~~~Blake~~~


    When I woke up the next morning for some reasonmy body felt light and hungry. So I went downthe kitchen and saw the childrenmerrily preparing forbreakfast.


    There''s one choppingsome carrots, a few whowere peeling potatoesandanother that was tiptoeing on a step-stool while stirringthe pot.Lastly, two little children are racing back and forthholding the condiments with their small hands. In order not to bother them with their preparation I headed straight towards the dining room.


    When I got there,a few were already sitting at the table waiting, so I silently sat next to them. Twenty minutes had passed and the children at the dining room had increasedto abouttwenty or more, the otherswere probably still asleep upstairs.


    (Clang! Clang!)


    "Wakey-wakey! Time to eat!"


    A small girl entered the dining room while hitting a wok with a ladle. It was slightly deafening that the other children covered their ears as she continues to hit it.


    "Breakfast is ready!"


    The smell of soupfilledthe dining room as the children who were cooking earlier pushed a serving cartthat was at least double their size. It had this huge bowl that was almost filled to the brim with soup, which had made it wobble fromside to side.


    "Good morning." [Blake]


    While they werelaying down the dishes and utensils I greeted them. They all froze and stopped what they were doing as they shot me a weird look.


    Have I said something weird?


    "Brother Blake?" A little one next to me looked up and asked.


    "Is... something the matter?" [Blake]


    Then, they all swarmed at me. Poking my face, pulling my cheek, checking my eyes and messing with my hair as if looking for something...


    "Uh... um..." [Blake]


    "Brother Blake is cured!!"


    I was embraced by the children all over.


    "Cured?" [Blake]


    "Because you seemed to always be gloomy..."


    So they were worried about me... I feel the need to apologize to them for all the troubles that I''ve caused till now.


    "I''m fine now, thanks to all of you who took care of me and sorry for worrying you guys..." [Blake]


    "No need to thank us! We are just returning the favor you and onee-chan gave to us!" [Children]


    "Ah..." They all muttered and went silent... Theymight''ve thought that mentioning Angelica would make me depressed.


    It''salright, I know that they were just being considerate...


    "C''mon lets eat before the soup gets cold!" [Blake]


    To lighten up the mood in the room I changed the subject.


    (Growl...)


    We all glanced to where the sound came from and saw a boy whose face is turning red.


    "I feel like I could eat a lot today!" I shouted so that their attention would fall on me. Then the boy giving me a bow, hewas thanking me for covering him.


    While we ate I asked the children where Mooly had been. They said that she had gone with Steven for the whole weekfor her intensive training, they didn''t seem bothered by it so I didn''t ask any further.


    Moments later...


    "Argh... my stomach..." [Blake]


    When Iwas far enough from the sisters building I hid at an alleyway and grasped at my stomach. Due to my declaration, I was forcefully fed by the children, one spoon at a time... but the servings that I ate weren''t much. It must have been because I haven''t been eating well and the sudden surge of food made my stomach upset.


    I walked around and found the plaque with the words Impractical Magic written on it. I hadn''t noticed that while I was limping I had walked right in front of Angelica''s shop.


    (Creak...)


    Iturned the knob to see that thedoor was unlocked. The shelves and tables were stacked full of imbued magic crystals as evident by their different colors, the wholeshop is spotless and free of dust.


    "W-welcome to impractical magic... how may I help you? ..."


    When the backroom door opened I heard a familiar voice, it was from Maria. When she saw me she wiped her eyes and showed me a smile.


    "Hi, Blake are you going to be staying here?" [Maria]


    As Maria greeted me Isaw her reddened eyes, she may have been crying the whole night dueto the discord from yesterday...


    "..." [Blake]


    "Do you want to sit in your usual spot?" [Maria]


    She pulled out a chair and gestured me to sit on it. It never came to me that she had been doing this almost every single day since I was depressed.


    "Maria, I am fine now..." [Blake]


    Maria was so startled at my response that it had left her mouth agape.


    "I needed to apologize to you and Irvi-" [Blake]


    From where she was standing Maria made a full sprintas she embraced me tightly with tears flowing down her face.


    "That''s okay! I''m just... so glad that you are back! Uwahh!" [Maria]


    Mariashook her head and started to cry, I wasn''t sure of what to do so I just patted her head the same way as master did for me.It helpedand afterMaria finished crying she scolded me for makingthem worried, shortly thereaftershe had decided to close up shop so thatI could see everyone.


    We had gone to the City Hall first to see Angelica''s parents.While there, we bumped into Mrs. Helen whowas on her way to Michelle''s office with a folder containing info about trade, we chatted with her and she was glad to see that I have gotten over my problem.


    (Knock-knock!)


    "It''s me, Helen." [Mrs. Helen]


    "Come in..."


    We waited forMichelle''s invitation before we came inside.


    "I have brought the reports." [Mrs. Helen]


    "Thank you, Helen could you leave it on the table? I willgo overthemas soon as I finish with these." [Michelle]


    Inside, Michelle was at her table reading a long parchment, Mrs. Helen gave us a short bow as she left and closed the door. WhenMichelle finished reading, she had laid down the document and it was only thenthat she had noticed us in the room.


    "Ah, Blake, Maria, what brings you here?" [Michelle]


    Her demeanor changed when she saw us,I can barely feel the warmth in her words...She had eyebags which tells me she hadn''t been sleepingwell.


    "We... just went by to see how you were..." [Maria]The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    "I see..." [Michelle]


    "Michelle I just want to say that I''m sorry for not being able to prote-" [Blake]


    She had cut me off and stared at us with her blue sunken eyes...


    "Blake... I understand." [Michelle]


    "As her parent... when I permitted Angelica to become an adventurer. I have alreadyguessed that thismay happenoneday. But...even withall the preparations that I make... I still cannot..." [Michelle]


    Wesaw Michelle as she tried to holdherself back from crying... shegrittedher teeth, while her fist trembled uncontrollably and her eyes... which reflected the lightas it slowly accumulatedtears.


    "My apologies... can you two... please give me some time alone?"Michelle said as sheslumped back at her seat andturned it in theoppositedirection away from our gaze.


    I wanted to say some comforting words but, Maria stopped me when she put her arm on my shoulder and shook her head. I havepromised to her and Steven that I would protect Angelica... and seeingMichellelike that felt like a stake had been driven into my heart...


    I felt dejectedas we left Michelle.Someday... I promise that I will make it up to her...


    Wepassed bythe Marketand found the weapon shop of Russel. It was noticeably bigger than therest of the shops here and most of the workers there are dwarfs, fromoutside I could recognize a few of their faces. There were the guys who helped us subjugate the wyvern and a few smithswhowere from Pilapil, their shop is fully packed with adventurers who were looking forward to testing out their weapons.


    Due to the destruction of Pilapil, most of the talented smiths migrated here at Dalio cause it is theonly place that is nearwhere they can seek safety and shelter. Upon our entry, we both have been greeted by Russel who has his arm over at a desk. The adventurers nearby glanced at us for a second and returned toshopping weapons.


    "How were the people from your village?" [Maria]


    "Thefellas are integrating well. In fact, after we came here there had been a lot of drinking contests at the pubs lately hahahah!" [Russel]


    "That''s good to know!" [Maria]


    True, before I went into my depression I saw a lot of them having drinking parties, they liked challenging the other races on who can drink the most alcohol but only a few could get head to headwith them. We discussed a few other topics here and there and are about toleave when...


    "Ah, before you go." [Russel]


    (Thud!)


    Russel proceeds to take out a long wooden box and drops it on the table which made a loud sound.Curious, thepeoplearound the shop approached usto see what the contents were. He then opens it and itrevealed a few weapons that are made most of titanium grade material. It contained a staff, cane, spear, and sword each haddesigns that are so intricate and unique that I can hear a few people from behind asking how much they were. But much to thecustomer''s dismay, Russel said that it is a gift for us and it is not for sale. After he said that the people around us went back to their own window shopping...


    Russel leans forward and says."I wanted to give you guys this."


    "Can I ask why?" [Blake]


    "While we were back at Pilapil, Angelica had thoughtsome weapon designs that she wanted to test out. I knew that after the wyvern incident most of your weapons had either been too damaged or lost as we fought. So as our thanks, we have pitched in to give you guys some replacement, although I am not sure of some of the designs because Angelica and I weren''t able to finalize them in time..." [Russel]


    After a few moments, Maria and I noticed thatthe sword and spear hadfour sockets which containeddifferent magic crystals... they had the color of yellow-green, blue, red, and brown. While the staff and cane only came with the yellow-green and brown but it held much more sockets, Angelica may have guessed that since they are the weapons of Maria and Irvine they wouldutilize their own imbued magic crystals for their spells.


    "We wanted to give you guys mithril grade weapons, butwe were short on supplies..." [Russel]


    "That''s fine we understand." [Maria]


    Giving us mithril would''vesent them bankrupt. If we did not accept this offer it will make all of their efforts feel insignificant, so wetook out the staff and sword. Then I asked Russel to deliverthe rest tothe sisters building. Most of the children knew them soeven if they went there; there wouldn''t be any problems.


    Next, we went to the School and saw the orphans in their school uniforms as they mingle with their fellow students.Angelica wantedto provide them with education to prepare the orphans, so that later in their life they would be ableto standand support themselves. At thequadrangle,we saw Evelyn training the newbie adventurers.


    "Alright, break time!" [Evelyn]


    She saw us walking towards her so she gave the trainees a break and they dropped like flies. They all sweated profusely and some are wheezing trying to catch their breath.


    When I set my attention back to her, Evelyn was nowhere to be seen. As I was looking for her, Maria shouted,"Blake! Lookout!" So I shifted my focus and saw Evelyn below me drawing her tanto from its scabbard. She was going for my stomach.


    (Clang!)


    I sandwiched her blade in between my guard and its scabbard locking it in place.


    "Oof?!" [Blake]


    When she couldn''t use her tanto she thrusts her scabbard to my stomach, releasing my hold.


    (Pang! Cling! Clang!)


    I couldn''t draw myweapon because of her relentless close combat attacks. Master has always foughthead-on and the accuracy and speed of her strikes would leave most people surprised. She is the type who will keep on attacking you forcing you toexposeanopening, whereas unlike me who waits forthe chance to present itself.


    For the time that Iwas trainedby her, I had observed that there was adrawback to her stylewhere she will tire out much sooner, if you could keep up and stay on your wits you could beat her in the end. But if this was a life or death scenario being able to dispatch a foe as soon as possible can also be beneficial so that you can cull multipleenemiesat once which further reduces the danger on yourself and to others.


    Unable to draw I used the same technique as her and just attacked with the scabbardand swungit overhead.


    "Wrong move." [Evelyn]


    Masterheld the tanto on reverse with herright hand and used the tipto effortlessly deflect my strike.The momentum forced my body to go forward so I used the scabbard planting it in the ground to stop my fall, by that time master had already made her next move and in her left hand was her own scabbard. The last thing that I saw is her scabbard going towards the middle of my forehead and then I blacked out...


    I woke up to the sound of Maria calling my name. When I came to I saw master sheathing her tanto and sliding it in the sash behind her waist.


    Before Iused to fight herevenly but now I have really gotten rusty and it makes me feel so pathetic at my skill...


    "You got slower because you skipped on training." [Evelyn]


    "Sorry." [Blake]


    "Don''t apologize!" [Evelyn]


    (Whack!!)


    "Oww?!" [Blake]


    Shehit again me on the head with her scabbardthis time it was a light tap but still enough to hurt me. Master was only trying to cheer me up when she saw how sad I was at being beaten.


    "I''ll make sure you get back into shape, so the next timeyou come runningtome for training I will show you hell." [Evelyn]


    "Thanks... I will train harder this time." [Blake]


    Evelyn smugged as she crossed her arms I can see that shefelt satisfied with my answer.


    "Alright maggots, break time is over!" [Evelyn]


    "Eh?! Butit has only been four minutes!" [Newbie Adventurers]


    "Do you think a monster would give you a chance for a fucking break? Pick up your assesor I will extend your training time!" [Evelyn]


    "Yes, ma''am!!!" [Newbie Adventurers]


    Thenewbies all stood upwith their backs straightened, we can see that some of them had tears in their eyes... Evelyn''s training is indeed tough, but you''ll learn a lot from it.


    Inside the school building, weasked one of the professors if they had seen Jose, Thelma, and Irvine. He said thatthe threewere currently having a meeting in Jose''s room which is the principal''s office so we headed there.


    When we arrived Maria turned the doorknob and went inside without much notice, I guess she can do it freely since she is also one of the heads of staff.


    "Teacher?" [Maria]


    "Maria? You came at the right time." [Thelma]


    "Sorry to intrude on you." [Blake]


    I followed her from behind and greeted everyone.


    "If it isn''t the young lad.Are you fine now?" [Jose]


    "Yes, sorry to worry all of you." [Blake]


    "..." [Irvine]


    Irvine crossed his arms andglared at me. Figures, he still hasn''t forgivenme for what I said.


    "That''s good to know." [Thelma]


    "Is it alright for him to be here?" [Irvine]


    "Irvine. Blake had already apologized." [Maria]


    "I know, but that isn''t the case here Maria... The information that I am about to share right now isonly been giventouscourt magicians and the nobles.What we are going todiscusswill shake the very foundation of the Republic." [Irvine]


    Bothmy and Maria''s eyes widened at his remark.


    "You can tell it to them Irvine." [Jose]


    "But, Jose." [Irvine]


    "Irvine,both Jose and I give you permission as court magicians." [Thelma]


    Even though I was an outsiderthey bothagreed to disclose the information. My throat felt dry just bythinking of it... what coulditpossibly be?


    "... Blake, Maria. What weare about to say in this room stays here am I understood?" [Irvine]


    We both nodded in unison.


    "Hahh..." Irvine started with a sigh...


    "Four days ago... King Alexis has finally succumbedto his illness..." [Irvine]


    (Gasp?!)


    When Irvine revealed the information, Maria held her mouth in disbelief, even I was left speechless. Jose and Thelma just closed their eyes as if they had already known beforehand...


    "Shouldn''t we tell this to Michelle?" [Maria]


    "I fear that if we did that she may put herself in danger..." [Jose]


    Indeed, considering Walter''s temperament, if she shows herself now, it''ll certainly cause an uproar at the capital...


    "How about Steven?" [Blake]


    "Not sure, but there is a chance that Terrence may have already caught wind of this from his juniors." [Jose]


    "Speaking of Steven I haven''t seen him for a while now... have they still not finished with Mooly''s training?" [Maria]


    Regina may have already told him but I think that he should be with Michelle because she will need all the support during this crucial time...


    "There is also another matter we needed to discuss..." [Irvine]


    At the same time as King Alexis''s funeral, Walter had immediately taken a hold of the situation and has claimed the throne. There was some displeasure from the advisors because the people were still mourning for the King and he just selfishly announced his crowning right then and there... They could only shake their heads as they could not do anything about it.


    After his crowning ceremony, Walter has ordered the reform and plans to increase the strength of our military. Everyone feared of the sudden changes because they figured that Walter may be preparingfor another war with the Empire... the peacethat everyone haslonged for was short-lived...


    The last thing that Irvine heard before heleftwas some of the knights broke off afterWaltergave the order. They clearly didn''t want to get involved withthe troubles he will bring so the said knights moved their families and businesses out of the capital overnight which fueled confusion and rumorsinthecapitalthat the knights might start a rebellion...


    We just hope that we can weather the storm until things return back to normal...