Azura was a little disappointed. Apparently there were no games or competitions held on the first sunday. He supposed it was to give everyone a chance to get used to everything before adding in crazy stuff on their off day. In honesty it was probably a good thing. He’d be lying if he said he would have been able to put all his focus on whatever event they came up with. He was still cataloging and adjusting to his new abilities after he enacted his spirit contract. More than anything the extra connection to the spirit world had made using his magic much easier.
It wasn’t stronger, well perhaps it was a little, but the real boon came with how much faster and easier it was to cast. His enchant speed had increased dramatically, and since he didn’t have to use mana to link to the spirit world so he could grasp the language it was cheaper as well. So far he had mostly relied on pre-made enchantments, but with this he was rather excited to put more work into his battlefield enchantments, since they just became a lot more viable.
He was beyond grateful he was born with his unique magic, because it was the only reason he had been able to get in as much study and practice with the abilities granted by his new contract. All of his friends were swamped trying to get to as much of as many classes as they could. He wasn’t going to lie, he enjoyed the stink eye they gave him when they ran past him reading in the hallway as they rushed to the next class. Or the even more frustrated looks they gave when he brought lunch to a class, when they didn’t have any time unless they wanted to miss half a class.
Eventually they were going to wise up and just ask him to bring them lunch, but he’d laugh at their suffering for now. Now if only his familiar was as easy to deal with as these classes. He sighed. So far the only good thing that had come from his familiar, was that Reign was actually rather impressed with the power of his spirit contract. The dragon had said that it must be to a very powerful spirit. It looked like Reign had more to say at the time, but his familiar had ultimately decided to remain silent.
Which honestly worried him a little. He wasn’t even aware Reign could be silent, at least not when awake. Not to say he was displeased about it, he probably took an inordinate amount of joy in the peace and quiet the brief respite had granted him. It wasn’t all bad though, Reign had agreed to start sparring with him. As expected without using way more resources than he wanted too for a spar he wasn’t quite up to par with the young dragon. He wasn’t being beat down one-sidedly, but it was pretty clear that he wasn’t going to win.
He didn’t mind it though.It was good training for the both of them. He got to practice fighting an opponent that was stronger and tougher than him, and Reign got to practice dealing with a fast and tricky opponent. The dragon had made a comment about it being like fighting smoke. Reign had probably meant that as an insult, but he was actually rather pleased at the comparison. He had the evasion part down, it was time to focus on increasing his damage.
***
Katy was beyond grateful to have a break. Unlike Azura with his copies she actually had to pick and choose her courses, and she was running herself ragged getting to them as quickly as possible. Luckily Azura was at least nice enough to fill in any gaps they missed leaving early or getting in a little late. Although he never missed the chance to get some smug teasing in. Not that she wouldn’t be the same if the situation was reversed.
Either way she was just glad not to be rushing around like her life depended on it for today. She decided she was going to take Azura’s advice for the next week. He was right after all, she had gone to several classes that she didn’t really need to, because she felt like she had to use all the available class time. She would only run herself ragged doing it that way, it was time she prioritized a little. She’d only go to classes she thought would actually help her, and then she’d train the rest of the time.
Cynthia and Luna had taken his advice right from the start, but her and the others had stubbornly refused. Roran was definitely going to continue going to every possible class, but The rest of them would probably ease up a little. Speaking of the group, since there wasn’t going to be any event this week she should see if they wanted to do something together.
She decided to go ask. She’d go to Cynthia first, since the telepath would be able to call the others a lot faster than she could. More than anything she thought Azura needed the pick me up. It hadn’t even occurred to her that offering up Selena for marriage was an option, she wasn’t even 15. She hadn’t understood why that was any different than him threatening to make her heir at first, but after Azura explained to her some of the intricacies of nobles she understood why that particular threat was so nasty.
It was one thing asking someone to defend her from house Silver. Tiamat couldn’t really afford to put too much pressure on anyone without risk of backlash from his enemies, but with this threat he didn’t have to. Not for the first time she was glad not to be born a noble, she couldn’t think of more shark infested waters than nobility. She wondered what Azura would come up with. Asking someone to protect her from who knows how many nobles was not only unreasonable, but nearly impossible.
She shook her head. This wasn’t her area of expertise, no real reason for her to get it stuck in her head. If she could help she would, but she doubted whatever insane plan Azura ended up with would involve her much. What could she do in a situation like this? The only thing she was good at was combat and stealth. Well her illusion skills were coming along quite nicely if she did say so herself, but she didn’t really see how those would help any.
She suddenly found herself in front of Cynthia’s door. She must have been walking on autopilot. She shrugged, and knocked on the door. It didn’t take long for it to open, and the familiar voice to appear in her head. “Oh Katy, hi. I figured it would be Roran or Luna that came to gather everyone.” She chuckled, not an odd conclusion. Roran was definitely the most social of them, and Luna was always eager to spend time with her friends.
“I’m just really glad to have a break from classes, and thought we should do something fun to relax.” She considered mentioning Azura’s recent trouble, but decided that there wasn’t any reason to. It would only make them upset, and Azura annoyed at her for having told them.
“Oh for sure, some of those professors are insane. If these are the first year teachers I’m a little curious what the higher year teachers are like.” She knew what Cynthia meant. The first couple days of classes had been fairly introductory, but yesterday the teachers had wanted to give them a taste of what normal classes would be like so they could use their day off to properly prepare. Or at least that was Azura’s theory on why the classes had been so much more intense.
“Do you think Azura’s going to immediately start us on prep, or give us a few hours to relax first?” Her wry smile made it clear she already knew the answer. Cynthia most likely did too, because the typically shy girl rolled her eyes.
“It’s a little rough now, but I imagine we’ll be glad to have mr. practically a teacher when tomorrow comes around.” She chuckled. That was about right. Azura didn’t take half-assing when it came to training or studying. She would be the first to admit it could get annoying sometimes, but she would also be example number 1 of how effective his methods were. Most of these people had been training since they could walk, she hadn’t really started until 10, and yet not only did she make it into the academy, but she was even towards the top in terms of combat skill.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“It’s better to be over prepared than under, or at least that’s what Azura always says. I think he’s gotten even more obsessed with it, since his mis-call on our way here. He had prepared for the academy, and any monsters we might have come across in the forest, the regions we would be crossing, and any hazard we might have run into. Yet something as simple as bringing a tent or sleeping bag nearly got us killed.” Cynthia looked confused about the last part. She could see why. Without any context it was hard to think of how a lack of proper sleeping accommodations could get you killed. To be fair, it wouldn’t have if Azura had just slept in the dirt like a normal person.
“Well that sounds like quite a story, but since you made it here in 1 piece I’ll assume you guys found a solution.” She snorted. In a way it had been finding the solution that had almost got them killed. She still couldn’t believe he had stayed up all night just to make a soft rock. Although she couldn’t argue with the results, the rock bed really had been quite comfortable.
“You know Azura, if there’s an issue he’ll fix it no matter how much time he wastes or how pointless most people would think it is.” To be fair she was rather grateful for that particular quality of his. Otherwise she would probably just be another random servant of the silver house. After all she had not been a good student at first, anyone else would have given up on her. Azura wasn’t anyone else though, and in the end his stubbornness was rewarded, he had helped her get here, and it was her turn to help him as much as she could.
“Yeah, or how impossible it seems. I’m still not sure how he quenched those…” Cynthia shivered, most likely due to whatever memory was being dredged up. Her friend took a breath to collect herself and then continued. “... awful violet flames, or how he kept Luna’s curse at bay. Curses are forbidden for a reason, and I could feel how those flames were devouring magic. How do you stop something like that?”
She had asked Azura that many times already, and his answer was always the same. Not that she was fooled, if all he had done was put Lily to sleep he wouldn’t have needed them to clear the area. It grated on her that he wouldn’t even trust her with the secret, but she was used to it by now. Azura was secretive by nature, and she acknowledged how much effort it took on his part to be as open as he was. Didn’t mean it wasn’t annoying to have secrets kept from you by your best friend. “Azura’s father is a monster, but say what you will about his character, his strength is even more monstrous, and it’s not just brute strength either. Tiamat is the only person Azura has consistently lost to in combat or politics, and he’s not the only adult Azura has faced either. Anyway, the point is he knew what needed to be done to make Azura as strong as he could be. Terrible person, but one hell of a teacher.”
“Well at least Azura did a good job picking and choosing which traits to inherit from his father. I wish I had done even half as well taking traits from my mom.” Honestly she thought the biggest thing Cynthia needed to work on was confidence. Azura’s blunt honesty approach was great for helping people get stronger, but it wasn’t always great for helping their confidence.
“I don’t know, I think you’re doing pretty well. You aren’t a combat specialist like your mother so if you’re comparing combat abilities don’t you think you’re holding yourself to unfair standards.” She was a support type fighter, there was no doubt about that, but nonverbal communications, and her healing abilities were both insanely useful support. Heck Azura had even said in a team battle Cynthia was their most valuable member.
Cynthia smiled at her. “Logically I know you're right, but I can’t really help but feel this way. All of you are so strong, and I’m clearly the weakest link in our group.” She couldn’t say she didn’t know the feeling. She had always been in Azura’s shadow, and no matter how much she thought to herself that he had far more training than she did she always felt inferior to him. Things were different now, she was learning magic that Azura rarely used, and would finally be able to make her own way instead of just following in his shadow. Metaphorically at least, literally she’d probably still use his shadow. Stealth was her other area of excellence after all.
“I get what you mean, but try not to let it get to you. You may be the weakest combatant, but don’t forget that we wouldn’t be able to fight like we do, if we didn’t have you around to patch up our wounds afterwards.” Cynthia’s smile got a little bigger. She hoped Cynthia got over her confidence issues, both for their sake and for hers.
“Well I guess I better let everyone know we’re gathering huh. The sooner we start the sooner we can get through whatever crazy preparations Azura has in mind.” She laughed at that, apparently Cynthia didn’t have any doubts about whether Azura would let them take a break first either.
***
Azura was pretty happy with how his off day was going. Cynthia had conveniently gathered everyone before he had even had a chance to ask, He helped everyone prep and strategize for the next wave of classes, since they now knew it was going to be much more difficult they would have to take some breaks, and he also agreed to bring everyone food when they asked him too. That meant he’d have a copy dedicated to that task, but even only attending 4 classes at one time left him plenty of time to get to every available class.
Of course he also agreed to help fill any gaps for parts they missed as he’d been doing already anyway. After he had run them through what he wanted, the group was surprised when he said that they should be sufficiently prepared after less than an hour of strategizing. “I don’t know why you all look so surprised, I don’t even know what classes will be available, all I can do is give general advice.”
Rather than feel pressured by their unreasonably high expectations of him he actually felt kind of flattered. They thought really highly of him, that much was obvious, and it felt good to deal with people that respected him for once. It definitely wasn’t something he experienced often when dealing with nobles. His father actually did have some form of twisted respect for him. The man never held back when dealing with him, and his father always seemed confident he could pass even the most rigorous tests. It was nice to get the normal version from someone other than Katy, who didn’t really count since he had saved her life, of course she was going to respect and think highly of him.
“I guess, but your definition of ‘general advice’ is usually what most people would consider a very detailed plan including changes in the case of most possible situations. I remember your ‘general advice’ before we went out to Fire Ward. You ran us through strategies and tactics for 3 hours.” He smiled awkwardly. Lily had him there, but in his defense he had so much more information to work with for that trip. He may have over done it on the research after realizing he had some gaps in his real life experience that needed to be filled. The disaster in the man eating forest taught him that.
“In the wild a mistake can mean death, in the classroom it can equal some embarrassment, or an injury. Anything that happens here can be fixed later, especially given none of you will be going to a class I won’t be, and I have a lot more study time to cover any extra research that needs to be done. Out there I can’t afford to use my mana so recklessly. Different situations require different solutions.” The flat look they were all giving him did more to tell him that he had proven their point, then anything they could have said.
Katy rolled her eyes playfully at him. “Well since your advice today was uncharacteristically short, I suppose we can all relax a little. Who wants to do team building exercises?!” He chuckled, that had been what he called games when they were little. It wasn’t even entirely untrue, life and death situations aside, almost nothing built trust as much as just hanging out and having a good time.
Apparently everyone else got the idea from the glint in her eye, because he couldn’ imagine anyone being excited for what most people consider to be team building exercises. He smirked. “As long as it’s not hide and seek, at least in the castle I knew the area well enough to have a chance.”