25 Chapter 25 - Eavesdropping
A couple of minutes earlier.
Aether leaned back and stretched out his legs. The fight was taking a bit longer than he had first thought and honestly he was rather done with the whole fighting thing.
The students cheered and pushed against one another as the fight raged on and although it all seemed rather exciting, Aether was slowly starting to lose interest in such meaningless fights. He knew that as long as he would live in this world, there would be no way to avoid the battles, but the battles he was talking about would be wars against empires that he would personally not like to be involved in. Pointless fights like these though, could be prevented.
But it seemed like the world was against him. If a class itself centered around fighting and combat training, then it seemed he was destined to watch pointless fighting everyday for as long as he was here.
He kicked his feet. Enjoying how for a single second he felt like he was flying, at least in his feet. He rocked his head back and forth, humming a soft tune as the fight raged on. In the corner of his eye he caught sight of the Professor who still had his back to the fight and was helping a few students. Aether let out a small laugh. It was amazing to see how much effort a big strong guy like the Professor would go through to stay out of conflict with the Royal family.
His eyes left the Professor and began to roam again. A forest was the only other thing that greeted him in his roaming. The giant green forest was relaxing to look at, but after a while even that was growing boring.
He sighed and went to turn his attention back on the fight, but a small movement caught his attention.
HIs eyebrows furrowed and he rubbed his eyes to make sure what he was seeing was actually there. His legs stopped swinging and he sat up a bit. In the shadows of the trees, three cloaked figures were walking further into the forest.
He leaned forward. 'Could this be…' he didn't want to finish the thought. He knew that the Gelani Empire would eventually infiltrate the Soline Empire through the servants of the nobles, but that should have been way later. It was way too soon!
His heart began to sped up. He touched his chest feeling its movement. A part of him was nervous over the prospect that he plot could be happening sooner than expected. Yet the other part of him was excited to finally watch the plot. He frowned at the latter. He shouldn't be feeling this way.
He watched as the figures slowly disappeared into the forest. He looked around him. The students were either too focused on the fighting or gossiping amongst one another. The Professor was busy pretending the fight wasn't even happening and Leon was too busy fighting.
In these types of scenarios, it would be logical to go and seek out someone to either go with him or report the suspicious behavior, but would they believe him? Or would they shrug him off and push the issue to the side.
His fingers clenched the seat he was sitting on. He knew what his brother would do and he had a gut feeling that everyone else wouldn't even bother with the small issue. After all they believed themselves to be undefeatable. A few servants that acted suspiciously wouldn't stand a chance against them.
He sighed. He knew better than to do what he was about to do, but he needed to know what was happening. What they were up to and if the plot was progressing faster…what did that mean for him?
With a pounding heart he followed the three figures into the forest, not noticing the shadow that watched him from afar.
The forest was dense. Bushes, flowers, insects, it was calming. 'If I had just come in here for a walk I would have enjoyed this.' Aether thought. He made sure to keep the figures in line of sight, but also made sure that he wouldn't be in sight. He took care in watching where he stepped while also making sure that he had a go to hiding spot every couple of feet.
The three figures took their time getting to their 'spot'. They stopped in a small clearing. The trees were still over their heads, but they would be able to see the sky if they looked up. There were plenty of bulky trees surrounding them so Aether took the furthest one away from them and huddled behind it.
Aether squinted his eyes at the figures. They obviously weren't trying to hide themselves. They wore servants' cloaks, blueish green coats with the Royal Academy logo on the back. They were given to the servants that were allowed to study in a different wing while their masters were busy with real school. The Frenzel family didn't have any of these servants, but the Princes each had one loyal servant that would follow them to the Royal Academy and so did many other snobby nobles.
"Okay, we should be in the clear." A female voice said. The smaller of the three figures removed their hood. A girl with short brown hair and blue eyes was revealed. She had a friendly atmosphere around her, but the slightly bulging muscles hidden underneath her clothes told Aether she was trained in other areas.
If Aether had to guess she was most likely the type of servant that would have no problem gaining the trust of her coworkers let alone her masters. Which was most likely what the Gelani Empire was hoping for. What her coworkers and masters didn't know was that she was probably a highly skilled assassin trained to kill them when the order came.
"We shouldn't be doing this so soon. They know that this could jeopardize the mission." One of the taller figures removed their hood as well. He was a younger boy with medium length black hair that was pulled back into a small ponytail. His eyes were the same color as his hair and he had a small scar on the chin. His hands were shaking and his eyes were constantly gazing at his surroundings.
Aether was bringing to question the Gelani Empire's choice when it came to who would be infiltrating the Soline Empire.
"Calm down." The girl rolled her eyes. She pulled a bag in front of her and began to shuffle through it.
"It's just…you know." The young boy tried to explain.
"Here, drink this." She pulled out a bottle full of purple liquid.
"Thank you." The boy grabbed the bottle and wasted no time in chugging it down.
"He has the right to worry." The last figure took off their hood. He was an older looking man with short rusty red hair and a beard with calculating green eyes. "Think about it. Why would they summon us now? We had confirmed we wouldn't get in contact for another three months." His eyes scanned his surroundings.
Aether quickly hid behind the tree. The last figure came off more dangerous than the other two, but he also looked a little familiar. The problem was where had he seen him.
The only times Aether would have come in contact with the servants of other houses were when he was at the Palace and when he was entering the Royal Academy. Both options didn't give him much to go on, but he highly doubted that he saw this man at the Palace. So the only option left was at the Royal Academy.
The girl hummed, "It is strange."
"Do-do you think something happened?" The boy with black hair said. He gripped his coat, pulling it closer to his body. His face was paling with every passing second, "Do you think we did something wrong." He semi-whispered.
The older man smacked him over the head, "Don't be stupid." He looked back at the girl, "What did you give him?"
"A potion that is supposed to calm him down." She clicked her tongue, "Obviously it didn't work." She sighed, "These damn nobles think they are all high and mighty, but they can't even make a simple potion." She scoffed.
"They are not the smartest bunch." The red haired man agreed.
The girl nodded and changed the topic. "We have followed orders to the word. If anything is wrong, then something must have happened." She gave the black haired boy a smile, "You have nothing to worry about."
The boy gave a soft smile, but his eyes still lowered, "Something bad must have happened right? For them to call us here."
The three went silent.
Aether bit his finger as he took in what he had just heard. He had expected that the three were going to converse over their plans or how they were doing in their infiltration, but from the sound of it, the persons in charge had summoned them.
'Did something go wrong?'
"Why did you summon us?" The girl's voice brought Aether out of his thoughts. Aether peeked out his head from the tree and was shocked to find that there were three more additional people in cloaks, but he hadn't heard them arrive. A chill ran down his spine.
The three new figures did better at hiding themselves. They wore gray robes that hide both their clothes and faces. Aether could only see their plain black boots and their mouths. Their clothes bulged out just a tiny bit, giving Aether the impression that they were carrying weapons.
"You have new orders." One of the figures said, their voice was that of a man, it carried an elegance to it that only those that grew up in power could have. The figure handed over a piece of paper to the girl.
"Hm?" The girl titled her head to the side as she read. Once done, she passed it off to the next figure. "Seems ridiculous. Wasn't this Olly's job?"
"Olly is indisposed at the moment." The cloaked figure said.
The man with red hair stared at the piece of paper and scoffed, "Are you serious?"
"Yes. Get it done as fast as possible."
"Ha!" The red haired man laughed, "Do you know how hard this is going to be?" He threw the paper at the hooded figures. "It's like your giving us a death sentence."
The hooded figure in the middle bent down, his hand reached out to grab the paper and Aether caught a glimpse of a golden bracelet with a blue jewel in the center of the flowers that decorated it.
The piece of paper on the ground caught on fire the moment the cloaked figure touched it.
"It's not a death sentence." The cloaked figure stood up and dusted off his sleeves, "If you are successful, a great reward will be waiting for you upon your return."
This time it was the girl who scoffed, "Yeah, our return. You know that we won't be returning for at least another decade."
"If you can bring the target to us successfully, then you won't be returning. Someone else will replace you."
The words had an effect on the three as they stood in silence. The smiles spreading on their faces were ones of pure joy and excitement.
"Okay, okay!" The black haired boy nodded, "I'll be the first one to get it done." The boy no longer seemed skittish, but instead he was radiating confidence. "What's the person's name? What's the person's name?" He never got a chance to look at the paper and was jumping up and down around the closed figure.
"Aether Frenzel."
Aether went cold. He ducked behind the tree, no longer interested in hearing what the others were saying. 'I have to get out of here.'
"Frenzel?" The young boy stopped jumping up and down. His head cocked to the side, "Aren't the Frenzel's super hard to trick?"
"Hard but not impossible." The cloaked figure said. "We already have one inside, a couple more shouldn't be a problem."
Aether froze mid step. Dread seeped into his bones. 'They were already inside the mansion.'
"We are already servants in other houses, we can't just transfer-"
"Then don't." The cloaked figure interrupted. "He attends the Royal Academy. I'm sure you'll be able to find him when he's unattended…" his gaze shifted to the tree lines, "Like he is now."
