“Boss,” said Miku, “are we just going to leave…his tomb here? We aren’t going to relocate it?”

“None of us can breach the barrier around the coffin,” said Kenouji. “And besides, if the ancestor wanted to build his tomb here, there’s probably a reason for it. Who knows? And besides, we’re now in the same land as him. Once we earn enough, we could relocate our main estate to guard his tomb.”

“That’s a good idea,” Isabelle said abruptly. “Taking pride in one’s heritage is one of the best ways to increase a family’s cohesiveness. If I were you, I would seek out histories and legends of Champion Solaris and spread them around the family.”

“Spreading legends of a Champion…” Kenouji nodded his head. “You sound rather experienced at this.”

“It’s something I picked up in my homeland, the South. The ruling structure a few years ago was an assembly dominated by the great families, the Houses, and one of them, d’Artagnan, had a Champion as their ancestor too,” Isabelle replied.

“A Champion?” Gaius asked, interested. “Who?

“Champion Octantis,” she replied. “I’m not too sure about the legends behind the Champion, however. The works of Champion Octantis— the ones that the d’Artagnan scions let us see, anyway — were written in some odd form of English that I wasn’t able to fully understand.”

“Some odd form?” Kenouji echoed. “Maybe he thought that it was too hard to teach, so he didn’t pass down his own language.”

Gaius narrowed his eyes. From the sounds of it, Octantis probably came from a European country, or a country with a colonial legacy back on Earth. He wasn’t too sure — the little boy was not a linguistics expert or an expert at anything that didn’t involve violence — but at least he had a grasp on Earth’s history.

“The same has to go for Champion Solaris, right?” Isabelle replied. “As far as the records went, the four Cardinal Champions knew English, which meant that it was probably the common language of their world.”

She glanced at Gaius, who nodded subtly. English was probably the most…widespread language on Earth. Given that the Cardinal Champions came from multiple countries, it was probably the best way to break down barriers.

“I wonder which Champion came to the North,” said Isabelle. “I never gave the Mortal Light Dynasty much thought, but now that we’re here, I can’t help but feel somewhat excited at exploring it.”

“What happened to going back to the South?” said Gaius. “I mean, if you want, we can definitely delay our return. I wanted to see if there were any schools that Nakama could enter, since we probably aren’t ever going to return to the East again.”

Nakama turned to the boy at the mention of “school”, as did the azure crystal that she’d chosen, as well as Stone. “School?”

“You…don’t want to go?” Gaius asked slowly.

“Of course I want to! But…”

“You wanted to go back to Kishi Gakuen,” Gaius completed her sentence and sighed. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think we can return there now. The Plenum is probably looking for us, and even if they weren’t…they have betrayed us once. Only fools will return again. We’ll probably have to continue your education in the South or here…and I’m leaning to the latter option.”

The boy sighed. Disrupting a child’s educational environment was definitely a problem, all things considered. And at the direction in which things were moving at, Gaius was almost certain that another disruption was on the cards. Something would probably happen to the North, and then he would have to confront it. Maybe he would have to flee, like what happened in the East…

All in all, Gaius couldn’t help but feel somewhat stifled at the thought of Nakama having to jump from school to school. He couldn’t exactly leave her behind either — and nor did he want to. Nakama wasn’t showing it, but his constant disappearances from her life had to be taking a toll on her. Gaius had seen Nakama happier and more relaxed in the past month, despite being on a ferry, than the days right before he departed to fight the Lifespring’s forces.

“That’s not your fault!” Nakama puffed up her chest. “It’s okay, I don’t need to go back. I’ll make new friends, learn new things! So don’t go running around. Okay?”

Gaius smiled at Nakama’s proclamation.

“I’ll get you a fun school,” said the boy. “Don’t worry. Isabelle and I will bring you there every day. I’m done with fighting.”

“You say that,” Nexus spoke in Gaius’ head, “but that’s not really going to happen, is it? You’re a trouble magnet.”

“Shut it,” Gaius growled back in his mind. “Or else I’ll dunk you.”

“Fine, fine. Sheesh!”

Nakama looked at Gaius, before making a sad smile. “You’ll always be fighting. There’s always something that makes you fight.”

The boy felt his heart twist up. This was probably the face of a child who found out that his or her parents had lied to him, and it hurt for him to see it.

“You’re right,” said Gaius. “There are people I want to take revenge for. There are some people who I want to protect. I’ll still have to fight. I’m sorry. Your big brother…is a liar.”

He turned away. “But I’ll stay with you as long as I can. That I promise.”

“Mm!”

After a few minutes, the other members of the Kusanagi family walked out, each of them bearing a bag, presumably filled with the brim with gold coins. From the looks of their faces, Gaius had the feeling that these youngsters weren’t all that fit. With a quizzical expression on his face, the boy picked up a bag someone had left on the floor and lifted it up.

“Man,” said Gaius, “you guys need to work out a bit more.”

The others looked at the boy waving the bag around, their expressions an intriguing sight to behold. After flexing his superior body strength to make himself feel better, Gaius turned to Kenouji, who was looking at Gaius’ arms and legs.

“We ready to go?”

“Yes, yes. Of course.” He shook his head. “Where does all that strength come from?”

“Training,” Gaius replied. “Now, if you would…”