Chapter 31 - New Friends

Akio [8 YEARS OLD] was roaming near the big castle. He had normal clothes on him. There was a stone wall of 7 feet covering it. Garden covered the castle on the other side of the wall. Trees of many different species were growing there. It was the same on his side as well. Trees and ponds were present here.

"Hmmm, humm, hum" Akio was humming and cheerfully going ahead with little jumps with his eyes of the same colour as his hair, closed. His voice was light.

Thud

"Hmm, Hm?"

A small bag fell on his side from the other side of the wall. A pure golden colour hair popped up on top of the wall and Akio narrowed his eyes in curiousness.

'Could this be... Ghost?!' He came to a conclusion.

Lionel [7 YEARS OLD] got on top of the wall but didn't stay for long and jumped to the other side.

"Ha... Finally I've escaped." He said and wiped sweat from his forehead while smiling to himself.

"Are you a ghost-" A head popped up from his shoulder. It was Akio.

"AHHHHH GHOST!"

"AHHHHH WHERE?!"

Both of them were scared at the same time and crawled away from each other.

"Don't get close to me ghost. I know 7 different types of world defying techniques!" Akio showed him some hand signs while still on the ground. Although he was trying to show a confident and brave face, his tries were poor.

Lionel was surprised but he recovered fast.

"What? It's just a commoner." He said to himself and then to Akio, "Hey you, go play somewhere else." Lionel had a childish and light voice as well.

He got up and started going to the opposite direction sneakily avoiding the few gardeners here and there.

'Just a few hundred meters and I'll be in the capital city.' He thought to himself and ran as the person in front looked away. Lionel sprinted quickly.

'Haha, I've lost him! This is the furthest I've ever been.'

Just even uttar seemed he was about to leave the forest, he saw a person sleeping on the ground. A cultivator with a sword. He woke up from the noise of his running. Surprise and denial creeped on his face as he thought it was all over.

"Oh-"

Lionel was grabbed by Akio behind the tree.

"Did I hear something...?" The cultivator said half asleep, "Probably not." He went back to it.

After a few seconds of confirming that he was indeed asleep, the two took a breath of relief.

"He would have caught you if our timing was off 0.07 seconds. Whoa I'm thrilled!" Akio said with excitement.

"That's not the right number..." Lionel said, "But I get what you mean...Thanks"

They started going away from the cultivator.

"Who are you?" Lionel asked him.

"Oh my name is Akio! Nice to meet you." He moved his hand to shake his, "What about yours?"

"I am Lionel." Lionel just said this and didn't say his family name.

"Ohh my friend, what were you doing there?" Akio asked.

"... Well I was running away from the Royal Palace you see." It took him a second to reply to his question, "Enough about that, I'll need to get away from here so we will probably never meet."

That made Akio a little sad but an idea came in his mind.

"I know, I can help you get away from here." He said.

"For real?!" Lionel asked.

"For real!" He replied.

...

They went to a specific direction from the "dence" garden and stopped before a normal looking tree.

"This is the passage I made for me to travel." Akio said.

"This tree...?" Lionel asked.

Akio took out a chunk of wood from the tree and a tunnel going down the ground and then forward could be seen.

"Let's go!" Lionel followed behind him to the tunnel. It was small but a grown person could fit in it and wouldn't have too much issue going from here.

"I didn't know something like this existed here." Lionel spoke in the darkness.

"Yeah because I made it just yesterday!" Akio replied.

After going on for a few minutes, they reached the end of the 'cave' and Akio opened the passage.

Bright light came forth on their faces with a different smell compared to the garden they were a few minutes ago.

"I'll show you around." Akio said and got outside of the tree and Lionel followed behind.

They were in the Capital with people minding their own business. They weren't too cheerful but too depressing either.

Lionel was quite impressed and fascinated by everything.

"You don't go outside?" Akio asked.

"...I'd rather not answer that." Lionel replied looking down.

Akio was surprised and apologized quickly, "Ah! Sorry, sorry. Hey! why don't we go there?" He pointed at a normal shop.

"Hey old man! What you got here?" Akio asked the shopkeeper and Lionel was taken by surprise with him speech.

"H-hey he's older than us, you know?" He said.

"Nah it's alright. I know this guy!" Akio replied.

"Won't ever stop with you disrespectful tone would you Akio?" The shopkeeper sighed but didn't mind him.

The shopkeeper looked at Lionel and and widen his eyes, "S-Second Prince? What are you doing here?!" He asked and bowed down.

"Come on now. Second Prince is my friend now." Akio said and explained his situation to him.

After hearing it the shopkeeper cooled himself down and said, "If you go like this you'll be caught anytime. Here."

He gave the Prince a big mask. Pure white with no marking and nothing on it. Not even eye sokets to see through them. Lionel wore it and he could surprisingly see everything clearly.

"Wow! Now let's not get mixed in these things and go play!" Akio said and pushed Lionel outside. He had a genuine smile on his face.

"Goodbye kids. But giving me money would have been fine?!" He looked at them from behind but they didn't stop.

After getting on the road Lionel asked, "Was he your grandpa?"

"Nah. As I said he's just someone I know, we're not related." Akio continued, "He's a good person."

"Yeah I could see that." Lionel said, "Although we failed to give him money..." He got a little anxious thinking about how the shopkeeper was shouting.

After this exchange they went to take a look at the Capital. They went to many different places like pond weapon shop and restaurant.

At the end of the day they sat under a big tree.

"... You really live life to the fullest don't you?" Lionel asked Akio.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"How should I put it? You're an extrovert. You live like a bird." Lionel said, "You have... Freedom."

"Hmm. I guess that's true."Akio replied, " You know, I don't even know who my parents are. So I just roam around in the capital trying to find fun in everyday things."

"Must be hard." Lionel said.

"That's not true. I have many people, like that grandpa from before and my other friends!"

"I see... What is your dream?"

"Dream?" Akio thought for a while, "I don't really know. Maybe get rich and start a life with a beautiful girl? There is one I know♡!"

"That's good! Keep that dream alive alright!" Lionel exclaimed.

"Yeah! Sure." He thumbs up with both of his hands.

"There you are!!" A voice shouted at them. There was a women in maid costume and guards behind here coming at them.

They surrounded the tree and the commoners in the vicinity took a few steps back. Akio was a little scared as well.

"What is going on?"

"Why are the Royal guards here?"

"A-Are they punishing us?"

"You must not go out without saying anything Prince! You know how His Majesty the emperor were worried sick for your." The maid said.

'You know that's not true.' He smirked at her and turned to Akio, "Well, I guess we'll meet again."

With that he went with her and the guards. Not before she glared at Akio for the last time.

'S-Scary!" Akio thought and sweat formed on his forehead, "But fun!"

...

The next day.

"Yo!" Akio spoke to Lionel.

"You kidding me?" Lionel said. He got down from the wall again.

For the rest of the week Akio continued to visit his new friend and they escaped everytime.

•••

Present

"So this is the Tafil city!" 16 year old Akio said. He was walking along the streets and looking around.

"This city is quite famous for it's violent people and just as violent environment. How fascinating." He nodded his head.

The atmosphere was unusual and dark. As there was a cloud lingering on top of the city, the surroundings were naturally dark. But the people also had an unfriendly expression all the time.

"Now.Where should I find them!" Akio moved with tremendous speed in the search of finding Luan and Angela.

"The dungeon is somewhere close to the city so I think I should check there." He went on top of a house and looked around the place.

People noticed him and were not happy with how open he was.

Clank!

A sword was thrown at him really fast. Its speed and power could kill and normal Qi gathering 3 to 4 easily.

Akio grabbed it with no efforts.

"A pretty fine sword I'll say." He said.

"You beat are really impolite you know." The middle aged guy who threw the sword said.

"Oh you're the one! Here take it." Akio ignored him and threw his sword back at him. Cautiously, not hurting him.

"Now you're annoying me! Do you think you're stronger than me? Both of us are in Qi gathering 5 So this match is a tie!" The person shouted

annoyed.

"Oh you're still here? Go away shuu!"

This statement pushed the man to his limit and he attacked Akio straight at the heart.

"Take this you arrogant bastard!"

Before his attack could pierce through his heart, Akio just stepped aside swiftly and with a quick motion of his hand, the person was on the ground. That person's heart was in Akio's hand.

"Ah yes. Blood." He licked the few drops of blood that was on his lips and looked at the heart.

"Blood always gets be hyped up. This is the best feeling ever!"

"Let's just continue my search for the two students." Akio went his was but not before throwing the heart at the dead person.

Crack!

At the same time luan also stepped into the next realm.