Kapitel 6: Chapter 6 - Tell Me
"So, when are you gonna make the strength potion, aunt?" Lyle questioned his aunt's breasts. He was nestling on her lap, hugging her back, snuggling his head deep between her doting cushions. She was 7'11" in height, so his head could only reach so far.
"Hehe, well, first, I need to gather suitable ingredients, then test them to form a formula…," She paused as she realized that the process wasn't so simple. "First examine them, then come up with possible recipes, then experiment with different proportions, and then, and then-" She panicked, and her hands crawled to her head.
"So…" Lyle peeked out of her valley, "When?"
"Um… soon…?"
"At noon?"
"No."
"Evening?"
"… No!"
"Nigh-"
"Look, Lyle, these things take time to develop." She said with a stern voice.
"How much?" Lyle, as impatient as ever, couldn't hold back his excitement.
"…several months. Maybe years."
"Years?!" He jerked his head back to look at her with a panic-stricken face.
She couldn't help but console him. "I'm just saying, Lyle. If luck willed it, it could happen next week."
Lyle beamed once again, excitement rocking his head back into her bosom.
"Um, Lyle, you aren't thinking of skipping the training, are you?"
"… No, no." He shook his head between her breasts, and Aunt knew he was lying when he couldn't meet her gaze.
"Look, Lyle, you cannot skip the training. If you do, then no potion can make you strong!"
Jerking his head back once again, he asked, "But you said-"
"I didn't say it will make you strong overnight."
"Then?"
"There is nothing that can instantly increase your strength. If there was, everyone would be using it. There is no shortcut to strength."
Lyle's face fell yet again.
So Aunt smiled and gently caressed his head. "Have you seen people from our group stuck at their level of strength? As if they cannot become any stronger than they are, no matter how much they trained?"
Lyle's eyes lit up, hearing something he was very familiar with.
Holding his attention till now, Aunt slowly revealed, "I want to make a potion that can lift this limit and help people advance in their strength. What would that mean?"
"Stronger people!"
"No!" She lightly tapped his forehead with her index finger. "It would mean the more you trained, the stronger you will get."
"Training again?" He crunched his expression in annoyance. He made sure she saw it, pushing himself back against her boobs.
"Hehe. There's no escape." She mushed his cheeks with her fingers to ease his expression of annoyance. "Training is fun, you know? Why do you dislike it so much?"
"It's scary."
"Sword training? Hehe, I can imagine it if it is big sis you are training with."
"Right?"
"What do you think about magic training?"
"You don't train for magic…"
"Pfft! Of course, you need to. But you will find it a lot more fun than your physical training." She just had to persuade him into training something. Everything else will eventually fall into place.
"Is magic stronger than the sword?" He didn't know because his mom was the strongest fighter in the group. And she only used her sword.
Then he recalled what Malinda told him earlier and all pieces seem to click into place. "Is your magic the strongest?"
She looked at his shining eyes and wondered why he was repeatedly asking if her magic was the strongest. "Oh, you mean dark magic?"
"Yes?"
"Well, dark magic is strong, but it is extremely hard to master, and not everyone can learn it. But other elements are just as strong. What matters is if you have mastered your element well." She smiled mischievously. "What does that mean again?"
"Training." He answered with a bored expression.
…
"Come out, you bitch! Give me the antidote you promised, or I'm demolishing this entire building!"
Just when the aunt-nephew pair was going to venture out of their rabbit hole, a loud thump rattled the building and their eardrums.
Aunt shivered and quickly pulled little Lyle below her desk. She shushed him as they both huddled into an inconspicuous corner.
"Aunt, why are we hiding? Isn't he just Reaver?" Lyle asked in a whisper.
"Shh, just act as if we aren't here, and he will go back."
"But isn't he talking about destroying the house?"
"No, he doesn't have such gall, especially when we have big sis at home." Talking to this point, her eyes lit up. "Lyle, how about you go out and tell him I'm not home? You can also bring big sis to help."
Thud!
Thud!
The ground quaked once again. "Are you coming out or should I barge in?" The voice outside seemed to up a notch.
"Okay, but what does he want?" Lyle whispered.
"A potion."
"Then why don't you make him one?"
"Because I cannot. I have failed multiple times."
"Oh… what kind of potion is it?" Lyle asked curiously.
"Uh… you won't understand it."
"But you can try explaining it?"
"Uh, you are too young for such matters. Now go." She patted his butt to send him away.
He reluctantly went out of the house to confront Reaver. He wanted to know this entire masquerade.
He came out and carefully locked the door.
He swept his gaze left and right, caution oozing out of his every movement.
Reaver looked at his unusual behavior and became curious. Why was this brat so cautious?
Lyle beckoned him to come closer. Confused, the man bent forward and extended his ear to him.
"Tell me what exactly happened to you, I won't tell anyone." With a wicked tone, Lyle whispered in his ears. He wanted to know it so painfully—his curiosity gnawed at his heart whenever he recalled the unusual behavior of the band ever since that fateful day. The worst part was that no one would tell, yet no one would forget, their transition, the change forever apparent in their new behavior.
They trained like racing horses and worked like donkeys, as if they had forgotten what being lazy actually meant. It wouldn't have been a problem if they had kept that principle to themselves. But they would then go on expecting the same from the children as well!
Oh, the helpless little children! Just because they weren't lazy, they wouldn't let anyone else laze around? What kind of logic was that?
Retreating his neck, the man watched him give a nod of assurance as if, with him, the secret will be kept safe forever.
For a moment, Reaver felt like spilling the beans, but then quickly realized he was about to be tricked by a mere kid. This further incensed him. What sent him fuming was the fact that he couldn't even tell him, even if he wanted to. What would he tell? That his pee-pee doesn't stand up anymore? That would only lead to further questions, like: what does it mean by pee-pee standing up? What good does a stood-up pee-pee do?
Though he wouldn't have known, Lyle would've asked, "Do you need it to stand up so that you can compete for whose pee can go the furthest? Is it a trick to win the game?"
"Kid, just bring your aunt out," Reaver commanded.
"She is sick. Just tell me your problem, and I will tell her. She will make you a potion when she feels better."
A vein popped on the man's forehead, and it took all of his willpower to hold himself back from lashing out at this annoying kid.
When the conversation seemed to be straining, irritating the man, Lyle jerked his neck, as if perking up to hear something all of a sudden. Then he bellowed in the direction of his home, "Yes, Mom? Did you say something?"
The voice rattled the men's ears, instantly setting them alert. They twisted their necks to look at the house, to know if their commander came out. When no voice came, they sighed in relief, and turned towards Lyle, glaring at him for tricking them.
The man had enough of this kid. He was holding himself back to not lower himself to this kid's level. But now, he will just shove him to the side and barge into the house to get to the witch.
Just as he took a step to act on his impulse, a voice they dreaded abruptly rattled their ears.
"No? Oh, just bring your aunt here. Breakfast is ready." Val spoke in her usual, bold voice.
"Yeees!" Lyle raised his eyebrows, gesturing the people to roll away, otherwise, the consequences could be dire.
The man slammed the butt of his staff on the ground in frustration and went away, taking his lackeys with him.
…
When this aggressive party known as Echo came to a distance away, one of the lackeys asked his boss, "Boss, why didn't your quaking magic alert the commander?"
Reaver stood stumped at the obvious logic. He felt stupid again. If the commander was aware of their aggression, why didn't she come out to silence them? This meant she didn't care about the conflict between him and her sister.
But still, he replied, "Because I only directed the quake to a limited area."
Realization dawned on the lackeys, and they questioned him no longer. They forgot to ask about his loud voice.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein