19695 The 2nd Summer
Since my parents weren’t allowed into Fort Karon beyond the reception, simply on the grounds of not being a member; we could only see each other during the afternoons. Their identity and location are still supposed to be kept secret, in case anybody is still aiming to kidnap me, even if according to Bennett the last attempt happened two years ago. Poor guy tried to sneak in here being only as strong as my mom with these absolute monsters living amongst these walls.
Also, Martha did not disappoint, my morning routine got upped from three rounds to six. I still believe it was worth it though. I might’ve lost a few years of my life that morning, running my legs off, but at least I got the money secured.
The time with my parents has been enjoyable. We visited most of the restaurants in the city, sometimes went into the forest together, yet most importantly we just spent time in each other's company. My mornings and afternoons have been filled with action and adrenalin for years now, so this unusual peace made me feel uneasy.
“I know how you feel sweetie, it’s the same for us but let’s enjoy these moments while they last.” Mom wipes the grill sauce off my mouth, shaking her head at my clumsiness.
I left that there on purpose, no matter my age getting pampered never gets old.
We’re currently sitting on a bench on the main square. The daylight has long since vanished, many smaller specks in the sky taking Solaire’s place to illuminate Aelion alongside the three moons. Not like the moons are actually giving off the light.
Cities like this one don’t rely on natural illumination at night, the streets lit up by many tiny stones embedded into iron poles alongside the bigger roads to bring brightness to the dreaded nights. Here on the market square, countless lanterns float above our heads, hung upon cords fastened between stalls.
The air is filled with countless smells and voices like beastmen making mouth-watering dishes. I don’t know why, maybe because of their animalistic senses, but beastmen simply make the best street food, no debate there. Not every sound is pleasant, unlike the smells, like merchants shouting their wares so loud the crowd has to threaten them to quiet down or else… I’ve never seen this or else before, even though mom has threatened me with that kind of punishment plenty of times. Dad always simply said he’d call mom and let’s just say that worked even better.
Some mages perform spectacular light shows or seemingly life-threatening tricks which to my no long longer rookie eyes reveal nothing more than light magic and clever mana control. A few years of real near-death experiences teach you how to differentiate showmanship and real skill. The few sneaking Halflings and Demikin stealing purses and wares left unattended seem like better entertainment, especially when they get close to being caught.
My favorite attraction is the elven lady sitting nearby, singing a solemn song while playing her harp. Her voice is unnaturally soft and every word leaving her mouth seems to soothe the soul.
“Tavaszi szél vizet áraszt, virágom, virágom
Minden madár társat választ, virágom, virágom
Hát én immár kit válasszak, virágom, virágom
Te engemet, s én tégedet, virágom, virágom…”
I have no clue what she’s singing about, it's elven, yet the melody still calms my young heart.
“Dad, what is she singing about?” I ask my father, as an elf it would only be appropriate if he spoke his kind’s tongue.
He scratches the back of his head, paying closer attention to the lyrics. “It's a song many times older than me. She sings about spring, how nature changes with the arrival of the season, and about finding love. Now that I think about it, this was one of the lullabies my mother sang me in my cradle, a lovely melody.”
“Khm.” Comes the signal from mom sitting on my other side.
“Of course, she doesn’t even come close to your gorgeous mother and her voice.” Dad quickly corrects his mistake.
Never compliment another woman in mom’s presence. I’m an exception.
I just quietly chuckle between them, having long learned my lesson not to become the center of attention if I don’t want to become the next one with a target on my back. The usual bantering doesn’t last long, as our calm family time together is soon coming to an end.
“Eli dear, this summer was wonderful even if a bit too short. We got to see who our daughter grew up to be, the person you chose to become, both as a girl who’ll crush many boy’s hearts and a menace.” Dad’s compliments mean nothing to me, I’m definitely not blushing! “We’ll have to leave early tomorrow morning to make the best time back home. Well, not home for long.” My parents smirk at each other. “We’ve been talking, your mother and I, and we decided we should move to the capital with you.” Dad drops the news.
They act like it’s a big surprise, but the only strange thing would’ve been if they chose otherwise. Let’s be real with ourselves, they want the best for me, the Academy is a great opportunity, and living separately for a few more years is off the table. So yeah, it was a given. I still act dumbfounded, just to give them the satisfaction of delivering the good news.
I get caught immediately.
They are not my parents for nothing, even if we spent years without each other they can see through me with no problem. We say our farewells, as the Academy representatives are said to arrive in two days to accompany us and other students on the way to Sereban and my parents' plan to move to the capital still requires some preparation. The trip from Granhall to Meliorport and back takes more than a week, even with the tempo of experienced travelers, so the next time we meet is gonna be in the capital.
I trudge back to the Fort, my mood soured by the absence of my family's warmth and the fact that I won’t be seeing them again for weeks. It won't be any better during my school days, though at least the distance needed to visit will be much shorter, minutes really.
Fort Karon sort of turned into a second home for me. I know the place so well I could navigate with a blinding headache and a sprained ankle in the pitch dark late at night. Tried and tested. I would still prefer to live back in Meliorport with my parents, although the bathhouse here has grown quite close to my heart, just like the seemingly endless food appearing in the mess hall… money really does stand close to magical wonders.
The gang, I won’t call it the new gang as the previous one kinda disbanded, so the gang grew a little bigger. Kayla, Victor, I, and even August spent most of our time together, subconsciously searching for the group on any given occasion with the new additions being Hugo and Milara. Hugo is a… let’s just say thick-boned boy and Milara is a competitive but friendly girl who gravitated to our group mostly due to Victor’s influence. Yesterday he told me that they had the highest odds of becoming our future teammates and fellow students and to top it off their builds complement our weaknesses well.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Hugo is an absolute unit of a boy, in our age boundaries of course. He always wears a goofy and kind smile on his round head, his light brown hair would make a fine nest for smaller birds and his gentle brown eyes show protectiveness and friendliness above all else. Truly hard to believe that an orphan like him even exists and somehow ends up as a mercenary cadet. He said his goal is to protect people but chose to avoid becoming a guard after seeing them abuse their authority one too many times. Becoming a sellsword is a weird second choice if you ask me. He isn’t really the fighter type, more of a walking shield to stand behind, which I prefer much more as I can deal damage without worrying about being hit.
Milara is much simpler personality-wise. She might be a half-dwarf because she’s short as hell, although that’s my only lead, and has short smooth auburn hair with red eyes to highlight her fiery personality. She walks with confidence and conviction, rarely admits when she's wrong, and challenges anyone questioning her qualities. That’s enough self-confidence for our entire team of six and I know I’m above average myself so that’s really something. She can still be rational and has immense potential for fighting, leading to insanely enjoyable duels. She thinks that defense is for those unconvinced of their own success. Not entirely wrong, still stupid.
So, she decided to go for the most attack-oriented class she had. Anyone could guess the element… Yep, a flaming ax-wielding lunatic. She burns and chops anything in her path and is generally terrible on her own but if a team stands behind her… It’s a lotta damage.
We’ve fought a few times as a team during practice, it went…okay. Without the two newcomers, we perform quite well and even when they join we’re flexible enough to accommodate their special needs and roles.
On the one-on-one duels front, I’m winning most of my matches, except against August where the score is 82:71 to me, and Victor 44:72 to him. Lately, I started winning a few rounds, pure damage besting underhanded trickery in the end. My casting speed and mana control are far beyond my peers courtesy of my race and Savant so I must be quite irritating to fight against. Thankfully I never challenged Kayla after I saw August’s attempt at it, learn from the mistakes of others.
Kayla called her ‘friends’, a fiery squirrel, a big brown hog, and a cute little blue bird. The animals moved in a coordinated fashion and with purpose, Kayla guiding them like chess pieces while also buffing the beasts. None of the creatures were too high level, what sealed the match was numbers as the 1v1 duel turned into a 4v1 dogpile. Brutal.
***
The two days till the Academy guides arrived were…normal, Fist standard. Nothing too deadly, nothing too easy, just the routine. Martha bought us some casual clothes so we would look a bit more presentable on our arrival to Sereban. Mine is a simple white blouse, green knee-length skirt and sandals. Cute yet functional.
The school year only starts with the autumn but we’ll move to Sereban a month early, to complete the enrollment procedures and get ourselves accustomed to the new living environment.
The high and mighty people coming from the greatest city by order of the greatest learning institute looked and felt like cattle in a house full of wolves. Their uniforms are pristine white and blue, the colors of the academy, adorned with golden embroidery and a fancy cape, a stark contrast against the well-worn, battlescared armors. They boast freshly cut hair, stink from cologne and have hands that might’ve never seen even a few hours of hard labor in their life. Are we still the children here?
One of the schmucks clears his throat and speaks with an unnecessarily loud voice. “On behalf of the great Academy of Seraban and by order of the chancellor we have arrived to retrieve the nominees of the Fist.” He says the last word with apparent disgust and no fear whatsoever. “They may lack the noble background or the necessary genius but our esteemed chancellor keeps the old traditions. He provides the opportunity for you, mercenaries, to send your younglings to our beloved capital for us to educate them.”
After years of living with practiced killers, you learn to sense two important things even without Skills. First is someone’s experience from years of work, and the second is bloodlust, the latter enshrouding the main hall right now.
Bennett motions for us to step forth, looking as well-groomed as orphans could ever be. Less unruly hair, clean clothes, well-fed, nothing more we could ask for. Even if I actually have parents. Speaking of parents, I still have dad’s bracelet on my wrist, never took it off, and the watch mom entrusted to me is packed carefully in my luggage.
The two men hover their eyes over us, an unmasked frown climbing upon their faces. “They’ll do.” Could be more disdainful, still even this much is stretching the line. “Let us depart right away, we do not wish to waste any more time aimlessly traveling instead of researching the mysteries of the arcane.” He turns to leave. “Something peasants like yourselves would never understand.” He adds with a haughty attitude.
If only he knew…
As unimpressive as the representatives were, their ride is a whole other story. Let's start with the monstrous horses, at least double the weight of any normal animal of their kind I've ever seen and…
[Horse lvl ???]
[Horse lvl ???]
Yep, not the normal stuff, maybe some weird physical class. Or species in their case. If they are as strong as they are big then they could pull an entire building, let alone a carriage.
Speaking of carriage, it’s the same blue-white color scheme as anything related to Valeria with the Academy crest paltered on the side. The imperial white phoenix is in the middle with an open book behind it like the wings of knowledge and a seemingly endless body of water filling the bottom part. Quite stylish.
The fancywork be damned, I care little for those things. The magic infused into the carriage, however… The inside is many times the size of the whole coach, a masterful display of space magic.
I activate Mana Vision to inspect the structure better while boarding the thing but I can’t even comprehend the otherwise invisible cavalcade in front of my eyes. Beautiful. Sadly this Skill is still dependent on levels and stats so it can only supply so much information. If a spellwork is too strong or complicated, it would appear to me like someone vomited crayons and this one isn’t much different, almost like a basket of colorful jumbled yarn. There’s also a chance for an assassin, let’s say… mom’s level, to hide their control over mana, it would be so subtle I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference from the ordinary.
Two Fist members accompany the gang as a courteous gesture towards the chancellor and also act as escorts for the journey. The title of chancellor itself sounds really cool and holds real power inside the Empire, being the head of the main learning institution in a country of millions. Anyways, the two mercenaries accompanying us are Bennett and another guy. He’s the quiet type, let’s just call him Steve for now, who by his equipment should be some kind of Rogue. Cool daggers for sure.
***
The week-long trip, that's right an entire week, made my time inside the carriage feel like being grounded for doing nothing. This small house rolling on wheels has four dedicated bedrooms, one for us girls, one for the boys, one for Bennett and Steve, and the last and probably the biggest one for the silk-robed monkeys. Let’s just say that being in a room with Milara and Kayla for an extended period of time is a great incentive to come up with new ways of using magic. Like canceling out sound. Okay, trying and mostly failing to understand how the space inside was expanded or how we have fresh air and water in such quantities was also a great way to spend time.
We should only be a few days away but that’s just a simple guess based on the number of times we lay down to sleep at what should’ve been nighttime. There are no actual windows to the outside from our room and we haven't made a single stop since leaving Granhall. I remember them saying we needed to pick up some other future students on our way, not that I’m complaining. The faster we are the better and I don’t want to share this room with any random person.
All in all the ride was magically smooth and marvelously boring… smooth and boring until everything got turned upside down. On the fourth day of the journey, near the Flatmore Woods between Sereban and Granhall, an explosion tore the carriage in two.