Having my own fair share of mangas and novels that I had read, the world building that I created in this story is something normal, cliche and easy to understand.
Not that yours truly have become lazy to think of something unique. Of course, everyone is unique in their own. It's just because it is more convenient for me if things were 'simple'. Making things more complex will only roast this author's limited braincells and she has no more to spare because it will all be used in continuing this mediocre cliche story that she had started.
Now that we're at the topic, I'm issuing a warning that there might be some wall breaking that may happen with this author's interference when it comes to the narration just to rant about some random things. And I'm also quite certain that while having read this far, you are probably curious as to why the story haven't started yet. Or maybe, you have skipped over these two or three paragraphs just to proceed with the story because none of the things written in here makes any sense.
But before things could get out of hand, let's just get this nonsense narration thrown out the window and proceed with the story before any of you might become bored and decide to stop reading.
So much for this extra...
"Wow..."
Hearing his older sister's silent amazement at the town, Jayse smiled faintly. Juris had been kept inside the Wynter Estate for two consecutive years. It was no wonder that her reaction would be like this. People of the 2020-2022 can really empathize with the feeling. And it's all thanks to some shitty virus that starts with 'C' and ends with 'OVID-19'.
Pandemic at it's finest.
Lmao.
To pass the time, the two looked around and bought foods for them to eat as they walked. Nibbling on a piece of bread, Juris enjoyed her experience inside the town. Just like any normal RPG game, the township of Cloasia under the supervision of Duke Everleigh is filled and buzzing with people. Everyone is busy and lively.
The street is vibrant, lined up with store stalls selling their own products.
What amazed her more is that there are non-humans living among them.
She had read about them in one of the books she got from the library. Aside from the human race, there are also races like elves and beastmen. But they're just considered to be a legend since it's been more than a hundred years when they were last spotted out in the open.
It's a shame that she won't be able to see them but the demi-humans are lovely as well. Just wow. People who have animal ears ears fetish will definitely love this place. And she is one of those people.
"Hey Jaye," she called out, slightly squeezing her brother's hand. When she heard his hum, she continued. "That secret small passage, has it been there for a while?"
"Yes. Some of the trainee knights are using it to sneak out. And I happened to discover it."
Juris stayed silent for a while, eyeing her brother in suspicion.
"Jayse."
She called him by his name and not by his nickname, with her serious voice to booth. So the boy was definitely a little bit startled.
"Since when did you know about this secret passage?"
"A year ago."
He slightly furrowed his brows. His sister's face is getting scarier by the second and he seriously had no idea why.
"And you tell me just now?!"
The poor boy was surprised at the sudden rise of her voice and flinched visibly. Her blank expression doesn't really match up with the tone in her voice though, making it look like she was just acting. But the boy knew better.
"How could you?! I thought there's no secret between us?!"
The girl pretended to be hurt and had tears accumulating on the corners of her eyes. Of course, seeing this, Jayse panicked for a bit. Wiping off that usual expression of indifference in his lovely face. Juris secretly gave herself a pat in the back. She's such a good actress if she was able to make even the indifferent boy change his expression this much.
"No. That's not it."
The two of them stopped walking then went to the side. He wiped her fake tears with his delicate fingers. "I thought, after what happened to you in that incident, you wouldn't want to go out. So I never told you. And since I saw you pestering mom about going out, I took you out."
So that's what it was.
Juris looked at her brother's guilty expression. She would admit, since arriving here, one of her goals was to make this stoic brother of her to change his expression. But right now, she couldn't feel as accomplished as before. She had touched a rather sensitive topic and is now scolding herself for acting without thinking.
The boy is just genuinely looking out for his sister in his own way. And what she had did just trampled all over his sincerity. Juris is truly loved by her family. How could she bully a ten-year-old boy?
"I'm sorry." She spoke.
Jayse looked surprised for a bit, but then he shook his head. "No. I should be the one who's saying sor--"
"I'm sorry."
She could only apologize to him.
For what she did earlier and for the fact that she was not his sister.
It should be Juris that's receiving all this attention and affection. Not her. But by some unknown circumstances, here she was.
Jayse gently patted her head, his lips slightly curving into his own version of smile. It wasn't really enough to be called a smile but it's Jayse we're talking about so it's already a smile for him.
"Apology accepted."
"Yay."
After the small drama, the siblings continued to walk together.
"Hey, Jaye. Have you been going out for a while now?"
Juris asked, noticing that her brother is navigating quite smoothly in the town. Of course, she knew that Jayse wouldn't just go out if he never knew the place. But she needed to ask just in case.
"Yeah. Eversince I found the passage." He answered with a slight nod.
The girl only nod as well and continued to look around.
Of course, Juris never forgot her main objective in wanting to go outside. Despite the loud noises, she kept her ears active as to not miss any juicy gossips. Just like what is happening right now.
"I heard that there are more people missing."
The middle aged woman beside Juris raised her hand into her mouth and spoke to the saleslady, as if she's whispering a secret. Although the gesture seemed to be unnecessary because her voice is already loud. Juris couldn't help but raise a brow. These type of gossip women are one of the things that are very similar to this world and her original one. Those type of people who have nothing to do but to talk behind a person's back.
Deciding to act natural, the little girl faced her front and looked at the grilled meat that is being prepared by the man accompanying the saleslady. They looked like they're husband and wife.
"Yeah. I heard a group of goblins were roaming around the border. Taking anyone in sight."
'Goblins?'
Reminded of the small, green skinned creature with yellow eyes, pointed nose and ears, the little girl's nose scrunched up. Although she watched animes where there are good goblins like the ones like [Gobta], based on what the woman had said just now, these goblins are up to no good at all. After all, there can be no good reason for just abducting someone and never letting them return.
"That's actually scary. I heard they increased the number of guards by the border."
"Of course. Duke Everleigh will tighten the security. Especially now that many people are already missing."
"I just hope that they can drive away all those goblins."
"Hey, you two. Please be reminded of your words. The children can hear you."
Breaking his prolonged silence, the salesman finally spoke as he continued cooking the meat. He had noticed that his two little customers were getting distracted by what they're hearing. And thinking that they will get scared, he stopped his wife and the woman. His words interrupted the women's gossip. The middle aged customer then looked to the side, catching the view of the siblings.
"My! If it isn't the famous third young lord of the Wynter Estate."
The woman greeted after recognizing Jayse's features. Of course, anyone could recognize him without even batting an eyelash. Aside from that unmistakable red irises, he was pretty famous for being one of the geniuses of their time.
Jayse had a huge mana reserve.
That itself alone is already a huge feat. After all, everyone has only enough capacity before they ran out of mana. But that didn't seem to apply for the young boy.
The Wynter family is known as the oldest bloodline of water mages. In Jayse's case, not only he was capable of water magic, but also ice magic, -one of the rarest and powerful magical element. And because of his enormous mana supply, it won't be too hard for him to control and use both elements.
Another thing, Jayse learned magic so quickly. He breezed through the entire primary lessons, ending up with him having offers from famous master mages to be taken in as a disciple in the future. But even after all those, Jayse didn't appeared to be moved. He never replied to those offers either.
His reason?
He is still a child so he never wanted to hurry growing up. He wanted to take his time, taking all the steps that his older siblings went through. It sounded so cute to the adults, but honestly speaking, Jayse just couldn't be bothered to make extra effort. After all, he's just a lazy brat.
Thankfully, his parents weren't putting him under pressure either. They wanted their children to grow up freely, without pressure and without getting caught up in political wars.
The young Jayse never glanced back to the woman who just acknowledged his presence.
Ignored, the woman then switched to the young girl beside Jayse. Just like the young lord, the girl have striking crimson irises. And the look of indifference in her eyes were similar to the boy beside her. Like she didn't even exist in the girl's sight. Looking at the two children standing hand in hand, it won't be really strange if one would think that they are twins.
But it is known that Jayse Wynter didn't have a twin.
Carefully observing her, the woman thought that the little girl looked too young to be one of the Wynter quadruplets. And she's a little old to be one of the Wynter twins. So she came into a conclusion. The young girl beside Jayse must be the third daughter of the Baron Wynter. The one who was caught up in the kidnapping incident and the one who almost died of drowning two years ago; -Juris Wynter.
If Jayse was considered as the budding genius of the family. Juris is the complete opposite of him.
She never had the talent to conjure magic at all.
At first, they thought that the reason the child couldn't use magic is because she had been traumatized during the incident. Which is understandable and gained quite the sympathy. But even from the beginning and before the kidnapping even happened, Juris had never been able to create anything at all. And her instructor is the living witness of that.
It's a good thing that the girl is thriving hard, but all of those will be gone to a complete waste if she wasn't able to produce better results in the future.
It's true that not all people are blessed with magic. But being born from the oldest bloodline of water mages, and being a noble at that, even though they're the lowest rank, -it's really an embarrassment to not be able to use magic at all. Because all nobles are blessed with magic as the ones protecting the kingdom.
Juris will be considered as the greatest failure and an unremovable stain in the history of the Wynter family.
The child rejected by the God themselves. She had no place to stand beside the blessed ones.
The woman sneered at the little girl who noticed the stare and looked back at her with the same normal insouciance.
One is an unprecedented genius and one is a biggest failure.
Of course, because of his untalented older sister, Jayse's reputation will also pummel to the ground. If she's Juris's mother, she will surely send the girl to a far away land to prevent further embarrassment. But what is the baron thinking? Keeping his daughter at his side even though she have no use at all. Not only it will affect Jayse, but also the other siblings.
He and his wife are idiots. This will surely affect their social standing.
Juris's popularity is the polar opposite of Jayse's. She was known as the wasted daughter, so the girl inside the child's body had a clue as to what was running on the woman's shallow mind.
Ah.
Even from back in her world and in this one, people like this are what she hates the most. Sure, she may be judgmental at times but people like this woman are on a whole different level. They're backstabbing bitches that leeches you off if you have a use to them. It's just plain annoying and pathetic.
They love gossiping and badmouthing people but hate it when the same actions were done to them.
The woman smiled brightly and spoke as if she's worried about her.
"Oh! It's the third young miss of the Wynters. We haven't seen you for two years. How are you faring so far?"
'Ugh. Plastic.'
Juris never even bothered to change her expression as she answered the woman.
"As you can see, I'm doing fine."
"Is that so? Then, it's great." The woman snickered afterwards. "We all thought that you're going to hide forever. It's good to come out every now and then. I'm sure that people will be happy to see you."
Just as she thought. This woman wouldn't let her go so easily. Ugh, people and their judgmental minds. She wanted to smack the woman's head in hopes of getting her thinking straight but she calmed herself before replying.
"Of course they will be. I'm a pretty child. It's no doubt that they will be happy upon seeing me." She turned to the vendor couple. "Aren't I right?"
Juris could see the woman's flaming red lips twitching when the couple openly agreed with her. They even showered her and Jayse with more compliments much to the woman's annoyance.
"But young miss, I must say," The woman intervened yet again, furrowing her brows and scrunching up her face in an expression of worry. Seeing her fake expression, Juris felt more indignant but she kept her poker face. "You are pretty known for you know, not being able to use magic. This is just an advice, but I think it's better if you separated from your siblings from now on whenever you're outside."
Jayse almost made a retort but Juris stopped him by lightly pulling and squeezing on his hand.
"No. That doesn't matter at all."
Wiping off her poker face and wearing an innocent lazy expression, Juris quickly countered the woman's words.
"I don't care about what other people says. My family won't be bothered by that. And only their opinions matter to me." She smiled brightly, making the vendor couple squeal at her innocent cuteness. "But, you're right. I'll take your advice in consideration. After all, I don't want to let down my family."
Finally, their grilled meat was cooked. Just about time. Juris's patience is growing thinner by the second. The children received their food and turned to walk away, still hand in hand. But a few steps later, Juris stopped and turned to the woman, looking like she had forgotten to say something.
"I just remembered my mom's advice to me before."
"Advice?"
"Yes." The girl nodded. "She said that if I have nothing nice to say, I should just remain quiet. And now, I'm going to impart the same words to you, auntie." Juris's smile brightened even more. "If you have nothing good to say,"
Then she completely dropped her smile in a heartbeat. Now looking at the woman with no expression at all.
"...just shut the hell up."
The coldness in her voice and face was something the woman never expected. It's an expression that never suited a child. And as if Juris's earlier expression was just an illusion, she smiled again like a bright kid.
"If I were you, I'd be more careful from now on. After all, you don't know where the baron's men might be listening in. He might be just a baron, but he's stll a noble and has far more authorities than you. You might be accused of bullying his 'wasted daughter'."
At the child's words, the colors on the woman's face all drained. Now that she had noticed, it should be impossible that these two kids didn't have any guard around them. They might have some, hiding in the crowd. If so, then what she had said might be delivered to the baron and the rest his history. Just like what Juris had said Nedrick might just be a baron, but he is no easy opponent, especially to those who hurt his family.
Seeing the woman's blue expression, Juris was pretty satisfied.
"I'll let it go just this once."
She said before going away, not paying attention to the woman shouting insincere apologies to her.
This might be one of the reasons why Lani never wanted Juris to go outside again. She will be subjected to the people's harsh words and criticisms. And as a child that already experienced trauma, hearing words like this will not help in her recovery at all.
But it wouldn't be nice for Juris to remain hidden as well forever.
Jayse stared at his sister's side profile as they walked together. To say that he was the closest to Juris among all their siblings is an understatement. Although not obvious, they are inseparable, just like how twins should be. And he was confident to say that they knew each other enough.
Despite being just a ten-year-old kid, Jayse is pretty smart and observant. Thus, he could notice right away that his sister's attitude earlier is something he had never seen before.
He had never seen her openly fending off someone insulting her right in her face. That was really a refreshing sight. Even in these past few days, he had noticed some changes in his sister's temperament. And they could only think that she's finally being able to recover from her trauma, which is a good thing.
"What?"
Juris tilted her head to the side when she noticed her brother's stare.
"Do you have something to say?"
"No."
Jayse shook his head, biting on his grilled meat afterwards. "I just can't help but think that you're being brave earlier. You would just usually stay quiet."
"Is that so?"
She only said. Jayse just sighed. Then he remembered, if he and his sister were not seen inside the estate, people will start looking for them. Because their time outside is limited, he pulled on his sister to roam around the town. They had been on it for straight two hours when Juris finally showed signs of exhaustion.
The original Juris is a weak child. So when the exhaustion finally hits, she was a bit annoyed. Because despite being a self-proclaimed [hikikomori] for the most part, the soul inside Juris's body is quite athletic.
When Jayse saw that his sister was tired, he didn't think twice in pulling her back to the direction of the estate. Besides, they can sneak out again for some other time.
The siblings returned to where they came from. But when they arrived, the two exhanged confused glances. They were sure that they had covered the secret passage very well. The thing is, when they have returned, the plants that were arranged to cover the passage were ruined. As if someone forced their way inside.
The trainee knights wouldn't do it for sure. Because this is their precious escape route. So who could be the one to do it?
They pushed the pots aside and Juris was the first one to enter. Her crimson colored irises widened at the first thing she saw.
A young boy was leaning against the wall.
Battered, bloody and unconscious.
===
Little Tidbits:
- Jayse is dubbed as the 'Ice Prince' because of his cold demeanor to the others and his ability to use ice element.
- He wouldn't admit it, but Jayse got pretty scared of his sister when she smiled at the woman who insulted her.
- Jayse and Juris were often mistaken as twins by those who didn't know them.