Another world, Celeste

Chapter Sixteen, pt 3

Lord Sol comes by the house in the evening.

"Are you staying for dinner?"

It's the first thing I say.

"I'm not staying long."

I pour Lord Sol a cup of tea with freshly baked butter cookies in the living room. The cafe owner wanted to recompensate me for teaching the popsicle and parfait recipes first. I asked for butter. The village's market sells a variety of butter but in a limited amount and their speciality is nut butter. I can't ever seem to get a hold of one every time I stop by the market. Lord Sol brings one cookie to his mouth and drinks his tea.

"This is addictive." Lord Sol says while having his third cookie.

"What brings you here today?" I ask.

Lord Sol drinks his tea first then ask me, "How are you progressing with your lessons?"

I've been practising defensive attacks with earth magic. Luda says it's necessary to frequently repeat the same steps until it becomes an instinctive motion. After doing many hours of training with Roy and Bane, my reaction speed gradually increases. Now, I could erect earth walls from all direction of attacks and stand my ground without exhausting my strength too much. Roy goes on to say that my strength evenly matches with a high-ranking female mage soldier of the Imperial Army ever since I learn to restrain my strength. All those times sparring with the elves before he shows up, I become as strong as the rangers.

"You've mastered the four elementals; wind, water, fire and earth. Putting aside dark magic for now, we would like to examine how effective your light magic is."

"Light magic. Its main characteristic is purification."

"That's right." Lord Sol nods. "The only way to examine your magic is by having you purify a tainted monster."

Lord Sol nonchalantly drops the bomb and indulge himself with the last bits of the cookies, leaving me dumbfounded in my seat.

Lord Sol finishes his tea and stands up to leave after saying, "Tomorrow, I'll take you to the rehabilitation centre."

Not long after Lord Sol leaves, I remain seated in the living room in a daze until Maya pull me out of my thoughts for dinner. At the dining table, I ask Maya something that's been bothering me.

"Maya, do the monsters suffer a relapse during their recovery from black mana?"

"Sometimes they do. The only way to cure tainted monsters and beasts is by purifying their core before the black mana attach itself completely within its targeted host. Black mana feeds on monsters and magical beasts' core and takes control of their consciousness. If the monster's spirit is greatly weakened, the tiniest fragment of black mana inside the core could ignite and devour their soul entirely. When that time comes, we have no choice but to end their lives."