Chapter 23: Jon

Chapter 23: Jon Helie and Kon turned from the dead body of the Shapeless Wolf to Lucen, faces contorted in shock. The other students strained to understand, but Warren shook his head. "That was acceptable. Next team..." Lucen walked calmly out of the circle, keeping his eyes on the Grey Keep to avoid the crowd’s attention. He plopped onto the grass and tucked his head on his knees. He needed to unwind, but they were all so loud. All the teams were able to defeat the wolf in the end, using different tactics and taking a long amount of time at certain times. Ymir’s group had been the fastest, using her Divine armament magic. Divine magic had attacks that couldn’t injure allies, so she just surrounded the wolf with them. It would be nice to have that, Lucen grumbled internally. At the end, Warren began his corrections of each team. "Set, your orders were too vague. It is good to come to a quick decision, but there were better ways to utilise the skill set of your team." He turned to Lucen’s team. "Good teamwork, but you had more time to come up with a plan than Set’s team, and you only came up with one. Expect failure and prepare for it. Never rely on one person to bail you out." He said this while giving Lucen a deadpan stare. "Callan, you were horrible. If not for the defensive skill of your team and the presence of one enemy, you’d all be dead. Your decisions under the heat of battle can’t only be to defend and run—you aren’t an animal—look for places to attack." "Ymir, you were perfect—my pride as a teacher may last longer indeed. Good use of advantages and coordination. Arielle, you were too reliant on the wind trap. You tried and failed to lure your enemy in for too long—formulate different plans! Tharic, you were good. I have nothing to say. All of you practice more and stay diligent." Warren finally clapped, letting out a breath after his long speech. "Everyone, go back. Tomorrow we’re hunting Lurker hounds early in the morning. Their infestation has plagued Castaway Valley for long enough." Warren began to walk briskly back towards the Grey Keep, as he had other responsibilities today. The student lagged behind, talking excitedly about their fights and the coolest spells. "Lady Ymir, your Light Needles spell is so amazing! It’ll completely control where enemies can attack or retreat during the Bull Wolves battle." Lucen was beginning to like slow spells like that. The Light needles drifted slowly through the air and, upon contact with enemies, expanded, impaling them grievously. Most interesting of all was that it didn’t hurt allies. But from what he saw, it was rather mana draining. "The beast escaping the Gasflames explosion was insane," someone else commented disappointedly. "If it could go underground, why didn’t it do that earlier?" Mana, Lucen concluded. Twisting its body into different shapes requires mana, and it had been wasting mana trying to escape the golden chains since it was captured. He suspected the Shapeless wolf had other interesting abilities it held off using due to its low mana. "I think we would have been in trouble if Lucen didn’t step in," said Kon, smiling weakly. "The wolf would have attacked continuously." The people nodded reluctantly. Lucen believed most of them had no problems with him besides his parents. They were all pretty pious, unfortunately. Callan, however, had many problems with him, turning to sneer. "I hear he hunts Lurker hounds in his free time. Koril should give him that dumb mission." "He needs the money, the elders won’t waste resources on a Mudborn," said Set loudly. "He also needs to take care of his poor mother." Lucen was about to bite back when Ymir snarled, "That’s enough, Set." Surprising them both. Lucen stared incredulously at her. Ymir’s black hair was still neatly braided despite the strong winds, and her golden eyes were furious. Set, with a wounded expression on his face, muttered. "Why should I be the one who stops? He’s the one still here when nobody wants him. His very existence is a weakness that will drag our already dishonoured family down more." Lucen had some choice words to describe their father, but he expected that it would end in a fight to the death, and Ymir’s interference still shocked him. They had reached the gates of the castle and saw a group of Castaway soldiers leaving. Callan wrinkled his nose. "Let me guess, they’re here to beg for more support against the weak monster beating them down." Lucen recognised the Garrison commander, Jon, and walked away from his peers to meet up with them. He had been getting better at meeting people and managing conversation. They were still people, but at least a friendlier crowd than this class. "Good day, Commander Jon," said Lucen politely, giving the soldiers a salute as they bowed to him. Jon towered over him in his impressive height, his broad shoulders and grim, scarred face made him look a bit scarier than he was. He wore a surcoat over his padded gambeson with Lightcloak heraldry. "Ahhh, Lucen, thank god," Jon exclaimed. "I looked for Liam to tell you I needed to see you, but he wasn’t at the shop." Lucen raised an eyebrow. His voice felt slightly different. It was the same as before, but something was different. "You need my help?" "We sought Lord Chester, but he is too busy with his preparation for the Bull Wolves," Jon explained, "and Lord Koril, the only other person with expert mana sense, has never accepted our letters, but I remembered you. They say you are like a young Chester." Chester was pretty young, but he wasn’t wrong. Lucen and Chester both had powerful mana senses as babies. "What do you need my help with?" "We found organs, kidneys, liver, and even the brain scattered in a field," said Jon. "Lots of blood, but no body." Lucen grimaced. "What the hell?" Jon nodded grimly. "We think it’s a Cruncher who stole a body, but we don’t know who. Crunchers have distinct mana traces that someone like Lord Chester would be able to trace, as his mana sense covers almost half the city." "So you want me to find it?" "No, they can Veil their mana, but Crunchers can’t speak—they chucked out the ability to speak with the rest of the body’s organs—so we know what to look for to a degree." Jon paused, brushing his uniform uncomfortably. The difference in voice was just Lucen’s mind, it seems. "But they are always good at escaping and sensing trouble. But if they use their mana, you can close in on them, and having an extra Knight is also never a bad thing." Lucen considered it; the death sounded rather gruesome, but he had many other problems and only two months to solve them. But Jon would then owe him a favour. "Sounds... fun?" said Lucen tiredly, "I was going to look for Liam in town anyway."