second, he had been struggling to keep his amiable fa?ade.
Despite how tired and stressed he was, Lith could only play his part.
"Guys, this is Phloria, my former team leader. Phloria, these are my friends from the Healer
specialization, Yurial, Friya and Quylla." It had taken him a lot of practice to say the word
"friends" instead of the more accurate "colleagues".
Back on Earth, when Carl visited his workplace, many had got slightly offended with him for
introducing them as simply colleagues. At that time, he didn't care, it was only a dead-end
temporary job until his brother attained his master.
Now, though, personal relations were of the utmost importance.
I never understood why people have such a loose definition of friendship. A friend is
someone that knows you. From things like your passions and ambitions to trivial things like
your favourite book or colour.
As I see it, they are not my friends. They don't like me as a person, only my academic
achievements.
They don't even know the names of my sisters."
"Don't be so hard on them, they are just kids." Solus mind-shrugged. "They have met you in a
though moment of their lives and you have become close. You often spend time together,
either in class or during the private lessons you gave them.
For most people, that's more than enough to call someone a friend. Especially considering
you are not really open with them." ¨C
"Thank him for what?" Yurial interest was piqued. Lith was far from bad looking, especially
since he had stopped with perpetual frown and the murderous glare. Being both rising stars in
the Light department, Yurial had tried multiple times to set a double date, but to no avail.
This was the first time that a girl that had come looking for him had not been dismissed with a
polite excuse. Considering that they had spent a few days together and seemed in a good
relationship, Yurial was hoping to get some juicy gossip.
"He sure likes them tall." ¨C He thought.
"Didn't he tell you?" Phloria was honestly surprised. Between her group's horrible start, and
how they heavily depended on Lith the whole time, she had expected him to complain about
them with his friends as soon as they met.
Instead he had welcomed her with one of his rare dimpled smiles, while the others clearly had
no idea who she was.
"Tell us about what?"
"As much as it hurts my pride to admit it, he was the key member from start to finish.
Without Lith we would have never lasted more than one day, let alone rack fifty points per
day." Phloria sat down, ordering her meal.
Friya whistled with admiration.
"Thirty points each for three days is a great score, considering it was a surprise test. How did
you manage to do it?"
Phloria chuckled.
"Sorry, I misspoke. I meant we each earned fifty points per day."
"One hundred and fifty points in just three days?" Yurial dropped his fork from the surprise.
"So much for 'nothing special'! Please, tell us all about it. For some reason Lith has been quite
evasive, to use and understatement."
They didn't have to ask twice. Phloria told them how he single-handedly repelled the magical
beast on the first day, how he found and built them a safe haven.
She put particular emphasis on the trick with the Clacker's venom and on how he taught them
how to survive in the wild with first magic.
"You wouldn't tell at first look, but shorty here is a monster!" She said patting energetically
his back.
The last word forced Lith to remember his encounter with the Scorpicore, sending a cold
shiver down his spine. He didn't like the idea of being somehow related to Abominations,
even less how close he had got to die.
Luckily, his stiff expression blended perfectly with the others. Everyone at the table was
shorter or barely taller than Lith, despite being older. If he had to be considered short, what
were they supposed to be? Gnomes?
"An artificial cave! How could I not think about it?" Yurial held his head between his hands in
frustration. Being a Warden, things like that were supposed to be his specialty.
"Finding the hill was just a stroke of luck." Lith dismissed the whole thing with a wave of the
hand. "I'm sure you would have done the same if you had the chance."
"Wow, I never pegged you for the humble type. In your shoes, I would brag about the exercise
for at least a month." Friya said, looking at him in a new light.
"Phloria exaggerates things too much. Yes, I did my part, but it was a team effort. Visen
actually made the cave stable and habitable, not to mention providing the outhouse and
supporting us in battle with his arrays.
Phloria herself had a rocky start the first day, but she learned from her mistakes, and saved
me from the Clackers. She turned to be an excellent leader, and it's only thanks to her plan
that we managed to survive the second day.
She is the one that managed to envenom the Ry, I just gave her the means to.
Belia, well, she clearly lacked Visen's confidence or our battle experience, but she rose up to
the occasion and did her part splendidly. I, on the other hand, am incapable of leadership, and
proved to be short fused, often venting my stress on my teammates."
Lith resulted really convincing, mostly because he had been sincere. He had underestimated
too many dangers, and lost control of his emotions more than once.
It was hard to draw line where his mana core issues ended and his anti-social behaviour
started.
He knew he had a problem, but no idea how to fix it.
"Whatever." Quylla said. "Next time, I want to be in your group. Things would be so much
easier."
"Dream on." Friya sighed. "There are only thirty-four healers for over two hundred and fifty
students. Hence at least sixteen groups had no healer during the exercise. It's impossible for
us to ever end up together."
"Maybe, and maybe not." Yurial said. "After the first trimester, students can go to the forest
during the weekends, to collect precious herbs and materials for themselves or exchange
them for points. Not to mention, it's all experience."
Lith felt that his plea for help had been lost in conversation, but the topic was quite
interesting.
"Is mandatory a group for the forest? And will we be under surveillance again during our
training?" He asked.
"No, there is no need for groups, one could go alone or with twenty friends. Although a five
men group is highly recommended, especially for fourth years. And no, there will be no
surveillance, we would be on our own.
The only safety measure is a panic button, very similar to a Ballot, but with only one function:
a distress signal to call for help in case something bad happens."
"Interesting." Lith pondered. "I could go alone to vent my stress, or with them as a shock
therapy. Two days are too little to make me snap, but more than enough to steel my feeble
social skills." ¨C
"Isn't your team one member short? It would be a pleasure and an honour to work together
with the top students of the Light department." Phloria's request hit their egos in all the right
spots.
"How could we possibly say no to someone Lith holds in such high regard?" Friya stood up
and shook her hand.
Since things were spiralling out of his hand, he decided to get the best of it, and ask Phloria's
help too. But that was the wrong moment, his companions were too happy from having found
a kindred spirit, and he was too tired to bring them back to reality.
Lith decided to postpone his request for swordsmanship lesson after the four days break.
Because of the private lessons he had imparted them about first magic, he had never got the
chance to get back home during the weekends.
It was time to correct that situation.
Chapter 87 Homecoming
Since Lith had been officially admitted at the White Griffon academy, the lives of the
inhabitants of the village of Lutia had become easier and safer, especially for Nana. When
news spread that the village was the birthplace of a mage, nobles had become friendlier,
avoiding to break the law or cause any trouble.
Even passing merchants would be more likely to offer discounts, no more harassing the local
smiths. The usual crowd of rogues and troublemakers, that usually hanged around the tavern
during the night, had turned meek or left altogether.
Of course, such behaviour didn't come from the goodness of their hearts, nor from the fear of
the youth that maybe in the future would become a great mage. Everyone knew he was away,
and it would take no less than two years for him to return.
The reason for such sudden change of heart, depended by the fact that those who didn't
behave had made the strange habit of disappearing without traces, kill themselves leaving
behind a suicide note confessing their crimes or simply died in accidents.
What everyone but Nana ignored, was that a mage's birthplace was his starting fief. Being Lith
evaluated as a Rank A student, one of the Queen's personal units was constantly monitoring
the village, weeding out problems in the bud.
They had no way to distinguish a simple criminal from someone that, either by his own will or
because manipulated, was attempting to harm Lith's family. Most importantly, they did not
care.
As soon someone was identified as a potential threat, even if the investigations gave no
results, they would get rid of the problem, just to be on the safe side.
The Queen kept them updated on Lith's performance and potential, stressing the importance
of giving him no further reason to resent the Griffon Kingdom and defect.
After the results of the mock exam, it was only because of Duke Hestia's compliance toward
the school rules, leaving his daughter alone in hot waters and not trying to take revenge, that
he barely managed to keep his Dukedom and his neck.
(AN: Duke Hestia is the father of the leader of the trio that attempted harassing Lith during
the first day. See Chap 57)
Based on what her contacts had told Nana, once Lith's talent had been recognized by
Manohar himself, both the Court and the Mage Association had taken to heart his well-being.
For Nana it meant the chance to keep a big price on her services, despite having nothing more
to do outside her role of healer.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" She laughed enjoying another sunny morning. "Who would have thought that
helping that young spirit of your brother could bring the new heyday of my life. It's never
been so peaceful in years."
"How could my little brother have anything to do with it?" Tista chuckled, while using chore
magic to clean the room.
Nana shook her head.
"Tista, my girl you outshine your brother in many things. Looks, kindness, bedside manners.
There are just two things that you should really take from him."
"One is talent. What about the other?" Despite having learned spells up to tier three, Tista
had still no idea how Lith had managed to cure her. She could only explain it with an abysmal
gap in their gift for magic.
"No, I would never criticize someone about something innate. I was talking about being
cynical and practical. You are too na?ve for your age.
If your brother was here, he would look at me with his soul chilling glare, make a couple of
questions to which I would answer enigmatically, and I'm sure he would understand what I
mean."
"Lith doesn't have a soul chilling glare!" Tista rebuked her mentor.
"He is the most loving and caring little brother one could ask for."
Nana scoffed.
"Because he always treated you like a precious gem. Try asking your future brother-in-law
what does he think about Lith. And when you do, look him straight in the eyes and don't let
him change the subject."
Tista was about to rebut, when the door of the home office opened. Both the women turned
their heads, discovering that it wasn't a patient, Lith had returned.
"Lil bro!" Tista welcomed him with a warm hug.
"You haven't changed at all!"
He held her tight, whishing he could kiss her on the head, but she was seven centimetres (3
inches) taller than him.
"I went away for a month, not a year! Or did you expect me to come back scarred from the
battlefront?"
"Meanie!" She pushed him away with fake rage, giving a small punch on his shoulder.
"Thanks for everything you did for me, Master Nana. I wouldn't be in the academy without
you." Lith hugged his old mentor too.
Nana enjoyed the embrace for a moment, asking herself if it hadn't been a mistake choosing
to not have children. After her fall from grace, she had withdrawn, avoiding any meaningful
relationship to not get hurt again.
armour. In any case, it was too late.
"Why are you wasting time with this old bat?" Nana scolded him, poking him on the head
with her walking cane.
"Your parents are worried sick about you. Tista, you can have the rest of the day off. Bring
him home, use force if you must."
Tista giggled, taking his brother's arm before leaving.
"Someone feels clingy, today. Since when do you like getting spoiled?" Lith laughed at the
affectionate gesture.
"Since ever, duh!"
During their walk, Lith noticed many youths suddenly changing direction or crossing the road.
Between her beauty, her status and income as the future healer of the village, Tista was one
of the most coveted maidens. Very few cared about the fact that she was still two years from
the marrying age.
Before Lith's departure, most were too scared to approach her. He had killed men at the age
of six, a magical beast at eight, and was infamous for being overprotective of his family.
While mothers and girls praised his decisiveness, it struck fear in the hearts of the suitors, that
now believed to finally have free hand with her.
"Is there someone in particular bothering you?"
Tista made one of her radiant smiles that could light up a room.
"No, thanks. I can defend myself. Besides, they are harmless."
"Are you sure? Accidents happen. You just have to say the word."
Solus jolted. Despite the casual tone and his bright smile, he wasn't joking at all.
Tista didn't notice, and laughed at the 'joke'.
"Speaking of accidents, the village lately has become really quiet. I feared that after you left,
brigands would attack as soon Nana left the village. Instead the whole regi
on has never been
so safe in years."
Lith raised an eyebrow in disbelief, it didn't make sense until he remembered Linjos' words.
"I had almost forgot my family is under surveillance. I must be careful not be followed when
I perform my experiments." ¨C
Since they spoke on daily basis with the communication amulet, Tista asked him why he had
disappeared in the last three day. Lith told her everything about the mock exam, leaving her
in awe.
"Five mages fighting together against evil magical beasts? What an experience! I bet you
looked like the heroes of the stories dad always told us when we were little."
"Magical beasts are not evil. Some are good, other bad, just like humans. And we didn't look
like heroes, more like scared teens. Plus, I'm terrible with people, and you know it. Have you
not been listening or are you just trying to flatter me?"
Tista punched his arm again in reply.
When they arrived home, Lith noticed that the cultivated fields were bigger than he
remembered, there were farmhands helping their parents. Now that all their kids had
become independent, Elina and Raaz had decided to expand the family business.
When they saw him, they ran to his side, hugging him while crying uncontrollably.
"My baby, my little baby is back." Was the only thing they managed to say.
Lith felt incredibly happy and awkward at the same time. Happy for their infinite love,
awkward because he had yet get used to it and because he didn't know if he deserved it.
The real Lith, their son, had died twelves years ago, replaced by an alien mind. He knew it
wasn't his fault. He didn't kill the baby, nor he had chosen them willingly.
Sure, Orpal and Trion had damned themselves with their actions, yet it was the miraculous
survival of the baby that had led them to those events. Lith felt responsible for breaking up
that wonderful family.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Solus meddled with his train of thoughts.
"Without you, your mother could have died of childbirth. Remember how weak she was at
the time? If she had been grief-stricken, she may have not survived, letting herself go without
fighting.
Not to mention that we don't know what would have happened. Orpal might as well started
targeting Tista instead of you, and we both know how she wasn't able to stand up for herself.