The Results of Training
"Everyone, everyone! You have to see this!" Gerolt burst into the service wing of the estate. Yelling at and corralling everyone he set his eyes upon.
"Cease your shouting at once, Gerolt!" Ebbet rounded the corner with a raised arm and abruptly halted after seeing my vassals and I trail in behind the grizzled chef.
"It's all for good cause, Ebb." Gerolt prodded with raised palms, then gestured to me just as my parents entered the room. "His Grace has some knowledge that he wishes to share with us."
"It's true." I nodded as her gaze turned to me. Then moved over to the kitchen proper to pull a few pieces of filleted fish from my shadow pocket and began explaining my actions aloud while layering a clay pot with butter and filling it with pieces of seasoned fish until it was full, then I sealed it shut with a cap of butter.
At which time, I handed off the pot to Ebbet and instructed her to bake it at 162 C for thirty-five minutes, then fish the meat out and replace it in a clean pot after it cooled before finally filling the entire pot with fresh clarified butter, sealing shut.
With her notes taken, I moved on to make a relatively small batch of pemmican by drying out some berries and a bit of the elk meat with air manipulation before pulverizing them both and mixing the mush with an equal ratio of tallow.
"This is survival food." I held up one of the gray-brown bricks of solidified mush. "While it doesn't taste that good as is, a small amount of it will easily sustain you, should you find yourself lost in the wilderness for days or weeks at a time. It can be wrapped in wax paper and kept on the shelf or in a travel bag and remain edible in that way for at least a decade; possibly more.
"This potted fish, however," I held up the finished product of Ebbet's work with my free hand. "Will only last for a few months on the shelf, but can be replicated with virtually any other type of meat or vegetable."
"That's incredible." My father muttered under his breath.
"That's not all!" I reached into my shadow pocket to pull out two large sheets of paper and an ink bottle. Then used water manipulation to carefully draw a thin stream of ink onto the paper. "I think a better version of potting can be achieved through these glass bottles." I handed my father the sheet to look over while I drew up a blueprint for a smokehouse on the second sheet.
"This smokehouse." I continued, handing him the second sheet along with a piece of smoked rabbit. "Is a prototype that can be built alongside the service wing. It'll allow Gerolt to not only cook a larger amount of meat but also to make that meat far more tender and tasteful than it'd otherwise be."
If there was any food I missed the most from my past life, it was barbecue. Luckily, my father instantly agreed to have someone make it after looking over the designs and stuffing them in his shadow.
Which gave me the perfect avenue to plead my case.
"Forgive my presumptuousness." I bowed after respectfully pulling my parents aside. "But, I believe my vassals and I are more than capable of taking care of ourselves; and in more ways than just physical safety. I understand your wishes for me to wait until my next birthday." I nodded to my father. "But I've been held within the estate since the day I was born. I've finished my education, I've read through everything in the library, and I find myself with nothing to do but train in the immense time that I have."
"Then what is your proposal?" My mother curtly asked.
"That we be allowed to establish our own camp on Deap Ridge." I calmly declared. "We'll remain within the far reaches of the Estate's territory and learn to live an unprivileged life. To build our own shelters, find our own food and protect ourselves; skills we'll surely need when we join the academy and later graduate."
"He brings up a fair point, Eved." My father muttered to my mother.
"I'd also like a weapon made for me." I hastily muttered. If I was truly of royal blood, I was sure that giving children weapons wasn't something that was looked down upon. Though I still backtracked in my words a bit. "Not at this particular point in time," I added. "But before I leave for the academy."
At that, my father broke out in soft laughter and stepped forth to place his hand on my shoulder. "Oh, Amun. There are many artificers and smiths who are frothing at the mouth at the thought of you using one of their weapons." He smiled after his laughter had died down. "As for the first matter." He sighed, turning back to Mother.
< "Prove that your words are no mere boast." She loudly declared in the common language. Causing Gerolt, Ebbet, and each of my vassals to turn their heads towards us. "Show us the results of your training.
"Of course, Mother." I bowed, then gestured towards the door. "However, it would be best if we do so outside. Far from the estate."
*** POV: Emeric Cole ***
"Tell me, Jonet." Eved's songful voice echoed throughout the dead zone the moment we stepped into the snow. "Tell me of some of the things my child has taught you." A cruelly efficient tactic I must say, seeing as how they couldn't not answer, and that they were too afraid of her to lie.
"Yes, Your Majesty." The girl turned and bowed as she walked. "His Grace has taught each of us how to properly use elemental manipulation and even how to wield the elements together. Processes His Grace refers to as Elemental Theory and Elemental Fusion respectively."
"I would like to see demonstrations of these processes, if possible," I added with a wave of the hand. I had long since pondered about what Amun and his vassals were up to while they spent their nights in solitude. Surely, I had the ability to scry whenever I liked; but I took pride in the fact that I gave my son the privacy he so deserved.
Though, that doesn't mean I wasn't curious.
In fact, I was just as excited as Amun; who was practically skipping out of the courtyards in front of us. Honestly, I hadn't seen so much energy in the boy in all his life. Meanwhile, Eved seemed as complacent as always. So much that it would've been enough to make me assume the worst, if it weren't for those prideful smiles she'd give every time our young boy spoke his mind or did something noteworthy.
Still, such smiles seemed to have been bequeathed from expectations being met, rather than the pride of Amun's innate greatness.
Or, perhaps I was simply paranoid.
My thoughts were pulled to the present as we arrived at a clearing in the exterior yards of the estate, where Amun pulled a few shadow balls out from beneath him and distributed them to their vassals to… play.
For around ten minutes, they simply threw the balls against the trees or at the doppelgangers at furious paces and cursed themselves on the rare occasions that they failed to catch them. And afterward, they held a piece of braided rope in either hand and twirled it about their bodies as fast as they could with the intention of hopping in place over it without tripping.
Gerolt seemed just as flabbergasted and amused I was; Eve, on the other hand, was staring at each of them with an intent focus.
Looking back at them, I realized the fluidity and grace of their movements was indeed something to praise them for. Even Jaimess; who Grandfather Andus claimed was a bit clumsy, was nearly matching Amun's speed and agility.
Without a word, they all simultaneously stopped and gathered around Amun to toss their shade balls back into the Amun's shadow. And I hastily stepped forward.
"And what was the name of that exercise?" I eagerly asked, half knowing the answer.
I seemed to surprise the lot of them with my words and they all turned one by one as if they'd forgotten I was even here.
"Simple exercises to improve coordination, agility, and dexterity," Eve explained at once, causing a curious glance from Amun before he nodded along in affirmation.
"It is as Mother explained. A simple game of catch, jump rope, and dexterity exercises." He nodded again, then motioned for his vassals to spread out in a line before him. "After this, we usually move on to…" He hesitated to chance a glance at his mother. "To combat training," he eventually sighed.
Even my brows perked up at the mention of combat and I began to step forward before Amun's shadow darkened and coalesced before him into his doppelganger. And soon after, his vassal's shadows did the same and stood before them with their guards high like they were anticipating a fight.
Surprisingly, Jaimess was the first to lunge toward his doppelganger after it settled before him. He slid forth with one leg extended and hooked his foot around his shadow clone's ankle before stomping his other foot right onto the kneecap of the same leg. Causing the leg of shadow to silently snap, but the body above it to keel forward nonetheless. Seamlessly, Jaimess followed through with his momentum and pushed off the ground to tackle his doppelganger and wrestle himself on top of it. Then proceeded to rain down fists on its body and face until it assimilated back into his shadow.
"Oh- oh my." I gasped aloud. Prying my eyes away from him for the first time, I saw that the others; including Amun, had finished off their own doppelgangers and were either standing back on their feet like Jaimess or standing around idly.
"Quick, efficient. Violent." Gerolt chuckled wryly. "I see very few rouges having their way with you, Your Grace."
"That is the intention." Amun charmingly smiled both to him and me, erupting a somewhat nervous chuckle from my lips. "Normally." He continued. "We train like this for an hour before arming ourselves with wooden weapons and continuing for another hour. Then, we'll practice what you all came to see."
With his nod, Jaimess; on the far end, went first and punched his fist at an invisible target before him, erecting a thick cone of earth from the ground at a sharp angle. Without pause, he extended both his pinky and index finger before swinging his fist in a backhanded motion, causing two shrieking blades of nearly visible wind to whip from his fingertips and slice the earthen pillar into two massive boulders and a stump remained attached to the ground.
As his swinging arm trailed behind him, Jaimess extended his other hand until he held a type of celebratory pose with his arms outstretched overhead, where he clenched his fists tightly. Crushing both boulders into a mass of large clumps of dirt and small rocks. He pulled his arms close as he inhaled a deep breath and then extended his arms once again towards each aggregation of earth to shoot out a jet of air with his right hand and to produce a swarming vortex of water below the boulder on the right.
I and all the others watched in awe as the boulder on the right shrank and disintegrated into a cloud of fine dust while the remaining boulder fell helplessly into the awaiting vortex of water below. Collapsing the dirt into the churning fluid, thickening it, and mixing it into a crude brown color after only a few seconds.
After pulling his arms in once again, Jaimess extended his left arm before him in a palm-strike motion while simultaneously extending a knife-hand with his remaining arm at an angle pointing skyward. And following his command, the mass of dust and gravel that had aggregated in the sky churned and took the form of a wedge-shaped sandstorm before hurtling back towards the ground, swiping past the snake of mud rising into the air to curve behind the cloud of dust collapsing onto the pocket of trees before him.
The very leaves and bark and snow were all ripped to shreds under the sheer ferocity of the dusty tempest. Significantly damaging the landscape even before Jaimess slung his left arm downward, sending a tidal wave of mud slamming into the ground that ripped the trees from their very roots and seemingly shifted our entire portion of the island a bit further north.
I couldn't even begin to commend him before Jonet stepped forward with the heels of her palms clasped together and her fingers spread outward. Pulling her arms inward, she gathered the water from the ambient air and snow and from the water, logged within Jaimess' mud; turning the latter back into thick cakes of lumpy rock as its liquid was gathered in a massive orb that floated directly in front of her.
Despite the size of the mass of water, Jonet's brows, gaze, and posture were all totally relaxed. It was as if she were entirely unburdened while she swirled her arms around like she was polishing a large crystal ball. All the while the large well of water before her hands seemed to bubble and toil at a greater and greater intensity until it started simmering and roiling and boiling until it eventually burst into a firework display of scalding steam.
Within the blink of an eye, each of us was clouded in a dense fog that occluded any and everything beyond arm's reach, forcing me to stand in awe of the sudden foggy night that had appeared around us.
I could only wonder if my surroundings were indeed steam, or if not mist or even snow before everything began to churn around me. Mixing and swirling about as if it were alive and within a few seconds, Gerolt; Eved; Amun, and each of his vassals were brought into view one by one.
Naturally, my eyes followed the coalescing aura until Jonet could finally be seen, once again swirling her hands and the cloud of mist back into a rapidly spinning orb of water that, this time, floated above her head.
Once at its former size, the mixing of her hands ceased and instead she flexed her fingers tightly, causing the water's current to slow and eventually stall to a halt, grow opaque and thicken into a spherical iceberg.
While I stared up at it in awe, a raging amber light began to illuminate the berg from the side. Looking over to its source and then down to the ground, I saw Toril emitting what appeared to be nothing short of dragon's breath from his right hand, raised high like that of a student posing a question. The great flame doused us all with simmering heat as it rose in a conical shape to beyond the height of Jonet's iceberg and bathed the night in both an intense amber light and a noon-like heat.
I became further enthralled as he then cocked his remaining arm beneath his shoulder and splayed out his palm, at which time I felt him take hold of a shell made of mana that extended beyond the treetops and pulled any air trapped within it into a pebble-sized sphere at the center of his hand. He adjusted his cone of flame towards the ice as he rose his other hand to meet it, clasping the heels of his palms together and refining the toiling inferno into a pillar-shaped stream of screeching fire that immediately enveloped the ice in a torrent of blue energy. Melting it within seconds.
With the disappearance of the ice, Toril ceased his magic and took a deep breath as he slowly lowered his hands. Then as one, Amun and his three vassals turned to myself, Eve, and Gerolt to give a closing bow to their wondrous performance.
"That." Amun beaned, rising from his bow. "Is elemental fusion."
"I- I knew you were gifted, but yet again you've exceeded my expectations. That was incredible!" I managed to gasp after a few long moments, then took a long pause to get myself under control. "I see you all have taken your training seriously. But, Amun," I said in a more stern, warnful tone. "You must remember that you are a royal. A Grand Duke. It is important to be strong, but it is also important that you remember to act accordingly to your position at all times, and not boast about or show off your strength to anyone. Remain placid and in the shadows, as is the nature of our family."
"I understand, father." He immediately bowed. "Thank you for your wisdom and praise."
"That was some fine work, Your Grace!" Gerolt chuckled with stupor just after. "With all that training, I'd say you're aiming to join the academy."
'Well obviously.' I chuckled internally. 'With all that power, I'd be ashamed if he fell into a political career like me."
"Of course." Amun nodded. "I plan on enrolling into the academy as soon as I'm able to. With Toril and Jaimess at my side." He gestured to the two in question, then nodded at the last. "Jonet won't be attending, as I have her in a more… inconspicuous occupation. I've come to the conclusion that the infamy of attending the academy will have a negative outcome on her career. She will be rejoining us after I graduate from the academy."
"That's… actually a good point." I frowned in surprise. Every leader needs a good spy; whether they be a general or a king. "But Amun, what do you intend to do after graduating?"
"I'll be forming a guild." He proudly declared. "And after I train them up to standard, I plan to breach the barrier and liberate the Ulaian continent. And then spend the rest of my life exploring the Mortal Plane and finding answers to the questions burning deep in my mind."
'It's been said that children should aim high.' I despairingly chuckled inside. 'But by the gods, he just may be able to do it.'
"Doing so will cement your name into history, Your Grace." Gerolt proudly smiled. "You have the entirety of my support!"
Amun politely bowed at his words, causing my continually swelling pride to rise to an all-time high.
At times, he was so capable it was downright scary. But I felt confident in the fact that Eve and I had raised him with enough love and care to mold him into someone who wouldn't abuse that power. Rather, judging from how he treated his vassals, Amun had the potential to become not only the greatest magus but the greatest king that the inhabitants of Maru had ever seen.
"Emeric." Eve's cold voice came creeping into my ears from the side. Seemingly cutting my pride in half. "We need to talk."
Worry blossomed in my chest as I turned towards her; for what reason our talk was needed I could only guess, but I simply nodded my affirmation before turning back to our son to once again praise him for his hard work and dismiss myself.
Then, I stepped on the long path behind Eved towards the depth of the estate.