13.1

Hundred and eighty-one days passed.

That was the tally of days of how long Raina Valindra Eridi was separated from her beloved.

“[Phantom Strike]!!!”

A frontal force aimed at Raina’s torso but was swiftly deflected by her thin rapier. A bead of sweat trickled down her forehead as she pranced towards where the spell was cast from, her long golden hair flapped in the wind as she sprinted forward.

“[Greater Mobility Dampener]!”

At the voice’s chant, the air surrounding Raina’s body thickened, her built up momentum dwindled as though she was suddenly placed into a world where things moved a quarter of the speed that she was used to.

Her face turned into a scowl. She had intended to charge at her invisible opponent right after [Phantom Strike] was cast, confident that her speed would be enough to intercept her opponent before the second spell was cast. She was certain she burned out all her opponent’s stored spells. Apparently, there was one more she had not accounted for.

She was still stuck to where she stood due to [Mobility Dampener] that her opponent flung at her.

“[Phantom Strike]!”

Her opponent launched yet another attack at her. This time, however, she heard the voice as though she were standing right beside her opponent.

A dry smile crawled to her lips, “[Cleanse].”

As the slashing attack of [Phantom Strike] came down on her, she immediately purged the spell that restricted her movement. Her body slid as steeply as she could from the offensive spell.

Shaa!

“Gah!” Raina let out a pained expression as a part of [Phantom Slash] lacerated her left thigh.

She had timed her evasive maneuvers well. Even then, her opponent was highly skilled and redirected some of the attack onto her body at the last possible second.

Despite her injuries, the determination in her eyes did not waver. Instead, she suppressed the sensation and pointed her rapier to the empty space behind her.

“I win."

…

A moment of silence passed, Raina still kept the tip of her weapon to where she had pointed earlier.

“Well done, Princess. Your senses have improved, your timing and precision and still need some work. Once that’s perfected, we shall then incorporate offensive magic in your fighting style.”

Her opponent congratulated her as the empty space before her slowly revealed the image of a lady elf with purple eyes with Raina’s weapon pointing to the elf’s bare neck

The Elven Princess finally lowered her rapier.

“All of…this still isn’t enough,” Raina muttered as she took out a vial of liquid from her pouch, pouring the contents on the split flesh on her thighs.

Her lips drew a straight line as she watched the colorless liquid seeped into her wounds and slowly closed the laceration from earlier.

Though it was the highest quality of healing serum that the elves produced, she still needed one full hour for the serum to fully recover the laceration on her thigh.

The effectiveness is far from [Heal]…

The lady elf spoke, “Fear not princess, I have no doubts that, in time, you are able to surpass me with our continued training. You have the assurance from this previous commander of the Elven Elite Squad, Coraine Elster.”

“How long will that take before we start with offensive magic combat?” Raina looked at Coraine with a stale expression.

“At your current pace, princess, I reckon another month before we entertain the prospect of learning that. You still need to brush up on your pacing, posture, and finally develop your own fighting style before that.”

“…” an unpleasant frown appeared on Raina’s face.

For the past two months, she had been training with Coraine and Lureena on how to handle herself should she encounter any hostile beings, but according to the ex-captain’s assessment, she had yet to surpass the basics.

Since she never learned how to handle a proper weapon prior to her training with Coraine and Lureena, Raina had expected such a comment from her trainer, but she can’t help and feel bitter for not catching up as quickly as she thought.

“Princess, it is already an achievement that you are able to hone your battle instincts under two months. For most elves, this process takes them on average two years.”

“Coraine…this is just the beginner’s test. There’s nothing to be proud of. All I can do now is handle myself against basic magic attacks. Opponents in real life aren’t forgiving, they are cruel, and if one made any mistakes…”

John’s bloodied face came to her mind. It has been months, but she could still clearly remember the night light faded from his eyes as his body went limp.

With the melancholy that dawned on the Elven Princess’ face, Coraine took a deep breath and spoke. “Princess Raina, the battlefield is not where a lady like you belong, and once you have completed your rite of passage, the duties of ruling the Elven Tribe would overwhelm you, leave trivial things such as combat to expandable people like us—”

“No.”

At Raina’s adamant denial, Coraine stuttered, “P-princess?”

“No, I refuse to believe that learning to fight is a trivial thing for me. If I remain to be powerless and a burden to others, how can I lead everyone else? Had I known to wield a weapon back then, he would have never used taboo magic to save me, and he would still be here, by my side…”

Coraine lowered her head, “I apologize for bringing up an unpleasant memory. What happened to you and John Sarvod was truly something I hope to never happen again. But that is now a thing of the past.”

Raina looked away from the elf, “Coraine, you were also his teacher, weren’t you? Do you not feel anything for you student’s banishment?”

“It is not my place to comment—”

“Cut the superfluous crap, Coraine. I order you as the Elven Princess to answer me truthfully.”

Coraine remained still as the Princess’ turquoise eyes stared at her. Like many of the trainers who taught combat skills to the denizens of A’vetheas, she was bound by professionalism to never disclose her thoughts on one student to another.

Such acts of confidentiality were commonplace in almost all professions in A’vetheas in fears of invoking jealous onto other elves. As elves tend to be a jealous race, it was better for obvious favoritism to remain as subtle as possible.

However, the Elven Princess was not such a person. Coraine knew exactly why Raina had asked for her own opinion regarding John Sarvod. It was a known fact to all in A’vetheas that the Elven Princess was in love with the only human in the Elven Tribe prior to his banishment.

With John Sarvod’s exile, it was known to the public that the Elven Princess shunned the human for involvement in taboo magic and was there to support his banishment.

But that was just the façade that the Elven Queen had painted. With her powers over Raina, she was able to orchestrate that for John Sarvod’s crimes, exile would be his punishment.

In some way, Raina understood why her mother did so, for if banishment was not imposed on John Sarvod. Had John Sarvod stayed in A’vetheas after all of that, the other elves might have taken matters into their very own hands and exterminated him while he was vulnerable.

As for those who understood the Elven Princes beyond the surface level, fully understood what had transpired behind the scenes where Queen Veissa forcibly made Raina to cut her ties with John Sarvod.

It was to spare him death.

Finally, Coraine spoke.

“It took two months for him to graduate from the beginner’s course as opposed to two full years. I was unsure how, but somehow he could quickly develop his own style of fighting in close combat. I presume he had prior experience. Nonetheless, it was amazing to see how fast he was able to adapt to the various weapons I handed him.”

“…”

“I need not to teach him anything aside from correcting his posture and strokes. Even then, he was still stubborn to ignore my teachings in favor of his own style. When he wield the weapons, it was though he understood it was an instrument meant to draw blood. In the heat of battle, it was hard for me to predict how he would react to my attacks, since he uses [Heal], he tended to not get too caught up on exposing himself as long he could land a hit.”

“Then why did he stop taking weapon classes?” Raina asked. “I remember him saying he wasn’t good enough and quit the intermediate classes after six months.”

“A few complications happened then, first, his weapons of choice are always shorter blades, given how his modest stature as a male in A’vetheas was, the longest sword that he wielded was akin to a short sword compared to the other male elves. Second, his style of fighting was far too different from the others, he liked to make jabs and slashes at his opponents while encircling them, it was an effective tactic for someone of his stature, he utilized his lack of height along with being unpredictable. It was amusing, but it annoyed many other elves.”

“None of those are valid reasons for disqualification or for him to quit.”

“I agree, but the complaints from the other elves increased as time passed. More and more of the other students refused to train with John. Since the intermediate class involved one-on-one fights between the students, when the others avoided him in class, in the end he ended up with no partner to test his skills against. Of course, I offered private lessons to help with this problem he faced, but he wanted no special treatment as to be seen as one of us elves.”

In A’vetheas, weapons training lessons by the trainers were carried in groups. Private lessons were only reserved to elves who held prominent positions or were already in the Elven Elite squad.

“His desire to integrate with us was genuine, but it came at the cost of his freedom. Had I known what would happen to you and him in the future, I would have mandated that he followed through the lessons.”

“I see...” Raina’s eyes hazy, “He’s always been too considerate for others at the expense of his own.”

“Princess, it may be a slight possibility, but after your rite of passage to the throne, you would still have decades before Queen Veissa passes on her authority to you. Should you still wish to search for him—”

Before Coraine could continue, a familiar elf came to see them in the training grounds. It was Lureena, the younger court mage that the Elven Queen had appointed.

“Pardon my intrusion, Coraine, but the Queen has requested an audience with Raina.”

Aside from Coraine and her husband, Lureena was the only other elf that was permitted to address the Elven Princess by her first name. Though Coraine and her husband had refrained from calling the Princess by her name directly, they were still grateful that the Princess had thought of them as such.

The reason she had allowed them to do so was evident, given that the Elven Princess was to undergo her rite of passage soon, Coraine and her husband were to accompany her as retainers to ensure Raina’s rite of passage was conducted without errors.

“Raina, it is time,” Lureena spoke with certainty, indicating to Raina’s long awaited rite of passage had finally arrived.

“Alright,” Raina placed her hands by her hips and exhaled. “Coraine, please bring your husband, Protheus, to the palace. No doubt my mother would want an audience with the two of you present.”

“Understood.” Coraine placed an arm to her shoulder, immediately left the training grounds, leaving Raina and the court mage to be.

Raina’s remained in her position as she watched the exit of the training grounds shut themselves. When she was sure that Coraine had left, her eyes gave off a green glow. She released the spell she had been building up her mana to cast.

“[Sphere of Confidentiality], h-hah…hah…” Raina panted as she looked to Lureena for confirmation. “Did I finally get it right?”

“The spell is functioning fine, but your mana usage for this spell is still in excess,” Lureena answered without delay. “It’s better than yesterday’s…”

“B-but?” Raina spat her words.

“It is still far from ideal if you wish to progress further with other ancient magic.”

Like always, Raina sweated profusely after using [Sphere of Confidentiality]. Given that this was an ancient magic spell that came from millennia ago, even a royal elf like her who had vast mana reserves found it difficult to control this spell.

As part of Raina’s training, Lureena had taught her this difficult spell to prevent their conversations from being eavesdropped. It was a spell where even Queen Veissa, who was twice as powerful as Lureena, would have a difficult time undoing the effects of.

Once cast, [Sphere of Confidentiality] allowed the user to speak to someone without the fear of being pried into. For a limited duration, this ancient magic would prevent eavesdropping, mind reading, or even speech detection by others. It was most notable for its uses back in ancient times, back when sensitive information had to be conveyed in absolute secrecy.

Ever since she learned this spell, every time Raina had something important to discuss with Lureena, she would cast [Sphere of Confidentiality] in order to get used to casting high difficulty spells and ensure their conversation would be private.

“It’s time… Isn’t it? She’s finally sending me off on my journey to become the future ruler,” Raina said. “It’s funny hearing about it all my life, and now that it has come to this, she’s finally sending me off to start my trial.”

“Raina, Queen Veissa has her own reasons to do this now. Traditionally, this trial is conducted when a royal elf reaches fifty years of age. She must know something we aren’t aware of. That’s why she is sending you on your journey this early.”

“Is it the same reason for John's exile?” Raina spoke in a dissatisfied tone. “Is she asking me to go on my trial because John had finally left my side?! I know she is hiding something from me, Lureena! But as her daughter, as the future ruler of A’vetheas, am I not entitled to her explaining it to me?”

“The Queen cherishes John as much as she does to you, Raina. I am sure of it. I am sure you understood why he was the only human she ever allowed to live among us.”

Raina’s fingers curled as Lureena’s words got to her, “I-I don’t want to hear it… I…”

“Perhaps if he had not used demon magic, he would have stayed by your side longer, but he would be told to leave A’vetheas regardless. You’ve seen how the other elves whom he personally aided, turn on him the moment they learned of his involvement with taboo. The fact of the matter is, most elves are not accepting of him as you are. That incident was only the catalyst.”

“…”

Alwin Zinrelle was one such example of what Lureena was referring to. The elf, who was John’s best friend, turned on him the moment he knew of John’s involvement with demon magic.

Raina herself had watched the very scene play out before her on that fateful day.

“I agree it is unfair.” Lureena crouched before Raina and looked up at the Princess. “Especially so, when he had poured in all his effort into integrating with us elves. But I will promise you this Raina, if on your journey we hear any news about him, I swear I would reunite the both of you. I am confident in the Soul Oath that you and him share would make way for such a future.”

At Lureena’s words, Raina’s furrowed brows eased ever so slightly.

Had Lureena said something like this to her months earlier, Raina would have called what the court mage was saying to her as a bluff. She would not even consider placing her trust in Lureena who was an A’vetheas official.

But things were different now.

Raina had grown more patient, she no longer impulsively acted on her emotions, no longer would she pester the Elven Queen for the reason for John’s exile. In fact, she had been carrying out her duties as she was told, like the princess she was, like the princess the elves expected her to be.

And it proved to be worth it, for today has finally arrived. Soon, she would be finally get back at that one person who set John’s exile into motion, the very person who convinced Alwin Zinrelle to broadcast John’s moment of weakness to all the Elven Tribe when Raina and John returned to A’vetheas that very night.

And it was because of Lureena.

Lureena was the reason why Raina learned of what transpired behind the scenes that led to John’s inevitable exile. It was how she learned that aside from Alwin Zinrelle, there was yet another accomplice that was responsible for her love’s banishment.

Despite being discouraged by the Elven Queen to convey such critical information to Raina, Lureena divulged them to the Elven Princess, hoping to prove herself trustworthy.

Amidst Raina’s growing distrust of the elves and even her own mother, Lureena had proven herself to be different. Not once had the court mage disobeyed her wishes, nor had Lureena informed the Elven Queen of Raina’s strong opinions regarding her very own people, about the mistrust, about the disdain.

Just like that, the Elven Princess slowly came to place her trust in the court mage, believing in the intention behind Lureena’s words.

Finally, with the calm emotion that settled into her heart, Raina’s lips curved as she dismissed [Sphere of Confidentiality] with a wave of her hand.

“Now, let us go meet my mother so we can make that future a reality.”

It was all for the potential future where she would reunite with John.