Chapter 36

The short words were apparently unheard by his father.

“Right. That is enough. You have seen the child. Now go.”

The old man picked up the piece of wood once again. It was a signal that the conversation was over. His father opened and closed his mouth repeatedly, as though he had more he wished to say, but ultimately could not utter a word.

“Is there… perhaps anything else you wish to say, Grandfather?”

His father cautiously broached the subject, but the old man was already focused solely on the block of wood. Only the scrape, scrape sound of the blade answered him instead. His father bowed deeply at the waist.

“Then we shall take our leave. Please rest well, Grandfather.”

Led away by his father’s hand as they exited the cabin, Arkin looked back one last time at the dim interior. His great-grandfather in front of the fireplace was absorbed in carving wood—as if they had never been there at all.

Once they were far from the cabin, his father looked noticeably lighter. A relieved smile spread across his tense face, and his stride became considerably breezier. Patting Arkin’s shoulder over and over, he could not hide his excitement.

“Ah, excellent. That’s it! Great-grandfather has acknowledged you. He didn’t say anything, but that means he doesn’t oppose it. He’s acknowledged that our Arkin will become king!”

His father kept muttering in a flushed voice, just like someone who had passed a major examination. Yet deep in a corner of young Arkin’s heart, the words left behind by his great-grandfather lingered for a long time.

“Greed.”

Not far from the commemorative tree stood the ‘Crystal Cave.’ As Seneca took the lead, pushing aside the bushes and stepping forward, the trainees followed in a line. The cave entrance was dark and narrow. It was a crevice barely wide enough for a single person to pass through, requiring them to twist their bodies sideways just to squeeze in.

“Be careful. The ground is slippery.”

At Seneca’s warning, a few of them braced their hands against the cave walls and moved their feet cautiously. At first, it felt as though they were trapped in pitch-black darkness, but their eyes gradually adjusted. The deeper they went along the path, the more a faint, reddish glow illuminated their surroundings.

“We just need to go in a little further.”

Walking in single file through the narrow passage, the space suddenly opened up wide all at once. As a surprisingly cozy and spacious area unfolded before them, gasps of admiration burst out from here and there.

“Whoa.”

“It’s beautiful.”

The trainees looked around in wonder and exclaimed. Those who filed in behind them also tilted their heads up, staring at the ceiling with their jaws dropped. From the cave walls all the way to the ceiling, thousands upon thousands of red crystals emitting a soft glow were densely embedded. A brilliant radiance surrounded them, as if they had stepped inside a jewelry box.

“Oh goodness, I feel like I could cry.”

Overcome with emotion, Princess Amalfi of Floria kept dabbing at the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief.

“If someone were to fall in love with someone else in a place this gorgeous, it would truly be wonderful…”

Arkin stepped back a pace to avoid the flower princess’s passionate gaze. The surrounding walls were entirely hard crystal, but the ground was unexpectedly covered in soft soil, giving it a cozy appearance.

“In the past, before the temple was built, those who came to Credo Island for the peace talks used this place as living quarters. There is a clear spring inside the cave, and the air circulates quite well through the ceiling, so it must have been ideal.”

Seneca pointed to a spot in the corner of the cave where a round pool of light fell. Light slanting in through a small opening was illuminating the clear spring water below.

“To my eyes, this looks like the perfect spot to sneak off for a secret romance. The ground even happens to be soft and plush, after all.”

Zafiri smiled broadly and tapped the soft dirt floor with the toe of his boot.

The group, having exited the cave, looped around the path and passed back near the vicinity of the temple.

A sight they had never seen before came into view. Workers carefully picking leaves with baskets tucked against their sides on the sloped herb fields, and men quietly moving as they plowed the fields with oxen, were hard at work. Young servants carrying water jugs on their heads also stood out. Every now and then, the sound of bright laughter carried away on the breeze.

“These are all tasks each of you will try out yourselves. As part of the Meal of Humility…”

At Seneca’s words, a murmur broke out among the trainees. A few stared back at the workers with disbelieving expressions.

“Is this really a training tournament? You aren’t trying to recruit us as common laborers, are you?”

Draconis sneered maliciously, but Seneca let out a dry, unbothered snort in return.

“Laborers, my foot. Where on earth would I use a bunch of fragile slackers who whine at the drop of a hat?”

“That crazy bastard…”

Draconis gaped in sheer disbelief, but Seneca strode on ahead as if it were none of his business, even humming a little tune as though amused by teasing royalty.

“If this were Voltrion, he’d be flogged for less. Honestly, the man is impossible.”

Kaichen grumbled as he huffed and puffed up the sloped hill.

Arkin tilted his head, watching the swaggering priest. Was that man really a priest at all? Rather than a priest training at a temple, his delinquent-like attitude felt endlessly puzzling.

Yet come to think of it, Seneca wasn’t the only one like that. Titus was the same, and even Priest Tilly, who looked after the princesses, had an unusually uninhibited way of speaking and acting.

Was this just the relaxed atmosphere unique to a neutral zone? Arkin figured the workers tending the fields generally shared that same temperament. Even when they briefly lifted their heads to watch the commotion among the princes and princesses, they quickly lost interest and immersed themselves back in their work.

While they maintained a polite demeanor when faced individually, there didn’t seem to be any atmosphere of excessively bowing and scraping before royalty or cringing at their feet. If anything, it was more like their own tasks took precedence above all else.

“Hey, about Draconis.”

Petra, walking nearby, turned back to look at Arkin and Elio with a sly smile.

“He looks so pathetic, doesn’t he? He keeps picking fights because he’s desperate to clash with him somehow, but since Seneca’s built like a brick wall, he probably doesn’t dare run his mouth out in the open.”

Arkin chuckled quietly as well. Seeing those skillet-sized hands, anyone would naturally conclude the same. Having gone through several training tournaments, they might have judged that sturdy priests were simply the most fitting choice for handling willful royalty.

On a wide plateau halfway up the mountain, there was a fairly large-scale chariot racing arena.

“Chariot racing! The time has come to showcase the abilities passed down by my mother. I’ll show you Voltrion’s lightning chariot, so you’d better look forward to it!”

Kaichen, with his white hair spiked up sharply, chattered impatiently. Arkin’s gaze suddenly drifted toward Draconis, whose crimson eyes were burning with a sharp light. One would have expected him to snap back at Kaichen with at least a word or two. Instead, with an unreadable expression, he stared hard at the massive arena for a long time before spinning on his heel and walking away. The red hair cascading down to his shoulders tangled this and that way in the hill wind, lingering in Arkin’s sight for a long while.

“Now, let’s have a look at the path on the other side of the hill, too.”

Seneca pointed toward a different route. At the end of a gentle downward slope leading toward the coastline, a refreshingly sprawling, deep blue sea awaited them.

“On days without classes, you are welcome to head down that path and enjoy a swim. The water temperature is pleasant and the swells aren’t high, so we use it quite often ourselves.”

The priest added briefly before leading the party further up the hill.

Just as he pointed to a stone path heading upward and explained that it led to the sanctuary with a blue roof at the edge of the cliff—the temple—a small commotion broke out behind them, causing everyone to turn around. Nephitia, walking near the back alongside Stella, called out to Seneca with a delighted expression.

“What is the name of this flower, Seneca?”

She was pointing at the brilliant yellow flowers blooming profusely on both sides of the path. With their tiny flower buds and dainty petals clustered together, they looked like common wildflowers.

“Those? They’re moonflowers.”

Seneca replied, raising an eyebrow.

“They must be flowers that don’t grow in Kepet, how do you know them?”

“My mother said she loved these flowers. I’ve only ever seen dried petals back in Kepet, so it’s fascinating to see them blooming right here along the roadside.”

Bending down into a crouch, Nephitia carefully reached out and gently brushed the petals. The yellow petals trembled minutely.

Moonflowers were small and delicate blossoms. Five yellow petals spread out in a star shape, tinged with a soft orange hue at the center. Their stems were slender, swaying back and forth whenever the breeze blew, and tiny leaves grew densely along the stems.

Arkin looked down at the flowers in tandem. While he might know a thing or two about damp mushrooms, he knew next to nothing about flowers, so they didn’t stir much feeling in him. Yet his field of vision was completely filled by the sight of Nephitia, her eyes sparkling with wonder as she smiled. The sight of her holding the fragile stem of the yellow flower with her small hand and examining it closely looked rather pleasant.