The week that followed the events of the banquet was definitely a new low for me, but even if I was forced to do something I had no interest in whatsoever, I didn't despair much.
There had been an uproar a few days ago about someone breaking into the hotel where Auriel was staying, but since nothing appeared to be missing, nor damages were reported, everything was swept under the ground.
The duke called for me and even threatened to punish me in even more severe ways, I didn't utter a word to answer him and just smiled.
He sent me away massaging his forehead.
During the entire week, after speaking with Anne and getting the informations I wanted, not a word had left my mouth, not a prank was made and I politely received all the training imposed on me. I even accepted medicinal baths daily to temper my body.
Painful was an understatement, every bath felt like my body was being melted down and rebuilt anew.
Even in those cases I didn't utter a word of discomfort.
But hey, I got a new [Faker] spell.
Yom had tried multiple times to make contact with me, but after the third day being ignored to his face like a ghost, he exploded and attacked me with his rapier, piercing my stomach clean.
I ignored everything and walked with blood gushing out of my body like it was nothing.
Once in my suite, I healed myself and continued my research like nothing had happened.
Stolen spells didn't count towards my quest count, but I was able to use [Purify] and [Heal] even better then Anne. At the end of the day I had the [Divinity] rune, far superior to her [light] rune.
I was able to create two unholy spells though!
The first one, probably since my mood was "I'm going to kill everyone" , it felt much easier to create one.
It was a curse type spell, and I didn't even bother naming it in a fancy way.
[DMS]
And it was honestly, the most terrifying curse I could think of, even worse then my [foxfire], because this was very much real.
The runes used for it were : Divinity, Illusion, perception, self and fracture.
Its effect? Terrible, it corrupted the mind of my target stimulating an illness similar to the delusional misidentification syndrome, but clearly worse.
Also, since it was a curse born of [Divinity], it could only be dispelled by [Divinity] itself.
The second one, was a masterpiece of my dedication to studying magic: [hive doppelgängers]; splitting my consciousness I was able to create very much real doppelgängers for a limited time and all the informations they were able to gather and acquire would assemble in my real body once the spell was undone.
The rebound was hell, but I didn't care much for it, I'd get used eventually
That alone had taken me days to create. I also made sure to write everything in a way only I could read.
I knew for a fact that I was under surveillance 24/7 and all my breakthrough were reported the big boss.
So imagine his surprise when he was presented a stack of papers with numbers and random scribbles with no logical sense whatsoever?
He of course asked for an explanation, once again I smiled and turned away. Of course my booklet had been enchanted after I thoroughly studied ancient rune crafting in a way that if you didn't posses the [Illusion] rune you'd only see a different sequence of numbers and scribbles every time.
Did it require my blood? Yes.
Did it require herbs and gems I didn't even know existed? Of course!
Was it a bad investment? Hell no.
I even named the little black book to give it a deeper sense of relevance for me: the Codex of Errancy, which the System officially recognised as an actual encrypted artefact.
With all this said and done, it was finally the 8th day, the day my ban from the library should have been lifted, and ironically enough, the day we left for the academy. Effectively removing the opportunity for me to deepen my studies.
Why? Because all students were required to live on campus and coincidentally, the new 13 Lords and Ladies were supposed to live all in the same building especially created for them.
Supposedly, the heirs and I should have left together, and supposedly everything should have been smooth sailing from there on.
However, when the time to depart arrived. I was nowhere to be found.
With the big money coming from a main family, I hopped into a train and went with the mass of students heading to Vinegrad academy.
Of course I didn't forget to leave a present for my family in case they so desperately wanted to know where I had gone.
_____________________
"Dearest father, brother and young heirs.
During these last few days, I realised something of major importance:
I don't belong with you.
Your world of subtlety, unspoken words and blame throwing, it's simply too much for a lonely dog who had never even known what a filled belly felt like before stepping into this hotel.
So I will graciously step back and let you all shine like the stars you are.
P.s.: father, in my quarters you will find the fruit of my research, but be careful, it might be more than you can chew if you don't prepare accordingly.
P.p.s.: you need to hire new researchers, those fools told you I'd need a year to create what you want, they clearly are scammers.
Never truly yours.
Crow."
The words of my letter hit everyone like a stab in the back.
Not only had I accomplished what it seemed to be like an impossible feat, I even left without giving a flying fuck about possible compensation.
And the signature at the end, was a clear statement of position.
The contract was fulfilled. I was free to do whatever I wanted with my magic now.
"There's a second part."
"I forgot to say something mildly important.
Of course I will never personally reveal my research to people no matter how much they pay me, as for our prior agreement, the subject is to stay within house Morvane and the intellectual property rights within me exclusively, however.
Someone might spread news of new magic, never seen before, in the hands of Duke Dionen Morvane.
Of course that isn't my doing, you should have prohibited me from using that magic on the heirs.
Better luck next time, I immagine a congress between you big boys will be called soon after the enrollment of the younglings.
Have fun!
Crow."
The letter was pulsing with remnants of his mana and it was clear, he was beyond furious.
Yet, nothing could be done. Everything stated was right.
"At least he said he'd step down, so he probably won't bother us…" -Yom
"Son, he may not try to kill you all outright, since he physically can't, but I've read his research as soon as he left the palace."
"You knew?"
"Of course I knew, however, the point is: he actually created the rune for [mirage] we even tried to recreate the spells he had listed has the easiest."
"So?"
"It's impossible, their power is nowhere near what he showed us before. Sure he didn't list any kind of formation and just said: these are the runes fuck you. But what he said is true. It's dangerous to use that magic without properly preparing oneself."
"What is there to prepare? Just study what he studied from the library…"
"Yom, that boy studied 5 years worth of materials in 2 weeks."
"That's impossible."
"And yet he did. The adoption is still valid and during the academy he can't outright kill you, but we must find a way to appease him."
"Why? What's so important?"
"I think we might have set the one who could save or destroy the world free, and he is angry."
The echo of the prophecy spoken by Sun had been sounding nonstop into the duke's brain these last few days, a warning he should have probably taken much more seriously than he did.
Sure there was still a margin of error, but the more he thought about it, the more he believed he was right.
And nobody could know that he spelled their own doom without knowing.