Chapter 102
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Renald's next words pulled Altair out of her thoughts, "Thanks to my wife it has become a fact among the other families that you are around nine years old." Sarah didn't tell him this part but with his connections and through normal banter with other nobles it came to light. This meant that Renald's hand had been forced and the timing to use Altair had been pushed back. He already had a plan before to have Altair vanish after only two years in the Academy due to an illness but thanks to his wife changing the age he had in mind it wouldn't work as fast anymore. However, that didn't mean it still wouldn't work.
The only other problem would be Altair's condition that she claimed would kill her. He didn't fully believe it but if the Blood Oath took then it wouldn't matter to him.
Altair didn't know about the plans Renald made. She barely knew what he had planned for her. The only thing she was aware of was the terms of the deal they made. So far, she had gotten quite a lot from it and had yet to return anything. With the words Renald just said she only now figured out that her perceived age had something to do with it. "What does that change?"
"Because of the setting I set up ahead of time for you," Renald stated in a matter-of-fact way, "you will need to attend school. Since you already know everything that a child at the age eight would know that means you will soon attend classes once you are caught up."
School was still a roughly foreign concept to Altair. She only knew that it was a place of learning where younger people gathered because of what she had been taught so far in the Empire. She had better knowledge of how she was tutored because that was how nobles learned in her old world and it was how she was taught here. Since she was labeled as being nine years old here it only made sense that she would have to attend as well. She wasn't sure why there was a need to have privacy when talking about this, "And?"
Renald frowned at her for interrupting. He had only paused for a second to let what he said sink in and she took that as him being done. He continued, "Once the tutors catch you up to where the school is you'll be joining their class." He moved his hands to behind his back before adding, "Well it's not like I'll be putting you in a normal school. With the skill you supposedly displayed at the party that option has been removed from the table. Instead, I'll have you attend a military academy."
Altair's eye twitched. 'I didn't think I did anything special though?' "Was what I did really that good? I could hardly even use my Mana."
Altair had not done anything special by her standards because she came from a world where using weapons was normal. However, in the Empire it was unheard of to have weapons training before the age of fourteen and even then it was with ranged weaponry. To have someone able to use a melee based weapon with such skill at her perceived age was practically causing her existence to scream 'special'.
While the exact video of what she had done was kept away from everyone except for Helena, Gordon, and Walter, it was still able to get out that a Barndol Bear had been defeated. Since the tournament kept accurate records on display for whom defeated what on a separate display it couldn't be hidden what Altair had done. That was enough for the nobles to get interested in her and try to check the footage, which resulted in them being blocked. This was not a foolproof protection though and Walter was not at the lounge to completely delete from the archive after it was recorded. This allowed the nobles with a hacking ability to get into the system and obtain a copy of the footage, which was then spread around to other noble families at a premium price due to their interest.
As such, every single noble house that was interested already knew about Altair's martial skills and the fact that she had some kind of illness. This then catapulted her up to being one of the most desired children to wed their own kids to because her genes were obviously at the level where she could have been as good, if not better, than Helena in the future. Her illness didn't even affect how many marriage proposals came in because they were sure they could eliminate any risk of it once they had her in their own families.
A wry smile appeared on Renald's face as he clarified, "The fact that you can use a weapon with such a degree of skill alone at the faked age of nine is already a monstrous achievement. It's unheard of for children to know how to use weapons until they are formally trained at the age of fourteen in the Empire and even then it's not with skirmish weaponry. You really stood out during the party because of that." Before Altair had a chance to say anything about it, Renald continued, "That's actually more the Lothan family's fault than yours however. He was supposed to keep it secret but it got leaked so his family owes us quite a lot now."
A confused expression crossed Altair's face, "Why would it be their fault?" Wasn't she the one who displayed some of her skill despite knowing that there were cameras around?
"Because they promised my wife that they would keep it a secret but it got out so now they have to pay." He gave out an exaggerated sigh as he stated, "Due to that getting out I've been getting flooded with marriage requests for you. It's getting really tiring."
Altair's expression darkened when she heard that. She had no intention of marrying anyone or getting into that kind of relationship. She had more important things to deal with.
Seeing her expression turn sour caused Renald to laugh loudly, "No need to even think about it. They all go straight into the garbage. Because of our deal there isn't even a need to look at them." He turned to his right and moved to sit on the chair next to the bed. Once seated, he continued, "That's not the point though. The real thing that I came to discuss with you is the plan moving forward."
He crossed his arms on his chest as he leaned back in the chair, "Since you'll be attending classes soon there's a need for you to aide in building up the story of 'Aria's death'. Ironically, whatever you did at the party that caused you to collapse is going to help a great deal with the plan." He gave Altair a serious look as he asked, "Which reminds me, how exactly did that occur and what caused it? It will be useful to know in case it happens again in the future so that it can be tied in as well." He needed to know some details on what happened to further his plans. He got the report on how serious her condition was and it caused him to have a headache. If Altair died before being able to repay all the resources he had spent on the girl now it would be a heavy loss for his family.
Altair looked down at her legs again as she said, "I made an amateur mistake in my Mana consumption. To put it simply, I used more than I had and it caused damage to my body."
Renald rubbed his chin thoughtfully at her words. 'This Mana she uses for her Magic seems to have some interesting qualities about it. Perhaps there is a way to provide an external source of Mana for her to burn? If that's possible then maybe we could use Magic as well…'
"I see. Well then, from whenever you are in front of people who don't know about your Magic there is a need for you to act sickly when doing physical activities." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a bottle filled to the top with pills and placed it on the desk next to the bed. "Whenever you do physical classes or sparring or anything in class, take one of these. After about forty minutes it will make your muscles more difficult to control and should help with the illusion that you are suffering from some chronic condition. When it takes effect you should act even worse than you feel to complete the image." He crossed his arms again as he continued, "Over time we will increase the dosage to give the illusion that your condition is worsening. In about three years you will be taken out of school and placed in a fake health clinic where the person known as Aria will die. After that, you'll start your work for my family officially."
That was the current plan. He had to share the details with Altair at this point because Sarah had forced his hand. But that also wasn't everything he had to tell her. "I have assigned Donel to be your bodyguard. Since are you portraying someone who has an illness but is extremely skilled with weapons there will no doubt be some noble family's who will try to take you by force or through your chastity. Unless Donel is incapacitated you are to continue your act no matter what happens. Do you understand?"
Altair smirked at him, "So nobles are the same here as they are in my world. They just have fancier toys is the only real difference." That actually came as a relief to Altair. She wouldn't know exactly how to deal with the nobles mentally if they were too different so she had been treating them as she would on her own world. Now that she had confirmation of this it was a weight off her mind.
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Renald's next words pulled Altair out of her thoughts, "Thanks to my wife it has become a fact among the other families that you are around nine years old." Sarah didn't tell him this part but with his connections and through normal banter with other nobles it came to light. This meant that Renald's hand had been forced and the timing to use Altair had been pushed back. He already had a plan before to have Altair vanish after only two years in the Academy due to an illness but thanks to his wife changing the age he had in mind it wouldn't work as fast anymore. However, that didn't mean it still wouldn't work.
The only other problem would be Altair's condition that she claimed would kill her. He didn't fully believe it but if the Blood Oath took then it wouldn't matter to him.
Altair didn't know about the plans Renald made. She barely knew what he had planned for her. The only thing she was aware of was the terms of the deal they made. So far, she had gotten quite a lot from it and had yet to return anything. With the words Renald just said she only now figured out that her perceived age had something to do with it. "What does that change?"
"Because of the setting I set up ahead of time for you," Renald stated in a matter-of-fact way, "you will need to attend school. Since you already know everything that a child at the age eight would know that means you will soon attend classes once you are caught up."
School was still a roughly foreign concept to Altair. She only knew that it was a place of learning where younger people gathered because of what she had been taught so far in the Empire. She had better knowledge of how she was tutored because that was how nobles learned in her old world and it was how she was taught here. Since she was labeled as being nine years old here it only made sense that she would have to attend as well. She wasn't sure why there was a need to have privacy when talking about this, "And?"
Renald frowned at her for interrupting. He had only paused for a second to let what he said sink in and she took that as him being done. He continued, "Once the tutors catch you up to where the school is you'll be joining their class." He moved his hands to behind his back before adding, "Well it's not like I'll be putting you in a normal school. With the skill you supposedly displayed at the party that option has been removed from the table. Instead, I'll have you attend a military academy."
Altair's eye twitched. 'I didn't think I did anything special though?' "Was what I did really that good? I could hardly even use my Mana."
Altair had not done anything special by her standards because she came from a world where using weapons was normal. However, in the Empire it was unheard of to have weapons training before the age of fourteen and even then it was with ranged weaponry. To have someone able to use a melee based weapon with such skill at her perceived age was practically causing her existence to scream 'special'.
While the exact video of what she had done was kept away from everyone except for Helena, Gordon, and Walter, it was still able to get out that a Barndol Bear had been defeated. Since the tournament kept accurate records on display for whom defeated what on a separate display it couldn't be hidden what Altair had done. That was enough for the nobles to get interested in her and try to check the footage, which resulted in them being blocked. This was not a foolproof protection though and Walter was not at the lounge to completely delete from the archive after it was recorded. This allowed the nobles with a hacking ability to get into the system and obtain a copy of the footage, which was then spread around to other noble families at a premium price due to their interest.
As such, every single noble house that was interested already knew about Altair's martial skills and the fact that she had some kind of illness. This then catapulted her up to being one of the most desired children to wed their own kids to because her genes were obviously at the level where she could have been as good, if not better, than Helena in the future. Her illness didn't even affect how many marriage proposals came in because they were sure they could eliminate any risk of it once they had her in their own families.
A wry smile appeared on Renald's face as he clarified, "The fact that you can use a weapon with such a degree of skill alone at the faked age of nine is already a monstrous achievement. It's unheard of for children to know how to use weapons until they are formally trained at the age of fourteen in the Empire and even then it's not with skirmish weaponry. You really stood out during the party because of that." Before Altair had a chance to say anything about it, Renald continued, "That's actually more the Lothan family's fault than yours however. He was supposed to keep it secret but it got leaked so his family owes us quite a lot now."
A confused expression crossed Altair's face, "Why would it be their fault?" Wasn't she the one who displayed some of her skill despite knowing that there were cameras around?
"Because they promised my wife that they would keep it a secret but it got out so now they have to pay." He gave out an exaggerated sigh as he stated, "Due to that getting out I've been getting flooded with marriage requests for you. It's getting really tiring."
Altair's expression darkened when she heard that. She had no intention of marrying anyone or getting into that kind of relationship. She had more important things to deal with.
Seeing her expression turn sour caused Renald to laugh loudly, "No need to even think about it. They all go straight into the garbage. Because of our deal there isn't even a need to look at them." He turned to his right and moved to sit on the chair next to the bed. Once seated, he continued, "That's not the point though. The real thing that I came to discuss with you is the plan moving forward."
He crossed his arms on his chest as he leaned back in the chair, "Since you'll be attending classes soon there's a need for you to aide in building up the story of 'Aria's death'. Ironically, whatever you did at the party that caused you to collapse is going to help a great deal with the plan." He gave Altair a serious look as he asked, "Which reminds me, how exactly did that occur and what caused it? It will be useful to know in case it happens again in the future so that it can be tied in as well." He needed to know some details on what happened to further his plans. He got the report on how serious her condition was and it caused him to have a headache. If Altair died before being able to repay all the resources he had spent on the girl now it would be a heavy loss for his family.
Altair looked down at her legs again as she said, "I made an amateur mistake in my Mana consumption. To put it simply, I used more than I had and it caused damage to my body."
Renald rubbed his chin thoughtfully at her words. 'This Mana she uses for her Magic seems to have some interesting qualities about it. Perhaps there is a way to provide an external source of Mana for her to burn? If that's possible then maybe we could use Magic as well…'
"I see. Well then, from whenever you are in front of people who don't know about your Magic there is a need for you to act sickly when doing physical activities." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a bottle filled to the top with pills and placed it on the desk next to the bed. "Whenever you do physical classes or sparring or anything in class, take one of these. After about forty minutes it will make your muscles more difficult to control and should help with the illusion that you are suffering from some chronic condition. When it takes effect you should act even worse than you feel to complete the image." He crossed his arms again as he continued, "Over time we will increase the dosage to give the illusion that your condition is worsening. In about three years you will be taken out of school and placed in a fake health clinic where the person known as Aria will die. After that, you'll start your work for my family officially."
That was the current plan. He had to share the details with Altair at this point because Sarah had forced his hand. But that also wasn't everything he had to tell her. "I have assigned Donel to be your bodyguard. Since are you portraying someone who has an illness but is extremely skilled with weapons there will no doubt be some noble family's who will try to take you by force or through your chastity. Unless Donel is incapacitated you are to continue your act no matter what happens. Do you understand?"
Altair smirked at him, "So nobles are the same here as they are in my world. They just have fancier toys is the only real difference." That actually came as a relief to Altair. She wouldn't know exactly how to deal with the nobles mentally if they were too different so she had been treating them as she would on her own world. Now that she had confirmation of this it was a weight off her mind.
Renald's next words pulled Altair out of her thoughts, "Thanks to my wife it has become a fact among the other families that you are around nine years old." Sarah didn't tell him this part but with his connections and through normal banter with other nobles it came to light. This meant that Renald's hand had been forced and the timing to use Altair had been pushed back. He already had a plan before to have Altair vanish after only two years in the Academy due to an illness but thanks to his wife changing the age he had in mind it wouldn't work as fast anymore. However, that didn't mean it still wouldn't work.The only other problem would be Altair's condition that she claimed would kill her. He didn't fully believe it but if the Blood Oath took then it wouldn't matter to him.Altair didn't know about the plans Renald made. She barely knew what he had planned for her. The only thing she was aware of was the terms of the deal they made. So far, she had gotten quite a lot from it and had yet to return anything. With the words Renald just said she only now figured out that her perceived age had something to do with it. "What does that change?""Because of the setting I set up ahead of time for you," Renald stated in a matter-of-fact way, "you will need to attend school. Since you already know everything that a child at the age eight would know that means you will soon attend classes once you are caught up."School was still a roughly foreign concept to Altair. She only knew that it was a place of learning where younger people gathered because of what she had been taught so far in the Empire. She had better knowledge of how she was tutored because that was how nobles learned in her old world and it was how she was taught here. Since she was labeled as being nine years old here it only made sense that she would have to attend as well. She wasn't sure why there was a need to have privacy when talking about this, "And?"Renald frowned at her for interrupting. He had only paused for a second to let what he said sink in and she took that as him being done. He continued, "Once the tutors catch you up to where the school is you'll be joining their class." He moved his hands to behind his back before adding, "Well it's not like I'll be putting you in a normal school. With the skill you supposedly displayed at the party that option has been removed from the table. Instead, I'll have you attend a military academy."Altair's eye twitched. 'I didn't think I did anything special though?' "Was what I did really that good? I could hardly even use my Mana."Altair had not done anything special by her standards because she came from a world where using weapons was normal. However, in the Empire it was unheard of to have weapons training before the age of fourteen and even then it was with ranged weaponry. To have someone able to use a melee based weapon with such skill at her perceived age was practically causing her existence to scream 'special'.While the exact video of what she had done was kept away from everyone except for Helena, Gordon, and Walter, it was still able to get out that a Barndol Bear had been defeated. Since the tournament kept accurate records on display for whom defeated what on a separate display it couldn't be hidden what Altair had done. That was enough for the nobles to get interested in her and try to check the footage, which resulted in them being blocked. This was not a foolproof protection though and Walter was not at the lounge to completely delete from the archive after it was recorded. This allowed the nobles with a hacking ability to get into the system and obtain a copy of the footage, which was then spread around to other noble families at a premium price due to their interest.As such, every single noble house that was interested already knew about Altair's martial skills and the fact that she had some kind of illness. This then catapulted her up to being one of the most desired children to wed their own kids to because her genes were obviously at the level where she could have been as good, if not better, than Helena in the future. Her illness didn't even affect how many marriage proposals came in because they were sure they could eliminate any risk of it once they had her in their own families.A wry smile appeared on Renald's face as he clarified, "The fact that you can use a weapon with such a degree of skill alone at the faked age of nine is already a monstrous achievement. It's unheard of for children to know how to use weapons until they are formally trained at the age of fourteen in the Empire and even then it's not with skirmish weaponry. You really stood out during the party because of that." Before Altair had a chance to say anything about it, Renald continued, "That's actually more the Lothan family's fault than yours however. He was supposed to keep it secret but it got leaked so his family owes us quite a lot now."A confused expression crossed Altair's face, "Why would it be their fault?" Wasn't she the one who displayed some of her skill despite knowing that there were cameras around?"Because they promised my wife that they would keep it a secret but it got out so now they have to pay." He gave out an exaggerated sigh as he stated, "Due to that getting out I've been getting flooded with marriage requests for you. It's getting really tiring."Altair's expression darkened when she heard that. She had no intention of marrying anyone or getting into that kind of relationship. She had more important things to deal with.Seeing her expression turn sour caused Renald to laugh loudly, "No need to even think about it. They all go straight into the garbage. Because of our deal there isn't even a need to look at them." He turned to his right and moved to sit on the chair next to the bed. Once seated, he continued, "That's not the point though. The real thing that I came to discuss with you is the plan moving forward."He crossed his arms on his chest as he leaned back in the chair, "Since you'll be attending classes soon there's a need for you to aide in building up the story of 'Aria's death'. Ironically, whatever you did at the party that caused you to collapse is going to help a great deal with the plan." He gave Altair a serious look as he asked, "Which reminds me, how exactly did that occur and what caused it? It will be useful to know in case it happens again in the future so that it can be tied in as well." He needed to know some details on what happened to further his plans. He got the report on how serious her condition was and it caused him to have a headache. If Altair died before being able to repay all the resources he had spent on the girl now it would be a heavy loss for his family.Altair looked down at her legs again as she said, "I made an amateur mistake in my Mana consumption. To put it simply, I used more than I had and it caused damage to my body."Renald rubbed his chin thoughtfully at her words. 'This Mana she uses for her Magic seems to have some interesting qualities about it. Perhaps there is a way to provide an external source of Mana for her to burn? If that's possible then maybe we could use Magic as well'"I see. Well then, from whenever you are in front of people who don't know about your Magic there is a need for you to act sickly when doing physical activities." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a bottle filled to the top with pills and placed it on the desk next to the bed. "Whenever you do physical classes or sparring or anything in class, take one of these. After about forty minutes it will make your muscles more difficult to control and should help with the illusion that you are suffering from some chronic condition. When it takes effect you should act even worse than you feel to complete the image." He crossed his arms again as he continued, "Over time we will increase the dosage to give the illusion that your condition is worsening. In about three years you will be taken out of school and placed in a fake health clinic where the person known as Aria will die. After that, you'll start your work for my family officially."That was the current plan. He had to share the details with Altair at this point because Sarah had forced his hand. But that also wasn't everything he had to tell her. "I have assigned Donel to be your bodyguard. Since are you portraying someone who has an illness but is extremely skilled with weapons there will no doubt be some noble family's who will try to take you by force or through your chastity. Unless Donel is incapacitated you are to continue your act no matter what happens. Do you understand?"Altair smirked at him, "So nobles are the same here as they are in my world. They just have fancier toys is the only real difference." That actually came as a relief to Altair. She wouldn't know exactly how to deal with the nobles mentally if they were too different so she had been treating them as she would on her own world. Now that she had confirmation of this it was a weight off her mind.
