Ever since that day, things have been chaotic and Amy never found peace again.
"AMY!! There is another invitation from Leon!" Viola said while barging in through the door.
"Again?" Amy groaned and face palmed while still holding her pen. She was at her desk, studying. "At this rate, we will be behind on all our lessons." She can't even keep her cool when it comes to that damn kid.
For two months now, he sends out invitation after invitation to come to his annex to train and hang out. At first, it was once a week but the gap keeps getting shorter and shorter and now it's every two days. They stay there for hours and in some days, they have to stay for the night and rarely have time for themselves anymore.
"At this rate, we might just live in the annex." Viola sighs impatiently while biting her lip in irritation. It seems that even Viola, who is usually patient, is starting to lose her temper too.
They could just simply reject the letter in normal situations but they cannot reject the letter from royalty.
"We'll meet him during the winter ball anyway. Just reply to him that we're busy preparing for it." Amy said while still studying.
"Alright," Viola said and heads back to her room.
The reason why Leon has been wanting them to come to the annex was simple. He wants to train. Apparently, Leon has trouble controlling his magic unlike his power and seeing Amy throw the spear using her magic without destroying it has convinced him that he should improve his magic. Most of the time when he's not doing that, he's just goofing around and now everyone, and she means everyone, don't bother with formalities anymore and call him by his name without his title, something he doesn't mind. Rufus isn't any better. He shares a braincell with this idiot despite his polite demeanor. No wonder they are best friends.
The Winter ball is a royal ball that brings the nobility in the capital together. This will be the first royal ball that she and Viola will ever attend. They haven't even debut in society yet they are attending as Leon's friends.
Then she heard knocking. Those small raps are familiar. "Come in!" she said.
She saw Anna come in. "You got a letter from a Sir. Yistle?" she said in confusion.
Amy stopped what she is doing and looked at the letter in her hand. The envelope is a sunny yellow color with green sealing wax embedded with the seal of Yistle family.
Amy, who was frustrated earlier now curious, froze for a moment. "Hand it over." she said and Anna handed the letter to her. It is given specifically to her. She opened it. What does Nathaniel want?
Dear Amaryllis Anthos,
I have a request to make of you. Hopefully my letter has reached you in time. I have trouble trying to access my magic the way you described me. Theseus has told me that he has been able to access his for some time now. Might I ask if there is something wrong with me or do I need another method?
From, Nathaniel Yistle
Amy smiled. Nathaniel Yistle has a naturally bored and tough looking expression and it is more prominent in his older self.
So far, out of literally everyone she met in the annex, he is the only coolheaded and mature one. He is introduced in the story as Count Yistle who has a young daughter. He had a wife and son who died from an accident years prior. He is one of the kindest people in the story though not outwardly. Aron learned much from him and respects him as a result. However, his death set off a chain reaction of events that led Aron's story to become even more tragic.
Though his and Leon's relationship went distant after graduating, Leon did trust Nathaniel with keeping Aron safe. Readers suspect the reason to be that Leon saw the similarity between Aron and Rufus though doesn't know the true nature of their relationship.
Amy wanted to save those whose deaths were the most undeserving. Nathaniel is another person on this list she needs to save. His poor, underaged daughter had to take his title after his death.
She puts the letter in a safe place and then checked the time. She got her stationery and began writing a response.
Nathaniel's power is unique because it requires a large amount of magic. His ability is a demonic ability called Medusa's sight. Anyone who sees his eyes when he activates his technique is temporarily paralyzed but if he injects enough magic into it, he could permanently turn them to stone. But the bigger the being, the longer the stare and the more magic being burned up. He is a true mage but doesn't use magic carelessly because of his eyes especially in moments when they are necessary. He needs them at any moment to activate his power as well as heal them because of the strain.
In the manga, Nathaniel created a new method that limits the flow of magic called the Magical Thread. Magic is normally transferred into the hands or the brain but it bleeds out and is considered quite wasteful. In order to fix this problem, he learns how to narrow down the magical flow and transfer it into his eyes so the necessary amount of concentrated magic is used. This technique took him nearly twenty years to discover, figure out and master. In his explanation, he revealed that he wrote a thesis about it and while it became widely accepted in the magic community, it is not common knowledge.
The downside of this method is that it's not easy. Nathaniel's explanation was quite simple to break apart and comprehend but this method is unique to a few people. In the story, only Paul and Aron have managed to master it.
But
Amaryllis stared at her hands where she used her magic but instead of a flame like aura, it has a bubble like appearance. Luckily, she mastered it too. That is how she got strong enough to throw that spear and shock everyone despite her small body, lack of appropriate muscle and her health. It's like tying her magic up into a thread and sewing it through her hands hence the name.
She wrote his method down but an elementary version of it. It is his discovery after all. She can't take credit for it. He'll figure it out himself. She then put the letter away for Anna to grab so that it could be delivered.
Amy looked down on her progress to see how far behind she is. She wanted to finish all of this before the ball but Leon's constant invitations has made a dent in her carefully planned schedule. Hopefully, Leon takes this rejection well so that she could finish this even if she has to pull an all-nighter.
She looked at her notes of everyone's progress. She admits that she wasn't sure if what she is doing is a good idea because the end result might backfire. So far, Sabina is just an average normal kid, her psychopathic tendencies in the story do not appear in her current self. In fact, she is sweet albeit a bit eccentric. Amy doesn't know anything about Sabina and her training regiment but she doesn't seem to be struggling with her training. In fact, her progress was the fastest.
Melissa is a bit slow but she's steadily improving. Her healing abilities have one downside as her muscles regress when they feel sore so she gave her family's muscle relaxant recipe to her so she would get used to it. Unlike Viola and Sabina, Melissa is a true mage but she's already struggling physically so her magical training will have to wait until she is ready.
Leon is struggling with his magic because his reality bending ability can pretty much do the same thing as magic but he is trying to hide its true nature from everyone so by learning magic, he can pretend his power is truly illusions.
Harry is no true mage and his power is by far the weakest out of everyone. He is similar to his older self so he is training physically the hardest.
Theseus is tricky but apparently his power is gravity related. He could so far make people float but he hinted he could also do the opposite. Amy had doubts about him because she doesn't know who he is. But she recognize his family name in the story as the House Corinth. Either he was an original character made by the god or he died early. She will have to figure this one later.
Viola made significant progress. She learns archery fast and is learning well from the instructor. Although she has a long way to go to catch up to her, she is admittedly proud of her younger sister. Her control and strength over her power is also improving.
Rufus... well... he is currently the physically stronger one, even more than her. He is already athletic and he lacks nothing. There is nothing to criticize or even a lesson plan for him. He has never actually shown his power yet but he says that it's unpleasant and dangerous.
The ability to remove free will and have absolute control over something is truly a terrifying power. It didn't occur to her before but there is a variation to this ability. It doesn't have a name but with every human and monster he controls, he also gets their powers if he kills them. He uses this power more than the ability to remove free will but this also darkens his soul because it requires him to murder someone without any justifiable reason other than to get their powers. He tries to hide it but the true dark nature of his aura is seen by those closest to him or with strong senses. For others, they probably think he's naturally brooding.
Now comes the question. Aron's birth is necessary but what happens next? What kind of measures does she need to make against Rufus Valerian now that she has met him?