36 Chapter 36 The Days Following The Attack (2/2)

”Yes, Master Joseph?” She looked up from twirling her dagger between her fingers, and went to flipping it between her fingers as she looked at him.

”I think you may have fey blood in you. I don't think it is quite elf, though I can't be sure yet. Your aura looks kind of like your ears should be longer…maybe?”

Stella stiffened. The dagger stopped moving, and she just looked at him, blankly.

”I'm sorry. That probably came off as very rude.”

'Ah there I go putting my foot in my mouth again. Way to go. Just casually mention your best friend isn't human.' He thought as he looked down in embarra.s.sment, and missed the hint of a smile she quickly hid.

”Um, I don't think it's a problem or anything…I mean, it's kind of cool, right? Er. I'm going to be quiet again. Sorry.” He glanced back up, long enough to see that she had changed her position in order to flip the knife back and forth between her hands.

Sometimes, he couldn't tell if when he said something, if she was stunned, or just gave him that awkward pause on purpose.

Six more days pa.s.sed and he was gradually feeling more human again. Jet had reached intermediate. They had to set aside a more private area for him to practice. He could control the mana, but no spells, so there wasn't any force to it. His sword instructor started branching out into whips, bladed gauntlets, and spiked pads so he could get a feel for them. Maybe he would find something he was really good at, in order to train with them.

His instructor, father and he all shared the same opinion, that swords may be n.o.ble, but he still needed the practice as a mage. One hour of sword practice was with actual swords and one was split between the other techniques now. He still spent an hour dancing with Stella and another in etiquette, though much of it had moved on to history and heraldry instead of just dinning and greetings. Stella seemed to have gotten the perfect memory, too, so their lessons were speeding up incredibly. The instructor was beside herself trying to come up with new things to teach them.

Dreams started occurring again, but the System seemed to be focusing on good memories. Joseph wasn't sure he could handle anything not happy at the moment. There had to be some good memories in that life or he would have probably killed himself.

He was getting towards the end of his previous life, in a dream, when suddenly, Stella shook him awake. She had a bit of trouble. Just because he only needed three hours of sleep, didn't mean he was also a light sleep.

”Master, a runner arrived just a short while ago. I thought you might want to know.”

”What kind of runner?” He was immediately alert, since everyone was on edge after the attempted a.s.sa.s.sination/kidnapping/poisoning.

”An alarm wasn't sounded, so it's probably nothing, but this wasn't a messenger like your father has been normally getting. It looked like the man came from the town up ahead, that was our next destination.”

”Alright, see what you can find out, and let me know.”

She nodded, and left quickly. He watched her leave, and realized she was getting really good at not making any noise as she came and went. Thinking back, he remembered when it started, about the same time he gave her the system. Could it be related to her memories? Had she been an a.s.sa.s.sin or something in her previous life?

As much as he wanted to know, he also knew that he needed another hour of sleep. So, settling back down into his covers, he drifted off.

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