Transcendence?

***Norfolk, Fellmar***

“I saw everything from the beginning to the end. The eight dead Jamaian nobles were the attackers. They walked up to that person and one of them stabbed him from behind with a knife. He fell to the ground and then they surrounded and started to kick him. But after some seconds something like an explosion blew everyone away. Then the assaulted person got up and fought back. It was so gruesome and everything happened very fast. I took cover behind a table. Just a few seconds of magical combat were enough to create this scene.”

Another eye-witness gives his report to the grumbling captain of the guard who is taking notes.

The guards arrived just a few seconds after Celestial. They sealed off the whole area and started to interrogate everyone. By that time I had already dealt with the bastards who attacked me without a word from behind.

What can I say to my defence? I simply snapped and murdered them any way I could? They babbled something about revenge and that I killed his brother. By listening and making a few guesses I came to the conclusion that they were related to Mr. Golden-Mask.

The captain forces a smile onto his face and turns towards me. “Looks like you acted in self-defence Ascathon Asceron. You can go for the time being. But please refrain from leaving the country until this case is closed. And try to stay away from the Jamaians who swore blood revenge against you.”

My head jerks up. “Really? No trial?”

“I don't see why I should waste my time with a judge if there are so many witnesses. And whom you killed during an honour-duel in a country on the other side of the continent is no concern of mine.” The guard stores away his notes and walks away. With the retreat of the guards an army of servants starts to clean up the mess.

Eh!? They simply left? No bureaucratic paper storm? “I ~love~ this country! The weather is nice. The people are reasonable. And now I find out that their judicature is fast and just!” It took the arriving guards just half an hour to interrogate all witnesses.

Case solved and documented.

Celestial and two other people were standing close to me while I had to answer the questions of the guards. Somehow Celestial doesn't look happy. Everything ended well, so why the sour mood? It was just a little problem.

I already healed my wound and the bruises but.... “~Sugar cat?~ Could you pull that knife out of my shoulder? It itches and I am not flexible enough to do it myself.”

“~Sure.~” Celestial reaches for my shoulder and pulls the knife out of it with a swift movement. I feel a stinging pain but my passive regeneration spell finally starts to work properly and the pain slowly fades away. I had numbed my feeling for pain by cutting several nerves with telekinsis.

I am a little afraid of this technique, so I don't use it very often. It's very helpful during a fight because you become a berserker who is able to ignore his wounds. The downside is because of what happens if you fail to execute it right.

In one of my past lifes I royally messed up and severed something at the wrong point. It interfered with my spell-casting too and so I ended that life in persistent vegetative state while slowly dying in my bed. Not a happy memory.

There is also a problem if I stay too long in this state. The nerves could heal on their own and it would become very hard to heal them up correctly again.

But the pain is finally gone. So I turn my attention towards Celestial and her companions. “So why the heavy atmosphere?”

“~Honey.~ These are Arduin Jasmine, my father and Idala Jasmine, my mother. Mom, Dad, this is Ascathon. My husband.” Celestial links arms with me while smiling.

Hmm. Parents? Parents in law? “Hi.” Oooh. Too bad I haven't invented a camera yet. Their expressions are genuine.

“Why don't we take this discussion elsewhere and give him time to clean himself.” Idala smiles at Arduin.

I look down at myself and realize that my right side is bloody all over. Celestial wisely stuck to my left which is still relatively clean.

….

…

..

.

An hour later I acquired another suit and am cleaned up. I am in the dining area at a table with fine food to have a discussion with Celestial and her parents. Celestial is placed beside me with her parents in front of us.

“I won't approve of this!” Arduin shakes his head in denial.

“I have no...” Celestial pinches me from behind to shut me up. It feels like she used a forceps. But I know very well that she did it with her bare hands.

“But I love him ~daddy~. You won't be able to break us up. Besides. Liandra likes him too. And she treats Violetta like her little sister. The two of them are inseparable.” Celestial takes my hand to make a point.

“Violetta?” Idala looks at us with a questioning gaze.

“My little sister. She will become nine this month and she already memorized most basic spells.” I smile. It's actually close to being a genius if you aren't someone with memories of a past life. So I can be proud of my little sister.

Arduin draws his breath to start a tirade but he is cuffed into his side by a smiling Idala. Her smile makes her look like a demon.

“Then you will forgive me if I take a look at this family-life of yours. And I want to see Liandra.”

“So you approve?” Celestial hugs me from the side while I try to keep a straight face.

“Unfortunately the war with the Jamaian-Union has ruined our family. They burned our estate to the ground and killed most of our servants. The remaining ones fled or looked for other employers because our land is too close to the border. It's effectively inside a war zone. Nobody wants to live there. We can only be thankful if Liandra and you have found a peaceful place to live.” Idala smiles at Celestial.

“Why don't you stay with us? The mansion is big enough and there is plenty of room. And Liandra surely misses you two.” Celestial calls out.

“Ooone moment! Two more pets weren't.....” Another pinch by Celestial shuts me up and Idala's smile becomes even more fearsome.

“Pets?”

“Hahaha. It's just his strange way to think of anyone besides himself. His world-view is actually a little twisted but I am working on that.” Celestial waves her hand at her parents.

“Twisted? I don't think that it's...”

“~Honey bear?~ Did you get your appointment with the Jarl by the way?”

“Yes. I even talked to him already and he listened to my proposal. He said that he would decide after talking to the other leaders of the country. But that's not...”

“You were fast.”

“Well. It's the Ball of Fellmar and he didn’t have much time. I just made a suggestion and gave him the proposal in written form. But th....”

“So we are ~done~ here?”

“Haaah... yes. But don't you want to see a little more of the ball?”

“We are already here for more than three hours and though I found my parents, my husband got almost killed because we have no guards with us. We danced, we talked, we looked, so I say we go home while there are no further problems.”

“I can't change it. If it would be allowed I would have brought our own guards with me. But unfortunately there is a ban on weapons and guards all over Fellmar during the ball.” I shake my head.

“Yet those Jamaians showed up in force and had weapons with them. I say we head straight for the Gate and go home.” Celestial doesn't deviate from her decision.

I sigh and stand up. Celestial links arms with me again and we head for the Gate. Her parents follow us without saying a word. At the entrance Celestial stops and holds me back. “Please be so nice and cast elemental protection.”

“Sure, how could I forget.” A blue bubble surrounds us and we step out into the snow.

“Celestial! Haven't I told you to always train your spells? You shouldn't rely on others. Hone your skills whenever it is possible. You need the practice.” Arduin starts to nag from behind.

“Ah, I am sorry dad. But I found out that I am simply not suited to be a spell-caster. I started to train my inner mana manipulation. Since I focused on that field I became worse and worse at casting spells.” Celestial snickers while we walk.

“No way! Do you intend to become a complete sloth Celestial?” Idala has a shocked voice.

“Unfortunately her inner mana manipulation makes her a monster.” I say that while remembering a certain someone running over the water with physics alone on her side. Most magicians can't even dream of accomplishing something like that.

“We will start our training again. There is no getting out of this!” Arduin threatens his daughter with a finger.

I will have to watch him while he casts spells at her. It would be interesting to know if he manages to force her to evade.

.