It has been almost a year since the meeting with Varay. In that time Aya and Alea were able to learn and master mana rotation to the point where it was usable in battle and were proficient enough with Mirage Walk while moving to enter the deeper parts of the beast glades. Because of this our map of the dungeons has made significant progress and would probably be done by the time of the attack on Xyrus Academy.

Virion has been working on defensive strategies based on Agrona's journal and compiling information on Alacryan combat style and military structure. He has also been coordinating with Cythia to create a training regime for soldiers that will be put into place once the war starts and discussing a few things about the academy that he refuses to tell me. During the year he received a few reports from Varay about the nobles and Blaine but so far things were quiet. It seems the Vritra aren't going to make a move other than sending spies to Sapin until the council is formed.

Tess has been training even harder than before and was about at the bottleneck of light red. I've been using the memory cube to help her close quarter combat by showing the duels during my time as king and my training with Kordri and Wren, making her progress much faster. I can say with confidence that in technique alone she wouldn't lose to a Scythe in three to four years, maybe sooner. An interesting thing I noticed is that not only is her mana pool comparable to a solid orange conjurer, her control was almost as good as when she was at the initial silver stage. I wonder if that is just because of her experience as a mage or if this is the result of sharing a body with the Legacy. But regardless of the reason it is a benefit so I'm not complaining.

Thanks to training in the creation aspect of Vivum, Regis has gained much better control of Destruction and due to us sharing the rune my control has somewhat improved, making it a more reliable weapon when using it in combination with Conditional Domain. As for Creation itself, he is able to make anything if he understands either how they function or how they are made as long as it's not organic which is weird since Vivum is suppose to encompass life and existence, but maybe that's just his lack of insight in the area since he was made from a rock. Regis can also use the flames of his mane to generate and launch objects instead of having to put down a flame and pull them out. The day Regis learned to do that he said that Agrona should prepare to feel the unbridled wrath of the hero known as Shirou fucking Emiya, whatever that means.

My own training has been going smoothly with my assimilation being almost complete, giving me almost two years to study Sylvia's will before going back to my family and relaxing for a few months.

Right now I was going to the cave Regis used for training Destruction to finally bring Sylvie back as I haven't felt the Asura that was patrolling Elenoir in a while.

"Are you sure about this Arthur?"

"Yes Regis, if I don't do this now there won't be another chance and we will end up with two Sylvies. There's no telling what may happen in that case."

"What if the Asura is just too far away to detect but still close enough to observe? What if they have their own stalker orb?" He asked with concern clear in his voice and leaking through our bond.

"They don't, if they did we would have been found way earlier. And if whichever dragon was tasked with patrolling the continent shows up, we'll deal with it then."

"Alright, it's your call. I'll be hiding nearby just in case."

"Thanks."

With the conversion over, I found myself at the entrance of the cave. Making my way inside I pulled out the two eggs containing my bond from my storage rune and started preparing to perform the art.

This is it Arthur, after three failed attempts you'll finally be able to bring her back. You can't afford to screw up now.

Putting the eggs on the floor next to each other I sat in front of them in a meditative position and closed my eyes. Focusing on my aether I willed it to flow out of my body and to envelope the eggs to establish a connection between them with me acting as the anchor point. Once that was done came the hard part, making it so that the body of the younger Sylvie would be used to finish reconstructing the body of the older one without replacing the consciousness and soul.

It's a slow and complex process that will take hours to complete, but I have more than enough faith in Sylvia's theory to know it will work. I just have to focus on the process and not mess up any of the steps and soon Sylvie will be back.

Regis

Alright, time to do my job as a majestic weapon and keep the princess safe. Nothing gets past this wolf.

"Did he start the spell?"

"AHHH!"

I turned around to see Tessia right behind me.

"Don't scare me like that. And how the hell did you find me? My stealth skill is nothing short of perfect."

"You were jumping around and talking to yourself about how good of a job you were doing. If that is your idea of stealth then I'm concerned for Art's safety when you actually need to stay hidden." She said with a deadpan.

"I'll have you know he has no better partner when it comes to sneaking around. If it wasn't for me your husband would never have been able to steal the portable Relictombs entrance." I said, puffing out my chest.

"And what exactly was your role in that heist again?"

"To stand on the other side of the door so Professor Princess could teleport through it."

"And where were you while you weren't doing that?"

"Fine, you win this one obsessive princess."

"Obsessive?" Tessia asked with a raised brow.

"Are you not? I doubt anyone else would have waited for the old man for as long as you did. Or steal a kiss when he couldn't move, demand to sleep in the same room and use him like a dakimakura of the husbando on your favorite visual novel."

"I'm not obsessed with Arthur, I'm just making up for the time we lost." She said with a bright blush. "And what are those things you mentioned at the end? Something from his old world?"

"Oh boy, where do I even begin? Well, get comfortable because storytime with uncle Regis is going to be long today."

And so began my long explanation of the 'cultured' parts of my partner's old life.

____________________________________________________

"And that is why I will have a harem." I said with pride.

"You're disgusting. You better keep those types of things and thoughts away from my kids."

"First of all, I'm not disgusting, I am a wolf of culture. And second, it was never in my plans to pass on my wisdom to your children, warrior princess will kill me before I get the chance. Not like it's my job anyways."

"There was nothing of culture said in the last hour."

"Excuse me, how da-. Shit, hide. The Asura decided to show itself today."

"Is Art finished with the spell?" Tessia asked with a hint of desperation in her voice.

"No, but I think it's almost done, I'll buy as much time as I can. Suppress your mana as much as possible and stay behind that rock near the entrance, my aether signature should be enough to mask your mana." I said with urgency and Tessia complied.

If you think you've got lucky today I have news for you, you overgrown lizard.

After a few minutes the dragon landed in front of me. She had shoulder length silver hair, rose-gold eyes and milky white skin like Arthur. Her facial features resembled Arthur's but were softer, which means she is probably an Indrath. She was wearing white battle robes with gold trimming that went down to her ankles in the back and were open in the front revealing khaki colored pants and white stiletto boots.

"What do you want here Asura?" I asked while focusing my aetheric intent on her.

"Now that's surprising, never would've guessed I'd see a talking puppy today. Much less on this continent." She said to no one in particular.

"Answer me, and I'm a majestic wolf, not a puppy."

"Is that so pup? No matter, let me introduce myself. I am Seele Indrath. As for what I want, just to see what's going on behind you, nothing more." She said with a smile and a small bow.

"Well Seele, I'm afraid I can't let you inside this cave right now since you're not on the list."

"That is fine, I can wait. Windsom made such a big deal about a certain lesser that I just had to see him or her myself." She paused for a moment before continuing. "Can't wait to rub it in his face that I found the kid before him. Say wolf, any ideas on how to torment the guy?"

"Why are you asking me? And how are you so certain that the lesser this Windsom guy is looking for is behind me?"

"Why else would a sentient weapon made of aether be guarding this cave?" Seele asked with a smirk.

Suddenly I felt a wave of happiness hit me from two different sources.

"Oh, it looks like something interesting just happened there. Mind letting me pass now? It's not like I have any bad intentions, if I did I would've already gotten rid of you and the girl behind that rock."

So she knew Tessia was there from the start. Can I take her on? No, it's too dangerous with the princess wife around, and if she is of the Vivum branch, Destruction might not even work properly.

"Give me a second." I said.

"Arthur, we've got trouble."

"I noticed. What does she want?"

"Apparently rumors of your disgustingly good looks reached Epheotus, so she came to check you out."

"She's just curious then?"

"Looks like it."

"Let her in then, we might learn something useful."

"Guess you were on the list after all, my mistake." I said.

"Lead the way." Seele said with a smile.