Ester

"Remember what I told you Reth. The first time teleporting is always rough, so be careful." Ester explained. "Oh, and you might use your magic by accident so watch out for that."

"Yeah." Rethys shrugged for the umpteenth time today.

Though despite his nonchalance, he was secretly quite interested in experiencing how it was like to teleport, the magic that invalidated distance and that Sevi claimed was too advanced for any mage to figure it out. After all, he hadn't seen it at all when he and Sevi escaped Yvtar, what with him having been unconscious and all.

'Your element will almost certainly render you immune to the side effects of it all, so be certain to at least display some nausea and sickness to not arouse suspicion.' Sevi interjected.

'Figures...' Rethys thought.

He looked around. The scenery of the Archducal castle didn't change much, only more offices filled with more mages going about their business. Rethys couldn't help but wonder what so many mages were up to, yet the group moved too fast to allow him the opportunity to check things.

"We're here." Ester announced.

Eventually they reached the teleporter room, a large and spacious hall with an elevated platform in the middle, shapes glowing with a soft purple light hovering just above it and forming an intricate circle of circuits and runes. It's been a while since he last saw a magic circle.

Yet the spectacle didn't end there. Many more enchantments were embedded in the stone around the elevated stage that contained the teleportation circle, all either glowing with the golden light of the Creation element or glimmering with the dizzyingly shifting colors of what must have been the Chaos element.

Further out still, on the periphery of the room, stood many mages with blue or even red capes tinkering with all sorts of complex magical apparatus and interacting with the enchantments of the room, checking them and taking copious amounts of notes, the sound of pens scribbling on paper filling the room.

'This is what a proper teleporter looks like, Rethys.' Sevi remarked. 'It is a miracle that we survived the one that we used.'

And he couldn't help but agree with her. For even without his senses, it was easy to notice how jarring the differences were, especially with the mages constantly monitoring and manipulating the whole installation.

Some of the mages looked over their work and, noticing the arrival of the Valros family, bowed or nodded respectfully, while some others spared no glance at anything besides their duty.

The Archmage nodded back at the mages and led the group directly toward the platform in the middle of the room, ascending the small stairway and standing in the center of the magic circle.

Standing above the magic circle, Rethys could vaguely feel the ether coursing through it, though this vague feeling was nothing like that provided by his senses.

"Mind your footing." Ester said as she placed her hands on his shoulders. "I'll help you, but make sure to stay upright and keep your balance."

He looked over his shoulder, seeing the girl's smiling face looking back down at him. He looked away, focusing his attention instead on the runes around him, especially the teleporter's focal rune in the very center.

The mages operating the teleporter room continued to bark orders and shuffle around the room in a sort of orderly chaos until the glow of the purple shapes beneath Rethys' feet began intensifying.

The shimmer of magic in the air thickened until, like a bubble made of magic, it suddenly popped, and Rethys' surroundings instantly changed. There was no transition of any sort, he was in one place and then a moment later in another. He didn't have time to inspect his new environment before the force of the change threw him forward on his hands and knees.

He blinked a few times, he didn't feel nauseous or anything, aside from the dizziness of the fall.

He looked behind him only to see Ester on the ground rubbing her forehead, clearly disoriented. The impact of the teleportation seemed to have knocked her back in the opposite direction. He saw her mother approach and help her back to her feet while cold vapor radiated from her body and bits of water formed and then froze all around her. An involuntary release of magic.

Too busy observing the process, Rethys couldn't sense someone approaching him and gently grabbing him by the shoulder. He had to try his hardest not to violently flinch away.

"Rethys? Can you hear me?" Archmage Valros repeated as he helped him up.

"I'm fine." Rethys answered as he straightened himself and dusted his clothes.

Yet as he reached out with his hand, he found it almost completely covered with soft, feathery hoar frost. It seemed that he was not as immune to the effect of the process as he thought.

He looked around, he was in another teleporter room now, one belonging to the Valros family instead of Aldeno. It was nearly identical in appearance, if only more modest. There were less presences in the room and the aura of the magic circle responsible for receiving them was much fainter.

"You handled your first teleportation very well. I can't say I didn't expect such a thing from you." The Archmage remarked with a smile before approaching his daughter.

Rethys meanwhile shrugged off his comment and focused on Ester. For all her attempts to look out for him, she seemed not that accustomed to the process. Her eyes kept looking down in a daze and her magic continued to manifest in frequent but very small bursts of ice and water.

Eventually her magic ceased, and her eyes sharpened as she looked over to Rethys. Seeing him standing there nonchalantly and completely fine, her eyes widened as she gritted her teeth and stood up straight as an arrow, stifling a groan as she struggled to keep her balance.

"Dear, don't overdo it." The Archmage commented with a chuckle.

"It's... f-fine..." She stammered.

"Ester, there's no need to push yourself so..." Her mother chastised with a warm expression.

Rethys' gaze was distant as he looked at the three of them. He didn't see any of the uncompassionate callousness he expected from noble families, instead observing between them only familial love that seemed genuine, even without verifying it with his senses.

Eventually, Ester recovered, and a female attendant approached the teleporter platform, bowing deeply to the noble couple and greeting them, then bowing slightly to Ester and even to Rethys. And as the group descended from the teleporter platform, the head attendant kept the noble couple busy while Rethys found himself walking beside Ester once more.

Rethys was about to stay silent again, not bother talking to her and instead focus on his surroundings. After all, it would do very well to make a good mental map of things around the Valros manor as fast as possible, especially without using his senses.

Yet the passive attitude he displayed would not deter Ester's attempts at befriending him, and before he could react, she grabbed him by the hand and tugged at him.

"Come on Reth, let them take care of things and let me show you around." She declared with a smile.

He sighed. He couldn't understand why she was so insistent on this.

He looked over at the noble couple who smiled warmly in return, the Archmage meeting Rethys' gaze and nodding in response. Yet surrounded by all this positivity, he felt something acrid and vile bubbling within himself. All of it felt wrong, and he felt the need to correct it.

'Just go along, Rethys.' Sevi's voice echoed in his mind. 'She is but a child, surely you could indulge her a bit...'

He sighed again, twice as heavily this time, and begrudgingly went along with Ester.

"Come! There's much to show you." She announced as she pulled him along. "You there, fetch Reth a coat."

Their first stop was apparently Rethys' quarters, which looked very similar to the guest quarters he stayed in at the Archduke's castle, with the same rooms and facilities, except a bit more well equipped.

'Nothing but the good life for mages.' He scoffed inwardly.

"The attendants had to scramble to get things ready in time." Ester remarked. "Make sure to tell them if you find anything out of place. Or if you find anything weird... one of father's magic items tends to get around a lot, that strange thing."

She then led him to the manor's great hall, its walls mounted with all sorts of decorations from tapestries, paintings and portraits to trophies of great magical beasts while its floor was strangely empty, giving it a solemn atmosphere.

"Not much to see here in winter. Let's move on!"

Rethys was then led to the library, which boasted a huge repository of books and scrolls of all kinds, some even magical by the looks of it. Ester didn't seem to want to linger here, and Rethys, though curious as to what lied here, didn't want to arouse suspicion.

Ester seemingly ran out of interesting things to show him inside the manor, deciding instead to lead him outside to the gardens around the estate's grounds. Yet the gray sky and the subdued greenery still made for a somber atmosphere.

The plants and trees were evidently magically cared for, and the garden was overall beyond extravagant, as befitting of an Archmage's home, yet still nothing bloomed. At least it wasn't covered in snow.

"Oh, yes, it's still winter... I sort of forgot." She chuckled. "But I assure you it looks absolutely beautiful come spring and summer."

"I see." He answered.

"Hmm..." She paused, lost in thought. "Oh! Come, we still haven't seen the training grounds. I must show you things there."

She then led him around the manor's gardens and toward a secondary building, in front of which lied the training grounds, a wide, walled-off expanse whose sandy grounds lied covered in grooves and small, buried craters, evidence of magic having taken place there. The air there also carried a faint shimmer of past magical activity, and would've revealed much more if Rethys were to unleash his senses.

There were also people there, knights and blue-mantled mages, vassals of Valros. Some sparred with one another while others talked among themselves, their demeanor relaxed but still professional and ready. All turned their heads as they saw Ester approaching, some bowing toward her from a distance while others voiced more casual greetings.

And as they finished greeting, they all stole glances at Rethys, with some of them showing obviously disdainful glares and derisive looks.

'There it is.' Rethys thought, recognizing that entitled and pompous noble attitude, a bunch of strangers being offended by his mere existence. He was almost comforted by seeing such a familiar thing, after days of being treated far too well for him to truly relax.

Yet Ester seemed to have noticed some of these snide looks, as well as Rethys' own nonchalant and dismissive attitude, and seems to have taken immense offense at it all. Her rage was palpable, so much so that Rethys could notice and even feel it without the need for his Origin senses. This was a first.

Rethys didn't even have the time to be surprised before he heard her calling out.

"Nariketh, Sebern, Kaiden." She called with a cold voice, picking out the three that stood out the most. "You three will spar against me."

The three in questions, two knights and a mage, looked around in confusion and surprise before resigning to their fates under the young girl's frigid gaze.

The four combatants walked to an empty clearing in the training grounds, clear of magic and physical training dummies and clean enough to allow a proper spar. And around them a crowd gathered to observe.

The three snobs took positions, with the knights taking the vanguard and covering for the mage. The two knights wielded training weapons, swords fashioned out of a dark wooden material, while the mage saw fit not to use the wand hanging from his waist.

"A wand...?" Rethys paused. He hadn't seen anything like this before.

'They are used to empower magic, though only by those not especially gifted in magic.' Sevi explained. 'You will learn more of them, in time.'

Ester, meanwhile, wielded no weapon, which confused Rethys greatly. After all, he had the impression that she fought in melee. Yet even with a weapon, he didn't at all think that she had a chance in this fight, outnumbered as she was and against clearly more skilled opponents. He thought her foolish, to try such a thing.

Yet at the same time, he couldn't help but appreciate her, knowing that her act was genuine, getting all angry in his place as she did.

'This should serve to show you a few things.' Sevi remarked.

"What do you mean?" He whispered back, yet she did not answer, and Ester's duel was about to begin.

"You there, count down from three." Ester called to one of the onlookers before turning around, showing a confident smile to Rethys' doubtful expression.

She then looked at the three she was to fight, her eyes showing in them a peculiar glint.

"Three... two... one!"

The moment the countdown was over, and before any of Ester's adversaries moved, she joined her hands together and unleashed a huge, roiling wave of water towards the backline mage, rapidly crashing into him before he could react and completely trapping him inside as the wave halted and coalesced into a revolving torrent.

"Blrghghhh..." The mage gargled as he struggled, casting what seemed to be Earth spells to try and release himself.

The two knights then closed in on Ester, hoping to interrupt her spell. Yet she effortlessly avoided their attacks and quickly created icy barricades, letting her put distance between them again.

Her focus also remained unbroken, and before the mage could free himself, the water rapidly froze, completely sealing him inside and then shattering. Rethys was startled for a second, expecting the man inside to have died, but he was, thankfully, merely incapacitated.

"Hah..." Ester panted with effort. The spells she cast seemed to have taken quite a toll on her.

Still, she managed to eliminate the most problematic target. Rethys didn't think she had the ranged capabilities to actually do such a thing, especially against experienced fighters. Her surprise attack was risky and very costly, but it also worked out very nicely.

Though he still doubted her odds against her two remaining adversaries.

It was then that the two knights closed in on her again, this time wielding elemental effects as one had his body wreathed in flames, which strangely enough didn't burn his clothes, and the other launching and being launched by powerful gusts of wind with each movement.

Ester then straightened her poise and, outstretching a hand, created a weapon made of ice, a simple yet ether-dense baton by the looks of it, which she wielded as she would a sword. And as the knights reached her, the three engaged in a fearsome melee.

The girl surprisingly held herself pretty well against two larger and supposedly more experienced fighters, even though she was spent and very much on the defensive. She dodged, sidestepped and swerved until an opening showed itself and allowed her to land a frankly brutal hit on the Fire knight's head before drenching him in a spout of freezing water, taking him out of the fight.

"Argh..." Ester yelped as she took a hit.

The other knight after all was not just standing by, and though the young girl almost avoided it, he still managed to land quite the heavy hit on her side.

Rethys wondered if those knights should really go that far in a spar against their master's daughter, though none of the mages, attendants, or knights laying around seemed phased by any of it.

Before the remaining knight could use his advantage to threaten her further, Ester cast another spell, erecting barriers of ice between the two. Her presence in Rethys' senses now grew much dimmer than it was at first, a sign that she was if not completely out of energy, then very close to it.

It didn't take long for the knight to get back into the fight, frows burrowed and utterly exasperated with all the obstacles Ester was putting up. He went on the offensive instantly, trying to either push Ester back, yet to his surprise she didn't bother defending, instead letting her weapon be swept away by the opponent and instead charging right at him.

And before the knight could react, she was already right on him, delivering a powerful punch to his side and causing him to double over and fall to the ground, clutching his injury amidst heavy pants. Rethys didn't know what she hit with that attack, but she hit something alright.

And that was that. A mage aspirant merely in her second year had defeated a proper mage and two real knights, all lower nobles, yes, yet nobles nonetheless. Rethys was quite honestly startled.

"How could an aspirant beat three real mages?" Rethys muttered to himself.

'Am I truly hearing this from the aspirant mage who could comfortably defeat blasted ascendants Rethys?'

"Fair..." He sighed in response.

'It is quite simply a stark difference in lethality. No arcane book nor sharpened blade ever cut deeper than simple killing intent. This is why I say time and time again that that element of yours is... dangerous. Especially as-'

"Sevi, shush."

Now that the duel was over, the victor boasted a bit before the defeated, one of whom was quite literally knocked out cold, before heading back wearing a serene expression.

It was quite jarring, Ester's change from coldness to her usual bubbly attitude. She was all smiles as she walked back to him, as if she had slain a dragon instead of beating the crap out of three incompetent mages, and that cheeriness was quite infectious, even toward someone like Rethys.

'Hey, that is rude, Rethys.' Sevi protested. 'Even fo-'

"Did you see that Reth?!" Ester beamed a wide smile.

"Yeah." He responded with a slight smile, ignoring the sound of Sevi grumbling in the back of his mind. "They didn't stand a chance."

"Indeed." She said, her smile somehow widening still. "And you too could do the same with some training. It's not just about magic, footwork and proper swordsmanship are equally important. I mean, I didn't even use my main weapon!"

She then conjured from her hand, with some effort, a sword made of ice. It took the shape of a double-edged short sword, complete with a handle and a sharp edge, all made from ice. It was larger, heavier, and made from a stronger ice than the baton she used. Rethys arched his eyebrows at the sight that the girl held back all this time.

"I am running low though..." She sighed as she dismissed the sword.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Rethys asked.

He knew how taxing energy exertion was, he almost lost his life a few times from just the dizziness of it, way back when.

"I'll be fine!" She responded. "Oh! I know just what to do. Wait here Reth!"

She then headed into the closest of the many gazebos dotted around the training grounds, hurrying as she did.

Figuring that she'd take a while, Rethys looked around the grounds, unto the knights and mages. Some circled the three that Ester beat up, chastising and grilling them for both their insolence and incompetence, while some others stole glances at Rethys. Their looks were more subdued and apprehensive now, and he couldn't help but throw them the most condescending look he could.

'Heh...'

Just then, his body moved, then he sensed something. By the time his thoughts caught up to his actions, he had turned around and caught a dark wooden training sword, and before he could react in any way, Ester had already closed in on him with a powerful downward swing that he instinctively blocked.

He looked at her, she once again had that icy baton in her hand, and that glint in her eyes.

"I knew you had it in you Reth!" She shouted enthusiastically. "I could see it in you from the start!"

"What are you doing?!" Rethys yelped in response with that painfully high voice.

"Just a short spar, to get that tiredness out! Don't worry about it!"

And as Ester charged at him again, the training grounds were filled with the sound of hard ice striking enchanted wood.