Chapter 57 - Bloodletter [End of the Arc 1]

The journey towards the border towns was surprisingly peaceful, and Roland found enough solace on more than one occasion to fall asleep. Now and again, he was disturbed by the noises of passing gentle towns or a large animal roaming outside. The meadowy pastures stretched on for miles until the harsher, rocky terrains appeared in their place. Uncle Brutus told him about the current climate of the realms, the strives between kingdoms, and the likely fate of the Cloud kingdom and its silent King, with what was being propped up to sound like a potential invasion.

Roland was extremely happy to be leaving this place. Concerning Uncle Brutus's plans, the seasoned knight knew all too well the dangers that would likely befall his castle. Therefore, he had already planned to migrate a little further south, hoping to secure more men at arms to help defend the inevitable. 

Roland couldn't say much about this; in truth, there was very little he could do. As someone with a fair bit of experience in this field, he knew that his Uncle's plan might not go so smoothly. 

By the fourth hour after their departure from the Cloud Castle, heavy clouds had shifted before the sun and blotted most of the falling sunlight. Spells of frigid winds swept through the valleys and walked into the carriage through the small cut windows. Roland felt a chill rush beneath his frail clothes. Thankfully, Brutus had given him a clean, heavy brown robe with a secured hood. Roland peaked out of the side window and peered ahead. The uneven grey-stoned road trickled down the valley towards a tall, red-tiled windmill resting at the bottom of the hill. The carriages rolled down the hill and gently crawled.

An aged small farmhouse was built to the side of it, with an open white pen filled with beautifully groomed horses. Tall, slender trees flanked the sides, with luscious flowers sprouting along the bed of grass matted neatly around. 

Roland searched the area and couldn't see anyone around, but he was assured this place was being tended to based on how neat and orderly everything looked. The leading carriage wheeled to a standstill, and then the rest slowly fell in line. 

Brutus was the first to dismount. With an air of vigilance surrounding the knight, he roamed the small area. Roland noticed that one of his gloved hands was never far from the sheathed sword. 

Once Brutus confirmed the area was safe, the rest of the armed men followed suit and casually dismounted from the carriage to join him. Roland was among the last few to step against the flat ground. His body felt slightly heavy, weighed down from fatigue, and the feathery sensation was still drifting through his thoughts. But he was glad at least his wounds had noticeably already closed up. 

'This increased healing is getting handier by the minute.' He thought, staring momentarily at the fading scar against his palm. Roland also noticed the dark triangle etched against his fingertips, with the tiny swirls around it. 

A few hours before, the bite from the dagger had cut so deep he could see his bone. And yet now, only feint traces remained. He placed a steady hand against his shoulder and rubbed it gently. Frighteningly, he still felt the dagger ramming between his shoulder blades whenever he stopped to think. It still felt like a distant dream when he recalled that fight. 

"My Lord, I've found something." A voice echoed from deep into the ghost-like farmhouse. Roland behaved like the others and quickly honed in behind the tall lighthouse. Roland arrived just around the bend when Omega's voice suddenly filled his thoughts. 

{Warning! Unusual energy detected! The host is advised to deploy caution.} 

Roland hurried behind the group as an idea flashed through his thoughts. 

'Scout mode.' 

The greyscale vision took over his view, and Roland saw the world in flickering colors. His gaze shifted ahead, where the bulk of the armoured men were honing towards. But something seemed off; surrounding the entire small farmhouse was a dazzling purple flame burning brightly amidst the world of grey. 

By design, Roland's run turned into a slow walk, and quickly, he found his feet planted firmly against the ground. A sharp pain struck his temple, prompting him to dispel the skill. 

The world returned to normal, and the purple bonfire was gone. But that only made his fears worsen. Watching his Uncle storm forward, a slight panic rose in his gut, and he quickly stretched out his hand in a bid to warn the group. 

"H-HEY WAIT!" 

Roland saw a spark of white in the distance, and almost instinctually, he shielded his gaze from the expectant outcome. 

*BOOOOOM* 

"Cough-cough" 

Roland rang his ears until the whining sound had dissolved away. With haste, his gaze searched the farm area. The men closest to the blast were struggling to rise to their feet, but thankfully, he could tell none of them were badly hurt. 

'W-wait...was that mana?'

The farmhouse itself was completely destroyed. Once the smoke finally cleared, what Roland first saw made him rub his eyes a few times. 

Floating above the debris was a dazzling bright light shimmering in and out. The figure was no bigger than a toddler. Completely naked, with thin, see-through wings fluttering behind its chubby body, Roland had heard of these things before in folklore and songs, but never in his wildest dreams was he expecting to see one today. 

Its entire body was cyan, and it had large, round eyes. The eyeballs looked glazed with silver; the fairy gave an empty look around the air before a devious grin frighteningly creased against its childish face. Roland saw the creature visibly stick out its middle finger, turn around, and smack its bottom a few times before it bent its neck backwards and flew away at a resounding speed into the clear skies above. 

Safe to say, all the men were shellshocked for a while afterwards. 

"What in the world is going on?" Roland slowly breathed. Before he was given some time to process anything, he heard the sound of the wind stirring behind him. He twisted around on his heels as a second voice descended before he could finally look at her. 

"You...you bunch of useless idiots! Do you know how long it took me to seal that thing? Got-damn-silly-b-b-BONE HEADS!" 

Belle Viloetseed sat gracefully against a flying broomstick, slowly descending towards them. Her clothes made her look less childish today, and her blue hair was styled differently. Roland locked eyes with the tabby cat nonchalantly perched on her lap. 

A sense of gladness filled his heart, albeit he was still shaken by the sight of those creatures he recalled were called...

"Fairies! Do you know how expensive those little suckers go for? Huh? Do you?" Belle waited for her feet to meet the ground before stepping towards Roland and squaring her feet before him. With a clearly angered look, the little childish-looking girl placed her two hands against her hips and stared directly into his eyes. 

Roland was trying to find the angle where this was his fault. And also, what kind of greeting was this? 

"I know somehow, someway, you had something to do with that, didn't you? y-you rascal?" Her fingers started pointing, and Roland tried not to be on the end of those pokes. 

"It wasn't me." He protested with a weak smile 

"Pretty smiles won't work with me no more kid, hmph! Don't worry; you'll be paying for that yourself if I have anything to do about it." 

"I-I didn't do anyth-" 

Roland suddenly noticed the furry feline placing itself between him and Belle before he heard its voice. 

"Leave the child alone, Belle; besides...look, the little Initiate is growing up. Isn't that right, Roland Smoke?" 

Hearing his name coming from the talking cat sent a slight shiver down Roland's neck, but he could only awkwardly smile in response. The rest of the guards had slowly caught on to the spectacle and closed in. 

Belle turned to face them all. Her narrowed eyes scanned across the group with little to no emotion. Her gaze hung on Brutus a little longer than the others before she turned back to face Roland. 

"Good, we have some volunteers to help fix the farmhouse. Right, you there, keep quiet and listen up."

Roland blinked at her wordlessly; he wasn't planning on saying anything.

"Good, we only have 6…maybe 7 months before the dirigible leaves for the emerald seas. So I have 5 months to ensure you don't completely embarrass our family name once you take the apprentice exams." 

'F-family name?' Roland wanted to question it, but he noticed from her demeanor she wouldn't give him a chance 

"No questions as well. Right, it goes without saying you'll have to be adopted into our family. D-don't look at me crazy like that. It's not official, but you must be under a wizarding family for legal purposes to take the test without any backing." 

Roland cocked a single brow up and lowered his gaze. Sir Mynx a lot chuckled playfully as though it knew something funny about what Belle was saying. 

 "Don't ask me to explain; we-we-we'll talk about it later, ahem. Anywho, five months, training, apprentice Exams. That's all you need to worry yourself with. If you want to learn magic, you'll have to be accepted into one of the unseen colleges. You have as much luck as finding a tri-horned unicorn though. So I hope you learned a bit from that scroll I gave you." 

She started pointing again, and Roland did not learn anything from it, given the time frame, the issues in his sea of awareness, and the escape from the cloud mansion. He was even quite certain that he had left the scroll under his bed. 

"Oh and I still need to see the example of a spell. I'll gladly send you back home if you didn't-" 

Before she could finish her rant, Roland held out a single finger and conjured the strange blue fire on the top of his fingertip. A Smokey black gas with grey surrounded it. Not only were the men around him making oo and ahh sounds, but the blue-haired girl was definitely surprised. In fact, Roland saw her take a step back before giving the cat beneath them a concerned look. 

"Heheh- well-well kid, my instincts are still never wrong." Said the talking cat 

"Looks like you might be even weirder than I thought, isn't that right, Miss Belle?" The feline gracefully peered upwards. Belle quickly realised her mouth was hanging open and quickly twisted her nose away from Roland.

"Hmph! He's not all that. B-but what kind of fire is that any way you rascal." 

"Ah, before that, let me extend this official greeting. As we do in our world.

As Grand Master to Student.

I, Arch Magus Mynx- a-lot. Humble advisor. And the 13th, now retired patriarch.

Humbly welcome you, Roland Smoke, forgotten child of Cloud, to our family.

The family known as…Bloodletter. And may your future days be filled with mystery and magic…fufufu. 

End of Arc 1