That morning,
Elena's POV~
In the garden of Elrod estate, there was a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes, taking a stroll as she looked at the flowers in a daze.
Beside her was her bodyguard, Lyle.
'The duke doesn't even pay much attention to me now, huh, maybe he's to busy with that WHORE!' She thought with a dejected expression on her face.
Duke Mason Van Elrod, a knight, was infamous for his lust and laziness. There was news going on in the estate, and that was that his assistant, Chloe, had just given birth to his illegitimate child a few days ago.
Elena, a usually aloof and indifferent noblewoman knew that it was common for noblemen to have several illegitimate children, but the thing that was bothering her was that the duke had stopped giving her attention lately.Not he didn't even seem to care enough to ask her how she was doing.
Her second son, Evan, was such an undisciplined child that she had to always treat him strictly, which had caused him to not like to get near her much.
Only her cute, sweet Tirus was her only joy and pride. Such an intelligent and adorable kid? He always came to her everyday and talked to her about various things.
"I've heard he has started his knight training as of today! What should I do? It should be a big day for him… Perhaps I should hold a banquet, but I doubt he would like it, hmm."
"He has turned started his knight traning, so he must be quite excited for some real experience….hm, what if I have a gift him a sword?"
"Hm, but what colour will he like?"
She was quite considerate when it came to things regarding Tirus, because, well, he was her favourite.
"Mhm, this is the best gift! Then I'll send this to his room tonight." She murmured after thinking for a while.
…
"Put this box in his room before he gets in. Go!" Elena was sitting on her chair with an indifferent expression as she ordered the maid.
"Yes, lady, this lowly one understands!" The maid said while bowing.
Elena gestured the maid, Lila, to get out.
No matter how simple-minded a noble was, they were always good at giving orders. It was a skill that they just learned while growing up.
…
Next morning,
Tirus entered his mother's room and before he could say anything to her, she asked "Tirus, you liked the gift that I sent, right?" With a smile on her face.
"Yes, mother, the sword is simply flawless!" Tirus said excitedly as he jumped into his mother's warm embrace.
"If you liked it, then I'll keep giving you some, is that okay?" A wide smile appeared on her face.
"Mhm, okay!" Tirus agreed. Why would he not? Even though they were just ordinary weapons when compared to the weapons of those magi, he could still use the ordinary sword for now.
…
Somewhere in the Silmore empire,
Two men in bronze armor and a light chainmail under were talking to each other in a hushed voice.
"Is this really that kid?"
"Yes, that one from the Elrod estate, I've heard he has quite high intelligence. If he manages to reach the age of 12 or 13, then he would definetly get to become a magus, and so..." The other man lowered his voice even more,
"We been given the mission to eliminate him."
...
In Tirus's room,
"Achoo!"
'Is someone thinking about me?!' He wondered.
….
In the main hall of the Elrod estate, Duke Mason Van Elrod was standing in front of a man in a gray robe.
"Sir acolyte, do you need any further help?"
"No, I came here to inform you that the task has been completed successfully and there were no deaths before reaching the academy, the main point is that we will recruit another batch after 5 years, this time it will be from your kingdom." The acolyte made a statement as he disappeared into flames.
'He left just like that?'
This was not just any acolyte, he was actually once given a broken magical artifact and thus he visited him to repay his gratitude by giving him information in advance. To tell him to be prepared to get his eldest son, Tirus Van Elrod, into the academy next time.
'Truly, I was certain that my eldest son was intelligent, but I didn't know he had so much talent! Able to excrete impurities on the first day, truly a genius!'
'He is just 8 years old now, after five years, if possible, I will send him to the magus academy using my connections, if he were to become a magus, then it would ensure hundreds of years of prosperity for my family!' He thought as he made up his mind.
The Silmore empire wasn't the only empire which came under the rule of the Crimson Bone Academy, there were several, in fact. Every 5 years, they'd recruit students from the families of influential nobles.
It was said that the Crimson Bone Academy had existed for 800 years and since they controlled numerous empires in this region, the political situation was usually quite stable among these empires.
To be a magus, one had to start at 12 years to 16 years of age at the maximum, Mason had made up his mind to send his son to the magus academy since there was a high chance that he had high talent for the path of magus.
To be continued...