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Of Arms and Arcane: Chapter 5
🕑 Added 2023-09-21 15:08:52 +0000 UTCAN: Was planning to do this tomorrow, but I was in the zone, so I knocked this one out before I go to sleep.
The next day rolls around, mum brought my sleepy head to the front yard. There I see my dad and a few of his men on horseback decked out in plate armor, along with around 50 men wearing chainmail and holding spears and shields, and lastly, 3 men wearing loose leathers, 2 of them had bows and the last one had a crossbow slung across his back.
From what I hear when those around me are conversing, apparently, my Dad and his men are going to hunt down some Kobold that has been bothering one of the nearby villages, they hope to route the kobolds and follow them back to their nest to finish the job.
Apparently, kobolds, goblin, hobgoblins, and their like are considered pests, but pests to be taken seriously because they breed and mature fast. If the problem is not nipped in the bud, the small pest problem turns into a horde, and nobody would like that. If not taken care of, the villagers will die, and dead villagers don't pay taxes.
You might be wondering how I know what a kobold is even if I have never seen one, well, one of the perks of being in a noble house that had money, is that we can afford to buy expensive books, and one of those books was a bestiary with detailed pictures and description of different beasts and monsters.
Sure, the bestiary has another name in the local language for kobolds, goblins, and whatnot, but I refuse to call them as such in my own head. My noggin, my rules.
Dad walks up to us and kisses both of us, “I should be back in a week, love you, I will be going now.”
Mum gave Dad one last kiss and said, “Take care, honey, come back safe.” and with that, they were off.
***
After Dad left, Mum brought me into her study as she continued her research. I can see her drawing diagrams and magic circles and then pausing to refer to some material.
Well, I suppose this is as good a time as any, LETS DO THIS!
So the first step, imagine a ball of power in my chest, no problem, watched enough anime and cartoons to easily do this.
Second step, take ten deep breaths, and on my 11th breath, I breathe as deeply as my baby body can manage and hold it there.
After about half a minute, I could not hold it anymore and took a breath of air while releasing the image of the ball of power.
Am I supposed to feel something? The only thing I am feeling now is the discomfort of holding my breath until I can no longer stand it.
When I turned towards my Mum, I froze, she was looking at me… no… our eyes were not meeting, she was looking beyond me, I turned to where she was looking and saw only the wall, I looked back at her and after awhile, she shrugs and goes back to her research.
Did she feel my mana and rule me out as a suspect because I am just a baby? Only one way to find out, let's try that again while keeping an eye on her.
While she was doing her research, I repeated the exercise, and when I stopped holding my breath and released the image of the ball of energy in my chest, Mum's head snapped towards me and this time she was not looking past me.
Oh crap, does she know?
"Was… Was that you Luke?" Mum asked as she reached out a trembling hand to touch my face.
Dammit, I assumed she would be able to sense if things go bad, I did not expect her to be that sensitive to mana, maybe she thought my first try at the exercise was a fluke.
At this point, I think I should just go for it and continue the exercise, not like I can hide from her anyway.
I started deliberately taking deep breaths in front of her, and by the 5th breath, Mum must have caught on to what I was doing and turned pale with worry as she scooped me up while loudly saying "Oh no, Oh no no no!"
By the time she was done saying that, I was at the stage of holding my breath. Which pretty much confirmed her suspicions of what I was doing.
Mum burst out into tears and sobbed while saying, “No Luke, don't hurt yourself!”
That was when a maid and guard burst into the room, “My Lady! Are you alright?”
Mum rounded on them and shouted “Send a rider with all due haste to my husband, tell him we have an emergency. Close the door behind you, only my husband may enter. Leave!”
Mum then hugged me while pleading with me not to hurt myself, I could not stand to see the woman who showed me love and took care of me cry, but I did not dare stop the exercise halfway, the book did not mention anything about interrupting the exercise, and I am not going to stop in case I really do hurt myself.
When I could no longer hold my breath, I gasped for air and released the image, I did not feel any new sensation. The only thing I felt was me being an asshole for making my mum cry. So I reached out to wipe the tears on her cheeks and gave her a hug, which prompted her to squeeze me back.
About 20 minutes later, Dad literally busted the door off its hinges with his sword drawn and looking out for any danger, “I am here my love, what happened?”
Mum ran over with me in hand and hugged Dad, after which, she looked at the broken door, “Let's go to the bedroom before we speak.”
Once the door was closed in the master bedroom, Mum told him what happened, “- after that, I sent them off and said only you were allowed to enter. I was worried that if word spread of our baby taking the first step to magic on his own, it may attract the attention of other nobles, or even worse, rogue mage organizations.”
Say what now?
“That's good thinking Dear, is there any way to stop Luke from taking the first step to magic?” Dad asked.
Mum shook her head and answered, “No, he did the breathing exercise successfully twice, and it's not like we can stop him from breathing, he is more than likely to do it again, and may eventually be able to sense mana, but I don't think it will be so bad, without spells he can do little more than push around mana, that in of itself is not harmful.”
Dad breathed out a sigh of relief, “Good. I wonder how in the world he even knew how to take his fist step to mana anyway”.
Mum looked down sheepishly, “I… read an Introduction to Sensing Mana instruction book to him… but I still don't know how he figured it out, he is still a baby.”
Dad stared blankly at Mum and then said, “You did what?”
That was the first time I witnessed my parents of this life fight. I guess no matter the world, parents will sometimes fight.
