Her Graceful War Song (Carissa Sinclair) novel Chapter 917

By the time Kevin turned 13, he still wasn't formally apprenticed to a mentor. Every time he tried, something went wrong. Either he fell ill, or the mentor he found had bad luck.

In the end, Ernest gave up.

"Just keep learning what you can," he said. "Whatever you manage to learn is enough."

Violet listened to Kevin's story with mixed emotions. Was this guy some kind of bad luck magnet? His life was one misfortune after another, and it seemed like he even brought bad luck to his mentors.

She couldn't help but wonder—would that affect her too?

Based on his past experiences, it always seemed like something would go wrong before he could formally apprentice. Now that he had finally managed to find a mentor and things were going smoothly, maybe it was a sign that his luck had finally turned. Since he managed to apprentice without issues, perhaps it meant his bad streak had come to an end and everything would start going well.

Kevin had officially met his senior apprentices. Seeing his sincere and respectful attitude, none of them made things difficult for him.

However, Carissa asked him, "You're from the Nightsteel Guard. Aren't you worried that apprenticing directly to a mentor like this might make it hard for you to rise in the ranks there?"

"It doesn't matter if I can't rise to the top right now," Kevin answered respectfully. "As long as I have the ability, I'll eventually make a name for myself. But if I don't hone my martial arts skills, even if the king values me, I won't have the ability to perform. It'd be even worse if I'm removed from my position later. I'm still young. I can wait."

Carissa nodded slightly, agreeing with his perspective. His persistence was rare—he hadn't let his bad luck push him off course, and despite everything, he hadn't gone down the wrong path.

It seemed Rafael's faith in him wasn't without reason.

After they left, Travis entered and eyed the gifts. Unlike before, he didn't rush over to inspect them. Earlier in the year, he had returned to his guild. Every last bit of the money he earned had gone to his mentor, and in return, he got a beating.

The reason? He had spent the money on jewelry, lip balm, and rouge. His mentor scolded him for wasting money and gave him a good thrashing. The next day, all the senior apprentices of the guild had painted their lips and applied rouge, protesting in their own way by using the very things their mentor had punished Travis for.

Alana and Leah were among the few who had traveled and seen more of the world. They told their mentor, "All girls today take the time to make themselves up. It's not a big deal for them to dress up once or twice. After all, it's the New Year, right?"

Though their mentor was stern, she was soft-hearted. After muttering that it was easy to fall into luxury but hard to return to frugality, she gave up on scolding them.

The night before Travis left the mountain to return to the capital, his mentor spoke with him for two hours.