Manor of Baron Camara, City of Rivana, Kingdom of Astralia
Valentina Camara sat in front of the large vanity mirror in her bedroom, absently brushing her hair as she contemplated her mother standing behind her.
"I don't understand, Mother," she said, a hint of confusion in her voice.
"What is there not to understand? Your father and I want you to look good for our guest today," her mother replied.
Valentina was puzzled. Dinner guests were not uncommon in the Camara household, given her father's status as the Baron. However, she usually remained in the background during such events, allowing the adults to conduct their business. So, why did her parents want her to be more involved this time?
"Who is coming anyway? Another fat old merchant? And why do I have to be there? It will be sooo boring." she pouted, voicing her thoughts.
"Valentina!" Her mother playfully tapped her on the shoulder. "Don't talk about your father's acquaintances like that!"
The two women giggled, but Lucia gently steered the conversation back on track. "Well, he is a merchant, or at least the son of one," she said, causing Valentina to groan in response. "But he is young, only a few years older than you. And, in fact, I've heard that he is quite handsome too."
"Oh? Is that true?" Valentinas interest was piqued, a smile forming on her face. Ever since her father had moved her and her family to Rivana a decade ago, she had become quite isolated. The few friends she had made were local nobles or children of rich merchants from Rivana, all hand-selected by her father, no doubt. The opportunity to meet someone new from a different part of the kingdom excited her. Then, realisation struck.
"Mother!" the slender young woman exclaimed. "Please tell me that you aren't planning to marry me off!"
Lucia sighed, gently adjusting her daughter's head so that she was looking straight into the mirror as she absently ran her fingers through Valentina's dark-chocolate hair. "Val, look at yourself, you have grown into a beautiful young woman. The time has come for us to look for the right suitor for you."
Valentina knew that she had changed a lot in the past few years. At just shy of eighteen, she was quite proud of how her body had filled out recently. Her favourite maid, Mary, frequently told her how pretty she had become. She had also noticed how the eyes of Rivana's young noblemen lingered on her for a bit longer than before. It was also no secret to her that most of the young noblewomen her age were already promised to future husbands, but it never seemed like it could happen to her! Dread overcame her as tears started to run down her pretty face.
"But mother, I don't even know him! How can I love someone I haven't even met yet?"
"Don't be silly, you goose," Lucia chastised her, her voice growing harder. "His father is a very powerful man, he will be a good match for you and a boon to our family."
"So is this all I am worth?" Valentina forced out between sobs, "I'm just a bargaining chip for father?"
Her mother roughly grabbed her face, slapping her hard enough to sting. "Enough, Valentina!" she said as her daughter was looking at her with wide azure eyes. "Your duty as a daughter of nobility is to serve your line through marrying into a respectable family. Stop your frivolous daydreams and accept reality. Veridania knows, we have shielded you long enough."
Bitterness and anger dripped through her mother's voice, and for a moment the young woman feared that she would hit her again. However, Lucia eventually sighed and visibly relaxed.
"Mary!" she called out to Valentina's favourite maid, who had been waiting outside of the room and now entered. "Make sure that Valentina is ready when our guest arrives in the evening. I want the young man to be positively entranced by her."
The moment her mother had left the room, Valentina ran up to her friend, enclosing her in her arms and crying into the maid's chest. She dreaded the evening to come.
###
Silver Estate, City of Rivana, Kingdom of Astralia
The first night at the Silver estate had been pleasant for Aiden. After poring over the documents left behind by Vincent Russo, the head of the local branch of the Black Swan Merchant Company, he hadn't found anything incriminating but noted some small irregularities that he would have to further investigate later. Exhausted, he fell into a deep sleep the moment his back touched the mattress on the luxurious new bed, resting like a baby until a maid woke him up, informing him that breakfast was ready.
Taking advantage of the vast garden space, he began his new training routine. His two priorities were to strengthen his body and expand his mana core to overcome the restrictive spell usage that was currently hindering him. He started by running laps around the small lake in the rear garden, then transitioned to various basic strength exercises like push-ups and squats.
The house staff seemed surprised by their new master's intense training regimen. They clearly didn't expect such dedication from him and had started to observe him as he trained his body in the torching morning sun. Their attention grew even more when Aiden removed his shirt during the exercises, and it escalated when he decided to take a swim in the cold water, wearing only his undershorts. He inadvertently caught the eye of nearly every female member of his staff present, prompting him to stop several times to remind them, with pointed looks, that they had their own duties to attend to.
Aiden hadn't felt like his new body was anything special, quite the opposite actually. However, he soon realised that his standards of beauty and fitness were skewed due to his experiences in the Empire. In the Empire, those with magical talent had access to body enhancing magic, resulting in an extraordinarily beautiful populace, while any imperfections were usually relegated to the lower classes, unless used as a fashion statement. In this new time, magic capabilities were weak, and people couldn't afford to waste magic on enhancing their body, if the techniques even existed at all. As a result, even a body like Aiden's, which, to him, showed clear signs of neglect, was considered attractive.
This fact had become even more obvious when he had asked the two guards from their journey to spar with him. He hadn't expected much, but the result was even worse than anticipated. Between the fat Colby, who had the grace but none of the strength of a drunk mountain troll, and the spindly-thin Wilton, who was barely able to keep the wooden training sword upright, the two guardsmen had immediately faltered, leaving with their figurative tails between their legs.
As the burning midday sun had made physical conditioning unbearable, Aiden had soon shifted his focus to magical training. With dismay, he had quickly realised that strengthening his mana core would be a struggle without any of the materials he needed. He had to rely on the slow but steady progress of aura manipulation to advance his core, as using his soul magic or common magic spells would drain his mana significantly, something he couldn't afford in his current situation.
Currently, he sat on the spacious lower terrace of the mansion, deeply immersed in meditation. Eve had joined him earlier, trying to copy his meditation pose, but obvious boredom had taken over quickly, and she had been openly staring at him for the last fifteen minutes.
"Are you even doing anything, or are you just showing off?" she suddenly blurted out.
"I'm meditating," he calmly replied, keeping his eyes closed.
"And you need to do that like this?"she asked incredulously.
Aiden opened his eyes, looking at her quizzically. "Like what?"
"Half naked!" she exclaimed.
Running his hands over his upper body teasingly, he asked with a smirk, "You don't like it?"
Eve blushed furiously, looking away. "Too pale," she responded in a clipped voice.
Aiden let out a sigh, looking at the sun-kissed brunette beside him. "Why are you here, Eve?"
"I was curious what you're doing."
"And now you know," he replied.
"Yes, but why? Why are you doing this?" she asked.
"It's easier to train aura sense manipulation this way, and that helps me widen my mana pool," he explained.
He expected the conversation to end there as he returned to his meditation. However, after a moment, Eve spoke up again. "Can you show me?" she asked, sounding almost shy.
Aiden glanced at her, noticing that she was still in the same outfit she had worn the day before, not exactly suitable for meditation. "Sure, but you might want to change into something more comfortable," he suggested with a mischievous grin. "Unless you want to go topless like me?"
Eve sputtered, nearly losing her balance at his unexpected remark. It took her a moment to regain her composure, and she seemed about to head back into the mansion to change, but then she paused and gave him a sheepish look.
"I don't have anything else," she quietly admitted.
Aiden, who had gone back to meditating, looked back at her, confused. "What do you mean?" he replied.
Eve avoided his gaze, staring at the ground. "You practically kidnapped me from the street. My belongings are back in the bandit camp, I don't have anything else to wear."
He realised that she was right, she did not have a pack on her when they had met in the forest, only her bow, her quiver, and the gear that she was currently wearing. Letting out a sigh, he said, "I didn't think of that. For now, go ask the staff if they have something you can use. We'll see about replacing your stuff later."
At first, she seemed like she wanted to protest, but then she appeared to change her mind. Shrugging, she turned on her heels and left. She returned after some time, wearing loose woollen trousers and an off-white linen shirt that was multiple sizes too big. Aiden appreciated the view the loose neckline was giving him. She rolled her eyes when she noticed him looking at her, taking a seat and mimicking the pose she had seen him use earlier.
"What now?" she asked.
"Close your eyes," he instructed, waiting for her to follow. "Now, reach for your aura and purposefully extend it out..."
"I don't know how to do any of that," she interrupted, a frown on her face.
For a moment, Aiden reflected on the situation. In his previous world, most forms of aura manipulation were considered the most fundamental aspects of magic. Not only of soul magic, but of magic in general. It was something everyone with magical potential learned from a young age. But here, it seemed that advanced aura training might be a rarity, and Eve likely had never received any formal instruction.
"Okay," he said, deciding on an approach. "Close your eyes again. Good. Now, try to tune out everything else, until only you and my voice remain."
Eve took some time, but she eventually nodded in acknowledgment. Aiden encouraged her, "You're doing great, Eve. Now, try to picture your inner self, and within it, look for something that truly reflects who you are. All your weaknesses, all your strengths, all your worries, and all your hopes. Search for it and embrace it."
For novice aura users, or people like Eve who had used their aura instinctively without understanding it, connecting with their inner self and actualizing their aura was often a challenging task. Many people would get stuck at this stage for extended periods of time, struggling to grasp the essence of their being and harness it through aura manipulation. It required patience, persistence, and a deep understanding of oneself, which wasn't always easy to achieve.
As Aiden watched Eve concentrate, he knew that guiding her through this process was crucial to unlocking her hidden potential. He offered gentle encouragement, and to his surprise, after a few minutes of trying, Eve suddenly exclaimed, "I... I think I've got it."
He smiled, pleased with her progress. "Good job, Eve! Now, grab hold of that feeling and project it outwards. Try to sense your environment."
Eve's expression became even more focused as she tried to follow his instructions, but it quickly became evident that she didn't find it as easy as the earlier steps. Aiden knew that aura senses, when first activated, were often blunt and muted, but he knew a fun little method to accelerate their development. He flared up his own aura, projecting it directly at her.
"Whoa! What is that?!" she squealed, instinctively jerking back from him.
"My aura," he replied calmly.
Eve gave him a suspicious look. "Your aura? It felt like a mountain was pressing down on me."
Aiden chuckled. "Don't be overdramatic. It's just a bit stronger than yours. Now, focus and concentrate."
Eve went back to meditating, and soon she gave Aiden a nod, indicating that she sensed his aura once again. He began to slowly withdraw his aura.
"Don't let it slip away, keep your focus on it," he instructed, continuing to retract his aura until it reached a level of passive radiation typical of an untrained aura. "Can you still feel it?"
She nodded, her concentration evident on her pretty face. "Yes, it's faint, but... yes."
"Good," he said, pleased with her progress. "Now, use the same method to extend your aura sense past me. Try to find the auras of the other people around us, the maids in the house, the gardener."
It took a while, but eventually, a large smile spread across Eve's face. "I got it!" she exclaimed, unable to contain her excitement. She even jumped up to hug Aiden in the spur of the moment before quickly stepping back, blushing.
"Good job," he chuckled, standing up and handing Eve one of the towels he had prepared for himself. "Use this method to train your aura control until it comes naturally to you, then try it throughout your day without meditating. While you eat, while you walk around town, while you train with your bow. Mana manipulation is useless in real situations if you have to fully concentrate on it, so find situations where your focus is elsewhere and exercise it there."
"Will do," she replied eagerly. "What is our plan for today?"
Aiden raised an eyebrow, looking at her inquisitively. "Our plan? I need to get ready for my dinner with the Baron and his family."
Eve let out a small groan. "And what about me? Am I just supposed to sit around and do nothing?"
"You have the freedom to do as you please, you are not a prisoner here. However, I do have a specific task that I believe suits your abilities," Aiden replied.
"Oh? And what is that?"
"I need to know what the populace feels, what they think about the Baron and the situation that the southern duchy is in. We know that there is trouble brewing, but we don't know how much of it is felt by the people," Aiden explained. "I want you to go and blend into the masses, listen to their conversations, and report it back to me."
"Okay, I can handle that," she said, nodding confidently.
"Great," Aiden said, turning to head back into the house. He paused at the doorstep and looked back at Eve. "By the way, Eve, go to Bennett and inform him that your salary should match his. Collect the coins from him and purchase whatever you need."
Eve seemed hesitant, "I have my own money, you know?"
"That may be true, but you're now working for me, and I take care of my people," he replied firmly, giving her a reassuring smile before he disappeared inside to prepare for the dinner with the Baron.