The Runic Alchemist

At last, they managed to lie beside each other without making a big deal out of it. Toph was in the middle, sound asleep, even though he hadn't done much walking that day at all. The change in environment seemed to have affected him a bit. Damian found it easier to sleep compared to her—he was used to sharing his room with Toph and Sam. For her, this was probably the first time—provided she wasn't the wild type. Looking at her she sure acted as a young teenage girl.

"Why do you have a baby elephant? A pink one at that?" she asked, her face turned toward the wall in the opposite direction from him.

"He's not pink; he just glows pink," Damian replied, his eyes drifting to the twinkling stars beyond the glass window.

They really did not spare a single expanse, guess the Highswords were really loaded after receiving years and years of tribute from the five kingdoms and not doing much with the wealth. He'd read that they provided free food and disaster relief when high-ranked monsters or natural disasters struck towns and villages. Apparently, they sometimes footed the bill when a region's lord couldn't afford it—though lords rarely allowed it out of pride. Propaganda or truth? Who knew?

"But why do you have him?" she asked again.

"They killed his parent... so now I have him," Damian said simply.

"Oh..." Her voice softened, and she shifted, straightening out on the bed. From her earlier

"I'm staying as far away from you as possible"

position, she now lay facing the ceiling. In the dim moonlight, Damian noticed her gazing warmly at Toph.

"I'm sorry for that day.." Damian said quitely. He didn't know why he felt apologetic but he just felt like saying it.

"Huh? What day?" she asked, confused.

"I refused the proposal because of my personal issues.. It had nothing to do with you... You seem like a nice person—it would've been an honor to be your partner."

"An honor to be

myn/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

partner? Not part of the Eldorian family?"

"As good as your family is—well, compared to others—I can't agree with some of the decisions your mother has made. I know I'm in no position to judge, and I don't understand the weight of those decisions... but I don't think I could follow her."

"You really think so highly of yourself?" she snapped, her voice rising slightly. "Your talents might be impressive, maybe even once in a decade impressive, but you have no right to question my family. My

mother

.."

Her tone was sharp enough to make Toph stir. He rolled over but continued sleeping. Realizing she had spoken too loudly, she softened, turning back toward the wall and murmuring, "She has done a lot... sacrificed a lot... She's a good queen.." Discover hidden tales at empire

Damian felt stupid for telling her his honest thoughts on her family, even though he barely knew her. Apologizing would just make it worse since he didn't feel like he had said anything wrong, just the person he said it to and the situation could have been a bit different.

****

The next day thankfully was the first day for the academy entrance exam and Damian could just leave the princess with the other two by the end of it. Babysitting was not his strong suit. He woke up before her, freshened up. The stone bathtub with iron inner layer looked a bit crude at the first site, but it worked even better than the high quality ones back on earth. The water could be heated through the runic iron layer that had a simple fire rune along with the water, but one had to remember first came water then fire.

Even though fire burned on mana, it could still be doused by water, it could also be reignited underwater, magic was weird like that. Damian did notice the increase in mana absorption underwater for the fire compared to air. At least there were some laws to it.

Toph loved the hot water just as much as he did. In water he could glow his belly as much as he wanted, which seemed to be a very fun activity for him. After taking a bath Damian put on his casual clothes and took the chair near the window, continuing reading his book while waiting for the princess to wake up. Damian was really happy with the double windowed corner room. It offered a breathtaking view of the sunrise over the bustling city—a sight Damian truly appreciated.

An hour after sunrise, she finally stirred and prepared herself for the day. She didn't seem to harbor any grudge from their uncomfortable conversation the night before. Damian, in true adult fashion, chose to let sleeping dogs lie and forget it never happened. She needed to focus on the exam today too, and he wasn't about to distract her further. Damian didn't know how good a mage she was, but she must have been through enough training. And her aunt was a Spellmaster so there shouldn't be an issue for the three of them to rank high. Damian was curious to see what kind of entrance exam the famous knight's organization conducted.

They headed out for breakfast and met up with Sam and Einar at the common challengers' canteen, which was half full. They could have eaten in the crafting and theory VIP student canteen, it was almost empty too and should have a better menu. But they chose to eat together. The challengers were many, but the hall was equally massive, and there were multiple canteens too, it could house over thousands of people at once. Finding them was no big issue, though there was one thing Damian felt at odds with the academy.

In open and general places he could sense people with their mana signatures, but in closed rooms, they seemed to disappear from his mana sense. The rooms, especially the VIP rooms had some kind of enchantment for mana sense blockage, or maybe there was a hidden runic tool somewhere. Even with his improved

'Eyes of truth'

which had transformed to

'The clarity of soul'

giving him a pretty wide range and much better mana sensing capability, he couldn't find the active runic circle for the weird phenomena anywhere in the room. There were other lit rooms near his own, but he couldn't sense anyone in them. It could prove to be problematic for him-he needed to find some way around it.

Sam and Einar were munching on the white bread as Damian and Evrin joined them with their own plates in hand. The breakfast included white bread, soft cheese, slices of smoked ham, and boiled eggs. A platter of fresh pears and preserved cherries added a touch of sweetness, while silver cups were filled with some sweet juices of unknown fruits. Overal it could be called fancy for this world's standard.