Three days after the exam, Wolf walked into the Mission Hall building.

In a couple of days, a five week long end of semester break would begin. Unlike most other students, Wolf had nothing to do in his spare time, no family to see, nor anyone else for that matter.

He could spend the time with South, or pretend to be an urchin again, but after three years he’d grown bored of the whole act. He longed for open skies, for the forests and for the lack of people. The city and even the Mage Academy were overpopulated. No matter what you did you’d attract attention.

Wolf wanted to leave right after the exam, but his gang had to hash out the details of their first joint expedition. In the end, they agreed to leave after Barbara’s birthday party in February.

Since he had so much time on his hands, Wolf decided to go on another mission and skip on the whole lecture on noble superiority everyone would have to suffer on his account.

When he told everyone that he would leave on Monday, Anna made him promise he’d be back in time for her birthday ball. He had to promise three times before the crazy woman allowed him to go on a mission.

Wolf couldn’t help but think how South would’ve said a word or two about Anna exercising her authority. That drunkard influenced the young man way too much. And it certainly wasn’t a good influence.

Imagining that rotten grin, Wolf entered the Mission Hall for five star missions and found it devoid of people, even though it was Monday morning. The only ones in were the clerks working there.

After a moment, Wolf saw a woman looking at him with bright eyes and a brilliant smile.

“I got a promotion,” Mandy mouthed, beckoning Wolf with her hand.

With an awkward face, the newly promoted Fifth Order Mage approached her desk.

“Lord Mage,” she smiled and did the eyelash thing she always did.

“I thought you were in the four star Mission Hall?” Wolf asked with a genuine hint of curiosity.

“I was!” the woman said and nodded vigorously. “When I got to work this morning, I was told I got a promotion, while a girl from the five star Mission Hall was demoted.”

Then she toned down her excitement.

“To be honest, I thought I’d be the one getting demoted to the three star department, but here I am,” she said proudly, puffing up her considerable chest, which Wolf couldn’t help but compare with Anna’s nonexistent one.

“May I see the tablet please?” Wolf interjected as soon as the clerk paused for breath.

“Why of course, Lord Mage,” Mandy handed him the item with a joking wink.

“And would you stop Lord Maging me?” he grumbled as he began listing the missions.

“No, I must address you as Sir at the least. And since you’re trying to be so rigid and formal, I’ll be formal as well,” the woman said childishly and not in the least bit formally.

“I’ll take this one,” Wolf pointed at the mission and handed over his student card.

He wasn’t sure whether he liked this woman. Wayde explained that she was coming on to him and that there was no reason for Wolf to refuse her. However, the youth wasn’t interested at the time. He still wasn’t.

He felt a certain physical attraction, and there was no denying the woman had a stunning figure, but Wolf had Anna and even “messing around” with someone, the way Wayde called it felt wrong. Wolf didn’t know why it felt wrong, but observing regular people as a beggar, he’d learned some propriety.

“What are you thinking about, Lord Mage?” Mandy asked as she handed back the card to Wolf, who was absentmindedly staring at her chest.

“Um, nothing much,” Wolf said in a fluster, making himself appear even guiltier. “Thank you, goodbye.”

He got up and left. Why is there a scrying sensor in a five star Mission Hall? They didn’t need them in the four star one, he inwardly muttered.

***

“I told you he would pick her,” Lord of Steel said to his secretary.

“Well, he really did look like he was ogling her,” Richard said tentatively.

“He seems to like the girl. Make sure she gets promoted the next time he advances his Order, but if she does anything to displease him, just fire her. All right, Dick?” the headmaster asked with a smile normal people couldn’t read.

“It’s Richard, Sir,” Richard corrected automatically.

He naturally could read that smile, and he wasn’t too happy about it.

“Sir, she’s just a random clerk,” Richard explained. “It’s normal for people to always head to the same person, if they’d provided decent service.”

“And the fluttering of eyelashes? The fact that she’d loosened her tie? Not to mention how he stared at her tits…” Smith pressed on.

“Sir, I don’t think he was looking at that child’s… breasts. He was just staring blankly,” Richard said hesitantly. “As for her being interested in him, I’m of half a mind to tell my grand-niece to seduce the little runt, while there’s nothing definite between him and that Didot girl.”

“He bought her a ring,” Lord of Steel exclaimed. “The entire city is buzzing about it. Her ganglord father is doing a jig whenever he gets out of his chair and keeps waking himself up at night with his laughs.”

“Sir,” Richard gave his boss the stare. “Those are just rumors, and besides –”

“Half the noble households have a copy of the ring’s receipt. Even I have one,” the headmaster said heatedly, proudly showing a paper slip. “And people are looking to suck up to that Hook fellow! Those aren’t rumors.”

This matter was the most exciting thing he’d seen in half a century.

*Sigh*

“Sir, the things about Edwin Didot are rumors,” Richard said after sighing.

He knew very well that his boss was poking fun at him, but he still had to go through the motions when he saw an opening. “The man is a stone-hearted professional. Kind of like a younger, saner version of you.”

“Are you saying I’m acting like a gangster?” Headmaster asked in a mock offended tone.

“You just demoted one person and promoted another one into their job on a whim. And it’s not the first time you’re doing this,” Richard said with a smirk.

The man naturally didn’t care about which pawn got promoted and which got demoted. Their jobs were mostly a sham anyway. A way for the Mage Academy to keep watch over stray Mages and make sure they don’t turn to a life of crime or something worse, like attempting to control or overthrow the government.

“What are you saying?” Lord of Steel cried out in righteous outrage. “I’m providing better experience and a familiar face for a student who’s just advanced his Mage Order, which is well within my rights.”

“Sir, there’s only us in the room,” Richard said with his pinkies stuck in his ears. “No need for all the drama…”

***

The two men quarreled, much like they did every day. Meanwhile, Wolf left the city, and after rushing a bit, he reached Oakwood Freeland in just under two months.

The settlement hardly changed. However, unlike the last time Wolf visited, the guards let him in as soon as he’d arrived at the gate.

“Lord Rand is away,” the gatekeeper said with his head bowed. “Should we go fetch him?”

“No need. I’m here to visit Frida,” Wolf replied offhandedly, and the guard nervously nodded.

“Lady Frida is in her home,” he seemed uncomfortable when mentioning the woman and even hesitated with the lady part.

“Do you need someone to guide you?” the other man continued, shushing his mate with a stern gaze.

“Is everything all right with Frida?” Wolf finally asked.

“She’s perfectly fine Lord Mage,” the guard hesitated for a moment, then continued. “However, Nataly, the woman from that group, hung herself a week after you’d left them with us.”

Wolf rubbed his neck. He naturally remembered Nataly. He’d lived her life twice and knew full well all the horrors the woman had gone through. Probably better than she did.

He didn’t feel any loss, maybe a tad sorry that the settlement he cared for had lost a pair of able hands, but that’s it. He thought more about everything Frida must have gone through and how she was still alive and going strong.

He left the guards without saying a word. The men misunderstood that silent, contemplating expression as a sign of sorrow and didn’t bother their young lord.

Every resident of Oakwood Freeland bowed deeply as soon as they saw Wolf. Even the newcomers, who didn’t know who this seemingly eight-year-old boy was, followed everyone’s example. Then in hushed voices they inquired about Wolf’s identity.

Following a middle-aged woman, Wolf reached Frida’s home in no time.

Wolf thanked his guide and then knocked on the door. He was about to open it and walk in when he stopped himself. If he walked in on Frida while she was changing her clothes or if she wasn’t decent for any other reason, he might traumatize her, considering her past experiences.

Wolf waited a couple of moments, and nothing happened. He knocked again, and after waiting in silence for half a minute, he looked around. He noticed a window, but it was too high for him to take a peek through.

Hesitantly, and very quietly, Wolf cracked open the door.

Inside he saw a cot, a table, one chair and a fireplace without a fire. Frida was sitting at the table, engrossed in reading a book and facing towards Wolf.

The woman hadn’t even noticed someone had opened her door.

Wolf looked at the reading woman. She looked much better than she did before. In fact, she looked great. She wore a man’s garb, her nose was crooked from being broken and other than her face, scalp and hands she didn’t reveal one bit of her skin.

Wolf was surprised to see that the woman had shaved her head, but not so much that she was trying to look like a man.

I should get more books for her, Wolf thought as he saw the dedication with which Frida was trying to get educated.

“Hello Frida,” Wolf finally said after failing to come up with something better. “You look well.”

The former huntress jumped in fright before Wolf could say the second half of his greeting. She sent the chair tumbling and after a moment of startled confusion she realized who it was that came to see her.

“Master,” the woman went down on one knee and after a moment’s pause moved to kowtow instead.

“Don’t,” Wolf said hastily. “There’s no need for you to kneel either.”

Frida stopped with the kowtow, but remained half kneeling. Wolf waited for a moment, but the woman said nothing.

“You’re focusing on Mage studies?” Wolf asked while glancing at the Introduction to Spell Ranges.

“I have already gone through the books for Sword-Sages you gave me, Master, and now I’ve moved on to Mage literature,” Frida explained. “The Basics of Meditation were very helpful, but the books which explain how to learn spells are very difficult.”

“I have a mission that’s going to take some two weeks. Do you want to go with me and I’ll teach you what I can?” Wolf offered, and Frida bowed her head once more.

“Thank you Master, I would love to get instruction from you.”

“Can you cut it with the theatrics?” Wolf asked, his tone slightly sharper.

He didn’t mind villagers kneeling, or whatever, but this kind of behavior was annoying in a conversation.

“Get up,” he continued. “Have you used the Energy Expanding potions I’ve sent you?”

“No, Master,” Frida said as she got up. For a moment, she felt awkward as she towered above her teacher, but then continued speaking. “The books on Internal Energy you left stated that before proceeding I should first familiarize myself with my body and with how Internal Energy circulated through it. Only then should I attempt to increase my Sword-Sage Order.”

Huh? Really? Wolf blinked for a moment before recalling the basic level books he’d given Frida.

There really were mentions of how to do things properly. However, Wolf had just skimmed through those books back when he’d bought them.

He already had an innate understanding of those techniques thanks to the epiphany he’d had after using that scroll to kill the dragon-blooded bear.

“Wait. How come you have Internal Energy?” Wolf asked with a frown.

The environment here was practically void of World Energy, so how did the woman get Internal Energy without resorting potions?

“I don’t know? I just do?” Frida found nothing odd about it. As soon as she became able to perform introspection, she’d found a strand of a warm current coursing through her body.

Wolf made a note to check into Frida’s condition once he got back. If he couldn’t find the answers in books, maybe he could ask South about it. The young man had completely forgotten that he was the one who filled Frida’s body with Internal Energy back when he’d checked her aptitude.