“So, did I understand this right?

You want a full plate armor a little bit bigger than Nazir, it will be blue, it will have gold plating on the sides, the shoulder pads will be too big and there will be a skull with wings on the chest.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Can you do it, or not?”

“How are you going to pay?”

“My father.”

**

After the area and the mine were cleared and we got the ores, we went back home. My mother, Aurelia hugged me tightly the moment I walked through the door. But, leaving such small details aside, first thing I did was to take the siyah ore and go straight to Thormund. Apart from my dagger, there was a *little* figure I wanted to add to my room.

“You can get your dagger tomorrow, but you have to give me a week or two for the armor.”

“Not a problem.”

Now that this is done...

After I got home, the first thing I did was to drink as much water as I could, then I started stretching. And after I finished warming up, I started to run in the garden. I ran, ran, ran at least 8 laps.

Nazir had been watching me in amazement from the moment I started running, and when he realized that I was still going on after my laps, he finally couldn't hide his curiosity.

“My lord-”

“After what we went through on the hunt, I realized something, Nazir," I cut him off, I was out of breath and my heart was racing.

“Condition?”

“Exactly!

I know that one day life will give me a lemon.

When the time comes, I have to squeeze that lemon so hard that my name will always be remembered.”

I never cared about my new body until now. I didn't eat healthy, I didn't exercise. If I was in modern times, maybe whatever, it wasn't a big deal, but... I was really fighting monsters, and of course there were a few other small reasons.

**

To summarize the next few months: I started to train with Nazir almost every day when I woke up, then a few hours of rest, breakfast, and in the afternoon I was doing simple exercises like running, sit-ups, quizzes, whether under the sun or in cold weather. Even in these last few months, I could easily feel my body developing.

Apart from my education, something happened that added a little color to my life, Rea started sending me different books every 2 weeks. We started sending letters to each other talking about books and our lives.

So what happened differently today? First of all, I was almost 8 years old.

My parents were now insisting that I make friends. Children of my own age, naturally I couldn’t hang out with them because they are children. And people older than me didn’t care about me that much. And my mother started to take me to literally every party, ball or feast she goes.

And now I was in one of those parties. It was very crowded, the long rectangular tables were full, and everyone were chatting. As for children my age... I think they talk and have fun too.

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When I looked around at the people, my mother grabbed me by the shoulders and pushed me.

I said, “I don't want to.”

“I didn't ask your opinion,” mom replied right away.

“Can't I sit at one of the tables?”

“No, and you know what?

If you don't make a friend today, I'll take your alchemy set.”

“Ma-” I was about to object when she cut me off.

“Ma-ma-mamamama. What mama?

I said what I had to say, I don’t think you can become a child again.”

I sighed, looked around and locked eyes with a beautiful elven woman with short red hair and a thin black dress. I was about to spend another night being pampered by beautiful elves when my mother grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me towards her.

“No-no, not this time. You'll hang out with someone around your age.”

I took a deep breath and rolled my eyes. If I hang out with girls around my age, I would be grooming them whether I wanted or not, after all, I didn’t like the things they like and if I directed them to the things I like, which was very easy to convince young children, it was wrong. I couldn’t take the slightest risk of a relation, it was really weird... And if I hang out with the little boys- Even that sentence could put me in jail… They did nothing but play simple games and bully each other.

I sighed again, approached my mom and kissed her hand, “Okay, show me someone.”

“That’s a start I guess…” She sighed and looked around. She watched in silence for a while and finally directed me towards a boy sitting alone in the corner at one of the tables.

“What luck, your cousin's here.”

“Who?”

“Julian, Uncle Pedro's son. He's about four years older than you, but I think you can get along.”

I looked at Julian in silence for a while. He was a boy with orange curly hair and orange eyes. He was a little tall for his age and fit the stereotype of the quiet boy. Shoulders slumped, a bored expression on his face and zero eye contact. He reminded me a bit of my old self... Maybe I could really get along with him?

“Go, go,” My mom pushed me and I went to Julian.

He was sitting at the far end of the rectangular table, the 4 chairs next to him were empty and there was a bowl of cookies in front of him.

“Hello,” I put my hand on the chair next to him and he nodded at me and passed me the cookies.

I thanked him and sat down in the chair and it was easy to describe the look he gave me : 'Go, I want to sit alone until the party is over.'

I knew I was disturbing his peace, but there was nothing to do.

“You're Julian, right? I'm Altevia,” I gave him my hand and smiled. But I know deep down you want to make friends, cousin.

“Nice to meet you,” He looked at my hand for a short while and then we shook hands.

“I'm sorry, I don't want to bother you, but my mom insists that I make friends, do you mind if I sit here for a while?

“Yours too?”

And… The dam collapsed.

When I realized he was looking at me with a strange expression, I dispersed the sly smile on my face with a fake snort.

I looked him in the eye and waited without saying anything until he became uncomfortable. We were going to be stuck here if he didn't keep the conversation going, and as I expected, he finally spoke up to break the awkward silence.

“You said you are Altevia, right? Uncle Eliar’s son.”

I nodded to him, “And you were Uncle Pedro's youngest child, I've seen your sister before, but I've never seen you or your brothers.”

“I've only been to your house twice, in fact, one of them was a few months ago, and both times you weren't there.

I remember Uncle Eliar said you were out hunting.

But what surprises me the most is that I never saw you in the Ocean.”

I tilted my head slightly to the right and smiled, “My mom won't let me go there...”

A surprised expression took over Julian's face, “What do you mean she won't let you? That place is literally yours.”

“I know my father does business there, but like I said, I've never been there before.”

“That's really strange.”

“Do you go there often?”

He stopped for a moment, looked at me and said, “I can visit the areas near our house, but I always have someone with me. But my brothers are usually there, and Sergius sometimes shows me other areas.”

“Sergius was your eldest?”

Julian shook his head, “My oldest brother is Theodoro, but he's not here.”

“Sorry. Is he dead?”

“No, he's in exile. My father said he did something he shouldn't have done.

After him, Sergius. He helps your father, he's the most important person in the Ocean after your father.

Then Leonida and Albert, they build and repair your ships with my father.

And finally me, I'm not doing anything right now,” a bitter smile appeared on his face.

“And I have an older sister, but I've never seen her before.”

Julian looked at me, then there was silence and this time I broke it, “Do you know anyone here?”

Julian looked around and shook his head, “No, why?”

“'Cause those girls over there were staring at you.”

And, as I predicted, his cheeks turned red. I know your insides very well, cousin. But don't ask me how.

I chatted with Julian until late into the night. He didn't have many hobbies, all he did was working on runestones, looking at the landscape and practicing with his sword. Pretty boring person, didn’t have anything to speak.

So he was a lot like me, that's why we were able to talk easily.