Chapter 59: 4-2 First Day Part Two

Stahlia, Twelve Years Old, Second Month of 948.

“Begin!” at the instructor’s shout… nothing happened. It was honestly a bit of a letdown. Instead of rushing each other, both Dominic and Ferris just stood in place holding their stances. Obviously, I knew what they were doing, each was waiting for the other to make the first move. It was a bit surprising; given Dominic’s recent childishness I had expected he might rush in screaming some fanciful battle cry. Did my apparent acceptance mollify him a bit more than I thought? Or does he actually respect Ferris? Either option was likely, and I couldn’t decide which I would have bet on.

After several seconds of waiting, it was Ferris who made the first move; stepping forward one pace, he closed to just inside Dominic’s range before dropping immediately back out of it. Trying to bait a cheap swing, Dominic won’t fall for that though. Indeed, Dominic only reacted by adjusting his stance slightly to one more appropriate for defense against sudden strikes.

This… this is awful.  Glancing around, the other students seemed to share my opinion. Our class was largely, and by that I mean entirely, composed of members of Rupert’s faction so all of them had been rooting for Dominic’s swift victory. The fact that he was being forced to take things this slow and carefully was upsetting the onlookers, though they knew better than to do something as banal as jeer.

Just as I was beginning to wonder if anything would happen, Dominic seemingly had enough and made the first actual attack. Swinging his training blade down and around to catch Ferris’ side, he pivoted off the swing and around to the back.

Ferris caught the sword on his own, and attempted a counter after sliding his own blade off Dominic’s. Dominic ducked under Ferris’ sword and attempted a jab with his elbow that was easily avoided. Transitioning into a rapid exchange of blows, the two of them pushed each other up and down the field. This went from nothing to one of the most intense fights I’ve witnessed.

A quick glance around showed that most of the others couldn’t actually follow much of what was going on. The instructor and I both could, but out of the remaining students, only a couple of them seemed able to keep up. I knew Dominic was around this level, but Ferris is three years younger than him, just how intense is the Febligi martial training?

That couldn’t be the whole story though, as I witnessed Ferris leap into the air and come down with his blade being driven ahead by his weight and gravity. A ten-year-old shouldn’t be able to move like that. Not unassisted. Of course, he was being assisted by the levels and stats. Though to be able to keep up with Dominic… I wonder what Ferris’ level is? Honestly, the longer I watched the fight the more I wanted to appraise Ferris.

Jumping into the air isn’t a smart choice, and Dominic capitalized on that, but Ferris brought his sword around with an impressive acrobatic maneuver and used it to adjust both his own momentum and deflect Dominic’s blade; by using that same blade as a fulcrum. Dominic has higher base stats than Ferris; his muscles are stronger and more developed since he’s matured… physically.

Ferris had a clear advantage in technical ability, and his level was definitely higher. The higher multiplier to his base strength from his stats and smart blade work was the only thing keeping him in the fight. But it’s over, Dominic won. Ferris might have higher stat multipliers, but he was also burning Stamina a lot faster. His acrobatics might look flashy and be hard to track but Dominic was able to keep up, if only just. With that hurdle cleared, he only had to play it safe and he would win.

As if by some spoken agreement, the two of them leaped backward in unison, and as I had thought would be the case, Ferris was breathing more heavily than Dominic.

“You, why don’t you try fighting like a man?” A murmur ran through the class at Dominic’s comment. He had intended it to be overheard too if the volume was anything to go by. This doesn’t bode well…

Chancing a glance at the instructor, it seemed he was intent on letting things play out, if he had any intention of stopping them I couldn’t see it. At Dominic’s verbal jab, Ferris cocked his head to the side curiously, “Because… I am a boy?”

“Pff!” I couldn’t help it, his retort was so completely accurate, and so in character for someone who didn’t care for the usual noble theatrics. I laughed once. Of course everyone overheard, including Dominic. His face immediately darkened, and an ominous heavy aura seemed to come down over the field. Shit, I just had to go and laugh… What is he going to do now?

“A boy? Yea, that’s right. You’re just a boy. A little boy. That’s all you are.” His words were mumbled, but they carried quite well in the silence that had followed my screwup. Ferris tensed, and readied his sword. HE seemed to recognize the situation he was in, as his demeanor had lost its playfulness. Looking at him now, I couldn’t see Ferris anymore; I saw a warrior facing death.

“AAUUGH!!” Dominic let out a roar and charged straight at Ferris, any trace of his form seemed to be gone. On a hunch, I pumped mana into my brain and optic nerves, slowing my perception of time to a crawl, then I engaged my divine eyes. Dominic’s sickening mana light was focused on his limbs, his core was nearly dark while his arms and legs were glowing like a roaring furnace.

Compared to my own light, his was at least twice as bright. What did he do!? Ferris won’t be able to avoid a blow that strong or fast! In my world of slow time, I saw Ferris beginning to adopt an evasive stance; he wasn’t going to try to block or deflect. Too slow!

Dominic had closed half the distance. For me, about three seconds had passed, and my time was slowed to roughly a tenth of normal right now. I canceled the divine eyes and diverted more mana to the task of speeding my perceptive abilities.

The instructor’s hand was moving to the hilt of his sword, he had finally realized that something was horribly wrong, and was going to intervene. But he won’t make it. Dominic was going to reach Ferris in only another couple of seconds, according to my perception.

A flash.

I blinked, and knocked Dominic’s sword aside with my own. My legs screamed at me in protest, but I ignored them as best I could and glared up at Dominic, “That. Is. Enough.”

“Stahlia…? What, what are you doing…? Get out of my way.” Dominic’s eyes were seemingly looking through me, filled with hatred they were staring straight at Ferris behind me.

Ignoring my protesting muscles, I opened my metaphorical faucet and flooded more mana into my arms. Increasing my strength yet further. With the added multiplier I was able to push him back a bit, but he only leaned into me and was able to cancel out my gains. What the hell kind of skill is he using!? Like an anger and hatred-powered limit break!? I glanced at my mana stat in my status.

I wouldn’t be able to maintain this state for more than a few more moments. Either my muscles would disintegrate, or my mana would run dry. Either way, I would be blown away from the force between us as soon as my resistance faltered. I could step aside and let him through, but that would definitely result in Ferris’ death.

Damnit! You childish! Oaf!

I couldn’t let myself get killed here, but just as I was sending a mental apology to Ferris before I got out of the way, the pressure against me vanished. Of course I stumbled forwards, but unlike Dominic, I was sane. After I caught myself, I turned around and saw the instructor holding up Dominic’s body. He had finally intervened, and it looked like he had done something to incapacitate Dominic.

Now that the situation was under control, I released the mana I was packing into my muscles. Slowly, I knew I was going to be in trouble already from how much mana I had pushed in, a quick glance at my tank showed I was down to only a tenth remaining. As the mana came out of my limbs, I could swear I heard them creaking audibly.

Suddenly feeling weak, I stumbled forward. It’s strange… my body feels heavy… The instructor noticed what was happening and appeared in front of me. When… when did he get to move so fast? If he could do that… why didn’t he… stop them sooner? I tried to raise my arm and signal that I was fine, but it refused to listen to my commands. Ah… I fucked up big time… That was my last thought before passing out.

I came to lying on my back, on a white-sheeted soft mattress. Looking around with just my eyes; my head refused to move, I couldn’t recognize the room. I seemed to be alone, which was a bit frightening. What… happened…? The last thing I could remember was the instructor of my swordsmanship class teleporting over to me and then nothing. Before that… I stopped Dominic from killing Ferris in a blind rage… I had to move quickly, so I didn’t really consider the method… I enhanced my muscles… way more than I should have.

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I was suffering from the consequences of oversaturating my body with mana, I had heard about this happening to people who overused physical enhancement magic. Normally, it would be recoverable. But that’s only with chanted enhancement spells. What I did was closer to a rough copy of the [Limit Break] skill. I definitely hurt something… My status wasn’t too helpful here, since there was no HP meter or stat, and no “current state” field. All I could go off was the aches and pains I was physically feeling.

And that assumes I wasn’t given anything to numb them. After considering trying to get up, I decided to remain where I was and rest. I would be checked on eventually, and it wouldn’t be worth the risk of getting up on my own. Not until I knew the extent of my mistake. I had felt real fear at the thought that I may have irrecoverably damaged myself. No, not irrecoverably, there’s always Goddess’ Draught. Of course, that isn’t a real option… it’s so rare, though Rupert might be able to arrange something… No, I shouldn’t be so pessimistic, I’ll recover normally.

I did my best to keep telling myself that I would recover as I whiled away the time, but that was an unknown. For all I knew, I had absolutely shredded my muscles. Finally, I heard the door open and snapped my eyes to see who had entered. Four people filed into the room. First, Rowell took up a position where he could see everything. What the hell were you doing when Dominic was going psycho huh? Sure, you’re a spy, but isn’t your cover as my guard knight? Shouldn’t you have tried to do something?

Second, my sword-fighting instructor, who stopped a few feet away from my bed and watched me with a conflicted look on his face. Gustav, who I was a bit confused to see. Though I suppose he’s here in his capacity as Rupert’s vassal, and he could cite being concerned about me as one of his top students, giving him a valid excuse. The last of the four took me a moment to recall as I searched her face out in my memory; my head was still a bit sluggish.

Her name was… Clarice, the White Magic instructor. I had her class after sword fighting. Clarice approached my bed the closest and waved a hand over me, which bathed my body in bright light. Some White Magic spell. I didn’t feel anything, so it was probably an appraisal of some kind, based on the lack of her losing her shit I could assume it was either fairly basic. Or more likely, it was geared towards medical use and didn’t show much stat info.

“Well, you’re awake, how are you feeling then?” Her voice was soft but a bit high-pitched. It made me think of a mouse squeaking. Which compliments her mousy appearance I guess. Clarice was short and slight and had brown eyes partially obscured by librarian glasses. Her brown hair was tied up in a bun, further accentuating the appearance of a librarian of some sort.

I tried speaking, but all I managed to do was grimace as pain shot through the muscles of my jaw. Of course grimacing also hurt like hell. She nodded, “Yes that makes sense, given you used a skill like [Limit Break], this is about what I expect of your condition. Honestly, if you wanted instruction in healing magic, you should have waited until class, instead of pulling that stunt.”

I wanted to frown, but I was afraid of how much it would hurt so I kept it to myself. It isn’t like I wanted to do something like what I did… I just sort of moved. If anything, you should be blaming Dominic… Normally, I would have been getting angry right about now, but I was too sore and too drained.

“And you Gustav, coming barging into my lesson and dragging me here. The school has nurses, she would have been fine for an hour or two until I finished.” I hadn’t spoken much with Clarice before, since I wasn’t in her class, but I was already decided that I didn’t like her a whole lot. White Magic is mostly about healing and boosting one’s allies. Why is the healer so… irritable, shouldn’t you have a good bedside manner?

As for why Gustav had gone straight to her after learning what happened… well that wasn’t too difficult to figure out, he had gone for the best healer the Academy had. Though the question remained of how exactly he had found out so quickly. I would have to ask later; I didn’t think I was being spied on, but it was a curiosity I would like answered if I had the opportunity to. Besides, I could think of a few viable possibilities other than a shadow if I really tried.

Clarice turned her attention back to me and passed her hands over my body, bathing me in more light, “Honestly, you savior types are all the same. Always jumping in over your heads… There, you should be able to move now.”

At her words, I tentatively tried to lift my head and found that I was able, though it was sluggish. Looking up at Clarice in disbelief, I croaked out my gratitude, “…Th-than-k, y-you…”

Clarice waved her had to silence me, “Save your gratitude. I did not heal you. You used [Limit Break] and badly damaged your muscles and pathway. I only started the healing process, the rest will have to move naturally; too much mana will only cause further damage.”

I closed my mouth and nodded, but Clarice didn’t seem satisfied with that. Continuing while staring at me hard, “That includes magic you cast as well. Additionally, there will certainly be no more using [Limit Break] until you are fully recovered, preferably even after you recover.” She turned to Gustav, “See to it that she actually listens to the doctor’s orders, Gus.”

Gustav looked like he had eaten a bug, but he didn’t argue and just mumbled something that was probably his acquiescence. “Gus”? Sounds like those two have a history… I made a mental note of the information, in case I ever needed to make Gustav uncomfortable for some reason.

Clarice left the room after running one more scan on me, and without saying another word. She’s got an “interesting” personality. When I manage to recover, her class will be… fun… I could only imagine how she might act towards me in her class now that this had happened. Gustav nodded in my direction, “Try not to let Clarice get to you. She might seem brusque, but she means well. For better or worse, she knows first-hand what happens when people bite off more than they can chew.”

That probably has something to do with why she calls you “Gus” doesn’t it? Not that now was a good time to push that issue. I managed a sloppy smile, then moved to the biggest question on my mind now that my eventual recovery was assured, “I, Won…’t, how, long was”

Gustav nodded, “Brisben here sent one of the class to fetch help right away, who I spotted running down the halls in a panic. After he explained things I went and fetched Carice; in total, you were only out for a half-hour or so. Though, I am certain it felt much longer. Mana over-saturation tends to do that to your perception.”

I nodded, then glanced at the sword-fighting instructor, who hadn’t moved since taking his position. Catching my gaze he bowed his head, “My apologies, Lady Stahlia, for my foolhardiness.”

Excuse me, what now? I get that you need to apologize socially, but this is a bit more than I was expecting from you. My confusion must have been showing somewhat on my face, as he nodded then elaborated on what he meant by that, “I knew there was a risk to letting those two fight. I figured it would be worth it; if they fought it might help breakdown the faction barriers between the class. I should have known that the politics run too deeply.”

…That’s the takeaway you got from that…? They were pretty clearly fighting over more than the faction shit. He nodded, then broke out into a grin, “Still, I knew you had gotten stronger but not that strong! When you recover you owe me a duel eh?” turning on his heel, my sword-fighting instructor left me alone with Gustav and Rowell. The former of which was rubbing his temples, a motion I sympathized with but did not want to risk making just yet.

“Instructor …Gustav, where is… Dominic…?” Gustav looked surprised by my question, which was curious to me since it seemed like a question that would be obvious to ask. Sure, I was no longer engaged to him, but Rowell was in the room with us for one. For two, I had just been nearly killed because of that bastard, I should think knowing where he was would be information that anyone would want to know in my position.

Pausing for a moment to think, Gustav answered me, “Back at the estate by now I should imagine; his father came to collect him shortly after we got the two of you into the infirmary.” Count Francois came to collect Dominic, but left me here…? Technically, he’s my guardian when I’m in the capital. If he’s leaving me behind like that, I can only presume it’s meant as a threat to me.

If the count was joining in on his son’s childish behavior, then I didn’t see any reason to continue playing nice. If it wasn’t for Rowell being here, I would have asked Gustav to tell Rupert to please hurry things up a bit. This whole family is shit… No, Elienor is decent. And Margeritte hasn’t done anything to really earn my ire. Other than asking me to call her mother, even that was tolerable compared to how Dominic and Count Francois are acting. I misspoke! By how they’re treating me, it’s more like I murdered their firstborn or something.

Laying back in the bed, I called out to Gustav. If I wasn’t going to be welcomed to the Francois Estate, I may as well move out, “Lord Gustav, please do me, a favor. Tell Jacqueline to gather what’s important.” I didn’t wait to hear or see his response and shut my eyes to rest a bit more. I outranked him, for all intents and purposes. This first day of school didn’t go how I intended… and I guess I failed to do what Rupert asked and maintain an outwardly good relationship with Dominic, but I don’t think I can really be blamed, given the circumstances. For now, I need to add “heal” to my list of priorities. Once Jacqueline gets here, I’ll use my time off school to try and address that problem… I can maybe kill two birds with one stone.

I heard the door open and the sound of two sets of footsteps heading towards it. Cracking an eye open, I watched Rowell’s receding back. You are honestly a shit spy and a worse bodyguard. But I think I have a use for you. We’ll see how you do at that. I did my best to ignore the cold feeling that settled in my stomach at the prospect of what I was planning to do. The step I was going to take. It’s necessary. I can’t avoid this forever, not when I’m planning to take down something like the Order of Shadows. Even with Rupert’s support, I’ve been avoiding the issue for way too long. There’s no way I would be able to act without getting my hands dirty.

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