-Aragon's POV-
"Did he return from the hunt?" Asks the handsome middle-aged man while standing in front of the fireplace.
"Yes, just now, he returned to his room," answered the hooded man.
"How did he do?"
"He killed four grey wolves. Their ranks were in the late F+. Also, his sword technique seems to have been improved from the last time I saw him hunting," he responds with no emotion in his voice.
"Describe the battle." He commands.
"He left the training grounds and headed to the forest. He found traces in the mud and followed them with great precision. He traced the first wolf being alone and beheaded it with one clean slice. Then he followed another set of traces and found three wolves eating a deer. I believe he knew that they were distracted and he wouldn't find a better chance at attacking, so he beheaded one of the three with the same move as the first wolf. A barrage of sword attacks killed the second one. For the third one, as it was about to howl, he unleashed his ice domain and severely wounded it with ice droplets before it had the chance to howl and notify the rest of the pack."
`Hmph, the first two seem to have been killed by the second move. As for the third one, it was probably the first move,' speculated Aragon.
"Good, you can leave."
The masked man bows and vanishes from the room.
`It seems that he had another breakthrough today. Not bad, son. But is there a reason for such quick breakthrough? There hasn't been any report that he used a potion. I guess I will just ask him later.` thought Aragon while sipping off his wine.
"Jules," called Aragon to the maid stationed outside of his office.
"Yes, master," Jules replied.
"Inform Amelia that I want her to come to my office."
"Yes." She promptly said and left to do the task that was assigned to her.
-Later in the same office-
"So he probably broke through again? Is that what you think?" asked Amelia.
"I believe so, yes."
"The grey wolves are not strong for him since he was already one rank above them. Could it be you exaggerating things?" said Amelia with slight hesitation.
"Even if he didn't break through, he would've won, but the sword skill and precision he displayed was far better and sharper than what he used previously."
"Hmph, why don't you just spar with him instead of asking? You could test his swordsmanship instead of believing your shadows," said Amelia with still apparent disbelief.
"That shadow, as you call him, is a B-class awakened. I don't think he could report the wrong thing. Anyway, I will just spar with him."
"What about Liz? How was her progress while in the academy this year?" asked Aragon.
"From what she said, she would probably need six to twelve months to break through the C-rank." She replied.
"That's good. Maybe the pressure from Michael also pushed her to work harder. What about her stats?"
"Give me a piece of paper and a pen. I will write them down."
After writing her daughter's stats, she handed the piece of paper to Aragon and said, "Her stats should still be like this."
Aragon took the paper and looked at it.
--- Status ---
Name: Elizabeth Dacre
Age: 17
Rank: D
Strength: D-
Agility: D-
Stamina: E+
Intelligence: D
Mana: D+
Charm: A
--- Profession ---
Mage lvl.3
--- Techniques ---
Fire Domain:
(A technique that allows the user to create a domain of fire. The more mana is used, the bigger the domain and the more skills the user can create.)
"Such a shame she wasn't born with swordsmanship as her profession. With her fire affinity, she could use all the moves in our sword art," said Aragon with a slight disappointment after checking his daughter's stats.
"Her talent as a mage is good already. We just need to protect them until they are strong enough and not repeat the mistakes of the past," said Amelia while sadness and anger laced her voice.
"Yes, you are right," said Aragon while throwing the piece of paper of his daughter's stats at the fire from the fireplace.
-Elizabeth's POV-
"My Lady, Master and Mistress had another meeting in their office today," said a pretty average-looking maid to Elizabeth.
"It must be again about brother," said Elizabeth with no emotion on her face.
"I apologize, my Lady. I don't know anything about their discussion," said the maid apologetically while bowing.
"It's okay. You've done enough," said Elizabeth and dismissed the maid.
`They still only care about power, nothing more.` She thought while clenching her fists.
`At least we will both leave for the academy, and brother won't always have training in his mind or the worry of disappointing father,` she thought and relaxed a little.
-Unknown POV-
"It seems he is still wondering about his existence," said the voice to seemingly no one.
"Yes. He is still missing some of his memories, but soon enough, they will return
to him," said another voice that could send chills down anyone's spine.
"I hope they come back soon, or we may have to intervene."
-Michael's POV-
A handsome young man can be seen running in the rain with mud-stained boots. If someone came closer, a strong scent of iron would hit their nose. Probably from blood since he's also carrying a sword on his hip.
`It's starting to rain even more. I should hurry up,` the young man thought.
While arriving at the gates of the castle, he is greeted by the guards. He nods at them quickly and heads toward what seems to be the training grounds.
`Shit, I forgot about the ice. Should tell someone to fix it.`
He then sets his steel sword back on the stack and carefully leaves the building. He heads inside the house, and before entering his room, he finds the same maid that had called him many times this day, Jenna.
"Jenna, the floor on the training grounds has been frozen. Inform someone to fix it," he orders her.
"It has already been reported, master. They will soon be fixed," she said back to him.
"Okay. Also, inform father that I will not attend today's dinner."
"I will inform him. Also, your bath has already been prepared."
"Thank you," he says to her.
She smiled, bowed, and then left to perform her task.
He goes inside his room, undresses, and directly goes into his bathtub.
`Huu, what an exhausting day,` he thought, closing his eyes and finally relaxing his body.