The Perfect Knight and the Illusionist (BL)
Chapter 3: The Bump

Chapter 3: The Bump

MARIUS

"Mr. Valenkraft, it is an honor to meet you. Your speech was truly inspiring."

A group of young men—my peers now—approached me after the ceremony was over and we were headed to the classroom. They were all very well-built, sturdy-looking, and measured in their strides. The one who spoke to me first bowed his head politely, and the rest of them followed suit.

"Marius will do. We are classmates now, it seems," I said in the friendliest tone I could manage while keeping the ’noble voice’ that my father had trained me to speak in since I was a child.

"I am honored—Marius," the man said, lifting his head and looking into my eyes, with a sincerity that was too genuine for my comfort.

"The honor is mine," I replied and made sure that I was the one to offer a handshake first, which he took gladly, squeezing my hand with just the right amount of force to confirm ourselves as male peers, and shook.

"Please excuse my friend’s forgetfulness. His name is Alexis. And I’m Briant," the one who stood next to ’Alexis’ said, offering his hand too.

"Oh my, I’m sorry," Alexis blurted with an embarrassed laugh, scratching the back of his head.

"And how about you, my good man?" I asked the one who stood just behind Alexis after taking Briant’s hand and keeping appropriately long eye contact.

"Aye, nice to meet you. I’m Dimitri."

"It’s a pleasure. Do you guys all know each other?" I asked Dimitri as I shook his hand.

"Yes, we had trained at the same guild since we were young," Alexis answered.

It must be nice.

Having friends.

A luxury I wish I had.

Or... did I?

Then I felt something approach from behind me. My body went into alert mode as a reflex, and when a sudden bump hit me in the back, I reacted instantly and managed to keep my balance without making a fool of myself on my first day.

"Hey, watch it!" Dimitri growled at the person, whom I turned and saw was a dark-haired man with sharp eyes and a narrow jaw.

"I’m sorry. I must have been blinded by how brightly Mr. Valenkraft shone," the man said with a sly, provocative grin. He exaggerated the guttural R of Valenkraft, but what intrigued me was the way he smoothed the edges of what was distinctively a noble accent. The fabric of his shirt was fine and elegant, but he had two buttons open instead of one. His hair was combed back sleek at the top, but curled out wide at the bottom. The man was wrong in every way, but seemed comfortable being so.

But while the man stood casually, I sensed tension grow in another man. I saw a slight twitch just below Dimitri’s left eye, so I smoothly sidestepped to position myself so that Dimitri couldn’t take a swing with his dominant hand. Once the position was secured, I offered my hand to the new man and spoke cordially,

"Nice to meet you. Are you also in the Lion Class?"

"Oh yes, lucky me, eh?"

He left my hand hanging in the air. I didn’t pull it away.

"I suggest you drop the attitude," Briant joined in, but still wearing a pleasant smile.

Then out of the blue—totally out of the blue, which simply shouldn’t have happened—I fell forward as I felt something hit the back of my knees.

Everyone let out an "Eh?!" and I tried my best to recompose myself as quickly as I could, but after seeing what suddenly crashed into me, my mind just went blank.

"I... I’m sorry..."

It was that blond boy from the ceremony earlier.

Reappeared.

"I slipped..."

His voice—not silky soft, but cotton soft—trailed.

Before Dimitri could offer me his hand to help me up, I quickly recomposed myself and got back on my feet. The boy also got up, wobbled a little, and apologized again and again until we all reassured him that it was okay. Then he left with his head down like a child dismissed.

After he was gone, the man who barged into me earlier—who had yet to tell us his name—looked around and asked,

"Did any of you see him coming?"

We all shook our heads.

Odd.

I didn’t see him coming, but the sight of his small back as he scampered away lingered in my mind.

As if he hadn’t left.