Vice Captain Cyrne walked through the front door as Branne and I helped pack up the shop.

I set a box on the top of a counter. Just based on his expression, and what father said yesterday, I could already guess the answer. "Good news I hope?"

"To my surprise, yes." He scratched the back of his head. "When I first talked about it, Captain Tharkun dismissed the idea entirely. But when I met him this morning, he reconsidered the idea, and instead said something along the lines of it being a great move for some recruits to see how vast the world really is. He approved of both you and Athas to join the garrison. Along with that, you two won't get stationed at Oxcross and can travel to Osetia. And I'm not sure if this was done to make it seem less suspicious or if he really had a change of heart, but a few extra newer recruits will get added as well."

I turned around. "Looks like I get to keep being your assistant."

Branne spat on the floor. "You're still fired."

"But someone hasn't compensated me yet."

"Stop yappin' and continue packin'."

"The diplomat should arrive sometime tomorrow, correct?" I asked.

"According to the schedule, they will arrive past midday, closer to the setting of the sun," Cyrne said. "Then, we leave the morning after."

"About what I expected."

"Oh, and before I forget, tomorrow morning, the Captain actually wants to see both you and Athas, and give you two the proper rundown of how things will operate. The briefing will last quite a while and unfortunately, doesn't leave you with much time to get everything sorted."

"You didn't even consider how poor Gilmore and Ryellia will feel about you leaving," Branne said.

"Actually, I already told them about it," I corrected. "They both approved of it and wished me the best of luck."

"Aye, let's hope fate has good things planned for the both of us, or else I might die within just a few days of arriving at Osetia."

"Uh, why?" I asked in a concerned voice.

"And why not hope fate has good things planned for me?" Cyrne asked.

"Little Al here already said you're going to have it good," Branne said, wagging his finger. "As for if I die or not, let's just say, I left Osetia decades ago for a reason. One I don't wish to discuss."

It was a few hours later that I had arrived at Athas's house. I passed along the information; I received from Cyrne and told him to pack it up. His mother tried her best to not shed tears, but a few broke through right before I left, anyway.

I then walked all the way back to the town hall. It was surrounded by the usual wooden fences, but also an abnormal amount of guards. Well, I say abnormal, but I knew what the reason behind it.

Walking through the arched entrance, I entered the hall and made my way towards the back of the building. From there, I walked down a set of spiraled stairs and headed towards the room Mitre was currently in. I heard faintly audible noises from the slightly open door. There were two voices. One belonging to Mitre and the other to Delilah. I peeked through the crack and witnessed the two of them chatting about some boring story and, more scandalously—holding hands. A wide grin spread across my face, but I gave it a second thought and decided to back off, heading back towards the stairs.

"I'm surprised you didn't walk in," Syn said, floating in front of me.

"Eh." I shrugged and rested my hands behind my head. "I'll might be able to squeeze in some time to say my farewells tomorrow. And in the case I don't, I'll write a letter."

"You still have time to turn back."

"Nope, too late. I have some spells to practice."

A bundle of sticks I gathered were piled up in front of me on a patch of burnt grass. I waved my hand and cycled my anima to cast [Flame Creation]. Practice last night mainly consisted of holding onto the small ball of fire in my palm. This was because even though it was a magically created fire, it was still fire, and thus burned my hand. Well, it wasn't actually, but it felt like it. That was what caused me to panic and accidentally drop it the first time. Now, I while holding onto the fire, I dropped to one knee, and placed the fire on sticks, lighting them ablaze. As soon as this happened, I extinguished it as to not garner any attention.

Getting off my knee, I stood up, straightened my posture, and then adjusted my right leg back a bit. I loosened my arms but still moved them from the center of my chest and then out. An action which mirrored the flow of my anima. From the tips of my two pointed out fingers, a line of electricity streaked out and struck a tree. A quiet but still distinct and audible zapping noise echoed out right after. I flicked my hand, so it pointed at a second tree. Instead of the intended effect, I felt the anima build up and struggled against me before dissipating away. My arm went a bit numb.

"Much better than last night," Syn commented. "I'm impressed at how well you handled it just now."

"I still need to work on my hand gestures," I said, slumping to the ground. "Both, [Flame Creation] and [Lightning's Ark] take about ten seconds. Cutting it down to half is my next goal."

"They are fairly weak at the end of the day, so with enough time and practice, you'll eventually gain enough ability that you can just cast them in a second or less."

"Depending on how much practice I can get during the journey to Osetia, it might only take a month."

"I was thinking more along the lines of two weeks."

"Maybe. In any case, [Lightning's Ark] was way easier to cast than both [Flame Creation] and [Spectral Snap]. The only problem is the namesake effect of the spell. Making that line of lightning actually arc over to the second target just doesn't seem possible. Too much resistance."

"Then what are you waiting for? You have all night to practice away."

"Give me a second. My arm is still tingly."

Night arrived a few hours later. I could control [Flame Creation] with ease, but my general dexterity when it came to my hand motions was still lacking. [Lightning's Ark] was the opposite. I could now strike with the line of electricity at a decently fast speed, but now controlling its trajectory was more difficult.

Back home, mother and father weren't present, but the entire house was now completely empty. A wry smile spread across my face. Most of my memories were of this place, as I didn't remember much from when I was a child.

"Getting nostalgic?" Syn asked.

"It's such an odd feeling," I replied. "It feels as if it was just yesterday when I woke up on the couch in this room."

"Is this where you finally tell me all about your past?"

"Do you want me to talk about it?"

"Only if you're ready to tell me."

"That might be never."

"I don't have a problem either way."

I made my way back into my room and began drafting my farewell letter to Mitre. I wrote it in such a way, where it didn't matter if I got to say goodbye to his face or not. I also included a small detail about his relationship with Delilah. It was unfortunate that he as well had to leave Stillside so soon, but here's to hoping fate was kind to them. Once done, I rolled it up and tied a piece of string around it.

Morning arrived far too soon. Even though I wasn't leaving until tomorrow, I didn't sleep well at all. Still, it was in my best interest to make a good first impression towards Captain Tharkun. Especially since his parents talked with him. I didn't want to make them look bad in any way.

The meeting's location was at an empty plot of land way located near the northern border of the village. Most of the villagers spent their time here or towards the south side, as those were deemed the most fertile parts of the land. The entire middle with the river was where trade and houses were built, although many enjoyed living among the crops for some odd reason.

As I arrived at the meeting's location, I saw Athas already waiting there, excitedly chattering away. Alongside him was a short and stout man. His uniform was regal and adorned with a variety of badges and medals. It was obvious he was a dwarf, which was quite surprising as they were not common to these parts, and even less so in recent years with many of them returning to Keddlegrim as the ones that didn't were excommunicated from their homeland.

"You should be Aleister," he said while stroking his long, braided beard. His voice carried an odd accent that was much more enunciated and posh than what I expected.

I bowed. "And you would be correct Captain Tharkun."

He examined me throughly with his eyes in the least discrete manner possible before continuing. "I've already started a chat with your overly excited friend here, so I'll let him start the explanation for me."

Athas looked at me with glowing eyes and began talking.

Out of breath, I collapsed onto the floor.

Captain Tharkun bent over my body, his head blocking the sun, providing me which some much necessary shade, and grimaced. "Is that all you got?"

Through heavy breaths and pants I said, "Yes."

He placed his palm against his head. "It's a good thing you're only joining temporarily. Someone like you would disgrace the prestigious name of my Oxcross garrison."

I forced a laugh. He walked away.

"Could be worse," Syn said.

"Could be better."

"It is a blaring weakness, but I'm being serious when I say it's not that bad."

"I know. Just imagine if I couldn't cast any of my spells from a distance."

"Still wouldn't be too bad. The captain of the garrison is obviously holding you to a very high level, which you can't reach due to your issues. However, in the grand scope of things, your physique isn't half bad and your stamina is about average."

"I appreciate it."

"Don't get my words twisted, though. There are Weavers who specialize in the physical aspects of the body, and many dangerous creatures are just, if not even stronger. Just a single hit from them could knock you out."

"And I'm not planning on ever getting into those situations."

After regaining some of my breath, I stood up and leaned against a tree.

"I've seen enough from you," Captain Tharkun said. "You can leave. Arrive at the east gate by sunrise tomorrow."

"Got it." I and grabbed my bag. Seeing Athas still running, I shouted, "I'll see you tomorrow. Good luck!"

Athas grinned and gave me a thumbs up as I left.

On the way back, I stopped at the village hall and went to Mitre's room again. This time, opening the door revealed both mom and dad who were giving him a lecture.

"Bro!" Mitre exclaimed, standing up from the edge of the bed. "I heard you were leaving us?"

I nervously chuckled. "This is probably the last time I'm going to see you for a while."

Tears started to fall from the corner of his eyes as he began to cry.

I winced and turned my head. Mom wiped away a tear and Dad looked at me with a happy yet sad smile.

"How did the meeting with Captain Tharkun go?" he asked.

"He said that I wasn't Oxcross garrison material."

"Harsh, but I can't say I'm too surprised," he said with a laugh.

Mom smiled and took out a sealed scroll. "Unfortunately, we couldn't find any gold rings or something easy for you to palm off. Instead, I thought about it, and decided to hand this over to you."

"I assume this is the deed to a million gold property," I said, taking it from her hands. A wax seal pressed with the symbol of a grape vine kept it closed.

"I don't even think the Empress herself has a million gold," Dad said.

"Once you arrive at Osetia, find the estate of House Barlow and get this scroll into the hands of the estate's master," Mom said.

Based on what I knew and the way she delivered the information, I assumed that she or dad were from House Barlow, or were good friends of theirs. More likely related to mom since she handed it over.

"And then pray and hope she's in a good mood," Mom added.

Okay, maybe scratch the good friends part.