Chapter 34: Plottings
Dialogue "sample"
Thoughts 'Sample'
Techniques [sample]
Author notes -sample-
Chapter 34
Plottings
"My Lord, why did you stop me? I could have beaten him!" Complained Arthur.
Lancel Ashwood was the one to answer. "It would be hard for you to understand since you have muscles for brain."
Before Arthur engaged in a shouting match with Lance, Charles intervened.
"Arthur." The tone that Charles used was enough to stop the other two from continuing their argument.
"I did stop you because you were trying to fight in a public area surrounded by students. In case you forgot, fights between students are forbidden on academy grounds, outside of the arena. I have a reputation to maintain…and having one of my close friends getting expelled would make me look bad."
Charles looked at Arthur with intensity.
"Something like this will never happen again. Did I make myself clear?"
Arthur lowered his head. "Yes, My Lord."
"Leaving the idiot aside." Started Lancel. "I have known you for many years. You will not let something like this slide."
"Of course not!." Charles rose the volume of this voice slightly before regaining control.
"That filth made me lose face. I may not care about those commoner whores but I cannot have people think that they can just take what is mine without consequences."
"Do you want me to call my family? they can make him disappear very quickly." Offered Lancel.
The Ashwood family was said to have two faces. On the surface, they were a middle-tier noble family who specialize in selling high-quality ingredients for alchemy. But deep beneath, the family's real specialty was something that not many knew of. The Ashwood family's true specialty was… assassination.
"No. There is no need to go that far for this. And I prefer to keep our families out of the academy affairs." Answered Charles.
"Then…what are we going to do?" Asked Arthur.
"In five months, all three of the first-year classes will go on an expedition to the Varian Forest, west of the Capital. We are only meant to stay on the outskirts where is relatively safe, but the interior of the forest is extremely dangerous."Charles gave a cruel smile "And accidents can happen."
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Siegfried and Serena were walking through the grounds.
"Thank you!." Serena said with a smile. "I… don't know what else to say. I feel so relieved that I don't have to go back to that room."
"There is no need to thank me. We made a deal and I kept my part of it. I expect you to do the same." Said, Siegfried.
"Of course!" She said with enthusiasm, but then she remembered what her part was and got a bit flustered. "I-I will keep my part!."
"Good. I will now be going to the training fields. I assume that you want to go see your friend and tell her the news."
Serena nodded. "Yes, I will…wait, there was something I have been meaning to ask. What was in that box that you gave Lord Artois?"
"That was a mana pill. Is a rank 1 pill that contains a great amount of concentrated mana inside. If you consume before meditating it would help you advance much faster." Explained Siegfried.
"Oh!, I heard of those. Some of my classmates were talking about those pills the other day. But they said that we should forget about them since they are prohibitively expensive for us. Are they really that expensive?" Serena asked.
"mmm…I think those are worth around fifty gold coins." Answered Siegfried.
Serena was in shock. "F-Fifty? That's an insane amount for a pill!"
"It may seem that way. But those can only be concocted by an Official Alquemist and it is said that is even more difficult to become an Alquemist than a Magus. Even a rank 1 pill, the lowest one, will be worth quite a bit."
"I see…but fifty gold…wow" Serena was still in disbelief that something could cost soo much.
"And…you gave it to Lord Artois to free me and Angelina?"
Siegfried shrugged. "Those pills are of no use to me. I still have two more that my father gave me. And I had to give something to Artois, otherwise, he would lose too much face and would have rejected the deal."
It was true that the pills were of no use to him. His cultivation technique already absorbs more energy than he can store in one session, at least for his current realm of cultivation. Adding in the extra from the pill would only damage his body while bringing no benefits. And faster is not always better, a strong foundation has to be built with care and precision.
"I understand." Serena then looked at Siegfried. "My Lord, this kindness that you have you have shown me, I will not forget! I promise that I will not disappoint you!." She said with determination in her eyes.
"I'm sure you won't, and you don't have to call me 'My Lord', I had enough of that back at home. Just call me Siegfried"
They were almost at the training field.
"You should go look for your friend, I have things to do now." Said, Siegfried.
"Oh, that's right!." Serena had almost forgotten about that.
"Come to my room, tonight around an hour before dinner time."
"Of course, My L- I mean Siegfried. I will take my leave now." She gave him a bow and left at a brisk pace.
'You didn't have to bow either…oh well.'
He finally arrived at the training fields and went inside.
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The night arrived and Siegfried was resting in his room after a very long day of training.
He felt a bit tired but happy, as his physique improved every day. He was getting closer to reaching his peak physical condition for his cultivation realm.
"Maybe two or three more months, if I keep the pace I should be able to get rid of all the extra fat, leaving me with a body, made purely of fiber and muscle."
This wasn't only for aesthetics, as his body loses the extra fat, his movement will become more nimble and refined. It was a very necessary step to make full use of his martial techniques which require extreme precision.