“I had a wonderful time,” Annabelle said, giving me a bright smile. “This was a good idea. We’ll have to thank your mother for suggesting it when we get back.”
“Yes, indeed,” I said, giving her hand a kiss.
The two of us were sitting in a restaurant in Icefall City. It was noon on a cool and clear day. We had just spent the entire morning walking around and enjoying the sights, and we had just enjoyed a light lunch before heading back to Sturm Hill Hall. Leroy followed along as my bodyguard, but otherwise we were alone.
It was about a week after my conversation with Shattering Thunder.
When I drew close to Sturm Hill Hall, after I received the five drops of Shattering Thunder’s blood, my parents and Grandfather Gabe rushed up to meet me. My parents rode atop Father’s feathered fan, while Grandfather Gabe flew on his own flying sword.
It turned out that I had disappeared from everyone’s spirit sense when I entered the clouds. They had searched everywhere for me, but couldn’t find any traces of where I had gone. I suspected that Shattering Thunder had concealed my presence from them, so we could have our conversation in peace.
By the time I reappeared, everyone was a bit frantic and demanded to know what happened to me. As we flew back towards Sturm Hill Hall, I showed them the five vials of storm dragon blood and gave them a brief summary of my conversation with Shattering Thunder.
They were understandably shocked by my story. Father was so surprised that he almost fell off of the feathered fan, though Mother managed to catch him in time. Grandfather Gabe studied me as he stroked his chin, an inscrutable expression on his face.
I gave three of the vials to Father, gave one to Mother, and kept the last one for myself. Father cradled the vials, gazing at them like the priceless treasures they were. The storm dragon blood was exactly what we needed to revitalize our bloodline and raise our family up again.
Father had been stuck at the ninth thread of the Fourth Circle for years now, due to his magical aptitude. No matter how hard he tried, he could never form the Fifth Circle. However, after increasing his magical aptitude with the storm dragon blood, that would change. Depending on how much his magical aptitude increased, he could go all the way to the Sixth Circle, or even further beyond.
As the Patriarch of House Sturm, he was the main pillar that supported our family. The more powerful he was, the better off we were. Houses with powerful Patriarchs and Matriarchs were afforded more respect in House society. Fifth Circle wizards were powerful and not to be trifled with lightly.
Having a Fifth Circle wizard as the head of our House was also the first step to becoming a Great House again. To be considered a Great House, a House needed to meet a number of requirements. Having a powerful wizard as the head of our House was one of them. The others involved the overall power of our House, how much influence we had, our wealth, etc. It would take time, but I had faith that we would meet these requirements.
The number of Great Houses wasn’t set in stone. It fluctuated as the fortunes of the Great Houses rose and fell. At the moment, there were seven. Of those seven, only the three most powerful Houses had kept their Great House status since the founding of the Solarian Empire, with House Solaria being the most powerful among them. There used to be four, but that changed when House Sturm fell from grace.
When I gave her a vial of storm dragon blood, Mother stared at it for several seconds, before turning to Grandfather Gabe with a wide grin on her face.
“Grandfather,” she said. “Let’s make a deal.”
That was smart of her. Since she didn’t have a use for it, she might as well give it to Grandfather Gabe. Storm dragon blood was rare. If he knew the right people, he could trade it for the phoenix blood he needed in order to repair his cultivation. If not, he could trade it for suitable substitutes.
However, there was no reason to give it to him for free. After all, Clan Sturm needed all the resources it could get in order to grow. As a Golden Core cultivator, Grandfather Gabe likely had most, if not all, of the things we needed on hand. I didn’t know how big his spatial storage item was, but it could probably hold the entire repository of a decent sized Clan or sect.
I joined them for their negotiations, which took place in the library, siding with Mother. It took the three of us hours to come up with an agreement that satisfied everyone. Grandfather Gabe was rich by cultivator standards, even for a Golden Core cultivator, and he had a lot to trade.
He got the vial of storm dragon blood, while Mother and I received enough cultivation resources to jump start our burgeoning Clan. This included mana stones, seeds for a variety of magic herbs, and cultivation pills created using a combination of Luminan alchemy and Spirit Earth alchemy.
As much as a part of me wanted to take all these resources for myself in order to boost my cultivation, I refrained. Besides, I doubted that Mother would have agreed to that. These resources would form the core of our Clan’s repository. We needed them for the sake of the Clan as a whole, not just myself. Retainers, disciples, future members of Clan Sturm, etc.
Being greedy in the present meant doing without in the future. This was a common teaching back on Spirit Earth, and it looked like it had migrated to Lumina as well. That meant budgeting.
That said, I did get my fair share. After all, I had helped earn these resources. In addition to mana stones and cultivation pills, I also received a pill furnace, which I needed in order to conduct experiments to combine Luminan alchemy with Spirit Earth alchemy. Thanks to Grandfather Gabe, I knew it was possible. All I needed to do was figure out how to make it work.
The pill furnace I received wasn’t the best, but it was decent. It was suitable for intermediate alchemists, or journeymen; people who weren’t novices any longer but weren’t masters yet.
For the next week, in addition to our cultivation and training, Mother and I discussed what to do with the cultivation resources we received from Grandfather Gabe. Storing the resources wasn’t an issue in the short term, thanks to Father’s storage ring, but that wasn’t a viable long term solution. It looked like we needed to expand Sturm Hill Hall sooner rather than later.
Storage, housing, training facilities, etc. A lot of work needed to be done before Sturm Hill Hall could be considered a decent base of operations for a cultivation clan.
We also discussed how to organize our Clan. Building one from the ground up was an onerous task, and there was only so much Mother and I could do on our own. Father and Kaylee helped when they could, but they had to focus on the House side of things.
Things ended up as I predicted. Mother and I would focus on Clan Sturm, while Father and Kaylee would focus on House Sturm. This was common among the cultivation Clans that were also Houses, according to Mother and Grandfather Gabe. They were like two sides of the same coin. However, there was a danger of the two sides splitting away from each other to become independent entities.
The best way to avoid that, according to Grandfather Gabe, was to have each member of the family involved in both the House and Clan aspects in some capacity. While they might favor one side over the other, they couldn’t neglect the other. Otherwise, they would have less attachment to the other side.
Mother and I followed his not so subtle hint and helped out with the House side of things, instead of leaving everything to Father and Kaylee.
In the end, we decided to focus on our two most pressing needs: personnel and resources. Father and Mother dealt with the first one. Father made plans with Lord Icefall to have retainers from both Houses work together in order to solidify House Icefall’s control over the region. They would start with the immediate area around Icefall City, and go from there.
To make up the numbers, House Icefall hired several adventurers from the Icefall Adventurers Guild. This was when I learned that House Icefall promised the Icefall Adventurers Guild a substantial amount of mythril to pay for its services.
Mother took this as an opportunity to scout out several adventurers as potential retainers for House Sturm. While none of them were very powerful, with all of them being First Circle wizards, they had decent magical aptitudes. Captain Jeffers aided her in this, since she would be the one responsible for leading them.
Mother also started picking the retainers who would become Clan Sturm’s first disciples, though she wouldn’t have them start cultivating just yet. Grandfather Gabe helped her with this, since he had centuries of experience training disciples and retainers for Clan Leone.
Father also made plans to hire several skilled workers from Sunheart, such as architects and engineers, in order to begin the expansion and renovation of Sturm Hill Hall. Rather than wait for the money from the mythril to begin pouring in, he decided to take a loan from the Solarian Imperial Bank to pay for it all.
While it would take some time for all the pieces to fall into place, laying the groundwork would save us a lot of trouble later on.
Kaylee and I worked together on the resource side of things. First there was the mythril to deal with. House Icefall had already started mining it, and we were the ones responsible for the logistics of it all. After all, to make any money from it, we needed to transport and sell the mythril. Due to the alliance between our two Houses, we were also responsible for helping House Icefall sell their share.
Finding buyers wouldn’t be a problem. House Sturm had a lot of connections, which was part of the reason why House Icefall allied with us in the first place. Besides, once it became known that House Icefall and House Sturm were both selling mythril, the other House would be knocking down our doors to get some.
I never liked crunching numbers, and planning on how we would move all that mythril deepened that dislike. Thankfully, we had help. Lorelei had experience with accounting and administration work, thanks to her experience working for the Icefall Adventurers Guild, and Corie had often helped her. Those two saved us a lot of trouble.
Lady Calla also helped, since this involved her House’s future. Kaylee took this opportunity to deepen her friendship with the heir to House Icefall. Since the two girls would be attending the Solarian Imperial Academy together, it would help if they had each other to rely on.
With their help, plus a small support team made up of House Sturm retainers, all this work wasn’t as much of a pain as it could have been.
At least we didn’t have to worry about guarding the mythril, since we could transport it with the mythril meant for House Solaria. No bandit, no matter how bold, would dare mess with the Sun Guard. That saved us a lot of trouble.
Of course, we hit a bit of a snag when Lady Calla mentioned that House Solaria would be using airships to transport their share of the mythril. That caused us a bit of trouble, since we had assumed they would be using caravans.
In the end, we adjusted our plans and decided to buy an airship of our own. A considerable expense, but worth it. This time, it was House Icefall who took the loan from the Solarian Imperial Bank. For now, we would share an airship but House Sturm would purchase one of its own later on.
On the cultivator side of things, it was a bit easier. We had a stash of resources for Clan Sturm, as well as seeds to grow a bunch of magic herbs. For now, we just needed to keep the supplies stored in a safe place. We would worry about distributing them later, after the renovations were complete. As for the seeds, it was too late to start planting them, since it was already autumn. However, we could make plans ahead of time.
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While we could use magic to grow them regardless of the season, it was better to set up hothouses instead of messing with the natural cycle of the land. That sort of thing led to unintended consequences.
The renovations we had planned for Sturm Hill Hall included fields where we could grow the herbs, including the hothouses. My disciples were a great help here. Leroy and Lorelei were both Earth wizards, which made them ideal for finding the ideal location to grow the herbs. Corie had an affinity for Wood, so when it came time to actually growing the herbs, her help would be invaluable.
The retainers turned disciples would also help with that. While we had servants to deal with the most menial and mundane of tasks, the growing of magic herbs was vital for any Clan’s growth. We couldn’t leave it up to regular mortals. Besides, it was a common practice back on Spirit Earth to have the junior disciples perform this sort of labor.
All in all, it was a pretty busy week for my family, which meant I had little time to spare for Annabelle. She understood why I was so busy, but I still hated it. The feeling that she would soon leave was growing stronger and stronger, and I wanted to savor every moment with her before she left.
Yet, I also had responsibilities to my family, both on the House and Clan sides of things. It was difficult to balance my duties with my personal needs, while also finding time to cultivate and train.
Mother came to the rescue when she forced Kaylee and I to take a day off. I started to protest, but then Annabelle showed up dressed to the nines, wearing the robes Grandfather Gabe had gifted her.
When I saw her, my jaw dropped and I just stared. She looked so beautiful in her black and gold robes that my heart skipped a beat. Her blonde hair was done up in a fancy style that was popular back in Sunheart, or it had been when I left. She also achieved the right balance when it came to her make up; enough to accentuate her natural beauty, but not so much that she looked like a clown.
I stood there in a daze, unable to take my eyes off of her.
“I think he likes it,” Kaylee said with a teasing smile.
Annabelle blushed, but looked pleased by her words.
“You look beautiful,” Mother told Annabelle. “Still, it would be a shame to waste all that effort by staying indoors. Why don’t you and my son enjoy yourselves in Icefall City, Lady Annabelle? Kaylee, you come with me. It’s been too long since the two of us spent some quality time together.”
Later on, I learned that Annabelle and Mother had planned this whole scenario out.
By the time I recovered from my daze, Annabelle and I were already on our way towards Icefall City in one of the House Sturm carriages, with Leroy tagging along. Somehow I managed to get ready for this impromptu date without even realizing it.
When we arrived at Icefall City, we left the House Sturm carriage behind, and the two of us walked around to take in the sights. Unfortunately, Icefall City didn’t have a lot to offer for a sightseeing tour. Still, there was enough for Annabelle and I to keep ourselves entertained. It was a cool autumn day, and the sky was clear. We walked around, holding hands and enjoying each other’s company. Leroy followed behind at a respectful distance.
Predictably, Annabelle attracted a lot of attention. She was a beautiful woman wearing foreign style clothing. There was no way she would have gone unnoticed. I looked good myself, but Annabelle outshone me.
She attracted admiration and appreciation from a large number of people, both men and women, as well as jealousy and envy. Several wives glared at Annabelle because their husbands were too busy staring at her.
One asshole tried to approach her, despite my presence, but a glare from me was enough to freeze him in place. Annabelle giggled at this, but otherwise ignored all the attention she attracted. Instead she focused on me and the scenery around us.
We ended our date with a light lunch at a local restaurant, and that was when things went wrong.
***
We had just finished our meal, and were about to return to the House Sturm carriage, when I caught sight of someone familiar with my divine sense. I sat back down with a groan and covered my face with my hands.
Why now? Why couldn’t they have waited until a week from now? No, a month would be better. Forever would be best. I knew that the last one wasn’t feasible, but a man could hope.
“What’s wrong?” Annabelle asked in a concerned tone.
“Your family is here to get you,” I said, my voice muffled. “Some of them at least. They’re hiding outside, waiting for us to leave the restaurant. It looks like they’re going to ambush us.”
When she didn’t respond right away, I removed my hands to find Annabelle wearing a downcast expression on her face.
“We knew this was coming,” Annabelle said. “I had just hoped to form my dantian before it happened.”
She was quite close to forming her dantian. All it would take was another day or two of steady effort. After that, Grandfather Gabe could apply a seal to hide her cultivation and we wouldn’t have to worry about anyone discovering her cultivation base. Since he was a Golden Core cultivator, he didn’t need expensive inks to create a powerful seal like I did.
“That doesn’t mean I’m happy about it,” I said, reaching out to take her hand. “If I had my way, you wouldn’t leave at all.”
“We could always elope,” Annabelle pointed out. “While my family wouldn’t be happy about it, they would eventually come around.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “No eloping. As tempted as I am, that will only lead to problems further down the road. We’re better off doing this the right and proper way.”
I thought about Mother’s relationship with her family. While she hadn’t eloped, she still married someone they hadn’t approved of, and that caused a rift between them. I didn’t want to put Annabelle through that. I wanted her to be able to talk about her family without pain, and visit them without issue.
Besides, they had taken Annabelle in when she first arrived in Lumina, and I would forever be grateful to them for that. I wanted to earn their approval, for Annabelle’s sake and my own. That meant letting go of her for now. Besides, Annabelle needed time to work her charm on them and get them to agree to our courtship.
Annabelle sighed.
“Fine,” she said. “So, who is it? Mom and Dad?”
I checked with my divine sense, and frowned.
“No,” I said. “Just your brothers, and a few others.”
“Oh, good. That means there’s a chance that Mom and Dad don’t know that I ran away yet.”
I gave her a questioning look.
“They renewed their vows this year, and left for a trip to the Southern Sister Islands as part of their second honeymoon,” Annabelle explained. “That gave me the opening I needed to run away. That was also probably the reason why my family hadn’t found me until now.”
Ah, that made sense. The Southern Sister Islands were a pair of islands located near the southeastern coast of the Solarian Empire. They were a popular vacation destination due to their tropical climate and beautiful beaches.
“You mentioned others,” Annabelle said. “Who are the others?”
I grimaced.
“Avianna, for one,” I said. “As well as the bookworm and the brute.”
Annabelle rolled her eyes.
“They have names, you know,” she said. “I thought you became less of an asshole when you regained your memories.”
“Fine, fine,” I said. “Lady Teresa and Lord Oliver. Happy?”
Annabelle gave me a brief smile.
Lady Teresa Keen and Lord Oliver Holmwood were House scions from minor Houses that Annabelle had befriended during her time in the Solarian Imperial Academy. As I said, Lady Teresa was a bookworm who specialized in magic circles. While her magical aptitude was low, her mind more than made up for it. She actually got into the Solarian Imperial Academy on a scholarship, and would likely study at the Tower of Magic after she graduated.
Lord Oliver was the opposite in many ways. He wasn’t as smart of Lady Teresa. In fact, he was a bit of a dumbass. His House, however, served House Griffin, one of the seven Great Houses. This gave him the connections he needed in order to attend the Solarian Imperial Academy.
House Griffin, contrary to most of the other Houses, specialized in using internal magic. Likewise, so did their vassals. Lord Oliver was a big brute of a man; tall and built like a heavyweight MMA fighter. Despite his looks, he had the personality of a teddy bear. Soft, sweet, and loyal. However, if anyone insulted or threatened his loved ones, he became a ferocious beast.
I saw this side of him quite often, back when I attended the Solarian Imperial Academy.
Lord Teresa and Lord Oliver were two of Annabelle’s closest friends, and were loyal to her to a fault. Despite the difference in status between them, Annabelle treated Lady Teresa and Lord Oliver as equals, and they loved her for it.
They both also hated my guts. Rightfully so, since they witnessed firsthand how I tormented and bullied Annabelle. It didn’t surprise me that they had accompanied her brothers here.
“I guess we should get this over with,” Annabelle said, standing up.
“I’m hoping that if we wait in here long enough, they’ll give up and go home.”
Annabelle snorted.
“If they were going to give up that easily, they wouldn’t have come up here in the first place. Besides, if we play our cards right, I won’t have to leave immediately.”
I sighed.
“I know,” I said, before giving her a small smile. “You have a lot of good people watching your back.”
“I know, and I’m thankful for them.” Annabelle shook her head. “They can be a tad overprotective at times however.”
I stood up and held out my hand.
“Shall we?” I asked.
Annabelle took my hand without a word and the two of us left the restaurant. We passed by Leroy, who had hung back to keep an eye out.
“Whatever happens,” I told him. “Don’t do anything, unless they make the first move. We don’t want to start a war with House Thorne.”
I didn’t think that Annabelle’s brothers and friends would start a fight, since the restaurant was located along one of Icefall City’s busiest streets, but I wasn’t certain. Some House scions didn’t care about the lives of regular mortals, treating them as little more than insects, not caring if they got crushed underfoot or not.
I doubted that Annabelle’s brothers were like this, but since I hadn’t met either of them, I couldn’t say for sure. I knew her friends weren’t. Still, just to be sure, I kept an eye on all of them. Since they were all well within range of my divine sense, this wasn’t difficult.
Annabelle and I left the restaurant, and had only taken a few steps, when Lord Oliver made his move. From the others’ reactions, I guessed that this wasn’t part of the plan. This came as no surprise to me, since the brute often charged ahead without thinking things through.
Lord Oliver emerged from his hiding place and charged right for us. A little younger than me, he was tall and muscular, rivaling Guildmaster Sinclair in size. He had dark hair, dark eyes, and a face that looked like it was carved from granite. Unlike others of his station, he dressed in rough clothing instead of noble’s garb. This made him look more like a ruffian than a House scion.
The other pedestrians scrambled out of the way as he barreled forward.
“Let go of Lady Annabelle, you son of a bitch!” he roared.
The sight of a tall, muscular man charging at full speed would be enough to freeze anyone in place. However, after facing a storm dragon, I found Lord Oliver’s actions amusing.
It helped that he was a First Circle Earth wizard at the fifth thread, which almost put him on equal footing with Lorelei. Since she was at the second small realm of the Energy Condensation Stage, she was a bit more powerful than him.
Both Annabelle and I watched as Lord Oliver charged right at us. Rather, he charged right at me. However, Leroy intercepted him long before he reached me. Lord Oliver outweighed him by a lot, but my disciple was stronger, more skilled, and more experienced. House Holmwood specialized in internal magic, but so did Leroy. The past several months of training and sparring had only honed his skills even further.
In a beautiful display, Leroy stopped Lord Oliver’s charge in its tracks and soon had the bigger man pinned to the ground face first. Lord Oliver struggled to break free, to no avail.
“Greetings, Lord Oliver,” I said. “It’s been some time. How have you been these past few months?”
“Let go of me!” he yelled at Leroy, before turning to face me. “Call off your dog, Sturm. Face me like a real man!”
Annabelle let go of my hand and marched towards Lord Oliver.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Ollie?” she demanded with her hands on her hips.
I almost giggled at that. Ollie was such a cute nickname for such a big and burly man.
“We’re here to rescue you, Annabelle,” he said. “We heard that House Sturm kidnapped you, so we rushed over to save you from them.”
What?
“I…What?” Annabelle asked with a baffled expression on her face. “They didn’t kidnap me. Who told you that?”
Before Lord Oliver could answer, the others arrived. Realizing that there was a fight brewing between House scions, everyone else had fled the scene, leaving the street mostly empty.
“Release Lord Oliver and step away from my sister, Lord Gabriel,” a man’s voice called out. “Do that, and I’ll consider sparing your life, you sniveling worm.”
The voice belonged to a young man who looked a lot like Annabelle. So much so that I was surprised that they weren’t related by blood. He was tall, with blonde hair, blue eyes, and fair skin. Like Annabelle, he had the face of an angel. This face made him quite popular among the ladies in House society.
Unlike Lord Oliver, the man was dressed in an expensive looking outfit, one that was several cuts above my own. I looked like a pauper standing next to him, which was an apt comparison. He was much richer than I was.
Lord Miles Thorne, heir to House Thorne and Annabelle’s older brother.