CHAPTER 130 – Initiation

"It's a pleasure to see you again. Mr. Cristopher." Said Randy as he bowed to Cristopher on the entrance to the English Royal Court, after greeting Rachel. Then he turned to the small Antonio who was shocked to see the enormous gates, gardens, and buildings all around. "I assume this is the little friend you talked about on our call?"

"Yes." Cristopher nodded as he patted Antonio's head. "His name is Antonio, and well, he's like Rachel, he's also an elementalist. Though he still doesn't have a clear path on how to use his powers."

"Oh, is that so?" Randy nodded as he rubbed his chin. "So it is true, huh…"

"Did you doubt me?"

"Not really. It's just that even if I'm seeing it firsthand, it's still hard to accept that what you propose could actually be feasible."

"True." Cristopher shrugged. "With the history the elementalists have in this world, it's not hard to understand where your doubts are coming from."

"Right." Randy nodded and he turned to Antonio, smiling. "Well, little boy. Please accompany me to fetch some more comfortable clothes for you."

"I-It's n-not necessary." Antonio stepped back slightly as he tried to avoid Randy's gaze. "I'm fine with what I'm wearing."

"You don't really think you'll be training in those clothes, do you?" Randy asked with a raised eyebrow. After all, Antonio was wearing jeans, boots, and a polo shirt.

"Go on, kid." Cristopher pushed him towards Randy. "You better acquaint yourself with Randy, you'll be spending a lot of time here in England."

Antonio flinched at Cristopher's last words, turning to look at him with a questioning glance.

"It has to do with the favor I told you about." Cristopher smirked. "From now on, you can be officially called the first elementalist to be ever trained by the English Royal Court. And the Princess, nonetheless, feel proud, kid."

"What...?" Antonio couldn't comprehend the words that went through his ears.

"Come on, little boy." Randy said as he pushed Antonio towards the main building of the English Royal Court.

"Didn't you tell him before?" Rachel asked with an awkward smile.

"Nah, no need." Receiving a shrug from Cristopher in return. "Besides, it's not like I'm doing something bad to him. If anything this is going to be a good thing for his future."

Rachel nodded while looking at Randy, who was still pushing a stunned Antonio. "But master… is it going to be okay?"

"Mm? What do you mean?"

"I mean, me teaching him… will I be able to? Until now it was you, master, who has been teaching me. But I never taught anyone else…"

"Don't worry about that. It's kind of repeating what we did, but with him. Also, you've grown quite accustomed to using your Natural Energy, so it won't be really hard for you to grab the trick to helping others."

"I hope so…" Rachel whispered shyly. {I don't want to betray your expectations… And this could be really good for England…} She thought, with the bright future her country, and her Guild, could reach if she succeeded.

"Come on. We have to make the most out of our available time." Cristopher said as he stretched and walked towards the garden he usually trained Rachel whenever he visited the English Royal Court. "It's good that we still have such a bright sun on this side of the world."

Rachel chuckled as she followed him. The two guards that were usually on the gates of the English Royal Court couldn't help but smile wryly at their Princess's attitude.

***

Back in Seoul, in Locket of Hope's backyard.

"Your room is ready, Hajin." Fran said with a smile as she sat down beside Hajin, who was looking at Evandel play, putting a tray of tea she brought from the kitchen.

"Thank you… I didn't want to impose on you, but I did promise that I would stay with Evandel." Hajin smiled awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head and reached to grab one of the cups of tea.

"Don't worry~ Don't worry~!" Fran smiled as she waved her hand. "It's not really a problem for us, since that girl, Yeonha, started with the remodeling of our orphanage, we've had a lot of new rooms for future kids." She said with a chuckle. "Even though we don't receive that many."

"Right." Hajin nodded with another awkward smile. He knew that Yeonha offered herself to improve the conditions of this orphanage, but he couldn't come last weekend, and seeing all the improvement the orphanage went through in a single week was something that amazed him a lot. {She really is a helpful ally… I'll give that to him. She could really be an important support for Evandel and even humanity. Well… That's mostly what I wrote…} Hajin chuckled slightly as he thought of the future Yeonha, who would be one of the main pillars of support for Korea and the whole world with all her investments in different industries.

"Say, Hajin~." Fran suddenly said with a tilted head. "Do you know Evandel's mother?"

"Pffft!" Hajin, who was taking a sip from his tea, spilled it out. "W-What...?"

"Haha~!" Fran chuckled at him. "I asked if you know Evandel's mother."

"…" Hajin smiled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head, before finally sighing, contemplating if answering truthfully or not. "I…-"

"Come on~!" Fran interrupted him as he hesitated. "I know you know! If not you wouldn't react that way! Also~ Come on~! I'm curious! Who is she!?"

"Haha…" At her incessant questioning and the fact that he was caught off-guard, he finally decided to go for the truth. {I mean… Yeonha knows… I don't see why Fran can't know too..} With that thought giving him the final push, he finally answered. "Yes… I know her. You have probably heard of her too..."

"Mm~? Have I!?" Fran tilted her head, before hitting her palm with her fist. "Is it Olivia!? No… That can't be~ She isn't blond~! Wait! That girl Yeonha~!? No! Not possible… She isn't blond either… Who is it!? Tell me already!"

"Haha…" Hajin smiled awkwardly. "Well… Do you happen to know England's Princess...?"

"England Princess-" Fran repeated with a smile at first, but her smile froze once she heard herself. "England… Princess…?" She then frowned at him with a glare. "Are you joking with me, Hajin~!?"

"No! I'm not!" Hajin quickly waved his hands in denial. "It's really Rachel… She's our classmate and… Well… Evandel received her blood just as she received Cristopher's blood… That's why she recognizes them as her father and mother… And technically they are her parents."

"…" Fran just looked at him, her mouth and eyes opened wide. "So… England's Princess… I mean, I knew she was too cute for being Cristopher's daughter… but being a little princess… that was out of my expectations…" Fran started to mutter to herself, making Hajin smile awkwardly.

"So that explains why, huh…" Suddenly Fran said with a nod of understanding. "Certainly, if it was known by the public that Rachel had a daughter, it wouldn't be easy news to digest… Especially since Rachel is loved too much by her country's people." She kept muttering as she rubbed her face. She finally nodded in determination and a bright smile. "Well! That finally makes some sense now!"

"Mm? What does?" Hajin asked, confused as to what she meant.

"That she couldn't meet her mother. Even when she apparently knew her." Fran said with a smile while turning to look at Evandel and the other kids. "It probably isn't a surprise to you, but there's no way for children not to want to know who their parents are. Even if they try to show the contrary, they're still pretty much want to know, and would accept without thinking if the opportunity is ever presented to them."

"Right…" Hajin nodded. Even when he did know who his parents were, he still couldn't meet them, and he knows how helpless it felt not being able to see or embrace them now. A thought he tried to forget as much as possible once again resurfaced from inside him.

"So having little Ev here playing with all of them, always makes me think how is she feeling? Does she want to see her mother? How difficult must be for her?" Fran said with a slightly sad smile. "Sometimes I even think of why would that asshole try to hide her from her own mother!" She chuckled at the thought of insulting Cristopher multiple times because of it. "But… Hearing who her mother is, I can understand why he did it, though just a little bit. It wouldn't be easy for England's Princess, or even the little Evandel, to evade the troubles that presenting them would bring after all."

"Yeah…" Hajin nodded absentminded. "It won't be easy at all for them to be together for now."

"Yes…" Fran nodded but then smiled. "Still! I think it's not good to keep her hidden from her mother for so long! If he's a man he has to do his best to reunite them! Because that's what a man should do!" Fran said with fake anger.

"Haha…" Making Hajin laugh at her, shaking his head. "He's planning to do it. Next year, or so he told me."

"Mm? He is!?" Fran asked with a tilted head.

"Yeah. He has some… plans… and he wants to leave her in her mother's hands. He thinks it's the best for Evandel."

"And it is." Fran said without any doubt. "There's no better place for a child to be than in their parents' hands. Well… Most of the times."

"…" Hajin simply nodded absentminded.

"Anne will be sad though." Fran said while looking at Evandel, who was laughing as Anne told some dumb jokes to her.

"She can visit her." Hajin simply answered. "I'm sure they won't have to lose their friendship."

"I hope so." Fran smiled before tilting her head. "I just wondered, how are they right now?"

"Mm? Who?"

"Antonio and Cristopher. Who would they be right now? Are they okay? Maybe there's some problem?"

Hajin chuckled. "I bet they're fine. Well, at least Cristopher's fine. Knowing that guy, he would be putting them through some kind of hell, disguising it as training."

"Hahaha…" Fran smiled awkwardly. "I guess it's true… Olivia always says how she's put through hell during her training. Still, she goes through it."

"Yeah…" Hajin smiled awkwardly. "The guy is a Devil while training someone, but at least it does work."

***

"Acho!" Cristopher sneezed. "Mm? Who the hell is talking shit about me?" He whispered with a frown. "It must be Olivia… Just wait for me to go back, I'll teach you some really good moves…" He said before focusing once again on the task at hand. "Keep going, you're doing it great."

Rachel nodded slightly, not even opening her eyes as she focused all her attention on guiding Natural Energy inside Antonio's body. Meanwhile, Antonio focused on the path Rachel's Natural Energy was carving inside of him. He tried his best to remember that same path, while his mana, as his hyung called it, kept trying to absorb Rachel's Natural Energy.

Time slowly passed, and soon night came to England. Thankfully, for Antonio, who was alerted of this beforehand, he had been sleeping most of the day back in Korea.

"So, how do you feel?" Cristopher asked Antonio, who was still trying to adapt to the new senses.

They haven't been focusing all day on adapting his mana to Natural Energy, they have been training both in meditation and physical combat. Antonio doesn't know what his Gift is, so he decided to train physically while he somehow manifests something from his Gift.

Sadly for him, he's not part of the main story, so there's no way for Cristopher or Hajin to determine his Gift. If it was before, Cristopher might have easily seen through it, but with his limited version, it was impossible for him to look at something else apart from his weakness, and not much more.

He did say he wanted to be like Rachel-noona, as he was surprised by Rachel's way of using elementals through her weapon. Only that he would like to use a different weapon and not a rapier. Randy, who heard this, smiled and soon brought a few different types of weapons from all around the world.

Looking through them, Antonio finally decided for something, and so, he went at picked a peculiar weapon.

"Well, look at that." Cristopher raised an eyebrow at his choice. "A katar. I won't ask- Fuck it, I will. Why would you pick a freaking katar?"

"I… I don't know?" Antonio said with the katar in his hand. "It just felt… Right?"

"Ho… Is that so?" Cristopher rubbed his chin. "That's quite a peculiar weapon, really weird really. It has basically no range at all, but really interesting to use with certain martial arts." He said as he looked at the katar in Antonio's hands. It was like a mix between a knuckle and a short dagger. Its blade went straight from the handle. In a sense, it looked more like a single, really wide claw. "Maybe it has something to do with your Gift?"

"You think so, hyung?" Antonio tilted his head.

"I mean, it's not really weird to have a certain feeling of familiarity with a weapon that has quite a synergy with you. And a Gift would explain that quite easily, meaning that it's something that goes really great with that particular weapon. In any case, it's never wrong to go with your instincts in this kind of thing." Cristopher said with a shrug before nodding towards another katar. "I'm not one to use that particular kind of weapon, but I would say that they go great in pairs."

"I would suggest for him to start with a single one, Mr. Cristopher." Randy said with a smile.

"I'm more of the thinking that adjusting earlier to your main style is the best. So, Antonio, what do you say? A single one? Or a dual-wielding style?"

"…" Antonio looked at the katar in his hand. "I… I think dual-wielding would be best…"

"Perfect."

"If that's what the kid wants, then there's nothing we can do." Randy said with a smile.

"But…" After grabbing the second one, Antonio looked at both katars in his hands. "Do you know who can teach me how to use them both?"

"…" Randy raised an eyebrow and quickly started to think of any British Hero that could be of help. Meanwhile, Rachel, who was standing close to them, also started to think if there was someone that could help inside the English Royal Court Guild.

"What are you talking about?" Cristopher tilted his head, pulling the attention from all three, before pointing at himself. "My main style is dual-wielding. I can teach you."

"Master, you're a dual wielder? But you always use one sword when training me or Olivia?" Rachel tilted her head.

"Of course I do. I'm training you, not fighting with you. I don't have a need to use two swords at the same time if it's just training." Cristopher shrugged. "Granted, it's not exactly the same to wield two swords as two katars, but I can help you train basic coordination, body control, and some common dual-wielding techniques that you can apply to any set of double weapons."

"You're always full of surprises, Mr. Cristopher." Randy said with a small smile.

"If you say so." Cristopher shrugged. "Let's go, you'll have to start training now. We're leaving in a few hours and I want you to at least know how to swing those things around without cutting yourself."

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