Chapter 159: Informant

Informant

The mock battles ended with the victory of the Lowell knights who participated, none of them losing a single one of their battles. And as a reward, they would each be able to get a certain item from an array of choices available, though, Xander wouldn’t be able to see any of that.

Another thing he noted was that with his ability to see intent, many of the knights that fought and lost, and even some who didn’t participate, had envy and longing in their intent whenever they looked at the Lowell knights. The second emotion was especially apparent.

’That’s right, let that longing draw you towards the proper paths of swordsmanship. Let it draw you to me.’ He hummed as he looked up.

The battles had gone well into the afternoon, and now the sun was beginning to set.

What was left for tonight was a pretty intense banquet. But this was between the King and those important figures in the kingdom. Hence, Xander and co weren’t invited and would rather eat their dinner in one of the lesser lounges before being allowed to do whatever, within reasonable limits of course.

Hence, after changing into more comfortable clothes, the group sat in one of such dining areas with an array of food, the mood pretty jovial.

"I’d say that was a successful day." Xander said and took a sip of his drink, the rest at the table agreeing with nods.

"It was nice to see the look on that Dorian guy’s face when he realized just how utterly outmatched he was. The way the people from the Mage Tower reacted when they realized that you were the real deal was fun, too." Curtis chuckle as he effortlessly tore off a chunk of meat from the slab on his fork. They talked freely as Mia was currently isolating them, so no one could pry into their conversation.

"Mhm. It was fun, but I’m a bit disappointed we didn’t get to show off our own haul just to make Dorian look even worse." Falael chuckled as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear to eat her food.

"That’s because that was Xander’s moment. Bringing our own haul out would have cheapened the effects of if it were only him." Aubrey pointed out. Holding out a fork of food towards Xander. He blinked in slight confusion, but quickly ate it with a thankful nod.

This did not go unnoticed by Falael.

"Anyway, guys. Do you think the ’seed of doubt’ was planted successfully?" Keir was the one who spoke this time, looking up from his plate as he licked sauce off his face.

"Definitely. After Xander’s display, the attitude of many showed signs of significant doubt, and whether the supremacy of traditional spellcasting is indeed as supreme as people believed." Aubrey explained calmly. "The most obvious cases were in those of the knights of the other invitees. Many of them displayed obvious signs of desire, which is what we want. We didn’t just show them how good the Lowell knights were. We showed them that their path, which they have stagnated in for years, can actually improve beyond its current stage." She lightly tapped the table.

"After this ball, it’s obvious that the next step is helping Xander establish his martial school, because from everything we’ve shown off recently, it’s not impossible to guess that if we do it, the influx of students will be larger than expected. However, there are many things we’ll need to look out for. For instance, I wouldn’t be surprised if Archmage Bellion has already sent people out to begin an operation to suppress the propagation of swordsmanship as much as possible. Perhaps resorting to underhanded means to keep it down." Aubrey’s words were analytical, and Xander allowed her to speak as they all listened closely.

Granted, something that kept catching Falael’s attention was how mid-speech, Aubrey had very calmly slipped her hand into Xander’s, intertwining their fingers. Xander hardly seemed to mind, though, but it still caught Falael’s attention.

"If I may." Mary, who was standing behind Xander’s chair, spoke.

"One thing I believe has a significant chance of happening is that if we do establish this school, it’s likely that opposing factions may send their people secretly to attend the school, either to destroy it from the inside or steal the techniques you teach." She pointed out, and Xander nodded slowly.

"True, but we have myself and Aubrey. Unless one is an Archmage or has power equivalent, it’s a bit hard to hide from our eyes." Xander said calmly. It wasn’t arrogance, just a clear understanding of their own skills.

"Right, Xander, I wanted to ask." Curtis suddenly said, his ears perked up in interest.

"Your focus is obviously swordsmanship, but it’s equally obvious that you know other martial disciplines. Like the boxing you taught Falael, the archery and dagger arts you taught Aubrey, the King Fu you taught Mary, and heck, even the wrestling you taught me. So my question basically is..." He gestured to Xander.

"Will the school strictly be swordsmanship, or will you teach other martial paths as well? Because you could have taught all of us swordsmanship, but you didn’t because, in your own words, ’You all have physiques and styles suited more to other styles rather than swordsmanship’. So going by that, not everyone who joins the school would be suited to swordsmanship, no?" Curtis asked a genuine question, and the table fell silent briefly.

Xander was contemplative, as he considered the words. Then he nodded slightly.

"It’s a fair question, and I’d been thinking about it too." He leaned into his chair. "I was thinking of maybe making it so that swordsmanship is the main focus of the school, but there will be other martial paths as options. Just like how in schools focusing on magic, spellcasting tends to be the main like, department. But there are other things, like alchemy, transmutation, enchanting, and so on." He replied.

Curtis nodded slowly.

"Alright. Yeah, that makes sense." He hummed and also leaned back into his chair, tail swaying thoughtfully.

The meal continued after that, and soon enough, they all went to their rooms, noting that they would find each other in case anything happened.

"Phew." Xander exhaled and shed his shirt, leaving his upper body bare as he went into the center of his room as drew Abscinde.

With how large the room was, the center had more than enough space for Xander to move around freely, and considering most of his skills were more about potency rather than destructive capability, as long as he didn’t actually hit anything, he’d be fine.

Hence, while Mia and Keir just watched silently from the side, Xander calmly moved with his sword, each and every stroke following a startling level of precision, and his muscles rippled under his skin. He didn’t move very fast, but anyone could see their sheer skill in all of it.

This went on for 30 minutes or so before Xander suddenly stopped and looked in a certain corner of the room.

"You can stop lurking now." There was a brief moment of silence, then a forced cough as a voluptuous figure materialized from the shadows and wiped her mouth of drool.

"I... I just got here, so I don’t know what you’re talking about." Mira said and folded her arms under her prominent bust, but the way her eyes kept darting to his bare torso was telling. And at some point, she didn’t even bother to keep it down as she bit her lip, her gaze downright ravenous.

Any weaker man would have folded instantly, but Xander just sighed and sheathed Abscinde.

"So, how did it go?" Mira blinked, then she seemed to remember why she was actually here and snapped her fingers.

"Right, it went pretty well actually. Seems like your recent actions have gotten many of the nobles in this place preetty active. Their usual defenses were lower because some were straight up panicking due to you, discussing countermeasures and stuff. It was pretty funny to watch, actually." She glanced at him.

"Still... A wyvern? Whistle. You’re scary strong then. And here I was thinking that the baby demon you killed was the extent of your abilities. And you’re actually changing the very system of a whole kingdom? Craazy motion you got there. Good on you." Xander rubbed his eyes.

’Why does she talk like that?’ He wondered as he asked.

"Anyway... what did you figure out?" At that, Mira just took out the list she had gotten and tossed it at Xander.

"There was a bunch of extra space in the paper, so I just documented everything I saw there, you can read it all." She shrugged. Then added.

"By the way, after being on the receiving end of the swordsmanship of yours, I can say with confidence that there are many demons who will want you dead. After all, the countermeasures they have in place for y’all revolve around suppressing standard spellcasting. So you can be a real issue if you’re allowed to spread that." That caused Xander to pause his reading, and he glanced up at her.

"You’re telling me this why?" Mira shrugged, one hand coming to stroke the base of one of her horns.

"Well, naturally, you’re my employer, albeit forced, so it would suck if you were caught off guard." Her then shifted her gaze away, pretending as though she wasn’t interested in something but very clearly was, her arms folded behind her head which showed off her smooth armpits.

"And perhaps I just want some payment..." Xander fixed a deadpanned stare on her.

"Not THAT kind of payment! Geez, I’ve given up on that." She huffed, but Xander saw the lie in that last part.

"Again, I require some form of compensation. Otherwise I’m gonna make working for you way harder than it should be." She said with a petulant pout.

Xander stared at her flatly for a few seconds, then he sighed.

’Whatever, screw it.’ He looked up at her and spoke.

"You said your abilities focus on dreams? Give me a more in depth explanation. I have a bit of an idea."