Tessia meets the Leywins
"Again." I could see Tessia breathing heavily as she rested her hands on her knees, but she raised up and held the sword out in front of her. I could see her arms trembling from weight, proving her approaching her limits.
Holding my sword out I nod for here to come at me and I begin deflecting her blows. Most of them have no flow or fluidity to them, but they all have a purpose behind each swing. She's not taking this training lightly, which is something I can appreciate. She overextended slightly so using her own hand I pulled her past me and hit her across the back with my sword.
Instead of being stunned or annoyed, she immediately spun around and stabbed out at me. I sidestepped her strike as I deflected it away and with a spin I placed my blade by her neck.
"Alright that's enough for today." With that she collapsed onto her back and heaved greedily for air. I sat next to her and glared, she quickly understood the meaning behind the glare and got into a meditation position.
"So for my first piece of advice I would recommend you work on your flexibility. Being a girl and an elf, you have a significantly higher innate flexibility and potential. Use that to your advantage, and you can achieve quickly what has taken me daily stretches since I was 2 to accomplish.
The rest will come with time. You aren't going to be using a single edged sword, so I can't teach you all of my techniques as they would be detrimental to you. However one thing that you can do in your off time is practicing your slashes. For me I would do a certain number of slashes before meditating and then repeating the process."
Tessia nods as I speak, but I could tell she was rather fatigued and was having a difficult time keeping up. We sit and meditate for the remaining hour of time before the end of the day. With the chiming of the bells I took my leave telling Tessia that I would meet her at the gates, as I had to go get Kathyln.
The walk there was almost uneventful until I ran into Reginald and a few of his fellow soon to be graduates. Ah, Reginald please don't do something that you'll regret.
"President." I said evenly as they formed a wall in front of me, Reginald in the center and 2 lackeys on either side.
"Ah Jaron! Just who I was looking for. Come with me I have something that could prove useful for you in life." He didn't even try to hide the wicked smile on his face. I made eye contact with Kathyln just behind him and gave her a look that said to not intrude.
"I look forward to the lesson." I say with a small smile of my own that only causes Reginald's to grow.
"Good, good." I was then herded in between the the 5 boys and we walked to a secluded courtyard like area, it was the opposite direction of the dorms so we wouldn't be seeing any students this way. Truthfully I was a little giddy internally, this was the fabled 'bully and his lackeys try to put the new guy in his place."
"What did you want to show me, council president?" I asked with a curious expression that only further widened his and his goons grins. They all began to channel mana into their bodies, and I feigned surprise by widening my eyes.
"You see, people like you need to learn their place in the world. Orphans should remain below the noble born, and you don't seem to realize this yet. But don't worry, we'll make sure you never forget your place again." I just smile brightly at him causing him to pause momentarily.
"Please, guide me to the best of your abilities. I wouldn't want to misunderstand anything." His face went from smiling to furious as he and friends all grew angry at my words. I just maintained my smile as I observed their cores.
Reginald was a light orange water augmenter, which is a decent enough core stage. However his lackeys were considerably weaker with the highest only being of light red stage. 2 augmenters standing next to Reginald, the left was a wind mage, and the right a fire mage. The 2 on the end were conjurers and they were both Earth mages.
They conjured earthen block around my feet that began to creep up my legs, and I stood unmoving as they did so. Reginald smirked at this and formed his family's signature water whip and lashed it out towards me, but using my flexibility I leaned out of the way. Furious, he yelled at the conjurers.
"Restrain his arms too, so he can't move!" Earth pillars shot out and concealed my arms and pulled them taut to limit my range of motion.
"Now, lets rough him up a little bit." He grinned arrogantly as the 2 augmenters approached. He lashed out with another strike, only for the blow to seemingly bend and hit the fire augmenter in the side. That's because, unknown to Reginald, I had tied mana strings around his whip, and moved it to my will.
"Hey what was that for?!" The fire augmenter turned to yell at Reginald m, but before Reginald could respond I conjured a wind pulse that came from where the wind augmenter was standing to hit him. This time he was knocked to the ground and he rolled and groaned in the dirt while everyone else looked toward the wind mage.
"Is everything alright president? I've been waiting patiently, but nothings happening." I tilt my head as it's the only that could move without me needing to break the rock bonds.
"Youuuu!" He snapped out the whip again only for it to once again hit an unexpected target, the left Earth conjurer. With the loss of concentration my left arm was relieved of its rocky bindings and I moved it around.
"Thanks, that was getting a little uncomfortable. Here let me get rid of this one too." The next moment the rock encasing my right side crumbled away into little pebbles. They all looked at me in shock and slight fear from the right Earth mage.
"Ho-how?" Reginald stuttered and I just flashed my smile at him.
"Sound magic of course. See?" As the word left my mouth, all the ones not on ground found themselves writhing in pain from the piercing screech. I didn't do it enough to knock them out or leave any lasting damage, just enough to bring pain and disorient them afterwards. I begin forming mana strings and thicken them to the same size as the whip he was conjuring and I coated them in a blue flame that had no heat.
"Lets see if my aim is a little better." I lashed out and caught Reginald across the chest and he flopped back with a cry. The others got quick snaps across their backs or extremities. Reginald began to try and crawl away but I just wrapped the whip around his ankle and pulled him back.
"Where are you going president? Is the lesson over already?" He looked at me in absolute fear and spat out something that made me smile once again.
"You monster." They we're all huddled on the ground not daring to move at the moment. I walked up in front of Reginald and restrained him when he tried to back away again.
"Now, what would make you say such a thing? We even went over self defense in our council meeting, surely you don't think I shouldn't have retaliated? You're a hypocrite aren't you, president." He flinched slightly and I just grinned again, I would have continued but I could feel Cynthia making her way over here.
"Seems everything must come to end. At least now you know not to mess with me again, or at least be stronger next time haha." I patted his head, before ruffling his hair and standing up. Mana strings wrapped around all of them and I sent a pulse of lighting mana through them, strong enough to knock them out just as Cynthia arrived along with Kathyln and surprisingly Tessia.
"What's going on here?" Cynthia asked and I turned to face her with a confused expression.
"I don't know what happened. The council president brought me here saying he wanted to teach me something, but then they just started hitting themselves with magic. It was very strange Director, very strange." She didn't seem amused by my statement, but she also couldn't detect a lie in what I said, it seems being a seasoned liar continues to be a reward in itself.
"Leave, I'll handle this." She said seriously while taking in the fallen forms of the 5 attackers. I gave a nod and walked merrily to the 2 Princess' that were waiting for me.
"Alright, she said I can go. Lets go ahead and head to my house since we'll have to come back before the gates close we don't have long to be there." Both looked like they wanted to ask something, but decided against it as we began walking toward the gates
"Wait one moment." I said as I held up a finger and pulled out a silvery colored mask and passed it to Tessia. She looked at it in confusion and Kathyln pouted slightly, so I needed to explain quickly.
"All my apprentices get a mask, and it will be much easier to move unhindered if you 2 cover your faces." Taking the hint, Kathyln also retrieved her mask and placed it upon her face. The icy blue glowing a faint orange in the setting sun.
"I suppose you're right, and it's not a bad mask. It's actually quite cute. When did you make this?" We had already started walking again, and I just waved her question off.
"You never know when you might chance upon a promising apprentice." Was all I said, which she obviously wasn't satisfied with, but didn't pursue further. Once outside the gates, both of them with their masks on and me just being normal old me hailed a public carriage. It wasn't hard to get one either as they knew the students of Xyrus tended to be wealthy, so more than a couple carriage drivers would stay parked outside the gates.
We boarded the carriage and settled into our seats, me and Kathyln to one side with Tessia to the other. There was a strange air around her when I immediately sat beside Kathyln instead of taking the empty bench, meaning she probably thought she was going to sit next to Kathyln.
"Don't be too jealous, Tessia. I'm sure one day you'll get to sit next to Arthur." I said with a smirk on my face and I see her squirm slightly before seeming to lose focus. She squirmed again as she shook her head and laughed, which earned me a glare that I could see through the eye slits of the mask.
"Don't say such embarrassing things!" She whisper yelled at me, but it just caused me to laugh once again.
"Sorry, I shouldn't tease. I know how Arthur is, so you aren't going to have an easy time with him." She tilted her head in confusion, but I just waved off the incoming question. We eventually arrived at my home and after a generous tip for the carriage driver to stay a couple hours, we headed inside.
"You can take your masks off now, I just didn't want us to get swarmed at the gates of the academy." The both nodded as they removed their mask, and we walked through the front door.
"I'm home! And I've brought guests." I called to the house, and the first to come around the corner was Lilia and Ellie. Lilia immediately froze upon seeing Kathyln, and her mouth dropped open when she saw Tessia. I suppose even at this age, she has a certain beauty that even girls can't help to notice.
Ellie however bolted right to me with a hug, and I just patted her head. A moment later and she peaked around me at the 2 girls behind me so I decided to introduce them.
"Ellie, this Kathyln, though you've already met her before. The other one is Arthur's future wife and the Princess of the elves, Tessia." Tessia sputtered at 'future wife' and her cheeks went bright red as she began wringing her hands together. I could see Lilia deflate a little, but it's for the best to know that she doesn't have much chance with Arthur. It was never openly said she had a crush on him, but you could kind of feel it through the words and I witnessed it first hand.
Ellie waved at the 2 before running back off to where I assume Alice was, and I could only smile so wide before it hurt too much.
"Come. Let me introduce you to the rest of the family." I placed a hand on each of their backs and guided them to the living room area where they usually rested after a long day. Upon entering i was proven right, but before I could say anything Tessia was ripped from my hand by a whirlwind that was Alice. I blinked a couple times, looking at my hand then to the other occupants of the room and then in the direction Tessia disappeared to and shrugged.
"Sorry for the abrupt visit, but I brought Kathyln with me. I hope that's no problem." The rest all stood and gave a bow of respect to Kathyln who tried to stop them no avail.
"There's no need for formalities. I arrived unannounced after all." But they all just shook their heads with a smile.
"Nonsense, Princess Kathyln. We must show respect, whether you were expected or not." Mother spoke up and she approached Kathyln holding both her hands in hers.
"It's nice to see you though, especially at our house with Jaron." I only got one sympathetic pat on her shoulder before mother snuck her away, most likely to the same corner that Alice tucked Tessia away to. I sighed in exasperation as I shook my head and took a seat with my father and uncle Rey.
"Don't you want to meet your future daughter-in-law?" I asked Rey as I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. He just smiled and shook his head.
"The poor girl has enough to worry about with Alice. I'm sure I'll get to see her more from now on, besides if you brought her here then she must have at least a little bit of your trust." I nodded at his words while looking at the direction they'd left off too.
"Only a year until Arthur comes back. Seems so far, yet I feel like it's only a day away."
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Author's Note
Sorry for the late upload, been a tiring couple days and needed a mental break when I got home so I didn't immediately start working on the story. This was written in an hour and a half, so I apologize if the quality isn't as good as normal. Hopefully tomorrow isn't as bad so that I can write pieces throughout the day like I normally do.
Also did you like the little hint I put at the end of the chapter lol? Yup, year long time skip next chapter, or roughly a year as truthfully it's more like 8 months. I figured this because they get back from the adventure in time for Ellie's birthday(which I think is in February due to different wordings in the books) and then they don't attend the academy until after Arthur's 12th birthday. So I think the academy year starts in June. Not really that important, but eh maybe some of you wanted to know.
So we'll get to meet Elijah as well next chapter. Don't quite have any ideas on how I'm going to write it yet, but I'm sure something will come to me.
Thanks for reading.
-SocioPhobia