Asher snuck down the house, passing through the servant quarters to make his out of the manor. He slipped past a maid carrying a tray of biscuits for breakfast. Asher tapped her on the shoulder, and while she was distracted, Asher stole a biscuit from the tray. He left before the maid could recognize his presence.
Given the number of times Asher escaped from the manor and sneaked out, sneaking around was pretty standard for Asher. Asher felt a little upset that his father confined him to the manor grounds for most of his youth. Now he was a member of the mercenary guild and even killed his first monster. Asher snuck through the kitchen with ease.
Unfortunately, Asher was still a ten-year-old, so he did not have much in the way of stature, but now, Asher could not be more thankful for the fact. Asher moved in time with the kitchen staff. When one moved, he would move to use them to clear his way. Asher had reached the servent's exit with little trouble. So no one noticed him as he would be in their blind spots.
As soon as he was out, he began to use his magic to disappear, but a voice cut through the silence of the morning. "Young Master. How are you this morning? Are you going somewhere?" Asher froze as he turned to find Henry standing not too far away. He cursed himself for forgetting this man existed. Asher could never hide or slip past him regardless of what he tried. Henry knew he was hiding the day of the party.
"Henry... What do you want?" Asher's voice tried to sound like he wasn't hiding something, and Asher did not want Henry, out of everyone, to ask questions.
Henry looked Asher over to assess how much concern he would be required to expend. He pushed up his glasses from the brim of his nose. "Your father is looking for you and has requested your presence in his study. I recommend you do not keep him waiting." Henry turned to return to his duties. As he walked away, he warned Asher. "And make sure he does not learn of your excursions. If he does, he will have both our heads."
Asher flinched at the mentions of his 'excursions.' Somehow Henry knew everything that happened around the manor, especially regarding the Richt family. Even though Asher had been around him for the entire time he had been in this world, Asher could not figure out how he was able to do that all the time.
Asher gave up the thought of figuring out Henry's secrets and headed to find his father. The sooner he dealt with this, the sooner he would be able to go hunting for more slimes.
He knocked on the study door, waiting to hear the rough voice come from the room. "Come in." Asher entered to find his father pouring over several papers sprawled all over the desk. Asher waited quietly while his father looked over several of the documents. After a few minutes, he looked up and finally noticed Asher. "Oh, Asher. You're here."
"Henry said that you wished to see me."
"Ahh. Yes, I wanted to see how your training was coming along." He stood up from his desk, giving Asher a full view of his impressive form. Despite being middle-aged, Garth Richt was well-built. He was the definition of how a duke should look. His beard was trimmed, and his hair was freshly styled. His body was muscled and toned from years of serving in the royal army. He appeared even more handsome with his expensive clothing.
Asher had to admire his decorum. He was the definition of a noble. The only thing that stood out from him being a noble was his rough face, worn with weather and time. He got up from his desk and walked over to where a sword sat against the wall. He picked it up and walked past him. "Come along now, and we can see how you're doing in the courtyard."
Asher swallowed a gulp as he knew what was coming next. WIthin an hour, Asher was slammed onto the ground with a loud thud. Asher groaned as he sat up. "Hey, that was cheating," Asher spat.
Garth tapped the wooden sword against his shoulder and played innocent. "I have no idea what you are talking about?"
"Bullshit." Asher hopped to his feet and swung the sword fiercely at his father.
"Hey, now that is not the type of language a young gentleman should use with their father." Garth had to admit he had difficulty blocking all of his son's attacks. He stepped lightly to the side like dancing, and his motions were much more refined and fluid than Asher's movements.
"You lost the right to call yourself my father when you used lightning lance on me, bastard." Asher worked on pushing his father back by using broad swings. Asher smiled, and it would be the day he would be able to land a blow on his father.
Ever since Asher begged his father to let him take sword lessons from one of the guard captains, he would administer these 'tests' every so often to evaluate Asher's progress. He also habitually used magic during the test to ensure Asher could use the sword against magic users. It was something Asher considered unfair, but now he had his own magic.
Asher reached out his hand to point to his father's foot. As he activated the 'withdraw' spell, the silver circle formed in his hand. However, the magic didn't start, and it shattered. A searing pain developed in his chest as he fell to the ground. The sound of his system going crazy as if there was an alarm only he could hear.
[WARNING: Error has occurred. Beginning to evaluating problem to solve for a solution.]
[Solution not could be found]
[Status effect: Overdraw]
[Body unable to process mana properly.]
[Due to the effect of Overdraw, your HP will gradually decrease]
[- 1 HP]
[-1 HP]
[-1 HP]
[Solution has been found. Mana regeneration has been suspended.]
[Loss of HP had haulted]
"ASHER," his father rushed to his side as he got scared by the boy's sudden clasp. "Are you okay?" Asher grew pale as the pain began to travel throughout his body. The pain subsided, and Asher could finally get off the ground and rise to his feet.
"I am fine. That was weird." He looked up to meet his father's worried eyes. "I felt like my insides were on fire, and I think it was growing pains. You don't need to worry" Though the answer did not seem plausible, his father forced himself to believe it was correct.
"I am worried about you especially with this unpleasantness." The unpleasantness he was referring to was the lie about Asher's supposed sickness. "And now I have to leave the manor in this crucial time."
"Leave the manor! What do you mean?"
"The King has requested me to head to the Brenzinan Mountains. There is another campaign to expand."
"They are still trying to revive the Grand Empire?" A long time ago the Grand Empire was the largest power controlling most of the northern parts of the central continent and all of the western continent, now known as the dark continent. However, in a very fantasy-like fashion, a demonkin appeared claiming to be the Demon King.
He stood true to his word and united the demonkin of the western continent in a revolve liberating most of the continent. It was to the point that the Grand Empire lost more that three fourths of their land. When it looked like the demons would wipe the Grand Empire from existence, the Demon King, Zoldic passed away.
Without a leader at the helm, the demonkin began warring amongst themselves on who should lead. Soon battle after battle of demonkin broke out all over the western continent and the fighting continues to this day. Because of the constant warring tribes of demonkin, most of the continent was left in ruin and what wasn't destroy was taken over by highway men and thieves. An old saying is appeared about it. 'The Gods turns a blind eye in the Devil's Playground.' And the name stuck.
With its remaining land, the Grand Empire, formed two different nations Holy Kingdom of Ainzel was established on the central continent east of the Brenzinan Mountian and the Hanzel nation to the west. The previous king began to launch campaigns to bring Hanzel and the rest of the dark continent back into the fold.
"So you're going to go to war. When will you be back?" Asher inquired. Asher at first had trouble at first accepting this man as his father, but as time went along the only person he could think of when he thought of his father was Garth.
"I don't know but I should be back before harvest time." Garth patted Asher's head with his rough hand. "I promise I will bring you back some books from Hanzel. I know how much you love them."
Asher smiled and thanked him as one of the guard ran up to deliver a letter to the duke. His expression turn from his serious expression to a solemn one. "I am sorry but..."
"You have your duties to attend to. I understand." Asher cut him off before heading back inside. "I will see you at dinner."
"I promise." Garth called out as he turn to leave with his guard. Asher understood that his father was a busy man. After all, running an entire territory was not an easy thing to do. Beside he wasn't the only one that would be busy.
[Notice: Mana has stabilized now resuming mana regeneration]