Anton felt like a kid while he was with Torun and the others. He felt like he was back in his senior year of high school talking with his friends about any topic under the sun. For a moment, he forgot about magic, the undead, the need to become powerful to survive, and any other stressful things in his life and he was glad.
He was only twenty-three when he left Earth, but he had to admit that his maturity was probably stuck just after high school. After graduation, his life took a turn for the worse, and he was stuck in a dead-end job that did not bring him personal growth. It was like he contracted some sort of brain rot disease that left him stuck for years, and now he was back to growing up.
Anton was glad that his body’s age was seventeen turning eighteen in a month because if he was being honest, his maturity when it came to dealing with other people was at that age. When it came to dealing with his responsibilities, his maturity level might be older than that and even though it was a little stressful, he liked feeling responsible.
He also had to admit that he was overly kind and generous when dealing with his family and friends. It was just that was the only thing he knew how to deal with others and he thought that there was nothing wrong with that. If he had transmigrated in a place or in a situation that was desperate maybe his dealings with others would be different. Maybe more geared toward being cruel to survive but that was just his supposition.
His talks with Torun, Blake, Andrea, Soren, and his gang were all over the place. They discussed the movies, their relationships, and funny, stupid things, and again for a moment Anton felt like a kid again. When they got hungry, they left the tavern and looked for a place where they could eat. Torun and the others brought him to a nearby restaurant catered to ordinary passengers. The food was cheap, not that tasteful but filling and he loved every mouthful.
“Guys, it's already midnight. Will your families not worry about all of you?” Anton asked when he checked the time on his system browser.
“I sent Luna to my father to inform him that we are with you and they sent a letter back to take our time,” Andrea said and when she saw that Anton had a questioning look on his face, she gestured on her tiny raven.
“If we’re alone or with somebody else, we would have received an order to go home and then received severe scolding but since we’re with an “archmage”, it was alright since they wanted us to foster a tighter relationship with you since it will only benefit the family,” Torun said.
“My father even wanted to match Andrea with you so you can become part of the family,” Blake absently said while munching on something.
That sentence from Blake brought a smack on his head from his sister and everyone laughed.
“I’m much too young for a relationship. I’m only seventeen and I need to focus on my magic. I’m sure that the Undead Coalition will not stop with just conquering Rendindura so the moment they turn their gaze on other continents, I want to be powerful enough to contend with them,” Anton said with a touch of melancholy coupled with excitement.
He surreptitiously looked at Andrea and it seemed like Andrea wasn’t interested in him romantically because the girl looked like just everyone else. With a worried and concerned look on their faces.
“Will the undead really attack the Gale Continent?” Torun asked.
“I’m not sure but if it was me and I’m powerful and ambitious enough, I would try my best to conquer the whole world so I’m guessing they will not stop.”
Anton’s friends looked worried so he consoled them.
“You don’t need to worry too much. It might not happen but if it does, it will be far away in the future. The best thing that we all can do is live our lives to the fullest and try our best to prepare ourselves for any situation.”
They were quiet for a moment but after several minutes, they returned to being lively continuing their discussion that was mostly focused on movies. His friends even managed to persuade Anton to give them hints about movies that may come out in the future and Anton gave them brief descriptions of some of the movies like the Harry Potter series, the Star Wars series, some of the action films, and romantic films.
The short tidbits that Anton had given to everyone about the different upcoming films that their family might show truly excited each one of his friends. He had to emphasize that what Anton was saying was not written in stone. Their family was supposed to show a few movies while they were in the ocean since the true core of their business would only happen when they finally found a place of their own in the Gale Continent.
After a while, the day for them had to end so during a lull in their talks, Torun said that they had to return home and Anton agreed. While walking back to the suite, Anton checked the time briefly, and it was already past one in the morning.
When he arrived in the suite, he saw that his father, Lucas, and Nemina were still awake talking with each other.
“Why are you all still awake?”
“We’re waiting for you. Did something important happen?” Anders asked his son.
Anton realized that he was inconsiderate by not sending a message to his family about where he was. He should have followed Andrea’s example of sending a letter through one of his raven summons but it simply did not enter his mind. He was used to doing what he wanted by himself but he knew that the main difference was, that Anton was always in the suite when he did it. This time though he was with his friends.
“I’m sorry father. I was with Torun and the others and we didn’t realize the time until it was late.?
“What were you doing?”
“Just talking about anything that we can think of. One of the interesting that we discussed was purchasing a large unused land in the place where we will establish ourselves and turn into some sort of Hollywood. The cinema would be the center and the business establishment there would consist of the businesses related to the movies like selling movie props or costumes. There would be other entertainment centers a live theater where actors could establish themselves or a tavern with a stage where minstrels and bards could show off like the Patron Bar. There would also be restaurants that would mimic the food from the movies or something.”
Anders and Nemina looked highly curious so when Nemina asked to elaborate, he searched for a video clip showing Hollywood and some other clips of famous amusement centers on Earth and showed them to his father and Nemina. Considering the time, Anton didn’t want to disturb the others in the suite so he decided that he would mute the sounds but before he played the videos, Antonia, Lucia, Phillip, and Walter who were staying with them still for some reason joined them.
Nemina told them the concept of what Anton had shared regarding creating a business plaza wherein the center would be the cinema. The four nobles were highly interested in what they learned and all of them stayed to watch the videos even though it was already the wee hours of the morning.
If Anton was being honest, he told them about the Hollywood and Amusement Center concept to divert his father’s attention from him not telling his whereabouts earlier and it proved successful.