As with all other times, the night went by swiftly.
Though sleeping felt foreign to Atticus, he had to admit that he actually enjoyed doing it.
The next morning, he woke up feeling as light as a feather. Freshening up with a thought, he stepped out of his room to witness a weird scene.
Arya stood in front of his door with her head bowed low. She was clad in her battle suit and stood with a rigid pose.
"Y-young master! I hope you had a peaceful night..."
’She sure is eager...’
Though she hid her face with the bow, Atticus could feel her excitement from where he stood.
"I did, Arya, thank you." He turned towards the figure also bowing next to her.
"What are you doing?"
"M-master... I-I came here to pay my respects to you."
It was a person Atticus hadn’t seen in a while, and quite frankly, had never expected to even see again.
’Yotad.’
Yotad was his Ravenblade, though no one could claim he had fulfilled any duty of protecting him. If anything, Atticus did the protecting.
"Let me guess, you also want me to improve your talent."
"I-I wouldn’t dare ask, master!" Yotad bowed lower, "B-but... em. I-if master wishes to, I wouldn’t object..."
Atticus watched as the full-blown assassin in front of him began to nervously fidget with his fingers. He sighed.
’Why not?’
Yotad was bound to him. And though he hadn’t actually felt his need, having an extra power loyal to him didn’t sound terrible.
"Alright. Let’s go to my training room."
They vanished before they could react, and appeared in the middle of his former training room.
Atticus snapped his fingers, and two beds materialized in front of them.
"Lie on it and close your eyes."
"Y-young master?"
"Yes, master."
Though Yotad dutifully answered and lay on the bed, Arya hesitated.
’She’s afraid.’
There was no position more vulnerable than what Atticus had just ordered.
As an assassin, whose first instinct was to always be alert, it seemed ludicrous that she would subject herself to such vulnerability. Atticus chose four simple words to solve the problem.
"You don’t trust me?"
Arya’s eyes widened.
"Ah! No no. Of course I do, young master."
Though, slowly, she eventually lay on the bed. It took another minute for her to shut her eyes.
"I’m about to rewrite your whole internal structure," Atticus said, "I can’t say it will be painless, but I’ll try to make you feel as little of it as possible. Nod if you understand."
They both nodded.
"Alright, I’ll start now."
Atticus repeated the same process he used for the others and increased their talents.
After doing it multiple times, he’d gained experience. This time around, it didn’t take nearly as much time as it took the others.
After some time, he placed both of them in one corner of the training room, where they slept and snored softly.
"To think they’re assassins. They look so peaceful."
He was done with his task. All that remained was their bodies accepting and adapting to the change. After some time, he expected them to break into the grandmaster rank.
’At least she’ll stop feeling needless guilt now.’
Atticus stared at Arya with a smile. Because he’d increased Anastasia’s talent, she had grown past Arya in strength.
While she was still her Ravenblade, how could she protect a master who was leagues above her in power?
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