The Greatest Sinner

The sun was already high in the sky and illuminating the whole earth. All living creatures had long ago awakened from their sleep, but there was one, who was still sleeping.

"Cool." That was the first word Evan said as soon as he woke up.

A night with Ella was an unexpected but very pleasant surprise that he simply could not refuse. But Evan's good mood was not due to that at all.

It was all about magic. Evan had already chosen three spells, and today he was going to practice using them.

It was almost ten o'clock in the morning. Ella had left long ago, leaving Evan alone.

The young man got out of bed and quickly changed his clothes. Evan didn't put on his armor, as he didn't see the point in doing so. He didn't think there was any chance of them being attacked right there in the mansion.

Evan was about to leave when he noticed one unpleasant thing, and that was the smell. He certainly didn't smell disgusting, but a relaxing bath wouldn't be a bad thing.

He did not know where the bathroom was, however, it was no problem to get the information he needed. Once out of the room he quickly met the maid, who took him where he needed to.

...

<Yeah, Commander Zak is really incredibly rich>. Evan found himself in a separate building. There he could take a bath and relax.

When the maid had taken him to the exit of the manor, Evan already suspected something, but not that. It was a real mini-mansion, which could easily be lived in by a very wealthy man. But to Zak, it was just a bathroom.

There was a couple of showers, bathrooms, hot springs, pools, and the so on. Firstly, they passed the servants' area and Evan was shocked that the servants had such good facilities. He saw many servants showering and bathing in the hot springs.

"Mr. Evan, this way." While the young man marveled at the strangeness of the whole estate and the position of the servants in it, the maid took him to another part of the building.

It was empty because no servants were allowed in.

The girl was about to leave. After she had shown him everything here, she was about to get back to her duties. But, the young man suddenly stopped her: "Who's allowed to take a bath here?"

Evan roughly understood the answer he was going to hear, but he was still curious. Maybe there was someone else important in this mansion that he didn't know about.

The maid hesitated for a moment and then answered, "Only you, Mr. Zak and Miss Margaret."

It was just as Evan had expected. He got the answer to his question and headed forward, but now the maid asked him a question, "Mr. Evan, what kind of clothes should I bring you? Plain or expensive?"

<Huh, you can tell about the master by his servants>. Evan fully appreciated the meaning of this question. The maid's words showed what kind of man Zak was. Other rich people might go around even in fancy dress, but not Zak. This made Evan very happy.

He looked at her and answered with a small smile on his face.

The maid nodded and left.

Evan liked the fact that he would be bathing alone, in absolute silence. Without thinking long, he threw off all his clothes and headed straight for the hot springs.

<Yeah, I certainly haven`t got the best body> Evan looked at his still skinny and weak body that Trevor had left him. It was fixable, though, and only meant that he had room to improve.

Splash.

Evan plunged into the warm water and at once felt himself much better.

The hot bath had a wonderful tonic effect that helped Evan not only to rest, but also gave him time to think about magic.

<I have three spells, and just under two months to go to the Academy of Magic. I hope, I`ll make it all in time>.

Evan wanted to learn everything he could from Zak and practice his spells.

He even had the idea of checking out how the "Magic Missile" worked underwater, but he knew that if he did, he would ruin everything here.

After all, Evan was a guest and he had got a shelter here, moreover provided with regal conditions.

...

After about twenty minutes, Evan heard footsteps approaching him. He turned around and saw the maid, with a set of clothes in her hands.

The girl said nothing, bowed, and left the clothes beside him.

"Wait a minute." Evan called out to her.

"Do you need something, Mr. Evan?"

The young man grinned and answered lightly, "Just want to ask you something. Do you know where Zak is?"

When they were going to the bathroom, Evan looked around, but he didn't see Zak anywhere.

The girl calmly replied, "Mr. Zak has gone into town on business. He shouldn't be back until tomorrow evening."

Evan nodded and let the maid go.

<I should go around the town one day, too. Maybe I'll find something interesting and useful to me.>

Mossy Vulture was a very large city, but Evan had seen very few there, only the Tower of Magic, Zak's mansion, and that was about it.

<Okay. There`s no point in thinking about it now. I have better things to do.>

After lying in the hot water for a while longer, Evan reluctantly got up and put on the clean clothes.

"Really simple. I'd even say it's the simplest." Evan looked at his new outfit with a smile, in fact, it was really the clothes of the simplest man.

But, Evan liked this outfit.

"Simple and comfortable, what else do you need?" With those words, he headed straight for the kitchen, where he had a quick nosh.

After that, it was time for practice and the long-awaited study of magic. He quickly went back to his room for his bag of books and ran to the practice area.

While Zak was gone, Evan didn't want to spend much time on physical training. So after a few simple exercises on the training ground, he sat down at the table and started reading.

The next spell he was going to learn was the "Ice Veil". Evan was interested in the spell of Summoning Magic as well, but he wanted to save that for last.

He was curious as to what result he would be able to achieve for the first time using the Amplification Magic spell. Evan had seen Zak use the fire spells of Amplification Magic for many times, enveloping his weapons in flames, thereby increasing their power by several levels.

Evan read thoughtfully and rather slowly. He saw no point in hurrying. Every word was important and he enjoyed the process itself. If he didn't succeed on his first attempt, he would have to read it again. It was illogical to make such silly mistakes.

"Whew."

A few hours later, Evan closed the book, put it aside and looked up at the beautiful blue sky. He replayed all the information he had received in his head, looking at the clouds floating peacefully.

"Let`s go."

He got up and picked up a one-handed sword from the stand on the training ground. The sword was simple, short, and light.

Amplification Magic was radically different from Creation Magic. What's more, unlike "Magic Missile", which had no element, the "Ice Veil" had it.

So Evan was a little worried, but at the same time excited with anticipation.

Whoosh.

He put the sword out in front of him and began to cast the "Ice Veil".

You could feel a slight chill around his palm, getting harder and harder with each passing second.

Crunch.

Starting from the hilt, a thin layer of ice began to appear all over the sword, gradually making the weapon stronger.

Evan smiled contentedly. He thought he had succeeded, as the ice almost reached the end of the sword. However, it wasn't as easy as it might have seemed at first glance.

At one point Evan felt a searing pain and quickly tossed the sword aside.

"Huh, it's not as easy as I`ve thought." Evan looked at his right hand, which was completely in ice. He could hardly squeeze and unclench it.