Chapter 24: Reunion (5)

“Stop it, Allen, and Thors too…”
Just as the farce was coming to an end, a young man stepped forward from the crowd to stop Allen and Thors.
Cliff Bealis, the former royal mage who was skeptical about Allen and Thors’ identities, exclaimed in surprise, “Your Highness, the Young Duke?!” But soon, confusion appeared on his face as he looked at the young man dressed in traditional black noble attire. “You… know them? Um, I mean these two…” he pointed at Allen and Thors.
“Oh,” the young man in black smiled faintly and nodded, saying in a teasing tone, “Of course I know them…” He then glanced apologetically at Prince Theo, glared sharply at Allen, and said to Thors, “Long time no see, Thors!”
“Scott?” Seeing his closest friend from before, Thors sobered up a bit and nodded with emotion. “Long time no see, Scott!”
“Hey!” With a little effort, Allen broke free from the curse Scott had placed on him. Holding his knight’s sword, he smiled at Scott, then shrugged and said jokingly, “Tch, how boring, buddy! Is that your way of saying hello?”
Scott looked at Allen helplessly. To be honest, he was very troubled by the situation. After all, one side was the first prince with royal blood and noble status, supported by his own father; the other side was his former friend. Not to mention their backing—one was a key figure representing the merchants of Operrials, while the other might gain the support of the Vandal dark mages.
This was tricky…
Scott sighed secretly and glanced at the royal knights lying on the ground. Fortunately, they were only temporarily unconscious and not seriously injured. Perhaps those two just wanted to teach them a lesson.
That made sense. If a fight really broke out, it would definitely be an unfair one—the gap in strength was too huge!
“Hello, Your Highness, Young Duke OGil! I’m sorry I couldn’t stop this from happening!” Vampire Ulric bowed to Scott in an ancient manner, and Scott returned the gesture. After all, the other party was a vampire noble with terrifying powers from hundreds of years ago, and also a friend of everyone’s.

“I know, Ulric.” Scott nodded, then glared fiercely at Allen. He was sure this trouble must have been caused by that good-for-nothing guy. After all, with his familiarity with Thors, he couldn’t possibly believe that Thors, who showed no interest in anything, would start a fight on his own. — You bastard, Allen!

The question now was, how to deal with this situation?

Scott clearly noticed that Prince Theo’s handsome face had turned pale, and he was now looking at him with suspicion and distrust.

What a headache…

An hour later, Prince Theo sat silently in the carriage prepared by Scott, his expression stern. The royal knights beside him also bowed their proud heads in front of Allen and Thors, as they had been defeated by those two “brats” with almost no chance to fight back.

Upon learning that Allen and Thors were also heading to Altak, Scott frowned slightly before sighing inwardly. He invited Allen, Thors, Ulric, and the soldier puppet Sogjes onto the second carriage. Accompanying them were Scott’s two cold and silent attendants, as well as the former royal mage, Cliff Beilis.

Mage Cliff Beilis was very curious about Allen and Thors, especially Thors. As a royal mage, he found himself almost powerless in front of this young boy—a fact no one would believe if told.

Looking at the boy’s youthful face, which appeared to be only fifteen or sixteen years old, the 56-year-old mage Cliff Beilis felt his face burn with heat.

Thors, who was sitting by the carriage window with his head in his hands, seemed to notice Mage Cliff Beilis’s gaze. Indifferently, he said, “What do you want to say?”

“Ah?” Mage Cliff was slightly startled. With a forced smile, he waved his hand and said, “Nothing, nothing. I’m just very surprised by your immense power. You’re one of the strongest mages I’ve ever met. Facing you gives me the same feeling as facing the former head mage, Lord Hastings…”

“Hastings?” Thors turned his head, looking at Mage Cliff with surprise and confusion, as the name seemed very familiar yet eluded him.

“Is there something wrong?” Mage Cliff asked in astonishment.

“No, it’s nothing!” said Thos, continuing to gaze out the window at the distant white snow, adding softly, “I didn’t hurt you just now, did I? — If only I had known you were Scott’s friend…”
“Hehe, no, no, you just…” Mage Cliff couldn’t finish his sentence. He smiled awkwardly, clearly aware that he hadn’t fallen to the ground like those royal knights simply because this young man hadn’t taken it seriously. But how could he bring it up himself?
As he tried to change the subject, Allen across from him said with a smile, “You guys are really not very tough! — Sorry about what happened just now!”
Was this an apology or a provocation?
Mage Cliff was at a loss, his face showing a hint of shame.
Perhaps noticing Mage Cliff’s expression, Scott glared at Allen irritably before comforting Mage Cliff, “Please don’t mind it, Mr. Belis! — Um, I haven’t had the chance to introduce myself yet. Let me introduce you…” He pointed at Allen and said, “I’m sure you’ve heard of the Knights of the Free Wind of Operiels. This is their commander and the only son of the Merchant Association’s president—Allen Skander! — Though he can be really troublesome sometimes, his strength is extremely formidable.”
“Hey, can’t you praise me properly?” Allen complained.
“Huh?” Mage Cliff’s face showed disbelief as he looked at Allen, who wore a teasing smile, and murmured, “I’ve heard of the Knights of the Free Wind. No wonder… no wonder even Bert isn’t a match… No, they’re completely on different levels…” He was referring to Bert Brackley, the former deputy commander of the Royal Knights who had fought against Allen earlier.
“Heh,” Scott smiled faintly and pointed at Thos, saying, “And this one is Thos. He also comes from Heliriox and is a student of Professor Hode. He fought against Argus three years ago…”
“Hode? Could it be Hode Kandy?” Mage Cliff was shocked. He had heard three years ago that Argus, who had brought the empire to its current situation, had been seriously injured by a mage named Hode Kandy.

But what surprised him even more was that this seemingly only fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy had actually fought against that demon-like man, Argus, three years ago? How was that possible?!
Thos?
Thos?
Such a formidable figure? Why had he never heard of him before?
Seizing the magician Cliff’s astonished expression, Allen said jokingly, “Curious why you’ve never heard of him?”
“Uh…” Magician Cliff nodded awkwardly.
“Dumb, because he hasn’t been in the empire these past three years!”
“Not in the empire?” Magician Cliff was stunned for a moment before his eyes lit up in surprise. “Not in the empire? Could it be in Salonia?”
“Yes!” With a snap of his fingers, Allen looked at Thos and teased, “Well, after failing to challenge Argus, he fled to Salonia and changed his name to Volmon Klaest—now an important figure at the level of a cardinal in Salonia!”
“A cardinal?” With wide, unbelieving eyes, Magician Cliff watched as Thos turned to look at Allen indignantly and snapped, “What do you mean ‘fled to Salonia’? What do you mean ‘changed his name’?—I still use my old name!”
“Okay, okay!” Allen raised his hands in surrender before rubbing his chin and saying, “Actually, I think Volmon Klaest is a pretty good name too. It suits your current status, right? The name Thos feels a bit too common; it doesn’t quite match your current status…”
Thos rolled his eyes irritably.
To be honest, Allen wasn’t wrong. Moreover, Thos himself wasn’t averse to the name Volmon Klaest. After all, that old pope had taught him for three years, teaching him many things. He could be considered Allen’s second mentor after Professor Hode. The difference was that Professor Hode was a mentor who could be regarded as a friend, while that old pope was a mentor with the stern demeanor of an elder.
Even so, Thos didn’t want to abandon his old name, as he had an inexplicable feeling that it was connected to someone extremely important…
“Just call me Thos!” Thos said indifferently before continuing to gaze out the window. Rather than really looking at the white snow, he was just lost in thought—this was his habit.
Seizing Magician Cliff’s awkward expression, Scott said softly, “Thos is rather cold-hearted and doesn’t like to talk much. Please don’t mind him!”

“No, no,” Mage Cliff waved his hands repeatedly, expressing sincere admiration. “I have never seen such an outstanding young mage as Lord Thors before…” He paused, then looked at Allen curiously and asked, “If you don’t mind, I’d like to ask—what is the purpose of your trip to Altak this time?”
“What else could it be?” Allen smiled slightly, clenched his fist, and said in a low voice, “To persuade Altak to send troops to launch a counterattack against Thassan!” He glanced at Scott, shrugged, and added, “By the way, Sister Eber plans to hold a military alliance meeting in Vandel in half a month. Are you interested?”
Scott was stunned for a moment, pushed his glasses up, and said in a deep voice, “Is it about Argus?”
“What else could it be? Argus’s demonic army isn’t easy to deal with…”
“That’s true…” Scott’s words trailed off. After a moment of hesitation, he looked at Allen with some uncertainty before sighing quietly.
At the same time, Allen’s gaze toward Scott also showed slight fluctuation. Although their goals might be the same for now, they were after all representatives of two different classes—classes with sharp contradictions.
Argus was just the beginning of a series of upheavals in the empire. While the top priority was to defeat this demonic man and regain control of the empire’s core from his hands, what came after was what truly mattered.
Who would defeat Argus and who would reclaim Thassan would be crucial for the future of the country—would it be Gallek, representing the noble class, or Operelles, representing the merchant alliance?
Perhaps it would be only when Argus disappeared from the public eye that the empire’s true conflicts would intensify, leading to a struggle between the merchant class and the noble class. This was something both Allen and Scott had realized as early as their first trip to Vandel three years ago.
One day… they would end up on opposing sides!
Until then, though still best friends, they still needed to ally with every possible force to prepare for the future—whether it was Sgdel or Altak.
On this point, Scott admitted that Allen had already taken the lead…
The atmosphere inside the carriage suddenly became tense. Scott couldn’t help but glance at Thors, who was staring blankly out the window, and sighed quietly to himself.

Scott was aware of Thors’s journey to Salonia, but he never expected Thors to return at such a time and ally with Allen to inflict an indelible humiliation on Prince Theo, whom he had supported. Two days later, when the group arrived in Breu by carriage, Scott clearly noticed the extreme hostility in Prince Theo’s gaze toward Thors. Sigh! Really… Scott didn’t want to blame Prince Theo, as the whole mess wasn’t entirely their fault. But labeling Thors as part of Allen’s camp just for that reason made Scott feel that the prince still lacked the necessary maturity. Yes, no one knew Thors’s capabilities better than he and Allen! First, he was a highly skilled magician, perhaps even approaching the level of a grand magician. More importantly, he was Professor Hodd Kendi’s most trusted apprentice! Who was Professor Hodd? Now, all the magicians in the empire knew his name—after all, it was he who had severely wounded the once domineering Argus. Didn’t Argus always have attendants by his side whenever he appeared in public? That had never happened before! Hodd Kendi had become synonymous with an empire hero. Although he had failed, he had still given the dark magicians a harsh lesson to Argus, making that demonic man afraid to underestimate the empire’s magicians again and showing them hope of defeating Argus. It could be said that almost half of the dark magicians in Sgderel came for the sake of Hodd Kendi’s name. Thus, as Professor Hodd’s apprentice, Thors naturally deserved the respect and admiration of those dark magicians, given his own formidable strength. In other words, Thors could almost be regarded as a representative figure of the Vandel dark magicians. Pushing him toward Allen was tantamount to pushing most of the magician class toward the Operials merchant class—a rather foolish move! However, Scott didn’t blame the prince, as he wasn’t aware of Thors’s true identity. And there was only one way to reverse this unfavorable situation… Because Professor Hodd’s students weren’t just Thors—there was also Ravia… Ravia Favalia. If they could gain her support, it might not change Altak’s allegiance, but at least it could alter the situation where Vandel uniformly supported the Operials merchant class.

But sadly, Scott wasn’t very confident—after all, Ravia’s feelings for Thors were all too clear among their friends… Scott could mostly guess the reason why their idiotic father wanted the prince to go to Altak personally. During times of chaos in the empire, many local nobles remained neutral due to their inability to see the situation clearly. Gallek had been like that, and Altak as well. Although the royal family held immense significance for the nobles, they often considered their own interests first. For them, loyalty to the royal family was necessary, but preserving their own families was even more crucial. Therefore, to gain Altak’s support, guarantees had to be provided first, and the best way to do that was through marriage… If it were anyone else, Scott might have thought it was a good idea, but when it came to Ravia, he could only shake his head and smile bitterly. Not to mention that Allen, that bastard, had brought Thors along to “cause trouble”… Perhaps it was fate, or perhaps chance, but Scott increasingly felt that what Professor Werman from Vandel had said back then was absolutely true… No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t change the fact that he was a “knight” who protected the nobles. Allen was the strongest “castle” of the merchant class, while Thors, being a commoner who valued freedom and refused to align with any faction, undoubtedly represented all possibilities as a “soldier.” And Ravia, thanks to her family’s prominence, would undoubtedly become the target of everyone’s pursuit—namely, the “queen”… Faced with a “castle” and a “soldier,” if he couldn’t get the support of the “queen,” his role as a “knight” would likely become very precarious in the future… But unfortunately, just like in those knight novels, a noble-born “queen” often harbored special feelings for a lower-status “soldier”… Tch! What kind of boring novel is this! Damn it! Why didn’t I meet Thors first!—That bastard Allen! By the time the carriage stopped at the entrance of Breiu City, Scott’s expression remained grim, while Allen wore his usual smiling face—which annoyed Scott greatly!

Perhaps others didn’t think so, but Scott was well aware that Allen was a natural leader who, like himself, would become the center of attention at the ball. Even he wasn’t sure he could overshadow his brilliance… No, he probably already couldn’t! Because of that prince, the “soldiers” had become soldiers of the “castle” side…

Watching Allen stand together with Thors and Ulric after getting off the carriage, far away from Prince Theo’s group, Scott couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

Perhaps not noticing Scott’s thoughts, Prince Theo spoke in his usual royal tone, “Should we find a place to rest for the night, Prince OGil?” By “royal tone,” he meant something that sounded like a question but actually carried an imperative edge.

Before Scott could speak, Allen turned his head, smiled, and said, “Hey, Scott, are you guys going to rest here for the night? — Well, we’re heading off then!”

Scott frowned. To be honest, even as friends, he wasn’t willing to let Thors meet Ravia under these circumstances. Unfortunately, he couldn’t stop them, or rather, he had no reason to.

“Hm!” Scott could only nod.

“Hey!” As if thinking of something, Allen grinned, walked over to Scott, put his arm around his shoulders, and said softly, “It was luck, but… we took the lead!”

Looking at Allen’s smiling face, Scott gritted his teeth in anger and muttered, “Allen… you bastard!”

“Hey!”

Dragged by Allen, Thors bid farewell to Scott, who looked bewildered and angry, and headed to Lord Breu’s castle.

Meanwhile, Ravia Fawalier, one of the key figures both Galik and Opereles wanted to win over, lay in her bedroom, holding a uniquely designed clown mask—half black, half silver—which seemed rather strange no matter how you looked at it…

After what seemed like a long time, the girl with striking red long hair lying in bed let out an inexplicable sigh.

“He still isn’t back… that idiot!”

Next to her on the bed, the queen puppet Queen Quinn, dressed in a purple lace gown, sighed helplessly and said gently, “My lady, your grandfather asked me to remind you that there will be a ball tomorrow and the day after. I hope you’ll wear a formal dress and attend…”

“Why? Can’t I wear knight’s armor or a magic robe? — I hate wearing formal dresses!”

“Well, that’s one way to put it…” Quin shook his head helplessly and tried to persuade her gently with vague words, “You’re almost sixteen years old this year, master. You should think about the future, don’t you? — What do you think?”
Perhaps understanding the deeper meaning in Quin’s words, the girl lying on the bed turned over and said lightly, “They’re too weak! — My husband must be stronger than me! — No, he must be stronger than anyone in the world!”
“But…”
“Hmph! — How could someone who can’t even beat me be qualified to be my husband?!” As she spoke, a hint of nostalgia appeared on her charming face, and a slight smile flashed in her eyes. But soon, that smile was replaced by dissatisfaction, making her huff in annoyance.
Is Salonia really that good… that bastard!
The girl glared fiercely at the clown mask in her hands, as if she were glaring at the person in her mind.
Just then, the door to the room suddenly knocked…