New Heights, page 1
The Beginning After the End
Book 2: New Heights
TurtleMe
Contents
22. Royalty
23. Auction
24. Aftermath
25. Partners in Crime
26. Worth Fighting For
27. Examination
28. Changes in Dicathen
29. Sword and Body
30. Last Leg
31. Dire Tombs
32. Dire Tombs II
33. Dire Tombs III
34. Rash Actions and Limits
35. Precautions
36. A Son, Brother, and Friend
37. In the Meantime
38. Introspection
39. New Winds
40. I’m Not That Nice
41. A Ball
42. A Ball II
22
Royalty
REYNOLDS LEYWIN
I absentmindedly took a sip from my cup of coffee, and a scalding sensation startled me out of my daze. Vince and I were seated at the small table on the outside patio discussing business plans for the Helstea Auction House. The topic had shifted toward security parameters; we were approaching the stage where it would be necessary to completely restructure and enhance the guard teams.
In addition to capable non-mage adventurers, we had recently managed to recruit a few long-range augmenters, an extremely powerful addition to the security. While it was still widely prevalent for augmenters to go the melee route due to functionality and ease, ranged augmenters, like archers and crossbowmen, continued to be a much more powerful asset in defensive settings. Vince was challenging me on whether we should employ conjurers for the upcoming event.
“Hmmm… I know how beneficial it’d be to have conjurers who could set up barriers and help support the augmenters, but I’m against it.” I took another, more careful sip from my cup.
“You mind elaborating? You just said it’d be helpful to have them,” he said as he rhythmically stirred his tea.
Setting down my cup, I replied, “If we’re just talking about firepower, I’d be all for it, but you know it’s not as simple as that, Vince. It would affect team morale having even a few conjurers on a team of augmenters. You yourself know how snobby conjurers can get. I swear, they think they’re angels incarnate; most of them think of augmenters are some sort of primitive beasts because they use their hands to fight. Even if we did manage to find a few who weren’t so rotten, the team might think we’re hiring conjurers because I don’t trust them.”
Vince gazed blankly at a smudge on the stained table; it was hard to tell what he was thinking. “You have a point. I put you completely in charge of the security aspects, so we’ll go with what you say, but we need to be absolutely certain the Tenth Anniversary Helstea Auction goes well. Even the royal family will be there this time. We can’t let any commotions get too big.”
I nodded in agreement, giving my friend an appreciative smile.
“We need to take your son with us to the auction. He mentioned he wanted a sword, right? I didn’t know you’d taught him how to use a sword. I expected the boy to take after you, with that infighting style you’re so good at with your gauntlets.”
I sighed. “I never taught him how to use the sword, Vince. He’s had a grasp of sword fighting since he was four years old.” I could hardly believe the words coming out of my own mouth.
“You can’t be serious! Lilia was still scared to go down the stairs by herself when she was four,” Vince sputtered.
“He apparently learned by watching me train and reading books about it,” I continued. “Vince, that’s not even the part I care about, though. It’s when we spar. His gaze when we practice, his reactions and fighting style—I don’t feel like I’m sparring with my eight-year-old son. It feels like I’m fighting some veteran sword master. The only reason I can handle him right now is because his body is still immature, but the way he reacts to my moves—it’s something that only comes with decades of experience in life-or-death fighting.”
“Mmm. I can’t say I don’t know what you’re talking about. I sometimes find it hard to believe your son is actually only eight. Are you scared of him, Rey?” he asked seriously.
“No. That’s one thing I’ve become more and more sure of. No matter what, he’s still my son. I know he cares deeply about his family, too, and as his father, that’s all I can ask for.”
* * *
ARTHUR LEYWIN
During the past two months, Lilia and my sister had made obvious progress in mana manipulation. It was no longer necessary to infuse my mana into them anymore, so they were able to train by themselves now. Of course, it would still take a few years for them to form a mana core—especially Ellie, with her short attention span—but I did drill into both of them the importance of keeping their training a secret. I didn’t need to remind my parents or Mr. and Mrs. Helstea how important it was to keep this a secret, but it was obvious that all four of them were excited for the day Lilia and Ellie would awaken.
Sylvie had been sleeping much more in the past months, but there were noticeable changes in her too. For one, her intelligence was rapidly increasing. Her thoughts to me were more intricate and contained complicated emotions that went past just ‘hungry’ or ‘sleepy.’ In the few short months since she was born, it felt like she had gained years of emotional intelligence.
But the major change was that she had learned how to transform.
All right, it wasn’t really something as drastic as ‘transformation,’ but she was able to manipulate her body a little. It seemed to have happened quite suddenly. Sitting beside her, I'd been pondering how I would mask her appearance in the days to come as she continued growing larger. Then she started whining and scratching herself as if uncomfortable. The next thing I knew, her red spikes had begun retracting while her horns got smaller. It was a mind-blowing surprise. Since then, Sylvie just kept her spikes and horns retracted most of the time, making her look like a cute, black-scaled fox with little horns.
Vincent and Tabitha insisted on trying to give me more thank-you gifts. I had been planning to train Lilia even if I wasn’t able to acquire the cloak or mask. After all, she was part of the family who had helped my family, so as far as I was concerned, it was an honor and a pleasure to be helping them. After refusing several of their gifts, we had finally settled on something I would accept: a sword.
My body had finally grown big enough to properly handle a small sword without toppling over awkwardly at the slightest mishap. It wouldn’t be much bigger than an adult-sized dagger, but it would finally allow me to train and practice my swordsmanship with something other than a wooden stick. We had decided to make the procurement of my first sword a family event and visit the Tenth Anniversary Auction with the Helstea family.
As I waited in the living room downstairs for my father and Vince to get ready, I heard an obnoxious pounding at the front door.
Sheesh, knocking once is plenty, I thought.
“I’ll get it,” I called, slightly annoyed. I was close by anyway; no need to trouble the maids when I was right next to the door.
“Can I hel—oof!”
I was hit with the nostalgic sensation of being smothered by a pair of foam pillows. A classic method of assassination, but shouldn’t it be used while I’m sleeping?
“Oh my goodness,” a woman’s voice exclaimed. “You’re alive! Look how big you’ve gotten! I’m so sorry, Art! I wasn’t able to protect you! I’m so glad you survived!” The lady sniffled.
“Mmfph! Mmmfph!”
“Angela, I don’t think he can breathe,” a comforting voice pointed out.
“Eep! Sorry,” Angela squealed.
Peeling my face away, I smiled at the sight of my companions. “It’s so good to see you guys again!”
My giant guardian angel, Durden, patted my head, and I saw his narrow eyes getting watery, which triggered a tear from me as well.
Adam smacked me on the butt. “Little brat! Do you know how devastated everyone was after what happened?” Then he chuckled and said, “It’s good to see you again.”
“You’ve gotten better-looking, Arthur.” I turned to see the charismatic Helen Shard squat down in front of me, her signature bow still strapped to her back. She lightly pinched my cheek and gave me a sympathetic smile before standing back up.
Suddenly, I was embraced again, and heard a sniffling sound. This time, I was astonished.
It was Jasmine. Cold, aloof Jasmine. She stayed mute and just tightened her arms around me, letting out soft sniffles.
I couldn’t resist the urge to pet her head, and she quickly pulled away from me, her face scarlet. Standing up briskly and trying to regain her composure, she shot me an embarrassed nod and turned away.
At this point, Sylvie woke up from her nap on the couch and trotted toward us.
“Whoa! What is that?” Adam exclaimed. The rest of the Twin Horns had the same surprised reaction, and even Jasmine turned back to look at the mysterious mana beast.
“She’s my contracted beast, Sylvie,” I announced as she hopped onto the top of my head.
“Holy crap! You already have a contracted beast? Do you know how valuable it is to have a bond? Oh man, I’ve been looking for a beast to tame these past few years, but with no luck. And the ones they sell are way too expensive, too. Lucky brat!” Adam was practically pulling his hair out in jealousy.
Bonds—or “contracted beasts,” to use the official term—were highly sought after by both types of mages. It was a bit more advantageous for a conjurer to have one since, while the master prepared spells, the bond would be able to protect them. However, they were very useful for augmenters as well, who often sought after beasts to contract them as mounts or as a partner to have their back.
“What’s with all the commotion down—ah! You’re here!” My father, wearing his uniform, leaped down the flight of stairs and rushed toward his former party members, giving them each a hug.
My mother and sister came down right behind him. “Everyone! It’s so good to see you again!” my mother exclaimed. She didn’t have the chance to say anything more, as the women all threw themselves at her and started drooling over my baby sister, who was also dressed very nicely for the event. My parents hadn’t seen the Twin Horns for almost as long as me, so everyone was excited.
“Oh my goodness! Alice, Ellie looks just like you! She’s going to grow up to be so pretty!”
“…Cute.”
“Rey is going to have his hands full soon with potential candidates. Can you tell me how old you are?”
“Four!”
The girls were a jumble of excitement as they ogled Ellie.
Vincent came down soon after with Tabitha and Lilia. The husband and wife wore matching clothes, a black suit and black dress, while Lilia was sporting a flowery dress under a warm cloak. After all the introductions were made, it was decided that the Twin Horns would come with us to the Helstea Auction House for the Tenth Anniversary event.
On the way there, I filled them in on what had happened after my fall. My dad had explained the basics to them in his letter, but they were dying to know the details. They were quite shocked to learn I had been in the kingdom of Elenoir for over four years. But it was a short ride, so I wasn’t able to finish telling them everything before we arrived.
We arrived early, and only the workers and guards were present, preparing for the event, and the first thought that came to my mind was that Vincent had really put a lot of work into this.
The Helstea Auction House was breathtaking. It was misleading to even call it a house, as it towered high above any of the other buildings nearby. I suspected they’d had a lot of help from conjurers, considering how large it was. I’d been to many national and historical monuments, created by the most famous architects, but this was on an entirely different level.
The Auction House was a magnificent theatre in the shape of a half-cylinder, adorned and supported by intricately detailed stone sculptures of different weapons. The main doors—over twelve feet in height, made of petrified wood carved with a series of simple yet elegant symbols—were far more complicated and grand than the naturalistic and elegant designs I had seen in the elf kingdom.
The inside was equally stunning, if not more so. The front door opened to an aisle that stretched out to a stage at the other end. On either side of us were rows of escalating seats, covered in luxurious burgundy leather, providing seating for over ten thousand people comfortably. Upon looking up, I noticed that there were encased booths at the very top row of seats, and above that was a single glass-walled room attached to the ceiling and back wall, giving a clear view of the stage. It was easy to guess that those booths, as well as the single room, were for the VIPs.
Father slipped away shortly after we entered the building, along with the Twin Horns, who had decided to help him and the guards to prepare for any unwanted commotions or outbreaks. Vincent barked orders at the workers and ensured the hosts were ready to greet the more important guests, then hurried off after my father.
As it turned out, that VIP room near the ceiling was the room we were to be seated. Tabitha led us up, inviting us to make ourselves comfortable in the carefully designed, well-furnished area, which was meant for only the most distinguished and wealthy guests. There was a wine rack, a few reclining seats and tables, and other seats closer to the window. I made myself comfortable on a seat near the glass.
The auction house was soon a panorama of cheerful faces and excited noise as more and more people—no doubt people of some influence—began filling the lower seats. Some groups seemed more distinguished than the rest and were personally escorted to their booths by the hosts. I assumed they were some of the more affluent nobles in the kingdom.
Growing bored with the hordes of overdressed nobles chatting eagerly amongst themselves, I shifted my attention to Lilia, who was teaching Ellie some sort of clapping game. I couldn’t help but smile when they both broke into a fit of giggles each time either of them messed up and were flicked gently on the ear as punishment.
Time passed slowly until Vincent came back, leading a group of unfamiliar people inside.
The first to come in behind Vincent was an elderly man with deep red hair, worn long and aged by streaks of grey. His broad shoulders and the ramrod-straight posture of his spine took years off his appearance. The man’s eyes were stern with harsh, sword-shaped eyebrows, giving him an undeniably eye-catching presence. His red robe was lined with white fur around the collar, and he carried a cane that shone brighter than any silver I had ever seen.
Trailing closely behind him was a lady who looked a few years older than my mother. While my mother had a lovely, sweet, friendly appearance, this lady’s facial features reminded me of an ice sculpture: refined, elegant, noble, and flawless, but also cold and devoid of emotion. Her shimmering, silvery-white dress complemented the dark blue hair that draped over her shoulders like a well-kept tapestry.
Behind the lady—who I assumed was the man’s wife—were two younger children who could only be their kin. The older child, a boy who looked to be about thirteen or so, took more after his father. With his serious brown eyes, straight brows, and short mahogany hair with a shiny luster just like his father’s, it was easy to see what he would look like a few decades down the road. Despite his fierce looks, however, there was a sort of unrefined appeal that was different from his father’s. It was the sort of charisma that would make him the center of any group.
The younger child, a girl who looked to be about my age, surveyed the room carefully before locking eyes with me.
I couldn’t help comparing her to Tess. They would both grow to be captivatingly beautiful, but in very different ways. Tess was the lovely girl next door, with her comforting almond-shaped eyes that glowed a bright teal, her peaches and cream complexion, and her rosy cheeks. Her unique gunmetal hair complimented her eyes, giving her a mysterious yet approachable aura.
But this girl was the complete opposite. Her porcelain white complexion was a canvas for her meticulously carved facial features. Her penetratingly sharp eyes, which seemed much too mature for her age, were a dark brown shade and appeared larger because of her long, thick lashes. Her hair was raven black, but in contrast to her dark hair and eyes, her small lips were a soft pink shade, giving life to her doll-like appearance.
It was hard not to wonder how each girl would grow into her features—whether Mother Nature would make them bloom or wither.
Peeling my eyes away from the girl in front of me, I turned my attention to the three guards who followed after the picturesque family. Then the man spoke.
“I didn’t know we would be in here with guests, Vincent,” he said in a carefully neutral voice.
At the sound of his voice, my mother and Tabitha—who had been chatting by one of the windows, Ellie in my mother’s arms—spun toward him and dropped to one knee, genuflecting. I caught on and lowered myself a moment later as well, while Vincent chattered cheerfully.
“I apologize, Your Majesty! I assumed you wouldn’t mind having a few other people with you. You remember my wife, Tabitha,” he said, waving his arm in our direction. “King Blaine, Queen Priscilla, may I present my close friends Alice and Reynolds Leywin, and their children, Arthur and Eleanor.”
We were in the presence of royalty. This was the Glayder family—the king and queen of Sapin, and their children, Curtis and Kathyln.
