Chapter 9 - Hope

Lying in the bed, I feel the light emanating from the window into my eyelids, waking up from my slumber and feeling pain in my eyes. My eyes were feeling red and puffy from the constant crying from yesterday's event. Despite the pain, I feel the arms of someone's embraced, letting me attain my full senses back.

This warmth... Is familiar.

I look up and see a familiar long, white silky hair can only remind me of one person: My mother. She was laying down and still sleeping with a subtle smile on her face, still covered up by the sheet while hugging me gently. I enjoyed this moment of relaxation before someone knocked on the door and entered.

Mia came walking from the door towards the bed, and in which two other maids accompanied her from behind while trolling down a selection of clothes and other accessories.

She saw me and smiled warmly at me.

"Good morning, Young Master. Hope you had a pleasant sleep."

Still feeling dazed, I just nodded at her words. My mother began to wake up shortly after Mia and the maids entered the room and began to rub one of her eyes while yawning.

Mia and the other maids bowed down when they saw her waking up.

"Good morning, Your Grace. The maids will begin to dress Your Grance and the Young Master while I tell you today's schedule."

My mother got up from the bed and went to the other side of the bed from where the maids were, she soon picked me up from the bed and smiled at me before facing Mia.

"I see. Hopefully nothing troublesome happens today."

Still carrying me, my mother moves to the open area of the room where a full body mirror stands alongside a golden dressing screen with a sofa further near the wall and window where the cabinet lies.

She gently passes me to Mia as the other maids soon began to changer from her undergarments and robe to a sophisticate and lean looking Victorian rococo dress with the bodice being light sky-blue with the skirt being white.

They brushed her hair and let her long white, wavy hair be free without being tied up, and then began to put up some simple accessories like earrings and necklace.

Mia began to dress me up in the same usual attire of a white long-sleeve button down underneath the blue-grey vest with black shorts reaching my knee with white socks over my ankle and black polished formal shoes.

After being changed, Mia gently sat me down on the couch and walked towards where the accessories that were brought were.

She put a blue tie ribbon on my collar and surprisingly put a soft textured blue bucket hat on my head.

She continued to stare at me with awe while other maids always joined in the spectacle after finishing their dressings for my mother.

"How adorable you look, Young Master!"

I was then suddenly lifted up into the air and brought to the arms of someone, I turned my head around form where the maids where and saw that it was mother who carried me, smiling at me with content.

"My, just look how adorable my cute little Lysander looks."

I must admit, being treated as a child still feels awkward at times. Even now, receiving such complements makes me feel embarrassed. But still, it is nice to be treated like this. I was never treated like a normal child before.

My mother continued to carry me to the hallway corridor towards the dining hall to eat breakfast. The maid still following us from behind.

I look through the window, being on the second floor, I look down towards where the knights are training with their swords in the spring breeze, sparing against each other while doing extreme exercises.

It makes me think about how weak I still am.

Yesterday event, I tried to formulate the necessary magic output. For it to only go out of control and explode on me, severely injuring me on the process.

But because of that experience, I can feel the wave of mana more clearly now.

I continued to look at the knights that were still training and saw different colored fogs among each one of them.

No, it is safe to say that that isn't what you call a fog, but Mana. Each person has a distinct mana color that represents everyone separately. The more rings a person has on their heart, the stronger the Mana they emit.

I look at my hand and see a clear-white fog surrounding it.

The color of my Mana is white...

I clenched my hand. I gently closed my eyes and tried to recall what Leo said to me that day.

He was out in the hallway and was about to head to the training grounds to train the other magicians. I stopped him for a moment to ask him questions I had about the book I read.

"How to feel the flow of Mana?"

He scratched his head and thought for a bit before trying to come up with an answer to my question, trying to simplify the words behind them.

"It is quite hard to say... being able to feel the flow of Mana is equal to trying to achieve the first ring around your heart. It requires long effort and patience, which usually last months or years to attain..."

He looked at me for a bit and closed his eyes while having his hand on his chin.

"Just think of it as a sixth sense. It is the same as being able to identify all the single snowfall that falls from the sky and touching the ground or feeling the breezing wind from every single leaf in the forest. Feeling the tremors from the earth from every footstep of every living being or knowing the current of every particle in the water in the ocean that travels all around the world."

He opened his eyes, having a serious expression in his eyes.

"By feeling Mana, you must assimilate yourself with nature. All the nine elements of magic stem from the world. Of course, my previous examples are quite far-fetched. But if you can't understand the way each attribute works in the world and how every element represents you, you can't even fathom the magical energy of each magical attribute and how the flow of Mana feels."

"I see..."

He took out his pocket watch and saw the time.

"Forgive me, Young Master, but I'll have to leave towards the training ground, or I might be late as it is. Hope that I answered your question."

He slightly bowed and hurriedly left, leaving me with many more questions than before.

I opened my eyes and see that I'm already at the dining hall. My mother sat me down in the chair and sat next to me while the food was already laid down in front of us.

Yesterday, I tried to summon a flame in my hand.

Looking at my hand, I closed my eyes once more and began to feel the moment from yesterday.

Yesterday I failed because my aptitude for fire was at its lowest. Not being able to control the flame as I wanted to, it went out of my control and led to the explosion.

I recall experimenting with my attributes yesterday with the attribute crystal I found from the library.

By imputing mana into the ball, you can know which elements to use and what attribute you're more affiliated with. Records have shown that the maximum attribute that a person had was five attributes.

But surprisingly, it stated that I had all nine attributes, and from the following order went my aptitude from greatest to least: Ice, Water, Light, Nature, Wind, Lightning, Earth, Fire, and Darkness.

Fire being low on my aptitude, I began to think the feeling once more that I tried with Fire, but this time with Ice.

Still having my eyes closed, I extend my hand.

Ice: A being that freezes everything it touches, creates the season of winter, and makes the weather cold without any worries of the disaster it creates. Yet, it brings all the familiar snow that many people enjoy. Children play in the snow, throwing a small handful of snowballs to show friendship, and further enjoy the warmth of the fire as the family gather and share moments of joy with stories as they sip from their warm cup.

But what does Ice mean to me...?

I open my eyes and I find myself in the depths of a forest filled with snow. All the trees lost their leaves to store energy for the winter. I look around but see nothing else but snow. I walk around and see a frozen lake. The light shining on the ice showing the many plants and animals that still live inside the ice, frozen.

I gently placed my hand on top of the ice.

Ice... Ice is so cold, very cold.

It wraps around my heart and dulls every emotion that I don't know I have. Yet, it calms me down when I'm most afraid or scared. It eases the pain from the world yet locks out the beautiful moments that I cherish with those I care.

Ice... It's a curse to me. A burden that I continuously carry as a sin. It drives away all my sanity and precious memories that I can never look back at.

Ice... It hurts....

The feeling of being frozen alive, unable to do or express anything. Waiting to be melted, only to be let down.

It hurts...

I raise my head from the frozen lake into the open field where no trees reside. In the distant view I see a figure of a person, mumbling something that I can't understand. Every time a blink, I see the figure get closer and clearer, having long white hair that I know I saw before. They put their hands down my shoulder and shook me for a bit before yelling.

"Lysander!"

I soon opened my eyes at the call of my mother. In my hand, I see the shards of ice enveloping my hand.

It doesn't hurt... But it still feels cold.

To activate any sort of magic and materialize it, Mana is required as the essence. Vise versa, to stop a spell requires you to stop implementing your Mana into the spell.

As the ice received more Mana from me, it began to grow from a small fragment of Ice into a block that is bigger than a cup. I immediately stopped supplying it Mana by instinct and clenched my hand.

After a second, I opened my hand and only fragments of the ice fell to the floor.

I look at my mother, seeing the worried expression that she made when I summoned the Ice.

Cold... It feels too cold...

My vision became blurry, soon enough I fell from the chair and hit the floor. Hearing the commotion that came from it.

My eyelids start to close once again from exhaustion.

I'm sorry for worrying you mom, I feel guilty that you must worry about the mistakes and blunders I have made during these past few days.

But I just want to save you...

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Immediately after Lysander fainted and was about to hit the ground, The Duchess immediately stood up from her seat and grabbed him swiftly. She ran with her child in hand to the doctors and priest that were stationed in the mansion and asked them to treat him.

Immediately after the doctors took the child from The Duchess hand, she immediately fell to her knees while putting her hand towards her heart, her face looking pale as she began to sweat profoundly.

Her Mana Pool is severely low. It can only mean one thing. Seraphina was about to be born.

She put one of her hands on the floor to stabilize herself as the other doctors began to surround her and try to pick her up from the floor.

She was rushed immediately towards her room and separated from her unconscious son who remained in a separate room. Many maids and doctors stood by her side, awaiting the soon to be child and care for the Duchess during the process. The Duchess lying in the bed, unable to think of anything else.

Mana is like the essence of one's life. Without any Mana, the condition of a person can prove fatal if not rested enough. Even with the Bond of Mana, which continuously drains Mana for the child's birth, it can prove fatal if not supplied with Mana continuously.

The Mansion springs into panic as both the Young Master and The Duchess are in critical condition. Mia, holding a red crystal shard, spoke to the person who had the same version of the red crystal shard, reporting the current situation and telling them to report to The Duke who was currently surveilling the actions of the Count.

Immediately after being notified, he hurriedly returned to the mansion with a desperate expression, thinking some sort of action was done to them. After returning to the mansion, he hurriedly rushed to them to see their condition.

The Duchess' condition stabilized after taking some Mana Potion, a potion that can artificially replenish someone's Mana immediately. Lysander has also been stabilized but is currently in a deep slumber for an unknown reason.

As the day began to darken, tension continued to arise in the mansion. Inside the Duke's office there lies the lit fireplace below where the window was placed, he sits in his chair with unease while seven individuals stand in front of him.

Three of them known: Mia, Leo, and Veda. But the other four not none.

Two of them, who had black robes, with hoods covering their heads, making their faces unable to be seen. They took their hood off, showing the tall young boy and girl of around their early 20's who are twins. Both have deep brown skin with black hair and brown eyes, the boy had a horizontal scar etched in in nose with short, ruffled hair. The girl had her hair in a high ponytail reaching her upper back, a scar going vertically near the edge of her mouth. Underneath their robe they carry disposable blades, combat knives, and a short blade.

A tall, muscular tan man with short messy blonde hair with his eyes showing a mixture of green and lavender, with a hint of red, carrying a large sow in his hand wearing a farmer hat, a green coverall, and a brown sturdy boot. In one side of his neck shows a large scar reaching from his collarbone to his jaw. Despite his looks, he is in his early 20's.

The last person was a rose skinned woman of average height, having long wavy red hair that reaches her lower back with blue, crystal eyes. She wears a nun outfit with a necklace of a cross in her neck. Being the youngest of the bunch, of around Mia age of around 18 or so.

They all stood in silence before the duke spoke.

"... Tonight, we will initiate our plan."

They all fixed their posture to hear his command.

"Mia, you'll be protecting Isabella and Lysander during this night. Make sure to quietly move Lysander into the room with her. Make sure you protect them at all costs."

"Yes, Your Grace."

"Veda, you and Leo will guard the rear of the Mansion."

Veda nods while Leo responds with a respectable nod.

"Nila and Priya, you'll guard the east side."

The tall girl with the hoodie nodded while the red-haired girl took a deep breath.

"Finally, Nilo and Qadir will guard the west side."

The blonde man gently elbowed the boy arm with a smile, while the boy with the hoodie just looks away with a sigh.

The duke stands up.

"I will be guarding the entrance of the Mansion, while the guards will protect the outer section of the Mansion. Veda, I stand that you and Leo will be able to cast the magic."

Leo places his hand in chest.

"Yes, alongside the silent magic around the mansion, most of the residents and workers won't be able to hear the commotion outside. We also set up some trap magic around the forest premises in the rear of the Mansion alongside some areal magic for flying enemies."

"I see..."

The duke takes a deep breath.

"I still worry about some factors that we might not see about. Limited information was gathered about the mercenaries that were hired."

The duke picks up a multitude of papers, each showing different people, each having more detailed information than the others with a sketched image of their appearance. One of them shows the image of a young girl with pink hair.

"This girl. Few things are known about her, even her abilities. The only thing that mentions is that she is a rank four magic swordsman..."

Everyone faces stifles; Mia looks at the duke directly before speaking.

"To think that a magic swordsman other than the Your Grace appeared... Aren't their abilities superior to what their rank entail?"

The duke closes his eyes while he is speaking, trying to think his words carefully.

"It is rare to see a person able to wield both magic and swords, though not impossible. But It's nice to see another magic swordsman, it can prove a viable experience for you all."

Everyone sweats at his word.

The duke reaches for his pocket watch and sees the time.

"It's close to the allocated time now. Please go to your posts now, we can't make any mistakes like the last time."

Everyone slightly bowed their head and soon dispersed in their own way. The duke looks at the window of his room and sees the full moon once again, he looks at the paper of the pink hair girl once more.

"... It seems her wish was in vain."

He looks below the fireplace that was still lit and gently throws the paper into the fire, looking at the flame overcoming the paper edges onto the sketch of the girl. Once the paper fully submerged into ashes, he closes his eyes, a black shadow fully covering him until bursting into dark particles, where the duke disappears to this selected post, the fireplace extinguished with nothing but ashes remaining.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

A Magic Shard can do a lot of things depending on their color. But one of the most useful ones is the Red Crystal Shard, where inputting mana into can help communicate with people from even the other side of the world.

The cost varies, especially if you want shards for more than two people to communicate. But there is nothing that even people of low income can't afford in Blakesty dukedom.

The duke and the other seven people have shards to communicate with each other, be it to report anything or for simple communication.

The knights guarding the outer area of the Duchy began combat under the duke's command. Hired mercenaries have begun to "invade" the duchy. The weaker mercenaries fought with the knights while the stronger ones faced off with the more experienced knights under the duke. This can be considered a war initiated among nobles if not by the intervention of the emperor.

Those that have a third ring or higher began to make their move.

Around hundreds of the hired mercenaries have three rings around their heart, eighty have four rings, while eight have five rings. They all spread out equally into different sides of the duchy estate and infiltrated into the inner area of the mansion.

In the rear area of the estate, Leo holding a wooden staff while a wide burst of air and Mana surrounded him. Mercenaries entered the forest, and a series of bombardment began to initiate as one or groups of mercenaries began to explode, but they all kept running until they reached the end of the forest. For about sixty percent of the mercenaries survived.

"God damn it, you better protect me you Vampire."

Veda, who stood in front of Leo untied her red robe and it flew away with the wind. She looked at him from behind and smiled.

"Half-Vampire for your correction. No need to be aggressive."

"Just hurry the hell up before they mess up my magic formulation!"

A bulky mercenary closed to Veda as she continued to face Leo. Leo, with one eye opened shout out to Veda.

"Watch out!"

Veda faced the mercenary and grabbed him from the neck as she began to cut off his respiration.

"So, you worry about me, how cute~"

Leo ignored her remark and closed his eyes. Concentrating on his magic. Maintaining the silent magic, remotely activating the selected trap magic while re-installing them and all while providing some buffs for his allies.

Veda saw his concentration and began to focus on her task.

Holding the mercenary that was already dead due to suffocation, the other mercenaries reached the of the forest and saw her as she threw the body to the ground without remorse. She adjusted her grip. She smiled.

"Now, how can you entertain me?"

She flicked both wrists and extended her fingers, the metal part of her glove soon extended over her finger into a claw-like weapon.

The mercenaries hesitated for a bit before resolving to fight her.

A momentary pause before she appeared to one of the mercenaries that was running towards her. They all stopped as they didn't know what had just happened. She immediately pierced the mercenary heart and took out her hand.

In the moment of hesitation among the mercenaries, dozens of them began to scream and die out as they hit the floor with their heart pierced. Blood oozing out as a small stream began to form on the dead people.

She placed her leg on one of the dead mercenaries. A dark red aura surrounded her as she licked the blood of her claw. With an emotionless face.

"Hmm... This is much more boring than I thought it would be. I'll just finish this quickly then..."

In the west side of the mansion where Nilo and Qadir stationed, many mercenaries were already being defeated.

A smoke bomb covered the vision of the mercenaries as their vision were taken in the smoke. Nilo swiftly went behind the mercenaries and pierced their hearts with his short blade one after the other.

Qadir with his farmer hoe began to slice the mercenaries with precision. Pinpointing the tendons and ligaments to render them motionless before dealing the final hit. With most of the mercenaries already defeated, a brief period of relaxation was possible for the two people.

Nilo standing there while catching his breath heard the yell of Qadir who waved at him.

"Hey! it's been a while since we got together since we were both busy. How about we go for a drink later? I'm sure I can satisfy you like always~"

Nilo closed his eyes and sighed at his remark.

"Now is not the time... Let us talk at a later time."

Qadir smiled enthusiastically at his response.

"That means a yes then, right? No take backs!"

Nilo sighed once again, but smiled for a moment before more mercenaries began to make their way.

"We'll talk later, right now focus your hand on the assignment. We don't want to disappoint the duke."

On the east side of the mansion, Nila and Priya were holding off the mercenaries.

Nila continued to onslaught the enemies head on while Priya continued to support her with healing magic and provide her buffs.

Mercenaries who came too close to Priya were immediately impaled by a beam of light that was prepared in advance so she could solely focus on support.

Nilo, with her short blade, stabbed the heart, neck, and brain of the mercenaries while throwing knives to impair them and immediately strike the finishing blow.

As the number of mercenaries throughout the mansion was decreasing by the minute, Mia stood inside the room where Lysander and Isabella were resting.

A magic shield was protecting them both, Mia standing near the bed as she stared intently at her surroundings. Near the window howled the wind rustling the tree leaves.

Mia continued to stand silently before looking to her right and drawing the sword that was hidden.

The pink haired girl wearing a black robe clashed sword against Mia and both moved back.

Mia looked at her and took her glasses off, exposing her brown eyes that can see clearly without the glasses.

The pink girl took a step and forward her sword in front of her without any hesitation and faced the tip of the swords towards the direction of The Duchess.

"Move. My only aim is to kill her."

"You have to go through me first."

A pink aura began to surround the pink hair girl while a peach-colored aura began to surround Mia. Both looked at each other with discontent as they were ready to clash swords against each other.

In that moment, Lysander woke up from his long slumber.