Chapter 32

Burris paused for a moment, a little embarrassed to say more.
"And then what happened? Why did it stop?" I trailed off curiously.
Burris lifted Cecil uncomfortably behind him before continuing in a low voice, "Turns out I didn't read the manual myself and the merchant laughed at me."
I froze for a moment, then couldn't help but laugh out loud and tease, "So Prince Burris can be so sloppy at times, didn't you look at the manual again after you got hit?"
"I threw the bottle away a long time ago, so maybe the one I was given really didn't have instructions on it, most black marketers are shady." Burris argued with a grimace.
"Maybe you're right, but what does that have to do with Amanda?" I asked with a smile.
"Oh, I was hurt a bit badly and Amanda used healing magic to help me heal my injuries in order to get me to buy her spell book. I thought her magic was amazing and asked her to teach me on the condition that I would buy all of her spell books." Burris said.
"Oh, very interesting experience, so you were taught all your magic by Amanda?" I asked Burris.
"Yes, Amanda is an old friend of mine and she's very enthusiastic." Burris said with a smile and a proud look on his face again.
I shrugged my eyebrows and didn't respond to Burris again. from Burris' tone, he and Amanda would be old friends who had known each other for a long time.
It's a good thing that if Amanda is really what Burris says she is, she'll definitely help my poor brother Cecil.
But knowing that Burris had a female friend who was very close made me a little less comfortable.
On the way I thought about it, maybe because Burris himself had complimented Amanda on being awesome, but he had never complimented me like that.
I'm much less capable than Burris, and even my body looks scrawny.
That realization made me grumble a little bit about this body once again.
So I made a secret decision that when Cecil was okay, I was going to start training again.
No one is born strong, but there is always a way to become strong.
Cecil hadn't been doing well and I wasn't fast enough, so Burris had to arrange for a plane.
The Howard family line runs all over the world, and Prince Burris status quickly got us a plane, and we had a much easier time with this one.
Sitting on the plane I realized that Rotali County was a long way from us. It was another city far away in South America, and Peterman was within North America.
"County Rotali turned out to be so far away, Burris, how did you get back so fast?" I asked Burris in surprise, while keeping my eyes on the window.
Outside the oval window were clouds that seemed like they could reach out and touch them.
The most clearly visible sights below were the deep blue sea and the dark green jungle, the buildings turning into polka dots of various colors, the people no longer visible.
"Because I'm fast at transients." Burris still sounded smug.
I nodded and looked out and said, "Yes, I admit you're awesome. If I had your power too, I'd be awesome too."
Burris didn't say anything else back, the view outside was actually about the same after looking at it for a long time, and I glanced back at Burris.
I was startled because Burris was looking at me too, and wrinkling his nose.
"What's wrong, Burris?Why are you looking at me like that?" I said with concern.
Burris frowned at me and said in a serious tone, "Cheryl, if you could gain my power on the condition that you drained my blood, would you do it?"
Not waiting for my answer, he added anxiously, "No, I'm not important enough for you, if it was Cecil with his great power, would you have drained his blood?"
I froze at Burris' question and chuckled, "Isn't that what you're going to do to me Burris, didn't you marry me just to suck my blood?"
"No, I can't do it now, I can't do it." Burris shook his head sadly.
I gave him a surprised look, gave a soft smile, and said, "I wouldn't do that either, not Cecil or you."
Burris kept looking at me as I continued, "Burris, we can be friends if you want. And fangs and claws should be used against enemies, not family and friends."
I thought Burris would be moved by those words, but when I looked over at him, the sadness in his eyes was almost on the verge of roiling out.
"What's wrong with you?" I felt a little embarrassed.
Burris, however, turned to avoid my eyes, his voice sounding a little dull, "Nothing, I just suddenly remembered something bad, something bad I did once."
Relieved, I put a hand on Burris' shoulder and reassured him, "It's okay, Burris, everyone makes mistakes, and Bloods are no different."
"I've done my share of wrong things, like the whole romance with Tyrone thing that got me killed. Luckily, I still have a chance to make things right, don't I?"
Burris nodded with his back to me, still not turning his body around, and I had to be quiet for the moment.
Neither of us were talking for the rest of the day.
When it's quiet, I can't help but think about the things Tyrone did, and my heart still aches.
Finally, three hours later, we arrived in Rotali County.
There are very few people here, and many races, and the humans alone contain people from every continent. There is no jungle to walk through, we have to walk in the streets and occasionally see a few strangely dressed natives.
The surroundings were so noisy that you could see people fighting every few meters, and even people getting killed on the spot, and no one came out to take care of it.
Onlookers either looked on indifferently, or moved on, and there was applause and cheering.
Even though I've seen a lot of gory scenes, scenes like this still amaze me.
"There are no rules or governance here, empowerment is the only way to survive." Burris explained in my ear.
He still had Cecil on his back, but was close enough to almost hold me in his arms.
"And the gold coins don't work?" I queried.
"There's nothing against looting here, and it's no use having more gold if you're not able to keep the money." Burris said.
I frowned, suddenly losing the anticipation I'd had before coming. I hated kingdoms with strict hierarchical divisions and complete chaos without rules.
What I really aspire to is a land of equality, freedom, and peace, preferably where all differences can be embraced.
Amanda's home was near the outskirts of town, and it was when Burris was preparing to go to the next town that he was stopped by Amanda in the first place.
Burris didn't knock and led me right through the wall.
"Would that be too rude?" I frowned at Burris.
"It's okay, I come in like this every time, Amanda isn't going to come down and open the door." Burris said carelessly.
We made our way to the living room and Burris dropped Cecil on the couch and shook his shoulders.
"Cheryl, wait here for a moment while I go find Amanda," Burris instructed me, and quickly left the living room after that.
I sighed and went over to move Cecil, who had almost been thrown to the ground by Burris.
Cecil hadn't shivered in a long time; he just squeezed his eyes shut, his face as white as a freshly painted wall.
I wasn't particularly worried before with Burris's reassurance, but now that I was in the place I was starting to get uneasy instead.
Will Amanda be willing to help us unconditionally?