The Apathetic Mage Loves Cats

Chapter 13: Discussion

"Well, it'd been a while since I last saw him. And so, I thought he wanted me to follow him." I shrugged. The room went silent at this. It was true, I did feel a slight pull towards him as I did the first time I had met him, and I knew that he wanted me to follow him. But I could have ignored all of that if I wanted to. I simply followed him because I thought it would be interesting to see what he wanted after not showing me his face in a couple of weeks other than to sleep beside me. It wasn't like I was bored with the current situation at hand, with fighting the demons and all. I mainly thought that Iban had something much more interesting to show me, so I went. However, now that I was standing before the group explaining myself instead of going back to bed to sleep while Iban was off dancing wherever, I regretted not forcing him to come back with me.

"You followed your familiar, whom you are supposed to summon and is not supposed to have a physical form until you summon him, because you wanted to?" Romand asked. Of course, he already knew that Iban rarely came towards my calls, but he honestly thought that was because I wasn't able to command him yet; because he was just that powerful. However, at the mention that I followed him and instead of asking him to help me out, he could not comprehend the idea.

"Why not?" I responded. Romand, at my statement, seemed to want to strangle me. However, Caiden spoke up in return.

"Is there something wrong with that?" he asked. Romand shook his head.

"Typically, familiars are supposed to be summoned, they don't have a physical form in the world unless their mage calls for them. Alan is... a curious case." Romand spoke like he typically did, no longer weary around Caiden, as if he accepted the fact that Caiden was now the king, but still didn't know as much as he did. I frowned at the thought that I was a "curious case", but let it slide as Lucy spoke up.

"Sir, I understand that Alan's case needs to be discussed, but I am curious about what happened to King Caiden as well and how so many demons managed to be in the square despite the large among of mages present." Romand nodded and scratched behind his head.

"Of course. Did anyone before departing mention anything about how the demons first spawned in the square?" Lucy shook her head.

"After asking everyone before departure, no one mentioned anything about how they spawned, it was as if they came out of thin air." Romand sighed and nodded. Caiden frowned, confused once more, and Lucy seemed to notice this and shyly spoke up. "Demons can only be created if another individual allows themselves to be the portal for the demons." Caiden frowned once more but nodded wearily as if saying it was over his head.

"I need to look into the traces left behind, plus everyone's individual account on this before anything else can be done. We just simply have no idea how this could have been possible." Romand spoke. The other's nodded and Romand turned to Caiden, once more bowing his head. "King Caiden, I would recommend that one of ours stay with you at all times. Unfortunately, because we don't know how this occurred, we need to be as careful as possible. If you would allow it, any one of us in this room would be best suited for the duty. Of course, we would be among the knights and not disturb you, but it is just a precaution." Caiden stood there, staring at Romand for a few moments as if pondering over the situation. Then, he nodded and cleared his throat.

"Of course, that is the safest possible answer." Romand nodded in response. "But, if only Alan gets to stay." At this, everyone's eyes grew, and they glanced between Caiden and me incredulously. I frowned and slouched, furrowing my brows as I tried to make myself invisible. Caiden, wanted me to stay here with him and guard him? Why? That seemed like an awful amount of work if I am being honest, something that I really didn't want to deal with. Romand cleared his throat to get rid of the shock that bubbled forth.

"King Caiden, this was Alan's first mission, we all have more experience than him–" Caiden shook his head.

"As true as that may be, Archmage Romand, Alan was the only one who managed to find me even though you couldn't. I think it would be the wisest option to have him guard me in case something like this happens again." Romand gritted his teeth, unable to say anything against that argument. However, that didn't mean he was done, he opened his mouth to protest once more, but Caiden held up his hand and shook his head. "I stand firm in my response, and ultimately, I believe the decision is up to Alan." Then, Caiden turned to me. I stared at this man, and for the first time noticed that he was a good few inches taller than me, probably around 5"11, and he had a light scar that ran from the left corner of his lip to his left ear lobe. His eyes, additionally, seemed to have a slight twinkle in them, as if he already knew what was going to happen. "Alan, is it alright?" I turned to look at Romand briefly, who seemed still pissed at the situation, before turning back to the glint in Caiden's green eyes.

"If I gotta."

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Hello everyone! Saph here! A decently early chapter! Haha, if you know me then you know that I usually update late at night but I did one kinda early today. 

Anyway, I hope you're enjoying my story once more. Be prepared for more Caiden and Alan relationships in the future! As you can see, Alan will now have to protect Caiden! But, what does this mean for the future I wonder...

As always, don't hesitate to tell me how you feel about the chapter and if there is anywhere I can improve for the future! If not, I'll see you next time!