Lucas barely dodged the ball of flame, ducking to avoid its heat. Just as fast, he rolled out of the way of the boot headed for his head. Nearly a second later, another fireball came his way which he only barely snuffed out with a shot of water.

Normally, he'd be grinning like crazy, sparring with Batain but the meeting with that little girl dampened his mood. The usually exciting fight now felt more habitual and automated for him, which was beyond odd for him.

He usually loved fighting with magic. It was an entirely different beast compared to swordfighting, wrestling, or boxing. There were dozens of little complexities added on, like someone's mana consumption, or their mana quality itself.

What would be the point in being 60lbs heavier and a foot taller than someone else, if they could kill you with a simple magic spell? It was for this reason that while things like racial and sexual prejudice still existed, it was tempered in comparison to some of the worlds Lucas had been on. Concrete power in the form of magic was the main determiner of your status.

But of course, only having large quantities of powerful mana wouldn't save you in a fight. One needed combat experience as well, which was why Lucas was so insistent on facing Batain. Facing someone as experienced as him would only highlight intricacies he didn't know existed, and improve his general skill.

It was through this and Didier's lessons that he'd started to use basic elemental magic. It was truly a unique experience, creating water and watching it shoot out from your hands.

Batain sent three more fireballs, firing them in sequence, yet Lucas either neutralized them or made a quick dodge.

This wasn't because Batain was weak, of course. The man could make him cry uncle with a wave of a few fingers, though that didn't mean Batain would listen.

He intentionally lowered his mana quality and didn't go very fast or use too much force. Still, he found himself actually improving, watching Lucas, something else that initially pricked his pride a bit.

'Oh, that was nice. He kept his heels up and used the momentum from ducking to dodge that kick.'

Batain wasn't dumb but keeping a good stance was, once again, irrelevant in the face of powerful magic, or so most thought.

Deciding to test Lucas' limits, Batain kept firing little blasts of fire. At first, Lucas dodged easily enough but fatigue started to catch up to him. He was still young; it was good he could do at least this much.

It didn't take long before he was barely throwing himself out the way, running low on both magical and physical energy. By this point, Batain ran up, crossing the distance in less than a few seconds, and threw a kick at Lucas' head.

Stopping the kick a centimeter before Lucas' head, he nodded, and gave the kid some water and a couple minutes to breathe.

"You ready to go again?" Batain nodded at Lucas, an eyebrow raised.

Lucas merely nodded, not looking up from his hunched position. Batain frowned but continued sparring with the kid for the next hour.

By the end, even he was a little tired. Sitting down and enjoying some beer in the light warmth of spring, he felt like he'd gone back to the golden age of Empre.

They didn't fight inside the mansion but rather, one of the yards surrounding it. It allowed them the space to go at each other and felt nice to be in: the perfect place.

Batain nodded at him once again. He could truly convey any emotion with a single head movement. "What's up with you?"

His nephew was definitely not as enthusiastic about this as he'd been before. He was even sitting quietly right now, instead of pestering Batain with stupid questions he couldn't be bothered to answer. It couldn't have been about losing either. This kid wasn't no bitch.

Batain had beaten him every time they sparred, and it was reasonable too. No matter how strong Lucas got, all Batain needed to do was raise the bar. As such, Lucas hadn't really cared about losing, and had even admired Batain more for it.

Now, it only felt annoying. Lucas looked up at Batain, and shook his head before going back to drinking his juice.

Batain sighed, wondering if this was what it was like to have a kid. Them randomly hiding things from you, and you having to pick the pieces out of the dirt to see which fit.

Actually now that he thought about it, that was something everyone did at some point. It was the main reason he didn't want to get committed to any one person. It'd lead to drama he didn't want a part of. But did that mean everyone behaved childishly, or that it was actually children that behaved mature by doing this? If only showers existed in this world, for Batain to ponder this question in one.

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Clearing his mind of the minor distraction, he turned towards Lucas.

"You're less focused today. A couple days ago, you would've controlled your energy a whole lot better, and lasted longer each fight. You're wasting my time. What's the problem?"

Lucas' flaws in battle were few, with the only ones really just owing to his lack of experience in magical combat. Additionally, Batain still found the fights interesting, and insightful at times. Still, the best way to get someone's attention was to exaggerate.

Lucas turned up towards Batain, a lack of expression on his face. "It's nothing."

"Just like me at your age. Always thinking that I didn't need anybody's help. We're the same, you and me." Batain sighed again, looking into the sky wistfully, the perfect look of someone who was bullshitting.

Still, it hit Lucas. 'Is he reincarnated too?' The words reminded him of those of Nerine. Still, he dismissed it. If Nerine could notice he was reincarnated, Batain would surely have noticed, if he were reincarnated, as the two interacted on a daily basis. Hell, he even saw the golden pillar or whatever Nerine had said.

This reasoning didn't prevent the words from lowering Lucas' already ruined mood, though.

"Take me with you to the mountains you said you were going to."

Immediately, Batain's eyebrows shot up. "Was that it? Are you crazy? I won't babysit you on a trip like that."

"I don't care. I'll babysit myself."

Immediately after Lucas said those words, he felt a massive cringe come on at how childish the words sounded to him. Luckily, these weren't out of order for children.

Batain shook his head, a brief glint of annoyance in his eyes. Suddenly, Lucas felt a massive sense of danger. He remembered this feeling quite a few times. Batain always used it when he got annoyed enough to ignore the fact he was conversing with a child.

The feeling enveloped him, causing him to involuntarily sweat. Lucas still didn't know how he did it. It was definitely some sort of manipulation of mana but how it worked exactly, was a mystery. Lucas stared into Batain's impassive face, but just like the first time he'd used it, the pressure vanished after a second.

The man snorted, before scratching the stubble on his jaw. "If your parents say no, then you're gonna need to shut up and wait for me to come back."

Lucas nodded before walking back to the mansion. Batain watched him walk back for a few seconds before going back to drinking beer. 'Man, we are nothing alike.'

He walked into the mansion, only to see two girls staring daggers at each other in the middle of the entrance. At least, he recognized one.

He unfortunately saw Celine quite often, so it'd be difficult to not recognize her. Her hair was cut a little shorter than their first meeting but her slightly pudgy features remained the same.

The other girl though, had nice peanut colored hair that only reached her shoulders, while she seemed to be more on the skinny side though it only made her striking dark brown eyes stand out even more.

"I'm sorry, Miss Ass- I mean Assel. The blame is all on me. I wish I could make it up to you." Celine's eyes were full of malice, when looking at her nemesis, Tiffany.

Tiffany, on the other hand, ignored her, making way for Lucas, and greeting him. "Good afternoon, mister."

Lucas nodded, lacking the mental energy to verbally respond. Seeing that the young boy didn't respond, a slight frown appeared on Tiffany's face but she turned back to her mortal enemy.

"That's how one shows politeness, Sull-een." She placed a lot of emphasis onto the name, distorting it, which Celine promptly giggled at.

"Oh, by Empre, you're so stu-I mean you're so lacking in intelligence. That's my nephew. I rank above him in seniority. If anyone should make way, it should be him."

Immediately, the slight frown turned into a full blown scowl. While she didn't bother to try to screw with the other Cazenarches as much as she did with Celine, she still disliked them just like Celine disliked the Assels.

It was a family rivalry that went back only a few generations. The Cazenarches had once ruled the Duchy of Guilm, but a young upstart family, the Assels, had stolen that away from them, reducing their land and status to only that of a county. Perhaps it was because the fight had been so recent that the younger generation actually cared about a familial dispute. Or perhaps the two girls just didn't like each other, and that transferred over to each other's families as well.

Tiffany looked like she wanted to curse but ended up simply leaving, walking back to her parent's carriage. The girl recognized how hypocritical it would be to preach politeness and then curse your host.

While there was a rivalry between the two, this was an open secret, meaning that on the surface, they still maintained a semblance of niceties.

Giggling, Celine turned to Lucas but a small pout appeared when she realized he'd already left. She often made fun of him for really no reason, but it was great that his timing here was perfect.

Smiling at the defeat of her eternal rival, she began to walk to her room, her hair still as perfectly made as when Lucas had first met her.

—

"Absolutely not." Emelie didn't even bother frowning, the words as casual as could be.

Though Sebastian was now having to spend more and more time, taking care of his own little affairs, Emelie didn't have to go immediately. Because of this, she sat on a chair, a book in hand.

Looking up and seeing an annoyed look on Lucas' face, she sighed. "I know you like spending time with your uncle but what he's doing is far too dangerous for you to follow him."

Honestly, Lucas had anticipated this so he didn't bother trying to argue. It was time for drastic measures. He was steadily growing tired of Emelie's overprotection. Of course, he neglected the fact that he was five when judging if she was being overprotective. Regardless, he had to get out of this stuffy castle. It felt like he couldn't breathe...

It was a couple minutes later that he was woken up from his voluntary suffocation-induced blackout, looking up at Emelie's soft eyebrows lowered in a frown, and listening to her soothing voice tell him that she could only let him go if Batain could guarantee his safety.