Chapter 117
10 days pa.s.sed since Calian’s meeting with Sispanian.
Yet, Calian still remained in Seigfried.
- Are you just not going to come back?
Calian laughed when he heard Alan’s words, which were mixed with half-criticism and half-disappointment. He was both sorry and thankful towards Alan, who was just waiting on Calian’s return.
- The later your schedule is pushed back, the more time Silica has time to prepare. Wouldn’t you rather comeback as soon as possible?
- Yes, I originally didn’t plan to stay this long either. But I had to delay because of the little problem I came across.
Calian’s extended stay at Siegfried was due to one thought that had come to mind after having sparred with Slayman. During the banquet, after their conversation about whether Yan realised he had changed – he had asked Slayman a question.
“I worry Margrave Gray Brissen will recognise my aura, what do you think?”
Slayman had nodded and agreed.
“Since Margrave Brissen is known to be a better swordsman than Marquis Brissen, it is highly likely that he will notice the existence of Aura in your highness’ body.”
Which brought about the question, was there any way to hide Aura?
The ‘Sword Path’ that a swordsman walks in the path of enlightenment.
Each person is enlightened differently, and enters their very own path. The methods of awakening Aura were all different, so they could not be taught. That’s why there were only six Swordmasters in the entire continent.
Even if you were born in a wealth family, with the best teachers and resources, or if you were educated in swordsmans.h.i.+p by a Swordmaster, there was still no guarantee on whether you reached that enlightenment or not.
Since the number of Swordmasters was small, it was natural for each of them to roughly know the other’s skill level so there was no need to hide Aura. It had been the same when he was Bern, so the thought of hiding his Aura had naturally never occurred to him.
But Calian and Bern were different.
Calian – wasn’t he the only officially hidden Swordmaster?
Therefore, when he fought against Gray Brissen, he thought he would keep his outer-appearance as that of a 15-year-old mage, without revealing the strength of his sword as much as he could.
However, like he had not bothered explaining to Yan about Calian’s ident.i.ty, simply because he thought surely he must know – Slayman had never even considered the idea of hiding his aura.
“I wouldn’t know a method of hiding aura.”
Upon hearing his answer, Calian glanced around the room, and his eyes landed on a.r.s.en.
Although there was no way to hide Aura itself, Calian, who thought of a.r.s.en, who would probably knew something similar enough to work.
“Ser Hertz,”
a.r.s.en, with an expression that clearly asked ‘What is it this time?’, approached cautiously.
“Do you know of a method of hiding mana?”
a.r.s.en immediately answered his question,
“Yes your highness. Now that you have achieved four circles, it is magic you will be able to learn as well.”
A mage who is secretly a Swordmaster.
Calian, knowing that Aura and Circles were of the same source, laughed.
“Teach me how to do it.”
And thus, Calian began to learn how to hide his mana.
While the magic itself wasn’t difficult to learn, the problem came with learning to maintain the magic.
It was originally a spell intended for short-term stealth so trying ot maintain it while walking, talking, eating and sleeping took a whole week to perfect.
After that, it took another 3 days to to get to the level where he could completely conceal all signs of Aura with it.
Slayman was the only person who could check for him whether his Aura was noticeable or not, so Calian could not leave Seigfried until he had mastered this magic.
“It’s truly perfect now, your highness. I can only see you as the obedient prince who has never been anywhere near a sword.”
And finally, after he having confirmed with Slayman that morning that there was no sign of Aura energy leaking from him, Calian came to talk to Alan like this at the cemetery that he had gotten a little used to.
Calian looked around for a moment.
As always, there were headstones and Yan, standing quietly a little further off, waiting for Calian’s conversation to end.
- The preparations are finally complete. I’m really leaving tomorrow. Has Margrave Brissen perhaps already departed for the capital?
- We have delayed sending word to the Margrave as much as possible so he will likely depart for the capital in another 15 days.
It seems that they thought nothing good would happen should the Margrave return quickly, and so had delayed Silica’s message from reaching him as much as possible.
- And soon, the preliminary training tests will begin at the magic school, you’ll probably be able to meet a few students by the time you arrive, so look forward to it.
- Taking over the Brissen Merchantry would have kept you busy enough – but you’ve already managed to get that far with the magic school as well?
Calian had left Melphir Pollun in charge of the Magic Academy, however since they were making much faster progress on it than expected, he was truly surprised.
- Yes. I know, I’m very quick with my work. Even so, we are truly short-handed here. I will need someone to help me with the Magic Academy, so if you find a talent who can lead it from the top, please let me know.
- Even if I do find someone like that, it would be hard to take such a person away from Seigfried to the capital.
- It seems you don’t have a good memory. Just like you pulled in the great Alan Manasil and Kyrie, let’s use your memories to bring in someone who will do well in the future.
- I lived as a knight so I didn’t pay much attention to rumours or key figures, that was the job of the higher-ups. I can’t think of anyone like that right now, but since you mention it, I’ll think about it a little more
After finis.h.i.+ng up his conversation with Alan, Calian returned to the castle, reflecting on his memories as he promised.
That evening, another grand dinner was held at Siegfried castle. Even though he hadn’t officially announced that he would be leaving now, Slayman had prepared things this way because he understood that Calian would be leaving soon since his business was over.
So the next day came and Calian prepared to leave Siegfried after saying farewell to Slayman and Dymeria.
Yuran and the rest of the knights did not join them this time. Although Rachel’s movement magic allowed her to travel quickly, there was a limit to the number of people to whom she could apply the magic to.
Either way, with Calian, Kyrie and a.r.s.en alone, they had plenty of manpower to protect themselves so it was considered to be a dangerous journey.
“It won’t be as easy to beat me next time.”
“Hahaha! Then I’ll look forward to it.”
After asking Calian to send his greetings to Rumein and Alan, Slayman bid Calian a safe journey and finally, they departed, to return back to Kyrisis.