Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 134. Elder Samuel’s Favor.
While Elder Samuel and the rest of those who had been kept in the dark about Mikaela’s rapid growth marveled over what they were seeing, Mikaela himself had already forgotten about them altogether. He didn’t think that Laien’s spear arts changing so little could make such a big difference and open so many new possibilities! The more he learned the more his own sword arts evolved, what in turn caused Laien to adjust and develop his own technique further. It truly was just like Raphael had once mused; the two of them were extremely compatible as a teacher and a student.
The two of them weren’t using much spiritual energy at all as they both naturally opted to rely mainly on their insights from the very beginning. As such, they continued to clash against each other for quite some time, all the way until Mikaela’s movements started slowing down as he began running out of stamina. He was sweaty all over, his wet shirt was sticking tightly to his body as he was breathing heavily, but he was he too excited to stop for as long as he had enough strength to move his arms and legs. He simply came to enjoy the feeling of getting better too much to for something like exhaustion to matter to him in any significant way.
“…” It could be said that by this point, Elder Samuel was slightly weary of being surprised. The strength and potential that Mikaela displayed had already shocked him beyond belief, but the unexpected amount of spirit and tenacity on Mikaela’s part was just as surprising. He had sparred with Mikaela before and he often talked with his teachers to learn how he was doing, but in both cases, he could tell that Mikaela lacked that burning desire to become powerful which the most outstanding young geniuses had. He had been trying to find a teacher who could rouse Mikaela’s spirits, but no matter who he sent, nothing much seemed to change. Even Raphael wasn’t able to make Mikaela commit himself wholeheartedly to cultivation!
And yet, in just a few days his youngest son changed so drastically. Had someone told him before he called Mikaela and Raphael over here that something like that was going to happen, he would have called him a fool. However, it was right there, before his very own eyes. Unless he wanted to deny reality, he had no choice but to accept that the trigger to this exceptional change in his youngest son was none other than Laien.
If in some way, the alliance of his country and Makarash came crumbling down due to a series of unfortunate events, he would be unwilling to give up on Laien’s friendship! His greatest dream was to make the Ruishi Federation into an everlasting entity, but there was one thing that he valued more than this goal of his, and that was his current wife and Mikaela’s mother, and Mikaela himself! If he was made to choose between his country and the happiness of those two people who were dearest to him, he would unhesitatingly choose the latter.
Just around the time Elder Samuel was overcome with a flood of inner emotions, Mikaela ran out of strength. After exchanging a few more quick blows with Laien in the last desperate attempt to break through his iron-tight defenses, his body refused to move anymore and he collapsed to his knees. He supported himself with his hands as to not fall down, his sword landing on the rocky ground alongside them. Luckily, his skin was already quite tough as he was a martial practitioner of the fifth rank, so just collapsing like that wouldn’t leave any bruises on his knees and hands.
“Whew,” Laien let out a heavy breath and stored his spear away in his interspatial ring. Although he was far stronger than Mikaela, he had after all restricted himself and confronted Mikaela with pure technique. He had even gotten through a rather exhausting fight against Reian not even full two hours ago, so by the time he finished the spar with Mikaela, he inevitably became quite tired.
“Nice fight,” he said and chuckled a little. “Take a look at your father’s face, it’s quite something,” he pointed out with a smile.
As tired as he was, Mikaela couldn’t resist the urge and quickly raised his head and looked to the side, then revealed a joyous smile. His main goal today was to give his father a big surprise and given the kind of an expression his father wore at the moment, he could tell that he had thoroughly succeeded.
Right after Mikaela glanced at him, Elder Samuel smiled and stood up. How could he wait for Mikaela to come over after the boy had shown him such an amazing spectacle? He walked over to the two youths and without caring much about the state of his grey robe, kneeled in front of Mikaela and sat down on top of his own legs. His smile grew even warmer when Mikaela looked him in the eye in a half-proud and half-shy manner, akin to a cute kitten who wanted to play but wasn’t quite sure if he was allowed to act on all the overwhelmingly positive emotions that ran wild within him.
“You gave me one hell of a surprise,” Elder Samuel said in a gentle, but also very much thrilled tone. “I could tell how strong you’ve gotten and I saw how much you enjoyed yourself as you fought. You really managed to improve at a monstrous rate, I can’t begin to tell you how surprised I am! As a father, I’m proud to have a son like you,” he said simply, trying his best to convey to Mikaela how happy and proud he was to see him doing so extremely well. However, he felt that no matter what words he chose to say, they would still be inadequate to the emotions he wished to express.
Yet, contrary to Elder Samuel who paid a lot of attention to the words themselves, Mikaela was overflowing with joy and happiness thanks to the genuine and emotion-filled praise he received from his father. Unable to contain himself anymore, he leaped forward and hung himself over his father’s neck. “Dad, I love you!” he exclaimed and hugged his father tightly. At the moment, he was feeling so happy that he didn’t know what to do with himself, so he simply closed his eyes and enjoyed the ecstatic state he was in all the while squeezing his father with all his strength.
Admittedly, Elder Samuel had been taken a little off-guard as his expression changed for a second when Mikaela jumped at him. However, he soon laughed heartily and returned the hug, keeping his lovely son in his arms. “Your father loves you too, Mikaela,” he said quietly, though despite his relatively old age, he couldn’t help but grow a little embarrassed when he noticed the amiable and yet playful smile with which Laien was looking at him. If he didn’t come to favor Laien so heavily, he might have gotten a bit frustrated that the boy didn’t back off on his own or act with some more tact. However, as the things stood now, he was ready to overlook all such little things as long as it was Laien doing them, even though he wasn’t quite consciously aware of it just yet.
After a long moment of hugging, Elder Samuel placed Mikaela on his own two feet, tousled his silvery hair and also stood up. Then, he shifted his gaze towards Laien for a second before deciding to ask Mikaela one more thing. “You mentioned quite a few times that you learned a lot from Laien, but to be clear, let me ask you one thing. Was he truly the one who made your amazing performance today possible?” he asked, unconsciously shifting to a relatively formal tone as per his habit. Whenever he was dealing with something he considered to be serious, he would pick his words carefully. It was something that he had long since learned to do as someone who actively involved himself in the politics of his country.
“Mm,” Mikaela nodded with a bright smile on his face without a moment of hesitation. “I didn’t tell you everything because I wanted to surprise you, but Laien is really amazing! He taught me all of those things in a super interesting and easy-to-understand way! You know how I couldn’t learn how to use the Principle of Energy at all, right? He explained it with bubbles and stopping movement and all so it was easy to imagine! Also, there was that other thing he did-“
“Wait, wait,” Elder Samuel raised his hands and laughed helplessly. He didn’t want to interrupt Mikaela when he started to explain it so excitedly, but it didn’t look like the boy was about to finish anytime soon and he was getting a little all over the place too as his story progressed, so he went ahead and stopped him for the moment. “You can tell me all of that when we sit down in a bit, okay? I promise I will listen then, so let me exchange a few words with your friend first,” he requested with a smile and patted Mikaela’s head when he nodded obediently and went quiet.
“Laien,” Elder Samuel spoke up, looking Laien straight in the eye. At the same time, it didn’t escape Laien’s notice that Elder Samuel used his spiritual energy to thoroughly block his voice from spreading, making it so only he and Mikaela could hear him. “I can’t describe how grateful I am to you. Sharing one’s insights and one’s secrets with others isn’t something that happens commonly, not to mention the splendid effects you two showed me today. I do fully appreciate your actions and I assure you that if there’s anything you might need of me now or in the future, as long as you are friends with Mikaela, I will do my utmost to help you regardless of the circumstance,” he declared with full seriousness, his eyes shining with steadfast conviction, though he did end up smiling when he saw the look of disbelief which painted itself on Laien’s face.
Were his words of Elder Samuel’s spoken thoughtlessly, one would ask? Absolutely not! He had said what he said while keeping in mind his position as the dominant Grand Elder and in practice, the leader of the Ruishi Federation. Did he not fully consider the meaning behind his words? Once again, no! Compared to unshackling the full scope of Mikaela’s potential and becoming close friends with Mikaela, things like his own personal goals in life paled in importance. Although Laien himself likely didn’t realize it all that well, Elder Samuel just stated that if it was necessary, he was willing to throw the full scope of the Ruishi Federation’s might behind Laien’s back to aid him in the hour of need!
Had some of the people who desired power and influence learned the extent of Elder Samuel’s favor Laien gained, they would have coughed up enough blood to straight-out die. Had they known that they could obtain such immeasurable benefits through Mikaela, they would have all undoubtedly courted favor with him far more heavily! They would have all found their most beautiful daughters and nieces and sent them over to Mikaela in hopes of one of them catching his eye!
However, was it truly as easy as it seemed? Just like Raphael, Mikaela wasn’t interested in looking for a girlfriend, much less for a wife. As for becoming his friend, could it have been that no one tried before? He was the favored son of Elder Samuel, after all! And yet, for the longest of time it had been only Raphael who Mikaela viewed as a true friend. Then, could it be that all one needed to do was to find a proper way to teach Mikaela to gain the boy’s favor?
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That idea in itself was the most ridiculous one of them all. The most renowned teachers and the strongest spiritual and marital masters of their country had been invited over be Elder Samuel to teach his son, but all of them had failed to resonate with Mikaela! It had only been when Mikaela met Laien, who was extremely similar to him in terms of temperament and imagination, and was a practitioner of the same element, that something finally sparked. To top it off, Laien was of similar age to Mikaela and had a vast amount of insights and experience that he could and was willing to share. He had also naturally found a way to work with the originally easily-discouraged character of Mikaela’s and to begin with, was strong enough to impress Mikaela enough for him to want to listen.
Was this not much? It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that from all the people on the Starlight Continent, only Laien fulfilled all those conditions. In terms of wisdom and intelligence, Elder Samuel was an unparalleled genius by the world standards, so he needed but a brief moment of thought to realize all of those facts. Paired up with Laien’s immense potential and his web of relationships, spanning from his closest friend, Yin, going back to the south of the continent, extending to the Makarash in the far west and coming back here, to Mikaela, Elder Samuel decided that Laien was worth supporting with everything he had. Of course, the matters related to Mikaela were the most important factor in him making such a decision, but the other factors weren’t irrelevant either.
As for Laien, it took him a moment to come back to his senses after Elder Samuel’s unexpected statement. Had it been some other situation, he would have said that he doesn’t expect favors for helping his friends, but he was wise enough to know that it wasn’t the kind of answer that would please Elder Samuel or do him any good. Thus, knowing that Elder Samuel placed himself between him and all the spectators on purpose, he merely controlled his voice with his spiritual energy and replied without worrying that someone was going to read his lips.
“Thank you, Elder Samuel. I’ll try not to get myself into too much trouble, but I won’t hesitate to ask for help if I need it,” he said with a smile, then chuckled secretly. Either Elder Samuel lowered his guard and made it easier for him or he was getting better at reading people’s reactions. After all, he did notice the slight, split-second change in Elder Samuel’s eyes when he said the last few words. As such, he didn’t delay for long and quickly said the rest of what he wanted to. “At the same time, please feel free to ask the same of me if you or Mikaela get in trouble. I might not have as much power or resources as you at this point in time, but I’ll still do everything I can to help,” he assured and bowed his head slightly, though once again, the shifting emotions that showed themselves in Elder Samuel’s eyes didn’t escape his notice. The difference was that this time, this shift was a heavily positive one instead of a slightly-annoyed one like a moment ago.
“Good lad,” Elder Samuel blurted the praise out before he could bite his tongue. He caught himself with his hand raised hallway to Laien’s head and only then realized that he had been about to unconsciously tousle the boy’s hair. Those actions of his might have gone relatively unnoticed otherwise, but with him suddenly stopping in the middle instead of pulling through to the end left him in an awkward spot. He withdrew his hand and coughed in embarrassment when he saw Mikaela and Laien chuckling and suppressing a laughter. Inappropriate, he really had been about to act in quite an inappropriate way, at the very least as far as his own opinion went.
“Ekhm.” Elder Samuel shook his head a bit resignedly, seeing as the two boys couldn’t stop laughing even after he gave them some time to cool down. “Let’s go back so you two can tell me all about the training you did… or at least the parts that you feel comfortable with telling in front of all of us,” he suggested, partially because he wanted to get out of this awkward situation where those two precious brats were making fun of him and partially became he knew that he didn’t have all that much time left to say here, maybe two hours at most.
“Okay,” Mikaela said and wiped the tears from his eyes. He never thought he would see his father act embarrassed, but now that he did, it was quite fun to watch. He exchanged a glance with Laien, then nodded at him as if confirming something. And indeed, he was simply telling Laien that he remembered what they had talked about. The commonly known insights and the way to learn them was fine to share with anyone, but things like the golden runes of the Principle of Energy and the Profound Mystery of Maelstrom weren’t for the common ears. As they had agreed, it was okay for Mikaela, and Raphael, to tell them to those they trusted, but it wasn’t to be made common knowledge, just like the details of Laien’s own insights and cultivation.
The tacit understanding between the two boys didn’t go unnoticed by Elder Samuel, who was once again amazed by how well his youngest son and Laien managed to befriend each other in such a short period of time. He laughed in his heart as some of the worries he had about the future and which had burdened his heart for years dissipated into nothingness. Maybe this assumption on his part was a bit too far-fetching, but he finally had a clear feeling that even if his own plans with regards to the Ruishi Federation failed, then his son and his wife would still be able to lead good and happy lives afterwards.
“Now we just need to make sure that our plans with young master Arslan do go well and everything will be perfect.”
With the strength of his commitment renewed, Elder Samuel proceeded to wholeheartedly enjoy the remaining time he had with Mikaela and the boy’s friends. They laughed together, drank the pricy wine and chatted lightheartedly about whatever they felt like at the moment. It had been ages since Elder Samuel had last experienced an atmosphere that was enjoyable and relaxing to this degree, so it wasn’t a surprise that before he noticed, two hours passed and he needed to get back to work.
The farewells passed without any unexpected events occurring. Mikaela exchanged a few words with Elder Samuel before the trio of two Grand Elders and one Great General hurried back to the fort, then the rest of the group slowly headed back to the temporary village at the outskirts of the Grand Camp. Along the way, the four White Guards and Julien separated from the rest of the group to take care of the remaining preparations they had to do before Arslan’s departure in a few days.
The four subordinates of Elder Samuel’s, which consisted of Jugal, Richt and two men who weren’t important enough for anyone to remember their names, entered the central house with the rest of the youths and went to one of the smaller living rooms on the ground level. They had gotten used to following those five young master around, so they did so without thinking about it much at all.
“I’m going to meditate.” Once they were inside, Luca declared all of the sudden and headed off to one of the empty rooms without saying a word of explanation. His statement appeared to have come as a surprise to Lea and Daniel too, as they looked to be just as bewildered as the rest of their group.
“Eh.” However, after a few seconds passed, Daniel wondered aloud. “Did he finally find it in himself to accept the kind of Secret Arts he’s compatible with? I hope so.”
“That’s what it was about?” Lea raised her eyebrows. “He was still worried about it?” she asked, finding it hard to believe that her stubborn little brother would allow himself to be discouraged for longer than a few hours. Was this problem with his mentality of Luca’s greater than what she had assumed it to be?
“He still is,” Daniel said with a weak laugh. “He wouldn’t speak of it all that openly, but he is feeling pressured. It was only Raphael and Chris back then, but now he is seeing more and more people whose potential overshadow his own. He probably knows that he won’t ever catch up to the frontrunners if he doesn’t come to term with his own emotions, but it’s easier said than done,” he explained with a complicated look on his face. As Luca’s best friend, he knew that despite what Luca showed to others, he was actually very emotional. Whether he would be able to deal with his own darkness or if he was going to be swallowed up by it, this one thing would determine his entire future not only as a practitioner but also as a person.
“Why didn’t you tell me that?” Lea asked, some anger resounding in her voice. Yet, she sighed right afterwards and quickly apologized. “Sorry, I’m being ridiculous. I knew that Luca was having a bit of a hard time with it, but I didn’t think it would be this bad.”
“I don’t think it’s bad, actually,” Daniel mentioned, his smile growing a little bigger. “I am worried too, but I think it’s good he’s trying to deal with it now. You know how he always gobbles up his emotions and is never honest with himself. Better now than in ten years… and I’ve got a feeling it will all be good. If I didn’t, I would have told you earlier,” he explained calmly. Even though Lea was Luca’s older sister, he was quite confident that he was the one who understood Luca best.
For example, he had seen how agitated and angry with himself Luca was every time he saw Laien, Yin, Raphael, and Mikaela show abilities and level of talent beyond his current reach. As much as Luca had been trying to appear calm and as outwardly resigned as he acted, he could tell how stressful those experiences were to him. However, he was also convinced that it was a good thing for Luca. He did talk with him about it a few times in those past days and by the looks of it, Luca had finally made the choice to try and come to terms with his own emotions.
“I hope you are right,” Lea said with a sigh. For a bit, she felt like chasing after Luca and having a long talk with him, but in the end, she was a practitioner too, and one who was brought up in the military. She realized there were things one needed to deal with on his own if he ever wanted to move forward, so she chose to trust Luca and made the decision to not get too involved in his struggle to accept himself as he was.
“So, what do we do now?” Laien asked after a moment of silence, not willing to let this gloomy mood continue for much longer.
“I’m going to train,” Lea said after a brief consideration. She didn’t feel like having fun at the moment and to begin with, she felt like a third-wheel when hanging out with those five boys, so saw no need to force herself to do something that wasn’t pleasant and fun for either of their parties.
“Same with me,” Daniel declared simply and walked off with Lea. He shared the opinion that even though they could be friendly with those five, it in the end didn’t look like they could really become good friends. It wasn’t for the lack of will though, but for the lack of compatibility between their character and so it couldn’t be helped.
“Hah,” Laien chuckled in amusement. “So it’s us five again. Not that I have anything against it, it’s the best like that,” he said with blunt honesty, causing the other four to smile meaningfully. In particular, it was Raphael and Yin who once again thought that Laien and Mikaela’s personalities were indeed similar to a scary extent.
“Say, Laien,” Mikaela spoke up, the tone of his voice instantly telling everyone that he was about to make a request of Laien. “Do you think we could train a bit more? I mean, I have some questions I’d like to ask you and some things I want to try out,” he said with a smile and gave Laien a puppy-like look. He was sure that Laien was tired already, but he really wanted to discuss a few things with him as soon as possible, while his insights were still fresh in his mind!
“Sure we can,” Laien agreed easily. He wanted to consolidate his insights too, so Mikaela’s request was actually in tune with his own intentions.
“Upstairs or somewhere else?” Mikaela asked quickly, impatient to start sharing his new insights with Laien.
“Upstairs,” Laien answered straightforwardly. He didn’t feel like going anywhere else anyway, so he thought that they might as well stay on the third floor and be cozy there.