Chapter 72. City of Staeburg

“Good morning Ken!” Seraphina said happily as she picked up the young man and spun him around above her head before he even opened his eyes after he teleported back to the academy.

“Seraphina! How are you able to get to me this fast!” Ken complained as he greeted the rest while still up in the air.

“Emma didn’t tell you? She signed up to come back a week early to help with the new student enrollment but since your last minute trip, she wanted to stay home with you for at least a few days so I told her I would come and help out instead.” Seraphina replied happily and finally let Ken down.

“Thank you Seraphina.” Emma said as the girls got together and started chatting around about their break and what everyone did and most importantly, made sure Ken didn’t get himself into any more trouble.

“Let’s go get some food. I haven’t had breakfast yet.” Ken told the girls and started leading the way towards the dining hall.

“Are you still doing two exchanges this semester?” Alice asked as the group got in line to get their breakfast.

“That’s the plan. We will go check if my exchange to go train with Frederick has been approved. I will also send a request to Nafluica academy and see if I can get Thallan to train me while I am there.” Ken replied as the group got their food and settled at a large table.

After 4 years at the academy. Ken went from the overconfident commoner that knew nothing and no one to one of the most popular and well known students. Similar to how he is the center of attention wherever he goes for an exchange, the number of admirers has only grown over the years and getting girls approaching the group constantly has become a daily part of Ken’s academy life.

“Did you see any cute girls or interesting races during the enrollment?” Ken asked Seraphina curiously.

“Ken!” A voice said happily before the girls could complain about his remark.

Turning around, Ken saw a group of boys he had never seen before waiting eagerly to talk to him.

“Ugh. Ryo! Go away. I’m already tired of seeing your stupid face when I’m at home, I don’t need to see you at school as well.” Alice complained.

Shocked to hear Alice mention Ryo’s name. Ken took a closer look at the young man standing in front of him. Instead of the malnourished skinny kid he remembers, Ryo had grown into a handsome young man in the few years since Ken had seen the boy.

“RYO! Wow! You had a growth spurt since I last saw you!” Ken said happily as he asked the group of young men to join them so he could catch up and chat with Ryo.

“Thanks Ken for everything you did for me.” Ryo said gratefully as Ken was more than happy to introduce the vampire boy from the slums to his girls.

“I told you! I know you had what it takes to make it here! I hope the rest of the boys are doing well.”

“They are doing great! Everyone studied hard and when they failed to get selected for Dragonspire, Ava was able to get them enrolled into Vespera Academy!” Ryo replied happily to the delight of Ken.

While Ken and Ryo chatted happily, Ken noticed Ryo’s group of friends were of all races and it was easy to tell they were all of common birth from their timidness.

“I will be rather busy this year since I made a promise with the king of Yelwreak and have to reach holy level before this year ends. But if any of you ever ran into anything, feel free to come by and talk to any of us. You all have the potential, so study hard while you are here.” Ken offered as the boys all started to relax slightly.

As Ken chatted with the boys, he had to reject the advances from a horde of first year girls as the young man settled back into his academy life and after breakfast, Ken and the girls wished Ryo and his new friends the best of luck before heading to the staffing room to confirm his exchange while also submitting a request for Nafluica Academy.

After everything was set, the group enjoyed the rest of their first day back just relaxing and catching up before the final year starts where Ken had to reach holy level or face the consequences of his impulsive declaration.

“I can’t believe that Frederick rejected my and Clare’s exchange request but accepted Alice’s! How did that happen!” Cecilla complained loudly, one month into the school year.

“Ha! Since my family has ties with Darrumburgh, we are very close with all the major human kingdoms. I bust my butt off to reach master level so I could request for exchanges and I got my uncle to talk with Frederick.” Alice said happily while taunting the two princesses.

“Alice! Don’t rub it in. I’m glad you are coming with me but you need to behave yourself!” Ken suggested as Alice completely ignored him.

“I will be going to Nafluica Academy with you for your next exchange. I know the headmaster personally and will send him a request to reject Alice’s request.” Clare replied as the two bickered back and forth.

“Why didn’t you apply for Naflucia, Cecilla?” Ken asked as Lovetta handed him his clothes that Emma and Indra helped pack for him.

“There were a lot of people from Naflucia that were at the party where I got totally humiliated.”

“That was years ago! You need to get over that already!” Ken advised while getting completely ignored once again.

“Make sure to use your vampiric strength to deter any girl from making any advances on him.” Genesis told Alice as Ken scolded her.

“I need to work hard to get to master level soon so I can go on exchanges with you as well!” Seraphina said happily while waving goodbye as Ken and Alice teleported away from Dragonspire and reappeared in the capital city of the Staeburg kingdom.

“Hello. Welcome to Staeburg.” A voice welcomed the pair.

“Hello! I am Ken, this is Alice, thanks for having us!” Ken said politely as he greeted the girl standing in front of him.

“My name is Sophia Neremont, it’s nice to meet you two.” Sophia replied as she led the pair into the mansion.

“This is my mother Sara and obviously you know my father Frederick since you are here to train with him.” Sophina said as she introduced her parents to the pair when they reached the living room.

“Hello Mr. and Mrs. Neremont! Thank you so much for having us and being willing to train us for the next month.” Ken said politely.

“You don’t have to be so formal, Frederick is fine. Sophia. Why don’t you take the pair and go tour around the city. We can start the training tomorrow after you two rest up.” Frederick offered as Ken accepted gladly.

“You don’t have any siblings?” Ken asked as the trio rode in Frederick’s personal carriage into the town center.

“My older brother is the royal guard captain for the city of Norburg so he lives a few hours up north from the capital.” Sophia, the beautiful girl with brunette hair and glasses replied as Alice glared at the chatty pair with a scorn.

“Staeburg is near Sraderham right? I was expecting this kingdom to be a rainforest like Sraderham.” Ken commented as the horse carriage drove over the stone paved roads of a typical looking city with buildings made from stone.

“Like most kingdoms and cities, natural boundaries act as a divide. We are to the west of Sraderham and a great mountain range divides our kingdom from them. Apparently, due to the elevation of the mountains, they get most of the rainfall on their side and end up with the lush rainforests. Most of our cities are rather normal.” Sophia replied, acting like a proper guide.

“Are you still in school?” Ken asked as the trio left the carriage and started touring the town on foot.

“No. I don’t enjoy the constant attention so I have always been homeschooled. I do tag along with my father whenever he goes to Staeburg Academy so I could use their library to do my research.” Sophia replied as she guided the pair and led them around the city.

“I love the attention I get from all the girls even if I have to begrudgingly reject most of them to stay out of trouble.” Ken said with a smirk as Alice jabbed him.

“Thanks for showing us around town!” Ken said happily after a full day of touring and enjoying some delicious local cuisine.

“I had fun too. I don’t have many friends so it’s nice to chat with someone my age.” Sophia replied as she showed the pair their room and wished them a good night.

“I’m so glad I tagged along with you. Imagine if I wasn’t here! I bet that girl would have shamelessly crawled in bed with you already.” Alice whined.

“Alice. Stop it. Sophia was so nice to us today. Stop being so rude and mean to every girl.”

“Not when every single one of them acts like they want you!” Alice replied stubbornly as Ken sighed and gave up on trying to persuade her as the pair went to bed.

“Good morning Sophia, Frederick, Mrs. Neremont.” Ken said happily as he greeted the family the next morning as he and Alice got down to the dining room and joined the family for breakfast.

After enjoying their breakfast and chatting with the family about everything they saw in the city the previous day. Ken, Alice and Sophia joined Frederick as the group headed for the hero’s personal training facility to start their lesson.

“Since you are already at divine level, I don’t think there is much I could teach you that you didn’t already know when it comes to enhancement. However, for me to get to where I am today while having only reached divine level, I obviously have my ways to deal with more talented people such as yourself.” Frederick said as the group entered the well equipped training room.

“Wow! Look at all the different types of weapons, armors and artifacts you have!” Ken said as he examined all the different weapons on the weapon rack.

“While Siveril has amazing stamina to pull off all of his strategies against different types of opponents. I don’t have his stamina to pull off the same types of feats. Like him, I have to study my opponents, their fighting style and my way of dealing with those with superior abilities, is to use the most optimal combination of weapon, armor and artifacts.” Frederick advised as Ken listened attentively.

“Let me ask you a question. Since joining the open tournament, you know you are allowed to use any enchanted weapons and artifacts. Why have you not done so even though you use a broadsword to fight which could easily be enchanted to allow much greater versatility?” Frederick asked.

“Well, honestly I really haven’t thought much about the weapon I use. I have solely been focusing on improving my skills, I never really thought about the advantages of using enchanted weapons to boost my power. Then again, I don’t even think I understand much about artifacts. I was too busy with other classes to ever attend a lesson about artifacts.” Ken replied as the hero listened.

“To put it simply, using enchanted weapons, armor and other items. You can cover up your weaknesses or enhance your strength. Of course, it takes an extremely skilled blacksmith to craft a high end weapon that not only functions as a weapon but also as an high tier artifact that’s able to contain enough magic to make a difference. Same would apply to armor or any other artifact you decide to wear. With the best equipment for each situation, even someone like me who’s inferior in terms of raw ability can compete against those that have much higher base abilities.”

“So you are basically paying for the best equipment to get a leg up on people who are more talented.” Alice jumped in to add her thoughts as Ken told her to hush and not to be so rude.

“While it’s certainly true that someone at a higher level will no doubt beat me if they had access to weapons and armor of similar craftsmanship. I’m sure Ken here has noticed that most people who have reached holy level are extremely specialized in a single area.” Frederick replied calmly, not bothered by Alice’s blunt remarks.

“Yes! There are plenty of regulars in the open tournament that have reached holy level in at least one area but I was able to defeat them simply because I am much more well rounded.” Ken replied eagerly.

“Correct. The reason Siveril and I could reach the top 10 is also due to our dedicated training and getting every aspect of our ability to divine level so we are prepared for any situation while most of those who are more talented spent all their entire life trying to maximize in that one area in which they exceed. In reality, while you might not have reached holy level in any area. The fact that you are already at divine level in every element and physical enhancement makes you much more dangerous and harder to prepare for as a foe compared to most of the regulars that I have faced over the years.” Frederick continued.

After a full day of training with a light lunch, Ken and Alice joined the family for a well balanced delicious dinner at the dining room while Ken continued to ask Frederick questions after question while the hero answered patiently.

“So Sophia, what is your plan for the future? Are you trying to get yourself a famous husband so you can enjoy an easy life or do you have a grander goal in mind?” Ken asked as the trio of young adults relaxed in the living room chatting after the fulfilling dinner.

“Unfortunately, I am not gifted or talented at all. After reaching only advanced level, I have pretty much stopped getting stronger. The only thing I seemed to be good at is doing research on artifacts and working on theories.” Sophia replied.

“Hey! It takes talented researchers to come up with good theories and designs for those craftsmen to turn things into reality! I’m sure no one thought of making a box and designing it in a way to allow ice magic to keep things cool at all times until some talented individual thought it up! Just because you aren’t talented in combat, which is not even that useful in this day and age, if you are able to come up with some new technology you might end up even richer than the top heroes!” Ken said happily as Sophia blushed.

“Let’s head for bed Ken. A long night of lovemaking ahead of us.” Alice said loudly as she grabbed Ken and rushed him away from the room.

“Good night Sophia. Sorry Alice is so unfriendly.” Ken said as he followed the grumpy vampire back to their bedroom.

“Stop being so nice to her! She’s going to get the wrong idea!” Alice complained as the pair relaxed in bed.

“What do you want me to do Alice? Just be rude to the hero’s daughter when they have been so gracious to us? It’s been so long since we last had alone time together! Instead of being so grumpy, let’s just enjoy our alone time.” Ken said in a soft voice as he kissed the vampire girl as the pair chatted and laughed before eventually getting to the lovemaking.