Loving You as a Friend [BL]

Chapter 9: I'll Beat You in Magic and Sword

Sorry for those who were waiting for the weekly update! I forgot to upload it so here it is now!

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They soon returned back to their tables, Elijah giving him a light pat on the back before separating. Darcel and Lucius looked towards Alexis before giving him a nod. "Mother, Father, there is something that we have to tell you." Lucius started off first, gaining the attention of the adults. "Hmm, go on." Adolphe lightly gestured for his son to continue.

"We... We hope you understand why we didn't say it earlier." Darcel nervously glanced at his parents, before Lucius continued, "We lied about our elemental affinity." Adolphe did not reply, but his hands had stopped moving. "Father, before you discipline me, please listen." Lucius hurriedly tried to ease his father's chilling aura.

"Darc and I lied about our elements. Darc has the power of wind and I have the power of water as well." Alexis grabbed his hand. Lucius flashed him a smile, before turning back to face his parents. "So? Why did you decide to lie before?" The king coldly reprimanded him, staring straight at him.

"Your Majesty! It is my fault why we had lied to you earlier." Alexis defended Lucius before he could, "They are not in the wrong. They simply wanted to protect me because I only had a single element." Elijah raised his eyebrow in amusement; he had not expected that they would choose to reveal their secret now. "And why did you think it was wise to reveal it now?" Adolphe was no longer as harsh but it still did not feel good to be lied to.

"We didn't want Lex to be left out so we decided to lie about it. But then Lex decided that it was better if we had told you instead." Darcel quickly rambled their reasoning, afraid of getting scolded later on. "We didn't mean to lie to you. We just wanted to be together with Lex, we didn't want him to feel alone."

There was a long pause in the garden, everyone was bewildered by their sudden announcement. "And? Is that all?" Felix interrupted their thoughts, he was unfazed by the current situation. "Father? What do you mean?"

"I mean what I said. Is there anything else you're hiding?" Alexis flinched slightly at his words, taking cover in Lucius's shadow. Both Darcel and Lucius gently squeezed his hand in assurance, 'Don't worry. We're here for you'. Shin laughed on the inside at how simple their actions were, but it was enough for him to stop cowering in his shadow.

"No... We aren't hiding anything else." Alexis paused slightly before replying, he was technically hiding something from them but his father already knew. Felix said nothing, simply staring into Alexis's eyes. He turned to face Elijah who was watching on the sidelines. "Well, Elijah? Your thoughts?"

"Hmm~, I don't see the problem. After all, this does concern their futures."

"Then what about the fact that they lied?"

"As much as we, the parents, wish to protect them forever, we simply cannot. And by the looks of it, the three of them have come up with their own conclusion." He quickly glanced around the table, "And personally, I find it interesting that we have two dual elementalists in this generation when there hasn't been one for decades."

"And what do you propose?"

"Oh, you know me well Felix. Why don't I become their instructor? After all, I am qualified to do so." Before Elijah became the next Grand Duke, he was originally an instructor at the academy. His background plus experience makes him more than qualified to be their tutor. "You boys don't have any issues with me right?" All three of them shook their heads in response.

"Seeing as they have no issues with you, I assume you three are also fine with me teaching you swordsmanship?" Felix glanced at them, waiting for their answer.

The children looked at each other, silently communicating before Darcel spoke up, "We have no issues Father."

"Then it's settled. I will be their tutor while Felix will be their swordmaster. Simple." Elijah went to refill his wife's teacup while placing another small dessert on her plate. He acted as if there was nothing wrong, except the garden was now filled with silence. The pouring of the tea only made it more obvious how slightly uncomfortable the atmosphere was. It wasn't long before there was a small outburst of laughter from Adelaide. "Dear, is there something wrong?" Adolphe turned towards his wife.

"No, nothing like that. I am simply amused at how easily and efficiently both Eli and Felix managed to convince the children." She rested her elbows on the table, clasping her hands together. "Personally, I have no issues with them being their teachers. After all, Eli and Felix were top of the class in magic and swordsmanship."

"But Mother, aren't we supposed to go to Plofonia Academy this spring?" Lucius quickly jerked his head, questioning the queen. This covered their education from ten to fifteen. The game took place during their last year in Crystandre Institute, covering their education from when they were fifteen to eighteen. "Why do we need..." Lucius paused mid-sentence before quickly resuming his words, "Mother, I understand having the Archduke teaching us but I don't understand having the Grand Duke teach us. After all, are we not learning swordsmanship in the academy?"

"Well, think of it like advanced education. You will still need to attend the academy's lesson but you will also have additional lessons to make up for the fact that you have dual elements." Alexis agreed with her words. Even if he supposedly didn't have a second element, it wouldn't hurt to train with Darcel and Lucius. "Then when are we going to start?" Alexis inquired, glancing at his father.

"There's no need to rush into things. After all, we have plenty of time before spring arrives. It's only the beginning of autumn right now. You boys will have plenty of time to adapt to these extra lessons." Elijah put their worries to rest. The boys began discussing, their excitement at using magic made the adults reminisce about their younger days, curious to explore the world.

Shin thought to himself that maybe, instead of worrying about the future so much, he should take it nice and easy with everyone. And if anything was to happen in the future, he'll decide how to deal with it then. "Lex, Lex, let's train together so we can become adventurers in the future." Darcel tugged his sleeve with excitement, his eyes glittering with expectation.

"Of course, but I'll skip sword training. It's going to make me too tired." Alexis whispered back his response, before getting lightly smacked on the head. "Ouch, Lu, what did you do that for?"

"You can't skip out of sword training. Even if you did manage to escape, I think His Grace will drag you back and punish you." Lucius ruffled his head to soothe the area, muttering apologies as he guiltily glanced at him.

"Just wait Lu, I'll beat you in magic and sword."

"I'm going to be strong to protect you Lex. You don't need to rely on Lu for that." Darcel jumped in the conversation, pulling Alexis away from Lucius and engulfing him in a hug.

"Haha, I hope you can protect Lex with me, Darc."

"Of course, he's our most important friend after all."

Shin didn't expect people to protect him, giving a light amused laugh at their declarations, "I look forward to seeing how you can protect me."

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A/N:

And the introduction arc closes. I will say the ending was a little rush but it was because I could only do so much at their current age and everything else would make sense if it were to happen when they were in their late teen years.

And this leads me to my next notice, unfortunately the series will be having a 1-2 week break due exams. However, after that, the uploads will resume as usual! Please look forward to the next chapter once the time rolls around! Thank you sticking around and hopefully, the future chapters won't disappoint you!

|ω・')ﾉ See you later