POV Luana Nightshield

What had Manor done?! They had agreed on a mostly neutral story with some weak pointers in Aron’s direction for why they had nearly died. But Manor had changed that on the fly! He had pushed all the blame on Aron and made them look like the heroes. Luana was a pragmatic and target-oriented person. Still, honor had been a core element in her upbringing.

Aron had single-handedly lifted them out of the sinkhole they had willfully maneuvered themselves into.

And as thanks, he had become the scapegoat. This couldn’t stand. She would make it up to him!

_______

POV Aron Brightcloud

We left teacher Monrose’s office and strode down the corridor. As soon as we had reached a safe distance from the teacher’s office, Luana pulled me into an empty classroom. Manor wanted to follow, but Luana pushed him backward forcefully.

“You have done enough! Remember our deal! I swear to you, if you don’t keep up your end, you will regret it!”

Her stormy expression told him graphically what she would do to him if he didn’t obey.

“Okay, okay. Fear not, I will. Relax Luana. Why do you take this so seriously? Aron is only a future baron. Coupled with his weak core and arcane element, he has no worth. Before, it had made sense to play nice. But soon we won’t need him anymore. We will set up our own groups in the nearby city after teacher Monrose has augmented our teleportation authorization.”

Luana’s anger seemed to rise even more. Yet she kept herself in check.

“Take care of our deal! I don’t want to hear about anything else. Go, now!” Her freezing voice compelled Manor to turn on the spot. He left the vicinity with bounding strides.

Finished with him, she closed the door and took out a small gargoyle figurine. She touched the black piece on its head. A light pressure appeared around us.

“Now we are safe from listeners. I am sorry for what Manor has done earlier. This should have never happened!”

Her face apologetic, she spoke further.

“I needed him to ensure the deal with his house and ours came through. I can’t tell you the details, but it will drastically elevate my parents standing in the eyes of the dukes. So thanks again for not protesting. I will raise your reward. For one, you can have my forty contribution-points, they will be transferred to your account shortly. Furthermore, I will owe you a favor which you can name in the future. The favor should have certain boundaries, though. What do you think?”

A favor was nice, but in the end, one never knew how much the other party would come through for one. Words were still only words. Let’s see if I could get some additional benefits.

“Thank you for holding up your end of the bargain, still as they will note down this lie in my file I should get more. I don’t have the powerful arm of a marquess behind me that could counteract this problem.”

Silence spread as Luana reconsidered my answer.

“Okay, I see from where you are coming. I will add another forty contribution-points on top. Is that enough?”

I wondered how she had got them. Being a future marchioness must have opened some other venues.

“Yes, that's fair.” I nodded.

Although on the low side, it would be enough. One couldn’t hope for a fair deal with higher nobility if one hadn’t something they wanted. I already had lost most of my worth as I had acted the way they needed me to. Pushing her further might get me additional benefits, but she would remember my greediness.

“Will you take care of the conversation with Jane? She needs to be updated to not spread the true story.”

“I will.” Finished with our conversation, Luana pushed onto the little statue and the pressure vanished. We went separate ways afterward.

For now, I wouldn’t use the favor. Our trip to the city came closer and closer. It marked the next milestone in my journey. We would create or join our first real teams but that was secondary to me. I would meet the worshipers of the fallen gods and Sephiroth again. Both of them possessed their own dangers.

I grinned to myself. No, this wasn’t strictly true. I trusted Sephiroth to have my back. Apart from all her Shenanigans that was. I looked forward to have her around once more.

This wasn’t the case for the evil cult of power-hungry wizards that had fed my predecessor’s soul to an ancient soul-eater. Our meeting had the potential to go sideways as my core had obliterated itself. Without the light in my body, I could not learn my mother’s secret arts. Still, I was my mother’s son and had a tight connection to my younger sister. The little angel would hopefully inherit my “mantle” and awaken to the light.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

That said, No. I wouldn’t use the favor. Better to have one more ace up my sleeve for the immediate future.

_______

The surroundings of Torsk’s playground had markedly changed. Two warehouses were in the process of being deconstructed. Taking in Torsk’s cheerful face, I felt sure that it must be for a beneficial reason. Said Man stood not far from the left building. He watched over the workers as they dismantled the entire thing.

I stepped closer to him. “Hello Torsk, are you redecorating?”

Smiling, he turned to me. “Ah, our young mage has returned! How was the dive? I heard there were some troubles?”

Did he now. Looks like he spoke with the staff of the medical wing. Last time he hadn’t done that. Either my value had risen or he was a curious person.

“Yes, we had some. But they were solved and nobody died. So it’s a good end in my book.” I didn’t tell him about the new note in my file. No reason to make my life harder.

Torsk shook his head in answer. “Good, one month here and already twice in recovery. Maybe you should think about changing some of your routines?” The broad man’s lips moved up at the end of the sentence, only partly hiding his mirth.

Typical battle-maniacs. Where other people saw a cause for worry, they only found it funny.

“Naa, I am doing fine. Had a bit of a rough start, but that’s okay. So, what's up with the dismantling of the buildings?”

Torsk turned to gaze at the spoken of warehouses. “We needed more space for an endurance chamber. It will allow my soldiers to train their bodies in an entirely different way. I had been fighting with the administration over the last decade to get it. Initially, the start of the construction work had been planned earlier, but we had some problems with thieves. Luckily we got that sorted. Now the work has begun.”

The mentioning of an endurance chamber monopolized my attention, I didn’t waste a thought about the thieves. They were unimportant compared to the chance of a possible way to strengthen my body. Following my thoughts, I inquired about it.

“An endurance chamber utilizes formations to induce stress on the human body. It will burn, freeze, pressure or electrocute you until the body uses the leftovers of the experience-energy infused in you to temper your body a second time. Naturally, the return for warriors is significantly higher than for mages. Mages concentrate their energy in the core so the body only gets tiny pieces of it. Nevertheless, there exist some battle-mages that use it to train their mentality and to get an additional edge against their opponents, whatsoever how small.”

With that explanation, he had thoroughly won my interest. I needed to gain access to this chamber. Outwardly I forced my countenance to remain neutral, even disinterested.

“I can see the appeal for your warriors, yet as a mage, this chamber is marginally useful at best.”

“You are right, Aron. But don’t forget your familiar. He would also gain from joining. Maybe we could add this to our deal. You two may use it together and as payment, you will support my recruits training once a week in the afternoon.

My face visibly told him of my warring thoughts. In my head, I laughed. He played directly into my hands. I could sling spells at moving targets once per week and get to improve my body for free. If that wasn’t a good deal, I didn’t know what was.

“My skeleton has metallic bones. That means we will have to use high settings to get a benefit. If you are okay with it, we can shake hands on the deal. But don’t come later whining about too high energy costs.”

Torsk waved his hand. “Don’t worry, that bit of extra energy won’t be a problem!” Both of us smiled as we shook our hands. Our shark grins hidden behind our friendly masks.

With the deal finished, I wanted to get an answer to the question I had initially come here for.

“How is Bones doing in your lessons? How do you rate his progress?”

My business partner slash unknowing exploited victim scratched his beard absentmindedly.

“For a skeleton which has no real consciousness, it fights remarkably well. I would even go a step further and say it is developing a natural affinity for battle. Paired with the for undead typical high endurance, it makes for a fearsome foe. Give it some more time, let it rank up by killing enemies and you will have a truly strong familiar.”

One worry less. Although I believed in Bones, it was a fact that he was attracted to chaos. Or the other way around. I hadn’t figured that out quite yet.

_______

POV Olivia

Sitting on Aron’s shoulder like always, she didn’t show any emotions outwardly or through their bond with her master. Yet, Olivia was livid. No happiness or playful thoughts remained. They had been packed and stowed deep down in her consciousness. Someone had gone against her core rule! They had touched her master!

She had observed as Aron had tried to convince his teammates to advance with caution, as they had turned a deaf ear to his warnings and had paid the price. She had watched as her master had turned defeat into victory and bled for it. She felt his pain and iron will as he burned his innards to save a person unworthy of his help.

Olivia had been there when that rotten person had framed Aron. This misbegotten piece of trash!

She had always observed and learned. But this had an end now!

The tradition between spirit-beast and mage went back for generations. Now they were known as familiars. Before, they had another name. Protectors they had been called. They upheld the one duty most sacred to every spirit-beast. They protected their masters from every threat no matter what or cost. Her awakening had opened her mind to a deeper understanding of this duty. Before she would have protected Aron from visible threats, but now Olivia realized that her duty went much, much farther.

Aware of Aron’s limitation as a member of society, she would take on the mantle and take care of the dangers her master couldn’t openly or knowingly deal with.

Olivia would become her master’s shield. Others might think that being a shield was a tighter fit for Bones. But she knew better. Although built for battle, Bones was no shield. A disaster maybe, a distraction certainly, a money-sink absolutely, but no shield.

He didn’t have the observatory skills, the comprehension, nor the cunning to fulfill this role to the extent that was necessary. But Olivia did.

It was time to act.