It was obvious Gideonâs abrupt intrusion caught Lilia by surprise, but she replied evenly with a polite smile.
"Of course. Iâll see you later then, Art!" She waved at me, bowing towards Gideon before running off to the heart of the party.
"You know that young female cohort of yours likes you, right?" Gideon scratched his cheek awkwardly as his gaze followed Liliaâs figure.
"I know," I responded simply.
"You two seem to get along, though. Youâre not going to do anything about it?" he pressed.
"Sheâs someone that has had her life changed by me. More so than the feeling of like or love, itâs something more akin to gratefulness that she feels. She doesnât know that now, but later in the future, Iâm sure sheâll distinguish the two on her own," I answered with a shrug, taking another sip of my cider.
"You know, even when you say something disgustingly conceited like that, it doesnât sound vain coming from you." Gideon smirked, taking a small sip of his wine.
"Because I donât mean it in a conceited way. To her, I am something like a hero who saved her life. She may have fantasies about a relationship between us like any young girl about her idol, but that doesnât mean she is in love with that person; itâs more of an infatuation," I explained. "Anyway, Iâm sure youâre not here to give me love counseling. What is it that you wanted to discuss?"
"Why does it feel like Iâm talking to someone my age? But yes, youâre right. How did your sister like the present you so kindly took from me?" He changed the subject, sitting down on the floor while leaning against the wall.
"Received as compensation, not âtook,â" I corrected, wagging my finger. "And I havenât given it to her yet. I will, later."
"Right. Well, after refining the blueprint and creating a plan, I sent it in to the Council of Dicathen. They approved it and it is undergoing a construction plan right away," he announced, his usual joking manner nonexistent.
After the founding of the Six Lances, the Three Kings and Queens of Dicathen had come together and announced to the public that the current monarchy of each of the three kingdoms would be changing into one Council for all of Dicathen. This decision wasnât really up for debate but it did bring some groups to rebel against it. For now, the location of the Council of Dicathen was unknown with the only source of communication available through some trusted individuals while major broadcasts were publicized through each Cityâs Governor.
"Congratulations. Iâm sure they rewarded you well for that," I said sincerely, holding up my glass.
"Bah, money is just a means to an end for me. Gold is but a useless commodity that only has use in buying stuff actually useful to me. But youâyouâre an asset that I do not want to let go. What is it you want, brat? Money? Power? Knowledge? I can give you all of that if you are more open to me about what you know as well." He got up, his beady eyes gleaming with curiosity.
"I donât intend to change how the world works for my own benefit. This Continent is doing just fine without any of it," I retorted, making my intentions clear.
"So youâre saying you have ideas for inventions capable of changing how this world works? Fascinating..." His ears mustâve only heard what he wanted to hear because I wasnât getting through to him.
Imbuing mana into my voice, I growled in a low tone so only he could hear. "Mr. Gideon, let me make it clear that Iâm not here to indulge your selfish curiosities."
The tone in my voice appeared to have shook him up a bit, as he nearly jumped.
"Well you sure sobered me up real quick. Yeah, I guess youâre right. How about a give and take then? Iâm not asking for world-changing inventions like that steam engine you gave me. I just want to get to know how you think, really. Iâll be your personal benefactor for whatever you need. Really, Iâm desperate, brat. Donât make this old man plead anymore." Surprisingly, His voice sounded sincere this time.
This was what I planned for but I didnât want to give in to his wishes too easily, so I persisted. "Can I take your word for it?"
"Of course! What do you take me for? Iâm a man of my word. Youâre quite a family man so I understand why you were so interested in that Phoenix Wyrm necklace. I may not be a great mage but I know my way around artificing and magic implementation theory. Hell, you need some allowance for school, right? So how about it? Yeah?" His beady eyes and electrocuted hair made him look even more pitiful.
Sticking my hand out, I shot him a business smile that Iâm sure made him think twice for what he had just gotten himself into.
The party eventually came to an end after the bell rang for midnight, making it officially my sisterâs birthday. After more dancing, eating, drinking, and present-giving, the guests slowly started leaving, allowing the maids to finally start cleaning the ballroom.
My parents gave my sister a pair of beautiful hair ties with ornamental bells that were silver on first glance but reflected a glimmering array of colors underneath the light. My sister excitedly asked my mother to tie her hair for her into twin ponytails.
Despite the success of the party, my sister had been pretty disappointed that the Twin Horns couldnât make it to her birthday since they were currently in a dungeon. However, she got over it quickly after seeing the wrapped boxes in my hands.
"Happy birthday, little sister." I gave her my present and handed the other box, which wasnât as prettily decorated, to my mother.
"Wow! Itâs so pretty!" My sister was ecstatic at the precious necklace, though she probably would never know how much it was worth.
"Th-This is gorgeous..." My motherâs reaction was actually even stronger than Ellieâs, her eyes locked on to the light pink gem embedded on the white gold chain.
"Keep it on at all times, okay?" I said directly to my sister, but I also looked at my mother so that she would catch my drift.
"Where in the world did you get something like this, Son?" My father was still a little tipsy but he was fully functional.
"Iâm sure you met Mr. Gideon, right? Iâm going to start working for him while he teaches me various things about magic. He gave me this as a token of my apprenticeship." It wasnât a lie but it wasnât exactly the full truth either.
"Well, Iâll have to greet him one more time and thank him for taking care of you. I canât believe my boy is going to attend Xyrus Academy soon! Youâre going to kick some butt out there, right? Ow!" My mother smacked him upside the head at the last statement and gave me a big hug, my sister following suit.
"Thank you for these presents. Weâll both keep them on, right Ellie?" She hugged my sister too.
"Yeah! Weâre matching now!" she chirped, a newfound glow on her face. I was glad that she liked it, but more importantly, relieved that sheâd be safe. That was all that really mattered that this point.
_________________________________________________________________
After my sisterâs birthday, my daily life had turned very repetitive. My birthday passed by as well, and although the Twin Horns couldnât make it, their dungeon exploration leading them to the depths of the Continent, we did hear back from them at Guild Hall, indicating that they were still alive and okay. My birthday was nowhere near as grand as Ellieâs but I had no qualms with that.
Only a few people aside from my and Liliaâs family came, Gideon included, of course. He gave me exactly what I asked for, which was a seal for my attribute mana for fire and water.
"While itâs a little gaudy, keep this bracelet on at all times when you want to hide your mana attributes. Itâs still a trial product from me, so be careful. The two charms on the bracelet can each hide and seal one elemental attributeâs mana from being sensed and gauged by others. By gods, I still canât believe you were a quadra-elemental augmenter but..."
Iâd gotten a lot closer to Gideon over these past few months and, while he was quite eccentric and quirky, he was a sincere and trustworthy person. However, I hadnât indulged him in much besides my abilities as a mage, which he took as quite a shock.
My birthday was, all in all, a quiet and pleasant time with my family. Elijah and I quickly went back into training, and while his abilities had become a lot less powerful, he had become a lot more adept in controlling his Earth and Metal conjuring. Still, he had a lot to learn if he was going to catch up to me, but we both had time.
As for me, training was going by steadily. I was planning to only use earth and wind attribute mana, which probably accounted for twenty percent of my actual power, but that didnât mean I planned on laying low and hiding myself at school. Why not enjoy the benefits of being a handsome and prodigal dual elemental augmenter? I had a family that I had to make proud, right?
Elijah was much more eager to go to school than I was, expressing on many occasions what kind of "hot" female friends heâd make. I kept telling him that we were only twelve and that girls werenât "hot" at our age, but he filtered that out and said he was going to try and woo the older girls as well.
My fatherâs training resumed, albeit a bit slower after he used all the benefits from the beast core Iâd brought, but he did manage to level up his fire augmentations, and his skills and abilities became a light orange rather than red like most other fire augmenters.
Like I expected, the beast will didnât react to Elijah when I gave it to him. He couldnât even sense anything, becoming confused as to why I still had it.
With Ellie enjoying school and bringing a closer group of friends over more often and my mother and Tabitha enjoying the free time of being housewives, life couldnât be any more content. Seeing how peaceful and happy they were, I would give my life to make sure it lasted as long as possible.
The eventful day in the Dicathen Calendar, marking the day the first steam engine ship called the Dicatheous would set sail on a voyage to the other Continent, also marked another important day.
The Dicatheous was scheduled to set sail tomorrow, which was also the day both Elijah and I would start our first day of Xyrus Academy.
Dear Readers: As volume 2 has come to an end, Iâd like to just thank you all for your wonderful support and amusing comments. Sorry for mere two chapter releaseâI promise that the releasing pace of this novel will get faster. I hope everyone will continue enjoying the upcoming adventures of Arthur and co. Also, please donât forget to leave a review here for hesitant onlookers to see!
Thank you,
TurtleMe