As they stepped through the gates, the group walked in and imdiately saw Lyra, seated at the dining table, already eating. Nolan was with them.
Nyra approached first. "Nolan," she said warmly.
Nolan raised his hand in greeting. "Hi." His lips curved into a small smile.
Nyra studied him a mont before speaking again. "It’s beautiful seeing you again. This is only the second ti we’ve t. I enjoyed your performance—it was outstanding. I didn’t know you were that strong."
"Thank you," Nolan replied, his smile widening.
"And I also enjoyed it," Alaric added with a grin.
"Get lost," Nolan muttered, his expression shifting into a frown as he looked straight at him. Playboy... he’s always the good-looking one who gets all the girls, Nolan thought bitterly.
"So... hi. Pleased to et you. I’m Galad," Galad said, stepping forward with a polite tone.
Nolan nodded and reached out to shake hands. Their palms t briefly.
Then Seraphina strode forward. "Hey. I’m Seraphina." She extended her hand toward Nolan.
"I’m Nolan," he said, reaching out to return the gesture.
But she smacked his hand away. "Don’t shake . Don’t touch ," Seraphina snapped.
"There’s no need to be that angry," Alaric said softly, trying to calm her.
"I don’t care if he’s a noble or sothing," Seraphina shot back.
A noble? Why did she say that? Nolan thought, confused.
"Yes," Alaric said, turning to Nolan. "I wanted to ask you about that. What family of nobles do you co from?"
"Why do you ask?" Nolan replied flatly.
"Well," Alaric continued, "since you have two nas. Only nobles usually use their full nas. In the tournant, everyone was introduced with a single na—except for you. ’Nolan Thorn.’ You had two nas."
Wait... I didn’t know that. Is it even special to have two nas? My surna is Thorn. In my previous world, everyone had a surna, Nolan thought, unsettled.
"Well... I’m not answering your question," Nolan said aloud.
"I figured you might say that," Alaric said, narrowing his eyes slightly. "But I know you are noble. You live in a mansion that was once owned by a duke of Sindra."
"Would you like to join us?" Lyra asked politely, glancing at the newcors.
Nolan looked at her sharply. "No. They shouldn’t," he said flatly.
But before Nolan could finish, Nyra smiled faintly. "Well... I’ll take you up on that offer." She moved toward the table without hesitation, pulling out a chair as if Nolan’s words hadn’t mattered.
The room grew tense. Seraphina narrowed her eyes. Lyra stopped chewing, her gaze flicking between Nolan and Alaric. Nyra trying to keep the mood light, gave an awkward smile.
Nolan clenched his jaw. Just great. Exactly what I didn’t want...
"Nolan, why do you look so pissed? Is it that you don’t want to join you to eat at the table?" Nyra said with a smile.
Nolan looked at her, taking in her presence. She’s... truly beautiful.
"No, I don’t have a single problem with this. You can join in. But... what is Alaric doing here?" he said, pointing his finger at Alaric.
"Hey, you don’t need to point at that way. But there’s enough food for all of us," Alaric said, stepping forward.
"Yeah, there’s enough. No need to make a fuss," Galad added. "And this food is really good. Who prepared it?"
"I did," Galad said with a small bow. "If you want more, just ask. There’s enough for everyone."
"Since you’re Nolan’s friend, I can see you truly are his friend," Cynthia said with a warm smile.
Lyra shifted her chair closer to Nolan, leaning in to whisper in his ear. "You’re getting too comfortable with Nyra. Celia and Linda are still asleep and won’t wake up soon. Try not to get too comfortable, because I don’t like it when you’re flirting with her."
Nolan turned his face away, lowering his voice. "What are you talking about? I don’t know what you an."
"Stop trying to act dumb. I’ve been watching you closely. You’ve been staring at Nyra’s chest," Lyra said.
Nolan looked down at her chest.
"But... you don’t look at mine," Lyra added.
"Hey, what do you an? Stop saying that. Stop saying that," Nolan said, lowering his voice. "They might hear you. It’s not going to sound like am a perv, which am not."
"You’re a terrible liar," Lyra teased.
"What are you guys talking about?" Seraphina said, curious.
"Nothing. It’s nothing," Nolan replied.
"Yeah... now, I want to say the real reason I ca here. I ca to speak with you," Alaric said, his face serious. "It’s about Luthar."
"The guild master already told about Luthar," Nolan replied. "He’s still the champion..."
"He said he wanted us to go, but since we were going to be guests there, he didn’t," Alaric explained. "Yeah, that’s part of it. But the truth is... even if he sent , I wouldn’t be able to defeat him."
"Okay... is that all you wanted to say?" Nolan asked.
"No, that’s not all," Alaric said. "I wanted to warn you to be careful about him. He uses cheap tricks—and the cults he created... we suspect they might have infiltrated so parts of the royal palace. The king of the empire doesn’t know. If he did, it could cause serious problems, since Luthar’s main place of birth was Sindra—my father’s village. It could even spark a war between the king of the empire and Sindra."
"That might be a problem for the citizens of Sindra," Nolan said, his voice serious. "If war happens, Sindra won’t win. Sindra doesn’t stand a chance against the Empire—not at all."
"We don’t know the exact whereabouts of the cults. Even if they aren’t in the Royal Palace, they could be roaming around this city," Alaric said.
"So, get straight to the point," Nolan said.
"Don’t underestimate him. I don’t know who would win in a fight, because he’s actually strong," Alaric said.
"He can transform into a werewolf. And not only that—we have intel that he stole a historical book filled with forbidden spells that haven’t been recorded elsewhere," Alaric continued. "These spells can drastically increase soone’s ability if used. But the text is ancient and unreadable, so he had to find a way to decipher it."
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