Heck, the last one he had talked to had repaid his help with not taking his life!
They were monsters!
[Actually,]
The system panel suddenly flashed making him pause.
[As a Lesser Arcana Human, you’re closer to being a familial to the Voraths than the Humans.]
The system’s response left Arlo sighing.
"Joining the Vorath is no doubt my only way to grow quickly, but I don’t enjoy the idea of joining them, especially if they are the ones responsible for most of the atrocities in this war..."
[I understand why you’re thinking that way now. You’re thinking in terms of two separate races.]
"What?" Arlo asked at the sudden interruption.
[I only want to say this, Arlo. I am nothing more than a voice in your head trying to guide you toward becoming stronger. The ultimate choice still rests in your hands]
[But you should always understand that you have nothing to do with this war, and you’re not affiliated with either side.]
[You are an Arcane Human who possesses the elemental attribute of a Vorath. Not a human, neither a Vorath.]
[All you want is to grow stronger as quickly as possible and escape this world.]
[I advise you to think about it like that. It will keep you from feeling so burdened by everything happening around you and help you maintain a laser focus on achieving your objectives.]
As Arlo thought about the system’s words, he had to admit that it was right.
He truly had nothing to do with this war. His ancestors hadn’t started it, so why should he involve himself in it?
In a situation like this, he only needed to look after himself.
"You’re right. Right now, my two goals are becoming stronger and returning to Umbrasol. My magic has the greatest potential to help me accomplish both, so all I need to do is chase those goals. If that ever leads me into Vorath territory, then so be it!"
KNOCK
KNOCK
KNOCK
Three knocks rang out and Arlo turned his attention toward the door.
"You’ve been hiding in that room for close to three hours now, Kiddo. Do you really think I can’t come and get you?"
Captain Ennessa’s mocking voice came from outside, causing Arlo to raise an eyebrow.
"Just so you know, you haven’t eaten for three days now. I don’t want people saying that the highly exalted Ennessa doesn’t feed her intern."
"That would be terrible for my reputation. I’ll be waiting downstairs."
Her footsteps gradually faded away, leaving silence to fill the room once again as Arlo stared at the door with his eyebrows slowly furrowing.
[Do you understand?]
Arlo’s expression became confused.
"Understand what?"
[Understand why she tries to keep you close?]
Arlo shook his head.
"She’s like a tumor that refuses to go away, and what I hate most is that I don’t understand why she won’t leave me alone. Do you?"
[I don’t. Maybe because you look like her dead brother? But...I have a feeling there’s more to it than that.]
"Not like it matters much..."
Arlo removed his sweat-soaked T-shirt and headed into the bathroom for a quick shower.
Afterward, he returned to the large wardrobe and opened it, revealing hundreds of clothes neatly hanging inside.
After a minute of searching, he finally found what he was looking for: a comfortable shirt and trousers.
Though, it was a bit baggy, it was just the type of cloth he liked.
Only after his stomach loudly protested did Arlo finally unlock the door and head down the stairs.
___________
"Ahhh, you really are an idiot, aren’t you?"
The familiar voice came from above Arlo’s head, making him look up with an irritated expression.
He had spent almost ten minutes walking through the incredibly gigantic apartment, trying to find the dining area.
Who would have thought the dining area was floating directly above his head?
And there was Captain Ennessa, looking down at him with ridicule, both cheeks stuffed to the maximum with food.
"I guess loneliness really is a thing..." Arlo whispered.
Captain Ennessa’s expression immediately dropped.
"And what do you mean by that?"
"Oh, nothing. It’s just that I’ve passed this exact place for the last ten minutes, and you were above me the entire time, watching me run around. Only a lonely person who desperately needs entertainment would find joy in something like that..."
Arlo’s words earned him a mocking giggle from Captain Ennessa, making a vein pop on his forehead.
"That said, don’t tell me you jumped up there," Arlo said, looking at Captain Ennessa.
She rolled her eyes before pointing toward the strange object beside him.
It was a round platform with the air above it constantly quivering as though it were being heated by an invisible flame.
"Don’t tell me I have to stand on this...flaming pot!?"
"Tell me, what era did you really come from? Is your sector really that backwater?" Captain Ennessa asked as she threw a fork down at Arlo’s head.
He quickly caught it, only for her to point toward the flaming pot, signaling for him to place it on top.
Like a robot, Arlo tossed the fork onto the flaming pot, but instead of falling down, he watched in amazement as it simply remained suspended in the air before slowly floating upward.
Once it reached Captain Ennessa’s height, she stretched out her hand and casually picked it up.
"WOW!"
Arlo stared with shining eyes, amazed by the sight before him.
Never in his life had he seen anything capable of making an object float, except for the occasional use of magic by some of the royals.
"Blown away, bumpkin?" she asked, but Arlo paid no attention to her teasing and instead walked toward the platform.
After convincing himself that he wouldn’t die from a simple fall, he jumped onto the platform.
In the next second, he felt his sense of weight completely disappear as he was lifted higher and higher, all the way to the mouth of the steps leading to the suspended platform.
With a single step forward, he landed directly on the stairs, his eyes still wide from what had just happened.
"Tell me, what type of magic is that?" Arlo asked in shock.
"It’s called an Anti-Gravity Teleporter. Quite a piece of tech, right?" Captain Ennessa said proudly.
Arlo nodded before walking toward the seat opposite the long dining table, only to discover something even more shocking.
The platform they were currently standing on had absolutely nothing holding it up.
"What the!? We’re sitting on a suspended platform, held up by nothing?"
"There’s nothing to worry about. There’s another Anti-Gravity Suspender beneath this platform that keeps it suspended in the air. You couldn’t feel it because it only works on inanimate objects," Captain Ennessa explained.
Arlo turned his attention away from her and toward the table, and without even realizing it, a long strand of saliva began trailing down his lips as he stared at the delicious array of food spread across it.
RUUUUUUUUMBLE!
The sound of his stomach rumbling echoed through the platform, immediately turning Arlo’s face as red as a tomato.
Such behavior was incredibly uncouth for a prince like him.
"Seems you truly haven’t fused with your first core.." Captain Ennessa said, now convinced.
Arlo closed his eyes and remained completely silent for ten seconds, much to Captain Ennessa’s confusion.
She watched as his mouth moved erratically, as though he were silently muttering something, but soon it stopped, and his eyes snapped open.
He immediately picked up the fork and dove into the food like a starving beast.
"Oh? You pray before you eat? I never thought you were much of a religious guy..." Captain Ennessa said as Arlo slowed himself down slightly.
"There’s nothing religious about it. It is just so I don’t accidentally get a bone stuck in my throat and die a stupid death..." Arlo said seriously before immediately returning to his meal.
Unlike him, Captain Ennessa ate one piece at a time, completely unbothered even as the food on Arlo’s side of the table quickly disappeared.
She continued tapping away at a strange, wide rectangular device that illuminated her face with a bluish light, and Arlo could see her expression deteriorating with every tap as her eyebrows furrowed deeper while her eyes remained intensely focused on the screen.
"Huuuuuuu..."
Arlo exhaled loudly as he looked over the table. By now, nearly eighty percent of the food had already been wiped out by him.
He reached toward the side, searching for something, but found nothing.
"And where is the tissue?" Arlo asked.
Captain Ennessa raised her head and turned toward him, one eyebrow rising as she looked at the table, which had been nearly wiped clean.
Her eyes then involuntarily moved toward Arlo’s stomach, which now bulged out like that of a pregnant woman.
"Tsk, tsk. You really do have a well in your stomach. And besides, I don’t think village boys use tissues, do they?"
"I am not a village boy..."
"Really? Just wipe your mouth with the back of your hand. That’s how I remember village boys always doing it."
Captain Ennessa reached to the side and grabbed a tissue from her end of the table, carefully wiping her mouth while snickering at him.
"Hmmmm..."
Normally, as a prince, Arlo had always eaten with a tissue nearby, but he could still wipe his mouth with his hand if there wasn’t one available. But now, he couldn’t.
He could clearly see that his wicked captain was deliberately trying to ridicule him by keeping the tissue away, and he couldn’t let her have her way.
Suddenly, an equally wicked thought appeared in his mind.