What exactly is nobility, one might ask? To respond to that question, there are several possible answers, but the most commonly known one is that nobles are humans born with the ability to produce mana and therefore the ability to use magic.
And if one were to wonder what nobility is made of, then there would only be two answers to that question: First, there were nobles born from noble parents, and then there were nobles born of commoner parents, also known as "children of light." It was either the one or the other, with nothing in between, as nobles and commoners couldn’t conceive together.
Arte was led to a nearby corridor by a woman who introduced herself as his master's sister.
"He didn’t tell you, did he?" Emma asked as they walked.
Arte shook his head.
"Gunther Freshet is a child of light, and I am his commoner sister."
A noble couldn’t bear the child of a commoner, and a commoner can’t bear the child of a commoner. This was both a rule and an active reality.
Nobles and commoners are simply physically incapable of giving birth to each other's descendants. But there is an exception to that. As low as the chances are for that to actually happen, some female commoners are potentially capable of giving birth, through unexplained means, to a noble child.
It has never been explained. What factor might have led to that strange occurrence, which is the birth of a child of light? There was no answer to that particular question. Arte's parents were both among the many who tried and failed to find an answer to it.
"Master... was a child of light? But how? Wasn’t he…?"
"He was adopted and coronated by the Freshet family, but it doesn’t change the fact that he was born to commoner parents and has a commoner family, which is us."
Arte and Emma arrived at a large door, which she opened after gently knocking to announce her presence.
"So… Eleonora Blanche is -- "
"My mother. His mother."
The difference between a noble and a child was such that Arte, if not told, even after spending the past four months alongside his master, would’ve never expected him to be a child of light, even less than his commoner parents were in charge of an organization like this one.
"I see," mumbled Arte in disbelief.
Emma didn't take a step inside after opening the door, which perplexed Arte, but Emma's explanation clarified things for him.
"He asked you to deliver the letter, didn’t he?"
"Yes, I was also precisely tasked to give it to her and only her." Arte precised.
"Zealous, aren’t we?" She smiled, stepping aside to let Arte in.
***
The room Arte entered, located on the palace's upper level, provided an open view of the common district thanks to its large open windows.
"Mama, Hugo has sent someone to you. Will you receive him?"
She sat on a rocking chair, admiring the view from the terrace she was on. From where Arte was, he couldn’t yet see her face, but from her wrinkled hand, I could imagine her as someone who would be old enough to indeed be his master's mother.
To Emma’s question about receiving Arte, the woman on the chair didn’t answer; instead, she lifted her hands and ordered Emma to come over. Or at least that’s what Arte thought, but as he noticed that Emma remained motionless, he understood that it was, instead, for him.
Arte approached her, and finally he could see her face.
Her face, like that hand, had wrinkles and strains from the passage of years, but mostly decades. Arte saw a certain aspect in those tired eyes that never faded with age, as he felt the same aura exuding from his master's green eyes.
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There was no doubt, there was no lie—this woman was his master’s mother.
Though Arte was, at first, slightly confused as to how to greet and introduce her, he opted for the one he felt was the most appropriate.
Getting to her chair’s level, Arte, for the first time in his life, bent the knee to a commoner. "May the unwavering grace of Huye be upon us. It is an honor for me, Arte Barbosse, to meet my Master's mother."
"Anaka … What is your name?" She asked, in a slow and rusty voice.
"Arte... Arte Barbosse."
"Anaka Arte, what brought you here?"
"I have come here to deliver this letter to Eleonora Blanche, who appears to be you, Madame." Arte said, presenting the letter to her.
"No one still calls me by that name anymore, you may call me "Matronne," for that is what I am, until I pass that title over."
"Yes… Matronne."
"As you can see, I can no longer see as well as I used to; can you please open this envelope and read the letter for me."
"But… '' Arte, though initially hesitant to read his master's letter to his mother, complied with her request.
Tearing the envelope, Arte unfolded a letter and a small medal.
Arte knew what the medal was, and as taken aback as he was, Arte decided to put it aside so he could first read the letter.
***
Dear Matronne.
It is with great regret that I announce that I won’t be able to go back home this trimester. I do realize that I’m missing a lot of my duty as a son, but I know you understand the circumstance I'm currently in and that, thus, you would most likely forgive me.
I cannot say for sure how long it will be before I can go back home, but until then, I entrust Arte Barbosse, who I assume is the one reading this letter, to you; And to him, I entrust all the primordial duty that I, as a son, am missing.
As much as he is trying not to look like one, he is still a child and therefore immature. He still has a lot to learn, but I believe under Matronne’s tutelage, he will eventually come out as the proud adult he ought to be.
Until then, it is upon him, Arte Barbosse, that I, Gunther Freshet, relinquish my heritage as a church's faithful servant.
May the dazzling blessing of Kine the flamboyant be upon you both, Arte and Matronne.
Gunther Freshet
N.B: Arte, I know you are reading this letter, so I will ask you to make a choice, knowing the difficult path you have set yourself on: Will you continue to serve me, not as an attendant anymore, but as my heir and successor? Will you back down? Or will you accept the responsibility I've entrusted to you?
I believe only you might take the decision for yourself.
***
Having finished reading the letter out loud, he put it aside to, this time, stare at the medal. Arte retrieved the medal from the letters and gave it to Mama.
From the moment Arte saw the medal, he knew what the letters' content would be. Arte, as the vicar's son, was all too aware of it.
While a clergyman's, a vicar's, or a paladin's heirloom is not passed down in the same way that a regular noble's is, which is hereditary, a noble may inherit a former church's executive heirloom, or legacy, through a token such as the one Arte held in his hand.
Less than six months prior, after their father's death was announced, Arte and his brother should've been given a similar token from their father, but before it could be in their hands, that token was seized by the other person pretending to that heritage, their stepmother, their father's wife. Under normal circumstances, the two brothers might have taken it less negatively, but the fact that she took it not for herself but instead for her son, whom both brothers knew wasn't their little brother or their father's son, triggered quite a negative reaction from the two brothers.
It was in their struggle to recover that token, their father's possession, from their stepmother, who had the backup of two members of the Fourteen, that the two brothers ended up fleeing their home for the Aurora Academy.
"So, Anaka Arte, what will be your choice? But before you choose, I would like you to know that what you’re preparing to engage in is a path you might forever regret ever choosing."
After being stripped of their identity and heritage, Arte was given one with his master's current offer.One that he understood, even if it came with a lot of responsibility, could, in the future, help him reclaim for his brother what had been taken from them.
After several moments of silence while weighing the pros and cons, Arte finally came to a decision.
"I… I will accept it."
"Anaka, are you sure?"
"Yes. I am."
"I see," she said weakly, motioning for Arte to come over and kneel at her level.
Arte executed himself, kneeled to her, and handed her the medal.
Pinning the badge on Arte’s chest, she said, "Arte Barbosse, from today onward, you will no longer be Arte Barbosse, but Arte White Barbosse. Though you may not share the same blood or flesh as us, you will be our son, we will be our family, and you will protect us as we will protect you. For you are now a protector of this family, as Gunther Freshet, your predecessor, was before you."
That medal being his master’s emblem, it represented his authority as a Holy Paladin, and by wearing it, Arte was entrusted with the direct privilege of being an heir of his master's title. With that rank and title. Arte was given a bearing, which would be the first step in reclaiming what had been stolen from him.
"Which is why I give you this first duty as a son of our family…"
"Yes?"
"I ask you to protect our family and purge our family of those five who put our family in this threatening situation," she said to Arte, who was kneeling in front of her.
"To pur-Sorry, what?!"