亚洲综合中美

“You’ve definitely trained in the art of manipulation, haven’t you?” he felt it, her subtle changes. “That is granted; my fath...” she quickly rephrased, “-or rather, the one I aspire to be is one of the best manipulators I know. Humans are but playthings for that man – no one is off-limits.” She stood; her eyes filled with excitement. The way her eyes moved, it signaled Staxius to follow – both headed out. “May I ask where we are headed?” He walked beside her – they didn’t look anything alike. “Just follow,” she grabbed his sleeves and sped up her pace. The outside came quickly, mainly the fountain. They left through the main entrance – she had plans to take him to a remote place in the academy.

“Guild m-master...” back in the capital, a crowd had gathered before the central guild. All whispered to one another, a man laid with his stomach open. Blood gushed, none tried to help, the assistants all rushed out. “W-what happened?” Diane asked, her blasé tone changed for once, she recognized the adventurer. The guild plate on his neck showed Steel. “T-the m-mask man, h-his t-the m-murderer. M-my party w-was wiped out in a single a-attack,” he tried speaking, the few adventurers inside followed. “Use any healing spell or scrolls, I care not – we have to save this man,” Diane didn’t care about him – he held precious information about the killer. A rumor went around that a masked man ran around town killing anyone he felt like. From what reports said, he wielded a strange slightly curved sword – people said it was made in the east; far, far away from Hidros. “d-don’t b-bother,” he coughed, “- Diane,” he grabbed her hands and tried to grip, she felt his life fleeting before her eyes. “-t-the murderers isn’t s-someone weak... g-gol...” the eyes shut, the hand lost grip, the man died.

All the whisper and chatter stopped, a heavy feeling loomed overhead. *Click,* the first thing Diana did was follow protocol. She removed the guild plate, guild card, and anything related to that. Second, the body was taken inside; his family got notified. It took some time but the quest board updated.

[Masked Murderer – Tier 2]

Previously, said quest was ranked as tier seven. Thus, low-ranked worriers would often try and go finish said assignment. However, what returned was but dismembered body parts. “Are you sure it’s wise to leave that quest on there?” Melisa asked in a shy voice. “I’ve raised the difficulty; it all depends on them. That man needs to be stopped or killed; too many of our youngsters are getting massacred. As if fighting monsters wasn’t hard enough – now we have to deal with a psycho,” she sighed heavily. “Why don’t you try and reach that guy then, the one with silver rank?” Melisa asked and referred to Staxius. “Absolutely not, don’t you remember.” She took a pause and stared, Melisa’s clueless face told all that she needed to know. “-before he died, the last word was gold given he didn’t finish it, I heard it clearly. However, that man is a rank below platinum. We can’t underestimate the risk. Only accept if two Silver-ranks try to pick that quest. Do not let anyone else try – we’ve had enough bodies laying to rest.”

Time continued, the little incident became something of the past. People weren’t heartless, but the death of one adventurer didn’t bother many. That was the nature of said job, powerful or feeble, they didn’t care – if you’re weak, you died. It was a harsh world, many learned it the hard way but often too late; when their body laid on the ground with a horde of monsters mauling at them. Said was the thought, ‘adventuring isn’t easy, it was a mistake.’

.....

“Why did you take me so far off the campus?” the duo stood ways from the main gate. The place was hidden by trees and no one to interrupt. “I don’t want people to know what you have to say, I wanted to have their eyes off my back for once.” She gulped, “- about the marriage, what’s that all about?” her face slightly tilted – it was adorable. “About that,” he took a more serious stance, “I’m sorry about not telling you or everyone in Dorchester, but I’m in fact married. The situation demanded it and so did I,” he looked away.

“Who is it then, did you marry some noble’s daughter to improve your standing or what?” Eira’s deduction wasn’t far off, that was the type of thing he would do. “Not really,” he turned around and held a small grin. “Who is it then?” her tone filled with envy, the envy to know who her step-mother was. “Before I tell you who she is, let me formally introduce myself.” He cleared his throat and stood firm. “I’m Staxius Haggard, King of Arda,” he winked, “stop lying, who is it?” she didn’t bite, the wink was too obvious. “I’m not actually lying; I’m married to Shanna Islegust as well as first in line to the throne.” No matter how he said it, no pride nor ego resounded within his voice. “...” she stood by quietly for there was no reason to believe him. “Avon,” Staxius mumbled, “greetings master,” the spirit materialized, “thanks,” Staxius smiled and he vanished. “There,” he placed a ring made of gold and diamonds in her hands, “you can see the royal crest engraved in it as well as my name,” he spoke the truth; it was one of the things that made him king.

“I-impossible,” she fell onto her knees, “you can’t be serious,” her eyes glanced upwards. “You’re a king and married to a queen,” her teeth grit, “-did you manipulate that poor woman?” her eyes filled with rage. Prior, both Eira and Shanna met, Eira had grown fond and held her in high esteem. Before Eira could do anything, Staxius gave her a hard flick on the forehead. “Stop doing that,” she pouted. “I did not manipulate her, she’s the only person I can’t read nor affect behavior-wise.” He placed his hands onto her shoulder, “no need to worry. Your father didn’t do anything shady to win her heart. I did it with grit and effort. Shanna Islegust is one of the people I cherish most, as well as you,” he smiled reassuringly.

The news took time to settle in, but Eira soon believed it. The bell rang, Staxius asked special permission for her to be exempted from class. The training began, “I want you to remove the seal,” he added suddenly. “What do you mean?” Eira asked – Staxius once told her about something he did years ago. His thought process was that maybe said seal was what made her try and hold back. Her eyes closed; the breathing grew deeper. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, do it,” he demanded, a wooden sword rested in his hand. Her concentration heightened – *Release* a gust of sharp cold wind rushed out. Her hair levitated, a blueish flame burnt, the ground below froze. “I C-CAN’T C-CONTROL IT,” her eyes wide open, she stared Staxius, the eyes changed from red to bright blue. “That’s no problem.” Yet again, no incantation, he cast shadow step paired with mana cancelation. Round after round, he dashed to and fro and subtly touched her body with the sword. She could not feel anything, the seal was a limiter. “Done,” he stopped, her eyes turned back to normal, the freezing atmosphere subsided.

“Amazing,” she stared at her hands, “I feel much stronger and in control.” She quickly glanced to thank her father but he panted heavily. “Are you ok?” she rushed to his side. “-I’m fine, don’t worry about it,” he smiled and got back into a neutral stance. “Time for standard swordsmanship lesson. The training continued, what Staxius did was precisely use his mana cancelation and speed to fix her magical circuit. It’s a feat and idea no one had ever thought of before. However, he did it all thanks to the new skill he acquired. The ability to see with the eyes closed; training it had its perks. As opposed to judging where the mana links were, he could now see them in action. The seal was put in place because her magical element grew exponentially powerful each year – the spell he cast when she was a child never stopped working. It trained her from within – she had no clue

The tournament was set for the day after tomorrow. They trained hard and loud; he didn’t teach her anything related to magic. That was Josiah’s job – trying to change how she used magic now would be detrimental and bring pain. He focused on training her mind and swordsmanship. It went on for ages and ages, till five o’clock. Eira was left drained, Staxius just stood, his breathing didn’t change the least bit. “That’s it for today, you better head out, Ysmay has come to fetch you,” he helped her on her feet and left. On the way out, he waved at Ysmay who hid subconsciously. The images from before still remained fresh. “What are you doing out of your bed?” Eira asked, “I felt better so I came to check up on you,” she replied and watched Eira stumbled out. “Let me help,” they headed to the dormitory.

‘That was some nice training,’ without wasting any time, Staxius took a quick shower and left – he had an appointment. “Master,” are you sure it’s wise to just barge in and demand food?” Avon materialized midway through the journey. “Of course not,” he pointed to the seat, “-I’ve gone ahead and bought some provisions. I’m not going empty-handed,” he replied casually, the shop came into view.

The same jingle rang, Staxius walked in. The lady was busy helping customers; her hands were completely full. The shop was overwhelmed, so many people were present he could not believe it. From what he saw in the morning, it didn’t look particularly special but now crawled with customers. Despite that, none ever purchased anything. They came to look at wares and leave. Rare did she get anyone to buy something – people thought her attitude wasn’t that great. Being overly friendly pushed many away and not to forget she had the skill to tell what a person was like. Conscious or subconsciously, she tried to stare right through someone.

Staxius stood by and watched carefully, “good evening,” he sensed something, killing intent. The moment he said good evening, it caught the people inside by surprise. This gave him the time he needed to close his eyes and feel everyone. The lady stood awfully close to someone with a dark flame burning. It was him – the one who let out said killing intent. To make matters worse, she had her back turned. “Di,” he took out a knife and thrust forward into the lady’s back. “Staxius what a pleasure to see you again,” she replied, he stood before her, “good evening to you as well,” he smiled reassuringly,” the knife did, in fact, made contact, but not with the lady – Staxius was the one who got hit.

“Who are you?” no blood came out, a hand caught the weapon, Avon had his back. Without saying anything else, the man got punched and blacked-out instantly. ‘Good job,” he whispered while speaking to the lady.