The man turned to face Eros, a smile spreading across a face that looked more like a pallid corpse than a living human. To anyone else, that "kind" expression would have seemed utterly ghoulish.

  "A moment, please," the man said. "I shall have a squad of Nightwatchers escort you back. Indiles hasn't been peaceful lately; a Night Remnant has escaped into the area. I fear those heretics might target you for retaliation if they learn of your status."

  Eros blinked. The Night Remnant is going to retaliate against me? You mean... I'm going to retaliate against myself? He suppressed the urge to snark at the sheer irony of the situation.

  Instead, Eros offered a polite bow and expressed his gratitude. While he didn't fear his own "revenge," having an elite escort would strip away a lot of petty nuisances—like the old leeches lurking outside the gates hoping to buy his blood, or those hidden in the dark with more sinister "zero-dollar" intentions.

  Seeing Eros accept his goodwill, the corpse-faced man’s grin widened. He stepped to the adjacent door and knocked. A moment later, it creaked open, and a subordinate greeted him with a sharp, "Deacon Umondo! Are we ready to depart?"

  "Not yet, Joshua," Umondo replied, shaking his head. "Lead a squad to escort the Young Lord back to Indiles first, then return to the Academy."

  Joshua didn't question the order. With a crisp "Yes, sir," he stepped back inside. Moments later, five figures clad in long black trench coats—three men and two women—stepped out. Umondo gave Eros a final, satisfied nod before retreating back into the Dean’s office.

  Joshua approached Eros, his tone respectful but professional. "Your Highness, when shall we depart?"

  He didn't know Eros's specific identity, but hearing Deacon Umondo use that title was enough. Aside from the princes and princesses of the Royal House of Augustine, only the children of the Great Dukes were addressed as such. Seeing the boy's hair color, he was clearly not an Augustine. An heir to a Duchy then? Joshua wondered if there was a deeper meaning to Umondo assigning his squad to a nobleman’s son.

  Eros didn't hesitate. "Now is fine."

  As they began to walk away, Eros’s enhanced senses caught the drifting conversation from the office they had just left:

  "Deans, based on the recent evidence, the Remnant we were hunting was rescued by a comrade. Judging by how the Nightwatcher squads were wiped out before they could even send a distress signal, the accomplice’s Sequence is high—at least a Sequence 6, possibly even a Sequence 5."

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  "It is too dangerous. I suggest dissolving the student-led 'Purge Teams.' This level of threat is far beyond what ungraduated students can handle. I know the Academy wants to blood them, but this is simply sending them to their deaths."

  A familiar voice—the Dean of the Covenant Church—sighed in response. "We miscalculated. We didn't expect the Remnant to have such a powerful ally. We shall cancel the hunt immediately."

  As Eros moved further away, the voices faded into a hum and then vanished.

  With the Nightwatchers by his side, the "blood-seekers" outside the gates didn't dare approach. The group reached the steam train station at the foot of the mountain without incident. As the engine hissed, Eros looked at the stern-faced Joshua across from him, then at the nearly empty carriage.

  "This train seems to carry only a handful of people every trip," Eros remarked, curious. "Isn't it a massive waste of coal?"

  The Academy ran this service twenty-four hours a day. Even for the wealthy Church, the overhead must be staggering. Then again, he thought, my family’s private train is just as exclusive, though it certainly didn't run around the clock.

  The woman sitting next to Joshua, her flaxen hair cascading over her shoulders, chuckled. "Actually, I heard the Academy’s train doesn't burn coal at all. It uses Forbidden Objects."

  Eros raised an eyebrow. "Forbidden Objects instead of coal?"

  "Mhm. Two Grade-3 Forbidden Objects, if I recall correctly," she explained. "One is called 'The Eternal Blaze,' and the other is 'The Endless Spring.' I have no idea how they actually make the train move, though."

  "I see..." Eros murmured as it clicked in his mind. Fire and water. A self-sustaining steam engine. It was essentially an eldritch form of renewable energy. No wonder it could run indefinitely.

  Seeing his look of sudden understanding, the flaxen-haired woman blinked. Is he that much smarter than me? Why did he get it instantly? She nudged Joshua’s shoulder. "Captain, do you get the mechanics?"

  Joshua remained stone-faced and silent.

  The woman exhaled in relief. Good. It’s not just me being slow.

  The train clattered along the tracks, and within the hour, the silhouette of Indiles appeared on the horizon. After docking at the station, Eros hailed a public carriage. The six of them rode toward the Inner City, where the Nightwatchers stood guard until they reached the massive gates of the Rose Duke’s Mansion. Only then did the squad turn to head back.

  Stepping inside, Eros dropped his guard and stretched lazily, his joints popping. Aristocratic elegance was a fine mask, but at home, his status was so high that even if he walked around barefoot, people would just call it "unrestrained charisma." Status was the ultimate filter, and in this life, he had it in spades.

  "Greetings, Prince!"

  "Welcome back, Your Highness!"

  Amidst the chorus of bows from maids and guards, Eros reached the inner courtyard. There, he found Estelle, clad in a pale gold court dress, looking as serene as a calm lake.

  Eros grinned at her. "Mother, I’m about to break through to Sequence 7."

  Estelle froze, her eyes widening in genuine shock. "Sequence 7? It hasn't been that long since your last advancement. How can you be ready so soon?"