12 Prophetic Point

The next morning, when Priscilla woke, she slowly went about her morning rituals. After bathing, drying her hair, and dressing, she finally exited. Gawain was leaning up against the wall adjacent to her door nodding asleep. Priscilla looked over confused, but didn't interrupt him, whatever he was doing.

On her way to the main hall, she noticed that there were a few servants. Each one bowed and called out 'My Lady' when she passed by, so they must have been sent by the king. One in particular followed her and explained some details about the estate and the servants here.

"As requested, all the servants except for myself are within their first year of working. Shall I arrange one of the girls to my lady's room?"

"That's unnecessary for now. Please prepare some tea and breakfast." Priscilla sat at the head of the table in the main hall and contemplated her plans. While deep in thought, the butler had returned with tea, biscuits, light spreads, and a dish of smoked meat.

"Is there anything else I can do, My lady?"

"How are the children faring?"

"My lady and my lord's children have already eaten—" Hearing him address them as children between her and Gawain caused her to spit out the tea in her mouth.

"Butler, Gawain is an acquaintance, and the boy is his servant. As for the girl, she can be considered my student. As for the homeless child, he would be my servant. Please mind how you refer to our relationships, else I mistaken it for slander."

"Of course, My lady. Shall I put them through training with the other young servants?"

Priscilla simply nodded and then waved him away. She wished to continue her meal in solitude. However, her desire was soon shattered as Gawain came running in. He had dark circles around his eyes and a frantic look. Gawain was about to start speaking when Priscilla put her hand up to stop him.

"Sit, calm down, drink some tea. Then you may speak."

She had a very solemn mood ever since she returned from meeting the king. Perhaps meeting someone who recognized her position and told her some truths, allowed her to regain some of her mental state. Gawain downed the cup and sighed. After he collected his thoughts he began speaking.

"That boy is trouble. Why did you bring him?"

"Hmmm I wonder." Priscilla decided to mess with him as revenge for what the butler said. Gawain stood up at the vague answer and leaned forward.

"What do you mean? You clearly had something to say when you brought him here. If there's no reason, kick him out!"

"The reason? I shall raise him as the most loyal servant. He will be willing to throw his life for me."

Gawain paused for a second. He could see the tinge of playfulness in her eyes and knew that the old Priscilla had surfaced. He thought about the other day at the inn and replied with a straight face.

"You already have a servant like that."

"Ooh? And who is that?"

"Shouldn't you know, standing outside peoples' rooms?" Priscilla choked on the biscuit she was biting and coughed for a bit to clear her throat. She looked over at Gawain whom was still maintaining a calm face.

"You knew?"

"Only once you ran out of the inn. You made a huge ruckus. It would be an embarrassment if I didn't notice."

Her face turned red and she looked down at her half-empty tea cup. She really didn't know what to say at this point. Gawain sighed and sat down. He waited patiently, as he always did.

"Something is strange about him. I feel that uncovering his secrets will give hints to defeating the goddess manipulating this farce."

"There's something you need to know. Actually, Maia told me when we found her about her ability. The contents were vague and I was afraid they would distract you."

"You had no right to make that decision for me…"

"You also would never have learned of it, had I not insisted they follow us." Gawain retorted. Priscilla didn't have anything to say to that since he was correct.

"What does this have to do with the boy? Was he in one of the divinations?"

"Indeed, however, an older version. He was locked in combat with another figure. Their battle decimates the world. That is why we should not keep such a dangerous person with us—"

"You're wrong. Divination is not something we can guess at. If simply knowing the future could change it, the divination would have been different. The only thing this proves is that my hunch was correct.

The power of a seer shows us the crossroads at the point of the vision. The only thing we can do is alter the result of the vision, and the path after will be different. Anything before that point will always converge."

"So, you are saying, we are meant to find this boy and take him in?"

"Maybe, maybe not. Free will and prophecy are strange. Grandpa Merlin had a few books on this subject and I only understand the surface of it. The most important thing to know is that our actions aren't determined by prophecy, but rather, will always lead to the prophetic point. It is like a river that was destroys due to a land slide, and splits off into many smaller streams, only to meet again and converge."

"I don't understand, that sounds like we do not have any free will?"

"Er, well, imagine that I have the choice to either kill someone, or not kill someone. The choice is mine to make, but if I kill that person, he may have prepared for his death and sets machinations into play that leads to the determined result. However, if I don't kill that person, they will still set those machinations into play. That is their free will and my free will intersecting."

"So, we determine the path we take, and the decisions we made along the way effect the paths after the prophetic point?"

"Exactly!"

Gawain pondered for a while before standing up.

"I've decided. I shall teach him along with Christoph. Perhaps I can ensure that calamitous battle ends in his victory."

After Gawain left the main hall, the Butler entered to speak with Priscilla.

"His Majesty sent you a parcel, it was brought to your study."

"Very well. Let Maia know I wish to speak with her in my study."

Priscilla headed towards the study which was on the top floor. Since this estate was built on a hill, the ground floor is actually the second floor, and the first floor is like a basement, but it is not underground. The first floor was where the servants worked and lived. The second floor contained all of the bedrooms; And the third floor contained various storage rooms, the study, and research rooms.

On the desk, in the large study, lay a cloth parcel wrapped with twine. There was also a letter addressed to Countess Cilla of Brierwood pinned under the wrapping. She couldn't detect any magic, so it must not be confidential. She tore the royal seal and skimmed the contents. Essentially, the king had sent her the official uniform and credentials for her consultation job.

The letter also mentioned that she should come in tomorrow. All of the members are convening so it would be the optimal time to arrive. While putting away the letter, there was a knock at the door. Priscilla was not in a rush, so she sat down before calling them in. Maia opened the door slowly and stepped inside.

"You wished to see me, Master?"

"How far have you gotten in practicing your control?"

"I… only four spirits can stay active for half an hour." Maia responded with a depressed look. "No matter how much I tried, I could not even get a single spirit to last an hour; And now, I am stuck at four spirits."

"Impressive. In order to reach that point, you needed to have improved your aura capacity seven-fold. But it seems your control is still lacking. I will teach you a few first circle spells that focus on control."

Priscilla got up and walked to one of the research rooms. Inside were a few posts with metal caps. The previous owner of this estate was a magic researcher who died trying to cast above his circle. His theory that one could ignore the circle system with the right technology and formulas was revolutionary and eventually led to the current era of magic-tech.

"This spell is called arcane bolt. Other spells in the bolt category require you to isolate that element from your aura, however, that uses up all of the room in the formula. Arcane bolt does not need to be isolated. Therefore, the formula is completely control based."

Priscilla pointed her finger up at the ceiling with her back facing the dummy. Several golden magical bolts flew upward, but then turned on a dime and landed dead center of the target. She then moved her finger around, pointing it every direction except for towards the dummy. However, the bolts still hit the same spot repeatedly. After the eighth bolt, the metal cracked and fell apart.