Chapter 263: Chapter Two Hundred Sixty Four

We headed straight for the Pavilion when we touched down. There was  no rush getting home, at least not for the four of us. Zeke headed back  with Cass and Cark, and Celine said goodbye to Benny and headed for the  Academy to meet up with her team. When we got to the Pavilion, it was  mostly empty. We'd gotten there around mid morning, and Abel and Mel  were relaxing in the stands, sharing a cup of something hot and with  Alden and chatting as they watched the Pavilion members train.

"When  we walked in, their eyes all flicked to us, and I raised my hand in a  wave. "Hey there!" I called over. "We just got back in, so we aren't  here to train right now, but I wanted to stop in, check up on Pavilion  business, see how everyone was." I held up a bag I'd been carrying for a  while. "I also brought presents!" We'd discussed it and figured  bringing even lame gifts would make Abel more likely to leave us alone  the first day back.

Sure enough, at the mention of  presents, the rabbit masked man's head perked up and he practically  teleported to the space in front of us. Or literally teleported. It was  hard to tell with Abel. Still, it made me smile to see my teacher so  excited. "Presents? See, this is why you two are my favorite students.  None of my other disciples bring me presents." He was practically  bouncing in place as Mel laughed behind him, striding down the stands  with wide steps that covered several benches at a time.

I  rolled my eyes. "We're your only students, so that isn't saying much,  but yes, we brought you presents." I reached into the bag, pulling  out...a huge paper package full of meat. "We figured you might enjoy  some new cuts to test out for the cart. We hit up Rantano's in the WCP  over in Valen and got a sample of all their regularly accessible premium  meats. We talked over some terms with Suki, and if you're interested  she's willing to set up shipments of whichever ones you like best, for  some...small considerations."

Which meant money, but  buying in bulk she had assured us he would still be able to turn a nice  profit. I'd expected derision or an eye roll, but to my surprise, Abel  looked...touched. It was hard to tell through the mask, but I was pretty  sure the man was completely dumbstruck. Mel, who had only gotten close  as I explained it, gave me a warm smile. "That was very thoughtful,  Solomon. Abel has been missing his sausage cart. He hasn't really had  time to get a new one set up here with all the Pavilion business and the  training, but it's been on his mind."

"Yeah." He said,  his eyes fixed on the package in his hands. "I...thanks kid. That means a  lot. Most people assumed I'd give up on the cart when I came back. Said  it wasn't dignified for a powerful G-ranker to run a food stand." His  voice was bitter and I was pretty sure I knew who that sounded like.  Fucking Cicero, he was pretty much incapable of not being an unmitigated  bastard.

Mel's jaw tightening up at the comment pretty  much solidified that for me. I just rolled my eyes. "Fuck those guys. I  love to cook." I put my arm around Callie's shoulders. "You think a  giant thug like me gets a woman like this without serious culinary  skills? If I didn't feed her there's no way she would stick around." I  caught a sharp elbow in the ribs for that, but she was smirking a bit  under the glare. She knew I was just trying to cheer Abel up.

The  rabbit masked asshole nodded sagely. "We were wondering. You aren't  good for much else." I flipped him off, and his serious expression  melted into a snicker. "Seriously though, this is going to be great. I  recognize a few of these meats, but I haven't had a chance to work with  them much. After I left the circus I was on my own, and I didn't have  much in the way of funds. The only skill I really had that I could  market was fighting, which sort of defeated the purpose. I worked my way  up the cuts I was able to afford now, but it wasn't anything this  quality."

It made me think well of him that he put so much  work into his passion, and I was glad I'd been able to help. I reached  back into the bag. "Mel, I'm afraid this gift is slightly less  meaningful, though no less heartfelt." I passed her a red sphere of  crystal. "It's a focus crystal. The ruby was mixed with a drop of blood  from an Ifrit. Not enough to make it higher than F-rank, but it  amplifies the heat of flames by a quarter, and lowers the cost by a flat  ten percent. We weren't sure if you had something better, but we  figured it would be of some use as an offhand weapon either way."

She  tossed it effortlessly into the air, catching it on a fingertip and  setting it to spin. An Ascendant dropping an object that size and not  being able to pick it out of the air was pretty much impossible at our  rank, so no one batted an eye as she tested the balance and the weight.  She focused and a candle flame bloomed in front of her, shifting shapes  into a snake that wrapped her arm. She nodded. "This is fantastic. I'll  need to do some training with it, but it should compliment my current  weapon pretty well. Thanks, both of you."

Her warm tone  was enough to convey her appreciation even through the mask. We passed  Alden his present (a selection of Valen microbrews) before I turned to  face Abel with the question that had been on my mind almost since we  left. "So. What is in store for the last two weeks?" I asked with a  forced casual tone. "I know we aren't training today, but I figure  knowing what's coming will help us prepare."

To my  surprise, the grin I got this time wasn't exactly entirely malicious.  There was a hint of the usual sadism, but it was also part genuine  excitement. "Well, I was planning to have it be a surprise, but we're  going to take a trip down to one of the dark districts. It's one of the  more out of the way ones, so we won't be running into anyone too  powerful. No E-rankers will be in this one, and any F-rankers Mel and I  should be able to handle between us. But it'll be a live combat  situation that we aren't likely to be able to recreate."

You are reading story Wish upon the Stars at novel35.com

I  froze. That was...terrifying and amazing at the same time. Even an out  of the way dark district seemed dangerous as hell, but the chance to  experience that kind of environment was definitely exciting. "Wow.  Really? But isn't the whole thing with the dark districts that anyone  can show up there? What if we run into someone too strong for us?" I  knew that they wouldn't be able to take every F-ranker, or even a bunch  of them together. E-rankers I was less worried about with Zeke around.

Abel  just shrugged. "It's unlikely this territory will have too many people  with real potential. There's almost nothing valuable there. It's kind of  an agreed on newbie spot. Not just G-rankers, or there would be no  point, but anyone with real power and experience will be in one of the  other districts. Plus the Beast Lord Garden should have people down  there who can help you out. Hell, Sloane and the other two will probably  be sent along with you."

Mel held up a hand. "Listen.  This isn't going to be entirely safe. We'll do our best to watch out for  you, but there will be real danger in these next two weeks of training.  We won't force you to do this part. You can always say no and stick  with sparring. We just thought live combat would help temper you guys  some, and you've been learning quite a few things that you could use  experience putting into practice."

"That does sound  useful." Callie said uncertainly. " I definitely see why  it would be  helpful. Can we get back to you? I want to talk it over with our team  first, if that's ok." I hadn't even really considered that. Leaving the  others up here to go put ourselves in horrible danger would definitely  suck for them, and no way was I ok taking them with us knowing what we  knew. Talking it out was a smart plan, even if I really hoped we ended  up doing it.

Abel just waved the question off. "Of course.  Like you said, it's not a today problem. Think it over. Just know that  you two are more than skilled enough for us to be comfortable taking you  down there. Your teamwork is extremely refined, and both of you are  dangerous in your own right after so much training. We wouldn't have  suggested it if we didn't think you were ready."

"Doesn't  matter." Mel cut in. "That's a problem for future you to worry about.  For now, you're all home and it's good to see you." She turned to yell  over the the Pavilion members training. "Hey, can you lunatics take a  break for a bit. We haven't had a good party in weeks, might as well  celebrate the kids homecoming." She turned to Alden, who was seated  nearby, cracking into a microbrew that Zeke had mentioned was pretty  decent. "Hey, old man. You have enough refreshments stocked around here  for a spur of the moment bash?"

The  bearded man, looked contemplative. "I...don't know. I'd have to check  my stashes. I'm probably good on booze, but my soda stores have been  running low. Someone keeps raiding them. I have no clue who, but  probably someone with high Perception because I keep them stashed away  pretty well. Anyway, give me a minute to grab what I've got." He turned  to Abel. "What about food? You think you can handle that?"

My  masked teacher grinned. "Obviously." He looked down at the meat in his  hands. "I don't really want to waste the time making new sausages during  a party, but even if I haven't had the time to open my shop I still  have some stock on ice I can use." He grinned at Mel. "I'll take the  money out of Pavilion funds, but don't worry, I'll only charge at cost  since this is a party for me favorite disciples."

She  rolled her eyes, waving him off, but didn't argue as the three of them  scattered to get ready. As we watched them leave I turned to blink at  Callie in surprise. That had escalated quickly. She just grinned and  shrugged. "From our first night here, I can assume they like to throw  parties. I guess we've kept them too busy to have time for them during  training, so having one now seems like as good an idea as any. Besides, I  think they want to make sure we end our vacation on a good note." She  looked around in amusement. "I'd be shocked if it takes them more than  an hour to get set up."

I  turned and looked back over at Jessie and Benny. 'Think we have time to  go pick up the puppies? I miss Jin." My big furry buddy might not be  too insane by Rajak standards, but G-ranked wolves wandering Valen would  have been enough to touch off a riot. Even though leaving them behind  had been the right choice, it was still going to be nice to see my wolf.  I hadn't even realized how used to having him around I'd gotten until  he wasn't there. From her expression Callie felt the same, and we headed  over to talk to Jessie. If we were going to party, we should have the  whole team around.

You can find story with these keywords: Wish upon the Stars, Read Wish upon the Stars, Wish upon the Stars novel, Wish upon the Stars book, Wish upon the Stars story, Wish upon the Stars full, Wish upon the Stars Latest Chapter