The Extra of The Lunerra

Just like Alith said, dozens of cameras greeted us in front of our jet. Still, we said our last goodbyes without paying much attention to them and boarded the jet.

Alith waited at the front among the crowd until the jet took off. He watched us until the jet wasn’t in his sight anymore.

Our journey back was quite calm, just like our arrival. Only Adrian was a little restless because of the way I was before we got on the jet. Other than that, Alysia and Julian were relaxing, relieved to finally be going home.

And for me... I just kept thinking.

When the jet was in the air.

When the jet finally landed at the airport.

Talking to Prince Lucas about what had happened, planning what we were going to do.

When I was back with Clara, spending time with her before returning to the academy.

Every single second.

I hadn’t expected the Tenebra Family to have a direct connection to Saligia. I thought they were... a separate faction, a separate group with a job outside the conflict of chaos and order.

Or maybe they were, and this faction was later funded by Saligia?

What about Aaron Tenebra’s brother, then?

If he was in a position to delete his and his brother’s information from Saligia’s database... he must have been a pretty high-ranking official. Is it possible that Aiden didn’t know about him?

My mind was full of these and other questions. I was constantly thinking about the possibilities, trying to decide what made the most sense and what didn’t.

Until... I felt a hand on my forehead.

My mind suddenly stopped working non-stop, and for the first time... my eyes were fully focused on something. The person standing in front of me.

"You don’t have a fever... weird."

"I didn’t say I had a fever."

Celine raised one of her eyebrows slightly as she withdrew her hand.

"And I also didn’t say that you said you had a fever. I was checking."

She ran her eyes over me before continuing her words.

"Because you look like you’re dying of exhaustion. And you’ve been like this since you got back from Eshaware."

I opened my mouth to offer a counter-argument, but then paused.

I sank further into the couch I was already sitting in. And... I realized how comfortable it was.

I took a deep breath, closing my eyes.

"There are... things on my mind."

Celine stepped aside. Then she sat down next to me, leaning back in the same way.

"What are these things?"

"It’s about my parents’ past. I found out there was something... strange about them in Eshaware."

"Oh..."

"Some information doesn’t add up, there are missing details about their lives. And..."

At first I hesitated, not sure whether I should say it or not.

But, then... I simply let it go.

"I found out that I have a blood-related uncle, probably one of Saligia’s top officials as well."

Celine... had always been someone I shared my secrets with. Every one of the stories I told her while she was still in the hospital was my secret. And by doing that so often... I got used to it.

I had nothing to hide from her.

So, now, I decided not to care as well.

"..."

But every second that Celine remained silent, I couldn’t help wondering if I had made the wrong choice.

At least she finally broke the silence.

"I- I’m sorry... I didn’t expect that."

I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling.

"Right?"

Who would have expected it?

I do not even remember when I got off the jet, just thinking about this.

It feels like the last two days have literally passed in a single second.

"Actually... I haven’t made any changes for the future or anything. There’s nothing I can do with what I’ve learned at the moment. It’s just... I think I’m having a hard time digesting it, adjusting to it."

After all, I have no way of verifying this information. Therefore, my plans have not changed. Everything will continue to happen the way I planned it to happen weeks ago.

"I need more time, you say?"

I paused for a brief moment, realizing that Celine was... right.

"Yes. As time passes... I’ll get tired of thinking about it, I’ll stop thinking about it, other things will come to mind... it will become ’normal’, rather than a shocking fact."

Probably a few days, maybe weeks... but definitely not months.

"I see..."

She turned toward me, then sighed, and... suddenly stood up.

It was so sudden that I couldn’t even reflexively pull myself to the side.

Then, she moved in front of me just like before, and before I knew what was happening... I found her face closer to mine than ever before.

And then closer.

It didn’t last a single second, but still... I found myself staring blankly ahead of me as Celine stepped back, and then at her slightly smiling face.

I couldn’t help but involuntarily put my hand to my lips.

"Why... did you kiss me now?"

"Didn’t you say you needed time? So I did something to make you focus on something else, simply."

Huh...

Oh...

"Kiss aside... for example, how about going outside? Breathing some fresh air will relax your mind."

...

"Fine, I guess."

*******

Winter was not over yet. That’s why it was cold. It wasn’t freezing though, I couldn’t even feel it in the first place. But at most it was cool.

A comforting coolness.

Other than that, the academy was quiet. Since it was evening, there weren’t many people outside, and those who were there were simply wandering around, like us.

To be honest... it wasn’t bad, not saying a word, just walking around slowly. I thought I would think more, but there was something peaceful about it that I can’t complain about, even if I didn’t fully understand it.

At least... until something in particular caught my eye.

The amusement rides of the amusement park, which I could only see the top of because they were at the other end of the academy.

And it was the huge Ferris wheel that was especially prominent there.

I had to make a real effort to take my eyes off it. It was not easy to shake off the bad feeling that had suddenly appeared inside me.

Time, I thought to myself over and over again.

I’ll get better as time goes by.

And so, I kept walking with Celine.

Quietly, just breathing in the fresh air of the academy.

*******

My days... started to pass relatively quickly after I returned from Eshaware.

I knew that I simply had to wait for my next step, and so I settled into a routine.

The same could not be said for Adrian and Alysia, though.

Especially for Alysia.

From the day we came back to Cevilian, some of the things that had happened in Eshaware, the things that we wanted to be heard, had already been in the media. So the two of them were... sort of in the spotlight.

Adrian was a little bit used to being the center of attention. Alysia, though... was more uncomfortable than ever with the attention she was attracting wherever she was seen.

Still, the two, now known to the academy as the Lautes, were not having that hard of a time. They didn’t need to do anything themselves for the time being, as matters concerning their families were now matters for the kingdoms to discuss with each other, with the Virhen Family acting as intermediaries. Their headache... would come after they graduated from the academy.

They were still in their good days.

Julian, on the other hand, was more focused on his studies than ever, and at the same time was seeing his father quite often. He was more serious than ever about taking over his father’s position. So even the time he spent with us had decreased.

Apart from us, I wondered what was going on with Lucia, so I looked at what she was doing from time to time. And I couldn’t help being surprised by what I saw.

Lucia had... grown stronger.

We had only been in Eshaware for a few weeks, but she was already different than before. She had started to concentrate more on her training. And her studies were also as good as ever.

At this rate, she would soon be close to Adrian and me. Enjoy exclusive content from NovelBin.Côm

And as I realized that, I noticed something about myself.

I... I haven’t trained properly since the day I woke up from my coma.

I’ve been standing still.

I have plenty of excuses, of course. I’m always busy with other important things besides training. But, even then... I can’t just stand still.

I need to train. @@novelbin@@

Even if I’m going to keep shortening my life by using caora all the time, I need to keep getting stronger.

At least in two or three months, I should be at least C+.

And that was the new goal I set for myself.

I started to give more time to training.

I started to use my sword more and more to improve at Ambiguous Flow. I was working on the third phase lastly, the one that would allow me to use the mana in the atmosphere for attack and defense. Of course... I didn’t have much success in mastering it, thanks to my limited training time.

And that’s why I started all over again.

Ambiguous Flow aside, I also paid special attention to my mana control. In the original state of my body, my mana was in a continuously mixed flow, so I had actually improved in this area without even realizing it. Trying to keep the mana in my body in a constant state of calm didn’t require much focus, but it gradually improved my mana control.

Still, there was no reason why it couldn’t improve further.

New techniques for using mana, different combinations I could use with my wind and flame spells...

I trained so much for a month that I couldn’t help feeling like I was back in the days when I first came to Lunerra.

The monotony of those days, the routine... was back.