Chapter Five - Fabre Inmos 

“Master Fabre Inmos has arrived!” 

A sudden interruption from the mansion’s direction made the two figures pause from their clashes. Looking towards the mansion Hywel noticed the servant who had made the announcement. Beside him was a young man Hywel didn’t recognize but judging from his blue and gold suit glittering in the sun this was his ‘cousin’. It was too far for him to make out the face, but even from here there were resemblances with Sir Hugh even without counting the similar coloured attire; the same brown shade of hair and the confident, somewhat arrogant posture. To his waist was what could only be a scabbard which could easily be as long as legs, if not longer.

“My, ain’t he here two days early. A‘ight. That’s all for today.”

An irritated string of words were spat behind him to which the boy instinctively turned. At that moment the head guard stormed past him, allowing him to catch the crumpled face of Valce. It was unlike any of the faces Hywel had seen Valce make - true and honest abhorrence. Hywel followed the head guard back towards the direction of the mansion as he, too, had little reason to stay at the grounds.

As they approached the waiting Fabre, he could make out more of his details. He heard his cousin was at least three years older than him, though with that height he had doubts of his age for Fabre was roughly as tall as himself. Apart from his height however, everything about Fabre seemed to be contrary to him, starting from his flowing hair which came down to cover his neck to the possession of a proper weapon at hand. Hywel glanced at the slender scabbard around his waist. The fancy hilt had a cross-like design with a few added parts; the horizontal bar separating the blade and hilt had curved edges spiraling towards the hilt. The handle was shaped like the letter ‘D’ which Hywel guessed was to protect the back of the wielder’s hand from attacks and there was a cup-like attachment between the cross-shaped hilt and the actual blade. The scabbard was beautiful; thin strings of silver were etched onto the dark wooden body to make it shine, but the most stunning part was the blue gem which Hywel assumed was sapphire embed in the middle. It was placed with a breath-taking craftsmanship, forming the foreign alphabet which Hywel recognized as having the ‘F’ sound equivalent in English.

Looking towards Valce, Hywel realized the head guard had already composed himself and was bowing with courtesy. Realizing his rudeness, Hywel made a light bow as per the tradition here.

‘Despite all of his good deeds, there’s something about him,’  The scholar’s words rang in his ear. He wasn’t able to gather exactly what Hildes had meant, but meeting him face to face, there was definitely something about his cousin that he noticed; he seemed adept at hiding his emotions. It wasn’t a definite thing and Hywel could be imagining it, but staring at Fabre gave the young master the feeling of one staring at an art piece rather than at an actual person. There were no haughtiness of a proud opponent, nor were there gentleness of a family member.

“Master... Hywel.” 

His voice was deeper than he had imagined; a strong and confident voice. It was unlike Sir Hugh’s charismatic voice, but a kind of tone which one would expect from a prince. Fabre bowed as well in a greeting.

“I am pleased to have met you after so long. I hear you were unwell these past few years, my condolences. Though I see you are recovering fast, which lightens my heart.

Valce,”

His last word was aimed at the head guard who bowed even more. With that, the big man excused himself and was about to leave.

“Ah, wait a moment; after observing your... training, I would like to see the strength of the famous head guard Valce. Master Hywel, if you please.” 

Fabre said, a hand stretching out towards the young master. Hywel glanced at Valce, then at the wooden blade in his hand. The atmosphere seemed to imply that Hywel should oblige, and so he did, or at least attempted to. His hand froze mid-way as their eyes met, for Fabre’s emotionless mask had disintegrated into radiance. His indigo eyes shone brightly as the smile formed, and that was all it took for his cousin to take his breath away; one smile was all it took for his heart to skip a beat.

Valce had little choice but to obey as well. Fabre was one of the nobles of the House regardless of his reputation or what Valce thought of him; he had to be careful and match to his demands optimally, lest he dirty Sir Hugh’s reputation.

Fabre took the blade from his cousin’s hands without showing any signs of seeing Hywel’s irregular behaviour. Instead he proceeded to test its weight in his hand, giving a few light strikes in the air. With that he took confident strides to the training area Valce and Hywel had been training at only moments before.

Valce was grim and expressionless, unlike when he was toying with Hywel. Fabre reverted to a similar face as Valce, looking straight at the head guard as he took stance. The young master watched the two in silence, snapping out of his trance.

"I shall go second," 

Fabre called out, getting a grunt in reply as Valce obliged to make the first move. It wasn't the big swing start as he had done so many times when training with Hywel, but rather a quick thrust towards the standing noble. While the head guard may have showed reluctance to the duel, he did not waste his opportunity to strike. The thrust didn't go very far however as Fabre retaliated with a swift slash at the incoming attack, veering it off its path. His movements flowed onto the next, sidestepping to let the head guard pass by before going for a strike to his back.

Valce turned around to block just in time, using the angle to slide his blade up along the edge of Fabre’s, to aim for his face; unlike a typical sword, the wooden blades were of simple design and there were nothing horizontally separating the blade and the hilt. The noble pushed his weapon away such that the counter failed while leaping behind to make some distance. He then went for a series of quick thrusts at blinding speed as he advanced towards Valce once more. Quite unlike his physique, Valce easily avoided the attacks and deflected the final thrust with his own blade. Perhaps Fabre did not expected to be deflected so easily, or perhaps it was due to the difference in power but the noble staggered at this.

That instant Valce's movement changed, bringing his arms up above his head to grasp the weapon with both hands. With a massive ferocity he brought his weapon down towards Fabre like a swing of an axe to a piece of lumber, along with enough force to make the muscles on his arms explode with power as he gave a bone-chilling war-cry. The place where the noble was exploded with a bang which Hywel could not believe was made simply with a wooden blade. Dirt and bits of wood temporarily created a cloud of dust, preventing anyone to know exactly what had happened for a time.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

When it settled, it was evident that Fabre managed to avoid the fatal blow just in time. Even so, the battle was over; Valce's wooden weapon couldn't take the impact and snapped in two, the hilt in his hands and the tip lying uselessly in the middle of a dented training ground.

The two, panting a little, assessed the situation and both came to the same conclusion. Standing straight, they gave each other a bow as if to say 'good fight'. That was when they all realized that it was nearing the time for dinner. Valce offered to clean up, and so Hywel found himself walking back to the mansion with Fabre.

"He is more skilled than I had heard, while Hywel is...." 

Valce muttered under his breath when they had returned to the mansion, a frown appearing on his forehead.

On a normal occasion Hywel would've gone straight into his room after taking a bath and changing. Fabre, however, had insisted for him to come down to join him at the dining room and he had no choice but to oblige; it would have been considered rude to refuse such offering without a proper reason, which he had none.

‘It’s just dinner together,’ Hywel tried to assure himself, but the uncomfortable feeling did not pass.

"It's been years since we've met, and yet your appearance is that of your younger self, save for the minor details," 

Unlike his first impression, Fabre seemed to be in a positive mood as he smiled brightly toward Hywel, who was feeling even more uncomfortable than before; he certainly seemed to be shining with a certain air about him and very talkative which he wasn’t used to, not to mention almost inhumanly handsome to boot. 

They were now at the dining room, albeit a little early for dinner so were passing time with tea in front of them. Sitting face to face, it took great effort for Hywel to hide the discomfort of his ‘past self’, feeling his heart beating at the sight of such handsome face while Fabre did most of the talking.

"If I remember correctly, you were only three back then, so you most likely don’t remember. Even so, I remember you; how you used to follow me around like a little brother I never had." 

Perhaps his smile came from his reminiscence?

"You were very cute and innocent then, although that hasn't changed much," 

He chuckled a little after that, which made Hywel blush more than he would've liked. Fabre glanced his way, falling silent. Not knowing what to do while being gazed like that, his eyes darted a little; that is, until Fabre suddenly gasped and stood a little. Hywel jumped at the sudden reaction and looked at his older relative, whose eyes seemed to shine with a certain glow.

"Perhaps this will help you remember! you used to be awed with Salamander," 

he said before lowering his voice to a mumble. As he mumbled, a faint glow of light appeared between the two, which developed into a small fireball. The fireball shifted and lengthened until it was long enough to entwine one’s arm, with four stumps sprouting like legs. It was entirely made up of fire and so swayed and blazed in mid-air, but it wasn't hard to make out its lizard-like body and head, its eyes no more than gaping holes on its fiery body. It only took Hywel a moment to realize what had happened; he had summoned a familiar.

"Remember Salamander? although it's bigger than that time when I could barely summon, it should have the same appearance as before."

"This... is the fire familiar..." 

He whispered in amazement. He had heard Fabre was capable, but to see an actual one was breathtaking. Its body kept blazing in mid-air though there were no evident support or material to burn through, as well as having an actual face... It was as if someone had pulled the best movie special effects in front of him.

Unbeknownst to Hywel, his relative’s attention hadn’t left him, as if observing the awed Hywel in search for an answer. After a moment he waved his hand. The familiar curled up and disappeared just as mysteriously as it had appeared.

"Well that's enough looking. It doesn't look like it was helpful."

"...I wonder if I can summon one," Hywel blurted out without thinking, to which Fabre suddenly burst out laughing. Hywel frowned a little, wondering if he had  said something funny.

"The same words you said when you first saw one!" 

He exclaimed in amusement as his laughter subsided, then looked at Hywel.

"I can teach you the procedure to form a contract with a familiar again, however you had failed when we tried together," 

He said, then shrugged. 

"Do not get your hopes up."

Hywel nodded slowly.

"First, you must understand that the familiars are made by the Summoner's will imposed onto a manifestation of Mana. As such, to call on them, you must be able to feel them with your mind. Once you think you can feel the familiar, say these words: 'By the Mana within me, bind the Mana for eyes to see.' If successful, it will show up to make a contract. It will tell you its name, and from then on you will only need to call out that name to summon it."

After hearing the explanation, Hywel wondered what exactly he meant by ‘feeling’ them with the mind. He closed his eyes and concentrated anyway, much like the way he had seen in TV shows or movies in the past. After a few seconds though he opened his eyes again. 

The first thing he saw was Fabre, who had gone silent after seeing him concentrating. He felt his face redden for the umpteenth time, barely managing to shake his head to signal that he couldn’t feel anything. Fabre nodded in understanding and after a simple ‘don’t worry about it too much,’ he went back to small talk. His perfect smile and friendliness kept Hywel tied down the dining room until dinner was served, and only when it was time for his studies did Fabre allowed him to leave his side.