Skills test plot (7)

I opened the door and standing outside was prince Marlos. Beside him stood the very first guard I used the mastermind skill on or did the skill used me, that I'm not too sure of. Marlos had a sincere smile plastered on his face.

"Master. I've come to escort you to the dining hall where your students awaits." Master? Why is he calling me master? The guard looked somewhat different than he did last night. I also didn't get a good look at his profile since I was in a rush. His profile appeared instantly as if these skills knew what I wanted to do.

The guard's name is Loc Havis and his only twenty years old... now I'm feeling a little guilty that I did that to him last night. The white chain icon was still displayed next to his name... maybe this was why he called me master. Only two years younger than me, he towered over me by a good two inches.

As I skimmed his profile of stats and story, I learned that his family had sold him off to the military for two thousand dollars. He was not the oldest in his family which meant he was disposable in this kind of world. In this world, the one thing I've witnessed the most was that the poorer families viewed the oldest and youngest of their children as the 'wanted'.

The children that were born in between the two are seen as accessories. Aides in helping the older child or nannies in looking after the youngest one. Most of the time they were sold off to militaries or aristocrats, nobles and socialites to be put to work and earn money to send back home. Although we may have met on the wrong foot... me smothering him with a hot wet blanket... I'm glad we are now on the same side.

His a decent fellow and a great improvisator, the only reason he had acted towards me was because he was following orders, so to make up for what I've done, I'll help him in any ways I can. And maybe when this was all finally over, we could become old buddies laughing over a stein of booze. I'll love that...

I slightly glanced over to Marlos who just stood there and watched me. He didn't show any signs of hostility or any of his normal behaviors really... I wondered if the skill had done something to him more than I had initially realized. Had the skilled worked and his now my ally or the skill hadn't worked and his pretending until I let my guard down... with my skills being cryptic as ever, everything was still a mystery to me.

I still remembered vividly of what happened to us last night. I couldn't say I'm uneasy right now towards him but from the looks of it, he looked like a totally different person now. I glanced over to Marlos's profile and the first thing I noticed was the red chain icon next to his name. There were no information on the chain icons, I wanted to know what the chains meant but sadly the skill was still grayed out.

I glanced over his story and to my surprise... there were none. It was what I had expected it to be... a boy who grew up with strict wealthy parents and became a monster. With all the freedom robbed from him, he took back a bit of that freedom by taking the freedom of others through capturing, hurting and disposing of them. He used his power and wealth to get whatever and whomever he wants and when they are no longer useful, he would erase them from existence. He was methodological and meticulous leaving no loose ends behind. Back in my world we would call that someone a psychopath.

Marlos being an only child meant one thing, his parents, but mostly his father - his mother had little to no choices in the matter - had wanted everyone to see him as an unobtainable prize. His parents had put in so much resources into making him the perfect candidate to win and gain trust from his peers. Smart, rich and handsome were the three qualities needed for the charm to take an affect. Him being the king's son also meant that he had power, power to take advantage of anyone whos willing to get caught in his net.

The Marlos that was described in the profile and the one that stood in front me right now are not the same person. It seemed the 'mastermind skill' could change someone's whole view point in life. That being said, I don't think I could ever forgive him for what he had done but I believe he would do things in the future that would give him a sense of atonement. One of those things would be the fact that he would help me save my students and bring down his father and his co-conspirators.

I found it interesting as I went through the list of allies I've gained through the 'mastermind' skill and found that I've converted around twenty-one knights and guards not including Marlos and Loc. Loc had somewhat upgraded to being my personal bodyguard which I found strange but also Marlos being the knight's captain of the Knight's order and my chosen champion... how ironic. What's more ironic however was that since Marlos is on my side now, it would be easy to do some background handlings from right under his father's nose.

Food for thought... I guess.

I was curious about Dayana's profile and in an instant of me thinking about it, her profile appeared. On Loc's and Marlos profile they had the knight's order (Ryan Huang) icon shown in the affiliation tab whilst Dayana's had the savior icon under hers. The savior icon are rewarded to those who had saved someone or simply being in the role of a healer.

I scanned through Dayana's story and found out that she and her mother lived in a small village just on the outskirts of the kingdom's walls. She learn all she could from her mother in medicine and healing magic but the thing was that their ways of practicing and using medicine were shunned by the western medical society. They see their use of medicine as nothing more but witchcraft as is the way for most foreign medical practices.

The Royal court, despite the disapproval of the western medical society had hired Dayana and her mother to be their healers. The royal court however had overwhelmed her mother with high demands, causing her mother to incur an illness through stress. Dayana had now became the sole healer for the royal court and had to survive their high demands all the while hoping to save her mother from the illness before she too gets it.

The more I learn about the royals and their people, the more I realized how many people are affected by them. I wanted to help Dayana and her mother and anyone else for that matter but to do so, I too needed power and the drive to walk down the path I've set.

"Master?" Loc asked, concerned .

"Oh, sorry. Yes we will go in a second, I just have a few question before we go."

"Ask away," Marlos answered for him.

"What happened to me after the battle?" Though I had a semi recollection what happened, everything felt like a blur.

"Well, when I came to check on you master, you were on the ground with the young miss in your arms, bleeding out. I tried calling your name many times but you were completely out of it. I ran out to get help but by the time I returned with Lady Dayana, you and the young miss were gone and in your place was a pool of blood with small droplets that led out the door. We followed the droplets and it finally led us to you. We found you slouched against the wall, lifeless but when Dayana checked your pulse, you still had a heartbeat. She asked me to carry you back to your room where she started to heal you."

"I see. One more question, why was I naked?"

"Dayana said that to heal you quicker, all clothing must be removed so all points within the body are exposed. She said that the healing magic she would be using draws it's properties and energies from nature. She spent most of the night healing you, I should know since I was the one outside here keeping guard."

"I see..." I looked away from Loc which cause his eyebrow to raise.

"Did something happen this morning?" Loc asked in concern.

" I think we should leave now, I'm sure my students are going to worry about me if I'm not there soon and after all that happened last night, I'm starving."

Loc concerned expression faded.

"So something did happened." Loc had an amused smile on his face now. On the corner of my right eye I could barely see Dayana face had turned bright red.

"I'll see you on the training grounds master. Oh and Dayana your top priority is to take care of him, you don't have to worry about those windbags, just one day without you won't hurt them too much..." Marlos smiled, bowed and walked away.

"Shall we go?" Loc asked as he gestured with his hand for me to take the first step.

"Am I coming with you?" Dayana squeaked from behind me, her eyes were staring at me intensely and I bet what happened this morning was still fresh in her mind.

"I... uh..." I didn't know what to say. I, for one will be taking what happened this morning to my grave and will never tell a single soul.

"Yes, for the time being, you're now master's personal healer as the prince had stated before he left. Now lets get a move on, we're all need something to eat... It had be a long night for all of us." Loc gestured his hand again but this time his other hand rubbed his stomach.

As I took the first step forward, I could already tell that today was going to be an interesting one.