After the usual dirt-eating classes, Jack went to the library to do some research on the material and items of the crafting process. Proficiency in Artificer was easy to pick up, but the complexity in their higher inventions was no less than those of the Maester. The difference was to become a Maester required a comprehensive understanding of the interaction between matters, much like natural sciences on Earth. A misassumption would have devastating effects. Artificer, on the other hand, only required a moderate amount of knowledge of a certain type of material to be able to craft them into tools.

Jack continued to grind during his time at school, the forge, and the training field. Lately, there had been more teachers of the Warrior faction, teaching the class about weapons and combat theories, as well as practicing physical training, all of which was now child play for Jack.

With such an exhausting schedule like that, Jack barely had time to do anything at night besides sleep.

It was just another weekend when Edward came to his bed and woke him up in the middle of the night.

Jack rubbed his eyes and sleepily said.

“What’s wrong, Ed?”

“Master,” Edward whispered, “I think you need to see this.”

Jack blinked his eyes several times to clear them, pushed the blanket off him, and followed Edward. The butler wouldn’t have awakened him without important matters at hand.

As they walked out of the room door, there was a corpse lying on the ground, bloodied from the stab on its chest, right in front of Jack.

Contrary to Edward’s prediction, Jack calmly processed the situation.

“Ed,” Jack said.

“Yes, master?”

“How did he die?”

“I killed him!” Edward gradually bowed his head.

“Why did you do that?” Jack’s voice was flat, concealing the thoughts in his head.

“For your safety!”

Jack turned his eyes toward the butler, who was now pointing the top of his head toward Jack, concealing his eyes.

“You know why I ask those questions?”

“Because I could have restrained him,” Edward answered.

Jack turned away, looking at the white light flashing from the window at the end of the hallway.

“What’s going on out there?” Jack asked.

“That is what I think you should see since you are at the center of it.”

Jack hurriedly walked to the window, Edward right behind him.

What happened outside of the window sparked fury inside of Jack.

Jasmine Hensley was at the front of Harper’s mansion. She wore a light blue coat sparkling in the night. In front of her was professor Meinhard, who was still wearing his duty-full principal robe, clenching his hand and staring at her in the backyard. They were exchanging words, but Jack couldn’t quite catch it.

“They take action that quickly? How is my mother?”

“Mrs. Sophie is still safe,” Edward answered. “They wouldn’t dare touch Mr. Abraham’s wife.”

Jack glanced at Edward.

“What was that supposed to mean?”

Edward bowed his head, taking a step back.

“Apology, master, but my responsibility is you and you alone. Disheartening as it might sound, but that is the truth. They can target you simply because whatever the case is, you are not Abraham’s son.”

Jack really wanted to put all of his frustration right now on Abraham but knew better of it.

“Abraham is a Crusader,” Edward continued, “nobody wants to mess with him in this middle-of-nowhere of a town. He could and would go rampage if his life partner was to be murdered, but not his adopted son. I think you know why that is the case.”

If Jack was to die, the Corvus would no longer be the Harper’s protectorate. All that left would be the Corvus themselves fighting against whatever force behind this and the Harper against the Hensley. Raising Jack had been a part of the deal. If the contract was to be breached, practically speaking, Abraham wouldn’t take any action. His emotions would not overwhelm his senses. At the end of the day, he owed Jack no more than he owed the Corvus. Maybe he would avenge him in the future, but it wouldn’t be right now, not in this situation.

Jack sighed. Understanding that had really disheartened him. Personally speaking, it had been more than five hundred years since he last tasted family love.

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He shook his head, escaping from his thoughts. Whatever happened, the love from his Harper parents, especially Sophie, had been enough for him.

“Can you protect me, Ed?”

Edward looked toward the direction Jack was facing, where two superior beings were clashing.

“Yes, I can, master Jack!”

When Jack reached the yard with Edward insisting that he keep his head down in futile, the voice of Meinhard and Jasmine was finally in his ear’s reach.

“Meinhard, come to your senses. The empire is making moves against the Corvus. Do you still want to be a loyal dog?”

“Shut your mouth up, old woman.”

Jasmine’s eyes grew cold, squinting at Meinhard.

“The other kids have been executed; one more hardly matters! Ultimately, we can both avoid punishment, can’t we?”

“I don’t care,” Meinhard insisted, “it can’t be him.”

Jasmin pointed at Jack, smirking sourly.

“You would abandon our lifelong friendship just for him?”

“Him or not, I wouldn’t want to maintain a relationship with such a filthy woman such as yourself,” Meinhard responded unwaveringly.

Jasmin kept her cool during the heated conversation; her eyes were still strangely unbothered and graceful.

“Don’t assume I have no idea why you are ignoring everything to protect him,” Jasmin smirked. “You really think he could help you find your lover and her handicapped of a child? Oh, how love has blinded you!”

Meinhard was obviously not as good as Jasmin at hiding his emotions. His long unshaved beard was shaking as he raised his hands up, readying for the first strike.

At that moment, it was the first time Jack had ever felt the pressure a Crusader could create. It suffocated him, sapping away the strength in his legs. It seemed hard to believe that he had been juggling with Meinhard like equals every day at school. Meinhard could have wiped him off of this world with a single thought.

Edward instantly emitted his own aura, counterbalancing the pressure on Jack. With that, Jack was able to stand straight on his feet again, though his back had already been soaked with sweat.

Meinhard channeled two streams of fire around his arms that turned into snakes. He threw the snakes at Jasmin; their paths collided in the middle of the air, fusing together and creating an explosion. From the black smoke came a gigantic fire snake, as big as the elder trees in the garden and as tall as the Harper mansion. Its head slowly leaned down at Jasmin.

Meinhard curved his arm, signaling the snake to attack as, on the other side, Jasmin pulled out her rapier. Keeping her graceful appearance, she took a step back on her right foot, her sword pointing straight at the creature breathing fire at her. With a move so fast Jack’s eyes couldn’t keep up, the tip of the blade launched out some kind of aura, pushing the flame to the side, leaving her position unharmed.

With the initial ranged attack failed, the snake slithered forward, attempting to fight her in melee. She unflinchingly jumped backward while pushing the pointy end of her rapier to the ground. The surprisingly powerful counterforce of the flimsy sword launched her into the air, right above the snake’s head as her flapping coat released tiny blue crystals into the air. They dropped down and created snowflakes big enough to stand on, helping her dance mid-air.

As he was focusing all his attention on the abnormal power of the high-ranking Crusaders, Jack failed to notice a dagger hidden in the snowflakes launching at him.

Edward leaned forward, arm outstretching. In a blink of an eye, he grabbed the blade’s handle, following its momentum to spin his body, changing its trajectory, and launched it right back at Jasmin.

As expected, she gently deflected it with her rapier.

“No wonder the assassin failed,” Jasmin awed, “there’s another Corvus dog here.”

“You wicked woman,” Meinhard cried out.

Jasmin laughed out loud, her feet still on the floating snowflakes, one by one dropping down at the very spot she needed to step on to stay afloat.

“Now, now, old friend, don’t be so cranky! You should know your place. If I really wanted to use the Wintercape, you wouldn’t stand a chance. You really should learn when to back off.”

Meinhard carefully looked at the cape. As if ice countered his most adept element wasn’t bad enough, the cape also slowed the movement of mana of everything around it, excluding the wearer of course.

“Master,” Edward said, “you should prepare to run!”

Jack looked toward Jasmin, who was smiling at him with a predator’s look.

“No need!” Meinhard furiously said.

Having said that, he pulled out a sword from his robe pocket, raising it up and aiming at Jasmin.

“Bastian sent his regards,” Meinhard said, “‘you shameless woman, take my big bad present’, or something like that.”

The snowflakes were suddenly disturbed as Jasmin lost her balance for a brief moment. She dreadingly stared at the sword, which seemed old and fragile with cracks all over it.

“Stormbringer?”

“A copy,” Meinhard said, “but enough to blow you into pieces. Now, who is backing off here?”

Jasmin bit her teeth, losing the graceful appearance she had kept the whole time.

“Bastian chose the Corvus?”

“No,” Meinhard smirked, “he just really hates you.”

Jasmin's eyes were still stuck on Stormbringer. Making up her mind, she left the battlefield on the snowflakes trail without leaving a word behind.

“Pfff, that was too close!” Meinhard exclaimed.

The fiery snake slowly faded away, leaving behind the scattering heat.

Meinhard examined the sword.

“Only one use left. Better not waste it!”

With that taken care of, he headed toward Jack.

“We’ll talk tomorrow. I need to leave now!”

Jack nodded, farewelling Meinhard. A thanks wouldn’t have been sufficient for all he had done tonight.

Jack pondered, observing the former battlefield of two Crusaders. The ground was burnt to ashes. The spot where Jasmin had made her stand was sunken in a small arc. Mother Sophie would be furious when she learned about all of this in the morning.

“I will proceed to clean everything,” Edward said, moving forward, “Mrs. Sophie won’t know about this, even the body.”

“Alright, keep all of this from them and the servants.”

“Won’t Meinhard eventually tell master Abraham too, young master?”

“I’ll talk to him,” Jack said.

Edward nodded, saying nothing more. He left to check on everything one more time, letting Jack return to his room. After a while, a blue curtain glowed around the Harper mansion. It seemed like the Hensley had managed to infiltrate without alerting any of the Harper’s household, be it spies or some powerful assistance. Jack gritted his teeth, realizing the only reason he had kept his life in this house was Edward.

Jack returned to his room and spent the rest of the night planning his next moves.