Short gray hair and golden yellow eyes, that was the face I saw when I looked into the mirror. This was my new look, the new me, Ledo Alaster. I moved the chair within my room and sat down, recalling my life for the past three years. It flew by almost like a dream, considering I spent most of my first year sleeping through most of it. Of course, much like I learned from the individual I spoke with between worlds, there was magic coursing through the world as there were many magic users. But that wasn’t what surprised me when I managed to stay awake in the first few months of my life here, I realized this world held railways, in proper terms, the mode of transportation wasn’t horses, but trains. I’m not sure how this came to be yet, mostly because Grandpa Alden wouldn’t let me roam the house freely, but it makes sense considering I’m still three years old. But it wasn’t just me and grandpa, there were people from his former hunting group who resided here as well. One was Great Aunt Elethea, an elven healer who always seemed to be ready to heal any injuries I gained from my day to day. She has long, blond hair that reaches down her back, eyes an emerald green, and a decently large chest. I still don’t know her age, but she carries the air of a twenty something but the wisdom of Grandpa, which makes her something of a walking encyclopedia for my interests.

Uncle Conrad is incredible, he may be a human, but he wields a claymore like weapon that’s as long as he is tall with one hand. His muscular frame helps, but I have a hunch he’s unknowingly using magic to make such a feat possible. His eyes are a shining azure, and with hair that was once a sleek black now beginning to gray, this man was the leader of Grandpa’s old hunting party who always led the charge. From the stories I heard from Grandpa, Uncle Conrad was truly amazing back in his prime, leading a whole army in a charge against a wave of monsters that came from the ocean. No matter how many stories I head about him, it always makes my heart race with excitement. The last one that lived in the house permanently was Cousin Kijo, who seemed to be an Oni. Outside of her two white horns that protruded from her head, she had obsidian eyes and black hair which was cut just above her shoulder. She had an hourglass figure, with no part of her seeming to stand out, and she treated me much like a little brother.

Neither the group nor Kijo herself really knew much about where she came from. She was found washed ashore before the group had formed, Conrad was the one who found her. She seemed to have suffered head trauma which led to her forgetting who she was, which led to Conrad choosing to care for her. She eventually proved her worth as a crack shot archer and joined the group, her arrows saving the group time and time again. Great Uncle Eisen lives elsewhere, not outside the kingdom, but somewhere close to a mine so he can get first crack at the materials for future projects. He visits every month at least, considering everyone here works with their weapons and whatnot, to ensure they’re still functional. His brown hair and eyes remained unchanged, but his beard grew from his upper chest down to his stomach since I’ve known him. He was important to the group, more than being the rowdy friend who always ensured they had a good time, but he was the reason they were so well prepared. His swords rarely chipped, his shields never broke, and his armor fit snuggly while taking hits like steel. This dwarf may be made like iron, but his body and soul were like steel, unbreaking even under some of the hottest heat.

There’s one more, Cousin Alphard. I only see him every few months, his short red hair and crimson eyes seem to resonate with his fire magic. Despite the magic, their skills were with a spear, and the muscles he has only resonate with his passion for the spear. I feel worried for him, because he hasn’t worked with anyone outside the group, so I try to cheer him up when he comes to visit. Outside of that, those are the only people who I know… mostly as I don’t like leaving the house very much. But I haven’t needed to, since everyone usually brings back food from the nearby city. For now, I’d rather stay in the house, as much as my family would want me to go outside and make friends. But I felt like I had everything I needed in the house, there was ample learning material from swordsmanship to magic, plenty of places to “train” what I learned, and people I cared about. Overall, I felt no need to push myself right now, especially after my first life.

Currently, I’ve just been observing everyone on their days off, since it was giving me some insight to this world’s magic system. While I couldn’t see the mana yet, since I haven’t considered what I wanted to do yet, I decided to look into the magic of this world. If anything, combat or not, maybe I could do something to make it better for people. With this goal in mind, I chose to go into the study and start reading the books on magic. I looked at the size of this study and sighed, “This place is a mansion.” Since I got here, I called it home, but in terms of size and style, it was certainly a mansion of function over form individuals. This “study” was more like an oversized library, books of all kinds sat on shelves, some handwritten by Grandpa… at least I think.

As I looked through the books, I wondered just how this world functioned. Magic is an incredible thing, but more than that, there were the trains. I could tell just by looking at them, they didn’t run like regular trains, but since I never left the house very often, I’ve only seen it once. I found a book that was a good start, “Introduction to the Basics of Mana”. Now, because of how Grandpa taught me, I was able to learn the language with ease. With that, I opened the book and began to read in one of the chairs in the study. From what I could tell, this world had mana in the air and within those who could use magic. Be it from genetics or some unknown natural occurrence, there are those who can use magic, and those who can’t. However, when I tried to find how those who have mana within them function, there wasn’t any, which was odd because I assumed it would be taught to better strengthen those who had magic. I brushed it aside for now, maybe they left it at the end of the book, so I kept reading.

Mana wasn’t restrained to pure magic, but resided in everything, which held their own affinities. Fire held fire mana, wind held wind mana, and so on for all of the world’s natural occurring mana affinities. However, there was a second classing of mana affinities called “Developed Affinities”. This was things that didn’t form properly in nature but could be used by mixing existing types of mana or by wishing pure mana to become that type. Examples of developed affinities were sound, healing, and shadow mana. It seemed odd for sound and shadow mana to be developed, but it turns out that despite occurring in nature slowly, it wasn’t actually so when the magic was created through laborious work of mages who sought such magic. In a handwritten note, likely left by Grandpa, it seems he believes that at some point, through the continuous usage of these mana types, it’ll allow the mana to be properly produced in nature, but it’s yet to be seen in mass.

With that, I had reached the end of the book… wait, that was it? I checked from front to back, but what I wanted wasn’t there. What was the process which mages gained mana in their bodies? I was curious to know if I missed a page, so I began to check the book over carefully. When I reached halfway through the means to natural mana, I was lifted up with Uncle Conrad shouting, “What’s little Ledo doing here!?” I got spooked since I was so into the book and dropped it, the book smacking into the floor, as I shouted, “Uncle Conrad! I was reading! What the heck!?” Of course, I didn’t hold it against him, because he liked to sneak up on me despite being a hulking mass of muscle. That was when Uncle Conrad looked to the book I was reading, sat me down, and picked it up. He raised a brow and said, “Hey Ledo, did you read this?” I looked to him, then nodded, “Yeah, I was curious about magic.”

Uncle Conrad opened the book and asked, “What types of magic are there, not the mana, but magic?” I replied, honestly, “Natural and Developed.” He smiled, “Nice job, that’s pretty good kiddo.” I felt a smile cross my face; I hadn’t done much, but I was praised. It was so long since I was praised for something that I smiled out of instinct; it made me want to learn more about magic just to be praised again. Uncle Conrad looked to the window and said, “Oh, right, it’s time for dinner Ledo. I came to tell you that, but I got distracted by the book.” When I looked out of the window, it was obviously evening outside, had I spent the whole day on just one book? I turned to Uncle Conrad and said, “Then we got to hurry, I don’t want the food to get cold!” Uncle Conrad lifted me under his arm and said, “Then hang on kiddo, because I won’t let that happen!”

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After he said that, he began to run through the house with speed yet delicacy, making sure to not knock anything down or off the walls. This was Uncle Conrad, willing to bend the rules a little bit, but able to do so without breaking anything in the process. Uncle Conrad blew into the dining room with me in his arms, Great Aunt Elethea shouted, “Conrad! What did I say about running in the house?! Especially with Ledo in your arms! You could have broken something or hurt Ledo!” She quickly took me out of Uncle Conrad’s arms, checking me over, “Are you alright honey? You know you don’t have to do that whenever you’re late for dinner.” I smiled, showing I was alright, “It’s ok Elethea! It’s fun to go that fast!” Kijo chuckled, then said, “It’s alright Thea, Ledo isn’t injured, Conrad knows we’d kill him if he hurt the kid.” Great Aunt Elethea looked like she was about to explode at how calm everyone was, but Grandpa Alden said, “Calm down everyone, everything’s fine, so let’s eat before the food gets cold.” With that, everyone took to the table and began to eat, the food in this world, at least in my opinion, tasted better than on Earth.

Grandpa Alden eventually looked to Uncle Conrad, then asked, “Conrad, why do you have the Introductions to the Basics of Mana book? Didn’t take you for one to try and learn about magic so late in life.” Uncle Conrad looked at the book he seemed to have sat on the table and forgot about, he said, “Oh, this? I found Ledo reading it in the study, seems he has an interest in magic.” Great Aunt Elethea said, “I’d be surprised if he didn’t have an interest in magic, he’s seen all of us use it quite a lot just by training.” Grandpa Alden smiled, then asked, “I’m curious Ledo, what did you learn from the book if I may ask.” When he asked that, I explained what I learned, or at least what I managed to learn from just one proper read through of the information. What I didn’t know was I started rambling, it was the information I learned of course, but it was also questions like “How has shadow magic begun appearing naturally” and “Why is fire mana considered naturally occurring when it was caused through other means”. In a way, it felt like back when I actually cared about what I was learning back on Earth.

When I managed to realize I was rambling, I stopped and said, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to ramble like that…” Everyone was silent, at least until Grandpa Alden said, “Ledo, that’s amazing.” I asked, confused, “It’s… amazing?” Grandpa Alden laughed, he laughed one of the heartiest laughs I ever heard from him before saying, “My boy, I’ve never seen a soul alive who had as much passion in magic at your age!” He reached over and rubbed my head, since I was normally sat next to him, then said, “I hope this passion from you doesn’t die, because maybe you could teach me something about magic, that would be amazing since I’m the court mage of this country!” Grandpa Alden began to laugh again, maybe since he was getting older, he wanted a disciple to pass his magic knowledge onto. That was when I remembered, he said he was the court mage, so I asked, “What’s a court mage?”

Elethea said, as if ready for the question, “You know how the house is next to Camelot right?” I nodded, “Yes, it’s the capital city of the kingdom, yes?” Elethea said, with a smirk, “Well, your grandpa here is the court mage of the whole kingdom. He speaks with the king on magical matters on occasion.” I felt a shiver run through my body; Grandpa was that strong? He has the knowledge, I never doubted that, but I’ve never seen his strength. More than that though, I wasn’t sure if this was cool, or just a heavy weight from the pressure this type of job holds. I asked, displaying my confusion, “Is that good?” Grandpa Alden chuckled, “I sort of expected this, you’re young, so the world doesn’t make sense just yet.” He cleared his throat, then said, “In a way, it proves I’m a powerful yet intelligent mage, it means if the kingdom of Avalon needs it, I respond to the call and lead the mages.”

I felt a large smile form on my face, “That’s so cool! I want to be a powerful mage one day!” I don’t know why I said the mage part, I wasn’t sure about what I wanted to be, but using magic is valuable in any capacity, so learning it didn’t seem so foolish now. Elethea said, “I think that’s a great idea, I think old Alden here wanted to train the next generation for some time now.” Grandpa Alden suddenly had a solemn expression, “I’m getting old, I guess I wanted to pass on my knowledge before I end up forgetting, the woes of getting old I guess.” I laughed, “Grandpa, you’ll live for many more years. Just be happy, eat well, and sleep when you need it. Do that, and I’ll become the best mage for you to see one day!” Grandpa Alden’s face shifted from that solemn look to a smile, he rubbed my head as he said, “Thanks Ledo, you always find a way to cheer me up.” With that said, we began regular conversation. I got a chance to read the book again for a bit before bed, but I knew I wasn’t stopping here, because I now had a goal.

~~~

I looked into my adopted grandson’s room, the book he was reading nigh all day laid open on his bed, which I carefully took before tucking him in, letting him rest after a long day. Once I quietly left the room, I made my way to my own room and sat at my desk, my mind took to the book he had apparently been reading today, “It couldn’t be… right?” Ledo had been showing certain signs, those of which I’ve seen and experienced before in others. Kids his age would normally be making friends, unafraid of the world around them, but he isn’t doing that. He’s afraid of the outside, of strangers, he was even afraid of Alphard for a while due to how little he came around. I knew he was different, today just let me know how different he was. I put my head in my hands, “Ledo’s a reincarnation.” I admitted to myself, I couldn’t believe it until now, but I couldn’t keep the blindfold over my own eyes anymore, I had to face the truth.

I didn’t want to tell the others, even though they knew I was a reincarnation myself, because I know Ledo had experienced something that made him this way. I knew this because I was a reincarnate myself, one who in the beginning only trusted my family. Bullying isn’t new, especially on Earth, and I had been bullied enough that I had trust issues in this new world where no one knew the old me. For the life of me, I couldn’t open up, because it required me disclosing my old life, and that terrified me back then. I was afraid people would bully me for being weak, even after I began to learn magic, I still struggled to open up. But that was when I met Conrad and Elethea, the two people that managed to break me from my fears. If Conrad was born a millennia ago, he’d likely have led an army against the monsters of the time, carving a way to the future with that unbreakable spirit he has. Elethea was kind, which matched her healing magic, as she slowly broke down the wall I had built around my heart, they were the foundation that made me who I am today.

Ledo though didn’t have that yet, for now though it was fine since he was still growing, but he needed to have at least one friend his age before he starts to isolate himself like Alphard. I looked to a scroll on my desk, not magical, but an idea the King had passed to me. I opened the scroll again, reading its contents over once more, seeing if it would give me an idea for Ledo. The King had given an idea to the court of training a bunch of children to increase the bonds our neighbors had, these being the eleven Kingdom of Alfheim and the Stella Empire. Some adventurers and hunter groups would take a batch of students from each kingdom and train them in the skills they shine in, which will allow them to mingle with each other and form friendships. This ended up giving me an idea, I was for this idea, since it would keep our people in good faith with them, but also because of how this could help Ledo make friends.

While we weren’t adventurers, since we stuck to handling monsters and creatures that bypassed the dungeons that formed in the wilds, we were still considered one of the best that could be on par with some powerful adventurers. The house had the facilities to handle a decent number of kids, considering this was meant to be a makeshift hospital like location in wartime. I pondered the thought, for this to happen, there would need to be several locations prepared, along with renovations to the house to better handle the training aspect for so many, but I think this could be pulled off. We had plenty of hunters and adventurers who’d teach their own countries people who were interested, but not on a large scale. This could call more of those who seek the call to adventure to be able to receive adequate training in that regard. I shook my head, I was getting too far ahead of myself, since this would be a small groups initially to see if this would even work.

I sighed, being the court mage left me overthinking each situation that was brought to my attention, to ensure the pros and cons of the outcome of everything. I looked to the scroll again, then said to myself, “I’ll ask the others and send some mail to Eisen and Alphard, maybe I can get the whole group back together for this if it’s for Ledo.” With that, I prepared the materials for the letters if Elethea, Conrad, and Kijo wanted to do this, then decided to get some rest. If I put my approval on this, it has no doubt of passing within the Kingdom, and I wanted to rest up before I made to quick of a decision. I mumbled to myself as I began to nod off to sleep, “The Kingdom of Alfheim, the Kingdom of Avalon, and the Stella Empire doing joint training, I thought I’d never see the day.” I soon drifted to sleep; the fate of the next generation felt surprisingly heavy tonight.