Ambient Mage

"So..... can either of you use four attributes of magic at once?"

"Yes, but not spectacularly."

If someone could do it, I thought it would be Revonia.

"Why do you ask?"

"Someone I know made a moving picture using ,,, and ."

"We don't have many 5th or 6th circle mages around here who are free right now, but I can find out who is."

"It's okay," I responded.

It wasn't. Why couldn't anyone do it?

"It's alright, I've already contacted one of the tower's sub-masters."

"Sub-master?"

"Yes, they rank underneath the vice master, but above the high-rank and elder mages."

A gate opened next to us, and a man stepped out.

"Hello, my name is Steven-"

"Wow, your name is just like my father's!"

He didn't look like my dad, but his name sounded the same.

I wonder if he's close to my father in strength.

"I-I see. Who is your father?"

Hmph. What an ignorant man.

"My father is Stephen von Svarmet," I proudly declared.

He recoiled. Fitting for a man of his stature. His eyes annoyed me.

He turned away from me and began to talk to the sisters.

"I see."

He began to spin his mana into a moving picture.

He wasn't very good, not much better than the first mage.

"Are you bored, Aurelia?"

I guess Revonia was paying attention to me.

"Yes, he's not much better than the first mage."

"What do you mean?"

"I asked a mid 4th rank to perform this before I saw you."

"O-Oh, I understand."

Revonia was quick on the uptake. Maybe she realized I was bored, or that he wasn't any good.

"I'm sorry your highness, I'm no match for the great masters located in the Svarmet Duchy."

"It's quite alright, Steven," Revonia consoled.

"The one who showed me the magic wasn't a great master?"

"A grandmaster did?" Charlotte's eyes glowed.

"Nope a 1st circle beginner did."

"You're saying a 1st circle beginner mage performed fluid control of 4 mana attributes better than I a peak rank 6 mage?"

"That would be correct mage Steven. Would you prefer submaster Steven, or Mage Master Steven?"

"Mage Steven greets the Sun of the Duchy, her highness Alicia von Gloria Svarmet."

So he greets my mother and the imperial siblings, but not me? Rude.

Also when did mother arrive? She always has a habit of sneaking up on me.

"I'm not sneaking up on you, you're just too focused on what's in front of you to notice."

She pinched my nose.

Ah. Stop reading my mind! It's not fair.

"Is there anyway I could meet this mage?"

"End any thoughts of recruiting him. My daughter may favor him, but it was my husbands choice to take him in."

"I see, well then, I would still like the opportunity to see this mage."

"Very well, I will make my husband aware so that this matter may be arranged."

I looked at the sisters. They both looked at me with sparkling eyes.

Aren't I the best? No question. I am.

***

*Duchess Svarmet Pov*

My dear daughter has always been a precocious child. She had a certain proclivity to study magic. Unfortunately, my husband never wanted her to reveal her talent, and sealed away her 3rd circle.

This, while protecting her from the mage towers, also meant that when she ran away, she was powerless. Thankfully that sweet boy protected her. He's a very cute boy, although not cuter than my Theodore.

He's much like Ezechs. I wish Matthew were more like the other three boys, but it's okay. One of the children will always be different. And I love them all the same.

I believe Stephen always intended for Ezechs to inherit the Duke's seat, so he never pressured Matthew. I know it bothered the boy. He wondered what would happen to the Duchy if he, who had never taken successor classes, would be able to take up the mantle if his brother died.

I don't think he trusted his father very much. My husband is a 9-star swordsman, a Grandmaster, the Sword saint of the empire. And every day he taught my eldest the sword. By the time Matthew was 8 and Ezechs 12, Ezechs was already a 4 star swordsman, a knight captain. Already he was a formidable force.

It was okay now though. Stephen found a boy who would push Matthew to hone his skills rather than lash out at the servants. Who knew that my daughter would have been the one to meet him first however? She also took to him. 

Before she met him she was quiet and studious, and although prideful always spoke her mind with me. After meeting him, she began to change. So I observed the changes he made in her. She began to hide her thoughts from me, at least out loud. I was also a young girl once.

At first there were small changes. She used to let Lucy doll her up and would play with Lucy and come to me for comfort. But that changed when he arrived. She started to care about how she looked in front of him, and began to style herself, with help to Lucy. 

Lucy disliked the new change, and often voiced her complaints. I took them in. I knew Lucy would be resistant to the change at first, but she was too loyal to be completely against it. I believed with enough time she would come to be Aurelia's number one supporter for the relationship between my daughter and her knight in-training. 

Of course I was right. Very rarely am I wrong. With age comes wisdom as much as I hate to admit it. As time passed on I discovered new sides to my daughter. She was unable to express herself when it came to him. It was quite fun to tease her about him.

She wasn't the only thing to surprise me however. The boy was also a welcome addition to our troops, within 4 months he'd reached 1 star swordsmanship, and within 9 months he'd reached the 1st circle. It could be said he reached the 1st circle in 5 months had it not been for his knights training.

Is what I would've said, however the reason for delay wasn't due to lack of time allocated to refining and gathering mana. Far from it, he simply wanted to have 4 elemental rings in his 1st circle. The boy was ambitious. I liked it. I also liked the fact he got along with my daughter.

One day I watched as he practiced making a moving picture of people dancing out of the 4 attributes. It was astonishing. A quad cast, at such a high level, coming from a 1st circle mage? Many would refuse to believe. But I saw with my own eyes his talent. No doubt it was great.

Moreover I knew exactly what he was practicing for, or more accurately who. His devotion to my daughter was exactly a knights attitude. His actions reminded me of Stephen when he was young. His words however were far more chivalrous than my husband's. The boy was well-spoken, despite his lacking mannerisms with nobility.

Despite this I wasn't willing to allow him to marry Aurelia. However my mind began to shift when he said words that shook my heart. "It's my behavior when no one is watching that matters most." 

It reminded me of why I fell in love with my dense and cold husband. Once when we were in a bad situation he said to me "No matter who judges my intentions, my integrity will not falter."

Now Stephen is much more warm and regularly enjoys time with our family. Despite this however I was still on the fence about a commoner's marriage to my daughter. Morally I had no issues, but my daughter could be ridiculed for it, and I would not stand for it.

However, one day Theodore fell sick. My youngest, Theo was always sickly, I always resented that he suffered through illness. What did the boy do to deserve this fate? He was a sweetheart. He always looked upon everyone with the kindest of smiles, and the sweetest of words, even to those beneath him.

Lucas was one such person. He had stumbled into helping Theo when a servant meant to run an errand for Theo fell ill. That's how the two became acquainted. Eventually Theodore also took a liking to Lucas, calling him big brother quite affectionately. I enjoyed their brotherly bond and wished the same for Matthew and Ezechs.

But like many good things, Theodore's health began to deteriorate. He became sickly again, worse than ever, and I was not even there to attend. Despite that there was someone who did.

Lucas. 

The boy he attended to Theo's sickness. And despite his rash actions, I gave him my blessing, because it was then I realized: this boy would grow up to become powerful enough to take my daughter's hand without my intervention.

***

*??? Pov*

"So 2 of my little sisters have found something interesting have they?"

"Yes, your royal highness."

"Investigate it. Oh, and do be careful, it may very well involve the Svarmet Duchy."

"As you wish."

***

*Aurelia's Pov*

I spent the rest of my three days playing with the 4 small royals. I liked Charlotte the best, even though I liked Revonia as well.

Leo was quite cold, and only wanted to practice swordsmanship, but Marcus was outgoing, although he liked to paint more than anything.

We spent an entire day messing around in his paint room, of course we got scolded for messing around too much when we ended up spilling tons of paint on top of ourselves.

It was okay though. We have cleaning magic.

Mother and Father weren't around much these last few days.

Father especially. I wondered why, but mom assured me just like always that he was just busy with work. She's lying, I can tell.

***

*Duke Svarmet's Pov*

Never would I have thought that the boy I brought in would do so much for my family.

I nearly killed him in our first interaction, yet all he has done, he has done for our family.

It's suspicious, yet he cleared our questioning. Was he a sleeper agent, or someone unknowingly following someone else's plan. I needed to know.

I didn't have a plan, but Theodore's illness acting out gave me real insight into Lucas.

It started when we left for the imperial capital for Aurelia's birthday.

Lucas met with Theo quite a lot for a servant.

Enough for Theo to call him big brother, something he rarely called Matthew, and even moreso Ezechs, since Ezechs was often out on missions and barely had time for Theodore.

Theodore illness came out in full force.

He came down with fever, chills, he sweated, and was pale.

He had no appetite, and threw up any food the servants gave him.

Throughout it all Lucas was watching over him.

I wasn't made aware since this was normal for Theo.

It would have receded in a week if everything was normal.

But it wasn't and his illness got worse.

I was immediately notified and I had my wife open a gate back home for me.

Theo's limbs were starting to take on a purplish hue, his fingertips and toes had black veins.

He was coughing out black masses on the regular.

He was dying. I could feel his vitality slipping.

It was terminal. He would die in 3 months at this rate.

And I couldn't guarantee the illness wouldn't progress.

I considered letting the outside world know of my sons condition in hopes someone would know how to cure him.

I knew how foolish it was, after all Theodore had an incurable disease.

'Mana Saturation Syndrome' or MSS was found to be incurable by doctors, alchemist, and mages alike.

That's when Lucas said something to me.

He told me he could cure it.

He whispered it like the devil would.

I didn't believe him, but what choice did I have?

He said cold and calculatingly, "I need 30mg of Fairy's tears, 10mg of deathweed, 60mg of Vulpen tail, and 20mg of Basilisk saliva. Oh and a apple or pear."

He wanted a wound panacea, a coagulant poison, a stimulant in lethal dosage, and a paralytic poison. What was he trying to attempt here?

But what choice did I have?

I pulled along a few alchemists that were extremely loyal to the family at his request, and pulled a petal of Fairy's tears from the family's treasury.

They worked in the workshop for 10 hours straight. Around the 5th hour mark, the first scientist collapsed, after the 6th another did, after the 8th the last two dropped, but he continued.

The task was momentous and grueling. He had distilleries and purifiers from floor to ceiling on every wall. 

After the 10th hour, he pulled out a flask. It contained about 30 fl. oz. of green liquid. It was smooth not viscous. 

He started to walk towards me. He asked me for the apple or pear he had asked for. I handed him the apple I had Barton keep fresh.

He held both in his hands as he walked towards Theodore's room.

He sat Theodore's tired body up and crushed the apple in his hands.

He drip fed him the apple, and slowly poured the concoction, he poured not even a hundredth of the flask before he started to gather mana in his body.

The black veins in Theodore's wrists started to recede and he coughed out a large mass of black sludge. Was that the coagulants doing?

Theodore was finally conscious again.

He smiled weakly at me first before smiling at Lucas.

"Thanks big bro."

"Listen to me Theo, I need you to fight."

"I can cure this if you fight."

"You promise big bro?"

Lucas nodded his head and Theo slumped into his arms, back into unconsciousness.

(A/N for my non-American viewers 30 fl. oz. is roughly 887mL)