The night had been an eventful one, and an educational one. He’d learned a lot, and had many of his questions answered - the one about the Monarch’s Dominion being one of them! So, as it turned out, after their first month was over would be when they were officially told during an assembly, but it was an open secret anyway so many people knew about it already!
The answer was simple - it was just one that Nero had thought impossible. The Dominion at the Sage level existed because there was a Sage Monarch serving as the Head Dean of the academy! To be specific, this would make the seventh Sage of Kolar!
Before Nero could be completely overwhelmed by the news, Silas also explained that the Sage was kept alive through artificial means, and could not leave this region for whatever reason. That was why the academy had been built here. In fact, the exact size of the academy had been dictated by the size of his Dominion!
Since he could not leave, and was on the verge of death, he was not counted amongst the active Sages of Kolar, which is why the number was officially at six.
When Nero asked for the dean’s name, Silas could not answer, nor could anyone else. The exact identity of the dean was a closely guarded secret. However, this did explain a lot of things. With a Sage acting as a dean, he could disregard any kind of external influence.
Heck, he could even disregard the other Sages if he wished. What were they going to do? Come over and finish him off once and for all?
Regardless of the actual politics of the situation, that was actually the least relevant news Nero had learned that night, since it did not impact him in any way. He’d learned about all his old friends, and was surprised to find an odd coincidence: not one of them had entered Enlil!
Wendy and Silas were in Demeter battalion, the Dales brothers were both in Marcus battalion, and Gabriel was in Astarties.
Them being in different battalions didn’t really affect him in any way, it was just odd. After all, there was no rule preventing them from entering each other’s Lines during free hours. He’d also learned a lot about what to expect for himself in terms of training in the coming months, and he learned a whole lot about the so-called prodigy.
Honestly, after the way Isabella had been so angry at him, Nero had assumed that Vilhelm had tried to flirt with her or something. As it turned out, he had just been caught reading novels in class multiple times. The fact that he could maintain perfect grades while being so non-serious greatly incensed the academic dean.
Everything that he learned about the prodigy actually quite disappointed Nero, to the point where he no longer even focused on surpassing him anymore. That no longer became an objective, it was an inevitability.
He still planned on collecting more information, but now that he knew the basics he could begin planning his next steps in more detail. One of the most valuable opportunities that KMA provided was close exposure to all the future leaders of Kolar - meaning both his seniors and eventual juniors.
Nero needed to work on his network, but more importantly he needed to control the narrative surrounding himself. Currently, despite the fact that he had been proven innocent of charges, the fratricide case was still affecting him negatively. In that case, he needed to start creating an overwhelmingly positive narrative around himself, and that was something that could not be faked so easily.
Luckily, he did not need to fake it. He just needed to decide what he wanted that narrative to be, and then he could start working on achieving it. For this, he already had a few ideas, but he wouldn’t act too quickly. Instead, he planned on doing his own research.
He was going to understand the most common motives behind all these cadets, and what exactly drove them. He would look into what they could resonate with, and what they could appreciate.
Only once he was sure of himself would he begin to take action because his image was not something he could casually change once he started to work on it. This would lay the foundation of all his future plans.
What was the first thing that came to mind when someone heard the name Nero Grant? That was what he needed to decide.
Nero was completely occupied with such thoughts as he made his way back to his barracks, but even so he noticed three figures standing by the entrance.
"There are some seniors here asking about ’Nero Grant’," said Bella as he quickly approached Nero, a very serious expression on their face. "They’re all fourth year cadets. No one knows why they’re asking."
Nero raised an eyebrow, and then looked towards the three. There were two guys and a girl. They all had the advantage of a greater height, not to mention a much more impressive build than any of the fresh cadets. Combined with the fact that the three of them were observing the fresh cadets with a menacing expression caused all of them to hesitate to approach. Yet none of them had ratted out Nero.
Even if they weren’t particularly close, none of them had given up any details about him. The fledgling signs of brotherhood and camaraderie were already beginning to show amongst these fresh cadets.
"Don’t worry about it. I’ll handle it," said Nero as he started walking towards the three of them. Nero was not subtle at all, making sure it was obvious to all that he was approaching them with a lot of aggression.
"Hey, what the hell do you losers want?" Nero yelled loudly, making sure everyone heard him.
"This kid..." muttered the cadet with green hair as he stepped forward and threw a punch.
There was no exchange of words, no banter at all. They just immediately broke into a fight... or at least that’s what everyone thought at first.
Nero caught the punch easily and grinned as he avoided getting pushed back at all.
"All these years later and you still can’t throw a punch," Nero said with a grin.
The green haired cadet started laughing out of sheer anger, unable to say anything else. The next moment he grabbed Nero in a headlock. Nero could have easily avoided it, but he didn’t.
"You dumb brat, I can’t believe I was actually excited to see for a moment there," he said, sounding furious.
Instead of responding, Nero placed his leg in front of the cadets and pushed him forward, tripping him and breaking free of the head lock.
"It’s because you’re a masochist. The idea of getting beaten up by a kid excites you," Nero said, turning to look at the other two.
"How are you even more annoying than you were at 12?" the green haired cadet muttered as he got up.
Nero ignored him and stepped up to the others.
"Big bro Darius, big sis Ash, I had no idea you guys were here," Nero said to them in a very respectful tone.
"Look at you, all grown up. You’re finally taller than me," said Ash as she ruffled his hair, looking at him as one might look at a younger brother.
"Not just taller," said Darius. "Look at those merits. Little kid’s been out on the field. Well, I guess I can’t call you little kid anymore."
"This is not fair. Why the hell are they big sis and big bro but I’m a loser?" the green haired cadet complained as he caught up.
"Come on, Adrian. With a history of getting beaten up by a 12 year old, what do you expect?" asked Ash.
"It doesn’t count if the 12 year old is a Grant," Adiran muttered, but no one was paying attention to him.
Adrian, Ash and Darius were old friends of Patrick and Irene, and in Nero’s childhood they had spent a lot of time together. Patrick’s... incident had affected the three of them just as much as it had affected Nero and his family.
"I heard from Michelle that there was a new cadet who was quite impressive and that he was called Grant, and I immediately knew it was you," said Darius, as he put his arm around Nero’s neck. "It wasn’t easy to get free time so we came a little late. Come on, let’s go to the mess and catch up."
Nero looked at the three, and then at his barracks.
"But it’s lights out. Won’t I get in trouble?" he asked. In response, Ash’s silver hair began to glow ever so slightly, and Nero’s body was lifted off the ground and began to follow the group.
"Of course you will, silly," said Ash as she winked at him. "But that’s a you-problem, not a me-problem. Besides, I’m going to be deployed to a mission tomorrow so we won’t be able to catch up again any time soon."
Just like that, in front of his bunkmates, Nero was kidnapped right in the middle of their Lines, and none of them knew how to react to it.