Chapter 25: Preparation
Eliza didn’t answer immediately.
"...Young Master." A pause. "What rank of Morveth are you looking for?"
Malrik thought about it.
Ten days before the Flag Bearer Trial. Normal training — the kind the family scheduled, the kind with proper rest intervals and supervised sparring — wasn’t going to cut it. He’d known that the moment Kael mentioned the timeline.
His fingers tapped once against his arm.
I don’t have the luxury of being careful about this.
His thoughts moved through the Soul Space. The Spirit Wolves. Their king. And further in, past all of them, the presence that had been resting there since long before he’d raised his first soul tonight.
Lilith.
Looks like I’ll finally be using everything I have.
The obvious problem was that a Saint-Rank soul — even sealed, even diminished — wasn’t something he could let anyone know about. That kind of information had a way of traveling upward through the family until it reached people who would find it very interesting for very inconvenient reasons.
But Eliza was different.
She’d been with him since he was born. If there was one person in House Vesperion he was willing to trust with this, it was her.
He looked back at her.
"The strongest Morveth within the Mortal Rank."
Her eyes widened. Just slightly. "...Young Master. You only awakened two days ago." A careful pause. "Even for a genius, that’s far too dangerous."
"I know exactly what I’m doing."
He let that sit for a moment, then added: "Trust me."
Eliza looked at him. The kind of look that meant she was weighing something — not his words, but whatever she saw behind them.
Several seconds passed.
She lowered her head. "As you wish, Young Master. I’ll make the preparations immediately."
She turned to leave.
"Wait."
She stopped.
Malrik rubbed the back of his neck. "Before anything else..." He paused. "I’d like to eat. I’ve never liked fighting on an empty stomach."
Eliza froze.
It lasted less than a second before she bowed, deeply. "My deepest apologies, Young Master. I’ll prepare lunch immediately."
She was gone before he could respond.
Malrik watched the empty doorway for a moment.
"...She really takes her job seriously."
Silence settled over the courtyard.
He spoke quietly into it. "Lilith."
Her voice came back almost instantly, cheerful in the way that suggested she’d been waiting. "Yes, Master?"
"Looks like you’ll finally get a chance to show me what you can do."
A soft laugh moved through the Soul Bond. Elegant. Unhurried. The kind of laugh that knew exactly what it was doing.
"Then I’ll do everything my Master commands." A small pause. "I promise... you won’t be disappointed."
A chill ran down his spine for no reason he could identify.
He looked around the courtyard. Empty. Quiet. Nothing behind him.
"...You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?"
"Very much."
He sighed.
True to her word, Eliza was back in under five minutes.
Silver tray. White cloth. The smell reached him before she did — roasted meat, fresh bread, something in a bowl still producing steam. She set everything on the table with the same practiced efficiency she brought to everything, and stepped back.
"Lunch is ready, Young Master."
Malrik sat down.
He hadn’t noticed how hungry he was until the adrenaline finished leaving his system, which apparently happened the moment food appeared in front of him. He picked up the knife and fork without ceremony.
"...No matter how many times I eat this family’s food," he said, mostly to himself, "I’m still amazed."
Eliza smiled, pleased in the quiet way she always was.
For a few minutes, only cutlery.
He finished most of what was on the table, leaned back, and exhaled slowly. "That was exactly what I needed."
Eliza stepped forward and began clearing the dishes. Malrik watched her work for a moment.
"Where exactly are we going?"
"The hunting ground, Young Master." She stacked the empty plates neatly. "Roughly an hour from the house. A nest inhabited by Mortal-Rank Venom Spiders — all around Level Fifty."
He nodded for her to continue.
"They’re individually weaker than most monsters at that level. But they compensate with numbers." She set the last dish aside. "The density makes it a popular ground for hunters preparing to break into Awakened Rank. More monsters means faster leveling, for those who can handle the volume."
Malrik rested his chin on one hand.
Level Fifty. Large numbers. Controlled chaos.
A faint smile.
Perfect.
He needed strength, and he needed it in ten days, which meant efficiency over caution. If anything went genuinely wrong, he had Lilith. Even sealed, even running at a fraction of what she’d once been, she’d stood at the peak of Awakened Rank. That was a considerable safety net.
And then there was Eliza.
He looked at her.
It occurred to him, not for the first time but more insistently than usual, that he’d spent years around this woman and never actually asked.
"By the way." He kept his voice casual. "What Rank are you?"
Eliza’s hands stopped.
A beat of silence. Then she lowered her head, slightly. "Ascendant Rank, Young Master."
Malrik didn’t say anything.
Ascendant.
Two full Ranks above Mortal . He sat with that for a moment.
Then his brain, helpfully, started filling in the details.
Eliza. Who ironed his clothes every morning. Who refilled his tea without being asked. Who had bowed apologetically five minutes ago because she forgot to prepare lunch on time. Who had been doing all of this — every single day — while sitting comfortably two entire Ranks above anyone he’d fought tonight.
He thought about the Shadow Wolf King. The Guardians. The cave. Everything he’d pushed himself through for the past several hours.
Then he thought about Eliza carrying a silver tray.
...What.
What kind of family does that. Who takes an Ascendant-Rank and has her fold napkins. What is wrong with these people.
"Young Master?" Eliza tilted her head slightly, mildly concerned. "Are you alright?"
"Fine," he said.
I am not fine.
He stared at her for another second. The perfectly pressed uniform. The practiced bow. The complete absence of any indication that any of this was insane.
"Eliza."
"Yes, Young Master?"
"...Nothing."
He picked up his cup and finished his tea in silence.
What the hell kind of household is this.
Comments