Published at 24th of February 2024 10:32 am

Chapter 36

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I waited for Father to finish congratulating Senica on her new bracelet before I stood up. None of us were exactly getting any privacy here, but then again, it wasn’t like we’d had a lot back home either. It was a miracle I’d managed to be born at all, once I thought about it. Then again, considering that most huts held at least two and sometimes three generations, and rarely were they any bigger than mine, I supposed there were some differing cultural notions about privacy and what a couple could do with their kids nearby than what I was used to.

That wasn’t to say that I hadn’t heard my own mother doing the deed hundreds of times with hundreds of different men during my first childhood, just that we had been so low on the societal ladder that the people I grew up around didn’t concern themselves with things like being polite or respecting other people. We couldn’t afford to do stuff like that back then.

For all of that, I hadn’t shared a bed with my original mother, and I was doubly glad to be out of the bed of my current parents, even if it was early by village standards. If I could get away with it, I’d build my own little guest room in the garden and sleep there. Assuming I gained some nominal form of control over the village after I took care of Noctra, I was going to introduce them to the idea of walls. We had plenty of space; there was no reason those huts needed to all be single-room affairs.

Eventually, I grew bored of waiting. There was very little in the way of entertainment here, which meant Senica was going to be taking up the attention of at least one other person at all times. Right now, that person just so happened to be who I needed to talk to. I was in no rush, but time wasted getting started was time wasted that Father could have been using.

Once I was on my feet, Father got things wrapped up with Senica and sent her off to play, not that there was much to do. I would not be even a little bit surprised to catch her eavesdropping on us in the next few minutes. Considering the subject matter of the conversation, I didn’t much mind. I just preferred eavesdropping to including her because if she thought she was being sneaky, she wouldn’t interrupt. Hopefully.

“How are you feeling?” Father asked.

“I’m fine. I’m recovering mana at a steady rate and we should be ready to leave tomorrow evening.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Father said.

“I know,” I told him. “I don’t regret killing Iskara. She’s a long, long way from the first person I’ve killed and I sincerely doubt my current life will be so peaceful that she’s anywhere near the last.”

Father tried to suppress a shudder, but I could see it anyway. It did not surprise me that this kind of talk made him uncomfortable. He was a farmer, like most of the village, and not even one who dealt in live-stock. There was very little in the way of fresh meat in our diet. It wasn’t entirely absent, but only a handful of people were required to take care of the few chickens and pigs the village owned.

For all his temper and however satisfying it might have been to punch Cherok in the face, Father wasn’t comfortable with a display of lethal magical power. There was certainly nothing wrong with that, and it wasn’t like I was intending on bringing him with me to Noctra’s assassination. If he was a lucky man, he’d never see anyone else die again. I wasn’t going to bet on that happening, but it was technically possible.

“I want to start teaching you magic now that you’ve ignited your core,” I said, pushing the conversation along to a new topic. Father hesitated a moment, then nodded.

“Do you think I’m ready so soon?” he asked.

“Why not? Anyone can learn to use magic. The only thing holding you back was a lack of mana. Besides, you’ve got to start somewhere. You’ve got some reserves built up. I’m going to get you started today with a brief overview of different disciplines and some simple exercises.”

“Ancestors save my soul. I’m back in school,” Father said with a laugh.

I flashed him a grin and said, “You’ve never had a master like me.”

“Oh no, what have I gotten myself into?”

He wasn’t taking me seriously. That was understandable, given the circumstances. I was three. I was his son. None of the magic I’d used was all that visibly impressive. I lacked the time and resources to put him through some intensive training, for now. But I’d have him cursing my name before my fourth birthday.

“There are seven disciplines, but we are only going to concern ourselves with two of them today. They are: alchemy, conjuration, divination, enchantment, inscription, invocation, and transmutation. The two we are going to work on are conjuration and invocation, but let’s go over the rest in the broadest of possible strokes.

“Alchemy is the discipline of extracting mana from raw materials. This is different from ambient mana as the materials filter or alter the mana in some fundamental way, which can be used to a variety of effects. It is a complicated discipline that we will not be spending any time on for the simple reason that it’s worthless here. Without any ambient mana for the raw materials to take in, there is nothing here that can be used as a base for alchemy on its own.

“Divination is the act of receiving information through structured magical spells. It can be used to see far-off locations, hear conversations from miles away, find someone or something you have lost, and even predict the future in a limited capacity. There are some novice divinations that we’ll study at a later time, but it is one of the more difficult disciplines to start with.

“Enchantment is the discipline we will most likely visit after conjuration and invocation, and it is characterized by its study of spells that rely on artificial mana cores to function. It has nigh-endless applications and mages who choose to specialize in this discipline are almost always highly sought-after and well-compensated. It is also one of the most technically demanding disciplines.”

“Inscription-”

“Whoa, hold up,” Father said, interrupting me with a raised hand. I felt my mouth twist into a hard frown, but I paused. I hated being cut off when I was speaking.

“You have a question?” I asked.

“If I’m not going to be learning any of these disciplines, why are you explaining them to me?”

“No apprentice of mine is going to be so poorly trained that he doesn’t learn at least the basics of every discipline. Given our location, I am inclined to give you some slack when it comes to alchemy, but rest assured, you will learn enough of the other six disciplines to at least perform basic-ranked spells and be able to self-learn intermediate-ranked ones.”

“And what if I don’t want to do that?” Father said, challenge in his tone.

“Then I will call you a fool and wash my hands of teaching you anything at all. I will not have a student who does not wish to learn.” It was clear to me that my father wasn’t taking this seriously. Unfortunately, I lacked the means to show off some of the more spectacular spells in my repertoire.

“Gravin, I know you mean well, but I think you are forgetting where we are and who we are. We are simple folk. I work in a field every day, and thanks to you, I’m going to be able to get more done in less time and be in better shape at the end of it. But I don’t need a mage’s education when I am not a mage.”

I stared at him, dumbfounded. “Do you honestly believe I spent the time and resources to help you ignite your core so that you could remain a farmer when I was done with you?”

He bristled at that and snapped out, “Whether I choose to remain a farmer or do anything else isn’t really up to you, now is it? What makes you think you have a say in my life like that anyway?”

This wasn’t going at all how I’d expected it to. Perhaps I’d just become used to my former reputation. For hundreds of years, I’d had people begging me, sometimes on their knees with their heads pressed against the floor, to teach them magic. Literal kings and emperors had tried to entice me into tutoring their children. And everyone, everyone, understood the inherent power and status of an archmage. There’d rarely been a need to impress upon a prospective student how rare of an opportunity they were being given, not even if they were of royal blood.

And then there was my father, a simple farmer who’d spend most of his life being swindled out of his mana by a con man, born and raised in a desert without a speck of mana in the air or dirt. Not only did he not understand what I was offering, he didn’t even care to find out. He was humoring me, the way any parent might when their child told them something they’d learned.

The Gravin part of me was hurt that my dear father, whom I loved so very much, wasn’t taking me seriously. The Keiran part of me was coldly furious and seriously contemplating leaving him stranded up here for a few days after we left. I would give him some advice on the invocation he’d need to get down and let him figure it out himself. Maybe he’d be more appreciative of me in the future.

I firmly quashed both of those parts. It was not fair to hold Father to the same standards as students from my past life. He wasn’t a mage. He was barely even an apprentice, and only by the most technical of standards. And he was right. He hadn’t asked for this. If not for him needing to do this to save Nermet’s life, he would still have a dormant core.

“You’re right,” I said. “It wasn’t my place to just decide that you would become a mage. But you still should. There are so many things I can teach you. Even with your core limited to its current stage, you could learn spells to feed a dozen families by yourself. You could learn how to defend the other villagers if a monster appears in the fields. And they’re going to need that. Noctra has to go.”

“You have a point, but, Gravin, I don’t want to be the guy who fights monsters. I tried that once. It didn’t end well for me. It got someone else killed.”

“Not to put too fine a point on it, but if you had known the spells I plan on teaching you, even just the novice level ones, you might have saved your friend’s life. Someone in this village is going to need to know how to do this, someone who can lead them. I can’t do that, not now. Maybe not ever.”

“You think I can?” Father was incredulous. “They hate me.”

I shrugged. “How many of them do you think are going to follow instructions from a child? I can’t even get you to do it without an argument, and you know what I am.”

“We could leave Noctra in charge,” Father said.

“Is that really what you want? He literally kidnapped you and tried to sell you into slavery. He’s been lying to everyone for over a decade and stealing the mana of over a hundred people. We’re one bad harvest away from starving to death because of him. He has to go.”

Father sighed, but nodded. “I know. It’s not ideal. But it might be worse without him.”

“That’s why I’m trying to teach you what you need to know to replace him. I don’t expect you to become a master, certainly not overnight and maybe not ever, but I’m hoping to teach you enough that you can help others ignite their cores and make this village prosper.”

“I don’t want that responsibility. Twenty years ago when I was a kid, sure. But not today, not now.”

“Sorry, you’re the only one here. Even if it’s not forever, someone needs to step in. Noctra’s not going to just leave us alone while I interview the neighbors until I find someone I think is a good fit. It’s you or no one.”

Father sat there for a minute and thought it over while I waited and pretended I couldn’t see Senica’s wide-eyed stare from around the corner. Our voices had been raised at some point during the argument, high enough that everyone had heard us. I briefly wondered what Mother thought of my plan.

Finally, Father nodded. “I can’t promise I’m going to become a mage. But I’ll do my best to keep the village safe until we can find someone who will. You were saying?”

“I believe I’d made it to inscription. Now…”

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