Soul of the Warrior

"Oh, I like him," Silfa said, turning toward her husband. "We'll have to step up security because if anything happens to you, I might have to fight my daughter over a new man."

There was a scandalized gasp from Faria standing behind Silfa. Gennet stared at his wife with a blank expression for a few moments.

"Are you trying to get me to kill him?" He said. He rolled his eyes. "Don't think I don't notice your tricks. You're trying to goad me into testing him on a personal level with you. You would only do that if you really had high hopes for him, so we'll just go ahead and check that off as a pass. I have my own ideas to see if he can handle the responsibilities of his position."

"You know me so well," Silfa smiled. "Quick, tell me what you have in mind."

"Nu-uh," Gennet shook his head. "You started the conversation, and even tried to get me to help you with your own plans. You go first."

"You're no fun," Silfa pouted, sticking her tongue out. If Reivyn had been present, he would have marveled at how similar Silfa could look and behave to Kefira when she was acting mischievous. "My plan is quite simple, but it will cover a lot of bases: We hold a banquet in honor of Kefira's successful completion of her Life Experience Expedition. We'll stack the invitation list with the most eligible noble bachelors, really imply that we're looking to pair Kefira up with someone, and the wolves will come sniffing.

"Kefira's relationship with him isn't public knowledge, and we'll keep silent on it. Even if they expose it at the banquet or any social events in the future, we have ways to suppress it and deny it."

The three others in attendance mulled over the implications of the move for a while.

"That's... evil," Garet said from his position standing behind his father.

"I know. It's quite brilliant," Silfa preened.

"That's not what I said..." Garet whispered, trailing off.

"What was that? I didn't quite catch it," Silfa tilted her head, glancing at her eldest son.

"Nothing," Garet denied, shaking his head.

"And with whatever you come up with to test his abilities to assume responsibilities, he'll be too busy to train his Skills ahead of time." There was a devious glint in Silfa's eyes.

"I'm almost worried to give him too much to handle," Gennet said. "Your plan hits all of his biggest weaknesses right off the bat in a subtle way: His unfamiliarity with the locals, his lack of Social Skills and Levels, and his available time to shore up foundations someone else raised as a noble his age would have.

"He has the Liaison Insignia. The other young nobles will view him simultaneously as a threat, an obstacle, and someone they can ignore. He's in a very unique position.

"Do you think Kefira will resent us for this move?"

"Nonsense! I'm her mother," Silfa refuted. "And that will only be our public stance. In private we'll fully support Kefira.

"If he's half as talented as he claims to be, he'll be able to gain the Skills and Level them up adequately on the fly," Silfa snorted. "Dare to claim he's talented in front of my daughter. Who told him to think we should wonder about whether Kefira is good enough for him?"

Reivyn's attitude and responses had clearly impressed Silfa, but they had also caused some bit of resentment, as well. Kefira was the most talented person they had ever heard of for millennia, and he had the gall to imply she might not be good enough for him. That wasn't exactly what he said, but it was up to Gennet and Silfa to interpret his words how they wished.

"I distinctly noticed a lack of mentioning how she's unlikely to resent me, her father," Gennet said.

"Kefira's a big girl. She'll understand," Silfa waved his concerns away. "Now, tell me what you have in store for him." Silfa clapped her hands in excitement.

Gennet rolled his eyes at his wife's antics. Even after all the years they had been married, he was still enraptured by her personality. Their children came by it honestly, and he couldn't complain. He loved to play pranks, and, as a father, he firmly believed it was his duty to act like a vagabond toward his kids whenever the opportunity presented itself.

"Well, in accordance with his own words..."

The couple discussed their plans for testing Reivyn both on a personal and official level. The two had been working together to handle the empire and their extended family, as well as their ties to the populace and the nobles, for several decades, and they had built up a great rapport. Garet and Faria remained mostly silent in the background, soaking up the machinations of their parents and learning how to deal with such a situation.

It wasn't long before Silfa stood up to excuse herself. She wasn't normally in attendance at the petition hall while her husband worked. It was time for Gennet to resume his responsibilities with his noble counsel, and Silfa had her own things to oversee, as well. Faria followed her mother out of the room.

"Are you sure Kefira won't resent us for heaping so much on top of her, ahem, boyfriend?" Gennet called out to his retreating wife.

He was still a little worried. It was their duty to ensure that Reivyn was the absolute best candidate for their son-in-law, but not at the expense of their relationship with their daughter.

"Of course! When have I ever lied to you?" Silfa called back over her shoulder.

"That's a relief," Gennet muttered. Silfa had never been one to shirk the truth, so he took her words at face value. His eyes widened in realization, though, and he called out once more to Silfa as she reached the door. "Wait a second..."

Silfa turned her head and flashed him a grin, her canines prominent in her predatory smile. She winked at her husband as she slipped through the door.

"So, Reivyn, Kefira tells us you're also a Caster?" Trevor leaned forward in his seat diagonally across from Reivyn.

Dinner was a less formal occasion than Reivyn had expected, but because of the size of their family, they still had to sit at a long table. The children were arranged in order of their seniority, with Gennet seated at the head of the table and Silfa to his right, and Garet sat to the left of his father, across from his mother.

The seating wasn't purely based on seniority, though, and the girls all sat to one side and the boys to the other. Based on the fact that Silfa sat to the right of her husband, Faria, Sophia, and Kefira sat on the side next to her, and the brothers sat across from them.

It wasn't an ironclad rule that the family followed, just something that they had naturally done, and after years of sitting like that, everyone was used to it. Reivyn, at first, had assumed that he was expected to sit next to Trevor, as there was a space reserved next to him, but he was informed that that was not his seat. He didn't go into it in detail to figure out who was supposed to be sitting there, and he was allowed to simply sit next to Kefira without anyone making anything of it.

I wonder if that seat is reserved for an uncle, a cousin, or some such, Reivyn thought. He had glanced at Kefira, indicating the empty seat, and she had simply mouthed the word "later" to him.

"Yes," Reivyn nodded his head as a maid placed a plate of food in front of him. The fare looked extremely appetizing, better even than anything he had eaten at any of the high-end restaurants in Drallo. "Not to hide anything, my Class is Imperial Liaison: Grand Arcanist."

"That's the Tier 3 Class you transitioned to?" Gennet asked with genuine curiosity. Now that they were in an informal setting, Gennet and Silfa came off far more approachable, though Reivyn could tell that they were still closely examining him.

"Yes, your majesty," Reivyn answered.

"Please, we're in an informal setting, and you're a guest of the family. You can simply address me as 'His Imperial Highness, the Emperor,'" Gennet stared at Reivyn with a blank expression. Reivyn didn't know what to make of it right away.

"Dad," there was a warning tone in Kefira's admonishment.

Gennet rolled his eyes.

"Oh, alright. Sir would be fine, I suppose."

Reivyn looked back and forth between Kefira and her father. She turned and just smiled at him sweetly.

"Of course. Thank you, sir."

"Wait. So your position as the Imperial Liaison for Kefira had an actual effect on your Class?" Trevor continued to ask, confused.

"Yes, that was the entire reason Kefira appointed me in the first place," Reivyn answered. He continued after seeing that it hadn't cleared up the confusion on her youngest older brother's face. "I'm only Tier 2, and, because of special circumstances, I was working towards forcing a Tier 3 Class early. Your sister wrote a letter to Sophia, and she got me transferred from the Tier 1 Magic Academy I was technically still a student of to your Magic Academy. Once she appointed me, it triggered the requirements of graduating from the Academy before Tier 2, Level 10 to force the Class change."

"Oo~oh, I see," Trevor was enlightened.

"Imperial Liaison: Grand Arcanist," Garet spoke up. "I've never heard of the Grand Arcanist Class before. I've heard of Arcanist, though it's pretty rare, but never a Grand Arcanist."

"It's a Legendary Tier 3 Class," Reivyn simply answered. There was silence from Kefira's siblings as they digested that news. Not everyone had known the extent of his talent, not even Kayzor. Apparently, Kefira had only shared that tidbit with her parents.

"Wait," Kayzor set his utensil down, focusing on Reivyn, "if Grand Arcanist is a Legendary Class, and you forced the Tier 3 Class while in Tier 2..." He trailed off.

"Yes, I have a Mythic Class," Reivyn nodded his head.

Kayzor sat back in his chair, a look of disgust on his face.

"That explains why your stats are so high," he said. "I should have realized when you had a higher Skill with Swords than me as a Caster."

Trevor had been taking a sip of his drink when Kayzor said that, and he nearly choked on it, spluttering. He set his cup down, wiped his mouth, and then stared at his older brother in astonishment.

"Well, to be fair, my first Class was Fighter," Reivyn explained. "In my hometown, everyone below Tier 2 with a Vitality above 20 was conscripted. Because my mother was a princess, I was excluded from being given the Peasant Levy Class. The System went a bit haywire and allowed me to choose my own Martial Class. I was also excluded from selecting a Caster Class at the time."

"Interesting," Gennet stroked his chin. "We all know about conscription being the only way to force a Tier 2 Class transition in Tier 1, but no noble, royal, or imperial family has been willing to allow their children to get conscripted due to lack of autonomy. It also wouldn't be possible to conscript the children of the reigning monarch.

"You say that because you were technically the child of a monarch, you were excluded from Peasant Levy and got to choose your own Class?" Reivyn nodded his head. "I wonder if there's a way to use this to our advantage? I'll have to contact my allied Tier 4 empires to discuss this with them."

Reivyn wasn't surprised that Kefira's father would immediately jump on the opportunity. It wasn't hard to believe that it was not widely known that a noble couldn't be a Peasant Levy. Who in their right mind would be the first to experiment with their children to learn the truth?

Parents in the Abyss probably take advantage of it, Reivyn speculated.

"Wait, so if you're a Caster, why were you a captain in the battalion and not one in the Mage Corps during the invasion?" Trevor asked, bringing the topic back to Reivyn.

"Oh, I already had some Command experience," Reivyn said, turning back to Trevor. "Not just the Skill Command, but actual command. Because of my unique situation, I wasn't placed with the other conscripts, and I was given a position in the official Lord's Retinue. I was allowed to participate as a squad member to gain Life Experience at first, but then I was given the rank of Aide de Camp and treated as a Warrant Officer.

"When the Dungeon broke - "

"There was a Dungeon break?" Trevor interrupted.

Reivyn just nodded his head and continued.

"When the Dungeon broke, I had already left my position, but I had volunteered to defend the city. I was given my position back, temporarily, and because there were manipulators behind the scenes who instigated the Dungeon Break - I don't know how they did it, so please don't ask - there was a time when I had to step up to assume command for a moment.

"Anyway, all of that backstory to say that it was on my record attached to my Adventurer token, and it was picked up by the recruiters. They assigned me to the Officer Candidate School, and that's how I became an officer in the battalion."

"You were commissioned directly as a captain based on your experience? Weren't you just technically a warrant officer and not a commissioned one?" Garet interjected again.

"No, I received a field promotion," Reivyn explained. "I was already leading the company from the very beginning, anyway, and with Kefira's recommendation to the Major, he made it official."

Dinner with Kefira's family turned out to be an enjoyable experience for Reivyn. He could see the respect and admiration for him grow as he told the tale of his Life Experience. The brothers focused on the adventuring and the fights, and Kefira's sisters jumped in to question him about the cities, environments, and aesthetics of the Regions he had been in.

The meal wasn't some grand five-course meal or anything like that, but it was delicious. Reivyn wasn't one to overeat, but he was definitely tempted to ask for seconds.

Gennet and Silfa, aside from the occasional comment or question, let their children do most of the talking, and Reivyn felt like he was building a solid relationship with them by the end of the meal.

"One last thing," Silfa called out as the family members began to get up to disperse. She raised her hand and several maids came forward and handed some pamphlets out to the siblings. "We're going to host a ball for Kefira in honor of her achievements... Tomorrow. This is a list of the invitees."

Kefira accepted the pamphlet from the maid, and Reivyn could tell that her body went stiff after looking at it. She didn't have any other reaction, though. Reivyn looked up and noticed a hint of a smile on Silfa's face, a glint in her eye.

The other siblings also seemed to have noticed something from looking at the pamphlets, though Garet and Faria didn't seem surprised. Reivyn noticed their lack of reaction.

This must have been planned after meeting them in the petition hall, Reivyn realized. Though I don't know what trick there is to it, yet.

"Is this right?" Kefira looked up and asked her mother. "I think the list needs to be altered."

"I'm afraid it can't be," Silfa said with remorse. "The ball is tomorrow, and we've already sent the invitations. There just isn't time to change it."

"Well, can I add some more people to it?" Kefira tried a different tactic.

"At this late hour?" Silfa seemed surprised at the notion. "How will they have time to properly prepare?"

Kefira lowered the list to her side and stared at her mother. She grabbed Reivyn's arm and turned to stomp out of the dining hall. Reivyn allowed himself to be dragged along, confused about the situation. He could hear the siblings begin talking about the invitation list, though he couldn't distinguish the specifics.

"What's the matter?" Reivyn asked.

"Mother!" Kefira thinned her lips into a flat line. "Here, do you see anything strange about this?"

She handed the list to Reivyn. He took it and looked through names, though he wasn't sure what he was supposed to see.

"I don't know anyone on this list..." Reivyn glanced back up at Kefira.

"Of course," Kefira rolled her eyes, more at herself than at Reivyn. "75% of the names on that list are boys." She stared into Reivyn's eyes. When he didn't react, she continued. "Unmarried boys, of eligible age."

"Ahh, I see," Reivyn finally got it. "How much do you want to bet your parents are going to assign me some sort of official role as your Liaison to keep me away from you during the event?" Reivyn chuckled.

"Why are you laughing? This is serious." Kefira frowned.

"Is it?" Reivyn asked back. Kefira tilted her head in confusion. "You apparently know who these people are. Do you like any of them?"

"That's not the point," Kefira shook her head. "If any of them can entangle me enough, they can use that as an excuse to go to their parents and have them petition for an engagement. It doesn't matter what my feelings on the matter are, and it doesn't matter what the truth is, either. They only have to create the illusion of 'hitting it off' with me, and they can leverage that for their own personal gain.

"Because it's my ball, and these people were specifically invited by my parents, it will look like I'm the one who's seeking a suitor, and I won't be able to just brush everyone off without damaging my and my family's reputation.

"Once someone gets their parents to officially petition for an engagement, they can then spread rumors about whether my parents agree or not. Hell, they don't even have to respond. Then what? Everyone will think the relationship is true, and that scummy bastard will be able to push the boat along in the public eye by requesting to meet with me and take me places.

"And if my parents are the ones behind setting this whole thing up, it's guaranteed they'll make me go."

"I see," Reivyn said, the smile sliding off of his face. It came back, though. "Huh, you don't even know who's going to do such a thing, and you've already labeled them a 'scummy bastard,'" he chuckled.

"Anyone and everyone willing to do such a thing is a scummy bastard," Kefira replied. "I'll bet there's at least fifteen who are willing to stoop that low, and if there's that many, that will cause its own set of problems.

"Not only will I have to allow someone to approach me, but I'll have to give fair time to all of them, taking up all of my free time. I won't be able to complain, either, because it will seem like this is my own desire. Then there will be a competition between them to jockey for position, and that can be done even without my involvement.

"There will be more rumors, more public opinion, and people will have their own ideas. They'll garner support to put pressure on me and my family, and my parents will have to listen at least a little.

"And where will that leave you? You'll be viewed as someone who doesn't know their place, sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. You'll get the hate of all of the nobles and the general public. Even if we make our relationship and my parents' schemes known, that knowledge will be suppressed.

"This is a huge problem!"

Kefira stamped her foot and threw her head back, letting out a frustrated scream.

"Calm down," Reivyn tried to placate Kefira, hugging her into his arms. She let him hold her, resting her head against him. "We'll figure this out."

"There isn't time!" Kefira complained. "I'll be busy all day tomorrow getting prepared. There's no way my mother will allow me to shirk my responsibilities, and you'll definitely be pulled away to be instructed on some duty or other."

"Hmm, a duty..." Reivyn muttered. Kefira backed up and looked up into his face with a questioning look. "I think I might have thought of something, but I'll need to go catch Kayzor."

"What have you thought of?"

Reivyn smiled and explained his idea to her. Kefira's face gradually lost the worry, and a look of appreciation took its place.

"So what are we going to do about all the petitions we're going to receive?" Gennet asked his wife as they got ready for bed.

"Nothing," Silfa replied.

They didn't dress in anything too complicated, so they didn't need the assistance of any maids to help them get undressed or anything. Some of Gennet's allies in the other empires had strange customs where their dress was far too complicated for one to take care of themselves. Most Regions had similar customs and traditions, but there was enough variation to allow for some wildly different social environments.

"Nothing?" Gennet repeated. The couple got into bed, but they continued to face each other with the lights on, not ready to go to sleep just yet.

"Mhm," Silfa nodded. "We're not actually trying to break them up, just add some difficulties. Who knows? It might even be good for their relationship in the long run, and they're bound to get some decent Life Experience out of the ordeal.

"If we take an official stance, then it would only be one of rejecting every petition. Where's the fun in that? Let the wolves snap at each other, and if things get truly out of hand with the rest of the nobles and the populace, then we can step in and say it had all been a misunderstanding."

"A misunderstanding, huh?" Gennet chuckled. "If things don't turn out the way we hope, we might end up testing ourselves with our abilities just as much as young Reivyn just to placate everyone."

"I'm sure you can handle it," Silfa leaned over and gave her husband a peck. "I can also tell my dad the truth, and he can spread that information to the patriarchs and matriarchs. If the grandparents of those involved know what's going on from the beginning, there will be a lot less backlash in the future.

"The smart ones will also wonder why we're pushing so hard to find a suitor for Kefira when even our eldest son hasn't formally married his fiancée, yet."

"Hmm, it seems you've thought of everything," Gennet said.

"Of course I have! Now, let's just sit back and watch the show."