╚╩╩╩╝ Claude ╚╩╩╩╝

Just a few days had passed since the event with Campo’s goons. Astrid recovered surprisingly fast and had been working with Hamil, teaching him her magic stuff and things. I didn’t really pay attention to their lessons since Jaime wasn’t a mage.

Early in the morning, in a field just outside of town, Jaime and Damian were working to remove the stumps from trees harvested by the townspeople. With his magic, Damian was able to cleanly pull the stump from the ground with his bare hands, after which he would hand them to Jaime who would carry them over to the pile nearby. The black aura emanating from her eyes had grown slightly stronger compared to when it had first appeared. The purpose of this exercise, as Damian explained, was to help her get comfortable with activating and deactivating her aura efficiently.

Before she picked up the stump, she would place a hand to her chest and activate her aura, giving her the strength to be able to carry it. She would then drop the stump into a pile and repeat the same action to deactivate her aura, repeating the process as the day went on. Damian and Astrid were both able to activate their aura at will; Astrid simply explained that it would come with time and more experience.

It didn’t take long for Jaime to become tired, but compared to the past few days, her endurance had strengthened considerably. She had grown to like the tight feeling in her arms and gut that developed as she worked. The growth that she had experienced made her feel proud.

A few more minutes passed and Damian raised his arms to the sky, “All done!” He stretched as the aura faded from his eyes and started towards the inn.

Jaime deactivated her own aura and followed after him, “What’s next?” She asked as she caught up to him.

“I haven’t decided yet. I figured that you should sit in with Astrid and Hamil while I thought about it.”

In their short time together, Astrid and Jaime had grown to be very close. When there was no work or training to be done, the two of them would be sitting together, talking about pretty much anything that they could. Damian and Hamil had grown close as well, just not in the same way; they were more accidental friends. With Astrid always occupied with other things, Damian was forced to find his own things to do during his free time, so he decided to start talking to Hamil. It was awkward at first, but they eventually found their common ground which was, strangely enough, gardening. The hostess had a small patch of plants in the back that she would use as personal rations if she was ever short of food. The two boys found it and asked the hostess for permission to care for them. She happily gave them permission.

In the back corner of the inn, Astrid and Hamil sat facing each other. Hamil’s creme colored hair was drenched in sweat. They had both arms extended, though Hamil’s were trembling as the purple aura flowed from his tightly closed eyelids.

“What are they doing?” Jaime whispered to Damian.

“This is a part of how Astrid trains. I’m never sure what she’s doing, but I guess it works.”

Noticing our less than silent voices, Astrid flinched and dropped her arms to the table in exasperation. Hamil took this chance and dropped his own arms, the aura fading from his eyes.

Astrid’s expression was irritated, though she didn’t say a word, choosing to instead glare daggers into her companion.

“I hope we aren’t interrupting.” Damian muttered, avoiding her gaze.

“We were about to take a break anyway.” She replied, narrowing her eyes at Damian who had begun to sweat. “Come sit down Jaime. I assume he’s finished his lesson and can’t think of what to do next.” She said in a smugly mocking tone.

Jaime ran over and sat down next to the exhausted Hamil. I felt bad for the boy. I experienced this kind of non-stop training in the military, but he’d been going through this ever since Jaime met him, and possibly even before. Astrid was not easy on him, though he never tried to get out of it. The boy was admirable.

“Where should we start?” Damian asked as he approached the table.

“Let me take this one.” Astrid said, patting him on the arm.

“Yes ma’am.” He replied quietly as he obediently sat down in the chair.

I’d noticed a very common behavior from Damian during our time with him. He frequently acted tough and cool, but was the exact opposite around Astrid, bending to her every whim and getting easily embarrassed. It was obvious what was going on and I felt sorry for the man.

“Neither of you has any kind of formal education, so I’ll start from the beginning.” She then got excited and spoke with a wide grin. “I’ve always wanted to be a teacher.”

Over the next hour, Astrid taught the two kids about the world we lived in. Personally, I never had the chance to receive any kind of education, so I joined in.

We lived on the continent of Teleth. On Teleth, there exists two warring countries: Farrol to the north and Kiech to the south. Pyle, where we currently are, is in Kiech and near the far southern edge of the continent. Both of these countries have been locked in a stalemate for the past century, both sides throwing manpower at the other, leading to the perpetual loss of countless soldiers from both powers. This I already knew. If I hadn’t been forced home, I would have probably been just another soldier lost in battle. I wouldn’t have been able to be with Jaime like I was now, but I also might not have lost my sons. Though I shouldn’t dwell on the past. I have Jaime now, and protecting her is all that matters.

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Astrid continued to share, mostly about Kiech now. The current monarch was His Highness, King Regna Kiech. His Highness had five children, three daughters and two sons, with the eldest, Princess Faria, as next in line for the crown. The other four of the royal family were still vying for the crown, or rather, others were doing it on their behalf. Various groups among the nobility were planning on using members of the royal family to gain more power. This was all possible since the royal family was new, and the children all still young and impressionable.

“How do you know all that?” Hamil asked.

Astrid winked at him and answered, “I have my sources.” She then leaned back and turned to Damian with her head tilted. “That’s history. What’s next?”

“Basic magic? I taught Jaime how to use her warrior abilities, but nothing past that.”

Astrid nodded her head and leaned back as she scratched at her neck. She then smiled sheepishly as she muttered, “A-Actually, I skipped those classes. So why don’t you take charge?”

Damian slowly turned to Jaime and Hamil with an almost smug expression. I recognized that look. My wife and I had given each other that look when we were raising Callum and Levi. It was the look that she gave me every time one of the kids chose to play with her instead. Likewise, I did the same to her when the opportunity arose. It was a playful competition between the two of us.

If what Hamil had told Jaime about her new powers was a lesson, what Damian taught was a seminar. I wasn’t sure how well Jaime could learn, so I decided to listen in as well as I could. If Jaime forgot something in the future, I could help her remember if I knew it myself.

Anyone who can use magic, either a warrior or a mage, is known as a sorcerer. The source of all magic in a sorcerer is mana. Mana is slowly developed in the body, starting at the heart, and is pumped through the body with the blood. The color of the mana directly relates to its strength.

It has been theorized that the color is derived from the purity of the mana as a cloth becomes brighter as the dirt is washed away. Along with purity, some believe that there are other factors that affect the strength of mana, as no two sorcerers are the same, regardless of rank. Rank is defined by the color of the user’s mana, from black to white and is raised through a special ritual performed by masters of the higher rank; so if a purple rank mage were to be raised to the indigo stage, an indigo rank mage would need to perform the ritual.

At this point, Damian started to list off the names of the people responsible for all the knowledge he’d shared. I tried to memorize the names, but some of them were so ridiculously abstract that they almost seemed made up.

Continuing, Damian explained how a sorcerer’s magic functions in more detail. When a sorcerer activates their aura, something opens in their body, causing the mana to react in waves until it reaches the head. From this point, Damian admitted he didn’t know much about how mages work, but he did know that things worked different past this point for both sides. For a warrior, when the activated mana reaches their head, all of their senses are elevated, the strongest reaction being sight. Next, the mana throughout the body flows out through the skin and wraps around the body, strengthening it.

“The rest of this is a little more advanced, so we’ll put this off.” Damian announced before turning to Astrid. “Miss mage.”

A bead of sweat fell down her cheek as she started to teach. She started off a little rough, occasionally stuttering, but even then I could tell that she knew what she was talking about. Jaime and Hamil’s patience definitely helped her get more comfortable.

For a mage, when the activated mana reaches their head, they become more sensitive to all mana around them. Everything produces mana in some way, though it is unusable to sorcerers as it is. From this point, a mage’s mana remains inside their body. They are, however, able to use the mana in their bodies to summon what is known as a magic ring. A magic ring is a blank template that allows a mage to control the mana outside of their bodies. By manipulating the ring by etching words into it, they are able to perform specific feats. This etching is the mage and the ring communicating to share exactly what it is that the mage wants it to do. The more elaborate and complex the spell, the more likely it is to succeed and the longer it will take to cast.

“So before, when I used my magic to stop that bandit, I told the ring to freeze him in place. What I etched into the ring, however, was much more detailed.” Astrid explained, turning to Hamil with wide eyes. “Be very careful with your words. Vague meanings can have terrible consequences.”

After she finished, Astrid turned to Damian who just shrugged his shoulders. Neither of them said a word for a short time.

I could tell that either they had forgotten where they were going with the lesson. Damian had mentioned something about more advanced topics and nudged Jaime about it, but surprisingly she ignored my words.

Hamil spoke up, “Are you going to teach us the more advanced stuff too?”

The two Freelancers exchanged another look before Damian answered the boy’s question.

“There are some things that you aren’t ready to learn yet, but we can share a little.”

Astrid spoke up, cutting off Damian before he could start. Her voice weak and eyes distant, “The most powerful things in this world are emotions. Sometimes they can bring you greater strength than you knew you had, other times they cripple you, leaving you broken and twisted.”

Quietly, her companion put a hand to her back, gently rubbing it.

“She’s right. If you ever feel like your emotions are overwhelming you, close off your heart and do everything you can to regain control.” Damian spoke in a stern, hard voice. His tone was heavy enough to give me chills. And I don’t have skin.

He continued, explaining some of the ways that emotion can affect magic. How it grows stronger, more wild and destructive with intense emotions and how it can fail with darker emotions.

As they finished, Pert came in through the front door. He was leading a shorter, well dressed man whom he brought to the hostess before coming to our table.

“I’ve got our ride to Renae. He was ecstatic to hear that two Freelancers were coming with.”

“When do we leave?” Astrid asked, her voice still a little shaken.

“Tomorrow morning. After we get his carts loaded and people have been paid.”

We’d seen very little of Pert since the first night. I often spotted him doing various odd jobs for the people in town. He always looked to be in a hurry.

“I guess we don’t have much time left for training.” Damian stated before turning to Astrid, “How about a quick demonstration of some teamwork.”

“A chance to stretch?” Astrid pondered. “That should help a bit.”

“Hey, do you have any plans for all those stumps we’ve pulled?”

“We usually use them for firewood after they’ve dried out.” Pert answered.

“So it’s fine as long as we don’t burn them?”

“I guess.”