The sword's luster gave a feeling of ominousness rather than comradeship...

...

Dazed...

My mind was in a daze.

The events I had just witnessed made no sense.

Rather, it's that whenever I tried to rationalize them, my mind went blank.

As if the world itself disagreed with it, yet still allowed it to happen.

A paradox.

"Ugh..." I groaned as I touched my forehead.

I had a headache.

I got up. The floor was warm. Carpet.

Someone had replaced the bed sheets and put me in bed last night.

...

Erik got up. He went to the window and pulled the curtains open.

The hard floor was cold on his bare feet.

As cold as the atmosphere of the city, brought by a cloudy sky.

Someone came to his side.

A masculine voice spoke, "The capital is really something else, huh."

Monica's father had a smile on his face as he looked down at the townspeople going about their days.

They had rented a family room on the 8th floor of a tall hotel.

Erik asked, "Will we be arriving at the academy soon?"

"Of course. You said you knew a professor there right?"

"Yes."

"Make sure you vouch for Monica, ok? It's good that she won't be alone there."

As they were talking, someone opened the door.

Monica's mother said, "Erik, good morning. Cloyd."

She looked at Cloyd, Monica's father, saying, "Bus arrives in an hour, takes straight to the center and back."

"How convenient. By the way, after we drop her there, we could live here."

She frowned, not agreeing with him, "You promised we would move to Fiore!"

The state of Fiore, governed by Ezekiel Fiore, was a neighbor state to the Capital.

Cloyd spoke, "Why would we have to move when we're fine right here?"

He approached his wife and put his hand on her back.

"Come here." he brought her by the window and pointed at the city with his palm.

"Look at this view. We'd be able to see this everyday."

She disagreed once more, "No. Mother said she wanted to meet my husband one day!"

He frowned at her.

Speaking loudly, he said, "Your mom can take care of herself! We will stay here! Last night's dinner was the best of my life, we've never eaten so well before!"

"But we can still do it at Fiore!"

"No! We'll stay here and that's final!"

Both looked angrily at each other.

Monica lowered her head. Erik came to her and caressed the top of her hair.

"Guys-"

When Erik was about to tell them to stop, Monica's mother said to Cloyd, looking him in the eye, "If we don't go, I'll tell them you hurt Monica, and we'll both lose everything."

His angry expression quickly turned into a frightened and confused one.

He asked, bewildered, "What are you talking about!? When did I ever hurt Monica?"

She crossed her arms and said with a smirk, "Who do you think they'll believe in, hm? The poor old mother, or the brute of a father? Have you looked in the mirror lately?"

His eyes widened.

He gave up his resistance, "No... I was wrong! We'll move to Fiore! Really, I'll even buy something for your mother as a gift, I think she'd like that. What'd she like?"

The woman showed a triumphant smile.

Monica's head turned up to look at them, asking with confusion written on her face, "You'll be leaving me?"

Her mother looked back at her with a raised eyebrow.

She said as a matter of course, "Of course, silly. You'll be living in the academy from now on!"

"Oh..."

She looked like she was about to cry.

Erik comforted her, "Did you have breakfast yet?"

She nodded her head.

He then asked, "Well, what about dessert?"

She shook her head, then looked at him with an expectant expression.

"Let's go!" he invited her.

Erik took her downstairs to the fancy hotel restaurant. After getting his breakfast sorted, he bought her a cheesecake.

Her mood improved greatly and it stayed that way for a while, but soon she became gloomy again.

She said sullenly, "They're leaving me. I'm gonna be alone from now on."

Erik stopped munching and swallowed. After taking a sip of his tea, he spoke, "You won't be alone. I'll stay with you!"

"Really? That's great!"

She looked at him with a happy and surprised expression, then continued to eat her sweet with a smile on her face.

"Don't count on it. The authorities are searching all over the capital for a young boy wearing a golden bracelet."

A whispering wind passed by Erik's ear. He looked at his arm, then pulled his bracelet back further, hiding it behind the sleeve.

"The academy's students are being searched before they're allowed entry, since that's the first place they thought to look for you. You'll have to part with Monica there."

The wind spoke once more. Erik suddenly frowned, then showed a sad expression on his face.

He looked at Monica. She was happily eating her dessert.

She would soon be all alone.

Erik wondered if there was anything he could do to get inside the academy and also be able to stay with her.

...

In front of me was a fruit salad.

I was holding a cup of banana juice, seems like I had drunk over half the cup already.

The first time I had cast Sight Voyage, my body had gone completely unconscious.

Whenever I used the spell, the connection I had to my body lowered the farther my view traveled away from it.

Since I couldn't control it when observing great distances, I attempted ways of automating my actions, eventually creating a temporary consciousness with my Mind attribute magic.

I turned it into a spell and called it Artificial Sloth.

It took many years of tweaking it, but I had finally seen some success.

The artificial consciousness summoned by casting Artificial Sloth had successfully changed my clothes and had even eaten breakfast.

Suddenly taking me away from my thoughts, big sister Lin asked me, "Brother are you alright? You've been silent all morning. Well, you're always quiet, but you just seem more quiet today."

"Just thinking about things."

I quickly answered with an excuse.

I had made so the consciousness that took over also acted lazy like I usually do.

It may have done the job too well.

I said, "I did say good morning, at least."

"No. You didn't."

"Maybe I didn't say it loud enough."

She rolled her eyes and said, "I'm a Sound attribute, brother. I'd have heard it even if a mosquito had said it."

"There's no way you keep the Audible spell cast all day long."

Audible, a spell that allowed her to listen to things that are not normally audible, but it would suddenly make everything noisy.

The flap of a mosquito's wings could become as loud as a person's voice, which would distract her from a conversation if she couldn't control the volumes accurately.

She complained with a disappointed expression, "Whatever. You didn't even thank me for the banana juice you love so much. I should have just made you tea."

"Good morning, big sister Lin. Thank you."

"Hmph."

This must mean that the artificial consciousness couldn't speak yet. Another issue is that I don't remember anything I did.

I must keep improving it.

...

On the second floor of a public restaurant in Tangerine District, two feminine figures could be seen sat across from each other, separated by a table.

From there, they were able to view the street through the fences of the balcony.

Merchant and civilian carriages alike went from one side to the other, powered by the liquified magic crystals produced by the factories of Green Ash City.

The liquid is supplied to liquid crystal stations, where the drivers recharge their vehicles.

Magic crystals are generally acquired in two ways, either from mining deep deposits or artificial production.

A kind-looking man in waiter attire asked the two ladies at the table, "Are the madams ready to order?"

One of the women replied, "I'll want a small four cheese pizza with a can of light soda. What about you, Lydia?"

"I'll take a lemonade. I'm not hungry."

The waiter nodded and asked them to be patient as he would soon bring them their orders.

The woman across from matriarch Lydia said, "Are you on a diet, Lydia? I won't be letting you have any of my pizza."

"Business, Andressa. Business. From the reports, I can conclude that little empress thinks the outside world revolves around the palace the same way the astronomers of old thought the universe had Earth as the center. Did Invicta make any moves?"

"Nope. She has been silent so far."

"That means she concluded the situation is still under my control. Roses?"

"Of course, our informants confirmed it was their trump card that helped frame Elsa. Also, seems like they had another trump card on their hands, but they don't know what it was or what it was used for."

"Another? And we're still blind on what or who it is?"

"Not really. The Information Guild of Maroon District auctioned a small piece of info and we won it. The info was that they had brought a seer into the palace."

The matriarch froze, but her expression and position on the table remained the same, so Andressa didn't notice Lydia's reaction to her words.

Andressa continued, "Apparently, the seer had been making really accurate predictions to the district's people, so she had gotten some repute and money. After finding out about her, the palace brought her in. The Divination attribute is sure handy. Probably changed that seer's life."

"So you're saying a seer is their second trump card?"

"It's just a theory currently, but it's the one that makes most sense."

The matriarch tapped her fingers on her arm as she looked down the street. Her skin was cold.

The day was quite cloudy today and she wasn't wearing a coat, but that wasn't enough to explain her low body temperature at that moment.

The matriarch spoke while looking at the sky, "We're changing the plans. We're changing all of it."

Andressa looked at matriarch Lydia, bewildered.

The thing that surprised her was how calmly she had said it. It almost conviced her that changing plans years in the making was just a typical thursday for them.

Andressa asked, bewildered, "What!? What are you talking about, why would we need to change anything?"

"Call for a meeting with the administrators. The subject of the meeting is that we're forgetting about the royal palace." the matriarch said calmly, gazing at the street.

Andressa still couldn't understand what was going on, but after looking at matriarch Lydia's expression, she could figure something was wrong.

She probed for an answer, "Why?"

Matriarch Lydia hesitated.

Her gaze turned from the street to the table. As she was about to speak, a dazed expression appeared on her face.

She quickly hid her weird expression by closing her eyes, caressing her forehead with one hand.

While putting her arm down, she sighed softly and calmly looked back at Andressa, saying, "I can't explain it. Set the meeting."

They heard footsteps and looked in their direction.

The waiter had come back.

After setting their table, he said with a kind smile, "Enjoy your meal!"

After the waiter left, Andressa looked at the matriarch again with an expression of worry.

Matriarch Lydia took a sip of her lemonade.

Noticing Andressa not moving, she looked back at her, "Eat your pizza. Let's talk about your son. I heard he's been promoted to Harbinger? That's an important position, you must be very proud."

Andressa's expression lit up and she began to talk proudly about the military boy.

As if she had completely forgotten that matriarch Lydia's decision to change all plans would give her a mountain of work to do in the future.

...

The Royal Academy. A place where everyone wants to send their children to, located at the centermost area of Capital district, close to the Spearhand Palace.

A fun fact about history was how they renamed the capital district, city and state of the empire all into Capital, so if you wanted refer to them separately, you had to say either Capital district, Capital city or Capital state.

Still, it is easy to remember how the state, before it was called Capital state, used to be called Spearhand Kingdom, before the first emperor, Taurus Spearhand, unified all the human territories and founded the Spearhand Empire, which later came to be known as Human Empire.

Approaching the academy were Erik, Monica and her parents. They could see a large line of people in the distance, moving as the guards finished the body search and allowed their entry.

Still, Erik wouldn't be able to enter unless he took the bracelet off.

Even if he got in, someone was bound to recognize him. If they were from the empress' faction and knew he was the one being searched for, he'd get caught right away.

Luckily, no wanted posters could be seen around.

"Hey, voice."

Erik whispered, "They're not going to let me in if I have the bracelet. Even if I do go in, they'll know who I am and tell the emperor."

The empress would know first.

"So... Can you talk to professor Grant for me? He's one of the people who teach there, he has short hair..."

He begun to describe professor Grant's appearance to the disembodied voice that sometimes talked to him.

He asked, "Can you do it for me?"

Cloyd heard him and thought he was talking to him, "Did you say something, Erik?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

"Oh."

He turned back to the conversation with his wife.

Meanwhile, inside an office at the academy.

A man with glasses read from a pile of documents.

"Elsa's child is approaching the gates. He'll be caught if unaided."

A whispering wind came through a gap from the window, passing by the man's ears.

Grant quickly got up from the chair, one hand taking off his glasses while the other held the handle of his sword.

"Where are you? Reveal yourself." he asked.

He looked around. His sword was still sheathed.

Approaching the window, he looked towards the entrance of the academy.

"Erik."

He turned to leave, taking a coat from the stand and leaving through the door.

...

"Ouch!"

I fell on the ground. I had tripped away from the stone path and fallen onto the grass.

I couldn't walk straight on the stone path?

I looked where the stone path led to.

That's... The front of the palace? The entrance? I was leaving?

I got up while patting my clothes. The servants around were giving me weird looks.

Ignoring them, I turned around and walked back.

On the way back towards mom's mansion, I eventually caught Carmen and her group.

Big sister Lin was there, sitting at a table while talking to her friends.

I called her, "Big sister Lin."

She looked back at me. She excused herself and walked towards me.

She asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I didn't tell you?"

"No?"

"Did you see me pass through here?"

"I don't know, I didn't pay attention. Did you?"

"I didn't tell you I planned to take a walk by the gate today?"

"Gate? You hardly said a thing all day long! Also, when did you ever tell me where you were going?"

All she had was a confused expression.

It seemed there were no plans for me leaving today.

I replied, "Nothing. I'm going back home. Thanks."

She pressed the back of her hand to my forehead, saying, "You don't look sick. What's wrong with you today?"

"I'm going back home. Good night."

"The sky's still bright, brother."

I began to walk back.

Sight Voyage.

I could see big sister Lin was still looking at me, with a worried expression.

She stood there looking at me until I had gone far enough, then she went back to reunite with her friends.

I need to fine tune the artificial consciousness some more. For that, I need to keep it running.

...

It would soon be Erik and company's turn, but at some point a man dressed in professor attire came through the gate.

The man looked around, his eyes setting on Erik.

After having approached the group, Grant spoke to Erik, "Come with me."

Erik nodded, then looked back at Monica, bidding farewell, "I'll be going in now. I'll see you later, alright?"

"Alright Erik. Bye bye."

Cloyd said his goodbyes, "Goodbye Erik, thank you in advance for keeping our daughter company while we're away."

Monica's mom spoke, "Goodbye Erik, make sure to send us a letter, we'll send Monica a message with our new address later so we can keep in touch."

"Of course. Goodbye!" Erik said as he opened his arms.

Understanding what he wanted to do, everyone joined in for a group hug.

Grant watched that with a slight smile on his face.

Parting from the hug, Erik entered the academy with Grant, who used his authority to go through another entrance, where they wouldn't subject Erik to a body search.

...

"Argh!"

I fell to the ground after hitting my forehead on something.

This time, I hadn't tripped after leaving the stone path and going onto the grass, but then I smashed my face against a tree.

Why do you keep leaving course?

I had based my sense of direction on the cardinal directions, North, South, West and East.

However, that seems to have been a bad decision. My artificial consciousness was not advanced enough yet to process that information.

So, I have to fuel more information to it. What a path was, what's considered a path, why the stone path must be followed, how to avoid walking into obstacles...

And so on.

I decided to walk the rest of the path by myself while I added more information to the spell.

Soon, I arrived back home. A fat boy seemed to be looking towards the mansion building. He had his arms crossed.

He turned around and looked in my direction after probably having heard my footsteps.

He said, "Oh, so there you are, Sloth."

I approached him with a greeting, "Good afternoon, Olaf."

"Hi. Listen, you heard about how everyone is looking for a traitor right?"

"Right. Traitor robbed a royal artifact. Even my mom was called to lead a search party to look for them."

"Exactly. Look..."

He uncrossed his arms and spoke while gesturing, "You're a powerful guy. I know you don't show it to anyone, but you're a genius."

He patted my shoulder and continued, "The other kids are not like us. We've been casting advanced spells from the crib. I've been talking to some people and, hear this..."

He leaned closer, whispering, "Maroon District."

I kept looking at him with the same lazy expression that's always on my face. No reaction whatsoever.

He repeated himself, "Maroon District? The last place they'd look?"

He tried to explain why the place was important.

So, I decided to go along with it and asked, "Why would the traitor go there?"

"Why wouldn't he?"

"I don't know. If you know that the traitor is there, why not tell them to search there?"

Olaf looked at me as if I was dumb.

He mocked while clapping his hands, "Sloth. Come on, is your mind slow too? I'm talking about merit here. You and me. When we both catch the traitor, they'll look at us in a better light! Heh?"

He spread his arms with a wide grin on his face.

He continued, "No more fat boar! No more sloth. They'll treat us with respect."

"And you picked me? I just want to sleep, Olaf."

His arms went down. His smile had lowered. He had an unhappy expression.

"Don't be like that, Sloth. You can sleep later, right? Do you sleep all the time? Are you really a sloth, huh? Come on, man!" he said while shaking my shoulder back and forth.

I commented, "We have no evidence the traitor's there. We wouldn't know where to look."

Olaf smiled again, saying, "Of course we would. We ask around, but at the right places. I just need someone with me so I'm not by myself in case something goes awry. We watch each other's backs."

I looked at him. He meant everything he had said so far.

"Merit is good, but I also like sleep." I said that, but made no move to leave.

Olaf looked at me, squinting slightly and thinking.

A few seconds later, he said, "You know, I give you my blessing if you want to be with my sister. I'll even speak some nice words to her about you."

"You will, hm?"

He's pushing me his sister just like his mom did. Seems like he also knows of her plan.

I kept looking at him, still not showing any signs of agreement. He scratched his chin, looking at the grass as he thought.

After thinking for a while, he said, "I'll let you be the vice president of the fraternity."

What a jump. No one would refuse that.

"Isn't that Jonathan?" I asked.

"He'll understand. His mom works for mine."

"Really? Alright. Tell me if I need to prepare anything for the trip."

He suddenly had a big smile on his face. He laughed while patting my shoulder.

"Ha! I knew you were smart, Sloth! You know exactly how to ask for what you want, huh? That's good!"

He offered his hand to me.

"My sister will be fine if it's you. Treat her well."

I shook it.

Once he left, I went inside the mansion. After eating a light snack, I lied in my bed.

...

A small boy sat beside a man in professor attire on a sofa. The table in front of them had snacks and two cups of tea.

After being silent for a while, Grant said, "I'm sorry for your loss, Erik."

"He'll pay for it. Mom didn't deserve that. She loved him, but he never cared about her."

Erik's cheeks showed evidence of dried tears. His eyes were still somewhat moist.

He looked at professor Grant, "I want to become stronger. With this thing he gave me, I can absorb magic. Once I do, I start to feel stronger, faster, as if I could do anything."

"So that's how you succeeded on escaping."

"Yeah. I was covered in mud later and had no idea where I was. All I remember is that I ran a lot while jumping high in the air."

"You indeed went quite far, since you ended up in Maroon District. Did your friends help you find your way back?"

Erik heard the question and thought for a while. Then, he looked at the window.

The sun was setting.

Erik eventually replied, "I don't know if it's a friend or not. But sometimes, a voice speaks to me. It gets chilly in my ear when it does. It told me how to get here."

Grant's expression changed, as if he had remembered something.

He asked, "Was it a deep voice?"

"No, it sounded like someone like me, a kid."

"I see."

Grant had a thoughtful expression.

Erik looked back at him and asked, "You said you'd begin teaching me foot technique next week. Could we start earlier?"

Grant looked at him. He smiled.

His reply was, "Sure. But first, we need to change your appearance a bit. We can't have you being recognized."

He got up and walked towards a door. He picked a pen from his coat pocket.

Grant turned to look back at Erik, "Follow me."

Erik followed after him. After turning the drawings on the pen for a while, he tapped the door with it, then stored it back in his coat.

After opening the door, Erik was met with a room full of unfamiliar devices. After he had gotten inside, Grant closed the door.

Within it, there was a barber chair with a mirror in front of it, an unknown machine at the side and three doors.

One door led to the toilets, while another led to a dressing room. The third one was connected to a room full of wigs.

"Sit here." professor Grant said as he tapped the baber chair.

Once Erik was sat, Grant picked the scissors and began to cut his hair.

The boy asked, "Would cutting my hair be enough?"

"Nope. But this is not the only thing we'll be changing about your appearance."

After quickly and skillfully trimming down Erik's hair, Grant brought him to the unknown machine.

The professor said, "Take a seat."

After sitting on the chair in front of the unknown machine, he observed Grant picking up the hose attached to it.

After activating it, a black flame came out of the hose's end.

Grant touched the flame to his own hand, then said, "See? It doesn't hurt. Here, give me your hand."

Erik gave him his hand. He felt no heat from the flame, nor could he feel its touch.

"Now close your eyes." Grant asked.

Erik did as instructed. His expression became weird as he felt his skin tickle a little.

Grant passed the black flame around Erik's face, reshaping it.

Face Sculptor. That's illegal technology.

The fact that Grant not only had access to a Face Sculptor, but also a Pocket Room Pen, showed that he was more than just a professor in the empire's most respected academy.

With a Pocket Room Pen, you could travel to a room or multiple rooms completely detached from reality by just tapping it on whatever that could be recognized as a door.

The door would then lead to the room you chose after rotating the drawings shown on the pen's rotating device.

"What do you think?" Grant asked and showed Erik a mirror.

Looking at it, Erik was flabbergasted.

"W-Who!? Wait, me!?" the boy said loudly.

Erik jumped from the chair, unable to believe how his face had completely changed.

He was still as handsome as ever, but you wouldn't be able recognize him as Erik son of Elsa anymore if you saw him.

Grant told him, "With how different you look, you won't have to change your name, but don't tell anyone your surname, Spearhand."

"I won't. Can I use my mom's?"

"You know your mom's surname?"

"Yes, she told me."

"No, they could check her old documents and make a connection."

"Then... What's another word for Herder?"

"Herder? Hm, there's many. What are you herding?"

"I don't know... Maybe sheep?"

"That would be a shepherd."

Erik thought about it for a while.

Then, the boy said his new name.

"Erik Shepard."

...

The color red contrasted with the black of the night sky and the green of the forest's vegetation.

A large armored man holding a broadsword said, "I left her there for a reason. Trying to bring her back is like a slap on my face."

A muscular man became visible again as his colors returned back to normal. He was pressing his wounded arm.

"Brand. How did you find me?" the monster man from yesterday's attack on the Capital district's museum asked.

"You possess a monster gene. I can find you wherever. Even if you escaped to another dimension, I would still be able to find you."

The man's eyes widened as he looked at Brand.

He showed an expression of disbelief as he said, "Seriously? You never told me that!"

"It's true."

"Ha."

He chuckled with a bitter smile.

The man, who was wearing only skintight shorts, asked, "Am I dead?"

"Do you need to die?"

"No?"

Brand stared at the muscular man, who smiled with an inquisitive expression.

Brand's large and heavy navy blue armor, made from an unknown metal, gave anyone who looked at it a feeling of dread.

The muscular man looked at Brand with a helpless smile, saying, "Look, Eliana doesn't give me a job in a long time, so I couldn't resist. I also don't agree that they're trying to bring the psycho beauty back but..."

The man got up with a groan.

Brand spoke before he could continue, "Chameleon, you will return to Eliana and convince her to stop this madness. If Vanity comes back demanding the North, there won't be any warnings. This whole continent will be at war."

"You think she'll 'ask' Leo for the throne?"

Brand sighed, hearing Chameleon's emphasis on the word 'ask', then looked at the sky.

The armored man replied, "Yeah, she won't ask. She'll treat it as hers. If he says anything close to-"

"Excuse me, that's my seat?" Chameleon interrupted him, chuckling.

Brand commented on it, "That would earn him a slow death. I was gonna say that if he's polite, she might be merciful, but knowing how much he hates her, I fear for him."

"But he's her son, though."

Brand showed a sad expression on his face.

"I know." said Brand.

Suddenly, metallic footsteps on the grassy ground of the forest could be heard approaching.

Brand and Chameleon looked in the direction of the footsteps.

The person stopped, then sighed with a masculine voice, "Finally found you two."

Chameleon smiled, greeting loudly, "Adam! Ah, don't worry about my arm, I'll be fine. I was just catching up with Brand."

Brand also greeted the man, "Adam."

They greeted Adam, who wore heavy black armor. It had a faint, black gas flowing up from it.

"Carla decided you two need to go." Adam said, before pulling his massive broadsword.

Like the armor, it looked black with a gas coming out of it in the same color.

Chameleon shouted, "What? Adam! Adam, come on, we're friends! We ate lemon pie at your sister's wedding some time ago! I mean, it was centuries ago, but-"

"Ready it Chameleon, Adam's being serious." Brand replied seriously as he pulled his shield from his back.

"Huh!?"

Like his armor, it was navy blue. Unlike Adam, he carried the large sword with one hand, while the other held the large shield of the same color.

Chameleon spoke with an expression that grew sadder by the moment, "But we're comrades. We stay together to survive in this human and beastman divided world. That's how we survived so far. It's how it always been! Guys?"

Adam frowned at the two and spoke, "Indeed. We're tired of just surviving. Vanity will bring back the Age of Monsters. The word monster will once again be a compliment, not an insult. But you, Brand, are the biggest threat to our goals."

The Age of Monsters was an era in which monsters roamed the world, before humans and beastmen had eliminated most of them and the lands had grown safe enough to build lasting territory, like the kingdoms that were built after.

Monsters looked like humans, but could transform into different things, unlike beastmen who always had animal characteristics and humans who couldn't transform into anything naturally.

A monster's lifespan was far larger than the other two species. Some ancient monsters still roamed today, hidden away from magical society so they wouldn't be detected by the cities' monster tracking devices.

The two looked at Adam.

Chameleon, who now had a serious expression, spoke "We're comrades. We made a vow."

"Times change. And the vow was only symbolic anyway." replied Adam, without any expression on his face.

His sword was steady. He showed no hesitation when pointing it at them.

The sword's luster gave a feeling of ominousness rather than comradeship...