59 Runic Language

Knock, knock.

Standing outside the door within the first-year dormitory building, I knocked twice.

"Argh... My whole body aches like hell," I grumbled, carefully stretching my left arm to avoid snapping it too much.

[Well, at least her training methods work]

"Yeah," I mumbled with a heavy sigh.

It had been six days since I chose the katana as my weapon, and now I regret it.

Lauryn, who had been using katanas since childhood, easily pointed out every mistake I made in every single move, and she didn't hesitate to correct them. But her methods were extreme.

She would literally slap the part of my body that was a little off from a proper stance, and for the last six days, I had endured extreme torture in the name of training.

[Look at the bright side, at least you're getting stronger.]

'Yeah, no'

All I saw was Lauryn having the time of her life torturing the one who took her family away.

With a soft click, the door swung open, and I looked ahead.

"..."

My mouth half-opened as I stared at the boy standing in front of me with nothing on his upper body and wearing only shorts.

"Uh... wrong room," I stammered, turning on my heel to run away.

"It's the right room," Oliver replied with a grin as he grabbed my shoulders.

"Let me go, you monster!" I shouted, trying to jerk his hand away.

"Hahahaha, come in; I won't do anything, I promise!"

"Help! Somebody! I'm being taken without my consent!"

I cried out dramatically, making a last-ditch effort to escape as Oliver hauled me into his room, laughter ringing in my ears.

"Anghh~~."

"Wait, what the fuck was that ?"

I exclaimed, putting an end to the drama and stepping away from the half-naked Oliver.

"....."

"Anghh~~Anghh~~Yes~~."

I silently surveyed the scene inside the room. Aimar and Ethan sat reclining against the wall, each with popcorn and a drink in hand.

Their eyes met mine briefly before quickly averting away.

"Anghh~~Angh~~."

Then, my gaze fell upon the holographic projector in the middle of the room, playing a video.

".....Who the fuck watches porn videos in the middle of the day with a guy sitting beside them?"

I folded my arms, tapping my foot impatiently on the ground as I stared at all three of them.

"ANGHH~~."

"Wait, Azariah, stop!!"

Ignoring Oliver's plea, I closed the projector, abruptly ending the video.

"The good part was about to start," Aimar grumbled, taking a sip of his cold drink.

"I know, right? She was about to cu—."

"Shut up, you idiots," I snapped at them, walking towards the bean bag placed at the side of the bed.

"Yeah, yeah, Mr. Saint," Oliver mocked as I took my seat.

"Why were you even watching that?" I asked Oliver.

"Oh, Ethan never saw that," Oliver replied, pointing at the brown-haired boy.

"And if you don't remember, adult videos are banned for common people."

"What's Ethan even doing here?" I asked, glancing at him. He waved at me with a smile.

"I called him, and he answered, unlike someone who's always busy," Oliver replied, looking in my direction.

"And unlike someone who's always free, I was training my ass off," I replied, glaring at him.

"Skill issue."

"Shut up."

With a sigh, I leaned on the bean bag, folding my arms on my chest as Oliver also reclined against the wall, sitting on the bed.

"Anyway, what happened to your bike?" Aimar asked, looking at me.

"They'll ship it tomorrow," I replied, picking up one of the drinks placed on the table, and so did Oliver.

"Good for you," Oliver muttered, taking a sip of his drink through the straw.

Slurp, slurp.

"Stop sucking on the straw like your life depends on it," I grumbled, watching as he sucked the liquid, his cheeks puff inside.

"Sucking helps maintain the jawline."

"...So that's why Aimar has such a sharp jawline," I commented before swiftly dodging the pillow thrown by Aimar.

"Anyway, tomorrow is the day for club activity," Ethan chimed in, making me look at him.

"Which club are you going to join, Azariah?" Aimar asked, glancing at me.

"I don't know for sure, but maybe the traveling club," I replied with a nonchalant shrug.

"Christina's club," Oliver mumbled, earning a glare from me.

"What? Isn't she the vice president of the club?" Oliver asked, looking at me.

Without responding, I placed the drink on the table again.

'El, I'm trying it.'

[Be careful.]

'Yeah.'

"Haah."

Exhaling sharply, I extended my hand towards Oliver.

"What?" He asked, tilting his head.

Without replying, I moved my extended hand gracefully, a faint silver glow emanating from my fingertip.

With my fingertip working as a pen and the mana within my body as ink, I wrote a single word in the air.

lekasher.

As I completely wrote the word in the air, the next instant, a thin thread of rope materialized before me.

And with a flick of my wrist, I directed it towards Oliver.

"The fuck!?" Oliver gasped as the invisible force wrapped around him, binding his hands together.

"What the actual fuck is that?" Aimar mumbled as he moved closer to Oliver, looking at his hand wrapped in a thin blue thread.

"Runic language," I replied as I picked up my drink again.

Both brothers nodded, but Ethan had a stiff look on his face.

[Was it wise to use it in front of him?]

'It's fine. I have a lot of things that I can use as a last resort.'

It's been more than a week since I started learning Runic language, which I'm learning from El.

And it's fucking hard learning a whole new language from scratch, so I asked El to teach me some basic runes, and lekasher is one of those easy ones.

"Hey! Aimar!!" Oliver exclaimed, making me focus on him.

Aimar pinned Oliver on his stomach as he sat over him.

"Aimar!"

"Chill, big brother, it won't hurt much," Aimar grinned as he took his belt off.

"Help! Azariah! Brother, help!" Oliver twisted his face towards me as he exclaimed.

"Why should I?" I asked, taking a sip of my drink.

"Remember the gift that I gave you that night? Help me for that!!"

"What did you gift me, oily?" I asked, drinking.

"Reverse cowgirl!!"

Cough, cough, cough!

I choked on my drink as I coughed violently, hearing his words.

"What the fuck do you mean by that?"

"Remember that night when I rode you i—."

"Shut up, you fucker!" I exclaimed, glaring at him. "What are you babbling about?"

"Wait... So that wasn't you?" He asked, tilting his head in confusion.

"....."

Should I throw this bastard off the building?

Thwack!

"Argh..."

Oliver groaned in pain as Aimar hit his butt with the belt.

"Tell me, Oliver, who is your daddy!" Grinning, he exclaimed as he went for another hit.

Snap.

But before he could, I snapped my fingers, freeing Oliver.

"Huff... Huff..."

Oliver's chest heaved in anger as he glared at his brother.

"Wait, brother! ARGHH!!"

Aimar pleaded, but ignoring his words, Oliver pinched both his nipples tightly, making him cry in pain.

[....What a weird pair of brothers they are.]

'I know.'

"My daddy is Paul Polarral," Oliver replied as he removed his hands from Aimar's chest.

"Where is Uncle nowadays?" I asked, making him glance at me.

"Moving around to different places," Oliver replied as he leaned against the wall. "He hasn't been home for a long time."

"Empire-related stuff?"

"Yeah," nodding his head, he continued, "there's talk of a non-aggression alliance between our Empire, the Mizraim Empire, and the Ekari Kingdom."

"What? Weren't we at odds with the other two?" Ethan asked, his face filled with confusion.

"That's for the common people to know," Oliver replied, glancing at him. "In reality, there aren't many hard feelings between the three of us."

"Is the church getting involved?"

"...Yeah," he replied, glancing at me. "They are the ones working as mediators between all three of us."

I nodded my head as I leaned on the bean bag.

'Things have already started, huh?'

"They are also going to declare what happened to Hesperia Kingdom," Oliver mumbled, making me sit back up straight.

"What?"

"...Almost sixteen years have passed since the massacre, Az, and now they are going to use it for their own cause," he replied, looking deeply into my eyes.

"What are they planning to do?" I asked, tapping my leg on the ground.

"The exiled prince was born that day,"

he replied, making me take a deep breath.

"They will declare it, most probably on the birthday of the youngest princess of the Ekari Kingdom."

"Wait, I am not following," Ethan chimed in again. "What happened? Massacre, church, exiled prince, what are they all about?"

"Chill, man, nothing important for us common people to take too much interest in," Oliver replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"Argh... My nipples hurt," Aimar grumbled in pain as he massaged his chest.

"That's what you get for messing with your big brother, you little shit," Oliver replied, glaring at him.

"Fuck you, when I awaken my bloodline I will obliterate your ass," Aimar retorted, glaring back at him.

"Hey, Azariah," Oliver mumbled, looking at me.

"Yeah?"

"Do you ever think?"

"No."

"Well... imagine if you did."

"Okay."

"Imagine if one day I go into a random dungeon and I find an overpowered sword and call it fate leading me to it, making me absurdly powerful... How beautiful it will be."

With a wishful face, he replied, looking at the ceiling while smiling like an idiot.

"....I feel like I have heard of this before," I mumbled, looking at him as I took out my phone.

"It's from that game princess and something," Aimar replied, and I nodded my head.

"What are you going to do with that sword, Oliver?" I asked, leaning in towards him.

"What else? Make a harem, of course!"

Smiling widely, he replied.

"Is that so?" I mumbled, nodding my head, before I looked at Aimar.

"You want something like that as well?" I asked, looking at him.

"I want to become a Chad vampire and have three wives fall into my arms," Aimar replied, mirroring his brother's look.

".... And recorded," I mumbled, looking at my phone, making both brothers freeze in place.

""... What!?""

"I wonder how Aaliyah and Miley will react to this," I said, grinning as blood started to drain from their faces.

"Aimar!! Snatch his phone!!"

"On it, brother!!!"

And before I knew it, both brothers jumped at me.