Crimson Phoenix Guardian- Aspiration to the Heavens: Becoming the Supreme Mage 4

Episode 94: Boarding Down the Mountain!

*Nate*

Cart stared intensely at a corner of our room.

"Something wrong?" I asked as I straightened out my blankets.

"You board?" he asked, picking up my skateboard. I must've left it out while fixing my stuff. Hadn't had time to unpack due to training and classes until the weekend.

I laughed as I walked toward him. "Yeah. I know a bit."

He gave me a big grin. "Wanna race?"

I blinked. "You skate too?"

He nodded and pointed at himself, flashing me the most confident smile yet. "Yeah, I'm a pro!"

I crossed my arms and chuckled. "Really now?"

He grumbled. "Race me and you'll see!"

I took my board from him. "Alright, Mr. 'Pro Skater', show me what you got!"

He grinned. "Yahoo! Hope I still got it."

"Huh?"

He reached under his bed and pulled out a red skateboard. "I, sort of broke my leg skating a few months ago. It really sucked. If not for my niece, bro, and dog, I probably would've died of boredom."

I frowned. "I bet." It was hard to imagine someone like him staying bedridden without so much as a complaint.

"Having a broken leg did make me realize my bro was more amazing than I already thought! Despite having two perpetually broken legs, he still smiles and moves around with his chair as if it's nothing."

I smiled. "Sounds like a nice in-law."

He smiled. "Yeah! Do you have any?"

"Yeah, but I'm not particularly close to them."

"Don't get along with them?"

I shook my head. "It's not that. We just aren't close is all. Ironically, the one I am close to isn't technically an in-law."

"Huh? What does that mean?"

Yikes. I said too much! No one was to know that Koukyuu was the mom of my nephews!

I waved my hand. "Uh, we better hurry up. Else we'll be late for class."

"Okay!" Carter said before running out of the room with his red skateboard.

Phew. Good thing he's simple-minded. 

I stared at my board and smiled slightly. Wonder if he really was as good as he said. I'd yet to meet anybody better at skating than Kiara.

"Hey, are you coming?" Carter asked, poking his head back in.

I laughed. He really could be impatient for someone generally laidback.

"Coming!" I said, running out.

"Say, aren't we going to eat breakfast?" I asked as I followed him outside the dorm.

"Yeah, we can eat something when we get to school," he said, grinning.

He had a point there. I wasn't even sure anybody was making anything at the girls' dorm. According to Koukyuu, food funds were delayed. The war had messed up the stipend. Not to mention the rise in food prices. We had to be frugal. Thankfully we had breakfast and lunch assured. But we might've needed to skip dinner. 

Hmm, I could've asked Hide to lend me a few thousand Ciel to cover the expenses for everyone. After all, my country wasn't paying anything as the payment agreement was only for the nations in the region. So I was basically freeloading at the moment. Instead of asking Queen Setsuko or my dad to give me taxpayer money, I could ask Hide to tap into the fortune he made. Plus, since it was a loan, I would pay it back eventually, with interest too!