After waking up around five that morning, Haren got dressed. Putting on a navy blue shirt with an open back and dark brown pants, he quietly made his way down to the practice room Riniya showed him yesterday.
There, he did some practice with both ShadowBlight and a mana sword. Playing mock battles in his mind while going through the physical motions as well.
Around seven, after working up a sweat, he decided to wash up in the bathroom.
He used a wet rag to wipe off his face, neck and arms with cold water, then fixed his hair in the mirror hanging on the wall.
As he was finishing up, he heard Riniyas' voice in his ear," everyone, breakfast is ready. Please come and eat."
The first time she did it last night had shocked him, but he soon learned that Riniya was able to send messages with her mana.
Haren quickly finished up in the bathroom and made his way to the dining room.
He found Riniya along with Nephinae already there setting places at the table.
"Good morning, Haren," Nephinae beamed," I figured you'd be the first one here."
"Morning, Nephi, morning Riniya." Haren greeted both of them before taking a seat at the table," can I help with anything?"
"Nope. We've got everything under control," Riniya said, vanishing through the door connecting to the kitchen.
Nephinae finished setting out silverware at the last place setting and sat down on Harens' left. She seemed to be smiling to herself.
"Riniya seems different today," Haren said," what'd you do?"
Nephinae let out a dramatic gasp," what makes you think I did something?"
"You're never this giddy in the morning," Haren answered.
She giggled," I've conquered the silent beast."
"Oh?" Haren raised an eyebrow," and how did you manage that?"
"I had a very weird morning."
"You know I can hear you, right?" Riniya appeared from the kitchen with a silver tea cart of food.
"Sorry. We were just joking around," Haren apologized, but Nephinae let out another giggle.
Riniya shook her head with a faint smile and started setting out the food.
While she was doing that, Sylviana and August walked in.
Sylviana sat down across from Nephinae, mumbling a good morning to everyone.
"Mormon' darling," August gave Haren a quick peck on the cheek before sitting in the chair to his right.
"Good morning, August."
"Say, where's Silver?" Nephinae asked," I get that Elvi's still in bed, but I thought Silver would've been down by now."
"I'm not sure," August leaned back in his chair," I knocked on his door but he didn't answer, so I assumed he was already down here."
"I'll go check on him," Haren stood up and retrieved a slice of bread from the bowl on the table before leaving the dining room. When he got up to Silvers' room, he knocked on the door," Silver? You up?" Silence," I'm coming in."
He opened the door to find the room dark," Silver?"
The other boy shifted slightly under the covers.
"What are you doing in here?" Haren moved over to the bed," you ok?"
"I'm f-ine."
"Then why didn't you come down for breakfast?" Haren reached to pull off the blanket.
"Don't touch me!" Silver kicked his hand away.
"Ok. That's it. What is going on with you?" Haren huffed," you never act like this."
"It's n—it's nothing..."
Haren sat down on the floor with his back to the bed," Silver, I like to think we're friends, so I hope you know that I can tell when you're lying to me. Will you tell me what's bothering you? Please?"
Silver sighed and Haren could hear the bed sheets rustling behind him," just promise you won't freak out, ok?"
"Why would I freak out?"
"Just promise."
"Ok, ok. I promise I won't freak out."
"K." The sheets rustled again as Silver crawled out from under the blanket.
"Oh..."
"... really? That's your first reaction?"
"Well... I was expecting... uh... not that."
Now that Silver wasn't hiding, Haren could see strange, flame shaped marks like tattoos covering his arms and neck. They were various shades of reds and oranges, and seemed to have a slight glow around them.
"Well, you can see why I thought you'd freak out, right?" Silver gestured to the marks.
"Yeah. That's why you didn't come down? Because you thought we'd all freak out?" Haren asked.
Silver nodded," it's happened before, and they usually go away after a day or so."
"Wait, this has happened to you before? When?"
"Before I joined the knight academy, and a lot when I was younger," Silver answered," its part of my magic, the magic I got from my mother, and its hard for me to control sometimes— don't worry, it's only dangerous if I try to use magic."
"Why didn't you tell us about this before?" Haren asked.
"You never asked," Silver shrugged," and it hasn't been a problem... well... not recently, anyway."
Haren stood up and stretched his back," I'll tell the others you weren't feeling well, if you're ok with that."
Silver gave a small nod, and in a quiet voice, he said," I think that would be best..."
"Alright," Haren walked over to the door," try to get some rest, ok?"
There was no answer as Silver crawled back under his blanket again. Haren let out a small sigh and went out to the hall.
Riniya was standing by the door. She looked up with a guilty expression when Haren walked out.
"You heard?" He asked.
"... yes," she nodded with a frown," I'm sorry. I shouldn't have eavesdropped on your conversation."
Haren noticed a tray of food in her hands and smiled," what are you talking about? You just got here." He said.
Riniya looked confused for a moment, but realization quickly spread across her face," Yes. I thought Silver might be feeling hungry, so I decided to bring him some leftovers from breakfast."
"That was nice of you, but he's feeling a little under the weather today."
"I see," Riniya spoke a little louder," Well, I'll just leave this on the table in the kitchen if he gets hungry later."
The two of them walked down to the kitchen together. They stopped at the bottom of the back stairs and Riniya grinned.
"How was that?" She asked.
Haren smirked," you're a very unconvincing actor, but you caught on quick."
"So... he's not really sick, is he."
"...no, but that's what we're telling the others."
Riniya nodded, and the two of them continued to the kitchen.
"So um... I... wanna talk to you about something," Riniya seemed to be having trouble thinking of what to say.
"Sure. Go ahead." Haren nodded and leaned against the counter.
"Ok. Um... well... this morning, I was talking with Nephinae about... something, and I had an idea," Haren got the feeling he was missing a lot of the story, but nodded for her to continue," there's something a mages familiar can unlock, called Tier Breaking, where they can grow stronger and amplify their masters magic power. The percentage increase is different for everyone, but I thought that it might be something to try."
"True. If the six of us were able to accomplish this 'tier break' with our familiars, there would be no need to bother with monsters," Haren sighed and ran a hand through his hair," to be honest, I strongly doubted our chances of successfully taming monsters. It didn't really sound possible, but this idea of yours does."
"You think so?"
"Yeah. I'm sure we'd all grow a lot stronger. We should tell the others. If we're doing this, I want everyone to be in agreement."
"I'll gather everyone, then," Riniya said." Will the living room be a good place?"
"Yes."
After getting Rala from his room, Haren made his way down to the living room. Elviya, Nephinae, and August were already there. Sylviana arrived shortly after Haren sat down. Riniya came a few minutes later.
"Alright. Now that everyone's here, there's something I'd like to discuss with you all," Haren began.