by Brent Tyman
When we neared the group of students in blue, I noticed one of them looked vaguely familiar. As had been the case with both Juliana and Clarissa, this woman was incredibly beautiful, with silver hair falling down to her shoulders. She had high cheekbones and lush lips that complemented her beauty.
The dress she wore naturally resembled the Academy garb I was used to seeing, though it was trimmed in a fancy design that showed off a bit more skin than usual, especially around a low neckline. Naturally, it was blue, to highlight that she was from Yunissa.
Her eyes were a shade of grey that definitely matched the robed woman I had seen in the Dungeon.
This was her… what was her name again?
“Stephania!” Clarissa yelled, drawing the attention of the blue uniformed students, and practically everyone else in the vicinity. “Give us back what you stole.”
“Clarissa, and Juliana, what a surprise,” Stephania responded in a smooth purr. “And whatever could you be talking about? What would the heir of the Yunissan Republic need to steal from anyone?”
“Don’t give me that. We all saw you run out of the Dungeon with whatever was in that box. Hand it over,” Clarissa demanded, imperiously stretching out a hand.
“Was it truly you inside the Dungeon yesterday?” Juliana asked. “I would like to know what your purpose was there.”
Stephania’s face fell as the rest of her group and indeed, everyone around us, broke out in whispers.
“Stephania stole something from a box?”
“She’s a thief? But she’s an heir!”
“Hey, move over! I wanna hear this.”
One of the blue uniformed students stepped forward, a dangerous glint in his eyes. He was pretty tall, compared to the rest of the students here, and had immaculately coifed brown hair parted to the side.
“You are bothering My Lady, I suggest you step aside, or…”
The man raised his fist, almost looking like he was about to strike. Before I could move forward to pull Clarissa out of the way, Aurielle appeared in front of the man in a flash of white magic and struck him with a resounding backhand.
She must have used her gravity magic, in addition to her prodigious strength, as the man, rather than getting knocked to the side, instead went flying up towards the ceiling in a long arc before crashing down onto the stage with an echoing thud.
The assembly hall, which had been a noisy buzz of whispers and gossip, went completely silent.
Well, if I had expected to get through this Grand Assembly without drawing any undue attention, that plan had gone straight out of the window.
Jeez…
13
On the bright side, at least the Yunissan student, whoever he was, hadn’t smacked into anything made of gold. If that had happened, then I’m sure the faculty might have charged us for it. I could only thank my lucky stars the stage’s floor was only made of sturdy wood.
“Ruhano, are you okay?” Stephania called out, before turning to us, her eyes narrowed. “How dare you attack one of my retinue!”
“I was only protecting my Clan,” Aurielle said. The dangerous glint in her eyes and firm look of her face told me she was ready to draw her sword at any moment, as well.
Things did seem to escalate quickly, when Yunissans were involved.
“That’s what happens when you dare raise a hand against the heir of Hoganna,” Clarissa said, smirking. “Nice job, Aurielle. Quick, handsome, lets subdue the lot of them so we can get that artifact back.”
Clearly, Clarissa wanted whatever that artifact was at any cost and didn’t fear the consequences.
Maybe facing that Titan and surviving had upped her boldness stat or something, if such a thing existed.
“I can’t give it back, you… you…” Stephania’s eyes went wide at something behind us, and we all turned around to see a blonde man surrounded by green uniformed guards.
He wore some of the fanciest clothes I had seen in this world, a fine cloth jerkin that boasted intricate patterns and swirls. Everything he wore was a different, though complimentary shade of green. I raised an eyebrow when I noticed that his boots were green, too. He had a cape draped over his shoulders and gloves on each hand.
He was clean shaven and, unlike Juliana’s stern father, had that same annoyingly smooth presence that reminded me of Daiver. Despite never having seen this man before in my life, his features were familiar to me. His blonde hair, blue eyes, elegant look… it almost looked like…
“Father!” Clarissa blurted. “What are you doing here?”
“More like, what have you done here?” he replied, rather jovially for some reason. “Did you see that, men? That’s how you deal with Yunissans, am I right?”
That drew soft chuckles from his guards and also from some of the nearby Hoganna students. The Yunissan students either backed away or looked on silently.
“I can explain, Father…” Clarissa began, but her father waved the excuse away with a flick of his hand. I could see where my blonde beauty had gotten that particular mannerism from.
“Is this the man you were talking about?” He asked, focusing on me. “Hmm, he does seem rather slim, I say.”
I fought hard to keep a straight face at that. Why did people keep saying that…?
“Pleased to meet you,” I said cautiously. “My name is Alex Augere and yeah, my clan is the one Clarissa joined, if you were wondering.”
I figured it was best to get it all out in the open, although I nearly bit my tongue after hearing my own words. I had completely forgotten to be formal.
Thankfully, Clarissa’s father simply laughed, as if I’d made a good joke.
“Haha, a bold one, too. My, what a treat this is,” he beamed. “I never thought Clarissa would settle down so quickly. Her eyes do seem to wander to spender quite often.”
Huh, so it wasn’t just me who noticed Clarissa really had an eye for unique, special, or expensive things.
“Father!” Clarissa complained, stomping her foot. “Will you listen?”
“Now, we should all get ready for the Grand Assembly. It should start soon, yes?” He asked one of his guards.
Yeah, he clearly wasn’t going to listen to his daughter.
Strangely, from what little Clarissa had told me about the man, this was not what I expected. I had envisioned him to be more like Juliana’s father, if a bit more scheming. Clarissa often noted that her father and the Sovereign of Tasberg were pretty much alike.
This seemed quite far off the mark, if I was being honest. I wasn’t sure if Clarissa had been jesting about her father, before…
“Ugh,” Clarissa groaned. “Don’t mind him, handsome. My father can be such a pain sometimes.”
“Uh huh,” I nodded, as I watched the man converse with his guards. “Are you sure you want to say that so loudly? He is right over there and can probably hear you.”
“He’s already tuned me out. Sometimes it seems like he goes off into his own world,” Clarissa explained with a huff. “To think that he would come here, of all places. I didn’t expect him to attend the Grand Assembly.”
“Hey!” Stephania hissed, pointing at the stage. “What about Ruhano? Surely you can’t expect to strike one of my own and walk away without any repercussions.”
“I’m sure your father and I can work it out, young Yunissan heir,” Clarissa’s father said in a voice raised to interrupt.
We turned back to face him and he grinned.
“My Clarissa keeps good company, and I’m used to cleaning up after her little scraps, here and there.”
Had he been listening the entire time? I looked over at Clarissa, who let out a tired sigh and started rubbing her temples. I decided not to press her anymore about him.
This day had taken a weird turn already…
Some Academy guards had shown up, but after a curt word from Clarissa’s father, they ignored us and went to get that Ruhano guy off the stage. It seemed that, although Aurielle hadn’t done any permanent damage, the man w
as still out cold when they carried him away.
Kesara was going to have a field day when she heard about this. Heck, if she was here, she was probably spreading even more rumors, right now.
“My Lady, should we move to a more hospitable part of the hall?” a blue uniformed woman asked Stephania.
“No. I can’t afford to look weak in front of the other heirs.” She frowned and glanced at me.
Juliana had appeared quite stunned when Aurielle had backhanded that guy but came to her senses quickly once things had calmed down.
“I believe it would be best for all of our nations if the three of us were to engage in more friendly cooperation, from now on,” Juliana said.
“Quite right,” Clarissa said. “Now, in the spirit of friendly cooperation, would you please hand over the artifact you snatched up in the dungeon, Stephania?”
“Not likely,” Stephania scoffed. “I heard the two of you had gone off to that Beastkin town to deal with… whatever it was, but to see you acting like friends is… strange.”
Her eyes turned to me. “You are this Alex I keep hearing rumors about, correct?”
“Probably. What rumors have you heard?” I asked.
“I know Clarissa Vos Hoganna left her Clan to join yours, as confirmed by yourself just now to her father. I also heard a rumor, just this morning in fact, that you and Juliana are also… together.”
She smirked when Juliana’s cheeks turned nearly as red as her Academy uniform.
That rumor—err… truth, actually—had most definitely been spread either by Kesara or the soldiers who had come back with us to the city.
Jeez… news really traveled fast here.
Juliana’s face stayed red as she shook her head. “It wouldn’t be proper to discuss such things here,” she squeaked.
Stephania raised an eyebrow. “Perhaps, but I do believe that there must be reparations made for poor Ruhano’s health,” she said.
“I make no apologies for my actions,” Aurielle said, “I promised to protect Alex, and that promise extends to the rest of his Clan, as well.”
“Is that how it is? I see,” Stephania said before letting out a yawn, covering her mouth with her palm. “My apologies, I’m afraid I did not get sufficient sleep last night.”
“I wonder why…” Clarissa drawled, a comment Stephania pointedly ignored.
“Are the rest of the soldiers from… you know where, going to be alright?” I asked the Yunissan heir.
Her beautiful face considered me for a moment before she snapped her fingers.
“Please leave me with them,” Stephania ordered the rest of her group, most likely her retinue.
“But my Lady…”
“Quickly now,” she insisted, and they all gave me a curious glance before backing away several steps and stopping on the other side of the stage.
I realized most of the students around us had backed off considerably. We’d had our own relatively private bubble ever since Clarissa’s father had shown up. Or maybe it had more to do with Aurielle’s rather potent backhand.
Probably a combination of the two, to be honest.
Either way, it had left a considerable space between our group and everyone else. Only Clarissa’s father and his conversation with his guards could be heard behind us.
Stephania lowered her voice to avoid him hearing what she had to say.
“I’m afraid they still haven’t come to their senses. Right now, most of them are still running from whatever illusionary monster that box conjured in their minds. My father has sent patrols to bring them back, but who knows how far they have travelled in their delirium.”
“I have heard the magic from these artifacts can be extremely powerful,” Aurielle said, her fingers stroking the hilt of the sword she had hung from her belt.
“Indeed,” Stephania said, her eyes meeting mine. “And precisely why I went and handed whatever it was I took from that box directly to my father. Although, as far as I’m concerned, the cost of the trinket was much too high, considering what happened to those poor soldiers.”
It was easy to get lost in Stephania’s eyes. It almost seemed like they were twinkling once I looked long enough.
“Yeah,” I coughed, jerking my gaze from hers, “sorry they had to go through that.” I shrugged and shook my head. “It did get pretty tense down there, but just like Juliana said, I agree that it would be better if you and these two got along. It was a little rough, at first, but Juliana and Clarissa have become good friends.”
She considered me before looking at the two women.
“I see that. I wonder what could have brought about this sudden cooperation between these two,” Stephania mused.
“That’s easy,” Clarissa said, tucking her arm into mine. “We made some rather… intimate agreements regarding our handsome Alex here. We’ve found things with him go much better if we don’t argue so much.”
“Indeed,” Juliana said, nodding, though her cheeks still heated up at this. “Agreements we aren’t prepared to detail to anyone, right Clarissa?”
“Ugh,” Clarissa grumbled, “fine. But only because my father is standing right behind us.”
If only I knew what kind of agreement these two had come to about me.
Stephania seemed both amused at this, but also intrigued. She stared at me for a minute or two, allowing me to get lost in her grey eyes for a moment longer.
“You are an interesting one, Alex,” Stephania finally said, rather cryptically. “To woo the heirs of both the Sovereignty and Federation at the same time? I wonder…”
“You had better not be thinking what I think you are thinking,” Clarissa growled, gripping my arm even tighter.
“I do believe I agree with Clarissa on this,” Juliana declared, circling around to seize my other arm.
It seemed the women couldn’t help but stay on their guard around this Stephania.
Jeez…
A thudding voice boomed through the hall, breaking up any conversations that had been taking place amongst the students. Conversations, no doubt, about us.
“Quiet for the headmaster!” a familiar voice shouted. I looked to the stage to see Lady Kotobara, Juliana’s and Clarissa’s teacher standing there with her hands raised. She was probably Stephania’s teacher, too.
“There will be no interruptions and no more…” she pointedly narrowed her eyes at me. “No more undue violence in these halls.”
Shouldn’t she be glaring at Aurielle? Although, knowing what I knew about the beauty from the southern desert, it was clear nobody wanted to get on Aurielle’s bad side.
They hadn’t even seen what her Ethereal magic could do.
Lady Kotobara stepped off to one side as the headmaster appeared on the stage. His flowing white hair and trimmed mustache looked just as I remembered it. He gave the assembly hall a quick once over, although I was sure his glance stopped just a second longer on us.
When the headmaster appeared, Clarissa’s father walked past us to join him up on the stage. Was he going to give a speech as well?
I had just chalked his presence near us up as a reminder to the other students to give his daughter a wide berth, more than anything else.
“Welcome to the Grand Assembly,” the headmaster said, his voice calm and clear.
“I have gathered everyone here today to share some extremely… troubling news.”
Instantly, my ears perked up.
“Rising hostilities amongst the three nations have forced the city state council to reconsider their position on Tringall’s neutrality. It is with a heavy heart, that I must announce that within the month, Tringall will mostly likely fall under direct control of one nation amongst the three.”
To say the news shocked the crowd of students was an understatement. The hall practically erupted in furious shouts.
“What will happen to the rest of us!”
“This is madness!”
“Go Hoganna!”
That last guy was probably from the
Hoganna Federation.
The headmaster simply raised a hand, and the hall fell silent. “I know you have many questions, but the city state council has come to an arrangement that should minimize the bloodshed that would normally follow this type of transition.”
At that, Clarissa’s father stepped to the front of the stage and grinned, as if people were applauding him or something. He cleared his throat before speaking.
“As you know, the Sovereign and Chief Chancellor would very much love to have their soldiers fight for a prize like Tringall, as they have always done. I, however, managed to convince them there can be a much more elegant solution to this dispute.”
He held his breath for dramatic effect.
“A tournament! A tournament will decide which nation truly deserves to rule over Tringall, and which nations fall short.”
Everyone’s faces reflected confusion at this declaration. Even Clarissa was affected. She let out a tired sigh and crossed her arms neatly under her breasts, muttering something about schemes within schemes to herself.
I raised an eyebrow at her.
“Sometimes my father makes no sense at all. Why does my family have to make everything so complicated?” she grumped.
As the students shouted question after question at the stage, I shrugged. “You know, my own family wasn’t perfect. I was young when I lost my parents, really young, but despite the embarrassment that my parents sometimes caused, those were the best years of my life. I only wish I’d had more time with them.”
Both Clarissa and Juliana raised an eyebrow at me, and even Aurielle turned to listen.
“You’ve never mentioned your family before,” Juliana said.
“Yeah, handsome. In fact, you always avoid talking about your past,” Clarissa mused. “Is it really so… secret?”
I hadn’t told them because it sounded absurd in my own head, and would sound crazier if put into words. How could I explain what happened to my parents to them? And coming from another world because I had smacked my head into the floor? It was still a lame way to die, and what happened to that Goddess was too strange to even think about.