Anfey retrieved all the magic books from his dimensional ring and placed them neatly on the shelves in the library . This would be the last time he was in that library for a long time . Niya had told him earlier in the day that his appointment to be a count had already been finalized . That meant that he should head to Violet City in a few days . He did not feel sad about leaving the academy . Even though Steger had purposely placed Anfey in an elite class with all the best students, Anfey had not made any friends due to his introverted nature . If Anfey was more like Christian, he would make a lot more friends . Developing a network might sound easy, but it was much harder in reality . After he returned all the books to the shelves, Anfey left the library . He looked around and saw Doris walking down the hall with another girl . Doris saw Anfey and waved at him . "Hey," she said, "how are you? This is Jenova . Remember her?" "Of course," Anfey said, holding out his hand . Jenova was Doris’s best friend, if his memory served him well . He had met her once before . "Really?" Jenova asked dryly . "You remember me . " "Of course…" "I’ve seen you in school before," Jenova said, shaking her head . "I know you don’t remember me . You don’t have to lie . " Doris smiled and tugged on Jenova’s shirt . Anfey turned to Doris and asked, "Doris, how are things going for you?" "It’s all done," Doris said . She retrieved something from her dimensional ring and handed it to Anfey . It was a senior mage’s badge . Anfey accepted the badge gingerly and clipped it onto his shirt . Of course, he needed his graduation diploma . He didn’t know the school well enough and the only places he knew the location of were the library and his classes . He didn’t know the teachers either and he didn’t want to trouble Steger for such a minor thing . The only person he could turn to was Doris, who had already studied at the school for three years . "And this is the document from the guild," Doris said, handing a piece of clear crystal to him . "You got the document?" Anfey asked, surprised . "Thanks," he said . "I know it’s a lot of trouble for you . " "Don’t worry about it," Doris said . "The guild is right across the street . " "That building?" Anfey asked . "Really? I never noticed . " "You’re the count of Violet City now," Doris said . "You have to help us when we go out and practice . Consider it repayment for me helping you get your badge and the documents . " "No problem . " "For real?"
"Of course . Not just Violet City . If you want to go to Country of Mercenaries, I have connections there as well . Just write me a letter and I’ll talk to my people there . They will look out for you two . " "You’re not bluffing, aren’t you?" Jenova suddenly asked . "I promise you," Anfey said sincerely . "Don’t you remember?" Doris said to Jenova . "Entos is the deputy leader of Brother mercenary group . Lord Marino is here as well . I’m sure they can help us . " "You seem to know Lord Saul’s place very well," Jenova commented .
Doris blushed and lowered the head . There were people who wanted to stand out and be leaders, but there were also people who wanted to blend in and be followers . Doris was one of the latter . She wasn’t very powerful and she was not as talented as Saul’s students, but she wanted to stay with them even if it meant that she would become unnoticeable . She realized that leaving home and traveling was not the only way to learn new things . Plus, she felt very safe spending time with students of one of the greatest mages alive . Since it may appear that she was just staying at Saul’s for no reason, she had tried very hard to help around the house . If the servants were too busy to take care of certain areas of the house, she would take it upon herself to do those chores . She would volunteer for other minor chores as well . It was difficult to juggle studying magic and taking care of Shally and her chores, but she managed . Luckily, no one had said anything about her presence in the house yet . "You’re going to leave the city again?" Anfey asked . "You just came back . " "Yeah," Jenova said, nodding . "After we take the test…" She suddenly paused after spotting something behind Anfey . Anfey turned around . He frowned after seeing who it was and sighed . Then he walked over and bowed to the man . "Prince Grandon," he said . Grandon reached over and helped Anfey up, but did not say anything . He looked at Doris and Jenova, who quickly walked away .
After the girls were out of earshot, Grandon turned to Anfey and said, "You don’t have to be so rigid . I’ve been too busy lately, or else I would have already visited you . Hopefully you’re not mad at me for that . " What Grandon said was cliche, but he couldn’t have said anything else . After all, he had only met Anfey once, in Niya’s carriage . If Grandon did not pick his words carefully, he would appear too friendly . "Of course not," Anfey said with a smile . "I’m grateful that Your Highness can find time to visit me . It really should have been the other way around . I apologize for my inappropriate behavior . " "I know, I know," Grandon waved his hand and said . "You’re busy too . " He paused for a second, then asked, "How’s Niya?" "She’s good," Anfey said . It was very awkward to talk about Niya with Grandon, and Anfey quickly changed the topic . "It seems like you’re familiar with the academy . " "I graduated from this school," Grandon said . "I know most of the people here . If I had a better teacher… Of course, that’s a story for another day . " Grandon glanced at the badge on Anfey’s shirt and sighed, "Is Niya angry at me?" "Why would she be?" Anfey replied . He did not like the direction of this conversation . It was too hard to figure out what Grandon was implying . After all, Grandon was much better at masking his true intentions than Anfey . "Are you here alone, Your Highness? Isn’t it dangerous?" "My guards are all outside . I’m not worried about people in this school," Grandon said with a smile . "Anfey, don’t lie to me . Is Niya really…" Grandon suddenly paused . Both he and Anfey suddenly realized that they were just replying to each other’s questions . Even though they were not arguing, they were not having a friendly conversation, either . Grandon sighed and opened his mouth again . "I know that you guys are angry," he said, shaking his head . "I am at fault . I am not going to deny that . Father had complimented me in front of the entire court that day, you see, and I was very happy and wanted to share my happiness . I forgot it was Christian’s birthday . I apologize for making things awkward . " "You’re overthinking, Your Highness," Anfey said . "But I’ll tell them about this . " He did not know why Grandon would keep making such elementary mistakes even though he was supposed to be the smarter one . First he held a feast on Christian’s birthday, then he made such a half-hearted apology to an irrelevant person . Maybe how he apologized did not matter to Grandon . It was the fact that he did apologize . "Don’t worry about that," Grandon said . "I’ll do it myself . Aren’t you leaving the city soon? I’ll hold a farewell dinner for you . I ordered a room at Night Elf Hotel, and I only invited a few people . Hopefully they will accept my apologies . " Anfey frowned and hesitated . "As you know, Your Highness, I cannot accept anything on behalf of Christian and Niya . I’ll talk to them about it and get back to you . " "Of course, of course," Grandon said, smiling . "If Your Highness doesn’t mind, I have to go now . I still have another class . " "Alright," Grandon said . "Hopefully I’ll see you tonight . " Grandon sighed as he watched Anfey and the two girls leave . As long as Anfey, Christian, and Niya agreed to have dinner with him, his plan was already half successful . "You’re too impatient, Your Highness," an old mage in a black robe appeared behind Grandon and said . "You’ve already told me," Grandon said, shaking his head . "Lord Saul was my greatest supporter . Do you know how anxious I am now that Christian’s real identity is revealed?" "I’m not talking about that time," the old mage said . "I’m talking about this time . " "This time?" "None of those three you’ve invited are people who can be easily convinced," the old mage reminded Grandon .
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