“Ki- Kiefer? D-did you do all that?” (Nicole)

“Yes Milady. Is something wrong? Should I not have done so?” (Kiefer)

“Nononono... The problem isn’t if you should have done that. The problem is how did you do that?”(Nicole)

“Holy hell Nic! You picked up one hell of a kid!” (Chrisse)

“Eh? You mean I’m not supposed to be able to do that? I was just repeating what the teacher had taught earlier in the class.” (Kiefer)

“Nono no... that’s not right. Even then, it is still intermediate magic you know! How can you just cast the spell like that? And from 3 elements even!” (Nicole)

“Is it weird that I can use 3 elements?” (Kiefer)

“Of course it’s weird! It’s super weird! That’s not normal at all!”(Nicole)

“OI! Will someone get me out of here!?!? KID! You are so dead! I am going to make sure you never live to see another –oof” Dominick was just about to threaten Kiefer again when a mud ball went flying towards his face, giving him a mouthful of mud.

“Leave the kid alone!” “YEA Don’t bully the poor kid!” “You lost to him fair and square so shut it!” The crowd that had gathered was now jeering at Dominick as they watched him try to spit out the mud in his mouth and shake it off his face, still encased in a clay prison.

“Son! Come with me, I want to try something out.” The professor had already approached Kiefer, as the 2 girls stared at him, still furious that he had allowed the match to begin with. “Boy, repeat after me.” The professor then chanted a simple intermediate spell for a fire arrow.

Kiefer followed, repeating after the professor but putting in more mana, resulting in a searing hot arrow that was twice as large as the professor’s landing 50m away and burning the grass around it, releasing a heat wave as it impacted the ground. The professor was stunned, and he turned to ask Kiefer one question. “Boy did you learn any magic before this?”

“No sir, only what I heard in your class just now. This is my first time seeing magic.” Kiefer lied through his teeth, tilting his head and trying to look confused, as if he didn’t know what was wrong with being able to use magic.

“Milady, is there something wrong with me? Is it bad that I can use magic?” Kiefer asked Nicole, keeping up with his role playing gig and pretending to be afraid that he had done something bad and was about to be punished.

“No Kiefer. It’s the opposite! It’s great that you can use magic! Now I can make Daddy keep you! Having a magician servant is a first for any noble family in Diantes. I’m sure daddy will be happy with it.” (Nicole)

“OI! Someone get me out of here already!” (Dominick)

Hearing Dominick’s yelling, Kiefer walked over promptly and looked Dominick in the eye, before bowing deeply and apologizing. “I’m truly sorry young master. I had no idea I would win so easily.” Kiefer said, rubbing salt into his wounds while trying to sound apologetic. “Please do not take this out on Milady, as she had nothing to do with this. I apologise for my rude behavior. I will now release you.”

Saying that, Kiefer proceeded to humiliate the young boy further, by dousing him in a wall of water from the same spell he had used earlier. After about 3 minutes of almost drowning, the clay had softened enough for Dominick to finally wriggle his way out. Kiefer then once again bowed and returned to Nicole’s side.

Nicole was beaming. She was so proud of her magus butler. Even Chrisse was a little jealous of Nicole, thinking it could have been her who had taken Kiefer home. Nonetheless, Chrisse was still happy for Nicole, she had not seen Nicole smile this much after a magic practical lesson. As they were preparing to leave for lunch, someone from the crowd yelled out in surprise. “Watch Out!!!”

Turning around, everyone saw a single water arrow fly towards Kiefer while Dominick was grinning, having just been released from his prison. Without batting an eyelash, Kiefer quickly chanted a spell and shot forth the same fire arrow he had shown earlier, and intercepted the incoming attack. When the 2 arrows impacted each other in the air, they exploded in a burst of steam and heat.

Everyone was now glaring at Dom, but before anyone could say anything, Kiefer had already summoned multiple fire arrows and shot them towards Dom, all landing close enough to him that he could feel the heat. Shocked, Dom fell back onto his bottom and glared at Kiefer as he took slow steps in his direction.

“I will let that earlier transgression go, but anymore advances on Milady, will not go unpunished.” Kiefer kneeled down and silently whispered into Dom’s ear.

Nicole, Chrisse and Kiefer left the training field, with everyone casting mocking glances at Dominick while at the same time, dying of envy at Nicole’s awesome new butler. Nicole decided to ditch the rest of the class before lunch in order to know more about her new butler that she picked up on a whim. Finding a secluded and unused classroom in an old wing of the academy, Nicole finally turned to face Kiefer. Kiefer in turn looked up at her and put on a confused look.

“Kiefer. How can you use magic so easily?” Nicole finally blurted the question out after a moment of awkward silence.

“I don’t know. When the professor was reading the spell lines, I just understood what they meant and when I read them back out, the spell just forms.” Kiefer lied, trying to leave as much ambiguity as possible.

“Ok first, they are not spell lines. They are rune incantations. And secondly, understanding the runes is the hardest part of magic theory. How do you do it?” (Nicole)

Kiefer thought long and hard, and finally decided to do what Sher had done to him countless times. “I don’t know. I just can. When I hear the spell, I can understand it automatically.” Kiefer replied, being as unhelpful as a certain Titan when explaining things about magic.

“Ok, how about this, can you explain this incantation to me? I’ve been having trouble understanding, picturing and invoking it. It goes ‘Asviran, hidra condeen no frazia, shak IshA’” (Nicole)

“Umm.. it means to collect and freeze water around you, and then shoot forward as an ice arrow. Like this see?” Kiefer explained, as he recited the spell, forming an ice arrow out of thin air and smashing one of the wooden tables.

“But where does the water come from? If I don’t know where to collect the water from, the spell doesn’t work for me.” (Nicole)

“I see. They don’t even have the basic knowledge that water can exist as a gas in the air as well. Just how far back is this world on its knowledge on science?” (Kiefer)

“Umm.. the water comes from the air. There’s plenty of water in the air, you just can’t see it.” (Kiefer)

Thinking about it, Nicole just decided to trust Kiefer and envisioned herself collecting countless water droplets from the air around her. Finally, she chanted the incantation and to her surprise, she managed to shoot an ice arrow, albeit smaller and slower than Kiefer’s, at the black board.

Excited that she finally managed to cast a spell that had taken her almost 2 months to figure out, Nicole whipped out an advance runes and spells book from her bag and started flipping through the pages. With each spell she showed Kiefer, Kiefer explained the mechanism behind it and Nicole would proceed to cast the spell.

About an hour and 15 spells later, Nicole suddenly slumped forward after casting her spell, almost collapsing to the ground had Kiefer not caught her. Looking at her expression, Kiefer deduced that she probably fainted from mana exhaustion, having been over excited at casting new spells without keeping track of her mana.

Not knowing where her next class was, Kiefer decided that the best course of action would be to bring her home to rest. Lifting her up in a princess cradle, Kiefer took to the skies, unsure if he could teleport with the girl in his arms. However, he managed to go high enough fast enough so that no one caught a sight of a 13 year old boy carrying and flying with a girl half a head taller than him.

As he descended in the backyard of the mansion, his mana pulse registered a mage approaching him from the front of the house, along with 2 other people. It would seem that they had detected his arrival and had assumed him to be an intruder. Slowly and carefully, he walked towards the approaching mage and as they came around the corner, he discovered that he was in as bad a situation as he could get. Facing the head of security, the head maid, and Nicole’s father, there he was, in the back of the house with an unconscious Nicole in his arms.

“You! You’re the new butler! What have you done to my daughter!?” (Revil)

“Sir! It would seem that he is not an ordinary boy! If I read my spell correctly, according to the disturbance in my wind, he dropped from directly above sir! From the sky.” (Wind mage)

“I know how it looks sir. But I assure you, it is more important to get Nicole to bed. She’s passed out from mana exhaustion in school and I’ve brought her back to rest.” (Kiefer)

“Dorianne! Get her to bed. You! Kiefer! You stay here and explain yourself.” (Revil)

“Right away sir.” Dorianne the head maid retrieved Nicole from Kiefer’s arms and carried her into the house.

“Why don’t you explain yourself then ‘Kiefer’, if that is your real name. What are you? A spy? I can tell you are no ordinary boy.” (Revil)

“How observant sir, I assure you my name is Kiefer and that I am no spy. At least not spying on you.” (Kiefer)

“Then who are you and what is your true purpose for infiltrating my home?” (Revil)

“Infiltrating your home? You are sorely mistaken Revil. Had your daughter not picked me up, I wouldn’t have had to change my plans so drastically. She brought me here against my will, causing me to revise my plans for the future.” (Kiefer)

“And what would your plans be, Mister Kiefer?” (Revil)

“It’s simple really. I intend to end the war once and for all.” (Kiefer)

“That’s all noble and well Kiefer, but in the end, you still deceived me and trespassed on my home. I’m sorry but I will have to remove you. Amestin, do your job, remove this intruder from my home at once.” (Revil)

“At once sir!” (Amestin)

Chanting a spell quickly, Amestin conjured up a small tempest that approached Kiefer, ripping the grass from the floor in its path. However, just before the tempest reached Kiefer, a flame tornado took its place, expanding in size and roasting anything it touched. The flame tornado eventually dissipated, and standing behind it, was Kiefer in full mithril and orihalcom armour.

“Unfortunately for you, Revil, I have already altered my plans and have no intention of leaving. As such, to make things simpler, I am going to have you help me in achieving my goals. Of course, all this is to be kept a secret from Nicole.” Kiefer threatened, while walking slowly towards the lord of the house and his head of security.

“AMESTIN!! DO YOUR JOB! PROTECT MY FAMILY!” Revil yelled, clearly intimidated by Kiefer and panicking.

“Asviran, torres pro—mmmmffpppff” (Amestin)

“Ah ah ah… now there there. I can’t have you creating a ruckus and waking up the young lady now can I. As I’ve mentioned before, I want her to be kept in the dark.” Kiefer explained calmly as he wrapped his mana threads around Amestin’s mouth and Revil’s body.

“What do you want?! I swear if you harm my family, I will hunt you down even if I die and come back as an undead!” (Revil)

“Harm? Oh Mr Revil, its quite the contrary. I can offer you my services to protect you and your family. As you can see,” Kiefer said, teleporting behind the 2 grown man, “I am quite the capable mage, more so than any human mage on Aioa if I must say so myself.” Kiefer continued, spinning the 2 men around.

I offer you my abilities and time, and in return, you will offer me a place of lodging and help pull some strings using whatever authority you may have. I need to get into the necromancer academy in the palace at all costs if I am to join the army and end this war.” (Kiefer)

“And what do you expect me to do? I am merely the head of a mining conglomerate. I have no connections with famous mages nor do I have any pull with the royal palace.” (Revil)

Seeing the men calm down, Kiefer released them and set them back down on the ground. Then he continued. “That is simple. As the head of such a large scale mining operation, I’m sure you have plenty of enemies trying to sabotage your operations. All you have to do is let me loose on the problems and I will solve them. At the same time, I need you to aggravate your enemies by spreading rumours that you have acquired a genius child mage and that nothing can ever harm your operations again.”

Kiefer paused, letting Revil consider his options. To stamp the deal, Kiefer continued, without letting Revil finish thinking through. “The way I see it, it’s a win-win for all of us. I get to achieve my goal, while you not only get protection for your family, but also improve your business. In case you are still worried about my abilities, I’ll just let you know, that this armour I’m wearing, is not steel. It is pure mithril. All of it. The red metal is orihalcom. That should give you an idea of my status.”

Amestin couldn’t believe his eyes. He had only seen parts of an armour made of mithril, maybe gauntlets or boots, but never a full body plate armour made of mithril. Revil as well was scrutinizing Kiefer’s armour from head to toe. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity for them to actually see so much mithril in one place, much less on one person’s body.

As if to break the tension. At that moment, a cry rang out through the mansion. “Daaaaadd!! Kiefer!!!”

Nicole had awoken after recovering some mana and heard from Dorianne who was tending to her that Kiefer had carried her home and that he may be in trouble with her father. Trying to save the young child, Nicole was racing through the mansion while yelling, hoping she would not lose her new awesome butler.

Kiefer immediately unequipped his armour with haste and put it away in his PD, but to Revil and Amestin, it only looked like Kiefer made them invisible. No sooner had he done that, Nicole came racing around the corner to the back of the mansion and saw Kiefer standing there with her father and the head security uncle. Seeing the ripped grass and burnt ground, She immediately knew a magic battle had gone on and immediately rushed in front of Kiefer, raising her arms up and shielding him from her father and Amestin.

“Daddy! Uncle Amestin! Don’t bully my Kiefer! He just learnt his first magic today! He even protected me from Dominick!” (Nicole)

Kiefer cast a glance at Revil, and saw him make a small nod, relieved that Revil had accepted his proposal. If his calculations were correct, assuming no more variables arise, it would take him no more than 2 months to catch the attention of the ‘master’. From there on, he could not really see where he would go, since he did not know how long it took to actually enter and graduate from necromancy academy, and if at all the mysterious ‘master’ was connected to Drigor somehow. Everything was a wild guess once he gets noticed by the ‘master’.

“It’s alright darling. I was just asking Amestin to test out Kiefer here. You’ll be glad to know that from now on, he is officially your personal butler and security escort. Don’t let me down young Kiefer.” (Revil)

“Really!??! You hear that kiefer? You can stay with us from now on! Don’t worry we will treat you like a real family!” Nicole exclaimed, completely ecstatic, while hugging kiefer tightly like a sister would hug a younger brother. Kiefer just smiled and nodded firmly at Revil, reassuring him that his family would be kept safe.

[[Elsewhere in the northern quadrant that night]]

“Father! That Varradon girl is getting out of hand! Today she humiliated me infront of the class with her new butler! She got lucky and hired a butler with magical affinity! Can’t you do something about it?” (Dom)

“Yes. I must agree with you son. That Varradon Family is getting on my nerves too. Just because their grandfather made a few wise decisions, they managed to climb their way up from the slums to where they are now, even buying over other mines in the area. If they are trying to establish a monopoly on the mines, we cannot allow that to happen. I just happened to have a shipment of fientrals caught in Wanda coming this way. Maybe if there was an ‘accident’ in one of the Varradon’s mines, people would be more hesitant about working for them.” (Dom’s father)

“No, but how will that affect the girl?! She still has that annoying brat around her.” (Dom)

“No need to worry my son. All in due time. Once their business takes a hit, the girl would have to withdraw from the academy. And we can always hire a few assasins or even kidnap the girl. There’s no rush. I believe the professionals should be able to handle a 13 year old boy who’s just learnt magic recently.” (Doms Father)

“Alright Father, but make it quick. The girl is pissing me off to no end.” (Dom)

From 3 blocks away, a hooded figure who had been listening in on the conversation, turned around and disappeared into thin air, reappearing on the roof of the Varradon estate mansion. He took off his hood and silently entered the mansion though one of the open windows on the 3rd floor before silently walking along the corridor into a room, shutting the door behind him.

There ya go folks, today's Chappy.