บท 85: Chapter 85: Daley Findlay
Chapter 85: Daley Findlay
It was around 7.00 A.M.
A black-curtained Brougham carriage rolled down the wide lane of Garden Street, finally halting near a four-story building at the end of the road, right before an iron gate.
A moment later, a young man with jet-black hair stepped out first, adjusting his bowler hat as he set a monocle in place.
"Is this the Inn?" He asked. Meanwhile, a middle-aged man, a 35-year-old maid in uniform, and a young woman dressed in a black robe followed suit, each gazing up at the dome-shaped building in shock.
"The whole Garden Street is a part of this Inn, My Lord," Selene responded while looking at the building and added.
"This building is just an entrance. The reason Wizards and nobles often come here is mainly because of privacy. Unlike other inns, each guest will be allocated a private house upon booking and given special care based on the amount they spend on booking. Some legendary Wizards like Johnathan and Judith stayed in this place for decades. I also heard that this private house ranges from a small house to a large mansion."
As Selene spoke, Jacob quickly regained his composure, handed the driver a gold coin, and sent the carriage on its way.
On the other hand, Raven took out the pocket watch, checked the time by flipping the outer case, and moved closer to the compound gate.
"Welcome to the Crown's Tavern, esteemed guests!" Two young men in red uniforms greeted them while bowing their heads. Both held a long rifle in their hands and also wore a black cap. Then, one of the guards stepped forward and asked.
"Before entering the Inn, please show us your identity certificate, sir. Crown's Tavern is available only for Royals, nobles, and Wizards."
Raven nodded and took out his Warrant of Precedence before presenting it to the guard.
Meanwhile, the guard opened the document and checked it.
"Lord of Holmes Knight Household?" The guard raised his eyebrows.
"Even the Knights come under the noble category. And my family was once a noble household, too." Raven said calmly.
One of the guards instantly understood what the young boy was implying and bowed his head.
"Forgive my rudeness, Sir Thomas. It's not because of the title but because of the cost. Even barons and viscount household members hesitate to come here because of the expense." The guard said with an awkward smile.
"I've my circumstances."
Raven took the document from the guard and walked ahead towards the Inn.
The front building was a tall structure draped in ivy with elegant archways and tall windows adorned with embroidered curtains. A few carriages and horses lined the left side yard as servants bustled around, helping the guests with luggage and guiding them inside. Upon closer look, Raven noticed the whole group was escorting a pale-skinned young man to the mansion. He had long, snowy hair and bluish eyes and appeared to be around 20 years old.
He calmly adjusted the monocle and soon squinted his eyes.
'A boy with Prodigy Rank affinity? It's a new term. From what I've read from the books, the affinity ranks start from Low, then Medium, High, Extraordinary, and end in Genius, right?'
[Prodigy is above Genius Rank, lad. There is also a Divine Rank, but a baby born with a 'Divine' Rank in a High Plane is one in ten or even a hundred billion. And even the Prodigy rank appears rarely. If I'm not wrong, this Empire should have only 4 to 5 prodigies in this generation.]
'And he is one of those few prodigies?' Raven's eyes sharpened. What surprised him was his current rank.
'Why is he only an Acolyte Wizard?'
"Who is that young man?" Raven asked.
"Those carriages belong to the Findlay Family, My Lord. I think it's Daley Findlay, once a rumored genius but now became a shame of the family." Jacob paused for a moment and added in a low voice.
"Still, please show some respect if you bump into him." Jacob could see they were also moving towards the reception hall and got worried.
"Daley Findlay? Who is he?" Raven furrowed.
"Great-Grandson of Viola Findlay, My Lord." Upon noticing the puzzled look on his face, Selene let out a deep sigh and explained.
"She is the Wizard who fell in love with a slum boy and founded the Findlay Family. This boy should be the fourth child of her third son's first son."
'Oh? A noble of one of the twelve ancient families, huh? I heard that this family was included in the ancient families later and still isn't acknowledged by other families.'
"Tell me more about this young man," Raven spoke with interest.
"Daley is a fifth-year student of Crows Misery Academy, My Lord. Although he got admitted to the academy thanks to his High-rank Ice affinity, his progression stopped after his first year. There are rumors that he will be expelled from the academy for failing to meet the academic standards." Selene answered.
"Is recruiting him once he is expelled from the academy possible?" Raven's question stunned Selene and Jacob.
"You must be joking, My Lord. Even though he is soon to be expelled, he comes from a renowned Margrave family. And even this young man's assets' worth should be more than your household's. The two knights standing behind him are peak Radiant Rank experts, too. Don't even think of making such a proposal." Jacob said in a worried tone.
"From what I've heard, his cousin plans to participate in the upcoming tournaments for the Sage candidate selection. If he succeeds and becomes a sage candidate, the Findlay Household's worth will soar much higher than now. Forming a friendly relationship with him would be best, My Lord." Selene Suggested.
"Sage candidate? Now that I think about it, I also read about the Sage and Serpent competition or something in the news once. What are they?" Raven asked as they entered the Inn's main hall.
At that moment, Daley and his escorts entered the reception hall through the VIP door and moved closer.
Alas, Raven had no intention of stopping asking questions.
"You guys wait here for a while. I'll go and book rooms for us." Jacob decided to escape from getting into a complicated situation.
While Jacob went to the reception to book rooms, Selene explained the Serpents and Sages.
"It's the next generation Serpents and Sages selection competition, My Lord. Empire selects the best Wizards and Walkers and gives them titles called 'Serpents and Sages.' They all are Legendary Powerhouses from different families and could be considered prodigies of the previous generation. Seven Serpents are Wizards or Walkers who excelled in battles and achieved countless merits for the past three centuries. The current seven Serpents are Jose from the Maddis Family, Tibris from the Gavenstone Family, Gylan from the Warfield Family, Isaac from the Heart Family, Joshua from the Arcturus Family, Presley from the Harrowmont Family, and Amy from the Thornevale family. All six Serpent members except for Amy became the patriarch more than two centuries ago, holding the highest status in the Empire." Selene paused for a moment to take a breath and continued.
"Unlike Serpents, Sages are people who contributed to the growth of the Empire through knowledge and other skills. The first Sage is Judith, the vice-president of the Crows Misery; the second Sage is Johnathan, the Alchemy Sage; the third Sage is Annie from the Blackwater Family; the fourth Sage is Derek from the Ravenshield Family; and the fifth Sage is Marcus from the Sterlinghart Family."
"It's a privileged title for people from the ancient families, huh?" Raven nodded in understanding and quietly sat on the sofa placed in the reception hall.
After that, he looked at the pale-skinned young man sitting on the nearby sofa and added.
"And the reason the Findlay family was left out of this group should be because of their origin, right? After all, the Findlay Family isn't an ancient family but a newly founded one."
His words were loud enough for everyone in the reception hall to hear, causing an abrupt silence.
"M-My Lord!" Selene and Stephaine panicked while two silver-armored guards behind Daley moved their hands toward the sword hilt. One was a blonde-haired woman in her twenties, while the other was a young man with deep blue eyes and black hair.
[Why are you provoking a Noble child? These guys are petty and hold grudges, lad.]
'He is different.' Raven said while touching the monocle.
On the other hand, Daley Findlay also heard his provocative words and turned his gaze towards him with sharp eyes.
A smile crept on Raven's face.
"Please forgive earlier my rude remarks. I'm Thomas Holmes, Young Master." He introduced himself while making a light bow.
A pin-drop silence appeared in the reception hall.
After a few seconds, Daley nodded his head and spoke.
"I'm Daley Findlay." He paused while closing his eyes for two seconds and soon spoke.
"Although the Serpents are from ancient families, even commoners like Judith and Johnathan become Sages due to their contribution and vast knowledge. We lost in the previous competition of Serpents, not because of the privilege but due to the lack of talent. That's why our family is prepared as the best candidate for the Sage competition."
"The best candidate from your family?" Raven tilted his head and added.
"But aren't you the best? With your talent, you can achieve much more than mere title, though." His words made Daley's guards get even angrier.
"You bastard-!" The blonde-haired woman unsheathed her sword and was ready to attack.
"Stop it, Maisie." Daley raised his hand and asked.
"It seems you don't know my current situation. It's been five years since I joined the academy, but I haven't even managed to construct my third spell model. I'll be expelled from the academy this December, Mr. Thomas. What made you think that I can achieve such a thing?" His voice contained a trace of tiredness.
Raven listened while adjusting his monocle and looked at his status again.
…
[Name: Daley Findlay
Age: 20
Nationality: Zenith Empire
Title: Terminally ill Young Master
Class: Acolyte Wizard (Rank-1), Second Circle.
Health: Abnormal (Curse of Frost)
Traits: Calm Headed, Noble's Pride, Silent Rivalry, Archeologist, Classical Knowledge, Social Etiquette, Political Knowledge and Governance, Horsemanship, Musician.
Past History: As a descendant of Viola Findlay, he studied elementary and higher studies at the Royal Knights Academy and became a top-rank student. Then, he was selected as Wizard Candidate and enrolled in the Crows Misery five years ago. However, due to his low ranking, he is expected to be expelled sooner.
Current Status: Curious
Attributes:
Strength: 2.0
Agility: 3.0
Vitality: 2.5
Luck: 0.5
Spirit: 7
Spells:
Ice Heart (Unstable), Chill Touch (Unstable).
Additional Skills:
None
Affinities:
Space- Prodigy
Ice- HighàLow]
[… This young man has a bad luck. He has a prodigy rank in spatial element, but the best he did was to construct two unstable ice spells. This lad seems only focused on the ice element.] Zera muttered.
'It seems he chose Ice spells because of his long family lineage. But what is this curse?' Raven furrowed and decided to answer his question.
"That's because you haven't found your hidden talent yet, Young Master Daley."
'Zera, tell me more about curses.'
[Curses are spells that affect a person's physical or astral form permanently or temporarily. As far as I know, only necromancers and Dark Mages practice curse-type spells. And from the looks of it, the curse in this boy's body is more like a bloodline curse. It happens when someone intakes too much-condensed ice elemental energy for a long period while skipping precautions or intakes something that affects the bloodline.]
'Condensed Ice elemental energy?' Raven asked with a frown.
As Zera was explaining, Daley let out a chuckle and shook his head.
"We've tried all the methods to strengthen my ice affinity. I even hired an Expert rank Alchemist to look into my condition and get treatment every week. But my condition only deteriorates." He said with a bitter smile.
At that moment, Zera seemed to have found the answer and shouted in Raven's mind.
[That's it! Usually, nobles, ladies, and wealthy people eat the meat of magical beasts during pregnancy so that the unborn baby will get a small wisp of elemental energy. And theoretically, even such a small wisp of elemental energy could strengthen a particular elemental link between body and soul. But if someone consumes elemental meat more than their body can handle, a soul-body link problem will occur, resulting in the baby being born dead. Due to that, it's almost forbidden to eat magical beast meat during pregnancy period. That's why it's common sense not to eat magical beast meat more than two or three times a month. And there is also no proof of someone increasing their elemental affinity just by consuming magical beast meat.]
'Does that mean he is recklessly consuming magical beast meat or potion?' Raven asked.
[He is not a naïve fool to consume something without knowing the risk. As a descendant of a legendary ice wizard, he should know the consequences of consuming condensed ice elemental energy, too. I have two guesses. First, someone closer to him practices dark magic and occasionally casts a bloodline curse spell on him. That Expert Alchemist might be the culprit. Second, he is taking a food item that affects his bloodline. And I highly suspect that an alchemist might be testing out his research on him using treatment as an excuse. As far as I know, this world or the Wizards from Ivory Continent doesn't know how to create an affinity potion. But that doesn't mean they haven't tried it yet.] Zera's words made Raven widen his eyes.
'Ingredients that affect bloodline…' A list of potion formulas and the ingredient names appeared in his head.
'In truth, Wizards have no connection with bloodline magic. Wizards pursue the magic of the purest form and understand the elements through research and knowledge. At the same time, Warlocks devour the blood of another strong race and go through mutation to obtain supernatural abilities. Alas, one's bloodline is crucial in deciding one's affinity. For Example, a descendant of an Ice Dragon bloodline Warlock will have a higher 'Ice' or 'Water' affinity than a normal human. Surprisingly, most of the descendants of Viola Findlay seem to excel in Ice Affinity and Ice Magic.' As Raven realized that Viola Findlay might not be a Wizard but a Bloodline Warlock, he quickly selected all the bloodline potion formulas related to ice elements and looked into them. Among those ingredients, some cause one's Ice elemental bloodline to act violently, some induce the 'will' hidden in the bloodline essence to overtake original consciousness, and some ingredients act as suppression for the side effects.
Within seconds, Raven found the ingredients that could suppress the ice elemental rampage.
'Sun Lotus Petals, Lava Essence Crystal, Feather Flame berry, Sun Heart Herb, Scorching Flower Nectar…'
'Wait, his Ice affinity has already downgraded to low rank. Even if he got cured of this curse, nothing will change. But why didn't he construct even a single spatial spell?' Only then did Raven realize he might not even know his affinity ranks.
"A piece of advice from a fellow wizard, young master. Discard the coldness in your heart. May you find your right path in the void. If you manage to find the right path, come and look for me." Raven's words were like mysterious hidden clues etched deep into Daley's mind.
At that moment, Jacob approached them and whispered something in Raven's ear.
"You need to see the booking list yourself, My Lord. The cost is a bit too high for a single-storied house."
"Oh, excuse my rudeness, Young Master. It seems I need to select the room myself." Raven said and gave Daley an elegant bow before standing up and walking towards the reception desk.
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