Damian placed some fruits and vegetables on the table while bowing his head, "Elder Grey we very much appreciate your generosity. Jude is showing signs of spirit cleansing and taking his first steps towards becoming a spirit master."
Maia and Jude who came with him also bowed and showed their appreciation. Before coming here Damian specifically instructed both of them to behave well and follow his lead.
Jude did not know the significance of the word spirit master or why his grandfather was so much respectable to this old man. But he still followed his mother and grandfather obediently.
Maia on the other hand had heard and seen the spirit masters simply because her father was one. The spirit masters held a very special position inside the kingdom and very few people had the privilege to be one.
Even her elder brother Robin was a spirit master just like their father.
Elder Grey nodded his head and looked over Jude, "The spirit cleansing does not decide everything, he needs to work hard as well as understand what spirit master is or else he will be walking the path without looking at his it."
Damian was taken back slightly, "Yes elder, I will make sure to teach him properly."
"Until he is here you may sometimes send him here." Elder Grey spoke after thinking for a while.
When Damian heard him say that his eyes shown with light but he quickly suppressed his excitement.
Damian thanked him as he talked for some time and left with his daughter and Jude.
As soon as he exited the house his face was filled with smiles and happiness.
"It is a good fortune of this child." He looked over Jude who held his mother's hand, "From tomorrow onwards the study schedule will be changed, if you want to walk the path of spirit master then it is going to be a lot of hard work."
Jude showed a serious expression on his face even though he did not fully understand what he meant. Damian smiled seeing him like that.
"Is he that much powerful father? And if he is why did you just not asked him to teach Jude properly." Maia asked noticing how happy her father was just from having permission to send Jude sometimes.
Damian sighed as he walked slowly, "No spirit master ever teaches others carelessly. The consequences of doing that are not something you would understand without fully experiencing them. As for his power, he certainly is more powerful than me or maybe even the strongest right now in this kingdom."
...
A four to five years old child bowed his head and turned around slowly walking out of the garden. Similarly, a three to four years old child was sitting quietly under a tree reading a book.
The direction in which the first child bowed to, an old man was sitting there sipping tea. Even though the boy bowed and left the garden, neither the old man nor the child underneath the tree seemed to care about it.
It was almost noon and the sun was just about to set. As the light got dim, the boy sitting underneath the tree looked up.
Noticing the sun had set he stood up and started walking towards the old man drinking tea. He passed by him and entered the house behind him.
He came back out of the house empty-handed as he too bowed towards the old man and prepared to walk out of the garden too.
Just as he was about to open the small gate he heard the old man talking, "Come early tomorrow morning, it is time for your training."
Hearing the old man say that the boy was immediately excited and turned around to bow again.
He entered the house beside the old man's still thinking about what the old man said. He was alone in the house but after looking around anyone could tell that more people were living here.
The boy closed the door and walked out of the backdoor. He washed his hands and feet with water and entered the house again.
He drank some water himself and took out cooking utensils. He slowly made a small fire beneath the stone stove.
Just as he was about to stand up he heard the knock on the door. The boy stood up hurriedly and ran towards the entrance.
He opened the door and was greeted by a couple standing there.
"Ma, Pa. Welcome home." The boy spoke happily as soon as he laid his eyes on them.
Renee reached her hand out as she stroked his short hair. She and Jaiden entered the house with the boy.
Jaiden smiled as he went inside a room and changed his working clothes. Renee took her son towards the backyard to clean herself up.
She entered the kitchen after cleaning herself, "What did you learn today Zack?"
The boy named Zack was sitting on a stone bench in the kitchen watching Renee cut some vegetables.
"Today teacher taught us about plants. He even showed us different pictures of them." The boy smiled happily as recounted his study. His voice was not loud nor too low and even sounded a bit mature for his age.
"Hmm, wow! So smart! You learned more than yesterday. Teach some of that to your Pa too when he comes." Renee smiled as she heard him speak about the different plants and trees.
She had never even seen or heard of those plants but was happy for her son.
Even she did not expect Elder Grey to teach her son. A few months after his birth she and Jaiden would bring him to the chief mansion.
The young miss had a small room built in the servant's quarters for the newborns and little children. The mothers would take turns looking after the children instead of leaving them with neighbours or babysitters.
Some women left their jobs or started doing crafting work from home after having children but some chose to just keep working while leaving their children in the servant's quarters. There were even children whose parents did not work for the mansion.
When the boy turned around one and a half years old Elder Grey asked them to leave him with him while they go to work.
At first, they were troubled because they did not want to offend the old man but also confused as to why he wanted to look after him.
But then he told them about how even the chief's grandson was coming to him for study and wanted to teach their son together with him.
Hearing him say that they immediately agreed, they had seen how the chief's grandson would often come here and stand in front of the old man's house waiting for him to open the gate.
Even the old servant with him would respectively stand outside the gate.
Now that he told them that he wished to teach their son of course they would be happy. This little town only had a small school meant to teach the little children language, customs and traditions, and geography of the kingdom.
If anyone wanted to further study, their only option would be to go to bigger cities. But even then the biggest obstacle in their path would be the money.
Just because you wanted to learn did not mean you could. Only people with money had the privilege to have their children study.
For most people, it was a blessing if they could even learn the proper way to write.
They had no idea why the chief's grandson was coming here but after knowing that he was here for study, they obviously would not turn down the opportunity for their child.
Being able to study was a big advantage to these simple townspeople. Even after the chief built the school for children for free most of them would choose to work inside the town, so they did not spend much of their time in the school only recently some started to understand the advantages of the proper education.
It was because of merchants coming to the town selected some of the people who knew how to speak as well as write properly for work in their stores. When the townsmen asked why the others were not chosen, the reply was because they knew how to write and had studied somewhat properly.
Then simple townsmen immediately started to strictly send their children to the school. After hearing the merchants speak about education they even learn of the higher opportunities in the bigger cities.
Little did they know this was just one of the chief's plans to make these townsmen know the benefits of education. He came to understand their mentality after not seeing much change in the town even after building the school.