Heads turned toward the entrance to see who had barged into the throne room while shouting.

When Maelor, Andretas, and the other genius who had been present at the Central Forest saw who it was, they straightened their backs, not daring to show even the slightest disrespect.

The other two geniuses and the elder, instead, either didn't know or didn't recognize Nova, thus they frowned at such a display in the royal palace, the throne room no less.

Nova swept his gaze and was surprised to see others gathered here besides Granier and Letto, who was also missing. 'Is this turning into a field trip?'

He nodded slightly at Maelor and Andretas who quickly nodded deeply at him, and he strolled toward the court mage, the ground beneath him shattering with each step. The sound drew everyone's attention, and due to Nova's young age, looking to be only a few years older than the five geniuses present, the two geniuses who didn't know him couldn't help but complain out loud.

"What is this blatant disrespect while being in the royal palace? Does he not know the consequences of this?"

"We'll see. With the court mage here, I'm sure he won't let it go and will turn this idiot into an example for us to follow the rules."

To the side, the elder's expression was that of a spectator waiting to watch a good show.

Nova stood beside Granier, tilted his head toward the six, and said, "What are they doing here?"

When the two geniuses heard this, their eyes were filled with expectation as they waited for the court mage to punish Nova but, soon, their faces fell.

Granier looked at the six and saw how three of them now wore deep frowns. Sighing internally, he said, "The emperor had ordered that the best geniuses from each kingdom be brought to the banquet, presumably to have a small competition in the form of a spar." He turned his head toward the five geniuses and said, "Originally, the two princes should've participated, but since they currently can't, I've opted to pick the next best choice." His gaze landed back on Nova. "I wanted to tell you, but you didn't step out of your room until now."

Nova nodded and asked, "What about Letto? Why isn't he joining?"

If they were to compare strengths, Letto would be at the top of this group. It made sense for him to be here and join the spar. He was also the unofficial king, who would be crowned soon after the banquet, participating in it was an opportunity for him to meet the other kingdoms' nobles and forge long lasting connections.

The court mage shook his head. "The emperor doesn't want any of the kings to participate and, even if Letto currently isn't, he will be soon after the banquet. If the emperor catches wind that we sent the future king to attend after him banning them there's no telling what he'll do. He must not want his banquet to turn into a political gathering, though I'm not sure if that's the reason. Anyway, it won't make a difference, since princes and princesses will be among the other kingdoms' five participants, and with them there, they will try to make connections to help them step onto their respective thrones."

After listening to Granier's explanation, Nova turned pensive for a moment and said, "I understand. When do we set off?"

"Now." Granier turned toward the six and said, "Remember my words and don't bring shame to the kingdom. Go. Outside, there are two royal carriages waiting for you."

"Yes!"

Fire burned in the five geniuses' eyes at the thought of competing against the best of their generation from other kingdoms and the empire.

Nova said quietly, "Don't let the new king slack off. I'll be back soon."

Granier nodded and saw the group off.

As the group walked through the corridors, Nova felt himself being the center of attention, with stares following his every step.

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'I can't even walk normally without catching everyone's attention,' he thought.

Half of them were in awe at how he was breaking the floor so nonchalantly without any consequence, while the other half, including the elder, felt he was doing it on purpose to show off, making their impression of him plummet, though they didn't say anything.

They might've done so before seeing Nova speak with the court mage so freely, but since the latter hadn't said anything, they were in no position to criticize him and doing so might even backfire on them.

The group walked outside, where two royal coachmen stood beside two carriages that could only be called extravagant. They were made of dark wood and trimmed with gold, red curtains hung by the windows, with a lantern made of a purple material he couldn't recognize placed at the front.

Strangely, each was being pulled by only one horse. When Nova's eyes landed on them, his eyebrows raised. 'What good horses. No wonder they carry them alone. They might be stronger than a second stage knight from a kingdom. Even if they aren't, at least they are faster than them.'

The young geniuses didn't notice such a detail, their focus was mostly on the carriages. But the elder noticed it and stared in awe at the two beasts, whose worth exceeded that of his life.

"Sirs, please enter the carriages," one of the royal coachmen said, bowing slightly.

Despite being only coachmen, their status as direct servants of the royal family granted them enough authority to be on the same level as ordinary nobles, still far below the heads of those families, and obviously without their wealth.

The elder said, "We'll split into four and three. I'll be in the latter group."

The geniuses nodded and made their way inside the carriages, but from the corner of their eyes, they saw Nova standing perfectly still, showing no hint of following them.

Maelor tentatively asked, "Sir, aren't you coming with us?"

Nova turned his attention from the horses to Maelor and said, "No, I'll follow on foot."

"What?!" The elder heard this and instinctively exclaimed. "Do you even know how fast these horses are? Even I'm not confident of keeping up for a short distance, much less to reach Spira."

'Of course you can't. You're just at the second stage, and from a kingdom no less,' Nova thought. "It's fine. Quickly board the carriages, or we'll be late."

"You!" The elder pointed. "If we are late, it will be because of you."

The coachmen looked at each other, unsure of what to do. It was the first time someone had refused to board the royal carriages, but even so, they wouldn't be so surprised if the distance they had to cover today wasn't as vast.

One of them stepped forward and said, "Sir, I'm not doubting your ability, but please board the carriage."

Nova frowned at being questioned over and over. His aura flared up slightly, just enough to be felt by the unlucky person, but not enough to be seen by the others.

The coachman's face froze. Beads of sweat rolled down his back as a terrified expression overtook him.

It lasted only a moment, but it was enough to leave him staring at Nova as if he were staring at Granier. In the coachman's opinion, they were no different.

He tried to quickly collect himself but ended up stuttering, "My deepest apologies, sir."

"Mhm." Nova waved his hand, and the coachman quickly hurried off to his carriage without batting an eye.

All of this happened so quickly and under everyone's eyes that they couldn't make heads or tails of it.

One of the geniuses who was boarding that coachman's carriage softly said to the other genius behind him, "Did our coachman lose his mind?"

"Perhaps. I'm not feeling too safe knowing he's driving our carriage."

The comments were low but loud enough for the coachman to hear. His grip on the reins tightened, but he didn't dare say anything, not knowing if these people were in any way connected to Nova, and he didn't dare find out either.

The other coachman sent a glance to his colleague but gave up after seeing him not even turn his head.

Of everyone present, maybe only the three who had been in the Central Forest had an inkling of what had happened, but they didn't say anything and boarded the carriage.

Once everyone was ready, the coachmen gave a light tap with their whips, and the horses bolted forward.

Nova watched the carriages quickly disappear from his sight and praised the two horses internally once more before instinctively pushing off with his feet as he was used to, and he vanished from the spot. A boom rang out from the direction of the palace, attracting all of the nearby guards' attention, but Nova was already too far away to hear anything louder than a muffled sound and he couldn't see the aftermath.

The wind furiously blew against his face, but he felt only a light breeze brushing past his body.

When Nova came to a stop, a hint of frustration flashed on his face and he muttered, "I need to fix this as soon as possible before I return to Earth or, considering how much sturdier this place is than my world, I might accidentally devastate it."

To his surprise, that light step had carried him from the royal palace to outside the city, but he quickly shook it off and scanned the area in search of the carriages he'd lost sight of.

"Where are they?"

Half a minute later, the sound of two fast-approaching horses caught his ears, and he turned toward the source, where he saw the two royal carriages quickly making their way toward him.

"There you are," Nova said.

Before he could finish speaking, the carriages shot past him. On the carriages, when the two coachmen saw him standing there waiting for them, their eyes widened and their mouths opened but no words came out.

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