Chapter 32

Maston Academy

The Town of Maston in the Candis East District

Jerald Straff looked out across campus from his position in the entrance courtyard. A strong wind had started to pick up, wildly tousling students, whipping their hair every which way. To their credit, each of them continued their preparations without pause.

Jerald was pleased to see his fellow students move with purpose. It was not lost on him that nobles were not the only students at the academy with clever plans. The students from other curriculums were busy making their own preparations, preparations that despite what many nobles in his course believed were quite inspired.

Of all the people Jerald had met before moving here though, the four that walked towards him now had the potential to be the most valuable to him. Despite only being here for two months, the two aether engineer trainees, Myles and Jane, wore uniforms that were marred in permanent grease stains. They were clearly willing to get their hands dirty to do a job. Jerald could appreciate that.

Jerald had a different kind of respect for the other two. They were people to be wary of. Mercy’s ability to get along with anyone almost instantaneously was easily overlooked or put aside as her just being social. Jerald recognized it to be a powerful weapon though. He had seen major noble alliances forged because of simple friendships before.

Silas may not have been as immediately likeable as Mercy, but he had a peculiar focus and drive to him. Jerald guessed that he was the type of person who would be unrattled by sudden changes, like one of those fancy aether construct arrows that would change direction midflight.

As they got closer, Jerald felt his face pull into a slight smile. The distinct shape of a spear shaft could be seen poking out from behind Myles’ shoulder. Aether constructs were a rare and valuable commodity in the Rork province, especially to nobles. The bulk of aether engineering knowledge was kept in the engineering city of Verith where it was jealously guarded by the city’s conglomerate of faces.

Many nobles had invested in training aether engineers of their own, but as of yet, none of these engineers could come close to matching the true masters of Verith. It was the biggest piece of leverage that the conglomerate had. The trains they made and maintained were what kept trade between the three major cities flowing. Their knowledge of weapon constructs greatly reduced the number of soldiers needed to defend against monsters.

There was value in forming connections with talented aether engineers. Jerald had grown up watching his father grow their family’s influence by carefully managing what resources flowed through their town of Venture. Knowing what to invest in and how long to hold onto it were critical. Jerald was hopeful for his investment into this relationship.

Silas started speaking at the precise moment he left the hearing range of all the other students around them. “As promised, we brought the spear construct. You’ll find that all your specifications were implemented.”

Jerald gave a satisfied nod, waving Myles off as he took the spear out to give a demonstration. “That won’t be necessary, I have every confidence in your craftsmanship.”

That was a lie. Jerald had virtually no confidence in the pair of aether engineers. How could he? The only time he saw their work was when they fought the cinderwolves. Even then, they had only used the most basic of constructs constructed from rather shoddy materials. Still though, relationships weren’t formed from questioning everything you were told.

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Jerald felt a stab of alarm when he saw Myles’ expression darken. He hadn’t expected it since Myles had been so utilitarian during their conversations so far, but it was clear now that he was passionate about his aether engineering work. Perhaps more passionate than he was for the military.

Just as Jerald was about to rectify his error, he caught the look of satisfaction in Silas’ face. Jerald remained silent and thought. There was something he might be able to use here. As close as Silas and Myles seemed to be, their interests were clearly different.

Myles was obviously here to learn aether engineering. That left the question though. What was Silas’ goal. Why was he here?

The moment passed and Silas moved the conversation on quickly. “We were just given our monthly assignments. Half of us are headed north to Hydrabridge. The others are going…”

Jerald could see where this was going, and he liked it. Behind him, Alfred practically licked his lips in excitement. Jerald may not have had ties to him or his family prior to being assigned to the same group as him, but Jerald had been pleasantly surprised with his combat sense. He knew the value of numbers.

Alfred stepped forward, with a very wide and sloppy grin. “We are actually headed North ourselves. I believe that we could find a route that allows us to travel most of the distance together.”

Jerald fought back a wince. Alfred may have been knowledgeable about combat, but coming from a newly created noble family, he lacked knowledge on proper noble behavior.

Fortunately, they were not dealing with nobles today and the four here didn’t look even remotely bothered by Alfred’s behavior.

Out of nowhere, an older voice cut through the conversation. “I wouldn’t recommend doing that.”

Without years of experience dealing with arcaners as part of the nobility, Jerald probably would have jumped out of his own skin. The newcomer had approached without making a sound. Jerald turned around and quickly figured out why. A thin sheen could be seen wrapping around his body, a dead giveaway that he was commuting pure mana. The pure mana would have absorbed the impact of his feet hitting the ground, allowing him to walk almost silently.

The young man spoke with a powerful feeling of authority, and it didn’t take Jerald long to figure out why. He wore a dueling coat emblazoned with the crest of the Maston family. At his side was a traditional curved blade used in the art of noble fencing. With all of that put together, Jerald knew he was talking with the third son of the Maston family.

The man had more than his fair share of rumors among the nobility. Almost all of them referred to his rather eccentric fashion choices. The dueling coat and noble fencing blade were both symbols of an archaic faction of nobles that had taken certain aspects of a noble’s duty to the extreme. This faction— Jerald believed they had called themselves the shining knights—had sworn a long list of oaths including such things as never lying and defending the people they ruled to the death. They had also pressured other nobles to swear the oaths as well. Needless to say, they were not remembered fondly by the nobility.

Jerald pulled himself from his musings as Silas got straight to the point. “You wouldn’t recommend traveling together. Why? Having six people shouldn’t be enough to attract any additional monsters.”

The noble nodded. “On most days, that would be true.” He pulled his head back, pointing towards the sky which was covered in ominous storm clouds. “Out in that storm though, things are different.”

Something clicked in Jerald’s head, a story he had heard as a child. “Are you saying that’s an aether storm?”

Joshua Maston grinned. “That is exactly what I’m saying. I’ve only had the misfortune to have traveled through two of them—they’re not very common—but they are dangerous. The wind will be so strong, the rain so thick that monsters will stop trying to use their normal senses, switching to their aether senses instead, including…”

“Their ability to sense humans.” Silas interrupted.

Joshua nodded. “Basically yes, though from what we know about monsters from studying their cores, it would probably be more accurate to say they make use of some unknown combination of high-level connectors.”

Jerald considered that for a second. He wasn’t aware of any such research, but he supposed that the Maston family’s son would be more likely to know about it. He may not have been the heir to the family’s title, but he was perhaps still the most famous among his brothers. Joshua was known to be a powerful arcaner who frequently traveled on family business.

Jerald was caught off guard when Joshua turned to Silas. “I heard you asked for me while I was away?”

Silas nodded then gave a nervous glance towards Jerald. “I was hoping to continue the conversation you had with my teammates last month.”

Joshua seemed to catch the glance. “That will take some time.” Joshua ran a hand through his hair as though in stress. “I’m afraid that will have to wait till later. I need to see the headmaster about some business I was conducting on the academy’s behalf.”

Silas nodded along and Jerald smiled generously. It was hard to believe that Joshua was really quite so stressed, but Jerald didn’t want others to think he was wanting to eavesdrop, so, it was bet to just let it go.

Before Joshua continued his walk across campus though, Silas did get one last question in. “I was told you were in Hydrabridge. How were things when you left?”

Joshua laughed good-naturedly. “I’m afraid you’ll have to find that out for yourselves. I wouldn’t want to interfere in your exam.”

Jerald left to return to his dorm soon after. He had left Vance there working on preparations for their own assignment. Even as he walked, Jerald began infusing his mana into the spear. After all, he would need to test it before they left.