Year 12.328 After the Founders.
It’s been six years ever since Diaz came to this world, and he still could not emotionally accept this new world as his new home, but at least he knew there was nothing he could do about all of this, so he rationalized he had to find a way to come to terms with it for Diaz was a rational man and understood that he should let go of worries about things he could not change. Besides, even if he did return somehow to his world, that certainly would not end up well, for even though he was a popular ruler, when he passed he did so out of old age. His death was natural, and it would go against God's way to come back from such passing, even if God himself was responsible for ” unnaturally” reincarnating him. One way or the other, he was fated to stay and live in this place, if so he had to find a way to fully come to terms with his new life. It would take still a while, however.
Ironically, one way he found to soothe his worries about this new reality was to engage in old habits: Study.
In his time as a kid he was mostly alone and with little interaction with children his age, mostly being prepared to take the throne as emperor as quickly as possible since his father was no longer around. As such, his studies as a royal actually fit well with young Diaz in many ways.
Diaz's education, although more general and less strict than his older brothers, (for not much was expected of him), was still worthy of a royal.
He is being taught how to read and write the continental language, which was the language mostly used by all the continent, the local language of the Vasconcy region, which is the region his kingdom finds itself in together with 4 other rival kingdoms, local geography, etiquette, basic mathematics and common knowledge, music, socializing, and dancing.
Of course, being in a nation with constant warfare he is also being taught the basics of how to fight, like fencing, use of the bow, spear, mace, shield, horse riding, mount taming, wrestling, and military affairs. Though it was done so in moderation considering his age.
Surprisingly to many, Diaz had little problems with his studies, spending many hours with books and feather pens, long after his tutors left.
Also, his handwriting improved at a pace that made his tutors shocked, with the young boy even going out of his way to write many pages of linen paper, copying contents of different works in order to, according to the boy, “study while practicing”. This made the boy very familiar with the scholars and priests working in the library and temple ward of the citadel. One day he even made an entire copy of a short children's storybook that his nanny read to him many nights and gifted to her as a present, making her very happy.
On the one hand, his general studies were proceeding at a remarkable pace, on the other his military ones were, “not as astonishing” according to his main tutor Sir Alexios, an imposingly tall and muscular man with slightly curled dark hair and a well-trimmed beard. He was an Ex-Domestikos(cavalry commander of about 1000 men) of the Heraclian empire who unfortunately supported the wrong side in a civil war.
“Not as astonishing” was an understatement though, for young Diaz still was doing very well for himself, especially in horse riding, even if for now all he was riding were small poneys due to his size and strength of an infant, the ex-Cavalry commander could already see that the boy had no problem with equestrian skills and quickly understood some of the fundamentals of the usage of every weapon. Though it was a fact that the boy was not as enthusiastic in his martial training as his civil ones.
However, there was one thing that Diaz was clueless about and fascinated him: magic training.
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This “magic” thing eluded him quite a lot, which he thought at first to be some form of old “alchemy” or a chemical reaction that the people of this world did not understand and simply labeled magic. However when it was shown to him he found it to be unbelievable, it seemed much like a fairytale when Sir Alexious showed it to him.
During Diaz's first lesson in magic, Sir Alexious demonstrated it by standing in front of a dummy with an old but still durable-looking chainmail shirt and helmet, the man unsheathed his sword and took an overhead stance. In a millisecond he descended his sword and cut the dummy clean in two, helmet and chainmail alike. However “cut” isn't exactly the right word, more like he “melted” it in half, for little Diaz could see the sword slightly glow in red and release a strong heat, something which his tutor later confirmed.
Alexios explained that he condensed energy they called Mana into his blade in order to heat it to a point where it was so hot it could melt steel and bypass the chainmail and helmet, something which would be close to impossible otherwise. He also warned the prince that although at first glance it seemed simple, in truth it was not, for the heat was so strong it could burn the user so he had to also use mana to coat his own body in a cold aura to protect him from the heat even more so in his hand, also his sword was specially made from a have league of metal that could withstand the heat and still be durable blade and handle alike was made out of this metal, making it a much heavier sword than normal.
Later Diaz would learn from his Nanny that what he saw was a feat only possible to a few who managed to put magic into practice use in the middle of a melee, which was how Sir Alexios was accepted by the prince's grandfather into his court, despite this later on becoming a diplomatic issue since Alexios was a political fugitive, which became.
Young Diaz, when a child back in his world, was introduced to knowledge and the pleasure of learning from his first tutor, a friend, and rival of his father. As such he was a natural scholar, and a new area of study to him was a new path, a new universe to explore, so he became fascinated with this new form of energy called mana. As a man of science, he could not let go of this opportunity to learn something new.
As such, after that demonstration, Diaz felt in a funny mood. The usually quiet child became extremely curious and asked many questions without reservation, mostly about how this phenomenon happened. So many were the questions and so “weird” were the terms used that Sir Alexios felt overwhelmed by this change in the boy. He did answer him as best he could though.
Unfortunately for Diaz, Sir Alexios, despite being a great soldier and warrior, was never very interested in how it happened and knew little of the usage of magic besides combat, he just knew how to do it so he could not explain it in the more scientific and theoretical terms.
The prince felt a bit disappointed but still looked forward to learning more about this “Mana”, and perhaps he would get a chance better than most since he was a royal of this nation a funny thought since in the past he never enjoyed this fact. Nonetheless, he was a prince so he could get enough funding and education to pursue such an expensive endeavor but was an "unimportant" prince so he would most likely not be chosen to a very important political position, as such he had a higher degree of freedom when it came to choosing his path as long as it did not involve politics or something that could make him a threat to his brothers. Maybe, a simple scholar, teacher, or headmaster of an educational institute would be possible, something he had always hoped for in his previous life.
Back to magic, since it was dangerous and taxing to the body, he wasn't allowed actual practice due to his age, which was fine to him since he had no interest in “practice” for now, where “practice” meant battle applications.
Diaz's individual education went fine for the most part, some talked about him being more interested in books rather than swords or horses still, at least he had an interest in something which relieved his parents a bit. While that would give him the respect of an intellectual, the same could not be said for most of the people in the nobility or the peasantry. This was a world of constant war and political intrigue, a world full of necessity and suffering, people respected more someone who could slay many foes, command armies and exert power through his connections than an intelligent introvert who had few social interactions. As such, Diaz's reputation among the nobles and the people continued to be a lot more "dirty" when compared to the ones of his older brothers, and his future prospects were getting bleaker, so much so that while it was common for all of his brothers to have marriage propositions since birth Diaz had barely any despite being 6 years old.