Strips of velvet had been laid out, completely covering the mansion floors. The walls themselves were mainly bare with the smell of fresh paint and wallpaper emanating from it, even some paintings could be seen here and there among the walls. The doors were refitted and made with some of the finest wood they could find within the nearby woods, though they still paled in comparison with those of the original estate.

“Hrm. The Knights were able to wipe out a rat horde that strayed out of the forest, that would make three so far this month.” Sir Leonard said as he recited the happenings of the estate and the nearby village to Viran.

“Hm… Well at least that is all easy pickings for the future, right?” Viran smiled softly towards his venerable teacher.

“Yes, undoubtedly Lord Viran. In recent days our scouts have noticed a serious decrease in the rat population within the forest, though that’s to be expected considering the recent skirmishes we’ve had within the forest. Hrm.”

“Right…” Viran quietly said, piquing Sir Leonard’s interest.

“Hrm, you seem like you wish to ask about something. Go ahead and ask anything, though I can only ask for it to be brief Lord Viran. We have little time until your final departure, afterall.”

Ever since Renault finally began to teach Viran once again an entire year had passed since then. Viran’s time had essentially slipped right through his hands through winter, through spring, through summer, through autumn, and back again to winter. His entire schedule had been blocked by relentless training everyday, though he wasn’t exactly displeased about that either. It was the adrenaline that ran through him when he fought with Renault that Viran truly felt himself.

As his days came dwindling down, during the very ends of summer came his own birthday. Though nothing extravagant was done to celebrate, that didn’t matter to Viran. What was more important was the arrival of an envoy from the Emperor the day after. Within the message were some pleasantries until the very end, a summons to the capital of Verita. A long distance away from Wakeford it certainly was, but Viran was unsure how to look at it. The memories of Tenus Forest would often find themselves entering his mind, the memories of Marianne’s death and the rest of the convoy demise.

“Ah well… Is it normal having me visit the capital for the Day of Awakening?” Viran asked.

“Hrm, every child of the Eminent Houses needs to be there… Gregory included, in fact he needs to be there.” Sir Leonard said.

Viran nodded slightly in understanding. The Day of Awakening was an ancient tradition that has held onto the West for centuries, it was perhaps one of the only things that linked all of the people’s. Well before the Empire eventually conquered them anyways…

The Day of Awakening was always held during the very end of the year and happened yearly. As long as you were born on a date before the Day of Awakening you will participate in the ensuing ritual, and there becomes a chance you would be chosen by the Gods themselves.

However there is a stark difference for those of low standing and the Nobles themselves, a stark difference. For most Nobles their main priority in showing up to the ritual was simply to protect tradition as their blessings from the Gods were already practically secure, the same could not be said for the commoners. The Imperial House itself was blessed by the most powerful God in existence, making all of its descendents immediate followers of the Prime God.

The same could be said for the Eminent Houses as well, with Craynor blessing the Idicium House and the minor Houses that have close ties with them.

“Don’t get your hopes up too much kid.” Ry’s sudden interjection left Viran stunned for a moment. Through the entire past year with the despicable Spirit Viran has shown some respect for that calming ethereal voice, afterall the words it says seems to never be wrong.

“Erm… Sir Leonard, what happens if something goes wrong? Like during the journey there or during the ritual?” Viran quickly asked.

“Hrm?” Sir Leonard tilts his head. “No, I don’t think anything could go wrong… If you’re worried because of what happened before, don’t be.”

The confidence of Sir Leonard helped assuage the fear and anxiety of Viran plenty, yet the ominous words of Ry still rang out in his head like a drum. Just what was the meaning?

“You worry too much child.” Ry says calmly as he gazes upon the anxious boy.

“I wouldn’t really be panicking like this if you hadn’t said anything…” Viran muttered disgruntledly.

With a small thud a book suddenly lands directly on the ground in front of Viran.

“Tch… We’re gonna learn about the fourth era again?”

Viran clicked his tongue in discontentment when suddenly a stream of blue mana swept in front of him only to flick his head. The force of the flick threw his head back up until he saw the ceiling and to which Sir Leonard quickly dissipated the spell and his mana.

“The Harbinger disasters are responsible for leading humanity towards the Great Eclipse, and unto the fall of Human dominance among the continent. We no longer live in such an Era, which is why we must learn of it, Viran.” Sir Leonard cooly says.

Seeing the book on the ground Viran couldn’t help but grimace, yet he still picked up the book nonetheless.

Viran practically sprints out of the room once Sir Leonard is finished teaching him. However the discontentment on Viran’s face was still evident, it was quite different from how he was before meeting Renault and Gregory. Before the boy was simply happy to learn anything at all, yet now the stuff bores him half-to death.

Just as the boy runs through the still destroyed estate wall a figure emerges from behind the wall as well. Sava with his gleaming silver sword at his hip stared at the distant broken down house far away.

“Hmph. You need to pay more attention to the history of the Era prior.”

Ry suddenly spoke as Viran ran past the village without bothering to stop and look around. The boy had gotten used to the surroundings quite easily, he had been there for an entire year after all.

“Why should I even bother about the previous era? I get that the world was considerably different, but why should any of that matter?”

Viran asked the spirit that dwelt in his mind only to receive no response, instead in front of him stood an old Elder that Viran wasn’t too pleased with himself.

“Hello, Lord Viran.” Elder Nichols quickly says as he looks upon Viran with a grim look.

“Uh, hey.” Viran said back with a small wave of his hand.

Running past the old man as well Viran doesn’t notice the slight warmth held within the Elder’s eyes.

Finally Viran stands directly in front of the house he had been visiting often for the entire past year. He grips his hand into a fist and with a light knock the door opens with almost zero hesitation and something pops out.

Aiming for the spot between his eyes, is a completely real yet dull sword.

With a sleight of hand Viran rips his own sword out from his scabbard, ripping the leather itself on its way out. Meeting the sword head on Viran flips the sword edge slightly and is able to deflect the sword downwards towards the right of him, except a kick lands itself directly into his gut pushing him back some distance.

“Hmph, guess I still got it.” Renault strolls out of the house with a small grin written on his face.

“Yeah well you’ve also gotten older, old man.” Viran curses as he brings himself up from the ground. The kick to the gut took his breath away and the boy could easily tell a bruise would form there from now on.

Renault walks out and looks towards the village as he reaches his hand out.

“Hm. We don’t want to stay out here for too long, let’s go back to the usual spot. Though the villagers practically adore me, I wouldn’t count on your Knights to offer me the same compassion.” Renault says plainly as he pulls Viran straight from the ground.

After having spent an entire hour out in the outskirts of the village, it was only a matter of time until Renault would be discovered by the children playing out here as well. He had given them quite the scare and especially the parents, yet luckily Elder Nichols was able to efficiently and effectively smooth relations between the two parties. Once Sir Leonard came the two were able to settle the matter completely, though Viran was unsure just how his teacher had done it.

But it was evident enough that the villagers would eventually warm up to Renault. It was the right time for Renault to show off his hidden talents, and show off he did. Whether it was fixing broken iron tools or simply helping with the field Renault excelled at it. Viran never thought about it before but Renault had actually never shown off his spells to him, turns out Renault’s spells were geared towards fixing broken spears and swords. Though in the farmers case broken hoes and scythes.

“Say, when are you gonna tell me where you got such a sword? That kind of steel is rare in the Empire…” Renault asked with a confused expression.

“Like I told you before, Renault, I got this sword from one of the guards back before… You know…” Viran muttered the last part with a slightly disheartened expression.

Seeing this Renault’s tanned hand ruffles Viran’s hair lightly as he guffaws.

“No matter! Without that sword you’d be doing a lot worse during our practices!”

“Ha! Right, we’ll see about that old man.” The boy could plainly see the provocation, yet the boy still played along anyhow.

Walking some distance away from the village the teacher and student finally find themselves near a small meadow nearing the end of the river. The animated green grass bounced upwards in front of Viran’s eyes as tadpoles and fish small measly about.

“Alright, ready?” Renault asked with a goading expression on his face.

“Sur-” The words that are about to slip out of Viran are loudly drowned out by the sounds of wheels and horses hitting against the dirt roads.

Viran and Renault both look simultaneous back towards the road, and heading directly towards them is a convoy of a grand scale. Golden carriages, silver carriages, and hundreds of men clad in some of the finest steel found in the land rode towards Wakeford. They would soon pass by the meadow itself.

Hanging from the carriages was a coat of arms, a coat of arms all too familiar to Viran.

“!” Disbelief writes itself over Viran’s face as he quickly looks back towards Renault.

“Renau-!” Just as Viran was about to scream for his prestigious and gifted teacher to run, he found that Renault had already begun running farther away from the meadow and out towards some lone woods farther down the river.

“Oh.” Viran quietly said to himself before looking back towards the convoy that rode towards the village.

With a rasp his blade goes into his ripped scabbard once more, and the boy begins to walk back towards Wakeford once more.