There were certain details of her journey which she had been prohibited from sharing, but those were only few. Unfortunately, one of the details she could not share was the identity of who accompanied Patrick, otherwise Nero would have been pleasantly surprised to learn that Invictus, who he had helped back in the Arcane Affair Bureau (AAB), was the one who helped save Irene and Patrick in a sense.
They were still in the middle of the story when Marilyn returned, and although she had already heard it before, she didn’t interrupt them. Nero, of course, noticed how Irene’s elocution became slightly reserved when his mother arrived, no longer mentioning any of their shenanigans out in the wilds.
To be honest, the story was quite amazing even without the added tidbits about how they had stolen horses and mares from a smaller sect and set them free. The fact that three Initiates had been able to, on their own, traverse the wilderness and even cross borders was quite unbelievable.
Irene naturally made sure to specify that their situation was unique, and that their third member was the main reason they were able to avoid many fights and dangerous situations. She did not want to inspire any misadventures by giving Nero the idea that he was now strong enough to roam the lands. The colder weather also worked considerably in their favor, for the effectiveness of Patrick’s innate ability was strongly influenced by his surrounding temperature.
That night ended with Nero feeling something he hadn’t got much of in the past few years - he went to sleep feeling at peace. Over the next few days, Nero never got an opportunity to return to Unity, which was a shame. The knowledge he had bought had helped him out tremendously, but it wasn’t the end of the world.
More importantly, his time wasn’t exactly wasted either. Crafting Pale Virtuous Moonlight was not so easy, and he succeeded in crafting it only once in four attempts, which ended up wasting a lot of resources. Fortunately, Nero had no qualms about buying things and leaving his mother with the bill - even if he actually had the money to pay for things.
What else were parents for if not to take advantage of? Not to mention, he was from a Great family now. He couldn’t be expected to worry about every little bill, now could he?
Eventually, he was able to make a card for his mother and himself, but transferring the Spell Model into Irene’s tattoo proved troublesome. For cards that Irene personally knew the recipe for, she could form the Spell Model on her own. In this case, she needed Nero’s help to first form the Spell Model in the card, but prevent the card from completion, and then try to transfer the Spell Model to her tattoo.
She formed the ink on her own, and Nero thought she would need to know the recipe to make the ink, but as it turned out that was not the case at all. The only thing her ink required was enough stability to contain the Spell Model, and she judged that on her own after watching the card Nero made.
Unfortunately, no matter how they tried, or what they did, the Spell Model could not take root in her tattoo.
Besides that, the trio spent the week talking, catching up, and planning for the future. Neither Marilyn nor Irene had gone to KMA before, so they did not know the specific details of how they did things.
Irene had no interest in staying in the army long term, and Marilyn had not wanted to focus on being an officer. Instead, she wanted to hone her combat skills and abilities.
For such people, those who were highly qualified in innate abilities or combat skills, but lacked the required temperament, drive or will to become an officer, there was actually another academy.
The Kolar Warrior Academy, or KWA for short, was on the eastern side of Kolar, just as the KMA was in the west. KWA produced the best and elitemost soldiers of the army. Although technically the mortality rate among KWA graduates was higher than KMA, it was only because KWA accepted far more students.
Moreover, not everyone who went to KMA took on combat oriented roles, sometimes being delegated to the various logistical or technical support departments of the army. Whereas all of those who went to KWA did so with the intention of being a fighter.
Originally, between the two, Nero had been conflicted when he was younger. Eventually he chose KMA because that’s what Patrick decided. Now, though, Nero had a more mature and developed reason for his choice. Power came in more forms than just combat strength, and Nero wanted every kind of power.
Still, despite being a KWA graduate herself, Marilyn was able to give Nero an overview of what to expect at KMA. After all, unlike KWA which only had three years of education, KMA was five years, and so encompassed far more.
The peculiarity of KMA was that no one outside could influence the decisions made within. It was something Nero had heard of not only from his own parents as well, but from Gabriel and a few others too. He found it hard to imagine that there was a place which could resist the pressures of external pressure.
He was no longer naive enough to believe that only faith and dedication to one’s duty were enough to deter them from showing favouritism, or taking advantage of their position.
According to Marilyn, the reason for that was a bit of an open secret. The Dean of the academy was someone who could not be influenced, and he was someone who was not afraid of anyone either. When Nero asked for the identity of the dean, Marilyn only looked at him with a mischievous look and told him to wait. He would find out soon enough anyway.
Thus, the days flew by, and without realising it, the time had come for Nero to report to the academy.