Touring the palace

We were led two adjacent rooms. They were large and elegant, yet held simple furnitures, consisting of a couch, a tea table, a bed and dresser. Each expertly crafted out of wood.

The first thing I did after entering my room was to strip and go take a bath. The bathroom was....peculiar to say the least, it was a waterfall flowing from the ceiling to the floor where it was drained. The ever flowing water however had quite the pleasant temperature, with just enough warmth to relax my body.

After finishing my bath and dressing up in a robe I sat down to inspect my core and find the reason for the frequent pains and the minute decrease in my mana levels. What I found left me with more questions than answers.

A black figure, probably whatever Noctis shot at me before leaving, was curled up at the edge of my core, was this why I was experiencing those agonising pains?, because it was leeching off mana from my core however little it might be.

I have no idea why he would do something that could potentially harm me, unless it would help me in the long run.

I was interrupted from thinking of any other reasons of this developement by a knock at my door.Sighing I went to answer the door.

Arthur stood there with Tessia behind him sniffling, she's probably sad her knight in grimy armor is leaving so soon.

"Want to look around the castle" he asks.

"I think you already know the answer to that" I say with an amused smile.

"Lets go then" he cracks a grin himself.

We walked in silence after that. Upon reaching the courtyard behind the castle I felt a suffocating killing intent and saw a blur heading towards the princess. Almost immediately Arthur moved, but I was faster I used mana to conjure a crude blade on my hand and sliced apart it apart.

That had a lot less resistance than a metal blade should have, upon further inspection I realised it was a rubber toy.

"What the hell? Why are you trying to kill your own granddaughter?" Arthur shouts at Elder Virion, so he was the perpetrator of this incident.

"So the brats brother is also a mage huh? As for trying to kill her I doubt that toy would give little more than a bruise" He chuckles.

"He's right Arthur its made if some kind of rubber. So all this was to see how good of a mage Arthur is?" I say, the second part more to the Elder than Arthur.

"Yes, and if your brother is as good as you I can see how he was able to defeat those slave traders, however your use of mana was mediocre at best, Now to test your brother here" he then threw a wooden sword at him.

"Here I come" after drawing a wooden sword of his own he dashed at Arthur witbout even giving him time to get into a stance.

Arthur reciprocated the action and swung upwards aiming at his fingers.

But before he could hit anything Virion swiftly evaded his strike.

"You're a scary little brat aren't you? Guess I'll be a bit more serious." Virion smirked.

He sped up, insanely at that, I could barely see him even then he was just a blur.

Arthur wasn't much better, he managed to block a third of the strikes coming his way.

After like 10 minutes when Virion went behind him to sweep down his legs Arthur retaliated, he hit his head causing the slightly insane old man to stumble with a bruise in his forehead.

"HAHAHAHA, I deserved that one," He kept rubbing his swollen forehead

Damn right you did

Pinching his side Tessia spoke up, "Grandpa!, You hurt him too much, you should've gone easier on him."

"Owowow, that hurts little one, I'm afraid if I went easier on him, he would be the one bullying me" he spoke gently

"I've decided, Arthur Leywin, Fayden Leywin, become disciples" he spoke in a tone of finality as if he didn't expect us to refuse.

"Are you serious?" Arthur spoke still in disbelief.

"Why can't I be" he tilts his head in response.

"Well for one the two of us are humans, and as Arthur said earlier it isn't appropriate for one human to stay here for long much less two. Also we have to confirm the safety of our family and inform them that we're safe as well" I reply for Arthur.

"No one will bother you as long as you stay under my wing, as for your parents...what if there was a way for you to see how their holding up and contact them to let them know you're okay won't it be enough?"

Whats he getting at?

"I  guess  it  isn't  strictly  a  necessity  for  us  to  meet  our  parents  in  person. Even though  I  miss  them,  the  most  important  thing  is  finding  out  how  they're  doing and letting  them  know  that  we're fine as well" Arthur responds this time.

"Then be outside the manor by six in the morning, sharp" he said as he turned to leave.

But before he could Arthur intercepted him, "Wait, I don't understand why you want us as your disciples, and is it not possible for us to go back home, spend some time with our parents and then returning to train under you?"

"I want you to be my disciple because I see a lot of potential inside you and your brother. An infinite number of people have come to me to take them as my disciple, but have I taken any? No, the brats of this generation bore me but you , you're  different. You have exceptional talent in mana manipulation and somehow have better techniques than even me, but that's not the main reason of my decision. So I need to ask you, how are you a Beast tamer?" His tone going from amusement so dead serious in an instant.