CHAPTER 103 - The cat got out of the box (Part 2)

10 PM on the first floor of the hotel the cadets were staying in. Kim Hajin was currently walking through the entrance lobby. And in the place, he thought he would see the group of cadets, just one of them was waiting for him.

There on the first floor of the hotel they were staying at, a yawning Chae Nayun was waiting, who quickly noticed him, turning to look up at him.

"..." Hajin only stood there, looking at her.

"What are you staring at?" She asked with a grin on her face.

"Nothing." Hajin shrugged, before looking around. "Where are the others?"

"They went ahead." Chae Nayun shook her head. "Why are you always late?"

"Sorry, I had something to do." He said while shrugging.

"Mm…" She nodded at him, not asking anything else and taking out something "Anyways, thanks for giving me this. It helped a lot during the attack."

She threw the magic sword to him.

"Oh, no problem." Hajin answered with a nod while catching the magic sword and putting it into his pocket. "Glad it helped."

"Yes, it was a great help. I should probably get something like that. By the way..." She looked around. "Where is that guy?"

"Huh? Who?" Hajin tilted his head.

"You know who, Cristopher. You guys are always together. And I haven't seen him since he asked me to be careful with his sword." She said, nodding towards Hajin's pocket, where the magic sword was kept.

"Oh… Him." With a nod, Hajin answered. "Yeah, no idea where he is. He just disappears from time to time."

"Mm… Weird." She frowned at his answer, but then shook her head. "Oh well, he's a weirdo, I don't even know what else to expect from him, just tell him that I gave you back that sword. Anyways, let's go! I'll pay for the food tonight."

"Sure."

With that, both of them left through the front door, walking in silence through the dark night, lit by the street lamps surrounding the street leading to the restaurant.

"Hey." It was Chae Nayun who broke the silence while tapping Hajin's shoulder.

"What?" Hajin turned to look at her, who was pointing somewhere in the Hotel's parking lot.

"Isn't that yours?" She asked directly.

"What…?" He turned to look at the parking lot, and there it was "Huh?"

Hajin slowly walked towards it, standing right in front of the bike he drove earlier to go after the White Crystal.

{Who would think that the owner of this bike is also staying in this hotel...} He thought for a moment while lightly touching the motorbike, wanting really hard to ride it again.

"Um..." Behind him, Chae Nayun smacked her lips while also looking at the bike. "Can we ride it there?" She finally asked.

"It's not mine." Letting out a sigh, Hajin retracted his hand and shook his head. "I borrowed it back then too."

"Really…?" She asked.

"Yeah..."

They started walking away, both wanting to ride the bike.

While Hajin was turning on his smartwatch, distrusting Chae Nayun's sense of direction, she was staring at his back intently for a moment.

"Hey." She, once again, broke the silence first.

"..." Hearing her, he turned to look back at her. The dim street lamp's light showering.

"Don't you think we can be friends?" She asked, making Hajin stop.

"..." He stared at her blankly, thoughts raging inside his mind.

That was a word that hasn't been present in his mind for a while. Not with her. There were multiple reasons why he couldn't befriend her.

He kept looking at her, while she was playing with her hair, pretending to be indifferent to his answer.

"No." He finally answered after a little while. "I don't think so."

"..."

She stood there, surprised, looking at his face for a little while, sighing before smiling stiffly, forcing herself to do it.

"S-Screw you." She said stiffly. "Fine. If you don't want to be friends, then screw off!" With those words, she smacked his arm and left running towards the restaurant. Or at least she thought she did.

"..." Rubbing his arm, Hajin stared at her departing back. "That freaking hurt..."

He muttered before sighing, still looking at the place where she ran off.

***

5:00 AM, the next day, inside the English Royal Court's garden, Rachel was meditating, training her Natural Energy.

"She's been doing that every morning for a few months already." Spoke Randal, who was standing some distance away from the meditating Rachel. Staring directly at her.

"She's diligent. That's good for her." Cristopher answered, laying down on the grass with his head over his arms and his eyes closed.

"Will she have to keep doing this every day for the rest of her life?" Randal asked, glancing at Cristopher.

"It's not exactly obligatory for her to train her Natural Energy every day." He answered. "But the more she does, the more control she will have on her power, her elementals' powers, and so on."

"Just her control?" Randy lifted his eyebrow, looking again at the meditating Rachel.

"Among other things." Cristopher answered, right before moving one arm to grab a small rock and throwing it at Rachel.

"!?" Randy, and some of the heroes protecting the Royal Court and who were also present at the garden, were alerted, opening their eyes wide, and quickly trying to reach towards the bullet-like rock with their power.

But even before they could do something, a thin torrent of high-pressured cold water cut the pebble in half, as if it was some really sharp steel whip.

"What…?" Randy stood there, looking at what just happened.

"Well done." Cristopher said. Not even bothering to open his eyes "Still, wasn't there a better way to repel the pebble? Cutting it in half so cleanly won't stop its movement, it will only divide the rock and slightly deviate its course."

"I'll keep it in mind, master." Rachel answered shortly, with her eyes closed, putting down her extended arm, reassuming her meditation pose.

"What happened there...?" Randy turned to look at Cristopher. The other heroes were also looking at him, waiting for an explanation.

"Natural Energy is quite a versatile thing, you see. It allows the possessor to sense their surroundings better than anyone else. It's the reason why the elementalists are able to perceive the elementals, at least those that go through normal training."

"With normal training…?"

"Yeah, I've searched around for the awakened elementalists, and at least in my personal opinion, they can't be called true elementalists. They depend entirely on their Gift to manage the elementals."

"What about Rachel?" Randy looked back at Rachel, with a slight frown.

"Well, while her Gift apparently does give her control on the elementals, she's barely using them. Right now it just optimizes the channel through which she contracts them, making it quite an amazing tool to contract stronger elementals."

"But… Isn't that a bad thing?" A hero couldn't control himself and asked. "I mean, our Gifts are the reason why we can fight against monsters. Leaving her Gift without use it's not a good thing, right?"

"..." The other heroes frowned and nodded at their colleague's opinion.

"That's..." Even Randy frowned at the comment.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard since staying here." Cristopher opened his eyes wide while looking at the hero.

"What…!? What do you-" The hero tried to speak, but was quickly interrupted.

"First. Rachel's Gift, apart from giving her the possibility to contract and control elementals, barely allows her mana to use some natural properties, nothing that noticeable if you ask me." Cristopher sat up. "Second. At most she would be able to order her elementals around, making them work for her."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Another hero asked.

"If Rachel was a summoner or a magician, yes. It would be a great thing. But she isn't, you dumbass. She's a swordswoman. Her main weapon is her rapier. Taking her time to speak to her elementals to give them complicated orders is not a viable option while in the middle of combat."

"The best way is for her to combine her elementals' powers with her swordsmanship..." Randy muttered while looking at Rachel, remembering how she trained lately, mixing both elements and swordsmanship in a spectacular way.

"Exactly. Sadly, her Gift isn't perfectly aligned with this idea. Still, not everything is lost, she just has to train her power the difficult way. Is harder, and would take longer than if she just trained her Gift, but the power she will attain would be incomparable."

Cristopher stood up finally. Stretching himself.

"Also, it's not like her Gift is completely useless. In a sense, it is a great help for her, she can contract stronger elementals, and the connection she has with them is better than any other normal elementalist."

"..." The heroes just looked at their Princess. Thinking about the future.

"She will be able to do it." One of the heroes, the oldest of them all, spoke in a low voice. "She will be the strongest pillar of England"

"The hell are you talking about, dumbass?" Cristopher retorted at him while looking at Rachel.

"..." The hero glared at him, but before he could speak, Cristopher continued.

"There's no way she won't be able to become strong, she's that stubborn and diligent. And please, the strongest pillar of England? She will have the power to protect humanity if the time to do so ever comes."

"..." Everyone stood there, trying to understand what he said, before finally looking at the elf-like girl that was quietly breathing in meditation.

"Well, time to train. I have to leave today, so better make sure to train as much as possible." With those words, Cristopher started to move towards Rachel, a wooden sword in his hands.

***

At noon, outside of Clancy Islet's portal located in the Thames River.

"See? We're good to go now, guys." Oh Hanhyun spoke to the rest of the cadets from the Traveling's Club. "Let's go, we better move to London's international portal station."

Everyone started to go towards the station, where they would take a portal directly towards Seoul.

"Um, Oh Hanhyun?" Moments after, when they all reached the portal station, Kim Suho raised his hand.

"Yes, cadet Kim Suho?" The club's leader turned to look at him while standing at the entrance.

"Well..." Kim Suho looked around as if checking once again. "I think we have one cadet missing..."

"Huh? Is that so?" Oh Hanhyun was surprised for a moment, before looking around. It was then that something came to his mind. "You're right! We're missing cadet Cristopher!"

Everyone started to look around, and indeed, he wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"Has anyone seen him earlier?" Oh Hanhyun started to ask the rest of the cadets. Everyone shook their heads, except for Chae Nayun, who spoke out loud.

"I think Kim Hajin saw him. He's carrying his bag." She said, and everyone turned to look at Kim Hajin.

"Huh?" He looked around, as he did have Cristopher's bag.

"Cadet Kim Hajin, have you seen cadet Cristopher?" Oh Hanhyun got close and asked him.

"Not really, I haven't seen him since yesterday's." Kim Hajin shook his head.

"Then why do you have his bag?"

"He texted me yesterday, and asked me to bring his bag with me." Hajin shrugged. "I'm just doing him the favor."

"And he didn't tell you where he was?" Oh Hanhyun frowned.

"No, I have no idea where he is."

"Right..." Oh Hanhyun nodded, thinking about where the missing cadet may be.

While everyone was thinking, a limousine parked right in front of the portal station's entrance.

The front door opened and from it, a man in a butler's uniform exited. He then walked to the back door and opened it.

"He is..." Yoo Yeonha's mind started to race.

She has seen this scene somewhere else. Back at Clancy Islet portal at Thames River. And she recognized the butler right away. He was Rachel's butler from what her intelligence networks said.

And right on cue, from the back door, someone exited. It was the missing cadet.

"Thanks for the ride, Randy."

Cristopher got out of the limousine and shook Randy's hand.

"It's a pleasure, Mr. Cristopher." Randy smiled while shaking Cristopher's hand. "If you need anything next time you come to England, just give me a call."

With that, Randy took a presentation card from his pocket and gave it to him.

"Huh? Do butlers from royal families carry cards like these around?" Cristopher frowned at the card, before keeping it inside his pockets.

"I do. Just in case it's necessary, like right now." Randy smiled, before closing the door. "Well then, I'll take my leave. Hope you have a good trip back home."

"Sure thing. Have a good day, Randy."

Randy got into the limousine and started the engine, leaving the place.

"Cadet Cristopher?" It was then that the flabbergasted Oh Hanhyun got close to him.

"Um? Oh, hello club leader." Cristopher greeted him. "I'm not late, am I?"

"Oh no… We just arrived here too." Oh Hanhyun shook his head. "But, where have you been? You know you have to be with the club unless you want to be admonished."

"Oh, right. Sorry, I had some things to do yesterday after the incident. The English Royal Court asked me for a favor, and I left with them." Cristopher shrugged.

"The… English Royal Court…?" Oh Hanhyun nodded before frowning. "Did the guild try to recruit you?"

"No, not the guild, I'm talking about the Royal Family. I'm training Rachel, and they wanted to talk to me about it, so they offered to take me back to the Royal Court."

"Oh, that's why you asked cadet Kim Hajin to fetch your bag." Oh Han Hyun nodded.

"Exactly."

"Well, next time please refrain from doing so. While you're doing club activities, you can't be leaving the group anytime you wish, even less without a warning."

"Sure, got it."

"Okay then, we're complete now, everyone! Let's go back home!" With those words, everyone started walking inside the portal station. Going directly towards Seoul.

"Hey." Kim Hajin walked close to Cristopher, handing him his bag. "Here's your stuff."

"Thanks." Cristopher picked it up.

"No problem."

While they both started talking about common stuff. Someone else's head was running wild.

{He was in the Royal Court… This is bad… If he's already been there, there's a big chance that he'll go to the English Royal Court's Guild once he graduates from Cube. I can't let that happen.}

Yoo Yeonha was constantly thinking of ways to prevent that from happening.

And before long, they all got to Seoul Portal Station.

"There was an unexpected situation yesterday, but as heroes, we should start getting used to such situations." Oh Hanhyun spoke to everyone once they made it to Seoul's Portal Station. "Now, let's go back home. Well done everyone, both yesterday and today!"

As they made their way out of the international portals area. A sea of reporters surrounded everyone, leaving them frozen in place.

Well, everyone except for two cadets.

"Ah! They're here!"

"They're back!"

"Is it true that Princess Rachel was abducted yesterday in Clancy Islet!?"

"Just what happened!?"

"There have been reports that cadet Kim Suho performed great service at the incident..."

The reporters didn't wait to start bombarding the cadets with questions. After all, videos from the incident at Clancy Hall should have probably reached and spread through Korea, even Kim Suho's outstanding performance made it back here through the multiple videos.

While most of the cadets were perplexed by the reporters, the two unfazed ones turned back and left the place unnoticed.

"So? Aren't we going back to Cube?" Hajin asked Cristopher, while they both walked through Seoul streets, instead of taking Seoul's portal to Cube.

It was currently around 8:00 PM here, but Seoul's streets were still lively with people going and coming from the multiple stores and nightlife places around.

"Yeah, but I'll have to get some food for Ev before that." Cristopher shrugged his shoulders. "She asked me to buy some food for her."

"So she did ask you, huh." Hajin nodded.

"Yeah."

While talking, they both went to some restaurants, buying food to bring back to Cube. Not only was Evandel a foodie, but she also liked to eat a lot.

After buying roasted chicken, pizza, and a couple of other things, they went back to Seoul Portal Station, where the cadets were still being interviewed.

Ignoring the hustle, they went in and took the portal leading to Cube.

After reaching their dorm, they both went to Cristopher's room, where Evandel was waiting alongside Shina and the ghost animals that Evandel created.

With the door closed behind them, they heard Evandel running directly towards them.

"Daddy~ Hajin~" She ran and hugged Cristopher first, before hugging Hajin. "You're here! Did you buy food!?"

"Yes, yes, we did." Cristopher said as he brought the bags of food to the table. "Now, let's eat."

As he said that, Shina got close to him and purred while rubbing her head on his stomach.

"Mm? You've grown more huh..." He said before patting her and rubbing her fur.

After eating and talking, Hajin and Evandel took the chance that there was almost no one in the building to go back to their room with all the animals Evandel created.

***

A couple of hours after Evandel and Hajin left Cristopher's dorm room, he was on the bed, listening to some music before going to train.

"I guess it's not that bad… Having a child." I muttered to myself, thinking back at Evandel's smiling face while she ate and heard us talk about what happened back in England.

Unknowingly, a smile appeared on my face while thinking about it.

It was then that my smartwatch vibrated with a new message.

"Who may be at this time..." I sighed while raising my arm. "Huh? Angelica? Oh right, I forgot to tell her I was back to Seoul."

[Angelica: Hi sweetie! How are you?]

[Cristopher: I'm good, what about you? How are you feeling?]

[Angelica: I'm a little bit sad~ I haven't seen you in a while!]

[Cristopher: Right, sorry about that, you know that I've been busy with the Traveling Club.]

[Angelica: I know, I know~ But still! When will you be back? I want to have a little bit of action, you know~?]

"Pfft… Does she have to be that direct? Hahaha oh well, not that I dislike it." I mutter with a shrug.

[Cristopher: Is that so?]

[Angelica: Yes~]

[Cristopher: Well, I guess I have some great news for you then. (¬‿¬)]

[Angelica: Huh? Is that so? Please tell me, what great news?]

[Cristopher: I'm already back. And was actually thinking about seeing you, what do you say?]

[Angelica: Is that true!? What about coming right now to Seoul? We can meet in the same hotel as usual!]

[Cristopher: Perfect, be there in, let's say… An hour?]

[Angelica: Sounds great! I'll be waiting for you~]

"Well, I guess the training can wait," I smirked before standing up and going towards the bathroom.

***

Meanwhile, somewhere in a residential building of Seoul, a woman was currently smiling at the chat on her smartwatch.

"Oh sweet Cristopher, I've always known that you were mine. See how you run to see me just because I've texted you? I know you can't live without me."

Angelica was currently smiling with empty eyes, looking at the holographic screen of her smartwatch.

"Well, I better get ready soon, after all, I don't want him to wait too long for me."

With those words, she stood up and went to the bathroom, already naked and leaving behind a damp photograph with a white-haired guy on the bed.

She hummed as she made her way to the bathroom. While on her head, an unknown soft voice whispered to her, even when she couldn't notice.

[He'll be yours. Forever.]