Angel had gone in after a while of nothing occurring, I was left atop a tree branch and continued to watch over the campsite, "Hope Sebastian's master is alright…"

"I'm completely fine, but thanks for the concern." I looked up to find Sebastian's master carrying Trinity on her back sitting on a higher branch.

"I didn't even sense you… wait, where's Archibald?" I looked around and then found him making his way through the trees.

Now that they were here I started to make my way down, "what's your name?" She jumped off and landed on her feet without making a sound.

She gently laid Trinity on the ground, "Pandres." Now I got a good look at her, she was wearing light clothes even though it was freezing cold, she was taller than me, had a muscular build, and had long black hair.

She patted my shoulder which threw me off balance, her hand had the same force as a heavy rock.

"Mane S. Asteria, [Don of the Night]." She looked back at Archibald who came through the bushes.

"Took you long enough." She let go of me and went up to him, Archibald was breathing heavily and looked battered.

"Test done, you've officially been recognized as my disciple!" Archibald then collapsed on the floor.

"What test?" I walked over to him and then noticed the odd thing about her, she had different clothes from the ones she had from before and had no blood on her.

"After some time of clearing up the mob, he asked to become a disciple of mine, I then told him to fight and then make it to here while I went and got cleaned up." She looked at his wounds and then effortlessly put him on her back.

"That's insane…" She then rested him on the ground and grabbed some firewood that I had collected and lit it with magic.

"Guessing from your lack of reaction, the kid has told you about the existence of magic?" She for the first time exuded a threatening aura as she spoke.

"What is your relationship with him?" I was struggling to find the words due to her suffocating presence.

"Partner…" the aura disappeared and she looked curious.

"What type of partner?" As she walked closer, I backed away.

"Business…" she sighed and turned around and crouched next to Archibald.

"Disappointing, but can't say I expected much from him…" She pressed her fingers against Archibald's chest and a light started to shine.

Suddenly, Archibald's bleeding wounds and bruises disappeared, "So that's healing magic…" She looked up with a proud smile and then sat on the ground.

"Yup, too bad that kid's no good at it." She then created a seat using earth magic.

I waited for her to sit on it, but she just looked at me, "What are you waiting for? Sit." I cautiously sat down while keeping a hand on my sword.

We sat in tense silence, at least for me it was tense, she looked relaxed. It became too much for me to bear, "Lady Asteria, can you tell me about Sebastian's past?" I had to find common ground and talk about something that she liked.

"Hmm? I can tell you about his time with me but his time before that is something you should hear from him, not me." She had a small smile on her face which was a good sign.

"That would be fine too!" I panicked and it came out more enthusiastic than I was planning.

"Okay, so when I first met him, he was somewhat new to this continent and he was wary of me at first. We didn't speak the same language, and he seemed like a wild beast who was covered in scars." So Sebastian's not originally from here… I mean, he certainly didn't look like he was from here.

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"And so I did the only right thing and knocked the little pest out. But not without trouble, I may have been a sword master then but when you fight a wild beast, no matter how small, you are bound to get scratches." She was motioning the actions as she talked.

"I took pity on him, so I healed and cleaned him up. When he awoke, he shouted at me in his native tongue and ran away, I had thought it would be the last time I saw him. A day later, he ran into me, and with him were some men, he had gotten into trouble with."

"He used me as a shield so the men started to threaten me into handing him over, I didn't like the way they were talking and so I beat them up. For some reason, after that, he just kept following me while keeping his distance."

"I tried to give him food and let him camp with me and he begrudgingly accepted and spent the nights with me and left when day broke."

"This continued as we went from town to town, I wandered and the brat followed me. Until one day, he came to me and spoke his first words to me."

She had a big smile, "Teach me how to fight…"

"At that time I had never had a disciple and had no clue how to teach anything, but I did my best and taught him what I could. To my surprise, he caught on quickly and showed real promise."

"The kid is some kind of prodigy, he understood everything with just one look at it. And so I thought teaching was easy due to my experience with him." Her expression suddenly turned to anger.

"That kid tricked me! I thought it was going to be easy to just open up a school and teach numbskulls the art of swordsmanship!" She calmed down and pointed to Trinity.

"That girl came in after the kid and had this feeling of seniority because she was older than him, and the kid decided that she was his senior even though he was there before her."

"Every time a new person came in, he would refer to them as 'seniors'. Turns out, it was just a thing from his culture, where age was the determining factor of how you were treated in their society."

"Even after I tried to hammer in that he was the senior and shouldn't let them disrespect him, he just couldn't wrap his head around the concept. Maybe he's changed now…"

"It's been years since we last met and he seems to have changed a lot, so I'd appreciate it if you told me about how he is now." Being put on the spot…

"Sebastian is a loyal person… or at least he is loyal to money… no, he goes overboard with his care and goes above and beyond…" She listened intently.

"No, it's not that he cares much, I think it's better to call him a person who works for his pay… I mean for five golds a month, he better be putting his all into this." My joke was met with a shocked expression.

"Five golds?! I'm sorry but that boy is scamming you! He's making more than me!" I guess, five golds is an absurd amount to pay…

"How about you hire me? I'm more useful than that brat and much stronger." Was this a genuine offer? I mean having someone as powerful as her would be great…

"Nah, he's irreplaceable, he just brings a lot to the table." She looked at me dumbfounded.

"That boy really managed to trick you eh? Heh, just you wait till you meet the uncaring Sebastian or the Sebastian who stupidly runs out of mana and gets moody."

"Actually, I've already seen both. He once looked after me after I ran out of mana." She looked confused.

She began to whisper things under her breath, "Him doing that…" was the only thing I could make out.

"He seems to have changed a lot… has he taught you magic?" I nodded.

"Anything else you could tell me?" I put my hand on my chin.

"He's great with kids… most of the time, at least. fakes a personality to get what he wants from people." She nodded, laughed, and commented something about those things were impossible and that he hasn't changed in some areas.

After she stopped laughing, she stood up and had a serious aura around her.

"Ms. Pandres, what's your end goal here?" She looked into my eyes.

"Please there's no need for the miss… but my goal? It's to become king." She sighed.

"Be honest that's not your goal, is it?"

"But it is."

"Based on my information, that's only a part of your goal." How does she know that…

"I've come to tell you to let go of this goal, I don't know what it might be but I know that you're attracting the attention of a very dangerous being." I stood up and stepped back.

"This being is more dangerous than you can even begin to imagine, and because it involves my disciple I've decided to warn you." She looked at me with threatening eyes.

"W-What are you talking about?" My fear was seeping through… this woman is easily the most dangerous person I've ever met… I don't know what to do.

"Doesn't matter, just give up on whatever you're planning." I now had my back to a tree.

She stopped moving and we both looked beyond the campfire, "If that happens, I'd lose my only source of income." Sebastian stood by the fire.

"When did you wake up?" He made his way to us and stood between us.

"Master, I heard everything. And I believe I know what you're talking about." He exhaled and vapor escaped from his mouth.

"Thank you for the warning but I'd rather you let Pandres choose her path on her own." For the first time, she lost her composure.

"Sebastian, you don't know the extent of-" he put his hand up.

"With all due respect, master, but that shadow fraud has already made contact with me." They were talking about the shadow man?

"Shit… Sebastian, you need to leave this girl and come with me." She put her hand out for him.

"Master…" I couldn't see his face, but his body was shaking, maybe it was because of the cold.

"Sebastian, you know if I refer to something as dangerous then it's disastrously dangerous, right? Or have you forgotten?" He ran his hand through his hair.

"I understand what you mean by dangerous, but you should know from years of experience that-"

"Sebastian, this is an order!" The shaking stopped and he stood still.

"Master, I'm no longer the child I was, I've matured." He turned his body sideways but was still facing her.

"I was ready to make an oath when I accepted this job, while it may not have been completed, I still swore on my name. And to break that oath because of danger and let go of my name is not something I'm ready to do." He turned to me and offered me a hand.

Lady Asteria was left agape but then smiled, "You passed the test, kid. You really have grown!"

"Stop that you, hag, you were serious. Trying this trick to save face doesn't work a second or third time." The provocation came from the campfire where Trinity was standing with her arms crossed.

"Who are you calling a hag!? Ahm, but I thank you that just meant my acting was superb." She crossed her arms and held her head high.

"Unfortunately, she's right, master. Your acting needs some work."

"See, even your favorite student agrees, you sorry excuse for a master!"

"You tried to imitate this sorry excuse of a master, you failure!"

Sebastian looked more relaxed as he fully turned to me.

He put a hand on my shoulder and my shaking stopped, "Sorry for my master's antics… and you have nothing to worry about, the day I leave is the day one of us dies or the day you fail to make payments." And with that, he turned back to the two arguing women.

He started to shush the two for being too loud, I just looked down at my shaking hands, 'letting go of my goal..?'