Mash pushed himself out of bed, he really did feel like a new man. After the healing he received, he noticed many differences across his body. He hadn’t realized how poorly some of his injuries had healed, but now he could tell that his body had been stiff before. His side was only one part. Even the wooden transfusion with his neck was gone. Priscilla even noted that his energy was purer now, although he didn’t know what exactly that meant. The explanation she gave him wasn’t very helpful either, but he could gather that it was an improvement. He could see why the healing was valued so highly, and that was not even considering the spectacle of it.

He went to the bathroom, finding it a little strange to see maids and butlers moving about the halls. He didn’t speak to any of them, most were obviously trying to avoid him, and he had no desire to torment them. Other than the head butler, the other serving staff seemed terrified of Mash. With how he had been treated by the princesses he had almost forgotten that this was the usual reaction. Both princesses were strange, neither of them acting like princesses, at least not how he expected them to. They had spoken with Mash’s group casually, despite his friends’ best efforts to talk appropriately.

Niviss in particular, had been floating around Mash the whole night. Despite being a beautiful princess, the experience had not been pleasant. Her gaze made him feel like an experiment, a look that lacked anything but curiosity. Shaking his head to disrupt the thought, he made his way into the bathroom.

Having checked out the bathroom last night, he was eager to use it now. It had a wide bath that could easily fit several people, but he had it all to himself. He made his way over to a central crystal that rested atop a stone pedestal and started pouring a small amount of his energy into it. The crystal started glowing and triggered the other crystals in the room to start operating. Soon the bath was filling up with hot water, and he went to clean himself off in the running stream of water. The stream was also hot, and his sister had explained that he was supposed to clean himself with this, before entering the bath itself. It was a pleasant experience, and he sat in the bath for longer than he needed. After drying himself off, he pulled out his mending clothes, the staff having cleaned it the night before.

He had kept the same design for it ever since he first made it, but he thought to change it now. He changed the front first. A black tree trunk went up along his right side, big enough to be partially visible from the front and back. From the trunk sprouted black branches that crawled over the entirety of the shirt. On the back he made the branches grow around his family’s symbol, which occupied most of the space. He had debated whether he would reveal his connection openly or not, but ultimately decided that it was something that he wanted to do. His siblings had encouraged him to do the same as well, though Alex didn’t seem to like it. Deciding that he was proud to have the connection to his siblings, even if it could cause him some problems, he wore the symbol openly.

After putting on his clothes, he made his way to the kitchens. He was only grabbing a small snack and would have a proper meal once everyone else woke up. He found his brother drinking some tea and greeted him warmly. Grabbing the food that the butler had prepared for Mash, he took a seat across from Arthur. Mash had let Alfred know of his tendencies and asked him to have some food on hand while he was here. He took a bite from the sandwich, finding it filled with some thickly spiced meat.

“You are going to the guild today?”

Arthur didn’t sound the least bit tired, probably used to waking up this early. Mash’s mouth was full of food, but he tried to reply anyways. He couldn’t manage any words but got the confirmation across.

“Good. After you get back from the guild, I have some things planned for you and your friends. They should help you find where you need to focus your training.”

Despite his brother’s flat tone, Mash felt his heartbeat quicken. Somehow, he knew that whatever his brother had planned, would not be very fun, nor was it likely to be optional. So, he sat in silence, eating his food while his brother finished his tea and left. He didn’t take much more time than his brother and made his way outside. He was surprised to run into Red, who was taking a stroll in the garden. He made his way over to her.

“Good morning. Are you feeling alright?”

Startling her with his words, he tried to give her a reassuring smile. She didn’t normally wake up this early, and he wanted to check on her. He couldn’t tell if it worked or not, but she seemed to relax upon noticing that it was Mash.

“It’s nothing, it’s just a little surreal to find myself here. I literally ran away from this life, only to find myself back here. Not to mention, I think your family is technically of a higher standing than mine.”

“Wait, how? I thought your family was famous and powerful.”

“That might be true, but we don’t get princesses casually visiting our homes. Speaking of which, Niviss seemed very interested in you.”

She seemed to lose some of her melancholy, as she joked about his discomfort from last night. For his part, he made an exaggerated shiver, before responding.

“Don’t remind me. I thought she was going to gouge my eyes out, just to get a better view of them.”

Red nodded along, chuckling a little. She took a deep breath seeming to finally relax. Her response came out much more easily.

“It really seemed like she would. You’re going to the guild now, right? I might as well come too, not like I’m doing anything anyways.”

“Sounds good.”

Replying to her, he pulled out his mask from his storage space.

“You designed your shirt yourself? You might actually have a talent for it, for what it’s worth.”

She sounded genuinely impressed, and he basked in the praise, doing a small twirl to show off the design. Red didn’t seem to care much for the gesture and started heading towards the gates before he could finish. Sighing, he caught up to her and they made their way to the guild.

The travel had been uneventful, the guild having been in the outer city, they had seen it earlier. Several people had noticed the symbol on his back, recognizing his family’s emblem. While walking through the inner city, he heard the word brother tossed around a few times. Rumors really did travel quickly. They talked aimlessly, ignoring the reactions of those who spotted them.

This guild building was the largest by far, the surface of the building was slightly larger than his brother’s house. It was mostly stone, a grey brick that was covered in different paintings. It almost seemed like anyone could paint whatever they wanted, and he could even spot some kids doing exactly that.

“The guild here is treated surprisingly well. Weird…”

He was talking to Red, pointing out the children as they made their way inside.

“Yeah, it’s because this guild is sponsored by the king himself, and most of the jobs here are meant to help maintain the city. So, commoners tend to come here instead of go to the guards.”

Mash nodded along, taking in the sight of the guild. Despite being larger, it was surprisingly empty. Though, that might be because of the early time of day. There were no elaborate paintings or sculptures, instead there were more random paintings adorning the walls, hiding the engravings that he only noticed with his mana territory. There were stairs in the corner, that probably led down into several additional floors to the building. He was getting more used to seeing those now. They made their way to the desk, which was only operated by a single person, despite clearly being partitioned for five different people. It would probably fill up by the end of the day.

The receptionist who was there, didn’t look much older than Mash himself. She wore the same clothes he had seen at every guild so far, but she also had a badge with the kingdom’s symbol on.

“Welcome, please state your name, rank, and purpose for visiting.”

That sounded rehearsed, something that came out automatically when the place was busy. He didn’t think it was necessary now but responded all the same.

“The name’s Mash and we’re iron rank. We’re here to sign up for mentoring. Oh, and we should’ve received a sponsorship”

Whatever he said, seemed to shake her from her automated response mode, and she sat straighter.

“You’re the famed brother! Of course, training, right? Let me get right to that, and you said you were sponsored, let me check.”

She was panicking now, frantically searching through the book she had. He could hear Red chuckling beside him, and felt awkward as he saw the lady panic. She must have seen something, because she suddenly got up and left saying that she would be right back.

“Congratulations, now you cause people to panic despite wearing a mask.”

Red started to chuckle before she finished her remark, and he rolled his eyes at her. Then he remembered the mask and realized she wouldn’t be able to see the gesture. It didn’t help to notice that Priscilla felt strangely pleased at him being able to cause the receptionist to panic. He settled for sighing, as he waited for the lady to return.

She was not the one to return, instead an older grizzly gentleman had taken her place. He was bulky, and his face was riddled in small scars and tattoos.

“I’m the vice guild master here, and I would prefer if you didn’t scare the workers.”

Mash tried to respond but wasn’t given the opportunity.

“You can call me Jack, everyone does. You got quite the famous backing don’t you boy. Brother is a sentinel, sister a priestess, and sponsored by the god danm Wyvern Slayers themselves. Your parents are probably the happiest people alive right now. Well, with your background we can only find suitable training for you starting tomorrow. That work for you? Yes, then be here at nine in the morning. I take it you can find out when that is?”

Despite asking them questions, the man didn’t give them anytime to answer. He just went on, expecting them to agree. Only managing to nod, they agreed with his demands. The time of day didn’t really matter, and they were planning on starting tomorrow anyways. Mash thought that he was done speaking but was proven wrong as Jack continued.

“We got a tournament happening in a week, and I would like you to sign up. We’re bound to get more people if someone as famous as you are in it. If for nothing else than to quench the people’s curiosity. Do it and I’ll prepare a special reward for you. So, you up for it?

Finally, he gave Mash the opportunity to speak. Mash looked towards Red, who just shrugged her shoulder’s, indicating that the decision was his.

“Sure, why not? Sounds like it would be enjoyable.”

“Good! Well, that’s all I have for you for now.”

With that done, he dismissed them and left quickly, again not giving them the chance to respond. After he left, they left the building in a slight daze. Still, a little confused at what just happened.

“Guess that sponsorship was bigger than they let on.”

Red nodded, still a little shocked by the turn of events. They made their way back quickly, contemplating everything that just happened. They only talked a little, before arriving. First, they grabbed everyone and told them of what happened. They discussed for a bit about the tournament, and only Jill wanted to sign up too. Red didn’t want to use her abilities publicly like that, and Luke wasn’t strong in one-on-one fights. Mash wasn’t either but figured the training would help with that.

His brother returned after they finished their discussion. He was accompanied by both princesses again. Mash didn’t know why they had come again, but Amara revealed their reasoning herself.

“We heard their was going to be a show and couldn’t miss it.”

She was looking at Arthur as she spoke, and Mash knew that this training session with him was going to be eventful.