Hilla clearly suspected that something was remiss despite Damien’s assurances otherwise, but with the rest of the class waiting for training and no way to know for sure that he was lying, she got to fulfilling her part in teaching.

She had each of the teams go through basic training on combat strategy, but Damien found himself only paying her words surface-level attention. He kept stealing glances at Hilla, trying to find the resemblances they shared. Even though everyone was telling him that Hilla was her mother, it just felt… wrong.

Hilla started setting the groups up against the chained Corrupted monster. Damien and Sylph sat that particular exercise out, as all of the other students needed to experience fighting it more than they did.

This time around, with Hilla calling out suggestions from the sidelines, the battles went completely different. In just the span of a few minutes, Aven and Venus took the corrupted monster down.

That received somewhat muted applause, as Aven was far from just a student. However, Mark and Elania’s attempt went equally as well, and the Corrupted monster fell for the second time in a row.

After each round, Hilla pulled the students to the side and went over what they had correctly and where they could improve. Even just from watching her, Damien could tell the woman genuinely cared.

“Do you want to practice?” Sylph asked after the third round of fights had gone by.

“I suppose it couldn’t hurt,” Damien admitted. “I’m just not sure how much benefit we’re going to gain against something like this. Our targets are the Seeds and Second, not the normal soldiers. Still, I guess something is better than nothing. Let’s do it.”

They walked up to the line, watching as Carson took the brunt of the Corruption’s attention while Yui split it off from the Ether. It let out one final roar before Carson drove a flame-covered fist into the monster’s chest, sending it rolling across the ground and silencing it.

Delph’s chains snapped back around the creature and Yui released it, allowing the large crater in the monster’s chest to start sealing back up. Hilla approached the two, giving them an approving smile.

“Good job, both of you,” Hilla said. “You work well together. Carson, you were spending a lot of Ether there. Try to keep your usage to just above the bare minimum. From what Delph and Dredd have told me, it’s likely that we’ll be fighting a horde of these monsters. That means you won’t have the energy to spare, so just focus on protecting yourself and Yui. Don’t attack until she’s cut it off from the Ether.”

“Understood,” Carson said with a curt nod. He sent a glance at the kneeling monster. “When you say horde…”

“We don’t know anything for sure,” Delph said. “But expect a lot. There are other mages that will be involved, of course. You aren’t expected to hold them all off on your own. Other students are undergoing similar training with other professors – just not quite as good.”

“Why do we get special treatment?” Xil asked.

Everyone glanced at Yui, who reddened. Delph smirked.

“The good princess is part of it, but not the entire reason. To be frank, you get the top of the line tutelage because I’m the best teacher money can buy. I’m glad that you’ve all finally started to acknowledge the incredible benefits you gain from being associated with me.”

“Does severe trauma count as one of those benefits?” Elania asked. “Because you aren’t even my teacher and I feel like I’ve aged twenty years since meeting you.”

Delph squinted at her. “Bah. You’re from Goldsilk, right? Sounds like their teachers have gotten lax if you think this is anywhere near problematic.”

“A discussion for a later date,” Dredd said, tapping his staff impatiently. “Perhaps you should work on that inability to focus on one topic for more than a few minutes, brother. I believe Damien and Sylph are waiting their turn.”

Delph grunted. “My agile mind is envied by all. Go on, then. Let’s see it.”

The bindings on the Corrupted monster faded and it lurched to its feet with a roar.

“Remember to stick to your roles,” Hilla suggested as Damien and Sylph walked forward. “Sylph is the close combatant, so it’s her job to keep the Corruption’s attention while Damien cuts its connection to the Ether. Good luck, you two! I’m looking forward to seeing how you do this.”

Sylph glanced at Damien, who inclined his head slightly. Her battle manifestation enveloped her with faint, shimmering white armor. A disk of white erupted beneath Sylph’s foot and she blurred, reappearing before the Corruption.

A scythe sprouted from her back, carving across the giant’s chest. It roared, reaching out to grab her even as the wound started to creep shut. Damien extended his mental energy, wrapping it around the threads of Ether connected to the Corruption.

With its attention on Sylph, it was even easier than before. With a single tug, the monster was stripped naked of Ether. Damien extended a hand, forming an overloaded Gravity Sphere at its chest. He clenched his hand shut and Sylph vaulted back, the scythe retracting into her back as the spell went off.

Stone shattered and the monster screamed, crashing to the ground with an enormous crater in its chest. Dredd’s bindings snapped back into place and Damien discarded the strands of Ether, letting the monster greedily drink in power before it could die from the savage wound. The entire fight had taken less than a second.

“You were right,” Sylph said, dismissing her wind armor. “We should probably sit this exercise out.”

“That was marvelous,” Hilla said, clapping softly. “Swift and deadly, without any wasted Ether – though I do think you might have been able to get away with a more direct finishing blow, Damien. That might have been a bit of overkill, and there’s no reason to waste good Ether.”

“I’m not particularly good at small, direct attacks. I’ll keep that in mind, though. Thanks.” He paused for a moment, then added on, “mom.”

Hilla beamed. “It’s not of all that much use. You’ve gotten very strong, Damien. Your father would be proud. Have you spoken with him recently?”

Delph choked on his saliva and doubled over coughing. He turned away when Hilla sent him an annoyed look, and Damien took that moment to exchange a baffled glance with Sylph.

Apparently Derrod hasn’t spoken with Hilla recently. I guess it would have been too much to ask to lose my memories of him instead of her, huh?

“That might have actually been worse,” Henry muttered in his mind. “What if you forgot how much of a raging prick he was?”

“He’s well aware of my growth,” Damien said diplomatically. “I’m surprised he didn’t tell you anything about the trip to Forsad. We fought together against Second, the leader of the Corruption. Not very long, but we did fight for a bit.”

Hilla pressed her lips together. “I’m afraid I haven’t seen him recently. Your father has been very busy on jobs for the Queen as of late. Once all this Corruption business is wrapped up with, I’m hoping he’ll have some time off to catch up with both of us.”

“Yeah,” Damien said, clearing his throat. “Right. We should probably get back to training. I think Mark is going to start attacking the monster while it’s still chained down if you don’t give him another go.”

“I was considering it,” Mark admitted, giving Damien a grin. “But, I felt that a bound opponent would not be worth the effort.”

He and Elania stepped up, and the training began once more. Damien and Sylph didn’t go again, instead choosing to slip away and sit near the edge of the clearing to just watch the rest of the students practice.

The rest of the day passed by quickly. After Hilla was satisfied with everyone’s performance, she started integrating the support team. That slowed things down at first, as the smaller duos had just started to get used to working with each other, but it quickly started to show dividends.

It took less and less time for the teams to take out the Corruption, and several teams started to get nearly as fast as Damien and Sylph. Whenever Quinlan stepped into the fight, she was able to immobilize the Corruption with her lava and whichever team she was aiding would dispatch it shortly afterward.

When the day grew too late for them to continue working, Delph and Dredd distributed dinner amongst everyone. They ate under the rising moon, most of them far too exhausted to make much conversation. Damien spotted Hilla making her way toward them and quickly retreated to his tent, doing his best not to make eye contact with her.

The last thing I need is for her to ask me questions and realize I don’t remember anything at all. That’ll just screw over the training for everyone else.

Sylph followed after Damien, and Hilla was intercepted by Mark as he asked her to spar with him. Somehow, despite being the one to fight the Corruption the most that day, he still had energy to spare. That worked great for Damien and Sylph, though. Only when the tent flap had fallen shut behind Damien and he was seated on his sleeping bag did he let out a sigh and lower his guard.

“What are you thinking?” Sylph asked, sitting down beside him.

“Everyone is doing pretty well. They’ll probably hold the Corruption off no problem, so long as there aren’t too many of them.”

“That’s not what I meant. Can you really do this for a week or two longer?” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Even if you don’t remember her, you can’t tell me it doesn’t hurt at least a little.”

“I can handle pretending for a little while. As long as we don’t have to have any long conversations, it shouldn’t be that hard to keep up the act,” Damien said, running a hand through his hair and down the side of his face. “Really, it’s fine. Other people have lost more.”

“It’s not a competition.” Sylph put a hand on his knee. “And there’s nothing wrong with feeling loss for something that you can’t remember having. I wish I met my real parents sometimes, but I never got to. I guess this is kind of like that, in a way.”

“I guess it is,” Damien said softly, covering Sylph’s hand with his own. “But, either way, I can’t deal with it now. There’s nothing I can do to make the situation better, and neither can Henry. I don’t know how Hilla would react to finding out the truth, but we can’t afford to lose an instructor right now.”

Faint footfalls padded over to the outside of their tent.

“Damien?” Hilla asked from outside. “Could we talk?”

Damien’s eyes widened and he shot a panicked look at Sylph. There was no realistic way he’d be able to hold up his lie through any level of real questioning, and Hilla didn’t strike him as the type of woman to half-ass things.

He opened his mouth to give an excuse, but Sylph pressed a finger to his lips. She pushed him down to the sleeping bag and rolled it over him. She rustled her hair and adjusted her shirt before pulling the tent flap open just enough to peek out.

“Yes, Mrs. Vale?”

“I – oh! Oh. Sorry,” Hilla said, quickly shuffling away. “Bad time. Sorry.”

Sylph let the flap fall and turned back to Damien, giving him a smug grin as he sat up. Damien just shook his head in disbelief.

“If I wasn’t missing my memories, I think that probably would have embarrassed me quite a bit. Guess I’m not the only one lying to her.”

“Who said anything about lying?” Sylph asked, sliding into the sleeping bag beside Damien and pulling him into her arms. “I’ll have you know that I’m a very honest person.”

“Guess I can’t be the one to make you a liar,” Damien said, returning her smile and pulling the bag over their heads.

That night was far less enjoyable for Henry than it was for them, as there was a very distinct lack of goats to torment in the immediate area. But, just that once, he let things slide. The goat fee could always be paid later – and with interest.