Arc#4 Chapter 55: Alley (Patreon)

[Author's Note]

Very sorry for being a few hours late again.

m (_ _) m

I fell asleep again. I just closed my eyes and then poof.

Suddenly, it's 4 am instead of 9 pm. And the date's changed.

Anyway, that's the last draw. I'm going to change the time I post.

Now, all that's left is to decide what to change it to...

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There was a pregnant pause in the room after the senior battlemage's question.

"H-huh...?" Mira was understandably flummoxed at suddenly being asked to room with a boy. It was certainly a strange sight, given how she seemed happy and relaxed most of the time. A rosy blush colored the pearly skin of her face as she tried to salvage what remained of her composure. "Wh-why me?"

Crag raised a brow at her. "Should your juniors do it then?"

Mira groaned as she sent a glance to Inaria and Alini, eventually sighing to herself. Despite how bad of a leader she considered herself, she wasn't bad enough that she'd throw her juniors under the carriage "I understand..."

"Alright then. Ah, just so you know I'm not harrassing you." Crag pointed a finger at the room where the senior battlemage in charge of scrying was. "We have two women in our party. They're both bunking up. And as for the other three men, not all of us sleep at the same time since one's always out on patrol."

"I see..."

Forced to make a choice, Mira scanned the faces of her three male subordinates and made a face when her gaze landed on Aldimir, immediately turning to Kantor. She stopped, seemingly giving it some thought, but then she glanced at Reivan and sighed. "Vice-captain. You're with me, then."

"Queen Mira," Aldimir cut in, his tone filled with grievance. "Why'd you look like you ate a sukrita fruit when you looked at me?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she feigned ignorance, seemingly drained by the mere act of making a choice.

"Alright, then. That's decided." Senior Crag nodded and sent Reivan a wink before warning him with the seriousness of a veteran advising a rookie. "Don't get into any funny business. We've got an early morning tomorrow."

"I wouldn't dream of it, senior." Reivan nodded.

"Right. Go get some dinner downstairs and go to sleep, then. You better be outta your rooms by dawn. I'm gonna get some shuteye since my turn on patrol's in a few hours."

Their senior bid them farewell as he headed to one of the rooms, trying and failing to stifle a yawn.

"Darn, Clover." Aldimir sidled up to him and elbowed him on the side, whispering in a volume that rivaled a mouse's. "When'd you put the moves on her, huh? I didn't even notice."

Reivan's clicked his tongue and pushed up his glasses. "I did no such thing."

"Well, she didn't pick me for obvious reasons. But wouldn't she have picked Kantor because he looks the most harmless out of us three?"

"I thought we liked Kantor...?"

"I do too. He's great. I'd take a bolt to the thigh for the guy. BUT. He is what it is. We've all noticed."

"I mean..." Reivan licked his lip in thought, not finding sufficient material to defend Kantor in this matter. Over the course of their short friendship, the three of them had gotten close and both Aldimir and Reivan noticed that Kantor clammed up a little in front of the fairer sex.

It wasn't to the extent that he couldn't talk to them. But he was visibly very... guarded around them, and it wasn't hard to notice. That was also why Aldimir didn't bring Kantor along when hitting on girls or something similar, yet always tried to get Reivan to tag along so they could team up. Of the three of them, the safest one for a woman to room with was unarguably Kantor.

Mira wasn't blind, so she must have noticed that over the past two days too. In fact, she'd been considerate enough not to pester Kantor too much.

The fact that she chose Reivan anyway was very strange. So much so that he checked how much Favor she had for him just to sate his curiosity.

════ ⋆★★★⋆ ════

Favor

(Interest / Trust) 38 / 100

════ ⋆★★★⋆ ════

'Oh, shit.'

Reivan pushed Aldimir away from him and led the squad downstairs, sinking into his own thoughts.

The last time he'd checked her Favor, it was at 50. However, the emotions had only mentioned "Goodwill". Though the number itself got lower now, there was both "Interest" and "Trust" so it could be said that it was an improvement.

'I don't think I did anything though...?'

All he'd done, really, was interact with her normally. One could even say he'd been a bit harsh on her.

However, he did consider the fact that "Interest" may not necessarily be romantic in nature. It could be that she was simply curious about him, seeing as he was the guy she'd planned to throw all her leadership responsibilities to.

'That... actually kind of makes sense. Yeah, that's probably it.'

It was low, but trust did exist. Perhaps what she'd seen of him these past few days was enough for her to give him the "Not A Rapist" stamp of approval. And he was, indeed, not a rapist. In fact, there had been plenty of times when he'd found himself in someone's bed with no recollection of how he got there. That meant that, in a twisted sense, he had gotten raped a couple of times.

Not that he would complain.

'Why the hell am I even thinking about this...?'

By the time he noticed it, they were in the supposed hotel dining hall, and a nearby employee directed them to a table for six. Just like the suite, it was surprisingly nice inside, a very stark contrast to how dilapidated the exterior was. Reivan felt like the owner of the place needed to be schooled in some very basic common sense when it came to how to run a business.

After they all sat down, Reivan was handed a menu, from which he promptly chose a dish that Clover Salwyn would have liked and passed it along to Aldimir. Then he noticed Alini whispering something to Mira from across the table.

He was ready to dip his hand in boiling water if he was wrong about them talking about him. The frequent glances from Mira were a very telling sign.

‘What I’d do to have my hearing back…’

With just Clover Salwyn’s paltry ears, he couldn’t hear what they were saying. And he didn’t have the specialized training to read Alini’s lips. Actually, it wouldn’t have mattered if he did have the training, because her hand was in the way.

Why did people always do that? It made it so obvious when someone was having a secret conversation. They were practically waving their hands in the air and shouting “We’re whispering to each other!”

Aldimir seemed to notice too since he prodded Reivan’s foot with his own, a knowing grin on his face.

Reivan flipped him the magic finger under the table and ignored him for the rest of the meal, talking with Kantor about wizard stuff instead. The short pretty boy was the best person to talk to about that since he was quite studious—though not as studious as Inaria, who was reading a grimoire even as she ate.

As he finished his own meal, he saw Mira look at him before shaking her head at Alini. Alini, in turn, seemed confused but didn’t push whatever it was. They both returned to their mostly abandoned meals, leaving Reivan internally confused.

‘Whatever.’

If they weren’t plotting his death or to set him up in some way, then perhaps it wasn’t his business to pry. He stood up and returned to the suite before the others.

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Reivan took a hot bath after returning, washing away the fatigue that had built up from an entire day of being stuck in a train.

Because of the perpetually cold climate throughout the republic, hot baths were a bit of a cultural thing. Unlike his previous home country of Japan though, they were a bit more private about the relaxing activity. It was one of their most developed aspects, even having a wide selection of bath herbs to make each bath an even greater experience.

‘I should take note of it and bring some to the palace…’

“Good stuff…” Reivan stepped out of the suite’s bathroom wearing a baggy set of clothes fit for sleeping. There was a nice robe made of silver silk that reminded him of his original hair color, but walking out in that may cause misunderstandings.

A whistle welcomed him as Aldimir waved from across the room, seemingly about to head inside his own room. “Nice. Ladies like it when you’re clean..”

“Fuck off.” Reivan felt his words were insufficient so he flipped Aldimir off too, before deciding that just one wasn’t enough.

“One of these days, I’m gonna get you to teach me how you do it.”

“Would you be quiet, what if you wake up the seniors?”

That, apparently, was enough for Aldimir to stop his antics. “Whoops, you’re right.”

Reivan walked over to the room he would be sharing with Mira and shooed Aldimir away. “Go to sleep, Aldim.”

“Oh, I will. Not sure about you, though.”

“One of these days, I’m gonna shove a wand up your…”

With a snicker, Aldimir ducked inside the room and closed the door, apparently not bothering to bathe before heading off to bed. The other girls were either still downstairs or already in their rooms, because there was nobody in the common area.

Reivan let a yawn escape his mouth as he opened the door, stepping inside the surprisingly spacious room. There were two single-person beds but it was more than big enough to accommodate five people.

‘We could have just taken the mattresses from the bed and brought it over… Hell, we could probably carry the beds over to the other room and just return it when we leave.'

There was no way the seniors hadn’t thought of that though.

Reivan suddenly realized they were being toyed with.

‘I can’t believe they are hazing here too…’

Even the knights had their own way of hazing their newbies, so Reivan wasn’t surprised. Of course, back home, hazing was done with love and affection. Just small traditional pranks like having you do a supply run for a nonexistent item.

Reivan hadn’t been hazed though, seeing as he was the prince. Having the ability to see through lies also eliminated a lot of the pranks, so there’s that.

“Clover?”

“Hey.” Reivan nodded toward Mira, who was already in bed, covering everything up to her neck in a thick down blanket. “Bath’s free, if you want.”

Mira twitched, bringing the blanket up a little higher so only her eyes peeked out. “Why would I bathe…?”

“Uh, because we’ve been stuck in a train all day and it was cold on the way here?”

“Oh.”

Reivan looked at her obviously guarded state and scoffed as he strode to the bed she hadn’t laid claim to. “I’m not gonna jump you, so you don’t have to be that scared.”

“Hm…” Mira glared at him with narrow eyes, humming in suspicion. “How can I be sure?”

“You can’t. I could be lying and have a grand master plan to trick you into letting your guard down.”

“I knew it!”

“I was joking.”

“I knew that too!” Mira chuckled as she pulled down her blanket and sat up, her usual easygoing smile back on her face.

Reivan rolled his eyes and laid down, kicking off his shoes before crawling under his thick and surprisingly comfortable blanket. He closed his eyes and curled up, his back to his roommate as he was moments away from falling asleep.

Mira’s voice called out to him in surprise. “Wait, you’re just going to sleep?”

With a sigh, he turned over. “That's what I wanted to do, yes. Before you ruined it for me.”

“It’s so early, though.”

“Yes, but you see, we have to wake up early, right? Hence, I want to sleep early too. Get it?”

“You really have a way of talking like you’re talking to an idiot, Clover…” Mira frowned, her pretty little eyebrows furrowing. “You have to work on that.”

“...You have to work on a lot of things.”

Mira froze before turning away.

Reivan took one look at her and yawned before closing his eyes. The duvet was really nice and it was accelerating the intensity of his drowsiness like never before. “Go to sleep, captain.”

“I’m not sleepy yet.”

“Doesn’t matter. Go to sleep. Didn’t you say I was the leader now?”

“So you agree with what I said?” Mira asked, sounding somewhat hopeful. “We trade positions?”

Reivan sighed, opening his eyes again, realizing how heavy they were. “I’ll take charge when needed. You keep doing what you’re doing now… Y’know, the mood, or something? Also, please behave.”

“I am behaved though.”

“Behaving like a misbehaving child, you mean?”

“You’re so harsh!” Mira forcefully laid down and hid under the blankets. “And fine, I’ll keep being the kind and beautiful mom of the squad and you’ll be the bossy old man across the street.”

“What kind of analogy even is that…”

Reivan shook his head in exasperation and closed his eyes, thanking his vast experience with women for how relaxed he was in this situation.

════════════════════════════════

Before the first rays of the sun graced the skies, Reivan awoke refreshed and energized.

As soon as he climbed out of bed and searched for his roommate, he discovered that she was still sleeping soundly in her bed.

And he also discovered that she had horrible sleeping habits, because everything that was supposed to cover her was on the floor and her shirt was hiked up to reveal her white navel.

‘What an unladylike appearance.’

Reivan got up and tried to wake her up, trying very hard not to notice how much more endowed Mira was than he’d expected. “Hey. Wake up.”

After a few nudges of her shoulder, Reivan switched to softly tapping on her face since the former unintentionally shook other parts that peeked out of her loose pajama top. She groaned every once in a while, but otherwise stayed fast asleep.

“Hey!” Reivan shouted a little loudly, growing a bit tired. He’d been trying to wake her up the gentle way for an entire minute and his patience was running thin. If she didn’t look so angelic when she was quietly sleeping, he probably would have snapped even earlier.

‘This is a waste of time.’

Two minutes after he started shouting, he finally got angry enough to just push her off the bed, letting her fall to the floor. There was a carpet, and the bed wasn’t that high, so he believed she wouldn’t die or something. Though he would have derived some sort of satisfaction if it caused a bump in her forehead.

There was a thud, and she collapsed in an unmoving heap on the floor, the soft sound of her breaths the only sign that she wasn’t a corpse. She still wouldn’t wake up though.

“What the fuck is wrong with her…” Reivan’s forehead creased like never before as he combed his messy hair back with his fingers. “How can someone sleep so deeply?”

He wouldn’t have done it, of course, but if he had done something untoward to her last night, he was now confident that she would have slept through the entire thing.

After debating on what to do, Reivan knelt down next to her sleeping form and pinched her nose close while holding down her soft pink lips.

A few moments later, Mira’s eyes shot open and she breathed deeply, her lungs begging for air.

“Glad to see you’re awake.” Reivan stood up with a grimace. “Get dressed. It’s dawn.”

Mira sat up with the appearance of someone who’d left half of themselves in the dream world. “Is it time already…?”

“Yes.”

“No, that can’t be right… I just closed my eyes a few seconds ago. It can’t be morning already…”

Reivan scratched his head and helped her off the floor. “There were a lot more than a few seconds.”

Mira made a sobbing sound as she let herself get pulled up, wobbling a little when he let her go.

He took one final look at her before nodding, deciding that she should be able to take care of herself at this point. “I’m heading over to the guys’ room to get dressed. You sort yourself out and come out.”

“Okay…”

Reivan was still a bit unsure, but he internally argued that since she was nineteen years old—a year older than his real age—then she should, at least, have the capability of getting dressed on her own.

“Don’t take too long.”

With those final words, Reivan took a change of clothes with him and headed for the door.

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It would have been comically hilarious and also infuriating if Mira was still wobbling around in their room, but luckily, she seemed her normal lazy self when she stepped out.

Reivan and the other two boys, and the girls—who had all risen quite early and gathered in the living room—greeted her as she joined them.

“How was last night?” Aldimir teasingly asked their captain as she sat down on one of the sofas.

Mira laughed airily, scratching at her cheek. “I think Clover has to take responsibility and marry me soon.”

Reivan scowled at her. “Stop saying things that can be misunderstood. Nothing happened.”

“But the baby, Clover! What are we going to do about our baby~?”

“There’s no baby!”

Both Aldimir and Mira snickered at his expense, the former looking like a mischievous imp in his eyes while the latter was a giggling sloth.

“Glad to see everyone’s so lively!” Crag walked in from the hallway leading outside, followed by two male battlemages who seemed to be about the same age. “You guys ready?”

“Yes, senior.” Mira stepped up after being prompted by Reivan. “Last night, we decided that Aldimir and Kantor would be joining the patrol. Inaria would help with scrying. And Alini would be on standby.”

Crag nodded as he sent Reivan a knowing grin. “Alright then. Aldimir’s going to patrol with Vexos over here. And Kantor’s with Lar. Sisters Alini will stay in the common room and Inaria can head inside that room over there to wake up our scrying expert.”

There was a short round of introductions as the two other middle-aged senior battlemages shook hands with the juniors. Then Crag took both Reivan and Mira out with him.

Though they weren’t specifically told to do so, Reivan and Mira were dressed in civilian attire, abandoning their robes and concealing their belt buckles under their thick overcoats. This ended up being the correct decision since Crag was doing the same.

“Right. Let me explain what we’re doing.” Crag walked through the cold streets of the early morning city. “What we’ve been doing these past few weeks has basically been asking tourists if they’ve been bothered by anyone, taking note of any characteristics they can offer. Sometimes, we’ll show them a portrait of some suspects. That has proven fruitful so far, as certain suspects on our radar have been pointed out multiple times.”

Mira hummed seriously. “Poor things… What are they doing to the Aizenians, senior?”

“So far, just petty harassment. Intimidating them into lending money. Intruding on their meals by suddenly sitting on tables. Bumping shoulders, that kind of thing. It’s wrong, but that’s not the kind of stuff the government calls us for.”

“The problem is that it's organized,” Reivan posited as he rubbed his cold hands together, cursing himself for not wearing gloves. “And it might escalate into something more.”

Crag nodded with a grave expression. “That’s right. The kingdom takes the safety of its citizens very seriously. They’re kind of crazy about it. Both the capitol and the Tower don’t want to ruffle the kingdom’s feathers, so we have to handle this before anything drastic happens. If this blows up and they demand retribution, we’ll have to hand over our own citizens or risk retaliation.”

Reivan grunted. “The former will demean our sovereignty while the latter means war. Or not. Maybe just some other way of getting back at the republic. Like sanctions?”

“Exactly, kid. It’s not above Aizen to send a few knights to assassinate the criminals if we refuse. And that’s not good either. Because that’s also bad for publicity and we pissed off the kingdom. Especially since they just gave us a huge favor for free with those free train passes. We’d look like the biggest fucking ingrates in Sentorale. And that’s saying something, since we’re on it with Argonia. Nobody does treachery more than those guys.”

Mira tilted her head. “So all of this is to avoid looking bad?”

“Yes.” Crag chuckled. “But it’s also to save a few hapless criminals from whatever the kingdom’s going to do with them if they go too far.”

‘That’s for sure.’

Reivan looked around, already thinking of how to bury the fools who were targeting his countrymen in his city.

Sure, it was in Arkhan’s borders, but Lageton belonged to him in all but name.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have any access to his assets here in the city. He could’ve done it himself, as Reivan Aizenwald, but there were very obvious problems with that. After all, he wasn’t sure if an Ascendant from the Tower was still watching him.

‘Guess I’ll rough ‘em up as Clover Salwyn then.’

“If we’re asking questions…” Mira suddenly asked. “Why are we out here so early? Shops haven’t even opened. Workers are only just waking up, too.”

Reivan hummed in agreement. He’d also been wondering why.

Crag threw a glance at them as he led the way into a side alley. “Because we’re no longer doing that. Just last night, before you guys arrived, our scryer found their little hideout. So we’re going to stand by and see if we can hit it.”

“Shouldn’t we have brought more people then?” Reivan raised a brow as he followed the senior, checking to see if Mira was keeping up a step behind him.

“They have more than one hideout. So we want to scout more than one. Besides, we’ve got three battlemages here.”

“One’s a first year and the other’s a second year.”

“Point taken.” Crag raised a thumbs up with a chuckle. “But we’ve got our spirit beasts to help or scout ahead. Hell, mine’s doing that as we speak, making sure we aren’t walking into any trouble. Also, if push comes to shove, you can at least cast a barrier to protect yourself. Understand that you were assigned to this mission because you guys are good enough to be here. I like your caution, kid, but don’t underestimate yourself too much. We’re not fighting knights here, just rounding up a bunch of hooligans.”

Reivan nodded like a good little rookie. “Yes, Senior Crag. I’ll keep your words in mind.”

“Sure, sure.” The senior shared a look with the last member of their trio. “You’ve snagged a good vice-captain here, Captain Mira.”

Mira giggled and playfully punched Reivan’s shoulder. “I know. That’s why I’m gonna work him to the bone!”

“Oi.”

Reivan frowned as the other two battlemages laughed at his expense, and he was starting to feel like that was happening a little too much lately.

The three of them made their way through a winding alley, and at some point, Crag raised a hand for them to stop. “Quiet.”

Reivan shoved his right hand in his pocket while also summoning his wizard claw, ready to cast a spell at any moment. Mira was shamelessly staying close to use him as a shield, if the grin on her face was any indication.

Crag’s spirit beast was apparently scouting ahead, so it must have found something that caused the senior battlemage some pause. Reivan would have liked to send Sen out like that too, but unfortunately, that would have to wait until they form a more permanent bond.

“Uhm, senior…” Mira whispered, her demeanor alert despite her usual self. “Should I send mine to scout too?”

“Are they good at it?”

“Not really… One's just cute and the other only wants to fight?”

“What? You have two?"

Mira nodded.

"That's unexpected... Oh, but don’t bother. My partner's got the scouting side under co—”

BANG!

Crag’s words were interrupted forever when a flower of blood bloomed on his forehead, his head thrown back from the impact.

‘Spellbane bullet!’

Reivan had been staring at the senior battlemage, so he managed to see how the bullet that completely ignored a barrier surrounding Crag, penetrated the man’s skull.

And in the face of spellbane bullets, every defensive spell a first-year like him knew was irrelevant.