But surprisingly… after a few hours of running, I didn't feel exhausted at all. No burning lungs. No collapsing legs. No desperate need to lie face-first on the ground.
Maybe my body had simply adapted after months of training with Elandor and Elariel. Back then, surviving a single session felt like a miracle. Now I was casually sprinting through forests like some overworked side character in an action anime.
Meanwhile, Elariel – In her room
I stared out the palace window, chin resting on my hand. The gardens below were quiet.
I wonder where Lucien and Uncle Elandor are now…It had only been a few days since they left. I sighed and looked away from the window.
"…I miss him."
Lucien – On their way to Orynthia
The path ahead curved between towering silver trees whose leaves shimmered under the sunlight. Streams of mana drifted through the air like mist, and the deeper we went, the more unreal everything looked.
It was beautiful. The kind of scenery you'd only see painted on fantasy book covers back in my old world. And now I was actually here. Running through it.
With an emotionally unavailable elf and a lazy lizard, fluffy white cat, and a nightmare wolf.
Elandor matched my pace without effort and glanced sideways. "Enjoying the scenery, are we?"
"Yeah."
He kept running in silence for a few seconds. "Yet you seem distracted."
I frowned. "I'm not."
"…Thinking of something," he said.
A pause. "Or someone."
Blaze immediately lifted his head from my shoulder. "He's definitely thinking of someone."
"No I'm not!"
"Very well," Elandor said calmly. Which meant he absolutely didn't believe me.
I hated how these two had formed an alliance just to annoy me.
We kept moving through the forest at a ridiculous speed. Branches blurred past us while the wind whipped against my face.
Even then, Elandor somehow looked like he was taking a peaceful morning walk.
How? Why?..
At one point, he stepped directly into some creature's poop without noticing and just kept running like nothing happened.
I nearly died trying not to laugh. Blaze buried his face into my shoulder to hide his own shaking. Neither of us said a word. Some truths were better left buried.
Ahead of us, Nochtrael leapt from branch to branch with unnatural ease before dropping beside the trail. "At this pace, we will reach the entrance in only a few hours," he said. His eyes shifted toward me. "I did not expect the human to keep up."
I straightened proudly.
"Yeah, well, that's what being trained by the great General Elandor does to a human."
Elandor's expression didn't change.
"I will take that as a compliment."
"You should frame it." He ignored me. Typical.
Efl scholar – Orynthia
Through a spatial viewing spell, the elf scholar observed Lucien's group in real time.
Magic construct hovered before him like a floating mirror, showing the forest path, the running figures, and the beasts traveling with them.
One of the scholars looking while his eyes narrowed. "This child… he carries dragon malice within him."
Another scholar beside him frowned.
"And three magical beasts at his side."
"Blaze. Byakuren. And Nochtrael."
Displeasure spread through the chamber.
To the scholars of Orynthia.
Another spoke coldly. "Commander Elandor may trust him. We do not."
The first scholar raised a hand.
"Send Ravenshard."
We continued forward, the trees thinning as the road widened ahead.
Then suddenly—Elandor shifted position mid-run.
No warning. No explanation. He moved a few steps to the side so abruptly that I almost stumbled.
"What are you—" A flash of steel tore through the air...A blade shot past my face so close it nearly sliced my right cheek.
I twisted on instinct and skidded across the ground. The world slowed for a second. Trees. Wind. Steel embedded in the trunk behind me. My heartbeat slammed against my chest. "…What the hell?!"
Blaze jumped from my shoulder, And Nochtrael landed beside me.
I pointed at Elandor in disbelief. "Why didn't you warn me?!"
He glanced at the blade buried in the tree.
"I know that weapon." He paused "Ravenshard. The elite knights of Orynthia."
I blinked. "…Okay, and that helps me how?"
He folded his arms.
"I merely observed what you would do in such a situation."
I stared at him. "Typical." I pointed at the blade "Thanks for almost getting me killed."
"You were not hit."
"That is NOT the point!" I answered.
Then suddenly– air in front of us rippled– like a stone dropped in a pond– and then he was just there. An elf in black and silver armor, standing so still he looked like he'd been carved out of the forest shadows.
"Greetings, High General Elandor of the Silver Vanguard," the elf said. His voice was cold, clipped, and sharp enough to cut.
Elandor just sighed, looking more tired than surprised. "Greetings, Captain Caeleth of Ravenshard."
Caeleth didn't even glance at him again. His eyes locked onto mine, hard and unyielding. "Lucien Greaves." He said my name like it was a stain on his shoes. "By order of the Orynthian scholars, you're done here. No further."
"And why is that?" I asked while crossing my arms.
"You, and the dragon's malice you carry, are not welcome here," he said, his voice dropping an octave. "On top of that, you've brought Byakuren into our lands—that beast is meant to guard the outer rim, not wander our forests. And Nochtrael, the passage guardian… he's here too because of you." He paused, his hand drifting toward his hilt. "I do not wish to resort to combat to make you leave our territory, but I will."
"Try me." I said...It was a stupid thing to say– I knew it the second the words left my lips. My hand hovered over the hilt of my sword, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. If I let this guy, this captain, turn me back now, I'd be failing everyone. I wasn't just walking into danger.
I was carrying the weight of my past and the responsibility of the people I had to protect. I couldn't afford to be stopped, not now, not when I was this close.
Caeleth didn't even blink. He moved like he was made of liquid, shifting his stance before I could even process the intent. His blade was out a silver blur– before I could breathe.
I didn't reach for Valaerion. Something told me that if I drew that thing, this wouldn't be a test anymore– it would be a bloodbath.
I reach for the steel practice blade dad gave me from my belt, my instincts taking the wheel.
* Thwack*
My steel hit his steel.
He lunged, a whirlwind of black and silver. I ducked, feeling the wind of his strike whistle over my hair, and fired back a desperate jab at his ribs. He batted it away with one hand, looking bored. On the third exchange, he faked high, caught my forearm with the flat of his blade, and my practice blade went spinning into the dirt. I was wide open. Before he could follow through, a hand clamped down on my shoulder. Hard.
"Enough!"
Elandor stepped between us, his presence shutting the whole thing down. He didn't look mad, just weary–the kind of tired that comes from watching too many people make the same mistakes.
"Stand down, Caeleth," Elandor said, his voice quiet but heavy. "The boy's been chosen by Valaerion."
Caeleth froze, his blade still leveled at my chest. "You sure about that, General? The archives have been dead for centuries."
"Show him, Lucien."
I reached to my hip, fingers fumbling slightly, and pulled Valaerion. The second the steel hit the air, the world felt like it hummed. A low, vibrating buzz crawled up my arm, and the runes on the blade flared with a ghostly, golden light.
Caeleth's eyes went wide. He pulled his sword back like it had burned him, his composure cracking. "They… they didn't tell me."
"You know the law," Elandor said, hand resting on his own pommel. "They choose the wielder. We are merely the witnesses."
Caeleth sheathed his weapon with a sharp clack. He bowed his head, shifting from a killer to a soldier in a heartbeat. "My apologies, General...Lucien… I acted on the intel I had, not the truth of the matter."
He stepped back and gestured toward the trail. "I'll lead the way. Least I can do."
As we started walking, the tension still thick enough to cut, Elandor drifted back to walk next to me.
He leaned in, keeping his voice low. "Surprised you kept up with him, kid."
I took a shaky breath, healing my stinging forearm. "It was too close," I muttered, watching Caeleth stalk ahead. "He almost had me."
Elandor let out a short, dry laugh. "But you aren't bleeding, are you? Don't sell yourself short. That's a top tier A-rank swordsman. He trained under me, and he's easily one of the fastest blades in the Vanguard. You held your own against one of the best–that's something, Lucien."
End of chapter.