Song of Time - Dusk Awakening Verse - Chapter 4

Translator: NovelMultiverse | Editor: NovelMultiverse

The Milvus pulled in slowly at the harbor under the covered bridge.
As the largest trading port in Wong’s domestic river, Covered Bridge covered about 60 hectares of land on both Eternal-light Riversides, with City Xinlan the East and the City Jing in the West.

With the expanding trade between the Wong and Tarpaz, the port had become more and more prosperous in recent years. There were hotels, pubs, shops, and restaurants all over the port. All kinds of buildings stand in rows, and people were like the tide and lively.

In the high dome dock at the end of the bridge on the West Bank, Gian, with a backpack, waved to the people on board. Before he took up the small suitcase, Captain Angeli yelled: “Gian! Don’t forget to tell me about your holiday date earlier! Bro, I will come to pick you up! I love you so much! Ha, haha… “Finally, the jumpy laughter caused passers-by to look sideways. Gian awkwardly took a corner of his mouth. He did not pay any attention to this guy who was excited after getting back the gambling money. He just lowered his head and pretended that he didn’t know him at all and walked out of the hall quickly.

Although it was not the trade’s peak time, the port was still crowded with people and noisy cars and horses. Besides the wide cement road outside the dock, rows of semi-open iron warehouses were built in order. All kinds of containers were unloaded from the ship by the enormous dark magic crane on the shore. They then put on the long crawler trucks and transported them to their predetermined warehouses. Everything was in such good order.

Gian stood by the fence, looked for a moment with the subtle mood of revisiting the old place, and then walked along the boulevard. Numerous tall Orientalis arborvitaes stretched out their slender wings from both sides of the road to cover up the afternoon sunlight, leaving only the shade with the breeze.

There were many black carriages on the side of the road, which were specially designed for those who were greedy for convenience – only 20 copper could take one to the rail platform safely and quickly. “20 copper…” Gian looked at the advertising board at the intersection with his mouth twitched, which was enough to buy a simple lunch…It was better to rely on his own feet!

About 1.5 kilometers from the port to the platform, Gian enjoyed the lush green leaves along the road. The various postures of shampa trees, could not help but drift to the College: this time, due to the storm, he was delayed for several days, and now it had passed the return day. Although it was the result of force majeure, it was a violation of the ban after all, and he did not know how the College would deal with it …… Oh, just step by step! The young man thought with some frustration.
About a quarter of an hour later, the port station with its light blue tiles appeared. To facilitate the enormous passenger flow of the port, the entrance of the station was very spacious. The snow-white wall was connected with the dark brown steel frame glass roof. The gray segmented stone ladder was surrounded by several layers of iron bars on both sides, so as to prevent any accidents when people were crowded.
Gian quickly walked up the stairs with a small suitcase and stood by the waiting platform to look around. He was shocked to find that there were only a few people. Usually, this port station was crowded with people. It took a lot of effort to get to the front row. Feeling uncomfortable with the cold and quiet atmosphere, Gian went to the service desk of the station. He inquired about the modern girl with heavy makeup and thick hair gel.
“You don’t know?” The girl at the reception desk was very surprised. She opened her mouth and drew a blood-red circle with her lips. “Ms. Lovina’s private cruise ship has just arrived at the Covered Bridge. Everyone crowded to see her! Alas… If it wasn’t for working hours, I could go there, maybe I could get an autograph! What? Who is Ms. Lovina? Where are you from? You hayseed, go away.”
She rolled her eyes to Gian and did not want to pay more attention to him, as if to draw a line with such an abandoned man. Gian walked back to the waiting platform. As an exchange student from a remote country, he always met all kinds of cold eyes in this prosperous foreign capital. He didn’t care much about it. Soon, a silver train came into the station and stopped slowly. He pulled up his suitcase and walked into the carriage in a few steps.
There were not many passengers in the carriage, but the air was still a little stuffy. The boy found a seat next to the window to put his luggage in and leaned against the soft chair for a sigh of relief. The train started slowly, and the slight roar seemed to have hypnotic Magic. Gian closed his eyes and gently shook his head with the ups and downs of the carriage. Gradually, he fell asleep.
“…… Hey, young man, Hey!” A rush of shouts accompanied by violent shaking awakened Gian from his dream. He rubbed his eyes and looked at the young man in blue and black official uniform in front of him.
“The train has arrived at the Terminal. Please get off the train quickly.” The youth smiled and handed the suitcase to him.
“Terminal? Oh, no !”  Gian’s drowsiness suddenly disappeared. He pulled the suitcase and ran off the train in a hurry.
“Don’t worry! Mind Your Step! The return train is on the opposite side !” Behind him came a friendly reminder from the youth.
“I see! Thank you !” Gian turned and bowed to him, and then went straight ahead.
By the time the careless boy finally arrived at the College, the sun was about to sink. School was over. The white marble arch of Imperial College was lonely, dim evening glow slant shined on the high statue of the saints on the front of the gate and carved in black Jade, drawing a deep shadow on the red brick wall. Once in a while, a few black or silver magic locomotives left the gate and quickly disappeared at the end of the broad asphalt road with a faint and inaudible sound.
Gian was sweating and walked down the iron frame overpass with his suitcase. He walked around the pentagram parterre outside the statue and ran to the guard of the side door. He saluted the old guard in the black uniform, quickly pulled out his student ID card from his bag, and breathlessly handed it forward: “Hello, this is my student card… I’m sorry, I…”
“I know you, Gian.” The old guard interrupted his words with a smile and gently waved his hand, “you are so late for so many days, the Highness is worried. Just come back safely…” As he said this, he went forward to open the iron door and nodded to the boy.
Gian quickly said thanks, picked up the suitcase and strode into the campus. He suddenly heard someone shouting at him from afar. He looked with the voice. Opposite the small square inside the gate, a man ran towards him with a shadow full of the light of the sunset. He covered the sunlight with his hand and narrowed his eyes for a long time. It turned out that it was Lu Ang, a friend of his class.
“Well, you are a really good man. I finally got you! Whoa… You’ll be in trouble if you don’t come back! “Plump strode over and grabbed his shoulder, panting and murmuring. He was wearing a slightly tight gray school uniform with short sleeve, his dark brown hair was wet and sticky to his forehead, round face full of freckles, looked like a soft sesame cake.
“Lu Ang? Why are you here? “Gian looked at this sweating good friend full of doubts, his front foot just entered the school gate to meet him. If it was a chance encounter, this must be a bit too coincidental, right?
“Of course, because you haven’t been back to school for so long!? Everyone was so anxious that they almost had to… “Lu Ang rubbed his sweat and complained. He suddenly thought of something and pulled the sleeve of Gian, went inside. He also urged him, “don’t talk more. Let’s go, harry!”
“Ah! Why are you in such a hurry… “Gian was holding the suitcase in one hand and ran forward unsteadily with the other handheld by Lu Ang. Before they ran through the corner of the college entrance, a whirlwind suddenly appeared in front of them. The strong wind mixed with sand and leaves made people unable to open their eyes. This gust of wind came and went away quickly, and it disappeared soon. Gian patted his hair and left dust on the ground. He raised his head and looked forward to the front. Two slender figures were standing in front of him in the middle of the smooth stone road under the tall locust tree beside the courtyard wall.
In front one, he was wearing a beige satin brocade gold robe. His hands were on his back. His long black hair was in a ponytail with silver ribbons. His snow-white face was Jade, like in the sunlight. His eyes were half-open, half-closed, which was very arrogant to resist people from thousands of miles. The man behind him was half-covered by the shadow, only to see a black military uniform. The golden phoenix emblem on the brim of his hat flashed in the sunset.
Gian was very familiar with this gorgeous young man in white. He was the royal family’s lineage——Lord Yu Ming, the eldest son of the royal family who granted the word “Yu”, which meant Jade. Behind him, the black man, named Mo, was his personal guard, as a shadow. He always wore the broad-brimmed military cap at any time, and no one had seen his face.
“Oh~Isn’t this our college rookie, Gian?” Yu Ming walked forward slowly with his hands on the back. He squinted at the Gian, and his mouth was filled with sarcastic malice. “Well, the days of sightseeing were so comfortable that you even forget the day when should you go back ?”
Gian knew that he could not say anything useful. Since he came to the College, the royal family’s noble prince had never had an excellent face to himself. He didn’t understand where he had offended him, but he would not go to ingratiate himself. He pulled a fake smile from the corner of his mouth and perfunctorily said, “Yu Ming, I haven’t seen you for a long time…” He said casually then pulled Lu Ang to go. Still, he was blocked by a sudden whirlwind.
“What do you mean…” Gian looked at the rotating wind column, without any fear. Although he was a mortal, he could not resist Yu Ming in strength, but it was in the College where influential people gathered. As long as the Yu Ming dared to do something out of the ordinary, it would spread all over the campus tomorrow. Gian believed that this man who had always wanted to save face will never become a laughing stock of the upper class because of his temporary anger.
“You want to go before I stop? Do you think I’m here just to talk to you? “Yu Ming sneered and glanced at Lu Ang carelessly. The gloomy chill in his mind made him shiver and let he lost Gian’s arm.
“Well, Lord Yu Ming, I…I think of something else. I’ll go first, go first! “Seeing the situation, plump turned his eyes, lay down a lie, and quickly smeared oil on his feet. He slipped faster than just now.
This ungrateful guy…Things took a turn for the worse so quickly that he could hardly try to keep him. He could just make complaints about it, frowned, and asked Yu Ming: “what your else, command?”
Yu Ming snorted a few times, moved to Gian like a breeze. He looked at him up and down. He turned around in disgust as if he saw garbage and walked around him slowly: “I will not give you any command, but I’m afraid you’ll forget some school rules. I’d like to remind you of them.”
He glanced back at Gian’s face, which was dirty by the sand and dust, and showed a proud smile that he grasped the handle. He said in a low voice: “After the beginning of school, anyone who is late for one day without any reason will record a major demerit and stay in school for inspection, and those who are late for three days will be ordered to drop out, until today, it’s the fourth day.”
Indeed because of this… Gian was not afraid of the threat of his strange voice at all and calmly responded: “It’s not unreasonable for me. It’s just because of the storm at sea that I’ve been delayed for so many days. You can read the latest newspaper, which is in the sea area near Ming Jing Port…”
“Well, don’t give me some inexplicable excuse. Do you really think someone will believe it?” Yu Ming continued to plan for several days and finally caught him. How could he give him a chance to argue? He waved his hand and interrupted his explanation. Then he raised his neck and sneered, “don’t talk nonsense. Follow me to the academic affairs department and wait for punishment.”
Seeing that Yu Ming didn’t pay attention to himself, Gian was deeply depressed. He was reasonable at first. Even if he went to the academic affairs department, he was confident that he could straighten out the facts. However, he was afraid that Yu Ming would have something up his sleeve.
He had suffered a lot from him in the past year. The rest of his sight glanced around him. At the end of the nightfall, the square was empty inside and outside, and he could not even see half a person. He had no chance to ask for help.

A hero should not suffer from immediate loss. It was better to avoid conflict…He knew that he was not Yu Ming’s opponent, he pretended to agree first, hung up a wailing face, and slowly moved forward a few steps. Taking advantage of his unprepared, he suddenly ran back.
But before he ran far away, a black water chain quietly entangled his feet, making him unable to prevent and fell into the mud. He actually dared to hurt people on the campus!? Startled and angry, he wiped the plaster off his face and looked back.
At the end of the water chain, the silent guard in black held the flowing black light, standing in the shadow, and looking at himself. His long and narrow eyes with divine light sent out a subtle killing intention. At his side, Yu Ming snorted like a mockery, squeezed and paced forward: “You want to run? What a joke! If I can’t even look after you waste, how can I get a foothold in Jing? “
Gian turned a deaf ear to his sarcasm. First, he stretched out his hand and pulled the water chain of the divine power. When he found that it was impossible to destroy it, he simply sat cross-legged on the ground, looked up at him askance, and retorted, “You’ve gone too far! It is clearly stipulated in the school regulations that it is forbidden to use divine power to hurt school students. Are you afraid that I will go to the office of academic affairs to sue you for intentional injury? “

“Hum! You’ve been late for three days. You’re not my ‘classmate’ soon, well…You want to evade law enforcement, I have to use some means. I think the minister will be considerate… “Yu Ming liked to see him like a fool. He flicked his sleeves and pretended to explain a few words seriously, but he couldn’t cover his smile.“You!” Gian bites his teeth and tried to refute, but he was interrupted by his continuous shouts: “Nonsense! Mo, take him to the office of academic affairs!”
The young man saw that the blackguard, full of weird and mysterious atmosphere, slowly came forward. His heart was pounding. He could not help but stretch out his hand to pull the chain. The strange circle close to his ankle was always challenging to move. He didn’t want to wait for others to catch him. He stood up with both hands and glared at Yu Ming. Now he could only follow him to the office of academic affairs. Anyway, the reason why he was late has been proved. Let’s see what the guy can do!

Just as the guard reached forward and was about to grasp the Gian, a white light shield suddenly slipped from the air and stopped him in front of him. It also cut off the link between him and black water and rescued the boy from the shackles.

Then, a warm and soft voice, like a sigh, floated from a distance: “how can you, my Lord, use your divine power to hurt people on the campus? It’s really against the rules.”