I woke up the next morning feeling refreshed. The mana in my body completely recovered, and I was in good condition to start my day. “Time to get ready young master.” I groggily stretched out my body before Rhea helped me get dressed and ready for breakfast. Mother stormed into my room to get me in a hurry and took me to the dining room so we could have breakfast together as a family. “Darius, tell me about your rock hand spell. Glasses told me how much you shocked him yesterday!” Mother was excited, “Honey, don’t call me glasses at the table, and let’s not shout while we’re eating.” As I looked at my mother and father smiling at each other and giving me praises I got a weird warm feeling in my chest. It was uncomfortable.

The family I had once dreamed of during my time as an orphan. My fantasies, my dreams, whatever this was, was far better. I intended to protect and keep this family for as long as I was able. I failed to protect my only friends, I won't fail a second time.

“Darius, we're going to take a break today. Your mother and I thought it would be nice to show you around the territory today.” “No training?” I hated when my training got interrupted. “You sound just like your mom, rest is also an important part of training, son.” My father raised his eyebrow before looking at my mother. She snorted at that. "What are you giving me that look for glasses?"

After breakfast, I was dragged to a beautiful red carriage with my mother, father, Elijah, Tobias, Rhea, and Tom the driver. “Let’s go little chap you’ve never seen the territories before right?” Elijah said. “No, I'd rather be training, but I am a little curious to see what father's territory is like.” “Hehe! He never sounds his age, does he? What do you think of Tobi, young master? I heard you were making him dance around like a jester the other day.” “Tobi?” I was curious about that nickname. “Stop calling me Tobi, we're on duty Elijah.” It didn't seem like Tobias liked his nickname very much. “Eli, he’s a bright one so you'd better keep a close eye on him.” My father picked me up and set me in the carriage. I ended up on my mother’s lap who sat with my father to his right, across from us Tobias, Elijah and Rhea sat facing us. “Let’s have some fun today Darius.” My mother said this while smiling. Mother and father were even holding hands. What's with this environment? I just wanted to train today. While I was pouting, Elijah started going over some boring territorial reports to my father. I only really paid attention when I heard them talk about skirmishes with the Argon Empire, a rival superpower, that we seemed to be on the brink of war. They tried to whisper, but I could easily hear what they were saying if I just focused my hearing a tiny bit. “They sent troops to the Prime forest again. They are looting resources near the border regions and people's tensions in the capital are heating up.” “There’s no point in worrying about it if we’re prepared for them we’re prepared it's as simple as that, let's talk about this later Eli.” My father retorted. They changed the subject to something boring again, and I lost interest.

The ride in the carriage was surprisingly comfortable and we arrived at our destination an hour after we departed. “We’re here!” I was a little curious to see the city of Renee. Renee was the second-largest city in the Elion Kingdom with a growing population of over a million people. My father’s tower was located near the center of the city. Renee was the breadbasket of the kingdom with a heavy emphasis on low taxes for merchants, a good environment for mages to learn magic, and fertile fields for farmers to grow agriculture. My father even told me he has his own greenhouse, and a vineyard for wine. It was something we would check towards the end of our trip.

We stopped in the busy marketplace and got out of the carriage in a hurry. The knights got out first and then Rhea quickly came after. Father and mother were last to exit the carriage with me on top of my mother's shoulders. We walked around Renee's bustling marketplace together. There were vendors on both sides of a wide stone street selling food, jewelry, pots and pans, and even rugs made of animal furs and monster skins. I noticed that behind the stores were residential homes. “Come and get it! We've got fresh Heral cream with sweet yellow fruit!” One of the vendors got Elijah's attention. “I’ll take some!” Elijah ran over and grabbed several glasses filled with thick yellow cream. Tobias yelled, “Elijah! You’re not supposed to leave the Lord's side!” Unlike Elijah, Tobias didn’t run off anywhere, he even got more guarded as he stepped in front of my mother and me. My parents weren't bothered by their antics at all, they were probably like this all the time. “Try this Darius, it’s delicious!” Elijah handed me a glass filled with cream and passed several glasses around to everyone in our group except Tobias which earned him a harsh glare. I tried the yellow and cream and thought it was delicious, though not as good as cake. “It's good uncle Eli.” I smiled a little and he seemed to have a seizure. “He called me Uncle! Hah, my young master!” Elijah ran over and tried to hug me, but my mother simply kicked him away. “He calls me uncle all the time Elijah.” Tobias muttered under his breath.” “What?!” A strange comedy routine unfolded, but my attention was drawn elsewhere.

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“Father, is that the Red Tower?” I pointed at the tower which had just become visible, as we made our way past many stores and restaurants near the city center. The tower was a huge man-made structure sculpted brick by brick by human hands. Each pinkish-red brick was enchanted with strange-looking symbols etched meticulously one by one. It towered so high into the sky you couldn't bend your neck enough to see the top. It was hard to see the tower from a distance as magic fog swirled and surrounded the tower at all times. The tower became more visible the closer you got to it. “Wow.” I thought the tower was certainly intimidating, maybe not as much as The 7 Hells Snake's Hell Castle, but this was certainly impressive.

“That's my tower son, it's where I spend most of my time working. We're going to check out the academy near the tower grounds before getting lunch." There were several magic academies and knight academies in Elion. The third-largest magic academy and the fourth-largest knight academy were in the city of Renee. Father told me I’d be attending the academy in the Royal capital. "Why would I go to an academy in the capital when we have one in your territory dad? Do I even need to go to an academy to learn magic when I can get all the lessons I need at home?" I had to scratch my head, I just couldn't understand the reasoning behind their decision. My mother responded, “You won’t learn anything from the academy, regardless.” “Then why do I have to go?” “Darius you have to go because of politics. It's better for everyone if you are associated with the academy in the capital. It reflects well with the academy and kingdom if our son attends the Royal Academy. It's just politics.” My father and mother looked upset about it but wouldn't change their minds. My mother thought for a minute before saying, “Darius, politics is the most annoying aspect of our lives, and for you, it’s going to be much harder than magic and even active combat. You really need to prepare yourself, son. “Yes, mother.”

Though I hated politics with a passion I represented more than myself now I represented my family. There was definitely an invisible weight to that, a weight I had never really faced before. I can finally understand why those clan heads couldn't avoid troublesome situations. They had a burden they couldn't escape from. I wanted to go to a coliseum and fight to my heart's content or rip through a battlefield while testing out new techniques and spells. I want to both challenge the strong and be challenged by the weak, but now it feels as though I have this invisible collar around my neck holding me back.

The burden was both good and bad. I have never run away from a challenge, and I didn’t intend to start now. But that didn't mean I would be inheriting the Duke title or the Red Tower. Once I get some siblings I’ll throw all of the familial responsibilities at them. I sent a silent apology to my hopefully soon-to-be future siblings.

We arrived at the academy and my father began explaining why he created it. The academy was similar to our large manor with larger rooms for classrooms. There were training rooms for young mages or even teachers to practice spells in private, and outside there were practice fields for combat training and demonstrations. I didn't see any students or teachers around. "Where did all the people go?" "It's the academy rest period now, the only people here are probably in private chambers practicing spells." The academies gave students and teachers time to see family or rest. We entered the training field and walked up to a stage. I tried to make sense of the magic circles etched into the stone floors. “And this magic circle can set up a barrier so that a teacher can prevent an accident in practice.” My father looked at me with a big smile on his face which he rarely showed; what he was talking about again? I nodded my head while feeling a little guilty. I got lost in my own thoughts again.

We left the academy after a short tour and went out for lunch at the small tavern Granny's Pie, instead of a big restaurant. “My Lord, Welcome!” “Haha Mary, we had to stop by for some of your famous pies we brought our son this time.” “Oh look at this handsome little fella he’s going to look like his parents, you better watch out he might sweep away all the noble ladies!” “Mary, you have no idea what a handful this one is, my little guy, is impressive already!” My mother said passionately, with flushed red cheeks. Looking at my mother I felt an unavoidable sense of embarrassment. “Lords! please rest, I’ll fix you something right away!” My father smiled as he said, “Take your time, you don’t have to rush.” We sat at a wooden table together as a family. There didn't seem to be anyone else in the tavern except for our group. Rhea set the tables before sitting at the table next to ours. Tobias and Elijah were bickering about something before deciding on some sort of pie-eating contest, they sat down at the table with Rhea. “After we eat we’ll show you the Town square, it's a bit past the marketplace from earlier, and then we’ll take you to see some farmland. All of these people are the backbone of our Kingdom. Each and every one of them is precious, we must make sure the people here are healthy and safe.” My mother said this with a beautiful smile and my father nodded in agreement. He gave her a disgusting love-dovey gaze. “Stop looking at each other like that it’s gross!” It slipped out. Mom looked at me confused for a second before she burst out laughing, “Hahahaha watch out son you might be a brother pretty soon! Did you hear that Dar! He wants us to stop looking at each other!” My father laughed and said, “When your mother and I love each other very much.” “Nooooo stop please!” The other table started laughing right after. We had a rowdy lunch before going to the town square.