Chương 102: Book 4: Chapter 14 – You’re Really Here

It took the trio a little over two weeks to travel by foot to the Rohault Empire. Although they could've easily taken one of the flying beasts of the Pavilion or even Carter – Leo's dad – they decided to cut through the outer regions of the forest darkness, using their journey to continue their training.

The other good thing about travelling by foot was that it did wonders for clearing his head. Although his anger over what happened hadn't disappeared, his emotions were no longer as chaotic as they had been previously.

When they finally arrived, both Ace and Killian couldn't help but feel taken aback by what they saw. Actually, it wasn't so much the what as much as the who.

The city itself was just as lavish as one would expect from the capital of one of the six major powers of the continent, but unlike in Fenlai city, where its residents were filled with wealthy nobles dressed in lavish robes who seemed to have their noses in the clouds, the residents here in the Rohault Empire were all dressed in armour as if they were ready for battle at any moment and both boys and even Leo could clearly sense the overbearing martial spirit of everyone they passed.

There wasn't much of a difference in quality as far as the average level of the experts in the city, but everyone they passed seemed to embody the spirit of a true warrior who had seen bloodshed.

"Where should we go first?" Killian asked after they paid the entrance fee to enter the city.

"Let's go and find Amira first," Ace said. "She'd kill us if we weren't her first stop after coming to her hometown."

"Why don't you just admit you want to see her," Killian sighed helplessly. "Anyway, how do you intend to find her in this massive maze of a city?"

"That's easy," Ace grinned, ignoring Killian's first sentence. "Since she's the princess of the Empire, she'll more than likely be in the biggest castle."

Following Ace's line of sight, Killian saw an enormous stone castle towards the centre of the city, towering over all the other buildings.

Ace could only sigh in amazement as they approached the front gates of the castle. The warriors standing guard outside were all at the sixth rank, with the man who appeared to be the guard commander in the seventh.

With strength like that, any of them would've been strong enough to be a general back in Silverlight City, but here they were mere guards.

The difference between the two was like the difference between Heaven and Earth.

"Halt!" The guard captain said as the trio approached. "State your business."

Normally he would've shoed any uninvited visitors away, but although there was nothing special about they were dressed, Kyris, the Rohault guard captain, could sense that despite their obvious young age, not only were both boys in the fifth rank, neither seemed to be the inexperienced type.

Just like how Ace, Killian, and Leo could sense the experience of the citizens of the Rohault Empire, Kyris could sense the wealth of experience of the two boys, and that wasn't even including the threatening presence of the lion-type magical beast they were travelling with.

"My name's Ace, and this is Killian and Leo. We're classmates of Amira Rohault," Ace stated calmly, taking no offence to the almost hostile reactions of the guards who were staring at them with their hands hovering over their weapons. "Please could you let her know we've come to visit."

"Classmates?" Kyris wondered aloud.

Although he knew the princess had joined a school a few years back, he didn't know much about it other than it was supposedly a new institution for elites. Still, if they were classmates of the princess, it made sense for them to be so powerful at such a young age.

"Joru," Kyris called out to one of his subordinates. "Head inside and inform his majesty that a couple of Princess Amira's classmates have arrived.

Young master, please bear with me. It shouldn't take long now."

"It's fine," Ace smiled amiably, understanding the guard was just doing his job.

Even though he agreed to wait outside, he had already spread his [Observation] over the castle to locate their fellow classmate, and it only took a split second for him to find her.

'Looks like she's improved even more since I last saw her,' Ace thought to himself as a gentle smile suffused his lips.

At the rear of the castle, a light-skinned teenage girl could be seen practising her twin swordsmanship by a large but incredibly clear natural reservoir.

Both swords seemed to move with the grace of the wind, but whilst one focused on blistering speed, the other was focused on overwhelming force.

Last time Ace had seen Amira, although she was able to use both states of 'wielding', she could only use one at a time. Even though she still hadn't comprehended the fused state of 'wielding', the way she was able to both states, one for each sword, was a remarkable achievement in and of itself.

Suddenly though, Amira came to a halt, mid-swing, having sensed something.

"Is that… No, that should be impossible," Amira mumbled to herself as she subconsciously turned towards the front of the castle. "Do I really miss him that much?"

Aiden already said that unless one had the spiritual essence of a Prime Saint, it should be impossible to sense Ace's [Observation], but there were two exceptions to that rule. The first was Leonel due to their bond, and the second was Amira, for reasons unknown to all of them.

Still, even though she knew she was capable of sensing Ace's [Observation], she also knew that Ace should still be at the Pavilion.

At first, she thought she was just imagining things. After all, she had thought about him a lot since her return, but the feeling refused to go away no matter how long she waited.

"You're really here, aren't you?" Amira said aloud as she suddenly took off in his direction.

Back at the front gate, Joru had just returned from inside the palace, following behind three apparent VIPs.

In the centre was a large valiant bald, dark-skinned man with round dark brown eyes and sharp eyebrows dressed in black and silver armour who, impressively enough, was at the very peak of the ninth rank as both a warrior and a mage.

To his left was a dark-skinned youth in his late teens. The young man's name was Chukaya, and he was the Rohault Empire's current strongest youth, being a seventh-rank warrior and a fifth-rank mage. He had a relatively slim but still very athletic build and a long sword strapped to his back.

And on the opposite side was a youth not much older than Killian that looked like a carbon copy of the man in the centre, minus the distinct lack of hair and much younger. His name was Ebeze.

"Duke Kaymin, these are the Princess's classmates, young master's Ace, and Killian," Kyris announced respectfully when he saw who had come out to greet their guests.

"Mmh," The duke nodded as his eyes scanned over the trio, a slight glint of appreciation flashing through his eyes as he silently evaluated each of them before stopping on Ace. "You must be Elder Aiden's disciple. My name's Duke Kay-"

Before he could finish introducing himself, he was interrupted by the shout of the boy Ace guessed must be his son.

"YOU'RE ACE?" Ebeze bellowed as he jumped past his father, charging straight at Ace as he drew the glaive from his back. "HAHAHA, LET'S FIGHT!"

Killian stepped forward, about to draw for his battle axe when he felt Ace's hand on his shoulder stopping him.

Normally Ace wouldn't bother with challenges from those from his generation, but when he saw the pure-hearted battle intent radiating from the boy's eyes, he couldn't find it in him to ignore him.

A smile of acknowledgement appeared on Ace's face as he summoned his glaive from his storage ring. 'So he's comprehended 'Wielding Heavy as though it were light'. Not bad…'

In the Pavilion, only half of them had comprehended at least one state of Wielding, so although Ebeze wasn't a mage and likely focused all his attention on his warrior training, it was still impressive for someone so young to have come so far.

Still, "not bad" isn't good enough when going up against someone like Ace.

Just because he admired his attacker's battle intent, it didn't mean Ace would go easy on him. In fact, it was because he admired it that he refused to hold back. Anything less than his best would be disrespectful.

Ace's glaive sprang to life as soon as his opponent entered his range.

The jaws of Duke Kaymin and Chukaya dropped when they saw Ebeze, who, alongside Chukaya and Amira, were the three most talented youths of this generation in the Rohault Empire, frozen in mid-air.

"Is that…"

"Impose!" The duke said, finishing Chukaya's sentence, still in just as much shock as the teen to his left.

As this wasn't a real battle, Ace wasn't out for blood. As such, he only used the butt of his glaive to strike Ebeze. Still, it was enough to knock the wind out of him as he was sent flying back, crashing into the ground in front of his father.

Ebeze was known for challenging everyone at his rank or higher, so all the guards present were well aware of his strength. Other than the guard captain, none of them were young master Ebeze's match. So when they saw their young master devastated so simply, it was hard for any of them to believe what they were witnessing.

"Ugh, dammit. That really hurt!" Ebeze groaned as he shakily got to his feet. "No wonder Elder Aiden chose you to be his disciple; you're a freak!"

Ace didn't even seem to register Ebeze's words. At that moment, all of his attention was focused on the enchanting girl that had appeared not far behind him.

"I really wasn't imagining things," Amira smiled delightedly. "You're really here!"

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Book 5: Chapter 38 – Ace Vs. Olivier (1)