Chapter 688: The First Day Back

Kael took the five pages to the garden and read them exactly as he had promised.

No more than that.

He sat on the bench beneath Eleonor’s tree while Sylphie checked the new packets of seeds she had bought in the city.

The nameless man remained near his own garden bed, still watching the third sprout as though he expected it to grow right before his eyes.

Seraphine appeared some time later with a book and chose a place on the grass, close enough to participate in any conversation but far enough away to read without interruption.

Kael finished the first page, made a short note in the margin, and moved on to the second.

Irelia’s observations were mainly legal.

One reinforced that all five settlements should receive the same opportunity to participate, regardless of population.

Another suggested that any shared agreement should only be created after each community had explicitly indicated who was authorized to represent it.

The third concerned the complex in the nearly uninhabited region.

Kael read it twice.

"Amelia."

The answer came from somewhere behind him.

"I’m here."

Kael turned his head.

She was crossing the garden with a cup in one hand.

"Have you started appearing whenever I say your name?"

"No. I came to find Eleonor and heard you."

"That’s still convenient."

Amelia approached.

Kael pointed at the document.

"Irelia wrote that the shepherds use the valley for four months of the year."

"Yes."

"And the technical team intends to conduct the first inspection in three weeks."

"Yes."

"That still overlaps with part of their season."

Amelia nodded.

"That’s what she realized afterward. The new note suggests locating the groups that are still in the region first."

"Good. Don’t send an imperial team into the valley before warning the people already using it."

"We weren’t planning to."

"Then I have no changes."

Amelia looked at the remaining pages.

"Finished?"

"I’m done."

"All five?"

"All five."

She held out her hand.

Kael handed over the folder.

"No additional comments?"

"One."

Amelia waited.

"Don’t bring me another one today."

"I wasn’t planning to."

Kael narrowed his eyes.

"That was easy."

"You already worked today."

"I read five pages."

"Exactly."

She walked away with the documents.

The nameless man watched the exchange.

"That counts as work?"

"It does."

"Even though it was only a little?"

Kael leaned back against the bench.

"Quantity doesn’t decide whether something is work."

"So you’re finished?"

"For today, yes."

The man opened his notebook.

Kael didn’t even try to stop him.

Sylphie returned carrying two small shovels.

"You promised to help with the seeds."

Kael stood.

"I remember."

"Good."

The nameless man immediately closed his notebook.

"Can I help too?"

"You can," Sylphie replied.

Seraphine looked up from her book.

"Me too?"

Sylphie showed her the second shovel.

"Now I understand why you brought two."

Kael took the tool.

"She was already expecting volunteers."

"I know all of you."

They spent the next half hour preparing a small garden bed near the eastern side of the garden, where sunlight reached during the morning but disappeared behind the mansion before the middle of the afternoon.

Sylphie explained that the new seeds needed plenty of light during the first hours of the day and less heat afterward.

Kael didn’t dig too deeply this time.

Sylphie noticed.

"Better."

"I know how this works now."

"That’s exactly what you said before digging a trench."

"It wasn’t a trench."

The nameless man looked at the patch Kael was preparing.

"It looked like one."

Kael stopped.

"You weren’t even there at the beginning."

"Sylphie told me."

He looked at her.

"You’re spreading information against me."

"It’s gardening, Kael."

"It’s still information."

Seraphine started laughing and had to rest the shovel against the ground.

When they finished, Sylphie distributed the seeds and let the three of them cover the soil.

This time, Kael didn’t ask how long they would take to germinate.

He simply mentally marked where they had planted them.

The nameless man wrote in his notebook as soon as they finished.

NEW GARDEN BED.

Then he asked:

"What are they called?"

Sylphie answered.

"Primroses."

He wrote it down.

Kael looked at the garden bed.

"So now I know bellflowers and primroses."

"You’re evolving."

"I know two names."

"A week ago you knew one."

"Flowers was still correct."

"No one said it wasn’t."

At lunch, Amelia appeared again.

This time without a folder.

Kael noticed.

"You’re improving."

"I didn’t come here to work."

"Then why?"

"To eat."

"That’s also a good reason."

Eleonor was already at the table, and Irelia was participating through a small crystal resting on a stand.

Her image appeared above the surface at a reduced size, enough for her to follow the conversation while remaining in another wing of the mansion.

Kael sat beside Sylphie.

Irelia looked at him.

"I heard you read my observations."

"Five pages."

"Amelia informed me."

"Did she also inform you that I’m not reading any more today?"

"She did."

Kael pointed at Amelia.

"Excellent."

Amelia began serving herself.

Irelia continued:

"I only need one simple confirmation."

Kael became suspicious.

"That sounds like work."

"It will take less than a minute."

Sylphie looked at him.

"You can answer if it really takes less than a minute."

"You’re controlling my lunch now?"

"No. I’m preventing Irelia from turning one question into a meeting."

Irelia’s image remained perfectly serious.

"I would never do that."

Amelia coughed discreetly.

Eleonor looked down at her plate.

Kael waited.

Irelia continued:

"When the team speaks with the five settlements, do you agree that no individual response should be considered authorization to operate in shared territory?"

"Yes."

"Done."

Kael waited.

Nothing else came.

"That was really it?"

"Yes."

He looked at Sylphie.

"Forty seconds."

"Within the limit."

Irelia smiled.

"I’ll return to work."

Her image disappeared.

Kael took a piece of bread.

"That was strangely efficient."

Amelia replied:

"We’re all adapting."

Eleonor drank some tea.

"Perhaps your recovery is training the entire mansion."

"I’d prefer if you didn’t turn my rest into administrative policy."

"It already became administrative policy."

Kael sighed.

The nameless man, sitting near Seraphine, raised his eyes.

"You went back to work today?"

"A little."

"So you’re not resting anymore?"

Kael thought before answering.

"I’m coming back."

"Is that different?"

"Yes."

"How?"

Kael looked toward Sylphie.

She didn’t answer for him.

"Resting meant not doing what my body still couldn’t handle and stopping myself from taking on everything just because I could. Coming back means doing some things again without abandoning that."

The man reflected on it.

"So it isn’t over."

"What?"

"The resting."

Kael considered that.

"Maybe not completely."

Eleonor smiled behind her cup.

Kael noticed.

"Don’t say anything."

"I wasn’t going to."

"That also never means anything."

After lunch, Kael went to the kitchen.

Marta looked up the moment she saw him enter.

"Another tart?"

"Maybe."

"Which one?"

"Pear."

She looked at Sylphie, who had followed him inside.

"Today?"

Kael answered:

"No. I want to know whether we still have enough pears."

Marta pointed toward a basket.

"There were eight this morning."

Kael counted.

"Six."

"Someone ate two."

Umbra appeared near the door.

"It wasn’t me."

Kael looked at her.

"No one accused you."

"I’m getting ahead of it."

Marta handed Kael a pear.

"If you’re making it tomorrow, use these first. They’re already ripe."

He examined the fruit.

"Can we use cinnamon?"

"Yes. A little."

"The book suggests mixing it with a small amount of butter."

"That works."

Kael nodded.

"Then tomorrow."

Sylphie crossed her arms.

"Depending on the test."

He looked at her.

"A tart doesn’t require the Celestial Step."

"No. But if you wake up with any reaction after using two Steps today, you’re resting."

"Two Steps aren’t going to cause—"

Sylphie raised an eyebrow.

Kael stopped.

"If there’s a reaction, I rest."

"Good."

Marta looked between the two of them.

"I’ll set the pears aside."

Umbra approached the basket.

"Can you set one aside for me?"

Kael pointed at her.

"You just denied involvement."

"That was about the previous ones."

Marta handed Umbra a pear.

Kael shook his head.

"You keep rewarding this behavior."

"She asked politely."

Umbra bit into the fruit.

"I’m learning."

In the middle of the afternoon, Kael returned to the training courtyard.

Not to use the Step.

The young soldier who had asked to learn the two-sword technique was training near the weapon rack.

He recognized Kael and stopped his sequence.

"Sir."

Kael observed his stance.

"Your recovery improved."

"I’ve been practicing."

"I noticed."

The young man looked toward the swords.

"Is your shoulder better?"

"It is."

"Then..."

Kael already knew what was coming.

"I can show you the basic version."

The soldier immediately grabbed two wooden weapons.

Kael selected another pair, one in each hand.

Sylphie, who had accompanied him there, sat on the low wall.

"No mana."

"I know."

"No Step."

"I know."

"And no demonstrating the complete version just because he asks."

Kael looked at her.

"Do you intend to do this for my entire recovery?"

"Probably for a while afterward too."

The soldier tried to hide his smile.

Kael pointed one of the wooden swords at him.

"First, forget attacking."

The young man became serious.

Kael positioned both weapons.

"The second sword does not exist to double the number of attacks. If you do that, you only create twice as many things to control."

He showed him how to keep the secondary blade closer to the body, protecting the lines the main one left exposed.

"This hand covers."

He moved the other.

"This one creates pressure."

Then he switched their roles.

"And they need to be able to switch."

The soldier tried to repeat it.

His arms crossed too much.

Kael tapped his wrist with the wooden sword.

"You’re thinking of them as two independent weapons."

"Aren’t they?"

"Physically, yes. During movement, no."

He demonstrated again.

This time more slowly.

The young man followed.

On the third attempt, he managed to complete the transition without completely opening his guard.

"Better."

"Thank you."

Kael spent nearly twenty minutes teaching only that sequence.

He didn’t attack at full speed.

He didn’t use mana.

He didn’t try to prove he could do more.

When they finished, he returned the swords to the rack.

The soldier looked satisfied.

"Can we continue another day?"

"We can."

Sylphie stood.

Kael looked at her.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"You’re smiling."

"Because you stopped on your own."

"We finished the lesson."

"Exactly."

Kael decided not to argue.

By the end of the afternoon, his mana channels were still stable.

Sylphie checked again in the garden.

"No irritation."

"Then three tomorrow."

She removed her hand from his chest.

"Maybe."

Kael stared at her.

Sylphie managed to keep a serious expression for almost five seconds.

"Three."

"Thank you."

"With an interval."

"Naturally."

"Don’t say that as though it’s obvious after you negotiated five minutes yesterday."

"I learned."

Umbra appeared behind them.

"Important historical record."

Kael pointed toward the garden bed.

"Go count sprouts."

"Four."

He immediately turned.

"What?"

The nameless man was crouched beside his garden bed.

He raised one hand.

"Four."

Kael approached.

There really was another one.

Very small, near the wooden marker.

The man opened his notebook.

FOURTH SPROUT.

Then he stopped.

He thought for several seconds before writing another sentence.

Today Kael went back to work a little.

Kael read over his shoulder.

The man continued:

Then he taught a soldier.

Then he came back here.

Kael remained silent.

"Is that right?" the man asked.

"It is."

"Then I can leave it."

"You can."

He closed the notebook.

Sylphie sat on the bench and began separating some dry leaves she had removed from the garden beds.

Kael sat beside her.

The man remained near the plants.

Seraphine returned from the library a few minutes later with another book.

Umbra occupied the shadow beneath the bench.

Nothing required Kael to go anywhere else.

That morning, he had used two Celestial Steps.

Read five pages.

Given Irelia one confirmation.

Taught a simple sequence to a soldier.

The next day, perhaps he would use three Steps, read a few more pages, and make a pear tart.

Kael realized that a few months earlier, he would have considered that day unproductive.

Now he could see something else.

Everything that needed to be done had moved forward.

And there was still afternoon left.