At dawn, Jones passed through the space portal and returned to Cartier’s "Drop."
Belle and Dora, who had been bored to the point of dozing off, were suddenly startled, staring wide-eyed at Jones.
"The matter has been resolved," Jones said softly.
"Resolved?" Dora asked, her face full of confusion.
"We found the ’reason’ behind the Queen’s confidence, and then resolved the ’reason,’" he replied.
"It was Andrew, that traitor of the Silver Moon Knight Order. I almost forgot about this guy." William, who had followed behind, laughed heartily.
"You killed him?" Dora was taken aback.
"No, we didn’t," Jones said wearily. "I just forbade him from coming near the relics again."
Upon hearing this, Dora finally let out a slow sigh of relief. After all, he was once a comrade in arms.
Turning his head, Jones said to Belle, "Contact Cornelia and let her know that we’ll need to stay here for a few more days."
"What are we staying here for? I mean, there’s not much for us to do here, aside from negotiating," Belle hesitated. "Since we’ve already resolved the ’reason,’ we can directly confront the Queen and demand better terms."
"No, that wouldn’t be convincing enough," Jones shook his head and said, "We need to take some items from the Krimasha Relics and place them on the Queen’s table—while she gets nothing on her side. Only then does it carry weight."
"I get it... You’re saying we’ll stay here officially, but secretly, we’ll be exploring the Krimasha Relics? After all, we do have the space portal."
"That’s exactly right."
"But if it’s just a few days, it’s unlikely we’ll get any significant results, right?"
"We just need to retrieve the important, convincing items. The rest can wait until we reach an agreement."
"Got it, I understand," Belle nodded and responded, "I’ll handle the negotiations to ensure they don’t realize you’ve already left."
In the early morning, birds chirped cheerfully.
Angel woke up contentedly from his sleep, stretching lazily.
Despite going to bed extremely late last night—Angel couldn’t even remember exactly when he fell asleep—he felt surprisingly well-rested.
For the first time in years, he felt energetic and hopeful in the morning.
Before, there was usually only despair.
"Tomorrow I report to the Magic Academy... Wait, reporting tomorrow just happens to coincide with the initial trial, right?" Angel froze for a moment, then glanced at the small-framed demon beside him, raising an eyebrow slightly with a smirk: "Heh, who’s going to the initial trial? I’m not even going to training today!"
Just as he finished speaking, his mother’s voice called out from outside the door: "Angel! How much longer are you planning to sleep? Aren’t you supposed to train today?"
"Yes! I’m heading out now! Really, I’m leaving!" Angel scrambled in a hurry, carrying his bow and quiver, throwing on his hat, and darting out the door with bread clenched between his teeth.
"Heh." The demon followed behind, grinning broadly: "It’s only just begun, Angel. The road ahead is still very, very long. You can’t even escape your parents yet. You dislike archery, refuse to attend the initial trial tomorrow, yet today you’re still pretending by heading to the training field. What a pitiful life! Of course, it’s already much better than before we met; at least now you have hope. By the way, have you thought about what will happen when your parents find out you skipped the trial?"
"Skipping the trial, after already registering, means scoring zero. But I’ve had enough zeroes already. When others score a zero, their parents and coaches get suspicious, but me... Hmm, they’ll just think ’Ah, good, consistent and stable performance.’ That’s about it."
"Well, I guess having bad grades isn’t entirely a disadvantage sometimes."
Despite lamenting, Angel still arrived at the training field.
Why, you ask? ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by NoveI~Fire.net
Perhaps because he truly had nowhere else to go. Perhaps because it was the last day of freedom—tomorrow he’d plunge into the vast ocean of magic. Or perhaps... it was because of Sino.
Tomorrow is the trial. Today, the training field is in its final moments, and nearly no one is seriously training. For many, this might be the last time they’ll sit together. The atmosphere felt like a farewell gathering.
Many brought snacks and drinks. Pieces of tablecloths were spread across the ground, resembling a picnic. Even the coaches joined in on the chats.
Only Angel stood apart, carrying his bow and quiver and bringing nothing else—like he was fundamentally different from everyone.
Perhaps he was. He never really belonged here; he wasn’t like the others.
"No one told me to bring food. I thought it was just regular training," he muttered under his breath.
"Do you seriously have no friends?" the demon asked.
"Friends? I guess I don’t." Angel replied.
"Guess? That’s not something you ’guess.’"
"Alright, fine, I don’t." Angel said helplessly. "In fact, out of the 200 or so trainees here, over six years, I can name fewer than five people."
"That’s normal. All your energy is focused on magic. You probably nap during regular training sessions. Otherwise, your magical achievements wouldn’t be astounding enough to make the Magic Academy’s Magic Masters marvel."
"True." Perhaps trying to mask his embarrassment, Angel cautiously walked to an empty spot, nocked an arrow, drew the bow, and released it with a "whoosh."
"Thwack!" The arrow hit the bullseye.
He carefully nocked another arrow, drew again, and released—"Thwack!" It hit the bullseye yet again...