Chapter 56 – Tina’s Trouble

After getting forced out of the house, Asterios headed towards the main market which was located in the very heart of Rosewind. His mother was too worried and didn’t even think of preparing breakfast today. He was sure she did not eat anything either. So, the first thing he had to do was to grab a bite of something before his hunger would start giving notices of its existence.

And after everything that happened, Asterios certainly required a bigger fill than usual. He strolled through the alleys created by various stands and open-air shops while looking at their appealing to the eye and nose wares. He decided to go for something different this time and chose an actual restaurant on the side of the main square.

The place was quite crowded but that was normal for the current hour. He found a free spot by one of the smaller tables and ordered a big serving of grilled fish with rice and two salads. The order was prepared quickly. It looked like most of the place’s customers were more into other kinds of meat. 

Surprisingly, one dish was not enough and Asterios had to order another helping. He concluded he must have been exhausted by the events of the previous day even more than he thought. He never ate this much. But, it could be explained with lots of stress and that pressure from the fiery energy which surrounded him for quite some time yesterday. He also performed Evanescent Summoning, had Miria and Selene act for almost half a day, and released lots of spiritual energy himself.

Two was enough to completely fill the hole in his stomach and Asterios left the restaurant. His next goal was to head towards Nobelle’s family residence. But, it would be rude to arrive empty-handed, so he took a turn and entered the market’s section dealing in small gifts and ornaments.

He’d rather pick something from his mother’s shop, but that was obviously not possible as of now. It was still closed for inspection and he couldn’t just go and pick something up from a supposed crime scene. Thus, he slowly made his way through the colorful canopies and looked around for something that would serve as a nice gift.

Asterios stopped by a certain stand ran by an older man which dealt in various hair ornaments and other jewelry. All of them looked to be handmade and had a certain style and pattern possible to discern in each piece. The prices were also quite affordable. 

He pondered for a moment if something like this would be suitable as a present for a young lady of a noble family until his gaze landed on a certain item he just couldn’t take his eyes off. The more he stared at it the more perfect of a fit it felt. Asterios didn’t let himself get any second thoughts and picked it up.

Choosing an appropriate packaging for it, he paid the owner the required sum and left the market square. Checking the nearby clocktower, he nodded to himself. It should be fine to head to his destination as the hour wasn’t too early after he spent some time outside. The Nobelle family should be all up by now.

In fifteen minutes, he found himself in front of their residence. It was considerably smaller than the Richtenstein’s one and did not include a fancy, wide garden, but the marble-white building still gave off aristocratic vibes. The premise was surrounded by a white stone fence too, and there was a small guard post integrated into the part near the silvery main gate. A man was sitting inside while observing the surroundings.

Asterios came closer to the structure and the guard stood up.

“Do you have any business here, sir?”

“I’m a friend of Lady Tina. Would it be possible to deliver a message to her if she is home?”

“Depends on the contents.”

“Just that I’m here.”

“That should be fine. Please, wait here for a moment.”

The man left his stone booth and walked towards the mansion with a quick step. The distance wasn’t great so he entered through the front door in around ten seconds. Asterios waited in front of the gate for around five more minutes and noticed the doors flying open again. A certain blue-haired girl darted through them and ran towards him. The same guard soon emerged after her with a surprised expression.

“My Lady! Please wait!” he shouted while trying to catch up to the girl.

Asterios observed as the young lady trotted towards the entrance with hasty steps. She wore a beautiful, casual, one-piece dress which ended shortly above her knees. It was of dark grey and white colors. Tina quickly arrived on the other side of the silver gate and put her hands on the bars, trying to open it. 

“Why didn’t you say yesterday that you will be coming here?! I would have prepared!”

He chuckled and helped push the heavy wing inside, opening up a path. “What’s there to prepare?”

“My Lady! You shouldn’t be doing this yourself! It’s my responsibility to open—”

The guard finally arrived by their side and started speaking, only to be stopped by Tina’s hand.

“It’s fine! Just close the gate. I’ll take care of the rest myself. And if you ever see this person come again, just let them through and notify me instantly!” She then turned back to Asterios while patting over her clothes to fix them and blushed a little. “I would have at least let everyone know if you told me beforehand. Come. Let’s go inside.”

She almost reached out and grabbed Ast’s hand in the midst of all of this, but she realized her action in time and hastily withdrew it, starting to walk away. Asterios noticed the guard staring at him slightly confused and he just shrugged at the man before following after Tina.

They went through the ornamental double doors and she closed them after Asterios. The main lobby was decorated mostly with similar, white marble structures and columns as the building from the outside. It gave a completely different feeling from Richtenstein’s one. There were many tapestries in dark blue colors, with the Nobelle’s family crest woven into them with silver thread.

Tina stepped in front of Asterios and waved at him. “Come further. Let’s go to my room before—”

“I was wondering why you suddenly ran off from the table like there was something on fire, but now I understand everything perfectly.”

Tina shivered a little. A woman walked out of one of the corridors to their left. She also wore a casual dress in a similar fashion to Tina’s, and her hair was of the same color but much longer, reaching even over her waistline behind her back. She had a mature and gentle face and was visibly taller than the girl. 

The identity behind that person was obvious to Asterios and he bowed towards the woman.

“Greetings, Viscountess Nobelle. I apologize for showing up in front of you in this shabby outfit. I currently don’t possess appropriate clothing for such visits as this is all I have.”

The woman waved her hand. “Please, don’t mind it. We are not gathering for a ball.” She then smiled at them and courteously skipped while holding the hem of her dress. “I don’t believe we’ve met before. My name is Luna Nobelle. Asterios, as I presume?”

He lowered only his head this time while moving his hand over his heart. “I’m surprised such a refined lady knows my name, but yes, you are correct, Lady Luna. It’s an honor to meet you.”

She chuckled softly. “Oh, trust me, there’s barely anyone in this family who didn’t hear about you. And I’m now certain that those stories were, in fact, not exaggerated.”

“Mom!” 

Tina let out a desperate shout while her face kept growing redder with each passing second which made the adult woman let out a quiet laugh again. Asterios sighed. He was slightly confused by her words but started pondering if all mothers had this teasing personality in common.

“Why won’t you join us for breakfast, Asterios?” Lady Luna asked.

Tina grabbed Ast by the wrist and started dragging him the opposite way.

“I’m sure he already ate! We’ll be talking about important things in my room so don’t disturb us!”

He flashed a wry smile at the Viscountess before disappearing in another pathway. Tina quickly led him through various passages until they arrived on the second floor, in front of a fancy-looking, wooden door. She opened them and let him inside, hastily turning the lock after coming in too.

Asterios looked around the chamber. It was quite spacious and hosted a big, double bed, a small area with a desk and cabinets, a coffee table surrounded by two sofas, a section with many wardrobes and dressers, and a small corner most likely meant for toiletries.

He heard Tina exhale heavily and turned around. Only after looking at him, she realized that she was still holding Ast’s hand and quickly took it away while turning her gaze to the side. They stood in front of the door in silence for a good minute before Asterios decided to move to the guest area by himself. He sat down and Tina soon followed on the other side. She was clearly nervous with her gaze jumping all around.

“I’m sorry,” Asterios spoke first.

“Eh?” She glanced at him in confusion.

“For causing you trouble.”

She chuckled nervously. “No, it’s nothing. I’m really happy you came. I honestly didn’t expect that, but… yeah…” She smiled at him and started to slowly calm herself down. “So… About what you said yesterday...”

“Everything should be resolved soon so you don’t have to worry about my mom anymore. And neither about me. Additionally, I made sure you won’t have to deal with Roz anymore. But, if you would feel any discomfort from anything related to the Richtensteins, let me know immediately.”

Tina stared at Asterios with wide eyes. He was saying that he not only managed to somehow fix his mother’s situation which most likely originated from Roz but also that he could deal with the boy’s family like it was something extremely easy to do.

“Did you…”

“No, I didn’t kill him. Just taught him a lesson or two. He will wish I’d have killed him if he ever dares to even look at you or my mom with a frown.”

She couldn’t believe her ears. At the same time, she was smiling ever so faintly. He included not only his mom in that sentence but also her. It felt almost as if he was swearing to protect her. 

As Tina’s heart was starting to beat faster, she was now completely sure that something was different. Asterios barely cared about anyone else besides his mother and his summons. Any other magical beasts and entities were next in line. But his fellow colleagues, be it guys or girls, pretty much experienced the cold shoulder treatment after the initial year in the academy. She saw it herself since she enrolled at the same time.

She refocused her mind back on the present and glanced at Asterios calmly sitting in front of her.

“But how did you manage to do that? You just left after our previous conversation and returned barely two hours later. Of course, if you don’t mind telling me…” she asked a bit timidly.

“Well, I just kind of went there and had a talk with Marquess Wilhelm.”

“Wait. They let you in just like that?”

He showed a wry smile. “If you consider punching one guard into unconsciousness and remodeling their garden to have a bit simpler way to go through the maze as just like that then yeah.

Tina paled a little. “You stormed the Richtestein’s mansion?!”

“I guess you could say that.” He chuckled. “But, if you think that this is already bad…”

“Don’t tell me you did something to the Marquess…”

Ast waved his hand in dismissal. “No. I learned that he had barely anything to do with this. His son on the other hand… I had a bottle of Venation Purveyor, a poison, on me, and it helped me make him admit to a few things which I obviously shouldn’t disclose as his family wouldn’t want others into their internal affairs.”

“What?! You fed Roz Venation Purveyor?!” Tina almost jumped from shock, surprising Asterios.

“You know it?”

She hastily calmed herself down and fixed her position. “Well… Umm… I’ve heard about it… from one of my aunts during a gathering… She once learned that the man she was meeting was also seeing many other women… You know… That kind of seeing… So she got really angry and bought it from somewhere, pouring it into his tea during his next visit… And well… I’ve heard it was really bad… He has to wear expensive, magically enhanced and inscribed underwear to just… walk…” She recounted the story while sending Ast glances. “Does that mean he…”

“No, I gave him an antidote. Although I really wanted to just leave him like that, I was already dancing on the tip of the blade doing all that to him in front of his father.”

Tina nodded. It was a good decision, even if he had earned it with all things he had done in the past. She knew he hurt the feelings of many girls in the academy. And not only.

Asterios continued to wrap up his story. “So, I had a lengthy and quite lively talk with pretty much half of the Richtenstein family, made the Marquees promise me to repair the damage and got out… through the wall in his office… which may or may not exist anymore…”

Tina sighed. “And they let you go just like they let you in? How did you even destroy a wall?”

“You are forgetting that I’m not alone. It’s kind of different from the past. And I believe you’ve experienced it already.”

She was going to ask what he meant but then she remembered how his hair and eyes suddenly changed and she was pressured with strong spiritual energy after Asterios came back home. His fierce gaze was something new too. And one more thing. Or rather two. Two people.

“Ummm… About that… These two women that appeared by your side… I assume they helped you, but… Who are they?” she asked, a little nervous, carefully choosing her words.

“I think it would be better if they introduced themselves instead of me just talking about them. What do you think?” he replied with a smile.

Tina nodded, and soon after, two dark crimson gates emerged from the ground behind Ast’s sofa. The two women she saw yesterday walked from the respective ones. One black-haired and cute girl in a reddish vest and hot pants, and a white-haired, refined lady in an exotic dress in black, blue, and white. Both had animal ears on top of their heads and tails behind their backs.

“Hi, Tina! Long time no see!” the black-haired one suddenly spoke to her.

“Pardon?” Tina tilted her head in confusion. “Do we… know each other?”

Miria giggled and moved from behind the sofa to an open space and leaned forward. Black mist surrounded her body as she fell on all fours, and a moment later, she turned into a big black panther.

Tina stood up and pointed at the huge cat which walked closer to Asterios and placed its head on his thighs, letting him scratch its ears. Her eyes were wide like never before.

“You were a girl?! Then… Back then… Even in the Principal's office…”

Asterios nodded at her while smiling. “Since the very beginning. She is the same Miria you’ve seen before. My summon and companion.”

Tina’s eyes moved to the other woman who was staring at her with a cryptic smile.

“It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Tina. My name is Selene and I’m also my Lord’s summon. Although, I cannot change forms like Miria.”

Tina stood there with her arm extended and mouth agape. She was shocked. And it was not because Asterios somehow summoned humanoid-looking familiars. No. She was frozen because there were two amazingly beautiful girls pretty much bound to him. How was she going to even compete with them?!