The Greed of Kronos

Skia, the Familiar

Thirty-three: Skia, the Familiar

Good thing Sir Samael does not share the same brain as every classmate Kronos had. If Sir Samael were to also stand up, Kronos might have had a heart attack out of embarrassment.

“Very well. You can go to the class in the afternoon, considering that all of you worked well.” He replied with his arms crossed.

It was like a magic word that was cast upon them except for the two who were not exhausted— Kronos and Astian. As soon as they heard it, they felt that they were the very exhausted person living in the world.

Hence, upon hearing that they could take a rest or hibernate until the afternoon, their faces beamed as some jumped and clapped out of excitement. “Wow! You’re the best.”

He may not look like it, but Sir Samael was actually a sucker for compliments. Be it a compliment to curry his favor or a compliment out of achievement without any malice. He would gladly accept them all as long as he was praised.

So as he was suppressing a smirk, Sir Samael acted as if he was taking a sip on his tea and replied without looking at them. “Mikhail, Aeria, take note that we will be having our summoning ritual the day after tomorrow.”

Summoning Ritual. It is an act of Summoning a familiar after inhaling a summoning scent made out of the heavenly emperor’s breath. Regular citizens who do not go to an academy are to wait for the imperial summoning ritual that is held once a year. Only those who turned into the ‘grown-up stage’ are eligible to summon a familiar. In human age, once you turn the age of twenty-five or older, you can apply for summoning and summon a familiar of your own.

However, nobles are privileged enough to have a familiar at their ‘righteous stage’ and could be done in the Academy that they were studying. The righteous stage is the stage where you are already eligible to enter the Academy. Every genus had different age growth; hence to disable discrimination against races, it was thus called the ‘righteous stage’ and the ‘grown-up stage.’ The first time you do your epitropi, your potential would react with how much you used them, especially with the epitropis that was created by the Academy. As they infused them with summoning scent, the first day is said to be preparing for the summoning, and the next day is said to be the perfect time to have a summoning ritual. Hence, it is an event that would take place every second day of school.

“Yes, papa!” It was also the talk of the town outside the Academy walls. Thus, everyone was excited.

When they already reached the stairs, Asisi ran out of excitement as he halted and faced his classmates that were below him. “I can’t believe that I’m finally getting a familiar!”

The others seemed to be excited, too, just the way they acted and seeing their expressions.

“Right? I have been waiting for years to get one!” Luca also replied as he tried to catch up with Asisi.

The others were walking normally as they talked within their circle of friends. Like Astian to Kronos. “Kronos, are you not excited?”

“No,” Kronos replied to Astian abruptly.

As always, when Kronos opened his mouth, all eyes were on him. Everyone halted as if they also wanted to hear the reason why. It was the day that they could have a familiar. Other students only got into the Academy just because of the Summoning Ritual, but why was he not anticipating for the said event?

“But why?” Ajax asked out of curiosity as he was on the back of Yohan.

Seemed like they were close enough for Yohan to carry Ajax on his back. Kronos thought.

Well, he was not interested in the summoning ritual whatnots because it’s simply not interesting. Why would he be when in the very first place, Kronos already has a familiar?

With that thought, Kronos shrugged as he replied. “Have one.”

He does not know what the big deal about it was. But by the looks of their baffled expressions, it seemed like it was a very rare sight for a person to have a familiar even without the summoning ritual.

“Pardon?” Sarlienne asked as if she did not clearly know what Kronos was talking about. However, all of them had a hunch on where the topic was going. By ‘have one,’ does he really mean ‘that’?

Of course, everyone looked at Astian, who was deemed responsible for interpreting what Kronos said. Well, it was not a challenging task to do. After their classmates threw glances at Astian, Astian then looked at Kronos and nodded. “You already have a familiar?”

“Mm.” Kronos nodded.

That was when they confirmed that Kronos already owned a familiar. The moment Kronos easily beat up the corrupted octopi with his potential, his classmates were intrigued by him. They would watch his actions, and every time he opened his mouth would matter to them.

In other words, his classmates set up their expectations of him just because of what he did.

Now that he revealed about having a familiar even before the summoning ritual, surely his classmates won’t let go of him.

“Say what?!! What? When? How?” Inoa rushed with her questions that made Kronos to step back.

If someone were to see her with a loud voice and furrowed brows, they would probably get the wrong idea. Kronos was still not used to her natural expression that every time Inoa would talk to him, it was as if he committed a sin.

Moreover, he could not possibly take back what he already told them. That was why Kronos could not help but to heave a sigh and call Skia silently. ‘Skia. Can you f*****g explain to them?’

Skia being attentive as always, it then appeared in front of him in a swoosh and bowed. “Permission to appear in front of other people, Master.”

‘Permission granted.’ Kronos replied as he looked at the shadow king.

With that, Kronos looked at his classmates and then looked at the invisible Skia while talking dryly. “Here. Skia.”

“Yes, Master,” Skia responded as it dispelled the imperceptible magic that the shadow king used for it not to be seen by others except for Kronos.

A shiny black fur that was dark as the night without a moon. A sharp, piercing eyes that were looking at everyone intently, and the sharp teeth that were, although not flexed, were still visible to one’s eyes. And most importantly, the intimidating aura only a king could show off. Seeing Skia, one could say that it was merely an ordinary black fox. However, with the silver crescent moon that was engraved in its forehead, one could abruptly realize that Kronos’ familiar was no common black fox.

But to the people who have done their research, they immediately recognized what the silver crescent moon on the forehead was.

“Woah… Is that the legendary shadow king?!” Kallen exclaimed as she looked closely at Skia’s forehead with one of her hands on the side of her glasses as if focusing on one object.

Living up to their name and reputation, shadows are not well known to the land of the living. There were a lot of texts about ordinary shadows, but there was barely any information about the shadow king. As it was the king who shapes a shadow in its personal space without interacting with others.

People with shadows who once worked under the shadow king were the ones who placed on information that they could only gather. And that was the silver crescent moon on the king.

Of course, the shadow king, Skia, was aware of that when he came to stumble upon a book of shadows at Kronos’ house way back in the village. And actually, having a book nerd in front of Skia and recognizing its silver crescent moon, it somehow felt high and mighty.

“Knowing the existence of the shadow king, you flatter me.” Skia chuckled with such a boastful tone of voice.

With that being said, Kallen could not help but to feel flustered and showed off a blushing face as she stepped back shyly. It was such an honor to meet someone who has a piece of rare information about them. What’s more, was that she shared a conversation with the shadow king!

While Kallen was in her own world, Asisi then looked at Skia as he looked up with his eyes glimmering in excitement. “Wow!”

Even though Skia had taken the shape of a fox, its shadow was still way too big that its Master and the others would still look up just to see its face.

Skia wanted to bow down for them to stop looking up. However, it was still a king, and it promised to only bow down to its Master. This was why instead of bowing down, Skia closed his eyes and introduced himself. “I am Skia, in the shape of a fox, the Shadow King. And I am the familiar of Master Kronos. A pleasure to finally greet Master’s classmates.”

With Skia closing its eyes, the other felt the burden. A King closing their eyes to the public also meant that they were letting their guard down and that they meant no harm. So it was basically a precious action and at the same time a burden for those who witnessed it.