Ascendant Path of a Lustful Vampire

Chapter 520: Tales from the Break

***

-Lochxen-

The resumption for the second half of the semester was on the last day of the weekend, and it was mostly for students who lived on campus—practically the entire student base, except one.

Because of this, Kaya and the others had tried not to be too disappointed that Caius didn’t at least show up to see them. But the next day was a school day— he had to come then. Surely.

Neither of them had been able to get in contact with him on his Loqui-Link. The last they heard from him was a somewhat cryptic message that read;

‘I’ll see you soon.’

At the time the message came in, they hadn’t thought it was cryptic and had read it with anticipation. But now that they were at breakfast, which was almost ending, and they had to get to class, and he still wasn’t here, it started to seem like so.

“I bet he’ll be at Combat Magic Class,” Eloise said at the table to try to bolster spirits.

Eloise had been quite busy during the holidays. It was only a day after she got home that someone came to see her, sent by Caius to keep his promise to her.

The challenge after that was making sure her family didn’t find out she was using her musical talents to actually make music.

“Sound Magic is a serious art,” they would say, “we have spent centuries making it that way and cementing our place among the other combative Unique Elements.

We won’t have you throw that all away because of a silly wish!”

Just thinking of them stopping her was harsh enough, and Eloise knew it would be worse if that conversation ever actually happened.

But she had managed to avoid it. For one, at nineteen years old, she was considered an adult and not as supervised as she would have been in her younger years.

Also, the fact that she had advanced to the Fourth Circle after only a Month at Lochxen and had used her Sound Magic in actual combat and had excelled at it earned her a lot of praise and freedom.

So Eloise had been able to entertain her guest in private and discuss her musical career without too much worry.

The one who came was a tall woman dressed in professional-looking wear that seemed mostly for putting Eloise at ease. The woman, who called herself simply ‘Em’ hadn’t said exactly where she came from or who she was. Only that she had a job to do.

Recordings were done away from Eloise’s home, in a furnished and magnificent mansion within her County. There had been many sessions, many collaborations as they helped flesh out lyrics, tune, and so much more.

Whatever organization Em belonged to, that Caius had employed for this, had acquired the experience of current masters of the musical arts whose talents were still on occasion called on to dazzle at a Function of a party.

Eloise had a lot of fun discussing with them. Learning that for many of them, singing was all they had when magical talents and other prospects failed them. And for some others, Music was freedom. They used it as an escape from family expectations and societal pressures.

Eloise related to both sides, really. Whatever anyone says about her talents in combat, she didn’t feel as confident or as interested. This—music—was all she felt she had. And like those using it to escape pressure, it truly was freedom for her.

Still, greedy as she was, when all that fun with the recordings ended, and a return to Lochxen was on the way, she didn’t feel sad or disappointed. Now, she was beginning to wonder if she could have it all.

“We’ll begin enticing the public with your talent soon enough,” Em had told Eloise gently.

“Can we start away from here?” Eloise had asked her in reference to her home County.

The thought of it blasting in the ears of her family and ruining the bit of goodwill she had gained with them didn’t fill her with a lot of joy or anticipation.

Em had smiled.

“We’ll start as far away from here as possible, if that’s what you want.

We want it Empire-wide after all, so we might as well start now,” she had said.

“And, how long before it gets here?” Eloise had then asked tentatively.

Em became thoughtful.

“Depends on whether you want it to be a fast or slow process. Both have their advantages, but generally, a fast process poses more risk of—how do I put this—people getting sick of you.”

“And the slow one?”

“Well, that’s more methodical. Rather than simply blasting the tunes wherever we can, we’ll focus on key areas;

It’ll be about visiting Nobilities, getting endorsements to help it spread within their circle, and then doing little clusters of well-managed dispersion.

There’ll be moments of withdrawal to keep you requested and ultimately, hopefully, get them addicted to listening to you. Usually, this process comes with its share of risks to Musicians, but you’re not like the others, and when I say there’s magic in your tunes, I actually mean that literally.”

As she spoke, Em held up one of the devices on which Eloise’s runes had been recorded. It glowed subtly with Arcane runes that had been used to trap the Sound Magic she had infused in her voice as she sang.

“Thanks,” Eloise had said with a flush on her cheeks.

“So which will it be?” Em had asked like it wasn’t already obvious.

“The second is good.”

“Well, keeping this region for last, it’ll be about a year before it gets here. Provided none of your family members hear it elsewhere, of course,” Em had said.

“That’s alright,” Eloise had nodded. If, after all precautions, they still found out early, she would just have to accept it as inevitable. After all, they were always going to find out.

And now, back to the present…

Eloise was back at Lochxen. The propagation of her month-long hard work had begun. She was still receiving updates from Em, but they were usually mostly checking up on her as the part of the business they were currently on couldn’t quite involve her.

All in all, as fun as her break had been, Eloise was happy to be back at Lochxen. That joy would have simply been completed and made buoyant if Caius were here.

The others agreed when she reached that point while telling them what she had been busy with over the break.

“So what about you?” Eloise asked them.

“I did nothing,” Aylin announced proudly with her perfect nose turned up toward the ceiling and her breasts thrust out a bit.

“Okay,” Eloise said slowly, not sure how to take that.

“After all that hustle and bustle during the first half of the semester, I needed to be pampered, so that’s what I was. I even dragged mother out of her boring meetings to relax with me,” Aylin continued,

“I mean, how do you get a month to yourself and spend it working?”

“Haven’t you heard?” Eloise said with a smile, “It’s not work if you love what you do.

Delia, what about you?”

“I trained,” Delia answered instantly, a fire in her stormy grey eyes,

“My family was a lot more lenient with me about my interests. Of course, there was the odd mention of how I would have done better with traditional magic and not ‘Mage-Knight hoodlum tricks’, but they were the most supportive they’ve ever been.

They didn’t stop me from exercising and training with weapons. Now if they would just allow a Mage-Knight into the Castle so I could actually practice my skills…”

As far as being the black sheep in her family of traditional Mages was concerned, the past month of break was the best time Delia had had at home. She had trained with the Von Helsing Regimen so much that her strength had long reached the peak of the Fourth Circle. Her muscles were brimming with potent might just waiting to be unleashed— Hence her wish for an actual sparring partner.

Returning to Lochxen, Delia had looked forward to Caius being that sparring partner, and as breakfast headed to a close, she was starting to fear the worst.

“Kaya?” Eloise asked as though she could just tell her best friend had the most noteworthy tale to tell.

Kaya opened her mouth and closed it with a little smile. The other two were looking at her now as well, like they could sense what Eloise had sensed.

But Breakfast ended then, and they had to go to class.

“Later,” she told them as they all got up.

They walked to the Combat Magic Classroom eagerly. Delia as well, because as much as she preferred Mage-Knight Training, she hadn’t failed Combat Magic in the first half of the Semester and qualified to keep taking it.

She would have dropped it even then, but all the goodwill and freedom her family had granted her over the break hinged on the agreement that she continue with Combat Magic.

Seeing her fighting a Fiend from Hell hadn’t convinced them she was meant to be a Mage-Knight and not a Mage. Instead, it had convinced them she could be both.