Chapter 161 - 162
"No need to sugarcoat your words with me," smiled Alistar, who doubted that he would ever be a match for his riding instructor’s masterful control and instinctual affinity with the equine beasts that he loved so dearly. He brushed some amber hair from his eyes, having grown it out to about a hand’s length in recent months.
"I speak in all honesty." Taking Star’s reins in one hand and those of his own steed in the other, Stason nodded toward the manor house with a smile. "I’ll see these two back to their stalls. You plan to visit Enquin today, right? Hurry and wash yourself so that you don’t stink of sweat when you get to his place."
"Okay." Turning to leave, he paused after a single step and said in an appreciative voice, "Stason, thank you for your words earlier. I feel that they’ve lifted my mood some."
"Of course, lad."
Alistar made his way over to the manor house, stopping along the main cobblestone pathway to help the gardeners water a large stretch of flowers. Such a task only took him a matter of moments, far less than it would have taken the handful of sweaty, suntanned men. Once he’d made it to his room, he quickly changed into a fresh set of light clothes and then left for Mayhaven with a bit more peace of mind than he’d had earlier in the day. As had become a habit, he was sure to bring along his swordsman’s stripes, which he was quite proud of now that he possessed the badge of a peak practitioner of the adept stratum. Similar to the one Edmun had showed off on the day that they had met, his had the shape of a kite shield, though it had four black stripes on a yellow background as opposed to the single one that the older boy had displayed.
As he made his way down the oak-lined pathway that connected the estate to the city’s western entrance, he recalled the day that his cousins had attempted to torment Anice on this very road, a memory that brought a curl to his lip. While it had only been a year since then, he was now a first-tier mage, a far cry from the second-tier apprentice status that he’d held at the time. These days, Alistar had begun to compile his own personal grimoire, which documented the nearly twenty spells that he had learned either from Mr. Albeck, the madman in the cave, or from his own self-study. He wasn’t sure how much more progress he could manage in the coming year, and worried that it wouldn’t be nearly enough to sneak into Crystellum on his own and successfully see Kaila out of its confines without any complications.
Just how can I get my hands on so many high-class magic crystals?
Lately, he’d been entertaining the foolish thought of venturing into the Iron Dungeon to harvest some crystals in the same manner that he had grown accustomed to as a slave. Thanks to Team Tempest, he had a general idea of where the labyrinth was located, though the fact that such a capable team was still missing was enough of a deterrent to prevent him from doing so.
Once in Mayhaven, Alistar enjoyed the bustling atmosphere as he made his way across the city, stopping by at the marketplace to purchase a few skewers of meat to share with Mr. Herst once he arrived at the man’s little house. Surprisingly, he ran into Emely a moment after buying the food, the short, sweet-eyed girl in the midst of a complicated conversation with a stall owner that specialized in the sale of small, exotic animals.