Trip

Austria, October 24th 1796

2:59 PM

Lukas had just arrived at the academy, and right now was heading inside. When he entered his training field, pretty much all of the students were already there, including Johan.

When Lukas spotted Johan, he casually walked towards him with his hands pocketed.

When Lukas reached him, Johan turned to the blonde boy and immediately showed a smile. "Hey, Lukas," he said.

Lukas smiled back. "Hey," he answered.

After that, the both of them shook each other's hands.

After shaking his hand, Lukas looked at Johan with a curious expression, something that the blue-eyed boy notice.

Johan raised his brow. "What's up? Do you wanna ask me something?" he asked.

Lukas nodded his head. "Yes. Do you already know about Austria's victory in the war?" he asked.

Johan immediately widened his eyes. "W-What?! We won?! H-How do you know?!" he asked, shocked.

Lukas scratched the back of his head as he hummed. "Hmmm... well, I received an invitation to go to a party, in order to celebrate the end of the war," he said.

Johan raised his brow. "You?" he asked.

Lukas sighed. "Fine, it was not me, it was my family, but whatever!" he said. "What I wanna tell you is that I'll not be coming to the academy for like... one month," the blonde boy said.

Johan widened his eyes. "W-What? When are you leaving?" he asked.

Lukas crossed his arms. "Next Sunday," he casually answered. "And also, I had an idea to make this a test for you. If I find out that you ever got your ass kicked here while I was away, you'll be punished," the blonde boy said.

Johan raised his brow. "What kind of punishment?" he asked.

Lukas shrugged his shoulders. "It's better not to say the kind of punishment for you to get more anxious, but... what about a fight against me, where I'm going at you with all I got?" he asked.

"...That looks awful, I guess I won't have my ass kicked in this month, then," Johan said.

Lukas nodded his head in approval. "Very good, my pupil! This is gonna be a good way to test your dependency. Since I'm always with you here, nobody dares to approach you, but now, if you are alone, the story is different," he said.

Johan shrugged his shoulders. "They might still be afraid that I'm going to tell you after you come back and still don't pick on me," he said.

Lukas smirked. "Yes, that's a possibility. And you'd better pray for that to happen," he said.

Lukas's sentence immediately sent a shiver down Johan's spine. "Huh... okay... I guess..." he cleared his throat and then looked at Lukas with a serious expression. "I don't need to pray! I have myself and that's enough for me to get by!" the blue-eyed boy said.

Lukas kept smirking as he nodded his head in approval. "That's right! Let's see if you keep that mentality as the time passes!" he said.

Johan just gulped in apprehension after hearing Lukas's sentence, whereas the blonde boy kept smirking.

Soon, Thomas, their instructor showed up and started yelling. "Hello, students! It is with great satisfaction that I say that... Austria, our great nation, has won the war against those French devils!"

After some silence, everyone started celebrating in euphoria.

"Haha! Those losers didn't stand a chance!"

"I wish I could be there so I could blow away a French pussy myself!"

"Haha! You?! You would die once you stepped on the battlefield!"

"What?! Of course not!"

Lukas sighed. 'Well, I guess the news hasn't spread throughout the country yet. It must not take that long, though,' he thought.

-----

Austria, October 30th 1796

3:42 PM

Lukas was standing at the entrance of the mansion, carrying a backpack as he waited for his father to come downstairs.

Lukas sighed. 'How can my father be taking so long?! Are you kidding me?!' he internally complained.

After a few more minutes, Elias finally showed up as he started walking down the stairs. When he reached Lukas, he sighed.

"You ready?" Elias asked as he looked down at his son.

Lukas nodded his head. "Yep," he quickly replied. 'I have to calm down. I'm showing too much excitement,' the blonde boy thought.

Elias sighed once again and then checked his watch. "Okay, it's time. Let's go," he said.

Lukas raised his brow. 'Well, it's past the time, actually,' he thought.

As Lukas followed Elias out of the mansion, he sighed. 'Well, it's not like we will take 3 weeks to arrive to Königsberg. The estimative is just one week and a half, I guess Father just wanted to make sure that we'll be there on time,' the blonde boy thought.

After walking for a while, both Elias and Lukas reached the carriage which was going to take them to Königsberg.

Elias approached Rambert, the man who was going to drive the carriage. "Hey, Rambert, do you mind if we review our planned trajectory once again?" he asked.

Rambert just shook his head. "Of course not, Mr. Hügel," he answered.

Elias nodded his head. "Okay, first, we have to go to go to East, towards Vienna where we will meet Tobias. That part of the trip is going to take about one day and a half," he said.

Lukas immediately widened his eyes. 'W-What?!' he wondered.

"After that, we are going due Nort-" Elias was interrupted by Lukas.

"F-Father! Are Viollet and Tobias coming too?!" Lukas asked.

Elias looked at Lukas with a confused expression. "Well, of course. There are many other members of the Von Neumann house who are coming, but the Head asked for the four of us to go together," he said.

"Huh... is the Head coming too?" Lukas asked.

Elias sighed. "Believe it or not, he's not. He said that he had a lot of work to do and that he had already let the king know, and that he didn't mind," he said.

After that, Elias turned back to Rambert. "Well, after going to Vienna, we are going to go due North, so we can quickly enter Prussian territory..." he kept speaking as Lukas had a lot of things going on his head.

'This isn't... gonna be easy. I have no idea why, but I didn't think that Tobias and Violett were coming too! I thought me and my father were just coming because I am the heir of the Von Neumann house and someone had to take me to the party! I was clumsy, though, of course more members of the Von Neumann house are coming.'

'Now that I think about it, I was underestimating Violett's role in the Von Neumann house. She's betrothed to the heir of this noble house! She's the one who is supposed to give birth to the people who will take over the Von Neumann house in the future!' Lukas thought.

Elias then turned to Lukas. "Well, Lukas, me and Rambert are done here. Get in the carriage, we are departing soon," he said.

Lukas just nodded his head and quickly got in the carriage. 'How am I gonna approach Nathalie with Violett in the party? This might tarnish the image of the Von Neumann house! No, it's perfectly normal for me to talk to other people in the party, they won't even imagine that I am planning to marry her, it's okay, you can do it!' he thought.

Soon, the carriage started departing. Elias was sitting cross-legged across Lukas.

After a while, Elias raised his brow. "What's wrong, Lukas? You seem a bit apprehensive," he asked.

Lukas just shook his head. "It's nothing, Father. I just don't like traveling for a long time without stopping," he replied.

Elias hummed for a bit. "Well, I don't know if this will make you feel better, but if everything goes as planned, we are going to stop at an inn. I don't plan to be sleeping inside this carriage anytime soon," he said.

'Well, of course. I didn't even consider the idea to be sleeping in this carriage, either,' Lukas thought.

"Well, I guess that does make me feel better. I wouldn't like to be sleeping in this carriage, either," he said.

"... I'm glad to hear that," Elias hesitatingly said.

Lukas raised his brow. 'This really sounded like he was glad to hear that I wouldn't like to be sleeping in this carriage... so weird,' he thought. 'Actually, I bet that I'm going to be sleeping in the carriage, because I really need my afternoon nap,' the blonde boy concluded.

The trip advanced without major problems. Lukas had brought tons and tons of books, so he would make sure that he wouldn't get bored.

Besides, Lukas also brought a few sheets of paper to draw. He couldn't bring canvases because they were too big and the paint could dirty the carriage, however, sheets of paper were fine, even though the quills could still dirty the carriage.

Lukas had already asked another person to go sell his paintings to Robert for him, so their deal wouldn't be dishonored.

Lukas then leaned his head back on the comfortable seat of the carriage. 'I wonder if I'll meet some guys from my academy in the party? I did overhear a few conversations about the party, so I guess so,' he thought.