The next morning, after breakfast, Henry went to the gym with his parents as he always did. The inside of the building was now quite familiar to him and he felt much more comfortable here, then he did in the hall yesterday.

“Son, today we would like to begin the second stage of your training.” Alfred saw that Henry was excited so he kept his explanation short. “Henry, starting today we will teach you about hand-to-hand combat. You will need to learn how to defend yourself if you ever lose your weapons.”

Eleonora gave Henry a bit more information about the new addition to his routine, “Since you are gifted with both good mana and a strong body we will teach you two styles, as you grow we will help you mix the two into one. The way your father fights is with technique and, when necessary, overwhelming strength. I will teach you how to fight using the style developed by the Royal Mage corps during their long history.”

“While you are gifted with a much stronger body than most mages, you can still benefit from their style. Our ancestors have always respected their way of fighting.” (Alfred)

“Yes, daddy, mommy!” Henry could not contain his excitement. He saw the knights train and was wondering when he would get a change to try such techniques. Seeing his son’s eyes sparkle Alfred quickly guessed what he was thinking about. “Henry, you are much too young and lack the strength required to grapple your opponents. You will begin with basic striking and kicking, then, once you grow up I will show you all the cool stuff we have developed during our centuries on the battlefield. Your mother will show you how to use the enemy’s strength against them, there are a lot of cool moves she will show you, so pay attention because they can save your life someday.”

Henry felt a bit bad that he could not start with the flashy moves, but he understood that his father was only doing what was best for him and nodded at Alfred’s words.

Alfred took Henry and together with Eleonora gave him his first lesson in hand-to-hand combat.

***

After he finished his close quarters combat lesson and did his usual sword training, Henry went over to his mother to practice his mana control with her.

“Henry, today I want you to try moving as much mana as possible to the tips of your fingers. This is the final step before you can unleash your first mana based attacks, so focus and do your best. But remember, don’t push yourself; it is truly a miracle that you can do this much at such a young age.” (Eleonora)

“I will do my best, mommy!” Henry was tired, still when it came to mana he had a lot of experience by now and, for the most part, it was not that difficult for him, but today would be quite different.

Sweat was running down Henry’s face and back, he felt his strength slowly diminish. Still he wanted to push on, try to finish this day's work and prove to himself that his body can handle the new schedule.

Eleonora placed her hand on his shoulder and broke his concentration. “Henry, that is enough for today.”

“But mommy I can still…” Henry tried to persuade his mother to let him continue his work but she was adamant.

“Do not push yourself, you train to become stronger not to weaken your body. There is always tomorrow.” (Eleonora)

“That is true, a good warrior must know when to stop Henry, you are nearing your limit for today. Fear not son, you are growing faster than we have expected, but as your teachers and your parents we see that which you cannot.” Alfred said these words and ruffled his son’s hair. He put him on his shoulders and went towards the gym’s exit.

Before they could run outside Eleonora caught up to them and threw their cloaks over their backs. She then scolded both of them for forgetting to put them on.

Once they got inside and took a bath they had lunch and moved to the living room to enjoy some tea.

Alfred used this opportunity to inform his son of an upcoming change in their daily lives. “Henry, soon we will be moving out of the mansion and into our home in the city.”

“We have lived here for almost 4 years now, but it takes half a day to get here from the capital of our domain, so it is making it difficult to control everything properly.” (Eleonora)

“Of course, if you want, we can stay here until the time comes for you to go to the capital for your 6th birthday celebration.” (Alfred)

Henry was looking at them with a hint of suspicion in his eyes. He was worried that this was only the beginning and that they would soon tell him that they would see each other much less as they would have to work more. So he decided to see if that was the case.

“Will we still be together?” (Henry)

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Alfred and Eleonora were stunned by his question. They thought his first reaction would be that of fear or throwing a tantrum as children do when they must change their environment. Yet their son’s first reaction was quite different.

After a few seconds of silence, that seemed to last an eternity in Henry’s eyes, laughter broke inside the room. The person laughing was not Henry or his parents, it was Anna.

“My lord, my lady, forgive my reaction, it would seem our little lord misunderstood something about our move. You are not getting rid of your parents that easily, my lord Henry.” Anna said while wiping away a tear.

“Oh, Henry, you were worried that we will not stay together?” Alfred said with a strange look on his face.

Henry was truly worried as he thought that work would increase many fold in the capital, all he could do was nod at his fathers question.

Eleonora let out a sigh or relief and walked over to her son. She gave him a big hug and whispered into his ear “Henry, there is no force in this world that will tear us apart from you, not now, not ever.”

Alfred decided to join in on the hug and gave his piece of mind as well “Son we will always be with you, and our work will decrease in the capital as we will be able to give out orders directly, without going through the trouble of writing endless letters.”

Henry faced the two with tears in his eyes, he could not believe that he could have more time with them, and what is worse they are only telling him this now. ‘If possible, turn back time and move to the capital before my birth.’

“Can we go today? I want to spend more time with you!” Henry was truly happy with the prospect of spending more time with his parents.

“Slow down honey, we have to prepare everything. In one week we will move back into our city. So prepare your things and get ready to do a lot of sight seeing with the three of us.” (Eleonora)

“Yes!” Henry was truly looking forward to this move. Not only would he get to see his parents more, but also he would go sightseeing. He wanted to see the world and if he could do it with his parents that was an even bigger joy.

***

Henry spent the whole week counting down seconds until the moment he would leave the mansion and go to the city. He could not wait to see the many wonders he was certain existed in the center of the eastern dukedom.

“Henry, pay attention, put your whole body into the strike. Don’t daydream just yet, son.” Alfred was overseeing his son’s workout and noticed that in the past few days Henry rushed through his exercises. He and Eleonora quickly understood that it was due to excitement for the upcoming move.

“Sorry daddy.” Henry knew he was at fault, yet he could hardly contain his excitement.

“We know you are thrilled about our move, but remember to always enjoy the moment you are in, tomorrow is far away.” (Eleonora)

“Yes, mommy” (Henry)

After this talk he managed to stabilize his thoughts enough to complete his tasks without rushing and was soon in the bathroom imagining what the city might look like.

***

While Henry was relaxing his parents were in the study looking over the documents and making final arrangements before their departure.

Lifting her eyes from the papers Eleonora asked Anna for her input on one of the issues they were discussing. “Anna, how many people should remain in the mansion?”

“Not many are necessary, at most 5 maids and two butlers should be more than enough to keep the place clean. I suggest we send apprentice maids and a new butler to learn from a more experienced servant.” (Anna)

“I agree, we should not be returning here any time soon, not for a long period at least. The knights we have stationed here as guards will also decrease so there should be no need for a large number of servants.” (Eleonora)

“This place will again become a haven for rookies to train in. We should pick the people who stay here carefully though. There will be little oversight so we don’t want them to cause any problems.” Alfred added his opinion while writing down some notes.

Anna nodded, “of course my lord, I have selected one of our most trusted butlers to remain here, his speed has dropped significantly over the years but he is still a splendid teacher who will help guide a new generation of butlers and maids.”

“Excellent, then we will leave the mansion in his capable hands.” (Eleonora)

With that out of the way their attention shifted towards the upcoming journey. Alfred and Eleonora were doing their best to keep their move a secret so that they could decrease the chances of an attack while they were in the open.

Anna began explaining the preparations made so far, “The garrison will move with us, so far only Aron and Oliver have full information about our movement. The others have been told we would move, but they do not know the date, or the time.”

“For now it is for the best, I hate the fact that we have to use such methods but Henry’s safety takes precedence over anyone’s feelings.” Alfred said these words with a heavy tone. The men he is not telling everything to are his most trusted knights, outside of Joshua. Still they would not hold a grudge as it was common for commanders not to share such information outside of a small circle of trusted officers.

“Knowing the men in the garrison, the best way you can apologize would be a hearty meal Al. Have the chefs make a lot of meat and give them a day off once we get back home.” (Eleonora)

Alfred nodded at Eleonora's advice and the trio continued to go over the various backup plans they had prepared, in case of an unexpected occurrence.

***

Finally the morning of the seventh day came. Alfred and Eleonora came into his room and woke Henry up. Together they played a bit and then went to the dining room to have breakfast. After the meal Anna helped Henry get dressed and took him to the main hall.

There he found his parents dressed in their finest attire, he took their hands and together they went outside. The view before Henry was spectacular. A beautiful carriage with the family crest on the doors was waiting in front of the main gate. One hundred knights were standing next to their horses in full armor. Standing next to them was Oliver who was also there with his mages in combat uniforms. The journey before them was relatively short, but full of possible dangers.

The bear-like knight Aron, stepped forward “Your grace, we are all ready and await your command.”

Alfred looked at him, then at the knights behind him and gave his orders. “We move to the city of Ul, I leave our safety in your capable hands.”

“Yes sir!” All the knights bowed and saluted their master and his family. Their morale was at its peak, they were returning home, and a day before their seven day rotation ended.

Alfred, satisfied by their response, helped Eleonora, Henry and Anna get into the carriage before taking one final look at the mansion. This is the place where he became a father and the place where he spent the happiest days in his life so far. Now was the time to make new memories as a family in his hometown.