Chapter 60: Time Passes; Staying at Fovos

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Moving the Contract back to Friday night cause I want to try and get a little more out before going behind a paywall...

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After leaving the Duchess's frozen palace, we returned to our normal lives rather quickly.

Jahi and I completed our lessons under Baroness Estra, sad that she had to leave so quickly, however we were happy because the Empress offered her an official position as the Etiquette Teacher for all her children, including her future children.

With that new promotion, Baroness Estra and her husband moved to the capital, and were moved from Barons to Viscounts.

Shortly after that, Arch Mage Kolia announced that she had to leave for the Western Border, where her sister and her family were in trouble.

Baron Jilk had left without much fanfare, and we found it rather entertaining how he tried to almost threaten the Marquess to let him stay, saying that people would speak about how uneducated Jahi would be.

That led to Jahi having a few debates with him, proving that while he focused his attention on small areas of history, she had studied as much as she could, stumping his last ditch effort to get more money from the Asmodia House.

Of course, the Marquess also told him that if he tried something, she would hunt him down and make him regret living.

So, we suddenly had our mornings free!

Is what I said for the first day, before the Countess decided she would take over for Arch Mage Kolia, forcing Jahi and I to study a majority of the library.

Of course, I quite enjoyed learning all these various theories and different ways to use magic, but Jahi absolutely hated it.

Which tended to make the evenings training under the Marquess much more dreadful for me, as I had to deal with a slightly irate Jahi and the Marquess egging her on.

Of course, falling asleep after Jahi vented herself using me was always a pleasurable experience.

In fact, during these few months Jahi had started experimenting with different types of ropes and how to properly bind a person, using me as her test subject.

Other than that, I had yet again seen a rise of one to my stats, making me extremely happy. Sadly, no skills leveled up, and I had truly began considering using my skill points to level [Growth] up, but I had a remaining theory on what I needed to level it, and I would be able to test that theory out soon enough.

Jahi had managed to convince the Marquess to take us deeper into Fovos Forest, where we could truly let loose and not just one sidedly massacre a few goblins, even though it was rather entertaining.

As such, we now found ourselves at a small cabin on the edge of the Fovos Forest, where we would be staying for the next few days.

The Marquess had told us that we would be traveling further and further each time we went out into the forest, and that at the end she would carry us back to the cabin to rest.

When I asked why we weren't camping in the woods, she told me that while she thought we should learn to survive in the wilderness, she wasn't willing to piss off the Countess, who made it clear we were to stay at the cabin.

I looked down at my dagger, which before was more like a short sword due to it being slightly longer than my arm, but after my more recent growth spurt it was slightly shorter than my arm!

Of course, much to my displeasure, Jahi had grown as well, and it had made our spars that much more annoying, as she now stood a whole foot taller than me, at roughly six feet.

However, I had to admit that she was also quickly aging, as she currently looked around twelve or so, and her muscles had started developing quite well, as she now had a solid six pack and strong definition in her arms. So, when she held me close it was no longer a soft feeling; rather, it felt much more secure and safe, as I could easily trace the outline of her abs or biceps with ease.

She enjoyed that immensely, and it only made me shake my head when she would purposefully flex when we were in bed.

Looking over, I saw Jahi wiping down the long blade of her new sword, her eyes gentle as she cleaned the silver edge.

Her new sword was a special blade made from two separate metals; Stygian Silver and Imperial Gold.

It was a gift that the Empress and Sultana had made for her, with the Imperial Gold coming from the Empress while the Stygian Silver came from the Sultana.

It was an ornate blade, the silver edge shining with shifting patterns and radiating a bone chilling frost, while the golden edge was etched with numerous runes, a warm heat rolling off the blade.

I had to dive deep into the library to find either of the metals, and I was flabbergasted when I found each metal.

Stygian Silver was a metal found only in places where thousands had died, and the metal became infused with the ambient mana of the area. As such, it was extremely deadly to humans, infusing them with a poisonous mana with even the lightest scratch.

As for Imperial Gold, it was something only the Empress could create, as the runes etched onto the metal where known only to her. The gold acted as a conduit for mana, amplifying it to a terrifying degree. When paired with Jahi's light magic, the gold shone like a sun and reached deadly temperatures.

The blade was on the level of a national treasure, and yet...

I watched Jahi happily humming to herself as she wiped the blade down, a small smile on her face.

This would be her first time being allowed to use the sword, as we obviously couldn't use it for training, even against the Marquess.

However, she did have a blade made from normal steel that was a replica, so she should be familiar with the weight and balance.

That blade was strapped on her back, as she would likely use it if she didn't trust herself to continue using the real sword.

I sighed, looking down at my plain dagger, before smiling.

This little blade had been mine for months now, and I was quite fond of it.

It felt like it was a part of my body when I held it in my hands, and I planned on keeping the blade.

After all, the library had a book on enchantments, and I was eagerly waiting for the chance to receive more books on the subject.

Sliding my dagger back into its sheath, I stretched as I looked around the small room.

The cabin was made up of two bedrooms and a main room, which had a kitchen and a place to eat.

It was entirely focused on just being a spot to rest, and I quite liked the cozy feel of the wooden walls and pelt covered floor.

The Marquess was lounging on the couch, staring at the fireplace that crackled as she twirled a small knife between her fingers.

She had told us to rest and prepare, as we would leave in a few minutes.

I took a breath as I leaned against the windowsill, looking out into the forest.

I couldn't wait.

After all, if the goblins managed to excite me that much, I couldn't imagine what awaited us deeper into the forest...