My class [Death Knight] is just barely legal…

Cerion, to his credit, quickly recovered from my rather, ahem, ‘physical’ dismissal and got back up with a reinvigorated spirit. It took a few more minutes before he finally looked like he was about to give up, though, forcing me to fend him off as best as I could.

This, however, turned out to be a ruse. After giving Emeri and me some perfunctory greetings, I thought the matter was over, but he felt otherwise. He simply walked up and, before I could actually greet him, wrapped me up in a brotherly hug, which I gingerly returned. I still wasn’t used to those…

Our heartfelt reunion was quickly interrupted by Cerion’s hangers-on, who had witnessed the exchange with apparent interest. I hurriedly searched for an escape, hoping to catch up with my friend by ourselves, but they didn’t give us the chance.

“Well, that certainly caught me by surprise.” One of them said. The young man had light cyan-coloured hair, carefully trimmed to cover one of his eyes with bangs but leave the other exposed. He was smiling, but the smile was a bit too angular to be genuine. “I think I speak for everyone here, Cerion, when I say that that seemed a bit out of character for you.” He said snidely.

Cerion’s brow furrowed, but before he could respond a girl with purple and black locks answered.

“Don’t insult Cerion like that, Lanus. I’m sure he’s simply overjoyed to meet his friend again. Something I’m sure you have little experience with.”

While it sounded like she came to our defence, it seemed that her real goal had been to insult her peer, instead. This wasn’t lost on me, as she didn’t bother looking me in the eye since I arrived, instead focussing on Cerion and ‘Lanus’. The former, however, didn’t catch on. Either that, or he didn’t want to get into it here.

“Thank you, Nataly. Now, if you’ll excuse us, I haven’t met my friend for a while and would like to catch up in private.”

After receiving some slight nods, when it was looking like we were about to be free of Cerion’s acquaintances, one of them came forward. Another girl, with golden drill-shaped hair, haughtily turned her nose up at me. For some reason, I felt like I recognised her from somewhere… It seemed she, too, had recognised me, because her eyes narrowed with subtly hidden fury.

“And who is this friend

of yours, exactly? Shouldn’t you introduce this man to your peers? What is his status? Of which territory is he the heir? I thought this was custom, but apparently you don’t care for tradition.”

Her thinly veiled insult towards not just me, but Cerion as well, left him floundering for a response.

“W-well, you know Arthur, right? He was at the… the tournament… you know?”

His reply became increasingly less coherent as the woman’s glare intensified, making Cerion’s inexperience with such situations ever more clear.

“So what you’re telling me is that this man is a commoner. Here. In the kiosk.” Cerion nodded sheepishly. “Need I remind you that this place is exclusively meant for nobility? Did you bring him here to insult us, as if to say we aren’t worthy of your consideration even when compared to a peasant?”

At this point, my rage was starting to build back up and seeing Cerion cower under the girl’s verbal assault didn’t help matters. Emeri’s glare, however, reminded me that I couldn’t simply punch her as I had at the entrance. Not without consequence, anyway. Regardless, I couldn’t let Cerion be treated like that. Since she wanted to use status, I could go blow for blow with her.

“Would you say the same thing to my uncle, if he was here?” I spoke, breaking the silence and drawing attention to myself for the first time since the argument began. The girl with golden curls, however, didn’t deign to look at me.

“…Should I fear your peasant uncle, peasant?”

“It stands to reason that people fear those with higher-tiered classers. My uncle, as the captain of the royal guard and a tier 6 classer, therefore, should be feared.”

As I spoke, I slowly approached her, staring her in the eyes and watching her face twist as she either learned or remembered that particular fact. I wasn’t done yet, though.

“Conversely, as a tier 2, you should fear me.” I continued, flaring my mana and making it difficult for the girl to breathe.

To her credit, she didn’t cower. The way she bit her lip in frustration suddenly reminded me of where I knew her from. This was the girl that Cerion had argued with when we visited the nearby restaurant! Some countess’ heir or something, right…

Before the situation could escalate further, Emeri and another guy from the group of nobles intervened and de-escalated the argument, before separating us. I happily took the opportunity to continue my conversation with Cerion in a private room to the side of the building, where we were offered snacks and beverages, before being left alone.

Still pent up from the argument, I sighed to release some tension.

“Who were those people, Cerion? That was a ridiculous argument to have.”

After Emeri a muttered ‘I’m glad you realised…’ from Emeri, Cerion smile sheepishly and responded.

“Nobles from across the country. I was playing nice with them before you arrived because my dad asked, but… I wasn’t having much success, as you can see… I’m sorry about them.”

“Don’t be. It’s not your fault. They’re just jealous that they don’t share a bond of trust the way we do.” I bragged, smiling.

Cerion, however, sighed. “Well, I wouldn’t be surprised if that was actually the case. Many of them are so embroiled in the political world that they never got the chance to trust anybody else. It’s honestly kind of sad.” He replied with a morose smile.

“…Don’t feel responsible for their issues, idiot. You can’t carry other people’s burdens.”

Cerion laughed, and shook his head. “Would if I could, Arthur, would if I could… Speaking of other people, how did your journey go, you two? Have as much fun as we used to have, Arthur?” he said jokingly, as there was no bite to his words.

Emeri was the one to reply.

“We did. Arthur is a reliable companion and a true friend. If only he didn’t drag us into trouble with every third step…”

“Hey! Need I remind you of the literal rebellion you started?!” I protested.

“That was for a good cause. Besides, everything turned out all right, didn’t it?” Emeri responded with a lazy smile, swishing her hair behind her ears.

Cerion whipped his head back and forth as we continued to bicker, slowly revealing what adventures we had had over the course of our stay in Alterian and beyond. He was suitably impressed but also apprehensive of how close to death we had come, and began to tell us of his own adventures with his father, which had taken him to the middle of the ocean, apparently.

When Cerion began telling how he had grown closer to his father than he had ever been as a child, Emeri left the room at one point, as she wanted to see the gardens more closely.

Cerion and I took the chance to catch up in earnest.