The Imperial Battle II: The Emperor of Ninjago

Chapter 14. The Earl Spencer

This chapter is MUCH more significant than it may seem at first glance. Calm your James-hate for this one chapter and read carefully :)

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The noon sun rays flooded in through the tiniest crack between the light blue curtains of a very quiet room. The room walls were nearly covered in drawings that competed in beauty and complexity, but all stood on their own as great pieces of art. Near the bed, on the bedside table, there were a few school certificates and lots of framed photographs of a family. One of them portrayed a mother with dark brown hair and dark eyes, a father with black, curly hair and light brown eyes, and a small boy with hair similar to that of his father's, the eyes of his mother and a wide, childlike smile on his face. Another photo situated next to the previous one portrayed the same family, but with two little girls as new additions as well as the formerly small boy as a tall, young man.

The temperature in the bedroom was rising at a fast rate as the day got hotter and hotter, but it did not disturb the sleeper in the bed. He was peacefully slumbering under the sheets, the blue sleep mask shielding his eyes and their melatonin from any interfering sunlight.  

"James! Get up already!"

James stirred in his sleep, but only turned from lying on his left side to lying on his right side. He liked to sleep in whenever on a holiday with his family, because why wake up? He had no duties, no studies, nothing important to do and thus no reason not to do something as pleasant as sleeping. Besides, his brain development just thanked him.

"James!" Echoed his mother's voice.

James groaned and pulled the thin sheet he was using as a blanket over his head. He did not feel like starting the day yet.

But someone else had felt like starting his day for him, apparently.

"James William Denis Josiah Spencer, your mother has been calling for you for the last ten minutes. Time to get up," the Earl of Ignacia, the Viscount of Fujian, the Baron of Dartmoor, Sir John Spencer a.k.a James' father declared as he came bursting into the room annoyingly loudly.

"Papa, not yet…" James whined under the sheets. "Je suis fatigué…"

"Now."

"No…"

The sheet was rudely pulled away from James, who curled up in a ball and continued to give complaints.

"Why do I have to get up? I wasn't supposed to have training today and we're on a holiday."

"Because being on a holiday does not mean you have to lie in bed all day. You could at least come have lunch with us and say hi to your mother," John reasoned, scratching his dark hair that was still basically identical to James' own bunch of curls.

James begrugingly pulled the sleep mask off and glanced sleepily at the open door. Then, he cleared his throat and called out, "Hi Mum!" He turned back to his father. "Good enough?"

John rolled his eyes, coming to drag his now groaning son out of bed by his ankles. "You are a young man, a future earl, and should start acting like one as well. Take some responsibility, mature a little and get up early. It's good practice for when you'll be in the navy."

"But… ugh…" James sighed, sitting up on the floor. "Not during the holiday."

"James, it's always good to keep active even during the holiday. Either get a part-time job, go to the navy early or at least drag yourself out of bed before noon."

James turned to face his father. "Mum wouldn't allow me to go to the navy yet and if you forced me to, she would be really angry and prefer you to sleep outside."