101 Chapter 101 Playing With Fire (1/2)
After he changed his s.h.i.+rt, people started to arrive. Most of the ones that claimed to belong to Joseph, felt uncomfortable following his dad's orders, even if they knew him from when he had signed the contract with the king.
Focusing on SEEK WATER, his first water spell, between visitors, he had his AMCC working on EARTH, then PLANT. This would give him at least one spell from each element.
Stephan had recovered enough, by lunch, to join them in Joseph's carriage to eat. After he cast HEAL on him again, all of the scar tissue was removed. All that was left, was a small amount of confusion in his mana circuit, that would recover in a few days on its own. No one would ever know that he had anything happen to his arm.
As his bowl was set before him, the sight of the stew meat made him throw up. Apparently, forcing himself to accept cannibalism in order to remove the curse on his arm with PURIFY FOOD was going to take a few days to recover from. It was a small price to pay, in his opinion, as he helped Stella clean up the mess, and Stephan went to fetch a non-meat meal for him.
That night, he went to eat supper with his parents, in their tent. As they entered, Stella stiffened ever so slightly as his mother smiled at them. He was very curious to know what had been said between the two of them, but the thought slipped away as his dad jumped into planning the trip they had just embarked on.
Everything was moving smoothly, despite the attack that morning. Joseph had made sure everything was taken care of to a degree, that his father couldn't help but feel proud about. They shouldn't have any problems making their way to the valley they would winter in. The hope was that they could make it before any serious storms swooped in from the north.
”Stella, how did Joseph fare in the attack this morning?” asked his mom, with a glint in her eye.
Stella bowed politely, from her seat next to Joseph, ”He was slightly injured, but nothing that our healers couldn't take care of with his guidance, Madam.”
”Let me see, Joseph,” said his mother in a tone of voice that warranted no objections.
Pulling his sleeve back, he showed her healthy pink skin, unblemished. He gave a silent thanks to Stephan for removing all the scars at lunch, and wondered who had talked. His mother had obviously heard from someone that he had been hurt, otherwise she would never have asked. Putting the possible snitch out of his mind, he knew there wasn't a person alive that could hold up to his mother's questioning.
”Very well, don't let it happen again,” she said, returning to her meal.
Stella and Joseph eyed each other carefully out of the corners of their eyes, and returned to eating. The rest of the meal went by rather uneventfully.
As they were heading back to Joseph's carriage, he spied Selena.
”Miss Selena!” he yelled, running to her.
”Little Joseph!” she replied warmly, giving him a hug.
His guards looked at each other confused.
”This is Miss Selena,” Joseph tried to explain, ”She is the mage who taught me to truly love magic, and my master in magic.”
Dropping his voice, he made eye contact with each of them.
”Don't upset her. Seriously.”
Selena and Stella both laughed. Stephan only sighed.
”Master Joseph, are all of the women you are close to, so…exceptional?”
After looking at the two girls, he nodded, ”It would be best to a.s.sume so. Selena is the closest person I have to an older sister.”
She laughed again and said, ”If I had I little brother, I would hope he was as cute as you, little Joseph.”
”She is loved by FIRE itself. She is likely the greatest elemental master in a thousand years, and taught me much of what I know about the magical realm.” Pointing at Derek, he said, ”I know you study EARTH, currently, but you should still seek her advice as an elemental. I intend to study all magic. Selena will probably be one of the very few, if not the only mage, capable of surpa.s.sing me in any rune once I'm done. She is at least a master, if not a grand master, in FIRE.”
”You over praise me, little Joseph.”