The winter sun rose slowly to the zenith, cutting through the lingering fog that clad the lands. A sinuous line cut through the undulating landscape of the foothills of the Dragonspine mountains and along the tracks, a locomotive belched smoke as it made its way towards the capital.

In the second compartment, it was empty save for the seats Cyn, Ira, Avarita and Artemis occupied. Pavo resentfully poked his head out of the bars of the metal cage into which he had been stuffed.

At the Capital, they were to meet up with Cyn’s grandfather who served as a silver Knight in the Kingsguard. The new term at the Academy started in the beginning of Spring and they had planned to train under Luxuria for the remaining months before leaving for it. Yet, when Eric Pavone, the former head of the clan had heard of Cyn’s talents and his discovery of the Spiare, he had decided to take the training into his own hands.

Ceding one’s hereditary post to one’s children in order to join the Kingsguard a rank higher was a road taken by many nobles to improve their cultivation. Thus, the competition for the position was fierce and the tenure a short ten years.

Actually, Baron Corvus had been one of his stepping stones to the position, hence, it was understandable why the old man had tried to reduce the prestige of the Pavone clan. Currently, Eric Pavone was eight years into his second term.

If he wanted to serve a third term, he would have to do so in the position of a Gold Knight, defeating all challengers, including Viscounts, who had held their posts much longer than he had. This was nearly impossible. So, he had turned his vision towards politics and a talented young noble like Cyn, fresh on his path to greatness would make a great mascot for his cause.

Artemis had come along with them as she had some business as a S rank mercenary at the Yohei branch headquarters. As a bonus, she could also look after Ira as she tried to navigate her way up the mercenary rankings.

Avarita had been thoroughly vetted by the Spiare and after he had come out clean, granted the last of Luxuria’s A rank mercenary tokens. He was to join the Academy as Cyn’s retinue. This would camouflage Ira from the line of sight of the public and allow her more freedom in her espionage. Yet, this left Cyn as the odd one out in a carriage of mages. How depressing.

Trains were a new addition to the transportation facilities of the Regiis kingdom, steam engines having left the realm of theory and into reality only two years ago. As of this year, there were eighteen tracks that looped from the capital to the borders. If anyone could view the kingdom from above, the capital would look like the centre of a gigantic flower with its corolla of elliptical petals spread over the land.

Cyn’s contribution to the field of steam technology had improved the efficiency and reduced the costs of the boilers, thus, increasing the number of trains. Merchants all over the kingdom had latched onto this safer and faster means of transporting their goods, bolstering Regiis’ economy to unprecedented levels.

It had reached a point where Mercator, the Deus theocracy and the Republic had threatened economic sanction while Daemonium, true to its flagitious nature, had threatened war unless the technology was made public. After much haggling, King Regiis III had defused the crisis by selling the technology to Mercator and the Republic for a large amount of benefits, while using a part of those very same benefits to assist Deus in their perpetual crusade against Daemonium.

After several decades of peace, the undercurrents of war were surging again in the Mortal Continent.

A knock at the carriage gate awoke all of them from their state of meditation, Artemis dissolving into the shadows as a precaution as Avarita rose to unlatch the door.

A man pushing a cart laden with food entered followed by three teenagers, two boys and a girl. From their sophisticated attire made of expensive materials, it was easy to peg them as members of the upper class.

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As Ira walked over to the cart to inspect the wares, Cyn and the broad-shouldered redhead, who seemed to be their leader, sized up each other.

“Hello. I am Ashish Neer, son of Viscount Amit Neer, from Vapour district in the state of Meghalaya. You are?”

“Cyn Pavone, son of Baron Alistair Pavone, from Peacock City, Aves district in the state of Manipur. Pleased to make your acquaintance. Heading for the capital?”

Upon learning that he was only the son of a Baron, the boy’s tone grew more imperious and his interest waned slightly. Sizing up Ira openly with an impolite gaze, he said, “Of course. I shall join the Academy next session. I hope to reach the Capital before the trains stop running due to the snow in winter.”

“Oh? Then we shall be batchmates. We seem to have the same purpose for our trips.”

Ashish’s eyes flashed with surprise as he revaluated the boy in front of him and his gaze became more well-mannered. “Department?”

“Artificer department. You? Wait, don’t tell me. Let me guess. Alchemy, spellcraft, artificer, puppetry, martial… Martial department? Right?”

“Y-yes. How did you know?”

Cyn chuckled, “Oh well, it’s nothing special, I just kept spewing out department names till your Aura fluctuated. A party trick really.”

Ashish’s expression grew dignified as he watched Cyn become the centre of the conversation, even drawing in the two children of Barons behind him. ‘A thorny competitor’ was his appraisal of the dark eyed boy.

By this time, Ira had bought food and beverages from the vendor and he withdrew with his cart. As the man left, Cyn spoke up. “Parvati tells me that you’ve been quite busy rounding up all the children of nobility headed for the Capital from the reserved compartments. I believe that your purpose was to invite us. The more the merrier I say.” Pointing to the newly bought food and bringing out a packet of sweets from their pack, “This will be sufficient as our contribution to the feast, I hope.”

An irate squawk and a feminine scream caused everyone in the compartment to whip their heads towards the source. Cyn’s expression grew awkward as he saw the girl from Ashish’s group, Parvati, cradling her hand with tears in her eyes as Pavo extended his head out of his cage threateningly.

“Yeah… that’s my pet Pavo. He’s an Aural beast so don’t try to pet him like a normal bird, he takes it as a provocation to his dignity. Plus, he’s pretty ornery after being cooped up in that cage.”

Ashish’s eyebrow rose in surprise. An aural beast as a pet. Never in his short life had he heard of something so extravagant. You had to know that only the richest of Barons could even afford to raise one as they required a subordinate flock to be raised alongside to provide Fame for them. Even his father, Viscount Neer cherished his dragon-scaled horse more than even his wife.

Seeing a chance to queer Cyn’s relations with a lot of noble scions and give vent to his indignation at being shoved off the pedestal, he offered, “Why don’t you let him out and bring him with you to the feast? Many among us will be eager to observe an Aural beast at such close proximity.” He chuckled inwardly, Aural beasts were notoriously difficult to control and once there, he could have an ‘accident’ arranged.

Avarita’s eyes narrowed slightly as he studied the young man. He could sense that he had some sort of improper ambition towards the young lord. He was just about to warn him when he noticed Cyn’s hands flashing him subtle signals. His eyes flashed with comprehension as he settled back to watch the play with an imperceptible smile.

“A great suggestion Mister Neer, Pavo will love the chance to spread his tail.” He took the injured hand of the sniffling girl and kissed it gently. “I apologize in his stead Miss Parvati. He is a gentle creature I watched grow up, do not hold your first impressions against him.” The girl blushed and looked down at her feet demurely to hide her embarrassment. When she saw her fully healed hand, her eyes grew wide with amazement and her head snapped up to him.

“Did you just heal my hand?! Didn’t you just awaken? How are you so adept at using magic?” Coming to her senses, she blushed again, embarrassed by her outburst. “S-sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”

Cyn smiled, “No harm done. I am talented in the healing arts. Probably something to do with my studies of anatomy. It’s as simple as that.”

Ashish clenched his teeth as he watched the girl go starry eyed. She was his its in the bag, her father a Baron subordinate to his father. He was confident of savouring the fruits of his harvest once at the capital, but with this hateful boy butting in sideways, his chances of going well were sliding.

Cyn smiled in a sinister manner inwardly as he watched the redhead fuming.

Look at my woman crosswise, will you? Suffer the taste of being cuckolded. Hah.

Maybe he wouldn’t be so self-satisfied if he noticed the blue vein beating on Ira’s temple.