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Of Arms and Arcane: Chapter 7
🕑 Added 2023-09-23 16:12:07 +0000 UTCIt has been a week since Grandpa Rowan moved in with us. That day was the first time I did the breathing exercise in front of Grandpa, I managed to do it 5 times before the chest ache came about.
Just to test out what Grandpa said about the instruction book being overly cautious about the recovery time after feeling the chest ache, I tried the exercise again after 3 days. Turns out there may be some truth to one week of recovery time stated in the book, because I only managed to do the exercise 3 times before the chest ache.
At the moment, I am currently with mum in her study, and I was playing with my blocks when someone knocked and opened the door, it was one of the maids, “My lady, your mother Lady Isabella Silverbrook has arrived.”
Mum thanked the maid, picked me up, and made her way to the front door. At the front door was a woman who looked like an aged-up version of Mum if she were in her 40s and aged very gracefully, and beside her holding 2 humongous suitcases, was an old looking butler with his white hair slicked back and rocking a dapper looking mustache.
But other than his hair and the wrinkles on his face, his body was ramrod straight, and even with the butler’s uniform, I could tell he was well built.
“Winston, take the bags to the guest room and unpack.” The woman who I can only assume is my Grandma, Lady Isabella Silverbrook.
“Of course madam.” the butler Winston said with a posh gentlemanly voice as he carried the suitcases to converse with my house’s servants.
“Hello Mother, it is good to see you again.” Mum said as she went to hug Grandma.
After a short hug, Grandma looked at me, “So, this must be Luke, may I?”
Mum then handed me over to her, “Hello sweety, it's me, Grandma Isabella.” she then planted a kiss on my forehead.
I liked my grandparents in my old life and this lady looks sweet and loving like they were, I'm going to give Grandma the cute grandchild special. Sorry Grandpa, but you brought the puke upon yourself, still love you tho.
I reply to my Grandma with a squeal of delight while clapping my hands then proceed to hug her.
Grandma broke out in laughter as the rest of the family watched, when she calmed, she looked down at me and said, “This child is a dangerous one, if you are not careful, you may have grandchildren popping up all over the place when he grows up.”
Thanks? I assume that is high praise?
Grandma gave me a kiss on the cheek and passed me back to Mum, then she looked at Grandpa and asked, “So, what is so urgent that you asked me to pack my stuff for an extended stay?”
We all retired to a tea room and after the maid poured tea for all of us, she was dismissed, after which my situation was explained to Grandma.
After hearing all about what I did and that at the rate I am going, I may be able to take the first step to magic before I even turn 1 year old. Grandma just sat there for a few minutes sipping her tea in silence.
When her cup was empty, Grandma spoke up, “We are going to need to keep Luke out of the public eye. When his first birthday comes up, we will let everyone we usually invite that it is a private event, so no visitors. If what you say is true and Luke manages to gain access to the use of his mana, he may slip up and use magic on accident while playing around, if anyone on the cusp of becoming a 2nd circle mage or higher is close or observant enough, they may notice Luke just pushing around mana for fun mana. He may also be detected by Aura users if they are capable enough.”
At that last comment, Dad also nodded in acknowledgment. Was he able to sense me fluctuating my mana? Dad did not seem to react much when I fluctuated my mana, but then again, my Dad always had a stoic expression, the only times I see him smile is when he is with me or Mum. But still, I did not take Aura users into account.
I am not so clear on what Aura is, but from what was read to me, on a basic level, the Aura user uses a spark of mana in their own body to ignite their, for a lack of a better word, “stamina”, and if an Aura user overuses their own Arua, it will literally make the body start eating itself like a super accelerated form of starvation. If the user pushes through this state, the user will eventually suffer permanent internal injury or death.
Besides allowing the body to perform superhuman feats like what Dad showed me during his sparring, I am not so sure what else Aura can do.
Grandma continued, “And as foolish as it sounds, we are going to need to teach him magic the moment he can comprehend the spoken and written language. We will need to teach him just enough magic in order for him to control and suppress his own mana so that anyone looking at him or around him will see nothing more than a normal toddler.”
After draining another cup of tea, Grandma released a long sigh and continued, “The earliest we can safely introduce him to the public is when he turns 5, most of those children who are counted as “Geniuses” or “Talented” in magic would take their first step to magic at that age.” Grandma said with sarcasm when emphasizing those two words.
She let out yet another sigh and continued, “Unfortunately, we are just barrons from the border, unlike the higher central nobility, there are many nobles or organizations that can easily wipe out our houses and blame the neighboring kingdom. In fact, even introducing Luke at 5 years old and already able to use magic will bring attention to him, be it petty nobles or mage towers. depending on how unscrupulous or desperate they are, they may try to kidnap Luke.”
I sit there on my mother’s lap, dumbfounded at what I hear, this shit is more serious than initially thought it was.
“There are two ways we can go about resolving this. The first way is to not let Luke leave the house until he is older and able to defend himself. Which I don't see happening.”
Yeah! Fuck that! This may be a mansion, but I don't think I can stay cooped up in here for such a long time.
“The second way is for Luke to be impressive enough to catch the eye of the Royals or one of the more honorable Dukes. If he gets them to become his patron, most of the insects would not even try to lay a finger on Luke, and it will make the other higher nobility think twice before doing anything stupid.”
Looks like I will need to get my ass in gear and get in touch with my mana ASAP. I guess this is the sucky part of noble life, fucking politics.
