CIATB Chapter 317: Together and Whatever
Chapter 317: Together and Whatever
After chatting with Count Stadler about this and that, he returned to the palace when it was dead of night.It was already time for everyone to be asleep, except for those who were working the night shift.
After parting ways with Lexion and wandering into the dormitory, Arendt headed straight to his room.
The moment he grabbed the doorknob, a familiar voice from behind stopped his steps.
“What, where did you go and why are you coming back now?”
It was Arthur.
Arendt swallowed a sigh and turned around.
He had a very ‘Arendt’-like’, sullen expression on his face.
“Why do you want to know, senior?”
“What a twisted bastard. He never knows how to answer nicely.”
When Arthur grumbled in discontent, Arendt asked in return.
“Senior, what are you doing here?”
“I was lying down to sleep, but I felt something creeping in, so I came out to check what it was. Why? Where have you been?” Arthur replied with a hint of irritation.
Arendt shrugged.
“I was with Lexion and we went to the Magic Stone mine. Didn’t Salem tell you? I reported it to the Captain.”
“The Captain was so busy that I couldn’t even see him for the past two days. I was also so out of it that I couldn’t meet Salem either. There was a reason for him being at our training ground.”
Only when the answer he wanted came back did Arthur’s expression soften and he grumbled.
Yet his eyes were looking up and down at Arendt as if something was going on.
Arendt noticed this and furrowed his brows slightly.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Even if you look again, the fact that I’m handsome doesn’t change.”
“I was worried you might’ve gotten beaten up again.”
Surprisingly, the answer came back quickly.
Even as he said that, the way he looked up and down didn’t seem like he was lying.
Arendt was silent for a moment, then snapped out of his confusion.
“I told you I was at the Count’s lab. Where could I get hurt?”
“You never know when, where, or what kind of accident you might have. Well, as long as nothing happens, it’s fine. I’m going to bed. You should go to bed too. It’s late.”
Arthur shrugged his shoulders awkwardly, as if imitating his junior, then turned around and left without any regrets.
Arendt looked at Arthur’s back as he returned to his room with uneasy eyes.
But that didn’t last long; Arendt decided to just stop caring.
“They’re not seriously treating me like some damn kid, are they?”
A laugh laced with disbelief escaped him, but no one was around to hear it.
When the aftermath of the banquet and award ceremony had died down and Arendt’s confinement was over, a gift arrived from Count Stadler.
After checking the box that Seton had brought, Arendt immediately called Salem to the training ground.
“You have something to give me? It’s for me?”
Arendt nodded slightly in response to Salem’s bewildered question.
“Come closer and hold out your hand.”
“…?”
Salem approached him obediently and offered his hand, although his face looked puzzled.
Two spirits, more defined than before, hovered around Salem and Arendt with curiosity.
Arendt personally placed the bracelet on Salem’s slender wrist.
Salem’s eyes widened.
“What is it?”
“Use it during training. I asked Count Stadler to have it specially made for you.”
Salem’s eyes grew wide at those words.
Salem, who had been looking back and forth between the bracelet and Arendt, lost for words, dazedly asked after a long while.
“For me?”
“Don’t you want to become useful as soon as possible? It doesn’t look like you’ll be on the battlefield. I don’t have any interest in taking care of children.”
Arendt answered coolly.
“It’s expensive, so don’t lose it.”
“Really? Is it really that expensive?”
Salem, who had been touching the bracelet with a moved face, let out a surprised sound.
Arendt nodded to him blandly.
“Oh, I sold off a few of my seniors for that price.”
Salem blinked his meek eyes at the unknown words.
Arendt kindly gave Salem a brief overview of the situation.
“I got that in return for tracking down and handing over my seniors who didn’t write their reports properly, so I bet they’re being harassed by the Count by now?”
“…”
Arendt was in charge of searching through the reports kept within the Knights Templar to identify the culprits, and it was up to Lexion, who happened to have nothing better to do, to capture them and deliver them to the Count.
Salem’s face turned pale.
“This is why I haven’t seen Lord Lexion since this morning…”
“He went to the Count’s laboratory. He’ll be back with the seniors around dinnertime.”
When told to go to the lab again, Lexion showed his displeasure, but Arendt was merciless.
It would have been a huge loss to just throw away such a convenient means of transportation.
Surprisingly, Laius was also cooperative.
It was obvious that permission from the Captain was needed to take out the knights, but after hearing the general situation, Laius simply handed Arendt the key to the report locker without saying anything.
The intention was to find them and hand them over to the Count.
“So don’t lose it. It was quite a hassle to go through each and every report.”
“…”
Salem should have expressed his gratitude for receiving such an unexpected gift, but he couldn’t open his mouth when he thought of the knights who had been mistreated.
“I… I thank you… for now.”
Arendt spoke in a commanding tone to the boy who finally thanked him with an awkward look.
“Try using your magic power first. It will react right away.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Salem nodded, although his face still looked uncomfortable. The magic unique to the shadow race elves began to move.
And after a while, Salem’s magic naturally gathered towards the bracelet and settled into the magic stone embedded in the ornament.
The magic stone imbued with Salem’s magic began to glow softly.
Salem’s eyes widened.
“Wow…”
“There were quite a few books on spirit mages that I found at the Dragon’s Lair so I looked through a few of them.”
Since spirit mages were extremely rare among humans, information within the Caerleon Empire was limited.
Moreover, unlike magic or swordsmanship, working with spirits was a field that relied on communication with spirits rather than systematic training, so it was inevitable that there would be a shortage of textbooks.
What Arendt, troubled by the lack of information, thought of were the dragon books he had discovered in the Magic Stone Mine and Lake Lair.
As expected, he was able to find quite a bit of useful information in the translations made by Lexion and Count Stadler.
“But even Sir Arendt must have been busy, so I wonder when exactly… besides, since Lord Lexion is already helping with spirit magic, you really didn’t have to go that far.”
Arendt clicked his tongue at Salem’s hasty remark.
“You’re such a chatterbox for a little brat. From the start, you and Lexion are in completely different leagues. I’m sure his teachings aren’t bad, but the vessel for wielding magic is just on a whole different level.”
Although Salem, an elf, was far better than a human in terms of magical power usage, he was no match for Lexion, a dragon.
“You were confused about that part too. Lexion seems to be able to do it as easily as just snapping a finger, but you have a hard time imitating him. And since you’re trying to learn swordsmanship at the same time, it’s bound to be even more confusing.”
“Really, Sir Arendt…”
Salem, who had been listening quietly, muttered confusedly.
It was hard to tell if he was a good or bad person.
One thing was certain, though: his personality was strange.
Arendt raised his eyebrows slightly.
“Any complaints?”
“No, not at all. That’s impossible.”
Salem hurriedly threw up both hands and changed the subject.
“So, how do I use this?”
“There’s nothing special about it. It’s just that you’re having a hard time efficiently supplying magical power to the spirits while simultaneously circulating the magical power within your body while performing swordsmanship.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Salem nodded.
Whether it was working with spirits or swordsmanship, it would take a long time to properly learn how to use magical power in the first stage.
Moreover, in Salem’s case, the difficulty level increased even further because there were two contracted spirits.
“To put it simply, that bracelet makes it easier to distribute magical power. It allows you to distribute magical power to the spirits and easily circulate the remaining magical power within your body.”
“Wow…”
A pure exclamation burst from the elf boy’s mouth.
Count Stadler was amazing for coming up with this in just a few days, but Arendt was equally amazing for quickly figuring out what Salem was struggling with and digging through ancient sources to come up with this.
“You can use it in a similar way to activating an artifact. But don’t rely too much on the bracelet. It may be convenient to use, but once you get used to using your magic, just take it off. You also have to think about the possibility of it being damaged or lost in actual combat.”
It would be a problem if, in the middle of a fierce battle on the battlefield, he was rendered helpless just by losing a single bracelet.
Salem nodded vigorously, understanding the meaning of those words.
“Yes. I will keep that in mind, Sir Arendt. Thank you for your consideration.”
His amber eyes looking up at Arendt sparkled brightly.
The knights may have been sold off, but even in the midst of all the chaos, the fact that Arendt took the time to sift through books and personally design something like this seemed to genuinely move him.
But Arendt was not an easygoing person.
“Then try it right now. First, swing it 200 times.”
“…”
The eyes that had once shined like jewels suddenly became the eyes of a dead fish.
“Now, wait a minute. 200 times? Why is it more than before?”
“Now that we have this handy item, it’s only natural that you train harder. Do it 100 times as is, and then have the spirits do the other 100 times while setting up a defensive barrier. Getting used to using magical power is the top priority right now.”
“…”
“After that, let’s do lower body exercises. We’ll be sparring in the evening, so please know that. I asked Instructor Zakar to spare some time in advance.”
As always, it was the perfectly correct thing to say, but from the perspective of the one on the receiving end, it was the kind of decision that made any words of thanks disappear.
But Salem had no right to complain, as it was a hardship he had chosen for himself.
In the end, Salem had no choice but to walk to the center of the training grounds, holding a training sword.
Arendt watched Salem move his sword as he did as he was told.
‘I guess that’s because he’s an elf.’
He learned pretty quickly.
The sword that had seemed to be waving around awkwardly until just a while ago now appeared to be moving in a decent way.
It was still a long way from being able to be used in actual combat, but someday, he would become an excellent spirit swordsman like Cantares had hoped.
“…I guess I should stretch a bit, too.”
Watching Salem, Arendt undid a few buttons on his collar.
He was under strict surveillance right after he got out of bed, and after that, he was busy teaching Salem, so he couldn’t train properly.
Now that Arendt could just leave Salem alone and he would do well on his own, he thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to focus on his own training and move around a little during his spare time.
At that very moment when Arendt was about to draw his sword.
The training ground’s door flew open.
“Hey, Arendt. Are you there?”
It was Rider.
Arendt had no choice but to sheathe his half-drawn sword.
“Ugh, seriously. What’s wrong?”
“Your senior is calling you, what do you mean ‘ugh’? Anyway, that’s not important.”
Rider who had been frowning and glaring suddenly came to his senses.
“There’s a meeting, so come quickly. There’s chaos right now!”
“All of a sudden? Did something happen?”
Arendt’s brow furrowed slightly.
Well, unless it was something really urgent, Rider wouldn’t have barged into the Crown Prince’s training grounds without warning.
Rider explained hastily.
“A message has arrived from the Nephele Kingdom. An entire territory has disappeared.”
It took Arendt a few seconds to understand what he was saying.
After a while, Arendt facepalmed with a thud.
“…This is ridiculous, seriously.”
There hasn’t been a single quiet day in this damn world.