Isabella rose from her seat with a pleased smile and headed toward the exit of the lavish room where she had been watching her youngest son's sparring session.
— Matriarch, have you decided who will mentor Raphael? Defeating the top fifth-rank student at the age of five... He could surpass all expectations with proper guidance, — the advisor said, confidence and admiration in his voice.
— Hmm, it's too early to tell. We need to wait for his Awakening, and also determine his elementary affinity with the Spark, — Isabella responded thoughtfully.
She paused for a moment, her noble posture accentuating her elegance, while her long, silk-like hair, streaked with silver, added even more refinement to her image.
Her blue eyes swept across the room, stopping on one of the bookshelves, where an unremarkable old book filled with myths caught her attention.
— ...Let's just hope he doesn't turn out to be a waste of time like the last one, — she said without looking back, and left the room, leaving the advisor alone with his thoughts.
"It would be a terrible loss if the boy doesn't receive the right training..." thought the advisor, approaching the window and watching as Raphael climbed back up to the bleachers, still chewing his lollipop.
"...I hope his brothers don't hold him back from growing..."
The advisor turned and exited the room, leaving it bathed in the morning sunlight.
***
— Lord Raphael!
— Young master! Please teach me that trick you did earlier!
— Me too, me too!
— Haaah... Can you guys just leave me alone, please?
— No, seriously, teach us!
After his grand victory, Raphael had gained a lot more respect and attention from the cadets. Right now, he was surrounded by a crowd of at least ten orphans, all eagerly begging him to teach them his moves.
Meanwhile, the dark-haired girl who had been watching the match earlier in awe sat quietly in the corner of the bleachers, looking somewhat lost.
"Ugh... I want to go up to him too, but... my arm..."
Erin desperately wanted to approach Raphael and ask how he pulled off that last trick, but the thought that he had been staring at her before the sparring because of the runes on her arm kept holding her back.
"What if he wants to get rid of me?" — she hesitated, unable to muster the courage.
— Come on, Erin, pull yourself together! — she slapped her cheeks with her hands.
"If I keep being scared, I'll never get stronger!" — Erin steeled herself, and with newfound determination, she slowly, albeit nervously, made her way towards the crowd surrounding Raphael.
— Lord Raphael, pleaaase!
— We're begging you!
The cadets were still pestering Raphael relentlessly.
"Hah... I'm already regretting not running away right after the sparring..." thought Raphael, covering his face with his hands, overwhelmed by the constant requests around him. And then, he heard a familiar voice.
— Um... Excuse me... — Erin said softly.
A faint smile appeared on Raphael's face.
Erin timidly tried to push her way through the crowd of cadets to get closer to Raphael.
— Hey, watch it!
— Who do you think you are, squirt?
Despite their protests, Erin finally squeezed through, keeping her head down and hiding her rune-marked arm, nervously glancing at Raphael.
— Sorry... Could you tell me how you pulled off that last move? — she mumbled quietly.
"Hah, in my last life, you were so hard to impress... Should I have been serious from the start?"
It was amusing to Raphael, but he only realized this about Erin after his death. Regardless, he liked this side of her.
— ...Alright, listen closely, — Raphael sighed and began to explain.
Erin's eyes filled with curiosity as he patiently walked through each step: how he provoked the cadet, used mana, and analyzed the situation, waiting for Krado to slip up.
The explanations and answering questions took so much time that even the instructors tried to usher the children away. However, someone from the Circle's Council ordered them not to interfere and even arranged for food to be brought to the arena.
After a quick snack, the cadets, energized and eager, resumed sparring with each other, trying out the various techniques Raphael had taught them. Krado, among them, was particularly motivated after hearing Raphael's insights and trained even harder.
***
Eight hours had passed, and the sun was beginning to set.
Raphael felt confident that he had at least begun earning the trust of these kids. In the future, they would either perish or become reliable knights of the family. But Raphael's goal was for them to become not just knights of the Earharts, but his knights.
The only one who wasn't participating in the sparring and sat quietly beside him was Erin. She stared blankly at the arena, her expression unreadable.
— Lord Raphael... May I ask you something? — she broke the silence.
— Of course, — Raphael responded, intrigued.
— Why were you staring at me at the beginning of training? Did I do something wrong?
Raphael paused, trying to recall how he had looked at Erin and when.
"She must be talking about when I first saw her... Yeah, I was surprised to see her back then."
— Is it because of the marks on my left arm? — her voice trembled as she spoke.
— Huh?
Raphael hadn't expected that and looked at Erin with wide eyes, clearly taken aback. It was the last thing he'd imagined hearing.
— I know these marks scare people... But I can't do anything about them. I've had them since I was a child...
Even in their previous life as partners, Raphael and Erin never solved the mystery of those runes. They seemed otherworldly. Raphael had even hired top-tier agents from the Rising Sun Empire to uncover anything, but they came back empty-handed. The commander of the network had even refunded the money and apologized—something that had never happened before.
Despite that, the runes never bothered or frightened Raphael.
— Uh, hold on.
— What? — Erin looked at him, confused.
"Ugh... don't make that face..."
Erin had no idea, but her expression right now reminded Raphael of a startled kitten.
"Losing Erin in the past made me way too attached to her..."
Raphael fought the urge to grab Erin's cheeks and squeeze them, but he managed to hold himself back.
— You're misunderstanding, — he said, calming down a bit. — I did look at you, but it was just out of curiosity: why a girl who looks younger than me is among the cadets...
That was the first excuse Raphael could come up with that sounded reasonable.
It couldn't be called a complete lie. In his past life, Raphael had indeed been surprised that Erin, at the age of four, was already training with cadets, even though the standard age to become one was six. Still, her skills made all questions irrelevant. Even if the other kids avoided her, she was clearly ahead of them by a head, if not two.
Honestly, no one would have been surprised if she turned out to be an Earhart by blood. The reason none of his older brothers had taken her as a personal guard was because of the runes on her body. They scared them off.
In a way, Raphael had been her salvation. Who knew what would have happened to her if he hadn't taken her in?
She could have been hired by some family, sent to her death. Sold into slavery as a pretty but useless object. Or worse, abused.
There were many grim possibilities, and Erin knew that all too well. It's why she was grateful to him for saving her. They had become each other's cure, and over time, they became family.
— So... I misunderstood?
Erin's face flushed, and she covered it with her hands, embarrassed by her thoughts about the boy who had helped her.
Seeing this cute scene, Raphael gave her a soft smile.
— Don't worry about small stuff like that. But... why aren't you training with the others?
Erin, still a bit flustered, cast a sad glance at the other cadets.
— I don't have a partner, — she said quietly with a faint smile.
— Ah, so that's the issue, — Raphael paused for a moment, — how about me?
— What? — Erin's face showed shock once again. An Earhart wanted to train with her? It seemed absurd.
— If you don't want to, I won't push it...
— No, no! I-I mean, if you're okay with it...
— But be prepared for the consequences, — Raphael said seriously.
— Consequences? — Erin asked nervously.
— How do you think the others will react if I train with you instead of the other cadets?
— Oh... that...
A bitter smile appeared on Erin's face.
— It can't get any worse than it already is...
Erin's life was far from good. She was not only an orphan destined to become one of the Earhart's hunting dogs, but she was also "marked." She was regularly bullied, even by the caretakers, not to mention the children who tormented her often.
Thinking about what Erin had gone through, Raphael felt a pang of sadness. The thought of how much pain she had endured and how much more she would have to bear weighed heavily on him. Looking at her, he felt a deep responsibility for her life.
— Alright, but just so you know, I won't go easy on you.
— Yes! — Erin replied, her voice full of excitement.
— And if you manage to hold your ground in sparring with me, I promise you'll become far stronger than you could ever imagine.
Erin's eyes widened in surprise for the third time.
— You mean... you'll train with me not just today but regularly?
— Yeah, I don't have a partner either... unless you don't want to?
— Of course, I do! I'd be thrilled! — Erin blurted out, her voice filled with determination.
— Great, — Raphael replied warmly.
At the sight of his faint smile and soft tone, Erin blushed again. It was the first time she'd felt flustered talking to someone, and it wasn't an unpleasant feeling.
Truthfully, there was no point in sparring with anyone else but Erin. Only she could somewhat keep up with his pace. So when she asked him to teach her the technique he'd used earlier, he chose her without hesitation.
Under the surprised gazes of the cadets, Raphael and Erin stepped onto the training field, preparing for their sparring session.
***
By the time it was close to half-past eight in the evening, Raphael was exhausted as he trudged toward his room.
"God, why is she so energetic?"
Erin hadn't stopped attacking him for two whole hours, her enthusiasm draining every bit of energy he had left. And that was after he'd already worn himself out from using so much mana.
"See you tomorrow, Master..." — the image of Erin's smiling face reminding him about their next training session flashed in his mind, causing Raphael to shudder at the thought of the next day.
— Still, I'm glad I met her earlier this time around, — Raphael whispered to himself.
After walking a few more meters, he was stopped by a girl with an incredibly beautiful face and long silver hair, the ends of which shimmered with a faint blue hue.
— Oh, Raphael, hey.
The sudden voice made Raphael look up to see who was speaking to him.
— Where are you off to?
Standing before him was his older sister, Aurora, who had just returned from the Alcyon Empire.
— Hello, Aurora, — Raphael replied with a strained smile that was so convincing it was impossible to tell it wasn't genuine.