Intro: Desolated Existence

In a certain era in a certain location, there was a man who did not live. It whitened the heavens, and was interested in the mundane, but even so, it did not live. Such a feat could, in part, be explained by the fact that he lived for experiments in general, and not for his own glory. He could become famous using pseudonyms, but he would never want to have his real name targeted by interested parties, it was his only way of living, an anonymous in essence, glancing at everything that can be observed, and seeking to interfere as little as possible so that it does not change what could be observed to occur spontaneously and dynamically, regardless of his wishes.

Eventually, he aimed for immortality, and it, which he always fascinated, always proved to be something unheard of and difficult to obtain in essence, because death will come anyway in the end. While extending his own life, he performed countless experiments using lesser evils, and thus would extend his life, even if it was just for one more second.

The glimmer and the unpredictability were the characteristics that most fascinated him. He felt excited by the prospect of being surprised, but even so, he sought as little as possible such a feeling, consolidating himself in the abyss, from which he drew his own ideas, and perhaps, his own essence.

Refusing to accept himself as a mere mortal, he glimpsed the infinite and the absolute, and said to himself:

“I am trapped in my own capacities, what else would free me from my body but death?”

Even so, he did not aim at death, but at what could be obtained through death. He was never religious, but the fascination with divinism did indeed flow through him.

Walking the path that the abyss will prepare for him, knowing that the path to the abyss will only take him deeper into it, he had no expectations other than to become part of the abyss as well.

Chapter 1: Corruption

In a cave, there was a body, in full decomposition, but it wasn't dead. An individual was there, finding himself in a struggle with death. After sacrificing everything he had for power, or rather, for the preparations for his ritual, he had to risk his own life, a gamble that could yield high profits, or culminate in his complete corruption, and later, probably his own death.

Unlike other sorcerers who had already tried to perform the same ritual as his, Henri found in the experiment something fulminating, challenging, that would open a new passage for his tedious life. Since childhood, he knew he was an aberration, but he always found splendor in the individual's internal conscious struggle against himself. He has already gone through depression and numerous mental crises, however, he never really distanced himself from the abyss, quite the contrary, the abyss fascinated him, because the abyss would mean revelation, and nothing pleased him more than to hate his own being and try to analyze his own existence and nature itself, so that his understanding of it would foster his search for goals and a meaning for his actions.

His last defined objective resided in that same cave, because spiritual beings that carry large amounts of spiritual energies will exist there for a long time.

He didn't believe in the soul, unlike other sorcerers, at least not in the way they believed they would serve his. Instead, in order to directly access and control spirit beings and their powers, he thought it was necessary for his to become a pseudo-spectre, creating an astral spirit and controlling it through the body's nerves. his brain would be busy materializing the sensory vision to visualize other spirits and survive as long as you can using the body's own power residues.

The cave he chose held history, and was infused with enormous amounts of hate. Any light user would sense this, and would be able to tell how corruptible the place is. Henri saw in this pressure only a prelude to what was to come, for he planned to consume the hateful souls of that place and obtain their spiritual powers, along with their unhappiness and curses, if he thought he was capable of it, for he will not fear death and there was a plan to get away with it in that case.

Of course, however, there were many limitations. First of all, to create an astral spirit and control it required an enormous amount of spirit energy. Second, while on the astral plane, the individual would completely lose track of time. It wouldn't be surprising if his body died while trying to consume the other spirits, and then, naturally, he would lose control over his astral spirit and vanish with it.

Furthermore, it was necessary for his spirit pressure to be strong enough to control the spirits and make their essence circulate through his veins, something that would be impossible even if he expanded his limits and accumulated the maximum of mana throughout his entire life, while forming as many spiritual contracts as you could, all due to several reasons. Furthermore, what makes wandering spirits so conducive to consumption is the fact that the only thing keeping them in existence is hatred, hatred that could be suppressed with enough power, however, any amount of mana that Henri would acumulate couldn't still be enough to supress them for long periods, let alone consume their essence. Normal spirits live normally from the essence of nature and it is impossible to consume them, unless you are an individual capable of interacting with their existence physically, and humans in their vast majority are not capable of that.

To combat these weaknesses, Henri opted to perform sacrifices to demons to gain the necessary power, since demonic power is much more maintainable as long you know what you are doing. The first was his brother, who was creative but naive. His love affairs caused him to fall into a deep depression. Henri sacrificed him before he killed himself or let himself down to the point of complete despair. Henri did not do this because he wanted to free his brother from the suffering of his life, but because he was no longer able to give a damn about the notion of a life that has no clear meaning that fascinates his, and therefore, he sees himself entitled to seize an individual's life if there is a reason for it. Of course, he doesn't even know what the source of this imaginated right is, it's something that arose and installed in his mind in a way that he doesn't know exactly how, but he still sees that sacrifice as an essential action.

His second sacrifice was his mother. She wasn't terrible, and despite having some bad memories about her, he doesn't remember being abandoned or anything like that. But her inability to control her desires caused her to make bad decisions, to become poor and miserable, and to fail herself.

His third sacrifice was his father. An intelligent and capable man, but seriously mentally challenged and unable to learn from serious past mistakes. He had always let himself be taken advantage of, and had lived in squalor, constantly letting himself be taken advantage of by others while thinking he was making an fair trade, and bordering on insanity after the death of his mother, whom he always cared for and loved.

After making these sacrifices and more, Henri sold everything and fled, seeking to preserve his life for a longer period of time by learning to control demonic power and not letting it consume his body. He joined various organizations, and did everything to prolong his life, even for a few more seconds. Eventually he surrendered his former companions and received pardon for his crimes against the state, as he had already managed to obtain everything he needed for his long-awaited ritual.

After creating a spirit spectrum and virtually inhabiting it, he made it release all the negative energy he had obtained through his sacrifices to demons, atracting and absorbing all the spirits that inhabited the cave while injecting them into the nerves of his original body. He continued using that energy to contain the spirits and concentrate their spiritual pressures so that they circulated, dissipated and circulated again, so that the spiritual pressure did not destroy his body. Knowing it would be a long process, he began to draw on demonic energy to fuel his body and keep it alive, knowing full well that there would be side effects in the future.

So he continued, repeating the same actions for a long period of time, until there was no risk of the spirits escaping. He united the newly created specter with his body, something possible because his spiritual being was made purely of demonic energy, and soon, it would return and become virtually part of his body again.

Inside his body, he could feel the spiritual power circulating through all his nerves, violating his mind to the point of making him border on complete insanity. The spirits plagued him with all kinds of curses and negative feelings, and even Henri, who did predict something like that, didn't know it would be something like this. What he suffered mentaly was much worse than any mental crise, the energy made him hate everything to the point of wanting to make him tear his own skin and hit his head repeatedly against the floor and wall on several ocasions.

Henri was also immensely weak. The demonic energy only kept him alive, but his deteriorated body made him feel countless accumulated hells, such as hunger, thirst, immense heat and cold, and pain in all parts of the body. The food that Henri brought with him to travel was already rotten, but in order to increase, even if slighty, his chances of survival in the long run, he had no choice but to feed on it and anything he could find in the cave. To drink any water he could only get it from the ground, because he couldn't get rainwater since he was in a deep part of the cave, and he was too weak to walk and climb, he could only crawl.

It went on like this for who knows how long, maybe months, maybe years. Eventually there was nothing left to eat, and although he was already used to the pains and torments of the spirits, it only intensified even more, to the point that he had to suppress it using his demonic energy which would eventually deplete because of excess use, and the longer it went, the more he needed to use to maintain himself alive, leading to more waste of demonic energy.

But the positive side of all this is that he was already learning to tame the spiritual energy and use it, and even if it was corrupted, it helped him move around the cave. He was in a very desolate part of the cave's basement, not counting on the company of monsters, which were not out of the ecological influence of the rabid spirits that inhabited there, and therefore, they hardly dared to enter, sensing the danger inside the forest and the cave trough their instinct.

As he stepped out into the sun, blindness infected his eyes, and again he had to go through a painful period of adjustment, thrashing and digesting whatever he could in the forest that followed the cave. If someone were to look at him naked, they would see a man with long hair, and without almost ny flesh on his body other than these of his organs and whatever held them together. His outfit, an torn and dented black garment lined with a line-reinforced overcoat, only served to highlight how thin he was, and the fact that he was still carrying these clothes with his body in such a situation could be considered a feat in itself.

The forest through which he walked also suited the style of the cave he would emerge from, the ground was dead, and the trees were dry and with the inertia of life. But there was still some kind of aura in the air, which prevented the branches from falling to the ground, as if they were tormenting the trees and their roots in eternal torment, preventing them from dying. Henri had already studied the area for a long time, knowing that it had a lot of history, and the fact that so much hatred inhabited the place was not surprising, considering that the spirits were cursed, taking everything out on the nature they inhabited.

Spirits were not tangible beings, and normally could not alter reality to such an extent. But these have the ability to turn their negative desires into tangible realities, to shape reality the more their never ending negative desires accumulate. These spirits had been created by the lamentations of countless individuals, and had no rationality other than the desire for hatred and destruction.

Henri did not exactly know their origin besides the stories and legends he studied, which he didn't completely believe, but it is clear that the barrier that surrounds the region serves to contain all these spirits. If such spirits roamed around, they would only bring destruction and chaos. But his current condition was somewhat curious: he would be taking with him a large number of those spirits, which devoured him but gave him power. If it continued without being put down, he would eventually go insane and be controlled by them, serving only as a puppet for their desires.

Continuing to wander and crawl out of the forest, he needed to find a user of light magic to eliminate this corruption. It only took one vulnerable moment to let the pain and torment take over, and to stop that, he didn't sleep and hardly wasted energy thinking. Still, he memorized the way to the nearest town. For a long time, a squadron had been established to guard this forest, but over time, the customs of inquisition against the spirits that resided there were lost. Because it takes a lot of work and is a long-term activity. The simple solution was to erect a barrier and forbid anyone who entered to leave. Over time, the squadron of guards dwindled and limited themselves to just checking the surroundings of the barrier, charging a fee to anyone who entered and would like to secure permission for their exit as well.

Henri, knowing this, had already paid off the guards. When they saw his leaving the forest and approaching the barrier, they didn't even recognize his, they thought he was some kind of spirit materialized in physical form, and soon, they were watching his movements attentively. He, however, as he approached little by little, eventually stood before them, still inside the barrier, saying that he had paid for the ticket, and needed help to expel all that evil energy that inhabited his body. His throat obviously couldn't handle saying all of that as it was, and he had to use his demonic energy to amplify it all. This distressed the guards, but it helped them remember about his, that he was one of the few who dared enter the forest while they were there, but he was the only one not to return.

One of the guards, wearing an emblem on his chest, approaches, shocked: "You... Could it be that boy, so he's still alive? What can we do...".

Another commented: "To think such a young guy would end up like this... He was gone for a while, I thought he was already dead."

"He asks for help, maybe he wasn't fully possessed, whatever happened to his" The individual then turns to another "Erigg, go ask for the Bishop's presence, something unusual has happened!" Says the man with the emblem on his breastplate for his, who wears less armor. He mounts a horse and rides nimbly, matched by the high speed of his corsel.

After that they remain conflicted for a few seconds. The name of the man with the emblem is called Terin, he is the captain of the forest watch squad, and typically inhabits the place most of the day, responsible for setting up camps and giving orders. The current squad consists of only 3 members, with Erigg being responsible for periodically bringing supplies, in addition to having to check the surroundings from time to time, and another member, called Lyin, is responsible for cooking and household chores. in general. Furthermore, they move out of position only on weekends and holidays, returning to the city temporarily.

Henri remembered them a little younger, which meant a few years had passed, at the very least. They were there exercising self-discipline activities, as this is one of the places where young soldiers from the Daone Republic are sent to perform temporary duties for training, eventually being replaced by other rookies.

Lyin approaches Terin: "What do you think?", Terin replies: "It's strange to say the least, let's leave his there until the bishop arrives, he asked for it himself."

Terin then approaches Henri, still outside the barrier.

"What is his name?"

"...Henri."

"Having trouble speaking?"

"Yes"

"Would you like to eat and drink water?"

"....Yes...."

Henri was never very fond of repeating the same thing over and over again, and added to his weakness, his last reply was barely audible.

Tiron then turns to his companion: "Divide water and leftovers with his, leave it there on the ground, but don't get too close to his and don't even enter the barrier, take a branch to push inside or something", "Right", responds Lyin.

Eventually, the man from before arrives back on horseback at the small camp.

Terin: "How was it?"

Erigg: "The bishop is coming tomorrow, he said to keep an eye on his."

Henri hardly even had the demonic power to rule all those spirits inside his body anymore, and the spiritual energy he had taken for himself would not be enough to expel them from himself, as he was still too weak. I could only rely on white magic for now. To take power from all those spirits required even more demonic magic, but Henri found it too risky in many ways, not only would he require many more sacrifices, but spiritual power coming from malicious spirits would draw too much attention to his. Furthermore, the chances of his dying during the process would increase significantly, as his body would perish. The fact that he's actually still alive is a huge miracle in itself.

A day then passed, and the Bishop then arrived in a wagon, along with other members of his church. His name was Fleer, and with him was Rieth the knight and some servants, including the one who drove the wagon.

Fleer is a tough looking, dark red haired and mid-aged fellow, his eyes are blue and he wear tiny red glasses, also, his hair is combed back, styled in a ponytail, and he is also wearing a blue hat and an light blue ferraiolo. Rieth is both black and white haired, his face has a white mask and he is almost fully armored, with white robe coving unarmored areas.

Fleer: "Could you explain what's going on?"

Terin: "Sir, a man appeared crawling inside the barrier, it is likely that the spirits have done something to him."

Fleer: "Lead me to him."

Fleer followed to the barrier, and, before entering, created another barrier covering him and his companions from any possible spiritual corruption, in a quickly mysterious but apparently accurate way, considering the gravity of the situation. Approaching Henri then, the knight at his side took some kind of paper and nailed it to his back, apparently to prevent the spirits from leaving his body. The Bishop then began to analyze his body through clairvoyance. Before using any kind of magic, he always seems to stab his hand at necklace of unknown origins.

Fleer: "Strange, spirits don't normally invade someone's body, and something seems to be preventing them from taking control at once." He pauses for a moment and follows his saying, "Perhaps this lad is an extremely capable mage, but I wonder how he has any access to magic in this morbid place, did he tell you anything before he entered?". Terin then replies after some thinking: "I remember he said something about having high knowledge about spirits, so he must have his tricks."

The Bishop continues to look at the body, and eventually prepares another apparently paper seal, placing it over the other and holding it with his hands, while saying something intelligible, probably as part of the ritual. The spirits that were in Henri's body are eventually absorbed by the first seal, and several of them are transported to the second seal, which probably means that only one would not be enough to seal them. The necklace Fleer is holding starts to crack a little, something that doesn't surprise either him or the knight beside him.

The ritual apparently went much easier than expected, as the Bishop was surprised at how easy it was to import so many spirits from the boy's body into his seals. 

Fleer: (Naturally, I would declare someone in this guy's situation a goner, but he sealed those spirits away at virtually no serious expense for me, or maybe that's only my impression?)

All the pains that covered Henri suddenly stop, only for him to pass out right after. The bishop then diverts his gaze to the knight at his side, who soon picks up the fallen boy's body and takes it up to the carriage.

He and the rest of the group exit the barrier, and the bishop asks Terin, "Do you have any idea who he is?"

Terin: "No, but he said his name was Henri. He came here 2 years ago, and we haven't seen him since."

Fleer: "Okay, I will decide what his fate will be after ensuring that he poses no actual danger. And you... You did a good job informing us about the matter, I hope you will continue the good service even when you are transferred to another post. "

"The pleasure is mine, sir.", by saying that, Terin watches Fleer and the other servants enter the wagon. it's big enough to fit at least 10 men.

The wagon then starts to move by the strenght of the horses, directed by a servant. It goes along a dirt road, and passes through several decent sized fields of crops along the way, fertilized by the water of the Termite River, which comes from the west and goes east. The journey is not that long, and after 5 hours they are already arriving at the city of destination, surrounded by walls and by some mountains of the north.

...

While Henri sleeps and doesn't really know what's going on around him due to his complete exhaustion, he finally dreams something after years without sleeping properly, albeit completely unconsciously. After spending years and years tormented by spirits, he imagines what would happen in the future, in one hand is the sword, in the other is a shield, is he destined to fight, kill and suffer for the rest of his existence because of his atrocious acts? He as abandoned any sense of stability a long time ago, he doesn't and will not care about fate or religion his only aim are being able to live, and to learn, but, alas, the humans heart is not immune to corruption, if there were the possible means to expand himself and surpass his limits, he would not think twice about taking actions, even if they might hurt others. Truthfully, Henri was not actually ambitious, and he had no urge to control or harm others. For his, the only individuals worthy of respect are those who use any means. Ethics and morals would be a good thing, but it won't do any good if other individuals are hypocritical, full of errors while negatively influencing others, an world were everyone treat each one better is a world that he knows nothing of, since he was not born in it. This led on him the urge to test his own thesis upon the others, disregading their actual feelings, mostly because he see there acts as "playback" for something.

When he was young, Henri came from a family with good financial conditions. His traumatic childhood experiences, all of which he thinks as if caused by his family and by the human nature's flaws, gave him an anti-family and anti-religion mindset from an early age. His father and mother never educated him, never showed to him what love is, at least not fully enough to move him. And the negative effects of these only expanded due to his natural mental deficiencies, turning him into someone insensible.

The path for power was just a consequence of all the life he lived until now, that's what he thinks, "there is nothing to regret, the life is as it is, we living beings are only devices created and in development by the nature and our urge to evolute, but alas, in different ways, while also depending correlatively on our own nature and experiences, which make us strange to each other in several ways.". If nothing gives him the value he would like, and there is no one for him to apply any sort of heavy value. then he would follow a path worthless in the eyes of others, living only for himself. If the parameters he follows are not respected, then it would be enough for him to just live according to them and get rid of those who interrupted him in living the way he wanted.

What is life, if not a large set of apparent unconsciousness that mobilize you to look for something?...

...

When he wakes up, Henri finds himself inside a room, lying in a bed. His body was much better than before, enabling him to move without problems. When he gets up and inspects the door, he realizes that it is made of iron, and that he would be locked inside. He thinks about screaming and trying to call someone, and thinks it over and over again, until he comes to the conclusion that trying to call someone would be better than waiting, considering his clearly strange past circumstances in the eyes of others...

"Hello!! Where am I!!" Where the best words he could think of. However, it ends up not bearing fruit, and no one comes, probably because his voice is not going out of his mouth very smoothly. Henri thinks it's better that way, as he will have more time to reason and read the situation.

He sits on the bed, and thinks about everything he has gone through painstakingly. As he tries to feel the changes within his body, he sees that there is no longer any significant amount of demonic energy with him, which means any church member will hardly feel anything at all even if they tried. The spiritual energy now, on the other hand, is clean negative energy, since it was dispensed with the help of the Bishop, which shows that all his effort did yield him what he wanted. With that power, he calculates that he could materialize a vacuum bomb powerful enough to expel the door along with a good part of the wall to the other side, however, he would also need to cast something to defend himself against this explosion. Wind magic is the easiest kind of magic to use in any situation, since most quick spells needs a use of some expedient of sorts as magical device. You can't really freeze anything if there is no water, fom example, and fire is much more troublesome, since combustion is tricky to deal with, alas, using fire magic is pretty much an absolute taboo among mages for several reasons, to the point it's barely mentioned in theorical books.

As he calculates which are the chances of him ending up having to use magic and which, footsteps start to be taken outside, and eventually a man who looks like an armed soldier with some light metal protection opens the door.

"The bishop calls you, but asks that your presence will only be possible if you accept that I handcuff you."

"No problem." Henri responds, unsure why he's being handcuffed, maybe the Bishop wants to make him feel pressured? After all, his muscles were still pretty lean, and the cuff feels loose in his hands, something the soldier clearly doesn't seem to mind. He wouldn't have any plans to get away from there, wouldn't know exactly where to go, but having a talk with the bishop would probably yield some ideas. The guard locks his hands in iron cuffs, and Henri starts to follow from behind. They go through a corridor, up stairs, and go to the end of another corridor, and enter a room. The bishop who saved him is sitting on a chair, with his hands resting on a table, and the soldier tells him to sit on a chair that is in the opposite direction.

Henri sits down, and the bishop already says, "Hello, my name is Fleer, I assume your name is Henri, I'd like to ask you a few questions, is that okay?"

Henri: Yes"

Fleer: "Okay. What were you doing inside the Semiur forest? I guess you knew what was in it."

Henri: "Sir, I'll be honest with you. I went into the forest thinking I could tame the spirits through my magic power."

Fleer: "Magical power? So you're a wizard? I had already guessed that."

Henri: "Yes. I used all my mana reserves that I accumulated over time to obtain the power of the spirits."

Fleer: "How did you get mana for that? I doubt that even the most powerful mage in these regions could accomplish such a feat, everyone knows that the negative energy of spirits is capable of violating any physical thing until its destruction."

Henri: "I counted on help."

Fleer: "Help?"

"Yes, help.". Before answering anything more, Henri immediately conjures a vacuum bomb between his hands, with no clear direction between his hands, resulting in an explosion in plain air. With such an explosion, the table flies up, the bishop flies and hits the wall hard, the handcuffs on Henri's hands break and fly out with the pressure, and he goes flying backwards along with the chair, coincidentally, or no, past the door and the guard, and falling farther back. The guard, undecided, doesn't know whether to go after first Henri, and chooses to check on the Bishop, who appears to be passed out. This gives Henri time to run away, climbing more stairs, and eventually reaching a hall with several people, including guards. Henri walks to the exit, hoping no one suspects his presence, and exits the building. Now his next thought objective would be to flee the city, after all, the guard or the bishop would eventually tell others and eventually come after his. However, he calms down, and reasons that it wouldn't be a good idea, after all, he doesn't even have the means to feed himself, and where would he go? While working out a definitive means for this, he would investigate the city, looking for some "opportunity". The building he was in wasn't that big, and apparently it also serves as a detention center for people, so it's probably an place owned by the church and the city guards. His old clothes were changed into casual clothes, he's clean, and the fact that no one will question his as he goes outside also seems strange to him, as if his actions have already been predicted, or he's being watched. Henri abandons these thoughts to continue wandering and analyzing the city. He had left money with bankers before going to Semiur, but he doesn't know if they will recognize him, it doesn't user a paper system, and depends mainly in good faith between parties, and money. When he went to the forest, he went with nothing, and his items are inside his house, in a city very far away, so, his priority would be to get his money.

After getting information by questioning people, he eventually arrives at where he intended, an exchange office. Although the owner's main business is to exchange Wersian gold coins (currency of the region) for other coins from the small continent, he also works with gold coin storage. Upon entering, Henri talks to an attendant, and manage to organize a conversation with the owner. His name is Stellei, an old acquaintance of Henri's, he was once his father's lawyer, but left the profession after getting permission from the government to found his business. Although Henri was officially a noble, Stellei was intimate with the church in the region, and had connections to the order of Guennes, an order whose workings were, in short, to uphold the dogmas of the church in all spheres of society. The kingdom Henri is in, despite officially being ruled by a monarchy, which currently ruler is called Astanhol Werses, it's essentially controlled by a theocratic order. Archbishops control cities, and bishops are part of the court of archbishops, having broad powers to influence and be influenced. The fact that Bishop Fleer had demanded his presence with only one guard to protect him, and not even a knight, was what made him feels queasy towards the situation he faced, more than the more obvious possibility that the guard would call more people to come behind him if he commited any harm against the bishop, he was determined to get out of there as soon as possible, and now, he needs an clear direction.

When he enters the reception room, he sees Stellai sitting by the window reading a book.

Henri: "Good morning Mr. Stellai"

Stellai: "Hello Henri, I haven't seen you for years, where have you been?"

Henri: "It is complicated"

Stellai: "I understand. As for myself, i'm doing quite good."

Stellei goes to a drawer, marks and puts the book away, and goes to another and starts to rummage through documents, until he picks up a single sheet and starts reading some information: "You have stored 25 gold coins and 87 silver coins during the last almost exactly 3 years, including your last deposit of 9 Gold and 87 Silver coins 2 years ago."

Stellei hands the paper to Henri, the two argue for a bit, and he pulls out a homemade calculator.

...

It is agreed that Henri would take almost the entire amount, paying an exact amount of 60 silver pieces for the storage fee. Everything is delivered to him in two small tied bags.

Stellei asks him: "Are you going to leave the region? It's been a long time since I've seen you around here".

Henri replies, "I still don't know exactly, but it's been a few days since I arrived in the city, and I'll have uses for the money, so i might be seeing you in the future if i start gaining a lot of more money, hahaha"

The two men finish doing business and part ways, and Henri has some lunch at an inn and gets some rest. As he is leaving the establishment, he comes face to face with an masked person clothed like an gentleman, who does not assume a hostile position, but still causes him suspense.

"Good afternoon Henri, i assume, my name is Rieth, the bishop I serve, Fleer, would like to talk to you again."

"What?"

"No need to worry... It may sound suspect, but the bishop knows why you attacked him, now he intends to have a heart-to-heart talk with you."

Henri realizes that his suspicions have some reason. However, he cannot foresee what the Bishop wants with him. First, it's entirely possible that the Bishop already knew that, at least for a while, he possessed demonic energy. If not, he probably thinks Henri is an exceptional wizard, or belongs to some mysterious organization who backs him up. At best, he might think that Henri is an saint of the god Helenkar, one of the four sons of the god Eyshteer, and the god who is supposed to rule and maintain control over the evil spirits.

While thinking about these things, Henri follows the knight. He had a certain paranoia, and was already prepared to use his spiritual power to escape from there in any case. Henri specializes in spell casting that involve phenomena involving winds, using his body as a plumber, he is able to move objects through air pressure and created moving magic trough it, creating enough pressure to cause even the vacuum explosions he did earlier. He is also capable of hypothetically flying, but he never had enough mana to perform or practice something like that, as it would be necessary to constantly change the areas where he would press the air to be able to move aeronautically, something that needs not only a high amount of power, but also enormous experience and practice.

If the knight changed his mind and decided to impale the sword in his belly at that very moment, Henri saw himself as capable of managing to deflect the sword with air pressure and counterattack with an aeronautic kick against his head, supported by the wind, but he doubts that everything would turn out so well. Henri has never trained physically, and despite working out daily in the past, it would just be to not lead a fully sedentary life. Besides, he's still weak after being in a practically vegetative state for years.

His plan B would be to try to fly. It would probably go wrong, but he trusts that he would at least manage to distance himself enough to perform more delicate magic.

The knight and Henri then approach a more secluded house to the south of town. The knight then speaks: "You fainted the bishop, and he was taken back to the house. He charged me to look for you in case anything happened to him and to take you to his house."

Henri responds, "If I may ask, if the Bishop already knew what my reaction would be, why was all this necessary? And why does he want to talk to me again?"

Rieth seems to think a bit: "I don't exactly know the Bishop's intentions, but he already seemed to be interested in you since he heard the story of that scout... Erigg.", he continues "However, I think you satiating the bishop's interests will be more interesting than, say, having your existence and history informed to the order of Guennes, who would try to ascertain your whole life...".

Rieth calls the servants inside the house with a shout, and a lady opens the door. Rieth goes on his way, and Henri is invited into the living room, where coffee is served as he reads some books given to him while he waits for the Bishop. One of the books is called "A Brief History of the Small Continent", which is officially called the Continent of Iguadesh. The continent exists to the south of the large continent of Kheneldia, and despite being called a continent due to its proportions, it is more of a very large island. To the south of the small continent, there are the demi-human regions, which also inhabit the mostly forest regions. The two sides inhabited by humans are divided into the western and eastern regions, both are regions created after the monarchs' evacuation following the expansion of Druaga's domains, which conquered most of the northern and central parts of the continent of Kheneldia. Many humans remained there under the dominion of the great dragon king, that is, Druaga, but the nobles saw the situation as life and death, evacuating along with the servants and thousands of people.

A century has passed since then, and countless struggles for survival have occurred in the meantime. The fact that the humans of the small continent have not yet been dominated by Druaga shares a correlative fact that the regions are governed by centralized dictatorships. Monarchs proved unable to organize military efforts to restore human civilizations on the continent, and theocratic regimes emerged with the aim of seizing power. Henri knows that it was the prophet Guennes who started all this. Claiming to be able to communicate with the divine entity that created the world, Eyshteer, Guennes prophesied, through reasonable evidence within his religious circle, that the true savior of the continent and humans would be the avatar of Eyshteer, who would come to eliminate all evil and unite all peoples under one banner. The order of Guennes was established with the aim of centralizing the states under the orders of the church, which would be responsible for sanctifying society and finding out where the hero is. The hero never actually came, but the fact is that Guennes' order formed an authoritarian regime on the continent, peasants are forced to work in the fields and enlist in military efforts, ranging from regional and mainland patrols to occasional minor conflicts with beings in Druaga's army, and the nobles are forced to fulfill their roles as members of the elite, working, playing significant roles in society, having to learn military strategy, train and become proficient at something. And the clergy, in addition to being responsible for guiding the entire society, must also investigate the lives of the entire population, to make sure that everything is going according to the dogmas, and that the hero of the prophecy can potentially be identified. Henri, despite not being initially interested in magic, was forced to become proficient at something as a child, and continued to practice for quite some time. At least, until he dabbled in black magic and sought to understand alternative ways to become more powerful.

As he reads the books to pass the time, he is finally informed that the bishop has woken up. The servants guide him to the bedroom, where he sees the bishop already standing, sitting on a chair. The maids bring a chair for Henri, and the two begin to talk:

Fleer: "Henri, the reason why i locked you up for a short while was to confuse the order."

Henri: "Confusing? And why did you do that?"

Fleer: "What you must understand is that I do not agree with the order. One of my duties is to report any exceptionally abnormal phenomenon to ir, and you certainly are one. To ensure that no one would know of your existence, I had to stage as if you were some rogue, who is now in the run, because of that, they will hardly know who you really are and where you are. My purpose with all this? Yout existence intrigues me. I want to talk to you, and I promise that I will not conspire against you, at least for no reason."

Henri: "First I want to understand something: Do you not agree with Guennes and his dogmas?"

Fleer: "No. All this talk about an eventual hero, in my perception, is a fairy tale, and even if it were real, it's hardly something that actually happens now, also, to prophesy an vague future doesn't give anyone the right to control the lives of others."

Henri: "...What makes you think that?"

Fleer: "You probably.. also know why, don't you?"

Henri: "... I see. So I can trust you?"

Fleer: "Yes. I want to talk to you more later, however, at the moment I have my obligations within the church to take on. I would like you to take the attitude to get used to the mansion, i intend to present you a job offer later, and I would like you to comfort yourself a little until then, you can ask the servants for anything you want. Any need for books to pass time, ask the maid Andreia, she will know how to inform you."

Henri: "Right."

After parting ways, Henri left the room perplexed. Fleer gave him the "signal" that he also know, somehow, of the information shared within the circle of the so-called "black magicians". Generally, black magicians were considered evil, individualistic and dangerous beings for humanity, but this perception has been gradually changing among different people of the nobility and clergy, according to which the ideas of the so-called black magicians were spreading. Black magicians are not inherently magic-using beings, but individuals who have alternative means that might antagonize those used by the status quo to obtain information and take actions. It's not so surprising that Fleer also knows something, since these kind of informations call all be bought, however, him being an Bishop adds additional meaning to it.

The clergy, since ancient times have always used a classical method to communicate with the gods. They place statues that symbolize gods in certain places, and distribute idols, make people pray through these statues and idols, and then exchange them for new ones. Prayers and faith are the main means used to form an energy capable of making individuals able to communicate with the gods or to locate them, however, there are specific means for this, and the clergy monopolize the information for this. The rituals carried out allow individuals to locate the gods, identify them, and even dialogue with them, but all this is a slow, time-consuming process, and having to be carried out in parts. When Guennes communicated with Eyshteer, he was only able to hear a small percentage of what the god said, in an very, encripted fashion, and to form a conclusion he had to make extensive interpretations. The church was then divided into those who agreed with the interpretations, and those who said it was necessary to wait until they heard what else Eyshteer possibly had to say in a more clear manner. In the end, the group that intended to take what Eyshteer said to them as something with an grandier meaning to take immediate action became the majority, and civil war eventually broke out. In the end, Guennes' group won, and both regions began to be controlled by the theocratic order, the surviving king, descendent of an ancient hero, became the kingdom's monarch.

Many of the supposed black magicians are truth seekers, and the information that covered the contents swept under the rug was spread by those who were interested. Of course, there is much more to the communities of so-called black magicians than that.

Henri then contacted the maid Andreia, and was guided to a guest room, where he rested for a while. Rieth then knocked on the door, and when Henri opened it, he saw him with a girl.

Rieth: "Hello Henri. The Bishop has already left, and asked me to introduce his adopted daughter. Her name is Eleandor". The said girl has black eyes and hair, and a black wrinkle under the left eye. She wears a typically appropriate dress for someone of her status, and doesn't look all that different from a child under 10.

Henry: "..."

Rieth: "He hasn't informed you yet? The role Fleer expects of you is to educate and protect this child..."

Henri: "Educate her? What do you mean?"

Rieth: "You are expected to teach her about your magic. The Bishop expects great things from his daughter, and expects her to absorb and learn as much as possible. The Bishop still wants to know more about you before you assume this role, but he assures you that you will be protected in this mansion, provided you do not take any rash action. I will leave her here so that you can get to know each other better, tell me your opinion when the Bishop arrives."

Henri: "...It's good that things are already being cleared up."

Rieth: "Now I will go, I have my duties, I'll see you later when I come again for Miss Eleandor."

The knight goes ahead down the hall, leaving the girl behind. Henri is quite baffled by the situation, and was hoping the Bishop had informed him of something like that early, maybe he really was out of time? Weird.

Henri looks into the eyes of the girl, who is silent, and says: "Miss Eleandor, right?". She replies, "You can just call me Eleandor." Henri didn't like her name, it seems to be something tentatively created... And her quiet, serious complexion isn't something he likes to see in a child, or rather a person, it's a caricature of the difficulties that it will take to understand her, but on the other hand, it's a gesture of honesty on the other side, children like that are easier to be told. Henri always liked children, even trough they might be annoying to several people, their strange, weird innocence, even if they are doing something very wrong and causes prejudices for other, fascinates him, after all, he was once like that.

Henri: "I just arrived today. Did anyone tell you anything about me?"

Eleandor: "No, apart from the fact that you managed to survive countless bad spirits trying to possess you."

Henri: "...To be honest, 'surviving' is not the best term, but I know why you came to that conclusion."

Eleandor: "...So what did you go through?"

Henri: "An difficult situation, a path that I had to follow in the pursuit of fulfilling my desires. If I teach you, I hope you don't envision me as a great magician or someone capable of great deeds, but as just another human being who uses his imperfection to understand and go beyond his limits" while making his little speech, Henri remembers that he has this "terrible" habit of saying several things that most people do not understand, but in a way, it would be a test to understand his possible student, who already seems to show a certain maturity.

Eleandor: "I don't know exactly what you're talking about, buuut..." She pauses for a moment, not sure what she's going to say.

Henri: "Couldn't we go somewhere better? If you talk in a hurry, you won't be able to think straight."

Eleanor: "Right"

The two proceed through the spacious mansion, leave trough an side door, and walk through the garden, which is at the side of the mansion. Seeing that the girl is perhaps a little like him in her introverted ways, Henri asks her if she likes libraries. She doesn't seem to know the answer for half a moment, but says that she as read a few books.

Henri: "Books are one of the few sources of knowledge that we can evaluate and form conclusions through our own interpretations. When we hear others speak their ideas, we will know very little about the composition of their ideas by itself and the legitimacy of that person's intentions if we don't know how to think a reason for what they are directed and for what motives."

And continues: "All knowledge is useless if there is no intelligence. Now, what is a conflicting information if there is no mind able to decipher it? As you can end up being my student, I would like to tell you something: The mind of a thinker, of someone who seeks to solve problems and answer questions, he has his own problems as his medium... If you, instead, fear them, it's basically running alway from limitations already imposed even before knowing about them and how they influences you." 

Henri was always fascinated by the idea of trying to teach a child, in his mind, they are able to understand easily, unlike most teenagers, who already have their minds full of nonsense at an early age.

The act of sacrificing his family can best be described as an act where he threw away half of his more "useless" self to make up for the shortcomings of his more "useful" side. Now there will no longer be a defective side, but the other half is missing. He became incapable of countless many things the moment he decided to do something unthinkable and absurdly immoral for many like killing his family. He did none of this with his own hands, but he still removed those bonds that had shaped his reality for many years since his birth. There are still other familiars, but he had made himself unable to want to look them in the eye due to his true deeds, as a signal to himself that he already went trough his own path. He deliberately forced himself to a specific destination, and he wouldn't regret it. For his problems are mere means, and the solution, the truth, is the end, following a repetitive dynamic process until there are either no more problems, or much more problems.

Eleandor: "Limitations already imposed?"

Henri: "Yes, I am referring to the limitations that everything has as part of nature. A cat is not able to speak like a human being, is it? That is a basic element of his composition. Of course, however, it's not because he is also a element of nature itself, that its property subjects it to an eternal, stagnate state in the face of its limitations. We human beings were also incapable, at a certain point, of writing or speaking as we do today. You himself must have been incapable of that, no?"

Eleandor: "Actually, I still can't read very well."

Henri: "It's part of the process, I only learned to read well at the age of 9, I think it took me a long time to do so. By the way, how old are you?"

Eleanor: "7"

Henri: "You're in the same boat as I was in the past then, i guess. Is the bishop teaching you?"

Eleandor: "My father tells me stories and gives me homework. Sometimes he gives me books with illustrations"

Henri: "He's doing well. You have to work hard too."

Henri doesn't know how much the girl managed to digest of what he said, and honestly, he's starting to get tired of talking, he needs to rethink everything, as he likes to do. Questioning "Isn't there anywhere to sit around here?", Eleandora replies: "Yes, there are".

She doesn't seem to know very well where it is, and the two walk around for a bit until Henri spots a spot with a ceiling and chairs. Henri sits down, and tries to talk more with the girl, because he has nothing to do.

Henri: "Do you know what the name of this town is?"

Eleandor: "hm... No"

Henri: "I'm not from here, but I've known it for some years already. We're in the extreme northwest of the small continent of Iguadesh, and this town borders the Rendranic Ocean. This is where the settlers cleared an region to establish colonies with an plantation system which uses trees and the nearby river as fertilizer. Named after its discoverer, an travelling merchant that was looking for exotic goods for new business and made an huge settlement here for pratical purposes, and so the city is called Theodoriel. South of here is the forest of Semiur, where your father found me, you can actually find all it and more in the maps, altrough the whole continent is not mapped yet because of the south areas, where hostile inhabitants make it impossible for adventurers to safely enter."

Eleandor: "Anyway, is it true that you are a great wizard?"

Henri: "We wizards are not so different from ordinary human beings. We use the magical power we obtain through the substance called mana, and we create magical contracts with spirits to be able to manipulate the forces of nature... I, however, i was able to obtain spirit power for myself in the forest of Semiur, and j believe that there will no longer be an need for me to be limited by mana and by spiritual contracts, which i think are pretty limited. i need to learn more before calling myself any "great wizard", however, i was a user of the wind element for a long time before getting my spiritual powers, and I know how to conjure and manipulate it without problems, do you want me to show you a little experiment?"

Eleandor: "I want to see."

"Very well," says Henri. Without concentrating too much, he forms a mini-tornado, which moves in the palm of his hand. He then makes the mini-tornado come out of it and go to the girl, who is amazed to see the tornado growing bigger and bigger while moving in the wind and going stronger. "What do you think? To form this whirlpool, I contract the wind and make it rotate and rotate against each other. I think I can make a lot more than that, but there's no need to show anything more dangerous. "

Eleandor: "Are you capable of doing even greater!?"

Henri: "Yes. The power that i possess to do so, however, is not infinite. In the future, perhaps I can explain more about this to you."

Eleandor: "I hope so!"

Henri spends more time arguing and turning his attention to the girl. She is not as innocent as you might expect from a child, but she definitely has the curiosity and ability to learn that makes him willing to want to teach. But that doesn't mean his destiny is already defined. First he wants to know what Fleer really plans, and why he should teach an little girl about magic, after all, if Fleer wants to teach her any sort of power, it would make more sense to teach her about his own abilites...

After a while, Rieth then comes to get her right after he says goodbye to her, then, he goes to visits the castle library and calmly reflects on the recent events. He managed to achieve the goals that he had been planning for years, and at the moment, he must organize his next steps. He doesn't really know what might happen in the region, the continent or even the world in the near future, and he needs to be more frantic and prepared than ever, even more so considering that he already lost a lot of time while he was in the cave. According to his discoveries, it's been two years since he went to the cave with his ambitious plan, he doesn't know what happened in the meantime, nor what is happening at the bottom of it all. The most sensible course of action he could take is to try to re-establish contact with some of his past partners, but perhaps the Bishop would be more willing to give him more information whilr Henri works for him, but he needs, before making any long-term decisions, to determine which are the bishop's goals and plans, for just as he does not walk blindly, he also doubts that anyone is so blindly naive as to put a stranger to work in his house and teach his own child.

As he wanders beside the shelves lined with books, he notices a concentration of books written by historians, including copies of books dating back centuries. The bishop seems to be interested in philosophy and matters dealing with the soul as well. Henri, however, is not interested in any of them, he never considered himself very interested in books, despite having already read a few hundred, being more interested in those that exclusively interestes him rather than via any pleasure in reading stories and obtaining news knowledge.

After getting bored from wandering through the library and looking at the books, he wanders around the mansion, looking for something that interests his before returning to his room. He sees that the mansion is not so luxurious, and it's probably isn't so old, being probably built in the past century, but it maintains part of the status worthy of a noble house, with several meticulously articulated decorations, proving that the Bishop certainly receives a lot of "treats" merely for his status as an important agent of the church, but, on the other hand, perhaps his family is or as also been influential. Henri, despite not being very interested in the lives of others, has a habit of seeking to study and understand people who seems interesting to him.

There are also the servants of the manor, who don't seem very busy at the moment, as it is already starting to get dark.

Eventually he returns to his assigned room. Despite the power he obtained and the huge trial he had to took it, Henri feels more sober than ever. Maybe it's because his room is kind of dark, but dark, self-contradicting thoughts suddently comes to his mind. After all, he got power, but for what exactly? He doesn't regret having sacrificed human lives, but would that be fair? In truth, will he need to sacrifice much more people in the future merely for his bannals desires? He starts to feel annoyed, noticing that something weird is going trough his brain, not something that happen just because the dark around makes his mind more focuzed to think, and by chance, he feels a presence approaching and becoming bigger behind him, until it turns static. An demonic circle appears suddently, and appears to be gradually disintegrating, perhaps due to the mansion's spiritual wards. He sees one of the demons he as known for a long time, Lunarius, with a relaxed grinning complex typical of his as if he is enjoying himself and everything he does, and a valve that grotesquely covers his eyes and head, partially covered by another hard valve, forming several small horns contoured from head to neck. Demons are able to freely control their anatomies, for their bodies are a mere formality, a hologram, so to speak, of their true forms, which are maintained via demonic power. Lunarius's body is reddish pale, and parts of its membrane can be seen not covered by tissue, and blood can be seen coursing freely in various parts of its body, a clear indication that it isn't an stable and sustentaible physical form, altrough it might be because he just passed trough an portal.

Lunarius: "Henri... You nailed it this time, hehehe. The girl who resides in this mansion, the bigshots want her urgently. But they are afraid of getting involved in something that is none of their business, or maybe i'd say that something is pushing them back? Anyway, could you help me? You'll have a lot to gain too, hehehe."

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His words are heard directly trough Henri's hears, almost as if the voice is coming directly trough his brain, and he immediatly uses his magic to prevent any negative influence coming against his nerves, since demons create sounds by using their powers, who are corrupt by nature. Communicating with demons has always been a pain in the ass for some reasons, and thinking about it, while he knew that demonic power can influence humans, he never trough about the hipothesis that his mental troughs might have been directly influenced by it, and the people he worked with also never noticed anything, even when he questioned them about major side effects when dealing with demons. Maybe making people incapable of noticing it is one of the features of this power, but why he is able to notice it now?

Henri: "...Our cooperation has always benefited me with pleasure, but I don't think I can undertake any of it now that I'm quite in an unstable situation. Helping you with an kidnapping will only make me a fugitive, since anything strange would make me the prime suspect."

Lunarius: "Hey, power was always what you wanted most deep down, wasn't it, whatever changed now? Maybe you're no longer crazy or obsessive about it, but killing your family isn't proof enough that you doesn't need any ethic?"

Henri: "What are you trying to say with all that verbiage?"

Lunarius: "Look, I think you're a good candidate to become a demon, and, hehe, you'll also get the immortality i'm sure you wanted so much through this, I promise you that helping me will pay you off handsomely."

Henri won't care a damn about the demon's words, he is more focused on figuring out how to get rid of him quickly. It is not common for demons to look for humans, and Lunarius was most likely only able to teleport his physical form to where Henri is now because the two had already made an contract, and by that, Lunarius is naturally able to find out his location and use his former influence over Henri's body to form a magic circle nearby and send his corporeal form trough it. The real solution to this would be to break any contact with Lunarius by breaking any left element of demonic power with him, but Henri disputes that there might be a possibility that it could be useful in the future to purposely attract Lunarius.

Henri: "Let's do it this way: I'm still not ready to risk running away from here without an plan, since i'm also unlikely to be able to support myself in my current circumstances, nor i'm interested in becoming a demon... So, i can say that soon I'll tell you what I intend to do, but only when I contact you myself."

Lunarius: "But then I would have to blindy trust you, and we don't have such sort of compromise, no? Let's do it like this: I lend you a part of my power, and you prepare the conditions for the kidnapping to occur without problems, how about that?"

Henri: "It's an intriguing proposal, but in case you haven't noticed, we're in a house protected by white magic of sorts probably made by a Bishop... And you'll see that your magic circle is almost gone by looking at it..."

Lunarius doesn't move his head, but he seems to realize what Henri is talking about. Demons don't usually rely on their eyes to see anything, and by using their powers, they can notice several sorts of things in their surroundings, but perhaps there was a gross lack of attention on his part. It's not surprising for Henri, who knows how werdly he is after meeting him a lot: he often shows a gross lack of caution.

Lunarius: "Hehehe, and my situation here is way worse than it looks, i spent a lot of power on this, and it will be difficult to create another portal if i stay here until this one closes."

Henri: "As I said, once i call you, you'll be able to come at a more propitious time."

Lunarius: "Very well, I'll see you later, but if it takes too much, I might come here myself unnoticed hehehe."

Lunarius' body somehow desintegrates into energy while maintaning it's form, passing through the demonic portal before it's completely gone. Demons have quite convenient capabilities, and this is due to the fact that they are spiritual beings using physical bodies. There are living beings who become demons too, however, they usually have to rely on their physical forms to live freely, since if it ever gets destroyed, they will end up noticed and slaved by an more powerful demon, mostly because they can easily notice the location of each other. Interestingly, mostly of the most powerful demons seems to have fixed, original physical forms, this is due to the fact that they don't need to constantly use demonic energy to keep their bodies upright. Lunarius can be considered a "low level" demon, for the simple reason that he doesn't have one yet. On the other hand, their almost limitless power contributed greatly to the image of demons as invincible, terrific beings. Even a formidable warrior wouldn't stand a chance against a demon like Lunarius if he charged against him without preparations, but he would still be able to defeat other half and incomplete demons even weaker than him, like the so-called demonic servants and apostles, which forms vary from the demons they serve.

However, creating a permanent physical body requires a lot of power, and the more complex their astral "anatomy", the more power will naturally be needed. If Lunarius created a permanent body while he doesn't have the full power for it, it would probably be a useless body for him, since it needs to be compatible with his spiritual form.

Anyway, before, Henri briefly entertained himself the idea of calling Lunarius into a trap, but it doesn't seem very beneficial right now, as he still doesn't know of any method of permanently eliminating a demon. Even white magic, the name used for the magic utilized by the members of the church, apparently doesn't work very well against demons, altrough it does wonders against their servants and the efficiency of their powers, Lunarius was probably weaker since he was fighting in bad grounds.

Henri then stops thinking about it, and thinks about the girl he meet today, since Lunarius mentioned her. It's curious that the Bishop is wanting to appoint him as a teacher of magic for her, or perhaps tutor would be the correct word? He needs to discuss this with him later before making an decision. Furthermore, the fact that demons are after her also shows that there is something so special about her existence to the point that one even came to assign him a mission.

While he stays in his room, time passes, and eventually someone calls him through the door, Henri opens the door and sees Andreia, apparently she is the one who takes care of the guests. By looking at her features, one can see that she is dark blue haired, with her long hair combed equally to both sides, and her eyebrowns and eyes are also equally blue. She is surprisingly as tall as Henri, by both having around 6 feet tall. She has very clean face and hands, which makes Henri wonders if she is a noble or child of some rich merchant, altrough it's obviously pretty hard to see someone like that work as a mere servant.

Andreia: "Dinner is almost ready, and the Bishop has already arrived, he would like to talk to you in his room."

Henri: "Okay, I'll be on my way."

Henri then goes to the Bishop's room, which is on the second floor of the mansion. He knocks on the door, and the Bishop opens it, apparently alone again. The two sit down to talk, and Fleer offers some tea, which Henri accepts.

Fleer: "Certainly Rieth has already told you what i've asked him to say. Did you talk to my daughter and notice anything?"

Henri: "Yes, I did. She seems like a very rational girl, and... I somehow have a feeling that she definitely has a turbulent future ahead of her."

Fleer: "I share the same opinion. i always felt something ominous, which I can't explain, coming from her, i guess you also feels the same thing, uh. But let's get to the point, when i ask you to teach her magic and protect her, i'm not throwing into you a huge responsability without taking all things into account, much less am i asking something impossible or ridiculous. I'm sure that by taking this role both my daughter and you will gain a lot, which i'm sure that will also help me a lot for my plans to the future."

Henri: "Ok, but you want me to be just a teacher, or a full tutor?"

Fleer: "Both. Given her uncertain fate, i think she should be taught as much as possible. If you have anything to contribute, other than magical teachings, i ask that you to contribute, and if i see that the lessons are doing well for her, you'll certainly receive the adequate reward. In return, you will be able to live in this mansion, and you will normaly receive a salary of 2gp a month. One of the stipulations I enforce is that, Eleandor can only leave the house with both you and the knight Rieth present. Furthermore, I expect you to spend at least 5 hours together with Eleandor a day as her teacher, and, preferably in the afternoon, as Rieth also teaches her in the morning, altrough you two can both work together to teach her if ever arises any need. If I ask you to accompany Eleandor to protect her outside the manor, you must also comply with my order. And lastly, you must allow that i constantly feel you location and it's circumstances, at least when you'll be with Eleandor. To that end, I'll carve an mark on you arm, you can scan it with you magic if you like, but you'll see that the mark is just so I can sense you presence when you're near Eleandor."

Henri: "Okay, the clauses make sense, and I'll be satisfied with that salary."

Fleer: "Fine. I hope our cooperation makes much more sense from now on. Dinner should be ready by now, if you like, you can ask Andreia to bring meals to your room, but if you like, you can eat at the table in the main hall. Any preference is decided by yourself."

Fleer already seems to have said what he wanted to say. Henri would like to get more information from him, but he sees that now is not the time. Seeing that he will probably feel more comfortable eating in his room, he tells Andreia that he would like her to take his meals to his room. Going inside there, Henri think clearly that it's a comfortable room for him to live. It's not that big, but he can see empty bookshelves, a table and chair, a closet for clothes, and an upholstered bed. There are also windows, which look out to the sky. All of this was enough for Henri to consider something like that a "nice room", something practically ideal for his needs.

His biggest disappointment of the day was probably due to the fact that he was unable to get more information from the Bishop. He doesn't know if his ideal path is to continue in this house until he knows what his true intentions are. On the other hand, Henri admits to himself that he is probably not an individual easily seen as completely reliable, and is probably in the "testing" phase.

After dinning alone, he asks for sheets and an ink pen, and begins to write an letter:

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Hello grandma;

It's been 2 years since i sent my last letter. Sorry to take so long, but i had responsibilities my to focus on, and you know me very well. Are you all right? I got a steady job here in Teodoriel, and for the moment I'm going to live in a Bishop's mansion. I ask that you send me all my things that I have left in your care. Two of the gold coins I sent together with the letter are for the shipping fee to take all it here, the other 3 are an gift from me to you. My address is street Esvanecent, district 08, lot 20.

- From your dear grandson, Henri.

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Henri checked all the data he had to verify. By the way, tomorrow will be Saturday, and he'll need to wake up early to take that letter to the parcel. Either way, he won't be able to leave permanently leave this mansion until his items arrive, that's if come at all. Henri never really liked living in other people's houses, but he's decided to live in this mansion until he sees that everything is right to move to another place.

...

Spending the rest of the night, Henri fell asleep sitting in his chair while he wrote one of his purely technical theories he discovered and elaborated, as he likes to do after noticing new things. Generally, if he wrote unwillingly, it was a sign that he would fall asleep soon. In the first paper, it is written the ideas of his "education" program for his first female student. On the second paper, which presumably made him sleepy, are his plans for the future written, and nothing is written except the title, Henri, in fact, is terrible at laying down formal plans if he isn't 100% mentally prepared. Now that he thinks about it more, he apparently will have to work every day... Perhaps he can use this to his advantage so that, at one time or another, he can ask for time off for a specific period, as it is unthinkable for him to have no way to plan some "strategic" trip.

After doing all he had to do in the morning, Henri seeks Reith to unwind some informations. From the words he managed to exchange with the hurried knight, he hears that he tutors the bishop's daughter in the morning and works as a guard in the middle of the night. For his salary, he didn't tell Henri, but it's likely he earns a lot more than he does. Taking advantage of the time he as left in the morning, Henri lefts to go to an artifact shop he spotted earlier. He had once come into it in the past, and the place remains the same, apart from the clear changes in the building and the goods. In there, Henri sees the usual suspicious rings, self-proclaimed magical objects with dubious uses, and even the so-called relics that there is no way to normally know if they work for anything. Henri informs the owner that he will pay up the double the price of any non-fraudulent item, and is presented with those who are supposedly said to be non-fraudulent items. First, a rope supposedly capable of binding spirits, second, a helmet supposedly capable of protecting the mind from spiritual influences, and lastly, a small cube-shaped magical orb.

Despite apparently being conveniently the ideal items for some of his future plans to the point that he wonders if the shop owner can read his mind, Henri confirms to himself that the first and second objects are fraudulent by using some simple perception magic, but their existence alone gave him hints of what he should do. On the other hand, the small orb is true. Magic orbs are direct channelers of spiritual energy. They are not that rare, but they are not very effective either due to their limited use and usually exorbitant price. The materials used to create it are minerals fused through alchemy, and therefore, you never know very well the quality of the product without firstly testing it. Unfortunately, Henri doesn't know of any possible alchemists in this town, and even if he did, he would doubt their efficiency, and the most useful magical orbs are usually the old ones anyway, so it doesn't hurt to place an bet. He already has an ideal orb for research at his grandma's home, but who knows when that will come...

Henri then pays 3 gold for the orb (Managed to change the previously fully doubled total price from 4 to 3 via bargaining) and returns home. his next project is to prepare something to seal low level demons, or more exactly, their power. Henri isn't an alchemist, but he has a pretty good idea of how he's going to do it. First, he asks (or buy) several seals from the bishop, then, he strengthens the efficiency of the seals through his spiritual magic, that is, using spells, and lastly, he calls the demon, holds him against the wall or the floor through the wind, and then conducts a spell to seal the demon's spirit into several parts, straight into the seals. The plan seems perfect, if we are to exclude the question of how Henri will manage to trap him long enough to completely absorb his spirit, and even if he succeeds, he doesn't know a very efficient way to eliminate the demon's spirit, let alone what to do with it. Perhaps his only possible response is to threaten him with bluffs so to force the demon to make an master and servant contract with him.

Having decided that, it is still necessary to have a plan B in case everything does not go according to the plan. The orb will be used for efficient manipulation for the two operations Henri intends to carry out against the demon, but he knows that there is a risk of the orb simply breaking due to too much magic operations happening at the same time. His conclusion is that he might need to enlist the bishop's help, by one way or another. For that, he will use his daughter to help him, which will activate the mark Fleer engraved in him some hours earlier, but that will depend on whether he manages to deceive her.

Having done all the planning, Henri walks to the living room, and asks Andreia to call his student. Eleandor arrives along with the servant. Henri doesn't see much excitement in her, but he figures she's probably curious. They walk together into the garden, where Henri says it will be a better place for him to teach her. He sends servants to prepare two chairs and a table, and after all the preparations are complete, the two sit down.

Henri: "First of all, I would like to know what you mean and think about magic. If you have trouble putting it into words, you can try drawing it." Henri hands her some paper and an ink pen.

Eleandor seems to have trouble knowing what to do first, but then she sketches, crudely, a man levitating an apple by pointing his hands at it.

Henri: "It's not that far from magic, hahaha."

Henri then writes, very large, the word magic, so that Eleandor can match the letters with the words.

Henri: "Wizards are the individuals who manipulate and project elements of nature through what is called mana."

Henri writes the text on the paper, and tells Eleandor to try to read and rewrite right below his text. He spends some time indicating which word that comes out of his mouth is also the same word that's written, and he does this until she has a basic idea of what it's all about.

He starts talking again, slowly so that his student understands, while writing down on a new sheet of paper:

Henri: "Wizards are not the only ones who use nature power to perform magic. We also have alchemists, studious beings capable of fusing materials and creating fusions through magic. On the other hand, there are also witches and sorcerers, both go much beyond from manipulating magic, they are also able to use specific elements to carry out magical experiments and thereby transform potions and objects, such as alchemists do, but without specializing specifically only in that, but also in the occult, the deep connection between all things."

And continues in another paragraph: "Furthermore, for any magic user to actually be able to perform a spell, it is necessary, first, that the being either has contact with spirits so that they can provide him with spiritual power, or that he does a contract with a specific spirit to be able to use, limitedly, the same essence of nature that his spirit uses. In this specific process, there is what we call spiritual exchange: on the one hand, we have the being that provides the spirit with what it generally wants: mana, and on the other, we have the spirit that provides the magician with what he usually wants: spiritual power. In this case, the magician has much more limited capabilities than if he had direct contact with the spirits, as he may be able to materialize only the element by which the spirit that made the contract is compatible."

"And," continues in another paragraph, "besides, the only beings hitherto capable of contacting spirits were the elves... And a few known witches and wizards, but none of them live or have lived on the small continent of Iguadesh, at least as far as I'm aware."

Again he helps her read and understand what is written, and makes her rewrite everything. It's not that difficult, considering the Bishop apparently already taught her some of the basics. She is somewhat able to hear well what he says and the language he uses, but her writing is still pretty much primitive.

The class goes on for a few hours, in the meantime, Henri teaches her the basics of how to get mana, and how to make contracts with spirits. For the first, it is necessary for the individual to concentrate so that the mana particles enter his body and don't flow.out. And in the second, it is necessary for the individual to concentrate again to locate one or more spirits and try to communicate with them, which is usually done with the help of another person. To communicate with spirits, it usually takes several steps, and therefore, it is preferable, in fact, that someone experient helps the person to do this. At the last minute, Henri tries to make her concentrate to try to get mana, but she can't. Even after trying to help her focus, he notices that she just can't absorb the mana, as if something inside her repels it. Henri is surprised by the situation, he knows that certain races are incompatible with mana in some ways, but he didn't expect it to fail without the slightest sign of success. When he was a kid and around her age, he managed it on his own. He then takes advantage of her concentration on something else to try to see if there is something wrong with her spirit, and for that, he puts his head close to hers and uses his psychic clairvoyance to feel the spirit of his student, but before trying, Henri ends up having a bad feeling about it, and tries to make her absorb some of his mana, which ends up failing, because everything is repelled as it tries to approach her.

Henri is intrigued, and considers doing other non-risky experiments. Attempts to conjure a breeze of air against her, only for the spell to be repelled as well as the conjured breeze approaches her body. Henri then comes to the conclusion that, despite not being 100% proven, it is likely that Eleandor is immune to magic in some way or another. He then finish his class with her after a few more attempts, and prepares a written report, which he plans to deliver the next day:

--------------------------------------

The 28th of Decimum, (Equivalent of October) 812 CE

I taught Eleandor the basics of basics, and while I was trying to get her to absorb mana, I failed in my goal. Somehow, she's immune not only to her own mana, but to any kind of magic as well.

- Henri

--------------------------------------

He doesn't intend to deliver the report today simply because he still intends to test things out with her before letting the Bishop know.

The day then proceeds without any notable incident. Henri planned to put his conspiracy against Lunarius into action, but decides to focus on the Eleandor case first.

...

As soon as the next class approaches, Henri already has everything ready. He tells Eleandor that these will be his last attempts to see if he can sense mana, and if he fails, he will have to rethink his lessons. This alert is both to make her try harder, and to make her concentrate more, which are to make her unaware of the experiments he is going to try with her. As he proceeds with his plans as normal, he goes on to say that, if nothing changes, perhaps she is incompatible with magic. She seems pretty frustrated about this, which is in line with his expectations. He tries several things, ranging from materializing a small stone to fall on top of her, to an attempt to use one of the seals he had taken from Fleer to forcibly transport mana to her body. All fails, and any spell cast and used on, near, or against her is gone before they even touch her.

Hopeless, he tries to advise her while she is still concentrating.

Henri: "Try to feel the particles of mana around you. Open your body to it, and absorb them. Feel your own unconscious open, allow your conscious to absorb them."

While counseling her for some minutes, unexpected results occur: She manages to absorb the mana, but somehow seems to lose control, and bizarrely, not only does a large amount of mana seem to be absorbed, but physical objects also start to be pulled in and absorbed through her body. Henri doesn't understand what exactly is happening, as he seems to feel something coming from her, something he just doesn't understand what exactly is, an indescribable power that seems to be getting out of control. Henri uses his elemental powers to try to access the source of so much power, and finally discovers its location: Her heart.

As if by instinct, he tries to use his spiritual power to get close to so much power, but he feels that he is close to being absorbed as well. In order not to lose his power, he moves away from her, and says that she has already absorbed enough. She listens, and stops concentrating and opens her eyes, and is surprised to see that several objects that were nearby were mostly decomposed and placed agaisnt the floor, including the table and chair where Henri was sitting, they were spelled from her body in the moment she lost concetration.

Henri, thinking back over what just happened, finds himself far more perplexed by what he saw than what actually happened. As he looked at her anatomy by using spiritual magic before, he noticed that her body was quite different from an ordinary human's body. The heart is in the center of the belly, and the nerves seem to be pumping the blood in a conflicted and confused way, and the body's valves don't seem to be taking up their supposed roles. He is very surprised that she is still alive while under that condition.

Henri: "Eleandor, you absorbed mana, but none of it is accumulating in your body. As you might have already noticed, some objects were absorbed by your body. I don't know how, but it seems that you have some strange power inside you... "

Eleandor looks nervous at those words.

Henri: "To verify this power, I intend to run some tests."

Henri then takes a seal and brings it to Eleandor.

Henri: "Try to concentrate on transferring the power that resides in your heart into this seal, try to feel it and expel it to the outside."

She tries, and somehow seems to be succeeding, because Henri is able to feel it, maybe Eleandor was already concerned about such power inside her. Despite being such an abnormal and strange power, everything is eventually transferred to the seal, according to Eleandor's own words. Henri checks and confirms that magic no longer works against the seal. He also tries to pierce the seal with the pen, but it seems to have become indestructible. He tries to tear it off, but the paper feels like rubber bands, it moves, but that force alone does nothing to cause damage.

Henri places the seal on the table, and asks Eleandor to concentrate again and absorb mana, and Henri realizes that she can now do this without any problems, quite easily too.

Perplexed, Henri asks Eleandor if he can transfer the power inside the seal to his body This time it took longer, but Henri can feel the power within him, it can also absorb mana without any problems, so he comes to the conclusion that Eleandor is, for some reason, incompatible with the power, it seems to enter a chaotic in her body, but she is still able to manipulate it wherever it is.

Henri: "Can you still manipulate that power?"

Eleandor: "I'm not sure."

She focuses once more, and confirms that she can feel it inside Henri.

Henri: "Right. I'll see if I can find out something about this power. Until then, I'll continue teaching you magic. Maybe it'll help you manipulate it."

Seeing that he no longer has a chair and a table to go with, and that he has a lot on his mind at the moment, Henri cancels the rest of the class, but not before proceeding with some "homework" for Eleandor.

Henri: "Now that you're finally able to absorb mana, I suggest you try to learn how to release it from your body, as well as circulate it through the body. It's essential that you get used to mana and how it interact with your body."

Henri: "That said, absorbing mana is not an easy thing. The fact that you managed to do it so easily is probably due to the power you possess. Perhaps it alters and moves the nature around you. The fact that you were even able to absorb physical objects means that... This power of yours is something close to my thesis about original power..."

Eleandor: "Original power? What do you mean"

Henri: "I won't explain about it now, since you will need to properly understand it to know about it. When i'm done with my classes and i'm done with my analyses, i'll tell you more, I promise. Now i'll nform your father about everything that happened."

Eleandor: "Is everything going to be okay? Dad has a... strange way of acting. If you tell him about it, he'll surely get you into something dangerous."

Henri: "Strange acting? The Bishop sure is a bit odd, but he's certainly a cautious fellow."

Eleandor: "I've known him since I arrived here, aged 3. Since then, I don't remember exactly who he talked to, but I do remember that he mentioned things like "This girl has potential" or "My plans for the future will shape our path in a better direction"."

Henri: "Hmmm, alright, I'll keep what you told me in mind. Don't forget what i asked you to do."

As he walks back to his room, Henri sees, from the reception room, the knight Rieth talking to people who look like members of the church, at the gate that leads to the manor's courtyard, which is strange, considering that, as far as he heard from the servants, Rieth does not work on Sunday. It makes him wonder if, by any chance, Fleer has a lot of plans he has no intention of telling him. In that case he will have to get information directly from him before he can pass on his report. Of course, it might be safer to run the report and ask questions later, but as long as the information he has might be seen as potencially valuable, he's probably not going to be targeted by any sort of plot.

Henri then goes back to his room and writes a detailed report of what happened today. While Fleer doesn't come, Henri also tries to analyze the mysterious power within him, but to not much avail. The power, although theoretically is with him now, seems to be in some kind of third plane. He cannot access it with his spiritual power no matter how hard he tries, even trough he is somehow aware of it.

One theory that Henri considers possibly true is that spiritual power is just a copy of an greater power, as it alone is not capable of performing unimaginable feats such as those performed by the gods. Henri separated the power of the gods and the power of spiritual beings as divine power and spiritual power. While divine power is the power that comes from a primary and original essence, spiritual power is that which comes from divine power. There is also demonic power, which also somewhat comes from this original essence. The third type of power that comes from this essence is the power of light, used by church members, it's somewhat produced by faith, but it's more like an energy of sorts made via the extrapolation and use of the people's psycho because of their strong faith, Henri doesn't know much about how this power works.

Not wanting to waste any more time thinking about these theories, Henri states that more research and discoveries will be needed to form any conclusions about this mysterious power. Fleer might be able to help him, but first he needs to know if both can trust each other.

As he thought about it, he noticed something approaching behind his. He turns and sees a demonic portal, and Lunarius on top of it.

Lunarius: "Henri, Henri. I didn't think you'd be able to absorb that girl's power into your body, but what do you plan on doing? Wants to fight for it with me? Hehehe."

Henri: "I don't know what you're talking about. I was never your unconditional companion. Perhaps i collaborated with you too much in the past, but I realize now that it wasn't entirely by free will. One of your powers, demons, is to stimulate the strangest, most terrible and bizarre sorts of negative feelings within other living beings, isn't it?"

Lunarius: "Hahaha, no wonder you refused to negotiate a contract with me for the first time, I've been noticing that you're resisting a lot agaisnt it. Unfortunately, I no longer have enough power to make you obey your own deepest desires, you've indeed somehow became quite strong, and has certainly utilized the power i gave it well."

And continues: "But, hihi, know that I will not be frightened by the possibility of having to take drastic measures you and this power, such as the assholes of my superiors have been too much frightened and occupied with their own bullshits. If you don't give me the girl, know that I will come here myself with an army with me, kekeke."

Henri: "Eh, do whatever you want. If you want to take drastic measures so badly, know that i will also be prepared to take drastic measures... From now on!"

Henri, suddenly, launches Fleer's seals against the demon, and, using his power, uses air pressure to launch and keep him against the wall that was right behind. The demon, reacting, breaks the wall using his demonic aura solelly with the moves of his body, and before he can get out of the building Henri is already close enough to freeze his feet through an anti-demonic ice device he prepared in the spot capable of expanding and freezing things as soon as it touches and connects with anything, altrough the demonic aura is fastly melting it. Lunarius then generates 4 wings on his back, but before he can release a boost to escape of henri's range by breaking the roof, Henri uses his spiritual power to launch Lunarius down through a strong pressure caused by the wind, which is being concentrated from above to low, it is also desestabilizing Lunarius's aura, which makes the ice device Henri made to spread trough his body.

Henri also begins to use his orb to be able to concentrate half of his conscious and spiritual power to extract the demonic power from the demon while also maintaning his two simultaneous magic operations, and Lunarius werdly reacts to this scenario by trying to break the concrete from the floor, which shows he is not able to go against the wind coming from above. Upon realizing the stupidy of his actions, he decides to attack Henri directly, but doesn't seems to know how to go about it since his lower body is already completely freeze. What makes him a low level demon is the fact that he is not able to use his power as a destructive power. Instead, he prefers to use it in hand-to-hand and armed combat, so, while fighting someone, he is able to become extremely agile and his blows deal great damage. Seeing that he is totally restricted, and not able to attack or react to the situation, he decides to abandon his body and escape trough the portal, which closes right after.

Lunarius: "Henri, you bastard, i'll get my payback for thissssss..."

The body Lunarius left behind, without demonic magic to maintain it, quickly starts to decompose, leaving behind only the seals. Despite not being able to exterminate the demon, Henri is satisfied with what he has accomplished. Lunarius lost his body and at least half of his power. If he don't convince someone to come with him on his acclaimed campaign to get the mysterious power, Henri is sure to have bought at least a few years of peace agaisnt this demon. Despite having already contracted with other demons, Lunarius is the demon he has formed the most contracts with and knows the most. The fact that he was able to detect where Henri was and who he was with was due to the fact that some of the demonic energy left which was still in possession of Henri was easily accessible to the demon. While Henri doesn't carry this kind of power inside his body, it's still close enough to him for any demon easily notice, so, if Lunarius try to feel it, even if very far away, he can still notice the power he gave to Henri, since it's freely noticiable to him as long there is nothing obstructing his perception.

But now, he wonders how he will deal with the broken wall, and what he will do with this seal that contains demonic power. Maybe it's time to vent to Fleer...

...

A few hours pass, and eventually the so needed Bishop arrives. Henri manages to get into his room under the pretense of wanting to deliver the report.

Fleer: "Impressive. So she's able to absorb physical matter while concentrating?"

Henri: "Before we discuss this, I would like to say that something important happened a few hours ago, and it involves a demon. I would like to know if I can trust you."

The bishop seems intrigued by these words.

Fleer: Why, you trust me? I see you've been interested my goals. If you're asking this in person after an issue, it means you want to work with me and share information, am I right?"

Henry: "Yes"

Fleer: "Honestly, I took an interest in you because you're clearly someone capable of researching the occult. I planned to get to know you more as the weeks go by, but apparently the results are being more immediate than I expected, and soon, my decisions must be too, after all, we don't want to wind each other up, right?"

Fleer: "Do you know the knight Rieth? It was I who made him a knight. Many years ago, I found him living in the streets, and I realized that he would possess great talent with weapons. Nowadays, he is able to use almost any kind of weapon, and he is also able to ride an horse while at the same time using a bow simultaneously, and is also especially talented with what has always been his weapon of choice, spears and halberds."

Fleer: "And how did i was able to discover such man? I never needed any advice from the gods to see potential talents and the nature of people. When I saw Rieth, he was fighting in the street, hitting other children with a huge stick. I asked to the neighborhood for information about this child, and i was told that he routinely fought with other children because he didn't want to share anything."

Fleer: "And Eleandor... I found her starving around town while traveling by wagon, she stopped at the head of the road and knelt down a bit scared, pointing her hands upwards, and I decided to make room in the wagon to meet her. She didn't know anything, or where she used to live or what had happened to her, but she was able to communicate, and she had great intelligence, that is, the ability to analyze her own situation and show sensible opinions. It was strange coming from a girl that wouldn't know her own name or where she came from or what happened to her, i wondered if she was keeping secrets. I bet even the hottest member of the highest noble house wouldn't be as smart as she was at three years old."

And he continues: "Do you understand what I'm telling you? I'm always looking for people with potentials, and the more I can get them to trust me, the more they will be useful for my plans."

Fleer then gets up from the chair where he was always being and takes a paper stored inside the drawer.

Fleer: "Of course, to trust me, you probably must first know about my plans, after all, you're not dependent on me, in fact, you're probably just here now because you're looking for ways to benefit from our collaboration. But before that, I would like you to tell me what you were going to say, even if it's just a part."

Henri: "Okay, as you've already told me a lot, I have to say something of the same relevance. As you probably deduced in your mind, i can be considered a "black magician" who uses means different from those used by common magicians for their goals. Mages are generally individuals who also tread a path of illness and risk, but they are limited in the amount they have to rely on spirits.While i obviously can't be considered one of the strongest mages right now, I've developed a method for seeking my own independence in these regards. Mages usually use their spiritual powers from contracts to carry out research and perform efficiently, powerful and useful spells. As for me, I obtained a way to use spiritual power unrestrictedly. What do I mean by that? That I obtained the spiritual power to myself without needing to directly rely in mana and contracts."

And continues: "Although i always liked to do my own research, I didn't see any way to surpass the most advanced mages. They all have access to much better materials and with many more possibilities than I would even dream of obtaining. Even more so considering that, ever since our ancestors fled to this vast island, any items of magic carried over have become luxuries, not so much as something wizards usually obtained trough their research, but rather as things they obtained through their ancestors' inheritance or because of their financial powers, which they use to make others impressed, which are their employers and financiers."

Continuing further: "Considering all this, I have decided to go along a path that I have developed. I have devised ways to obtain the power of the spirits, and through them, I can use unqualified magic precisely rather for sheer power than efficiency of use. Perhaps, this means that a more skilled mage would beat me in battle as long he plays his cards right and know my abilites, but I would certainly have carefully planned and prepared before this battle started to not risk myself in a losing, risky engagement."

Fleer: "...Considering what you told me before, this spirit power was what you went after in the Semiur Forest for, right? When I was purifying you, I realized that you still had power to aid me in the process. And the fact that you survived for 2 years there shows that you had enough power to last that long there without needing basic needs."

Henri: "Yes. Before I explain that part, I'd like you to explain your goals to me."

Fleer: "Ah, yes, because I'm the one who needs you the most, right? I can't explain everything to you before trusting you more, but I can confirm that my plans are big, to the point that i plan to take control over the governments of the small continent and march to the living continent after much preparation."

Henri already had an idea of what it would be, but hearing the bishop's plan actually left him a little perplexed for some reasons.

Henri: "Is that why you're looking for the most talent and special individuals you can find?"

Fleer: "Yes. I don't see many methods of going on an extremely risky crusade if I don't have special individuals along with me."

Henri: "... Can I wait until tomorrow to decide whether to tell my part of the story or not? By the way, a part of my bedroom wall is broken..."

Fleer: "... Okay, you can get your things and move to the room with the door to the left. But I'm warning you that I might kick you out if you decide not to tell, hahaha. I've already told you all the important side of my story, yours is missing."

Henri leaves the room and tells Andreia that he will be changing rooms. Once there, he decides to reflect on his next decision.

Henri (whispering to himself): "If he wants to go to the mainland... But what safe means will he use for this?... Won't he be leaving the rears free for a "surprise attack? What if..."

Whispering to himself, Henri reflects through multiple perspectives, coming to the conclusion that maybe, just maybe, his entire life and all of his decisions, irrational or not, happened just to get him to this point and what it would take with it. Even if Fleer's plan might be irrational in the end, he is determined to go along with it, even under a false identity for security, in case he decides to flee from the bishop and company while not wanting to be identified by his "true" enemies."

...

Henri then wakes up in the morning, and the servants already prepared breakfast. The bishop is no longer at his house, as he tipically leave at dawn and returns at lunchtime. Rieth usually seems to stay at the house all day, with the job of protecting the manor, but sometimes he'll also accompany the Bishop on one thing or another. Whatever it is, Henri plans to leave the house today to gather as much information as possible independently.

His main contacts live in other cities, but in Teodoriel he also has some acquaintances who maybe can give him some information. Stellei, his late father's former lawyer, is a bit of a bitch, but he's sure he'll might get information from him as long as he doesn't give out any information about himself and pays the right amount. There's also a government contractor who gave him some jobs when he was in the area for about a year, but he doesn't want to be recognized by someone who has government connections and he's not very close with.

Might as well try his luck and ask Rieth, but right now he's training with Eleandor. From what he know, training lasts around two to 3 hours. Which means that by 10:00 he should be free. Henri waits for that time to pass while he searches the library for information, and although it shows the bishop's tastes very well, it's clear that he won't find what he's looking for there.

After that, he looks to the yard trough an window where Rieth should be training with Eleandor, and sees him alone, exercising. Henri gives a little squeal and runs downstairs. Rieth continues to exercise until Henri comes close, getting up as soon as Henri watches him, only to practice exercises with just his arms.

Henri: "The bishop told me quite a bit about himself, you, and his own plans yesterday. Although I'm almost certain that I'll join him, I want to analyze the whole situation in this city first. I'd like you to help me, even if I have to owe you a favor."

Rieth continues to exercise, while putting on a straight face, as if this is his way of showing that he's thinking about the matter, or that he's focusing more on the exercise than on thinking.

Rieth: "... Talking about the city, huh? Indeed, Fleer made me learn a lot as soon as he welcomed me into his home. Although I am not 100% committed to his cause, I promised him that I would serve him until the day of his death. He has not given me specific orders on how to deal with you, but my promise to him does not preclude me from helping or harming him in a way that he has not laid down clauses upon, not that i plan to harm him in anyway, of course. If i telling you about the situation in the city will help you bond with him, it probably won't be so bad to act independently. But come on... What do you want to know, exactly?"

Henri: "About the city's archbishop."

Rieth: "Ah, yes... If you're worried about that guy, i can say you don't have to worry too much. The Archbishop is formally a member of the order of Guennes, but judiciously, the members of that order act completely independently from each other. Then what does that mean? That the members spend more time jockeying for political power among themselves, than actually caring about dangers from the outside. Of course, they wouldn't mind teaming up to fight a greater danger, but if the problem is just with one of the members, they will be more willing to try to stab him than help him. Theodoriel's archbishop is curiously unpopular among his fellows, largely because he is honest and charitable at a level far above relatively to the other members, who also don't like to see his lands prospering and his also high popularity among his people."

Henri: "The Bishop plans to remove him from power?"

Rieth: "Yeah, the Bishop first plans to get as much power as possible to issue an ultimatum, if not accepted the Bishop will attempt an assassination attempt on the Archbishop. The natural successor would be the Bishop himself, however, that's what would make him the prime suspect. Fleer plans to falsify evidence incriminating the Archbishop of Fazzer, who is one of the main rivals of the Archbishop of Theodoriel. It is hoped that this accusation will lead the Archbishop of Fazzer to declare war on Fleer or at least to begin making his moves, and it will be from there that we will start the domino effect to dominate the small continent."

Henri: "The plan seems well thought out, with a decent chance of going right, in fact. Can i give it that you gave me information when I go to talk with the Bishop? I plan to propose a reformulation of the plan after hearing everything he has to say himself."

Rieth: "You can. Fleer knows I act independently occasionally, so he is not going to mind me much, altrough he would be disappoited if you don't help. He might not let it clear, but he usually has a lot of expectation for people he knows."

...

At noon, the bishop Fleer is finally at home. After lunch, Henri meets him, just as usual, in his room.

Henri: "Before i tell you my final decision, i will tell my story, as promised."

Fleer: "Now isn't the ideal time for us to talk, but i'm going be able to hear it before leaving the house."

Henri: "Very good. The power I used so to obtain spiritual power was demonic power. I formed contracts with demons to obtain power. My wish was to prove my theory that it would be possible to obtain spiritual power for myself, and to sacrifice human beings to demons and getting some of their powers was the only alternative I thought of."

Fleer: "...So that was it. Since you were afraid to tell this story, it means you probably don't like to remember it, right?"

Henri: "You can say so. By the way, i asked Rieth to fill me in on the informations about the Archbishop, and he decided to fill me in on several of his and yours future plans."

Fleer: "Okay, good thing you got it quicker. If possible, I'd like to spare the Archbishop, but there's also the possibility that I might have to eliminate him, i just don't know how exactly to do that. I'd like to have an somewhat 100% chance of they murder going right, but it doesn't seem like a realistic chance, since the archbishop certainly also has his own means to protect himself. Taking advantage of you talk about demons, I've even considered forming a contract with one to help me with this dilemma, but i've been concerned about possible side effects."

Henri: "Instead of an assassination, why don't you try to get the bishop into a situation that leads exclusively to his death?"

Fleer: "What do you mean?"

Henri: "Send a letter to the Archbishop of Fazzer, informing him that you have decided to betray the Archbishop of Teodoriel, and promise to reveal the weak points to get into the city and the bishop headquarters. He probably won't trust you, but if you treat him cortly and costy, who knows. As soon as the Archbishop dies, immediately ambush the rest of the army outside the headquarters and eliminate the Archbishop of Fazzer. This will create to you an path to the annexation of both cities."

Fleer: "The plan seems interesting, but several points of it are an open question."

Henri: "Indeed, they are an open question, but it's better than sitting around racking you brains over a point that will probably never be resolved and might lead to new issues if done poorly. i mean, to assassinate the archbishop and assume power would be an dangerous move."

Fleer: "Hmmm, but all the same, I still have the impression that hiring a demon would guarantee everything."

Henri: "... How about we do it like this, then? I'll be your demon."

Fleer: "What?"

Henri: "A few years ago, a demon tried to form a contract with me, tried to convince me to kidnap your daughter. I refused, since i didn't have any interest in such. Yesterday, he returned, and threatened me, saying that he would try to invade the city together with other demons. I then battled with him and got half of his power through the seals you gave me."

Fleer: "Which means..."

Henri: "Yes, I have access to demonic powers, and I know how to use them. I am theorically capable of opening portals and modifying my body temporally."

Fleer: "Interesting. If everything you say is true, wouldn't it be better to stick with my plan?"

Henri: "Despite that your plan virtually guarantee your succession as soon as you eliminate the Archbishop, i need to mind you that your force might get cornered politically in the aftermath, after all, the past enemies of the archbishop are also be going to make proofs and actions against you. I still have a hunch that the battle with the Archbishop of Fazzer will not go as planned in my plan, but since you plan to gain power, you'll need to do it as quickly and fexible as possible before getting cornered. But for my plan to succeed, it is also necessary that you have an army at your disposal."

Fleer: "... Considering all the men I have at my side for me, that would round up to be at least 500. If I go for you, Rieth, and three more reliable men at the helm, it would make for a legitimate army, even more considering that all these men are from Teodoriel's army and are faithful to me.

Henri: "Great, in theory, this means that almost all basic conditions are already there. However, do the walls of this city actually have any weaknesses?"

Fleer: "Not exactly. We could just open the gates by bribing the soldiers on the patrol. If that doesn't work, I hope you manage to get with it using your demonic powers."

Henri: "Of course. I'll bribe them myself, since, by using demonic influence, I'll probably be able to influence their desires and make them do what I want. But when we might start the operations?"

Fleer: "...I an capable of having the army organized within three days. You will then deliver the letter and bribe the guards the next day. It is to be expected that the enemy army will come to attack in an night, and you will guide then to the gate, of course, i'll need you to inform me much before hand so that i can prepare the men."

Henri: "Great."

Fleer: "But how are you going to get from here to there? You claim to have demonic powers, but isn't using that power supposed to affect your body negatively?"

Henri: "Here's the question. I plan to create a temporary body to move around in, and I will manipulate it through a spiritual spectrum. The only danger is that my original body will be completely unconscious, but as long as I form a barrier and a sensor that connect with my surface body, I will be able to quickly teleport back to my body if I see the need through my dual perception."

Fleer: "Right. I'd like to leave Rieth on guard at the manor, but he'll be busy with me now. If you need anything else, let me know during the night. Now I'll be getting ready to retire."

"By the way", he continues, "I ask that you continue teaching Eleandor normally. I don't know if i will be able to protect her forever, and in the future, perhaps, it will become useful for her in another ways than as research object. I brought her in because she's a curious girl, but even though she's merely curious, I know that anyone is capable of making a place for themselves in the world."

Henri: "Something interesting coming from someone about to get involved in violent and harmful intrigues." Says, already getting up and going to the door.

Fleer: "I may see conflict of the worst sorts, but we always have to think of the best way to go about things. When we go to battle with our enemies, whatever they may be, I hope it's not just blood being spilled , and everyone fighting has special motives and means for doing so."

Henri: "Intriguing. I'll think about what you said." Says, retreating through the door.

As he slowly walks to his room, Henri thinks carefully about his next goals. He hopes that by the time the conflicts start, the items he asked for from his grandmother will arrive, but it's only been a few days since he sent the letter. He could use demonic energy to go get what he isninterested in, but using it like that will put him at risk. Both the artificial body and the specter it will create will be entities that he will have to get rid of after use, this is due to the fact that they will be created through negative energy. Negative energy is everything that is capable of artificially producing and creating things through the reproduction of the mind, and not on the basis of what is actually created, it's the sort of power capable of distorting reality form one's selfish wishes. But only negative energy is not able to put all this into process an something real, a great catalyst of creation is needed to put all negative energy into a magical process.

And that's where demons come from. demons have not existed since forever, beings that have the gift of "creation" are their absolute leaders, called by all of them as "lords", but these beings are not gods, but entities that denied the very original essence of the universe to seek to become their own. Henri doesn't know how many of them are out here, but he thinks there's at least one, that's it, the who who started this kind of power, welder of the caotic power of creation. Henri know this because, to perform any demonic magic, magic words are necessary, that is, the spiritual bond that the bearer has with the essence of what he carries.

When you impose demonic energy on your body, it's as if an essence of another being is trying to corrupt you, forcing you to go and fulfill his and yours most abysmal desires combined. Henri would never have the courage or low morals to try to lead a man to his own death, but spiritual corruption is capable of it, through demonic energy. This negative energy generated by the subconcious troughs, together with the demonic essence of an higher being capable of molding and corrupting all things, form the demonic energy, which is capable of transforming any living individual into an slave of his goals and abysmal desires. That's what demons live from, and he knew very well that when he got carried away by his ambitions and feelings when forming contracts with demons, they took his sanity and gave him power, which were what he needed the most to fulfill his ambitions. The sacrifices he performed serve as a beacon, and the sacrifice itself is not what the demons want, but rather the feeling that comes upon the death of these humans and those who brought him to death. It's a much more advantageous mean for demons to obtain power than simply killing individual humans. And the way an individual uses demonic power can also bring these demons more power, since the very power used by humans will somehow eventually return to demons once it's used along with all the negatives feelings generated trough it.

The energy he took from Lunarius is no mere energy that will be returned to him, but rather an amount of the essence the original demonic entity withheld from a secondary source, which was Lunarius. He basically robbed him of a power he had by sealing off the path of power by using spiritual power, and Lunarius himself involuntary helped him with it by cutting himself of his own body and running away.

But demonic power, by itself, does not exist infinitely. Negative energy wears off, and to get more, more negative energy needs to be obtained. And to continue possessing their powers, it is essential that demons obtain it through actual living beings.

Thinking about all this, it means that Henri will have to corrupt other human beings to maintain his access to demonic power, and wars will be a great means for this, but keeping that power as his is not an end in itself, because when he no longer needs it, he will promptly return it to Lunarius by means that provide an advantageous contract for himself. Trying to put it directly into his body in practice will only turn him into a demon, or, more exactly, his body will end up rotten with time, eventually turning into something that can only exist via demonic power itself, alas, it doesn't feel safe having an power which essence is blasted with demonic energy along with you.

Returning to his room, he sees in the clock that he will instruct Eleandor in an hour. Thinking about it, he decides that it's better to talk with her before the class starts. He goes into the garden, tells the servants to prepare two chairs and a table, and tells them to call Eleandor. According to the servants, she is in her room most of the time, in his opinion about it, he has no idea what she does there all the time, and he thinks it's not very healthy for a child not to have contact with others, but he knows that this might be quite common among rich children.

She arrives, and Henri says, "Forgive me for calling you ahead of time, but I'd like to discuss something with you before teaching time. Would you lend me some time to be able to grace your ears?"

Eleandor: "Hmmm, I don't see any problems, but... Will it take long?"

Henri: "No, I just want to have a few words with you."

Henri sits down, and Eleandor sits down too.

Henri: "I have discussed some things with your father, he has honestly told me that he wants to see you well in the future, no matter what happens. I may not be the best person to do this, but I would like to discuss more miscellaneous topics with you as well. You father must've already told you a lot of things, but considering your origins, I think you have the right to hear things from different perceptions. This means that, in addition to teaching to you normally, I also want to talk to you about other things in the world. What do you think? Of course, your father already gave me permission for this."

And continues: "Books are a great way to educate youself about the outside world, but you still don't know how to read, and besides, I would say that just knowing is different from experiencing. Listening to people's personal experience is a great way to feel their experiences firsthand, as long as their stories are narrated correctly.'

Eleandor: "I think I understand what you're saying, but my father said that knowledge is something I must obtain myself... Stories about content and experience have little meaning if it's not merely something for recreation."

Henri: "No. Above anything, there is always recreation. You won't be able to shape your own opinions correctly if you don't know wiser opinions than that of yours, every wise and different opinion generates hints for the path you should follow before deciding upon it yourself."

Eleanor: "So... Are you saying there is a need for talking as recreation?"

Henri: "Yes, that's what i'm talking about... personal experiences are always good, but you might want to rethink them if you've heard of similar experiences. That's how people learn correctly. If I say I've tripped over a rock and hit my nose until it bleeds, this hints to you that it's not okay to trip or slam your nose into something. You don't seem to be very social, but that just means you didn't see any reason to adapt that way. Sometimes you shouldn't if you knows what you are doing, but don't you think it would be better if you could find greater future stability in your life by forming bonds with other people, and by that, forming friendly connections?"

Eleandor: "You say that, but I don't see much point. I'm already having to study and train every day!"

Henri: "Yes, but there are people teaching you, aren't there? The fact that I'm able to talk to you like this shows that there are no pressing concerns in your life, and that you're a pretty smart girl which people puts they expectatives on. But how much of that can also be said in the future? Also, expectations aren't all, you might also need to decide things which are totally independent or others. Your actions in the present are what dictate the path you will take in the future, currently, you are only enjoying the liberty you have while doing what others tell you, and it's all good, however, you'll need eventualy to carve a path in your own life if you don't want others telling all you need to do, and if you aren't doing anything specially recreative that makes all the experience you need to come naturally into you, there might be a need to exchange and obtain informations with others."

Eleandor: "Right, right. But why are you telling me all that? Are you going to gain something?"

Henri feels confronted with such words accusing suspicions coming from a child. While he doesn't see this as unthinkable, it's not the kind of sight he would normally see from someone of her age. Eleandor gives him a sense of being special more than anyone else he has ever seen, at least for an child. Maybe that's what makes him feel ready to try to set an complex course for her. In Henri mind, everyone deserves their lots.

Henri: "It's not about me winning something. How can I put it... I feel like our paths will connect frequently in the future. In other words, I'd like to have you as a friend."

Eleandor: "Friend?"

Henri: "Friend, that is, a person you feel conducive to connecting with. It doesn't mean we're genuine friends, but that doesn't rule out the possibility of us being in the future."

Eleandor: "Genuine friend? Is there that too?"

Henri: "Yeah. It's not a genuine word per se, but I use it to define friendships where people trust each other and support each other in some way or another. The friendship between you and your father, for example, is basically genuine, and that's why I feel entitled to try to meddle in his future, outside of what I was formally charged with."

Eleandor: "Okay... But I would like you to focus on magic classes... I don't want to lose my focus on what I need to learn."

Henri: "Hm, that's how you say it" says Henri with a weak and curious smile. "You can go back to your room if you want, I have something else to do, but please, return later for our course."

Eleandor leaves, and Henri starts flipping through some papers he has brought and placed on the table. At the moment he can't normaly concentrate much on writing things that he don't consider important, but that's ok as long as it's for his next goals, such as having materials to accurately teach the child.

Henri then begins to draw and record details about monsters and living beings he has encountered or seen in books. In one, there is a humanoid creature that resembles a therianthrope, that is, a creature that somewhat resembles a human being but is not. The humanoid has a head with a neck that curves forward, and its hands are disproportionately small with its body, which is wider and taller than an ordinary human being. It is a Tremite, one of the humanoid creatures that lived in tribes in the northern parts of the small continent before the arrival of humans, they did not know how to attack or defend themselves very well, but they were always good at fleeing and hunting on weaker beings than them.

It's questionable how such a being came to be, but what matters is that they always had a good connection with spirits. They are quite hairy with greenish fur, with such hair covering their entire backs and chests, their hands were probably too small just to serve as channels for magic, and even them they weren't very good for physical actions.

They were skilled telepaths and apparently managed to converse from a distance. They were also able to move objects using such strength of mind. That said, why is Henri recording them? In his memory, he remembers that he had already personally met one, he was being used as a useful tool by a black magician he knows, and it was this black magician who told him the tragedy that occurred for that race, which led to the capture of hundreds of Tremites and the tragedy of the Semiur Forest around 80 years ago.

Although most fled to the southern forests, some were captured through tactics and traps. They weren't dumb, but primitive, and their mental sensitivities perhaps made them sensitive to external threats. They got along well with spiritual beings, but viewed physical beings with malicious eyes, as if they were their mere drills for hunting via their powers. While they had a good eye for being suspicious of anything they saw, they thought of themselves as beings guided by all magic, and therefore, it was easy for mages to trick them with spirit illusions.

The Semiur Forest was one such trap point. Mages, creating illusions, made the Tremites think that through the caves in the mountains at the center of the forest they would be passing through a vanishing point that the spirits would pass on to them. The mages then surrounded the place and with the help of soldiers, began capturing tribesmen. It was in this place that the Tremites began to experiment with human weapons, and without much hope of escaping from there or defeating the humans, the furry beings decided to start cursing the entire place so that the spirits would save them. The situation got worse over time, and the more of the Tremites were captured or killed, the more the situation got worse.

Probably, through this, wizards and soldiers began to be possessed by angry spirits, and users of white magic began to be sent to the place to assist them in expeditions. Eventually, the skirmishes moved out of the caves into the mountains above it, and although there were few Tremites left, there was still a lot of interest in capturing them. The situation only began to be reversed when they began to discover Tremites killed by the spirits themselves, this was already a sign that the hateful spirits were expanding without reservations.

Although human casualties were low, it was seen that the trees around the caves began to lose their lives. Since the Tremites were not mere physical beings, they possessed a kind of mental power capable of influencing and distorting the attitudes of spirits, and to this day this mark of corruption remains there. His former companion theorized that the Tremites had an alcoholic soul, that is, they are evasive about their purposes and aim to distort the mindset of astral things for their own fits by using their strange, mental power. Altrough seeing this as pseudoscience, Henri elaborated for himself that the Tremites have some access to the original essence that he studied so much, that is, that the Tremites have the ability to influence the attitudes and actions of spiritual beings, as an affinity they have on this plane due to the characteristics of their powers, coming from the original source that created them, which is the planet, Eyshteer. The clergy sealed the spirits there, as they possess the ability given to them from the sources they learned to control through devotion and positive energy obtained through the prayer of individuals. This allows them to create a mark, like a barrier that extends for many kilometers, capable of trapping beings inside. Of course, the barrier is very sparse and weak, but its purpose from the beginning was just to serve as an indication that the spirits would not leave there. The plan was basically a success, as they weren't really interested in going through the barrier, considering that there is no known way to eliminate spirits, and allowing them to leave would be a disaster, for while it is possible that they would cease to be influenced by the negative mental energy of the Tremites over time, the tendency is that there would always be more of them appearing over time, since they would seek to destroy any living being nearby.

Henri tried to buy the Tremite from his former partner, but changed his mind when he learned of the market price. The Tremites that are still around are sold from captivity for a high price, and their breeding is not very high, considering that their buyers are, for the most part, rich people who want to have lesser beings at home to entertain them with their powers.

Along with this story and many others, Henri intended to teach about the history of these species and his perception of them and their usefulness to Eleandor. His aim with this is to show that, while other living beings have their own biological roles and means of living, they can also be objects of study or articles of luxury, interesting the human society as a whole, even if their utility in the midst of this is not merely for being eaten or anything like that. Henri will also critique how violently obtaining things can lead to unnecessary loss. Apparently, the attitudes of exotic hunters have changed since the first invasions of dangerous territories since they came to the small continent. All the deaths and losses have led hunters to work with what they already have, rather than going on new adventures and expeditions.

There is some coexistence with some therianthropes in the south now, some are mediocrely intelligent to the point of sign communication, and the wolf-human therianthropes have already shown an ability to learn languages. Perhaps this means that in the future they can blend into human society? Maybe yes, maybe not, it will depend on their capacity, and how much the government and the men in power will want to influence and impose any agenda against them.

Henri continues to take notes on several sheets. Although he didn't read them much, his habit was always to record things that didn't stay in his memory for too long. His goal was to pass this custom on to Eleandor. She seems to be much more intelligent naturally than he is, but not everything should be counted on mere chance.

Arriving at study time, he asks a maid to let Eleandor know that he is already there on the dot. A few minutes pass, and she comes.

Henri: "Hello again, Eleandor. Forgive me for being rude, but could I call you by an nickname of Eleandora? Honestly, this name sounds nicer when more objectively feminine."

Eleandor: "Hmm, you're my professor, so I guess it doesn't matter, but what does something more objective feminine mean? What would something objectively male mean then?"

Henri: "The point is, I found the word Eleandora objectively more feminine. If I were to choose Eleandor or Eleandora for my daughter's name, it would be Eleandora, it will contain the "a" that appears frequently in the names of those of female gender"

Eleandor: "I think you've a point... How do you get that kind of argument out?"

Henri: "Take it out? Hahahaha, I don't take it out, arguments are mere objects of expression, a way of giving reason to what we think and believe. If today I elaborate arguments as I am doing now, it's because either I've questioned myself a lot, to the point of finding the best and most effective means of expressing myself with reason, or i simply think i'm right about something. But I think we're getting a little out of the point of the class now. Can you tell me what we studied yesterday?"

Eleandor: "You were teaching me how to absorb mana, and I learned..."

Henri then starts teaching about theory, methods and makes Eleandor try out some small magical theories in practice as well as write and read texts. Henri's goal was to make her learn in the most efficient way in the shortest amount of time, considering that she was capable enough of learning complicated theory. In the last two hours of studying, he teaches her about other things, much of which he wrote down on paper and gave her to read and copy, like a bit of history, about human beings, about other species and about nature.

Finishing his studies with the girl, he reassures her of tasks she must do herself, and then helps the maids carry the table and chairs back to their places, more as a form of self-discipline through helping in some tasks. Until many years ago Henri lived completely on his own, his current situation allows him to focus on other things, but he does not feel comfortable if he feels that he is receiving more than he is giving, he can only have his mind feeling completely focused if he does not have any weight on conscience.

Now that it's dusk, Henri thinks about how he's going to get his items from home. his grandmother's house, in which he left everything he as, isn't so absurdly far away, but it's at least 500 kilometers away. The company that dropped off the letter must have already left with his letter since Monday, along with other letters and parcels, and by that point, it must have reached the addressee. Henri feels that it will take less than a month for his items to arrive, and he doesn't feel comfortable knowing that he won't have all of his preparations for battle, alas, who knows what might happen in the future... This problems is certainly generated by an past miscalculation.

Soon, he will ask Fleer for extra resources in order to get what he needs. At night, his boss arrives, and, by managing to communicate with him as usual, in his room, he goes straight to the point:

Henri: "Can't you pay me in advance for the war effort? I need to prepare."

Fleer: "That's fine, i figured you would ask for it. I'll pay you 40 gold coins for now. Of course, I'll probably pay you more after the war, but I need to organize my accounts so that I can pay all my subordinates properly."

Henri: "Thanks. By the way, may I have some news on what you've been up to?"

Fleer: "Well, this afternoon I spent a great deal of time discussing plans and nonsense with some of my fellows, but when asked if they have availability for the events that will probably take place in a few days, they say they will be ready for it any time. "

Henri: "These soldiers of yours are supervised by command members inside who prepare and train them, yes?"

Fleer: "Exactly. Most of my men were individuals I put in there through my financial power. They are loyal to me because they depend on me for their careers. However, I can't tell them too much, considering i don't know with who exactly they hang out with, and there are a lot of people in there that I don't control and who have their allegiances to the archbishop or the order. The loyalty of all these individuals is never completely transparent, but it's not hard to get information from those who obey someone, i only need a price."

Henri: "Don't the men who patrol the gates and guard the guards have loyalties?"

Fleer: "They do, but they are part of a private company that obeys the Archbishop. While the city's army is made up of private companies funded by the order and financed by men like myself, the companies that do the policing of the city and the gates are funded with tax money. This means that no one within these companies actually owes allegiance to anyone besides, theorically, the archbishop."

Henri: "But if your plan is to oppose the order, doesn't that mean that many men in the order's private companies will firmly oppose you?"

Fleer: "Yes, they will, but the question is how much i will be capable of controlling the men who finance these companies. If I can't control them, there is still the possibility that I will need to eliminate them so to became a financier in their place, but that strategy must always be at second hand, after all, that won't give me the loyalty of these men, only the commitment that they will obey me with reservations, alas, it will be easier for the order to suspect me if they ever feel like it."

Henri: "Thanks for letting me know about this. My last question is about who gonna control the 5 companies of 100 men on the day of battle."

Fleer: "Hmm, I expect you and Rieth to each command a company, but i also have trusted and high-talented men that I've left outside the city just to protect them from any "chance". You saw them when you were leaving Semiur, they are Terin, Erigg and Lyin. Three young men of potential I've known for over a decade. You might think they're isolated, but the fact that they hold such useless jobs at the moment only magnifies their usefulness. Usually, they were only supposed to get 2 years of service in that place, but i extended it by 1 year so they can get tasks i assigned. This yielded an unexpected benefit, considering i was the first to find out about you. I had heard that you asked for a bishop to be present, so this served as an extra pretext for me to come by myself."

And continues: "Who in fact mostly fulfills the administrative and commonplace roles of the city is the clergy, who, in this city, are divided between the divine ministry of Eyshteer, the administrative ministry of graces of Eyshteer, and the ministry of defense and military guidance of Eyshteer. And why is Eyshteer mentioned so simply in everything? Simple, the clergy need to say that they are god-oriented in everything so that they can have legitimacy. This does not deceive very smart people who know a lot, but it serves as a great cover for acting like corruption and bad decisions doesn't exist. It makes even anti-state attitudes easily erasable, at least when they come from within. Some people have tried to come after you here, but it's not hard to silence them by using my authority."

And ends: "Anyway, I would like to inform and with you more, however, I need to prepare some things, and I also have things to discuss with Rieth."

Henri then gives his greetings and leaves the room. The Bishop seems much more collaborative than he was a few days ago. With that in mind, it's easy to judge men who have power, but something that many don't know is that such men are always with many goals and means, and are routinely influenced by those around them. Not only that, it is also difficult to find individuals to trust and hold accountable. Henri thinks he can enjoy the Bishop's trust as long as he himself has a big role to play in his plans, but on the other hand, he doesn't know when their plans might start to divide. The Bishop seems quite ambitious, and Henri could like it to stay that way.

Henri returns to his room, and quickly rethinks his plans and if anything has changed or will need to change. Things seems to be getting promising, but everything can end up scorched if he's not careful. You don't know what might be waiting for you in a few days, everything can change if it's not carefully planned. With that in mind, Henri will start his preparations tomorrow, buy everything he needs to buy, and do everything he needs to do.

After having dinner, he finds someone knocking on his door: Rieth. Opening it, he see the knight in more casual clothes, altrough he still wear his white mask. Henri is quite curious about his face, but it's not like anything he might be hiding is any of his business.

Rieth: "Hello Henri. I don't know if you usually sleep at this time, but I wanted to hear a few things from you, can I come in?"

Henri feels a bit of pressure in those words even if Rieth seems to be selecting his words, maybe it's because Henri still doesn't know what he is capable, but the otherwise is also true. The two enter, and Henri sits down in a chair. Rieth, however, casually sits on the floor, at least he is not going to wander while talking or doing exercises like last time...

Rieth: "The Bishop informed me that you and I will be taking command roles in an eventual battle. A part of the strategy was planned by you, right? But how long do you know how to plan men?"

Henri: "I have never commanded armies, but I have commanded people in many things. In my perception, the characteristics of a commander are that he must give the impression of someone capable of planning and commanding, he must know how to treat his men and how to be familiar with them, and he must also secure his competencies and keep them in line with his objectives as commander."

Rieth: "Yes, a commander's efforts, in addition to his individual ability to create tactics, is also how much he can make his men obey him and do exactly what he has in mind in battle. For that, he must be an example, someone capable of showing himself to others as an ideal individual, prone and wise to command and without weaknesses. Someone without these qualities might lead himself and his men to their demises even if they are the most refined army."

And continues: "Perhaps you already know the means, and how planning, orders and organizations work, but Fleer's men don't know you, and neither do you know absolute anything about them. At the moment, despite seeing that you are going to become an temporary commander of 100 men, i see you as easily replaceable by others. Even if Fleer somehow favors you, you must possess merit as someone who will make a difference in battle. Wars in these regions are practically non-existent, most of the past wars are over and there are barely any veterans around, but I know very well that this will change from now on, and natural selection will take care of who should be doing what, those who are incapable of doing their designed roles might as well drop them before finding themselves in a hell hole of troubles. Nobles were generaly supposed to be the most capables of that, but even them failed to fight against the powers and strategies of the church."

And he concludes: "So, Henri, I ask you: are you, without doubts, prepared to command these men and be an ideal commander?"

Henri is baffled by the question. He knows that experience and knowledge are enough to be able to do anything, however, if he wants to show his usefulness, and expand his limits from now on, maybe he needs to think more outside the box.

Henri: "Hmm, I... I've never seen myself as an ideal human being, nor someone very capable of controlling the way others see me, but I pretty much have my point of view of what I see and think many see an ideal commander: One which is able to communicate, influence and prepare his men perfectly to lead them to victory while honoring themselves. Discipline is important, but imposing too much discipline can scare anyone away, especially those who are serving mostly for money and influence rather than ideals or any form of patriotism, which is basically non-existent in our private battalions, they might be leal to Fleer, but who knows until when."

And he continues: "I think the root of the answer to this question is already there. Asking if I am or think of myself as an ideal commander is useless until i test my limits myself. I want you to take me to Fleer's men tomorrow, I assure you that I will at least make some of my competences visible as a future commander, the men needs to know i'm not going to be a pushover and that my role in the battle itself will also be big."

Rieth: "Okay... I guess I can take you in the afternoon, but what are you going exactly to discuss with them?"

Henri: "I want to make clear my occupation within the Fleer's hierarchy, and how I intend to help them as soldiers and individuals."

Rieth: "Hmm, I'd pay to see what you'll say. See you tomorrow."

Henri then decides that tomorrow, in fact, will be the day of preparations. He will be fully occupied, but somewhat feels little anxiety. If he feels any urge, it will be to see how effective the results of such an important day will be. After all Henri was "a man who whitened the heavens, and was interested in the mundane, but even so, he did not live for himself. Such a feat could, in part, be explained by the fact that he lived for experiments in general, and not for his own glory. He could become famous using pseudonyms, but he would never want to have his real name targeted by gold diggers, it was his only way of living, an anonymous in essence, glancing at everything that can be observed, and seeking to interfere as little as possible in a way that does not alter what could be observed occurring spontaneously and dynamically, regardless of his wishes". Any action Henri would take was not a means to something else, but an end in itself. That end was to alter reality to the point that any action with unknown consequences can have expected results in Henri's eyes, and what intrigued Henri was not how much it would change his reality, but how much his actions would alter reality and show him new ideas and realities. Maybe that makes him the most ambitious of men, even if he doesn't really aim for anything besides satisfying his deepest wishes.

Whatever he became, he would know that he would remain the same Henri as always, an being who seeks his own desires and lives trough the horrors of existence even if alone, and these are the seeds that can lead to his corruption. Even the most gentle person might turn to the worst person if the conditions are right, and whatever is going to happen next, only the gods may know.

End of Chapter 1

Extras:

i will use the endless space left in the end to spare some informations for you guys. It's not like they are not going to be mentioned in the real story, but it might be helpeful for you to learn of it earlier so you might know a bit of how the world they are on works. The sole reason why none of these were mentioned detailed is cuz i don't want to interrupt the narrative, but they are far from being non-factor in the character's decisions.

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I will be explaining more in deph about it in future chaps, but the region where Henri is in, the Northern parts of the Iguadesh great isle, are culturaly similiar to 1600s French, with a bit of medieval and feudal touch on it, also, their technology overally is developed and almost equivalent to it, but the lack of polulation and production makes it so that a lot of things are not properly maintained even trough there a lot of books, and the church and it's arbitrary rules also doesn't help, and since the money is mainly in the hands of the elite, it's not rare that they might scheme with cunning merchants to make monopolies for themselves.

So, don't get surprised if some tech of 1600s and 1700s starts to show up in some of the next chaps, there is a lot of context that will be explain.

Magic technology is a diferent thing, mostly of it was produced and sold by elves in the past, nowdays, it became an rare thing to find any of it, and the fact they are so scarce make it so that they pile in the hand of collectors, rich people and rulers, who also give them to their courtly magicians, but low quality ones can still be found in several places with the right price.

Henri had to offer the double price to get his hands on a small rune, and if he ever wants more, he'd need to make even fairly deals to the merchants and those who might want to sell it, since they wants excuses to put in very high prices.

Lastly, as far you might notice, the church as a state is not very strong, they might impose their will to rule upon society and control It's people, but internal conflicts weaken them all the time. I will work it more later in the chaps about Henri, since it will be something important in this part of the story's schemes.

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Henri and Rieth are a bit more "friendly" than it might seems, i didn't add the reasons of this cuz of narrative reasons, but Rieth started to work Eleandor more after getting word that Henri was also going to teach her. Usually, he would only make her do some light physical exercise, never getting why he actually needs to teach some little girl about matters related to "fighting and survival" (As fleer described) and so didn't had much idea about what to do with her, but since Henri started to teach her magic, Rieth started to teach her more complex matters while also giving her his own words about how magic works and might be used.

Why he really came to that? He talked a lot with Henri after his first meeting with Eleandor, and after hearing from his mouth that "The swordmanship or anything of the sort that you are teaching her is simply going to make her too tired to properly learn with my classes, and so it would be nice by you to focus more in theorical than pratical" he started to make his wishes reality while properly teaching her about the matters Fleer demanded from him, maybe it's some sort of rivalry, or maybe he simply noticed he needs to be more productive so to not lose relevance under Fleer, who knows.

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Henri's freezing device: Basically, it's an paper containing some seal with water, Henri was easily able to throw and move it around by using the wind, and Lunarius wasn't capable of using his power to stop it just like when Henri had thrown the other papers at him, not due to incompetence, but due to the fact that Lunarius was quite desesperate. Henri prepared it before-hand since an demon's body has no water, however, he needs to prepare the magic symbol in the spot while constantly spreading it among the enemy's body while freezing it by cooling down the weather to very low levels.

In my universe, freezing magic is most of time a constituition of controlling the weather and using the water for it, there are other ways to do it, but they often requisite more concentration and power, so, for Henri, using water and spreading the freezing effect with magic was more pratical.

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Lastly, the demon hardly have any corporal sense, they create their bodies mostly as a "cloth" for theirs spirits. Everything that can be correlated to senses, like hearing and talking, they do by using demonic power. Basically, when they want to talk, they are able to make the sounds came from any place given the range of their powers, so when Lunarius "talks" with Henri in his head, he is not exactly talking with him directly trough his brain, but rather, he is just expressing himself trough sounds inside Henri's hears. Since they don't known any human language, they basically use an "algorithm" where they express themselves and use demonic power so that the one hearing him is capable of understanding what he is saying. Almost the same thing happens when they are hearing: they pick up any nearby noises via their demonic power and translate words by using an translation algorithm they are capable of coming up with. This means that they are capable or hearing any sort of noise as long they can "feel" it with their power, and if they want to have a private talk only with one person, they can whisper it directly trough his hears even if a bit far away.

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