Aethernea

by Cloe D Frost

  Both the wax the envelope was coated with and the wax forming the seal was produced by red-stripped bees which used it to build their hives. It had a high mana resistance, making it almost impossible to alter with magic. This ensured that their beehives could only be penetrated by brute force. Similarly, it ensured that no one had changed the contents of the letter before it reached Venric Rroda.

  The crest embedded in the wax depicted a lunar – a large feline that was known as the emperor of night. They were quick, soundless, invisible, and deadly. It was only proper for them to represent the Etezza family.

  The battle power of Etezzas wasn’t overwhelmingly crushing as that of the Tanyers, nor were they gods’ favorite children as the Arites. Yet, Etezzas still managed to stand on the same pedestal as the other two.

  That naturally meant that they held an enormous amount of power. The power they wielded came in the form of information.

  People often joked that the ears and eyes of Etezza are more widespread than the air.

  Venric Rroda didn’t find it funny. He detested feeling like all his secrets were on sale. Yet, he didn’t hesitate a moment when it came to purchasing the secrets of others.

  Venric Rroda wasted no time and opened the first envelope which turned out to contain the report on Kiel Rroda’s whereabouts. As his eyes quickly darted left and right, he picked up his lavishly decorated teacup and took a sip.

  “Kiel Rroda was seen exiting the Ashar Gate at 4:13 PM on Friday, 24th of August 1449 A.W. He was in the company of a female elibu, going by the name of Elaru Wayvin.”

  Venric’s eyebrows furrowed. Wayvin? He had never heard of such a surname.

  “They proceeded to fly, hand in hand, towards the Ashar University of Magic with the usage of flying magic.”

  Venric’s frown deepened.

  He didn’t give a damn with who his useless grandson had intimate relations with, as long as it remained a private matter. Even his brother, who was known for being a ladies’ man, was clear on this fact.

  Before revealing a relationship to the public, nobles had to consult the head of the family of the possible repercussions. Relationships impacted the reputation, the public view of the family and even internal relationships between noble families.

  And even if they received permission to reveal their relationship to the public, they still had to exercise restraint, avoiding public displays of affection. Nobles had to remain aloof and prideful with elegant and refined manners of gentlemen. Public displays of ardor and lust were unbecoming.

  But not only did Kiel Rroda not consult him on the matter, he even engaged in public display of affection?! Was this an act of teenage rebellion?

  If it was an affair with a lady of a high standing, Venric could swallow it and let him off with a gentle scolding, however, the hussy was clearly not a noble. Otherwise, he would be familiar with her visage.

  The youngest son of the esteemed councilman, the grandson of the head of the family, engaging in a relationship with a female with no social status!

  Venric Rroda gripped his teacup tightly, his fingers turning white.

  This was absolutely unacceptable!

  His eyes suddenly narrowed. He had missed something – they were going towards the Ashar University of Magic. No. It couldn’t be… Kiel Rroda was many things, but he was neither arrogant nor stupid. He wouldn’t…

  His thought was interrupted by the information laid out in the next paragraph.

  His eyebrows rose so high they almost reached his hairline. No longer able to restrain himself, his fist slammed on the table. The desk shook from the force, the pens and quills rattling around it.

  Is the bastard mad?! As if a non-mage could pass the exams?! Is he trying to drag our family honor through the mud?! Other nobles would never let us forget this humiliation!

  His fingers gripped the paper so tightly it tore.

  Lawrence wasn’t startled in the least by the sudden violent outburst of his Lord. While Venric Rroda was as cold as the block of ice, often showing no emotion on his face, that was just a mask he wore when dealing with other people. He had no need to cover up his own dissatisfaction if there was no one else in the room. No one else besides Lawrence that is.

  As Venric Rroda continued reading, the temperature in the room continued plummeting without showing any sign of stabilizing.

  Further investigations have found the two to be sharing a room in an inn, the name of which Venric had never heard of. The agents even questioned the waitress.

  The information gathered from the chatterbox of a waitress made blood rush to Venric’s face. What nonsense is this?!?! Why did the report include details about their sexual life?!

  Authenticity Unverified?! Why did you even include it in the report if it is unverified?!

  And what man from the Rroda family didn’t have a satisfactory performance in bed?! What utter nonsense!Venric was ready to spew fire. Although the fire would probably freeze before it even came out.

  Wait…his mother was quite sickly…don’t tell me that he has those kinds of problems? Was that why he didn’t engage in any relationships with the opposite sex before this?

  This is disgraceful! Humiliating!

  And this “Elaru Wayvin”…

  What kind of whore did the bastard elope with? Did the hussy fill his head with nonsense of greatness?

  What is going on?!

  Venric forcefully slammed the papers aside, making the entire table shake again. He glared at the last envelope for a while before taking it.

  The first thing Venric saw when he opened the envelope were two words written in a large font: “Elaru Wayvin”.

  * * *

  Coming up in the next episode:

  As Venric flipped the stack of papers, his frown kept deepening. “What nonsense is this?”

  Venric’s eyes widened. Trying to infiltrate the Rroda mainhouse?

  “Order someone to pick Kiel Rroda up and bring him back to the mainhouse. I authorize you to use force if necessary.”

  Kiel’s eyes narrowed. As if he would fall for something like this. If this wasn’t suspicious, nothing was suspicious. “What a coincidence! How do think it got into your backpack?”

  “Are you sure you weren’t scammed?”

  Kiel pointed to her face and smirked. “You don’t look fine. You seem to be burning up.”

  Episode 31 – The Secret of Elaru Wayvin

  Episode 31 – The Secret of Elaru Wayvin

  Previously:

  After a long practice of the Morph spell, Kiel’s practice is interrupted by hunger. Elaru teases him about his growling stomach.

  Venric Rroda is about to open the envelope containing the investigation results about Elaru Wayvin.

  * * *

  The first thing Venric saw when he opened the envelope were two words written in a large font: “Elaru Wayvin”.

  He flipped the page and came face to face with the picture of a redheaded girl.

  Etezzas were professionals in the field of gathering and selling information, of course they would go as far as to hire an artist to draw the picture of the girl. Especially since the customer was an important individual with exceedingly high status.

  Venric stared at the image, his frown deepening. The girl was strikingly beautiful, so much that the quick painting couldn’t cover up her extraordinary beauty in any way.

  Instead of praising his grandson’s taste, Venric’s lips curled.

  That annoying old hag used to have hair of this exact shade when she was young. This whore even has a tan just like her.

  Venric “tsked”. What a bad taste in women.

  If anyone from Venric Rroda’s generation were there, they would have burst out laughing at this point. “Who has a bad taste in women? Your grandson or you? Didn’t you spend five years courting that old hag? Does attraction towards redheads run in your family?”

  However, as soon as the memory of his old flame appeared he was quick to vanquish it, not stopping to re
call the old times.

  He quickly moved on to the next page, not pausing a single second to consider the possibility of this “Elaru Wayvin” being related to her.

  It wasn’t that he was overlooking this possibility. Rather, this possibility didn’t exist at all.

  That old hag was an argel. While this young wench was an elibu.

  All throughout the history, argel and elibu rarely married. It wasn’t because of societal norms, or because interracial marriage was frowned upon.

  No. It was because of a single, simple reason – argel and elibu couldn’t produce an offspring together. Their races were too different. They were physically incompatible. It was like a dragon mating with a phoenix – while they could technically engage in intercourse – a half-breed couldn’t exist.

  This was one fact that had never changed all through the ages. Even back in the days, when gods roamed freely around the world, creating all kinds of miracles through Aetherneal magic, a half-breed was one of the things they couldn’t create.

  As Venric flipped the stack of papers, his frown kept deepening. “What nonsense is this?”

  “Origin: Unknown, Family: Unknown, Mage Rank: Unknown, Profession: Unknown. Affiliation: Unknown.”

  For the love of Origin, why is everything “Unknown”?!

  The report even listed her race as unknown! Their explanation being: “Appears to be an elibu. Has been seen using augmentation magic. The existence of mana purifying artifact on her person hasn’t been confirmed. A possibility of her being an argel can’t be dismissed. Needs further investigation.”

  The only concrete information they provided was her age…and even that wasn’t precise, instead, they gave a range: 18-25.

  Venric quickly skipped to the last page which contained the conclusion alongside the personal opinion of the person writing the report.

  “Conclusion: Elaru Wayvin doesn’t exist.”

  Venric Rroda slammed down the papers, his gaze icy. “Then who am I looking at?!”

  After stifling his temper, he continued reading.

  “Explanation: There exists sporadic data going up to three years back, matching the name and appearance of the person in question. The data briefly mentions the existence of such a person and provides no further details.

  There exist no older records of that name nor records of a person with a similar appearance to the person in question. There exist no records of a family with the surname Wayvin. There are no birth records of a child matching the age and features of the person in question.”

  “A false name and a false face?” Venric Rroda glared at the papers. “Then she is obviously one of yours!”

  The next sentence of the report made Venric’s expression turn sour.

  “The possibility of her being one of our secret agents cannot be disregarded. However, we aren’t the only family with agents capable of using light magic. Even Rroda family has a few, no?”

  It was as if the writer knew what he would be thinking at this moment. It left a sour taste in his mouth. Etezzas always made him feel unpleasant. In fact, he had been on bad terms with their current family head since university days.

  What would anyone be doing with a bastard child of my oldest son?

  Venric’s eyes widened. Trying to infiltrate the Rroda mainhouse?

  Venric suddenly rose to his feet, alarm flickering in his cold eyes. “Lawrence! Put the entire manor on high alert! Investigate the luggage of Kiel Rroda and check if there are any suspicious items inside. Order a thorough search of the entire estate. Check if there are any items missing…or if there are extras; be it suspicious items, substances or people.”

  Venric pushed the two stacks of papers lying on his table towards Lawrence.

  “Order someone to pick Kiel Rroda up and bring him back to the mainhouse. I authorize you to use force if necessary.”

  Venric Rroda wasn’t the head of the family for nothing. Cunning, efficient, decisive, ruthless. He had all the qualities required for the position.

  “Go. Quickly.”

  Lawrence picked up the stack of papers and bowed deeply. “Yes, your grace.”

  * * *

  Kiel and Elaru had a quick lunch in a small tavern at the edge of Ashar, before coming back to their clearing and resuming their work.

  Kiel had asked Elaru to teach him the basic form of a Cleansing spell. Cleansing was a modified version of the Morph spell that implemented a targeting boundary which prevented the spell from Morphing the skin instead of the dirt. The rest of the spell was exactly the same and functioned in the same way. He only needed to learn how to Morph the dirt away from his skin and clothes in a gentle way.

  Kiel continued practicing the Cleansing until nightfall after which he decided it was time to bring today’s training session to its end.

  And what better way to end it than to again temper his body with mana? This time, he would be extra careful to not faint.

  As Kiel sat down and was just about to start mana tempering, Elaru suddenly stopped what she was doing and quickly jumped to her feet. “Wait! Stop, stop!”

  Kiel raised his eyebrow and looked at her inquisitively. “I’ll be more careful this time so you won’t need to carry me back.”

  Elaru waved her hands in defense. “No, no, that’s not it.” She flung her backpack off from her shoulder and dug inside it. Her face spread into a grin as she pulled out a metal box.

  “After you fainted yesterday I was worried…”

  …that you would wake up at an inconvenient moment.

  “So I checked my stash of medicine to see if I can find anything that is appropriate to use on a body damaged by mana.”

  I was searching for some sleeping inducing medicine in case you woke up.

  “And indeed there was something in my collection that can help out.”

  As soon as she opened the box, a sweet scent reached Kiel’s nose. The box contained two translucent, red pearls.

  Elaru’s eyes glittered as she looked at the marbles. “A miracle tempering medicine! And there are even two of them. We can both take one. You’re my m…ice block…now, so my stuff is your stuff.” She puffed up her chest in pride as if saying “Look how awesome I am. I am even willing to share this stuff with you.”

  Kiel’s eyes narrowed. As if he would fall for something like this. If this wasn’t suspicious, nothing is suspicious. “What a coincidence! How do think it got into your backpack?”

  Elaru rolled her eyes at him. “You make it sound like it appeared out of thin air. I obviously had an alchemist make it for me before we met, duh.”

  Kiel’s eyebrow rose. His lie sense wasn’t tingling. “And why did you have an alchemist make tempering medicine for you?”

  Elaru smirked. “So it could improve my mana tolerance. Why else?”

  Kiel watched her with narrowed eyes. Suspicious. Yet she spoke no lies. Was he being overly cautious? “Hmmm…and what is the name of this ‘miracle medicine’?”

  Elaru’s lips pressed into a thin line. The truth is…uncle Ixos never told her the name of the pill. Chances are he didn’t even give it a name. If that is the case…it wouldn’t be wrong if she named it…right? “It’s called a Firebird Flame Pill.” Elaru blurted out.

  Kiel stroked his chin in thought. “I’ve never heard of such a pill.”

  “Of course you haven’t. That’s because it isn’t available on the market.”

  Kiel’s eyes narrowed. “Are you sure you weren’t scammed?”

  “100% sure.” Elaru made a gesture as if she was swearing the truthfulness of her words upon her own life and death.

  Kiel wasn’t impressed. “Does it have a declaration of expected effects or a certificate of quality from a high ranked alchemist? Pills aren’t something you should play around with. Consuming unknown medicine can be deadly.”

  Declaration of expected effects is a document signed by a certified alchemist stating the name of the pill and its effects. Certificate of quality was a document guarantying that
the pill has no defects and is safe to consume.

  “…”

  After a moment of silence, Elaru flicked one of the pills into her mouth. “Trust me. There are no issues with the pill.”

  She offered him the box containing the last pill. Kiel raised his eyebrows and asked skeptically. “Are you an alchemist too?”

  “No, but I’ve consumed so many different tempering medicines that I can appraise them quite accurately.” Elaru spoke with a serious voice and a solemn face.

  Kiel snorted, unconvinced. “If one could learn alchemy by consuming pills then every high standing noble would be an alchemist.”

  The effects of the pill kicked in, and Elaru’s face heated up. “Look, I am fine! The pill is fine!” Her aura clearly demonstrated that she was starting to lose patience.

  Kiel pointed to her face and smirked. “You don’t look fine. You seem to be burning up.”

  “That’s why the pill is called a Firebird Flame Pill. It tempers the body with fire.” Elaru glared at Kiel.Ungrateful twit. I am willing to share the fruit of my labor with you, and you aren’t willing to take it.

  Kiel raised his hands in a pacifying gesture. “Ok, let’s assume that the pill you’ve consumed is actually a tempering medicine, and there is nothing wrong with it.”

  Elaru stared at him, waiting for him to continue.

  “But what is to say that this one…” he pointed to the remaining pill. “Won’t have any problems. They might look the same, but their effects might be very different.”

  Elaru pouted. “You make it sound as if I am trying to poison you!” In a fluent gesture, she took the other pill between her fingers and licked it like a lollipop. “There, no poison. Its composition is exactly the same as the one I consumed.”

  Kiel raised his hands in surrender. “Alright. I believe you.”

  Elaru puffed out hot air. Finally.

  “However, I am not going to put in my mouth something that came in contact with your saliva.”

  Elaru’s lips pressed tightly together, she was getting annoyed. Even her aura started showing signs of agitation. Kiel opened his mouth, attempting to speak up some final words on the matter.