The grammarian gave them the afternoon off. Cire made the decision to stick around with him so they could do more plotting. Of course, Luderes girlfriend needed to join. The oracle was more than happy to recount anything to the Senator's daughter as they walked together.

  "I'm going to need you to show me to the arena if you could," Cire said. "If that's okay with you, Oracle."

  "That is wonderful. Ludere has said so many things about you but I was also hoping that we could get some food on the way?" The girl holding his arm was insistent.

  Luckily Ludere knew a place that he could take them both. It wasn't even that far from the arena, though it might not be the most prestigious of places.

  "Is this the place that I am thinking of?" The Oracle said. "The one that..."

  Ludere grinned. "I would like for once in your life to experience a true surprise. Let's just say that you're going to be very happy with where we're going. My new friend over here might not be feeling the same way."

  Cire have been walking on either side of them marveling at the sites as I get closer to the arena.

  "It's really very nice here. I wish that my father would let me stay here more often. Well I guess now it's a way he had. When the academy is done I'll be on my own."

  "No doubt you'll be married off to the first suitable man that your father needs to strike a long term deal with," The Oracle said.

  They passed by a child with a large sign on front of him. He was advertising food right out on the street.

  "I shudder to think of what she would do to him if he forced her into an arrangement without consulting her." Ludere moved to follow the boys gestures. He knew what he was about.

  "Do you think she really has a chance to make a change? Thought that was just something you read about in books. My Senator as powerful as Salazar has to be thinking about the political ramifications of not marrying his daughter off to the highest bidder."

  Cire cleared her throat. "I'm right here both of you. My father and I have an understanding. I think that once I'm done with this and I've gotten my real magic up to a certain level, there won't really be a way for him to force me into an unwanted match. You have it easy."

  Ludere found a table in front of the converted Villa. They paused to order and sat in a circle. Having been there before, he was not surprised that the menu hadn't changed. Not that it would much, but he just thought that maybe they would have a special for him. Have a special today so he was prepared for anything.

  The eating wasn't a battle though. It was a moment that he was sharing with the two of them as they both laughed about interesting things that they'd overheard him do or say.

  "So you're telling me that he led a group of brand new and experienced academy soldiers against demons and somehow came up on top? Giving them only... what, two hours of training?"

  That wasn't exactly the entire story. He'd predicted. A in small encouragement of demons into the academy grounds. Then he'd gone back through the time loop to a place where the demons had yesterday appeared. He is the knowledge of the future to figure out a way to find out where they were and train others to defeat the demons. He wanted to do it all by himself but they were extenuating circumstances like the girl sitting next to him explaining the story to his girlfriend.

  He at least understood his swapping powers where he was able to exchange a skill with somebody for another skill they had and if both people advance the skill to the next level, they could keep it.

  He checked his skills to see what he was missing but they hadn't changed much recently. A lot of the skills he had used to great effect in the initial loops had stagnated for a while. They were still good skills but he was limited in their advancement due to the simple fact that he wasn't just fighting for his life over and over again.

  "So you're telling me that he makes these stupid decisions over there as well? At least tell me that these decisions are not affecting his overall grade and his viability after the academy, correct?"

  "That is about the most leading question you could ever ask."

  "I can't really see what's going on in the school. I can see you both clearly and how cuz I will cite but that far away? Inside of a will construct cage. No, I can't really see what's going on. It's a real issue."

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  Her sight of the future being limited wasn't news to Ludere. The fact that it was constrained around the academy was new. Muddled futures aside, he was just happy that

  "You can kind of tell the future but you can't see within the school grounds? I can accept that. It doesn't make any sense, but a lot of what's been happening makes no sense. I understand they weren't going to let you come in because of who you are but I thought you would be able to glean something?"

  She squeezed his arm.

  "I can't help it. I can't see anything in there and nothing leaks out until you guys come out. You could have been dead for all I knew. I didn't think that except for a few times when I was being sad."

  The bread was delicious. Ludere would eat it all day if he could. The hunger of spending time all morning physically training was alive and present. He was tired of the training but it filled him with joy to train and see results. It was a lot of heavy feelings on both side.

  "I'm so sorry. I wish... I wish I could be here with you."

  "You'll be done soon. It's fine. Right?"

  Ludere covered his mouth with his hands as he chewed on another fluffy soft loaf. Truly they were far more delicious than he had any right to be.

  "He is just super hungry because for once, he is using his brain," Cire said. "I don't blame him. It's not enough that he has to look like a rental boy. He has to act like he is still working in the arena."

  The Oracle laughed. "Ludere? A rental boy? You need to charge more because I've been getting it for free. Though one of his friends told me he provided services before."

  "That was Erebus and that was not true. I am not and have never been a rental boy. I crunched numbers for the arena. That's all. I didn't train there. I wielded an abacus, not an amphora of olive oil."

  Cire smiled. "Truly olives have so many uses in society. Mila will be very excited to hear this. As you know, her family owns an olive orchard. In fact I'm going to send her a note..."

  She mimed writing down a letter then ate a hunk of bread.

  "You've both got to be suffering with whatever they're giving you in the academy for food. I can't imagine that it's anything like what the capitol has. Right?"

  Ludere nearly fell out of his chair. "It's all the scions of the noble houses. I'm literally one of two that are not."

  "So the food is good then? So I'm actually missing out? Oh that's terrible. See that's the kind of thing you got to keep yourself. I don't need to know that you're having better food than me."

  Rest assured that the food is no better than it is here. We're just hungrier. When you're hungrier, food tends to taste a lot better. Ludere get up."

  He obliged her. Cire paid for their meals and they continued on towards the arena.

  The stark multiple story building was visible from a distance. The immaculately maintained facade was enough to remind Ludere that that had actual taken the time to begin updating the exterior.

  He had known that they were going to update it. With the arena closed, it made sense. Several men in legionnaire have killed around the entrances that he would have gone through if he was a normal patron of the arena.

  He wasn't.

  He knew the arena like the back of his hand. All of this was familiar to him. The servant's passageway was unattended but he would be noticed no matter what. Especially since he traveled with Senators daughter and the Oracle. It would be best to just walk out in front of whatever problems he was going to have.

  He couldn't run away from that.

  All he could do was embrace what he was now. They could know who he was if he made himself known. He scanned all of the people guarding the entrances to see if any of them looked familiar. None of them did. If they were not familiar to him then he would not be familiar to them. That posed a problem.

  "Nobody here knows me. I don't know if this is a good thing or not."

  "How were you expecting to get in?" Cire said.

  "We came here for you so I was hoping that you would. So let me turn that back on you. Do you know what you want to do?"

  She gave him a look because it was obvious and he just needed to shut up and let this happen. He didn't know what she wanted but he was willing to help her understand.

  Main his main goal was to make sure that she understood what had actually happened there because no matter how many times he explained it to her, she still didn't really understand the reality of the demonic incursion. Now that they were close enough to show her what was going on, the problem was getting in there. They couldn't get in without talking to somebody.

  Technically, he could fly up and over or climb up the side if you really wanted to, but that would cause far more undue attention than he ever wanted. Wanted. The only kind of attention he wanted was the kind that he got from his girlfriend. If the demons weren't trying to target him then he'd be having a much quieter life.

  It still wasn't entirely proven that they were targeting him. In particular, he just had a feeling that they wanted him because of his skills. Or maybe it was just because he had stopped two incursions.

  "Pardon me but I'm not going to be the one that catches their eyes. Also I'm neither an Oracle not a senator's daughter," Ludere said, attempting to soft launch not being the one to talk to the legion.

  "So you're telling me that a big strong man like you has difficulty talking to other men wielding Spears standing around? All they're doing is talking about rental boys and wives I bet," Cire said.

  "You know about one of those things! You should talk to some of the men guarding that door over there!" The Oracle pointed to the main entrance.

  It was close enough to serve his purposes. He just didn't want to be the one to do it. Not when either of the women with him could have a legitimate legitimate reason to be there.

  "Cire you can say that you are here on behalf of your father? No? Oracle every door in the city is open to you if you say so. Come on. Ladies. Don't cross your arms at me."

  In the end it came down to one thing he wanted to get in there and get out and they were going to be very satisfied in just waiting for him.