Ambient Mage

*Matthew's Pov*

Lucas was already aware that I didn't like Ristonia very much.

In fact she was a royal pain in my ass, no pun intended.

I knew she had plans on my sister, to implicate her, and possibly bring down the family.

Lucas knew better somehow.

He invited me to his room after his 18th birthday party.

"She does have designs on Aura, but they aren't malign."

"She only wants two things."

"And what would those be Luke?"

"Your reputation ruined, and your absolute loyalty."

"But why, it doesn't make sense."

"Dad is loyal, and I'm sure the imperials are aware Ezechs is literally a carbon copy of a younger dad."

"She wants you. And not in a like 'You are my pet' way."

"How did you put that together?"

"Look, I know two things, one, the look in her eyes. They're the same way mom looks at dad."

"And two, that she doesn't tolerate betrayal, and loves interesting things."

"So what does that have to do with me."

"She stares at you like that, yet you recoil and rebuke her."

"She's very interested in who you are as a person."

"So you're saying that she's a person who will lose interest in me if I show interest in her?"

"No way. Were you just listening to the words I said?"

"I said she was already liked you, and now she's also got her eye on you."

"Shit."

"Well for you not for me."

"You'd sell me out?"

"Maybe."

"Yo-"

"Just kidding dude, no way."

"She's too much for me."

"I got that much."

"But I do know why she likes you too."

"Remember your time in the imperial palace when you were 13?"

"I do, but how do you know about that?"

"Well I pieced it together."

"What do you me-"

"Shut up and let me explain."

"It started with Charlotte talking about me, Aura, and Theo's familial like bond when we were like 15."

"Soon it shifted to her."

"She started talking about her older sisters, and the topic of Ristonia came up."

"All Charlotte could come up with for Ristonia, was her regal appearance and her insistence on her white knight."

"We asked her what that meant."

"She explained that Ristonia didn't care much for her family, and cared about this white knight. Imagine my surprise when I learned from Leo a few months later, that her white knight is an actual person, and he helped her once."

"The three of us started to explore, and they found out that her biggest feeling of regret was not asking her white knight for his hand in marriage, and that she had met him 4 years ago."

"I put two and two together and decided to ask Mother Alicia who was at the imperial palace her age that year, and to my surprise, you are the only person to have visited the imperial capital that year for the major noble court."

"Then I asked about your actions, and she told me about your 'Heroic' actions of saving a young Ristonia from a runaway horse near the castles' stables."

"Wow. You really area whole 'nother level of detective genius."

Nobody just connects the dots that easily.

"Not really, I just had a little hint from 'Total Brake'."

He muttered something under his breath.

"Anyways, go about this however you feel like it."

He escorted me out the room.

"Enjoy the rest of your night, Mr. White Knight."

And he shut the door in my face.

What a humiliation.

But it was worth it.

Now I knew why Ristonia had needed to grasp a weakness in me or induce one in Aura.

Ezechs was perfect, Theo was still a child, and Lucas was too well hidden in his actions.

I was just going to have to face her on my terms.

Is what would've happened if Aura didn't decide to make Luke fight another noble in the arena.

Now as a member of the Svarmet family I had to attend, and congratulate him, when he inevitably crushed this idiot who made stupid remarks against my sister and family.

Iproline huh. I'll make sure to wipe them away.

"Matty?"

Ristonia. Her insipid nickname for me.

Mother always called me Matthew or Matt.

Everyone aside from Luke called me Matthew.

Luke called me young matser. Like young master, but more a backwards joke.

It annoyed me for a while, until I learned of what the knights called the young Luke himself.

'Lucy'. Like Aura's maid.

Naturally Lucy didn't take to this kindly and took care of the nickname.

I don't know if she did it to protect Luke or herself, but it worked and the knights never said it again after that.

However behind closed doors, between the two of us, he'd call me Matser and I called him Lucy.

A fun game between rivals.

A much better match than trying to figure out Ristonia.

"Matty. What are you thinking about you right now?"

I turned to her without thinking and spoke.

"You."

"Wow, Matty, are you trying to make a move on me?"

I turned back towards the arena disinterested in what she had to say.

"Matty, why are you ignoring me?"

"Is your brother's match more interesting than me?"

"No, Ristonia."

"No, it's Ris, Matty."

"Fine."

Why wouldn't she leave me alone sometimes?

"Hey, Ma-"

"Ris, let's play a game."

"Sure, anything."

"Whoever can guess what level of swordsmanship Lucas is gets one favor from the other."

"Neither of us can see his circle or stars because of the artifact."

"What a fun game, but what do I get out of this, you're clearly at an advantage, he could have told you what level he's at."

"Fine I swear on mana I don't know his level."

I really didn't.

"Okay Matty, I'm going to say 2nd."

I knew he had already had finished his knights quest. So he was at least 4th star, there was no way he had already hit 5th start, but I was still closer than Ristonia.

"I'm going to say 5th."

"So high?"

"Let's just wait Ris."

I hated interacting with her.

I enjoyed Lucas' mocking of the opponent though. It wasn't very knightly, but it felt good to watch someone else be the butt of Lucas' verbal barrage.

I even found myself rooting for him, despite him and my sister putting me in this situation.

And that's when it happened, Luke revealed his star count.

4 stars.

In just 6 years he'd climbed 4 stars and 3 circles, with multiple attribute rings.

What a monster.

"Looks like I win Ris."

"So what will be your favor Matty?"

"Stop making designs on my sister and her knight."

I said unemotionally. Any emotion I showed meant more chances for her to grasp a weakness of mine.

"Fine, I won't, but if I can't focus on them, then I'll focus on you."

"That's okay with me."

"Really?"

"Yes."

She leaned close to me and kissed my cheek.

What.

I looked around and nobody else was looking at us, everyone was focusing on Lucas cornering that stupid kid.

"Ris?"

"Yes, darling?"

"Darling?"

"You gave me permission to pursue you, so I'm going to now."

"That is not what I said."

"It doesn't matter, I'm going to pursue you, so that you have no choice but to say you love me."

"That will never happen."

She placed her hands on face and turned my head to face her.

"I'll make you say it with your entire heart, you'll never escape me, darling."

"You'll be mine, mine alone, mine forever and forever, mine for eternity, mine, yes, that's it."

"You will love me, Matthew von Svarmet, you just don't know it yet."

With that she stood up and began to walk away from the arena seats back to the 3rd year dorms.

What have I done.

"I declare Lucas the winner of this duel."

Dammit.

I need his help before school starts next week.

I'll ask this weekend.

***

*Lucas' Pov*

My body hurt.

The dragon blood tried to fix my wounds but the draconic words literally tore my body apart.

I could feel my skin, muscles, and bones separate. It hurt so bad for mere moments as my body began to dissipate.

"Ahhhhh."

I groaned as I put up with the pain of using draconic magic.

"Mom was right."

I groaned again.

"Damn right I am."

She teleported in.

"Is privacy a thing in the duchy?"

"Is common sense common?"

"Touché, mother."

"Besides, you are my sick son now."

"I gained Theo I'm not losing you."

"What do you mean?"

"Normal humans who use draconic speech suffer from a physical burden the rest of their life."

"But I'm not injured?"

"I know it hur-"

"Wait what?"

"I'm not injured, just sore from rematerializing."

"What exactly are you made of, child?"

"97% human, 3% spirit"

"How do you know the percentage?"

"I can fully bring out the manifestation of it."

"Is that how you have that unique attribute magic?"

"No. That's something I was born with."

"The spirit manifestation of mine is spiritual affinity."

"How do you manifest that?"

"I call spirits."

"Would you like to explain further or demonstrate? And I absolutely forbid a self harming demonstration."

"I won't."

I began to call for a low level spirit.

"Spirit of the wind, free as the breeze, the singer of memories, and everchanging face, I call upon the spirit: Mayleaf."

"Wahh"

"Oh my Nyx."

"She's adorable."

The spirit in question: low level wind spirit Mayleaf.

Cute little spirit in my opinion, the cg did not do her justice.

Her face had no obvious distinct features, but I could definitely see eyes, a nose, a mouth and what looked like long flowing hair.

"Are you sure this isn't a fairy, Lucas?"

Mayleaf pouted.

"Woah, woah, woah, not fairy, spirit, two completely different races."

Mayleaf started to return to the spirit realm.

"Please don't go, she doesn't know any better."

The spirit did what I could understand as the spirit equivalent of a head nod.

"What did she say?"

"She said she would stay."

"Can I touch?"

"Can she touch?"

Low level spirits were unable to speak, but the summoners could somewhat understand their actions and intentions.

Contractors had greater communication abilities.

"She says just a little."

Mother Alicia started to stroke the palm sized girl's hair.

I guess the spirit liked it, because she began to rest against mother's finger.

"Mom I think you can enter into a contract with her."

"Really Lucas?"

"Yes, just wake her and ask."

"Mayleaf?"

The little spirit woke from her nap.

"Would you like to contract with me?"

Mayleaf thought about it for a bit.

I was left to comfort a very distressed mother and lover of cute things.

After a little bit Mayleaf decided to contract with mother.

"Mayleaf grew bigger Lucas."

"Yep, you as a 7th circle mage, are equivalent in mana manipulation as a high mid tier spirit, and therefore elevate some of Mayleaf's magical qualities."

"How does that work?"

"Well, for starters, your mana pool is massive, and allows for a more robust and detailed manifestation of Mayleaf."

"You mean she feeds on my mana?"

"Yes and yes, you literally sustain her life with mana, and you feed her with it too. The reason why that is, is that when someone summons a spirit the only thing that sustains them is their own mana, their lifeforce, and the energy sacrificed in the spirit summon."

"I understand now. Lucas would you mind teaching me about spirits more?"

"I don't, but why don't you try to see what you can learn from your new companion first."

"Oh, and don't forget to unsummon them too, they can get tired in the real world as opposed to the spirit realm."

"On another topic it is 9am."

"Well it is technically just an extra weekend day, since today is just a course selection sheet turn in day."

Dad finally decided to do some talking.

"Should we bring Aura and Matthew home for a while?"

"That's a great idea honey."

And here comes trouble.

I wonder how Aura and Matthew will react to mom's spirit.

It'll be funny to watch, better record and bring popcorn.

With that Aura and Matthew were recalled back home for the weekend before the new semester.

"Welcome home Aura, Matser."

"Good to see you to Lucy."

"Nyx above are the two of you still doing that?"

"Can't the two of you grow up?"

Me and Stephen gave each other looks and laughed, which drew confused looks from everyone.

"Like mother, like daughter."

"She's mine and Alicia's daughter after all."

"What the hell are the two of you in sync over."

"I'll tell you at dinner, but since it's lunchtime, join us for lunch, and by us I mean mother, father, and Theo."

"What about elder brother Ezechs?"

"I mean, Ezechs can come, in fact I gave him an invitation, so we'll see."