“We came as soon as we could,” Elsa explained, leading the conversation. “But we were very busy.”

  I nodded. “Sowing season. Or, uh. No, you probably don’t farm. [Saint] work?”

  The three shared another silent laugh, and Elsa nodded. “Something like that.”

  “Elsa was gracious enough to make the trip out and help me recover with some of her healing magic,” Somnial said.

  The sage had told me a bit about the saint’s powers in our conversations over the past months, as well as the hero’s and his own.

  I had already learned from the administrator that these three blessings weren’t skills in the same way that earned skills were. They appeared in the System profile the same way, but they weren’t actually contributing factors to the soul itself. They did not go with the carrier into the next life; they were features of this world, and this world alone.

  Each of [Hero], [Sage], and [Saint] were modifiers. They artificially boosted Body, Mind, and Will, which in turn helped the holder advance their actual skills, which were also boosted.

  The [Hero] gained a boost to Body. In effect, when training or using combat skills, Dargan’s Body stat was basically tripled. This helped him gain combat skills faster, and each skill also acted like it was triply as advanced. When the [Hero] first learned [Swordsmanship], he would have effectively started with advanced mastery, bypassing basic mastery entirely. Each subsequent skill level propelled him much further along.

  The [Sage] was actually a boost to Somnial’s Mind, not Will, like I had first assumed. This applied to learning magic, naturally. With such a boost, learning and memorizing spells was much easier for him, and when casting them, the effects were boosted as well, but his Will was relatively normal otherwise, beyond the natural gains he received from training magic intensively his whole life.

  It was the [Saint] who had a boosted Will stat, and for Elsa, it applied specifically for healing and status enhancement spells. Somnial could learn healing spells as well, and had, but when he cast them they weren’t any different from any other mage. This was likewise the case for Elsa and combat magic, which was unaffected by her boost. Elsa’s healing spells, on the other hand, had a supernatural efficacy, both because of the sheer amount of mana she could use and also an artificial tripling in the level of each healing skill.

  Each of these people would take slightly more out of this life than someone without the blessing, but it was a minimal practical difference. The stats attached to their souls weren’t actually tripled, nor were the skills, and while they might have been better suited to acquiring skills and stats due to the blessing, it only applied to a limited subject, which naturally disinclined the blessing holder to reach beyond their field and acquire more varied skills or stats. Hence Somnial’s abysmal Body stat, and his lack of knowledge when it came to much of anything outside of magic.

  In the end, their souls would not be all that much better off than anyone else when they left this life and shed the blessing, which returned to the world. And, of course, no one with [Metasurvival] could hold the blessing, so their stats and skills would be scoured by the Engine anyway during reincarnation.

  As I understood it, the demon king’s blessing was different. There was only one of them, and it boosted all three stats as well as all of the same skills as the three champions. The administrator wouldn’t tell me the name of the blessing, though.

  I came back to the present, shaking myself from my reverie. “Elsa healed you,” I said, dumbly, to Somnial, who nodded. “That’s why you weren’t afraid of dying.”

  He chuckled. “Well, I’m also just very old. I’ll die sooner or later. This just gives me a bit more time.”

  “I actually came to meet you, Tovar,” Elsa said, beckoning me over to her side.

  “Me?”

  “Somnial sent us a letter in the fall, telling us about your accident—and bravery—in the Obdorn barony’s dungeon,” she said, removing my prosthetic and examining my hand.

  “Last fall?” I asked, still catching up to what was happening. “The [Saint] must be really busy.”

  Elsa suppressed a chuckle. “Indeed I am.”

  “Fortunately, Somnial survived long enough to benefit from our visit as well,” Dargan said with a boisterous laugh. I laughed weakly in response, then winced as Elsa ran a finger over my stump.

  “Hmm,” she murmured, thinking for a minute in silence. Then, she nodded. “Okay.”

  “Okay?” I asked. I looked down, and saw the knife in her hand. She drew it across my stump in a sharp motion, splitting open the healed skin. I winced, but stopped myself from pulling my arm away. Then Elsa began to chant.

  The sheer amount of mana that she moved with her cast assailed me, and my breath got stuck in my throat. A heat burned in my arm, and the bone began to grow from the hole, with nerves and muscle entwining around it as flesh rapidly materialized out of mana. I felt my circuit flare back to life and reclaiming its missing vessel, and skin knit over the naked hand which emerged from the [Saint]’s magic.

  I blinked, then made a fist, before opening my right hand back up and examining my fingers. There was a scar around my forearm where the original cut had been and the skin had previously healed, but I was whole again.

  “Thank you,” I said in disbelieving wonder.

  “Phew,” Elsa said, shaking her head. “That really takes it out of a gal.”

  Somnial smiled at us. “Well, I believe dinner has been prepared for us. Let’s eat.”

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  * * *

  After a night of dinner, storytelling, and laughter, Somnial and I saw Elsa and Dargan off. They had sat enthralled at my silly little story about fending off some Nightmare Ants, then masterfully told me the story of how they defeated the demon king.

  The whole night had been awe inspiring. Knowing that their blessings were basically just a tripling of growth potential, I wondered if I’d have similar such stories to tell when I reached my third life.

  I glanced over at Somnial, whose smile had grown melancholic as his heroic allies left. “You okay?” I asked.

  He blinked, then looked down at me. Then he laid a gentle hand on my head, and rubbed my hair fondly. “I am. Thank you.”

  I nodded, and, after a moment, leaned in to give him a quick hug. Neither of us were particularly physically affectionate men, but Somnial was back to his former health, and it felt apropos.

  “By the way,” he drawled, after I pulled away. “Keep my recovery a secret, please. Can’t hide your hand, of course, but my health is my own business.”

  “Uh, okay,” I said, slightly confused. I generally didn’t talk about the sage much at all, outside of the manor, letting the man have his privacy, but rumor of his health declining had already spread quite a bit. Still, I’d respect his request.

  Then Somnial grinned, looking uncharacteristically young. “Well, I can finally get through a chant without coughing. Come, let’s practice.”

  I followed the old magic master out to the courtyard, matching the pep in his step all the way.

  * * *

  I grinned as Felton looked at my hand in awe. “How?” was all he asked.

  My grin expanded. “Magic!”

  He shook his head, laughing. “That’s wonderful, Tovar. I’m so happy for you.”

  That was what he said, but his expression rapidly turned somber. “What’s the matter?” I asked.

  He let out a breath. “It’s Felris. She’s… not doing well.”

  Over the spring term, unwilling to let sleeping dogs lie, Gustar had undertaken a serious smear campaign against his former fiancee. He never interacted with her directly, and never overtly broke any academy rules, but one by one he turned the other seniors—and, notably, scions of various lords across Ivarnel—against her. The academy increasingly became unbearable for her, and her future was starting to seem in jeopardy.

  “She’s started skipping classes,” he said bitterly. “I think she’s going to drop out.”

  I frowned. If she could just make it through this year, three more terms, Gustar would be gone. That didn’t mean things would immediately get better, but the worst of it would probably be over with. “So she’s not at school today?”

  Felton shook his head, but then Professor Trisabel came in, and we had to stop talking as she began her lesson.

  At lunch, I sneaked away from Felton and made my way outside of the academy. Somnius would tear me a new one for skipping, but it was an in-class session for [Create Wind], which I had already memorized, cast, and advanced to the second skill level thanks to [Mana Manipulation]. I wasn’t too worried about it, and would just claim to have fallen ill after lunch.

  I made my way down the familiar streets to Felton and Felris’s house, and knocked on the door. Odel, the long-time family maid, opened the door.

  “Oh, Tovar, nice to see you,” she said, before realizing it was the middle of a school day. “What are you doing here?”

  “Uh, is Felris in?”

  Odel frowned. “She’s not doing too well. Sick, she says.”

  I heard a snort from further in the house, and peered in, to see Gus sitting at the table eating some lunch. “You know as well as I do that she’s not sick, Odel,” Gus muttered, spooning some stew into his mouth. “Let the boy in. Maybe he can do some good.”

  Odel frowned, but assented, and I stepped into the house and made my way up the stairs to Felris’s bedroom. I knocked on the door.

  “Who is it?” Felris asked from inside.

  “It’s Tovar.”

  I heard a squeak, then a crash, then some quick footsteps towards the door, which opened a crack, revealing Felris’s eye as she peered through the gap. “What are you doing here?”

  “I heard you were sick. I came to check in on you.”

  The door opened more, revealing a frowning Felris. “What did Felton tell you?” she asked, and then she saw my hand and gasped. “Tovar! Your hand!”

  “Oh. Yeah,” I said, suppressing a laugh. “Yeah. Somnial invited his friend Elsa, the [Saint], and she… well, healed me.”

  Felris stepped out of her room, shutting the door behind her—and with it the smell of unwashed clothes, which I ignored—and stared at me in disbelief. “The [Saint]? Here? Healed you?”

  “Uh, yeah?” I said. “They’re old friends. You know, on account of defeating the demon king together.”

  Felris rolled her eyes, and shook her head. “Are you joking right now?”

  “Joking? About what?”

  Felris snorted in disbelief. “Tovar. The Saint Elsaria is the current queen of Argadia. She was the first princess of the previous king.”

  What? That can’t be right. The country’s queen?

  A few things slotted into place in my jumbled brain. That would explain why she was so busy. And if she was the first princess, her marriage must have been somewhat political. Maybe it wasn’t that she chose the [Hero] over Somnial at the end of their journey, but it was decided. Somnial wasn’t nobility, he just held power due to his legacy as the [Sage]. I had no idea if Dargan had been nobility or not, but even if not, he was the [Hero].

  “Huh,” I said. Felris groaned, rubbing her temples.

  I looked Felris over. She was clearly not doing well. Her hair was flat and greasy, unwashed for at least a few days, and her eyes were red-rimmed and looked sunken in the dark circles that betrayed a lack of sleep. I caught myself staring, feeling terrible that I had let so much space come between us that I hadn’t noticed this, and shook my head. “Never mind all that. How long has this been going on?”

  Felris sighed, looking away, before taking a breath and looking back towards me. “It’s... been all term. Gustar turned most of the seniors against me, which I could handle, then my class, which was… harder. But then he started targeting other potential marriage candidates, telling tales about how violent and cold I am.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “I didn’t need a fiancé when I was in first year, but now I’m in fourth year. I’ve only got a couple of years left in the academy, and then I’m graduating and headed back to Obdorn. If this follows me, and I can’t find a husband, I’ll be dishonoring my family.”

  I didn’t agree with that, personally, but I had no idea what kind of stress that would put a noble born child under. “So you’re thinking of dropping out?”

  She glared at me, then sighed again, dropping her gaze to the floor. “It might be for the best. If I get away from Gustar, the rumors might stop. In a few years, when the stain of this is less fresh, and with Gustar having moved on, I should be able to find a husband before I’m too old.”

  I resisted snorting at the idea that a woman not even twenty years old could be too old. “That’s only if he moves on, though. And, in the meantime, you’re missing out on the rest of your magical education. Surely there are opportunities there?”

  “Maybe. But I’m the first born in my family. I… I have a duty. I’m worried I’ll fail that if I stay.”

  Dumb noble bullshit, I thought to myself. I tried to think about actual solutions to her problem, given her situation, and came up short. I had no influence on these sorts of marriages, no power to affect the contracts they formed between lords. While she was better off without Gustar, in my opinion, the falling out had been my fault, so I wanted to help. If I was from a lord’s family, my availability and betrothal could have helped her with her duty, but I had no political value. I clicked my tongue and shook my head.

  [The final scene in this chapter involved a discussion between Felris and Tovar about a replacement marriage arrangement between the two of them and has been removed at the request of RR's moderation team.]

  Due to a user report and a subsequent disagreement with the moderator in charge of resolving said report, I've had to remove the final scene of this chapter on Royal Road. .