feed on dragons

"Julian? Julian? What's wrong with you?"

Dai Ning yelled several times before Julian suddenly recovered from his dazed state.

"No, it's okay, I've probably been riding in the carriage all the time, I was a little dizzy from being jolted, and I can't concentrate..." Julian smiled dryly, holding the knife and fork tightly, watching the tempting aroma constantly wafting in front of him, and the crispy roast steak, try to focus on the dinner and not on the other person at the same table.

"Ah, you haven't been in a carriage that runs so fast for so long, have you? I'll give you a peppermint pill after dinner, it will make you feel better." Dai Ning cut a piece of meat while talking Tucked into Julian's dinner plate. "Hey, eat more, go to bed early when you're full, and you'll have another day tomorrow."

"Well, thank you."

Julian was very grateful for Dai Ning's care, but at the same time, he also felt a small sense of guilt in his heart.The boy who has the blood of a monster and was fed just two days ago is now at the height of his strength. Not to mention the huge magic power, his physical strength is actually much better than that of ordinary people. He just made up a random excuse to cover up the real reason.

The real reason... Julian took a sip of the soup, bit the spoon and looked up at Carter who was sitting across from him.The culprit who disturbed Julian was quietly enjoying his dinner. He skillfully used a knife and fork, and his eating movements were also very elegant. Even the sound of the tableware touching the plate was deliberately kept to a minimum.Seeing his appearance, Julian remembered his hellish etiquette training course, subconsciously straightened his back, and sat up straight.

Julian never thought that there would be a day when he would sit and eat with Carter like this.When Carter appeared in front of them in the morning, he even wondered for a while whether he had hallucinations from too much sleep the day before, or if the magic drunk that Hal said only human beings have had the effect of making people see hallucinations ; but when they got into the carriage and the three of them sat in a small space, he reluctantly admitted that all this was true.

I will walk with Carter and get along for a whole month.

Is there anything worse than this?Julian felt his stomach hurt when he imagined it for a while.

Along the way, the atmosphere in the carriage was so eerily quiet that even the coachman couldn't help but look back to make sure that what he was carrying were three sixteen or seventeen-year-old boys, not a great old magician.Naturally, it was impossible for Julian to take the initiative to talk to Carter. It took him a lot of effort just to accept that he was about to spend a month with this person who had brought him a lot of harm and shadow; Carter chatted a few words, but there was some agreement. He felt that he only spoke out of politeness, which did not match his lively and self-sufficient personality.As for Carter, he didn't seem to want to talk more with Dai Ning, so he took out a booklet and read it by the sunlight by the window.

A delicate atmosphere enveloped the entire carriage.

Carter read the book quietly, Dai Ning, who was too lazy to find a topic, just closed his eyes and rested his mind, while Julian was struggling with the shadow in his heart.

How weird, he thought.It was unheard of for me to be able to stay in the same room with Carter for more than 5 minutes, and the other party never came to make trouble.

Is this Carter fake?Wouldn't it be just another person with the same name and face?

"...What are you doing, Julian?"

Suddenly, Dai Ning glared at him, and asked in a low voice next to his ear.

"What, what?"

Julian froze for a moment, subconsciously dodged to the side.Except for Hal, he wasn't used to being so close to anyone, even his best friend.

"Why do you keep peeking?"

"I don't have it? Probably not..."

Just finished speaking in a low voice, he glanced at Carter again.Dai Ning rolled his eyes, turned his head to look at the young man who was reading by the light of the carriage window, then looked at his friend, shook his head, hesitant to speak.

"It's okay. Let's talk about it later."

When is the time?What to say?

Even Julian, who was so nervous that he peeked at Carter from time to time, didn't notice, naturally it was impossible to know what Dai Ning wanted to say, so he could only hold on to the small suitcase on his lap, and kept rubbing it with his thumb back and forth. On the middle finger, the inside of the ring Howl had given him.The round metal touch made him unable to resist rubbing it again and again, remembering that it was something Hal gave him, and thinking of the seemingly omnipotent red figure, he gradually felt that the restlessness in his heart after seeing Carter seemed to subside. a little.

In such a wonderful atmosphere, the carriage arrived at the hotel where we stayed for the first day.It takes about two to three days to travel from Eros, the country where Julian lives, to Olsen, the neighboring country where the summit is held. Even if they have used specially bred fast horses, it still takes two days.After sitting in the car for a whole day, they usually stay at home or in the tower, and the severely lacking exercise magicians are all listless. When Julian jumped out of the car, what he saw was that he had completely lost his usual air, using all kinds of The great magicians who walked into the hotel gate in crooked postures almost made him laugh.After these aged and exhausted magicians were led to their assigned rooms, some of them could come down to have a meal if they were better, and some of them were sent into the room directly, not wanting to step out of the room at all.

However, archmages can stay out of their rooms at will, but apprentices and others can't.A group of people, including the first prince, came to the dining room and took their seats one after another in the assigned seats, so the three apprentices naturally joined another table, and started the most restless meal Julian had ever had.

"Are you all right, Julian?"

Just as Julian was thinking about what happened this morning until now, and stuffing food into his mouth absent-mindedly, Acibel's gentle voice came from behind him.He choked up for a moment, and hurriedly got up to salute, but the eldest prince pressed his shoulders.

"There's no need to salute, you two too. Continue to eat. I'm just checking on the situation." Yaqibel nodded, motioning for Dai Ning and Carter who were about to get up to sit down.Carter sat back. Although he was holding the knife and fork, he didn't continue to eat, but just stared at Julian.

"So, is everything okay, Julian?" Acibel asked again.Julian tilted his head in doubt, and replied, "Yes, everything is fine."

"That's good. Tell me if you have anything to do. You are Lord Hal's man, so don't worry too much..."

Keng!

The crisp sound of metal hitting porcelain was too obvious, and the three couldn't help but look in the direction of the sound at the same time.Carter looked up and smiled, "I'm so sorry...I didn't hold the knife steady."

"...It's okay." Aceh Bell didn't say much. "That's it, I'm leaving. Rest early after dinner. The dinner after arriving in Orson tomorrow is very important, so I can't be so idle. You can sleep more in the car."

"Okay, okay. Thanks for reminding me."

Julian thanked him flattered, the eldest prince glanced at the apprentice table again, and then left with the black-haired guard who was always by his side.

And when the eldest prince walked away, Julian heard Dai Ning who was sitting next to him let out an exaggerated sigh of relief.

"... Phew... Fortunately, I'm almost full, otherwise I'm so scared by His Highness, how can I eat anymore..."

"W-how can you be so exaggerated, Your Highness...you are very nice." Julian tried to ease the atmosphere.

"Your Highness, the First Prince, is a nice person, but after all, he is still a high-ranking person, so there is still a long way to go..." Dai Ning picked a sweet peach from the fruit basket in the middle of the table, brought it to his mouth, and took a bite. "It's good to relax while eating."

"Well, that's right."

Relax... I'd rather eat with the First Prince than with this guy?While thinking about it, Julian glanced at Carter on the opposite side.The latter continued to eat quietly, the gestures of holding the knife and fork, the posture of cutting meat, and even the movement of feeding it into the mouth were as perfect as textbooks. Julian would suspect that the beginner just made the mistake of not holding the knife properly so that Did he do such a disrespectful thing as tableware colliding?

From the carriage with subtle atmosphere, to the dining table with subtle atmosphere, next...is the bedroom with subtle atmosphere.

Thinking of this, Julian felt a little tight in his stomach.

I don't know if I want the apprentices at the meeting to have a good relationship. The magicians share a room with each other, but Julian, Daining and Carter share the same room.Although the room was large and had three beds, Julian felt awkward about it.

Eating at the same table in the same carriage, and now sleeping in the same room... It's terrible no matter how you think about it.It wasn't a matter of room or bed size at all, it was Carter himself.

Maybe I need to put some defensive spell next to the bed at night in case Carter suddenly wants to kill himself or something... Julian imagined some developments that even he thought were too exaggerated as he settled his dinner.

"Sorry to disturb the guests." Suddenly, a waiter came to their table, bowed to the three of them, and then asked respectfully, "Which one is Mr. Carter?"

"it's me."

Carter responded, picked up a napkin and wiped his mouth, without even turning his head. "What's up?"

"Yes, Lord Manderon wants you to go there..."

Carter narrowed his eyes almost invisibly.

"I'll go right away."

As he spoke, he stood up, nodded to Dai Ning and Julian, and said, "The teacher called me. I'll go first, you two take your time."

"Teacher? Is Lord Mandron your teacher?" Dai Ning's eyes widened in surprise.Julian also stopped in shock.

"Yes, Lord Manderon is my teacher. I'll go first." Carter puffed up his chest, smiled with the corners of his mouth curled up, then turned his head and left with the waiter.

Julian felt a little dazed for a moment.That smile—yes, that was Carter's expression.It was Julian's familiar, Carter's expression.Complacent and somewhat defiant, this was the Carter he knew.That perfect smile from the morning we met was nothing more than an illusion.

"...It's disgusting---"

Dai Ning muttered to himself.He looked at the back of the young man leaving, and said in a low voice meaningfully: "Although the roots of the banyan tree were dug up, the seeds immediately stuck to other big trees..."