Alfed pov
Currently I was sitting in the dining room of the baumeister mansion. Lunch had just finished but my excitement over receiving a new pupil, especially such a young and talented one had not passed.
As I the see therest of the baumeister family leave, the lord and his eldest son stay behind. 'hah, time to discuss business I guess' I sigh inwardly and think to myself. As I was thinking this the lord started to speak.
Artur" we shall not be able to provide you a guide so shall we skip that parr and discuss the tax rate for the goods you intend to retrieve "
I had dealt with nobles all my life and I didn't truly like dealing with them, maybe that's why I didn't become one myself, but dealing with them was nothing new to me. Also it is not surprising that a guide is not available since the demon forest is not truly explored, rather it is not necessary either since I can teleport us there.
Alfred" yes how does 30 percent sound apart from the goods obtained from the deceased"
As I said this the eldest son kurt stood up and spoke abruptly.
Kurt "what! that is much too low"
Berkhart " hey kid, under normal conditions the tax rate is anywhere from 10 to 20 percent, any place you go to in the kingdom, add to that the fact that those are originally the belongings of the soldiers of the duke brethild household, you have no room to be complaining"
Berkhart says this in an annoyed tone to kurt, hearing this kurt tries to speak up once again but the lord cuts him off.
Artur "kurt that's enough, we shall accept your offer for 30 percent, master alfred please pay us our share after you havr liquidated the amount in breitburg, now if there's nothing more to discuss about"
The eldest son kurt than meekly sat back on his chair.
Alfred " wait, I would like you to inform wendelin to gather his things, it should take us no more than a few hours for us to retrieve the decreased belongings, tell him to be ready to leave by then"
The lord of the baumeister fiefdom simply nodded. Now that our talk was finished we were escorted out by the lord artur while the eldest son had left the room as soon as our talk had finished.
Wendelin pov
After lunch I went to my room with brother erich. As we entered erich started speaking.
Erich "wendelin it seems like you would leaving as well, I knew you were going to eventually but not this soon"
Erich was talking about paul and helmut the two elder brothers after us, who used to share this room with us and had left for rhe royal capital statburg to join the guard devision.
Wendelin "well it was bound to happen sooner or later, aren't you going to leave as well in an year to take the cilvil official exams in the capital"
Erich "yes that's true but I decided to change my plans, I am going to leave with the next merchant caravan"
Wendelin "wait, in that case why don't you accompany me along with the magicians to breitburg"
Erich "Is that really possible, even if it is would they allow it"
Erich said thinking wheter he should ask them or not.
Wendelin " you don't have to worry, I'll ask them in your place"
Erich "you really don't have to, but thanks, it should be me the older brother who looks out for his little brother not the other way aroud"
I could olny give a chuckle at erich's dejected tone. He than continued in a more serious tone.
Erich "it is also a good thing that your going to leave soon, now even if people are able to find out that you have magic, you would already be gone and there would be no problem"
The vproblem' erich is talking about is that if the people of the territory found out I had magic, many people would want me to become the next lord. This would inevitably end in a succession dispute between me and kurt. But now since I was going with the magicians of the duke brethild household, a succession dispute won't happen or that's what he thinks. I then start speaking in sad tone.
Wendelin " yes that's why I didn't tell anyone about my magic in the first place"
Which was partly true I didn't want anyone to find out about my magic yet and the news of me leaving the territory to become a student of a powerful magician should also become common knowledge soon enough since the maids overheard our conversation during lunch. As I accomplish great deeds in the the future I can cement a good image of myself in the minds of our territories people.
Erich " I see, its good that you understand then"
Erich said with a relieved tone, he was definitely worried that a dispute might happen but with this the chances of it happening are now nonexistent, atleast in his eyes.
Than suddenly the door of the room opened and father walked in.
Artur" wendelin the mage who wanted to be your teacher, wanted me to inform you that he will be back in a few hours, so you ahould get ready and start packing your belongings"
I nodded at father and started to pack my things but before father could leave the room, erich decided to speak.
Erich "father as you know, I planned on leaving in an year but I've changed my mind, I am thinking about asking the mages to allow me to accompany them to breitburg, after which I will go to the royal capital on my own. Even if they don't agree I shall leave with the next merchant caravan"
Artur "very well"
My father replied with a stoic face and left. Than both of us started to pack our belongings.
Artur pov
I just spoke with my youngest sons, both of them had been extremely smart and matured quickly but still as a parent it wasn't easy for me see them leave, but they couldn't stay here I had already known that klaus had approached erich wishing for him to become the next lord and wendelin who is now confirmed to have magic talent to the point where even the head mage of a duke household has taken an interest in teaching him. In both these cases if they decided to stay than there would likely be a sucession dispute. I then turn to leave my room as I was engrossed in such thoughts.
As I exit the room, I catch the figure of my wife standing at the end of the corridor. As a father I'm less sensitive in such matters, but for my wife it must be quite difficult to see her youngest sons leave. Especially wendelin, who no matter how mature is still a child of five. She doesn't say anything because she knows just like me that things would be better this way, she then turns without saying anything and head towards her room.
I don't follow her, since I know she needs some time to herself, I then head towards my study. Even though it was my study I didn't go there very often, but since I had some documents to sign regarding the new land that is to be cultivated as well as the irrigation channels that are being built, I might as well use the study.
I then get to work signing the documents, I was in the middle of signing the documents when kurt walked into the study and started speaking with an irritated expression.
Kurt "father I don't understand why you are allowing wendelin to leave with the magician of duke brethild, shouldn't we use him to develop our territory"
I sigh inwardly at my eldest son's stupidity. I then start to answer him while maintaining my neutral face.
Artur "If we start using wendelin to develop our territory, than some of the people would start wanting him as the next lord, and if things escalated it would likely end in a dispute"
Hearing thing Kurt's face gained a shocked look after which he stopped insisting.
Kurt "I see, in that case its good that he's leaving"
He left without saying anything else. I than got back to signing the documents on my desk.
Johanna pov
I was going to my youngest sons room when I hear erich my second youngest son speaking to my husband artur, apparently he decided to leave an year early than he had previously planned and was going to ask the magicians if he could go with them. When I heard this I became saddened not only my youngest wendelin who was a child of no more than five but now erich as well. I then went to my room, as I wanted to be alone right now.
My youngest wendelin had been an accidental pregnancy I had in my forties, but thankfully he turned out to be healthy. Though giving birth had been a difficult task for me at that age, despite this I had loved him just like the rest of my sons but because of the disaster of the duke breithild troops in which many of our levies had lost their lives, every one of the family members had been needed to help out with the territory and I became too busy to look after wendelin but instead of being upset like any other child in his place would have been, he had started to spend his time in the study and by time we realized, he had already become able to read much better than most people in our household. I felt guilty about not being there for him, but I was comforted to see that erich and wendelin had gotten close to each other. Since last month he had started going to the hunting grounds daily at first I had been afraid but than he had returned back every day with great catches, after the sixth day my husband told me that he thinks that wendelin might have magic, this put me at ease, since with magic his future would be secured.
But then today at lunch something unexpected happened the head magician of the duke brethild household took an interest in wendelin, this atlest proved that artur was right and wendelin had mgic.
Now the issue was was that the same magician had offered to take wendelin with him as his student, and he had accepted. I knew that he was going to leave one day, but right now he is just five. I know that this is a great opportunity for him, but as a mother I can't help but be worried. Then erich also changed his mind and decided to leave a year early than he originally planned. I am now going to have say goodbye to both my youngest sons on the same day.
It took to me some time to finally compose myself after which I went to my sons room, to spend the last few moments I had with them before they would leave.
Wendelin pov
Me and erich were almost done packing when I see the door of our room opening, our mother was the one who entered the room. She than goes and sits on my bed and gestures me to sit next to her.
I then go and sit next to her, as I do so she puts her hands around me than hugs me and then start to caress the top of my head in a loving manner. I bacame concerned about my mothers behavior and ask her.
Wendelin "mother, is everything alright"
Johanna "yes everything is fine, its just that I didn't think you would leave so soon"
Although my mother had not been able to pay much attention to me from a young age, she had still cared a lot for me which is obvious from her current actions. I than try to comfort her.
Wendelin "don't be sad mother I promise to send you a letter whenever I can"
Johanna "I see, thank you wendelin, what about you erich? "
Erich " naturally I'll make sure to send a letter whenever I can"
Seeing that I hold no ill feelings for her due to being neglected since the age of one, she became relieved. My mother was my second favorite person in the family after erich and I understood why she couldn't pay much attention to me due to being busy all the time. Furthermore mine and erich's word of sending letters served to calm her heart.
The three of us than spent our remaining time together until the alfred and berkhart arrived.
...
Right now me and erich were standing at the gate of our families mansion. Alfred and berkhart had easily allowed erich to accompany us to breitburg while saying 'as long as its one more person there are no problems'. All of our things were stored in the magic bags of alfred, we then say our goodbyes to our family than alfred used his teleportation magic to teleport the four of us to the duke's mansion in breitburg.