The academy life resumed normally after that incident. No one was missing or stepped out of line for some time after the artificial dungeon had been dealt with.
The students had been told the truth and so had the association. The normal people were kept in the dark for the time being since there was nothing, they could do to better the situation.
Horas was the first person to volunteer for the petrol, knowing fully well that nothing would happen for some time now. He mostly wanted to get out of the tense meeting he was being forced to participate in.
Jack Hollow's interested look was not something Horas wanted to be subjected to for the whole duration of the meeting.
The hallways were empty right now as classes were in full-swing. The day had finally changed and Horas enjoyed the peace and quiet he did not often get.
He walked toward the empty training grounds, only to realize that someone had beaten him into coming here.
Howard Spencer looked to be hard at work, honing his skills with a sword and the training program. It was evident how hard-working the protagonist of this world was and how much he had been conditioned to train.
Howard noticed him as soon as Horas stepped into the training room. But Howard did not stop his motion and completed his set before pausing the timer.
"Horas, what brings you here today? I was not aware you were coming. Do you need something from me? Or, do you need to use the training facility?"
Howard questioned as he got ready to leave the training ground if Horas needed to use this place. But Horas stopped him before he could make this decision.
"I am not here to take over the training grounds since I have no reason to do so. You should also use these training grounds since you are building up a foundation for your skills, right?"
Horas denied Howard's offer and Howard shrugged in response. Now that Howard knew these training grounds were his, he went back to practice.
Horas watched Howard train for a few minutes before he asked the question, he wanted to ask Horas.
"So, how is Emma doing? I heard that she regained consciousness after some time but I did not have enough time to visit her unfortunately. I hope she is going alright."
Howard stopped doing his training as he looked at Horas with a surprised expression. But then it turned to one of understanding and even comfort. The look gave Horas goosebumps and he decided not to ask why Howard looked like that.
But he did not need to ask Howard anything because Howard ended up telling him what he thought anyway.
"Hey Horas, do you seriously like Emma? You were the first one to notice that she was missing and you were also the first to act. Now, I know you denied it before but I cannot help but wonder-"
Horas groaned as soon as he heard Howard's words. He was not in the mood to be dealing with this bullshit.
"For the last time, I do not like Emma Dew like that. She is too young and small for me to like. Besides, the only reason I paid extra attention to the scent club was that I knew something fishy was going on there."
Horas explained the same thing for the fourth time that week. Howard was the only one who seemed to believe him outright and his expression turned thoughtful.
"So, you knew something was going to happen but you had no evidence to support your claim. Now it makes sense why you took Tora to the meeting and disrupted so many of the scent club meetings."
Thankfully, Howard seemed to have accepted his excuse and was no longer pestering Horas for liking Emma.
Now that the misunderstanding had been cleared, Howard felt lighter and he wanted to go back to his room. He was about to head out when Howard called him urgently.
"Hey Horas, you remember how you promised to do me a favor? Can I cash in on that right now?"
Horas had a feeling that if he agreed to this, then something troublesome would happen to him. But he could also not back down on his words so easily.
So, despite him knowing that it was a foolish decision on his part to agree to Howard, Horas did it anyway.
"Yes, I remember. Do you want to cash in on it now? Are you sure you will not regret it in the future?"
Horas asked one final time but he could see how determined Horas was about asking him a favor. If Horas did not agree, then he was afraid that Howard would use brute force to make him agree.
It was just better to save yourself the trouble and agree with what Howard wanted to do in the first place.
"Yeah, I am sure I will not be disappointed if you did me a favor. I want you to come to a private party hosted by Jack Hollow. You know he is my guardian, right? So, I want you to come and visit my home."
'Nope! No way! We are not doing that at all!'
Horas's mind was blazing with sirens. It warned him to stay away and not to do Howard this favor. It was beyond terrible, it was dangerous.
But despite Horas's better judgment, he decided to rip the band-aid off and decide to do what Howard wanted him to do this time. The time to regret his decision would come.
"Fine, I will visit your home if you want me to. But after this, you will not be able to force me to do anything."
Horas clarified but Howard's expression clearly said, 'we'll see later' which made Howard nervous. Howard was behaving too much like the 'entitled little brother' Horas had heard about.
And all this was before Howard even knew they were related. God forbid what would happen if Horas knew they were related. Things would get weird suddenly.
'No, let us not think about it for now. Things would straighten themselves out all on their own.'
Horas prayed for this to happen but it was not a guarantee things would go his way.
