"Let's see what we have here." Charles muttered to himself as he emptied his bag onto his bed after locking the room and pulling the blinds over the windows.
His books fell onto the bed, followed by an egg shaped object, and a shiny pearl. Immediately, he picked up the egg shaped object and held it up to his eye.
"Is it an egg?" He asked as he looked at the object from different angles. "No, I doubt it, or else it would have definitely broken when Gus and Angie pushed me down earlier." He kept muttering to himself.
He turned the object around from different angles, an even shook it a bit while pressing it against his ear so that he could hear if there was anything inside it.
After spending ten whole minutes on it without finding anything new about it, he finally gave up and stuffed it back into his bag before slumping onto his bed.
"Pff, what a waste of time." He sighed and closed his eyes, but was immediately reminded about the task their teacher gave their class over the winter break. He quickly jumped out of bed and ran out of the room.
"Charles? I thought you left to help your father?" Anne asked when she saw Charles running across the house and straight to the back door.
"I'm going now!" Charles responded before darting out of the house and into the field that was behind it. Various crops were growing in their own spaces. Radishes, lettuces, onions, and other things. In the middle, Charles' father, Donald, was walking slowly, examining his crops, with their dog, Rob, walking beside him and sniffing at the ground.
"Dad!" Charles called out and waved at his father when he got close enough. The man's eyes shot up when he heard his son's voice and he waved back.
"Son. How was your last day of school?" Donald asked as he pulled his son into a side hug when he was close enough.
"Erm, school was fine, I guess." Charles mumbled, reminded of the task that was given to them over the break. The task to find a compatible familiar.
"Is that so?" Donald asked as he raised his brows and hooked Charles with an inquiring gaze. He knew that there was something bothering his son, and he wanted to know what it was.
"...Mostly, I guess." Charles sighed.
"Alright, come on. Tell your old man all the details. Did some young lass give my handsome son a love letter?" Donald smirked as his son's cheeks flushed red for a moment before the boy covered it up.
"N-no! It's not that!" Charles groaned loudly.
"Alright then boy. Out with it!"
"Fine... Our teacher gave us a task to complete over the winter break. It's quite bothersome, really, and we need to complete it, or else we'll be left behind when school starts up again next year." Charles mumbled.
"Oh? Sounds pretty important. I'm all ears. I'll do my best to make sure my son gets the best!" Donald held up a fist and shook it in the air, while exclaiming loudly.
"...Thanks dad." Charles sighed. From seeing his father's reaction, he knew that the man would truly do his best to make sure Charles got what he needed. The only problem was the price for it.
"The task that our teacher gave us was to get a familiar. And it has to be compatible enough with us." Charles told his father.
"O-oh! Well, that sounds like quite the task, don't you think?" Charles' father stumbled over his words for a moment before covering it up with a laugh.
"Yeah, it is." Charles nodded. He knew that to find a suitable familiar for him, they would need to hire an adventurer that would escort him into the wilds that surrounded the city of Skyhart. And even then, they may not find a familiar that suited him.
On top of that, hiring an adventurer for an escort job was considerably much more expensive than hiring them to hunt down a certain beast. This was because they would have to constantly protect the one that they were assigned to, and because of that, it would slightly restrict the. Adventurers were quite touchy about this, so they often drove a hard bargain, raising the price sky high.
"Don't worry, kiddo. We'll get you a perfect familiar." Donald grinned and ruffled his son's head of brown hair.
"Thanks, dad." Charles mumbled again, touched at how understanding his father was. Of course, he knew it would put a strain on his family's pockets, but as long as it would help them in the long run after Charles graduated and got a good position in society, then it would be fine.
The two then proceeded to continue their walk back to the house, but they were promptly stopped by the moody hound that was barking at them for attention.
"Oh, Rob. Sorry I didn't pay attention to you. How are you?" Charles laughed and bent down to scratch the dog behind its ears.
"Ruff!" The dog bellowed loudly, causing Charles' ears to hurt a tiny bit.
"Haha, I guess I deserved that, huh?" Charles winced and leaned back before standing back up with a genuine smile painted over his face.
By the time the three reached the house, an extremely attractive fragrance was already filtering from the house, and in the surrounding areas.
"I think your mom is up to something again." Donald laughed as he pushed open the back door. "Anne, are you trying to choke us with that good cooking again?!" Donald's voice rang through the house with a hearty laugh, and his wife soon responded.
"I'll drown you in food, you old coot!" She replied, before waving the two, along with their enthusiastic dog, into the dining room for a hearty meal. Anne also dished out some of the food for Rob, as it was a rather special occasion, so she wanted him to eat some high quality food with them. They were celebrating the successful enrollment of Charles in the Royal Academy, and the fact that he had gotten through the beginning of the first year without any incidents.