[*]
"Good morning, Young Master."
I nearly jumped out of my skin. Hileya sat quietly in the chair opposite my bed, silver braids catching the morning light.
"Hileya?" I rubbed my eyes, sitting up. "How did you get in here?"
She lifted a small key from her pocket. "You gave me this yesterday, Young Master. For breakfast convenience."
Right. I had given her the spare. Practical, but waking up to someone watching me sleep was still disconcerting.
"I made breakfast," she added, gesturing to a tray of warm dishes. "Also made portions for Lady Celia and myself, as you asked."
The aroma of fresh bread and savory dishes made my stomach growl. "Amazing, Hileya. Thank you." I pulled up a chair. "Join me, please. No sense eating alone or letting it get cold before Celia arrives."
After a brief hesitation about propriety, which I waved off, Hileya served herself a modest portion.
I asked about her quarters. "More than sufficient," she replied. She paused at mention of the other staff, choosing her words. "They're... curious about my position."
A sharp knock cut her off. Hileya rose instantly, smoothing her uniform as she went to the door. Falken, the wing's caretaker—an older man with a neat gray beard and immaculate staff uniform—stood there.
"Pardon the interruption, Master Novalance," he bowed. "An official letter for you." He extended a cream-colored envelope sealed with the Academy's wax emblem—a tree surrounded by three factions symbols.
"Thank you," I said, accepting it.
"Also, Miss Freznoria is waiting for you in the common room."
I asked Hileya to bring the food to Celia. Once alone, I opened the letter:
Following review of your entrance examination performance, I would like to discuss your placement at the Academy.
Please meet me at my office today at noon.
Regards,
Instructor Lyvenna Thalassan
I folded the letter, my mind racing. A private meeting with Instructor Lyvenna? Definitely not standard procedure, especially before official results were out.
What about my "placement" needed discussion? Had my test performance drawn too much attention? The crystal's bizarre reaction had certainly been unusual. Had I revealed too much during the written exam? I'd tried to balance my answers, to appear knowledgeable without being suspiciously informed about theories beyond my supposed background.
If the Academy suspected something unusual about me, I needed to approach this meeting carefully, prepared to explain myself.
I dressed, splashed water on my face, and joined Celia and Hileya downstairs. They were already chatting over breakfast. Glad to see them getting along.
Celia looked up as I approached, her eyes brightening. She was already dressed for the day, her hair neatly tied.
"This is amazing," Celia said. "I was bracing for rationed meals once classes start."
I smiled, taking a seat beside them. "Morning, Celia."
"What are you planning to do today?" I asked, looking at Celia.
She finished chewing a bite before answering. "I thought I'd do some scouting around the merchant district. The results won't be in for a few days, and I want to check for possible jobs, just in case." Her fingers fidgeted with her fork. "Not that I'm expecting to fail, but... options are good."
I nodded, understanding her caution. Then a memory surfaced—a promise I'd made days ago during our journey. I leaned forward slightly.
"How about we take Hileya to training today?"
Hileya's head snapped up, her eyes widening. "Training…me?"
"Yes, you." I smiled. "I promised to teach you some self-defense, remember?"
Celia brightened. "Oh! That's actually a good idea. There's a public practice area right here in the backyard."
Hileya looked between us, uncertainty written across her face. "I'm not sure if I should—"
"Do you still have the dagger I gave you?" I asked.
She nodded hesitantly. "Yes, I've kept it safe in my quarters."
"Perfect. Bring it with you, and we'll start with the basics."
This would serve multiple purposes. Not only would I fulfill my promise to Hileya, but it would also give me a chance to explore some new aspects of my magic. The spell Landre had shown me opened up possibilities I was eager to try.
"Will I... need special clothing?" Hileya asked, clearly trying to imagine herself training alongside us.
Celia laughed lightly. "Just wear something you can move in. Nothing too restrictive."
"I'll meet you both at the front entrance in an hour," I said, finishing the last of my breakfast. "That should give us all enough time to prepare."
The private lodging boasted a modest training yard behind the main building. Shaded by tall trees, the area featured several practice dummies, and an open space covered with packed sand.
Hileya arrived moments after Celia and I, still in her full maid uniform—blue dress, white apron—looking entirely out of place.
"I apologize, Young Master," she bowed. "This is all I have. Maids aren't typically provided with training attire."
"Don't worry," I assured her. "We'll make do."
Celia, already warmed up in her loose training pants and tunic, eyed Hileya critically. "We'll get you something more practical eventually, but this will work for basics."
"First things first," I began, gesturing for Hileya to join us in the center of the yard. "We need to find a proper way for you to carry that dagger. Holding it in your hand all day isn't practical."
Hileya nodded, extending the sheathed weapon toward me. "I wasn't sure where to keep it without damaging my uniform. We're expected to maintain them in perfect condition."
"That's why we're going to make you a proper sheath holder," Celia said, producing a small bundle from her bag. She unwrapped it to reveal strips of leather, a buckle, and some cord. "I borrowed these from the equipment shed."
"Thigh holster?" I asked, remembering our earlier conversation on the road.
Celia nodded. "Mhm. Discreet, comfortable to move, and easy to reach."
Hileya looked between us with widening eyes. "Will it... be visible under my uniform?"
"Not if we position it correctly,"
Celia gave me a strange look.
"Vel, are you planning to watch while I attach this to her leg?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
My face suddenly felt warm. I hadn't thought about what that would actually involve.
"I—uh—you're right," I stammered, taking a step back.
Right, she's about to lift Hileya's skirt. I need to look away.
I stepped back and turned around, suddenly finding the practice dummy incredibly fascinating.
"I'll just... check the training equipment while you two handle that," I called over my shoulder, walking briskly toward the weapon rack.
Behind me, I heard Hileya's soft giggle and Celia's patient instructions. I busied myself examining the wooden practice swords, testing their weight and balance while deliberately keeping my back turned.
"Young Master is quite considerate," Hileya's voice carried across the yard.
"He can be, when he remembers his manners," Celia responded with a teasing tone.
I ran my fingers along the grain of a practice sword, trying to ignore their conversation. The situation felt awkward, yet I couldn't help but smile at how Celia had taken charge. She'd always been practical that way – seeing a problem and moving to solve it without hesitation.
"Is it too tight?" Celia asked.
"No, it feels secure but comfortable," Hileya replied.
"Good. Try walking around a bit to make sure it doesn't shift."
I finally heard movement behind me, so I risked a glance over my shoulder. The holster was in place, hidden beneath Hileya's uniform skirts.
"Looks good," I said, returning to them.
"Your garter belt should keep it in place," Celia explained to Hileya.
"Now try draw it," Celia instructed, gesturing to the newly attached holster.
Hileya crouched slightly and carefully lifted the edge of her skirt with one hand, trying not to reveal too much. Her other hand fumbled beneath the fabric, searching for the hilt before finally drawing it out, movements awkward and hesitant. Her cheeks flushed pink with embarrassment.
"It's fine," I reassured her. "Practice the motion whenever you have free time. For now, let's teach you about the grip."
"When you actually need it, modesty won't matter," Celia added bluntly. "Speed could save your life."
I stepped back, giving Celia space to demonstrate.
"Daggers aren't swords," she began, drawing her own training knife from her belt. "Don't treat them like tiny blades."
Hileya watched attentively, her hands mimicking Celia's movements without the weapon.
"First, grip," Celia continued, demonstrating various holds.
She showed Hileya the standard grip for general use, then the reverse grip - "for close quarters" - and finally the precision grip - "when accuracy matters more than power." Her movements were fluid and confident, each transition looking almost effortless.
I watched the demonstration with growing surprise at Celia's expertise.
"Since when do you know so much about daggers?" I asked, unable to hide my surprise.
Celia paused her demonstration, a proud smile spreading across her face. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before responding.
"Remember your advice about focusing on finesse over strength? I've been expanding my weapon choices while preparing for the Academy," she continued, executing a quick reverse grip transition. "Figured I should have backup options."
Hileya watched with open admiration as Celia demonstrated a fluid strike.
"Lady Celia is quite skilled," Hileya observed quietly.
"Well... I'm not really an expert. Just happened to find some manuals back in Elnor and did a little practice. Also, please just call me Celia," she said, clearly pleased by the compliment.
I felt a surge of pride watching her. She'd taken my advice and run with it.
"Now you try. Use your own dagger," Celia encouraged, stepping back to give her space. "Feel the difference between each grip."
Hileya adjusted her hold on the dagger she'd already drawn, her delicate fingers wrapping around the hilt with surprising ease. She immediately settled into the standard grip, her thumb naturally finding its place along the spine without instruction.
"Like this?"
Celia blinked, clearly surprised by how quickly Hileya had adopted the correct form. "Yes, exactly like that. Now try the reverse grip."
Without hesitation, Hileya flipped the dagger with fluid precision. Celia and I exchanged glances.
"It's not so different from holding a kitchen knife," Hileya said softly.
She did mention she's good with a knife, being a maid and all.
Celia moved into basic defensive techniques - "control and redirection" - demonstrating parries and counters. When she asked about target points for self-defense, Hileya spoke up before she could explain.
"Wrist, shoulder, outer thigh, lower abdomen, and collarbone," she recited, pointing to each location on herself.
Celia paused, surprised again. "Yes, exactly. How did you know that?"
A faint blush colored Hileya's cheeks. "Lady Halen's captain held training sessions in the garden every day. I was always there tending the flowers. It's hard not to... overhear his lessons."
I blinked, processing what she'd just revealed.
Wait. All the signs were there: her ability to move so silently I hadn't noticed her in my room this morning; the way she appeared and disappeared at Lady Halen's manor without drawing attention; her instinctive knowledge learned from observing.
"Try this defensive stance," Celia was saying, demonstrating a position that protected vital areas while maintaining mobility.
If I had to assign Hileya a role in an Aeonalus party, she'd be a stealth-based class. Not a damage dealer, but something like a Scout or Infiltrator—someone who gathered information, moved unseen, and provided tactical advantages through positioning and intelligence. The kind of character players often underestimated until they realized how valuable those abilities were in the right situations.
Did Lady Halen not know? Or... maybe she did. Lady Halen struck me as a politician who always thought moves ahead. This assignment might be less about giving me a maid and more about positioning an informant.
The question is...
I shook my head.
I'm just overthinking again. But speaking of which...
I toggled on my interface to examine Hileya more closely. The information that appeared caught me off guard.
Hileya Nightfae
HP: 65/65
Party-member
Party member? What? Since when could I see this information?
I stared at the display, confused. I rarely checked these interface elements for obvious reasons, but I was certain this hadn't been there before.
Last I checked, even up to recently, this was never in the info.
Wait...that moment, in front of the academy, when that strange vision hit.
That disorienting flash of imagery, the static, the feeling of something shifting in my perception... had my interface evolved somehow after that incident?
I quickly glanced at Celia, focusing my attention on her as she demonstrated another defensive technique.
Celia Freznoria
HP: 82/82
Party-member
I tapped into the party member section and detailed stats appeared for both Celia and Hileya.
Celia Freznoria
Weapon Class: Duelist
HP: 82/82
MP: 46/46
Primary Affinity: Air (Lightning Specialized)
Proficiency: Light Blades (High), Dagger (Medium)
And Hileya's display was equally detailed:
Hileya Nightfae
Weapon Class: Unclassified
HP: 65/65
MP: 42/42
Primary Affinity: Water (Un-Attuned)
Secondary: Entropy (Un-Attuned)
Proficiency: Dagger (Potential)
Right—the [+3 items pending] notification from that vision. This party feature must be one of them. What were the other two?
I scanned through all available sections until something caught my eye in the inventory.
One item seemed to have finished 'loading'. Most items still showed [Pending] or [Invalid] status, but this one read:
[Debug Item] World's Line Fragment
This was the record of that strange vision. 'Fragment'—meaning there was a 'whole' version somewhere.
I focused on the item and a description appeared:
[A fragment of world-line data, containing partial information about divergent events. Viewing may cause temporal disorientation.]
Is there anything else I missed?
Then I see it, in the party members management window, there's a small arrow next to their name.
Tapping on it displays a small info.
Celia
Status: Normal - Location: Nearby (3m)
Hileya
Status: Normal - Location: Nearby (4m)
A tracking system? This could be incredibly useful—knowing their status and location at all times. I'd need to test the range limitations later.
"Vel, are you even paying attention?" Celia's voice broke through my thoughts.
I snapped out of my interface analysis, blinking to focus on Celia's face. She had that particular expression—half concern, half exasperation.
"Are you doing that thing again?" Celia asked, crossing her arms.
"What thing?" I replied, trying to sound casual while quickly dismissing the interface from my vision.
"That weird thing you do before casting crazy spells," she clarified, tapping her foot on the sand. "You get this blank stare like you're seeing things that aren't there."
"Maybe?" I admitted with a sheepish grin.
Better to let her think I was contemplating magic than explain I could now track her as a "party member." That conversation would lead nowhere good.
Was this an invasion of privacy? I'd need to test the limitations later—preferably without involving real people.
"I'll show you something interesting in a moment," I told Celia, gesturing for her to continue the lesson. "Keep going with the training for now."
She gave me a skeptical look but turned back to Hileya, demonstrating a defensive counter-move.
I retreated to sit under a large oak tree, appearing to observe their practice while I reopened my skill panel. Time to examine the Conjure Light spell Landre had taught me in detail.
The spell structure appeared in my mind—and immediately I noticed something different. Unlike every other spell I'd seen, where mana flowed through the magic circle's sigils and completed immediately, this one had a storage component that held mana before releasing it gradually.
"Interesting," I whispered, studying the sigil arrangement.
One sigil caught my attention—it had three distinct aspects that looked remarkably like X, Y, Z coordinates. Spatial positioning, clearly. Another sigil seemed to control mana flow rate: slower flow meant weaker effect but longer duration. Simple throttling mechanism.
So for a stronger spell, I'd need bigger mana storage. Basic resource management.
I focused on the spell structure, experimenting. What if I swapped the light element for fire? The framework stayed the same—just changing the output module.
New Spell Acquired: [Conjure Fire]
Incantation: Ignis minorem temporus
Then I tried ice. Same principle, different element.
New Spell Acquired: [Conjure Ice]
Incantation: Glacis Solith Temporus
What I'd learned about spell casting in this world so far: it wasn't rigid. Intent mattered most. As long as you could communicate properly with the spirits, the same incantation could work differently for each caster.
The form the spell could take—big or small, any geometric shape—depended entirely on how much detail I could feed it and whether I had enough mana to support that complexity.
This is usually where most people fail. They can't convey enough intent into the spell—specific geometric data about what it should look like, where it should appear, how long it should last. If they just speak the incantation with an empty mind, they get the most basic version possible.
By simply pointing at a specific location while casting, I could feed coordinates directly into that spatial sigil. Like passing a pointer variable into a function call.
Magic was basically a very flexible programming language with runtime interpretation. The more detailed your input, the more sophisticated the output.
Ten seconds duration seemed reasonable for testing. I rose from my seated position, excitement about the spell overcoming my usual caution.
"Are you ready to see something cool?" I called out, walking toward them.
Celia lowered her practice dagger, raising an eyebrow. "Define 'cool.' Last time you said that, you nearly set a workshop on fire."
"This is different," I assured her. "Watch."
I positioned myself in an open space, took a breath, and focused.
"Glacis Solith Temporus!"
A translucent, crystalline platform materialized about knee-high off the ground. The ice formation wasn't perfectly smooth—looking more like compressed snowflakes than solid ice—but it was stable.
I stepped onto it to demonstrate, feeling the cold, slippery surface beneath my boots. The ice held my weight but wasn't ideal for actual use—earth would make a more practical platform, but I hadn't learned that sigil yet.
"They last for about ten seconds," I explained, balancing on my icy pedestal. "Imagine what these could do—crossing difficult terrain, creating temporary bridges, or even blocking physical attacks."
Celia approached the ice platform with obvious fascination.
"Where did you even learn this?" she asked, reaching out to touch the crystalline surface. Her fingers traced the edge of the platform, leaving slight indentations in the compressed frost.
I shrugged, trying to appear casual despite my internal excitement. "Well, once you know the principle, it's easy to come up with the variant."
"Principle?" Celia echoed, circling the platform as the seconds ticked away.
"Lan-neechan taught me the basic light conjuring yesterday," I explained, careful not to share too much about my ability to modify spell structures. "So I adapted the concept."
Celia shook her head with amusement. "No surprise there. You always find ways to make things more complicated than they need to be."
The ice platform beneath my feet began to dissolve, tiny particles of frost drifting away on the breeze. I stepped off before it completely disappeared.
"Let me show you another variation," I said, already focusing on a different application of the same spell.
This time, I focused on creating a different structure with the same spell. Instead of a horizontal platform, I visualized a thin vertical barrier about chest-high.
"Glacis Solith Temporus!"
A thin wall of frost appeared before Hileya, making her jump backward slightly with a small eek.
"Try practicing your move with this," I suggested, gesturing toward the ice wall. "Think of it as a training dummy that won't hurt you back."
Hileya's eyes widened with understanding. She glanced down at my dagger in her hand, then back at the ice wall. After a moment's hesitation, she shifted into the stance Celia had taught her, knees slightly bent and weight balanced.
With deliberate precision, she started with a controlled slash across the ice surface, then smoothly flipped the dagger into reverse grip and followed with a thrust. The ice cracked under the pressure, fractures spreading outward like a spider's web.
She pulled back and struck again, this time with more confidence. The ice shattered with a satisfying crystalline sound, fragments glittering as they fell to the ground.
"Well done," Celia said, clearly impressed.
I nodded in agreement, then looked thoughtfully at where the platform had been. "You know, if I could create these in mid-air, they could be useful for reaching high places or crossing dangerous terrain."
Celia raised an eyebrow. "That sounds incredibly dangerous. What if the spell fails while you're suspended over a cliff?"
"Practical as ever, Celia. Though I admit, it does include some risks. Maybe I'll need some kind of safeguard... or a version that lasts longer but disappears as I step off of it."
I swiveled toward Celia, recalling something
"I actually have a meeting with Instructor Lyvenna later today," I said, brushing ice off my sleeve as the last glowing remnants of the wall faded.
"What? Why?" Celia's voice carried an edge of alarm.
Hileya, still holding my dagger, looked just as surprised. She blinked in confusion, her expression pleading for an explanation. "Did something happen?"
"It's about that letter I received earlier," I began, slipping my hands into the pockets of my tunic to hide the nervous energy building within me. "She wants to discuss my placement at the Academy—something about my entrance examination performance drawing attention."
"Your result?" Celia repeated skeptically, her brows knitting together. "That's unusual, isn't it? The official results aren't even out yet, and instructors don't meet individual students like this. They wouldn't have the time."
"Exactly my thought," I admitted, glancing down at the dirt underfoot. "We'll just have to wait and see what she wants, won't we?"