For the next two weeks, nothing happened, we buried the dead, Bernard did lead the burial ceremonies. It should have been me but a 10 years old boy who preached about life, death and hope is ridiculous, its what Elise said when i asked for advice. When there is nobody around she is quite honest and direct. Its sad, that she can’t always be herself. I said a few words at the end of Bernard speech.
I had to think of 5 different speeches, we didn’t bury all the soldiers the same day because they were from each village of the baronet. The village learnt of the attack when we came with the bodies of their friend or family members. It was a sad experience for all the people involved. Grandpa is still training, he didn’t came out for mana, i was on my own for this work.
Right now i’m waiting for my parents on the wall with Eva, Jules and Oliver who are on guard duties. Jules is 22, he his about 178 centimeters, he is well built he is and look like a trained soldiers, his hair are short and brown. Olivier is taller than Jules by few centimeters but he is a lot more robust but he is 27, he spent more training.
The wall walking path have been cleaned but the exterior wall is stiff bloody. Its was my idea, we don't know if there are globins troops near us, the bloody wall exist to intimidate a potential second wave of goblins. Our parents will arrive today, i decided to picnic on the wall, i took the foxes out, they are now big enough to walk. I take them out to stroll everyday this make little Eva move too this to kill two birds with one stone.
I asked about the troops moral since the battle, everyone is sad but proud of their victory. They hope that father come back to hear of the new policy of recruitment and how will be arranged the families of the dead soldiers.
I talked with Jules and Oliver while Eva was playing with the fox cubs, i learnt that it was quite hard to fine a woman within the baronet for the soldiers, in our kingdom people marry in their teens.
Oliver is married, to his childhood friend, but Jules didn’t find find a wife. He said that since the job has a high mortality rate no father want his daughter to become a window with a child to take care.
Each year 1 to 5 soldiers die on service. This year soldier death, will be recorded in the Baronet history. I told Jules that if he wants he can still buy a slave.
« A marriage with a slave would be troublesome, my parents will refuse, i’m not desperate enough, but if in 3 years i’m still unmarried i will go for a slave ». Said Jules.
In the middle of the afternoon, a carriage appeared in the middle of the forest path beyond our wall. 10 soldiers were escorting it on their horses. George was driving the carriage.
We waited for it to approached and went to open the wall doors when they were in the walls, dad and mom descended from the carriage. Eva and I went to hug mom, she hugged both of us, no-one can resist a half-elfe lolly cuteness, so mom wasn’t hostile to Eva at all.
The 3 foxes cubs were yelping in the side.
« What are those? » asked dad
« Magic Fox babies, i’m raising them with Eva » i said with a smile, Eva nodded.
« What is all this blood on the wall ? » said dad with a frown
« We were attacked by a goblin colony, two weeks ago. » i reported
« Did they do a lot of damage? » he asked with a serious face
« People died, i have written a report about everything . » i told him, i took time to write it.
« Good, let’s not lose time, Jim take the escort back to the barrack and report our arrival to Bernard. Tell him to come to see me in the evening . » ordered dad.
Jules and Oliver closed the wall’s door. Eva, the foxes and me went in the carriage with my parents. Eva sat on dad lap, asking him a lot question about his trip, « why did you leave? », « where did you sleep? », « what did you eat? ». Dad patiently explained everything.
Mom was presenting me to my new wife « John this is Ashley, the second daughter of Viscount Barolk, she will be living with us for one or two years. She is your fiancée and i will teach her magic for the time of her stay. »
« Hello ashley, are you a mage apprentice? » i asked politely.
« Hi, no i just began to be interested in magic Aunt Alana will be teaching all the basic, i took all my books on magic with me » she said enthousiaste.
« I’m ten this year, how old are you? »
« I’m 9, where did you find the foxes? » she asked curiously.
« Deep in the mountains of the baronet there are different magic beasts, we went to hunt rank 1 magic beast with the soldiers, and found a fox lair, we killed the fox but there was cubs in the lair, so i took them to raise them . » i explained while hiding the fact, i clearly knew for the cubs before attacking.
« They lost their mommy poor babies » she said sadly
« Do you want to pet them » i offered
« Yes can i ? » asked Ashley
« I will take one too » said mom
so i told the cub to go on their laps, leave only one on mine.
« His fur is so smooth to touch » happily said mother.
« Yeah his fur is fluffy » followed Ashley
Arrived home, i took the written report from my bedroom and gave it to dad. Aunt Elise began to cook for tonight, a little feast, for our new guest and future family member is organized, dad ask for the inn chef of the city to come. I showed to Ashley her room which is near mine.
I went to sleep, i trained hard in the morning and did not rest. Elise came to wake me up when it was diner time. In the diner hall, i noted the absence of uncle George and Caroline. I took my site, and asked « Dad where is uncle George and Caroline ? ».
« They will leave tomorrow for the Viscount Macron place. George will marry Caroline to the second son of the Macron family. » said dad while frowning.
« When are they leaving? »
« Early in the morning, the men of Viscount Macron will meet them half way for their protection. »
« Oh, Ok. They will not eat with us tonight ».
« Apparently no. » Mother answered this time, she looked displeased by the Redgazer behavior. A silence installed itself in the dinning hall.
« Mom, how many nobles did you visit in your trip? »
« Fourteen, first old friends, secondly politics friends and bride selection. All those visits to find a pearl named Ashley ». Clearly mom was proud of her choice. Ashley face heated a up a little.
« Dad, did you promote our new products? cream, butter and cheese? » i inquired
« Yeah, 6 nobles have ordered small quantities, so we will earn more this time. » he smiled proud of his work.
« Dad i wish to buy slave the next 3 years, to train them to help me fight in the military service. I will look for Beastmen and Half-beast slave. 10 slaves more 5 local soldiers should do it as an escort. »
« The cost may be high, and their loyalty on the battlefield is uncertain. » he commented
« I have a way to secure their loyalty, i will explain it to you tomorrow afternoon. The production of good will increase each year from now on. I have experimented the creation of new products and ordered new seeds from the merchants last time. I don’t know the price of a slave, can we afford 2 or 3 slaves this year? » i asked
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
« We will see the next month when he comes here. It depend of which slave he brings, child, ederly and young men have different prices." explained dad
Ashley spend the day studying magic with mom, her mana pool is average from my observation. i went to my bedroom, Grandpa was waiting for me, i explained what happened since he left, he told me to look for couple making love while describing the process of making babies to me.
He said that i need to be aware of it. So i did it found two different couple doing it. But it wasn’t interesting so after seeing two examples i stopped, with my eyes i saw for a long time only bones, muscles and veins when looking to humans. Even now sometimes when i lose focus i see directly skeletons.
In a way that killed a bit of my sensibility toward strangers. When looking to this couples, i could see the man veins growing larger, is heart beating faster, is penis growing larger, his rapid movement and is liquid going into the woman. after that i could see the reaction in the woman bodies.
That’s not interesting to see at all, may be fun to do but not to see. I will be fixed about sex when i get married. After this learning session, i decided to observe the Monster empire to see how its managed, how works their society. I finished to observe goblins, orcs, ogres and trolls, i fed the foxes, put Eva to sleep while joinnig her.
Early in the morning, when the sunbeams showed themselves, we said goodbye to uncle George and Caroline. Only polite words where exchanged.
Dad went to the city to visit the family of the dead soldier and the barrack. The rest of us went training, Eva began to learn magic with mother simple things, like feeling mana, knowing the basic elements, mom said child have more intuition so its best to begin early.
The time passed,afternoon came, mom, dad, grandpa and me met in dad study.
« Good, since we are all here, i will speak and you will listen, don’t interrupt me please." i waited for their confirmation before continuing.
"As you know i had problems with my eyes before. It was because i was born with a special gift, power or ability, we can call it by different names. This gift give my eyes a very big power, i can see through anything, space, walls, flesh, liquids, it give me the ability to understand what i see not through hearing or translation, more like a global feeling of what’s going on, sometime its very clear, sometimes its not. This power, gave me the possibility to see other worlds different from our, with different magics, natural laws, some had Qi instead of Mana, some didn’t have any energy, they had to create it themselves. I can see departing souls, or the lingering one. Dad do you remember when i was 6 years old, we went to grandpa tomb to pay our respects? » i asked as a conclusion.
« Yes, did you see his soul ? » Asked Robert with a face full of doubt.
« Yes grandpa soul has a great desire which don’t permit him to leave this world. The best for you his to see him. Touch my hands ». Alana touched her son hand first, Robert followed up.
« I will active my power, you will share my vision » The room changed of color, fire, wind, thunder, water, earth, light and dark elements could be seen in different proportion everywhere, a concise mass of grey was in front of us. It was a human silhouette, tall and robust. The hair were long with a pony tail. The face was full of wrinkles, a scar could be seen right to the right eye.
« Dad? » said father.
« Yes, obviously, did you ever see some else as handsome as your old man? » joked grandpa
« Everymoring in my mirror » answer instantly dad
« You should thank me, that beauty come from me, the original is always better » arrogantly said grandpa
« the next version is always improved, at best you are a good prototype » countered dad with pride
« You have your mother tongue for sure. » Grandpa finished the small argument
They both laughed, father went for a hug but he lost the shared vision. He turned to look at me like i did something bad. «You need to be in physical contact with me to share the vision moreover grandpa is a soul, so no hug ».
« Long time no see Alana, i saw everything the brat did, once i get a new body, i kick his ass unitl it swell to the moon ». said grandpa cheerfully
« i’m glad to see you Uncle James . » Mom had tears coming and a big smile.
« I have a great grandson, i believe he took all from me and Alana off course. » I smiled, as a saw dad be bullied. « John and me prepared a plan for me to be revived, without me becoming a undead. I hope you could help us to achieve it. Through now 4 years of observation of otherworld, John and me stole, copy and adapted a lot of techniques from those worlds. Today we decided to share our accomplishment with you, now that only family are present in this house. I would like to put Elise and Ashley under soul contract, if you ever wanted to share any information to them. We developed a new knight training and found why it was so hard to improve to gold or higher levels without alchemy. John developed new magics that were not in this world, we developed new enchantment, developed new technologies to improve our territory." Grandpa stopped there waited for questions and for them to digest these informations.
« Why didn’t you come sooner to tell it to us? Why wait now? » Dad seem very perturbed when he asked this question.
« When i went to John more than half of my soul had dissolved, i need to eat John mana everyday to survive, thank to a new technique now i look better, but i consume more mana. I have to stop my practice of the soul power until i have a new body. I didn’t come out sooner because it didn’t matter, what use does a ghost have? Only with John help can i be seen, and fed with his mana to survive. I didn’t feel to been seen in this state before having a solution for a better condition. » said grandpa indifferently
« What is your solution? » asked mom
« We will buy a ill slave, one that will die without help, his soul will depart and John will use light magic to resurrect the body while i use soul power to bond myself to the corpse. It may fail but with different tries i believe we will find the way. I need your help to find me dying slaves. » said Grandpa
« We will let people that we could save die to let a dead old man come back to life? » said Dad
« You believe that a ill slave that come to our isolated territory will survive the way back? » said Grandpa
« No at all, i didn’t say it bothered me too » Said dad with a smile.
« You will have to adopt me, i wish to be a Bladebreaker in my new life too. » said Grandpa.
« Oh father, you will have to call me daddy? » Said father in a sardonic tone.
« No, i asked to Alana, not you. » responded grandpa
« Off course Uncle you can bet on me ». Said mother while giving dad a teasing look. « John you are ok with that plan, its a cruel one ? »
« Thank to my eyes, i have seen a lot of things, a lot of people die everywhere, i rather have Grandpa by my side than someone which might show gratitude for a time and change mind in the future. »
« Speaking of ingrate, you have three spies left by George in your territory Dear Baron Bladebreaker, They work for Viscount Macron from what i heard . » Said grandpa with a smile
« I will need their name, i knew since the last trip that the Redgazer family was not loyal to our baronet. I had doubt the day he came for employment, but he story was credible and a lot of nobles confirmed it. Seems like i had a spy in my house the last 11 years. »
« But he is gone, the pair of eyes that he kept in our territory will be crushed, moreover our lands will fast develop in the next years. » Said Grandpa to reconfort dad.
« Speaking of development, i wish our Baronet to have full employment of 500 soldiers, for that i wish 100 to come from local and 400 to be slaves. Like that their death will not have a great impact in our lands. Slave don’t need pay, food and a promise of freedom should be enough to motivate them. » I said.
« How do you plan to keep their loyalty, this was the first goal of this meeting » Asked mother.
« Soul power can help to establish contract, there is two type of them one for slave, one for equals. If you have nothing to do for the rest of the day i will explain the new method of training knight and how avoid bottleneck or dependance of potion to progress, and how magic works from what i saw until now. In fact it will take 2 to 3 days to explain everything in details.
For knight training … For magic… What is wrong with magic training as i see it thanks to my eyes, is that mage absorb mana without filter it off elementals property. By doing that the accumulation of elements will block the mana veins of the mage and block is progression. The most powerful Human mage is an Archmage in an empire oversee, he has 3 mana pools however he couldn’t completely avoid being infiltrated by elements so his process are blocked. Mage should blend there mana outside their bodies with elements and keep pure mana in their body.
This is what knight do in a way, trough long physical training they absorb mana in their bodies but small quantities each times, their are not « tainted » by elements. I observed that having elements in the body highly influence the personality of people. I’m still looking for a way to remove elements of the body. Humans all have a mana pool, Mage are the only one who don’t have a mana pool blocked by elements, the size of their mana pool is designed by birth but can progress through a serie of exhaustion and refill, like the training of a knight. By having pure mana in the body, the mage can use any elements, by possessing an element it will interfering with opposed element while casting a spell. »
I stopped when it was diner time, we ate in the study, aunt Elise delivered food. Mom, dad, grandpa and me observed the world together, it was a nice feeling, it just lacked Eva, it would have been perfect.
Grandpa told me look for the spies, after that we looked for Uncle George, they were escorted by 10 people that looked like mercenaries.
I showed the other human nation of this world to mom, and showed the archmage and his mana pools and mana veins. Dad wanted to look at the north east borders, skirmish and night assault between human and monster were seen.
For the next days, i stayed in the study with mom, telling her everything i could about magic and related jobs. Once everything was told, i went back to my routine. Dad trained in the new way. We were all waiting for the merchant in June. At the end of May my skin changed to Bronze color, I’m officially a bronze knight and i am officially able to be the heir of the baronet. The new way of training in addition of healing magic increase the training speed by a lot. Mom said that the lesson in the afternoon would be cancelled for the time being, i replaced it by soul and mind practice.