The work went well, and the motivation ran deep into the night. Finally, the men were dismissed after receiving their first day's pay. The smiles on their faces said it all.
But Raze didn't leave when everyone was gone. He stood, watching the mountain. He activated God's Eye and looked at it again, trying to see the thing that was inside.
Despite the fact that they had heavily reduced the mountain, it was still there, and it wasn't moving.
"Could it be dead?" he wondered.
"Young master, are you not leaving?" Elaine asked.
"We are," he said and turned, walking into the city alongside Elaine and Ella.
"So, when do I get to train with you?" Ella asked.
"Maybe when the road's done," Raze said casually.
"This doesn't seem like a construction that will be done in a few days, and I really want to understand your silent casting," she responded.
'Sigh, there is no escaping teaching her, but I also can't leave the entire construction to teach her. I don't trust anyone that much yet.'
He looked at her, his face showing that he was deep in thought. Then he came up with a solution. "Fine, how about this: the work starts a few hours into the day, around nine in the morning, after the day begins.
We can't drag people out of their houses too early, so in that gap from daybreak to when the work starts, you and I can train," he said, offering his best solution.
She nodded immediately. He watched as a soft smile formed on her lips. She really did love magic.
When they arrived back at the house, Silva bid them farewell and headed for his room, but as he got to the door, he saw someone standing there, his eldest brother Andrew.
The air became still, a chill formed as the two locked eyes. Andrew leaned against the wall beside his foot, his hands folded.
"Hey." Raze threw a greeting at him, but Andrew simply frowned. He pushed himself off the wall and walked toward Raze.
He stood there, towering over his brother by a full head. His eyes held resentment and anger, but he didn't make a move.
"You are walking a dangerous path here, Raze. This family, it's all for me, and what you are doing is only obstructing my rise to power," Andrew said. His tone was cold and heavy.
Raze looked up at him. He slowly shook his head. "When he sits quiet, you ignore him and call him useless, but now that he rises for himself, you come to threaten," Raze said and took a few steps forward, standing a few inches from his brother.
"Power corrupts. It changes a man, blinds him to the happiness of others, and gives a selfish view. You never cared about me when I sat under the trees and read.
Yet now you stand against a fourteen-year-old, someone six years younger than you, and why? Because he did something that no one else could, or wanted—to do.
So it begs the question: would you rather the people suffer than for them to get happiness, even if it's not from your hands?" Raze asked.
His brother was taken aback by all this—the level of articulation, the manipulation of words. His brother wasn't the brother he knew.
He tried to give an answer to the question, but Raze cut him off. "Don't bother answering. I already know the answer," he said. Then he walked to the door. He pushed it open and turned to look at his brother. "If I wanted the family, I could get it easily, so don't give yourself too much credit.
You are not all that." He shut the door behind him, and the slamming sound was like a judge delivering a verdict.
Andrew had utterly lost in the battle of words and wit. He was not just defeated but obliterated. He clenched his fist hard, his anger rising.
"The kid isn't the same as you remember. Intimidation will not work. I told you so." Michael came out of a corner, speaking as he walked up to his brother.
"There are ways to solidify your stand in the house and ensure Father never looks away from you, but I beg you not to engage intellectually with the kid again. That was extremely painful to watch," Michael said.
Andrew shot him a cold stare and then turned to leave. He walked away, leaving Michael standing there. Michael looked at the door of Raze's room and then walked away as well.
Inside the room, Raze had already forgotten what happened just outside. He pushed it into the back of his mind. It was time for him to head into the library and study some new spells.
He locked the door, lay on the bed, and entered the library. As his eyes opened, he was met with a jump scare, the librarian floating just in front of him.
His heart left his chest for an instant. He fell backward onto the floor. "What the hell?" he asked, looking at the librarian.
It stared at him for a few seconds and then started floating away slowly, as if asking him to follow. Raze decided to follow. He got up and walked behind the librarian.
He didn't ask where they were going or anything else. He simply followed until they reached a bookshelf far into the first floor. The librarian, without touching the books, pulled one out. It floated right into Raze's hands, black-covered with golden trims.
After handing the book to him, it flew away, headed up into the higher floors.