"Are you okey 'brother'?"
I bent down as I carefully poked him with my index finger, however he didn't even twitch. Alan was without doubt knocked out cold.
"Yo, I think I eh, broke your son?" I said as I looked towards Thomas.
His eyebrows visible twitched on that remark as a bulging vein appeared on his forehead.
He seemed like he would explode at any moment, but surprisingly he calmed down and regained his composure rather quickly.
He looked at his son with a pitiful expression before he directed his attention towards me. However, instead of fury or anger in his eyes he seemed to bewildered.
"You... Where did you learn that?"
"huh, what?" I said with a confused expression as I decided to play it dumb.
"To fight, who taught you to fight?"
"huuh? I just did whatever felt right? This was my first fight. I guess I got lucky relying on my instincts hehe."
"Hmm, I guess so..."
I thought he would be mad I beat his beloved son but he handled it way better than I imagined. Although I hid a lot of my skills he still seemed to have some suspicions, but I guess my occasional slip ups made him conclude it as talent or beginners luck.
*sigh*
"Let's just begin our lesson. That's why we arranged it in the first place." He said dejected.
He didn't seem happy about it. After all, what parent would celebrate their most beloved son being knocked out by a 5 year old kid. Nonetheless, he was able to put his feelings aside, but most likely because he thought he found a new possible talented heir and tool. This mans greed had no ends.
"Okey, but what about Alan?"
"Someone will come get him soon-"
*dunk, dunk*
"Pardon me. I'm here to get young master Alan."
A woman's voice spoke up behind the door after politely knocking.
"Come in. He's right here."
As the door opened a black haired woman entered the room. She had shoulder length black hair and carried a slim, but well endowed build. In addition, she had a beautiful face with a tiny nose, plump red lips and hazel brown eyes. She looked to be around my mothers age and like the latter she was undoubtedly an eye candy for the opposite sex. It didn't take a genius to guess Thomas motives for choosing her as the housekeeper of the Gaillon family.
His lust really knows no bounds. Although he has a wife and mistress he still lusts over a housekeeper.
Though, I have to admit this woman is different...
Not necessarily just in the terms of looks, but she had a mysterious kind of air surrounding her. The vibe I've gotten from her is something only a veteran warrior like me would notice. The scent of blood. It was faint, but obvious. No matter how much she tried to hide it, I would know.
This woman. She's dangerous. The amount of life she has taken has without doubt surpassed the thousands, but I couldn't sense any malice from her. Whether she was good at hiding it or if I wasn't a part of her motives I didn't know. For now I would ignore her.
However, as she entered the room our eyes intervened, and even though Thomas didn't notice, her hazel brown eyes widened slightly as if she was surprised or startled.
It was a minor action, but it further reinforced my suspicions about her.
Needless to say, she quickly hid her surprise and did a respectful bow out of curtesy.
"Greetings to the Lord Gaillon and young master Kayn" She said.
"Get Alan to his room immediately." Thomas said with his regular arrogant and bossy attitude.
"On your command, my Lord."
Without questioning Alans pitiful state she gracefully walked towards him before pointing at him with her flat palm. A mysterious aura then surrounded him slowly before his sleeping body started levitating.
She then walked out of the room as Alans floating body followed after.
As the door closed I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in amazement.
"Wooooow, she knows magic too???" I asked innocently like a typical 5 year old.
"Yes, but she's awfully weak and pathetic" Thomas spat out in disgust.
"Though she has her uses... Hehe" He said as a perverted smirk grew on his face.
Literally disgusting. Although, I didn't make it visible on my face, I inwardly grimaced as I heard his remark. Utter trash, I'll remember to decapacitate his little friend when I grow out of his grasp.
I wasn't the type overly sympathize with others, but after these two years my heart grew softer. Whether that was a good or bad thing I didn't know, but knowing his nature and how he'd treated my mother I've already decided his fate.
"Let's get on with the lessons then." He said, changing the topic.
"Finally."
"First off all what exactly do you think magic is?"
"Magic is uh, magic? You know like, poof! Pow, Pang! KABOOM!" I said as I made exaggerated hand movements.
A vein bulged on his forehead, but he quickly calmed down as if he didn't want to waste any time.
"Ahem. Magic is the utilization of mana whether its in the form of spells, formations, weaponry, medicine etc. In other words, everything that manipulates mana is considered magic."
"Now, that leads me to the second question. What is mana?"
"Hm, it's a source of energy which allows mages to perform magical feats?"
"No, you're wrong."
"Hm?"
"Some people would say that mana is a source of energy, but that's wrong. It CAN be used as a source of energy, but fundamentally it's not something so simple. Many scholar mages throughout history has explored the topic of mana trying to answer this very question. Unfortunately no matter how many years goes by this mystery remains unsolved. Every mage has a different take on what mana is, and it's become a norm for each individual mage to reach their own answer and path."
"Hmm. I got the gist of it. Indeed something so magical and mysterious can't have a definite and clear-cut answer, but if you say that every mage form their own theories many will ultimately end up reaching a somewhat similar conclusion, no?"
"Indeed..." He said, somewhat shocked by my take on the matter.
"Then what are the most popular definition of mana?"
"Good question. There's two evenly widespread definitions of mana. The first one is quite simple actually. Want to take a guess?"
"No, I really have no idea." I said, as I shrugged with my shoulders. However, I actually had a few plausible suggestions, but I was afraid to raise more suspicions.
"It's blessing."
"Blessing? Like from god?" I asked as I widened my eyes trying to act surprised, however I'd already guessed it.
"Yes. A huge majority of humans believe that mana is a blessing granted by god. This majority consists for the most of the commoners. Such nonsense. No wonder they're all trash believing in such crap." He said as he made a disgusted expression. Making it obvious that he wasn't a supporter of such beliefs.
"Moreover, those filthy morons flock together and end up creating religions. It's only obvious they want to threaten the status of nobles!"
"huh? What do you mean?"
"We'll get back to it later, but basically, as much as I hate to admit it some religions has enough power to rival the most influential and powerful noble families. Even the royals have to give them face. For instance the Divine Church which followers worship what they call 'The Forefather of Mana' the Divine Being."
"Hmmm, then what's the other widespread definition of mana?"
"This a more complex theory, but most mages especially nobles believe this to be a more appropriate and accurate answer than the nonsense the religions keep feeding the commoners."
"They believe in mana theory which is also what you'll be taught in school and needless to say, it'll be impossible for me to explain it to you in this singe lesson. However, to sum it up you can think of it as an invisible force. Mages can utilize this force to perform what we defined as magic earlier. Do you know how this is possible?"
"By using their mana core." I stated.
"Exactly. Unlike normal people, mages have an additional organ. The mana core. However, not everyone are able to form this special organ and no one knows why. The only reasonable explanation is talent. Some bodies absorbs more mana than others and thus forms their core resulting in what we call an awakening. This awakening usually happens when someone turns 13 and there have never been a case where someone awakens after that age. However, it's possible for someone to awaken earlier although that is very rare and this usually determines their talent as well. You are such a case..."
"Then how rare is it for someone to awaken before 13?"
"Okey so roughly 1/1000 humans awakens as mages, but only 1/10000 awaken at 12 and 1/1000000 awaken at 11. However, after that the chances decreases tremendously to the point where it's not even possible to state an estimate. In the Echealia kingdom the youngest born mages in history is 9 and there's only been 3 of them. 1 is dead, 1 is with the Divine Church and the last one is none other than the former King of Echealia which is currently retired. This should make it clear to you just how much of an abnormality you are."
"Mmm."
"Anyways, back to topic. So when a mage awakens the mana core it allows them to refine the mana which are being absorbed. This refined mana can then be utilized in the form of spells. And the reason as to why mana has to be refined has something to do with your magical affinity."
"Affinity?"
"Yes you can think of it as an attribute. Every mage has their own affinity and some have multiple. This affinity tells them what kind 'magic' they are compatible with. For instance, I'm a fire mage and thus, I have to refine the mana to be compatible with my body. In other words, the mana you absorb is neutral and only after your core refines it will you be able to utilize it in the form which matches your affinity. My fire affinity is what we categorize as elemental affinity."
"Then what are the other classes of affinity?"
"There's only two categories. Elemental and Unique. Elemental affinities are the most common and like the name says it's related to the elements. Unique affinities on the other side is dissociated from the elements. As the name says, It's unique, and on many occasions perceived as strange."
"Huh?"
"For instance, what kind of magic do you think housekeeper Vera used to carry Alan out?"
"Wait, it's not wind?"
"No, it was telekinesis. This has close to none affiliation with the elements and is thus regarded as an unique affinity. It's a strong affinity, but she's too weak to utilize it unfortunately."
"I see..."
"However, there exists unique affinities which completely breaks the norm in both negative and positive ways. I've heard about an unique affinity which allows someone to make their sh*t explode. Doesn't sound very useful right? But this particular mage saved up his excrement and turned them into deadly weapons. He later became a nightmare on the battlefield as he bombarded the enemy troops with his sh*t."
What the fu...
This world really is out of my imagination...