Chapter 14: Chapter 14: Road to the Ball

“Hah! Hah!” Scarlet shouted out as she swung her practice sword at her mother, only for the woman to step away and counter with a slash of her own. Scarlet lifted her shield, taking the hit and getting staggered backwards a few feet.

Righting herself was an absolute struggle as the ‘resistance training clothes’ that she and her mother had made caused every action to make her feel like she was struggling in a pool of tar. But even as it made their actions slower, it made them more deliberate, giving the two time to learn from every swing and teaching them not to waste movement.

After one short morning exercise in the training suits, Scarlet was absolutely sure that the extra effort was worth it, as her combat and basic training related skills all grew at least one level, and after she spent her Talent Point in [Combat Sense], her skills began to grow even faster.

Will and Judith were shocked when Scarlet told them what she had decided to do with her third Talent Point. They had tried to encourage her to put more into her magic so that she could grow further and get a higher Tier Magic Class. But Scarlet saw little point in that.

She might be able to get a Tier 7 Class and start out with her Class level at a level 150. But the EXP cost to grow from level 1 and level 150 was equal to the cost of growing from 150 to 154. If she was aiming for the top, where she started made little overall difference.

For her, leveling skills were more important. So in order to level as many different kinds of skills as possible, she didn’t want a specialty job, like a high rank in a [Holy Magic] Class. She wanted to be a Jack of All Trades Class. The magic sword hybrid class tree.

It started at the 2rd Tier with Magic Warrior if you obtain 4 magic skills and 4 weapon skills with one of each being at level 25, before progressing like any other Class tree. The line that Scarlet went for in the old game went Tier 3 Spell Blade, Tier 4 Magic Knight, Tier 5 Arcane Knight, Tier 6 Arcane Swordsmaster, Tier 7 Valkyrie, Tier 8 High Valkyrie, Tier 9 Heavenly Valkyrie.

If she got high enough in the hybrid Class tree, she would get extremely high bonuses to ALL forms of magic and physical combat, as well as dozens of unique abilities for both. 

Right now, she was aiming to get enough weapon skills to skip up to the 4th Tier at least, as that would be a good starting point. She could see about getting more of her magic up to 100 in an attempt to grow to Tier 5 after that.

For now, combat came first, and Scarlet was ready to keep on sparring until she dropped… Only it didn’t seem like her partner was as ready.

“Is mama alright?” Scarlet asked as she saw her mother staging a bit and panting hard.

She couldn’t have possibly been out of energy already? They had just started twenty minutes ago. But Scarlet was soon made aware of the problem as her mother shrank down to her knees. “Too hot.”

---

 

“I see. Increasing its resistances also increased its resistance to heat permutations. The clothes don’t breathe at all.” Scarlet said with folded arms as she looked down at her mother’s skin tight training suit.

“Is there a reason why you were having such a better time with it?” Judith asked.

“I’m able to cast cooling spells without incantation. So I was just keeping the temperature down that way.” Scarlet admitted. 

Her clothes weren’t comfortable, especially having to wear them over her usual set, so that she could still have her mana regeneration, but while uncomfortable, she could at least keep them cool. Her mother had been being baked alive from her own sweat and body heat. The summer sun wasn’t helping either.

“If we want to do something similar on the other clothes, we would have to replace some of the existing enchantments.”

“Whenever we bend our arms and legs, there are still parts that don’t stretch very much. Perhaps we can increase the resistances elsewhere in order to free up room at those parts.” Maria suggested after having been revived with a few cooling and healing spells, as well as an ice cold lemonade. 

“Hm… Changing where the resistance is will definitely work, but adding a cold attribute transformation array is complicated and could turn the maternal brittle. We need a different method for defusing the heat.” Scarlet said, pondering the answer to the current problem. “Maybe we can layer the clothes. As something that can be worn under it which absorbs heat easily. We will still need to arrange the arrays so that they won’t be near each other, but it is easier to not have them conflict if they are attached to two seperate materials.”

“So, you are saying that we have some kind of enchanted undershirt for it?” Maria asked.

“Exactly.” Scarlet said with a nod. “If you can prepare the shirt, I’ll start on the cooling array.”

“Alright. I’ll get to work on it right…” Maria started, but then stopped as the mother daughter pair heard the door to the house open.

Maria immediately grabbed the training clothes and stuffed them away as Scarlet bolted to her room as fast as the training clothes would let her in order to change out of them.

Using Branwen’s [True Sight], she checked the front door to see that it was indeed her father who had returned.

What was he doing there? He wasn’t supposed to be around to check on the slave camp again for another two weeks.

Scarlet had no clue, but she didn’t like him showing up unexpectedly. At least Jamie didn’t seem to be with him this time.

Removing the clothes, she hid them in the closet before sitting down on her bed, casting a few spells to freshen the air around her to get rid of the smell of sweat from her training.

Branwen jumped up onto the bed next to Scarlet and places her large, comforting head on Scarlet’s shoulder. In the last 5 days, Branwen had grown to level 29 and had continued to increase in size. Now she was the size of an eagle, with her head level with Scarlet’s shoulders when the girl was standing.

Constantly feeding Branwen mana had made magic practice more tame, but Scarlet didn’t mind letting it take the back seat for a while.

(What is he doing here?) The raven asked. She had never seen Jonathan before, but knew of him through her connection with Scarlet.

“Don’t know, but if we are lucky, he should just be picking something up or dropping something off and won’t bother us.” Scarlet said, giving her Bond a hug.

She was starting to wonder what they should do until her father left again, when she felt his mana getting closer.

She realized too late that she hadn’t locked the door behind her and it opened to reveal her father standing there with his usually detached face and in his usual overly pompous clothes. 

Jonathan looked down at his daughter and her Bond, taking note of the creature’s large size, despite how new it was. This pleased him, though he was annoyed that it was something like a raven.

While birds were good, a hawk or swan, something more elegant and beautiful, would have been better. Even with its pure white feather, its long beaked face was not beautiful.

Such a pity. Girls with beautiful Bonds were worth more. But he supposed that physical attraction wasn’t where her value wa…

“Your eyes.” Jonathan said in a moment of realization. 

Scarlet’s hand went up to her eyes and she shank down. The dark marks which had always taken up a large portion of the girl’s face, rendering her rather ugly, had vanished. “They got better after I awakened my Bond.” She mumbled.

She had told her father in the past that she wasn’t able to heal them, because they were naturally that way. This was a lie. She had always just chosen not to repair the veins around her eyes because the hallowed look made her less physically appealing to pedophiles. 

But where most of her past spells that she targeted herself with would only heal the areas she herself chose, the [Song of the Earth] healed everything, resulting in the shadows underneath her eyes disappearing. 

Jonathan supposed it made sense. The girl had always had an abnormally high amount of mana regeneration, so even with [Mana Control], it was possible she was still suffering from the normal problems of a child who was too high of a level due to mana build up as she slept. Now that she had a Bond, that problem was reversing itself.

“This is good.” Jonathan said. The last annoyance that might cheapen her value had disappeared, and right on time. “Pack your things. You will be moving into the inner city mansion.”

“Huh? Why?” Scarlet said, slightly horrified. 

She had known that her father owned a large mansion in the inner city, where he normally stayed when he wasn’t looming over the girls, but she had never gone there. Besides going to the Cathedral to get her Bond, she had never ventured farther than the slave camps before.

“The Duke is planning a party for the noble children who had recently awoken their Bonds next week. Your presence has been requested for it.”

...What?

---

 

“Calm down. It won’t be so bad.” William told Scarlet. He had been called to Jonathan’s lavish mansion in order to instruct Scarlet on noble etiquette in time for the party. “As you are a young lady, you will not be expected to so much as shake the hand of anyone around you, and if you choose not to speak at all, that is fine as well. You will be required to take part in one dance according to the rules of party etiquette, but again, you are a young lady. As such, your partner will be a family member, like your mother. That won’t be so bad, will it?”

“I suppose so.” Scarlet said, her head down a little. She wouldn’t mind dancing with her mother, but she didn’t like to do it in front of high society. A place where the two of them would clearly not belong.

(Princess will fit in better than she thinks.) Thumper said, interrupting the girl’s thoughts. (You and your mother are quite beautiful, and with how talented of a dressmaker your mother is, you have to be more worried about breaching etiquette by showing up the host rather than looking too common.) Thumper nodded his head with his front paws crossed over his chest. (Will and I have seen our fair share of high society parties, and the two of us would not be able to pick you out in one.)

“You have?” Scarlet asked, wondering why her teacher would be involved in such things.

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“Ah… Actually, my mother and father were cooks at the Duke’s mansion. Since I was similar in age to the Duke’s son, I was his attendant for a few years, until he went to the Royal Military Academy.” Will admitted. “Even in recent years, my adviser has many connections amongst high society and I have occasionally followed behind him as his second. ...If you would like, the two of us could probably receive an invitation from the Duke for the party. It would be a nice chance for you to finally meet the Professor in person.”

“Yes please.” Scarlet said immediately.

The more familiar faces there, the better. Even if it was just Will and Thumper.

“Alright. Now let us get back to our lesson on proper party introductions. Don’t worry, compared to learning magic, this should be simple.” Will said with a chuckle, suspecting the girl’s thought process.

“...Hey Will. How come I am getting invited to this party for all the noble children?” Scarlet asked.

The man hesitated before sighing. She was going to find out eventually. 

“In order to protect the kingdom, it is a noble’s duty to have as strong of children as possible, in order to make the future generations stronger. This means they must marry individuals with high tier Classes.” Will explained. “Unfortunately, the number of people, women in particular, with high level Classes that would be beneficial are limited. They are almost all children of the high nobility. The options for partners is limited, meaning that they suffer from not enough variation in the gene pool. Because of this, any commoners who managed to grow up to have a powerful Class are used to add new blood to the Nobility, in order to keep them strong.”

“...I’m breeding material to them.” Scarlet said bluntly.

“...You will be treated with the utmost respect. You will be a noblewoman yourself.” Will said, awkwardly pulling at his tie.

“...Can I refuse?” Scarlet asked.

“Until you are an adult, these decisions are legally in your father’s hands. You will likely be married before you achieve independence, and once married, it is till death.” Will said, apologetically. 

“I’ll run away then. I’ll take mama and Judith and I’ll run away.” Scarlet said.

“...The courts would favor your father’s side in such an event. They would use your blood and [Divination Magic] to find you.”

“...Then I’ll kill them.” Scarlet said, surprising Will. “I’ll kill them before I let them use my body like that.”

The face of the caretaker at the St. John’s Boarding School for Orphan Children. His parted, short cut hair and dark eyes that look to be too far apart. The look on his face as he turned pale underneath his rubbed on tan. The feel of his hot blood dripping down over the knife onto her body as he lay draped on top of her. The smell of it filling her lungs, causing her to puck.

They hadn’t believed her about him. No one had. She had no choice. She refused to be helpless. She refused to let him touch her like that ever again.

(Scarlet?) Branwen said, rubbing her head against the girl’s shoulder. The telepathic message brought her out of her daze. (It’s alright. You’re safe. I won’t let anyone ever touch you again.)

“...Thank you.” 

---

 

That night, Scarlet once again locked the doors and cast her spells to keep those outside from disturbing her. Then she once again retrieved her Tier 6 mana regenerating clothes and prepared to once again train her [Arcane Mana Resistance].

“You ready?” Scarlet asked her partner as the Raven jumped up next to her.

(Always.) Branwen insisted proudly.

Once again, they used Spirit Merge and Branwen’s power flowed into Scarlet’s body. The tips of her hair turned white, the polished white plate appeared between her eyes, flowing down to the tip of her nose, and a pair of white wings, with a 5½ foot wingspan, spread out behind her before folding close to her back.

Unlike when Branwen was still level 1, the power was much easier to grasp now, as she felt her stats increase.

[Health +58] [Mana +174] [Stamina +87] [Strength +58] [Fortitude +58] [Dexterity +116] [Finesse +87] [Agility +145] [Reflexes +145] [Intelligence +87] [Wisdom +116] [Charisma +58] [Deception +87] [Artistry +58] [Magic +174]

With each level Branwen gained, she was receiving +2~+6 in every stat during their Spirit Merge, which added up to a decent boost. Though it was a boost that was about to become a lot stronger.

[Branwen has reached level 30.]

[Branwen is evolving.]

Being merged with her Bond at the time, Scarlet felt the rush as Branwen evolved, the boost she was getting from her Bond doubled.

[Health +120] [Mana +360] [Stamina +180] [Strength +120] [Fortitude +120] [Dexterity +240] [Finesse +87] [Agility +300] [Reflexes +300] [Intelligence +180] [Wisdom +240] [Charisma +120] [Deception +180] [Artistry +120] [Magic +360]

[Branwen has evolved into a ‘Sacred Raven’]

[Branwen has learned the Inherent Skill [Change Size].]

[Branwen has learned the Inherent Skill [Weapon Merge].]

[Branwen has learned the Bond Skill [Song of Valor].]

Evolution was a serious boost, but it did come with a downside. The cost of maintaining Spirit Merge had more than doubled, reaching 5 mana per second just to keep the form going. ...Not really that big of a deal for Scarlet.

“Yes, evolution!” Scarlet cheered, throwing up her arms in celebration.

(Let’s see how I look!) Branwen said, undoing the Spirit Merge so that they could take a look at her. (So, what do you think? Is it not the most spectacular evolution you have ever seen?) She asked, pushing her chest out with pride.

Scarlet looked over her partner from her head to the tip of her tail. “Um… I think the pume on your chest might have gotten more puffy.” Scarlet mumbled.

(...I didn’t change at all!) Branwen cried out in distress.

“It... it’s just because it’s the first evolution. The next one will be more spectacular. I’m sure of it.” Scarlet said, trying to comfort the raven.

(The next one… right. How much longer will we need to train to reach the next evolution?) Branwen asked.

“Um… It happens at level 80 so… Given the rate we’ve been going… A little less than 100 years.” Scarlet admitted weakly.

(...) Branwen went into shock, her wings wilting. 

“But that is only because training that way is inefficient. Once we start hunting monsters, it will go much faster.” Scarlet said, trying to reassure the bird.

(...Let’s go.) Branwen said, puffing herself back up. (Let’s go fly to where the monsters are and get my evolution!)

“...That…” Scarlet laughed weakly at her Bond’s enthusiasm. But they couldn’t go right that second. They were in the middle of the most secure territory imaginable. No monsters were within reach of them, even with flight.

...But it was something that Scarlet should start to really think about. If she wanted to continue to grow, she would need access to monsters to fight.

“We’ll start looking into fighting monsters soon, but we can’t just yet.” Scarlet promised. “For now, let’s focus on what we can do. We’ve gained access to [Weapon Merge] and [Song of Valor]. Let’s try those out.”

(...Alright.) Branwen said, a little unhappy to not be flying off to hunt monsters that very moment, but understanding that they couldn’t.

For now, all they could do was train and grow stronger. Strong enough that she could protect her beloved master from anything and anyone.

(I won’t let anyone ever touch you again. I promise.)

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