Sylvester appreciated that the big man trusted him enough to feel that he wouldn't lie about such things. "Thank you. What happened there truly disturbed me. The people didn't deserve to be left to evil's whims like that. If possible, we should also investigate the Archbishop responsible for that region back then. As far as I remember, the town chief told me they sent him a letter of grievance and complaint after their ordeal… but they never received a reply."
Crack!
Sylvester was taken aback. The Lord Inquisitor appeared so angry that the stone floor under the staff started to crack. 'Good lord, it seems Inquisition is not just against the heathens outside but also against those within.'
"Thank you for revealing to me such heresy. I shall look into this and bring more clarity. As for why I invited you here today, I have a matter of concern. Sir Dolorem has requested that I train you, as you lack any powerful superior who may do so."
Sylvester felt a bit strange by this. 'I just told Sir Dolorem about my ambitions. Does this mean he asked the Lord Inquisitor even before I told him? What a thoughtful man…'
"Yes, Lord Inquisitor. I was able to kill the Bloodling somehow with my light, but I was still unable to bring forth my full might. I need proper guidance to learn and prosper." He requested.
Thud!
Lord Inquisitor thumped his staff on the floor. Quickly, Lady Aurora entered and saluted. "Yes, Lord Inquisitor."
"Lady Aurora, I called you here for a special purpose. You are to become the mentor of God's Favored and teach him the art of war, justice, and strategy. Teach him magic, and help usher his talents to truly shine—for the church that is so benign. You shall accompany him for the coming one year and teach him all that there is to." Lord Inquisitor ordered.
Sylvester and Lady Aurora stared at each other's faces instantly. There was some sort of friendly animosity between them. But both had different thoughts. Sylvester was excited and appreciative about this, because no matter what, she was a level one Grand Wizard and tenth Guardian of Light. She was extremely powerful in both strength and authority.
He was excited to learn from her, and not to mention, keeping her alongside on assignments would work as a great relief, which would mean he could take bigger assignments.
"Ha? I don't want to! I am not a babysitter!" She denied.
And Sylvester felt offended by that. He was not a child, even in comparison to her long lifespan. Instantly, all his excitement died out, and he talked back. "Perhaps Lady Aurora does not wish to help the future of the faith… I don't mind if she wishes not to accompany me."
"Aurora! I order you." Lord Inquisitor boomed again, however, this time with some anger in his voice.
Aurora shrank her neck and annoyedly looked at Sylvester. "But what about my own training? I am close to reaching level two."
"Priest Sylvester is about to reach Arch Wizard rank too, and he recently killed a Bloodling. At the same time, there is a bounty of a hundred thousand Gold on his head. You will find plenty of evil to train with on journeys."
She argued quickly. "There are no challenges for people of our rank… and you want me to be his bodyguard? I am a Guardian of Light."
Lord Inquisitor seemed even more angered as he scolded her. "I am telling you to find challenges on the way… and do not forget, by helping Prist Sylvester, you are indeed helping the light. If you are going to disobey me, perhaps I need to find a different apprentice."
"May the holy light enlighten us." She instantly saluted the Lord Inquisitor. "I accept this sacred duty, my lord. Priest Sylvester, meet me in the morning every day to train."
Sylvester silently nodded, while internally frowning. 'God! No! Look at her face… she's definitely going to beat me… this is so shameful… I can't allow that to happen. Yes! Why just me? I will bring Felix and Gabriel to share the humiliation too.'
As the meeting came to an end, somewhere out there, in their sleep, two boys shuddered and felt cold all of a sudden.
"Take this as you leave, young bard." Lord Inquisitor handed over a token.
At first glance, Sylvester recognized it to be a summon from the Pope. "Holy Father wishes to see me?"
"Indeed—I know not why, so do not ask. Go now, prepare for tomorrow's task."
Sylvester saluted the man and left the large tent. And as he stepped outside, he was lifted into the air by his clothes from the front. Although he was taller than Lady Aurora, she was clearly stronger.
Sylvester, who knew how to handle people the best, didn't react much and decided to go calm and easy with her. He reckoned the woman still had a very jovial personality, and since she was the youngest Guardian of Light, also the weakest, she had a lot to prove. "Lady Aurora, let's help each other bring out the best of us… in body and mind."
The way he spoke those words, there was not a hint of the nativity of a young boy. Aurora felt as if she was the one being a little spoiled kid. This brought embarrassment and realization to her, that the way she was acting was not befitting for her position.
She let Sylvester go and apologized. "Forgive me. I was being too impatient. I need to level up as quickly as possible, so I felt this is a setback."
"Why such hurry?" He inquired.
"Because the Fifth Guardian is too old and may die at any moment. That would mean the Guardians below fifth will move one place up each, and to become the ninth guardian, I need to be at level two of Grand Wizard rank as well." She explained annoyedly, as she rubbed her eyes in frustration.
Sylvester could understand her urgency. It was similar to his, the only difference being his stake was his life. "Then let's give our best and attain our goals."
"What's your goal?" She asked.
Sylvester answered mysteriously. "Become what everyone else expects from me.""Pope? Do you really think you have what it takes to reach that place? Well, you do have the talent, and you're still young." She suddenly got close to him and patted his shoulder, showing her big wide smile. "If you someday do sit on the throne, don't forget about this kind big sister, okay?"
"..."
Sylvester, after looking at her face blankly, turned around and walked away. "Ugh…"
"How dare you sigh at my face!"
Sylvester ignored her playfulness. He was curious about her, who she was, where she was from, her history, and such. As for now, from the scents, he could only tell that she loved to mess around and make things easygoing.
…
The next morning,
Sylvester was able to gather with his friends in the training arena of the Inquisitors. It was an empty open space where anyone could come and train.
"Why did you call us here so early in the morning, Max?" Felix asked while yawning tiredly.
Gabriel was the same. Even though he wakes up early, he spends most of his time in the morning praying, so this was annoying to him. "I'd rather go back."
Sylvester scoffed. "Go on, but don't complain to me later why you two are unable to rank up or get stronger."
Felix lost all his sleep in an instant. "What have you planned, my best friend?"
"I have secured a teacher for all of us. One so strong that most can't even dream of being taught by her. Just wait, and you shall see who it is."
Both of the boys gulped and nodded silently. But, even after waiting for an hour, nobody came, and they started staring daggers at Sylvester.
However, to ignore both of them, Sylvester sat down to meditate instead, even though he was faking it and internally cursing at Aurora for not arriving on time. 'I should just go and meet the Pope.'
"Alright, you three. Come here and stand in line!"
Sylvester's eyes opened abruptly and found the woman standing in her normal armor, her brown hair fluttering with the wind and gray eyes shining as always.
"Woah! Tenth Guardian of Light will train us? That's so awesome!" Felix chirped excitedly and wished to go first.
Lady Aurora started to order them around. "You will call me Lady Aurora the whole time. And, you must obey all my commands, no matter what. I shall first teach you how to dodge, so prepare yourselves."
Sylvester knew what was coming, so he quickly placed a solarium crystal in his mouth, and then put a lotion on his face to ensure the hits didn't get to him.
Everyone knows that dodging exercise is just an excuse to beat someone up. And as he expected, Felix soon got the first taste of that medicine.
Bam!
"Argh! That hurt so much! That was amazing, Lady Aurora… can we do it again?" Felix jumped to his feet instantly.
Sylvester held his laughter after noticing the disgusted gaze of the woman as she felt Felix's love for pain was creepy. However, she failed to realize the young warrior's resilience was more than she could imagine.
"Just stay down this time." Aurora boomed and punched Felix in the guts after dodging all his strikes easily.
Bam!
Felix fell down, clutching his stomach with his hands, and rolling on the grass. But he was still excited, "That was so fast… I didn't even notice your moves. Do you know the Singing Sword style, Lady Aurora? Can you teach that to me?"
"Just stay down, boy! Why are you enjoying the pain? You're supposed to cry in pain, not cheer in joy." She shouted at Felix.
Felix, however, stood up and taunted her with his right hand, gesturing to her to come forward. "Once more!"
"..."
"Are you mentally retarded?" She asked.
"No! I am mentally challenged—to fight!" Felix replied.In the distance, Sylvester and Gabriel sat on the ground and watched the madness ensue. Lady Aurora was pulling her punches; there was no denying it, or else Felix would have been in pieces by now. But seeing her tormented because of Felix's stupidity was a pure delight.
Sylvester just took out some snacks Xavia had packed for him and ate them. "Want some?"
Gabriel took the dried, pickled veggies. "How long do you think he will last?"
"As long as she keeps pulling her punches… I'd say the whole day." Sylvester muttered and secretly fed the fat cat on his shoulders.
Bam!
"Argh! You hit me in the nuts!" Felix finally fell to the ground, and it was at the cost of pain that even Sylvester and Gabriel felt from the distance.
"You two! Come here right now!" Lady Aurora roared, appearing frustrated.
Sylvester sighed and prepared himself for the beating. This was going to destroy his self-confidence for sure, and humble his pride. But, he won't go down so easily.
"Gab, do you remember the plan?"
As they approached Lady Aurora, they started running forward with punches out. They looked clumsy and not threatening at all, which relaxed Lady Aurora. That was Sylvester's plan from the start.
He jumped towards her and shouted. "Now!"
Woosh!
Instantly, Sylvester and Gabriel used light magic simultaneously and stunned Lady Aurora's vision. She even stepped back from the shock, which bolstered their confidence.
Bam!
Bam!
Sylvester on the right and Gabriel on the left—their fists perfectly landed on Aurora's pretty face.
However, sad for them, this was all they could do. Lady Aurora didn't flinch from the punch, and her face didn't appear red.
Crack!
She, instead, caught both their fists with ease. Her eyes shined as well, and her face grew a big wide smile—making her appear demonic. "Hehe, I knew you would do such a thing, boys. I remember your technique from that spar years ago—torch boy!"
"Shit!" Even Garbiel cursed.
Woosh!
She started to rotate them around herself like they were little dolls. Sylvester cursed as he knew what was coming next. 'Ugh… so she's not dumb and does plan beforehand like me.'
He was merely testing her to see if she was really worth following and learning from. From this, it appeared she remembered his strategy from years ago and expected it.
As for the beating… it was inevitable. They were just too low-ranked.
Three minutes was the maximum time the two lasted. By the end, their faces appeared swollen and bodies dirtied from being thrown around like ragdolls. But after the fight, they saw another side of Lady Aurora.
She made them sit together and start healing their injuries with her magic. At that moment, she appeared like a reasonable adult—a genuinely caring person with a good heart. From the scent, Sylvester smelled the calmness and freshness of lavender and mint in his mouth, with a slight hint of motherly love.
That made Sylvester wonder why she was so subservient to the Lord Inquisitor. So he asked her directly when she healed him. "You are a Guardian of Light as well. Then why did you obey the Lord Inquisitor so easily?"
Lady Aurora looked at his face in dread. "No! No thanks, I have no intentions of disobeying my father and getting whooped?"
"What?" The three boys exclaimed in unison.
_______________________
[Thank you, Dagorith, for SG.]
GT = 1 Bonus chapter.
Super Gift = 1 Bonus chapter.
APE TOGETHER STRONG!