Lucian lay on the ground, dizzy and aching all over, gazing up at the morning sun — not yet fierce — and an exceptionally clear blue sky. He breathed in the fresh air quietly. The pain in his flesh could not suppress the surge of emotion within him, nor the solid sense of purpose and resolve that now anchored his heart.
Having made the decision to learn Arcane Magic, Lucian was more cautious and careful about the future, yet it felt as though a stone that had pressed down on his soul for ages had finally been lifted, replaced by a buoyant lightness.
"What a strange, complicated, and twisted set of feelings." Having experienced more in the past few days than in all his twenty-some years before, Lucian felt as though he had matured in an instant. He buried the anger and helplessness from moments ago deep in his heart and let out a self-deprecating laugh. "Perhaps from the very beginning, I was yearning to learn Arcane Magic — to master extraordinary power, to gain a better life, a higher station. These past few days simply helped me make up my mind."
Elisa hurried over to Lucian's side and helped him up. "Little Evans, are you all right?"
Lucian tried moving his limbs and body, wincing through bared teeth. "I'm fine, Aunt Elisa. They didn't actually want to kill me — just a few light wounds."
Only then did Elisa relax, though she spat a curse: "Those damned thugs, hooligans who flout the Grand Duke's laws — they'll surely hang for this, they'll surely burn in hell."
While cursing the Allen Gang, Elisa helped Lucian into her home and settled him in a chair. She fetched clean water to wash the blood from his face, then used a strip of fresh linen to stanch the bleeding.
Once all of that was done, Elisa planted her hands on her hips, looked at Lucian, and was about to ask what had happened — but before the words left her mouth, she suddenly remembered something else. A pleading expression crossed her face as she said to Lucian: "Today is Monday, and little John will be back this afternoon. You absolutely must not tell him about this. You know how he is, Little Evans — he has an extraordinary fondness for the ideals and code of chivalry. And you're his good friend. If he finds out, he'll very likely go looking for trouble with the Allen Gang, and if things escalate, Sir Vein might have him expelled."
As a commoner, Elisa was accustomed to seeing herself and those like her as the weaker party.
"Of course. Nothing serious happened to me anyway — I'll keep it from John. Hss." Despite his current helplessness, Lucian was confident he would one day claim justice and see the gang meet the fate they deserved, so he agreed readily with a smile — which only pulled at his split lip.
Aunt Elisa nodded, tears in her eyes. "Little Evans, you really are a good boy."
"What are you two trying to hide from me?" John's distinctive, magnetic voice cut in without warning. Still in his grey knight's uniform, he was already standing in the doorway — no one had noticed when he had arrived.
Aunt Elisa panicked. "Nothing! Nothing at all. Little John, you're back early?"
John strode into the room on his long legs and smiled ruefully. "The Grand Duke summoned Sir Vein, so I came back to Altor with him. Mother, don't bother with such clumsy lies. I'm an adult now — a formal knight squire. I've trained under Sir Vein and been through a great deal. I'm not the naive child I used to be, so please don't worry about me acting rashly."
After speaking to Elisa, John turned to Lucian with a gentle smile, clapping his hands together. "You look a lot worse than the times we used to get beaten up together. All right, tell me what happened. I imagine quite a few neighbors outside saw the whole thing."
Lucian glanced at Aunt Elisa. Seeing her nod in resignation, he recounted the events from start to finish. And as he spoke, Lucian noticed something surprising — from John's very bearing, he sensed a kind of pressure that only Gary and Correa had given him before.
As the story reached its end, anger showed on John's face, but he did not lose his composure. He quickly calmed himself and let out a short laugh. "So you really were serious about learning to read. But your wits are genuinely the best among us — only you would think to hunt for valuable junk."
Seeing that John was not flying into a chivalric rage, ready to charge off and confront the Allen Gang, Aunt Elisa let out a long, relieved breath. "Little Evans, having your own ideas and working hard — that's the best thing."
John rolled his shoulders, loosening up, then walked a few steps to the kitchen. He rummaged around and pulled out a sturdy wooden stick roughly the length of a longsword. Turning back to Lucian, he said with a grin: "Didn't expect I'd get to use my old training stick again."
Then he turned. "Mother, I'm stepping out for a moment."
"Little John—" Aunt Elisa cried in distress. "You'll be expelled by Sir Vein!"
Lucian hurried to add: "John, it's fine. I only have a few minor injuries."
John shook his head. "Since becoming Sir Vein's formal squire, he has taught us constantly — to uphold the knight's code, to champion the spirit of chivalry, to never cower before the powerful, to protect the weak, to defend our homes, to raise the banner of justice and truth. The other squires may not take it to heart, but I believe this is a path I am willing to follow for the rest of my life."
"Lucian is my good friend, a powerless commoner. The Allen Gang is an evil made up of thugs and hooligans. If I don't stand up now, I'll be betraying the principles in my heart. And even if Sir Vein doesn't expel me, that guilt will cling to my soul and prevent me from ever awakening the bloodline power within me. Besides — I believe Sir Vein would approve of what I'm doing."
"But, little John—" Aunt Elisa still could not bear to let him go. Sorrow filled her face.
John smiled gently and pulled her into a brief embrace. "Lucian was just beaten up and robbed of a few things. I won't do anything beyond proportion — I won't let this spiral out of control. Mother, trust me. See? I'm only taking a stick."
That reassurance, combined with the quiet authority that came with John's status as a formal knight squire, finally convinced Elisa. She nodded, though the motion came painfully slowly. "Little John, you must be careful."
"It's *them* who need to be careful. Lucian, wait for the good news." John gripped the wooden stick, flashed a confident smile, and turned toward the door.
"Wait." Lucian's voice suddenly rang out.