The more I traveled with these “humans” the more questions I started to have.
Where did they come from?
How did they kill the monsters?
Why did our kingdoms fail to notice a budding civilization between our two nations?
Who granted them their knowledge?
What do they intend to do with me?
One of the answers I was at least able to guess now that I had seen them fight. My eyes of truesight were able to see the mana inside their bodies pulse after every strike with their spears.
I was shocked to see a difficult to learn technique amongst us elves used so effortlessly. It would often take a dozen years to establish a strong enough mind-body connection to enhance one’s physical strength with mana.
But here they were, matching the strength of monsters blow for blow, yet ignoring the mana that swirled around them? It was like they didn’t know how to manipulate their domain.
During one of the battles, I instinctively levitated a stone and flung it to save one of the humans.
The strain from using my mana for the first time since my… capture, made my entire body ache from the high intensity needed to make up for my recovering cultivation, but the expressions on their faces after the battle put me at ease.
They began to sing and dance, gave me the first helping of food that night, and they all surrounded me in curiosity.
The leader approached me and was able to ask me to levitate a rock once more.
Not wanting to say no to the one who rescued me, I did as he asked, and hovered a small stone in the middle of the group.
The leader stared at my spell, then barked something loudly to the other humans.
I couldn’t understand all of the words yet but was able to pick out “fallen” and “mountain”.
Arc
Blessed Torbolt, voice of the heavens, protector of the herd, destroyer of monsters and arrogant tortoises, I thank you for answering my unspoken prayer.
For I was bored, and you graced me with your benevolence.
“And he said that I was like a father to him!” Lancel violently sobbed into Tristan’s arms, “I was mad at first, but it’s true…” He grabbed Percy with a free arm so that all three brother’s heads were close, “It feels like it was only a month ago that I was stopping Travis from throwing rocks at the church bell.”
Tristan, also intoxicated to the extreme, grabbed Lancel’s head and looked directly at him, “That’s what happens when you have kids! All of a sudden you don’t give two steps about whether or not to begin the back-march because your too busy trying to remember if Silia wanted a stuffed bison or a buffalo for her birthday.”
“That’s what happened!” Lancel shouted loud enough for the entire estate to hear, “It was at my knighting ceremony, I remember getting hugs from everyone, but when I had a moment to myself, a random thought entered my mind and all I could think about was that I wished Travis was here. I know it seems silly, he’s just that little kid that I’d do laps with around the town, but the thought of never getting to do that with him again kept gnawing at my mind.”
“Is that why you made like a leaf instead of doing something sensible like sending a formal letter asking Travis to become a ward instead?” Rebekah, a female knight friend of Tristan’s asked while inspecting the poleaxe.
“No,” Tristan interjected before Lancel could answer, “this idiot didn’t even know that Travis had a big mana supply.”
“You didn’t?” Percy shouted, “but… you said no more secrets.” He then started bawling his eyes out.
Tristan and Lancel pulled Percy into a three-way shield-brother hug.
“You’re right,” cried Tristan. He then made eye contact with his brothers, “I always hated how Dad was able to help train you two. I know you’ve only gotten help these last three years, but I was so close to not making the cut…” he began to break down, “and you passed without a worry when you turned 30… and you!” He pointed at Lancel, “You passed 3 years early!”
Percy backed away a bit, grabbed a pull from the now empty bottle and looked to the sky while his whole body began to shake, “I’ve been hiding something too! I always hated that I had to share everything with Gaward, even my room, and I hated always being compared to him. So, I prayed to Torbolt once when I was angry, and asked him to make Gaward go away so I could finally be alone.” Percy then fell to his knees and cried out, “It’s my fault! I’m the one who made Gaward leave!”
He was joined by his brothers on the ground, now harmonizing as one in an incomprehensible cacophony of sobs and consoling words.
“Wow,” Tristan’s other knight friend commented while he grabbed Rebekah from behind by the hips, “I wish I was that close with my brothers.”
Rebekah turned her head to give Rufus a kiss on the cheek while making an obscene gesture with the shaft of the poleaxe. “Hmm, I think I prefer yours. It’s much more manageable.”
Rufus grinned and took the poleaxe, “Are you sure? You can make some powerful thrusts with this one.”
Rebekah closed the distance, the poleaxe pressed between the pair, “If I wanted a thrusting weapon, I would have reached for Tristan’s spear.” She then reached her hands around him, giving his ass a firm squeeze.
“Well, my hammer-axe will be happy to know that you prefer it.” He leaned his head forward, and the two engaged in a long passion-filled kiss.
Can this day get any better?
A pair of women entered the estate with a few guards.
Oh blessed Ignitious, granter of knowledge, bringer of change, he who consumes the death in the undergrowth, you have graced me with your kindness.
For your comedic timing is truly of a godly nature, and the envy of all pranksters.
Matriarch Rabiria and Lucia, Percy’s fiancée, were approached by an apologetic servant, saying that they did attempt to cut the brothers off, but they had a hidden stash located in the armory.
Rabiria face-palmed at the sight of her boys lying on the ground and gave out an unladylike grunt, “This is my curse.” she turned to Lucia and pointed at her sons, “This is what happens when you pray to Torbolt, asking that your sons will never strike each other in anger.”
Lucia stared at the sight, then let out a sigh, “At least they didn’t make fools of themselves in public this time.”
Rabiria nodded in agreement, then approached the overly intimate couple and cleared her throat. The two snapped to attention and gave deep bows in apology.
“Apologies Matriarch,” Rufus let out while bowed, “our lack of respect towards your hospitality dishonors us.”
“Just, tell me what happened.” Rabiria commanded, waving off the formalities.
Rebekah began to tell the tale, “Well, we ran into Tristan, and he told us that your family had accepted a new ward and that the young man created his own weapon.” She gestured to Rufus, “He mentioned that it looked like a cross between a halberd and Rufus’ hammer-axe and we got curious, so he invited us over.”
Rufus picked up the story, “When we got here, we ran into Lancel and Percy who were hanging on each other and complaining that the servants stopped bringing them ale. Then… well… next thing we knew, Tristan pulled out a false bottom from his footlocker and…” He outstretched his hand to the drunken trio and gave an embarrassed grin.
Rabiria started to massage her temples, “It appears that I need to apologize on behalf of my son for being a poor host. Perhaps it would be best if we simply forget this incident?”
The couple nodded their heads.
“Thank you,” the Matriarch turned to her sons, “could you help assist in sobering up these supposedly grown men? I’d hate for our newest ward to witness such an embarrassing sight.”
Blessed Apheros, germinator of life, caretaker of the forest, who’s table is never empty of food or drink, I am not worthy of your gift.
For you have delivered a smiling Travis back to me.
“Quick! Get to the training yard! You’ve got to see this.”
Travis hopped off his nameless horse, and after being assured by Barry that he didn’t need to help stable the horses, began to walk to the training yard.
“Oh, just a heads up, you’re going to want to give your poleaxe a good cleaning.”
Travis whispered a barely audible “What?” as he entered the training yard. The look of incredulity on his face was captured for my personal memories, and I couldn’t help but laugh in Travis’ ear.
“Percy decided to go with his original plan for the day.”
“Travis!” Rabiria gasped when her eyes fell upon him. She reasserted her noble posture and approached him, “Before you get any ideas, this type of behavior,” she pointed at her sons who were being helped up by the visiting knights, “is unbecoming of a knight, and will not be tolerated amongst our wards.”
Travis stiffened his posture and gave a firm nod of understanding, but then slumped his shoulders and gave out a pained half-chuckle while he rubbed the back of his neck.
“Umm, about that… my wardship…”
Rabiria glared at the teenager, “What did you do?”
He tried to speak, but the intimidating look she gave must have terrified Travis, and he couldn’t let out anything. His right hand reached to scratch his ear.
“Oh, I’m not bailing you out of this one.”
Travis regrew his spine enough to hand the Matriarch the papers he held. She took the documents and began to scan them with a visible scowl.
She suddenly stopped and almost lost grip of the papers, “You… you were…”
Travis gave a low bow and was finally able to speak again, “I’m sorry. I know you went through a lot of trouble to get the lawyer here last minute yesterday. If there’s anything I can do in repayment, please let me know.”
Lancel, now upright thanks to Rufus, broke the hold over him upon seeing Travis and rushed over to him, “Travis! It’s alright, don’t worry, my dad is going to help make you a knight.” He forced the former ward into a forced shield-brother hug, “We all decided that it doesn’t matter if you become a knight even younger than us, because you…” he paused his slurred speech to gain the attention of everyone, “are a brother to us!”
Travis scowled at the unwanted hug and attempted to pry off the drunken knight.
I began to chuckle as I spoke to him, “Looks like you’re officially part of the family now.”
He kept trying to move the emotional man, but eventually gave up and started leading Lancel away from the yard with the other knights.
“By the way, congratulations, I knew you could do it.”
---
Travis
I pushed Lancel into the room and was thanked by the servant while they locked the three brothers inside.
“Just how much did they have to drink?”
The two Lakeland descent knights began to laugh at my question and the woman replied, “They each went through a bottle of creekwater.”
I gasped, memories flooding my mind of Wobbles telling me that the only difference between his disinfectant and creekwater was whether or not he aged it in a barrel with fruit to infuse the nearly pure alcohol.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“They’d be dead if they weren’t knights!”
The visiting knights had their laughter renewed as we returned to the training yard where the Matriarch and Percy’s fiancée were sitting on a bench with my acceptance letter.
Rabiria was beaming at me, no longer in shock, “Congratulations Travis.” She began to chuckle and then bent over when they turned into belly-aching laughs.
The Lakelander knights gave me an inquisitive look, “I passed my exam for the Mage’s Academy.”
The male knight narrowed his eyes at me and looked me up and down, “Wait, your mana pool is pretty high, but… it’s not built up like a mage’s? How did you pass your test?”
I grinned at him while I held up my hand and formed a small [Fire Orb], “I’ll admit, it took me a long time to learn how to detach mana from my membrane, but once I got over that initial log, learning to shape it into arrays wasn’t so hard.”
Everyone’s eyes were like moths to my spell, unable to look away. The female knight squinted at my spell and then held her hand out to cast her own [Fire Orb].
“How did you get yours so stable?” She moved her constantly shifting spell beside mine so that she could compare.
I closed my eyes to examine her spell, “Your lines aren’t straight enough and one of them has less mana, so you’re probably putting in double the effort to hold it in place.”
She concentrated on her spell and started to make changes.
“Ok, that’s looking better. Now you just need to adjust your tetrahedral angles until they are all at about 109.5 degrees.”
She looked up from her spell to give me a minor glare before returning. It started to stabilize more, but her concentration failed, causing the mana to de-sync and start scattering. She then gave out a groan and rubbed her eyes, “How are your eyes not bleeding.”
The male knight started laughing, and then casted a [Wind Orb], “I take it mine is just as bad?”
I summoned my own spell and hovered it near his to compare, “Your lines are barely teardrop shaped. I bet that must be why you need nearly triple the amount of mana in your formation.”
He nodded his head, “That’s what my dad says. I was only able to get my mana to form a spell after I brought up my levels high enough to brute force it, which, by the way, is not the best strategy to go with if you’re trying to get into the Mage’s Academy.”
He slumped his shoulders and gave me a sad smile, “My family has been producing mages for three generations now. There’s going to be a lot of noble families praying for your failure.”
The female knight wrapped her arms around her companion, “Ours will probably be included, us middle ring families can get vicious if we think our position is insecure.”
The male knight locked eyes with me and started to grin, “I can’t wait to see their disappointment.”
We continued chatting for a while, mainly sharing training exercises, and I caught Rabiria speaking to multiple servants with Percy’s fiancée until a guard came into the yard to announce that the Hopkins brothers were now sober.
I gave my best imitation of a Hopkins grin to the Matriarch, and she returned the genuine article. She then told the guard to have them meet us in the Main Hall.
The five of us entered the hall to find that all three had changed into evening robes and were now sitting on one of the couches with their heads bowed in shame.
Rabiria stepped forward, “I’ve decided on everyone’s punishment.” She looked down at her boys, “I’ll be pulling from your personal funds to pay for a celebratory event in one week.”
Lancel and his brothers raised their heads in confusion and Rabiria turned her head towards me, “As for you, in repayment for having your wardship to us annulled by the Queen, you’re going to have to endure being a political tool for a night.”
I grimaced at the news but nodded my head in agreement to her punishment. Lancel and his brothers however were still slow on the uptake, “Annulled! What happened?”
My frown flipped over, and I basked in the confusion on the Hopkins brothers’ faces. Tristan’s eyes were the first to sparkle in recognition, “Wait, did you…?”
I nodded my head, “I’m getting fitted for my uniform tomorrow.”
---
Non-alcoholic drinks were served and plans for the party were already being formed.
“Unfortunately, we won’t be able to invite your parents.” Rabiria apologized, “The travel time is too long for them to make it here before you start classes.”
“It’s alright, they’d have a hard time coming even if they were close. Spring planting is in full swing now and I’m not home this year to help.”
I sighed after my statement, feeling glum despite their assurances over the winter that they would be able to make do without my help.
Lancel patted me on the back and locked eyes with his mom, “Perhaps we could make up for it by inviting them up for the Winter Solstice Festival?”
The Matriarch scratched her chin, “Would they be willing to stay for the entire 4-month travel ban? I’m not sure if you’d be able to get them a travel visa.”
“I’m not sure, but I can ask them when I send out my letter to let them know what’s been happening.”
She nodded her head, “Well, you have my blessing to invite them to winter here at the estate.” She reached for a sheet of paper, “Is there anyone here in the capital that you’d like to invite?”
I thought for a moment and there was only one person that I’d personally gotten to know since arriving at the capital that wasn’t from Clan Hopkins.
“I’m not sure if they’d be able to come, but there was a spartan that I met at the party last night.”
“We can always send out the invitation,” she gestured to one of the lists, “a good number of invites are sent without any real expectation of them coming.” She started to giggle to herself, “Some consider parties just an excuse to announce their accomplishments.”
She picked her pen back up, “Now, what is their name?”
“Umm, it was…” I tried to think, “I know it was a Northman name.” I turned to Lancel, but his grin was growing malicious as I grasped for the Spartan’s name.
I started to scratch my right ear, “Don’t look at me, I never met him.”
Lancel turned to his mother, his laughter barely contained, “You might regret having him host a formal event.”
---
Supper felt like it took an eternity to begin, and my stomach was protesting to remind me that it was the first time in weeks that I had charged my mana to such a degree. Unfortunately, I had to wait for the rest of the family to gather since I still had Hopkins to tell the good news to.
Tristan’s wife congratulated me, and her daughter was ecstatic when I used Water Mana to splash the inside of her dad’s ear.
Darius returned to the estate with a pair of newly registered wards that he attempted to introduce to me, but his wife interrupted him for me so that I could apologize for not being able to join in on their training.
His response, after I reassured him that I was in good hands for combat training, was of course to give me a rib-cracking hug and then started laughing so hard that the furniture began to shake.
Caldia eventually arrived, carrying a package, and whispered to one of the guards before approaching her family and me.
“I take it that I missed the big announcement?” She gave out with a disappointed tone.
I smiled at her, “No, just a small one.”
She gave me a grin, which for some reason made my stomach act strange, I guess the wait for supper was getting to me.
Barry entered the Main Hall, holding a wrapped item, and gave Caldia a nod.
“Well, at least allow me to give you a gift to commemorate your acceptance to the academy.” She then handed me the package she held.
I grew nervous as everyone watched me open the gift. I pulled out the scabbard inside and held it up to the light to better see.
It wasn’t anything fancy, just a sheath of dark oiled leather that matched my boots with silver metal ends. It did have a few decorations though, one being an engraving of a shield placed over a spear, hammer, and axe to symbolize the three kingdoms on the locket, and a small inscription of a rabbit dodging a lightning bolt on the chape.
Barry stepped up beside me, presenting Arc to me. I darted my head around to catch everyone’s smiling faces before grabbing Arc and testing out the fit.
“Fits perfect. This is great, now I’ll get to be by your side during your adventures!”
The beautiful moment was ruined by a freak-of-nature bearded Packer that entered the hall with Marcia and shouted boisterously, “I have an announcement to make!” His eyes scanned the room, until they fell on me, “Wait, who are you?”
I probably shouldn’t have said anything, but I couldn’t help myself, “One of your students.”
Surprised looks sprouted in the room, and I turned to Caldia, “That, was the big announcement.”
---
Arc
I watched as an exhausted Travis slumped onto his bed, still with his boots on, and I think he even faded away for a moment when his head hit the pillow.
“Tired?”
“Mhmm…”
I could see why, Travis wasn’t the extroverted type, so his batteries for socializing with so many people had run dry. It wasn’t a problem I personally delt with in my previous life, but I did have a few friends who always needed some alone time to recharge after I roped them into one of my adventures.
“Probably doesn’t help that a month ago you were an only child. Now you’ve essentially gained a half-dozen siblings, an aunt and uncle, plus two cousins if you include the wards, all in one night.”
“I still need to tell you about…” Travis tried to continue but let out a big yawn.
“Take off your boots. Now tuck into bed. Good. Now, go to sleep. We’ll catch up in the morning.”
Travis did as ordered and I couldn’t help but think about Lancel’s drunken statement of feeling like a father towards Travis.
Yep, I definitely felt the same.
---
Morning eventually came, and Travis was able to give me a quick rundown of what happened at the academy.
Great, Travis is going to a school of min-maxers with a suboptimal build, and I think he’s already become the teacher’s pet of the mean professor. He’s definitely not going to have any problems making friends…
On the bright side, it sounds like I’ll be able to join him. He read out loud the documents he received after breakfast, and his acceptance into the academy makes it legal to carry a sword. But, similar to a soldier, he can only have me belted at the waist in the “armed” position when in uniform.
We left the busy estate with Barry accompanying us to the Mage’s Academy, and the amount of mana present in the area made my figurative head spin. The walls, the air, the grassy areas between the buildings, I had to pull in my vision even more just so I could process it all with my sword-brain.
It didn’t take me long to figure out why, the number of teachers and students walking around with their crazy dense mana piles was turning the academy into a giant gravity sink that pulled in any ambient mana.
“Oh, thank the gods and God, I was worried that the female students would be forced to wear mini-skirts, knee-high socks, and revealing tops despite being at a military academy while the guys got to wear something sensible.”
Travis stopped mid-step, turned to look right at me in Barry’s hands, “Maybe I should just use the sword that gets issued to me? This one might curse me with madness…”
Barry started to chuckle at Travis, “That’s just an old wife's tale, the ‘voices of your ancestors’ that you hear when you wield an old sword are all in your head.”
—-
Travis
Arc quieted down after I threatened to leave him due to his insanity, and thankfully the trip to the armory wasn’t too difficult. A senior student spotted me when I walked in with the test takers and asked if I was getting fitted.
“What gave me away?” I joked while holding up my poleaxe.
She smiled at me, “Well, you’re also the only one not wearing a uniform who doesn’t look like they’re about to freak out from all of the stress.”
We entered the building and I started to vibrate with excitement at the sight. One of the bearded workers waved me over, “Let’s get you fitted.”
I nodded my head and followed the short and stocky person, my voice refusing to work, and I was soon ushered behind a blind and handed a piece of clothing.
“You boys are lucky, we started issuing the same underpants that the knights wear this year.”
I took off my clothes and put on the strange boxer-briefs that had extra fabric stitched inside to prevent chafing. I then walked back out and stepped on a circular stone platform.
The dwarf began to take measurements of my body, using magic to lift the stone platform up and down, and started pulling brown pants, shirts, socks, and a pair of boots for me to put on. They then grabbed a green arming jacket that extended to my knees and had me swing my arms around.
“If the shoulders start to feel tight, just let us know, you won’t want your arms restricted during battle.”
I nodded my head and gave a thumbs up to approve of the fit. The dwarf then smiled at me and started attaching a set of half-plate armor to me. It looked similar to Lancel’s, but the pauldrons were much fancier, having the symbol of the three kingdoms proudly displayed, and a single multicolored stripe underneath.
The weight felt a bit strange, but Arc’s weightlifting training had me prepared. The dwarf double-checked the armor and after confirming that everything fit properly, told me to wait there for the Quartermaster.
I stood around and chatted with Barry while he held onto my weapons. We ended up waiting for a long time but were entertained by another new student who was getting fitted.
“It feels really tight around the waist, and are the arm holes supposed to be this loose?”
“I’m not going to reissue a new uniform every two weeks for you.” The dwarf gave a stern look, “If that beer gut doesn’t start shrinking, let me know so that we can fire your combat instructor.”
The dwarf left the upset Ashman, who started to shift around uncomfortably in their half-plate, “I thought this was only half-plate, why is it so heavy?”
Barry decided to set the whining boy straight, “Because you're missing some of the parts of full plate armor that help with distributing the weight. Mainly the upper leg and arm plates.”
“Then why wasn’t I given a full set?”
Barry started to chuckle, “Well, for starters it’s more expensive. But the big reason is mobility. It doesn’t matter how much armor you have, some monsters simply hit too hard and you’re going to need to dodge.”
I grinned at my fellow student's scowl, but the sound of someone entering took my attention.
“Sorry for the holdup,” a newly entered dwarf stated to the ones that were getting us fitted, “had to attend a last-minute staff meeting.”
They grabbed a sheet of paper from the dwarf that fitted me and went into a locked area. They then returned carrying a helmet in their hands and approached me.
“Put this on. Now shake your head left and right. Good, nod a few times. Ok, hop up and down… good, now give out a big yawn.”
I did as instructed, then took off the helmet and held it in my hands. The Quartermaster then placed their hands over mine, causing my hands to squeeze my helmet tightly.
“The enchantments on this helmet allow us mages, knights and spartans to send long distance messages. Without them, the defense of the capital would collapse.”
“Since this is a basic commander’s helmet, there’s four channels for receiving [Message] spells with. The first two on your left side are for the emergency broadcast and battalion orders. The two on your right are your squad and personal channels.”
“This is now the most valuable item that you own.” He tapped the left side of the helmet, “You will face expulsion if you tamper with the enchantments on the left side, and possible execution if you use them in an unauthorized way or lose your helmet.”
They lowered the platform I was on until I was at eye level, “If something happens to your helmet, you are to report to me immediately so that I can fix the problem before anyone finds out.”
I nodded my head, “Yes sir.”
“Good lad. Now, I see that you got some weapons that need approval?”
I grabbed Arc from Barry and nervously handed him over.
They looked over the unadorned pommel and cross guard and gave a big grin, “Been a while since I’ve seen one of these.” They then pulled Arc from the sheath, exposing his wide blade with the deep fuller, “Hmm, yep, just like the others. Saturated with every mana type.”
They sheathed Arc, “You’ll need to have it cleaned up and have the handle rewrapped before you start classes, but I’ll approve its use despite being a bastard sword since you’re clearly strong enough to use it one-handed. You won’t be able to enchant it due to the mana inside being blended finely together, but on the downslope, that type of mana reinforcement makes the metal extremely durable and resistant to the elements, so it will require only the bare minimum of maintenance and should stay sharp for a gross (144) generations of dwarves.”
They handed Arc to me so that I could strap him to my belt.
“I like this guy; he clearly knows how valuable I am.”
“Not like you’ll be using it anyways when you got this beautiful work of art!” The Quartermaster exclaimed when their eyes caught my poleaxe.
“Oh, you can just fuck right off!”
I started beaming at the dwarf’s expression as their hands held my weapon like a newborn, “Who is the Adamanrion blessed smith that made this for you?”
“I did the design by myself and was able to do a good portion of the metal shaping, but I needed my village’s blacksmith to help with the finishing work.”
“Village?” The Quartermaster finally looked up from their inspection, “You didn’t commission this here in the capital?” I shook my head no, “Then where did you get the reinforced ingots?”
“I smelted and mana-infused them myself using a crucible furnace.” I stated proudly.
They started shaking their head, “Of course you did. I’ll never understand why you humans don’t do the sensible thing and just lower a crucible into a magma pit to smelt your ore.”
They gave out a sigh, then handed my poleaxe to me, “It’s approved, but I expect to get updates when you start enchanting this thing. Adamanrion would curse me if I let you ruin a weapon with so much potential.”