“My head really hurts….”

This was Francis’s first thought upon waking up. It felt as if there was a cut on his head, hurting so badly that it seemed as if his head was about to split open.

The scene in front of him seemed like he was riding on a horse carriage. His body continued to bounce up and down along with the carriage’s movement, impacting his wound. It was so painful that Francis had to suck in several sharp breaths.

Opening his eyes, he surveyed his surroundings.

What filled his vision were walls formed from hollowed planks. There were also quite a few fair-haired and blue-eyed youths sitting around him with their eyes closed as they rested. However, none of them glanced in his direction.

He seemed to be lying down on the floor. Feeling the ice-cold ground underneath him, Francis knew that his body would not be able to bear lying down any longer, or he would probably catch a cold. He hurriedly struggled to get up.

Memories came back to him slowly, reminding him of who he was.

The pain arrived suddenly, brought by his injury. It was so sudden that Francis couldn’t take it and his eyes rolled back as he fainted.

Or atleast he tried to.

A sharp poke to his abdomen brought him back to agonizing wakefulness.

“Hey! dipshit! Wake up you’re taking valuable leg room here”

Francis heard this sound in his daze, and couldn’t help but try to open his eyes.

After organizing the new memories in his mind, Francis finally remembered why he was in pain.

He saw that the one who had woken him up was a large, male youth.

He had thick eyebrows and large eyes, a tall and straight nose, and sparkling gold hair. Although his face was somewhat young and immature, his body was sturdy and well muscled, looking extremely manly.

Seeing that Francis had awoken, the boy laughed happily , “Hahaha! Francis, you’re finally awake. If you had awoken even a few more minutes later, you probably wouldn’t have been able to make it to dinner. I assume that you don’t want to starve!”

Francis lowered his eyes. After some thought, he figured out this person’s identity.

“Thanks George!”

The youths who were together with him and heading towards the magus academy had all tested to be gifted to be Magi. This George was a legitimate son of a Count, and was also one of the favored sons for that Count. In order to allow George to enter a magus academy, the Count had spent many resources and pulled strings.

His thoughts flashed back to his father, Viscount John Farlier, whose holdings were a decently sized city with thousands of soldiers under his command.

Noble ranking was inevitably tied to personal strength. Since George’s father was a Count, his holdings were likely at least the size of several cities, with an annual income of a few thousand gold coins. With such finances and power at his disposal, he still had to take so much effort in order to send George to a magus academy. Francis couldn’t help but wonder how did his father manage to do the same for him.

As Francis pondered the question, another scene appeared in his mind’s eye.

Did I get hit too hard? Why the hell is my mind so slow right now

It was a dark room, with old musty shelves lining the sides, filled with an ancient air. The surroundings were chock full with dust.

Under a dim light, John Farlier solemnly passed a ring to Francis, saying: “Dear Francis, this is our Farlier Family’s Heirloom Treasure, a promise from a Magus. At that time, my grandfather had helped an injured Magus, who had in return gifted grandfather with this ring, promising him that if one of his descendants had the gift to be a Magus, he could use this ring and enter any magus academy for free! Now, I am giving this to you, in hopes that you can be the Pride of the Farlier Family, and uphold our legacy.”

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The ring!

Francis’s eyes narrowed, and his right hand involuntarily went to his chest.

Under his clothing, he could feel the solid touch, like a metal ring was under there.

Thank god they didn’t think this ring was anything more tha a scraggly old family heirloom, would’ve been fucked if this got taken

Heaving a sigh of relief, his thoughts wandered towards the magus academy he was hoping to get into

I will probably not return home for at least several years. By that time, I hope everyones still there and they don’t slip up in cleaning up after themselves.

If there are any excessive changes in their behavior, it would be considered strange and would lead to mistrust in the subjects.

Just as he was going over all of his contingencies and backup plans laid back home to smoothly run the city, a pair of strong large hands suddenly assisted him to his feet.

“What are you thinking about?” George asked.

“Nothing really, just miss my family” Francis quickly shook his head, then clutched his head again, as it was still in pain.

He suddenly spun his head around and looked at George, causing George’s heart to clutch suddenly, as if he was being stared at by a venomous snake.

“Dearest George, why didn’t you wake me up earlier, and let me just lie on the floor like that for so long?” Francis rolled his eyes and asked.

“Heh heh! I saw you having such a nice sleep, and thought you liked to lie down there!” George scratched his head abashedly. However, his eyes sparked with a cunning gleam.

Under Francis’s murderous glare, he finally raised his hands in surrender: “Fine! Fine! Who asked you to offend the carriage hottie. Offending her is still fine, as bros, I don’t really care. Alas, the entire carriage is now treating you like an enemy, and I do not want to be the second chicken in the pig pen!”

“hottie?who?” Francis scratched his head, until he suddenly remembered why he was beaten up.

It was a girl named Bessita. she was 15 years of age, and puberty may as well have hit her with a dinosaur she was already developed and smokin hot, in addition to her watery puppy dog eyes, it was a huge draw to the hot blooded boys of the caravan.

Francis was no gentleman. He had lost his virginity at the age of twelve, and after that he had either seduced or forced his way with many others, but had stopped after the painful experience of contracting an STD.

Thinking back, it was clear that Francis had been barely been restraining himself, but the dam broke and he hadn’t been able to control himself when he saw Bessita.

The first few times, it was still rather normal; flirting and making passes. Near the end, he had started getting really creepy.

Honestly, he wasn’t even thinking straight. Bessita is a princess of a small country! And Francis still wanted to bonk her. In the middle of the caravan no less.

What happened after this goes without saying. Francis was taught a savage lesson by the ‘Flower Guardians’ as they so aptly named themselves, had actually beaten some sense into him. Maybe a cracked skull was all he really needed to stop base instincts from overriding his brain.

Like, come on! This just reeks of a pro politician wooing a bunch of horny teenagers into doing her bidding.

When he looked around, he realized that there was no longer anyone else in sight within the spacious carriage. It was no wonder that George had come to call him.

“No matter what, you still have my thanks George, do you have any medicine tho?” Francis stood up and stretched his body. Although it still hurt in a few places, but it did not impede his movement, and the wound at the back of his head had already became a scab.

“I have no medicine to cure your sheer horniness but since we’re bros I thought that you’d need this!” George laughed as he tossed a small bottle over, “This is my family’s secret product. I heard that it’s usually used during Knight’s training, and is extremely effective against any bodily injuries!”

As George spoke, he looked around furtively: “Alright! Dinner is about to start. I’m going to head there first, you should apply the medicine quickly and hurry over too. Remember, do not tell anyone else about our friendship!”

After he finished speaking, he had ran off like a gust of wind!

Looking at George’s figure disappear into the distance, Francis couldn’t help but massage his forehead. It looks like this has truly stirred up a hornet’s nest.

Stupid instincts impeding rational thought

At this point, he couldn’t do anything to remedy the situation. Swiftly taking off his clothes, Francis quickly rubbed the medicine all over the injuries on his body.

“Hiss…Couldn’t he help me apply the medicine before leaving? Bloody hell this stings” Francis drew several sharp cold breaths as he applied the medicine.

The medicine was extremely effective. As soon as he applied it, there was a cooling sensation and the pain vanished, replaced by a stinging sensation instead.

After he had dealt with the wounds on his body, Francis put on his clothes and opened the carriage door.

Whoosh!

A gentle breeze blew across, and the sun was setting in the horizon, painting everything around with a golden hue.

Looking at the surroundings, he noticed several of the large carriages forming a circle to make a crude temporary campsite, with a large fire in the middle.

There were many youths around the fire, sitting and resting on cloth mats laid on the ground, laughing and playing with each other, while eating the bread in their hands.

Francis walked towards a table where there were quite a few breads and juices placed.

When he approached the area, he saw that the few people queuing up were giving him undisguised looks of disgust.

Although Francis thought of himself as thick-skinned, he still found it somewhat difficult to endure.

Still, he did not leave. Well he couldn’t really, he still had to eat.

“Hurry up!” A hoarse voice rang out.

“So…Sorry! Lady Angelia!” A freckled boy quickly apologised and took his share of food before running away.

[You are extremely close to a source of danger]

What the hell?