Chapter 13 - The End of combat training

Amidst the battlefield soon after Sophie left, Staxius stood in the middle, alone and gazed into the nothingness. Students who participated in this mini-battle of hell watched him closely, he went face to face with an SSS sorcerer. No-one in the entire academy could have lasted a minute, let alone fighting on par with her. Some watched him with envy, while others with jealousy.

The students didn't know that their fight was being watched by nobles around the kingdom, with the strength our hero displayed. He made it into some powerful individual's watch list. One by one, extremely efficient medical team and mages escorted the badly injured for further treatment, among that batch were Julius, he had broken bones, a severe concussion and was just in a bad place.

*Huff, Puff,* "Silvio are you okay?" Lucy asked seeing her friend get healed.

"I think I'll manage, man this school is not for the faint of hearts, even you were defeated. To think the strongest student at our high school was beaten so easily by people who wield mid-tier magic at our age." He added.

"Lucy, Silvio, how are you guys holding up?" Staxius dashed to his newfound comrades and asked.

The only response he got was a nod which signified that they were alright. With a nod of his own, our hero headed for the hospital. The walk there seemed longer, he was physically drained. Dark arts took far out of him, however, his will to see his friend was the guiding factor that helped him overcome his own weakness.

"Doctor Jona, thank you once again for being an angel in saving all my friends, so how are they doing now?" Staxius asked the moment he saw the heavy working Jona take a break.

"Staxius, it's great to see you. Currently, all of your friends are holding up quite well, especially this

Julius fellow, his a real warrior. The only thing he's been begging for was to let him go home, however, his physical state doesn't allow such luxury."

"Doctor, I shan't take much of your time, I think a nurse is calling for you. Don't worry about Julius, I'll make him see reason." He smiled and Jona left.

*Knock, Knock.* "Tis open," Julius replied with anger in his tone.

"How are you holding up?"

"Oh it's you Staxius, I wish I could say I'm doing fine, but I probably will break our promise today."

"What promise?"

"The one you made me swear at the trial, Autumn is home alone at the moment, both mother and father are gone. We only hired a butler, however, he's also leaving today, with plasters on my feet, I can't even hope to move until Friday." His tone got heavier and sadder.

"That is a conundrum, however as your friend, I think I can help you."

"You can? Please do whatever is necessary."

"Well, my magic skills aren't that high enough to be able to heal such grave injuries, nevertheless I

can aid you in another way. Why not let me take care of her until you've recovered enough. Don't worry about my house, I'm living with Duchess Sophie, she's well off, so comfort isn't an issue."

"…"

"I'll take your silence as a no, sorry about trying to intrude in your personal life."

"Fine, here's the address, this may be irresponsible of me but she's quite fond of you. Therefore, I ask you to please take care of my sister, my friend."

With his signature quick wave, Staxius left for Julius's home in the cold and windy evening. It took longer than expected but the first combat training ended at four o'clock.

"How very interesting, this year's newcomers are truly skillful, especially this boy bearing brown hair." A lady with white hair spoke out casually as the fight ended.

"I agree, mother, he is quite handsome." A girl who looked identical to the lady spoke out.

"Queen Sely and Princess Galienne, excuse my rudeness but King Blaine requests your presence in the dinner hall at once." A young butler spoke.

"Theodore, tell his majesty that we shall join him for tea shortly." Queen Sely replied.

"Mother, what are you going to do now? I'm nearly nineteen, and I'm still not betrothed." She pouted.

"I know honey, seeing as you don't have any siblings, we can't marry you into our own family, so we have to search out for people of great interest. This boy for example, he strikes me as someone who's… oh my, I-I c-can't get a read on his p-personality." Queen Sely fell onto the ground

"Mother, did sense magic not work, are you alright? Theodore, come here at once." The princess shouted.

"Don't worry abo… *cough, cough,* me."

"T-that b-boy is a d-demon. Never have I sense so much strength within a p-person. *Gulp.* If left unchecked, he might erase our Kingdom of Hidros which Emperor Paradus Essin graciously bestowed upon us." Sely was lost deep in thought.

"L-listen to me G-Galienne, t-that b-boy is a t-threat to the w-whole kingdom if l-left uncheck, I'll l-leave you with t-this mission. You are to judge and assess this boy, depending on your decision we will either save or kill him. The choice is yours, my strength is slowly draining, Galienne, I love yo…" Sely after getting her mana drained away fell unconscious.

"Good or not, I will ruin your life, how dare a worthless piece of shit hurt my lovely mother. I, Princess Galienne Riverty, swear upon my name that I shall find out who you truly are and end your life with my own hands."

"If only I had my coat with me, this weather is completely wack, is this north pole, can this island get any colder? Enough arguing with myself, this must be the address."

Staxius eventually made his way back to Garnet's house after getting lost for god knows how long. Compared to Sophie's mansion, the Garnet's were just as beautiful but less massive, instead of cars they owned carriages which were black and gold in color. The insignia it had engraved on its doors were one of a blood-red ruby, truly a masterpiece of design.

The doors to the mansion were big, it was unnecessarily tall. Using dark arts, Staxius checked around to see if he could sense anyone's presence. It was empty, just as Julius said, the house was as silent as a morgue. On the first floor, our hero sensed a bit of mana. Ignoring whatever that was, he knocked.

A few minutes went by, no one answered, immediately so many scenarios presented itself in his thoughts. Did she get kidnapped, did she get murdered, did she run away? Instead of thinking rationally and assessing the situation, our hero rushed inside, which was very out of character. His chest began to warm up, the heart-rate increased, it was nervousness and the fear of the unknown. Something broke inside him, he could mildly feel emotions rushing up and down his veins.

"Fireball." A cute and innocent voice shouted from upstairs, instead of it being this powerful and possibly mortal spell, the one she cast seemed like a firefly. It slowly and playfully made its way towards our hero, with the thought of dodging out of the question, Staxius held out his hands in hopes of catching the harmless spell.

*BANG.* The seemingly harmless firefly blew up, thanks to dark arts which is always on stand by, the threat was detected, analyzed and got taken care of, in less than one minute. The fireball spell she cast had three, possibly four elements infused within, fire, wind, and light, feasibly water but that was only a theory. In a blink of an eye, Staxius got behind the unsuspecting Autumn.

"HMM, where did the intruder go? Oh did I kill him… oops? Brother will be happy." She grinned.

"BOO."

"AHHH FIREBALL."

*BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG.* She simultaneously cast five-fireballs, without using an incantation. Seeing her raw talent, our hero was thoroughly impressed by her skill level.

"Calm down young lady, you've changed since I last saw you."

A familiar voice spoke, as the smoke faded away, it revealed the now handsome Staxius Haggard Mirabelle.

"STAXIUS." Shocked, she covered her mouth using both hands.

"Surprise, it's me." He smiled.

"Hello, mister, where is big brother?"

"Oh, Julius is in the hospital, he asked me to fetch you, starting today you will be staying at my house until he's recovered."

"…" Both of them prematurely stopped their conversation, silence quickly devoured the atmosphere.

"Can I see brother Julius first?" Autumn finally broke the ice.

"It's kind of late, but I get it, you won't trust me that easy, let's go meet your brother then."

Walking from the noble district to Claireville academy was hard, halfway into the journey, Autumn fell asleep. Having no choice in the matter, our hero gave her a piggyback ride. Time was now eight-thirty,

"Autumn, wake up, we have arrived at our destination."

"What am I doing on your back mister?"

"You fell asleep so I had to carry you the rest of the way."

"I'm so sorry, please forgive me."

"Alright, if your that sorry then stop calling me mister," He spoke as the piggyback ride ended.

"Can I call you Hag then?"

*Chuckle,* "Of course not, anything but that please." Internally our hero died of laughter.

"Staxius then?"

"Whatever you like except Hag, you see Autumn it means a witch or old lady."

"Ahhh, I get it, so mother is a Hag too."

At that point, Staxius laughed out loud, "Enough joking around let's see your brother."

Having had a lovely conversation with her beloved brother, Staxius waited outside dropping in and out of his conscience. With what little strength he had left, our hero arrived at the mansion.

"Autumn, we have arrived at my house."

"Staxius, it's more of a mansion than anything."

Before he could knock onto the massive door, it opened just like magic, probably was magic, but he didn't care. His body was about to give up at any moment now.

"Staxius Haggard Mirabelle, please do explain how you've managed to arrive so late on the first day of school. It's practically nine-thirty, did you go out drinking? Well it does explain why your wobbling." His sister stood atop the massive staircase which presided over the entrance, her tone was menacing. Scared, Autumn hid behind him.

"Why are you in the company of such a cute lady, isn't she too young to be working the streets? I can't believe my brother is a pedophile, bloody pervert." She continued her onslaught.

"Shut the hell up Sophie, this is getting annoying, could you please j-just l-leave me alo…" *Bam* Staxius passed out revealing the shy Autumn Garnet.

"STAXIUS." Seeing her brother fall, Sophie's heart sank, the heart rate increased.

"Duchess Sophie Mirabelle, my name is Autumn Garnet, Staxius told me to give you this letter in case of him passing out without getting the chance to explain himself."

The letter read,

"Dear sister, if you're reading this, it probably means that I've passed out. I'll cut right to the chase, the girl with me is a friend's sister, he got injured in today's hellish combat training. Please treat her with care and affection, trust me she's an angel, you're probably reading this while my face is on the cold marble floor, what a responsible sister you are."

"Emily please escort Autumn to the dining hall, I'll take care of Staxius myself."

"Man, Staxius barely has any mana left, even with our pact I couldn't sense him. Why do you keep doing that to yourself, that stoic face of yours I hate it, I completely hate it." A tear ran down her cheeks.

"Don't cry Sophie, you've done enough for me, I'll take care of you from now on." He whispered.

Without a word, she left the room, Staxius was in bed, sleeping like a big baby.

"Autumn Garnet, did you enjoy your dinner?" Sophie asked as she entered the dining room.

"Yes my lady, it was succulent." She replied with a smile.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it, however, it's time for bed, you shall sleep in the guest room which is right beside Staxius's room."

Time went on, it was now eleven o'clock, the mansion was completely silent, it was as if staying in a graveyard. Neither did Staxius nor Sophie knew that Autumn could not sleep alone in a massive room. Scared, Autumn sneaked into our hero's bed and fell asleep. With that, the first day at Claireville academy ended.