“How are you fourth circle? No, how are you even walking?!”

I sighed. “How did you figure it out?”

“Your Hue. Its pulse is unsteady.”

Another issue to correct. Who else has noticed…

“With a weak body means fragile, misformed circles. And so quick... Exert more than they can take and it can spell death for you! Please heed my advice before tragedy befalls you,” he pleaded.

I smiled. “I understand. Thank you for worrying about me.” I turned to my recruits. "Ok, sit back down, everyone.”

“Nephew!-”
“Die in my bed or die on my feet in battle? What is a better death for a Greystone, Huh?” It was like the world had turned silent. “All I did was take my life back. Had I not taken drastic measures, I would not be looking you in the eye right now.” Laron stepped back as if hit by an arrow. “I…I had given up. My position. The household. My life. Totally without any hope. But I found my light, my drive.” I glanced at Vanessa. “My purpose. Should I return to the dark room and be safe once more?”

“Tarion…” My brother tried to stand between me and my uncle.

I saw that my words did not sway my uncle much and I patted him on the arm. “I know you worry for me but it is in vain, as I devised a way to work around my weak body. A constant flow of mana. Mobile Meditation.” I turned back to my students and said, “Which is what I plan to teach all of you and I am a prime example of how well this technique works. So, Uncle Laron, I will be okay.” I smiled, hiding my twisting emotions.

The old knight bit his lips. “Tarion…You are truly of his blood. Stubborn to a fault.” My uncle started walking away. “Once your duties are finished for the day, please meet me by the library.”

“Yes…Uncle.” I watched him leave, feeling like I had disappointed him again. I had no choice. Get stronger or die writhing in pain in a nice bed. Get stronger or everything my family has attained through the generations goes up in smoke. Get stronger or she dies.

Vanessa's hand, on my back, she consoled me. I gently bring her hand down.

“In my haste, I took the dangerous path. But you can't blame me for trying to be my best for my future wife.” As with my uncle, my jokes do not stop her from being worried. Fingers linked together and I felt that strange pitter-patter in my heart. “Don't-”

“I will worry about my husband as I like.”

She patted my chest, hurting my sternum, and sat back in her spot.

It’s getting harder to deny.

I scanned around and saw faces of concern, staring at me with the same pity that beat old Tarion into a reserved coward.

I have to give them no reason to worry.

I clapped and the air popped. “Stop with the dower faces and sit the fuck down, recruits!”

The vision. A city I vaguely recognise. The City of Menne. The Capital. If so, it must be a vision of the cursed invasion set to happen in two or so years. A near-armageddon that left Osberg destroyed. But even before then, Osberg was nothing, as it once was with my brother governing. Standing no chance against the horde of cursed, the guard was squashed, and the military was eviscerated. My knights bravely charged into certain death to save thousands with my uncle at the head. TAPLM tells all this in a short text box. Is that all Osberg was worth?

The vision served as another reminder of the importance of my mission. I cannot fail another.

I snapped out of my daydream to watch my brother practice a parry and slash combo at half-speed. Using the recently learned mobile meditation, mana flowed through his limbs.

“I can feel less of a load on the circles. How did create this?” Joshua swiped upward and a slice of mana flew out.

“A lot of research, trial and error and luck. You messed up your form.”

“Oh bugger.” Joshua tried again slower.

“Make sure to do this every day for thirty minutes.”

“Thirty minutes!?”

“I am being lenient. Two hours is what you need to work up to.”

He looked at his arm, meridians full of mana. ”You do this all the time…?”

“It will become second nature. I just recently got it to where I can sleep with my mana coursing.”

Joshua's eyebrows twist. “You have become weird.”

“Weird? Let's compare weirdness-”

“Shhhh,” said Joshua with his finger on his lips.

I winked, “Back to training.”

My brother. The cause of my uncle's death. The cause of countless deaths. I could have snapped his neck and been done with any future troubles. But he had come. The dowager’s filth can be washed off before it contaminates him.

I walked around the courtyard grass with two wooden swords under my arm and saw Jen sitting still on the grass with her eyes closed. As average as a person could be in this world, her progress is slow, but she does have determination. It also helps that Kurt was closely observing her progress. I passed her and saw two recruits walking slowly in an oval. For first-circle novices like Vanessa and Charles, slower movements are better for learning the movement of mana around the body. Vanessa strode at a rate of one step every ten seconds, and Charles managed to narrow it to three seconds. I threw a wooden sword at my friend and it bounced off his head.

“Haha, Sorry. Mind a spar like the old days?”

Picking up the weapon, Charles smiled, running to me like a golden retriever.

“Slow down before you trip over your fat feet.”

“No need to worry about me. I ain't the one fainting in carriages.” Charles put his practice sword up and I did the same.

“Hey! I had a very exhausting day.”

“Your Grace. News from Mouve.” Beatrice strutted over with a note.

Fuck sake. I put my sword by my side “Report,”

“They have located where the spiders originated from and have found something.” Beatrice handed me a note.

“Lands above… Get my bath ready and a coach driver ready for travel. Charles, you can come or train, your choice. Everyone! Fantastic first day but I have a pressing issue to deal with.” I waved goodbye to Vanessa and read the note again.

Runes? There is no end to the bullshit.

 

“Your, Grace. We have found several of these openings all over the slum this one seems the most intact.” Jimmy said outside a destroyed four-story inn. With my cloak and sword, I looked up at the broken walls from the ground to the third floor. The cursed must pushed from inside.

“Escort me.”

Jimmy guided me through the wreckage. Charles and Beatrice stayed behind waiting by the carriage. Stepping over the crushed bodies, Jimmy led me to a massive hole about twenty metres wide. Jimmy jumped in first, beaconing me to come. “A little gunk but it's safe.”

I dropped alone, mana repulsion slowing my descent. I landed with mana armour around my legs. “The gunk is shit, Jimmy.”

Jimmy looked at his breeches, dirtied in brown. "Heh, no wonder it smells like a pig’s sty in here.”

Stepping up on a walkway with armoured hands, I touched the stone tunnel wall. A sewage system seemed out of place in a mediaeval city like Osberg. Maybe they got inspired by other civilizations. Maybe the writer couldn't stand for shit-filled streets.

I examined the tunnel further. From ground to wall, circles were drawn in red with strange lettering.

It looks like a shaman spell to invoke a spirit. But it seems twisted. For a different kind of apparition.

“You know how to read them, Your Grace?”

“Somewhat, learned in my spare time.”

“You have spare time?”

With no YouTube, a bored man needs hobbies.

I squatted for a close look. The circles appeared to be destroyed by an explosion with melted stone in the blast zone.

Trying to destroy evidence?

“Duke, over here…” I went over to a dark area of the tunnel. Several bodies lay in a pile seemingly drained of all blood.

I searched further and by a ladder leading up to a trap door, a cloaked man sat on the tunnel wall with a hole drilled into his chest. Evidence of a fireball singed his clothes.

A helper?

I laid the body down to search the contents of his pockets. A note.

Prepare the curse at 12 for the mark's arrival.

I didn't want to be right.