Chapter 56: Joining The Academy

"You’re too young to be serving the settlement, and I doubt you want to spend all your days here alone. That’s why Isadolla, after listening to your story, decided that she wants you to join the Cthulhu Academy, where young Vorath like you go to learn the ways of the Vorath."

"The Academy will resume very soon, but until then, you’ll remain in the castle. There is a rough-necked, lonely person here who can keep you company until then."

"So, what do you say about it?"

King Eboncrest asked.

Arlo’s eyes flashed with surprise as he looked toward Isadolla before bowing once more.

"Thank you, my Queen."

"It’s nothing. You just have to get yourself ready for the Cthulhu Academy entrance exam. I’m guessing that roughneck will be willing to help you out. She’s just at the back of the castle..." Isadolla said.

Arlo nodded gratefully before excusing himself.

It would be a lie to say that sitting around for days, doing nothing but cultivating, was a very nice thing to do.

There was a loneliness that came with it, and he was at the most active age of his life. Besides, how much could he really teach himself if he remained in the Vorath settlement?

The only benefit of staying there was the high concentration of mana.

But now that he had the opportunity to attend a proper Cthulhu Academy, things would be different. It would be a great opportunity, and it would help him grow even faster.

"Thank you, my King and my Queen," Arlo said one last time.

The two waved him off, and Arlo disappeared through the door.

"A smart and pretty humble one..." King Eboncrest remarked after his disappearance.

"And also very handsome..." Isadolla added.

Eboncrest’s eyes narrowed.

"Are you implying that he’s more handsome than I am?"

His mind had somehow found a fault with her compliment.

"I actually think so, you brute..." Isadolla replied with a wink.

Eboncrest’s face quickly turned red.

"Come here, you troublemaker. I’ll teach you what it means to be truly handsome..." he said, grabbing Isadolla around the waist and lifting her from the ground.

"You! Get your hands off me, you jealous brute!" Isadolla complained as she slapped his shoulder.

Eboncrest didn’t even seem to feel it as they moved away from the corridor amid his boisterous laughter and Isadolla’s cold harrumph.

________________

With a smile on his face and a small skip in his step, Arlo hummed a little tune to himself as he headed in the direction the king and queen had pointed out.

Soon, he arrived at a large, peaceful-looking garden.

Taking a deep breath of the fresh air, which contained a high concentration of mana, a relaxed "Ahhhhhh" escaped Arlo’s lips before he suddenly sensed a presence on the far side of the garden.

He turned to look at the feminine figure, and his jaw dropped.

The same happened to the figure standing across from him, who also stared at him with her jaw hanging open.

But just as quickly as he had arrived, Arlo whistled and turned back toward where he had come from.

Unfortunately, the roar of the figure rang through his ears, and his legs immediately got to work.

"Come back here, you sleek neck!"

Milliani roared as she chased after Arlo, catching him by the back of his clothes before flinging him back into the garden.

"Oh, it’s you! Milliani right? Hahaha, how could I dare forget the name. What a.. what a really humbling surprise, eh?.."

"You bastard..." Princess Milliani said as she slowly approached Arlo, rolling up her sleeves and cracking her knuckles.

"Well, if you really think about it, with wise and fair eyes. This is totally uncall..."

She pounced on Arlo, pinning him beneath her before...

BAAAAM

BAAAAM

BAAAAM

The sound of fists smashing against flesh echoed through the garden as Arlo desperately shielded his head with his arms.

"Wait, wait! At least let me say something!" Arlo shouted.

Princess Milliani finally stopped her flurry of punches and looked down at him, her fist still raised above his face.

"You have a second!" she replied, her eyes still as fiery as ever.

"Well, I just want to say that you’re holding me down in quite the, um, uncourtly position, don’t you think?" Arlo asked.

Milliani raised an eyebrow before glancing down at herself.

Her face immediately turned red, and she jumped off him like a startled rabbit.

"You! How dare you take advantage of a princess of the mighty Eboncrest family? You deserve death for your crimes!" Princess Milliani declared.

Arlo finally felt the fire in his stomach begin to lessen, and he couldn’t help but breathe out like a dog.

"You... You’re so heavy, and your blows sting so much!" Arlo struggled to say.

Princess Milliani merely snorted coldly.

"What are you even doing here? Why are you tracking me down?" she asked.

Arlo finally managed to regain his breath.

"Well, I was brought here by Prince Demois, and then bestowed with the grace of meeting you by the King and Queen..." Arlo replied.

Milliani snorted coldly.

"Whatever bad thing you’re here to do, just don’t come within a meter of me! We don’t know each other anymore, okay?"

"Got it!" Arlo replied.

He watched as Princess Milliani walked back to her table, where she buried her head in an extra-large book.

Seeing her turn away from him, Arlo slowly began tiptoeing toward the garden’s exit, attempting to sneak away.

But before he could get far, he felt a stinging gaze on his back.

"Come back here! You’re not supposed to stay a meter away from me!" she declared.

Arlo’s eyes dropped.

’This wasn’t the type of trouble I was expecting to come across...’

[Well, you’re already in it, so you’ll have to deal with it. She’s the only one who knows that you’re not supposed to be here, and she can only be the one.]

[If the news spreads, you’ll be forced to make some important choices, and getting your hands stained with blood will be one of them.]

The system’s tone had become serious this time.

Arlo sighed before regaining his composure and walking toward her.

"We need to talk, Princess Milliani..." Arlo said.

Princess Milliani’s eyes widened.

"I said a meter away..."

"Well, I heard a meter closer, and a man’s intuition is never wrong. Isn’t that what all females say?" Arlo replied shamelessly as he took the second seat opposite her.

"NO female says that. And even if it were true, you wouldn’t fit the criteria..." Princess Milliani said as she looked Arlo up and down.

In what way did this girl-boy even fit the criteria for being a man?

"So, you’re an orphanage Vorath boy who grew up in the human settlement? Yeah, right!"

"Tell me, is the human world so boring that you couldn’t even last a month there before running over here?"

Princess Milliani asked, clearly intending to mock him, but Arlo suddenly flinched back before freezing in place.

Memories of Captain Ennessa, the crew, and Surgeon Jessica flashed through his mind, reminding him once again of his betrayal.

Were they really all so boring that he could abandon those people without even a second thought?

"Maybe later..." Arlo muttered.

He rose from his seat and began walking back toward where he had come from.

"Arlo! I said not a meter away!" Princess Milliani called out but could only watch as he continued walking away.

"That must have hurt him somehow..." Princess Milliani whispered to herself, her eyebrows furrowing.

She closed her book before getting up and running after him.

[Where are you going? Can’t even handle a simple word poke!?]

"All I need is to get to the Academy. I don’t need the Eboncrest family’s help anymore."

"I’ll travel there myself. I already managed to pull off the impossible by infiltrating Vorath territory.

"It won’t be hard to simply travel to another place now that I am a Vorath too..."

Arlo convinced himself as he headed back toward the house that had been given to him.

But when he arrived, he found it already locked.

The emissary must have done this after being told that Arlo would now be staying in the palace.

Now he was homeless too.

[Leaving the Eboncrests would make things difficult. Now you’re even homeless.]

[You have no money, no status, no background, and you want to get into an academy for the top younglings of the Vorath settlements?]

[It would be incredibly difficult.]

"It’s always been hard.

"Leaving those good people who wanted to do nothing but help me behind was hard."

"Faking being a Vorath in front of someone whose entire life had already been ruined by the Vorath was hard."

"Every night of cultivation is hard."

"The Cyber Transfusion was hard."

"Taking away a person’s greatest life’s work was hard."

"It’s always been hard, and I’ll pull through, just like I’ve always done..."

Arlo replied as he continued toward the gate, intending to leave the settlement.

However, before he could reach it, a long-haired figure suddenly pinned him against the wall.

"Get off me..." Arlo said.

Princess Milliani’s eyebrows creased in confusion.

"Why are you behaving strangely?"

"I said get off..." Arlo roared.

His astral blue eyes became tinted with pitch black, and his voice suddenly shifted from soothing to menacing.

"I just want to say that if my words touched a soft spot, I didn’t mean it. And also, thank you once more for coming back to look for me."

Princess Milliani said as she slowly loosened her grasp on him.

"Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m very selfish, and I don’t care about you at all, much less enough to come looking for you."