"So, what do you think of His Grace."
For the first time in I don't know how long since we returned from our classes, I turned my gaze from the blackened ceiling to see Toril, sitting anxiously on the edge of his bed, madly twitching his legs in either nervousness or anticipation.
"I'm unsure." I sighed. "This whole situation still seems… unreal."
"What do you mean, unreal?" Toril scoffed. "You were the smartest in the school! I was the strongest. What's there to be confused about?"
"I just never thought I'd one day find myself in the royal estate. Much less serving the Grand Duke. That's all." I sighed again. "You're wrong if you think I don't want to be here. I'm not stupid."
"And neither am I," Toril grunted. "But you never answered my question."
"I don't know what to think, Toril." I sighed again, turning back to the ceiling. "He's barely spoken to us since we've arrived. But he at least seems reasonable. Why do you ask?"
Toril let out his own weary sigh. "I don't know. He seems… strange. Like, he reminds me of His Majesty."
"Obviously." I scoffed. "His Grace is his great-grandson."
"No!" Toril spat. "I mean… he doesn't act like any kid I've ever met. It's… it's almost like he's an old man."
Just at that moment, a knock came at the door and like lightning, Toril and I snapped out of our beds and dropped to a knee just as His Grace stepped inside with Jonet behind and off to the side of him.
" Good afternoon, Your-" Toril and I started, only to be cut off by a raising of His Grace's hand.
"If you two will be following me for life then there is no need for formalities," He coldly said. "In private, you may call me Amun. Or anything other than His Grace or Master."
"Yes… Lord Amun." I hesitated to say.
He gave me a curious squint before kneeling to reach into the growing pool of darkness between his feet. "These books are for you all," he said as he pulled out three sets of three books and handed them to each of us. "Consider them as the most sacred of texts, and read them when you have the free time; at your own pace." He added in a stern, warnful tone. "I'd rather it take a few years for you all to understand these concepts than to rush through them without learning anything. And share them with no one."
"Yes, Lord Amun." We bowed in unison. Causing the same curious look to show itself on his face for a brief second.
"Now." He began pacing. "I assume you both are wondering what kind of person I am. What my goals are. What your lives will be like as my vassals. While I will tell you to see for yourselves and come to your own conclusions, I'll also tell you that I have no intentions of becoming either a hero or a villain. I have no interest in saving lost souls, acting virtuous, or pretending to be altruistic. I care only about learning as much as I can about magic, and exploring these worlds for myself.
To do that." He continued on his pivot. "I will enroll in the magic academy and, after graduating, form a guild of my own. After gathering troops and training them, we'll accrue experience in Phaegrath before addressing our shortcomings and moving across the sea to Ulai. Where we'll cull the continent from the monster armies before erecting an empire of our own.
'Is- Is he serious?' I laughed despairingly on the inside.
"And then." He added at his next pivot. "We will explore the Mortal Plane until the end of our days." He then paused until he stood before Toril and me and squatted down to look us both in the eyes. "If that's not the path you wish to take in life, be honest and tell me now. I won't hold it against you."
'By the gods, he is serious!' I gasped inside.
"I would want nothing more." Toril declared.
Knocking me from my stupor and causing me to quickly say, "My answer is the same."
"Understood." Lord Amun stood to his full height and continued his pacing without pause. "As for your jobs, I'll be paying you each a salary of 100 gold coins per week until further notice, starting today. In exchange, you three are to put your all into becoming as physically, magically, and intellectually capable as possible. In addition to reading these books I've given you, I'll soon be writing more pieces for you that will pertain to your magical affinities and your specific occupations. And, we'll be starting our training regimen within the next couple of days."
"Toril." He stopped before the young knight, who straightened his posture immediately.
"Yes, My Lord." He bowed.
"As my first knight, you are primarily in charge of security. Forever and always, your first duty will be to fight. Far in the future, however, you'll become the one to directly lead the troops in our guild while I command. As their first sergeant, you'll be responsible for their wellbeing and the training of not only our troops but of any vassals that may come under my wing in the future."
"Understood, My Lord." Toril bowed.
"Jaimess." He then turned to me, prompting me to politely bow. "You will have three duties. First, as my quartermaster, you'll be in charge of inventorying, managing, and sometimes acquiring everything that we own or need: money, provisions, equipment, materials, infrastructure, assets, and even land. Everything must be recorded in painstakingly accurate detail."
"Of course, My Lord." I nodded.
"Your second duty will be that of a treasurer." He continued. "I will be personally investing into an account that will be used to purchase materials for the guild for weapons, equipment, and anything else we may need to operate efficiently. Any transactions related to this account will go through you. And lastly, after the creation of our guild, you will take up the role of executive officer. You will manage the more logistical and administrative aspects of military operations."
"Your wish is my command, Lord Amun." I bowed. "I will put my all into these tasks."
"Good." He grinned before turning to the last of us. "Jonet. As I told you before, I have no intention of having you operate solely as a medic, much less as my servant. Instead, I have a more specialized role for you. You will be my eyes and ears. For you have an ability that I'll never have."
Her curiosity seemed to have been piqued by our Lord's words. As was mine, I had to admit.
"You have a knack for going unnoticed- for seamlessly blending in with a crowd of faces." Lord Amun explained. "Contrarily, I'd be recognized wherever I went. And it's due to that, that I'm going to have you be my reconnaissance officer."
"You want me to… to become a spy, My Lord?" She asked with visible confusion and evident reluctance.
"Yes." Lord Amun nodded. "You will mainly work alone from the shadows; figuratively speaking of course. I may ask you to eavesdrop on people. Scry. Or at most, capture someone for interrogation. All for the sake of gathering information. You in particular will need to study the third book I've given you closely. And I will be giving you more over the coming years as well."
"I will do my best, Your Grace." She bowed resolutely.
"Good." Lord Amun grinned before starting towards the door. "Now that that's in order, we'll begin our training."
'What a wild ride that was.' I internally shook my head as I watched his figure recede through the doorway.
I had more or less expected Lord Amun to have the ambition to become a Magus. And even to form his own guild, somewhat. But that goal of his was enough to make me think he was insane. Ulai had been a monster-infested paradise for almost five hundred years at this point.
It'd take a deity to change that.
In addition to that, there was the matter of a hundred gold coins a week.
In all, it was enough to leave me completely stupefied. And stupefied I would've remained if it weren't for Toril barking out his affirmations to Lord Amun's order before stepping towards the door. Breaking me from my trance and prompting me to scramble to secure the books in my trunk before following him and the others outside and down the corridor towards the training court. All the while my mind raced about the amiable claims the Lord had just made.
"We'll start with basic exercises." Lord Amun explained after relocating us to the wall just next to the entrance. "Drills that'll increase our hand-eye coordination, reaction time, dexterity, and agility. After that, we'll move on to lessons in elemental manipulation. Followed by spell development."
'Elemental practice?' I winced before curtly nodding along. 'Hopefully, it'll be better than the Master's teachings.'
If he noticed my moment of conjecture, Lord Amun said nothing as he bent down to dig his hand into the shadows and scoop out a bit of the amorphous material that his family alone could produce.
He seemed to focus on it as its shape condensed into a somewhat solid sphere before tossing it to Toril; who fumbled to catch it and immediately let out a strange yelp after securing it in his hands.
And a moment later, the Lord tossed me one as well.
Much like Toril, but worse, I fumbled the ball in my hands before losing it from my grip entirely. It soundlessly bounced to a halt a few steps away from me and I quickly stepped after it to pick it up. And just like my peer, I let out an inadvertent gasp as a bitter cold bit at my fingers on contact.
"We'll spend ten minutes a day doing this." Lord Amun explained after distributing a ball to Jonet and turning to face the wall and toss the shadow ball at its surface. Where it soundlessly bounced off the wall and back into his hand. "Throw it with one hand. Catch it with the other," he said, repeating the motions.
Toril and I seemed to have similar thoughts as we exchanged a glance with each other, yet turned to face the wall to repeat the Lord's actions without complaint.
I must admit, I've never felt so foolish as I did in those next ten minutes. Whether it was the blistering cold creeping up my hands or sheer inability for all things physical, I know not the cause of my repetitive failures. I dropped the ball consistently. Over and over again. Never catching it more than two or three times before I was scurrying off or bending over again to retrieve the numb-inducing sphere of darkness.
Toril on the other hand.
"If it's too easy for you, go faster." The Lord barked after noticing his effortless plight. "You'll thank me in the long run."
As silly as it was, he seemed more than serious about the exercises. Giving me second thoughts about my initial impression of it being a child's game.
After ten minutes had passed, we moved on to do a few more drills the Lord had planned for us: He made us stand in place and jump over a rope of shadows we'd been told to swing around our bodies; we sat in a circle and squeezed the dark spheres as tightly and as many times as we could; we threw pebbles, rocks and blobs of shadow at specific branches or leaves nearby and tried to stand in place on a single leg while we moved the other leg around us in a half-circle. All for ten minutes each, just as the first exercise.
For the last exercise, he had us place our hands flat on a stump and attempt to lift a single finger at a time without moving the others. A task that wound up surprisingly difficult for the lot of us.
While we all were surely thinking the same thing, we remained silent and continued on with the drills until an hour had passed. At which time, Lord Amun told us we were finished with the basics and were ready to move on to the real training before leading us through the estate towards the outer walls.