Valerian, The Legendary

116 The Princess.

Valerian did not pay attention to the shocked girl in front of him, he sent her away, cleaned himself up and coaxed the little dragon to transform into a kitten, and then took her out for breakfast. The routine was normal and everyone ate with calm, only Azula was a little distracted.

She could not understand what happened to Valerian when he called her sister in the morning, but this change came so suddenly that her heart was overwhelmed. She did not know how to express the emotions in her heart. This was not something she could digest. This guy was a block of ice, sudden warmth from him was odd.

Valerian acted as if nothing out of ordinary happened, after finishing his meal, he said, “I will leave in a bit. I plan to take the road this time around.”

Everyone else was surprised, except Fragrantia. Before they can make any other suggestion, the Empress said, “Good, just be careful on the way. Also, I heard that you got a new gift from your sister?”

Valerian nodded and took out the blue dagger. He showed it to everyone and Vertex said, “Azula, you have never given me such a good thing.”

The princess did not reply, she would not deal with this grown man who acted like a child. Valerian said in a low voice, “Don’t be jealous, Your Highness. My sister loves me more than you, also, give it back.”

He stretched out his hand and asked the second prince to return the dagger. His address surprised the empress and also the princess, again. The Emperor noticed it but did not say anything. Vertex returned the dagger, and Valerian stood up with the cat on his head.

They all went to see him off at the western gates and watched him vanish from their sights before they went back to their own work. Azula and Fragrantia were moving in the same direction and the latter asked her daughter, about what happened.

Azula narrated and The Empress explained, “Do not worry, he does not have any malice, it is just that you did not expect an acknowledgment from him.”

.....

...

Meanwhile, Valerian was running out of the palace with a kitten on his shoulder. The little one was looking around at everything with great interest. They crossed the military check post with ease. The status of the fourth prince has been long made public to the people.

Valerian ran on the road at a fast speed, he was using this trip as a training method and the other reason he had to use his feet to move was because of the aura of a dragon. In the past few days, when the young man had visited the western wing of the palace, all the beasts would cower in fear.

He could only tell Fortuna to rein in the aura to not make things difficult. There were no cages in the western wing anymore, it was a place where the beasts could live with ease, if they wanted to leave, they were allowed to leave as well. Surprisingly, they did not leave.

Valerian took care of the beasts personally and that was when he discovered that even if Fortuna was not accompanying him, the beasts would still hesitate a bit. It was because him carrying the scent and aura of the dragon on his body.

When they were passing through the woods, Valerian took the dragon to visit his mother and then paid respect to Flos before continuing his journey. The speed had not decreased. He was not tired, the mana inside his body energized him.

Humans with the blessings of the magi could absorb the mana in the surroundings just like they breathe, involuntarily. Valerian reached the gate of the academy and then walked inside slowly. The square and the other places looked too unfamiliar to him because he had not come here more than twice.

Valerian showed the proof of his identity and walked straight to the battlemage tower, his luggage was left for Conixia to deliver, as she was still a student in the academy, and was not yet capable of helping her sister by staying beside Azula.

Just as he was walking on the path, an excited voice greeted his ears, “Oh, such an adorable kitten.”

Valerian had no intention of stopping even after hearing this voice. He kept on walking with his back straight. However, the other party just could not accept this behavior. A feminine voice echoed again, but this time the voice was brimming with arrogance, “Hey, who are you to walk away from me? Stand there, or you will suffer.”

Valerian pretended not to hear her voice. This angered the person more, she ground her teeth and said, “Vitis Ligatura.”

Vines sprouted from the ground and tried to entangle Valerian’s leg, however, was he just going to stand there and let the lady act willful with him? He said in a low tone, “Ferrum Ventus.”

Blades of wind formed and slashed down the vines. During the whole exchange of blows, Valerian did not stop even for a blink. His actions made the girl behind him enraged. She yelled, “Who the hell are you?”

She was not expecting him to not give her face, and then even counter her spell with an element that was weaker than that of her own. However, her voice fell on deaf ears.

Some students had gathered to watch the show, and one of them said, “Hey, is that not the battlemage student? The one who thrashed Prince Tyrant of Stella and Barak of Valkyria?”

The surrounding people recalled the kid who even went against the royalty of the two nations on his own. They began to gossip again, after all, they have seen this child thrice and he had gotten into dispute thrice, it made them all think that this guy was a troublemaker.

The lady in the front heard about his identity and thought that Valerian was acting proud because of his deeds against the two princes. She could not help but say, “Are you all sure that he did not win by a fluke?”

A girl rushed to her side and said, “Lady Ashlyn, you must not fight with him. His master is Magnus Magister Fallax.”

She was trying to have this girl not provoke Valerian, and since she did not know what the identity of the silver-haired boy was, so she decided to drag him in the name of the master. The reason she did it was that Ashlyn has been punished by their master for her misbehavior and if this incident reaches the teacher again, it will cause more trouble.

Ashlyn shook her head and said, “I am not fighting with him. I just wanted to play with his kitten and if possible buy it. Yet, he gave me a cold shoulder. What does he think of himself? Is he a prince of someplace?”

At this moment, a loud voice sounded from behind, “Your Highness Valerian, please wait.”

Valerian stopped in his steps. Not because of the address, but because the voice belonged to a person he knew, well, sort of. He turned around and just as he guessed, Conixia was running over to him in a rush. She was carrying his luggage. A big trunk, but since she was a warrior it was an easy task for her.

She avoided the stares from the other people, came to stand feet away from Valerian and placed the trunk on the ground, and said, “Here, your luggage, my task is finished. Also, her Excellency asked you to keep this at your person always.”

She untied a pouch from her waist and gave it to Valerian. She said, “This is a mana pouch. It was delivered after you left.”

Valerian took the pouch with ease and found it to be different from what things looked like in books. This pouch had the crest of the Lumen empire on it and another thing was that it seemed to be able to carry a lot of things inside. He mumbled, “Magical storage artifact?”

Conixia nodded and said, “Smart, as usual, Your Highness. I will take my leave, take care.”

She smiled and bowed a little before leaving. She was a bubbly girl but the last time Valerian stood up for her, she decided to be nice to this cold piece of ice. She turned around and was about to walk away when a shadow blocked her way. She raised her eyebrow in askance.

The other person said, “I am Ashlyn Curae, Second Princess of the Sapientia Empire. Who are you?”

Conixia raised greeted in line of courtesy, and said, “I am Conixia Calix. Is there anything you need from me, Your Highness?”

The girl nodded and said, “Introduce me to your prince.”

Her tone was commanding, Conixia found it weird, however, she was aware that this lady was not an ordinary identity but the would-be sister-in-law of Prince Ignis.

She turned around to say something to Valerian and found that the boy had shoved his trunk inside the magic pouch and was walking away. She sighed and opened her mouth when she heard a cold voice, “Leave, I do not wish to know her.”

The statement surprised everyone, after all, Ashlyn was a beauty in her own class. The princess heard this comment and chuckled, “I remember, are you not the young bastard that Her Excellency adopted for charity? Do you really take yourself for a prince?”

Valerian stopped and Conixia gulped as she sensed a gust picking up pace.