Relic of the Past (1/2)

Early the next morning, one of Palandri's manservants approaches him with a short letter. "It's from your cousin, young master."

"I'll take it. Thank you," Palandri dismisses his servant.

Once the manservant is gone, the young mage opens up the folded note and reads it. After a few seconds he mutters, "So Cousin Mendri wants to visit me?"

'Yeah. Cousin never wants to see me. It has to be about Haalfrin. With the way father and Aunt reacted to Sir Haalfrin, it's no wonder the other members of the family gained a new interest in him.'

Palandri has no reason to refuse, so he decides to meet in the library at the time the note indicated.

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The next day at noon, Palandri finds himself casually perusing through the books when a brown-haired, middle-aged man approaches him. "Hello, Mendri," Palandri says to his cousin.

In reality, Palandri and Mendri are close in age, but Mendri is only a 1st gate mage, while Palandri is a 2nd gate. Thus, Mendri looks quite a bit older than his cousin.

"Well, cousin," Mendri begins saying, "I would say that I was hoping to catch up to you after several years of not really talking, but I know that you respect honesty."

These two cousins certainly aren't enemies, but they're not friends either. They're just acquaintances who barely even think about each other.

If someone who's practically a stranger suddenly wants to catch up with you like you're friends, that would make anyone feel uncomfortable. Hence, Mendri is completely correct in treating their interaction as a business meeting, rather than a friendly gesture.

"It's about Sir Haalfrin, yes?" Palandri says while putting his book back on the shelf.

"Yes… Who is he? Is he important to the Duke and Aunt Prella?"

Palandri looks down and briefly recalls the answers he's prepared for this conversation, earlier this morning.

The young mage had worried about how to explain Haalfrin's presence and Aunt Prella's reaction. He can't say that Haalfrin is the Demon of the Pit, since the Duke warned him to keep quiet. He also can't say that the man is a god-candidate who slew a dragon since the emperor kept this information a secret for a reason.

The only reasonable explanation Palandri has left is…

"He's a 5th Gate mage," Palandri says in the simplest terms. "Aunt had suffered a spiritual attack from him a long time ago under different circumstances, and she's still traumatized from it."

Mendri's mouth hangs open from this. Isn't the only two 5th gate mages in the world the emperor and the Commanding General at the Threshold?

… Well, the Threshold is in a different world, so technically, there's only ONE mage this powerful in the world…

"What's he doing here!?" Mendi asks, this time in a low whisper. "Shouldn't he be in the Threshold if he's so powerful!?"

Palandri shrugs. "I talked with the Duke about it. Father wouldn't say much. He just said that the emperor covered up all the records about Sir Haalfrin's true strength."

Mendri's head immediately starts spinning with thoughts… 'Is the emperor backing Sir Haalfrin? What's a mage like that doing here? Is the emperor trying to dismantle our family, now that we're no longer of any use? Or, is he trying to scout talented Spirit mages for himself by grabbing Cousin Eli?'

Once his thoughts are all concluded, Mendri looks back at Palandri and nods his head respectfully. "Thank you. But… Why be so upfront with me?"

Palandri shrugs at this. "You'd find out anyway with enough digging. I'd mind as well give it all up easily and make you owe me a favor over this."

"Fair enough." Mendri extends a hand, and Palandri takes it. They both shake on it. "Farewell, cousin."

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Truth be told, when the Vanteri Family members all saw how violently Lady Prella reacted to Miss Eli's new teacher, everyone thought that the man offended their Aunt.

However, when it became clear that the Duke was completely ignoring this Spirit Mage, their opinions started to get more complicated.

Some of them got scared and actively avoided Haalfrin's side of the mansion. Others, like Mendri, dug deeper about him and waited patiently. Others… buzzed around Haalfrin and Eli like an annoying swarm of flies.

Just like that, a week passes by.

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It's early in the morning, and Haalfrin is just barely starting his lessons with Eli. Right now, he's teaching her how to stretch out her Spirit Threads into the physical world.

Just as he's starting his first demonstration, a stranger in a servant's uniform approaches them. "Young miss Eli, I have a letter for you," the maid says while bowing and presenting a letter.

Miss Eli smiles stiffly and takes the letter. "Thank you. You're free to go back to your mistress."

The maid bows back politely and leaves.

"What is it?" Haalfrin asks. "Another one of your cousins?"

She looks at the top of the letter. "No. It's my elder sister, this time." She opens it up and reads the first two lines. "It's the same as all the other letters, though."

Eli finishes the rest of the letter, frowns, and puts it on the stack of letters that are resting next to her.

All week now, there's been a steady stream of her relatives inviting her to various social events.

Looking at the stack of letters, Eli frowns, crosses her arms, and huffs, "None of them paid any attention to me before. I was just a young female mage ready to be married off and never be seen again."

"Doesn't that just mean that they value you more now?" Haalfrin replies. "You're learning very advanced Spirit Magic, so you're worth far more to the family as a mage than as a marriage tool. Shouldn't that make you happy?"

"I… I guess," she mutters before raising her head. She continues more clearly, "It just doesn't feel very good. It feels very insincere."

"If you don't like these invitations, why don't you just get rid of the letters?" Haalfrin asks. "You've got a whole stack right there."

Eli shakes her head. "No. In high society, it's a very clear insult to the other party to destroy an invitation letter until the event in question has passed."

"Ah…," Haalfrin mutters, then he goes silent.

After a moment of contemplation, Eli leans over and sighs wistfully. "I miss my birth parents. Sure, I wasn't in the Main family, and I wasn't as rich as I am now… but everything was a lot simpler. Now, it feels like all this new family cares about are benefits. It just makes me feel very disappointed."

Hearing this, Haalfrin immediately thinks of Freyya's love confession to him earlier – on two occasions no less. 'Yeah. I completely understand Eli's point of view. Those two Death Reapers are only interested in me because I'm a god-candidate with Death affinity.'

It makes him uncomfortable enough when Freyya tries involving his romantic life with her own personal benefits. So, he knows that it's got to REALLY suck that Eli is already stuck with a family that only wants something from her.

"Yeah," Haalfrin agrees, "I understand. You're a Spirit mage, and they all want to include you in their inner circles."

Eli turns to her teacher with a raised eyebrow. "You know, they probably just want to talk to you. It's definitely easier and 'safer' to invite me first and have you tag along, since I'm a member of the family, and you're not."

Haalfrin rolls his eyes. "That's just stupid of them. If they want to talk to me, then they should just say it to my face. All this indirect wish-wash is very annoying, and it wastes time."

As if on que, Eli points down the garden road. There, in the distance, they both see another maid walking towards them with a letter in her hand.

"Ugh. Another one."

However, contrary to their expectations, this maid walks past Eli and bows before Haalfrin. "A letter for you, sir?"

"For me?" Haalfrin asks in surprise. "All right. Thank you."

The maid bows again and goes back the way she came.

Haalfrin spends about a minute going over the letter, and his blank expression is only making his student more curious.

"What does it say?" she finally asks once she can't hold her curiosity in any longer.

"Your cousin, Mendri, says that he was visiting the Vanteri's personal museum, and he found a room dedicated to me. He wants to show it to me."

"Oh?!" Eli exclaims, "You're in the museum? … Oh… You're a 5th Gate mage. That means you're really old. Of course, you're in the museum. Why was I surprised?"

"Why do you guys have a museum?" Haalfrin asks. "I thought the Vanteri family was poor now?"

"Poor compared to before!" Eli corrects him. "He might not be able to afford as many servants as before, but he's not so poor that he has to sell off the family antiques. That's the Vanteri Family's pride, right there."

She looks up and thinks before adding to her thoughts, "Besides, the heads of every noble family are mages, and mages live a long time. Most affluent families have museums anyway. They treat the things there as mementos of their youth more than antiques from another era, anyway."

When you think about it, having a museum is a neat way of showing off what things were like when you were young to your descendants – especially when you've been alive for well over a thousand years.

Haalfrin folds up the letter and stuffs it in his pocket. "Well!" he announces, "This 'Mendri' got my attention. I'm curious now."

He turns to Eli. "Can you send one of your maids to let him know that I've accepted his invitation?"

"Yes, teacher. Do you want me or Palandri to go with you?"

"Nah. You have things to practice."

Plus, it IS his past that he's revisiting in this musuem, and he'd hate his little trip to be interrupted by little kids pestering him with questions.

"Come on, teacher… please…?" Eli asks with pouty lips and big, googly eyes.

"Ew," Haalfrin shudders. "You're over a hundred years old. Don't make a toddler expression."

Eli's face immediately morphs into a bright smile. "Ahaha! You're disgusted face is hilarious! Anyway, I was being serious about wanting to come."

"…Fine," Haalfrin relents. "Just promise to not ask any questions. I don't want to have to talk my lips off just because the historical records don't line up with reality."