There weren't any guards present to check their identities, so they just waltzed in. Carian booked all the rooms in a nearby in and ordered the soldiers to find suitable stables for the horses. The town they were in was called Frontier, a rather small town. Gaining its name from being the front decades ago when the barbarians were a lot stronger and more present in the area.
Thanks to the Emperor, they were pushed back, and this place was given peace and prosperity. Being a historic sight brought many visitors over, creating a touristic industry. The local populace were also very dedicated to their training because if the barbarians ever pushed back, they would be one of the first big towns to be hit.
Walking through the village, Lucas got ogled by the local populace, nobody said a word to him, just staring and whispering among each other. He paid it no heed as they searched for an inn.
Carian asked one of the locals and when they found it he rented out all the rooms he could. Now free, Lucas started to look for an empty room. Telling Carian to take care of Thurin, he secluded himself from the rest.
Since the Emperor could be the father of Thurin, it was highly likely that it would shock him to his core. After all, just thinking about the people Lucas lost made him feel terrible, so he could only imagine what Thurin would feel when he heard it.
If the news shocked Thurin or not, he would have to give him some room anyway since that would be the fastest way to work through those feelings. Grief and mourning a loved one was a challenge nobody stood a chance against, but no matter what, Lucas always wanted to be alone when he felt bad. Using that logic, he avoided Thurin to let him be in peace.
Sitting down on the floor, he tried to meditate. It was time for him to put all his effort and time into comprehending the Light runes in order to get his arm back. Right as he was as calm as he could be a knocking sound came from the door.
Knock! Knock!
It hadn't even been that long since he was alone, yet here he was, debating on whether or not to answer. He knew exactly who it was, leaving him little room to ignore. Caving in, he let them in.
"I guess you want to talk about it?", Lucas said with a soft voice as he saw Thurin at the door clearly holding his emotions back. He simply nodded as he was scared that speaking would lead him to break down.
Letting him in and sitting down on the bed, Lucas was happy to know he would be capable of sleeping on something soft, only to realize he probably wouldn't be sleeping anytime soon in order to make as much progress in his different projects as possible.
Realizing he had been silent he started to look at Thurin, he looked like a bunch of different emotions were jumbled around inside him. He lied down on the bed with his back towards Lucas. Lucas on the other hand didn't really know what to say, as always, if it came down to professional talk, he was fine, but personal conversations? He was as useless as a glass hammer.
Staying silent brought some discomfort to Lucas as he thought it was awkward, but Thurin was fine with it. After not that much time that felt like forever, did Thurin finally speak up in a small quiet tone. "Can you talk about the world above?"
Lucas didn't know why Thurin wanted to hear about the world above since it wasn't a pretty sight.
"What would you like to know?", he didn't really know where to start, when they talked about it previously, he just explained the magic and how the world above looked a lot greener than here, but now? What should he say, the politics between the Holy Kingdom and Frigus? How he saw a Wyvern in action? There were plenty of topics.
"Where did you grow up?", a little louder than before but still a whisper, Thurin clearly just wanted to be distracted from reality, but Lucas didn't pick up on that.
"Where I come from? That's a difficult question. I never knew my parents, I have no clue if they're even still alive or not. I was left at an orphanage in a small village and was blessed with a family that cared for me. We didn't really have a father, but we did have a mother that taught us how to behave."
It was a simple beginning now that Lucas thought back on it, his small fights against the children, the lessons with Maria, the brotherly love, his memories started to come back. The baker that made bread that smelled so good the entire village depended on her for their breakfast. The river that was close by that had tiny fish they could hunt as children.
The construction work Lucas tried to help in even though he was most likely useless now that he thought back on it. Every single thing was still so clear in his mind thanks to his Mind Sphere. He recounted all his innocent adventures and the reckless fights he got into in quite good detail.
Talking about how happy he was when he lived with only his family really put a smile on his face. He never stopped to think about how something so simple had brought him the most happiness.
As Lucas talked about how his childhood was, time started to pass, Thurin was paying close at first since he was very interested in the upper world. He was trying to distract himself and with the soothing voice of Lucas, the soft bed, the relaxing atmosphere and the exhaustion from the ambush all combined into one thing. Him drifting off to sleep despite his current state.
Right when Lucas was about to talk about how his desire for strength started out, he first looked towards Thurin. Seeing him sleep comforted him since he didn't have to talk about his trauma. He didn't know exactly why Thurin needed his tales, but seeing the dried tears on his cheeks said enough.
Using his magic, he hid his presence and made his movements as silent as possible. Sitting down on the floor, he started his meditation once again. Repressing his happy emotions he focussed on his work again.
The runes of Light captured meanings that conveyed to the world what should happen with the energy that was in contained it. He knew this, the only issue was how to proceed next.
All Lucas had to do was find the correct meanings for each rune and make a spell that could in theory heal a limb. He had some crazy ideas for healing spells, and they always worked out in the end somehow. Even so, regrowing a limb was beyond his capabilities.
So started his journey into unraveling the different runes, and after 9 grueling hours, he made absolutely no progress. He gained a lot of theories only to throw them away since they didn't make any sense.
'God fucking dammit, what with this shit? Why are they so cryptic?'
'I don't know exactly myself, I'm more attuned with them, yet can't understand anything.'
Lucas had always been a copycat, creating his own spells was difficult, but stealing from others and copying was almost a talent of his. Sadly, this also meant he had no idea what he was doing. Speaking a language and simply repeating what someone says might create the same result but held a whole different level of mastery.
This resulted in him never truly understanding the basics, he could of course simply skip runes completely and do something else. While most forms of magic required runes like arrays or magic circles, there were also the spells based purely on willpower.
Of course, Lucas had already checked if he could simply will his arm into existence and after exhausting his willpower so much he almost blacked out, nothing had changed, so he put that on the back burner.
Instead, Lucas started to think of different ways, perhaps he could regain his arm bit by bit. Sadly, that didn't work out, he couldn't just create half a bone.
Lucas tried to experiment with different types of magic and their forms only to end up with nothing. If he could see someone do it, then it wouldn't take too long before he recreated it, but with nobody to support him, he was stuck.
Normally he would ask Elam for help, or even Micheal if he was really lost. Here, there weren't any decent mages to begin with.
'Hold on a second.'
'What? Realized something I didn't?'
'All the so-called mages here focus on their training and strength, right?'
'Yeah, and?'
'Well, wouldn't it make sense then if they also found ways to take care of their greatest asset?'
'Nah, you saw the dude trying to heal a broken leg with sticks, right? No way that's going to do shit.'
'But perhaps there are better healers out there than Galen. What other hope do we have? Do you want to waste another night like this?', losing precious time was one of the things Lucas really couldn't stand.
'Why not just ask Carian? He has to help us out and if he can't, he's dead, and we'll be free of this contract.'
'I thought you liked the contract? It's extremely in our favor.'
'I still don't like it.'
While Lucas was debating on what to do next, Thurin was about to wake up. Slowly opening his eyes, he realized where he was. Putting on his mask, he stepped into his persona.
"You okay? You moved a lot in your sleep."
Right as Lucas realized it was kind of creepy to say that, Thurin lightly nodded. "Nightmares." "About your dad?"
"He's not my father! I... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."
"Hey, don't apologies. It doesn't matter what he was to you, it's clear he meant a lot. It's fine to be sad.", Lucas placed his hand on his shoulder, before initiating a hug. It felt awkward, and he didn't feel comfortable, yet it was something that Thurin did to show his happiness.
Lucas comforted him the best he could. And while the gesture wasn't much, to Thurin who never really had a friend in the first place, it meant a lot. It didn't last long, but not long after Thurin was fine.
"Now, before we go back, would you mind telling me what he was to you?", while Lucas was trying to be on Thurin's side, he had to know what his next steps had to be. If there was truly no connection between him and the Emperor, then he would have to have a serious talk with Carian. His contract was still in his favor, he would just have to protect them according to his capabilities.
"No, I don't want to talk about it.", Thurin exited the room, leaving a stone-cold Lucas behind, he didn't show his emotion, but he felt extremely annoyed. Why couldn't he just explain what their relationship was? Then he could start planning ahead, making hypothesis of their relation and the future steps would be way too difficult to do if he didn't have any kind of information.
'Try Carian, beat it out of him if necessary.'
'Great idea, let's go.'
Exiting his room, he sought the dining room. Everyone was happily eating their breakfast as if Galen wasn't kidnapped some time ago. Seems that everyone was happy with the current circumstances.
Lucas searched around until he found Carian. When he saw Lucas staring at him with a more fierce glint than normal, he stood up and went upstairs with him. Walking to his room, they started to talk.
"I assume you wanted to ask something? I did tell Thurin about what happened, so you don't have to pester me about it anymore.", Carian joked around, thought it didn't land very well.
"I know, I just want to know their relationship. I thought he was an heir, then a bastard child, but now I'm thinking he was some sort of stepson. If I want to create a decent plan for us to succeed, I'll need intel.", while Lucas might act a bit direct, they were still working together in the end.
Sharing their ideas and plans wasn't necessary or an obligation, but it did help both of them out.
"Don't worry, when we reach the capital, it'll all make sense, and I'll provide you with all the info you'll need. Look, I don't have concrete proof, but I believe Thurin will gain the throne through an inheritance."
"How can you be so sure without proof. You do realize you would be breaking the contract if you can't provide me with everything I want."
"I know, and my heart is still beating, no? So I haven't broken the contract. The Emperor rarely asked for help, yet when I was teaching Thurin, he occasionally asked me personally for advice. Before we were sent on this mission to train Thurin, he asked about how to write an inheritance. He gave me plenty of hints to show what would happen."
Hearing that, Lucas felt relieved, his plans weren't completely useless yet. But it also made him question the death of the Emperor, if he knew he was going to die, why not prevent it? If he was the most powerful man in the Empire, why not use all the resources at his command to defend him? Why not just run away?
Before he let Carian run away again, he was about to demand a way to fix his arm. If Carian couldn't provide it, he would be breaking the contract, so he might be asking for a lot.
"Carian, is there a way to heal my arm?", since he didn't outright demand it, Carian was safe.
Even Carian knew what Lucas was hinting at, if he couldn't provide him with help, then he would be in trouble. Holding back a sigh, Carian almost regretted what he proposed.
'It truly was a risk proposing such a contract, but it was the only way to chain this monster down. He killed a skilled Tier 2 with a few spells, Tier 1's are but ants in his eyes. Letting him loose is asking for trouble. I just need to be careful of what I say.'
"To completely heal your arm I can only think of two things. One is the Healing Star of the Third Starborn, which I can give you access to when we reach the capital. The other would be to go through one of the trails."
"Which is the easiest and fastest to obtain?"
"That's a difficult question, in theorie the trail would be the easiest. But, the rewards from the trail depend on your performance, so you might want to train before going through with it."
"Then I'll wait a bit longer, what are the trainings for the first trial?"
"Oh, you won't have any problems with the trials, the only one that you might want to train on is determination or recklessness."
"Excuse me?"
"I know it sounds strange, but here, let me show you. Since we're in Frontier, there should be a trainings ground somewhere."
Leaving the inn, Lucas and Carian were joined by Thurin as they went to visit the local training ground. Thurin didn't want to be among the soldiers, but his mentor and friend. He was mostly silent, which pained Carian's heart, even if it only was temporary.
It was pretty awkward since Thurin was mostly the most bubbly person of the three, yet now he didn't speak. Even for Lucas, who could kill without batting an eye felt that something was off with him.