Chapter 168: Witch’s Diary

When I woke up, I saw the rays of sunlight coming out of the night. The sun had just started to come out.

I looked at it for a few seconds before walking out of bed and going to the bathroom. Twenty minutes later, I came out and saw the sun had fully come out.

I changed into practice clothes and walked out of my room with Jon and Shaun.

A few minutes later, I walked into the training ground, where some of Count Darrow’s guards were practicing.

I nodded at them and walked toward the empty circle.

It is a fully equipped training ground, with every kind of tool that would need to practice. I went to the circle made with special soil with elastic properties and begin to stretch.

“I am ready,” I said to Jon as I finished.

He had been ready with practice daggers in his hands and the moment I said, I was ready.  He came at me like a phantom.

I reacted quickly with Rapid Legs and dodged his attacks, before moving my sword to defend with Quick Blade.

I defended, feeling the heavy shock, but quickly distributed it before moving to dodge the attack. I dodged and defended seven of his attacks before one was able to scratch me.

I didn’t stop with the scratch and instead used the chance and attacked, but he defended rather easily, before attacking me again.

Since I returned from Navr, have been practicing every day. I had only taken a break for five days, and yesterday was one of them. Even when there was a load of work for the last four days, I practiced.

I didn’t always practice for three hours, sometimes I couldn’t and only practice for one.

Though, I would always try to practice for three hours and sometimes, even do four hours and train in the evening.

This training had been tremendously helpful. I have been able to put what I learned in my battles in the Navr and barony into my combat style.

Even Jon had praised me for improving fast.

Most of the time, I would train with the instructor David and Jon, but sometimes, I would ask Zela and Shaun, too. I need to get used to the mages as well.

They are hard, and I couldn’t help but feel genuine fear for them.

The mages are the bane of warriors; they could dispose a group of warriors rather easily from a safe distance.

The Mages like Zela and Shaun are even more dangerous. They have a huge battle experience that in our training sessions, not once I had been able to reach them, even when they only used safe Grade 0 or Grade 01 spells.

Thud!

Twenty minutes into fighting, I fell hard on the ground, as Jon kicked on my leg. I bore the pain and stood up, before attacking again.

The pain is sharp, but it didn’t mess up my gait as it was used to, and I was able to defend against his consecutive attacks before he again hit me hard, this time on my back.

He imbalanced me enough to put his dagger on my neck before I could do anything.

The Gymnast’s Grace is an amazing skill, but it had limitations and Jon knows how to exploit them. In doing that, I know how I can stop others from doing the same thing he is doing.

He is powerful and experienced; I have no chance against him, but if I fight the people of lesser levels. I could survive, and that is the purpose of the training.

Time passed, and we continued to fight; some guards watched, and some even cheered, but I didn’t focus on them.

All my focus is on Jon, who is like a storm. He barely used any skills and controlled his strength, but despite that, I need to use everything I have to defend against his every move.

Even then, his attacks would hit me, and they were painful.

Thud!

Once again, I fell, but this time, I didn’t get up. Instead, just stayed there and took deep breaths; we have been sparring for two hours and it had been tiring.

A few minutes later, I got up and walked out of the training grounds with my guards.

It felt a little chilly, but nothing like what we had experienced when coming here. There is barely any snow in Oksall, while the streets have filled with it in the Greltheaven.

Soon I reached my suit and went to shower.

Usually, I apply the numbing cream, but today, I mixed a few drops of healing potion into the water and applied it to my body.

Within a few seconds, the pain was gone, and the warm water begin to cascade down my body.

Fifteen minutes later, I walked out of the shower, changed into the new suit, and went to the kitchen for breakfast. Normally, I take it to my room, but today, I decided to eat in the kitchen.

I had just reached there when I saw Robin, Baron Harrods, and my sister were already having breakfast.

“Adviser Silver, join us?” said the old man. “Thank you, my lord,” I said, and a sat beside my lords.

“Were you practicing before coming here?” he asked, and it surprised me a little. “Yes, but how do you know that?” I asked, to which the old man smile.

“The faint smell of healing potion. It didn’t easily go away,” he replied, and Robin tried to smell it but didn’t seem to get anything, nor did I.

He may have a skill related to that or it could have a heightened sense of smell. Some people have that.

“It is such a regret that we won’t be able to sightsee,” said Robin with a regretful sigh, and all of us nodded.

We have a whole day since our meeting is in the evening, but we are here for official business, and Count Darrow may need us at any moment. Sightseeing is not allowed when in official business unless the business has concluded.

“We would get more chances to visit the city in the future Adviser Robin, especially if this deal succeeded,” said Leila, to which he smiled.

“You have been to Oksall before, right?” I asked her. To which she nodded, “Yes when I was at the academy. I had come here for the competition,”

“It is a beautiful city.”

We all ate and made small talk before leaving the kitchen together. There is one small meeting before Count Darrow leaves for his meeting with the Oksall Council.

Click!

Soon, we reach his office, which is empty, except for the guards. We sat there until Count Darrow arrived a few minutes later.

“My Lord,”

We greeted. He nodded and sat down. “We will go over our plan one more time. If possible, I want to get an assurance from the council before we negotiate with Councilman Grimgore in the evening,” he said.

We begin going over the points. It is mostly us asking and the Count answering the question.

Unlike his son, the man is quite dedicated. It seemed like he took yesterday’s falling and studied the plan more carefully. He was able to answer all the questions in complete detail.

“I am leaving now. Hope I will succeed,” he said as we finished. “You will succeed my lord,”

We all replied. He nodded and walked out of the office with his guards. We followed behind him and watched till his carriages went out of the gates before turning back to the mansion.

“Remus, can I have a word with you?” asks Leila as we returned to the mansion.

“Sure,” I said, feeling curious as we walked to the parlor.

We sat down and I turned to her, but for a couple of seconds, she didn’t say anything.

“Have you heard anything about progress on my title?” she asked finally, looking faintly nervous. Her question didn’t surprise me. I had kind of expected it would be in this line.

“Yes. The Prince had signed off on your title three days ago and it will come to the Greltheaven within a week,” I replied and could see her taking a sigh of relief.

I don’t know why she is worried. Since the family had chosen her. It is a done deal.

Count had mentioned it a few days ago.  Her title is not the only one being signed, there is also one for the Lockridge family. Baron Lockridge had died, and now his brother was taking his place, and that man was a proper warrior.

“How are the things in the territory?” I asked.

“Good now. To be honest, Edwin had made a mess of a barony, including that horrendous paint job. It took me weeks to fix all that.” she replied with a mirthless smile.

Edwin was an idiot. Leila, on the other hand, is capable. She should have accepted it the first time; Edwin would have been alive for me to take revenge on him.

The atmosphere turned awkward around us, and I was about to excuse myself when she took out a diary of sorts from her iles bag and pushed it toward me.

I looked at her with a question.

“I had contacted the witch, who did the ritual, and this is her notes. Everything she did for ritual, from materials she used and feelings she felt, everything is noted down in the diary,” she said, and it couldn’t help but surprised me.

“Thank you, I suppose,” I said and hesitantly picked up the diary and placed it into my iles.

“I have said to you before, Remus, but I will say it again. If I knew, the real purpose Edwin is taking a ritual or knew what he was doing to you, I would have stopped him,”

“We may have been distant, but I would never do, what they did to you,” she said, looking directly into my eyes.

I smiled before getting up and walking out of the parlor.

What happened to me isn’t going to get fixed with a simple apology or explanation. Even now, I don’t know whether she is telling the truth about not having a hand in the ritual, aside from providing a ritual.

The things that made me doubtful are that we never had much of a relationship. Over the years, we only spoke a few times.

That is only when we are in the company of others. Most of the time, she wouldn’t talk to me, even when we passed by each other.

Well, at least she didn’t bully me. I didn’t recall a single incident when she had done that.

Our relationship is too weak and broken to be fixed by apologies and explanations. Though, I am willing to give it a chance, with careful note.

I have been burned by the family once and I sure as hell don’t want to get burned again.

I pushed those thoughts away and focused on what’s important.

Earlier, I wanted to look around the mansion, but with a diary, my plans had changed.

I stepped into my suit and sat on the couch comfortably before taking out the diary and opening it.

The first thing I noticed about it is bad handwriting, so bad. If I didn’t have Reading Skill, I would have needed a lot more time to finish it.

Reading Skill not only makes reading faster but also helps in an understanding of the text and processing it.

I begin to read it and, as I had expected, most of it had gone over my head, but not everything is hard, I did understand a few things.

It took me about an hour to finish the diary, and I closed my eyes for a moment before opening them.

From what I understood, the witch knew the ritual succeeded, and it worked 100%. She even hinted at getting a reward from it, and I don’t think she is talking wholly about the money my brothers have paid her.

She is also talking about the levels.

To understand fully, I will need to take Caena’s help, and I plan to do that after she finished cleansing the dungeon’s loot.

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