Bryson Coldwater stood in the middle of the forest of the Coldwater estate, surrounded by trees that had began to transform in the autumn season. As he stood over a bed of fallen multicoloured autumn leaves, he concentrated on casting his spell.

It had been fifteen months since having to deal with the vampire Keddrick back on that vacation resort at Wemore. Since then, Bryson the ten-year-old was thankfully not involved with anything exciting since.

Birthday celebrations have been normal. Though that is in large part thanks to the lack of stupid parades around the city now. No, most celebrations were now mainly held in the estate or at the estate of other nobles.

No weird monsters or creatures, no suspicious underground smuggling rings, nothing. At least none that Bryson was aware of. Which was good enough if it meant that he didn’t need to involve himself in anything. He just took his lessons and enjoyed his free time.

So Bryson with all this free time continued to improve his magic. Primrose had been teaching him more and it seems as though he was improving with great strides. This ramp-up in magic lessons occurred right after the whole vampire ordeal. Evidently, she wanted him to be better in case something like this were to ever happen again.

Though Bryson did feel as though something changed with Primrose after that, maybe something happened. She never acknowledged it, so Bryson just chalked it up to her being overly cautious.

Whatever the case was, Bryson was surprised to find himself enjoying the extra magic lessons. He actually found it rather entertaining to figure out more unconventional ways of casting magic. Primrose had made it a point for him to cast standard spells through more unique methods and to try and to be creative and create his own spells.

Right now, Bryson was testing out his magic control. The fallen leaves around him began to swirl around him. The reds, yellows, and orange leaves separated from the swirling whirlwind and shot upwards, leaving only the lifeless looking brown ones left.

Giving a small flick of his finger, the spinning brown leaves froze in place before falling toward the ground. Over his head the tri-coloured leaves separated into their respective colours.

Bryson pointed a finger at a tree in front of him and the red leaves zipped toward it and wrapped around the entire tree trunk. The orange and yellow leaves flowed upwards to the barren branches and surrounded them, as if returning back to the tree.

Bryson stopped and admired his work. It was a strange sight, with the tree now having a red leafy trunk and leaves that weren’t quite attached to the branches but hovering around them. Though, that wasn’t the point. Bryson was able to move around all these leaves and form them into what he wanted.

Better than that, he did so with relative ease. Although, they were just leaves and had to manipulate them all as a clump and not individually. Let’s see if I can change that. He thought as he tried to be more selective on the leaves he wanted to move.

As he concentrated on picking out a few specific leaves on the tree a voice behind him spoke out.

“Wow that’s cool!”

This sudden interruption completely broke Bryson’s concentration. Jumping forward in surprise he lost focus and the leaves surrounding the tree slammed into the ground. The startled Bryson accidentally sent the leaves down with too much force.

Bryson quickly composed himself and he slowly turned around with a glare. Seeing who had snuck up behind him, he saw Lottie Frost. Lottie Frost, his personal maid, Lila Frost’s very own little sister.

The coffee-haired girl held a big smile on her face as she greeted Bryson, “Scared you huh?” She teased.

“What are you doing here?” Bryson asked through gritted teeth.

“To say hi.” She said bobbing her head up and down.

“How did you get here?”

“Mister Phillip and Miss Primrose told me you were here.”

“That doesn’t answer my- mmmm.” Bryson cut himself off in anger pursing his lips for a second, “Phillip! Primrose!” He shouted into the air, the wind carrying his voice, Lottie covered her ears from the noise. A moment later, the sound of rustling leaves could be heard before Bryson saw Phillip and Primrose.

“Yes Lord Bryson?” Phillip asked politely before noticing Lottie, “Ah, Miss Lottie there you are.”

“Please explain to me why in the world is she here?” Bryson asked, thumbing a finger at Lottie, “And where is Frost?” He added.

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“I’m right here.” Lottie said giving a small wave.

“Not you, the big one.” Bryson groaned.

“Lottie is here for her training, Lord Bryson.” Phillip answered.

“I’m sorry, what?” Bryson asked completely flabbergasted at the answer.

“Training, I have been training miss Frost here.” Phillip said.

“Training her how?”

“Sneaking around and fighting too.” Lottie said happily, “You never noticed me approaching you, did you?”

“No I-, huh. I really didn’t.” Bryson said as he realized that she managed to sneak up behind him despite having to walk through piles of dead dry leaves. Sure, he was distracted, but not distracted enough to not notice someone make their way over to him. Yet, Lottie didn’t make a single noise.

Looking at Lottie with suspicion he asked, “How did you do that?”

“Phillip says that I’m a natural.” Lottie beamed.

“It’s true, she is instinctively able to mask her presence. Making even those with keen senses or even magic struggle to spot her.” Phillip praised her.

“Wait, how long have you been training her?”

“About a few months now.”

“Why did you start teaching her?”

“Miss Primrose here asked me.”

Bryson then looked at Primrose with a face of puzzlement, “Why would he ever listen to you to train some random commoner girl?”

“Because Viola gave permission.” She said.

“Viola? Why?”

“Because I asked her.” Primrose said, once she noticed Bryson’s blank expression she elaborated, “I spoke to Lila and met Lottie. I noticed her potential and recommended her to be trained, Viola was kind enough to have Phillip train her.”

“Why wasn’t I informed of this?”

“Viola said that she would personally bring you the news.” Primrose said, “Did she not?” She asked in surprise.

“No, she didn’t.” Bryson said. I need to talk to her about this. He thought.

“That aside, Miss Lottie, why did you interrupt Lord Bryson?” Phillip asked.

“Lila called me, she knew I was here and wanted me to get him.” She said.

“For what?” Bryson asked.

“I don’t know, apparently there’s a message for you back at the mansion.” Lottie said with a shrug.

Bryson gave a tired sigh, “Fine.” He began to walk toward the manor. Stopping for a moment he turned back to Primrose, “I need to talk to you about this later.”

“Of course.” Primrose said with a wave.

“And don’t get caught by Gilles!” Bryson shouted back to Lottie.

“I won’t!”

***

Bryson walked toward the front of the doorsteps to the manor. Walking down the steps was Lila Frost, adorned with her maid uniform she saw him and approached him.

“What was so important to call me here Frost? Why didn’t you tell me that your sister has been here for the past few months?” Bryson asked irritated.

“Huh? Viola said that she would tell you herself. She practically forced me not to tell you about it.” Lila said confused.

“I am going to have a talk.” Bryson said, venom dripping from his voice.

“Well… I guess you can do that now. There’s some sort of meeting for all the Coldwater children.” She said.

“Great, now what?” He said as he walked past her and into the manor.

***

The four Coldwater children sat in one of the lounge rooms all bored out of their minds. Gilles lazed about a couch with his hands on the back of his head. Viola sat next to a desk, hand on her chin, scrolling through her tablet with half interest. Sable just sat down and stared at the clock watching the time ticking away.

“What are we waiting for?” Bryson asked while leaning on a wall near the door. He was looking at the door and waiting to dart out of the room the moment he could.

The door on the other side of the room opened and Duke Coldwater entered the room with a pair of servants behind him. Immediately Bryson stood straight up and to attention. Gilles sat straight up and moved his legs off the cushions and onto the floor. Sable looked straight toward her father while Viola stashed away her tablet.

Duke Coldwater looked around the room, his eyes crimson eyes momentarily resting on each of them. After a moment of silence, he spoke, “Your mother and I have decided it would be good for you to get some experience with dealing with this continent in the future.” He said, his deep voice vibrating into their very cores.

“What do you mean by that father?” Sable asked.

“None of you have had much experience with the outskirts of our territory. You will need to gain this experience for the future when you have more responsibility.” He said, his gaze nearly emotionless.

Duke Coldwater then turned around and indicated to one of the servants. The servant walked over to a table in the center of the room and placed large folder on it.

“You are to pick one of these places to visit. Deal with whatever issue the place has, however you want. Gareth had done this a few times in the past. Viola you are leaving for the academy in few months. This will be good preparation for you. Pick now.” Duke Coldwater said.

Gilles quickly rushed forward and grabbed the small stack of papers out of the folder and began to flip through them. Giving cursory glances at each sheet and tossing aside the one he had no interest in.

“Ooo, monsters attacking some supply posts. This one is mine.” He said as he stuffed the note into his pocket and threw the rest onto the table. Bryson took a glance over to his father, who’s face remained stoic. But Bryson could see that Duke Coldwater was studying their choices.

Viola quickly sifted through some of the sheets before grabbing one. Sable took a glance over Bryson, seeing that he didn’t move she grabbed a sheet herself.

Bryson watched as Sable backed away from the table and took a step toward the table. Hearing the sound of paper crinkling he looked down. He had stepped on one of the locations that Gilles had thrown aside.

Moving his foot off it he bent down to pick it up paper and read it. It mentioned how in the outskirts rather far north in the extremely sparse villages there was some sort of sickness running rampant.

This seems interesting. He thought as he furrowed his brow as he continued to read. It seemed that this was a request to investigate the situation and provide some type of aid. I doubt anyone else is going to bother looking into this. He thought as this part of the continent was often regarded as unimportant due to just how far it was from any major area. It didn’t even contain any important resources.

“I’ve picked mine.” Bryson said still staring at the contents on the paper.

“Then you have all finished making your choice?” Duke Coldwater asked. After receiving four nods he motioned the servants to pick up the papers.

“You have two days, do not disappoint me.” He said as he turned around and left the room.