With Fray out on her errands, the house was eerily calm. Not that I hated it, but ever since I regained memories of my past life, Fray was pretty much always around. I was a bit ashamed to admit that I began to miss the noise she made.

She was used to coming and going, but she stuck for a while due to my birthday, and now that was done, she left just like that.

I was helping Dad with the fieldwork, mainly with watering and keeping the pests away. It was a turn-off-your-brain labor, which worked well for me since I had to focus on Mother interviewing her staff on the other end.

Speaking of which, we were still waiting for Father to arrive. Mother was staring down the double doors like a lion with its prey. What was Father doing to warrant being this late? I wondered if he actually liked being scolded by Mother.

Anyway, since the silence was a bit tough to breathe in, I focused on farm labor instead. With a tin watering can filled to the brim, I poured the sludgy water down to the raised dirt before me. Dad was busy with the logs at the back, like he always was.

I wouldn’t mind working like this. The wind was calming, the breeze was caressing my skin softly, and I could focus on Carine while Feyt got some movements in. It was relaxing, not gonna lie.

Then, I heard a small squeak nearby.

“A rat?”

I turned my head towards the direction of the noise. I approached it slowly and, there it was, a lone rat munching on some half-grown crops.

Hey! We worked hard on that!

I didn’t know how to use a watering can as a weapon, so I quietly called over Dad, who was still busy cutting logs, with my gestures. He, however, was as boisterous as ever.

“What is it?!” He shouted.

The shout alerted the rat of my presence, which led to it running away. I quickly chased after it.

“Hey! Come back here!”

Dad, who was watching from afar, realized what was going on and immediately rushed over to my side with a tree axe by his shoulder.

“Where?! Where’s the pest?!”

I stopped in my tracks, ceasing my futile attempt to catch up to the rat. Fray might be able to do it, but I ain’t a gorilla.

The rat was tiny and fast, it had easily concealed itself amongst the crops. My eyes couldn’t find it no matter how hard I looked. Thankfully, I had my ears.

I closed my ears and let the noises flow in. First, I heard the calming sound of the wind. Then, I caught a wave of gossip, something that I had naturally begun to single out in my mind. Finally, I heard what I wanted, a small squeaking noise on the other side of the field.

“There!” I shouted, pointing in the direction of the rat. “The rat’s over there!!”

“I’ll get it!” Dad rushed forward, skipping over the crops. As soon as he reached the part where I knew the rat was hiding, he seemed to found it and shouted, “Found ya’!”

Dad swung his axe down, it swooped down in an instant and I could see blood splattering over his clothes.

A bit overkill for a rat, don’t you think?

Even Dad realized he had made a mess. He looked at me and said, “Fray, clean this up, will ya’?”

“Why me?!”

Thus, my relaxing watering session turned into a crime scene cleanup.

I walked over to see what mess I would have to deal with. I found that the rat had been split clean in half. Any sense of disgust was replaced with amazement at how clean the cut was.

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

“How did you do this with a tree axe?” I asked, genuinely impressed.

“You’re seriously asking that? Don’t you remember me always going out early to hunt with the others? Ah, well, I guess you’re still pretty small back then…”

Right, Father used to be a hunter before starting this farm. That meant…

“You have that Talent, right Dad?”

“Hmm? You mean [Axe Mastery]? Yeah, I guessed that I had it, and whaddya’ know, I was right.” Dad twirled the tree axe into the air, catching it neatly by the handle. He was treating it as if it was a boomerang. “Who knows? When we can finally afford a scroll for you, you might have it too!” Dad said with a wide grind.

It’s worth a try, I guess…

“Dad, can I have a swing?”

“Oh! Didn’t think you’d ask! Sure!” He flipped the axe, holding it by the back of the blade. I grabbed the handle, lifting the axe off of Dad’s hand.

The axe felt lighter than I expected, but it was still a bit of a chore to move around. Looking at it closer, it had a polished wooden handle and a steel blade that was a bit rusty and chipped at the edges; that made the clean cut on the rat seem even more impressive, still gross though.

“Hey,” Dad called out with a grin. He pointed with his thumb to an uncut log near the back. “Try it out there.”

…

I took a deep breath, and then I focused my eyes on the log balanced on top of a stump. The log was thick and wide, the only reason I would miss hitting that was that I was blind. I just needed the proper strength to cleave through it.

Dad had cut through logs like butter, could this rusty axe really do that? If I really did have [Axe Mastery], I believed I should.

Dad, leaning against a tree with his arms crossed, shouted, “Use all your body weight! Really pull that axe down!”

“Yeah!”

I gripped the handle firmly, raising the axe slowly. Eyeing my target, I let out a few slow breaths.

Then, with a swift motion, I pulled my arms downward with my entire body weight.

“Hah!”

The axe struck true, halving the log clean and lodging the axe into the stump. The log fell onto the grass below with a soft thud.

I did it. I really did it!

With my hands trembling, I turned my head expectantly to Dad. His reaction to my clean cleave?

“Eh. You don’t have it.”

You fu—

Dad pushed himself off the tree with a grunt. “Let me show you something...” He walked over and pulled the lodged axe easily. Holding it in one arm, he aimed for a nearby tree and, without warning, threw it.

The axe flew diagonally, and when it struck the tree, the axe went through; the tree collapsed, leaving only a stump where it stood. The axe itself landed not far away from the stump, stuck on the ground.

“...No sweat!” Dad said with his hands on his hips.

My jaw was agape. This was my first time seeing a Mastery-Type Talent in action, and it was more effective than I could’ve ever imagined.

“See? If you truly had [Axe Mastery]...” Dad pointed to the stump where I had halved the log. “You would’ve cut through that stump if you used all your strength.”

“So… I don’t have [Axe Mastery]...” My voice trailed off at the end.

I kinda expected this, the book I read as Carine back then already told me that Talents aren’t hereditary. If family members possessed the same Talents, they were most likely coincidences.

I let out a heartbroken sigh. Could my ears really be my only redeeming quality as Feyt? That sounded sad.

Dad reluctantly scooted over to my side, patting my shoulder. “H-Hey! No need to feel bad! We still don’t know what Talents you have! Who knows? You might have a Magical Talent!” Dad tried his best to cheer me up, bless him.

“Thanks, Dad.” I walked back to the watering can I had left behind. “I’ll continue watering the crops.”

“Y-Yeah! Work hard, alright?”

I continued to water the crops as the seconds passed. Dad returned to cutting logs and I wondered why he decided to become a farmer instead of a lumberjack.

I thought back to my understanding of Talents. Obtained during birth, with no other known ways to obtain them…

With how effective they are, depending on which type of Talent, they could change your entire life trajectory.

In other words, your life was already set in stone the moment you were born. This world was unfair on a whole other level. Not only is being born rich or poor a factor, but you would also have to be lucky on the Talent side of things too…

In my life as Carine, even if I didn’t have any “good” Talents, I could still rely on her massive family influence to live comfortably, if I didn’t get kidnapped again.

But as Feyt? If I didn’t have any good Talents, I would be screwed. Especially if the village was ever raided or I got kidnapped again.

The easy life was located on the noble side. To reach that though, I needed either of two things. A Magical Talent, which would bring me into the Royal Knight Academy with the potential of being given a Baron title.

The second option is marriage to a noble family. That one was impossible though, no noble would marry a farm boy like Feyt.

…Or were there?

I could always… marry myself…

Wait, what the hell am I thinking?!

I shook my head violently, pushing that thought away as far as I could.

Though it was true, as the future heir, I had free reign over who I chose to marry as Carine. It was only an easy way out, I shouldn't be so lazy. There had to be better ways to improve my lives!

As I tried to cleanse my mind, I heard a series of knocks coming over from the other side.

“Your Grace. Lord Kyrat is here,” a maid said from beyond the double doors.

----------------------------------------

image [https://i.imgur.com/RdC5Gde.png]