“Father, I have organized the reports that were sent in and have it set aside for you. You may take your time perusing them.” Gerald announced after he entered his father’s study. “Father, by chance have you heard anything from Big Brother?”
Zeke Redwall sighed heavily as he picked up the report, “No, I haven’t. I have sent a request for an investigation, but no one will take up such a risky job with the monster outbreaks happening.”
“Is that so…” Gerald looked downtrodden as he hung his head. “Where ever he is, I hope that he is alright.”
“I do too, Gerald.” Zeke dismissed his son and returned to studying the documents. So far, there have already been numerous incidents of monsters attacking travelers on the road. Thankfully, he heeded Vincent’s advice and called for more mercenaries into his territory. His close friends had also done the same and were very grateful for his insightful information. Zeke’s only worry right at the moment was the incorrect timing; Vincent had predicted they would attack after the harvest, but the outbreak happened much earlier than anticipated. On top of that, his troublesome son had disappeared for far too long without sending word, which worried him to no end.
“Zeke? Are you in there?” A woman knocked on the door and asked.
“Come in, Catherine.” Zeke felt a headache coming.
A woman dressed in casual attire came in, her face was pale, and she looked like she hadn’t slept well in over a week. However, under all of that, she was a natural beauty that could turn heads when she entered a room. Zeke was also a victim, captivated by her when he first met her. To this day, he still wished that she was his woman.
“Zeke, have you heard a word from Vince? I’m worried about him.” Catherine came in complaining. Her limpid eyes seemed to pull at his heartstrings with each movement. Her eyes were red, revealing that she had been crying. The only times Zeke had ever seen her cry was when she received a message that the grand marshal had fallen in battle and whenever Vincent was involved.
“I forgot there was also that one time…” Zeke muttered softly to himself.
“What was that? Did you find out something?!” Catherine stiffened momentarily and ran up and clutched his forearm. If anyone had barged in on this scene, they would’ve passed it off as a typical interaction between husband and wife, but Zeke knew otherwise.
Zeke bitterly smiled to himself and shook his head before explaining, “No, I was just caught up with something. Vincent is a tough child, I know he’s safe.”
It might be that Zeke’s affirmation was all Catherine needed because after hearing his words, her strained face relaxed. “Thank you, Zeke.” She thanked him and left the study as swiftly as she had come.
Zeke kept watching the door long after she left.
---
“Let’s play a game, Vincent.” Faerin laughed merrily as he made the balls of blue flame dance around the area. “What I have here is a crystal ball.” He pulled out a transparent spherical object from one of the baubles hanging on his body.
“Is this for training?” Vincent was interested in the prospect of being trained by Faerin. If his conjecture was correct, Faerin was the legendary Sage of the Forest that William’s party met. The Sage was a saintly individual that guided William and his party in their training and even bestowed Sophia a blessing. Right now, this broken character was about to teach him something.
“Hm~ I guess you can say that~?” He quickly put back the crystal and pulled out another one identical to the last one.
“Why did you put it away?” Vincent questioned.
“It’s nothing. Don’t pay it any attention.” Faerin nervously chuckled and then beckoned, “Come, Vincent. I want to test your aptitude for magic. If you are a descendant of Vincent the First, then you should have insane compatibility with mana.”
“Oh, alright.” Vincent was confused. As far as he knew, the original Vincent had no aptitude towards magic, but maybe it’s because it’s a hidden talent that wasn’t able to be awakened? His mind drifted off into endless fantasies of overpowered characters awakening late into the plot.
Vincent was about to pick up the crystal ball when Princess Arya made her appearance. She took one look at the crystal ball and asked, “Great Ancestor, why are you giving Vincent a slime?”
“What?” Vincent became alert and took a second look at the ball. Now that he was closer, he could see the crystal ball shivering, struggling to break out of an unseen restriction.
“Little Grand Heir, you are ruining your great ancestors fun!” Faerin stamped his foot and pouted. Princess Arya gave a peace sign and started playing with Emet.
“…” Vincent wasn’t sure how to react, so he decided to ignore it. “Please, Godfather, I don’t have time to fool around.”
“Oh~! I guess you’re right.” Faerin became serious and put the “crystal ball” behind his back and brought it back out again. “Okay, I guess we should start.”
“…” Vincent stared for a long time at Faerin.
“W-what is it, Vincent?” Faerin couldn’t make eye contact and kept looking away.
“…”
“Alright! I get it!” Faerin put away the slime and took out the crystal ball from earlier, all the while mumbling, “Youngsters these days don’t know how to have fun.”
Finally, the real crystal ball was taken out, and Vincent took it in his hands. As soon as he touched the crystal ball, he felt a warmth encompass his hand as the ball started heating up, soon a hot wave covered his body. Suddenly a flash of bright white light lit up the whole surrounding as the legendary sparkle of awakening signaled the birth of a hero… not!
“Nothing happened?” Vincent asked.
“Well, no. I need to activate it first, why was something supposed to happen?” Faerin’s playfully chuckled.
Vincent coughed and quickly changed the topic, “Then please hurry.”
“Alright~!” Faerin twirled his fingers for a bit. As he was doing so, Vincent felt fluctuations in the area as the mana began to gather. The mana gathered up into a strange formation, ultimately four alien bodies appeared. Vincent tried looking with his eyes, but there was nothing there, but he could “see” them.
“Godfather, I think something happened,” Vincent warned the clueless fae while he continued to twirl his fingers like a conductor in an orchestra.
“Oh~? Vincent can see them too?” Faerin’s eyes lit up as he increased the pace of his conducting. Soon, the four bodies of fire, earth, water, and air began to twirl, dancing along to the tuneless song.
Vincent felt a burst of pain in his head as he tried to keep up with the dancing mana. As far as he knew, mana didn’t have bodies and couldn’t “dance,” but what he was witnessing was telling him otherwise. Finally, just as the pace of the “song” increased to a terrifying speed, it came to an abrupt halt. Faerin’s conducting stopped, the four mana existences froze, and Vincent stiffened.
“Guah!” Vincent stumbled and fell down. Just now, he felt a burst of pain in his head as four strands of pure elemental mana coursed throughout his body, ultimately residing in his head.
“It’s done!” Faerin picked up the dropped crystal ball and returned it into its storage. “How do you feel, Vincent?”
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“I feel terrible.” Vincent sluggishly answered he was still trying to shake off the dizziness and the pain.
“That’s expected.” Faerin laughed for a while, but then stopped. “You four can leave now.”
“…”
The four spiritual bodies remained in place.
“Don’t make me take it out again!” Faerin threatened and kicked at the air. The fire spirit moved back and dodged the kick, causing Faerin to stumble a bit and had to use his staff to retain his balance. “I’ll get mad. I’ll really get mad!” Faerin feebly threatened.
“…”
“Godfather?” Vincent asked worriedly, he could tell that Faerin was having an argument with the four elemental bodies gathered there. However, he didn’t know what they were, but he was soon given an answer.
“They are spirits.” Princess Arya walked over, knelt down beside Vincent and asked, “Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m not hurt.” He answered and also soothed the worried Emet while sitting up. “But, going more into the topic, what are spirits? Are they ghosts? Also, how come I’ve never heard about them?” Vincent had read about spirits in the novel, but they were regarded as myths.
“Spirits are…” Princess Arya looked like she was struggling to find an explanation for them. While that was happening, Faerin finally resolved his differences with the four spirits, resulting in a section of his cloak being singed.
“Vincent? They would like to speak with you.” Faerin had the look of a slimy henchman sucking up to his boss as he pulled Vincent up and pushed him toward the four spirits. In the lead was the Spirit of Water.
“What do they want?” Vincent asked Faerin, who was busily trying to push him forward.
“Just talk to them, and you’ll find out.” Faerin finally pushed Vincent until they arrived right in front of the water spirit and quickly ran away and rejoined Princess Arya.
“Great Ancestor?” Princess Arya was just as clueless as Vincent.
“Shh! Don’t disturb the spirits, they are spiteful creatures.”
*Whoosh!*
A gust of wind blew Faerin’s cloak over his head.
“I’m sorry~!” Faerin pitifully cried out and ducked behind Princess Arya. “Little Grand Heir, protect your great ancestor. He’s being bullied!”
Princess Arya pushed away the clinging man and curtsied to the invisible spirits, saying, “I apologize on behalf of my great ancestor. To atone for his mistake, I allow you to inflict on him whatever punishment you may deem necessary.”
“What?!” Faerin was between crying and laughing, “Little Grand Heir, how could you turn on your grand ancestor!” He started running away as the wind spirit chased after him, whipping him from time to time.
Vincent watched with a pensive expression and then turned back to the water spirit. “How am I supposed to communicate?” Vincent thought to himself. Soon, he had his answer. The spirit reached out with a tendril of mana; Vincent also understood the motion and reached out with his hand. When they met, Vincent blacked out.
When he opened his eyes again, he saw a man dressed in golden armor flying high up in the sky. The man was surrounded by four hues of light as he fought a second man. The red, blue, green, and yellow lights were dancing around him as fireballs, water whips, wind blades, and earth spikes were shot out simultaneously. The number of magic attacks looked like an army was launching an offensive, but they all originated from one man.
The other man, the adversary of the golden armored man, in contrast, wore plain clothes. To be fair, it was rather dull compared to the golden armored man, but it was still exquisitely made clothing, fit for a king. The most prominent feature of this man, however, was the white mask on the man’s face.
“Godslayer… Grandfather?” Vincent asked out loud, but no voice came out. Before he knew it, the golden man reached out, and Vincent felt pain as he felt his body losing strength. Then a massive wave of water was generated in the air and threatened to wrap up the Godslayer.
“Hmph! Naïve!” Vincent the First scoffed and snapped his fingers, a barrier immediately formed around him. The wave came and was brushed off quickly before Vincent the First pointed his cane at the golden man.
“@#%!^!#” The golden man shouted in a foreign language before forming layers upon layers of earth around his body. Vincent could tell that the man was fearful of his grandfather’s attack. The man kept putting up more layers, but it was too late.
For some reason, he started slowing down, it was like the golden man was wading through water and the water then turned into molasses. Finally, the golden man stopped moving altogether. Vincent watched as the Godslayer flew over to the golden man and pulled out a hammer. The Godslayer gently tapped the gavel to the crystal-like shell, then a crack immediately formed on it.
*Crack!*
The cracks spread in a web-like manner before the crystal defense broke like smashed glass, reveal the frozen golden-armored man inside.
“It was your mistake to piss me off.” Vincent the First said lightly. Then he reached out with his cane and tapped on the frozen man. “So, you must die.”
When the cane touched the man, he crumbled into dust and was blown away by the wind. The moment the man disappeared, five bodies appeared in his place. Vincent finally understood what was happening.
“You are now free.” Vincent the First said as he turned to each of the four elemental spirits. Then he trained his eye on the fifth “spirit”, “I welcome you to Aion’s Ring.”
“URAAAAAAHHHHH!!!” A screeching noise like grating metal roared out from the spirit as the ring sucked in the ghost of the golden man.
The Godslayer turned to leave, but the four elemental spirits kept following him. So he turned back and asked, “What else do you want?” He sounded impatient.
Vincent watched as his host, the water spirit, extended its tendril-like mana and communicated with the Godslayer for a moment. Once that was over, Vincent the First spoke up, “You say that is my fate?” He chuckled lightly then added, “I won’t let fate govern me. I accepted this burden ever since I took up the ring. So, there’s no need for you worry.” Vincent the First bid the spirits farewell and flew away.
Finally, Vincent was thrown back out into reality. He woke up and found he was laying on a pillow of leaves. When he opened his eyes, he caught Princess Arya studying him and asked, “How long was I asleep?”
Princess Arya didn’t look away and answered, “About half an hour; not too long.”
“What are you looking at?” It was impolite to keep staring at a person’s face. This was an unspoken rule in modern times and also in ancient times.
“Your face.” She bluntly answered without missing a beat.
“…” Vincent gave up and sat up and saw Faerin bitterly sowing up his cloak that had multiple tears in it. The spirits were gone, but Vincent remembered the last words the water spirit said before ending the memory.
“Please save us. We will become your strength and join your fight when you point your sword at the heavens.”
“Save them? Aren’t they already free?” Vincent muttered to himself as he walked over and asked Faerin the same question.
“The spirits?” Faerin bitterly smiled and looked around before speaking. “There are only four elemental spirits in the world. They can split up portions of themselves. However, the gods sealed up the spirits along with the rest of the fae in the tiny world. Only the fae that signed the contract were allowed out. I guess the same thing happened to the spirits.”
“Then, when the spirits asked me to save them, they want me to unseal them?” Vincent asked.
“I guess?” Faerin picked his ear. “If you ask me, I’d rather they stay in there. They’re nothing but bullies!”
*Bang!*
A rock flew down and hit Faerin’s head.
“I’m sorry!” Faerin cried out and ducked his head before whispering, “See?!”
The earth spirit was finally appeased, and the attacks stopped.
“Aren’t you a great sage?” Vincent felt his image of the man crumbling.
“Sage?” Faerin sat up, “I guess you can say that. I am a great and powerful person, after all!” He stood up and confidently stuck out his chest. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew past him, reminding of his position, “I’m not strong, just too annoying to die. Just too annoying to die.” He began to kneel and apologize to the empty air.
“…”
“What?” Faerin whined, “When you live as long as I have, you will come to understand a few things about life. The first rule is you must never anger the spirits. The second rule is you must never anger your wife.”
“Why did you add the second part?”
“Hehe…” Faerin scratched his head.
“I can answer that.” Princess Arya spoke up. “There was a legend about Great Ancestor. In the past, he angered his wife by forgetting about their date in the moonflower garden. Because of that, he wasn’t allowed in the bedroom for a decade.”
“P-Please Little Grand Heir, at least give your great ancestor some face!” Faerin feebly beckoned.
“Hehe.” Princess Arya contemptuously laughed and continued, “The Fae are a matriarchal society. They only turned patriarchal after signing the contract and changing into elves. Probably at the bequest of a certain man.” She eyed a particular fae that was trying to hide behind Vincent.
“I see, but that doesn’t explain something.”
“Great Ancestor’s wife is the Oracle of Spirits. Whatever the spirits wanted, they spoke through her. Imagine how life would be if invisible eyes are keeping watch over you and reporting everything to your wife.” Princess Arya displayed a sardonic laugh once more.
“Then shouldn’t it be, the first rule: never anger your wife. Second rule: never anger the spirits?” Vincent joined in and chuckled mischievously. Although his image of the Sage of the Forest has crumbled down, at least it was more easygoing.
“V-Vincent not you too!” Faerin complained. “I knew I shouldn’t have called the spirits…” He mumbled.
“That reminds me!” Vincent realized the main point was to test his aptitude and asked, “So what were my results?”
Faerin evilly grinned and revealed an expression of schadenfreude and replied, “Absolutely horrible compatibility with the elements.”