Chapter 479: Tell Me Why
Celestina almost said ’no’ automatically, but seeing the determined look on Christina’s face, she decided to at least ask her Disciple what her intentions were first. If she couldn’t give her a good enough reason, then she would reject her request without hesitation.
Eris and Lucas were also looking at their Junior Sister curiously, wondering what she would say.
If the two of them were being honest, they also wanted to join the patrols to stop these criminals, but they knew better than that.
Lucas had reached the Sixth Step Body Tempering Realm, while his Soul Cultivation had actually stopped advancing and now seemed fixed at the Fifth Step Sea Establishment Realm.
Why that was, he wasn’t sure, but Celestina suspected that whatever extra Soul Qi he had been hit with that had allowed him to open his Soul Sea had finally been exhausted, meaning if he wanted to further advance his Soul cultivation, he would need to do it the old-fashioned way.
Eris had also gotten much stronger, reaching the peak of Body Tempering and was now preparing to break through to the Vein Opening Realm.
Both of them were strong for their age, and their combat capabilities were much higher than their Realms would suggest, but in a chaotic battlefield environment filled with ruthless killers who thought nothing of slaughtering children and babies, they were still far too weak.
Masters could be assigned to protect Lucas and Eris, but that would defeat the purpose of sending them in the first place as it would mean they were just getting in the way.
Christina, on the other hand, after over 9 months of stagnating in the Third Step Sea Establishment Realm, had finally had another breakthrough just a couple days ago.
The reason for her ’slow’ progress despite her Innate Talent being ridiculously high was because Christina had only been cultivating using a combination of the True Unarmed Foundations Art and Focused Breathing Art.
Christina had done this on Celestina’s recommendation, in order to re-build and solidify her foundation, and the effects had been quite remarkable. Despite only breaking through once, the power Christina could exert had actually increased dramatically. The brutal training regime she had set for herself had also improved her combat sense and raw physical stats to a remarkable degree.
If she were to compare her current self to her old self, Christina estimated that even though she was now only in the Fourth Step Sea Establishment Realm, she could beat an old variation of herself in the Tenth Step Sea Establishment Realm, one who had only trained using her family’s Grand Mountain Record Cultivation Technique.
In other words, Christina had the strength to protect herself from anyone under the Spirit Initiate Realm; even if she wasn’t unmatched in the Grand Mortal Realm, keeping herself alive in a fluid combat scenario wouldn’t be an issue.
"Tell me why you want to fight," Celestina asked pointedly, quickly adding, "And don’t say it’s because you want to punish evil and uphold justice, I know that already."
Pursing her lips, Christina stopped to consider her answer after her primary reason for making this request was abruptly cut off by her Master.
Truthfully, Christina thought that fighting to defend the Rockwell Kingdom and its citizens was reason enough for her to want to join the patrols; however, since that wasn’t sufficient for Celestina, she would need to find another reason to persuade her.
After reflecting on the question for a moment, Christina looked down at her hands and clenched them tightly, "I want to get stronger."
Raising her brow ever so slightly, Celestina motioned for her Third Disciple to continue.
"I’ve been training hard these past few months, working to improve my strength so I can defend myself, those I care about, and uphold my own ideals, but..." Christina began thinking aloud, "But I’ve hit a wall. Something feels... missing, and I think I will only be able to find out what that something is in real combat, not a safe environment where I’m not taking any real risks."
Ho... she’s already reached that point? Celestina mused to herself.
What Christina was saying here made perfect sense to her. As a veteran of many real battlefields, Celestina was well aware of how different training yourself was from experiencing true bloodshed, she just never expected Christina to start noticing this so quickly.
Perhaps it was because she was a genius, or perhaps it was her unique experiences in the South-West Province, where life-and-death battles were being fought every day all around her. Whatever the case, Celestina knew that denying Christina’s request now would be detrimental to her future. It wouldn’t irreparably in any way, but it would certainly delay her development as a Cultivator.
Thinking so, Celestina nodded, "Very well, after your birthday celebration, I will issue you a temporary commission as a Captain in the Raging River Legion. You will be under Allina’s direct command and you will follow her orders and the orders of your superiors like anyone else, is that clear?"
"Yes, Master!" Christina saluted formally, understanding exactly what Celestina was trying to tell her.
Once she joined the army, she would no longer be a princess, or the Disciple of a Marquess, she would be a soldier, subject to the same strict rules and regulations as all others of her rank.
Of course, given her identity, there would certainly be a... looser interpretation of those rules regarding Christina, but some degree of favouritism was only to be expected; it was simply inevitable and unavoidable. Even being immediately made a Captain was a kind of nepotism as most ordinary soldiers would have to earn that title through years of service.
Still, no one present thought this to be inappropriate, nor did anyone bring up the subject. Life wasn’t fair, they all knew it, so why pretend otherwise?
"Very well. Tina, Eris, you two head back to the Manor, I want to have a word with your Senior Brother," Celestina waved her hand, dismissing the two girls.
Eris and Christina were both used to this happening, so neither of them questioned why Celestina wanted to speak with Lucas alone and simply nodded before leaving the tailor shop.
Once they were alone, Celestina turned to her young butt responsible First Disciple and asked, "Do you want to go with her?"
"Yes," Lucas nodded, before shaking his head, "And no."
"Good," Celestina nodded, standing up from the table she had been leaning against, "That’s the right answer."
Smiling wryly, Lucas just sighed, "I’ll work with that old grouch in the forge to prepare a new set of armour for her. I doubt the old one she’s been using fits properly anymore."
"Heh, after obtaining all our measurements, you would know, wouldn’t you?" Celestina chuckled.
Lucas blushed and averted his eyes, wanting nothing more than to move on from this rather embarrassing episode.
Celestina wasn’t done teasing him however, and leaned down close, "So, impressed?"
Cornered and outmatched, Lucas knew that further retreat would only invite further aggression, so he decided to hit back instead, going stone faced as he replied flatly, "Master’s proportions are certainly stunning. It makes me wonder why you haven’t ever remarried, you certainly can’t be lacking for suitors."
*Flick!*
"Ouch!"
"Don’t tease your Master," Celestina snickered, completely glossing over the fact that she had just been needling Lucas as well.
Lucas could have pointed this out, but he figured he’d been hit enough for one day and just choked down his resentment.
"Well, let’s also get going, we have a lot of work to do," Celestina stretched lightly, unconsciously showing off her stunning proportions again as she made her way over to the door with a very sore Lucas following close behind.