Chapter 147 - Making New Friends

Imperial Prince, Long Tian. It was the identity of the newcomer. He had an athletic build, a height similar to that of Hei, short sandy-colored hair and eyes of the same color. He wore an embroidered gold robe depicting a dragon with open jaws, the same symbol carved on the jade tokens given to each student of the academy - the symbol of the Imperial Family.

When this individual made his appearance, the various murmurs of the people disappeared. Not even those on the upper floors dared to speak. After all, although he was a first-year student, he was still part of the family that governed the entire Sun Empire. Furthermore, Long Tian wasn't an ordinary member of the Imperial Family but was one of the direct sons of the Sun Emperor.

Feng Gengxin bowed his head in respect as he laid his hands forward, the palm of the left hand touching the right clenched fist of his right hand. Meanwhile, his henchmen had retreated behind him and bowed to the ground on their knees.

"Feng Gengxin greets Imperial Prince Long Tian."

Long Tian, who had so far looked forward all the time, slowly turned his gaze to the member of the Feng Family. "Feng Gengxin? Aren't you one of Feng Chen's cousins?"

"I am honored that you remember me, Imperial Prince."

"It is nothing special. Rather, hasn't Feng Chen arrived yet? I heard that he also enrolled in the Southern Royal War Academy. The same goes for Hu Jie. But I haven't seen either of them here."

Calm and elegance. These were the characteristics that stood out in every movement of Long Tian. As if it were engraved in his own body, in the gestures and expressions he made, his belonging to the Sun Empire Imperial Family. As if there was an abysmal gap even with the Eight Big Families.

Upon hearing the name of his cousin, Feng Chen, Feng Gengxin's expression darkened. His hands began to tremble, but he did nothing else. Instead, he politely responded to the Imperial Prince.

"Not yet ... but he should arrive soon without a doubt."

"Alright. Tell Feng Chen to come over and say hello when you see him. I salute you, Feng Gengxin." Long Tian, along with his men, passed over both groups that were about to clash until a moment ago. However, he took a few steps before stopping, "Ah, before I forget, I wish at least during meals I could eat in peace. Also, even if you don't like it, you shouldn't waste the resources given by the empire, be it precious treasures or a simple bowl of soup. Let it never happen again."

Without giving Feng Gengxin time to reply, Long Tian started walking again. The four companions who were with him, naturally arranged themselves to cover his back and sides. More than companions, they were as if they were his bodyguards.

When Long Tian and his men left the cafeteria, the time that seemed to have stopped began to flow again. Various murmurs rang out even more. All of the spectators had, in fact, been able to hear the words exchanged between Long Tian and Feng Gengxin, including the names of the two people mentioned by the Imperial Prince.

"Let's leave. We're done here." Feng Gengxin ordered his subordinates to remove the curtains and leave that place. He had already lost too much face today, and with the warning from the Imperial Prince, he certainly wouldn't have continued to mess around.

With Feng Gengxin out of the way, Hei, Lian, and Leon laid down their weapons and went back to sit down. Haruno and Mareo did the same. However, everyone's eyes were directed towards them.

"Why don't you come to our room? Haruno can prepare you to eat there. Also, I think someone else here is very hungry." Mareo suddenly proposed a solution, and with his eyes, he glanced at Hei.

"How-?"

Hei was surprised. Indeed, during the previous confrontation, Ye and Xing had awakened from their deep sleep. Feeling the spirit power of their big brother activating, they were ready to enter combat mode at any time. However, the arrival of the Imperial Prince had interrupted this conflict, and the two little divine beasts who were awake had their bellies rumbling with hunger.

Mareo reached out his right hand and touched his right ear with his forefinger, "The sound. From the beginning, I perceived the sound of the breath of the two of them. Either way, come. At least we will have privacy to discuss."

With a wary attitude, Hei accepted the proposal. Lian and Leon, who was confused by that exchange of words, would also come with him. Haruno and Mareo, therefore, led the three out of the canteen. In the entrance hall, they took one of the spirit elevators and went down to a floor a few floors above the one where Hei and Lian lived.

The floor on which they arrived could be called similar to what you would find in a hotel. Rows and rows of rooms alternated next to each other. These rooms were huge, though, so much so that they looked like an apartment in size. But considering the actual size of the flat interior, it didn't appear so strange.

Haruno and Mareo's room was near the spirit elevator and was inhabited only by the two of them. The interior was neat and looked elegant. Mareo made Hei and the others sit on a comfortable sofa while he sat on another one in front of them. Separating them, there was a circular table of shiny wood. In the meantime, Haruno had gone to the small kitchen that was present next door to prepare something to eat.

"Normally, the rooms do not have a kitchen; the only exception is we, martial artist chefs. This way, we can cook whenever we want; after all, cooking is the only way we can improve our support skills. Every martial artist chef has a specialty. In my case, it is the flour and, specifically, the pasta. What you ate is one of my many dishes. You must know that there are countless ways to prepare it, and without practice, it is impossible to achieve the perfect flavor."

Haruno launched into a brief explanation as he began to fiddle in the kitchen. He was mixing the flour with the water to create the dough that he would then cut to shape the desired type of pasta. Mareo watched him kneading with a smile in his eyes; you could notice a deep affection in that look.

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Realizing that Hei, Lian, and Leon's eyes were on him, Mareo blushed and cleared his throat before turning to them. "First of all, I have to thank you for what you have done before. You weren't required to do it, but you did it anyway. Thank you very much."

"You don't have to thank me… I'm ashamed to admit it, but in reality, in the beginning, I didn't think to intervene. I didn't want to risk being caught in something above me. But seeing Hei's actions, I felt disgusted with myself, and so I intervened."

Leon openly confessed what he had felt during that canteen episode. He was ashamed of himself and his weakness and therefore didn't think he deserved Mareo's gratitude at all. However, Mareo shook his head.

"It's not just you who pretended as nothing was happening. However, instead of keeping like that up until the end, you intervened. This is what matters."

Leon was speechless and gave a simple smile while scratching his head. Inside he felt he had not behaved as he should have, but Mareo's words had cheered him up.

"You don't have to thank me either. I only acted to protect Hei." Lian said with an emotionless voice.

Unlike Lion, she didn't feel uncomfortable because she didn't intervene immediately. More than a specific indifference against the abuses of those who had a different sexual orientation, Lian was interested only in the good of Hei and his sisters. But it wasn't as if she didn't understand the pain of those who were unjustly persecuted. As long as Hei decided to protect them, she too would.

"Hahaha, it looks like the two of them don't like being thanked. You should then thank the person who pushed them to act, even if my instinct tells me that he too will refuse our thanks."

From the kitchen, Haruno's voice could be heard, seeming amused by Lian and Leon's reactions. Mareo also smiled and turned to Hei. "I hope at least you will accept our thanks."

But as Haruno had predicted, Hei refused them. "In truth, I wasn't planning to intervene. The only reason I did it was the two of them." Then, he reached out his hand, and a small dark purple spider with silver patterns and a small black snake with gold patterns emerged from his robe. It was Xing and Ye who came out of their big brother's robe before the eyes of everyone present.

Leon, sitting next to Hei, seemed very surprised because he hadn't noticed all this time that Hei was carrying these two spirit beasts. Now he could understand why Hei asked him that question earlier. Haruno stopped kneading the flour and looked at the pair of small spirit beasts. Mareo instead smiled because he had noticed from the beginning of their presence. It was also for this reason that Hei judged it no longer made sense to hide the presence of his little sisters.

"Nice to meet you then. My name is Mareo. In my name and my companion Haruno's, we thank you for pushing Hei to intervene."

Mareo bowed respectfully to the two small spirit beasts that sat on Hei's arm. Ye and Xing looked confused and looked questioningly at Hei. He briefly explained to them what had happened, and the two little divine beasts seemed to understand the situation.

'No need to thank us.'

Like their big brother, the two little divine beasts also had the same answer. However, what the others heard was just a series of incomprehensible sounds. Except for Hei, only Lian, who was linked to them by a spirit pact, was able to understand what they meant. But Mareo, despite not knowing the meaning, was able to realize that they probably meant something similar to what had been said by their tamer.

"You said you heard them through the sound, what do you mean?" Hei asked as he placed Ye and Xing on his knees. The two little divine beasts stood still in that position even though they were starving.

"We martial artists musicians must be able to hear the music of all the components of the Battle Concert even in the midst of a battle. It is essential that each member stays on time, or disharmony will occur. That is why we train ourselves in being able to perceive even the slightest of sounds. Whether it's the breathing of a small sleeping creature or the sound of its heart's beating."

Mareo answered Hei's question as he pulled out a bag of biscuits and placed it on the wooden table. Opening the bag, he invited the two small spirit beasts on Hei's lap to eat without compliments. Ye and Xing looked at Hei, who reached out and ate a cookie. Making sure they were edible and not harmful, he permitted his little sisters to go forward. Ye and Xing sprinted to the bag and began to devour the contents. This view aroused the hilarity of everyone, establishing a climate of happiness.

"Why did that Feng Gengxin target you two? Did you know each other?"

In that cheerful atmosphere, Leon asked a question about the events before. It was strange how Feng Gengxin knew of the relationship between Haruno and Mareo, especially when the school year had yet to begin. Mareo heaved a deep sigh and answered.

"No, we didn't know each other in person. I knew about him because I had heard around that there was someone from the Eight Big Families, and I was curious. But other than that, neither Haruno nor I have ever had anything to do with him. I guess that one of his henchmen must have seen us kissing each other, and he reported it to Feng Gengxin, who thought it would be fun to mock us in front of everyone. Unfortunately, many people in the empire think that homosexuality is something wrong. Some also claim it is a curse brought by demons to weaken us humans since same-gender couples cannot procreate. It is absurd even to think it is, but it is useless to try to reason with that type of person. They do nothing but scream and turn off their brains in order not to look at the true reality of the facts."

Mareo let out another disconsolate sigh. It wasn't the first time such a thing had happened, but it was the first time he had received such treatment from someone with an important background like Feng Gengxin. As he was proud and full of himself, it was taken for granted that the Feng Family member wouldn't stop with his harassment.

"But it's not as if everyone is like this. Fortunately, those people are a minority. And even if everyone else pretends not to see, in the end, there are always those who decide to come forward to help those like us."

Haruno had arrived from the kitchen, bringing with him a large pot filled to the brim with spaghetti. Noticing the discomfort of his partner for that harsh truth, he tried to cheer him up with another but more comforting truth.

"You are right, Haruno. Luckily, there are people like the ones you described." Mareo seemed to recover and settled the table for everyone. Since they didn't have enough plates and cutlery for Xing and Ye as well, Hei said the two of them would eat directly from his plate.

Usually, the typical reaction to hearing something like that was that of disgust. But no one between Haruno, Mareo, and Leon had such a response. Only from this, Hei felt he could be comfortable with them. His mother had told him to find trusted companions, but honestly, he didn't think that he would have the impulse to get emotionally closer to someone other than Lian. Yet now he had found three people he felt he could trust. However, it was still early to evaluate that for real. One step at a time, as Lian and his little sisters, had said.

'It's only day one, but I've already met some interesting people. Of course, there are despicable people like Feng Gengxin, and surely I will meet others like that. Yet at the same time, I may find other interesting people. I thought that only with my little sisters and Lian could I make it, but as usual, Mother was right. I need to gather trusted companions who accept spirit beasts and can help me accomplish what I have to do.'

Hei smiled as he watched the lively scene. Unconsciously, he turned his head and noticed Lian looking at him. The two exchanged a knowing look and went back to eating the delicious dish prepared by Haruno. Lian had always been sensitive in understanding Hei's mood, and his happiness was also her happiness.