Vigilant

Although Carl seemed worried while breaking the news, Lucius was unfazed, as if he had already expected it.

The scenario might have been different if it had been before.

But right now, after recalling the memories of the previous owner, considering the status of the girl he had tried to save, regardless of the girl's condition, if he was found alive, he'd get summoned. That much, he had already anticipated.

Lucius asked solemnly, "When are we departing?"

Meanwhile, Carl was left dumbfounded by Lucius's calmness and stared at him in silence for a while before responding.

Lucius noticed that Carl seemed a bit absent-minded, so he decided to ask again, this time with a bit more emphasis in his voice. "Hey Carl, I'm inquisitive about the summon. Can you tell me when I'll be departing?" he asked with a smile.

Carl suddenly snapped back to reality, feeling a bit surprised. "Oh, right. As for your request, it may take some time. We don't have enough staff to spare for an escort. Therefore, someone from the capital will be sent to pick you up."

Based on Carl's information and his limited knowledge of this world, he assumed it would be a while before he could leave.

So, he didn't probe further about this. After all, right now they were quite far away from the capital, and that too in a desolate clearing.

"By the way, have you heard anything about the result of the competition? And also what about Princess Rafaela?" sounding a little worried at the end, he asked.

Since he had already received a summon, he figured out that the competition would have been over by now. However, he only asked about the princess as a formality and to maintain his image of a caring person. 

Although he couldn't care less about her, he still required the information regarding her condition to decide his next step. 

If she had already died then he could fabricate his words to a great extent to reap a generous sum of reward from the King but if she was alive then he couldn't alter the contents as much as he could if she was dead. 

It would be a waste not to reap the reward for the sacrifice of the previous owner. And even the part where he seemed concerned about the competition was an act. 

To be honest, he couldn't care less about either the competition or the princess. But right now, he lacks the resources to sustain himself. 

Regardless of the world he is residing in currently one universal truth remains— civilizations require resources to sustain themselves, regardless of the world they exist in.

And according to the previous owner of this body, if their academy did well then all those who participated would get rewarded handsomely. However, the top performers would get rewarded even more generously. 

He was determined to collect anything he could, no matter how insignificant it seemed.

"Due to an unexpected outbreak, the event was concluded earlier than the originally planned date. Sorry, I don't know much about that. But if she was hurt, there would have been a commotion. Since there was no commotion, she's probably alright." Carl answered a bit apologetically. 

Although Carl seemed quite earnest while answering his questions, however because of Lucius's inquiry regarding Princess's condition, he was starting to get suspicious of Lucius. 

Being a low-level soldier, he didn't have the authority to probe further on the matter regarding Lucius's summon.

And because of that earlier when he was ordered to pass this information to Lucius, he couldn't get much of the contents. 

But right now, based on the clues present in his hands, he could link some connection between Lucius and Princess Rafaela. 

"Carl, there's no need to apologize. You've already been a great help to me. Without you, I wouldn't have been able to gather this information. So, I'm grateful for your help, Carl." Lucius smiled as he spoke, hoping to shift Carl's focus away from his thoughts about this matter regarding Princess. 

Lucius was aware of the suspicion he would garner after asking such questions. However, he required the information and had no choice but to ask the naive boy directly.

Though, he was prepared to deal with the aftermath. 

Afterward, Lucius changed the topic of the conversation to Carl's family and their hometown, "By the way, you told me you are from Rocky Village? How long has it been for you since you left your hometown? What about your parents? Don't you miss them?"

Carl was overjoyed to hear about his village being mentioned since he had nobody to share his thoughts with. As a result, he forgot about the matter concerning the connection between the princess and Lucius.

Based on their earlier encounter, Lucius could very well feel Carl's attachment to his village and people. Thus, he chose this particular topic to distract him. 

For a while, those two continued to chat and Lucius continued to act interested in his idle chatters to make this naive boy open up to him even more. 

But there was only so much information he could get from him. And most of them were all useless.

After some time, Carl left the tent a bit hesitantly. 

Since he could finally open up about his village and its people, he couldn't bring himself to put a hold on himself. But no matter how much he enjoyed sharing his village, at the end of the day he still was a grassroots soldier who was shackled to his responsibilities. 

Thus, despite having someone to talk to, he still had to cut the conversation short and return to his position to fulfill his duty. 

Meanwhile, during Carl's absence, Lucius tried to recuperate his body and his power as much as he could. Also during this time, he planned the steps he'd have to take to reclaim his former glory and also to advance further in this new environment.

After some time, while he was sitting cross-legged, trying to figure out the object inside his consciousness, he sensed an incredibly powerful aura closing in towards him.

No sooner had he sensed it, than he became alert as he prepared himself to flee, 'Who???? What???'