It was all a Scheme

"We lost her"

Asher's figure could be seen on one knee in front of Lance. His clothes were torn apart, and he still had some patches of hair on his body.

"Shit!!"

Lance hit his hand on his lap in frustration. The stupid b*tch had managed to get away from Asher and Ember eventually. It was not only frustrating, it was flat out vexing.

"Grrrr"

From the distance, Ember Changed back to her human form as she slowly approached Lance and Asher.

[

Name: Asher

Race: Kunnui

Loyalty: 200

Title: guardian

...

Name: Ember

Race: kunnui

Loyalty: 200

Title: guardian

Born from the designs of the inheritor of lust to be his loyal guardians. The kunnui are an advanced race of shape-shifters that are not only formidable in strength but also intelligence. They are masters of espionage and are insanely loyal, they are bound to their masters for life.

]

After a few of Lance's 'activities' Asher and Ember were born. At first Lance did not think much of it, but as they grew older, they gravitated towards him and became his loyal friends. However, at the age of 6, they transformed for the first time, at that point, Lance knew that they were special.

The system classified them as his guardians, so he knew for sure that they were related to it.

"She stole the spell"

Lance gritted his teeth, she pretended like she had no interest in the grade 1 spell, but she ended up stealing not only that, she also took the mysterious manuscript 'The Nordic Winter'.

"We need to let father know'

Lance couldn't imagine the consequences of what had just happened, not only had he lost a potential grade 3 spell, Arian had seen Asher and Ember change their forms. This would not be the end.

After a brief recovery, Lance, Asher and Ember made their way out of the forest and towards the main house, where they saw both parents seated outside

"Isn't that Lance and his friends?"

Escanor looked over and frowned, from his distance he could already make out their raggedy appearance. Ember and Asher's clothes were torn up, and Lance looked like he had been beaten up. Feeling some fear in his heart, Escanor and Laura stood up and rushed over.

"What happened? Where is the priestess?"

Immediately after reaching, Laura asked. Her hands quivered slightly as she touched Lance's bloodied face, she was shaken after seeing her son in such a state.

"The priestess, she has been stealing spells from the library. We found out and she..."

Lance spoke with clear pain in his voice. Even though he knew half of what he was telling were lies, he made it seem like he was truly hurt. He completely framed her and explained that she tried to kill him.

"She dared!!!!"

Escanor boiled with anger, he had brought her to exorcize a spirit and not only did she fail to do so, she stole from him and almost killed their son?

"Do something Escanor!!!"

Laura looked at Escanor with eyes filled with a vicious light that seemed like it wanted to burn through all of existence. There was nothing more terrifying than a mother who was seeking revenge for her child.

"Get my horse!!!"

Escanor said at the top of his voice, and not long after, a host of guards rode from the guards wing towards them. Escanor got on one of the horses and rode towards the gate.

"Come with me, let me get you cleaned up"

Lance's mother, Laura, held Lance by the arm and led him into the main house, where she planned to give him some treatment.

A few hours later

The sound of horses galloping into the courtyard of the family mansion resound, drawing the attention of Lance, who was currently being treated by Laura and a few housemaids

"He's back….."

Lance raised his head and looked outside the window, where he saw his father approaching the main door with disappointment in his eyes.

"Click"

The door opened and Escanor entered, his eyes trailed around and landed on Lance. Seeing his father loom over, Lance tried to stand, but Laura stopped him.

"What's wrong?"

Laura frowned, the look on Lance's face was quite strange. It seemed like he wanted to say something.

"Hm? Speak"

Escanor too could see the look on his face, he felt a bit sad. Prior to this, he had been hard on Lance on the account of the priestess, who knew that he was protecting the wrong person? The only fear he had now was that Lance would hold a bit of hesitation when speaking to him from then on.

"The spells, I know their names…."

Lance struggled to say, his voice was quaky, like he was blaming himself for letting it happen.

"It doesn't matter lance, just rest up, they are only spells"

Escanor walked towards Lance and assured him. He didn't want him to feel like he was the one to blame for any of this. However Lance persisted

"I understand, but that's not the only issue, there was something she said before leaving…"

"It doesn't…."

Escanor tried to put Lance at ease once again, but he was cut off, this time by Ember

"She said that the church would exterminate us, and that we are harboring an incarnate of a demon"

Ember had tears in her eyes when saying this, it looked like she was really hurt by the whole thing. But most of all, she felt fear. One could easily understand her plight, this was the only place she called home, and it was under threat…what other reaction would be expected from a kid?

"Ohh?"

Escanor had a confused look on his face. That made no sense, unless...

"Did you recognize the name of any of the spells?"

"Yes, one was water bombardment and the other was called Nordic winter"

As these words left Lance's mouth, the entire room went silent. But in the next second, escanor's look turned horrid.

"Gunter!!"

He immediately called for his head guard, who ran into the room As fast as possible. He looked around before bowing to Escanor

"Send a swift horse to Brother wilder, tell him to come with every man he can muster"

Escanor commanded the guard, the Nordic winter spell was a very powerful spell along a line of ancient spells that even tracked down to a grade 5 spell. Putting two and two together, Escanor could quickly understand why she called Lance a demon incarnate.

It was a ploy, so they could justify their action of stealing the spell from them. Their narrative would be that they didn't steal anything, they only came for the demon incarnate. This simply meant that they would not stop coming until Lance is dead.

There was no way that he would let his child die like that. Escanor turned to his wife and nodded his head, and in response, Laura too nodded hers.

"Lance."

Escanor bent on one knee and looked Lance straight in the eye. The whole room fell silent as they watched with keen attention.

"Would you like to become truly powerful?"

"Yes"

Lance responded with absolute certainty, He asked a pretty obvious question, in this world, only the strong ruled and to live a fulfilled life one needed strength. Lance didn't just want to become powerful, he craved power.

"Good!! Then I will take you myself, two years, in two years I will make you a battle - hardened warrior"

These simple words sent a stream of blood all around Lance's body, previously he was being taught by a random priestess who probably didn't have much experience, but now? He would be taught by his father, one of the most powerful sword and magic users in this part of the kingdom, The Blizzard

Sword.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

A day later

A young lady with torn up clothes entered a luxurious courtyard garden where two individuals sat having tea

"Your holiness"

The young lady went on one knee in front of the two individuals, she didn't know who the other one was, but for him to sit opposite their queen mother, he must be of high status.

"Oh Arian, you're back? How was the mission?"

The queen mother looked over at the young lady and asked, after escaping from the Nadir family household, Arian ran all the way to their church. She had hit the Jackpot, even though she didn't know exactly what Lance was, she knew it was related to evil. Reporting it to the queen mother would get her massive rewards.

"I found something disturbing your holiness…"

"Oh really? Well spit it out."

"But….."

Arian hesitated, even though the person beside the queen mother could be one of high status, there was still a need to classify some sensitive information.

"Anything you want to say to me, you can say to my friend here"

She was trying to curry favor from The person seated next to her. This young man was one of high standing, higher than even herself.

"As you wish…"

Arian then explained in detail what she had seen Asher and Ember do, and how Lance was the one in control, she even went as far as to add some extra sauce like seeing Lance control spirits. She wanted Lance and the others dead, they had humiliated her over and over again, she wanted revenge.