Chapter 191 (1/2)

Shal stood cautiously. After staying in the dungeon for a week, he was slowly absorbing the thicker Aether in the air, allowing him to move around like a real person, rather than an invalid. He nodded decisively; a spear user was truly only half a man if he was not in control of his capabilities.

Then Shal frowned, as he thought of his disciple, wandering around, attempting to succeed in the Regional Tournament on his own. Gritting his teeth, Shal forced down his frustrations with his disciple, and his guilt over his father’s legacy, and his bitterness that he had to rely on another.

These emotions were not helpful. And if he was honest with himself, he had to admit that he wouldn’t be able to assist his disciple anyways, as anything more than a last minute coach. His actual influence, especially in the preliminaries, would be extremely small. Perhaps when the actual tournament started, his advice would be more useful, but when Randidly was just battling against riff raff…

Divveltian sat to the side, humming and moving his finger, like he always did. Ever since he had been exposed to the Aether produced by Shal’s disciple, Divveltian’s abilities had skyrocketed. Shal had a sneaking suspicion that he had been able to improve his self-created move, and was even now refining it further.

In his heart, Shal was bitter that he had been so focused on stopping the wild energy emerging from his disciple that he hadn’t thought to absorb very much of it for himself. If he had, his and Pronto’s self-created style…

Pronto, standing over the woman’s body, still just a boy, a guilty smile on his face. “It was necessary. You’ll help me convince father, won’t you?”

“P, you can’t keep doing this-!”

“Relax, this will be the last time. I can control it.”

A twig snapping brought Shal back to himself. Marco Polo ambled out of the bushes, carrying some of those poison spitting frogs, hanging from a rope. Although they had a very weird aftertaste, their meat was rather tasty, and Shal couldn’t complain about it.

Marco Polo’s arrival, of course, was why Shal had made the decision to leave so suddenly. Because Shal had told Marco Polo when they split up that he would appreciate it very much if he went to the border of the Spearman School’s lands and inquired after a certain individual.

Shal sought information about the woman who had cursed his family, Lucrecia. And Marco Polo returned, bearing news about her movements and location. Apparently she had set herself up as a vice-leader of a Style in the Heart School lands.

Instantly, Shal had known that he needed his strength to be at its peak, higher than it had ever been in the past, if he were to stand a chance against her. Even in the past, it seemed that she was an individual that Aemont didn’t want to challenge, for in the lead up to Aemont and Pronto heading to see Haelthing, Shal begged. He begged them to go after that woman instead, because Shal was so sure that she was the source.

His father had given Shal a long look, and then left, stony lipped. Shal needed to be stronger than his father. He could not truly fill the Spear Phantom’s shoes, as demonstrated by his lack of comprehension of the moves, but there were some prices that he was willing to pay that would make up those deficiencies.

For now, however, he simply needed to wait, as his body adjusted itself. The time dilation was much smaller in this dungeon than the prison, so his Aether connection should recover a small bit. Then, clearing this dungeon would give him a pool of Aether that could sustain him for a while as he healed the rest of the way.

One fact tugged at him, however, making him very wary.

Marco Polo sat around the first, laughing and smiling, and began to cook the frogs.

Although he had likely been inside the prison for the longest, Marco Polo showed no signs of Aether Sickness, either now or while they were outside the dungeon. He seemed completely at ease.

Whether it was a coincidence, or something more sinister… Shal wasn’t sure. But it didn’t matter. As long as this man could lead him to Lucrecia… he would hold hands with the devil if he had to. His goal was more important to him than his integrity.

*****

In the predawn light, Randidly slowly opened his eyes. He had checked on the two wisps, and they seemed fine, enjoying each other’s company. They still slowly became dimmer without him, but with two of them, the process took a lot longer. So at least he didn’t need to worry about that.