CHAPTER 7

<p>"And finally, the moment you've all been waiting for! The final match!", the cheer of the crowd can be heard all over the arena. Daniel looked at the person standing behind the pillar near the arena. Her hands were clasps tightly in her chest. <br/><br/>"Now, let's introduce the contestants! On the left corner! He's a smart boy for an 18 year old who used tactics in order to win, the tactician wizard…..Perus Catlaster!", a lot of people, who looks like they bet on Perus to win, cheered so loud. <br/><br/>"And on the right corner! He's quite gutsy for a 14 year old and defeated contestants younger and even older than him, the exceptional wizard….."<br/><br/>"Eleanor!", Eli looked at Daniel's direction after hearing him call her. Her eyes widen when she saw a different smile placed on his lips. It's not a gentle or jolly smile that she'd seen from him before; it's a manly smile, a calm and collected smile that you can only see in an adult's lips. <br/><br/>"I'll be back! So wait for me right there and cheer for me!"<br/><br/>"….Daniel from the west!"<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>"I can't believe you have to fight that hard just for money, Dan!", Daniel laugh but stopped and wince when the girl tending to his wounds pressed the cotton, containing some herbal medicines, hard on his wounds. <br/><br/>"Hehe, sorry Eli. But I won right? Aren't you at least proud?", Eleanor looked at her friend's pouting face. She stopped dabbing the medicine on his wound and cupped both of his face. <br/><br/>"I am….very….but, next time, please try to be more careful and don't push yourself too hard like this", Daniel, who saw how serious she is about his condition, smiled at her. He put both of his hands on top of her hands and squeezed them. <br/><br/>"Mm. I promise, thank you Eli", the two then continued in tending to Daniel's wounds when a knock was heard on the door of the waiting room where they're in. <br/><br/>"Sir Daniel, it's time for you to get your reward", the two of them stood up as Eli cleaned up the first aid provided for them earlier. "I'll watch you behind the pillars, go on", she said as she lifted both her and Daniel's stuffs. <br/><br/>Daniel went straight to the stage where he'll get his award as the winner of the game. He was congratulated by the host and the judges of the game, then he received the prize money and was about to go down the stage when he was stopped. <br/><br/>He looked back and saw two older men who're both dressed fancily. The two smiled at him. "You really are an exceptional wizard, a talented person like you should be cherished and polished, that's why we would like to invite you to attend the Veneficus Academia, the academy for wizards located in Virgula City, the main city of Septen Region", Daniel was awestruck by the sudden offer that was given to him. <br/><br/>He looked down as his mind started to wander. "How about it?", his mind was put out of the gutter as he looked up again to the two adults. Two wizards. Then, he looked behind him; there he spotted a certain black haired girl with purple eyes looking at him, waiting for him behind the pillars beside the arena. <br/><br/>"I'm sorry sir, but can you please let me think about it first?", he firmly asked of them. The 2 wizards looked at each other and then nodded at him. Then, they gave him a little card; it is a silver card with the logo of the Veneficus Academia. <br/><br/>"Then, we'll wait for you at the academy once you've made up your mind young man", they patted him on the shoulder and he came down from the stage. Eleanor, who's smiling widely, immediately tackled him in a hug. He held her as her small stature was lifted by his bigger ones. <br/><br/>"Congratulations Dan! You really are amazing!", she happily congratulated him as he gently put her down the ground. "Well, I did promise you that I'll win this for you", but Eli shook her head. <br/><br/>"Keep that money for yourself, don't spend it on me. That's the award for your hardwork. So please, keep it for you", the girl pleads to him. He gazed at her eyes and finally sighs. <br/><br/>"I really can't win against you, can I?"<br/>"No…no you can't"<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>"I'm done taking a bath, your turn", Eli glance at Daniel and noticed that he's spaced out near the window. She sighed and walked towards him. She tapped his shoulder and he looked up to her. <br/><br/>"You're spacing out again for the nth time today. Is something the matter? Is this inn uncomfortable for you?", Daniel shook his head and stood up from his seat and patted her head. <br/><br/>"You promised…no secrets, so if you have a problem you can share it with me you know"…. 'Even though I'm keeping secrets from you too'<br/><br/>The boy sighed and suddenly hugged Eleanor. "So….", she encouraged him some more and led the both of them to sit on the bed. "So…I…I've been invited"<br/><br/>Eli tried to look at Daniel's face but he refused to look at her and instead, he just buried his face on her neck.<br/><br/>"Invited to where? To what? Dan?"<br/>*Sigh* "I was invited….to go study in Veneficus Academia, the school for wizards on the North Region"<br/><br/>Eli's eyes widen. Veneficus Academia is a school for wizards. In the story, it was just mentioned that Daniel attended that academy and was able to become one of the most powerful wizards after that, but, it was never mentioned how he attended or for what reason did he attend the academy because he's just a supporting character. <br/><br/>'So this is the time for him to attend the academy? Or, is it still early?', as Eleanor pondered about the details on the story, Daniel started talking again. <br/><br/>"I…I was just thinking about the proposal they've given to me", Eli felt Daniel squeezed her more. <br/><br/>"It's a great offer, Daniel. Why don't you want to accept it? Why are you still hesitating? You might be able to find clues about your wizard parents there; besides, you can get stronger and learn a lot more about your abilities. So why don't you…"<br/><br/>"What about you?"<br/><br/>Eleanor stopped after finally hearing Daniel's reason. It was her. "What about me?", she asked. <br/><br/>"If I go to that academy, where will you stay?! I can't just leave you here but I can't bring you with me too in that school even if I want too. Besides, we still haven't found any clues about your parents or your mysterious abilities. I can't just leave you hanging!", Daniel let out his worries all at once. <br/><br/>Eleanor who's just listening to him was busy thinking about something else. Her plan is to avoid the most important characters in the story as much as possible, but that became hard to do because she established a connection and a relationship as a friend to Daniel and was also able to establish another one with Anette too before even becoming aware of where she is. <br/><br/>She was able to avoid Anette for now, and this…this is an opportunity to avoid Daniel. It might sound harsh but for Eli, for Ammiel, the story not being disrupted is also important in order for everyone to be able to live happily. <br/><br/>She was thinking, if Daniel goes to the academy, she can start distancing herself from him little by little until the start of the real story. She still have at least 3- 4 years left before the story will start, the introduction of Anette and the other characters just started when Anette finally started going to Lumen Academy, but, once Anette turns 16 and have encounters with some of the characters in Lumen Academy after being a senior student, the main story will start. <br/><br/>So, she has at least 3- 4 years in order to finally distance herself from the story and its important characters. <br/><br/>But right now, with flashbacks of the 4 years she spent with him, she's having a hard time convincing herself to leave him, her attachment is making her hesitate to decide. She closed her eyes and breathe for a bit, clearing her head as new ideas started coming to her brain, then finally she opened her eyes again before putting both of her hands on Daniel's cheeks and making him face her. <br/><br/>"Dan, can you please look at me? Look, I don't want you to decide on your future in a rush. I want you to decide for yourself. Now, I want to ask you, don't think about anything else except for your true and honest answer to my question. What do you really want to do?"<br/><br/>Daniel looked at Eleanor's serious eyes before closing his own. "I…I want to find out more about my parents. I want to learn more spells and become stronger so I can protect you when we go on a journey to find out clues about your identity and my parents"<br/><br/>"Then, you already know the right decision right?"<br/><br/>Daniel opened his eyes and looked at the smiling girl. "But what about you? How can I be reassured with leaving you here all by yourself?!"<br/><br/>"I can manage, I plan on applying for a job in a bakery since I already have an experience as a staff on places that sells foods. I can also find a place to stay, there are a lot of places here since this is the center region of the kingdom"<br/><br/>"Then what about finding about your identity?"<br/><br/>"I can just request for help in an information guild. There are also a lot of them here so I'm sure a lot of information can be gathered in a short period of time. And if you're thinking about your parents, I think I can also request for the information guild to find out clues about them. Besides that, you can also find clues in the academy's library since some of the records about wizards are in there, so it's a win-win for you to attend the academy"<br/><br/>Daniel sighed in defeat. "What about communication?", he asked again like a child. <br/><br/>"I can send letters to you once I was able to find an accommodation", Eli answered. This is not her plan, but, for now, she's still convincing herself to let the plan be on hold for a moment, she still have at least 3-4 years before the main story starts, so she changed her plan the last minute.<br/><br/>During those 3-4 years, she plans on investigating things about her ability and communicating with Daniel through letters. But, as time passes by, she plans to lessen communicating through letters till she really stops sending letters. That way, it won't be too hard for her to end her connections with Daniel. Then, before the main story begins, she'll leave the Centralis and will go to another place far away from the settings of the story. <br/><br/>So far, that's the best plan she can make for now, considering her feelings and the circumstances she's facing now. "Then, promise me you'll be sending letters to me", Eli hugged the boy as she pat him on the back, trying to soothe him. <br/><br/>'I'm not a tactician so I'm not that good at making plans. I'm not as smart as the protagonists who were transported to other worlds. I'm just a stupid girl…extra, trying her best and spending all of her remaining brain cells to think of a way to live my life to the fullest this second time. I might sound like a hypocrite or I might look selfish, but this is all my little brain can think of for now, so…I'm sorry but…'<br/><br/>"I promise"<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>Daniel spent all of his time together with Eli for 3 straight days, and then finally on the 4th day, he finally left for the Veneficus Academia. <br/><br/>3 years had passed since that day. <br/><br/>During those years, Eleanor's mind keeps on changing about her cutting her relationship with Daniel and not. After Daniel left for the academy in the North, she immediately applied for a job on the bakery she's been eyeing on. She was hired after and started working in there. She's living in that bakery as well, in the attic. <br/><br/>She never let Daniel know about that because she's fine with it. She also sticked with the plan of lessening the letters she's sending to him little by little. <br/><br/>"Eleanor! The customer is waiting!"<br/>"Oh! Sorry ma'am!"<br/><br/>She immediately started packing the cakes that were ordered, and then she handed out the box to a young woman. "Here's your food, enjoy!", she smiled and slightly bowed her head to show appreciation. She was about to go to the kitchen when the bell on the door made a sound, alerting her of a new customer. <br/><br/>"Welcome", she greeted them. But when she looked to know who they are, her whole face went stiff when she saw how the 2 knights glared at her. At the silence, the owner of the shop came out of the kitchen, but what she saw and heard made her face pale in an instant. <br/><br/>"W-we greet the little sun of the kingdom. May the goddess Anchora bless you", and with that, the owner bowed her head. Eli, even though still loading, bowed her head as well. 'Little sun. If the king is the sun, the queen is the moon, then, the little sun is the…..crown prince'<br/><br/>A paragraph from the story 'The Hidden Saintess' came into her mind.<br/><br/><br/>**********************************************<br/>The maid immediately bowed her head down and greeted him. "I greet the little sun of the kingdom. May the goddess Anchora bless you", the man only nodded at her and passed her by. His golden blonde hair shining as the sun's light shone on them and his calm ocean blue eyes continued to look ahead of him. He really is perfect as the crown prince of the kingdom. Crown prince…<br/>….CYPHEL REAGAN ZENITH.<br/>**********************************************<br/><br/><br/>'It's the male lead of 'The Hidden Saintess'! The lover of Anette! <br/><br/>Cyphel just smiled at them and continued looking at the cakes available. As he took his time choosing, Eleanor also took her time to settle her mind too. Her head is full of questions. <br/><br/>'Why is the male lead here?! This place wasn't even mentioned in the story!'<br/><br/>Minutes passed in silence, Eli then remembered that the Primor City is where the male lead and the female lead met each other. Anette, who was 16 that time, was supposed to be doing volunteer work in an orphanage in Primor for her studies in Lumen Academy when Cyphel, who was 17 that time and is also visiting that orphanage as the crown prince, bumped into her there. <br/><br/>That's why Eli can't think of a reason why the crown prince would visit a bakery that never showed up in the story. "I'll be taking this and this", the owner nudge Eli as they both prepared his order as careful as they can. "I'm gonna give it to the kids on the orphanage later, so please handle it with care", he reminded them as they both replied, "Yes your highness"<br/><br/>Eleanor was able to breathe again after Cyphel left. "That just drained me out", she sighed to herself. 'Hopefully, the prince won't stop by here again, right?'<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/> 'I just jinx myself'<br/><br/>"Umm, give me this and this, oh! Include that one as well!"<br/>"Yes sir"<br/><br/>3 days after buying on their bakery for the first time, Cyphel came back and bought cakes again. It's a bad timing for Eleanor since she's the only one tending on the shop for the owner is out for an important matter, so she needs to handle him all by herself. <br/><br/>She was about to wrap a ribbon on the box when she heard a commotion outside. Both she and Cyphel looked outside and what shocked her was the door opening with a bang. <br/><br/>Coming inside are men wearing black suits that even covered their faces, the only thing that wasn't covered were their eyes. "Kyahhh!", with the scream Eleanor can't hold off, they immediately swung their sword and attacked Cyphel who defended himself using his own sword. <br/><br/>Eli immediately bended down on the counter and covered her head but then, she felt hands grabbing her long black hair. "Kyak!", she grunted in pain and grabbed the man's hand grabbing her hair but to no avail, he's stronger than her who is just a 15 year old girl. <br/><br/>He lifted her off the floor as they, the remaining 5 men wearing black suits, surrounded Cyphel. "Don't think of doing anything or she'll die!", her eyes widen when he pointed his dagger on her. Eleanor can't hold it back as tears started dropping out from her eyes. <br/><br/>'This is my second chance to live the life I loss, I don't want to die like this just to add a thrill in the story of these main characters!'</p>