"The bleeding has stopped, and I closed up the wounds, but it will scar for sure. Come back to me in the morning, and I will change your bandages and check your wounds. Make sure to get some rest and eat tonight." Master Eeth said, as he finished wrapping my forearm up, smiling at me.

I flexed my hand, feeling only a twinge of pain through the healing ointment and numbing potion provided to me. Bandages encircled my chest as well, and I felt the tightness as I took a shallow breath, wincing slightly in discomfort. Thanks to my training, I had developed a tolerance towards pain, but that did not make me a masochist.

Standing and bowing to the master, I made my way through the camp, noting the other apprentices with bandages wrapped around body parts. Besides myself, three others had taken wounds, though mine were by far the worst. At the thought, I did my best to hold back a satisfied grin from spreading across my face.

When I volunteered for this trip, I came with two goals. One was to gain valuable combat experience, testing my skills against magic beasts. I now knew I could kill a weak specimen by myself after a semester of training. Satisfactory results, all things considered, though I knew I needed to speed my development even more if I wanted to reach my goals.

The second was with the hopes I could maneuver myself into a position to gain more freedom next semester. In truth, I had hoped Leon or Sophia would get injured, and I could leverage their wounds as a reason to learn combative skills. Although I would undoubtedly experience consequences for my deception, my injuries should highlight a genuine need to protect myself.

And scars would only help illustrate this point further, and possibly gain me sympathies from Duke Estton. Girem would have no remorse, and likely feel it was karmic retribution for deceiving his lords, but the Duke was a far kinder man. Still, they would not be able to deny that a rival seeking to weaken the Esttons would first target a defenseless advisor. But a trained mage with a few defensive spells would make a much more difficult target.

As I came closer to our tents, Simon approached me slowly, his steps halting, and his eyes downtrodden.

"Are you okay, Simon?" I asked, a bit concerned about his reaction. He was shy, but over the last few months, he had warmed up to me enough that this was out of character.

"This is all my fault, Vayne. I was supposed to be on guard and keep any wolves from getting past us, but I froze up when it charged me. And when you ran off after it, I was too scared to come and help you. The only reason you got hurt so badly is because I was such a coward." he said with a sniffle, refusing to look up at me as he spoke.

I did not respond at first, debating on what to say to him. Comforting others was not my specialty, and in truth, Simon was right. He had a job, and he had failed at it. However, everything had turned out fine, and if I told Simon it was all his fault, all I would accomplish is making him feel worse.

Shaking my head, I reached out and grabbed his shoulder with my uninjured arm. When he looked up at me, I smiled and said, "It happens, Simon. You are only human, and you went face to face with a monster. I almost froze myself when that wolf rounded on me."

Shaking his head, I saw with some annoyance that his eyes began to water, and Simon said, "But you could have died! And even if you were scared, you still killed it! Meanwhile, I just sat here..."

"And I survived. Mistakes happen, and the best we can do is learn from them and do better next time."

Simon did not reply, and I sighed before shaking my head and moving past him, leaving him to his thoughts. I had said as much as I felt would help, and in truth, this was not something I could fix. If Simon felt guilty for failing, only he could make the changes necessary.

Briefly, I wondered if I could use his remorse to my advantage, using it to obtain favors from Simon. His family was well-connected, and maybe I could convince him to provide me resources to speed my growth discretely. A now-familiar twinge of guilt surged through me at the thought of exploiting his remorse for my benefit, but I did my best to ignore it. When I reached my full potential and made sure Ferris was safe, I could make it up to him.

Near the edge of the campsite, Leon was tending to his bow while Sophia quietly ate a bowl of soup. They both glanced up to me, and Leon smiled in greeting, gesturing at the empty seat next to their campfire, which roared an unusual purple shade. I guessed Sophia started the fire, noting with surprise that she was already able to cast spells outside of her natural aspect.

"Good evening, my lords," I said, bowing my head as I sat down. Without a word, Sophia handed over a bowl to me, which I took with a smile.

"Good evening to you too, wolf slayer. The entire camp has been abuzz about the commoner apprentice who managed to slay a beast single-handed and nearly died in the process. Not the safest way to go about it, but I have to commend the dramatic flair." Leon remarked, chuckling and shaking his head.

I inhaled sharply at his words, coughing roughly as hot soup scalded my mouth and throat.

"You must be mistaken, sir. Surely other apprentices also managed to kill at least one wolf. I saw you and Flynn fell at least two before I went off on my own."

"True enough, but you're the only apprentice who doesn't need to share credit. And the fact that you were injured but still finished off the beast lends a bit of rugged heroism to the affair. I doubt you impressed the masters, but the other apprentices took notice."

I had to restrain myself from swearing out loud, instead mentally cursing every deity I could recall from legends. I relied upon anonymity and subtlety to move around and accomplish my goals. Becoming famous, or infamous, among the other apprentices ran directly against that, and would only complicate matters. And mages loved to gossip, which meant this story would spread like wildfire throughout the Academy when we returned.

Leaning in closer, Leon grinned slyly and continued, "I bet that pretty girl you brought along to the Harvest Banquet will find it endearing. Everyone loves a hero, and scars help to sell the story."

I felt a slight blush cross my features, and a mental image of Amelia flashed through my mind, before I shook my head to clear the thoughts.

"Regardless, I was only doing my duty, sir. Any mage would have done the same, and I am sure most would have done so without injury. Besides, if you had not purchased me that short sword, I would be dead right now. I was lucky enough to have my blade up when it jumped on me, and its leap drove the sword into its heart."

"I'm glad to hear it. Maybe when we return to the Academy, I can show you how to swing it around like a real nobleman. I doubt my father would mind me showing you the basics of dueling with blades."

I smiled, glad that Leon seemed to have forgiven my deception, though I was not sure of that. He was a far better liar than I had realized, and his disarming smile worked well to hide his real thoughts.

We remained in the wilds for another week, slowly heading towards the border and killing magic beasts as we traveled. During this time, I occasionally participated in battle, using my Arcane Bolts rather than any other spells and focusing on improving my control over my mana. However, I spent most of my time observing the other apprentices in battle, attempting to decipher as much as possible from their fighting styles and spells.

After a few days of observations, and a few conversations with Simon, I compiled my notes and approached the Esttons one night after dinner. Taking a moment, I held out a sheet of parchment to each, covered on both sides in intricately detailed thoughts.

"My lords, if I may be so bold, I have made some notes during our trip about your skill sets. In particular, I noticed several possible flaws and highlighted potential solutions or improvements. I believe, if implemented, these should help you grow more efficient and increase your combat potential."

I needed to extend an olive branch, and regain some goodwill with the Esttons if I wanted to continue enjoying any freedom. As it was, I was sure the Duke would hand down some punishment, but if I had Leon and Sophia as my advocates, it might mitigate the damage to my position.

"Master Leon, I know that you intend to focus on your archery, and I have several ideas on how to build a style of combat around it. I have read about shields that use force absorption and redirection enchantments, which I believe could also work on a bow. Since a bow stores and releases energy, it might help increase the force behind your arrows. And I have some ideas about applying enchantments to bowstrings, using magic beast body parts as the base component, to add additional effects to your arrows."

"Interesting. That may help solve my limited combat versatility. I was considering learning basic elemental magic like fire or ice, but a bowstring might be a more elegant solution. I'll have to consult my father when we return and get his input on our options."

Nodding, I turned to Sophia, who was scanning her sheet with a critical eye. "For you, my lady, I noticed that you prefer to engage multiple targets at range and use large-scale attacks to injure or kill as many foes as possible. However, this style of combat will be ineffective for single or small group battles. And if you are ever in close-quarters, you will be at risk of injuring yourself or allies."

"I'm aware. Lightning magic does not tend to play well with others. Much like fire magic, it tends to destroy and little else." she replied without looking up.

"Exactly my thoughts, which is why I believe the best idea may be to use enchantments to help cover that weak point. I created basic plans, using bracers and mana crystals, to focus your lightning magic into close-range blasts while retaining their full power. And I have another idea for an alteration of the defensive spell Mana Shield, which involves cloaking the body in a shell of lightning mana. Little else would discourage an attack like a full-body cloak of lightning bolts."

"I see as much. The bracers look intriguing. I came up with a similar concept, but I was worried about the potential backlash if I lost control of the energy in battle. When you try and compress that much lightning into one area, it often becomes nearly impossible to handle."

"The enchantments should do the majority of the work directing the energy, and the mana crystals would act to absorb any rampant mana. Simon gave me the idea, based upon safety enchantments his family uses for their workshops."

Sophia nodded slowly, and she glanced up to me with a smile on her face. For once, she looked happy, though the moment passed as she stood and walked away. Several seconds later, purple mana swirled around her, and I assumed she was attempting to start on my idea for her defensive spell.

Leon smiled at me before saying, "Thank you, Vayne. It seems my father chose well when he picked you. If these ideas work half as well as I think, we could probably have killed that pack by ourselves."

I smiled, noting mentally that the alpha of that pack would have torn all of us to pieces without the masters around. Crawling into my bed shortly afterward, I fell asleep confident that I had regained enough goodwill to remain in Leon's good graces. Only time would tell if that would be enough in the end to make a difference. When we returned to Volaris, I would have to face Duke Estton's judgment.