Moztin was a high class wine created from something called moztin berries. One of the things Aiden knew about moztin berries was that Alchemists used it in a few of their concoctions, they increased the efficiency of poisons, drawing them out to their strongest capacity. With the addition of another alchemical solution he could not remember, a certain level of perfect harmony could be achieved. Specifically, it was designed to give almost all levels a good enough buzz.
Jang Su held up his glass of wine, stared at its contents. “So you’re saying Moztin might as well be an alchemical concoction?”
Aiden twirled the wine in his glass, keeping a discreet eye around them.
“All I’m saying is that it’s designed to get the really high leveled people drunk,” he said.
After their spar, Aiden had had more than his share of nobles and knights come to greet him. The conversations were short and simple. He’d displayed exquisite fighting acumen. It was impressive that he’d lasted so long against someone nine levels higher than him. Where did he learn to fight like that?
A noble or two had thrown in how powerful they were in the kingdom and something about their third or second daughter with considerable power in the family but no inheritance position being a beautiful fit for him.
Aiden had answered them in the only way he knew how to answer such conversations in his current situation. With lies.
Now he was seated with Jang Su, drinking Moztin and dancing around the subject while his mind came to terms with what he’d learned.
When they had a little touch of freedom again, the hovering nobles listening to them turning away to other endeavors, Aiden got up.
“Shall we take this elsewhere? I’ve heard that this manor has a refreshing balcony.”
Jang Su got up with him and they made their way up a flight of stairs answering greetings and returning bows, accepting compliments and claps on the back until they were out of massive glass doors that escaped onto a large balcony.
Free from attention, Aiden returned them to the real reason for their conversation.
“You’re saying that the kingdom of Nel Quan has a Sage,” he muttered, not sure Jang Su knew the weight of the information he’d given away.
Jang Su nodded, loose strands of moon-blue hair billowing in the night’s breeze. “I know, what kingdom has what Sage is usually a high kept secret but—”
Aiden snorted. A high kept secret? Jang Su had no idea what he was talking about.
Even kings didn’t know what kingdoms had a Sage. There were five known Sages on Nastild and that was a rumor very, very few people were aware of.
Aiden hadn’t even started to learn of these things until he’d joined the Order. In fact, as far as he could remember, Drax didn’t even know that Brandis’ advisor was a [Sage].
This was throwing him for a loop.
“Are you done?” Jang Su asked with a cocked brow. “If you are, I was just saying that—”
“Good evening, Lord Jang Su.”
Both of them turned to find a young woman in a dazzling blue dress littered with enough glitters to blind a man under enough light. She walked onto the balcony, closing the door behind her gently.
The curtains at the glass door were drawn aside so that anyone without could see within and vice versa.
On the inside, Aiden caught a few people watching the woman as she approached them.
She blushed when she got to them, chuckled shyly. “I hope I pronounced that right. It is a unique name, after all.”
Jang Su gave her a kind smile, polite. “You did, my Lady.”
The woman gave Aiden an equally kind smile. “Lord Lacheart.”
Aiden gave her a subtle nod but said nothing.
“I just wanted to say that your first spar was truly amazing,” the woman said. “That’s the fastest I’ve ever seen any spar go.”
Aiden nodded again.
“Oh, sorry.” The woman turned and offered her hand, palm down to Jang Su with the other hand placed atop it. “My name is Evelina Contrell of house Contrell.”
Jang Su moved to take her hand and Aiden reached out to stop him by the wrist.
Normally, he would have more tact, but there was nothing normal right now. He had just discovered another kingdom with a Sage, and this other kingdom also had its own summoned people from earth. Also, if he was to be believed, Jang Su was the student of said Sage.
He wasn’t sure which one was messing with his mind more.
“Lady Contrell,” he said.
Evelina smiled and dropped her hand. “Call me Evelin. My mother is Lady Contrell.”
Aiden nodded. “Lady Contrell. Lord Jang Su will be returning to his homeland eventually, and I have developed something of a kinship with him on account of the fact that he arguably whooped my ass a few moments ago.”
Evelina winced at hearing the word ‘ass.’
“So while what you were about to do would’ve made for an interesting scandal,” Aiden went on, “you will have to find another envoy of the Nel Quan kingdom.”
A new blush filled Evelina’s face. Where it had once been from some level of shyness, it was now from embarrassment.
She gave Aiden a confused look, then an embarrassed one. Then she opened her mouth and no words came out. Finally, she just turned and left.
Jang Su looked from Aiden to the retreating woman, then back.
“What was that?”
Aiden gestured it away. “It is customary to show interest in a man who you are just meeting by offering him your hand with a hand over a hand as she did. If the man takes it, it is a sign that he’s interested as well.”
“I didn’t know that,” Jang Su said, surprised.
“I know.” Aiden waved his worry aside. “It would’ve been a scandal, an interesting one, but a scandal nonetheless.”
Jang Su dropped his glass of wine on top of the balcony’s banister. “Thank you for that.”
“It doesn’t matter, you would have been fine either way. What matters is how you got a Sage to teach you.”
Jang Su shook his head. “I didn’t. He just saw me on the day of our summoning and told me that I’ll be training with him. The others don’t even know what he is. They just think he’s a powerful swordsman.”
Aiden cocked a brow. “Swordsman?”
“Yea. He wears a robe and carries a sword without a guard.”
“Mine walks around with a staff and uses magic.”
“I’m confused.” Jang Su reached for his drink, paused, then ignored it. “If your Sage uses magic, then how did he teach you to fight unarmed?”
That wasn’t a long stretch. Aiden had a feeling there was no form of combat Brandis’ Sage didn’t know.
Still, he shook his head. “I told you, he didn’t teach me how to fight. In fact, I’ve only seen him twice. And I don’t think he knows that I know he’s a Sage.”
Jang Su frowned. Aiden could see that he didn’t believe him.
The question was why?
“Alright,” Aiden emulated his action and placed his own glass of wine on top of the banister. “Tell me this. Why do you think I’m being taught by one?”
“First, there’s no way you know he’s a Sage without someone telling you, and most of the people in Nel Quan’s palace don’t know theirs is one, they just think he’s an adviser to the crown. And two, you fight like a Sage.”
That caught Aiden’s attention.
“You’ve fought yours unarmed?”
“All the time. He says it’s good to know how to fight against someone with a weapon and someone without a weapon. There was a point in our fight when you were using the same moves he was using.”
Aiden ran a shaky hand through his hair. Now he needed to know if Brandis’ Sage was paying attention to this party.
Brandis was here so it was likely.
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Jang Su looked at Aiden with a touch of worry. “Are you okay? You look like someone just told you your dog died.”
Aiden shook his head absently. "Never had a dog."
As for the important thing, he couldn’t really put it to words. He’d gone all out in this fight. Used everything he knew about unarmed combat. It had been the only way to try and win in his situation.
“Just tell me two things,” he said, voice shaky. “Are you sure it’s not just a strange fighting technique of this world?”
Jang Su nodded. “Certain. He told me himself. He said he couldn’t teach me because it was a technique only Sages can use. To teach me was to somehow break a Sage rule or something.”
This is bad, Aiden thought. This is very bad.
“What’s the second thing?” Jang Su asked.
“The fighting technique…” his words trailed off and he shook his head. “Never mind. I already know the answer to that one.”
There was only one fighting technique he had used during their spar that was truly unique even in this world.
“Is there a problem, Aiden?” Jang Su asked, worried.
Aiden shook his head. “Not at all. I’m just trying to remember where I actually saw it since I wasn’t actually taught. Also, I need a favor. I know I lost, but I need a favor. Do you think you can help?”
Jang Su spared a moment to look at Yul Kwen where she was speaking to some Lord down below them along with her entourage before answering.
“As long as its within reason.”
“Alright.” Aiden was glad for that. “First, I know you guys are already thinking of how to get rid of the spies in Nel Quan because I know Haruto’s class.”
“We are. Yul is already running mad about it.”
This part was important. It had been a bit of his plan for when he began to possess knowledge he couldn't get from a library. He had planned to use it later in the future, but he'd gotten carried away and messed up with his displayed knowledge before his spar.
“You can try,” Aiden said to Jang Su. “God knows every kingdom has a spy in every kingdom. What I want you to know is that I have my own connections. They are not the kingdom’s spies and, try as you might, you’ll never deal with them.”
Jang Su looked at him through narrowed eyes. “Okay… but I’ve not heard the request. Just what vaguely sounds like a threat.”
Aiden waved his words aside. “Not a threat. Another thing you should know is that this kingdom knows nothing about my connections. And yes, not even our Sage.”
“But you didn’t know we have one, though.”
“I have learnt that they are a difficult existence to get information on.” Aiden picked his wine glass and took a sip before placing it back down. “Even your kingdom doesn’t know that we have one. For safety reasons, I will advise we keep it that way. Bandiv never finds out about Nel Quan and Nel Quan never finds out about Bandiv.”
“Not that I’m refusing, but why?”
“Because while I didn’t know you guys had one, I know a thing or two about them. There are five known walking on the face of Nastild. Only five. No one knows were any two are at the same time except themselves. It has been like this since the beginning of them. No idea how long that is. I fear for what would happen if they found out that there are two people, that are not them, with the knowledge of where two of them are at the same time.”
Jang Su opened his mouth, then closed it. “I’ve fought with mine enough times to know that that is a more worrying threat than even you know. The queen does not oppose him. Ever. She makes it look like she values his counsel but sometimes it feels like she just never opposes him.”
“Mine talks to the king like he’s a child when it’s only the three of us in the room.”
“That’s terrifying.”
‘It is," Aiden agreed. "As I was saying, Bandiv is very unaware of my connections and I would like to keep it that way. But I slipped up tonight, displayed knowledge the king doesn’t have and I’m not supposed to have.”
Jang Su rubbed his chin. “He’ll have questions.”
“Yes. How I knew Haruto’s name and class. How I knew your level.”
“Did you?” Jang Su asked.
Aiden paused. “Not exactly. Levels are a complicated thing. You could’ve increased your level between my last update and when you got here. My point is, I don’t want him to know. If he knows, a lot of things will change.”
Jang Su sighed. “You do know that the story of you having your own high level spies is almost impossible to believe, right?"
Aiden nodded. He'd initially planned to implement this maybe six months to a year down the line but...
But your stupid mouth that's what.
But this story would come to light late, for now only Jang Su needed it to help with his lie.
"I know," Aiden agreed.
"I see." Jang Su didn't look like he saw. "So what do you need me to do?”
“When he asks me how I know what I know, I’m going to lie," Aiden said. "I’ll tell him that I overheard it during a conversation you were having with your companions. There is a chance he will believe me. We are kids in his eyes, new to this world, he would believe such a slip up. The problem is if he finds a way to try and confirm it.”
“I see what you mean.” Jang Su stared into the starry night sky. “You want me to admit to having such a conversation. I’ll handle it on my end. Now, your turn. You lost.”
Aiden smiled. “On a technicality.”
“Nope. You lost. Why did you call me General?”
“Because of the way the others deferred to you,” Aiden lied without missing a beat. “I know it’s probably because of how close you seem to be to the princess, she’s always gravitating to stand beside you. But calling you General was meant to throw you off.”
Jang Su chuckled. “And Demon of Nel Quan?”
“Your hair. It’s naturally that color, doesn’t look like a magical augmentation, and people here with that color of hair usually have it magically altered. Only demons and monsters have naturally oddly colored hair.”
This time Jang Su shook his head in amusement. “Mind games through and true. But how did you know it’s naturally this color and not an augmentation?”
“Humans on Nastild have brown, black, blonde and the occasional red hair. All the other colors are, let’s call it, magical dye. But they are brighter than yours. Yours looks more natural. Also, we have someone who also had a touch of dye when we got here. It’s now just their natural hair color. It’s just not very visible.”
Jang Su touched his hair. “Lao Bek, my Sage, said the summoning was the reason. Something about recreation based on our state at that point. He says it naturalized everything. Still, can’t say I know how I feel about the mind games you were playing with me and Haruto. Tell us things to throw us off balance before the fights. It didn’t work on me so that’s something.”
Aiden shrugged. “What can I say? I was about to go up against someone that was nine levels above me. I needed every advantage I could get.”
Aiden stared at the stars in the night sky as thoughts returned to his mind. He thought of memories of his past life and problems of this one. He’d barely been here a month and he already had problems he didn’t have until Ted had become the Demon King.
He knew the sin of knowledge, the transgression of knowing where two Sages were at the same time. Both Sages also lived in two of five kingdoms that had summoned people from earth. It was a problem, and most likely not a coincidence.
“Penny for your thought?”
Aiden looked at Jang Su. “Sorry, just wondering what I’ll do when my Sage finds out that I have a fighting technique that belongs to him that I’m not supposed to know.”
“Oh.” Relief was heavy in Jang Su’s voice. “If that's the case, you don’t have to worry about it. Nothing gets past them. If you saw it somewhere and picked it up, then its very likely that your Sage wanted you to learn it. They tend to work in mysterious ways. That said…” He picked up his wine glass and turned to the door. “I have to return to my people. The princess gets worried when I’m gone for too long.”
Aiden nodded.
“It was nice meeting you, Aiden Lacheart,” Jang Su said, offering him a handshake.
Aiden took it. “You, too, Jang Su. Try not to take any man or woman’s hand offered in courtship on your way back.”
Jang Su stiffened. “The men do it, too?”
Aiden gave him a wide grin. “Who knows, General Jang Su? Who knows?”
Before long, Aiden was left alone to the cool breeze of the night, the starry sky staring down at him, and the worries in his head.
Sages did work in mysterious ways. That much was true. And sometimes they knew things and didn’t worry about it. So he shouldn’t have anything to worry about. Knowing the fighting technique wasn’t supposed to be something to worry about.
But Jang Su was wrong about one thing. Aiden had to worry about it. He had to really worry about it. Because Jang Su had just told him that he knew some secret Sage fighting style.
And it was the exact fighting style they taught in the Order.
What the hell is going on?
…
The breeze was gentle, soft against his dark hair. Vass liked it here. Here nobody bullied him for not having parents. Nobody looked at him with pity like the maids in the palace did. Nobody looked at him with fear like every single person of authority did.
In the palace he was either pitied or feared. There was no in between.
It was a better reaction than the one he’d had before he’d been brought to the palace. Before the palace he’d been a street child, bullied and oppressed for not having parents by those that had and for being weak and scrawny for those that didn’t have like him.
He had a friend or two but they were in the same boat. Weak and preyed upon. They understood their friendship. Comfort and lies in the name of hope. They shared their happiness where they could find it, but never their pain.
It wasn’t a friendship forged in fire, merely one forged in mutual grief. They were the weakest, lying at the bottom of the food chain. Too weak to bound together and challenge their oppressors, they accepted their fate at the bottom.
When one was being bullied, the others hid, protected themselves. They were young but they were not foolish. Grief dissolved certain delusions of grandeur from a person’s mind.
So when one was done taking their beaten, they knew they could always find the others and forget themselves in the blatant lies that were dreams designed to console themselves. Dreams of becoming great warriors when they were eighteen and received their very own interface and a chance to be powerful.
Dreams of being taken pity on and picked from the street the way they’d often seen strays get picked by random strangers.
Dreams that one out of the three of them would never get to see.
But Vass was living one of those dreams now. Picked from the street by a random old man with curious and intentional eyes.
The man had no name, merely a staff and long beards. He was clean, cleaner than anyone Vass had ever seen in Bracknin. But he was also quiet.
Vass had never been expected to be brought to the palace. He’d even accepted the fate that he was to be used for some experiment. It wasn’t the first time there were stories of alchemists and necromancers doing human experiments of some kind.
But here he was, the weakest member of the palace yet the most feared and pitied by proxy and existence.
Knights bristled each time they walked along their way only to have their path cut off by his very presence.
Some of them thought he liked doing it, liked to stand in their way and look at them like they had no other future but what he was going to tell them.
It hadn’t been until later on when the old man had told him he had other uses apart from playing errand boy to the king.
No one had known but he had been present at the summoning, hidden away in a corner as he had played his major yet small part in the event.
The old man had patted him on the head, told him he’d done well, then sent him on his way when all was done.
So yes, Vass loved living in the palace and away from his old home, but he hated how those who lived in the palace looked at him.
He was very sure that Derenet, the crowned prince hated him. If he was to still be around when the man became king, he was sure to be hanged. But there was nothing he could do about it. He would be hanged and another young child would take his place.
Vass let out a tired sigh and looked up at the starry night sky. He liked it here, out in the forest. The stars didn’t care here or there about him. He was as equal to them as any other man and woman that looked up at them.
And the trees didn’t judge him. Old and tall and large as they were, they kept the rain at bay and the sunshine waiting patiently away. And the breeze. If he lied to himself hard enough he could believe that it loved him.
Loved him in a way his mother never had.
The sound of something snapping dragged Vass from his thoughts. He loved this place because no one ever came here, so panic filled him and he turned quickly, feral like a threatened feline.
The person he saw had a familiar face.
“Hungry?” they asked, holding out a bowl of something that smelled sweet.
Vass said nothing, stared in worry as the person came forward. He saw the Lord and struggled to remember his name.
“It’s alright,” the young Lord said, drawing closer. He placed the bowl gently on the ground. “I don’t bite.”
Vass looked down at the contents of the bowl. It was owl meat. His favorite. He eyed the young Lord and slowly inched towards the bowl.
The young Lord smiled.
“I don’t know if you remember me,” he said. “But we’ve met before.”
Vass remembered it now. He was the jovial one that kept giving him kind glances. Vass knew his family name, but not his own name. But the name echoed in his mind as the lord said it.
“I am Lord Lacheart,” the Lord said with an easy smile. “But you can call me Ted.”