Magic Apprentice

Moving in a clockwise pattern, Hecaris III led the group to each relief and enthusiastically began to explain the story engraved in them. His talent for storytelling was immense, in Elric’s opinion. The way he spoke made the story seem real, as if everyone was suddenly back in the Heroic Age on the battlefield. Baptized by the battlefield of sword and magic, the audience felt as though they were yet another one of the soldiers fighting together with the Twelve Heroes against the evil Magic Empire army and the seemingly immortal Emperor leading them.

The story wasn’t very exciting for an ordinary person like Elric. It was a compelling story, but the subject matter wasn’t very exciting for him. For the knights like Kite and Hamon, however, the story of their idols and heroes was very interesting indeed. Knights without faith in a certain god were often quoted as worshipping heroes as their gods instead. Elric never thought it to be true until now. It was clear to see from that much based on the faces of the knights and paladins in attendance.

But it was pretty weird seeing Hecaris III use such polite language when referring to the heroes.

Because of his small town upbringing, Elric was never one to pay attention to the surnames of others, let alone the lengthy and confusing surnames of the heroes. To be honest, Elric didn’t bother to try to understand or memorize them. He didn’t want to say anything either due to his fear of the princess’ stern warning. He, she said, was not to move about, not to interrupt, not to questions, not to eat randomly, not to sit down anywhere, not to move anywhere, not to...the list went on. It didn’t really matter, Elric forgot how many things he wasn’t able to do. The one thing he did remember was of Flania’s last remark.

“If, by chance, you humiliate me again, tut tut…”

Elric didn’t have any intention of learning what ‘tut tut’ meant. He learned from personal experience that when the princess was mad…she was very much like her aunt.

Luckily, Elric didn’t really have that many questions he wanted to ask. He and the other knights were far too intimidated by the princess’ stern warning that they preferred to stay quiet. But there was one person in particular that was unbothered by Flania’s warning: Kite. Unlike the princess, prince, and Charle, Kite wasn’t royalty. He didn’t have the special education like they did where they learned about the history of their nation and every little detail of the Triumphant War. 

As such Hecaris III was the perfect person to explain the history of these heroes. 

Kite was a noble, yes, but the treatment he received paled in comparison to the royal treatment. Commoners like Elric were forbidden from learning about the heroes of the other nations, so it was only natural that he want to explore the history of those other heroes, wasn’t it?

Hecaris III didn’t take offense to any of the questions Kite asked. Like the other nations, Karch emphasized the history of their own heroes over the others. The common populace of Karch didn’t even know of the stories of the other heroes. 

“Of our nation’s three heroes, the most well known hero is the Saint of War, Sloan. No knight nor swordsman could hope to defeat him. It was Sloan that landed the final blow on the Magi Empire’s emperor. The second hero is the one known as the Magihunter and legendary archer, Tekrom. He was known to have killed the most of the empire’s magi with his archery, it was truly a shame for his art to be lost to time. The third and last is the only heroine of the twelve. Lucia the Saintess. The strongest priestess and the last practitioner of divine magic. She was also the very first Keeper of this temple.”

Elric felt a feeling of deja vu hit him when Hecaris III said those three names. He looked over to Kite; there was a suspicious look on his face. He looked to Jerry; the man was scratching his ear as if lost in thought.

Though he himself had his suspicions, Elric wasn’t going to let those emotions show on his face so easily. His training with the princess was to ensure that he wouldn’t reveal any sliver of emotion on his face, even when met with sudden surprise (though he had a limit on how much of a surprise he could take, and that limit was surprisingly small). But he definitely was confused. What was he confused about? It was the fact that Hecaris III only named three heroes. His story spoke about four characters, why had the emperor neglected to mention the fourth one?

Catching the glint of confusion on Elric’s face, Hecaris III walked the group to another relief.

“Take a look at the fourth Karthian hero—Vantus the Magibeast.”

Elric’s head snapped up at the relief. “The ol—old wo—wolf.”

In his confusion, Elric took a single step back. An action everyone else noted and found quite comedic looking.

There was one person, of course, that didn’t find it funny. The princess. Inwardly, she was already thinking of how to trample Elric to death without anyone noticing. All her hard work in making sure this fellow didn’t embarrass her—wasted! He was an utter embarrassment! Fine. Very well then. She’d make sure to put Elric through an unforgettable and even harder training once they got back.

Kite and Jerry were both taken out from their thoughts at the sight of Elric’s strange actions. They saw Elric look at them before pointing to the relief in front of them. He even hopped a bit. It was peculiar, to say the very least, but it was clear to see that Elric was trying to tell them something.

Following his pointing, the two nearly let out an audible gasp to one another. “The old wolf.”

It wasn’t as bad as Elric’s mishap, but it was still loud enough to bring attention. An angry tick mark appeared on Flania’s face; the list of participants for this special training had just got two names longer.

The rest of the visitors stared at the three, bewildered by their actions. Looking up at the same relief they were all looking at didn’t answer their questions either, as no one could tell what was wrong.

A three-headed wolf was engraved in the relief with its head pointed upward at the spiralling clouds. Four elemental spirits surrounded the magiwolf like guardians ready to vanquish any foe in front of them.

The moment of shock was over now, and Hecaris III chose this moment to continue his explanation. “The skies in this relief depict the forbidden magic only the Vantus the Magibeast could use—World Breaker. The epic of Vantus vanquishing the Empire’s magisoldiers was born with this spell. If I may inquire, what about this hero is so shocking?”

None of the three really knew how to respond to the question. Would anyone even believe that the three of them once traveled with one of Karth’s founding heroes? And the fact that they watched said hero fight with princess Crazy toe-to-toe, only for the fight to end with a stalemate? Moreover, Crazy wasn’t even hurt when Vantus casted World Breaker on her? 

No one would ever believe them. Even if they did, the existence of a powerful magus like Crazy in Sovereign would most certainly bring about implications no one here could possibly even imagine.

Just as the three were trying their best to think of a reasonable answer to give, they were saved by the voice of a person deeper in the temple.

“Welcome, Your Imperial Majesty. Welcome, Princess Flania and honored guests from Sovereign. I extend my heartfelt gratitude to companions of a hero.”

An old man dressed in white came slowly walking out from one of the halls.

Gripped in the old hands of this fellow, Elric saw, was a cane embedded with a blue gem on the top. The veins underneath his wrinkled skin were especially prominent due to his age. This was clearly a man who was farther ahead on the journey of life, though the dullness of his eyes outed him as someone that was clearly blind. This was the Archiereus of Karth, Myron.

Even Elric knew of Myron. He and Madoshi were one of the only two Sworn in this world. Only in Myron’s case, his patron God was the God of Wisdom, Atroh Tanskadt. Like Madoshi, Myron had the might of an archmagister. Since Karth espoused the God of Wisdom as their faith and Myron being Sworn to him, the man was able to become the Archiereus, a high-ranking station previously reserved only for a high-ranking ecclestial member. Being a magus truly was a wondrous thing, wasn’t it? 

Having Myron in front of him made Elric feel transparent. Something about this elder felt as though all was naked in front of this mighty magus’ eyes.

This sensation wasn’t one born from the effects of magic. For some reason, it felt as though the magus was seeing through the eyes of an omniscient God.