Travel The Distance

Chapter 23

The next day was a flurry of activity. Servants rushed around the castle and meadow. Preparing everything for the combined binding ceremony of my advisors. Mina and Eijiro were practically buzzing with excitement, they didn't leave each other's side as they prepared for the day. Tsu and Fumikage weren't much different aside from the fact that they managed to keep a majority of their excitement under wraps.

The entire castle was abuzz with the news that 4 of my advisors would be completing the bonding ceremony. Excited whispers ran amock in the hall. Giggles of joy echoed around the walls. It got annoying after a while, at least to me, but I could do little to stop it. The weeks leading up to Hitoshi and Denki's bonding were full of whispers and giggles, I couldn't deny Mina, Eijiro, Tsuyu and Fumikage that, no matter how much I wanted to rip out the voice boxes of every giggling maid and whispering cook.

To prevent me from going crazy, I decided to head up to one of the tallest towers. Nobody tended to visit them since it was such hard work to make your way up the tower's twisting steps. Draughty winds battered against me as I climbed higher and higher, getting closer and closer to the highest point in the castle. I drew my cloak tighter around me as I got to the top of the stairs, the climate at the top of the tower was not at all favourable, but I couldn't do much about that. The castle has it's own magic which I could influence, but even that couldn't change the winds of the mountains.

To my surprise, when I finally emerged at the top of the tower, I wasn't alone. I wanted to curse myself for not hearing the low muttered voices of Shoto, Princess Money Bags and Deku before. They weren't exactly being quiet as they spoke. I must have been so focused on the cold and not falling down the hundreds of stairs that I didn't pay attention to my surroundings. I hesitated just out of sight of the ex-prisoners. They were talking about trivial things, nothing I could find even the remotest bit of interest in. I was going to leave them there to talk as they will, but a thought crossed my head, most likely influenced by Ground Zero. 'This is my castle, I shouldn't have to walk away. I have every right to be up here, more right than them. Plus, I'm not walking back down the stairs and risking falling.'. With my mind made up, I stepped out from behind the wall and walked with purpose towards the small group of three.

"Ah, Katsuki, I didn't expect to see you here." Shoto acknowledged monotonously. How I felt any sort of attraction to the dipshit was beyond me. I merely grunted in reply to Shoto's words as I made my way over to the wall closest to the gaping window and sat down. I surveyed the group for a second, taking satisfaction in the way Money Bags and Deku squirmed slightly. It felt great to be feared. After appraising them for a minute, I turned away from the group and elected to look out of the window and into the wide expanse of sky.

After a few minutes, the trio seemed to get comfortable with my presence as they resumed their conversation, seemingly ignoring the fact that I was even in the room.

"It sounds intriguing. They must perform some sort of ancient magic to be able to bind one soul to another. Especially binding a human soul to a dragon soul. From what I understand, when Advisor Shinso and Advisor Kaminari had their souls bound together, it prolonged Shinso's life to match Kaminari's life without any health repercussions." Ponytail gushed, admiration shining in her voice.

"Yeah, I read up about dragons in the library, which is amazing I might add. It said in the books I read that once two souls are bound together then they share the pain, their life and such. When one dies, so does the other within the next 48 hours, if not at the same exact time. Also, it said in the books that dragons don't really physically age. They may appear to get a tiny bit older, but most dragons usually stop ageing in their 20s." Deku rambled, a keen light sparkling in his eyes.