leonardwarren Chapter 43 A Small Favor
Chapter 43 A Small Favor
Winter had arrived, and the warm currents from the sea outside the Ryan River made things a little easier for the poor people of Ryan. Although the weather was getting colder, they could manage to get through the winter without having to wear heavy and expensive cotton robes.
Another semester is coming to an end.
Fafnir spent the entire day in the library today, studying a great deal of theory about the advancement of preparatory-level extraordinary beings to enlightened beings.
At eight o'clock in the evening, Fafnir knocked on Martha's door in the staff dormitory building.
Since the beginning of this semester, he has been knocking on this door less frequently, and hasn't come to see them for two weeks.
It wasn't that Fafnir didn't have time; sometimes he felt that Martha and Ellen next door seemed to be avoiding him, after the usual pleasantries they would exchange, there would be silence.
When Fafnir inquired about their meditation progress, the answer was always "still practicing."
"Please come in," Martha's voice came from inside the room.
Fafnir pushed open the door. The room was the same size as his, but the window faced north, so even during the day, not much sunlight could get in.
A narrow bed was placed against the wall, the sheets were faded from washing, and the blankets were neatly folded.
On the bedside table was a stack of books, the top one being "The Training Method of Spiritual Perception," with several sheets of scrap paper covered in writing tucked between its pages.
Fafner thought these scraps of paper must be notes; the edges were already curled.
Martha sat at the table in the dim candlelight, needle and thread in her hands, mending a robe lined with a dark blue cloth. The stitches were dense and even.
"Good evening, please have a seat. Is there anything I can help you with?" Martha looked up at him, stopping what she was doing.
"Good evening, Martha. Nothing much," Fafnir said, sitting down on the edge of the bed with a soft thud.
"This semester is almost over, how are you doing?"
Martha put the needle and thread back into the sewing box and closed the lid.
"It's alright," she said. "There's not much work in the laundry room. The clothes are thin in the summer, so they're easier to wash. It's a bit more tiring in the winter."
"Where's Allen?"
"He did a good job in the kitchen; the chef said he did a good job."
Fafnir nodded.
After a moment of silence, his gaze fell on the book "Spiritual Perception Training Method".
"Have you finished reading 'The Spiritual Perception Training Method'?" Fafner asked.
Martha followed his gaze, paused for a moment,
"Of course," she said, "I've watched it more than once. I also kept recording my usual practice results on paper and constantly making adjustments."
"Will it work?"
Martha didn't answer immediately. She pushed the sewing box to the corner of the table, making enough space on the surface.
"I don't know, but it might be of some use," Martha shook her head. "Mr. Victor once told us that the person he saw who was the last to develop spiritual awareness was eight months old."
But Alan and I should break this record; it's been over eight months, and we still haven't sensed anything spiritual.
Mr. Victor was just trying to comfort us. Alas, the book clearly states that many people actually find it difficult even to perceive spirituality.
One needs at least a tiny bit of talent to perceive spirituality.
Martha continued, "However, I haven't made no progress at all. Recently, sometimes when I close my eyes and calm my mind, after a while, I can vaguely feel silvery-white threads appearing in my mind."
But I couldn't "catch" them at all.
Fafnir sat up straighter: "When did it start?"
"About a week ago," Martha replied, "that night, after practicing the breathing techniques from the book, I closed my eyes and immediately tried meditating. Suddenly, I felt a warm sensation between my eyebrows."
A silvery-white thread seemed to appear in my mind, but it quickly disappeared.
I initially thought it was just hallucinations from exhaustion and didn't pay much attention, but it happened again the following night, and then again for the next few days.
As Martha spoke, her dejected tone finally lifted slightly.
"That was good. So, what happened next?"
"Later, I compared it with what was in the book," Martha said. "It was probably a precursor to spiritual perception."
She paused:
"But I don't know if this counts. The book says that spiritual perception is the ability to stably 'see' spiritual threads, but I only 'see' them vaguely, and the threads disappear after a while."
Fafnir didn't respond; he was trying to figure out how to start the conversation.
Martha glanced at him, then lowered her head, her voice much softer: "Do you think... we shouldn't be practicing this?"
"Of course not."
"Fafner... do you think Eren and I can train together?"
Fafner thought about it; he didn't want to lie to her, but he also didn't want to be too definitive.
"Whether it can be achieved through practice or not requires a long period of testing," he replied. "It's too early to say now."
Martha was silent for a moment, then nodded.
"Actually, maybe Allen and I were too greedy."
Fafnir, do you remember? Over a year ago, when the three of us came to the grammar school, Mr. Victor asked us what we wanted to learn.
At the time, I knew nothing about supernatural powers or magic; I just wanted to learn sewing so I could become a maid with a skill in the future.
But perhaps I've come to the wrong place.
I should go to the amateur craft school run by the Lorraine City Hall, haha.
"No, no, even if I had the chance, I wouldn't go to an amateur craft school," Martha gently shook her head and continued:
"I have arrived at the grammar school, and I have seen that even a random student possesses exceptional magical talent, surpassing all others in the entire Lorraine territory."
How I wish, how I wish I could cast even a fireball, so that I might have at least a little ability to protect myself and Eren when things get tough.
Martha smiled and said, "Fafner, thank you so much. You're always helping me and Allen, and you've been keeping track of our meditation progress recently."
Haha, to be honest, when we first came to the school, Allen and I were probably the real volunteers.
Even if your parents didn't spend money to get you into grammar school, I think Bishop Andrei would find a reason to bring you there so you could be exposed to the extraordinary.
Don't underestimate yourself, Martha, keep going!
If you find spiritual perception too difficult, don't give up.
By the way, Martha, why be so fixated on becoming a maid who can sew? If it's alright, I can teach you bookkeeping, or you could audit Mr. Victor's bookkeeping classes; his classes are excellent.
It would be great if you could become a CFO in the future.
"Thank you, Fafnir. I'll think about it carefully, thank you."
My mother always told me that if she knew how to sew, she wouldn't have to do such hard and tiring work anymore.
As for a CFO, we never even considered it.
……
"See you later, Fafnir. Get some rest, it's getting late."
"Let me see your meditation again," Fafnir said. "With vision."
"You've tried this many times before, but you haven't felt any spiritual presence."
"Martha, didn't you make progress last week? I think observing you in a state of clairvoyance should yield new insights."
"OK, thanks."
Martha hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
She first adjusted her breathing rhythm according to the steps of the breathing method, then closed her eyes and tried to calm her mind.
After seeing that Martha was ready, Fafnir closed his eyes and instantly entered a meditative state. Spiritual threads appeared in his mind, their silvery-white luster stable and calm.
The rune of spiritual vision quickly formed between his brows. He opened his eyes and looked at Martha.
The spiritual aura emanating from her body was very faint, almost invisible, consisting only of a thin layer of grayish-white mist, like the morning mist on a river, which could dissipate at any moment.
Beneath the thin mist was pure white light, distributed throughout the body—the color of human blood.
Fafnir stared at the thin, grayish-white mist for a few seconds, then suddenly sensed that tiny threads of spiritual energy had been drawn to Martha within those few seconds.
But it disappeared again very quickly.
Fafner confirmed one thing—this was not a spiritual perception.
This is merely a "traces" of the spirit.
Martha couldn't retain the spiritual threads; she could only barely "attract" them. These few threads vanished instantly, like water stains left on a dried-up riverbed.
Martha was right; she did sense something.
Fafnir withdrew his spiritual vision:
"Martha, I saw it. There are indeed spiritual threads entering your body."
"How are you?" Martha asked, opening her eyes, her voice a little nervous.
“The direction is right,” Fafnir replied, “but it’s still a little short.”
Martha's eyes dimmed for a moment, but quickly returned to normal.
"Fafner... what's missing?"
"Hmm... how should I put it? Let me think..."
“We’re missing something that can ‘preserve’ our spirituality,” Fafnir said.
"I know you can feel the spirituality flowing through you, but you can't hold onto it."
It's like trying to cup water in your hands; the water immediately slips through your fingers.
Martha was somewhat disappointed:
"What should we do then?"
Fafner did not answer immediately; his attention was distracted by something in his mind.
—The ledger!
Deep within his consciousness, the ledger was turning, not by his own initiative, but by its own doing.
The page is currently displaying the "Creditors" section, and the text above it is changing.
This feature has finally been activated!
"Debtor: Martha"
"Status of claim: Exercisable"
There is another line of smaller text below:
"Basic Meditation Method (Church of the God of Death) (Available for Loan)"
It only contains basic meditation techniques, not clairvoyance.
Fafnir thought about it and found it to be reasonable.
Vision is built on the foundation of meditation; if you can't even retain spirituality, you can't activate it even if you borrow vision runes.
“I have a way,” Fafner said, “that might allow you to perceive spirituality more quickly, but I’m not sure if it will work.”
"What method?"
Fafner hesitated; he didn't want to explain the ledgers.
"It's... a variation of a guiding technique," Fafnir said. "Not Mr. Victor's kind, it's something I figured out myself."
Martha looked at him with a mixture of expectation and doubt in her eyes, but did not refuse.
"Thank you, Fafnir. May I give it a try?"
Fafnir had Martha sit on the edge of the bed, close her eyes, and maintain the rhythm of her usual breathing exercises.
He sat up straight in the chair and entered a meditative state.
The ledger unfolded in his mind, and he stared at the words "available for lending," touching them with his spirit.
The moment the spirit made contact, the ledger pages lit up.
The text on the page began to change.
"Creditor: Fafner Beckett"
"Debtor: Martha"
"Debt Content: Basic Meditation Method (Church of the God of Death) (Temporary Guiding Framework)"
"Debt term: 30 days"
"Interest: Basic Meditation Progress +1/Debtor/Month"
"Confirm?"
Fafnir silently confirmed.
The ledger pages lit up again. This time the light lasted longer, spreading from the "Creditors" column to the entire page, then diffusing outwards along his spiritual threads, leaving his consciousness, and flowing along an unseen passage in the void towards Martha sitting by the bed.
Fafnir's clairvoyance was still active. He saw a small portion of the gray aura on his body peel away, turning into extremely fine silver-white threads that drifted towards Martha's brow.
The silk threads began to weave.
It's not a complete meditation method, but just a very simple framework—a structure that allows the spirit to linger temporarily.
Martha's body trembled.
"What's wrong?" Fafnir asked.
"It feels like... something entered my mind," her voice trembled slightly, "I feel a burning sensation between my eyebrows."
The spiritual threads continued to weave, and after about half a minute, the framework of the entire basic meditation method took shape.
A very simple framework.
Compared to the guiding formula that Mr. Victor constructed for Fafnir a year ago, it's like a thatched hut compared to a stone castle—very shabby.
But it is very stable and did not break.
Fafnir looked at the thin frame that hung quietly between Martha's eyebrows.
"Alright," Fafner said, "it's finished."
Martha opened her eyes, blinked, then silently closed them again, trying to enter a meditative state...
She opened her eyes again.
"I……"
"How is it?"
"I think..." her voice trembled slightly, "I think I can feel it."
"What did you feel?"
“Spiritual,” Martha said, raising her hand and pointing to her forehead, “right here, a silvery-white spiritual thread. I can see it clearly in a meditative state.”
Fafnir checked it again using his spiritual vision.
The thin, grayish-white mist on her body remained unchanged, but something new had appeared beneath it.
—The guiding framework is slowly working, gradually gathering the scattered spiritual threads around the environment towards the center.
“This is only temporary,” Fafner said. “It will probably last for a month. After that, either your own spirituality will be able to hold this framework together, or it will fall apart.”
"A month? A month," Martha repeated, then nodded. "That's enough."
She looked at Fafnir and her lips moved a few times: "Thank you."
Fafnir, thank you so much, I will never forget it.
The voice wasn't loud, but it was very earnest.
Fafnir waved his hand.
"You're welcome," he said. "Just practice hard."
Fafner wasn't being polite.
Martha stared at him for two seconds, then nodded solemnly:
"I will."
Fafner stood up, the chair scraping softly on the floor.
Go to bed early.
He pushed open the door and went out. The corridor was quiet. After walking a few steps, he stopped in front of Allen's door and knocked.
"Who is it?" Allen's voice came from inside.
"I."
The door opened, and Allen stood in the doorway, his hair disheveled, a pen clutched in his hand.
"I've been to your sister's place," Fafnir said. "I've come to see you."
Allen stepped aside to let him in. Several books and a large stack of scraps of paper covered in writing were spread out on his desk. Fafnir sat down on the edge of the bed.
"Good evening, how have you been lately?" Fafnir asked.
"Good evening, Fafnir. I'm doing alright, not much work in the kitchen."
Fafnir glanced at the open book on the table, "The Training Method of Spiritual Perception".
"You've read this book, *The Training Method for Spiritual Perception*, too?"
"Um."
"Can you feel anything?"
Allen was silent for a moment. "There's something... After practicing the breathing technique, I felt faint spiritual threads appear during meditation, but they disappeared quickly."
"Hmm...when did it start?"
About two weeks ago.
Fafnir nodded: "Let me use my clairvoyance."
Like Martha, Alan also tried to enter into meditation.
After seeing that Allen was ready, Fafnir entered meditation and activated his spiritual vision.
The grayish-white mist on Allen's body was even lighter than Martha's, and the pure white light beneath it was mixed with a few specks of pale gold—a trace of elven blood, but very little.
Fafnir withdrew his spiritual vision.
"Similar to your sister," Fafnir said, "you can sense it, but you can't hold onto it."
Allen didn't speak, but tapped his fingers lightly on his knee.
"Alan, I have an idea," Fafnir said. "I just tried it on Martha, would you like to give it a try?"
"What method?"
"A variation of the guiding technique, which I figured out myself."
Allen nodded.
Fafnir had him sit against the wall, close his eyes, and then enter into meditation, summoning the ledger.
A new entry, "Debtor: Martha (Effective)," has been added to the page, with a new option below it.
"Debtor: Allen"
"Status of claim: Exercisable"
Fafnir silently confirmed.
Silvery-white spiritual threads detached from his body and drifted towards Allen's brow, beginning to weave.
Allen didn't react much, sitting with his eyes closed and his breathing steady.
The frame takes shape in about half a minute.
"alright."
Allen opened his eyes and blinked.
"Can you feel it?"
Allen entered a meditative state.
"I felt it!" he exclaimed. "I saw spiritual threads between my eyebrows!"
Fafnir used his clairvoyance to look at it again.
Allen's guiding framework is working.
"This should last about a month," Fafnir said. "After a month, either your own spirituality will hold up and you'll have fully mastered the basic meditation techniques, or things will return to normal."
Allen nodded.
"Fafner," he said, "thank you."
"You're welcome. Just practice hard."
Fafnir stood up and stretched.
"Go to sleep early, I'm going back to my room, goodbye."
As he reached the door, Allen called out to him again.
"Fafner".
He turned around.
Why are you helping us?
Fafner thought for a moment.
"It was nothing, I just helped," Fafnir said. "Why all the fuss?"
His tone was calm, as if he had done something insignificant.
Allen looked at him for two seconds and nodded:
"Fafner! Although Martha and I can't help you right now!"
But we will definitely repay you.
Thanks!"
Fafnir pushed open the door and went out.
The corridor was completely quiet.
He returned to his room, closed the door, and sat down on the edge of the bed.
The ledger surfaced in my mind.
Two lines of text appeared on the page:
"Debt claim in effect (29 days remaining)"
"Debtor 1: Martha - Basic Meditation: Progress +0 (Not yet mastered)"
"Debtor 2: Allen - Basic Meditation Technique: Progress +0 (Not yet mastered)"
Accumulated interest: 0
Fafner stared at the two lines "not yet mastered" for a while.
It's not that he can repay what he borrows. They need to learn how to do it themselves before he can reap the benefits.
A reasonable mechanism
If you don't learn it...
Haha, bad debt losses confirmed. No worries, all investments carry risk.
and,
Fafnir's "creation" of these two basic meditation guidance frameworks consumes very little spiritual energy.
It consumes about the same amount of spirit energy as two fireballs in total.
He blew out the candles, lay down on the bed, and saw the wood grain on the ceiling clearly in the darkness. Fafnir felt that his night vision had improved.
The clock tower in the distance chimed again.
……
The cafeteria was much busier than usual on the last day of the semester.
Fafnir took his plate and sat down in a corner. On the plate were fried meat, soup, and a piece of white bread.
"Fafner!"
Raymond squeezed in with a mountain of food plates and plopped down opposite him. "This is your last meal, eat as much as you can. You're leaving this afternoon?"
"Yes, back to Lorraine Manor."
"I'm going home too. I need to go back and lie down properly," Raymond said, taking a big bite of bread. "This semester has been exhausting."
Fafnir didn't reply, and lowered his head to drink his soup.
"Hey," Raymond lowered his voice and gestured behind Fafnir, "Look who's here."
Fafnir turned around.
Joël Lorraine stood in front of the food window, holding a tray, her long blonde hair flowing down her back, and her gray school uniform neatly worn.
She glanced around the hall, saw them, and walked over.
"Excuse me, is this seat taken?" She pointed to the empty seat next to Fafnir.
Fafner shook his head.
Joël sat down, placed the bread on the left, the soup on the right, and the fried fish in the middle.
"Are you going home this afternoon too?" Raymond asked.
"Yes, Cecilia is here to pick me up."
What are your plans for the holiday?
"Read some books, practice your spells." Joël broke off a small piece of white bread.
"You're on vacation and you're still practicing?" Raymond glared.
Joelle ignored him.
"I'm not doing anything during my vacation," Raymond said, leaning back in his chair. "Just lying around, eating, and sleeping."
Raymond chuckled.
"Fafner," Joel suddenly spoke, "are you practicing magic during your vacation?"
"Of course I'll practice."
"What are you practicing?"
"Cultivate your spirituality. Mr. Victor said my total spirituality is not enough."
Joël nodded.
The hall was noisy, with someone shouting "We're on holiday!" and several people nearby joining in the commotion and banging on the table.
"It's so noisy," Joelle said.
"Everyone's happy that the last class is over," Raymond laughed. "Aren't you happy?"
Joël's lips twitched, but he didn't answer.
Fafnir finished the last piece of bread and the soup; he always ate quickly.
"You eat really fast," Raymond said.
"I'm used to it. We used to eat dinner at the manor around nine o'clock, and we were starving."
Joelle paused for a moment, then continued drinking her soup.
Fafnir stood up and picked up his plate.
See you next semester.
"Goodbye, see you next semester!" Raymond waved.
"Okay, Fafnir, see you next semester." Joël nodded as well.
Fafner walked towards the dish recycling area, and glanced back at the door.
Raymond got up and chatted with some classmates he knew nearby.
Joël sat upright, his plate empty.
After setting down the tableware, he walked towards the faculty and staff dormitory.
I'm going home this afternoon.