Althea sat in silence, as the Steward left, replaced by the awkward looking figure of Anthony.

"Has something happened?" he whispered.

"I don't think the Steward wants what was said in public." Althea replied. If Nathan was Jerrisa's son, then could his father be…but that was wrong, right? Would the Steward react like that to his own son? The way he reacted was like a person betrayed. Nathan was an afterthought, if he was his son, Althea was sure that he would pay more attention if Nathan as really his son. But who was the father?

The Steward had mentioned another person. Keron. And he was related to the Empress and the Emperor. Hmm, how old was Nathan. Althea had to confess; she was a sucker for romance. The tropes were hateful. The books kept treating people like objects. But she enjoyed them. There was a certain joy when she read two people finding the love of their life and living happily.

Seeing it in real life…well that would be joyful. Even just seeing plot points end would make her happy. Like finding Jerissa and helping the Steward move past-wait a bloody second. Why did that sound so familiar? Wasn't that what protagonists did in stories.

Althea's eyes widened as she stared at her garden. W-whe-when did she start doing things like a xianxia protagonists?

… Was that a bad thing though?

sc

The day went on, hours passed and most of the college students broke through to the Apprentice stage. Althea decided that it was time they had their next class. And she had to figure out if she wanted to have a talk with Nathan about his mother.

How the boy would take it was unknown, and so was the Steward's reaction. The relationships involved seemed complicated, and largely unknown to her.

Althea was still waiting to call the Empress, but she needed a time when the Steward wasn't around, and the Empress was available. That seemed lacking since the Empress was very busy. Althea was out of the loop on why that was.

"What is going on, sis?" Leo asked, looking at the training field eagerly. The little kid had been too tired to wake up early today, but he was very eager to see what was going on later. Althea got a near constant feeling of nervousness from him though, as if he was scared of something. And was not very good at hiding it.

"Just something I hope will be interesting." Althea said. Seeing Leo's dissatisfied expression, she decided to elaborate. To be honest, she did not how to deal with her brother either. There wasn't any manual she could refer to. But the kid acted just like the kids in books, cute as heck and smart. So, she decided she was going to be the doting sister.

"Do you see that half-Elf there?" she pointed to Verest.

"That is a half-elf?" Leo asked, squinting at the half-Elf whose ears were quite round for one of his kind.

"Yes, their leader, in fact." Althea said. "I convinced him to hold classes for the college students. After all, we don't have instructors at all."

On that note, she should start looking for some.

"Why not?" Leo asked.

Althea gulped in embarrassment. "I forgot to hire them."

Leo turned to look at her judgmentally. Even the five-year-old knew that it was wrong.

Althea just shrugged, "There are a lot of things that demand my attention. I need to find more assistants."

"Did you forget to do that too?" Leo asked.

"No… there just aren't enough people that I can trust. And the people I have are already engaged in doing other important things for me or the county as a whole. I would like more, but that just isn’t an option." she explained.

Leo's forehead creased as he appeared to be thinking about something. Althea actually thought he looked cute thinking about solutions to her problems. The eagerness was a bit offsetting weren't kids supposed to be selfish and not have the capacity for empathy yet? Why was this guy already trying so hard.

Althea pinched his cheek. "Don't worry about it. This is for me to take care of. What you have to do is have fun."

Althea gave him her best sly smile. "There will be plenty of work to do once you're older. Don't think I will let you slack off."

Leo withdrew from her touch, looking at the pinching hand angrily.

Verest finally stepped into the training hall, looking at the students before him. The students had been waving their weapons awkwardly. Althea could sympathize, she would be the same. The old Althea had tried practicing, but she just didn't have the talent.

The sword would feel like dead weight in her hands, and the instructors screaming at her hadn't helped. In the end, she'd learned enough to not hurt herself.

There was, however, one person that looked like she knew what she was doing. Isa. The sword looked light in her hands, as if it was ready to strike at the first attempt. Althea felt a little threat for him, her instinct telling her not to ignore it.

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"I will be your instructor today." Verest said. "I do not have time to teach all of you, and I do not believe most of you will be able to learn anything from me at all."

The college student's eyes widened in surprise as a few began to have hushed discussions. Althea frowned, she had given him free rein to organize his class, but still, this was…unexpected.

Verest gestured the first student forward, the student wincing as he lunged at him. Even Althea cringed at his move. Verest simply pushed the student's sword away with his sword, using only one hand as he held his sword to the student's neck.

The move was awkward, but Althea had little doubt that in a real battle, the student would be dead by now. And the Elf didn't use mana at all. Just some of his physical prowess, that the student could match with his Apprentice cultivation.

The next student in line looked around, wanting to see if there was someone other than him that could take on the burden. But the other students had wandered off long ago, eager to see others fail before they tried.

This student was a bit better. Swiping at Verest from the side in a single chop. Verest simply sidestepped, stabbing his sword forward. The students stepped back, the sword missing its target. Verest reacted quickly, elbowing the sword out of the student's arms and holding the sword to his neck.

"Do not let down your guard just because you won one round. An experienced swordsman will have another attack coming right behind it." Verest cautioned.

The student bowed. "Thank you, sir."

The next few students went similarly, a couple could take one or two moves from him, but most lost before that. Isa finally stepped up, apparently confident to go against Verest.

"Not now. I will battle you in the end." he replied, gesturing the next, mostly unwilling, student onto the stage.

Leo sagged in disappointment beside her, mirroring Isa quite well. The little guy had been interested in the fights in the beginning, but became increasingly disappointed when they couldn't actually fight.

"This is the suppression of stages and experience." Althea said. "Verest has a lot more experience than these students, and it shows."

"So, he will win every time?" Leo asked.

Althea smiled and shook her head. "Not necessarily. There are three things that can let you beat a more experienced combatant. A higher cultivation, more talent in that area, or the ability to use another kind of combat to suppress him."

The kid actually looked deep in thought as he looked at observed the students battling.

"So does that guy have more talent than the ones that fought him before?" Leo asked.

"Perhaps." Althea said, looking at what she remembered was the son of a hunter. "Or just more experience than them. The more experience you have, the less likely it is that someone with more experience will be able to suppress you. That guy is the son of a hunter, he has years of experience on his classmates."

"Oh." the boy said as he watched Verest defeat that guy, and the next in quick succession. The fights continued for the next five minutes before they ended, the rest of the students withdrawing without even fighting. Althea shook her head, fighting Verest was an excellent opportunity to improve themselves and get some guidance from an Adept stage swordsman. Well, sword elf. Or was it sword-half-elf? That sounded awkward.

But whatever, now there might be an actual interesting fight. Isa was going on stage.

The two of them stood in front of each other, Isa looking more careful than Verest. The half-elf didn't seem to take it seriously at all.

And then he attacked.

Althea did not see it coming. The action was near instantaneous, one moment he looked like he was just standing there, waiting for Isa to make a move, and the next his sword was heading towards her neck.

But Isa was still a person with great sword talent. A sword parried Verest’s, flashing as Verest continued his barrage. The attacks were frontal, similar to what the Verest had made before, targeting Isa from various directions. The girl held on; her face is determined as she matched the Adept sword to sword.

Verest took a step back, smiling as he looked at his opponent. Now it was Isa's turn to attack. The girl feinted towards Verest’s neck, before rotating her wrist around to attack her opponent's wrist. Verest held on, raising his hand to attack Isa again. This time, he was faster, and attacked with some kind of rhythm.

Isa seemed to fall into a back rhythm, just defending as Verest attacked, seemingly endlessly. Every time Isa tried to attack again, throwing Verest's sword hand into a strange angle, and then attacking the half-elf, or sidestepping an attack and targeting him at the same time, the half-elf resolved it.

The students looked on in awe at the skill. Verest was winning, that was for sure, but Isa was exemplary too. Even continuously being countered, she held on. Not just held on, but improved. The change wasn't visible to many, but Althea could see it. The girl was learning as time went, learning how Verest attacked and fighting back. The progress was slow, but it was there.

A few minutes later, Verest took the upper hand as he quickened his pace, making fancier moves at a faster pace while Isa was getting slower, more tired. But she did not give up. The fight still continued. Isa stopped trying to attack, and just defended.

The blows shook her arms. Pushing more and more as she tried to fight. A minute later, Althea felt mana surge as Verest finally used his mana, a simple sword slashing toward Isa. The sword cut right through Isa's sword and held itself to her neck.

Verest just smiled and took a step back. The college students erupted into applause as their comrade. Leo bounced next to her. Isa was slowly helped by maids to a seat where she promptly fell asleep.

"That was great! Is that what you meant by talent, sis?" Leo said. "I want to be a swordsman! I want to fight like that!"

Althea smiled. "Well, you can in the future."

But the kid wasn't done. "Can you do that too?"

The hall immediately plunged into silence as Althea fought back a smile. The mouths of babes…

"In swordsmanship? No. I am not a swordswoman." she said, turning to Verest, who was looking at her with a smirk. "But I am curious at how I would fare against him in a fight of mana." At the same level of course, even she wasn't mad enough to fight against an Adept. But Verest had demonstrated enough control to limit himself to a smaller amount of mana.

"I would be glad to have a spar with you, your grace." Verest replied, a calculating look in his eyes. The college students looked eager, ready to fight, and Leo was looking at her eagerly.

Althea smiled. "Perhaps later, I have a rather pressing meeting now." A meeting about the beast tide.

The college looked away, disappointed as they whispered with each other. Even Leo looked sad.

"How about in the evening?" she said, smiling. A smile she saw mirrored in a particular half-elf. A half-elf that seemed eager to test his new lady.