Ancient Pasts - Tbate

The six lances

Arthur Leywin Pov

"Whew." Wiping the sweat off my body with a towel, I hung nearby. I put my robe back on. I stood on the backyard patio with only the full moon illuminating the area. Sylvie curled up beside me, her now white fur heaving up and down, matching the pace of her breathing.

With everyone else asleep, I had the peace of training to my heart's content. These past few weeks, I'd been doing little outside of training myself and helping the growth of Cathan and my father, with a few pointers for my baby sister as well.

I found it oddly satisfying when I watched my sister play with the friends she had made at the School for Ladies, a small class of noble young girls gathered together to learn etiquette and basic household skills. Early in my life, I found out that the general population believed that proper ladies should have the manners and grace of a queen. While still being able to cook and sew for her family.

In the world I lived before, women worked just as much as men, and the whole "women should stay at home" saying became taboo, often incurring the wrath of many females and other males alike if spoken aloud.

However, the things Ellie learned in school seemed only reserved for the public because though Ellie was asleep now, she made a fuss beforehand, saying she wouldn't go to bed if either Cathan or I didn't stay with her until she fell asleep.

I couldn't help but chuckle when I compared that behavior to the graceful façade she'd put on in front of her friends, acting all lady-like and whatnot. I'd almost burst out laughing when she addressed me as "dear honorable brother" in front of a couple of girls her age at her tea party.

My sister's birthday was coming up soon, and I could tell she was eagerly wondering what present Cathan and I would give her. Knowing her, she would probably love whatever we gave her as long as we gave it some thought.

But with my personality, I wanted to give her something functional as well. The problem was, I was out of money. This blasted dimension ring cost me all the gold I earned as an adventurer.

Cathan, on the other hand, had a lot of gold. He already had two-dimensional rings, and being an S-class meant he could go on dangerous quests and dungeons without needing a party, which was a requirement from the guild for even AA-class adventurers.

I thought a little about what I could do to earn money when something came to mind. One obvious advantage I had was that my mind contained ideas and inventions that hadn't developed in this world yet.

With a satisfied grin on my face, I turned back to training. There were two things I was focusing on outside of developing my mana core, which I estimated would reach the light yellow stage by the time school started in autumn. One was training heavily on my lightning and ice attribute skills, which were by far the potent abilities I had, aside from my beast will.

I decided I'd keep my fire, water, lightning, and ice skills a secret during my stay at Xyrus Academy. Being an adept dual-elemental augmenter was the most attention I would want during my years there. If I purposely didn't train my earth and wind magic at all until I entered the academy, it'd be more than enough to pass off as a mere 'talented genius' that wouldn't raise too many eyebrows.

Cathan decided to hide his earth and fire elements because he liked using ice and wind together to create illusions. He kept filling the backyard with mist while trying to improve his mist domain.

His fire affinity was the weakest, while his wind affinity was the strongest. He kept arguing he wouldn't be able to test his illusions if he hid his wind affinity.

He also made a solid point, saying that I can help him with fire and earth while he helps me with water and wind. Cathan went shopping a few times, trying to find a scythe.