Chapter 320: You Bought Your Summon A House?
When the next morning came, Awakener Supreme was settling down after the explosive return of the Phoenix Reincarnate.
From the faculty building area, students could see the work that was already being done in the museum area.
The surrounding grounds had been fenced off. Construction crews moved across the broken roof with scaffolds, crystal cutters and hovering platforms carrying slabs of black stone. The worst of the ash had been cleared from the paths, though the air still smelled like a giant bonfire whenever the wind passed over the building.
Students gathered around the barriers between classes, pointing at the hole Solaris had made and retelling the story with more exaggeration each time.
Some said she had fought Danistasia. Others said she had defeated her. One Year Two student claimed Lancet had ordered Solaris to stop with a single look.
That version was spreading fastest.
Lancet walked through the eastern corridor with Kasto and Anita while whispers followed them from both sides.
"There he is! Lancet freaking Leogardt!"
"He bound the Phoenix Reincarnate, didn’t he?"
"I heard she can burn Gloom itself."
"Do you think he can make anyone his Summon?"
Kasto heard that last one and turned toward Lancet with the same excitement he had carried since breakfast.
"That’s what I’ve been saying. So you really can make living Awakeners into Summons now."
Lancet kept walking. "Not everyone. I can only do it under certain conditions."
"What conditions?"
"Complicated ones."
"That means you don’t want to tell us."
Lancet sighed. "It just means they’re complicated, Kass."
Kasto moved ahead of him and began walking backward. "Do you understand how ridiculous that is? Invoked Summons were already unfair. Now you can look around the Academy and decide, yes, I want that person too."
Lancet gave him a flat look. "That is not how it works. I just told you it was complicated"
Anita hurried beside them, hair bouncing behind her. "Can you bind professors? If you can, maybe you could get Instructor Thaz to back off on the Gloom History project. I’m tired of reading about how Demon Lords hibernate."
Lancet huffed a laugh. "No. I can’t and won’t bind Professors, Anita."
"What about students?"
"No."
"Renan?"
Lancet looked at her. Kasto too.
Anita raised both hands. "I’m asking for research."
Kasto grinned. "Imagine binding Renan after beating him. That would be the greatest humiliation in Academy history."
"Renan is not becoming my Summon."
"What about Headmistress Danistasia?"
Lancet nearly missed a step.
Anita laughed. "Oh, that face."
"I’m not binding the Headmistress."
Kasto did a playful expression and a big, stupid smile that caught Lancet, forcing him to grin as well. "Don’t lie, that would be pretty awesome, eh?"
"Yeah," Lancet’s mind travelled. "It would."
He was starting to understand why one of the system’s rules was that he couldn’t create an already existing character.
Anita just looked at both of them and shook her head. "Perverts."
Kasto dropped back beside Lancet. "Still, Solaris Ashen. A real Phoenix Reincarnate. You’ve added another Platinum Legend like it’s nothing."
"That’s because it was not nothing," Lancet said, remembering the mental toll it took him to come up with her. And the amount of times he rechecked his idea with world history so he wouldn’t clash with anything. "You have no idea how tough it is to create those... ladders."
Kasto pursed his lips. "How can I?" he shrugged. "You never tell us anything."
Lancet didn’t say anything to that. ’Fair,’ he thought.
"So," Anita chimed in. "Where is she now?"
"At her apartment."
Kasto looked surprised. "You bought her an apartment?"
"Well she’s going to need somewhere to live."
Anita’s mouth fell open. "You bought your Summon a house?"
"Rented."
"That barely makes it better."
Kasto stared at him with new respect. "You’ve become a rich Summoner sugar-daddy."
Lancet shook his head. "I swear you guys are the worst."
Anita circled to Lancet’s other side. "What is she like?"
"Strict."
"That’s all?"
"Possessive about Cinderhold. Very serious about fire. Likes cereal."
Kasto stopped walking for half a second. "I mean she’s basically a bird. She’ll like anything with grain in it."
Anita smiled to herself. "Ohhh. This feels exactly like when you first summoned Astensia."
Lancet glanced at her.
"You remember?" Anita continued. "Everyone staring. No one understanding how you did it. You pretending everything was normal while standing beside a legendary woman."
"It’s not that long ago." He gave her an eyebrow raise.
"I know." She looked at him and smiled. "But you’ve grown so taller and stronger that it feels like it was a decade ago."
Lancet opened his mouth, then stopped.
Renan and Frieda were coming from the opposite end of the corridor. Renan walked with Black Gale sheathed across his back, one hand in his coat pocket. Frieda stayed beside him in a dark red uniform jacket, her flame-colored hair tied away from her face.
Frieda saw Lancet first and her stops slowed down. Renan followed her gaze, and their eyes met across the corridor.
Lancet looked toward Kasto and Anita. "I’ll be right back."
Kasto’s grin returned immediately. "Frieda again."
"Don’t."
Anita pulled Kasto away before he could make it worse. "We’ll be over there, not listening."
They looked at each other and grinned. "We’re definitely going to listen."
Lancet left them and moved toward Renan and Frieda. Frieda did the same. They walked to each other until they met near the center of the corridor.
Before Lancet could speak, she stepped forward and wrapped both arms around him. Lancet instantly went stiff.
His hands remained useless at his sides while students nearby began noticing.nHe looked over Frieda’s shoulder toward Renan.
Renan appeared completely calm. Thankfully.
Lancet gave Frieda one awkward pat between the shoulders. "Hello to you too."
She pulled back, eyes already bright. "You made Solaris Ashen your Summon."
"Something like that."
"Did you do it for me?" she asked like an excited child.
Lancet glanced around at the students slowing nearby. "Maybe not so loudly."
Frieda lowered her voice but not so much her excitement. "You actually did it!" She lifted her hands up happily.
Lancet still remained stiff. He reminded himself that this was the typical female character the author created. They would be cold sometimes, and a cutesy child some other time.
But her smile was oddly uplifting. The shame and exhaustion from the day she fled the arena were gone from her face, though not entirely from her eyes.
"When do I meet her?" she asked.
"Today," Lancet answered. "I’ll send you the apartment location and the training ground nearby."
Frieda nodded, then hesitated. "What is she like?"
Lancet considered the safest answer. "Well, she’s extremely... honest."
Frieda’s smile weakened a bit so Lancet continued before she imagined Solaris throwing her into a furnace.
"She’s strict. She won’t flatter you or make things easier just because you’re afraid, but she understands fire better than anyone alive. Don’t take everything she says personally."
Frieda looked down briefly. "Does she know what happened at the tournament?"
"Yes. I told her."
"And what did she say?"
"That you were poorly trained."
Frieda blinked.
Lancet smiled. "See? Honest."
A small laugh escaped her.
"She doesn’t mean harm," he added. "She just isn’t going to treat you delicately. Listen to her. Ask questions. Don’t hide when something goes wrong."
Frieda nodded more firmly this time. "Thank you."
Lancet accepted it with a small shrug. "You’re welcome." Frieda stepped back toward Renan, and Lancet followed her gaze.
Renan had waited several paces away, giving them room without pretending not to watch.
Lancet approached him. Renan looked toward Frieda first, then back to Lancet. "How did you know Solaris Ashen would return now?"
Lancet had expected the question. "I use the Legendary Figures of the Past compendium when I’m choosing who to build a Ladder to. Solaris was in it. Her resurrection cycle was recorded, and I got lucky with the timing."
"You happened to find exactly who we needed days before Ashen Rebirth?"
Lancer smiled at him. "Yep."
Renan studied his face but Lancet kept his expression easy.
"Then you formed a Ladder to her before she returned."
"Exactly."
Renan looked toward Frieda again. Then he faced Lancet fully. "Thank you."
Lancet raised one brow.
"This means a great deal to Frieda," Renan said. "So it means a great deal to me."
Lancet smiled with too much satisfaction. "You’re welcome."
Renan ignored the tone. He reached inside his coat and removed a thick envelope.
Gold edged the paper. A black falcon had been pressed into the seal, its wings spread over the Falconhart crest. Lancet’s attention snapped to it as Renan held it out.
"Just as I promised."