized without knowing what happened. Normally, I would not apologise like this, but since I’m trying to give my best first impression at every opportunity as much as I could, I tried my best not to make any scene.

“Huh? Sorry? What do you mean by sorry?”

Another voice came from behind me.

I looked towards the voice. The voice belonged to a scrawny man, with an eye patch and with a face like a rat. He looked more suited as a villain or a bandit than an Elite. Who recommended this guy anyway?

The rat-faced sneered at me.

“Well, I said I’m sorry. What more could I say? I’m not the one who walks and hit others from behind.”

I tried to explain myself.

“Are you trying to shift the blame to someone else, ehh shorty?”

The guy who hit me from behind spoke. He was quite tall, around 6 feet or more with a green Mohawk hairstyle and a scar across his cheek. He looked like another villain or a bandit rather than an Elite. Again, where do they get this guy anyway?

“Look. I said I’m sorry.”

Trying to avoid any fuss, I turned around and tried to take a step away from them. However, before I could do so, the tall, green Mohawk guy grabbed me from my back and then tossed me forward. I staggered for a few steps but I did not fall down. His friend, the rat-faced guy came over to me and kicked me to the side.

“Ugghhh…”

I hold my ribs in pain. I bowed down a little from the impact. The scene that broke between three us suddenly got everyone’s attention.

“Do you know who are you speaking to, shorty?”

The rat-faced guy was pulling my hair back. It stung me but I tried to hold his hand from pulling my hair back further.

“He is Shokar, an Elite who is recommended by one of the Main Noble house, von Draksen. And I happen to be his younger bro, Bhokar.”

The crowd gasp at what was going on. The name ‘von Draksen’ got everyone’s attention.

“Recommended by the Main Noble house? We better not get involved with them.”

I could hear the reluctance voices and a hint of fear from some of the onlookers. Perhaps these people were recommended by the minor nobles or the common nobles. Thus, they would not want to get involved with this little incident of mine and then found themselves in trouble even before they were officially an Elite. I understood their sentiment though.

Because of this, the two villain-faced guys got more enthusiastic.

“See, everyone knows who are the von Draksens. No one mess with us brothers. Especially not a poor looking shorty like you with a shitty attire!”

The rat-faced guy, Bhokar continued to taunt me while still pulling my hair.

Hey, taunting and goading was my expertise, not yours. And did you just say my Brotherhood tunic is a shitty attire?

Now, now. This was a little too much. As I thought to myself, a sinister smile came across my face. I’m not going to let these two villains smear my Brotherhood’s uniform. We held great pride in our symbols, especially our crest and uniform. With my free hand, I grabbed the hilt of my blade.

“Hey! What are you two guys doing?!”

Suddenly a loud voice came towards us and broke the commotion that was happening.

A cute girl with slightly pinkish hair tied in ponytail came over. Again, being height conscious, she was definitely taller than me.

“Back off, bitch!” The Mohawk guy, Shokar warned off the incoming girl.

“What did you just called me?! A bitch?” She gave off a bitter grin that spelt trouble.

“Is this the type of the people than the von Draksen recommended? My, my, don’t you two guys have no manners at all.”

The rat-faced let go of my hair as he walked towards the girl.

“Little Missy. Mind your manners or else…”

“Or else what? Are you going to lay your hand on me? Try it if you want to face the wrath of the Zah’ringen’s.” The girl was unmoved by the advancing rat-faced guy.

“Z-Z-Zah’ringen?”

The two guys suddenly stammered.

“D-Don’t lie to us, bitch!” The green Mohawk guy shouted from my back.

Oi, if you got the balls, talk in front of me, not behind me. I thought to myself as I looked at the girl who just came.

“Lie? Why should I lie to both of you, both a low life scum who picked on a small young boy? I’m Ariel, the fiancée of Lionel Zah’ringen, the great-grandson of the current house ruler of Zah’ringen, Viscountess Melania Zah’ringen!”

An even louder gasp was heard across the whole hall. Some even drop their plates and drinks.

“The sixth most powerful family in the Kingdom, the Zah’ringen? And she is the fiancée of the main branch family?”

Conversations could be heard across the whole hall. This little incident has become quite a scene it seemed. I could feel everyone’s eye was focusing on us.

The two villains, Shokar and Bhokar suddenly froze in their steps. As they looked at each other, the rat-faced guy said,

“Brother, I don’t think we should mess with her. Even if she lied, we are attracting lots of attention to us already.”

“You are right, Bro. There might be higher ranked Elites who are observing us after all. We don’t need to create much more scene than right now.”

These two villains sure could think despite their ugly faces. And because of that, they decided not to further harass me. I stood up and patted my knee.

“You are lucky, kid. To be saved by a bitch. Is that all you can do?”

Ptuih.

The rat-faced fellow spat at my face before he moved away.

“If I see you anywhere else, I’ll be sure to give you a proper lesson without you hiding behind a bitch’s arse!”

The Mohawk guy spat on my face next before he too moved away.

I glared at them, with my hand on the hilt of my sword as my other hand wiped off the spit from my face.

Did I hear that right? You are 100 years too early to lay your hands on me. I’ll show you what is hell next time, arseholes!

I gave a bitter yet sinister smile as I thought of that.

“Are you alright, young boy?”

Suddenly a voice broke me from my thoughts. It was the same girl who had saved me just now.

“S-Sure. Thanks to you. If you did not help me back then, I don’t know what would have happened to me.”

I smiled at my saviour.

“Hahaha. Help you? I think you were mistaken.” The girl winked at me.

“Huh?”

“I think I helped them instead.”

She let out a smile while jerking her head towards the direction where the two of those goons went off earlier.

“What do you mean…”

“You are from the Brotherhood of the Sun, right?”

I nodded.

“But how do you know?”

“Judging by your tunic!” She happily exclaimed.

“Ohhh…”

“If I haven’t stepped in, you would have slash both of them in half without much trouble. We can’t have that, especially on our very first day here.”

I smiled. Perhaps she was right. I could handle them with ease. But the scene won’t be nice.

“Our very first day starts tomorrow, not today.”

“Ohhh… Hehehe, you are right.”

We broke into a small laugh from our early conversation. Seemed like this girl was a nice and friendly person.

“So, thanks again for your help. I’m Claude by the way. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Ariel. Nice to meet you too.”

I extended my hand to Ariel and she happily accepted my handshake. Her hands were soft but firm. A sign that she has hidden strength beneath her smile and that girlish demeanour.

As we shook our hands, suddenly my stomach grumble.

“Ohh!”

Ariel laughed at me.

“Looks like you are hungry. Come, let’s go and eat.”

She took my hand and lead me to the tables where all the foods and drinks were served. We took a glass of juice each and toast each other.

“So, if you don’t mind me asking, how old are you? 11 perhaps?” Ariel asked of me while drinking her juice. Her eyes were scrutinizing me up and down as if she was sizing certain parts of my body.

I spat my water out, but luckily it did not hit anyone, as she innocently guessed my age. I looked at her dumbfounded. As I point to myself, I asked her,

“Do I look that young to you?”

She nodded.

“You just looked like my little brother back in my hometown, Jon. He is the same as your height, so you must be around his age.”

“Uhhh… my height?”

Ariel nodded.

“Not my looks?”

“A little. You look very self-assured though.”

I slumped down my shoulder. This was quite too much for me to take. Self-assured or not, I’m currently height conscious.

“Perhaps that because I’m not 11. I’m 17 this year.”

Now was Ariel’s turn to spit out her juice. And unfortunately, she spat her juice directly into my face.

What’s with people spitting into my face today? First, there were the two villain-looking Elites and now the girl who had just saved me. Does my face look like a spittoon to these people?

“I’m so sorry, Claude. I did not mean that.”

Ariel tried to wipe away the juice from my face with her blouse’s sleeve. I just realized that she was wearing a beautiful blouse with a tight pant with a rapier-like weapon at her side.

“Nah, it’s ok. It’s not often people spit at my face, though I had three of them today, including you.”

I gave a dry laugh.

“I’m sorry Claude. Please forgive me.”

“It’s alright. I’m just teasing you.”

“You sure?”

I nodded.

“You sure are very sweet, Claude.”

Ariel was back to her smiling self.

“But, I’m really sorry about that. But that because I never knew you were 17. I had mistaken you for an 11-year-old boy.”

“Really. I must look very young then? Or I’m…”

I showed Ariel the small distance between my thumb and my forefinger, implicating that I’m short.

Ariel chuckled.

I looked at her while taking a bite of a roasted chicken drumstick. I took a plate of freshly roasted pork ribs and handed it to her.

“Here, take this. We will talk while we eat. I bet you are hungry as much as I am too.”

“T-Thanks.” She took a bite of the roasted pork ribs.

“I know I’m short for guys my age, but hey I’m 17. How old are you then? “

I asked of Ariel.

Opps…

I shouldn’t have asked that. Trying to make light of the sudden awkwardness between me and Ariel, I asked a girl a question I should never ask, according to Sehanie anyway. Every time I asked Sehanie how old she was, she would always whack my head, saying things like it’s a girl’s secret or some sort. Well, when you were hundreds of years old, perhaps it should be a secret.

“Ohh… I’m 22 this year.”

Ariel answered my question, unexpectedly. She was all smiles to me.

Women, I couldn’t figure them out really. Though Sierra was pretty easy to figure out, I still haven’t known her age. Judging from her appearance though, she might be at the same age as me.

I smiled at Ariel as we looked for more foods. There were lots of foods served and of various variety too. Unfortunately, and to my stomach’s dismay, before I could even take more of the foods and drinks offered, I heard an announcement from the main stage in front of the assembly hall.

“Hello everyone, may I have your attention please?!”

It was Lieutenant Christy. However, this time around, all of us paid her attention, unlike the first time. All of us learnt our lesson well, it seemed. Lieutenant Christy was all smiles.

“Thank you for your attention. Our lunch break will be over soon, so I need all of you to move out to the main courtyard. At there, you will receive an envelope with your name written on it. So, please take the envelope and then assemble in front of the main stage at the courtyard. We will resume our next activities there. Please don’t be late.”

Lieutenant Christy walked off the stage as soon as she finished her announcement.

I looked at Ariel and as she nodded at me, both of us placed our plates down. Ariel led the way but this time, she did not hold my hands unlike before.

“Ohh, Claude. I won’t be holding your hands any more since you are not 11-years-old boy. I was afraid that you might be lost, but it seems you are old enough to find your ways in here.”

I gave out a dry smile at her.

“I wouldn’t want your fiancé to get jealous either, right?”

She chuckled as we make our way to the door.