+++ ???’s Perspective +++

“Madam Lady Hilar, the results of the recent testing are back in.”

“Already? I expected it to take a few more days.”

“He completed the assessment within the first few hours.”

“Really?” The eyebrow of the rear-admiral rose, she had given the son of Sylvestra a surveying test the academy used to ascertain the skills of noble children. It was certainly not supposed to be done easily or quick. In fact the general assessment usually took around three days. “Even the practical portion? That should have taken at least a day no matter how gifted he is.”

“The Lady Sylvestra informed us that he has yet to turn four, so the magic, holy, and physical practical exams have been skipped.”

“He’s that young?” Hilar held her hand to her mouth, perhaps she had overlooked the value that her sister had brought forth. “Hm. Pull some strings with the priest, have them awaken him early.”

“Yes, at once.” As the man left the chamber, a well dressed individual stepped in to replace his presence. For this particular guest, Hilar rose to greet him, putting down her papers.

“What was that all about?” A gentle, curious voice.

“Dear brother, I’m glad your voyage was safe.”

“Oh, where are my manners? Thank you very much, honored sister.” A traditional bow followed his words. “Will we be departing to Halyis soon?”

“Actually, I have some news I’d like to share with you regarding the upcoming circumstances.”

+++ Alfon’s Perspective +++

“Ouch.” I rubbed the spot on my forehead where master Rafine had flicked me.

“When apologizing to someone you shouldn’t lead off with how bad their cooking is. Still... that wasn’t too bad, apology accepted.” Master Rafine looked away, hiding her relieved face, “Though you really shouldn’t be saying such things in the first place. Especially if you don’t mean it.”

“I-I apologize for upsetting you.” I bowed my head.

“It’s fine, I’ve been through worse. Though...” I felt my chin being lifted by a gentle finger. I hadn’t noticed it before, but master Rafine had scales on parts of her skin. It feels kinda scratchy.

She narrowed her eyes, examining my face. “Hmm. Yes you look quite better now. Got over your slump I presume?”

To be perfectly honest, it still felt unsettling that Swift and Donovan aren’t here, but...

I will need to move forward eventually.

“Yeah, I’m all better.” Though I didn’t think my lie fooled her.

“I see.” She replied, with a knowing look. “Would you like to continue with your classes? Truth be told, I gave it some thought, and I’ve realized you’re learned enough to continue without further lessons from me. It wouldn’t do well to stress you out at such a young age anyway.”

“I’d like to continue!” I utter loudly. My voice was much louder than I intended and I covered my mouth, a tad bit embarrassed.

“I see.” Master Rafine gave my head a gentle ruffle. Looking rather happy from my decision.

“Alfy better? No feel bad?” I felt a familiar sensation around my leg, something I haven’t felt in quite a while. As the tip of Nina’s tail tickled my ankles, it occurred to me just how much time I had spent away from her this past week. She must have been lonely, since she and I had mostly stayed in the inn.

“Yeah, sorry for worrying you Nina.”

“Hehe, Alfy happy good.” She giggled a little as she rammed me with her horns. Oof.

“Sylvieeee! Lend me some money nya!” A loud holler could be heard as someone made their way up the stairs. As Prisilla came into view, I noticed that she looked rather worse for wear. “Huh? We havin’ a party in the hallway or something?”

She sounded drunk.

“Prisilla, what is it this time?” Master Rafine asked with an exasperated look.

“Haha, nya... well you see I, uhh, may have spent a few too many nights out eating the local cuisine.”

Master Rafine’s eyes narrowed, “I believe we had a talk about your spending habits before.”

“And I fixed it right nya? Well... mostly. Listen, it's cause there isn’t a labyrinth in this city, okay? I couldn’t find any jobs to sustain my.... Night time activities nya.” Prisilla reasoned.

“It’s fine, Rafine.” The door nearby opened as mother stepped out, looks like she overheard, “It’s not entirely her fault this time, port cities are few and far between after all, and I don’t particularly mind.”

“Sylvie you’re so niceeee nyaaaa.” Prisilla gave mother a big hug. It lasted less than a second before being shoved away.

“You smell like booze Prisilla. Go wash yourself off.”

“Yes ma’am! Oh before I forget, this is for you.”

Prisilla handed mother a letter, from what I could see it had a rather fancy seal on it.

“Where did you get this?” Mother’s tone must have dropped by about two octaves.

“The people was holding it for you below nya. Arrived just this afternoon.” Though Prisilla seemed to be too drunk to notice

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it Sylvie!”

As Prisilla wagged her tail happily down the stairs mother turned to us, “I see you two have made up, that's wonderful but we should really be going to bed. There will likely be some business tomorrow morning.”

++

“Alfy, Alfy, wake up dear, we need to go somewhere today.”

Sure enough, mother woke me up bright and early.

“Where are we going this time mom?” I mutter groggily.

“Your aunty Hilar made some arrangements so we’re going to meet your uncle today.”

I sat up while watching mother hurriedly getting everything prepared. Her cheek was still bandaged after yesterday, honestly the audacity of some people.

++

The good news is that everyone was coming this time around. Master Rafine looked pretty surprised that they wanted to meet her and Prisilla as well, but since they didn’t have any urgent plans they went along with it.

Though Prisilla in particular looked extremely irritated at being woken up so early.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“I’m going to pummel them nya....” I heard her say as we boarded the carriage.

“Please don’t.” Mother replied.

+

The meeting location was closer this time, right outside the shopping district at a rather mundane looking parlor. We had to walk for ten minutes or so after the carriage dropped us off by the main road. Standing outside the quaint shop, I realized the building almost resembled an eastern asian eatery.

“Dad! They’re here!” I looked to the location of the voice to see a young boy dash inside the shop. He looked about my age, though slightly shorter.

“Do we go in nya?” Prisilla asked.

“Were you just going to stand out here until sundown?” Master Rafine rolled her eyes as she walked towards the shop. “Come on, let's get this over with.”

“What’s got your whiskers in a twist?” Prisilla asked.

“I was supposed to head to a book auction this morning.” Master Rafine muttered.

“With your nonexistent funds?” Prisilla snicked, earning herself a glare from master Rafine. Looks like neither of them had responsible spending habits.

“I’m really sorry Rafine.” Mother lowered her head in apology, to which master Rafine hurriedly urged her to stop.

“No, don’t worry about it, it's not your fault. It’s not like I could afford anything from the auction anyway.” Master Rafine clarified.

The idea of rare archives intrigued me greatly. Maybe I could catch that book auction with master Rafine if we finished here fast enough.

Wait.

I’m poor.

Never mind then.

As we made our way inside we were greeted by a lady with a long robe and led into a private room. A young man in a similarly dressed white robe was sitting in the middle, though his clothes were of much higher quality. The seams were much better hidden and the embroidery along the edges were quite elaborate.

“Fifth Sister. I’m glad you’ve made it.” His face creased into a smile.

“Greetings.” Mother bowed her head slightly as she spoke, “I am Sylvestra Adelmire... formerly of house Adelmire. These are my companions Prisilla, and Rafine Hagglethorn, along with my child Alfon Adelmire and his... attendant Nina.”

So Nina was my attendant now? Well I suppose that beats ‘former outlander slave we picked up along our adventures’.

“Unfortunately the letter sent by Madam Lady Hilar has neglected to mention your name and title. If you would be so kind as to give us an introduction.”

“Oh yes! Where are my manners.” The man bowed in a similar fashion, “I am Glyake Tak... oh, well I suppose it's Telderane now. The adopted son of the late Cruthun Telderane. My son and adoptive daughters are in the next room.”

He knocked on a wooden door behind him, “come here kids.”

Out came the boy I saw earlier, a girl of similar age with blue hair, and a tall girl in a blindfold.

“This is Gabriel, Saphira, and Belserai Telderane.” He pointed to each of them respectively.

“Forgive me for asking, but I was unaware that Cruthun Telderane had any descendents.”

“Oh. It was done post-mortem to simplify some inheritance issues. Anyway we have much to discuss. This establishment has a play area for children, why don’t we let them get to know each other while we consider the upcoming arrangements?”

“Very well.” Mother replied.

And so the children and I were ushered into the playpen as the adults got to talking. I say playpen, but it was just a carpeted room with various toys laid strewn about. There was also a man in the corner watching us, I assume that was a staff member of the establishment.

Well, the selection of toys weren’t bad I guess, they even had a deck of cards in the corner.

“Excuse me.” I decided to try interacting with the kids... what were their names again? “I am Alfon Adelmire, would you like to play some card games with me?”

The three of them just stared at me, the girl with the blue hair gave me a particularly nasty stare and I shuddered a little bit. She reminded me of that Blue Lion Commander, memories of me getting nearly chopped in half started resurfacing.

“Ah nevermind, sorry to bother you then.” Well it's fine, I’ll just play with Nina I guess.

“Wait.” The girl in the blindfold said enthusiastically, “I’d like to try!”

“Sister, how are you going to play cards when you can’t see anything?” The boy pointed out.

Huh. So she was blind... and I just suggested a card game.

Not my best social maneuver I must admit.

“Oh... right. Sorry then Alfon.” She said sadly.

“Oh no it's fine! Sorry for suggesting it, I didn’t know.” I hurriedly replied.

“You didn’t know huh? I’m sure you didn’t.” The girl with the blue hair accused me sarcastically. Oh boy, I don’t think she liked me very much.

Unable to take the harsh staredown, I retreated back into my corner with Nina, who had been sitting in place waiting for me.

“Alfy, Alfy!” She waved her hands at me happily.

“Hey Nina.”

“They bother you?” She asked.

“Ah, well the girl in th-” I began, until I got hit by a sense of dejavu.

Wait.

That was.

A loaded question.

“NO!” I shouted loud enough for the man supervising to look at me, but noticing nothing wrong he went back to reading, “No, I’m fine, don't worry about it.”

“Okay.” Nina smiled at me, hopefully she understood what I was trying to say.

“Nina, please don’t do anything dangerous alright?” But just to be sure I asked her specifically.

“Okay.” There was no change in her expression.

“Anyway, do you want to play some cards?” I held up the deck with my hands.

“Play cards?” She tilted her head in a questioning glance.

“Here, I’ll explain the rules to you...”

++

“O-One more...” I stared at the results before me, defeated.

How was this possible?

We had played at least ten matches, and she had beaten me every single time, I couldn’t even win once.

What...

Was she cheating? No, I don't think she even knew how to cheat.

“Okay!” She replied happily.

I wasn’t a bad player, my bouts with Prisilla had made me sure of it.

Was Nina just a genius?

Or maybe she was extremely lucky? But for thirteen matches in a row?

“What’s going on here nya?” I turned around to see Prisilla standing over me. Looks like they were done talking.

“Nina... beat me at card games.” I answered.

“Really nya? Beat you?” Prisilla took a thoughtful look at Nina before suggesting: “Hey Nina, want to come with me to some shops? I’ll treat you to some snacks.”

Nina looked at me, then looked back at Prisilla, smiled and replied: “Okay!”

+

“What do you think, Rafine?” Mother asked.

We were back at our room in the inn, mother and master Rafine had been pouring over some documents the moment we got back while Prisilla had grabbed Nina and headed off to who knows where.

“Hm. It has been done before so I don’t see any major risks with it, and Alfy is quite mature for his age.” Master Rafine replied, “I think it should be fine, why so apprehensive?

“You don’t understand Rafy.” Mother mumbled while flipping through some pages, “My family isn’t a kind one. Every gift has multiple strings attached. It puts a Rugwort trap to shame.”

“I think the string this time is just to have Alfy owe them a favor.”

“I already owe them more than I can repay.”

“Not you, Alfy.”

“Huh?” Mother looked up.

At this point I couldn’t stand to be in the dark anymore: “Mom, what's going on?”

“Oh, Alfy dear, Auntie Hilar arranged for your awakening later this week.” She lifted me up and put me on her lap.

Huh?

Awakening? Does that mean I’ll be able to use magic again?

FINALLY!

I was getting so bored of theoretical studies, I really can’t wait to get back into magic practice.

“Woaah! That sounds great!” I yell with enthusiasm.

“Your mother is afraid they’ll do something to you since it's being done by a church that’s affiliated with the Telderane clan.” Master Rafine informed me.

“Rafy, he won’t understand something like that.”

But I did.

“You’d be surprised, Saphie.” She gave me a wry smile which I acknowledged with a nod.

“Listen Alfy.” Mother lifted me up, not convinced, “Mommy’s family isn’t kind like the people you know, so mommy is worried they might do something to you.”

“I’ll be fine mom!” I put as much confidence into those words as I could, “If anything happens you and master Rafine will protect me.”

Please mom, I really want to use magic again.

I neeeeed it.

Not that the theoretical material was boring or anything, master Rafine was a great lecturer...

But...

I really wanted to cast magic without my arm begging me to stop.

“Give it up Saphie, even if you don’t go through this now he might practice in secret out of defiance which would be considerably more dangerous... Wait.” Master Rafine suddenly had a look of realization before glancing over in my direction.

Her eyes seem to say ‘We’ll speak of this later’.

Oh rats.

Did she notice?

I thought I had hidden the traces pretty well during our journey in the Theocracy.

Mother gave a deep sigh before letting me down.

“Fine fine, you two win. We’ll schedule it later this week. Since we’re going to Halyis with Glyake as well, we need to negotiate with the company we hired. I’m assuming you’ll take care of that, Rafy.” Mother pouted.

“Fine, fine. I’ll take care of it.”