"This is Madam Fera Hisaf, a member of the Central Circle of Virelia."
Aron introduced the guest to Caleric and Cally. Fera Hisaf was a very serious-looking woman. She had narrow eyes and barely smiled. One could feel the intimidating aura she exuded because of her position and power.
There were a few other people dressed in formal suits and some in military uniforms.
"This is General Emmett. He has served in Virelia and Quax's military for more than forty years."
Caleric and Cally greeted the guests. They still did not understand why Aron had called them. In a sense, they too were guests at the moment.
"I must apologise. I was not able to attend the birthday banquet. I wish you a happy late birthday," Madam Fera said. There were no emotions in her voice, nor could Caleric read any. Even the psychology enthusiast Caleric was having a hard time understanding her.
"Thank you." Caleric slightly bowed his head.
"Madam Fera sent word of her arrival today, so I called you both here," Aron said.
Introducing us to someone this powerful. Aron, how do you even have such connections? Caleric wondered.
After a round of greetings, Caleric was now familiar with everyone present in the hall. Just then, a few servants brought out trays full of different food. It was only eight in the morning, and naturally, Aron was hosting breakfast for his guests.
The servants served the guests. There was the very expensive Prime bread and Turpig eggs, mustard jam and peanut butter, and much more. It was quite fulfilling for a breakfast.
Caleric was not hungry. Before leaving they had had breakfast. They did not anticipate that Aron would be calling them for breakfast. But not eating would have been rude, so Caleric decided to eat some bread.
He took a piece of bread, smeared it with jam, and started nibbling on it slowly. He was in no hurry to finish it. By his side, Cally was doing the same, except she had also eaten a Turpig egg. A Turpig egg was sufficiently big in size. Caleric could only wonder how she had managed to eat the whole thing.
"So what was it that you wanted to talk about?" Aron asked, looking at Madam Fera.
Madam Fera was silent for a while. She looked at Aron with a blank face that Caleric had a hard time reading and said,
"Do you want me to tell you in front of the children?"
Aron glanced at the siblings, who were peacefully nibbling on their bread. He then chuckled before replying to Madam Fera.
"Them? They are adults in disguise. Heh, you don't need to worry about them. They have an understanding several years ahead of their ages. Now, if you were to convey some confidential secrets, then it would be a different story, but seeing as you are here with military personnel, I am assuming this is about the upcoming war."
Madam Fera was taken aback for a moment. She held the silence for a while, arranging her thoughts, and then spoke in a very calm tone.
"You never fail to surprise me. Indeed, this is about the upcoming war."
"Why is a member of the Central Circle here as an envoy?"
"It is important. I am here to warn you. Aron you should leave Virelia for a while."
Aron was momentarily at a loss for words. He did not understand why they would want him to leave. Even if war happened, it was not as if the city would be turned to ruins; at best, a few lives at the borders would be lost, and the Central Circle would come under the control of a different nation.
Inner Virelia would not have any significant changes at all, except for having a new nationality. Aron, who wasn't a patriot, did not see this as a problem.
Virelia was the Trade Capital of the Northern Continent as well as of the world. It wasn't as if a war could destroy the huge infrastructure that took three hundred years to build.
Virelia's destruction would not benefit any nation. And in any case, if the war were to get out of hand, the Seat of Saints wouldn't just stand watching it all happen from the sidelines.
Caleric also had similar doubts as Aron, but he did not say anything. Cally, who wasn't the least interested in the topic, wore a clear look of boredom on her face. She had already finished her bread and was now going for another.
Before Aron got any chance to voice his doubts, General Emmett explained the situation in more detail. His explanation was very vague and roundabout, and it did not provide a clear reason why Aron had to leave Virelia.
Caleric, who was a psychology enthusiast, quickly realised that Emmett wanted to say something; however, he couldn't. It was as if there was something he knew but was being forced against revealing it.
Aron too realised there was something wrong, perhaps some secrets behind this matter that the higher-ups knew of. He no longer took this matter lightly.
"How much longer can I stay in Virelia? I have some business to take care of."
"One week. Though I would recommend you leave today itself," Madam Fera answered.
"Take your family and these two and leave Virelia. Go to any of the four nations."
Just then, Aron gestured for the siblings, who had long finished their breakfast, to leave. Both Caleric and Cally wasted no time and left the dining hall that very moment.
After the siblings left, the dining hall was filled with a loud silence. There was no sound, no one spoke, no sounds of cutlery. Aron sat there, deep in thought. He looked up at Fera Hisaf; his face was abnormally serious.
"So?"
Fera finally came to the point, "Quax won't be participating in the war."
...
Upper Street
The siblings had arrived at their home. There was still time before noon.
"Do you think we will have to leave?" Cally asked. She wasn't too happy about this.
"Probably yes," Caleric answered her.
"I don't want to leave. Caleric, you are eighteen already, you can make your own decisions, right?"
"That is true, but you are not eighteen. In this case, as your legal guardian, Aron will definitely take you with him. It is best for me to follow. And I think it is the best; it is for our own safety," Caleric explained to her.
It wasn't as if Cally did not already understand all that. It was that over time she had formed a deep bond with the place. Her emotions did not let her think rationally.
"I am going to Mr. Vincent's workshop. I have to tell him that I might no longer visit."
Caleric nodded silently while sitting on the sofa. He had only transmigrated to this world two days ago, but the original Caleric's memories of this place had formed a deep bond in his mind. Even though he had only slept once on the bed that was his own, he felt a fear of losing something precious.
Ever since he had transmigrated to this world, he never felt as if he had lost something. He never reminisced about Earth, he never even missed his loving mother. For Caleric, who understood emotions and feelings so well that he could control them, feeling an emotion he couldn't control was a very strange experience.
It was then that he finally realised what was happening.
The original Caleric was indeed very strange. He had all types of emotions, but he never understood them, he never felt them, he could not differentiate between a feeling of happiness or a feeling of sorrow. But he still had them, and that too at a very great magnitude.
It is those emotions that are flooding my consciousness. I might have inherited Caleric's body, but I haven't inherited his thought process. Only someone as insane as him could handle such emotions without having a mental breakdown. If it wasn't for me, I don't think anyone could survive having inherited his memories.
The only thing that interested him was manalogy. He was chasing the excitement, the thrills that came from uncovering the secrets of manacules. When he researched manacules, he felt alive. He could feel the happiness of making a new discovery and the sorrow of failing an experiment. I think I now understand him a little better.
Caleric stood up and went to the bathroom, which was on the ground floor. He stood in front of the sink, then splashed his face with cold water. Doing this calmed him down a little and brought him back to his usual rational state.
He spent the rest of the day in his room reading the book titled Manalogy and several other books Caleric had. His understanding of manalogy had increased a lot, although it was nowhere near the original Caleric's understanding, he still could call himself well-knowledgeable in the field.
Night arrived. When he felt a little hungry, he went downstairs to have dinner and, coincidentally, found Cally eating at the time. Without exchanging any words, the siblings had dinner together again. The entire dinner went by in silence.
After that, Caleric went back up to his room. He wasn't tired, but he wanted to sleep. He wanted to sleep on the bed that gave him a weird feeling of ownership, for who knew how many more times he would get to sleep on that bed again.
He lay on the bed, covering himself with the thin blanket, and slowly sank into sleep.
...
Suddenly, Caleric found himself in an unknown place. He was as if wide awake but did not remember anything about how he got there.
It was as if he had been miraculously transported to this bizarre place. He stood on barren land. The atmosphere was dull, brown, and dusty. A thick smog covered the entire area and obstructed his vision, so he could only see a few meters ahead.
He looked up. Above him was a vast, endless sky. He saw the burning sun right above his head. Around the sun, far apart from each other, stood seven big celestial objects of different colours.
Orange, Red, Blue, Green, Pink, Yellow, Violet. Those were the seven moons.