NOVEL NEXT Chapter 33 “The new teacher. Part 2”
Chapter 33
“The new teacher. Part 2”
“Well, if you don’t have any more questions...” commented Artemis when she saw that Kalysto had remained silent.
“Actually, I do. Although it’s more of a point to discuss.”
“Go ahead,” Artemis instructed her.
“ I don’t see how helping the elves has anything to do with my three missions,” Artemis immediately frowned.
“Their forests, like ours, have been affected by the miasma and the plague. And now they are being invaded by monsters,” she scolded her as if she were a little girl throwing a tantrum.
“My contract stipulates nothing about eliminating monsters, only about curing your people and purifying the miasma. And the fairies are her people, not the elves,” she added, the last part as improvisation. Kalysto wanted to see if she would deny it.
“When the blood of monsters is not purified after killing them, over time it can turn into a pool of miasma,” her voice laden with harshness.
“Again, that has nothing to do with my three missions, or is it the third?” she questioned with apparent innocence. Immediately Artemis’ face tightened and Kalysto watched her clench her jaw.
“-...No...” she half growled, and it almost seemed as if Kalysto was snatching the words out of her the hard way, which only raised her suspicions even more.
Why all the mystery? How dangerous is this mission going to be? She questioned. Feeling increasingly paranoid at all the secrecy. Don’t they expect me to survive?
“So?” But Kalysto only received silence as an answer. “As I see it, it is Professor Artemis who needed the potions in order to accelerate my training so I could create the magical barrier needed to prevent the miasma from damaging your crops, according to one of my missions, along with clearing the miasma from your lands, or am I wrong?” Kalysto began to think that this was as good an opportunity as any to get more information, and her new instructor seemed annoyed enough to give it to her without realizing it.
Anger flooded Artemis’ delicate face.
“Killing monsters will level you up, which will make you stronger!” She assured her as she clenched her fists against the skirt of her dress, ruffling the fabric.
The small plate on her legs earlier with chopped fruit was gone.
When did she put it in her inventory...? She must have one too, right? She thought full of curiosity, especially since she hadn’t seen her make any hand movements to indicate that she was putting anything away in her inventory, but from the way the cloth was folded against her closed fists, it didn’t look like there was anything else on her thighs. Curious, very curious... Would that be part of the profession of illusionism? Why, if so, that meant that if she took it, she would have many small advantages. How convenient.
“But I don’t need to be stronger or level up to upgrade professions or fulfill my part of the contract, do I?” Again there was nothing but silence as she watched Artemis who tightened and frowned even more.
So that’s why my new employer doesn’t care what I do with my free time. Kalysto thought, how did I not realize that before?
“- Look, I don’t mean to make you angry, Professor Artemis. I just want you to understand that it is not my obligation to accept an assignment that has not been given by my employer and from which I get no benefit. Besides, from the excess of revitalization potions, I can deduce that your accelerated method of learning can cause some kind of damage to my body, can’t it?”
Artemis opened her eyes in surprise and immediately avoided Kalysto’s gaze, which only increased her distrust.
This confirms that my welfare is not important to any of them. She thought, annoyed with them for the lack of care they had for an employee and with herself for having expected better from them.
“How dare you doubt the lady’s good intentions?” Galatea interrupted, bringing a hand to her sword and beginning to unsheathe it. “Even if you are the champion of the fairies, I won’t allow it!”
“Oh! So that’s my official title?” she asked curiously.
“Didn’t you know that?” That stopped her movements.
Kalysto shook her head and whispered: “status window” before the windows opened, she caught a glimpse of Artemis out of the corner of her eye, who apparently realized what she was doing and raised her hand, interrupting Galatea. The two women looked into each other’s eyes, and it almost looked like they were having a telepathic conversation in which Artemis was scolding her knight.
[Status window]
Name: Kalysto Luna
Age: 21 years old
Race: ---
Level: 6
Fatigue: 33
Class: Saintess (Heroic)
Professions: Not selected
Title: Champion of the fairies (?????? of ?????)
Affiliation: Kingdom of Bahram
HP: 290/360
MP: 254/254
Strength: 26
Vitality: 31
Agility: 35
Endurance: 33
Intelligence: 39
Charisma: 2
Luck: 3
???: 50
Status: Annoyed, curious.
Available points: 0
Well, at least this time I was able to get some information... although not the most useful. She consoled herself.
And after she finished checking her status window, she closed the windows and looked at the two women in front of her.
Then they both stared at her in silence, while Artemis seemed to be thinking of a way to convince her.
Why so insistent with the elves? She wondered. If forcing me to help them is so important to her, then maybe I can take advantage of this.
“Why don’t we make a deal? Remove the restriction so I can heal myself and then I won’t have to worry about the long and medium term damage to my body from your accelerated training,” Kalysto commented, folding her arms.
“I can do no such thing,” replied Artemis between her teeth.
Kalysto arched an eyebrow, not at all convinced by her words.
“ Can’t or won’t?” A prolonged silence was all she got as an answer.
So they don’t expect me to survive the third mission. That explains why they haven’t told me yet and why I can’t refuse to do it or renegotiate it.... but if that’s so, then that changes things... I need to get stronger and get more resources.
While she was locked in the cell raising her inspect skill, she had started to think that maybe it was a good idea to talk to her new employer and ask him to help her get a room to a place to live near them, thinking that maybe that could benefit her in the future and that it would be easier for her to heal her people by living among them. But now, seeing their constant refusals to allow her to heal herself, she realized that she wasn’t safe with them either.
And Kalysto wanted to get the hell out of there as soon as possible. However, she stayed. There were sick people there who needed her help, and part of the contract was that she was to heal them. And she would do her part. Those sick people were not to blame for what was happening to her..... They sure thought that by getting a person who was on the verge of death, it wouldn’t matter if they lost her a couple of years after she had helped them. Kalysto made a grimace that she was quick to wipe from her lips. I need to find a way to fulfill the contract and stay alive.
“Aren’t you going to answer?” Artemis lowered her gaze and continued in silence, as did the guard at her side. “I don’t have any eagerness to finish my training quickly. Besides, I was given 3 years to get it. Why the sudden eagerness?”
“ ... It is necessary.”
“According to whom? You?” Kalysto crossed her arms “I haven’t received any comment from my boss, which makes me doubt that he knows about your sudden eagerness” what bothered her the most, apart from Artemis’ continued silence, was the fact that it should be more important to cure the sick than to waste the next weeks in an intensive training that by the amount of potions that were on the table made her think that it could probably end up affecting her health. And she wasn’t about to risk it. “So I would like you to be so kind as to give me a reason why I should undergo a type of training that could kill me.”
“There is no need to exaggerate. The training won’t kill you,” Artemis clarified with annoyance.
“But it will leave my body in bad shape, which could shorten my life span, or am I wrong?” Again, there was silence. “And since I can’t cure myself, that leaves us in a predicament, don’t you think?”
“... You won’t die during the training,” she answered reluctantly.
“Not right away, you mean,” realizing that at no time had she assured her that there would be no negative consequences for her in the long run.
“... Still, I can’t give you what you’re asking for, even I don’t have what it takes to bargain for it”
“So that leaves us back at square one,” Kalysto got up from the couch and walked over to the huge collection of stones on the larger table. She then picked up one of the fist-sized rocks and inspected it.
[River stone. Class: common.]
Seeing that there was nothing strange about them, beyond the immense quantity, she was reassured. And after closing the window that opened, she called up her status window and on the purple screen selected the profession’s option. A list appeared before her, but, though she read it, she could not find the option Artemis had said about glyphs. She then selected enchantments, as she had been told, and although she saw alchemy and herbalism among the list and was excited at the thought of being able to make her own potions, she decided to look into that later.
[Warning: the user has selected enchantments as the main profession. Are you sure you want to learn this profession?]
[YES/NO]
Kalysto selected yes. And immediately, another violet window opened before her.
[Congratulations! The user is now an apprentice enchanter.]