It was early in the morning, barely an hour past first light when Aiden ducked the blade of a swinging sword. The training ground was empty today. Seeking a peaceful practice, Aiden had planned for an early arrival. There was no point making a fool of himself in public.

It had been three days since he’d woken up. And while he no longer found himself lacking in motivation to do most things, that was only for the mundane and monotonous tasks. What he was here for was to test the more complicated tasks.

He’d experienced high rebounds from potions due to high toxicity before but it hadn’t been like this. There was the laziness and the lack of motivation. But there was mostly weakness. And it always lasted about twelve hours.

Enchantment overload seemed more terrifying. How could a person be so healthy and yet perfectly lazy?

Aiden backed away from his sparring partner, increased the distance between them by four steps. His movements were like dance steps, a crescendo from the first step to the fourth. As his instructors in the Order were often known to say: Every movement with a pattern is nothing more than a dance.

Valdan paused, watched him go.

“You’ve gotten stronger,” he said, his voice suspicious.

Aiden gave him a flourish of a bow. “Thank you.”

“Too strong, too quickly, Lord Lacheart.” Valdan changed his sword stance. The length of the blade glistened even in the absence of the sun. “People will talk.”

Aiden changed his stance. He held his long sword down and to the side with an arm behind his back, like a fencer. “What can I say, I went through a lot.”

Valdan dashed forward in a speed that could only come from a foundational skill. Once upon a time, it would’ve been very fast, terrifyingly so. Now it was simply fast.

Aiden stepped to the side and deflected Valdan’s blow. He felt the weight of Valdan’s blow go up his arm. He’d deflected the blow properly but not perfectly.

Valdan turned another sword strike coming from the side. Aiden moved again, his body feeling lighter than it had before he’d entered the cave. But not as light as he had been in his past life. He’d felt lighter.

He stepped away from the slash, eyes keeping track of everything Valdan was doing. The knight was no magician or enchanter. He was straight forward, devoid of tricks in battle. So much unlike Aiden. But things happened. To assume that you knew the limits of your opponent was one of many paths to your downfall.

He deflected three more attacks before switching his stance to one befitting a longsword. The he clashed with the last attack, turned his sword so that he sent the blades of both swords sliding across each other. The end result was him coming face to face with Valdan as they met at too close a distance, swords locked between them.

“Strength, Lord Lacheart.” There was an appreciating tone of mockery in Valdan’s voice. Like an older brother to a younger brother. Or a jovial uncle to a nephew.

Aiden gave him an innocent smile. “I’m trying new things.”

“The hubris of leveling up.”

Aiden could smell the morning breath on the knight’s mouth. He broke the stance and backed away from him.

Valdan smiled kindly. “I thought you were trying new things?”

“The new thing didn’t take to me.” Aiden shrugged.

They’d left so early and he hadn’t had the time to take care of his oral hygiene. He wondered if he’d also come here with morning breath. God knew Valdan hadn’t cared for his at all. Aiden had been the one to wake him from his slumber, after all.

“Speaking of new things.” Aiden relaxed his stance and Valdan did the same. “There is something I would like to try.”

Valdan waited and watched as Aiden turned away from him.

“At some point we will have to make our spars more difficult,” Aiden said as he walked to the side. “I’m thinking of complex things in my head. A few come to mind, annoying methods, in my honest opinion.” He walked up to the training rack at one side of the training grounds and replaced the sword. He browsed the other weapons. “Would you be up for it?”

“As long as I deem you fit for them,” Valdan replied.

Aiden spared him an amused glance. He was definitely growing quite fond of the knight. There was something interesting about being viewed as the underdog after growing so strong once upon a time.

Aiden nodded. “Aptly put.”

“So what exactly is happening right now?” Valdan rested the blade of his sword against his shoulder. He wore simple clothes this morning. A shirt of fine white. Pants of dusty brown. He wore no footwear.

Like Aiden, his footwear rested at one side of the training grounds.

Aiden perused the weapon rack. His hand flowed over the assortment. There were flails and morning-star. Spears and halberds. Staffs and javelin. Glaive and pike. Axe and hammer. His had stopped over the glaive and Valdan gave him a look.

No. Not yet. Aiden ran his hand back a few weapons and settled on the spear. Some weapons had been easier for him to learn than others. Some skills gained faster than others.

He hefted the spear from the rack and twirled it once. It wasn’t the best product but it was weighted nicely enough. Aiden swung it over his shoulder and returned to Valdan.

The knight gave him a look. “A new weapon. Already?”

“What can I say.” Aiden swung it from his shoulder and twirled it once more. “I’m trying new things.”

“What’s your sword mastery at?”

Aiden pulled up the skill.

[Swordsmanship (Mastery 83.01%)]

He couldn’t lie. He was impressed. Gangnar had done much for his [Swordsmanship]. If he just kept at it, he would be at perfect mastery. Then it would evolve to its next stage.

“Over seventy,” he said to Valdan.

Valdan’s control over his facial expression didn’t just slip, it shattered. “How the hell?!”

Aiden did his best not to grin. The growth was unprecedented. And while it was a feat beyond imagination, it wasn’t really much since he already knew how it was happening.

It took people months of practice and dedication to the sword to gain perfect mastery of its base skill. Years to reach its pinnacle. Weapon skills, after all, were evolving skills.

Aiden’s response was another twirl of the spear.

Valdan’s forehead creased in a frown. “Is this the reason you wish to learn another weapon? You’ve grown bored of the sword?”

“I wouldn’t say I’ve grown bored of the sword.” Aiden held the spear casually in both hands now, caressing the wooden shaft. “I just felt like I should try another weapon. Gain versatility.”

Valdan nodded but remained thoughtful. “I hadn’t wanted to slow your growth since the king wanted all of you to grow as strong as possible as quickly as possible through training. If I had known you would be so proficient with the sword, I would’ve added another weapon to the mix.”

Aiden paused, a bit surprised. “You have mastery in other weapons?”

“The glaive and the axe.”

Aiden cocked his head to the side, studied Valdan a little. “I don’t see it.”

Valdan chuckled. “What don’t you see?”

“Well, I can definitely see you moving with a glaive, graceful and destructive.” He shook his head. “But definitely not the axe.”

Valdan rubbed his jaw in thought. “True enough. But it would surprise you to know that the axe was the first weapon I gained a skill for.”

That was definitely interesting. Now that Aiden thought about it, there was a lot about the knight that he didn’t know. It wasn’t because he’d forgotten to ask or anything in that category. He had just not cared. Until now.

He rested the butt of the spear on the ground and leaned on it. The spear was easily taller than him. “What else don’t I know about you, Sir Valdan Dirtwater?”

Valdan reeled back, taken aback. His brows furrowed some more. “Are you alright, Lord Lacheart?”

“Peachy, actually.”

Valdan nodded, then took a sword stance. “Then less questions about the unimportant and let’s see how proficient you can become with the spear.”

Allowing the topic die, Aiden took a simple spear stance.

“Remember what I said about foundational skills,” Valdan said.

Aiden nodded. “If it’s not for you, there’s no point in forcing it.”

You could swing a sword for fifty years on Nastild, but if you weren’t meant for it, you wouldn’t gain the skill. It was the reason there were people in the world that didn’t have a combat class. They simply weren’t meant for it.

“Not only that.” Valdan met his gaze across the distance. “It’s exponentially harder to gain foundational skills after you’ve gained your class.”

Aiden nodded. His past life had taught him that it was indeed exponentially harder. But not impossible. If you could gain the skill, you just needed the right level of punishment learning it to have it even after you’d gained a class.

“I’m aware,” he answered.

It had taken him a long time to gain the different weapon skills he’d gained in his past life. Some had taken him up to a month after he’d joined the Order, developing their foundational skills days into training.

Personally, Aiden was counting on whatever gift that came with regressing that had given him a foundational sword skill in only one sword swing to come through for him.

Valdan nodded and his grip on his sword tightened a little. “Begin.”

It was another hour, maybe two, when the sun was up and Valdan’s blade finally found a touch of sunlight to gleam under. They were no longer alone in the training grounds. A few soldiers littered the space, squires and knights, titled and classed. Each on practicing in their own way so that the air was filled with the occasional clacking of wood against wood from practice weapons and the clangs of metal against metal.

Aiden parried a blow with the blade of his spear, pushed Valdan back and forced a longer range between them. He went for the advantage that came with the spear, forcing Valdan to risk being cut so he could close in well enough to land a blow.

Valdan finally found his chance. He ducked a spear thrust to the the head, weaved beneath it at the last moment so that the blade of the spear pierced through the end of his hair tied up in a pony tail. He slipped through Aiden’s defense and thrust with a stab of his own.

Aiden slipped to the side and drew his spear back. He held it in both hands as if holding a staff and parried a close range attack. Pushing back Valdan came with a touch of stress, but Aiden was successful. The moment he created the tiniest space between them, he spun, swinging the spear in a vicious blow.

Valdan backed away from it and Aiden followed the attack again with a thrust, dashing forward with it.

The day, Aiden found himself strolling through the halls of interface. Another mastery starting above zero percent. In his past life it had taken him four days to gain a foundational skill for the spear.

At this point he might as well be a cheat character.

Valdan paused as well, then gave him a look.

“Not true,” he said in accusation and disbelief.

Aiden gave him a grin. “True.”

Valdan groaned, then laughed. “You have got to be kidding me.”

Aiden laughed, too.

[You have learned foundational skill Thrust (Mastery 02.10%)]

…

Later in day Aiden found himself walking down one of the manor’s hallways. It was evening and he carried a smile on his face. He was impressed with himself. Impressed wasn’t really the word he was looking for but it was the one he was willing to go with.

He had confirmed his growth. Gaining foundational skills were slower now that he had a class. But in comparison to how slow it was supposed to be, this was a walk in the park. In two hours of training and a few practice exercises with the spear on his own, he’d gained all the necessary foundational skills for the spear skill.

And he’d raised most of them up to the teens. It was insane to even imagine. At this point he was wondering if his regression had somehow granted him quick learning or if it only applied to the skills he had before.

He would’ve liked to put it to the test—learn a new skill—but that would be a waste of time. Instead, he would focus on the skills he’d had in his past life. The ones he remembered. It sounded unreasonable but when he got to the two hundred levels he had a lot of skills. And there were a few of them that were passive, working in the background.

There were even some skills he rarely used, most of them gained in his days before joining the Order, days before he’d gone on the run and had become a mercenary.

Aiden paused in his steps. I really lived quite the life.

He’d worked for a kingdom. Run from a kingdom. Become a prisoner for a temporary period of time. Trained a princess. Stolen from a dragon. And survived a [Saint].

Of them all, he frowned at the memory of his imprisonment. The first time was one he didn’t want to remember.

He’d been caught poaching as a mercenary off the coast of Seltzul, a minor kingdom on Nastild in the north. The days that had followed had stretched into months and had not been nice.

Aiden picked at his fingers as he resumed his stroll. Losing nails was a painful experience only very minutely dulled by the fact that he could get them back with the help of a competent healer.

He had learnt human cruelty then. Years later, he had learnt sapient cruelty.

None of it mattered now.

“Ah, just the person I was looking for.”

Aiden turned and his eyes landed on Nella.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

The daughter of the Naranoff house wore a simple flowing gown today. It was so long that it almost brushed the ground as she walked. It was pink with brown floral prints. Vanisi, her maid, walked a step behind her to the side.

The brown floral prints were ugly on the pink gown. Aiden couldn’t help but cock a brow at the choice of clothing.

“What?” Nella looked down at the gown, then gave him a twirl. “You don’t like it?”

Aiden bowed at the neck in simple greeting, refusing to engage in that conversation. “Good day.”

Nella paused, then shrugged. “I’ve been looking for you, Lord Lacheart.”

“And how may I be of assistance?”

“May I trouble you for a walk? A conversation at a quick destination.”

Aiden shrugged. It wasn’t as if he was doing anything. Nella took it as a response and continued walking. She walked up to him, then walked past him. Aiden watched her go. Vanisi nodded in greeting as she passed him, smiling kindly.

Aiden followed.

Nella walked, slowing down so that Aiden caught up to her. They walked side by side in silence and Vanisi trailed behind them like a sliver of smoke from a lit match. They made a few turns before Aiden realized where Nella was leading him.

“I asked the princess what your level was,” she said out of nowhere.

Aiden nodded. “That was… not very nice.”

“It was rude.” Nella shrugged. “Let’s try to call a fire spell a fire spell, Lord Lacheart. I’m not sure how many nobles you’ve related with, but unlike them, I’m quite blunt about everything.”

“And what did the princess say?”

Nella looked at him from out of the corner of her eye. “You know very well what her answer was, Lord Lacheart. She didn’t have one.”

Aiden kept his eyes forward. In his head he kept track of the distance they walked, twists and turns, curves and stops. A simple mental practice he’d learned long ago. It kept his mind sharp.

Nella looked at him again. Still, she did so from the corner of her eye. Behind the Vanisi seemed to be enjoying herself in her silence.

“Would you be willing to share it with me, Lord Lacheart?” Nella said, eyes back in front of them.

Aiden made sure to wait for her to take the turn to the right when the path ahead of them split in opposite directions. When they were on the new path, he spared Vanisi a glance.

Nella looked back at the maid then waved Aiden’s unvoiced concern aside. “It’s alright to speak in front of her. It might amaze you to know but no one holds a secret better than Vanisi.”

Aiden would’ve laughed at that if he wasn’t completely sure that she was being serious. Nella Naranoff displayed greater trust in her own maid than Aiden had ever had in another person. Sadly, as special as he would’ve like to say it was, it was not. It was merely one variable of how the nobles tended to treat those in their service.

“My sincerest apologies for the inconvenience, Lady Nella. But I would rather not.”

All three of them came to a stop in front of a door. A door Aiden had once considered heading to.

“This,” Nella gestured at the door, “is my study.”

Aiden nodded. “Is it currently locked?”

Nella looked at Vanisi.

Vanisi bowed slightly, hands clasped in front of her stomach. “No, my lady.”

Aiden leaned forward and turned the knob. The door opened inward easily. “After you.”

Nella made a surprised, yet amused face as she walked in. “Elly never told me you were a gentleman.”

Vanisi stood where she was, made no attempt to follow after her.

Aiden gave it another beat before concluding that the maid was indeed not going to enter. So he walked in and closed the door behind him.

Nella’s study was… to call it a study was a very vast overstatement when compared to the study most people of noble birth kept. She had a chair and the one table. Two shelves, one empty one filled with obviously untouched books.

There was a custom when granting a child a study amongst nobles that Aiden knew of. You made the room, gave the child a table and a chair and two shelves. One shelf you filled with books you felt would be necessary as well as books that would give the study a certain visage. The other was for the child to fill.

Aiden walked up to the empty shelf and ran a gentle finger along one of its platforms. Nella had done nothing to fill her shelf.

It was either that or she was filling the books she got somewhere else. Aiden remembered how her room had been. Makeup items in the desk drawer and the map at the place she was supposed to do her make up, right with the vanity mirror.

“I don’t generally have the time.” Nella moved her chair but did not take a seat. Instead, she paused, realizing something. “Oh, I forgot. You’re illegitimate.”

Aiden turned to her, finger still on the shelf. “Yes.”

She’d used the word ‘illegitimate’ so simply. As if she’d simply been stating a matter of fact. If she was trying to offend him or goad at him or imply anything negative, Aiden didn’t hear it in her tone or her voice.

Nella cocked her head at him. “You handle blunt well.”

Aiden glanced at the books on the occupied shelf. “The princess can be blunt at times, too.”

Is this going to be like the cave? He wondered.

He didn’t blame the princess for being the way she had been in the cave. She’d been in a less than preferable situation along with her fear of dark spaces and confinement. So he’d been forced to not only be social, but to be as socially correct and polite as possible.

For him, that had not been pleasant. But personally, he wasn't a social person. He could do simple conversations, but he couldn't do conversations that had undertones of affected or unaffected feelings. Those always ended up being stressful for him.

Tasha, his ex-girlfriend had understood that. How easy and simple their conversations had always been would always be one of the good things Aiden would always remember of her.

For all your training, you still don’t know how to be social.

Aiden ignored his own thoughts. The Order had trained him in levels of espionage and matters of court and association. The same Order had come to the conclusion at the end of his training that they’d rather not have to send him on missions that required much socializing.

And you went on quite the few, he thought with a smile.

“Anyway,” Nella continued, “it is a practice among nobles to grant their child a study of their own when they come of age. One is filled by members of the family.” She walked over to the occupied shelf, searched it casually, and pulled out a book. “My brother got me this one.”

She offered it to Aiden and he took it.

How to butcher a man in fifteen easy steps, it read.

He gave it back to her. “Quaint.”

“Aptly so.” She returned the book to its place. “Most of the others were put here by my father. The princess assisted with a few. Like me, she isn’t much for reading. But she is a princess. Some things are unavoidable.”

Aiden nodded. The responsibility of authority.

As a king he’d met had once said, if you stand above others in authority, you must stand above them in both power and intellect.

As smart a man as that king not sanctioned by the system had been, Aiden always wondered what it said about the man that he was so easily prone to violence.

“So,” Nella turned with a swish of her gown and returned to stand behind her chair, “what’s your level?”

“My level is mine to know, my Lady.” There was no other chair so Aiden remained standing. “Mine alone.”

Nella eyed him. “Oh. And here I thought you’d held your tongue earlier because of my maid.”

Aiden said nothing.

“Alright, Lord Lacheart.” Nella’s fingers drummed silently against the back of her chair. She looked as if she wanted to sit but did not. “What can you tell me?”

Games, Aiden realized. Games of the powerful.

This wasn’t a talk. It was an interrogation.

“I wouldn’t know until I’ve been asked the specific questions,” he answered.

Nella blinked. “The specific questions?”

“Yes.” Aiden nodded. “If you ask me what I can tell you, then the list becomes endless. I can tell you of the color of the sky. I can tell you why the ocean is blue and some rivers are green. I can tell you how blunt the princess was during our trip and how amazing it is to be your guest. I can tell you the color of sand.”

Nella’s lip twitched at the corners in a small smile. “And why are some rivers green when the oceans are blue?”

“Because most of them are dirty.”

Nella paused for a bit, then she chuckled. “Fair. Then do you mind if I ask how you both got beyond the wall?”

“I touched it and it opened.”

“Elaswit said that you knew what it was.”

Aiden folded his arms and leaned against the empty shelf. “‘knew’ is a strong word. I figured it out after much contemplation.”

“After me and my team were gone.”

Aiden noted the displeasure in her tone. It seemed Elaswit had told her that they’d seen them. He wondered what else the princess had told her.

“Are you aware, Lord Lacheart, that others had tried before you, and failed, to figure out how to get to the other side.” Nella glanced down at the chair as if by accident. “Most didn’t even know there was an other side.”

“I assumed that would’ve been the case,” he agreed.

“And the few that knew there was an other side, weren’t allowed access,” Nella said. “Every member of my team was told that they did not meet the requirements to use the feature of the natural enchantment.”

“I would assume that it would be because they didn’t have the [Enchant] skill.”

“The [Enchant] skill helps to enchant an item not activate an enchantment.”

“And…” Aiden let his words trail off. He frowned and looked to the side, giving the illusion of thought.

He’d almost explained to her that activating a natural enchantment was technically infusing a man-made element to it. Ergo, you were actually enchanting the natural enchantment. Unlike enchanted items that have been engraved and enchanted, a natural enchantment is always in a state of engraving but not enchanting.

It had to be enchanted for it to work every time. And that piece of information would be information some random bastard of some random noble shouldn’t have if they’d been living the life of a commoner.

“Did you figure something out, Lord Lacheart?” Nella asked.

Aiden shook his head. “I always just assumed it was a skill thing, and that was why people were lost on what to do. As I’m sure you know, not many people know what a natural enchantment is.”

“Dedicated enchanters do.”

Aiden nodded, solemn. “We saw the bodies.”

“A sad loss,” Nella said. “I assume some of them were in teams.”

“And some of them had the skill.”

“The skill was not enough to open it.” Nella sighed and leaned on the top of the backrest of the chair. “Sir Valdan and I employed a number of people to try and access it but none of them could.”

Aiden paused. “Valdan could tell that it was a natural enchantment?”

That surprised him. He didn’t think the night would know what it was if he saw it.

Nella dismissed the idea with a gesture. “Gods no. Sir Valdan had no idea what was going on. In fact, I was the one that had to point it out to him.”

Aiden cocked a brow. “You knew it was a natural enchantment?”

Nella gave him an unfriendly look. “I do not like how much doubt I’m hearing in your tone, Lord Lacheart.” She relaxed the look. “But it is justified. I did not know it was a natural enchantment. All I knew was that touching the wall brought up a notification that told us it had a feature we couldn’t use.”

“Oh.”

“The moment I informed Sir Valdan of this, he immediately asked us if we knew anyone with the [Enchant] class. It was an [Enchanter] that told us what it was. Sir Valdan seemed so certain that you were on the other side.”

Aiden smiled at that. “He can be a very certain man at times.”

“I cannot deny that,” Nella said. “Knights tend to have that air about them. That certainty.”

Again, she glanced at the chair. Her fingers drummed a nonexistent rhythm.

Aiden took it upon himself to play the polite guest. “You do know you can have a seat if you want, right?”

Nella looked down at the chair. “It’s my study, Lord Lacheart. I’m very much aware that I can sit if I want. However, it is impolite to sit while my guest stands. I’ve been trying to get another chair in here, maybe two, but a pay so little attention to this place that I always find myself forgetting.”

“Perhaps you should let your maid know,” Aiden suggested. “I’m sure she would have it handled immediately. She seems competent enough. And I doubt you would keep her so close if she was not.”

Nella gave him a studying look, then glanced at the door. An impish smile split her lips a moment later.

“What do you think about Vanisi?” she asked.

“She seems competent and trustworthy? She brings me my food every meal and she’s never late.” Aiden wasn’t sure were that came from.

“What of as a lady?”

Is she trying to pimp out her maid to me?

It took Aiden only a moment to dismiss the thought. It was unlikely. Nella had said as a ‘lady’ not as a woman. Which meant that she wasn’t just speaking to what was supposed to be his male canal desire.

“I haven’t looked at her as a lady, Lady Naranoff.”

“Lady Naranoff was my mother, you can stick with ‘My Lady’ or you can just call me Nella.” At this point, Nella was practically bent at the waist to rest on the chair. “But if you were to look at Vanisi as a lady, what would you say?”

Aiden frowned at that. Nella couldn’t possibly be trying to get her maid to become a noble, was she. There were a lot of things that were done differently on Nastild from old movies, but maids did not just become nobles.

You aren’t really a noble, though, he thought. More of a bastard. It would be easier to wed a maid you loved before being acknowledged.

“What exactly is happening here, my lady?” Aiden said.

Nella let out a defeated sigh. “Alright, I’ll be honest with you. Vanisi has come to be something of a friend to me.”

“Okay,” Aiden nodded slowly, drawing out the word.

“And in the time since I’ve known her, she’s been a little too dedicated to her job. It’s to the point that I don’t think she even knows what a romantic life is supposed to look like. She takes no interest in men or women. Just her job.”

“And you want me to… woo her?”

Nella waved his words aside with a gesture. “Nothing so serious. Just get to know her better. Treat her like you would a woman and not an employee of your host.”

“So I should be her friend.”

Nella bobbed her head from side to side in contemplation. “And maybe more, if you’re willing.”

“You just said that she’s not interested in men or women,” Aiden pointed out. “What makes you think I’ll be any different? Not that I’m saying I want to do it.”

“Oh, let’s just call it a hunch.”

Aiden’s brows furrowed.

Nella stood up straight. “Vanisi is more of an administrative maid than a regular one. I’m the only one she serves meals to in this place. Truthfully, I’d say that she’s at a point where such menial labors might as well be beneath her. When she got to a certain age as my friend, she showed so much intelligence that I begged my father to give her an education.”

That was rare, the employees of nobles tasked with menial jobs didn’t get education. For Nella to have begged her father meant she really liked Vanisi. If her father had agreed, it would mean he either really doted on his daughter or Vanisi must have displayed some impressive levels of intellect.

“So she is educated?” he guessed.

“Very,” Nella said proudly. “I’d argue she’s read every book in this room, even if she thinks I don’t know. What I’m trying to say is that Vanisi doesn’t clean the table or serve meals unless she wants to. And she personally asked to be the one to be serving you.”

It sounded worrying. “And why would she want to do that?”

Nella looked at him as if he was dumb. “You’re joking. Right?”

Aiden was not. From what he knew, something like this screamed spy. A maid took interest in nothing but her job, then out of the blue she takes interest in an unknown lord? All he was hearing was ‘spy.’ But he wasn’t going to be the one to suggest it to Nella.

Nella smacked her forehead. “At this rate I’m beginning to think that men are either operating from a universal dumb brain they're all connected to or Vanisi and I are just cursed. I’m saying that my Vanisi likes you, Lord Lacheart.”

Well, that’s just dumb. She’s only served me my meals for a handful of days.

“I’m not asking you to bed her, Lord Lacheart. Thought the gods know that it will do her a lot of good,” Nella continued. “I’m just asking that you be nice to her. Smile to her. Engage her in a conversation every now and then. I promise you won’t be bored.”

That sounded like too much drama to Aiden. Drama he wasn’t ready for.

“I’ll think about it,” he said. “But you should know that it won’t last. I intend on stopping by the adventure society hall tomorrow morning, then we’ll be off, back to the capital.”

“Oh.” Nella snapped her finger. “I almost forgot that you’re currently an active adventurer. I can help with directions to the adventure hall tomorrow. Vanisi will guide you.”

She gave him an inquiring smile and he nodded reluctantly. Aiden had learnt long ago that in situations like this, it was easier to just agree and let things run their course. It wasn’t as if he was going to do anything secretive or important at the adventure society.

Nella beamed at his approval. “As for your departure, I’m not sure how that’s going to work.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, after you came out, the natural enchantment didn’t close back up. Because of that, adventurers have been going back in search of getting a unique skill. I’m guessing you got one since the princess did not. Anyway, news of everything has traveled far, and scholars have shown interest in it.”

Aiden looked at her, confused. “What does that have to do with my departure?”

“I’m guessing you’ll be going back with the princess. Unfortunately, she won’t be leaving anytime soon. Amongst the arriving scholars, there are some coming in from the Mage Radiants. I’m sure you’ve heard of them.”

“I have.” He still didn’t understand how this was supposed to affect him. Elaswit didn’t even like the Mage Radiants.

“Along with them, the church has decided to send a scholar or two of their own,” Nella continued. “So my father has decided to throw a small soiree to celebrate their arrival.”

“I don’t see how that affects me,” he said. “And why is your father throwing a ball for the Mage Radiants and a group of priests. The priests won’t care and the Mage Radiants will just strut around, pompous and important.”

Nella laughed at that. “You and the princess seem to share the same dislike for the Mage Radiants. But you’re right.”

“So why the soiree?”

“Because rumor has it that a [Saint] with a weird fascination with natural enchantments is coming as well.”

Aiden’s jaw almost dropped. It was rare to run into a [Saint]. Before the demon wars they were so hard to come by that they were like ghost stories. They existed in stories that only happened to other people. A friend of a friend of a friend. Stories that came in the form of he said she said.

Nella looked at him, slightly worried by his silence. “You know what [Saints] are, right?”

She’d probably been expecting him to be more in the way of awe.

“I do.” Aiden nodded. He was caught in a dilemma, though. There was no indigene of Nastild that didn’t know what a [Saint] was. But there was no summon that did.

He chose to leave his response there. If Elaswit found out and started asking questions, how would he explain his knowledge of [Saints]?

You could always say you heard it from somewhere or read it somewhere.

Aiden almost scoffed at his thoughts. The read it in the library lie had already pretty much run its course.

Luckily for him, Nella continued on her own. Awe touched her voice as she spoke.

“Gifts from the gods,” she said. “Beings touched by Divinity, granted the title and skills for the overwhelming faith and dedication. Living proof that the gods exist.”

Everyone loved the [Saints], looked at them with awe and veneration. Not Aiden, though. When you are the blood relative of the [Demon King], every saint that came to find you was never a friend. After all, you were just as much an affront to the church and the gods as the [Demon King].

The weakest [Saint] Aiden had ever had the displeasure of meeting was Saint Valuso Emberlek. He could still remember the man’s face with all his solemn and merciful wrath. He still remembered how the man had asked for his forgiveness and that he understand the necessity of his actions as he had slaughtered Aiden’s mercenaries hired to do a job.

He had been level 198 at the time.

There were no weak [Saints] and people always did what they could to garner their favor. That explained why Lord Naranoff was throwing a soiree for the arrival of the priests.

Nella was right. Aiden would not be leaving the Naranoff territory for a while. At least until the soiree was done.

The rest of his conversation with Nella was simple. She continued to fish for information every now and again. She sprinkled her interrogation between normal conversations.

She asked him if he read. She asked him why he’d joined the adventure society rather than just taking up a place in his parent’s leadership as a Lord. She asked simple things and offered to spar with him whenever they both had the chance. Aiden didn’t mind taking her up on the offer.

“I do hope you have a fulfilling evening, Lord Lacheart,” she told him at the end of their conversation as he made his way to the door. “And I am glad that you survived. I really am.”

Her voice was more kindly at the end of the conversation. Her tone friendly and familiar. She’d asked nothing in the way of what he had benefited from the cave in the way of tangible rewards and he’d offered nothing. What he learned from that was that Valdan had done a good job keeping people away from him while he’d been unconscious.

Aiden nodded his thanks to her and left the room. Outside, he found Vanisi standing there, arms clasped in front of her stomach as he often found her standing.

“Lord Lacheart,” she greeted with a bow.

Aiden nodded back. “Vanisi.”

For a moment he wanted to say more, but thought better of it. Instead, he continued on his way, walked down the hall and took the necessary turn.

If he was the first person Vanisi was showing any interest in despite how many people had visited the manor, there were only a few possible reasons for it. It was either because he was supposed to be a nobody appearing with the princess and a knight or he was a rare phenomenon of a man who’d gone through a portal and come out as if he’d taken a beaten.

She had been present when Elaswit had pointed out that his bloodied state was simply from going through a portal.

Aiden couldn’t blame her for that. People were, after all, interested in the mysterious.

So are spies.