Darian and Valurn looked all around town in futility the next day. And then the next. And then the next after that, until nearly a month had passed. They knew Alicia probably wouldn't pop up anywhere. Even then, they felt obligated to at the very least try to seek her out in hopes of finding her. Nevertheless, their efforts did not bear any fruit as each day came and went.
Damn it Alicia. I swear I'll get the revenge we both are seeking!
Darian was in his bed under the nighttime's glow as he made that vow to himself. He didn't know when he'd be able to enact his revenge. He knew his current self was far too weak. He still needed to train harder and harder everyday until he could confidently attack all who wronged him and his village.
One day...
He hardened his heart around that thought as he succumbed to sleep for the night.
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The next day, Darian woke up as the morning sun glazed his face through the window. Squinting his eyes, he got up out of his bed, put on some clothes, and walked out into the hallway towards the dining room.
Man. This hallway never ceases to amaze me.
As he was staying in the residence of Herceran, it was only natural for him to go through his lavish mansion. The village chief himself always tried downplaying his wealth, but even the gold lined paintings on the decorative paintings would be more than enough to feed all of Tanquai for years to come.
A rich bastard.
He shook his head in envy as he continued on. Finally, he arrived at the breakfast table, only to be greeted by a new sight at his normal seat. More specifically, a new person.
He stood there confused, trying to figure out what move he should make next. Luckily, Herceran was there to help remedy the situation.
"Good morning Darian. Go ahead and have a seat at this chair right next to me."
Herceran laughed as he called out to Darian and encouraged him to proceed. Seeing the young boy all flustered brought a smile to his face. It was a rather amusing change of pace from the depressed and down boy as of late.
Darian himself simply nodded and sat down, momentarily staring at the new breakfast table intruder. Said suspect didn't pay him any heed as she continued looking down at her food without so much as a thought, as breakfast was already brought out. He momentarily opened his mouth with the intent to say something, but felt that it was best he keep it shut.
After a moment of awkward silence, Valurn decided to cough up and explain.
"So...um...Darian," he stuttered in between forced coughs, "you ever...err...meet this fine elven lady over here?"
Darian looked up and shook his head no. He glanced over at the elven lady in question. Her long, wavy blonde hair dangled against her toned back while her skin seemed to glow a healthy light color. However, her swirling sapphire eyes burned into Valurn, giving him a soul-penetrating glare that sent daggers at his way.
"Don't call me lady, old ass." She quipped in annoyance.
Valurn gulped in response as cold sweat trickled down his neck. Despite apologizing repeatedly in the past, she never seemed to have forgiven his "bump" incident a month back.
Herceran looked over at Valurn in amusement. Deciding to help out his old friend, he proceeded to explain.
"Anyhow, her name's Celestia. As you've probably noticed, she and Valurn have met a few months back," he chuckled as he explained to Darian. "As for how she and I are acquainted, she's an elf I've taken in after an incident in the past, so forgive her for whatever rudeness she may have as she's been through a lot."
Celestia turned her head and gave another soul-wrenching glare at the village chief after his words. She didn't appreciate her being referred to as "rude." However, realizing it didn't affect him whatsoever, she gave up and grumbled something incoherent instead.
Herceran just laughed in response.
"Yeah, she's definitely a character. I do hope that she'll make friends some day, no matter how hard the task may be for her."
Darian nodded throughout the conversation taking it all in. He raised his arm and extended it out towards Celestia in greeting.
"Good to meet you. I'm Darian."
Celestia didn't even bother to glance up as she merely huffed in response. With a strained look, Darian tried repeating his greeting once again, only to receive a huge slap down his arm from an annoyed Celestia.
"I already know who you are. Can you please fuck off?" She gritted in annoyance.
Seeing that any further attempts at friendly conversation were futile, Darian gave up and sat right down. He looked over to see Herceran with a sad smile on his face as he leaned in to whisper in his ear.
"She's been through a lot unfortunately. She trusts absolutely no one - including me half the time. I do hope you can forgive her."
Darian nodded in understanding as Herceran continued.
"She keeps anyone and everyone at a distance. I brought her here in hopes you could possibly find a way to get her to make friends. I know it may be a tall task, but she needs people she can trust."
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Herceran paused to take a quick drink while Darian replied.
"I'll make sure to do my best then."
"I appreciate it boy." The village chief nodded in satisfaction.
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Throughout this exchange, Valurn kept to himself as he ate the scrambled eggs in front of him. Honestly, he was feeling really damn uncomfortable having that hormonal Elven nightmare beside him. It took recounting his assassin training to keep him from outright bolting out of the area.
What a damn pissy girl.
He sighed as he continued on with his food. Whatever the case may be as to why she was here, he hoped he was not involved whatsoever. She just rubbed him in all the wrong ways.
After a passing moment, he noticed Herceran's face lighting up and turning towards him. Normally, this wouldn't cause much alarm to any random stranger. However, to Valurn, whose experience with Herceran extends for a good bit of time, that look was akin to a Devil just finding his next sacrifice.
"I just thought of a great idea!" Herceran - the devil in question - spoke gleefully while pointing a finger at Valurn. "How about you help train both Darian and Celestia at the same time!"
The called out assassin froze with a blank expression on his face.
"Um, excuse me, but I think I heard you wrong. Can you repeat?"
"Mind training Celestia and Darian at the same time?" Herceran repeated with a smile on his face.
Valurn sighed in frustration as he cursed himself internally for setting up that flag just then. He racked his mind for any possible loopholes to get out of this situation as his survival instincts took over. He had to find an out and fast!
Oh wait. I could use that!
Suddenly, a quick revelation came unto him as he thought about it further. With a sigh of relief, he let out his fool-proof excuse.
"I'm sorry my good friend. While I can most certainly train up Darian as an apprentice, I think it would be largely difficult to let someone of Celestia's talents in," he continued with a "sad" expression. "She's far more suited to be taught by a mage, as her affinity towards magic is far greater than that of our assassin ways. I can't possibly teach her anything!"
Have at that you bastard, Valurn thought snidely to himself. Now you'll have no choice but to ensure I'm no longer involved with her any longer.
However, that confidence soon faded as he noticed his friend not fazed once bit, even laughing at the his dialogue. Confused, he suspected that maybe she had some sort of secret status he didn't know about, but even then he hardly could see how he'd be fit in any way to train her.
Unfortunately for him, Herceran was three steps ahead.
"Don't worry about it! She's already training under a mage anyhow. I'll have that elf come with you so that there'll be no problems in compatibility of training whatsoever!' The Chief replied swiftly. He already had a premonition that Valurn was trying to get out of this assignment, but he was having none of it.
Fuck.
Valurn knew he had little to no excuse now that Herceran mentioned a co-training style program. He did admit the prospect of having someone who knew that moody elf with him made the situation a bit better, but he still would have to physically be there. And, given he still wanted nothing to do with that elf, it still was unfavorable in his eyes.
"But...I mean---" he tried to reason and explain his viewpoint before being forcibly interrupted.
"And that's that! Thanks for agreeing to do this!" Herceran quickly grabbed Valurn's hand and forcibly shook it up and down. He left no room for negotiation nor refusals.
Valurn looked at the village chief in front of him helplessly with an angry glint in his eyes. Herceran just simply ignored that and continued finishing his breakfast.
Damn him.
Valurn cursed inwardly at his luck. He looked over at Darian, only to see him snickering and barely able to contain his laughter. And as for the other potential pupil, she herself showed little reaction to the news and turned a cold shoulder towards him with a grunt.
He sighed in resignation and figured he may as well get it over with.
"Well alright, you two ready?"
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Darian walked over to a secluded place in the forest nearby with Celestia, Valurn, and a blue-haired Elven mage in tow. After breakfast, it was decided that Valurn should get to teaching both him and Celestia right away. Of course, the appointed teacher himself raised his own objections, but he was immediately refuted and forced out.
Once they arrived, Valurn talked over a few things with the mage and then looked over at the two students in front of him.
"Alright. So I'm here today to figure out some way to train you two together, as per the village chief's request," he said bitterly, "So, to begin, myself and Elaine here have both agreed to start off by showing off you two's abilities to one another."
The blue-haired mage named Elaine stepped forward with a smile, her dazzling blue eyes sparkling under the glint of the sun. Her slightly tall and slender build melded perfectly with the forest scenery around her. She was like an angel descended from heaven.
"Yep. I think it's for everyone's best interest here if we show each other what we're capable of despite our different fortes," she snickered as she continued. "I think it's a wonderful opportunity to see how you two's abilities could coincide with one another."
Darian looked up and nodded with determination. However, his counterpart couldn't be said to have the same enthusiasm. Celestia simply stood there with a bored, dull expression, as if looking down on everyone present.
Elaine wasn't deterred whatsoever and continued on.
"Anyhow, with that being said, I was thinking that we should have Celestia come up first and show us a bit of something."
Celestia grunted and came forward after being prompted. No matter if she wanted to be there or not, she wouldn't go as far as outright disobeying her actual magic teacher. While she had qualms about being taught under a brute like Valurn, she respected Elaine as the one person who helped her gain strength.
In the middle of her walk, Darian tried to use [Appraisal] to get a sneak peak at her status, only for Celestia to immediately turn around with a death-inducing glare.
"Don't. You. Dare. Look. At. My. Status." She threatened, malice lacing every single prolonged word. "I don't know how you were about to do it, but I know you were. Don't you dare."
Darian quickly stopped trying to use [Appraisal] and just decided to let her show her stuff.
With a huff, she continued to the middle of the clearing, a few thousand feet away from both teachers and Darian. She channeled her energy and awaited her teacher's commands.
"Go ahead and show them your strongest spell by aiming it for that tall oak tree a few thousand feet away." Elaine yelled out.
Celestia nodded in understanding and began chanting with her eyes closed. Her mouth moved as a whole incomprehensible language flowed out. Magic laced letters and runes appeared and started swirling around around her, getting faster and faster as time went on. It was as if she was drawing the very essence of magic out as she continued on.
After a few moments, she suddenly looked up with a face of strong determination. She stretched out her hands in front as she said the trigger word.
"[Magic Blast]"
All of a sudden, the runes and magic energy surrounding her condensed right in front of her outstretched arms. Immediately afterwards, the ball of energy shot outwards in a beam of intense multi-colored energy and smashed right into the oak tree a few thousand feet in front of her. The energy then blanketed the oak tree as it made contact, fully enclosing it inside a case of pure destructive energy. The oak tree itself stood no chance and succumbed to the intense power of Celestia's magic, completely crumbling into ashes and nothingness.
Afterwards, only a black stain could be seen where the tree once was.
Darian and Valurn stood there in awe as they watched the spectacle play out, while Elaine stood proudly gazing on her pupil. Whatever the case may be, it was very clear Celestia wasn't just some normal mage.