CHAPTER 299: THE SUPERIOR RACE [PART 1]

After the reception ended, Theo met with the delegation from the Solara and Faelarun Academies.

"I’m Theo Ashborne, the Student Council President of Frieden Academy," Theo said with a smile. "If any of you require assistance, please don’t hesitate to look for me at the Student Council Room."

"Really?" asked the Fourth Prince of the Kingdom of Solara, Garen Ashborne, in a teasing tone. "Are you sure you’re not going to ignore me, Brother?"

"I won’t," Theo answered firmly. "So behave yourself, Garen."

"Heh..." Prince Garen was about to say more, but his cousin, Celestria, tugged on his uniform and shook her head.

In the end, the arrogant prince crossed his arms over his chest and no longer said anything.

"During your stay, these students will be your guides in the academy," Theo introduced Alex and the others.

It didn’t take long for the Student Council President to notice that one of the guides was missing.

As if waiting for that moment, they heard someone running in the hallway, prompting everyone to look in the direction from which it came.

The moment Prince Garen saw the newcomer, the annoyance he felt earlier disappeared completely.

A cute young lady with long black hair tied in a ponytail ran in their direction.

"I-I’m sorry, Mr. President," Vaan said as he panted for breath. "I forgot something in the dormitory, so I had to go back to get it."

Theo nodded. "Be careful next time, Ms. Vaan. Also, you shouldn’t run in the hallways."

"Understood," Vaan replied apologetically. "It won’t happen again."

Vaan then glanced at the Solara delegation, which was assigned to him, and gave them his sweetest smile.

Prince Garen’s body shuddered as if an arrow had struck his chest. He couldn’t avert his gaze from the young lady’s face and her beautiful purple eyes that captured his heart.

Fortunately, everyone was still listening to Theo’s explanation, so no one seemed to notice the change in Prince Garen’s expression.

"Ms. Nessia, Ms. Vaan, and Prince Edward will guide the students from Solara Academy," Theo stated. "Mr. Alex, Ms. Astrea, and Ms. Lapiz will be the ones to guide those from Faelarun Academy."

The twelve-year-old prince of Faelarun, Prince Kaelen, frowned when his gaze landed on Alex.

The human boy stood way too close to his sister, which made him feel uncomfortable.

But since he didn’t want to make a scene, he decided to keep silent for the time being.

"Well then, Alex and Prince Edward, please look after them," Theo said.

"Understood." Alex nodded.

"They are in good hands," Prince Edward replied.

Since they had already had a planned route to take the exchange students, the two groups separated from each other.

Alex took the lead and guided the Faelarun Students to the Combat Mage Training Grounds.

"This is the place where the mages of the academy do their training exercises," Alex explained. "As you can see, there are no students at this time. But starting tomorrow, you can visit here if you want to exchange notes with the students of our academy."

Although he said "exchange notes," it was his subtle way of telling the Elves that if they wanted to challenge the mages of Frieden Academy, this was the place they needed to go to.

"By the way, the name of our most talented prodigy is Chuck No Rizz," Alex said with pride. "Feel free to challenge him anytime."

The young man laughed internally as he painted Chuck as a genius only born every three hundred years.

Astrea and Lapiz looked at Alex and wondered what kind of weed he was smoking.

Nearly all the First Years knew of Chuck as a troublemaker, and even his previous victory over his brother and a few other students failed to offset his bad reputation in the academy.

"Oh? Then how about you?" Prince Kaelen smiled faintly. "Are you strong?"

"I’m not, so don’t waste your time to duel with me, Your Highness," Alex replied. "It’s not right to bully the weak."

Prince Kaelen clicked his tongue. "I don’t like you, so please stay away from my sister."

The twelve-year-old boy pushed Alex to the side and stood in front of Lapiz, as if protecting his sister from the filthy human.

"Kaelen!" Lapiz was shocked to see his brother push Alex away. "What do you think you’re doing?!"

"Sister, I know you pleaded for our parents to study here," Prince Kaelen replied. "But, you shouldn’t allow this filthy human to stick too close to you. Oh... the only one who is filthy is Alex. It’s fine if Ms. Astrea stays close to my sister."

"Thank you?" Astrea blinked. Just like Lapiz, she was surprised by the sudden hostility coming from the Elven Prince.

Alex, who had been pushed away, simply scratched his head. This was the first time he met the elven prince, and now he knew that the younger boy had a fiery personality.

"I’m sorry, Alex," Lapiz said. "My brother is still young, and this is the first time he left Faelarun."

"It’s fine, Lapiz," Alex replied. "It’s not a big deal."

The young man made a mental note to not accidentally call Prince Kaelen "brother-in-law" lest it triggered the elven prince into biting him.

After that short episode, Alex continued the tour of the academy.

As they were about to head to the library, the Elves suddenly took a fighting stance, which made Alex, Astrea, and Lapiz look in the direction where they were looking.

A Doom Cow was walking in their direction, and a little white bun was perched on top of her head.

"Don’t attack her!" Alex immediately stood between Daisy and the Elven Students.

"This Doom Cow is part of the security personnel of the academy," Alex said in a serious tone. "Her name is Daisy, and this little guy over here is Dim Dim."

"Dim Dim!" Dim Dim waved its little stubby hand at the Elves, which made them lower their guard.

"Is your academy short in manpower that you have to resort to having a monster patrol your academy grounds?" a handsome elf, who goes by the name Caelum Veyra, asked.

He was an Elven Prodigy, and was second-in-command of the students from Faelarun.

Caelum was seventeen years old, and specialized in illusion and spirit binding.

"You should be more understanding of these ’short-lived’ children, Caelum," a beautiful elf commented. "As a member of the superior race, you should be more gracious in dealing with them."

"You’re right, Serenya," Caelum replied. "I just can’t stand looking at ugly monsters like that cow."

Dim Dim frowned because it didn’t like the way Caelum spoke about its friend, Daisy.

Daisy mooed as if telling her little friend not to get angry at the pompous "tree slug," who was nothing more than a brittle twig acting all high and mighty.

Dim Dim found Daisy’s words funny, so it giggled, which, for some reason, made Caelum feel insulted because he thought that the little strange creature was mocking him.

"Please behave yourselves!" Lapiz was no longer able to take it and glared at the elves who had just arrived at the academy.

"I apologize, Your Highness," Caelum immediately backed down after Kaelen glared in his direction.

"I apologize as well," Serenya bowed her head respectfully to Lapiz. "Please forgive me, Princess."

"I’m just a student here, so don’t call me Princess," Lapiz replied. "All of you are representing Faelarun, so I hope you stop insulting the students here in the academy."

"Sister, don’t be mad." Prince Kaelen held Lapiz’s hand. "I’ll make sure to talk to them properly after the tour ends. For now, don’t be angry, okay?"

Seeing that her little brother was doing his best to prevent the situation from escalating, Lapiz decided to take a step back as well.

"I think this month is not going to be peaceful," Astrea whispered in Alex’s ear.

"Right." Alex nodded.

He could already envision the Elves challenging the students of the academy tomorrow and showing them what a superior race was like.

However, he was also looking forward to this development.

The month-long stay of the exchange students was an important time for the Main Heroes and Heroines of ELO.

It was the time to learn from them and form connections, which would become very important in the future.

Alex also wanted to secure some friendships with the Elves since the second half of the Chain Quest from Mount Heracle was within the Kingdom of Faelarun.

Although it would be a bit difficult, he planned to get along with his ’future-brother-in-law’, and ask him to help him get close to Lapiz.

But judging from the hateful glare that he was receiving from Prince Kaelen, Alex knew that this mission wasn’t going to be a walk in the park.