A sudden tension filled the room as Nero spoke, and the man's expression fell. The other man and woman were clearly surprised by Nero's strong response, not to mention the fact that he was still smiling and maintaining eye contact as he waited for the first man to respond.
There was not a hint of hesitation or fear in him, and his body remained relaxed even as the first man's body began to tighten. But just as the situation was on the verge of escalating, the man smirked.
"Maybe not so lucky after all. Definitely stupid though. My name's Hamid, by the way."
Hamid held out his hand, and Nero didn't hesitate to grab it, still smiling. He had not forgotten how badly and easily he had been beaten by those cops on the first day he became a Neophyte, which is why he could never forget the difference between himself and an Initiate.
With that said, Nero was no longer inexperienced.
He showed no indication of pulling his hand back or flinching, or showing any weakness at all as Hamid squeezed his hand while showing a friendly smile. Why would he? Nero had put the entire pressure of all the aether in his body into his hand, granting him a short burst of strength, which is why he was squeezing back!
"Narin," the other man introduced himself plainly.
"Tiffany," said the girl, with an eyebrow raised as she looked at the two of them still holding hands. Under her blatant gaze, the two finally released their grips.
Nero's hand, despite his best efforts, was firmly imprinted with Hamid's handprint, and slightly deformed. But Hamid did not escape scot free either.
"No matter what anyone else says, it's impressive what you did," Tiffany said. "Standing up for your schoolmates in the face of danger is quite admirable. If anyone gives you any trouble, you let me know."
"Thanks," Nero responded positively, without rejecting the offer, even though he had no intention of taking her help. They had pulled the old carrot and stick routine. It was good to know the classics were still in use. If Nero had been an ordinary student, he would have been too distracted by the pain in his hand to realise, and would have just been grateful for her offer.
"Do you guys know what the second half of the ceremony is going to be? I thought this was just supposed to be an award ceremony," Nero asked, curious. The unknown nature of it, as well as the timing of it could not be coincidental.
"No idea," said Hamid, shaking his head. "But that's most likely the main event. Award ceremonies rarely attract so much attention."
"Do you think it could have something to do with the Demon corps taking over this region?" Tiffany whispered, looking around the room.
"Don't be ridiculous," Narin said, sounding agitated. "The Demon corps only deals with curse related incidents. They have enough on their plate, they don't have time to deal with this mess."
"But the sage said so himself," Tiffany retorted.
The three of them grimaced. Clearly, this was a sensitive topic that had many divided. But Narin was technically not wrong. The Demon corps normally focused solely on cursed related incidents only.
This did not make them weak or small, compared to the other two corps. If anything, they were supposed to have the greatest fighting capability of all.
"Maybe it just has to do with the upcoming recruitment tournament," Nero suggested, though even he didn't believe that. Since the ruins had already been acknowledged, and the tournament declared, there was little else left to say about it.
"What's the point of that, anyway? Sending untrained kids into the unexplored ruins does not sound like the best idea," Tiffany said, looking troubled.
The three soldiers began to argue amongst themselves, revealing that they weren't a part of the same group as Nero had originally imagined. Most likely, they also only met once they arrived here. But the amount of discord between them was unusual. It was as if they disagreed on almost every topic. Was the army so split amongst itself, or was this just an exception?
The sound of the door opening gave their argument pause, and a small group of people were led in. Much like Nero, they were not wearing army uniforms, which meant that they were civilians, though all of them were much older.
Much to Nero's surprise, he recognised one of them! A brief moment of eye contact revealed that the other recognised him as well!
Invictus Hammel grinned widely upon noticing Nero and walked straight towards him.
"Why am I not surprised to find you here?" the herald asked, ignoring the attention he attracted.
The last time Nero saw him, the man was fighting against an Arcanist back at the AAB! Now, with better lighting, Nero could finally get a good look at the most inspiring other youth he had ever seen. He had somehow reached the Initiate level before even graduating high school! He should only be a year or two older than Nero himself!
"Maybe because everyone knew I was supposed to be here?" Nero asked, as he walked towards him as well. "I'm surprised you recognise me. We didn't really get a chance to meet last time. My name is Nero."
"Nero? Pleasure to meet you, finally. The name is Invictus Hammel. And of course we've met! Who do you think carried you to the medic?"
Nero had not realised that the one who saved him was Invictus. His smile widened as they shook hands, even as he internally wondered if Invictus knew that Nero had overheard his conversation with the assassin. The chances were high.
From what he recalled, the assassin said that he had been targeted because he was too annoying. That was hardly a sufficient reason to target someone, but maybe if Nero paid attention, he could learn how to avoid being annoying. After all, he was also quite prone to offending people.