More eyes had been observing the fight than he thought. Manald, a gigantic beastman observed the fight bemused. Acrius gave him a curt nod. [b][color=#FF9900]"Warming up your joints before a large battle is important."[/color][/b] He shot the beastman a half-smirk as he said this. Another figure joined the retinue, Zatana. He had essentially no information on this woman. She was heavily dressed up and seemed to avoid socializing. Still, he couldn't deny her skill during the plot to assassinate the prince.

Acrius froze at the sound of the prince addressing him. As expected, Leonidas was going to grill him later. A slight frown etched onto his face, Leonidas' reprimands sometimes took hours. He quietly followed the prince and pumped his fist in the air at being put on cavalry. A cocksure grin now made its way to his face; cavalry tend to be in the thickest and heaviest fights of the day. [b][color=#FF9900]"Of course, I follow your orders my liege."[/color][/b] He said, trying (but failing) not to let his excitement leak into his voice.

Before they could do so, Balthazar made his presence known. He was a familiar yet still utterly mysterious figure to Acrius. You could say he's his pseudo-teacher in magic related endeavors. Still, he was a riddle wrapped up in an enigma. Hell, Acrius had never seen the old man so much as crack a smile or frown. Well, there was one time... [b][color=#FF9900]"Ah, Gramps!"[/color][/b] The amber-eyed boy called out. That one time when Acrius called him 'gramps' was the only time he'd seen his mask crack. He had half a mind to present his magical progress to Balthazar. However he seemed to be having an important conversation with Faira and Zatana, so he left it at the that.

Luckily Acrius already had the necessary equipment on hand and simply followed the prince to the stables. Luckily, horseback riding was easy to grasp for him. However he couldn't teach anyone to save his life, he was a horrid teacher. As he saddled onto a horse he spotted a dirtied-up beastman entering the stables. Manald voiced a valid concern of him on horses. Acrius had to stifle a chuckle as he tried imagining Manald on a horse.