金瓶梅第2部

Tycondrius pursed his lips. He was wearing a chef's apron and had deposited his sack of cooking ingredients onto the nearby table.

He thought it was quite obvious why he was in Athena's kitchen...

"I'm... cooking a meal."

Tycon removed the boiling pot of water from the heat and added the broth-jelly. He frowned at the final set of ingredients: the bag of discarded bread heels Athena had brought home. It offended his senses as a cook that the young lady was planning to eat them stale with only a bit of cow's milk to wash it down.

No, that wouldn't do. Tycon would make a proper meal out of it.

"Why are you acting like that?" Athena glared. "You know what I mean."

Tycon furrowed his brows. He did not.

"Oh..." Athena's face fell to match his expression, "Oh! By the Flame, do you not? I'm so sorry!"

The young lady's quick apology and slight panic only made Tycon feel... lacking. He made a mental note to reinforce his study of human questions and their implications. Perhaps Zenon would be able to help in that... He seemed... well-adjusted.

Tycon forced a smile, "If you mean to ask why I'm cooking a meal for you, young lady, would you be so kind as to grant me your hypotheses on the matter?"

Tycon would guide the members of Sol Invictus with such leading questions, particularly with Pale, often with Kimura Taree, and even with Lone. He judged Athena to be honest, clever, inquisitive, and confident... traits ideal in a student. He hoped she would be receptive to this kind of conversation instead of finding it beneath her.

Athena pouted, her brows crinkled up in thought, "You're a guy... and you're cooking for a girl. Do you... have a crush on me?"

Tycon dipped his head and sighed deeply. Perhaps he'd been too hasty in his judgments... "Incorrect... That is... not why I'm here,  young lady."

"Well, that's good." Athena sighed in relief, plopping down onto a kitchen stool, "I already have someone that I like."

"Good for you."

"Well... you're from the Church... and you wear military armor..." Athena placed her fingers on her chin, pushing her lips out in thought, "That symbol's for a Decanus, right?"

"Correct," Tycon nodded, his voice lilting up in hopefulness.

"And Mister Zenon calls you Optio..."

Tycon averted his gaze. Why was he called 'Sir' and 'Centurion' Zenon Skyreaper called 'Mister?' Athena was obviously familiar with the rank structure if she could recognize the Decanus symbol on his armor... Didn't she go to a military academy?

"What's really weird," Athena tapped her cheek. "--is that the Church doesn't pay house visits like this..."

Her gaze drifted off as if she'd understood something.

"Speak your mind, Miss Athena," Tycon urged.

Her eyes narrowed sharply, "I can tell from the mana you're emitting that you're really strong."

Tycon raised an eyebrow as he felt a sudden chill assault his senses. Frost mana? Interesting. And judging by the steady stream of power behind it, the young Athena commanded a precise level of control...

No, it wasn't just a show of her ability... Stars and stones, the girl was using her mana to emulate a different spell... a ⌈Detect Rank⌋ spell.

⟬ Athena Vanzano, Unranked Human Warrior. ⟭

She was a young genius.

The implications of Athena's subtle magic manipulation were manyfold.

First, of obvious note, was her ⌈Detect⌋-like ability.

Two combatants comparing their mana output was common phenomena amongst classes of the same type: a Martialist analyzing a Blood-Knight, a Cleric to an Invoker, a Firewalker to a Necromancer. However, Tycon had originally thought that such senses were only developed by Bronze-Ranks and higher... and besides that, Athena was using an Arcane-based skill to measure the mana of Tycon's Martial class.

Tycon's Arcane abilities were poor-- on the level of an Elementary mage, or maybe even Unranked. He could probably light a candle, but he'd need to concentrate for a half-bell on the endeavor without the aid of a wand. Thus, if Athena was so impressed, she must have glimpsed at his mana, not only as a caster, but of his abilities as a whole.

Second was that Athena could expertly control her frost mana-- like an additional hand or arm. Such skill was almost specific to single-element casters. Sea Witch Eilean, for example,  could both manipulate sea water into offensive lances and extend her rudimentary senses through the water around her, allowing her to 'see', though her physical eyes could not.

Athena had shown promise in the military academy with her martial prowess. Was she just as talented in martial ability as she was with magic?

Third was the surprisingly pure frost mana that the young lady commanded... especially interesting. Again, Athena had not yet reached Bronze-Rank... her mana reserves would only grow deeper, and its quality, more pure.

Perhaps she had a bloodline to support it? Yet... her brother had a lightning-affinity. That would be illogical.

...Or was it possible that she was born with a Yin Body? Ugh. That type of knowledge was out of his purview. He'd need to contact one of the masters from the Hidden Sects to learn more... He'd write two letters in the evening. One to Kimura Diago, Patriarch of the White-Scale Sect, the other to High-Captain Lang Hai of the Sea Wolf Sect.

With such a mastery of frost-type mana, Athena would develop better not as a pure Martial Class, but an Arcane-Martial Hybrid like Sol Invictus' Swordmage Dragan Ashlord or Hexblade Tarquin Wroe... or Warmage Maximus of Ezyria.

With her multitude of talents... she was in no way inferior to her brother.

However, Tycon could not allow the cold to continue on. With the difference in level, if he allowed Athena to accurately gauge his mana, she'd suffer a painful backlash. The young mistress being bedridden for bells and fatigued for suns-after was *not* in Tycon's agenda.

Also, it would affect his cooking.

Taking a pause from chopping up the bread heels, Tycon used his kitchen knife to cleanly slice through Athena's invasive mana.

The young lady closed her eyes, quietly reorganizing and retracting her mana. She put her hands on her cheeks as she twisted her lips in frustration, opening her eyes to interrogative slits, "So what are you? Bronze-Rank? No-- Iron? Bronze! At least Bronze for sure."

"I believe that's irrelevant to the conversation, young lady," Tycon smirked.

He figured it better to hide the fact that he could murder everyone in her estate without breaking a sweat.

"Then..." Athena pouted, pressing the tips of her fingers together, "I think you guys are here on behalf of my brother."

The young lady's expression fell... her earlier perkiness, sapped away.