Valerian, The Legendary

90 Surprise.

Valerian woke up the next day and after consuming his meal, the boy went to the arena, Fallax had put in a good word to some of the senior Warriors and mages. Things have been a little complicated when the elders recalled how Valerian dealt with Barak and Tyrant.

However, Fallax said, this was down because of the regional politics and Valerian will not use a heavy hand against the contenders, after all, it was the process to learn from each other.

Weighing the fact that Fallax will owe them a favor after this, they all agreed and the daily routine had a new task, Valerian will spar with mages and warriors introduced by the Magnus Magister every day. His skills were rising very quickly and he was getting stronger every day.

He did not use all the magical attributes in front of everyone, so, Azula, Consano, and Priscilla were invited to the tower of the battlemage for a private three-on-one session once a week. They maintained complete secrecy of their actions, and Valerian became more apt at casting spells.

At this point, he could cast the spells made for fire attribute like the flame whip with water attribute. This was a surprise for Azula and the rest, but later when they found him standing in front of them, with a whip of flames in one hand while the other hand held onto a whip of water, they were shocked.

He was multi-casting. Casting spells of different attributes at the same time was called multi-casting and this was a very important skill for those with more than one attribute. His display helped Priscilla and Azula to learn a few things in this regard, while the aggression of the light element opened a new world to Consano.

The lady never thought that the all soothing light element will be able to damage people like this. The lance of light was a spell that Valerian had come up with and it could leave a hole as thick as the lance when hit. Consano realized how scary magic could be based on the thoughts of the caster.

...

Two months had passed very quickly, and Valerian had passed the test of the old man. Fallax said, “You have earned a vacation. For fifteen days, you will be outside the academy and relax. But dare not to slack.”

.....

Valerian nodded and after picking up a leather sack, he walked out of the tower, his hair had not been cut for a year, and the wind in the region was colder than what he was used to back in the Acies City. He looked up at the evening sky and found a dim shadow of the two moons coming up.

A bitter smile surfaced on his face, he did not know whether the people knew his birthday or not. Shaking his head, he walked ahead to the water magic tower. He greeted a few teachers with a slight bow. In the past two months, his growth has shocked the people and he had gained popularity.

He was popular but did not have many friends, half the reason was that in the academy where the people from the royal families came to play, he was an attendant. The other half was that his eyes were so cold that the people shivered when they tried to approach him.

Yes, Valerian was a cold face doll, while the girls were head over heels with this young one, the boys saw him as competition, and had been waiting for chances to spar with him to prove their superiority. But his cold demeanor made them feel unsettled.

...

Valerian and Priscilla were driving the carriage pulled by the blizzard bucks, with Azula sitting inside the cabin with Consano and Conixia. They had just come out of the gates of the academy when they were forced to stop. In front of them, Fragrantia stood with her guard detail.

She smiled and said, “Surprised?”

Azula was happy and surprised, Valerian was the same but he did not show it. Fragrantia did not come over to surprise them, but to make sure that Valerian and the others were fine and not attacked by the assassins of the Stella Empire.

Valerian got down from the coachmen’s seat, walked up to Fragrantia, who was standing with Azula in her arms, and said, “Greetings, Your Excellency.”

Fragrantia thought that she misheard, but when the boy raised his head, looked in her eyes, and with a smile asked, “Surprised to hear me talk, Your Excellency?”

The empress opened her eyes wide as a saucer. She could not believe her eyes or ears. Even Ensis was shocked, she recalled this child was mute. How was he able to speak?

Azula looked at her mother’s precious expression for a while and then she chuckled and said, “Val, don’t tease her so much.”

Valerian smiled and the princess explained to Fragrantia the science behind his voice, the empress was shocked and said, “I did not expect that old man to care so much about you.”

The people had their sweet gathering and then they left the place in carriages. The speed of the convoy was fast, and by the time night fell, they had come to the woods, Valerian was no longer sitting as the coachman, but was inside the cabin with the empress. He asked, “Your Excellency, can I visit her?”

His eyes were locked on the woods outside the window. Fragrantia gently touched his head and said, “Yes, why not?”

She knocked on the ceiling of the cabin and the carriage was stopped, Valerian had a leather sack flung on his shoulder and got down the carriage. Fragrantia could smell a faint smell of lavender from the sack and smiled faintly. This kid was really careful about the details.

Valerian moved through the woods, and Fragrantia followed him. He asked, “Why are Stella and Valkyria wanting to go to war with us?”

Fragrantia replied, “They think we have a treasure in our empire and want to fight us for it.”

“What treasure?”, asked Valerian.

The empress said, “You probably have not heard of them yet, the treasures blessed by the dragon god.”

Valerian was surprised and said, “Here I thought it was a myth.”

The empress asked, “Where did you hear about them?”

“In the books, your excellency. Old man Fallax has made me read a lot, from farming to myths.”, replied Valerian.

They reached the tree in the clearing and Valerian knelt on the ground. He opened his sack and said, “This is what you like, right?”

He took out a jar of lavender-scented jam and placed it in front of the tree after opening the lid. He said, “I made it myself for you.”

Fragrantia did not say anything, just heard Valerian talking to the tree as if he was really talking to the person. She felt her heart breaking up as he talked, he recounted the days of his past. The loneliness in his voice could not be matched with the desolation reflected in his eyes.

Suddenly, the tree shook and a few flowers fell down from it, landing in front of Valerian. The child collected them and was surprised, then he smiled and said, “Yes, I am now eleven, mother. Thank you.”

The number of flowers on the ground was eleven. Fragrantia heard this and asked, “Val, is it your birthday?”

Valerian looked at her and nodded, next, he was scooped up in a warm embrace and heard a silky voice in his ear, “Happy birthday, my child.”

For an instance he thought, Diligentia had come to wish him. He embraced Fragrantia and with his fingers, he drew thank you on her back. This was how he communicated in the past, if not for the fact that he needed a cover for his spell casting, the collar chain would have been discarded.

Fragrantia smiled at his action and asked, “Gently, how about we go back to the palace and hold a banquet for you?”

Valerian shook his head, he did not like crowds. Fragrantia patted his back and said, “How about you travel around the city with Azula? Come to think of it, you do not know much about the imperial capital.”

The child thought for a bit and nodded. The two embraced each other for a long while. Valerian had craved a warm embrace on his birthday a lot, Diligentia did hug him but only for a fleeting moment. On the other hand, Fragrantia loved her sister’s son.

She never said it, but if she could, she would have revived Flos. The two sisters loved each other a lot. Suddenly, the eyes of the two people turned cold and they broke the embrace. Fragrantia said, “Come out.”

The tree in the distance parted and two figures walked in, these figures wore beast pelts. Fragrantia asked, “How did you get here, berserk.”

The two people were tall and strong, they heard her question and let out a burst of eerie laughter. One of them said, “Surprised to see us, here? Empress Fragrantia.”