Chapter 80 - Bagha

It's been two weeks since Ricardo and his workers started renovating the house. He hired ten men to work with him since Geraldine gives double the amount of the total payment. This caused the renovation to be twice faster than normal.

As for the six kids, Aaila has already started learning basic skills from Aurelie and focused on cultivating her control of mana. As for Daisha, she has been under the training of Geraldine and they are practicing how she can control her mana usage since she has abundant mana in her body.

As for the four boys, Alexjin has been training them in swordsmanship basics, the same way that Geraldine teaches him before but unlike him. The kids are having a hard time catching up and tend to slack off. 

They understand because they are still kids and wanted to do childish stuff instead of pondering over training.

Since they are slaves since birth, they have no proper education and manners. It was Aurelie's job to teach them that skills. They would go to the store after its closing time and she will teach them table manners of a noble, from the way they sit and proper body posture, use of the utensils and their placement and to the way they talk such as the accent and the flow of elegance.

At first, they find it hard since it was their first time but with continuous training, they were able to grasp the flow within two weeks which makes Geraldine feel proud.

She planned to create a group that knows how to use a gun and a sword and a bit of magic for the males. Then makes them into a group that is loyal to Alexjin as his own little army when he became a prince as she knows that loyalty is hard to earn at the palace and you can't trust everybody inside.

In the palace, everything is a competition and all the servants and staff are choosing the sides they will serve and the stronger you are, the more servants will come but the one must be careful as one of them might be spies from the other royalties.

If you are seen as weak in the palace, nobody is willing to serve you as servants as mostly goes to the stronger one for assurance. 

That is why Geraldine wanted to have loyal people under Alexjin to ease up a little bit of a burden someday when he entered the palace.

Currently, Geraldine is looking at the renovations and check every work to see that it was sturdy and can last longer even under a storm especially since winter is coming.

"How's the renovation going on?" Geraldine looked up at Ricardo who is hammering on the wood.

"Oh, young miss. Everything is fine," Ricardo waved at her with a smile and the rest of his workers also greeted her.

Aurelie suddenly appeared with a tray of fresh lemon drinks and a stack of milk bread, then flinched when she saw Geraldine inside the house as she thought that she's in her room.

"Oh, you're here. Have some bread Geraldine," Aurelie offered her some bread but she refused.

"I'm full, besides the workers here needed that more than me," Geraldine chuckled and took a step back to let Aurelie pass through. 

She put the tray on the mini table and told the workers to eat first before resuming their work. After some time, Aaila arrived with another set of trays and nearly spill the food when she saw Geraldine standing at the corner of the room.

"Ma - master!" She forced a smile and runs towards Aurelie's side.

Seeing her reaction, Geraldine went out of the house and went to the shop. Since the day that she throws a smoke ball and lectured them. The kids started to have fear towards Geraldine and they do everything correctly as if they're afraid to make a single mistake that can anger Geraldine again.

When the time she told the three kids to hug one another as a peace sign, she makes it one of the rules. Every time that they'll fight, they need to hug each other when they make up which the kids don't like very much, and tried to stay away from it as much as possible. 

Arriving at the store, she tied her horse on the tree and makes her way on the backdoor. Since Aaila has also been living there, it was untidy except to her side of the room which is locked. She went inside it and sighs.

Geraldine has been busy for two weeks looking out for the house and makes some changes based on her satisfaction. 

"Ah, I'm tired," she muttered and laid on the bed inside. It has a little bit of dust since no one entered to clean the room. Geraldine rested for a bit before she got bored and look at the cabinets and storage boxes that Celia Martin left for her.

"Hmm, maybe she left something helpful to me here since she's a black magic user too," She went to the nearest storage box and finds something that interests her. That's when she saw a book in black color and a diamond shape design in the middle with a black gem.

"Where's the key to this?" She asked when seeing that it's locked. She went back to the box to search for the key, but there's none inside no matter how she tried to find it. Tired and frustrated, Geraldine went back to the bed with the book in hand.

She turned it around in search of a keyhole but there's none as well, "Tsk, what kind of book is this, no key and no keyhole," she chuckled as her finger slides at the black gem on the middle and the top portion of it are designs of rose thorns.

Geraldine didn't think much before she touched the thorns, thinking that it's blunt, "Ow!" In a surprise, it was sharp as hell.

The blood dripped on her skin and drop on the gem without her realization. She wipes the blood on her index using a towel and put it in her mouth to stop the bleeding when she heard a 'click.'

She saw the shine on the black gem shifted and the lock is now open for her to explore. With excitement, she flipped the book as she thought that she could read some spell from it but to her surprised, there are no words engraved on the pages.

The appearance is literally a book with pages but there's a huge hole in the middle where some cards are placed inside. She didn't hesitate to grab a card inside and flipped it to see the picture.

It was a man with shoulder-length hair who is wearing thick heavy armor and holding a sword and shield in the middle.

"This guy is handsome," She said as she looked closer at the face, "Too bad his eyes are closed."

Putting the card down, she went to get all the remaining cards inside, "There are only five cards here." She laid all the five cards on the bed and stared at it for a while with curiosity.

Picking up the first card, she continued staring at the man and flipped the back to see the same design as the book. Then she grabbed the book and searched for any instruction on how to use the cards but there's none. No matter how she tried to find a way, it still bears no fruit.

"Ugh! I don't have time for this," She throws the card in annoyance and laid in the bed with her eyes closed. The card slowly lands on the floor and that's when…

*Boom*

A loud noise followed by a bright light appeared which makes Geraldine startled in surprised. When the light is gone, a tall huge man is standing with his heavy sword in front and golden shield at the side. He is wearing gold and white armor which is exactly the same as the picture on the card.

His sky blue eyes stare back on her red ones and with a thundering voice, he spoke "Master, I shall protect you with all my life!"

His loud voice makes Geraldine shakes because of its vibrations. Then the man kneeled on the ground with his head bowed down.

He didn't move and waited for the signal from Geraldine who is still in shock. She slowly crawls out of the bed and went closer to the man.

"Who are you?" Geraldine asked as she circled around the man.

"Master, I am Bagha. I'm your protector and shield in any incoming danger," The man stands up, towering over Geraldine's height.

Geraldine stayed silent and went to find the card that she throws away but it's nowhere to be found. Then she went in front of Bagha and stare at his face for a couple of minutes. 

"So, let me get this straight, you came out of the card, right?"