(A/N: I understand that this chapter is a bit uneventful and that David has had a low appearance lately, but the next chapter will focus on him. This novel has co-protagonists; David and Calvin. Billy and David will be the stars of the next 2 chapters.)
Sesia POV
Like usual, Antoine's room smelled faintly of old parchment and polished steel. Antoine Remy sat behind his cluttered oak desk, his expression skeptical as he listened to me recount my encounter with Calvin Silver. Geoffrey and Calvin were previous students of his, and even with Geoffrey's vouch for me, his doubt still never went away.
"You're telling me," he remarked, "That Calvin Silver, a student I personally trained, who was barely above average in his class, tied in strength with Sheen Aquarius, one of the strongest exorcists of this generation?"
"I've known you for a while, I wouldn't lie."
"I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it myself. He's...different now." Geoffrey added.
Antoine leaned back in his chair, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "Calvin was never special. Decent enough, but not someone who stood out. I can't imagine him leaping to Sheen's level so suddenly." He gestured vaguely at the scattered reports on his desk, "I've been studying all night...but I only got the report on the previous investigation on him. We investigated him, of course, when he raised his blade against the crowned heir. Traced him as far as Bronze Cliff before his trail went cold. No one's heard from him since."
He stood abruptly, crossing the room to a tall cabinet lined with enchanted instruments. From it, he retrieved a sleek pair of magical binoculars.
"Let's see what the cliff shows us today, shall we?" he invited.
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Antoine arranged a ride for us toward the cliff, it took a few days and we had a wind exorcist to lift us up so that we didn't have to hike at the more difficult parts. The cliff itself wasn't much, we met with a couple of hikers on the way here. Antoine adjusted the binoculars before handing them to me. I was just looking at the forest and the horizon. I saw nothing and handed it to him to check, also expecting nothing.
Then his expression froze.
"What is it?" I asked.
He didn't answer immediately, instead muttering a spell to enhance the clarity of the image. Slowly, he lowered the binoculars, his face pale but composed.
"It seems I owe you an apology, Sesia." he said as he brought the binoculars down and handed it to me.
"What did you see?"
I raised them to my eyes, focusing on the scene he'd been watching. Far off, at the edge of the horizon, 2 figures clashed, their movements too fast for it to be an ordinary exorcist. Even from this distance, I recognized one of them. And zooming in further only proved it.
Calvin Silver.
He was locked in combat with a demon, their blows shaking the landscape
"Let's go."
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Calvin POV
"Do you reckon that Astrid might know anything about a talking sword?"
"Well, we have no other weapon expert, go get her, Rose should know where she is." Leah replied, "If not, well, they shouldn't be too far."
"What are you 2 talking about?" the sword demanded.
I just then teleported home while I let Leah and Duke entertain the sword. Rose and Astrid weren't home, which meant that they both should be eating out, so I tried to sense them and sure enough, they weren't that far away, they were at a place that's famous for their grilled meats. I got there and Astrid jumped and clung onto me once I got to the entrance.
"Calvin! What are you doing here?" Astrid asked.
"Let's skip the greetings, can we go somewhere real quick?"
"Hmm? Why?" She asked.
"Something that I need your expertise with, and since grandma will ask you to stay the night, I'll bring Rose along too. You there, can I reserve food for pick up in an hour or two? I want 20 of everything."
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"Ah, the ugly man is back." the sword said as I came out of a portal with Astrid and Rose, "And he brought back one-and-a-half beautiful women."
"Half?"
"The one with the red hair. Why is half her face like that?"
"Yeah, sorry, Billy has a bit of an attitude." Leah sighed, "Anyway, it claimed that it could fly and fight for you, but is more effective in someone's hand. It apparently also instills into you some sword technique for practice and fights if you utilize its powers."
I don't need other sword techniques, learning about them is useful, but what uses are ancient outdated sword skills for?
"That's it? So the talking part is just an unnecessary addition?"
"Unnecessary?!" the sword bellowed in rage, "I am needed to unite the 13 cursed blades and the other 7 holy blades!"
"Huh?"
"Without me, Silent Night and United Hope will forever remain separate."
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"Oh my goodness, Calvin, I love you so much!" Astrid blurted out before hugging me and rushing to the sword and pulling it out and examining it."
"Uh, have you heard of a talking sword before?" I asked as she was swinging the sword around.
Billy was cursing her for not fighting the way it wanted.
"Only in myths and stories, but most weaponsmiths and even historians would say that such a thing wouldn't exist...to think...can I have this for a bit?"
"I promised the dwarves that they can also check it out, so I guess you can join them. I'll tell Grandma that you'll be late-"
"What are you talking about?" she cut me off, "I love you more than a talking holy sword, I'll check the sword tomorrow."
"You pick his sword over me?!" Billy boomed again, "You are thinking with only your pants, how big or great is it for you to choose that thing over me?! If it's my size, he needs serious medical attention."
"Let's just go get dinner, I'll talk with David, it seems like we can't trade this away for my cursed blade. It's too useful."
"Can you hold him for a bit? I want to test something." Astrid requested as she handed the sword to me.
"Ah!" Billy screamed as I held him, "Don't use me or any holy sword, we cannot help you, maybe if we're merged into United Hope again at least."
"Why?"
"Your...angel bloodline, it's preventing me from being of help, the voice is very strong." Billy explained, "It says that making you strong also makes your demon lineage stronger, and it doesn't want that. If I am in the form of United Hope, then I can help you, this voice is not that potent."
"Well, that solves one problem."
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The town was alive with activity as we teleported back, the sword in my hand gleaming faintly in the night didn't help either. The dwarves gathered around, their wide eyes fixed on the blade like it was a treasure straight from their legends, the chatters were loud but I let everyone else handled it as I sensed something off. Familiar presence.
I made my way to it and saw 3 familiar figures talking with the dwarven chief. Sesia, Geoffrey, and one of my former instructors, Sir Remy, or just Antoine now since I don't have to address him formally anymore.
They saw me at the same time I saw them.
"Greetings, we've come in peace." Sesia said as he raised both of his arms up.
"You better or else I'll really kill you this time."
"We saw you fighting a demon, they're usually S rank at least...considering that you're all safe now means that you've exorcised it properly, and I just want to have a proper conversation with you, we've been nearby the whole day and thought that now would be the right time."
"I'll meet you somewhere tomorrow, I got a dinner that I have to attend to."
"Silver, our matters are of utmost priority." Antoine interjected, "A demon appearing and being eliminated in the span of less than an hour is not-"
"Yes, and my dinner is going to take priority over whatever you have to say. If I'm rude, it's because I am, you know why."
"Are you seriously going to hold a grudge for something that happened more than 6 years ago?"
"Yeah, y'all are doing the same for me, why can't I?"
"Would you like to accept a card from the queen of hearts?" Antoine offered, "She is my cousin, I can convince her to."
"A card?" Sesia questioned, "Forgive me as this is not my place to judge, but the Heart Kingdom shouldn't hand out the cards to anyone. Especially a man whose loyalty you can't guarantee."
"The cards can't be used or transferred unless the person has absolute loyalty, that's the power of the Heart Kingdom, so if I do, they can." I answered, "But I won't."
"Let's rest for tonight." the chief intervened, "I'll lend you 3 a place to stay, and Calvin, you can visit tomorrow for a discussion, I rather not have to explain the disappearance of 3 powerful exorcists."
"Antoine, just...leave...I seriously don't want to see you today."
"You seriously need to get over it, I'll wait till tomorrow when you're thinking clearly."
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Rose POV
Grandma Linda was already there, her arms wide open as we approached. We were planning to go back to Soul's Peak, our home, for Astrid's forge, where she worked, since we got a bulk order, but spending a few extra days here is fine. It's already hard enough convincing him to let us fly home on our own since we don't want to rely on his spatial magic.
"Oh, my sweet girls!" Linda exclaimed, pulling us both into a tight hug.
Calvin had teleported us back only moments ago, and after a brief goodbye, he disappeared again to pick up our dinner.
"I swear," Grandma Linda said, shaking her head as she released us. "That boy never stops moving."
After about an hour or so, he came back and started arranging dinner by pulling out the food from his spatial storage. There was a lot, but Linda could just put whatever was left over in the freezer. David felt a bit out of place, so Calvin sat next to him and talked to him while he let the rest of us catch up. After dessert, he didn't offer to help us clean up at all, which was weird, he was clearly in a bad mood.
"Don't worry about him," I said quickly, catching the curious look from Astrid, Leah, and Grandma Linda, "I've got it handled."
"Are you sure?" Leah asked.
"Yeah, you may know him longer, but this stuff is my specialty."
"You once told a kid that Santa wasn't real and made him cry for calling you ugly."
"He called me ugly."
"That doesn't justify anything."
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Calvin sat on the edge of the bed, his back to the door, shoulders slumped. His hands rested on his knees, fingers idly clenching and unclenching. He didn't even glance up when I stepped inside.
"Calvin?" I said softly, closing the door behind me.
He exhaled, long and slow, before finally answering.
"It's nothing. Just...seeing Antoine brought up some old memories." he responded.
I walked over and sat beside him, close but not crowding him.
"...Is this about Sir Yora?"
"Yeah," he muttered. "I couldn't stay there after...everything. Not when the only reason I even had a place there was gone. The man who renewed my faith in humanity. My benefactor. He paid for my scholarship and vouched for me when no one else wanted to. And he..."
He trailed off, his fists clenching.
"...he died during the ghost outbreak at the royal capital," I finished for him.
"Died saving everyone else. But the school, under the orders of the kingdom, couldn't even call him a hero. They refused to acknowledge his sacrifice because it would've tarnished their perfect record of 0 casualties," He scoffed, "So they just erased him. Pretended he never existed."
I didn't say anything for a moment, letting his words settle in the air.
"He deserved better," Calvin continued, his voice quieter now, "They didn't just let him die; they let him be forgotten...I would kill him...but Yora would be disappointed."
"You haven't forgotten him. And you're proof of what he did. You're here, doing what you do, because of him."
"You really think that's enough?" he asked quietly.
"I do, because every time you help someone, every time you stand up for what's right, you're keeping his memory alive. You're showing the world what he stood for."
"I'm not though...I've killed...not just ghosts...demons...it's hard to say that I can make him proud...make my parents proud."
"Calvin, you've had to make impossible choices, choices no one should ever have to face. But those decisions don't define who you are. The fact that you even care about this, that it weighs on you, shows the kind of person you are. You've saved countless lives, Mine and Astrid's included, you've put yourself on the line for people who don't even know your name. Yora didn't help you because he thought you'd be perfect. He helped you because he saw what you could become. And I know your parents would be proud of the man you've become too."
"...Thank you."
"Feeling better?"
"Not much."
"Should I get Duke in here to help?"
"It's fine...do you think you can keep me calm while I talk to the guy?"
"Of course." I answered and held his hand, "It's the least I can do, but please curse at him a little, he does deserve it."
"...You're supposed to be the nice one."
"I love you too."
"That's not even close to an 'I love you'."
"Yes, I understand that I'm your favorite."
"...Duke is."