After the King passed his orders and divided the task amongst the rest of the council members, he turned towards the Hero,
“I believe you have had ample rest, it is time you return to your training. Your Leadership and Tactics class will be withheld today.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Kael bowed his head and nodded.
But then,
“Your Majesty.”
Someone called out.
It was Veylara.
The King turned towards her and she continued,
“I would like to overtake the Hero’s training.”
“Huh…?”
The rest of the Council Members narrowed their eyes.
“And why is that?”
Varyon was the first to question.
“The stronger the Hero’s teacher, the faster he will grow, don’t you think?”
“If that’s the case, shouldn’t I oversee his training instead?”
Varyon countered.
“Aren’t you the Grand Marshal? Don’t you have an army to oversee? War can be upon us any moment now and you wish to spend your time training the Hero instead of preparing your men?”
“By that logic, shouldn’t you be strengthening the Kingdom’s defense?”
“That’s the High Marshal’s job.”
Veylara waved her hand dismissively.
“You ar—”
Varyon wanted to retort, soon however, he recalled that this woman had long given up on her position as the High Marshal and had retired.
Seeing his expression, Veylara’s grin widened,
“Do you have anything else to say?”
Varyon’s mouth twitched, but in the end, he stayed silent.
Veylara coming back was a good thing anyway, and he had to admit, the woman was an excellent teacher, both her children were a fine example of that.
Just that…
Her teaching could be a little…
In the end, the Grand Marshal stared at the Hero in pity, a look the rest of the council members shared, even the King.
“Hero Kael, are you sure you wish to learn under Veylara Stormhold?”
The King questioned, looking right into Kael’s eyes and Kael could swear his eyes were telling him to say no for his own sake.
Of course, he was bravely going to ignore that and he was going to do it as politically as his mind could think of.
“I will leave the decision to the King instead. If Your Majesty thinks it is for the best, then I will learn under Lady Veylara.”
“…”
The King turned silent at those words.
He clearly couldn’t say no right now, not when Veylara was right here.
And…
It is true that the Hero will grow to his fullest potential if he trains under Veylara.
Just that…
“Alright then.”
In the end, the King stared at Veylara and,
“You will be taking over the Hero’s training.”
He ordered.
Veylara nodded with a grin and at that grin, Alden warned,
“Train him as you see fit but keep in mind, the Hero has only been here for 3 weeks, do not lose yourself.”
“Yes, Your Majesty, you can leave it to me.”
Veylara nodded.
Then, she grabbed Kael’s shirt from behind and,
“Now, if there is nothing else, I’ll be taking him with me.”
“You must return before night, and give the Hero time to rest.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I will be very careful.”
Veylara nodded.
Of course, none of the council members took her words seriously, they already knew the Hero wouldn’t be the same anymore, not after this.
Even Edric was looking at Kael with pity as he was being dragged away like he was a polybag.
Soon, Veylara threw Kael on top of Inkar as the Firefang Wyvern flew away. The King and the Council Members who watched the two leave stayed silent for a while.
“The meeting’s adjourned. Return to your tasks.”
The King ordered.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The Council Members nodded as they finally dispersed.
The meeting was finally over.
…
“You didn’t tell me about the Estwyn Town Head.”
As Veylara and Kael were sitting on the top of Inkar, traveling to only Veylara knew where, the woman suddenly questioned.
“I wanted to, but you stopped me, you told me that since you were now my mentor, you held the final say. I was forced to listen to you.”
Kael answered with a light smile on his face.
Veylara’s mouth twitched at those words,
“You were preparing to say this for a while, weren’t you?”
“I was.”
Kael laughed.
The two stared at the Royal Capital from afar and then Veylara asked another question.
“What happened in your meeting with the King?”
“We talked…”
Kael didn’t know how to describe it.
“The King seemed… burdened.”
“Well, the entirety of Nerathis is at risk during his reign, of course he is burdened.”
“…”
Kael didn’t say anything.
“Anything in particular that you wish to discuss?”
Veylara questioned.
“There is.”
Kael nodded as he then told about the King’s reaction when he brought Lavinia up.
“He says he doesn’t want me to meet her.”
“That makes sense.”
Veylara nodded.
“Why is that?”
“I told you before, didn’t I? He loves his daughter more than anything. By enslaving her, he is essentially trying to protect her from all the harm that might come to her.
As the Hero, your movements are being constantly tracked by both enemies and allies alike. If you come in contact with the princess, she will attract attention. Attention she wouldn’t survive since many will target her because of her status as the corrupted human.”
“But… if that is the case…
Why would the King tell me where she was?”
Kael questioned as he then talked about how Althea brought him the message and this time, Veylara’s expression changed.
“That wasn’t the King.”
She spoke with a solemn look on her face.
She couldn’t imagine the King putting his daughter in danger, the last person he would want Lavinia to meet would be the Hero.
“So… it was the Crown Prince?”
“Yes.”
Veylara nodded.
“Why would he tell me where Lavinia is?”
“Maybe he wants to save his sister in his own way.”
“He wants to… save his sister?”
Kael raised his eyebrow.
“Or maybe he wishes to capture both you and Lavinia together and get rid of you. Again, the problem is the same. You cannot read someone else’s mind, Kael.”
“So what am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to meet Lavinia?”
Kael questioned with a frown on his face.
“Why are you so hell-bent on meeting that girl anyway?
Are you in love with her or something?”
Veylara questioned directly.
“It’s not like that.”
Kael shook his head.
Then, with a solemn look on his face, he answered,
“She is… one of the few people I trust with absolute certainty, so I need to talk to her.”
“A few people you trust…?
You haven’t even met her,
Why do you trust her so much?”
Veylara questioned.
She was staring at Kael with a look that said ‘Are you a Simp?’, the only reason the woman didn’t say these words out loud was because she didn’t know what the word Simp meant.
Of course, Kael still understood what she was implying, this time however, rather than trying to defend himself and rebuild his instantly crushed image,
He decided to talk about his visions.
Yes, it was about time he started opening up to people.