Ena's voice came as dry as usual, her gaze fixed out the window.
"Look at that. They wish they could run this carriage down and kill you, Young Master."
"Do they now. Isn't that unfortunate."
Edric replied without looking up.
Inside though it was a different story.
What am I going to do. This is torture. When did this idiot choose a place like this.
Rova was part of Voss territory. A small area at the edge of it, largely forgotten. Magical beasts roamed freely around its borders and the land was terrible for farming. The commoners blamed the nobles for their suffering and in truth they weren't wrong the nobles had abandoned them long ago. The Patriarch had given up on Rova entirely, until Edric pulled this stunt and made it his problem.
"Yes. So unfortunate." Ena replied.
Edric glanced at her.
How did Edric even end up with someone like her.
Ena was not just some ordinary maid. She was one of the strongest assassins on the continent. The Crescent Moon.
For some reason she had always been by Edric's side. That was one of the plot holes that damned God never bothered to explain. All Edric knew was that she could kill him whenever she wanted.
The carriage stopped in front of the estate. Edric stepped down. Old butler Garric moved forward from the entrance.
"Welcome back, Young Master."
"Garric. How were things while I was gone."
Is he going to check the reports again? Garric thought. He managed a small smile. "Young Master, you don't need to—"
"I asked you a question, Garric. Since when does a dog bark back at its master."
Garric felt a chill run down his spine. "Forgive this one's ignorance." He went down on all fours.
"Prepare the reports in my study."
Edric moved into the estate without waiting for a response.
"Ena." He tilted his head slightly. "Prepare my bath."
She nodded. Both walked inside.
Garric remained on all fours long after the Young Master had disappeared through the doors.
Just what happened to him these past weeks.
Edric pushed open the door to his room. High ceilings, dark polished wood floors, a large bed against the far wall dressed in deep burgundy curtains that pooled slightly at the base. A sofa sat in the middle of the room, high backed and well upholstered. A fireplace across from it, burning low.
It was a fine room.
I still can't get used to this. Edric thought as he slowly loosened his robes.
[ Mission: Change the people's opinion of you. ]
[ Completion Rate: 0/100 ]
He stared at the screen.
Seriously. That master of yours just wants me dead, doesn't he.
[ Silence, mortal. Master is all benevolent. ]
Said the thing created solely to obey him. Edric scoffed.
[ You ]
"Enough." He said. "Show me my stats."
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[ CHARACTER STATS ]
Name: Edric Voss Age: 21
Condition: Healthy
Path: Warrior / Knight
Mana Core: Blue
Core Affinity (Registered): Fire
Hidden Affinities: Wind, Earth, Lightning, Water, Void
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Health 120 / 120
Stamina 80 / 80
Mana Core 50 / 50
Luck 8 / 100 (Unpredictable)
Status Effects: None
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[ SKILLS ]
Swordsmanship Beginner (10%)
Footwork Beginner (5%)
Perception Beginner (5%)
Meditation Beginner (15%)
Cooking Beginner (2%)
Hidden Skills:
Battle Instinct Beginner (1%)
Void Manipulation Hidden (0%)
Titles: None
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[ QUESTS ]
Active:
1. Change the People's Opinion of You
Objective: Influence others' perception of you
Completion Rate: 0 / 100
Reward: Reputation, Insight, Unlock Opportunities
2. Hunt the Magical Beasts
Objective: Kill 2 Magical Beasts
Progress: 2 / 2
Reward Acquired: Magical Beast Core ×1
Status: Completed
Completed:
Hunt the Magical Beasts (1 core acquired)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Not bad. Edric had worked himself to the bone this past week. The numbers were small but they were moving. That was enough for now.
What still made his brow furrow every time was the hidden affinities.
In Aethoria, affinities were not chosen. They were given. At the Awakening Ceremony a crystal measured what was already there inside the core — the natural resonance a person carried from birth. Most people received one. A single affinity that would define their path as a mage or knight for the rest of their life.
Two affinities was rare. Rare enough that across the entire Aldric Empire, a nation of millions stretching across the heart of Valdris, you could count dual affinity users on both hands in any given generation. They were recruited immediately — by the military, by noble houses, by the Imperial court itself. A person with two affinities did not stay anonymous for long.
Three was the stuff of legend. Something scholars wrote about in old texts and most people never expected to actually see.
Which was exactly what the main protagonist of the novel had. Kael Vale had three.
But looking at his stats he had all five. Technically though he couldn't use all five — there were limits.
In a fight he could only draw on two at once. Even that consumed a significant amount of mana. That was the trade off. He had tried using all five once.
He was never doing that again.
"Young Master, your bath is ready." Ena said, stepping out of the bathroom.
"You may leave." He said, sitting on the edge of the bed and pulling off his boots.
"Shall I bring the wine?"
"That won't be necessary, Ena. Please get out of my room."
Silence.
He felt it the moment the word left his mouth. Edric Voss did not say please. Not to servants, not to anyone. He looked up slowly. Ena stood exactly where she was, expression unreadable, cold gaze fixed on him.
Did she notice?
"I'll leave you be then." She said.
She turned and walked out, pulling the door shut behind her without a sound.
That was close.
I have to be more careful. He let out a quiet breath of relief.
Even though he had no idea how Ena had ended up with Edric in the novel, she was loyal to him. Which meant she would absolutely kill him if she ever found out her master was an impostor.
After his bath he walked straight to his study.
The room was modest compared to the bedroom. A wide desk at the center, dark wood with a leather chair behind it. Bookshelves lined the walls, mostly filled. A single window let in what remained of the evening light.
Ena was already inside. A huge pile of reports sat on the desk beside a cup of tea, still steaming.