“You look like a casino just killed your favorite dog. What’s the problem? Those two can take care of themselves, if you’re worried about them.”
Teft sighed. “In body, I am certain they can fend for themselves. Derek is a master swordsman, and if the one accompanying him is Keras Selyrian, I am certain that even the cutthroats in that place would give him a wide berth. I am more concerned for their health in other respects. In mind, and of spirit.”
Spirit? Derek had mentioned that Teft was devout, but I didn’t see what the problem with this place was. “In what way? I thought the goddess approved of gambling. Isn’t going into the spire essentially gambling in itself?”
Teft shook his head. “I would not compare the spire to mere secular gambling, but it is true that the goddess favors games of both chance and skill. No, the distinction is that the goddess is fair. The casino is designed to be unfair. Therein, Derek and Keras will be tempted, and when they are at their weakest, exploited. It is dishonesty in business form.”
That sounded kind of fun. I mean, Teft clearly thought the whole concept was awful, but I liked the idea of testing myself against their rigged games. The intoxication and other forms of temptation I could do without.
I raised a hand to my chin. “So, I take it you don’t want to head over there, then?”
Teft stared me in the eyes. “I know you’re jesting, but no. I most certainly do not.”
I chuckled. “Fine, fine. I’ll let them have the fun this time. But that still doesn’t tell me why you are here.”
Teft’s jaw tensed into an uncharacteristic look. Frustration? Dismay, maybe? “I have made mistakes. I consider this the first of many steps to make amends for them.”
“You mean like making Sera fight when she clearly was still injured?”
He shook his head. “I make no apologies for that. I offered her a fair choice. That is more than she would be given on the battlefield.”
“But we’re not on a battlefield, and surely you’re aware it came across as a false choice.”
“Only because there are too many fools who do not realize that retreat is a valid option. At times, it is the best option. I do not fault Miss Cadence for fighting, of course. I respect her tenacity, and she performed better than I expected, given her disadvantages. But she was not ‘better’ by a sufficient margin to overcome her disadvantage, and thus, she failed.”
“It still wasn’t very kind of you.”
“If you think that training for battle should be about kindness, you are more of a fool than I realized.”
I pushed myself up from the chair, glaring down at Teft. “Really? Turning to insults? I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, given that attacking students seems to be the only thing you’re good at. It’s fortunate that we haven’t actually been attacked tonight, because you’re certainly not capable of defending them.”
Teft stood as well, returning my stare. “Perhaps you are right. I deserve your ridicule for allowing you into that battle outside the tower, and more so for allowing Derek to take my place in the aftermath. But if I seem harsh, Master Cadence, that is because I am seeking to prepare you for what is coming. And in war, there will be no one to coddle you, or any other child.”
“Oh, I believe you. I’ve heard the same thing from my father for years. You two are quite a lot alike.”
Teft actually winced when I said that. I hadn’t expected to hit a nerve with that, but I certainly wasn’t going to complain.
And, given that he was startled enough that he didn’t reply immediately, I took that as a chance to make my dramatic exit, and headed back toward my room to sleep.
When I woke up in the morning, I could hear a group gathered downstairs. I hadn’t slept well, mostly as a consequence of the pain from overworking both of my attunements.
Fortunately, Derek was wealthy enough that his washrooms had bathtubs that generated their own hot and cold water. We’d had just one of them at home, so I knew how to activate the runes to change the temperature. I settled on hot, which helped chase away some of the lingering pain.
I inspected the runes on the side of the tub as I bathed, but I wasn’t awake enough to remember them very well.
After I finished bathing and getting dressed, I checked my mana. It registered at 84/84 for my Arbiter attunement and 52/52 for my Enchanter attunement.
So, two points for each.
That was fantastic progress for one day of work, comparable to what I’d gotten after the fight outside of the tower. Unfortunately, it had taken most of the day, and I was still exhausted from the effort. I planned to keep pushing myself to increase in strength quickly, but I’d have to figure out a way to make it more efficient.
Transferring my mana into runes is much faster than trying to form crystals, so that would reduce the time it takes to drain my mana reserves — and it would give me more time to recover. Presumably, using my Arbiter attunement to transfer mana directly into someone will work similarly… I should test that out soon.
It was Kyrsday, so I only had two classes: Understanding Attunements and Physical Combat.
The latter was less exciting than it sounded, since it ended up being more about exercise and general weapon familiarity than direct combat. We practiced dueling cane usage, basic sword strokes, and footwork more than anything else. Occasionally, we had a class dedicated to another weapon, such as bows or spears — mostly with the goal of learning how to counter them.
The Valian military used a mixture of firearms and dueling canes, with sabers as side arms for close combat engagements. Up to that point, we’d only been given a single lesson with firearms — we’d focus on them more the following year.
Physical Combat was one of the few classes where I was toward the top in performance. I couldn’t hope to match up against Guardians, but my years of training with my father had gotten me into excellent shape.
I can skip both classes today if I need more time to work on a gift for Sheridan, but I need to be careful.
I can’t miss my classes often. My grades are fine, but graduating is still extremely important. I can’t afford to get set back a year or sent off to some obscure military assignment.
I’ll see how the morning goes and hit Understanding Attunements in the afternoon if I have time.
With that in mind, I headed downstairs.
Everyone was gathered for breakfast, minus Teft. I didn’t know if he’d left or if he was just sleeping somewhere, given how late he’d been up.
Patrick waved excitedly at me as I headed into the dining room. “Corin! You’re awake!”
I waved sleepily in return. “For certain values of ‘awake’, yeah. Strange seeing everyone here at once. What’s the event?”
Patrick waved for me to take a seat next to him. I obliged. “We were waiting for you. Not too long, don’t worry. Derek has news!”
Taking the opening, Derek leaned forward across his spot at the table. “I think Orden’s conspiracy made their next move. Or moves, as the case may be.”
“What do you mean?”
Sera passed an empty plate to Marissa, who passed it on to me. I accepted it and began to load the plate from the dishes on the dining table — eggs cooked with bacon, a couple sausages, cooked carrots, and a muffin.