"You're back", Fengari exclaimed loudly as Cale opened the front door and entered quietly.

  Cale had spent the entire next day learning about the healing arts, while the Eldest was busy with history and politics. Ultimately, Cale had not slept since his departure from Sylve, and he was somewhat exhausted from the mental and physical exertion.

  "Did you miss me?"

  "A little, yes. It's pretty boring when you can't leave the house."

  "I'm sorry I had to lock you up", Cale said calmly, rubbing the blonde girl's hair before removing his clothes. Fengari stood next to him with a slightly sullen expression, holding her head with both hands, but made no comment.

  "Did you have any problems?"

  "If I had had any problems, you would have known about it by now. The last few days have been very quiet, apart from our neighbor looking for her cat in the middle of the night. But Jarle came by last night and was looking for you, I think."

  "Ah, I didn't mention that we're not home this weekend. Did he notice you?"

  "Of course not! I kept my presence hidden for the entire two days. I didn't even open the curtains, let alone the door."

  "Exemplary", Cale replied with relief and entered the living area. With an elegant hand movement, he opened the window in front of the dining table and went into the kitchen, as he was very hungry. A cool breeze suddenly entered the living area and spread throughout the room like fog. In Sylve, the weather continued to be rainy, while in Altona it was warm and in Frignez it had snowed. He took a piece of wood from the basket next to him and lit it in his hand before placing the fire on his work surface and putting the grate over it. "Are you hungry, Fengari?"

  "I'm fine", Ahri replied calmly, standing next to the couch. For a few moments, Cale didn't realize that the dragon was staring at him, but when she remained standing silently behind him, he eventually turned to her.

  "Is something wrong?"

  "I wanted to ask you something."

  "Me? What is it?", Cale asked in surprise, watching as the girl hesitantly walked back to the shelf and reached for the stack of letters stored there. She pulled out a white envelope decorated with a dark green seal. It must have arrived while he was away from home, because Cale didn't recognize the letter. Normally, Ahri would not read messages without permission, which suggested that this one was addressed to her. At first, he could only think of one person who might have written a message to Ahri. "Is the letter from Gloria of Freigoud?"

  "No, it's not. It's from a lady named Lamina Naria."

  "Should I know that name?", Cale asked, somewhat irritated.

  "She's one of the musicians I met on the evening of the concert in Oriann", Ahri explained, and Cale immediately tried to remember the many female faces he had seen that evening. He knew the names and noble titles of many of the people present, but he couldn't remember anything about Lamina Naria.

  "Is she... one of the music teachers you asked for lessons?"

  "Yes, exactly. She agreed in the letter that she would teach me."

  "Well, that's great news! But why do you look so depressed?", Cale replied, holding his hand over the flame to his left, which had unintentionally grown larger. He continued the conversation with the dragon without really paying attention to the fire.

  "The private lessons cost per hour and... I have to pay for the musical instruments myself."

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "That's to be expected. Normally, you always pay when you want to learn something. Only general education is currently being provided by the royal house throughout Sylve. So what exactly is the problem?"

  "I didn't expect it to be so expensive", the dragon replied, walking toward Cale before handing him the letter.

  Without a word, he accepted it and glanced at the figures written inside.

  At first, he had to swallow hard when he read the requirements. A quarter of his entire salary would go toward music lessons alone, in addition to the tuition Cale had to pay to the institute. Combined with daily expenses such as taxes, water, and food, Cale would lose most of the money he had left.

  "Does she even offer the instruments you'd be interested in?"

  "She herself plays the piano, harp, clarinet, kalimba, and violin."

  "Quite a lot, as I see."

  "She said she's tried a few others, but she feels confident enough to teach these five. Especially the harp and violin."

  "Have you thought about which musical instrument you would like to learn?"

  "Violin", Ahri replied quietly, looking down at the floor as she shyly clasped her hands behind her back and played with her foot.

  She was well aware of how much money they were talking about, which is probably why she was afraid that Cale would turn down the offer. However, Cale had not only considered the cost, but also what the lady was offering. She would be able to teach Ahri for two to three hours every day, late in the evening. Furthermore, Cale would not have to worry about transportation, as the lady would come to the capital and rent a room in the music house. The mere fact that she was able to do this made it clear to Cale that she couldn't be an unknown personality, even if he didn't know her name. She seemed to have good connections, and from the way she phrased things in detail, it must have been clear to her that they were talking about a relatively large amount of money. At the same time, however, she pointed out exactly what Ahri would receive in return, without embellishing the details unnecessarily.

  A perfect learning environment for Fengari, where she can concentrate solely on music.

  "I'd like to find out a little more about her first, if that's okay. I'm reluctant to enter into such a contract without knowing what to expect."

  "I understand", Ahri said in a sad voice and nodded before thanking Cale and disappearing from the living area.

  Cale sighed and glanced again at the long letter in his hand, which was written in incredibly beautiful handwriting. It was clear that the person had put a lot of effort into writing the letter. It was quite possible that they had written it more than once. For a few moments, he thought about how he could get information about the musician as quickly as possible, and decided without further ado to ask Duke of Freigoud about it later.

  Without comment, he used his null magic to make the letter disappear and turned back to the bar. He continued to hold his hand over the flame, but thanks to his magic, he felt no pain even when the tips touched his skin. An unintentional rush of exuberance came over him, and he dropped the small barrier around his hand when the tips touched his palms and the pain reached his body.

  Without batting an eyelid, he deliberately let his hand burn in the fire as an unpleasant smell arose and Cale decided not to overdo it completely. Slowly, he pulled his hand toward him and looked at his palm, which showed clear burns. Not nearly as bad as Mamoru's back, but still impossible to overlook.

  As Cale had practiced yesterday, he began to remove the dead skin and clean the wound before he began to mix his mana with his blood and start the healing process on his entire palm. A slight tingling sensation could be felt in his fingers as his skin slowly regenerated and closed the open wounds that Cale had caused just moments before. However, as he repeated the process on the surface, he checked to see if there were any hidden wounds inside. Some veins had been destroyed by the flames, so he restored them to their original state as well. After a good two minutes, he tightened and loosened his grip a few times before swinging his entire arm to test if he still felt any pain. But it was as if nothing had ever happened.

  A satisfied grin appeared on his face.

  He was able to heal minor injuries and burns, but Cale did not dare to attempt anything really dangerous at the moment. He wouldn't try to sever and heal an entire finger, since this success was enough for him for now. In the coming weeks, he would study human anatomy extensively and conduct some self-experiments to steadily expand his knowledge. He already knew that he would spend his free time with books and would certainly seek out a healer or doctor in Sylve who could answer one or two questions for him.

  His attention returned to the kitchenette before he began to prepare a proper breakfast. Since he had left Frignez relatively late, he had spent several hours traveling from Norgram to Exarion and finally to Bellator in the middle of the night. This left him with not too much free time before he had to return to his daily work.

  The daily swordmaster training was coming up, as well as group training and the usual lessons. He would only be able to rest a little this afternoon, and for the first time since he was reborn, he was really looking forward to his bed.