Reginald
“Rise, Reginald.”
In the throne room of the Vin Clan, a large opulent room covered in precious gemstones and decorated with the severed heads of seven powerful monsters, Reginald Vin rose from the half kneel bow he’d assumed upon entering and looked up at the Emperor.
“Already having a Law Pupa at your age. You remind me of myself.” The Emperor, the sole ruler of the largest elven force in the universe, didn’t look like most elves, having black hair and skin a shade paler than normal for even their species, his blue eyes a shade paler as well, and he was the most powerful elf in the universe behind the elven gods, so being compared to him was a high compliment.
“Thank you, Lord Emperor.” Reginald bowed his head again.
“Compared to our other clansmen, you’ve excelled, but, from participating in wars for the last twelve years, your edges are a bit too hard.” The Emperor’s voice was firm yet kind, traveling easily to Reginald and the seven elders in the room despite the Emperor’s physical position being over three meters higher, seated up on the room’s high throne. “I want you to replace my daughter’s current guard during her time at the Forest Cauldron. Learn to adapt to interfacing with foreign forces and how to handle yourself in the realm of politics.”
“Yes, Lord Emperor.” Reginald slammed his left forearm onto his chest in an elven salute.
“I expect great things from you, Reginald. You are dismissed.”
Without daring to ask any further questions, Reginald left the throne room and, as all his belongings were already in his spatial storage ring, he immediately headed to the clan’s external teleportation platform and teleported from the Vin Clan’s capital on one of the three elven A rank planets to the A rank planet where the Forest Cauldron’s headquarters was located, the home of the Sky Lord, one of the more powerful independent gods.
There he checked in at the princess’s residence, meeting with the princess’s chamberlain, and the old woman guided him to where the princess was located, a relatively small room where she and the daughter of the Alchemist of the Deep Woods, Krysta La’Vordi, were performing alchemy. To Reginald’s interest, the princess was using an old fashioned cauldron wrapped in heavenly flames, just like most alchemists in the Vin Clan, but Ms. La’Vordi’s cauldron was more unique, looking like a steel box, but probably a space-based artifact with multiple minor dimensions interacting inside.
“So you do know where he is?”
When he entered, the two young women appeared to be in an argument of some kind, and Princess Henrietta was accusing Ms. La’Vordi of something, though neither were looking at each other, both still focused on their work.
“I can’t say.”
“Why not?”
“I can’t say.”
“Come on, Krysta. This is the love of my life we’re talking about. Give me something.”
“He’s not the love of your life.”
Princess Henrietta still didn’t look away from her cauldron, but her aura and tone showed anger. “And how would you know that?”
“I know more about him than you do.”
“You’ve spent time with him when I’m not around?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He’s good at what he does, so he sometimes helps out with my combat training.”
“And he’s specifically said he doesn’t like me.”
“No.”
“Then how would you know?”
“He isn’t interested in dating.”
“And he’s said this out loud?”
“No.”
“Then how can you be sure?”
“I can’t say.”
“Ahg. This is so frustrating!”
“Yes, Henrietta, it is.”
“Has he dated before?”
Ms. La’Vordi audibly sighed. “Yes.”
“What was she like?”
“Absolutely terrifying.” Ms. La’Vordi’s aura showed fear and Princess Henrietta paused her questioning for a second, likely in response to sensing the change.
“You’ve met her?”
“Yes.”
“And she scared you?”
“Yeah.”
“How?”
“I can’t say.”
“Ahg.” Princess Henrietta paused for a second again. “Was she pretty?”
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
“Yes.”
“Smart?”
“Very.”
“Powerful?”
“Yes.”
“Talented?”
“Extremely.”
“Yeah, someone like him could pull in a talent. Have I heard of her?”
“No.”
“Interesting. Why’d they break up?”
“I can’t say.”
“Hmm.” Princess Henrietta sounded contemplative. “Did she hurt him?”
“Emotionally, I think so.”
“So, he’s been burnt and isn’t interested in dating as a result?”
“Sort of.”
“Could you clarify at least a little?”
“My mom thinks he’s taking a break and will get back together with his ex.”
Princess Henrietta’s eyes grew a bit wider even as she continued to look at her cauldron. “Why would master get involved?”
Ms. La’Vordi seemed to think for a few seconds, likely trying to figure out what she could say, as it seemed pretty obvious she was under a contract of some kind. “I showed interest, so my mom took it on herself to look into him.”
“Yeah.” Princess Henrietta nodded. “That tracks.”
Then she sighed. “That ex of his is so lucky.”
“I personally think it’s the other way around.”
Reginald watched as the aura of Princess Henrietta started to show defeat. “Oh? Well that sucks.”
“Yeah.” Ms. La’Vordi’s aura changed to match, and then she lifted one hand off her cauldron and pointed at Reginald. “Who’s the new elf?”
“A new bodyguard.” Princess Henrietta did absolutely nothing to acknowledge Reginald, continuing her focus on her alchemy. “He’s a talented E rank, and I think my dad wanted to offer him as a training partner for you.”
“Oh.” Ms. La’Vordi’s aura and face showed interest. “Is he a mage?”
“No. A warrior.”
Reginald watched as Ms. La’Vordi’s aura and expression changed to show disappointment. “Well, that sucks. I don’t need another warrior if I can’t beat the one I already have.”
“Wait, what?” Princess Henrietta seemed to almost lose control over her cauldron as she looked over at Ms. La’Vordi, and Reginald felt surprised as well. Krysta La’Vordi was the child of a god and almost certainly the most talented cultivator of their generation, so her losing to the point of sounding embarrassed was not something either of them would expect. “Were you training against a D rank?”
“No.”
“An E rank?”
“Yes.”
By this point Princess Henrietta had retaken control over her cauldron and was just as focused on it as before. “Since when has the Forest Cauldron had an E rank capable of competing with you?”
“Since my mom made a deal so I could have a good training partner.”
“Male?”
“Yeah.”
“Is he hot?”
“He and his girlfriend are having a baby, Henrietta, but yes, I guess.”
“All the good guys are taken.”
“World Guardian is very much not a good guy.”
“Wait. What?” Henrietta almost lost control of her alchemy again. “What did he do?”
“I can’t say.”
“Ugh.”
* * *
Krysta
Krysta walked into the training hall to see Aalam nearly slashed in half by Isaiah’s spear, blood and guts flowing everywhere. But then the training hall’s array formation activated and Aalam’s flesh quickly flowed back together, his body perfectly fine after just a couple seconds.
His shirt, however, was ruined, so he took it off, just wearing a normal pair of pants without any magical properties and a spatial storage ring, the F rank fingerless glove artifact he would usually wear lying at one end of the training hall along with several tankards of water and what looked like some of Isaiah’s favorite foods.
Isaiah, on the other hand, was wearing his usual green armor, his spear and shield in his hands. And the hood and mask of his armor merged into his battle clothes as Krysta walked in.
“Why can I never win?” Aalam’s voice was calm, as if what he was asking was actually a serious question, despite he as a crafter never using any artifacts other than the evilly sharp purple bastard sword which he was at this moment picking up from the training hall’s floor, where it had seemingly fallen during the end of the fight.
“You have more variety in your techniques, but Isaiah’s fundamentals are stronger.” Wolfram Gan, the Forest Cauldron’s large red-haired guard captain responsible for their training, answered, sounding a bit resigned. “You might have more stats, but you’re completely outmatched in close combat skill, while this room is only so big. More important, however, you are a crafter, yet you’ve made better artifacts for your opponent than for yourself.”
“So are you saying the only way I can win is if I make myself better artifacts? That doesn’t seem fair.”
Wolfram just stared at Aalam, his face and aura showing he was starting to get irritated. “Yet you think it’s fair Isaiah has artifacts better than any other E rank in the Forest Cauldron, even Krysta.” Wolfram pointed at her as she walked up and, while Krysta had to admit Isaiah’s armor was better than her own, she didn’t really want to be pulled into the conversation, especially as she could totally see how Aalam’s communication style was starting to frustrate Mr. Gan.
“Yes.” Aalam nodded, his emotions unreadable, as usual when he wasn’t deliberately projecting his aura. “Without his artifacts, Isaiah wouldn’t be able to compete, and then the training would be pretty much useless.”
Wolfram seemed like he was about to get angry, but Isaiah quickly interjected, translating Aalam’s intentions like a good knight should. “Master, I think he’s basically just asking for ways he can improve. And making new artifacts for himself, while it would definitely improve his power, wouldn’t help that much in improving the skills he’ll need during the War of the Chosen or at higher ranks.”
“Right, right. I’m dealing with someone god touched.” Wolfram took a deep breath.
And, at the same time, Aalam raised his left hand. “Sorry for not being more clear.”
“No. Your question was reasonable. I just read more into it than I should have.” Wolfram stopped to think for a few seconds. “It would probably be a good idea if you stopped focusing on your weaknesses and instead focused on your strengths.
“During the last few years, while your close combat skills have greatly improved, Isaiah has improved in that area even more, and, while this is partly because you don’t have as much time to focus on it as he does, if you want me to be frank, it is also because you’re just not as talented as he is when it comes to moving your own body. You are, however, extremely talented in Law control and fine energy manipulation, probably the best I’ve ever seen at your rank, even in an alchemy organization.
“When you finally do get movement and offensive skills, along with a defensive skill that truly suits you and isn’t just for merging with other skills, your energy control will allow you to make up for the slight difference in natural reaction speed and instinctive combat intelligence, so you don’t need to focus on close combat so much. Instead, it would probably be better for you to focus more on using your energy control in combat, becoming able to draw more arrays faster.”
Wolfram paused for a few seconds as Aalam seemed to be thinking about what he’d said.
“But still, the greatest strength of your arrays is flexibility, not power. From what I understand, it’s just not possible for them to ever be as powerful as the stable arrays you can attach to an artifact, let alone skills. So, I would still suggest making yourself an artifact if you want to improve your power at E rank.”
Aalam seemed to keep thinking for a few seconds, but then his eyes grew wide and he started mumbling. “The arrays on artifacts can be created over a long time, allowing them to be complicated. But the level of complexity doesn’t equal strength. That’s based on the amount of energy the runes in the arrays can handle, which is affected by the medium.”
Aalam telekinetically summoned his glove artifact into his hands and made a spacetime teleportation array, disappearing from the training hall, but no one else was really surprised as Isaiah was used to Aalam, Krysta was used to her mom, and Wolfram had spent most of his life among alchemists.
“Well, it seems he just had an epiphany of some kind, so I guess my role of teacher is fulfilled.” Wolfram smiled widely, deservedly at least a little proud of himself. “How about the two of you fight a few rounds and then we’ll practice our energy control without the aberrant making us feel bad by comparison?”