They found Kaiden, Tobias and Fiona chained with a group of tier one cadets after going deeper into the caves. For a while now, they’d only encountered tier ones.

Kaiden was more battered than most Zephyrion had seen. Broken ribs, bloodied face, mouth leaking blood. Knowing Kaiden, it wasn’t hard to imagine what had happened. Regardless, the boy had grabbed a sanguine during the fight, biting into the man’s throat until he went limp.

Mouth stained with blood and eyes crazed, Horus and the others had been too scared to approach. Zephyrion had to free the boy himself.

However, Kaiden merely gave him a nod, as though he’d done nothing unusual. Shakily, he rummaged through the sanguine’s corpse for a dagger before turning back to Zephyrion, waiting.

’Odd.’

Zephyrion had always imagined the boy had gone through a lot, considering the fierceness in his eyes. But it seemed he had underestimated the extent of it. He returned Kaiden’s nod before turning to the others.

Fiona threw herself into his arms the moment her bounds came free.

"Z-Zephyrion! Thank goodness... thank goodness! I thought... I thought something happened to you..."

Zephyrion gently pried her off. Contact with anyone else, aside from Lumi, still felt... odd.

"I’m fine. I got lucky with the fall," he said.

Fiona wiped her tears, sniffed and gave a shaky nod of relief. His gaze swept over her.

"How are you?"

Her face was bruised from countless blows, her lips split and still leaking blood. She had to be in a terrible state.

"...I’m okay." She sniffed. "I’m just... really glad you’re alright."

Zephyrion stared at her for a moment.

"You should at least find some clothes. It’s freezing."

Fiona blinked. She looked down, finally noticing the pair of undergarments barely covering her body. Slowly, she raised her head to meet his gaze. Her face changed color by the second until it became completely beet red.

"I-I’ll be right back!"

She bolted so fast the air burst in her wake.

’This could be a problem.’

He’d expected Fiona to become dependent on him, but for a while now he’d noticed something more in her gestures and actions. She liked him. Like liked him. Unfortunately, his methods of fostering affection, unless he intended on indulging it, had a tendency to end badly.

However, Fiona had the potential to become a valuable asset in the future. Losing her would be a loss.

The easiest way around this was to indulge it. After all, he was single. Getting into a relationship didn’t seem so bad. At the very least, he knew the ancestor would love every bit of it. Whether he was a virgin or not wouldn’t be questioned so much. Listing all the benefits like this, it really didn’t seem that bad.

The image of a chubby-cheeked petite girl surfaced in his mind, and Zephyrion frowned. Maybe... it was a bad idea after all.

Yes, it was a bad idea.

He wouldn’t be able to leverage himself in the future. Many houses would fall in line at the chance of him marrying their daughters. With someone else in the picture, he would lose that. There were many disadvantages.

Yes, it was definitely a bad idea.

"M-my lord."

He turned to find Tobias standing there with his eyes closed, looking faintly nauseated.

The blood, he realized.

Tear streaks stained Tobias’ face. He’d been crying. Still, he was here, not somewhere talking to sanguines. It meant he’d held his mouth. Though it was hard to tell if that was because of his constant fainting, or if he was simply that hard headed.

"...You’re here. When you fell, I thought... I thought..."

"I was lucky." He was getting tired of saying it. "You didn’t break. Good."

Tobias clenched his fists and lowered his head, his expression clouded with guilt.

’So the former,’ Zephyrion realized.

"T-thank you, my lord."

"Can you fight?"

Tobias stiffened at the question, but still nodded.

"...Y-Yes."

"Good. Get ready. We’re leaving."

Moments later, the ripple effect did its job. Horus and the others finished recounting what had happened. The eyes of the cadets changed as they stared at him in silence.

’It won’t work on them completely, hm.’

Unfortunately, these cadets were tier ones, most closely tied to city lord descendants or reputable high houses. Their loyalties ran deep. Though there was shock in their eyes as they looked at him, it ended there. No reverence. No worship like the tier two and three cadets.

Soon, a group of cadets approached him, led by an Ocren youth. He was tall, toned, well built, with sharp eyes. Zephyrion had always seen this boy close to Vaelor. Their second strongest.

"Lord Zephyrion. I’m Lasner Ocren." The boy inclined his head slightly, the others behind him following suit. "Thank you for rescuing us."

He addressed him by name, not Prime.

"It’s fine. I only did what I had to."

"Even so, we’d still be in chains without you. You have our gratitude."

There was a sharp glint in Lasner’s eyes, one that told Zephyrion this gratitude wasn’t the reason he’d approached.

"I’d like to discuss something, Lord Zephyrion." Lasner paused. "I heard you intend to head deeper into the cavern and rescue the remaining cadets. Frankly... it’s suicide. There are far more sanguines ahead. Wouldn’t it be wiser to return to the academy and alert the instructors?"

His voice carried louder than it had any reason to. One by one, the cadets around the cave turned toward them.

’So that’s what this is about...’

"Hey, we all agree—"

Horus froze under Lasner’s glare. He swallowed the rest of his words. Lasner turned back to Zephyrion, offering a small smile.

"I hope you’ll reconsider."

"No."

"...What?"

"We’re rescuing the others. If you don’t want to come, you can leave."

Lasner frowned.

"What about everyone else? They’re following you because you saved them. You know that, don’t you? And now you want to lead them into even greater danger. It’s unreasonable. At least consider the safety of the other cadets. Returning to the academy is the wiser decision."

Around them, the cadets, new and old alike, clenched their fists. The mention of the large number of sanguines rattled them, and from their expressions, it wasn’t hard to tell Lasner’s words had swayed them.

"Maybe... maybe he has a point."

"We’ve already rescued a lot of people, right?"

"Yeah... nobody would blame us for going back."

"If there are really that many sanguines ahead..."