Prince of The Abyss

The tournament was in about a month, in October, so he had enough time until then. He did find it funny how it was in the middle of fall, while at the same time promising the winner the ability to pass any class automatically. He wondered if there were people who skipped some classes thinking they would win.

Only to get knocked out in the early rounds and probably fail the class.

Speaking of passing a class, he really was going to have to put effort in Anchor class, as much as he didn’t want to, in all of them except Team Coordination, since he had gotten the record with Lilith, and had already passed it for this fall, once spring came he was going to have to come again, but for the time being he didn’t care.

For the rest, it wasn’t so easy; he wasn’t a Vessel, at least in the eyes of everyone else but a few like the King and Keres. So he won’t get any special treatment as Sena did, and that allowed her to do nothing. Actually, he was probably going to have an even harder time, since his so-called origins, even if he wasn’t truly born from the Withered.

But at least for today, he was done with school, so he didn’t have to worry about all of that.

Leaving the school, Aether headed straight towards the Merchant Ward, for a very specific reason. He wasn’t there to buy anything. But rather to talk to someone.

Wearing the day-to-day clothes he had stolen, Aether entered the blacksmith, and once he did, the old man sitting behind the counter started laughing. ”Here again to beg, Aether?” This was the owner of the smith, an old man pretty short by nature, full of white hair, and a lot of muscles and tattoos, but while he might seem intimidating sometimes, he was the opposite.

Aether laughed, approaching him. ”I mean, sure. Do you have any free relics?”

The man grabbed his beard almost as if he was thinking before picking up a weapon from the wall and showing it to Aether, which surprised him. ”If you pay for this blade, I can give it to you for free.”

Aether stared at him, confused, almost as if he was asking him if he was serious. ”That’s not free, you know!?”

The man burst into laughter, slapping the table with his arm, almost breaking it in two. Wiping the tear from his eyes, he smiled at Aether. ”So what are you here for? Did you come for a special reason, or are you still here to beg?”

Aether shook his head. ”No, not at all. I’m not here for a relic or to sell anything. When you were on vacation, I came here and sold some stuff, and I saw you had a boy working instead of you.”

The smith’s eyes widened as he brought up his new subordinate... but he was more surprised by the fact that Aether had come in to do something other than beg... he wished he had been there to see it happen. But at the same time, it was also happening now.

”What about him? I hired him because I’m getting old and have been needing some help, plus, since he is from the Withered, he is really cheap, while having more talent and even being better than some from the Blue Rose that are more expensive... did he not give you the right amount, or treated you badly, I can talk to him about that if it did happen.”

Aether paused for a second, surprised by the man’s words; he hadn’t expected him to care so much about him. He knew they had a good relationship, because all the time he had come and talked to him, but to think he would punish his worker whom he saw a lot in just because of a mistake...

After getting back to his senses, he quickly denied it, not trying to do the boy any harm. ”No, not at all. Everything was fun; I just wanted to talk to him, nothing else.”

The man tilted his head. ”What would you ever want to talk to him about... I mean, I guess you are both from the Withered, and share a lot of trauma and whatever, but at the same time, he’s a worker in a smith in the Merchant Ward, while you are a student in an Academy where only Celestials and high nobles go to...”

’Is there really that big of a difference? I mean, I only got here because of the Abyss.’

”For the same reason you hired him, because of his potential, I want to see for myself and such.”

The old man gasped jokingly. ”Are you trying to betray me, boy? And make my own trainee your relic maker.”

Aether rolled his eyes. ”I haven’t even made a relic here, ever, so how am I betraying you?”

The smith burst out laughing again. ”I’m just joking, I couldn’t care less. I still make my money.” He opened the counter. ”Come in, he’s in the room on the left, making a blade.”

Turning towards the other room, he screamed. ”Atlas! You have a visitor.”

The boy turned, confused, only to see Aether entering the room. His eyes widened as he stiffened in place. After all, what other reason would a past customer have to come back if not because they are unsatisfied... or if they were happy with your work, but in his mind, the chances of the former being true were far bigger.

Aether laughed at his reaction, walking over to him, as the smith let them talk. ”Atlas, right? I heard that old bastard call you that; that’s your name, right? I’m Aether.”

The boy quickly nodded, trying not to anger him; after all, he knew that one mistake might cost him his whole job.

”Um... welcome back, Aether,” He panicked. ”Sir Aether,” he quickly corrected himself, trying to be as formal as he could.

Aether smiled. ”It’s fine, you can call me Aether...” He leaned forward, whispering into his ear. ”Or the Abyss if you wish.”