"Griff. Wake up.""5 more minutes..."
Griff mumbled in his sleep. He felt very comfortable.
"Is he up yet?"
"No... he"s not waking up."
Griff could here Sylvie"s and someone else"s, probably a knight"s voice.
"You got to get him off the carriage. We"re returning back to Alfrum for a supply run."
"Ugh, fine I got this."
Griff continued to sleep not giving a d.a.m.n about his surroundings, but suddenly the feeling of his ear being pulled woke him up.
"OI OI OI THAT HURTS! STOP IT!"
He jolted up screaming as he held his now slightly reddened ear. He came face to face with Sylvie who was sitting in front of him with her legs crossed and a s.h.i.t eating grin.
"You slept for a whole day, get a moving! We"re at the capitol."
"At least wake me up nicer next time!"
She shrugged.
"You just wouldn"t wake up and I didn"t want to lose time."
"She-devil."
She got up, and slapped him on the back.
"Come on."
He grumbled as he got up, and walked outside the carriage... to come face to face with a city that would make Alfrum look like a rundown village.
There was a majestic and marble white castle that was floating above the entire city, not only that, half of the city was floating mid air! The architecture was beyond Alfrum"s with high quality materials such as quartz, marble, granite and all sorts of other valuable stones decorating the entire city and the houses.
"You can explore it later kid."
Griff felt someone tap on his shoulder and turned back to come face to face with Luke. Sylvie had already walked off, helping some of the knights and other Alfrum refugees that had decided to come with them unload the carriages full of equipment and injured.
"Let"s get you settled here for the night."
He took a step back, giving Griff full view of where they were. Several knights were walking around them, patrolling the city. In front of Griff was a semi-circular marble building with several red banners hanging from its windows.
"I never gave a proper introduction did I! I"m the Knight Commander of the Order of the Phoenix! Welcome to the city of Lumiére, Griff!"
"..."
Griff was still shocked by the floating castle and the size of the city... but he quickly composed himself, and grinned back.
"I"ll be in your care, sir!"
He extended his hand for a handshake which Luke complied.
"Now, we better handle your transfer into the Kulvan Military Academy, but first I think it"s time for a small feast."
Griff was smiling. He was indeed very happy. He didn"t expect that the knight commander would be this accommodating. He sort of knew something he wanted to hide, but it seemed that he wouldn"t back from his promise.
[Simply observe and keep your guard up. Don"t get caught up in your joy for now. You don"t know what might happen.]
"Yeah yeah I got it covered, but we better find a way to actually hide my magic next time."
[Hm... I"ll work on that. Alright don"t talk to me for a few days, I"ll see what I can do with your magic circuits.]
Now that that seemed to be settled, Griff followed Luke into the large building that he thought to be the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix.
"Gareth, I"d like it if you could start setting up some tents for the refugees to use. Remove them from the grounds in 2 weeks. That should be enough time for all of them to find employment here. Griff, fetch Sylvie for me. I"ll be debriefing you two on where you"re going."
Gareth who was walking next to them silently for some time simply saluted and ran off, shouting at a couple of knights who started setting up tents in the courtyard. There weren"t a lot of refugees anyway, only former adventurers of Alfrum who came to hopefully join the guild.
A couple minutes later Griff and Sylvie were standing in front of Luke in his office... well it would more likely be suited to be called an armory with all sorts of weapon and armor scattered behind Luke. The desk and chairs still gave off the slight air of a commander"s office though.
"You two can relax, I"m not your superior or anything. Not yet at least. For now you"re my guests so just sit.
The two did so as Luke cleared his throat.
"Alright, first of all you"ll have to learn how to hide your demi-human features Sylvie. Most beastkin are thought the spell morph immediately. Do you know it?"
She nodded, she was honestly surprised that this man seemed to not discriminate against her.
"It"s not mandatory that you use it, but discrimination is still strong in some parts of the city. It would be safe to do so."
"Alright. I can keep up my appearance as a normal human for a whole day without having to replenish my mana anyway."
She said as she folded her arms and crossed her legs.
Luke simply scratched his chin as he went into thought for a while.
"An entire day is no easy feat. You"re no normal demi-human."
She slightly tensed at that as Griff also looked at her with curiosity.
Luke noticed the slight conflict he could have started from his statement and quickly dismissed it.
"It doesn"t matter for me, don"t worry. Next, I better tell you where exactly you"ll be attending. Kulva has only one Academy right now, and it"s here. It"s official name is the Kulvan Magic and Military Academy, but we all just call it the Kulvan Academy. This is where the new recruits for Knight Orders are trained. Depending on your performance you get to even pick your own Commander, well that"s a pretty hard thing to accomplish though."
"If there"s only one Academy... isn"t the army small?"
Griff said.
"Nope, the academy is only for Knight Orders. They are special military units that train those who want to start off in an Order, but they are completely separated from the normal military. Mostly officers, knights and mages come out of there."
Griff nodded as he started to get excited. It seemed that he would be going to an interesting place.
"Well! That"s all I have to say! I"m no teacher, so it would be better for you two to learn more about the workings of the school from a teacher, or perhaps the principle. You two can go and rest. I"ll arrange the guest rooms for you two, but tell no one that I"m letting you two stay there while the others are camping outside."
He gave a childish smile and put his finger to his mouth to give a shush sign and winked.
Griff sighed. He"d been doing that a lot lately, sighing, but it wasn"t from annoyance but rather from excitement. This man... Luke was definitely a man-child.
"Well, let"s go then."
Sylvie stood up and grabbed Griff by the collar, but just as they were going out of the office Luke shouted back.
"I just remembered something! Could you leave Griff here for another minute, you can settle in your room for now Sylvie."
She looked like she wanted to refute, but looking at at Griff who was staring at Luke with an understanding gaze she understood that he too had something he didn"t want to expose. Oh well, she too had her secrets... they"d learn of each others in the future.
She shrugged and let go of Griff, walking out.
"Do what you want."
Luke stood up from his chair, closing the door.
"She"s certainly feisty."
"You can say that again..."
He really didn"t know how he could tolerate her dragging him around... literally.
"Alright, you probably know why I wanted to talk to you."
"My magic, right?"
"Bingo! You"re foolish at times but not an idiot."
Griff"s eye twitches but he couldn"t refute that looking back at...
"It"s not like there are people who can"t use several attributes, but being able to use two at the same time is indeed odd. You don"t have to hide your attributes, just your ability to combine them."
He breathed a sigh of relief. He didn"t want to only use his black flames anymore, not when he was beginning to grasp what magic really was.
"You"ll be evaluated when you start cla.s.ses there, I"ll talk with the principle today. I"ll be honest with you, the principle"s got a sharp eye for magic. You"ll probably not be able to hide a lot of stuff from him, so I"ll talk with him. He"s an old friend."
[Tch... like anyone could see through my tricks.]
Griff thought he heard Caphriel click her tongue... must have been his imagination.
Suddenly Griff"s stomach rumbled as he held his stomach with slight embarra.s.sment.
"Uhh... sorry, I haven"t eaten anything because I slept too long."
Luke simply laughed, dropping his serious demeanor again.
"I held you too long I guess. The kitchen should almost be finished with all of your food soon, I"ll see you later."
He said as he opened the door, allowing Griff to leave. As he walked he couldn"t help but think about what would come next.