Valerian, The Legendary

89 Progress.

Emperor Moon shouted and his warriors picked up their spears. On the other side, Ensis and the others drew their swords, only War Minister Abbot and Empress Fragrantia were calm. They acted as if the strong roar did not affect them.

Abbot was a veteran, strong enough to kill all the people in the opposing party. However, he did not act as if the empress was not worried and stood calmly. Fragrantia sighed and said, “Since you are so eager to be a puppet for the berserks then your son probably did not die in vain. After all, if he was pushed in this situation by the Prince of Valkyria.”

Emperor Moon was angry and said, “You dare to blame Barak, do you think I do not know about the cruel manner your servant boy handled him? Just because he is a battlemage, I would like to see what he can do when the armies march over your proud Imperial capital, and the day he steps out of that academy, I will be there to take his head off his shoulders.”

Fragrantia did not like him calling her nephew a servant boy, yet she could not say it out loud, at least not for the time being. Valerian was not yet strong enough, he had a lot of things to deal with and she could not add this burden to his young shoulders. He has already helped him a lot in disguise with this situation.

She calmed herself and said, “You wish to harm him, very well, but think about it, when the forces of the berserk walk through your empire, what will they leave behind? Those blood anarchists, treat women as toys, pillaging and robbing is a sport in their empire, yet here you are showing such great trust in them. If you are not a fool then what are you?”

Her tone was not as respectful as it was earlier. She described her contempt for the emperor of the Stella nation in full bloom. Emperor Moon was shocked to hear her say this, but before she could say anything, Fragrantia said, “What are you going to war with us for? The mythical treasure blessed by the dragon god? Fool, if such a thing existed in my Empire, would I have waited for you jumping clowns to come in and threaten me? I would have used that treasure to kill all the way and unite the Western continent all the way. Is that not the so-called dream of that savage emperor, Tchala?”

Her words were reverberating with the heartbeat of the other party, she asked, “What made you think that the berserks can be friends with you? In this world, there is no eternal friendship and no eternal enemy, just eternal benefit.”

This idiom woke up the Emperor of Stella Empire. He did not know why he had agreed to ally with the Valkyrian Empire. His entire court was against him and that was why he stood here alone with a few guards. His Empress had given up on him and did not want to see his face. Emperor moon was shocked at how the situation has developed.

Fragrantia had acquired some news that the Emperor of Valkyria had sent a girl to Emperor Moon and ever since then, the Emperor has been very different. In the western continent, there was a saying that one must never trust the berserks for they hide the daggers in their beards and cut your throats when they embrace you.

.....

Turns out, that girl was trained in the magical techniques of mind spells, by simply injecting the mana into the body of a person. This was possible when the two had intercourse. Yeah, Emperor Moon was honey-trapped. Fragrantia just enraged him to the point where the battle aura broke the restraints on his mind.

Fragrantia looked at his shocked reaction and said, “Ensis, return the prince to his father. We are going back home.”

Ensis was surprised to see the sudden gentleness displayed by her lady, but she did not disobey and followed the command. After returning the casket, they mounted back on their wraiths and turned around. The guard captain looked back to find the Emperor leaned over the open casket and he seemed to have grown ten years older in an instant. This was the burden of a father. His deeds had sent his son down to the underworld.

...

Valerian was unaware of the development, and he was going forward with his training step by step. Fallax had revoked his perk to visit the arena once a month and the war seemed to have been stopped for the time being. Another thing that Valerian looked forward to was visiting his mother’s resting place when he gets off from the academy after two months, and during this time, he must spend his energy on getting stronger.

He dedicated himself to training, but with each passing day, he understood the dread of the situation. Fallax was literally grinding him. One day, the two people were sitting together and Fallax had just finished quizzing Valerian.

The old man said, “You are making good progress in your knowledge points, but I think you have a lot of questions. Come on, I am in a good mood, will answer them.”

Valerian was drenched in sweat and said, “Indeed you are in a good mood, you sadistic old man.”

Fallax was not angry but he chuckled and said, “Brat, I am doing this for your good. Think about your mana manipulation when you came here and compare it with now. You think it is an easy task to change the runes amidst a spell. Who asked you to be the master of all seven attributes?”

Valerian shook his head and asked, “Can you tell me how the power is divided among the warriors?”

Fallax nodded and said, “A warrior of first grade is capable of killing a bull with one punch. Followed by a warrior of grade two, capable of killing five bulls in a punch. The warrior with grade three can kill a lion with one punch, a lion is said to have the strength of ten bulls. Grade four can dust down five lions with a hit.

Grade Five can deal with a grade one magic beast, grade one magic beast have the power of ten lions. Followed by a warrior of grade six, capable of dealing with five grade one magic beasts in a punch. Grade seven can tie with a grade two magical beast, while a grade nine can deal with five grade two, mind you one grade two is equal to five grade one magical beast.”

Valerian heard all this and nodded, then he asked, “What is a Magnus magister?”

Fallax smiled and said, “When a battle mage reaches the level of a grandmaster and an archmage, he is called a Magnus magister.”

Valerian nodded and said, “You seem to be quite strong for an old man.”

“I was not always old, brat.”, scolded Fallax. This kid has been getting really cheeky lately. The old man was thinking if the training was not hard enough. Valerian would have puked blood if he knew.

Valerian asked, “What level am I?”

Fallax was surprised and said, “I would say that you are grade three warrior and grade three mage.”

This kid has never asked him about this earlier, so he had forgotten to evaluate him. Valerian said, “Before the next break, I would like to step into level four.”

Fallax chuckled and said, “Do you think it is a joke?”

However, Valerian did not have a smile on his face. Fallax saw his determined eyes and sighed. He recalled what the bloomkin messenger Boo-too said to him, and said, “You can go and participate in the Arena, but you are not allowed to use magic against warriors and physical force against mages. Understood?”

Valerian nodded and Fallax said, “I will talk to some people tomorrow.”

“What is the level that can make someone face against an entire nation?”, suddenly asked Valerian.

Fallax’s brows were raised, he could detect the sudden solemnity in his artificial voice, after much thought, the old man said, “When you reach the level of a Magnus Magister or get yourself a dragon companion.”

Valerian was surprised by the latter half of the sentence, but he was not shocked. However, he did not ask much about this subject, he did not think the latter was a plausible method to approach, and he did not want to depend on others for his growth.

The child understood and stood up to climb down the stairs. Inside the tower, there was only one window on the wall of the lobby, but his schedule did not allow him to spare any moment to even check if it was day or night. Valerian read a simple quote, “Cruel to the enemy, crueler to yourself. That is how you stay ahead.”

The boy stepped down the stairs and his pace was faster, recently he noticed that his body has began to adapt faster. However, it was still not enough for him, he wanted to reach the peak of strength and reach a level where he can stand against a whole nation to fulfill the wishes of his mother and find the secrets of what happened to them.