That was enlightening. I could still remember the rune I saw during the fight. I looked at my hands. So I could transform my mana now, if I wanted to?

“Careful.” Sarah warned. “There is a reason why I did not just tell you about runes when you found your magic. Elemental mana can’t be reabsorbed by your core. And without a spell ready it will just sit inside you. You remember our talk about affinities? Without that, the death mana would have killed you as well. You should not play with elemental mana until you have learned a spell to properly dispose of it.”

“But could I not just push the elemental mana into the ground, or something? I managed to push it into the mage…”

“Sure. But that takes longer than powering a spell. If you turned your mana into fire, something you might have no affinity for, it would have burned off your hands before you could eject it all. Only a very strong affinity gives you complete immunity. Remember that.”

I took that warning to heart. If my affinity for death magic were lower I would have hurt myself.

“So recruit, what do you make of this attack?” Sarah asked.

The question surprised me. “I… I am not sure…”

“We will use this as an exercise. With everything I have told you so far, what do you make of this?”

My mind was still dealing with everything that had happened. Tim's death, me killing a mage, the pain I suffered,... But now I was given a task. I tried to focus on that. I tried to make sense of the attack.

“Normal bandits would not have mages. And they would not attack soldiers. We had nothing visible that was worth stealing. You said mages are rare and yet someone committed two to this ambush. Did they want me?”

“That was pretty good. Yes, two mages is a lot. About one in a hundred has enough mana to use it in some way, one in a thousand has enough to become a real mage. For humans at least. But they were not combat trained. What you saw here is the difference between a normal mage and a military one. The fighters they had were ok. Standard mercs. I suspect this was done by a noble. One without much command experience. A different nation, or anyone with military training, would not have screwed this up.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

I looked around the devastation again. All of this because of me? Because someone did not want me to become a mage?

“Don’t blame yourself.” Sarah said. She must have read my expression. “This is because some stuck-up noble fears his faction will lose influence. This is all on them, and not on you.”

She was right. They decided to attack me. All I did was exist. And somebody was not ok with that. I looked at my hands. I had magic now. One day I would show them.

“Is there a way to find out who sent them?” I asked.

“Possibly. Your magic was only just discovered. Whoever leaked that information was either from the hospital, or at the auction. And they managed to organise an ambush rather quickly. But any investigation will be drowned in politics. We will report this attack and their descriptions, but I would not expect much.”

So there was a good chance the investigation would be buried. Or interfered with, at least. It was out of my hands. The only thing I could do was get stronger.

“Looks like you have calmed down enough. It’s time to help with the cleanup.” Sarah said.

“Yes ma'am.”

Leaving bodies around might attract monsters. So we stripped them of their gear and burned them. Since Edith’s leg was injured, she sorted through the loot and watched over the horses. John searched for the enemy camp, which he found not too far away. The ten horses were a welcome sight and allowed us to transport the loot.

“Why didn't you take a healing potion?” I asked Edith.

“Those are expensive. We only use them in emergencies. This injury is not bad enough to justify a potion. I am not even sure if the Captain has another one. We have a healing salve and some bandages. That will prevent an infection.”

“What if we are attacked again?”

“I will make do. Wouldn't be the first time.”

When we finished with the cleanup we burned Tim’s body in a short ceremony. It was clear that the soldiers had seen a lot of death before. It was not their first comrade they buried. Afterwards we continued our journey. Since my horse died, I was allowed to pick one from the attackers. My choice was a great black one, with white hair around its hooves and a white spot on its forehead.

Thankfully we were not attacked the following days. Edith’s leg healed nicely and we made good time. On the 4th day of our journey we made camp in the evening, just two hours away from our goal, the city Lupos.

“Could we not push on and arrive today?” I asked Sarah as I was setting up the tent.

“We could. But there is no reason to push the horses that hard. It would be dark when we arrive as well. Not a great time to get you settled. And I doubt that there will be another attack on the road. You should be more concerned about something happening in the city.”

“Why the city? Wouldn't that draw attention?

“Yes, but there are other ways than a direct attack. Like poison. Or bribery. I have no doubt that many will try to sway you at first and only use violence if they fail. The school will start on the 31st Syles. So you have some time to prepare. You will get some private lessons until then, I think. They will tell you more when we arrive.”

Tomorrow would be the 18th Syles. That gave me about two weeks to prepare. I hoped it would be enough to not embarrass myself in front of the other students.