[Lilia Helstea POV]
We were at my family's auction event, it was a very special event as even the royal family was coming here, according to my mother. Arriving in the VIP room, we sat down and to pass the time, I was teaching Ellie a game of clapping, the moment really entertained me. But soon the prestigious guests arrived and we showed our respects to them.
I could see in my peripheral vision, Luz, that same boy who had a special secret with me, not showing the same respect, no.... He showed respect, but as if he was on par with the royal family. Really this fool has a screw loose, and I'll have to change his personality so he doesn't cause more problems.
After that, Luz had the courage to ask the queen if the prince and princess could sit with us. To my surprise she accepted and the 6 of us were seated talking about something. While I played more with Ellie, I kept looking at Luz sometimes, he seemed happy to be able to talk to royalty, his loose manner was contagious, because Prince Curtis seemed to be getting more comfortable with him.
I saw that even Princess Kathyln was at ease, but it was hard to decipher her face,I couldn't even tell if she was looking at her brother or my Luz.
"My Luz?.... What am I thinking?" I shook my head as I thought about it.
With the arrival of Uncle Reynolds, a very tense situation began to occur. It looked like one of the king's guards was interested in Sylvie, and he wanted her for himself. My God, he even begged the King to try to get her out of Arthur's hands. She was pretty cute, but what was so special about her?
Well I don't know how the King and that guard see her, but I know how ready Luz and Arthur were to defend her. The King's requests started to look like orders, and later he even asked if he could trade Sylvie for a Mana Beast he had just bought at auction. But the two Leywins kept refusing everything. Until they made an analogy.
They compared Sylvie to the King's children, and asked how much they would need to pay to buy the prince and princess. With that analogy, I now fully understood just how much of a family bond that bond was for both of them, and how rude that request really is.
Before we could react to that, a guard was advancing towards Luz and Art, with a sword in hand.
"No...PLEASE N-" My thought was cut off just as quickly as the guard's head had been taken out.
My eyes fixed on that horrible scene, until Luz woke us from the trance. Was someone attacking?!? But why? They wanted the royal family?!? Or did they want the items my father kept in this auction house?
I just grabbed Ellie tightly and took her to our mothers, who hugged us tight to calm us down, making me not really see what was going on. But I heard Mom and Aunt Alice screaming again and the sound of something heavy hitting the floor. Was it another of the guards?
When I turned to look, Arthur was with us, creating a kind of barrier around us, I surveyed the rest of the room, but my mother kept me from seeing much. But getting a glimpse of Luz protecting the royal family with a barrier similar to the one I was. Lastly, a person from Uncle Reynolds' old group created a similar barrier, and the 3 merged into an immense barrier.
We started to run with everything out of the VIP room, we went down a few floors of stairs until I heard a scream, it was the Prince, it looked like the princess had tripped and fallen out of the shield in front of us.
She had been grabbed by a person, who seemed to be the cause of this disaster. But it didn't last long Luz managed to push that evil mage away, putting the princess behind him and creating barriers of ice around us with that special fire.
He had told me to keep it a secret, but he was now using it without being afraid of the royal family seeing this... He was really just thinking about our good, our protection, and nothing else. I can't believe he's only a year older than me. He is really amazing...
No.. Calling amazing is an exaggeration... He's a stupid... My stu-... Our stupid guardian.
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[Kathyln Glayder POV]
The event was going even better than I expected. I met two interesting boys, their names were Arthur and Luz, from the Leywin family. They might have been brothers, but it was the different ways they both caught my attention. One was very polite, and the other was very relaxed, but in a fun way for my eyes.
We were seated together with 2 other girls, from our conversation I understood that the smallest was the little sister of the Leywins, while the oldest was the daughter of the owner of this auction house. I watched my brother talking to the two boys, until an information was thrown to the wind. They were mages.
Were they about my age, and already mages? Luz said he was from the Dark Orange stage, while Arthur said he was from the Red stage, but he didn't specify more than that.
"A-Awesome" was the only word I could get out, no, it was the first word I said in that conversation.
But this interesting moment was coming to an end, after some problems involving one of our guards wanting something with Arthur and another guard trying to attack him, we saw the head of one of them falling. Making everyone petrified until we came out of the trance thanks to Luz.
He was with my family, creating a dense shield of what I assume is wind magic. My mom was in shock and my dad looked like he was calling one of our trusty guards to come to the auction house.
We ran, trying to get out of that place, with the help of the Leywins boys and a blonde woman who was with them, the three of them creating a big wind shield that could have all of us inside. But my haste caused me to end up falling out of the shield, I felt my wrist being gripped tightly by someone unknown, I saw his eyes and a wide smile under his hood.
"This is scary... so scary" my mind was going blank, with tears in my cheeks.
It didn't last long, until I felt someone else pulling me back and pushing that strange mage away from me, it was that same black-haired boy. He was in front of me, protecting me, with his hair starting to float in the air and changing colors, I saw him create a blue flame and after that, a thick wall of ice was created protecting us.
I just stood there, taking a good look at his features, his body, his eyes... His eyes sparkled and had colors that moved as if they were three different drinks that don't mix, in the same glass. But my trance of being analyzing him was interrupted, when his probable mother pulled me close to my family, and the boy called Arthur, along with a man who was probably their father, were on the front lines.
Father and sons fighting together to protect each other? What a strong and lovely family, I wish my father could be like that with me or my brother, instead of just using guards for this purpose.
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[Blaine Glayder POV]
"Sebastian... You're really pissing me off.. You don't understand where we are and keep asking for things like that?" that was my thought as I started talking to the brown haired boy.
Sebastian really wanted that kid's bond, but that was way over the top, especially since that kid was a mage, a mage who at age 8 already had a red core and had access to the fire element. If I were to win that mana beast, I would need to make the right trades, I wouldn't like a prodigy that can be used by me, seeing me as a soulless man.
But nothing worked, not just the boy, but his brother, a 9-year-old mage at the Dark Orange stage, kept refusing any attempt I made to trade. When I mentioned trading their mana beast for the World Lion I just bought, they came back to me with an answer I didn't expect. I was confused, and the bond owner had to better specify what they were saying.... They were asking how much they should pay to have my kids.
The audacity to say that was immense, I didn't believe it, but what I didn't really believe was to hear one of the guards attack the boys for saying something like that. They deserved it for saying something of that caliber. If they died, I could blame the guard's incompetence and pay enough to keep their mouths shut.
But it was when I heard a noise of something hitting the ground hard, when I opened my eyes I noticed the body of the same guard lying on the ground, with his head decapitated.
I kept my eyes focused on that scene, did the boy manage to kill one of my guards that fast? No.. DID A YOUNG BOY HAVE THIS STRENGH?! Well, the response I got to that came quickly enough to snap me out of my thoughts.
"AN INVADER IN THE CEALING!" The little dark orange core mage said.
When he said that, I looked at the ceiling and saw a hole in it, where the attack must have come from. But my vision soon took on a green filter, with that same boy creating a windshield around me and my family. He seemed to have a more mature train of thought than expected for his age, with his father ordering everyone out of there, for being a closed place.
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As we walked, I used my communication artifact to warn Bairon Wykes, the Thunderlord, one of my faithful and new private guards. I let a message for him about we being in trouble.
Running towards the exit of the building, my daughter ended up tripping and getting out of the shield we were in, I saw a mage with a ragged cloak covering his body, he came out of the celling and grabbed my daughter, but before he could do anything, that same orange core boy rushed at him, pulling Kath out of harm's way, while creating a wall of ice.
Wait, he used wind, he created ice, and he looked like he had fire in his hands. A tri-elemental?!?! I was with such a special child next to me?!?! I couldn't believe it! I want him now as a knight! Or even as my son's ally!
Not only that, that boy I annoyed by trying to get his mana beast, he also showed ice and wind ability, in addition to Vincent having escaped the information of him using fire as well.
"BOTH THEM ARE TRI-ELEMENTARY FIRE, WATER AND WIND?!?!" I thought.
This really was my lucky and unlucky day. Thanks to Sebastian's requests, there was a chance that they would see me as someone bad and only be protecting me because I'm close to their family right now!
"WHAT GREAT TROUBLE HAVE YOU GOT ME THROUGH, YOU USELESS SERVANT!" I screamed internally thinking about Sebastian's actions, but then I gave a scream of rage when I saw who the mage was under that hood "YOU!" It was that damn guard. I had removed him from the bodyguard post because he didn't live up to my expectations, and because Bairon Wykes was more prepared than he was. Was he here for revenge?! Excellent, one more thorn in my side!!
"Careful! He's in the Light Yellow Stage!" my wife alerted the people who were fighting there.
In the midst of that fight there were the two children, their father, and a possible adventurer hired with wind skills. After my wife warned, everyone tried to get away from that damn mage, but by the formation they were, the black haired boy, with his bright and colorful eyes, was trapped in an arena next to the enemy. Apparently he saw the boy's worth and wanted to kill him soon.
"Hmm. It looks like that cheeky one will be killed, at least we still have the other one and his precious beast..." Sebastian said, I'd forgotten he existed for a second due to the level of tension around us.
Wait a minute. He didn't whisper, he said it beside me.... I looked around and could see the brown haired boy giving Sebastian and me a hateful look, while my wife also looked with disgust at our servant. The others seemed focused in that battle.
It was not to be scared because they were facing that, the boy seemed to dodge several attacks, while jumping like a flea on all sides, it was even difficult to see him, but soon he stopped, and I could hear the scream of everyone there in astonishment and despair. That boy lost his arm.
"Really. A pity, but Sebastian is right about one thing, the other tri-elemental is still fine, and Bairon is probably close." It was my thoughts, but then I heard Sebastian talking.
"Wait a minute! Is that brat doing a spell? He doesn't understand that he's already dead-" His sentence was cut off, but not by someone stopping him from speaking atrocities against a boy who was fighting in front of us.
His sentence was cut off by seeing what his spell resulted. The boy somehow managed to create a lightning barrier around his entire body, and not only that, his severed arm seemed to float back to his body. My gaze was horrified.
If I really made this boy hate me just for the first impressions he had of me, I feel like not even Bairon or Varay, my other personal guard, could protect me against him. But why was I feeling this? That's when I noticed, there wasn't just that electric field around him, he exuded a powerful magical force, a presence that made everyone freeze, it was so powerful, I swear, if it wasn't for my willpower, my body would kneel beyond my control.
I could see him beating the enemy non-stop, like he was just a punching bag. And due to the mage's lack of focus, the barrier around them crumbled, but no one dared to approach. A 9-year-old boy, with a Dark Orange core, was exuding a murderous presence while beating up an former royal guard with a Light Yellow core, as if he were nothing.
That... was not a boy. He was an anomaly, a monster, an insane, he was anything but a boy.
I could hear a powerful noise approaching, and the boy managed to dodge what looked like a lightning rod, which hit the enemy squarely, seeming to kill him on the spot. I didn't have any expression, the only thing I could think about was that it was finally over.
"Thunderlord, don't attack him! He was saving us!" my wife shouted to the person who was at the entrance of the building, it was Bairon, my Lance.
Bairon Wykes approached us while the others, and even my children, walked over to the boy to check on him. "Your Majesties, could you let me know what happened here?" He said in a serious voice, it was really nice to have given him the title of Lance, he was straight to the point, just the way I like.
"Everything was quiet around here, but now, at the end of the event, one of our old guards came up wanting to attack us, he grabbed my daughter as if he was going to take her, but that boy prevented that and bought time until your arrival." My wife said to him, still in a shocked voice by what happened.
"Okay, I can understand, after we fixed the problems here, I'll go see the other guards and test them to see if they're still reliable or if they're traitors like the one that's dead now. By the way, who was this guard anyway?" Bairon asked while thinking, he really had tried to kill that black haired boy thinking he was the enemy, but it turned out that the real culprit of this disaster was hit without my Lance seeing his face...
Wait... the boy dodge an attack of a Lance, that wanted to attack him...what a hell...
"It was the one who was complaining about your new title a few weeks ago." When I answered him, he looked down and then looked me in the eyes.
"So the attack was made due to someone not accepting Your Majesty's faith in me? How ridiculous. The trust test that I will do to the other guards will be more intense, do you recommend that Zero and I be the directors of such a test?" I can see him holding back so he doesn't have a disgusted expression about the guard he just had kill, but in other hand he talking about Zero even surprised me.
Zero was the codename we gave Varay Aurae, my other Lance, she was extremely rigid and cold, if they were to make a test to see the loyalty of the other guards on me, I think guards would be traumatized.
"No need, as Zero is currently doing more important tasks." My wife said, Thunderlord nodded.
"Anyway, Thunderlord, that boy who saved us, it may not look like it but he's a complete prodigy when it comes to magical abilities, and he somehow managed to use lightning mana to make a severed limb of his float back into his body and control it. Is that possible?" I asked him, after all, he is the most powerful person I know who is a lightning deviant.
He thought about it for a while, putting his hand on his chin, while his gaze went away from where we were, he looked at the boy and that member that was being healed. But he soon replied. "I feel it's something quite strange and different, It depends a lot on the mage's core and understanding of how bodies work and how lightning mana can affect corpses, but of course, this is all in theory, in practice I feel like I wouldn't get something like this. Besides that I would say he forced his electricity to work like his own blood, which is a lot more complex."
"As a scientist I'd like to ask our great Thunderlord a question. Are you saying there's a chance this communer has a Lightning-related sub deviant?" Sebastian said that, again making me notice his existence, he is really so useless that I always forget about him.
"Very likely." when he answered him that, my eyes widened.
I took a long breath thinking about how this would affect me, but I saw that this exchange was quite acceptable. "Sebastian." He watched the fight and he even said those things about the boy, but he was still looking in the direction of the other boy's bond, but then he looked at me, that just confirmed that it was better to do it now.
"You are fired." My wife's gaze was surprised by the sudden situation, while Sebastian had the look that he was betrayed by me, Bairon was indifferent.
"F-Fired? Why?" He said confused and looking intently into my eyes.
"Because of you, I did something that possibly made my first encounter with two prodigies the worst possible, that and the way you talked about the boy, even though he protected my daughter, shows that you don't understand the time to stop, you're just my servant, not a noble on the same level as me, understand?" I said stiffly.
Afraid that Thunderlord would do something if he answered me, Sebastian walked out of the auction house, while I went, along with my wife and my Lance, to see the situation with the boy there.
We talked to him for a bit, from what they said, he wasn't a tri-elemental, he just created a space with lack of mana from wind and fire to force the creation of a wall of ice. It was really interesting this concept, this kid really is a lot smarter than he looks, I have to be careful.
My wife and he were wondering what the reward would be for him saving our daughter and buying time for the Thunderlord arrive, it ended up that he didn't even want anything, but due to Priscilla's insistence, he decided to have a dimensional ring and an amount of money that she thought would be better. We would have to deliver the reward tomorrow through one of our servants.
Once inside our carriage, the eldest son of the Wykes family decided to go with us for our protection. We were on our way from where we live in the city of Xyrus.
"That was amazing, don't you think?" Curtis said, looking with a huge smile at his mother
"Son... I don't know why you're so excited, did that boy really overshadow the dangerous situation we were in? What is his name? Lux? Jux?"
"His name is Luz." Kathyln said, with a weak smile, which was enough given her way of interacting.
Her brother soon noticed that slight change in her, and seemed to tease her. "Hmmm... Want him again holding you tight and keeping you safe, eh?" In response to this teasing, my daughter's pale face turned a vibrant red, causing our expressions to go into mild shock.
"Kath... wait, are you serious? I was just kidding." Curtis's voice came out a little confused by all that and our daughter hid her face in a small cloak she was using to cover herself from the night cold.
"Hmmm... Maybe I can use this..." I thought, already having some strategies I could use to tie that boy to us.
"Don't even get the idea, they barely knew each other, and I would only accept that if the feeling is real and mutual, she can be like this just because he saved her and it's something temporary." My wife said looking at me, breaking my strategic ideas a little from this mental chess that was to conquer at least one of those prodigies.
Wykes was silent, he seemed to be paying attention to his surroundings and not our conversation, but that was proved wrong when he gave a weak and snobbish laugh about what my wife said.
"Well, all that craziness aside, can I call them into my practice room one of these days? They told me they're great on blades." Curtis said already throwing that subject away.
"Maybe, I think I'll leave an invitation to lunch at our house, among the things in the dimensional ring we'll be sending him... Maybe even a communication scroll if he doesn't have a fixed answer when our deliverman is there." Priscilla said smiling, probably thinking of the emotional benefits of our children.
"Sorry to intrude on this conversation, Queen Priscilla, would you like me to do this job?" Thunderlord asked.
"It won't be necessary, tomorrow you'd better start the test between the guards." With my wife answering him, he nodded.
"It's going to be a big problem for me if he refuses..." this was my last thought as the carriage pulled up to our residence.