This is basically how my days in Whitehood play out – I read my copy of Schnell’s Handbook over and over again, my parents start making friendly jeers at my expense, I get mad and step out of line, and they snap after hearing me spout too much nonsense. Well, when I put it like that, I make it sound like my parents are some kind of abusive monsters, but that really isn’t the case.
I know better than to make such kind and amazing people look bad, so I’ll be honest when I say that they really are the best parents I could’ve ever asked for. They’re both hardworking adults who run a flourishing business, my dad’s a butcher and my mom’s a lovely housewife. Both of them are always so lively and talkative, and I’ve never once felt like they weren’t giving me everything I could’ve ever asked for.
They shower me with love and affection, put food on my plate and a roof over my head. Truly, they are the spitting image of what a good family should strive to be. That being the case, what you saw just now wasn’t really their fault, they only snapped like that because I was stepping out of line for the nth time this month. I mean, if I was a parent and my child wanted to do their own thing, I’d probably let them, but my situation and their situation wasn’t entirely the same. Dad took up butchering from his dad, and he took it up from his dad, and so forth… Breaking this long-lived chain for a selfish reason as my own would probably leave my entire family tree with a sour aftertaste.
Even still, I don’t wanna cut up animals for their meat and sell it to the locals. I wanna travel! See the world, just like Schnell Douglas! He’s my hero, it’s thanks to his Handbook that I learned how to read before the other kids, and even though I was bullied for being a know-it-all bookworm, I couldn’t care in the slightest! Even then I could see the beauty of Schnell’s hard work and aspirations shine through, leading to me becoming who I am today! The thing is, most of the information about the world he talks about in his Volumes are quite outdated, but no one really cared and chalked it up as ‘historical documentation’.
That’s when I asked myself Why don’t I be the one to take up the mantle? And so I decided that I will one day leave this little village of mine and travel the entire world, documenting my time in each and every country until I’ve updated all of the contents of Schnell’s Handbook! I can already picture it – Lune’s Handbook!
But that’s still a long way’s away. First and foremost, I’m still just a puny eleven year old, living with my parents. Oh right, I do believe that Schnell talked about his parents at the start of his first volume, so I should probably do the same.
My father, Lock Grimheart, is a 40 year old man who is currently worried about his no-good lazy son who doesn’t wanna take up the family business. He’s this stoic beast of a man who’s built like a brick wall and has the facial structure of a God. No, seriously, he’s that well-built! I can only hope that I’ll grow to a fraction of his handsomeness one day…
In any case, his hair color differs from mine in the sense that it’s black (as opposed to brown), and his Eye Color is Brown. This is very important, because it just goes to show you just how much he wants to live a quiet and peaceful life away from any and all risks. He’s that type of person, the type who lived the textbook definition of a life. He got a basic education at around 16, inherited my grandpa’s family business of butchering, found himself a wife and had me. That’s basically all that happened in his life, and that’s basically all you’re gonna get from him.
Another thing to note is his scary-looking face. As I mentioned previously, the guy’s a stoic through and through. He doesn’t care what others think of him and usually has this very cold and menacing glare he gives to people, leading to some pretty nasty rumors spreading about his ‘dark past’. I’ve heard a lot of things about him that I know for a fact aren’t true, but the one that hit me the most is the rumor that he’s an ex-convict from The Island of Exuul. That’s a horrible thing to call someone! This guy wouldn’t hurt a kitten! Then again, he is a butcher… B-But he only chops up dead animals, okay!? And the Prison on the Island of Exuul closed down almost a thousand years ago! He’s not that old!
Even still, this little rumor about him grew to such a reputable size that people gave him the harsh sounding nickname “Grim”. This was because he only ever showed his happy emotions to his family, and only ever glared at anybody else. I don’t really know why that is, but since I’m the benefitting party, I’ll withhold my judgement.
Oh, but my mother on the other hand, she doesn’t have a single bad rumor about her. In fact, I’d say I’ve only ever heard some of the local husbands of the village come up to me and ask me to help them get closer to her. Nasty drunkards…! A person can only have one lover at a time, and more importantly, a kid can only have two parents, tops!
She’s actually quite slim and petite. Too slim, in my opinion, at time’s I even think I see a bone popping out of her elbow, only to realize that she’s just super skinny. I guess I can see why all the other housewives of the village regularly ask her about dieting advice, but really she just doesn’t eat all that much. Something to do with appetite, I’m not quite sure. All’s I know is every time she tries to make me eat something I don’t wanna, I can always shoot back How about you try eating some yourself! and she usually won’t have anything to reply with.
Another thing to note about her appearance, her hair is blonde. I don’t know how blonde and black make brown, but I guess that’s just how color theory works. Eh, that’s unimportant. What is important is her Eye Color – Yellow! That’s right, my mom has Yellow Eyes! Bet you’ve never met someone like that before!
She could’ve been president of the world with those Eyes of hers, but she still chose to lay back and enjoy a peaceful lifestyle with her family… How kind of her! Choosing to teach me all about the world instead of chasing her own aspirations, she really is a powerhouse of a lady! Well, then again, the only reason I’m exclusively praising her is because she gave birth to me. If I was in her position I’d already be a world-class leader, but if she chose to follow that path then I wouldn’t even be here talking about her now, would I?
If you’re wondering why I’m so fixated on their Eye Color, I’m a bit tired right now so I’ll explain it later, but just know that it’s important! Right now I gotta clock out early, because tomorrow is my twelfth birthday!
***
Yaaawn! Good morning! Did you sleep well? Just kidding, I seriously doubt anyone would stop reading this to go to sleep at the same time as me. Well, who knows? Maybe you’re the type of person to really get immersed in your literature, in which case I applaud you! In any case, the house is unusually quiet today. Hmm, I wonder why that is…?
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“Oh, well!” I said as I got out of my bed with a loudly sarcastic tone, “Usually, dad could be heard chopping up the meat for an order he got right around this time, and from the kitchen my mom could usually be heard making us breakfast, but since I can’t hear that, I guess I’ll just head outside to play without asking for their permission!”
At this cheeky little remark, the doors to my room slammed open and my dad jumped right inside. Whoa, I didn’t think my little prank would actually work this well! Did he really think I would ever do that? I’m not a delinquent, dammit.
“S-Son!” He quickly shook me up, “Y-You can’t go outside because err… R-Right, today is uhh, International Stay Inside Day!”
“Geez, honey, you couldn’t have thought of a better lie on the spot?” My mom followed right behind him with a cake in her hands, “Morning, Lune. Happy birthday!”
“Heh, International Stay Inside Day…” I teased my father a bit, “I suppose that’s alright. I wouldn’t mind if they made such a holiday, especially for my birthday.”
“Hey! Since when did you get so cheeky?” He asked with a flushed expression, “I swear, you’re just like your mother when you’re like this…”
“And what’s that supposed to mean, dear?” Mom’s terrifying aura could be seen as she loomed over him.
“N-Nothing!” He tried to save face, “It means the both of you have such uhh, colorful personalities! Right, colorful, that’s the word I was looking for!”
Ah, this is a way more accurate image of the Grimheart household. Everyone’s laughing and smiling, and none of the teasing is meant to contain any ill-will within it. We’re all just doing this in good fun. That being the case, I’m still in my pajamas, so these two need to get the hell out so I can get properly dressed for the occasion!
After a few more minutes, I ran down the stairs, my eyes glimmering with excitement. I already got a bit of a sneak peek as to what this birthday party entails, and that’s my mother’s signature Chocolate Banana Cake! It’s my favorite type of cake, so it’s to be expected that she’d serve it for my birthday. There’s actually a pretty funny story about this cake’s conception. You see, when I was still just a baby and my teeth hadn’t grown in properly, my mom had to think of a way to get her picky eater of a son to eat without chewing. That’s when she came up with this recipe. As the story goes, with a proud expression she put the cake in front of me, and I apparently enjoyed the cake so much that I had my first baby tooth fall out that day.
I personally don’t remember this event, but my parents like to talk about it at every family gathering we’ve had ever since. My dad would always talk about just proud his wife was that she came up with such a smart solution for the issue, only for it to immediately fall apart due to my appetite. Shortly following his jeers would be my mother’s pleas for him to stop talking about such an embarrassing moment whilst daintily punching him in the shoulder.
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Back to the present, we had our filling and after that came, well, presents! My parents gifted me a school backpack, which is very thoughtful of them. You see, we kind of live in the sticks of Secundis, and the only schools that actually exist are on the other side of the world, in the continent of Simpleton. Now that’s obviously too far out for me to go to at my age, but they meant for the present to be a more symbolic thing than anything. It was sort of like saying “You like reading, so here’s to hoping you’ll one day attend a good University!”
“How do you like your present?”
“It’s amazing! Thanks so much!” I gave them both a hug as I continued, “I don’t have to carry around the Handbook under my arm anymore! I could even fit some snacks while I’m at it!”
“Haha! Just make sure not to get that damned book dirty! It costed a pretty penny, y’know?”
And just like that, the day passed in the blink of an eye. Some of the neighbors stopped by our house to tell me happy birthday, but apart from that we mostly just had fun at home for today. Both of them took a break from their usual busy schedule to enjoy some time with their son, which I’m very thankful for. Y’know, I was planning on leaving home to start my journey tomorrow, but seeing them like this… Yeah, I’ll wait a bit longer before I leave.
***
Well, maybe ‘a bit longer’ was kind of an understatement, cause it’s been a whole year since then. I wanted to postpone the journey for tomorrow, then a week later, then a month, and so on… But it’s not my fault! It’s because dad wanted to teach me proper sword training, and that’s a very important skill to have if you wanna travel the world!
Actually, the reason he did that was because he really wanted me to become a knight for some noble. The reason for this was because he knew of the benefits of working there. He had many friends who enlisted in the army and would tell him about all the riches and fame they get just from being directly under an important person such as a duke or prince. The other benefit to this is the fact that I’d get to travel to another country, although then I’d have to stay there for basically the rest of my life, which doesn’t really align with my ideals (but he doesn’t need to know that).
The actual training was very detailed. Some would even argue that it was too detailed. To begin, my father didn’t even allow me to grab hold of a wooden training sword until I had trained my body to be able to easily wield it. Coming from someone who much rather prefers reading books than lugging a sword around, this is actually the part that took the most time, 8 months to be exact.
After that, he taught me the basic stances that he knew of and we practiced together for the remaining duration of the year. Now, on my thirteenth birthday, my father was particularly excited. My mom was happy as well, yes, but not nearly as he was. As you can probably guess, he gifted me a real sword made of iron he custom ordered from the blacksmith. I can only imagine how much that cost, but I’ve been taught not to think about the price of a present and just accept it wholeheartedly, which is exactly what I’m gonna do!
“T-This is incredible!” I said as I took hold of the scabbard, “You’re saying this is mine now?”
“Yep. Although it might be a bit too big for you right now, but when you grow up and become a knight, it’ll surely come in handy!”
Eh? So can I carry it around or not?
“Wait, the way you’re phrasing it, it kind of sounds like you’re not letting me use it now, but rather when I grow up.”
“That’s exactly right. Come on, Lune, when have you ever seen a thirteen year old carry around a real sword before? Think of this as something like an heirloom of yours until you get to finally use it. An heirloom, but like, backwards? What was the word for that again?”
“A prototype?” I answered back with a raised eyebrow, indicating I too didn’t know for sure.
“Yeah! Prototype! That’s the word! Think of it like a prototype!”
After that, the day passed just like the previous year. The only difference is that this time I knew what had to be done, so I packed all my essentials into my backpack and snuck out of the house in the middle of the night.