Free Web Novel"Young master Lucuis! Please, you must not do this. Just leave me here, I can make it down the mountain on my own."
"I will find my way back to the base and wait for all of you to finish, I will do whatever you ask, but please, you cannot carry me the rest of the way. This isn't right."
Gunter's voice cracked with desperation as he tried to push himself off Lucuis's shoulders, his arms weakly attempting to find some leverage that would allow him to drop back down to the ground where he believed he belonged.
His heart was beating so hard against his ribs that he could feel it in his throat, not from the pressure of the mountain this time but from the sheer impossibility of what was happening.
A noble of the Morningstar household, the first son of one of the most powerful families in the kingdom, was carrying him, a minor baron from a family so insignificant that most nobles probably did not even know they existed, up a mountain that was already crushing stronger people than him into submission.
To him, such an act was wrong and shouldn't be. No matter how much he has helped him along the way, this was something that pushed past all that, at least he believed it was.
"What did I just tell you?" Lucuis glanced up at Gunter with an expression that somehow managed to be both patient and completely immovable at the same time.
"None of us are going to fail this stage of the examination. Not you, not me, not anyone in this group. That isn't just some wishful thinking, but a fact, said by non other than me. "
" So stop trying to convince me to leave you behind, because it isn't going to work no matter how many times you ask."
His gaze shifted then, moving from Gunter to sweep across the rest of the group, taking in each of their faces in turn.
Leo stood nearby with an expression that hovered somewhere between concern and fascination, watching his brother in silence, not knowing what to say about this.
"If any of you feel like you can't continue on any further, just say so now." Lucuis spoke casually, as if such a thing wasn't a problem for him at all.
"My offer is open to everyone. If you need help, you only need but ask for it."
His words landed among the group with the weight of something that was not quite arrogance but certainly resembled it from certain angles.
The others exchanged glances, some skeptical, some amused, some simply confused by the sheer confidence radiating from this man who was already carrying one person on his shoulders and seemed completely unconcerned about adding more.
' I would really like for that to happen.' Lucuis thought to himself, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth that he did not bother to hide.
Because right now, in this moment, with the pressure of the mountain pressing down on him from all sides and Gunter's weight settled across his shoulders, he was beginning to realize that this stage of the examination did not feel like a test at all.
Instead, It felt more like training, one that honed a person's physical prowess to the next level. It felt like something he would regret leaving behind when it was over, so he didn't want to waste this opportunity, which was why he truly didn't mind carrying the young Barron's load.
"Alright then, I am giving up as well." The voice that broke the silence came from the least expected source, and for a moment everyone simply stared in disbelief as Emma, who had been so protective of Adrian throughout this entire journey, suddenly leaped toward Lucuis.
She landed on his other shoulder with surprising grace, her small frame settling into place as if she had been planning this move all along, and flashed him a mischievous grin that held absolutely no hint of shame or hesitation. freeweɓnovel.cѳm
"Since you insisted so nicely, you're not going to change your mind now, are you? Because that would be terribly disappointing after you made such a grand offer to everyone."
Snow could not help but frown slightly as she watched Emma's behavior, her eyes narrowing with a mixture of disapproval and confusion.
She knew Emma wasn't one to do things without a reason, and most of her reasons stemed from her own eagerness whenever she found something interesting. While snow believed Lucuis was in truth, an interesting person, she still didn't believe it was at the level that she would act in such a way.
The moment Emma's weight settled onto his shoulders, Lucuis felt the pressure on him increase threefold, the mountain's invisible hand pressing down with enough force to make his knees buckle momentarily before he caught himself once more.
The strain was immediate and intense, his muscles screaming in protest as they were forced to bear a burden far beyond what any normal person should have been able to carry in these conditions.
But even as his body struggled to adapt to this new weight, even as his lungs fought to draw enough air to keep his muscles supplied with the oxygen they desperately needed, his eyes shimmered with a hint of excitement.
He turned his head to glance at the others, his gaze lingering on each of them in turn, waiting to see if anyone else would take him up on his offer.
Leo shook his head, a small smile finally breaking through his confusion. Adrian simply raised a hand in polite refusal, his expression never changing. Snow looked away as if the very suggestion offended her, Grey seemed briefly tempted, her head still tilted as she considered the offer, but eventually she too declined with a small shake of her head. Amy hesitated for a moment, her eyes flickering between Lucuis and the remaining distance to the summit, but something in her expression eventually settled into resolve and she shook her head as well.
"Alright then." Lucuis adjusted his grip on the two passengers who had accepted his offer, found his balance beneath their combined weight, and felt that strange flame burning in his chest grow even hotter than before. "Let's get to it. The summit is not going to climb itself, and we are running out of daylight."
The group began moving once
more, their pace slower now than it had been before but somehow more determined and focused.
