Draith
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Chapter 119 - Simple Exchange
🕑 Added 2025-06-03 14:00:13 +0000 UTCAuthor's note: Shorter chapter, which makes it the perfect time to start catching up. Chapter 1/2 for today.
...Mage Lord Isekai...
Several months earlier, shortly after Perth swore his oath.
…MLI…
Stepping into Evarl Aranor’s office had always been one of the truest tests of Calbern’s character. To retain his dignity in the face of such a monster truly tested his path. No matter how much time passed, Calbern would never forgive the man for all he’d done.
This time was no different. Once more the childkiller had crossed an unforgivable line. Emerald eyes turned to regard Calbern, and it gave his old bones a degree of satisfaction at the twitch of fear in the Djinn-souled lord’s eyes.
He should be afraid. The childkiller had taken Calbern’s charge to the Front.
“Ah, thank you, Calbern,” Evarl Aranor said, banishing that fear to the far corners of his mind even as vines pulled open the window in a blatant display of his magical skill. As if such things would intimidate Calbern. “There is much for us to discuss.”
“There is, Sevil,” Calbern agreed, using the man’s original name, instead of the pompous one he’d taken for himself. As if there was shame in his origins as the child of Gardeners, people who worked the land. While Calbern walked the path of quiet dignity, he often felt Sevil walked the path of quiet shame. “Such as the treatment of my ward at the hands of your children.”
“Youthful mischief,” Sevil replied, lying through his teeth. While Calbern had no proof, it was no youthful mischief that had kept him from watching over the young master. He didn’t know exactly what had happened, but his brothers had been far too happy to gossip about their younger brother’s forbidden ritual. No, the Evarl had arranged for the Gardeners to finally answer Calbern’s request, then kept him stuck waiting.
“Of course. One must wonder if your parents would have approved of such youthful mischief,” Calbern pondered.
The Evarl’s eyes tightened. “Careful, Exemplar. There are lines that even you shall not survive crossing.”
“I am as familiar with my limitations as I am with your lack thereof, Sevil,” Calbern replied, his hand resting lightly on his sword. It would be the last thing he did, but if he did not receive satisfactory answers, ending the Djinn-souled man’s life was well within his reach. The oath no longer protected the childkiller, now that Calbern’s ward had awakened.
And if he’d been the man that had sworn the oath to the child’s mother, he would’ve done it without hesitation. But that man had been destroyed by the tiny grasping hands of a child. A child who still needed the man he’d become.
To act rashly would leave Perth alone.
There it was again, the flash of fear. For all that the Evarl had gone through the Hydra-tier, he hadn’t boosted his mortal form’s durability, counting instead on his prodigious skill with the healing arts. Once more, Sevil mastered his fear, narrowing his eyes. “The boy has taken the oath.”
“So he said,” Calbern replied, his stance locked in place. “Where have you chosen to discard him?”
“You think too poorly of me, old man. If he hadn’t performed the soul-binding ritual, I would not have been forced into this,” Sevil said, pushing the map forward. “Althon will determine his final location, though I have requested he take the boy’s recent awakening in mind. However, that is not all.”
“Never is with you, Sevil,” Calbern replied, his eyes scanning over the maps even as he processed the Evarl’s words. No wonder the boy had been acting oddly. He’d bound something other to himself. In the wake of such an act, he’d need those who truly cared more than ever. Calbern would have to make sure to contact his sister. Other than the young master, she was the only one in the family who wasn’t completely rotten. Calbern’s attention returned to the maps. The Frigid Peaks. A mercy in some ways. Out of sight of the Gardeners and one of its lost corners would be a better place for the young master to grow than one of the sparse free beacons on the eastern edge of the Hundred Kingdoms.
Sevil didn’t acknowledge the barb, pulling out an old journal. “Sadhe spent her final days in Althon’s City on the Water. My sister refused to come home, no matter how much I begged her.”
Calbern’s eyes rose at this admission. He’d spent the better half of a century searching for his old friend. He’d always suspected Sevil had known something, since she’d last been seen with his close confidante Arthe Balthum. The true surprise was that Sevil was revealing it now.
“She was adamant that Balthum would come for her, even in her final days,” Sevil said, and Calbern knew the grief he saw there was genuine. While the Evarl was often cold, he’d always loved his sister. Too much. She’d been scared of her brother, the last time Calbern had talked to her. Worried he was going to take her as his bride once he ascended to Djinn-soul.
Despite her continuous refusals.
“She has passed then?” Calbern said, that familiar pang in his chest at the loss of yet another friend.
“Before Perth was born,” Sevil admitted, turning to look out the oft-hidden window overlooking the inner courtyard. “Her last letter mentioned a Devoted of Felor. It seems Balthum did not escape that mad woman.”
Calbern frowned. The golden weapon wielding Devoted of Felor were always somewhat peculiar. It would be something he’d have to keep his eyes open for. Still, that she had been hunting Balthum was a mark in her favor. “I cannot say I am surprised you kept this from me, Sevil. However, I fail to understand what you gain from telling me now.”
“I need to know. Her health was fading, but Althon was never willing to confirm her death. That bastard plays at things even I do not understand,” Sevil said, pushing away from his desk. “Layers upon layers of deception. I would not put it past him to have stolen her away, and to have forged the letters.”
“Do you have any proof that she may still live?” Calbern replied. While Sevil accused Althon of duplicity, Calbern knew the childkiller had far more experience in that ring. It would make far more sense for him to be attempting some sort of misdirection at Calbern’s expense.
“Of course not,” Sevil practically spat. “If I had proof, I wouldn’t have to turn to you.”
“Ah. And so we have come to it,” Calbern said, inclining his head in the direction of the Evarl. “What do you expect me to draw forth from a Dragon-souled that your own agents have failed to accomplish?”
“We both know you see things others can’t,” Sevil said, turning away from the window to face him. “Even for a Knight Exemplar, your senses are too sharp. If she is alive, you will be able to tell. And if you return her to me, you know how grateful I can be.”
“Quite,” Calbern replied. He’d certainly keep his eyes open, though there was no reward Sevil could offer that would make him betray his old friend.
Still… perhaps he could leverage this for the young master. After all, he would need every advantage he could get.
And if he happened to find Perth’s aunt… well, it would be good for the young master to meet the woman who’d taught the Evarl everything he knew.
