And so I lived a new normal life in this new world. The seasons cycled and the years passed by and before I knew it, it had already been ten years when I first awoke my eyes in Teria. I finally got used somewhat to this new life, although that feeling of dread, missing my old home and family ever failed to hit me at times.

Don’t get me wrong though, my new parents are cool people, my father, Ernest, was apparently one of the king’s most trusted confidants and my mother was an established magician skilled in healing magic. I can attest to both their personalities as well, seeing their excitement when I first walked or said my first words led me to believe that they were a good and happy couple. But well…… no matter how good they are, I couldn’t see them as anyone other than a bunch of people I’m indebted to.

Oh well….. Today, I walked along the halls of my the Eines Mansion, yes, my full name was Elis von Eines. Sounds stupid? Apparently was a knocker for the people here. The culture in my household is way too weird, and this world was even weirder,

I stopped to look outside the windows, barely seeing the rim with my current height and looked outside and through the sky, floating there were the two distant blue and purple moons that gave off a peaceful luminescent light surrounded by the countless stars. That was the very thing that struck me about this world, no, not the two moons, but that this world only had three hours of sunlight. Granted there are eighteen so called "hours" in a single night and day cycle, this was still hugely abnormal. What kind of solar system does this world have? What kind of effect does this have on this world’s ecosystem?

As I was caught up in my thoughts, a rather old man in a butler outfit bowed in front of me courteously. As he straightened his posture, I nodded. “Good day, Seba- Aurio.”, I corrected myself.

“Good day, young master, we will have dinner in an hour. What would you like to be prepared?”, he asked politely, with reverence to me.

“I’ll have boarling meat roasted like I told you.”, I replied, seemingly used to this kind of treatment, it took a while though.

“As you wish, I shall be on my way now, please don’t forget to get adequate sleep for tomorrow.”, he said as he bowed once more before walking away with poise.

I turned around with a sigh as I kept on moving on into my destination, with my arrival in this world, I knew I needed to learn more about this world if I want to become an astrologist, I had to learn about the magic system in this world and it’s history, that’s why I came to the place I stood in front of, the house library.

I opened the doors to see a classical looking library, over the middle was lined with shelves filled with books of all sorts, my dad was the kind of person to collect these after all. The dark brown and incredibly smooth book shelves along with the velvet red carpet and tables all painted a rather jazzy and calm scene, just the way I liked it. As I touched the soft yet tough dark brown shelf, a memory passed by my mind, where I tried stabbing one of the shelves with a knife, hearing that the wood they used was tougher than stone from all the magical nutrients they get from the land. I wondered what exactly was the process of how they absorb the mana, do they get it from the water? Land? Or does the moon’s light have an effect on them just like photosynthesis? As I was in thought, I heard a familiar voice nearby,

“So this goes here…..and that goes there……”, muttered a calm voice as if the person speaking was concentrating. Hearing that voice, I sighed before approaching the little girl with blue hair wearing a small maid’s dress on one of the seats, seemingly concentrating on something.

Along the way, I grabbed a book that I bookmarked before sitting next to the girl who seemed to be solving a problem of some sorts.

“Still on that problem?”, I asked her, who looked at me a with a dissatisfied look on her face. “Shush, I’ll definitely complete this level!”, she said angrily, just like any competitive kid. I shrugged before proceeding to open the book I wanted to read.

As I opened the book, a moment of silence cut between us before she grumbled in frustration and dropping the white tablet and some kind of pen she was so fixated on. “Aghhhh! I can’t do it!”, she complained in frustration. I sighed before dropping my book, “You want me to solve it for you?”, I asked before looking at the stone tablet she dropped.

The tablet she held was a sort of arithmetic learning game for kids, programmed by one of the higher ups. It had basic pattern, shape and math questions, all bundled by levels in varying difficulty for appropriate ages. Even in other worlds, mathematics is needed to run society.The highest level was the tenth stage which was for teenagers, which of course, I finished in my spare time. When she saw me complete it, she flew into a fit jealousy and wanted to finish it as well, a standard reaction for a kid. That was the kind of person Sara, one of the maids in-training, was.

“Nooooo! I wanna do it myself! Ugh, I don’t like the teachers at school! They don’t teach this stuff yet.”, she complained bitterly before slumping. I sighed again before taking a look at the problems, “Yeah I’m not sure why you’re angry about not being able to solve a preparatory math problem.”, I continued.

“Then how were you able to solve it? It’s your home tutor isn’t it?”, she asked, a bit impatiently. I glanced over the problem, it was a basic problem not dissimilar to basic algebraic equations. “Because I can. By the way, you might want to fix the way you talk to me, I don’t mind it but Aurio is going to punish you for it.”, I suggested with a sigh.

She tilted her head in response to me, “Hey…… You've been sighing more than usual, are you scared for your entrance test tomorrow?”, Sara asked with a curious look on her face. I shrugged before picking up my book again.

“No, I’m not really worried for tomorrow, I don’t know why I feel down, I just…… well, it happens.”, I explained, also not knowing why I feel empty inside at times. She stayed silent for a moment before going up to me and patting my head.

“Umm….. I’m not sure what I’m doing but when mama does this to me, I feel happy inside, do you feel better now?”, she asked innocently. I stared at Sara silently for a moment before breaking out into a chuckle.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Ha….Hahaha! Well, okay, that does help.”, I laughed. If a kid like her was consoling me, I couldn’t help but feel amused. I stood up, “Hey, come on, we’re going to practice for the physical exam tomorrow.”, I said with a smile. She stood up energetically and nodded, “I don’t get it but alright, I won’t lose!”, she said energetically as she followed me outside, into the training grounds in my mansion.

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A bell sound rang as I rolled behind a nearby tree, while blue fireflies and lamps lit up the surrounding area, giving of a bewitching charm to the forest around them.

“Hup!”, I shouted as I dodged a shard of ice that was sent my way by Sara, I rolled to the side while checking my right wrist where a bell bracelet hung, just like on hers. We were training using a game not dissimilar to tag.

Me and Sara were training for our advanced magic prep school admission test, kinda long but think of it as the middle school of this world, which was a bridge between the elementary and high school of this world.

I heard the clanging of a bell from in front of the tree, I couldn’t see since the tree was blocking my small body,, (She’s flanking to my right-), I thought as I moved back to the left, until another shard from Sara who somehow didn’t move barely missed my bracelet.

“Tch!”, she shouted until she ran after the bell she threw to the side and retreated back deeper in the woods, I clicked my tongue, realizing that I was tricked, outplayed and possibly bamboozled. (She made the bell vibrate and threw it to the side to make me think she was approaching me, so that’s why I didn’t hear footsteps.), I thought before slightly grinning.

“Ah well, the moment Sara went for the guerilla tactic, she already lost.”, I muttered before sheathing the blunt knives I held as my weapon and ran after her.

As I continued my sprint after Sara who was barely in view through the forest behind my mansion, a rough map of the forest I drew floated through my thoughts, (If she’s running that way, she’s probably going for the open river to the north where she can use her magic properly……. Alright, let’s use that.), I thought as I slightly diverted to a path to the right.

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As Sara ran through the forest with only the blue fireflies and the dancing flames from the lamps they had placed in advance, she thought she had already won, just a bit more and she can use the river to her advantage, knowing that she was a prodigy in water based magic, to the point where she was able to use ice magic, a subset of water magic. (Heh, just a bit more and I can reach the river…… hah, beat that!), she thought with a chuckle, only to hear the ruffling of the leaves to the her left, she immediately stopped and stepped back, preparing her magic, (Wha- But how?!), she thought in disbelief, unable to believe that Elis had already caught up to her. At that instance, a blunt knife was thrown above Sara, clearly missing, “Hah! You mis- Eep!”, she squealed as the floor below her immediately crumbled and she fell into a ditch with a thud.

“Ow-ow-ow……”, she muttered as she rubbed her back which hit the floor, above her, she saw Elis looking at her with a smug face.

“Kek. You need some help there?”, Elis asked. Sara stood up angrily, “Hey, you set this up didn’t you?! That’s cheating!”, she shouted in frustration.

“Nah, I know this forest like the back of my hand. I’d know every ditch here.”, Elis said as he extended a hand to Sara who took it with a pout. “But there weren’t any ditches here when we played!”, she complained as she raised her body out of the ditch and sat on the floor.

“That’s why I placed one. I knew you were going to go for the river, so I placed one on the shortcut, which you took.”, Elis said while brushing his pants. Sara clicked her tongue, “Exactly why you’re cheating! That’s not fair.”, she said, only for Elis to shrug.

“I can’t use magic, you gotta do whatcha gotta do.”, said Elis.

“Yeah but still……. Hm? AH! W-where’s my bracelet?!”, said Sara, noticing the bell on her wrist was gone, she looked at Elis who held a second bracelet. “I win.”, he said with an amused look on his face, Sara’s face immediately went red in frustration.

“Y-y-you jerk! How could you play that unfairly?!”, she said as she stomped her feet in frustration.

“Kek, how are you not used to it yet?”, Elis said with a smug face. But at that sentence, two claps in succession caught their attention, they both looked to where the sound came from, looking to the left, they saw an old man in a butler outfit approach them courteously.

“I apologize for interrupting your game, but dinner is ready, young master.”, Aurio said with a bow.

“Huh. Since when did you get here, Aurio?”, Elis asked, a bit impressed as Aurio chuckled, “Please rest assured, it is my duty to watch over you two”, said Aurio reassuringly. Elis gulped, realizing the old man was with them the whole time, making no presence or sound.

(Darn, he truly is one hell of a butler.), Elis thought as he picked up his knife which he used to trigger the trap he had laid a while ago.

“I’m still angry.”, commented Sara with a pout. Elis sighed, “I thought you did pretty impressive there, being able to make a small bell vibrate like that means your control over your magic is impressive.”, Elis commented without lying. He knew that it was impressive for a ten year old to use such a witty strategy.

“Y-you think?”, Sara said, a bit reluctant with the praise Elis gave her. Elis nodded before turning around to Aurio. “Do you have a towel we can use?”, Elis asked Aurio who nodded and took two towels out and gave them to the two who went back into the mansion under the blue and purple moon, seemingly content

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I sat in silence amongst my parents who were both in their late 30’s. Around the large table I sat about, maids distributed the meals of varying kinds. There was Taram, which was basically rice but more loose and fine, Boarling meat, a certain kind of meat yielded by a specific kind of boar, the softness and chewiness of the meat was definitely softer than Kobe beef and the taste was even better. The fatness and oil seeping through the beef that was roasted through herbs that accentuated the smell and taste even more. It was basically Wagyu with extra steps. Even in Japan, I was only able to eat this beef once in a blue moo- Oh wait, heh, see what I did there? Okay never mind……

So anyway, I started eating, well, after whispering a silent prayer to Stesia, the patron goddess of this kingdom while wiping the two pronged fork and curved knife they gave me with a pure white cloth on the table. Something about blessing my food? Whatever, I only really did it because my parents told me to…….. I looked at my mother who did the same, knowing that she and my dad were religious and great benefactors to the church in this kingdom, I could only do what they taught me, after all, I represent the family line as well.

After doing our traditional ritual, I started eating in silence, as my fork pierced the meat, oil slightly seeped out, teasing my tastebuds even more. I took a bite of the meat which literally melted in my mouth, I couldn’t really describe it, except that it hit different. Like, I’ve eaten this a couple of times, but man is it amazing. My taste buds leapt for joy as I chewed, with all the juices and hint of herbs mixing in my mouth, I could only eat more. Heck, even the Taram tasted amazing, it accentuates the beef perfectly, making it taste even better, which I didn’t even know was possible.

But then I remembered that time me and my family went to Kobe for summer break during my elementary years during my past life one time. My mom had bought me the best beef they could find around town and me and my parents all ate together, I smiled as I remembered the price tag of the premium wagyu that day which was as vivid as yesterday.

Immediately, I lost all capability to taste the food in front of me, remembering my past family made me happy, yet sad at the same time. I wonder how they are doing right now? I stayed quiet as I quietly put my hands down in melancholy.

At the corner of my eye, My mother and father looked at me in both curiosity or worry, either one, I wasn’t sure. “What’s wrong? Do you have a stomachache?”, my dad joked with a chuckle while my mother simply smiled.

“You have to eat your food because you’re still growing. You’ll also need it for tomorrow, okay?”, my mother said. I smiled at them before nodding.

“Yes, it’s……nothing.”, I simply said before continuing to eat. My dad and mom looked at each other for a moment before sighing, “Son, we know there’s something bothering you, be it the future or the past, and we just want to let you know that we’re here to listen alright? Your pops or mom here are all ears if you need someone, we’re your parents after all right?”, said my father reassuringly, with a glint of compassion within his eyes. I looked at them, not knowing what to feel. And at that moment, I must have smiled in hope without knowing because just for a moment, I felt a bit of consolation at what they said and my food gradually started to taste better.

“Yeah, thanks a lot.”, I simply said, feeling all pepped up.