King Of Limbo

Midnight soon came and Lady Rose decided to take her leave from Aron's residence to return to her own tower.

Aron only escorted her up to the gate of his residence alongside Evanora before parting ways with her and returning inside.

As Lady Rose was in a carriage heading home, she spotted Jagu and Jin walking towards an inn in the business district. However she quickly put this observation to the back of her mind and didn't dwell on it.

As for the inn Jagu and Jin and walking into, it was Hilda's.

...

The door creaked open as Jin and Jagu made their way inside and despite the time the inn was rather bustling with people, mostly commoner students from the academy.

Hilda's inn had become a popular gathering for commoners because unlike most store and business owners she didn't discriminate against them or favor aristocrats.

This made for an atmosphere where they could be themselves and chat freely without worrying about offending some family.

"Over there." Jin pointed towards one of the more larger tables in an isolated corner that could house around ten individuals.

Seated there were the members or rather former members of the Sovereign faction. The majority of them in drunken and depressed state.

"They look miserable." Jagu muttered the obvious and Jin just nodded along. "Seems so, I don't see Xavier, Claudia or Riya anywhere though."

"Tsk, leave them be. They'll grow to accept reality soon enough... I did in the end." Just growled irritatedly before turning in the direction of an empty table. Something about seeing them like that reminded him of how he had been back on the Komi Islands.

'Aron really isn't making this easy.' Jin soon sighed as well before following Jagu and securing a table for themselves.

As they made their way there they attracted glances from the other students present, they were after all still individuals who were among the top ten during the Journey.

After they got seated however an unfamiliar individual came to join them. "Pardon my intrusion gentlemen but can I ask you to deliver a message to Aron for me? I'm an... acquaintance of his."

"And you are?" Jin became curious after she spoke and he looked at her with a brow raised while Jagu also listened keenly, anyone involved with Aron was someone they'd both be interested in hearing out at least.

"You may call me Ariel."

...

The next morning Aron received a visitor yelling loudly outside of his residence.

"Lord Aron! I only ask for a minute of your time! It's quite urgent, Hello!" A slightly older well dressed gentlemen stood outside of the gate with a carriage behind him as he yelled loudly.

Aron who could hear this man quite clearly soon grew irritated and decided to quickly see what he wanted. 'Lord he says.' Aron found the man's use of words to please others quite amusing as he slowly approached the gate.

Once there Aron came to a stop right at the boarder of his residence and looked down at the man who was a good few inches shorter than Aron. "Yes?"

Aron quickly scanned the man from top to bottom and could already tell he was an important aristocrat. This man was among the individuals present the previous day at the gathering although he was silent throughout. "Oh right thank you, Yes please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Arkus Vonstein and I'm here to formally invite you to the banquet being hosted tonight in your illustrious academy. This is our way of apologizing to you for young Lord Brutas's actions"

The man bowed slightly and held out a neatly decorated envelope over to Aron who received it with a look of skepticism. 'Either this is their sorry attempt to form a relationship with me or they're setting up a trap. Whatever the case...'

"I accept. If you're truly being sincere then I have no reason to refuse, after all everyone needs connections in life." Aron replied although a bit coldly his words still brought a smile on the man's face.

"Yes, Yes! You really are a man of caliber Lord Aron. I apologize for taking up your time, perhaps we may talk in length at the event. Good day." The man spoke hurriedly before entering his carriage and bidding Aron farewell.

Aron glanced at the invitation rather blankly before returning into his residence to carry on with his day.

Around noon he made his preparations and got himself an appropriate attire and even visited a trimmer to have his hair taken care off accordingly. By the time night fell he was ready to set off.

"Remember what I told you Evanora." As Evanora escorted Aron out he reminded her of this and she nodded although her blank expression made it look like she understood nothing. "Evanora remembers."

"Right... I'll be off then. Do not carelessly leave the residence." Aron instructed before stepping out of the gate where a carriage was waiting for him.

However he noticed no one was sent to ride with him, only the carriage driver at the front which meant no security either.

As far as Aron knew this wasn't how things were normally done but it could just be because he was considered a commoner. Whatever the case he was more or less expecting a trap so on the surface he continued to act normal.

'Nothing wrong with the route so far.' Aron thought as he even paid attention to the road being used to get to the academy which was the main and busy one.

If they were indeed planning something then this was far from the adequate environment so for now he continued to just act natural.

...

They arrived at the open gates of the academy only after a short time and it could be seen that numerous other carriages were present there along with other formally dressed individuals.

'It's also unlikely a group this big is involved. So maybe they are taking the friendly route of doing things...' Aron thought to himself as he disembarked the carriage wearing a formal black attire that gave him a sort of noble aura. At the very least he didn't look out of place.

As Aron made his way past the academy gates he attracted quite a few glances from the aristocrats present thus far, he may have changed his attire but it was impossible for most aristocrats present to not know just who he was.

"Aron?" As he was approaching the entrance he heard a familiar voice call out to him from behind and found it was Lady Rose.

She wore a risqué tight black dress with a slit on the right that extended to her upper thigh. Her hair remained as it was normally while her face showed signs of little makeup as well.

She slowly approached Aron and stopped only a meter away before eyeing him up and down. "Well this is certainly an interesting sight. I hardly recognized you." She commented in a rather suggestive manner causing Aron to just let out a small sigh. "Coming here seemed like a good opportunity to start but since you're already here I'll be taking my leave."

Seeing Rose present lessened the need for him to be present so he really intended on leaving but Lady Rose stretched out her hand to block his path. "In this case we'll be able to make more progress if we both attend. Here."

Lady Rose walked closer and raised her arm slightly for him to lock his own arm with like the other pairs present on the scene. Aron didn't refute her words and he turned to lock arms with her but before he did so she gave a warning.

"I have a rather deep distaste towards bare touch so do watch yourself." She warned but this was something he could tell from observation alone. Not once had he seen her make physical contact with another person, even if it wasn't bare touch.

Her reasons for her doing so still eluded him and this wasn't the time to pry so he gave her a nod and the two locked arms before approaching the entrance.

Lady Rose's arms had thin long webbed gloves that only added to her already dark seductive look. It matched quite well with Aron's attire but neither she nor he paid attention to this.

"Invitation please." At the two grand doors leading into the academy stood a tall slim man who collected invitations from the arriving guests before politely sending them in.

However when Aron and Lady Rose approached the man simply bowed his head and opened the door for them. "Have a wonderful evening." It was clear though that before he bowed he went into a cold sweat when his gaze was on Lady Rose.

"Seems your charm comes with benefits." Aron remarked causing Lady to glance at him with an unamused expression. "I'm a grand mage, what need do I have for an invitation when entering the academy?" Aron only shrugged his shoulders and didn't provide her answer, letting the topic die there.

Debating with a woman only leads to never ending talks as far as he was concerned. Lady Rose saw he no longer wished to pursue the matter so she let it die just as quickly as well.

"Speaking of charm, isn't it tradition for a man to compliment a woman at least once in such situations? Perhaps the attire or the look, something along those mundane lines." Lady Rose asked causing Aron to glance at her.

His idea of beauty was rather different from most. As far as he was concerned the flesh could be changed, rot, wrinkle or be non existent at all so what use was there placing attraction towards that. As for personalities... that too could be faked or change.

He much rather considered mana far more valuable like most beast mongers when selecting a mate. A mana signature was something no one could change about themselves and it was different for every living organism.

"You possess the most alluring mana I've ever felt."