"Kanon." Levinia called out.
He was in quite the peculiar state at the moment.
Kanon's upper body was bent so far backwards his hair was almost touching the ground.
Adding to this, he barely had any semblance of balance left as he was only tiptoeing on his right leg at the moment – but the truly amazing part was that the literal burden he had been carrying, in the form of a 300kg metal pole with two water buckets were firmly held above his chest at the moment.
Right now he looked like he was doing a mix of a ballet dance and a deadlift. It seems he'd switched the initial position of his burden the moment the projectile had been thrown. A few small ripples danced in the confines of the bucket he held as he awkwardly tried to maintain his balance.
"Mmgh."
Kanon responded with muffled words before slowly rising back to his feet and resting the metal pole on his shoulder blades once more.
"MMMgh"
Levinia let out a small sigh as she retrieved the object now stuck between the rows of his teeth – A scroll. Black fumes were slowly wafting from it, so apparently the air friction did have an effect on it after all.
"That was dangerous." Kanon replied with lackluster eyes, immediately taking a deep breath after his near-death experience.
"I apologized, didn't I? But anyway, that's for your master and give her my regards will you."
Glancing at the space beneath Kanon's feet, Jin turned away once more and gave a dismissive overhead wave.
"Young master, how was he?" Shou asked that question with a flickering hint of curiosity in his eyes. It seems even he'd been curious about that last exchange.
"He's good." Jin gave a resolute answer with a confident smile.
"Nobles are really hard to deal with."
Kanon purposefully let that careless remark loose.
"What was that?" Levinia immediately countered.
"N-nothing."
Sigh
"Come on let's go, we wasted enough time with those guys." Levinia announced as she resumed the march with a joyful expression.
Kanon stared at his two companions before re-embarking on the trek with the last remaining semblances of his waning stamina. Boldly stepping across the hollow ground once more, they slowly departed from the dry area. Not a drop of water had been spilt.
******************************
Those things look pretty heavy." A cheerful voice graced Kanon's ear.
"You think?" He replied with blatant sarcasm.
The duo was now walking side by side on the path known as Jujiro, aimlessly following the road that perfectly divided the domain from end to end.
A slight distance behind them was Levinia's current bodyguard Fredric who was, out of respect, being mindful of the youthful atmosphere that was currently radiating its brilliance in front of him. The only things to be seen here were more of those waist height wooden poles containing lux crystals, as well as the numerous branches that sprouted from the road itself and led to other sections in the domain.
Carts drawn by mana beasts and a few people passed them by, always giving the trio a slight bow that Kanon knew definitely wasn't mean for him.
Originally, Fredric and Levinia were supposed to travel through the city by way of more conventional means like carriages, but things of that nature that were embroidered with the Silva clan's symbol and customary guards would have attracted a lot more attention.
Being the way she was, Levinia wanted to avoid the hassle that came with that at all costs. That was why the decided to take a more unpredictable approach and simply tread the journey by foot, as they could more or less navigate the crowded streets without causing too much of a fuss or even traffic, though that didn't exactly go as planned, they still completed the rather tedious journey in a rather short time period.
"So even you can get tired of training huh Kanon?" Levinia held a smirk as she asked that question.
"Well, when you're stuck studying during the daytime and then be forced into training sessions for hours on end for two weeks, it does tend to take a toll on the body."
"What are you studying now?" she asked with a carious gaze.
"Mostly about the island's geography and the other people that live here. I'd known that we weren't the only ones living here but apparently it goes way deeper than that."
Levinia steadily increased her pace until she was about one meter in front of him, and from her position, now steadily maintained in front, she asked another question:
"The people you were reading about, was it the Raizen?"
"Yea for the most part and I think they're gonna be involved in the upcoming Festa this year too."
Levinia brushed off the mention of her upcoming foes, still as nonchalant as ever. In that silence, Kanon continued:
"It wasn't just them either; the old hag's been making me look into mana beasts too - Although in her texts and scrolls, they were called Majuu."
Levinia now held a somber look as she watched him proudly spew the content he'd been reading up on.
For the average clan, education inside Solis Keep was mostly a matter of home study, as those who were already knowledgeable about the required areas of study such as literacy, math and history would pass the knowledge on to those who came after them in a sort of home-schooling manner.
There were schools here of course, but they were mostly specialized in certain areas such as blacksmithing, swordsmanship and Ars Magna.
Being a noble, Levinia had been graced with the highest level of education someone of her age could ever possibly have, so she was one of the outlets through which Kanon had gained a portion of his knowledge from when Aurora either wasn't around or busy. Although Levinia was familiar with Aurora, seeing him rely less on her and more on his guardian had somehow caused a strange feeling to begin welling up within her.
"Don't worry, there's still a lot left for you to teach me."
He dispelled the sense of awkwardness she felt with ease. Her cheeks flushed slightly red as she quickly increased her pace. Apparently, it was obvious to all those around her.
Still trying to keep up with her, Kanon's eyes widened at the object that was now coming into view.
"Almost....there...." Huff Huff
The exhaustion in his tone was almost palpable, and the bags under his eyes were starting to drown out the golden splendor that was usually reflected in them.
"Well, now I know why you were being so scarce this time around. But that's a typical day for me you know."
"Must be nice being a prodigy. I don't know how much longer I can keep this up, but that old hag doesn't ever seem to get tired."
"Pffffffftttttt"
Levinia clutched her sides as she mockingly laughed at his plight.
Kanon slowly shifted his dreary sight towards the laughing girl. The current atmosphere made it seem like the entire thing with Julius two weeks ago didn't even happen.
"Looks like you're enjoying this...but do you really have the time to follow me all the way out here?"
"Oh that's nothing to fret over .... I did stop by to visit over the last two weeks but every time I did, you were either getting beat up or sleeping. Aurora did tell me she'd be giving you something special to do in the shopping district today well in advance, so I figured I'd find you if I headed towards there after I rejected that offer."
There wasn't a hint of remorse or hesitation in her tone after that last statement.
"Was there something you wanted to talk about?" Kanon asked with his half dead gaze now fixed on the path before him. The sweltering heat it radiated was all but visible.
"Yes but, this worked out even better than I thought it would.....Heh-Heh."
"What does that mean?" he asked with a confused demeanor, not shifting his gaze in the least.
"You'll see when we get there." Levinia gave him a matter-of-factly answer.
She chuckled slightly at her own remark, but Kanon's focus was now elsewhere. The Issue right now was this final lap he needed to complete.
"Say how many times did you need to circle the domain with that on your back?"
She asked the question after wiping away the fluid from her now sparkling eyes.
" Seventy times.....and this is....my last one."
"But why is Aurora making you do this? Don't you live near a lake?"
"She's putting me through this just because I started going outside the city again."
"Yea, she did seem pretty mad about that, no wonder you've been sparring so often."
"Sparring huh? This is just that old hag's way of punishing me, but..."
Kanon's expression grew somewhat mellow as he fixed his eyes on the structure before him.
"Yea, looks like we're here - well done." Levinia gave him a small pat on the back.
****************************
Now before them was the district where Kanon's residence was located. Although calling it a "district" was a bit of a stretch.
This place wasn't on the same scale as the other established districts, nor was it governed by any major clan and besides that, there were only about five thousand people living here. It was on the very edge of the Wujin domain, and bordered the neighboring Regis domain in such a way that it was almost impossible to actually tell who had the right to govern the space, and thus it was left as neutral ground.
It was a relatively small space when compared to the lands occupied by both clans but even so, with it being that way it meant that no other governing power within the city could directly intervene in the power struggle currently taking place between the Regis and Wujin domains over this "district" without disrupting the current state of affairs.
Although there were rumors going around about the head of the Regis clan purposefully withdrawing a portion of the land they occupied in order to create the space for this district per a certain request; which made it seem like they purposefully engineered the current standoff, but the truth of those rumors was anyone's guess at this point.
Asphodel-as the name went, was a place meant to accommodate those who had nowhere else to turn to, the perfect place for the tainted boy. Here in Solis Keep, the major clans governed domains that typically housed their branch families or other supporting households.
It was the same here inside Wujin, although it was particularly hard to tell because of the color scheme and architecture; they had in fact passed a number of districts designated to branch families and other affiliated households of the Longxin clan. But this case was a bit peculiar, as Kanon didn't have any affiliated clan and the same notion applied to his guardian Aurora-One of the few Asura who chose to sever those binding ties herself.
So, in this case, where inside Solis Keep would they belong?
The sun's hue had now begun to gleam with a blistering vigor. The heat being radiated by the sprawling rays increased by the minute, but you could easily tell that this intensity would soon plateau - After all, the hands of the antique-ish clock around Kanon's neck currently displayed the time – 2:24p.m.
A red Torii gate about eight meters tall and four meters across. This was what acted as the entry point to their current destination. They were basically outside the reaches of the Wujin domain itself at this point, nearing the more rural parts of the cityscape.
There were numerous well-aged paper talismans lining the welcoming structure, giving it an ominous sense of foreboding that contrasted with the pleasant atmosphere of the noontime sky.
Through this gate, you could clearly see the makings of a small community that wasn't very far behind the other districts here in neither aesthetic nor development. Some structures resembling large wooden mansions stood firmly, surrounded by a litter of other smaller houses that seemed like they were placed there to guard it.
"This thing is still as out of place as ever." Levinia remarked as she smiled at the imposing structure.
"I asked her about it once and I think she did that on purpose."
"You mean Aurora?" She responded almost instantly. It seems Kanon's statement had snapped her out of that momentary daze.
"Yea, she really doesn't want just anybody walking in here."
"You have a point, but I can walk through here anytime I want you know." Her voice held a bold tone with that statement, clearly, she was proud of the fact.
Kanon gave a defeated look at the sight of Levinia's proud display. He didn't have the will nor energy to dispute her claim.
"Well, there are reasons for that, but let's just go for now, I can't wait to finally get this over with."
"Then lead the way, I'm not in as much of a rush as you are." Levinia gracefully gestured.
"Yea you're definitely not as eager to look around as you used to be. A few years ago, you'd be running all over the place with sparkles in your eyes."
"I-I was still a child back then."
"We'll see about that ..."
Levinia's cheeks slightly reddened and she hurriedly looked away, meanwhile Kanon made a face that emulated blatant sarcasm, it was conveyed quite well despite him being in such an exhausted state.
Apparently, his dreary facial features still had enough vigor left to taunt her.
"So this was a place you frequented when you disappeared from the estate milady?"
Fredric had cut in the casual conversation between the two. This was something he wouldn't normally do but he wanted to be prepared for another bout of her frequent escapades if she ever decided to sneak out again.
"Ehehehe" She gave an embarrassed laugh and scratched her cheek, ready to change the topic at any moment.
(Guess I'll have to change tactics)
Levinia quickly crafted that memo in her mind.
As the two of them stepped forward, Levinia halted in her tracks.
"Hm? Aren't you coming Fredric?"
Her bodyguard stood firmly in place, eerily staring down the gated structure like he was seeing a child off to school.
"Milady, I'm afraid I can progress no further than this point. It seems that woman has barred my entry so, although it pains me to say it, I shall remain on guard here." His response was as succinct as ever.
Levinia still looked somewhat confused but decided to drop the issue in what seemed like no time at all.
"Are you and Aurora on bad terms perhaps?"
"It is nothing so significant milady. Simply a trifling matter you needn't concern yourself with."
"Oh I see. I'll try not to be too long." She gave him a nonchalant wave before resuming her venture.
I guess he'll be fine out here on his own?
"Fredric will be fine, he's one of my servants after all."
Seemingly reading his mind, Levinia dispelled the curious thought he held.
"Yea, I guess you have a point."
"Then it's settled, there's no need for you to worry about him, so let's go."
Looking over his shoulder, Kanon exchanged his dreary gaze with Fredric one last time.
He said no words upon their parting, but even if he had, he was sure there'd be no response.
Such was the nature of their relationship, after all.