Flester remained in the clearing where he and Night were supposed to meet, Flester had arrived a while before the fixed time and yet even after an hour passed, the old man was nowhere in sight.
Currently, the orphaned apprentice was meditating in the centre of the clearing, a calm look on his face.
Though, it was quite the opposite of what was going on in his head. His head was a total mess but the topic that was right now dominating his thoughts were his talks with Aira, the angel figured girl wanted to talk to him and seemed quite calm while eating after Night had gone.
Even though Flester, though reluctantly tried to start a conversation, it seemed as if she had a separate ability to shut down others, or maybe only him he did not know.
It was only after they reached Flester's temporary rented home in an apartment did she finally begin to talk.
"What is your relationship with Master Night?" Flester tilted his head, he was confused by the question. Was'nt it obvious? "He's my master, and I'm his apprentice."
"Sorry but you will have to work a little more hard to deceive me, why did he decide to teach you?"
Flester sighed, he seriously needed to change the topic, if we would not then how would he sleep on time?
"Uhhh, he said he sees potential in me and I think that is it." Aira glared at Flester who shrugged indifferently, he had to find a way to finish this conversation and kick her out of his apartment. Then, a sudden question came to his mind.
"By the way Aira, where do you live now in this city?" Flester asked and her glare only hardened and now there was a scowl in her face as well. "Don't try to mislead me into another topic, I want to know the true reason of why you are his apprentice."
Flester let out a grunt, he seriously did not remember talking to much girls in his childhood mostly because he was too engrossed in becoming stronger. And another reason was his criminal like face and look which freaked out even the boys making him an utter loner, even when Fey looked at him many times during the academy and even in the last day he easily spotted fear in her eyes.
'Well unfortunately she does not seem to be afraid of me anymore.' He was disappointed in that, he could have maybe tried to manipulate her with his terrorist like looks but sadly the only use that face brought him was also now gone away from his grasp.
Well, maybe that was also the reason Maltin had challenged him to a duel at the last day, well the most common way of impressing your crush was indeed by showing them how good and brave you are.
'Well in a way that bastard Maltin just showed that random girl that he was more braver and superior comparing to her and then she fell for him?'
Well technically most impress their crush by showing their dominance and guts to do something better than their crushes who mostly falls for the other person because of this? Well why would anyone fall for someone stronger than them and in a way showing off to them?
Well Flester had to think about this later on because the girl in front of him was still glaring at him with that deep dark blue eyes. Glaring back, it turned to a glaring contest and unfortunately it was Flester who blinked first. It seemed the Flame Symbol bearer was inferior to the prodigious girl in every aspect.
Flester rolled his eyes still refusing to believe the girl in front of him was stronger than him, if that was true then he would not mind the help of the Symbol and those overpowered instincts of his or rather of some random dead people he never met.
They deserved a thanks at the least for saving his life more than once and he would thank them with all his soul if they helped him beat up this angelic girl in front of him who still glared at him. "Alright now, are you serious? I know I'm ugly but that does not mean you have to glare at me."
Aira sighed, shaking her head but before she opened her mouth Flester began to speak again.
"And if you still wanna know the reason why Night took me as an apprentice then..." Aira suddenly was completely indulged in what he was about to say, staring at him as if the words were written on his face and she was trying to decipher every last detail of it.
"If you wanna know, then go fuck yourself."
Aira looked at him, her mouth agape then a wave of anger rushed through her veins before she supressed them and caught his hand in a handshake them smiled sweetly.
"That was funny, right?" Aira asked in a sweet tone but one did not have to be a genius to see that the voice was kind but she was not.
"Oh well.."
Well, the night had gone quite south for the boy who had been bombarded with more questions though he smartly deflected them with lies and truths both mixed, and then learnt of the fact that the beautiful teenager was going to stay with him for how long he did not know.
Flester left the apartment at morning yawning and sighing sadly as he walked towards where he met Aira and Night yesterday, Flester had not slept the previous night due to him not trusting the girl and even Aira had not slept as she felt the same way about him and he felt about her.
Now, he was expecting to hear something actually useful from his old master.
'Or else, I will do nothing.' Indeed, even if he was summoned there for absolutely no reason he can't really do anything, Night knew his biggest secret and if he ever felt like removing Flester, he could do it both directly and indirectly.
Flester clenched his fists at the very thought of it. 'This is so unfair.'
He suddenly began to envy Aira, no matter what, he was pretty sure that there was no situation for her to no matter what listen to Night completely unlike him who's entire future literally belonged in the hands of that powerful master.
It was as if Flester had turned into Night's slave. One wrong move and his life would be in shackles.
Soon, after a few minutes of waiting in the lonely clearing, Flester could finally see the vague silhouette of Night, it was quite odd that he could see someone's silhouette in the morning sky but that was of the least of any one's worry really.
"Well, its good that you arrived on time Flester."
Flester could not help but eye the man, he was still in the same attire as he was in the previous day and he definitely still had the same aura of authority and power around him that he had everywhere he went-after all, there were only one or two known mages currently stronger than Night.
"Why did you call me here alone?" Flester asked, his voice even and devoid of any offensive emotion but neither was there any pleasant emotion in his voice. "Does our conversation involves something that you did not want Aira to hear?"
"Yes, I think it is better if some things are kept a secret to Aira but the final decision remains in your hand."
Night now was only a few feet away from Flester, he was eyeing his apprentice for something though Flester had no idea what it was the Ruby Pillar was searching for in him.
"Do you know all the powerful peoples who have gathered in the city?" Night asked suddenly, his tone did not betray his mask of no emotions.
Flester thought for a while, then shrugged. "I know many have gathered but I know none of them."
Night nodded and then looked away and then back at Flester, there was a heavy gaze in his eyes, the first emotion the old man showed since their conversation had started.
"I heard the princess got to know about the Symbol."
Flester frowned, he involuntarily tensed then relaxed, Night meant no harm at least for now and Flester had not completely let his guard down. Flester knew it was impossible to escape or win against Night but he was sure that he could come up with some sort of decent plan to prevent the worst outcome.
"Well she did, how do you know?" Flester asked and Night just shrugged.
"You know, its quite tough to keep secrets from me so the princess came to me and said it herself." Night then relaxed and raised his hand. "Though I can assure that no one except her in the royal or noble family knows of it."
Flester let out a sigh, he did not believe neither Night's words nor did he trust Jasmine but as long as he was alive and know about his possible enemies, he had a higher chance of surviving.
He was sure of the fact that he had a higher chance of killing Night compared to his chances of killing the mysterious leader of Dark Nemesis, not because Night was weaker or anything but because of the simple fact that he did not even have a clue of who the treacherous leader of the criminal organisation was.
"As of how Lady Jasmine acquired that information." Night spoke, a serious and dark look on his face, "I don't know." Flester's frown deepened, it looked as if Night did not trust the Princess of the nation he was serving- at least it seemed he did not trust her that much.
"Well, did you call me here to say me that?"
"No, what I called you is related to your training." Flester's interest suddenly increased, he knew to expect the worst but had a small part of him hoping he would have a teacher, a proper one at that and his hopes were not let down.
"I won't be able to meet or train both you and Aira but I have arranged a master for you until the next time we meet." Night said with a smile which looked genuine though Flester did not know what to expect from that smile.
"Well, then what about Aira?" Flester asked, he was not really interested in knowing what will happen to her but just asked out of hope that he could try and figure out something about her that might help him in some way.
"She won't need a master, she can train herself."
Flester stood before Night-dumbfounded, the old man had indirectly branded Flester inferior than Aira and it definetely was not something of happiness to Flester, it was the quite opposite instead.
'Just you wait, Night bastard. One day I'll become stronger than both you and Aira, let's you what you'll say after that.'
Supressing the desire to groan, he took a deep breath and looked at Night.
"Then who's my teacher, is it Aira?" He certainly hoped it was not that girl who seemed to hate him entirely, he would even not mind now if his new teacher was a complete idiot.
'Anything and everything is better than that devil.'
"It is Kael Agni, according to what he said he has both met you and seen you in action as well." Night started, a ghost of a smile touching his lips-it looked like a proud smile but Flester did not catch it, too engrossed in what Night was telling.
"He seems to have no problem to take you as a student, and was even delighted. I told him about your symbol as well so you don't need to hide anything."
Flester was first excited but then the entire sentence came crashing down on him.
'HE DID WHAT?'
Was Night insane? Did the decades of fighting finally caught up to him or did he turn insane after fighting a insane person?
"Are you crazy?" Flester shouted with barely contained fury, yeah he did not trust the old man but to try something so soon and foolish was completely unexpected.
"You don't need to worry Flester, Kael is a good guy. The next time you meet him, he will give you all the details but unfortunately I need to go now and again, reminder to not say anyone about your symbol."
'Ironic who tells me to hide the symbol.'
Night turned to leave, lingered for a few moments and then finally said after a few seconds of silence. "Aira is a good girl, you can share about the new teacher stuff with her."
An almost invisible smile appeared on the old man's face which Flester obviously could not see.
"Flester, take care of her for me."
With those words, he left Flester in the clearing alone and disappeared. He had left Flester in a horde of a mixture of emotions in his heart.
He was both happy by the fact that he got a new teacher and disappointed by the fact his teacher was a noble- a noble heir no less and finally he was confused by Night's last words and angry by the fact he let his biggest secret out to a noble heir.
'I need to quickly become stronger. Strong enough to not kneel to these bastards ever.'