May 1st 8765 of the Faustian 4th generation calendar.

About 5 years have passed since the day that the Andrato Kingdom had been thrown into turmoil due to the death of most of its core powerhouses. The predicted internal unrest had only occurred for a short 3 months since everything had been brutally yet effectively suppressed by the Royal Faction.

Still, one good thing had come out of that course of action. The Royal Faction now controlled almost all aspects of Andrato Kingdom directly, instead of letting various nobles and external private factions do so due to their weakness.

Nevertheless, Andrato Kingdom was facing great external pressure from all sides. What came from other kingdoms was mostly mild as they sought to plant their feet in this small kingdom and suck away some benefits in passing.

However, the Fraterina Kingdom had become like a beast that had smelled blood and gone crazy. Based on the methods they had been using these past few years, they had done everything short of declaring war!

For one, they had gathered the broken remnants of the various destroyed factions that had been usurped by the Royal Faction to their side, planning to leverage their support to weaken the kingdom.

The utility of this was poor, as these fellows had been the beaten dogs left behind to watch the house at best. Those who were truly powerful had sided with the Royal Faction against this outside threat.

It was one thing to fight internally and another to lead wolves into one's own home. Those who had tried to do so got annihilated with utmost force.

The Royal Faction had entered their tyrannical phase in totalum.

...............…..

In terms of chaos, the town of Listo was faring better than most others due to its great distance from the capital and its closeness to the Plains of Death. Many agencies here had managed to remain intact and the City Lord seemed to be cooking up some devious plan with the other nobles.

On this day, the now full Duke Nicholas Spencely sat in his office and parsed through documents as usual. He paused to rub his eyes as he sighed with fatigue, but his face broke into a smile as he thought of the message he had received from Darius Stone recently.

According to the talented lad, he would open a mage academy of his own and the noble heads in Listo were welcome to send over their chosen kin to be trained under him.

With this, Listo should be able to avoid becoming a sacrifice of the upcoming conflict between Fraterina and Andrato that was just one sneeze away from a full-blown war.

Why wouldn't Nicolas be all smiles in such a situation?

..................

Portia sat in the library within the farmhouse, not completely focused on the books before her Her mind was obviously distracted from her studies, as she seemed to be gazing into the horizon.

The formerly young lass had grown into a lovely young woman who had long come of age. At 18, she had grown noticeably taller as her form had become more svelte and curvy.

Her shoulder-length black hair of the past now reached her waist, having been tied together due to how plentiful it had become. Her passionate dark eyes had become more clouded and full of confusion.

Her face had become a lot more streamlined and displayed the beauty of a well-fed and well-taken care of a young woman who had great genetics.

Portia no longer wore her peasant dress from before, instead opting to wear mage robes of a purple color which Derek had bought for her.

Speaking of her brother, Portia gazed outside the library window to see the young man training in the special yard he had created.

At the age of 21, Derek was basically a younger copy of their father. His mop of orange hair had remained unchanged, but his unfeeling blue eyes had become more expressive and fiercer, his chiseled face becoming less solid but softer. This did not make him less masculine, but rather made him look more handsome and complete.

He currently wore a nice set of leather armor meant for spearmen that he had bought for himself after taking on tough jobs and dungeon crawling in the nearby Listo dungeon.

Derek only dared to do this because a few years ago, Darius had sent over Gunner with a Spark Potion that allowed the user to mentally control spears and polearms.

The Branded Servant had also brought over some skill manuals and spell manuals related to Spearmanship and Magic for the two of them. Since then, her brother and herself had displayed shocking talent as a result of the items they had used to spark/awaken, rapidly pushing through the Amateur stage to become Journeymen.

In a twist of fate, Derek no longer became cold whenever Darius' name was mentioned, now showing extreme reverence to their benefactor. Portia had even overheard him swear that he would work for Darius to pay back his kindness, making her giggle.

Alas, her laughter usually faded away when she remembered that she hadn't seen his handsome face in years. Portia's heart ached so bad that the young woman sometimes felt like she was suffocating.

She understood that she couldn't force herself on him. However, now that she was older and more beautiful - according to her brother, father, and all of the villagers- she was hoping that she could slowly make Darius fall in love with her.

That was her dream. That was why she had accepted his gifts silently and had worked hard all these years, mastering all the Basic spells he had sent over in her chosen categories of Awakening, which were Spirit, Water, Healing, Space, and Earth.

Derek had almost mastered the ancient arts of the Lancers, as well as the Mental Control skill, the Consciousness Splitting skill, and the Archer's Precision skill. These skills had helped him make the best of his awakened powers, allowing him to be stronger than his peers in the same realm.

Portia tore her eyes away from her brother and continued reading up about the Magical Method in preparation for her upcoming attempt to create her very first Intermediate spell.

She believed that once she crossed this hurdle and made some accomplishments, she would be ready to take the intuitive and seek out the happy ending she wanted for herself instead of passively waiting for the one she loved to appear before her.