"Hello, beautiful lady. What can I do for you?"
"Are you sure you should be doing what you are doing?" Astra, who was not in the mood for any jokes questioned with a solemn look on her face.
"So you found out," Orion commented with a slight smile on his face.
"Don't act like you are surprised."
"I am not. I already know you have eyes everywhere in the Vesta Mansion. You are a Silent Tyrant, my wife."
"You brought him to my Magic Training Room, if you wanted to actually hide something from me, you would have taken him to your own Training Room," Astra replied.
Orion just smiled and didn't say anything.
"Anyways, you still haven't answered my question. Training him to be a Magician and a Swordsman, are you sure it is the right decision?"
"Well you can't be sure of anything, now can you?" Orion replied. Then, he glanced at Astra and,
"I just don't want him to waste his gift.
That boy uses a never seen before Advanced Magic Circle, and he can cast his spells while sparring with me, none of these things is something even the experienced mages can do.
Not to mention his determination to push his body to limits, that willpower alone is enough to push him to become the best swordsman there is.
Vaan is gifted and I want him to use his gifts and become the greatest there ever was."
"But what if his body breaks down? The burden you are putting him through isn't a simple one. Becoming a Mage and a Swordsman at the same time, although it may sound great, the idea itself is flawed.
What if this hinders his growth in both Magic and Swordsmanship? What if our high goals turned our son into someone who tried everything but couldn't excel in anything?
What if Vaan becomes the Jack of all trades but master of none?"
"Well, a Jack of all Trades Master of none is oftentimes better than Master of one."
"Not in Vaan's case.
The beings he will go against aren't weak, if he wishes to be Head of the Vesta Family, he would be going against the best there are.
A shallow effort won't even budge them.
Vaan needs to be nothing short of perfect if he wishes to inherit the Vesta Family."
"Now who's the one putting all this pressure on him, huh?" Orion joked.
"I am not pressuring him into doing anything. He is the one who decided to walk on this path, I am just stating what he would face.
You, on the other hand, are making him do something completely unnecessary and unsure."
"And if that something is achieved, Vaan might even become the strongest being the world has ever seen."
"But that something has never been achieved before."
"Have you seen or heard about someone being as talented as Vaan?"
Orion questioned.
"…"
Astra turned silent.
In a calm voice, Orion walked towards Astra and gently held her hands,
"If there is someone who can do it, it is Vaan. Trust your child a little, Astra.
Also, it is not like I am making him learn Aura, now am I?
The energy in his body won't be unstable, the only thing it might affect is the time he gets to learn his Magic Spells."
Astra glanced at Orion and then,
"His Magic Practice time, his Battle Style, his Battle Strategy, everything is being affected by this, don't try to fool me."
"…"
Orion smiled wryly as he saw his wife glaring at him.
"W-Well, it is not like he was fighting like a normal mage should before, now was he?
That boy likes to punch his opponents.
He has the makings of a warrior, not a mage.
Honestly, if it wasn't for his decision to stick to Magic, I would have turned him into an Aura User, that is what suits him the most."
Orion wasn't willing to back down.
"…" Astra continued to glare at her husband.
"Don't look at me like that, I said what I said."
Orion looked away.
"…"
"…"
The room turned silent.
Astra then shook her head as she stood up.
"I will trust you for now."
"Well of course, have I ever broken your trust?"
"That is the reason I am trusting you." A small smile appeared on Astra's face as she glanced at Orion.
Orion momentarily froze as he saw his wife.
"Anyways, I know you want the best for our child, so I will be leaving him to you,
I will be taking my leave no- Annh!"
Before Astra could walk away, Orion grabbed her hand and pulled her close to him. Then, he turned around as they both fell on the bed with Orion on top of Astra.
"What are you doing?" Astra narrowed her eyes.
"Heh."
Orion chuckled.
Then without saying anything, he lowered his head.
With a helpless smile on her face, Astra closed her eyes.
It had been a while indeed.
The lights of the room were automatically closed and nothing was visible.
…
The next day, Vaan was back in his mother's Magic Training Room, with Astra's permission, he was allowed to use this room for as long as he wanted, whenever he wanted.
A privilege rarely any mages had.
Honestly, thinking how Karl fought with Vaan over him using the Magic Training rooms prepared for 3rd Circle Mages and how Vaan was now using Astra's personnel room,
Karl's death felt unfair.
That poor guy must be cursing Vaan from the Reincarnation Cycle.
Of course, Vaan couldn't care less about the dead cursing him, he had better things to think about and do, especially right now, when he was standing in front of his cute fiancé, who was looking around with a confused look on her face.
"V-Vaan… you said we would be training for the upcoming Elemental Clash… but what is this…?" Elara questioned in an unsure tone.
"This is the start of your training, Elara."
"W-Why are we training with a wooden sword?"
Elara questioned.
She couldn't tell what Vaan was thinking.
Vaan, on the other hand, had a big smile on his face.
This was the second step of his grand plan of converting Elara into a gangster.
He would be teaching her some Martial Arts. Of course, he wasn't going to go on an extreme level and teach her what his father was teaching him.
He and Elara weren't the same.
What he wanted to teach Elara was simple, he wanted her to learn how to hurt her opponents.
Elara was an exceptional mage. Whether it was target practice, her efficiency in learning new spells, or creating her own varieties of spells, she excelled in everything. According to Astra, Elara was much better than most of the 4th Circle Mages there are, however, even then,
When it comes to Magic Duel, she often comes out as the loser.
The reason behind this was simple, Elara, even though she is much better than her opponents, is not able to battle with her full capabilities because she is scared that she would end up hurting her opponent.
And this was the problem Vaan wanted to solve. Also, learning martial arts and hitting people was a great way of getting rid of one's timidness, this was one of Vaan's goals as well.
"To be honest with you, me and my mother had a fight."
Suddenly, Vaan spoke up.
"What? Why?" Elara questioned, surprised and worried.
"Well, Mother said you won't be able to win the Elemental Clash.
But since you are the best 4th Circle Mage I knew, I said you would win and we fought."
"T-That's…" Elara didn't know what to say.
"There are a lot of 4th Circle Mages who are better than me…" She muttered in a low voice.
"No way. You are the best there is." Vaan quickly shook his head.
"That is no-"
Elara wanted to deny Vaan's words, however, Vaan continued,
"Anyways, seeing that Mother wasn't believing in my fiancé, I decided to challenge her.
The two of us have made a bet, if you win, Mother will give the two of us 100 elemental stones in total, if you lose, I will need to give her 200 Elemental Stones."
"What!? Why would you do that!? I won't be able to win!" Elara panicked.
Vaan then suddenly grabbed her hand, then, he looked into Elara's eyes, and,
"You will win, just trust me and do what I said,
Would you do it?"
"…"
Elara froze as she looked into Vaan's eyes.
"You do trust your fiancé, correct?"
Vaan questioned.
In the end, Elara nodded timidly, Vaan smiled, he quickly kissed her forehead, then, he backed away and pointed his wooden sword at her.
"Now come and attack me."
"W-What?" Elara blinked a few times. Unable to believe what Vaan said.
"Just trust me and do what I say," Vaan spoke.
Elara then closed her eyes and rushed towards Vaan.
Her form was full of openings, however, without caring about that, she attacked.
Vaan sidestepped, dodging her head, Elara failed to control her momentum and fell down.
Or that was what should have happened, Vaan however, caught her before she could, then he rolled around as he fell down with Elara on top of him.
The two looked into each other's eyes, Elara panicked, she wanted to move away and was worried about Vaan getting hurt,
Vaan, however, held her tightly and,
"I am hurt,
So don't move and let me heal like this."
