*Shut*
Eldric closed yet another massive book.
It was about a topic he didn't particularly appreciate. 'The Alabax Kingdom: Leading Households.' its cover read.
Eldric knew, the moment he heard his father addressed as 'Count' and the pure luxury of his family's estate; politics are going to become a part of his life.
He sighed. 'My past life experience means absolutely nothing in the world of nobles, from what I know, it's a world of betrayals and behind the scenes machinations. Such things cannot be experienced in writing.' he lamented.
But as they say: When in Rome, do as Romans do.
Eldric might not be the most adverse in politics, but that's what learning is for.
Thankfully, he was only in a child's body. So what little he knew about how to carry himself as an adult, ought to prove sufficient for now.
'A young lord of an ancient count household in the Alabax Kingdom, the most powerful kingdom… I'm sure that's going to bring a lot of troubles my way.' emphasised Eldric as he shook his head.
Cutting his monologue, Eldric picked up another book to continue his information gathering.
The book's leathery cover was dry to the touch, the words on its cover were carved in and then decorated with various dyes. The papers were extremely thick, with the ink still visible on them.
Not the finely printed books he was used to. However, this kind of book also had its appeal.
After marvelling at the books for the ninth time, he was about to start reading.
" Young Master, it is bedtime. I must escort you to your chambers." piped in Epine. Her voice carried a matter of fact tone.
Almost on-demand, a small yawn escaped Eldric's little mouth.
He rubbed his eyes, 'It seems like this is as far as I can go as a child.' mumbled Eldric.
The library was perfectly lit, so he didn't feel the passage of time. He looked at the windows, and it was indeed getting dark. If he could assume, then it would be close to 9 pm.
Eldric took another look at Epine.
His personal maid stayed watching him throughout his reading session— never leaving the premises.
Eldric had to insist that she at least sits down on a chair nearby him. It was mighty uncomfortable having someone stand over you for extended periods.
After an unrelenting talk, she finally agreed. Despite that, she looked completely unsatisfied.
"Should I store the rest of the books for later, young master?." notified the maid.
Her young master wasn't able to read all the books that he lined up, just as she thought.
She took a look at the already read through stack of books, and it was definitely larger than the unfinished one.
An impressive feat for such a small window of time, especially for a child.
'Is the Armsworth household finally going to have an heir with common sense?' hoped Epine, but stopped herself in the middle. 'Young Lord Eldric is still not the heir at the moment.'
She paused, 'He would be infinitely better than that slouch Cenric.'
Eldric shook his head, 'I doubt I'm going to get used to this style of living.'
Even though he said that; there were a lot of things that he learned.
Time was precious, so he chose to focus on the most important pieces of knowledge, topics like history and inner politics were what he mostly indulged in.
And what he found was not exactly welcoming, just like he heard from the conversation before James departed, magic beasts were indeed a universal problem.
A big nasty concern.
The reason for their apparent existence at first seemed ridiculous from Eldric's point of view as a non-believer in his past life.
No gods or deities answered him, no matter how hard he prayed, neither for himself nor for his parents.
But this second chance of his, coupled with the magic in this world, made it very hard for him to discount the possibilities of a higher power.
Eldric didn't know about gods, but it would almost be foolish to still think that there wasn't a higher power/powers from his circumstances.
Once upon a time, there were multiples gods that cared for each race of this world: The elves, the dwarfs, beast-kin, and the humans.
The humans were once the weakest of the four races.
They had no unique magic or wisdom passed on from the long life spans elves had. No impressive strength or craftsman ingenuity as the dwarfs had. And no heightened senses and bloodthirst like the beast-kin.
They were the jack of all trades and masters of none; always at the bottom of the barrel during any conversation.
That all changed however when the Human god managed to imbue his blessing into the children in the lower world.
The first few volunteers weren't capable of handling the deity's divine power coursing through their blood. However, the humans were desperate, they were desperate for better lives; desperate for change.
Through many struggles, eventually, the first specimen that was able to harness that small part of divine power was born.
His name was Robert Alabax, the first and only person that was able to directly intake a god's blessing. His grandsons would later found the Alabax Kingdom in honour of his name.
At first, the other gods were not that mindful of the change that was going on, they never once regarded them as a threat.
And they were right— the strength of one person could only do so much.
But they forgot something very important.
The true strength of humanity lies in its adaptability. Robert, seeing no other way to prove humanity's supremacy, had dozens to hundreds of children all around the human kingdom.
He hoped his seed would allow them to successfully harness the divine power. He had no other emotions in mind when he had those countless babies.
All that was racing in his mind was: Humanity is the superior race.
At first, no matter how many times he examined the toddlers, no changes were apparent. However, the moment the children reached their fifth year in this world. Robert could finally observe divine power coursing through some of them.
It was not to his level, not a single child had a comparable purity to him.
But Robert didn't get discouraged, not at all. He became even more sure of his objective.
Only decades after did the other inhabitants of the world realise what the humans were doing.
By then, it was already too late.
There was nothing to be done against a warrior army of divine blood. Their beliefs were unshakable; entire cities were razed to the ground under their quake.
A massive war ignited in the two worlds. The aggressor was the same, both the humanity and their god.
The first to go were the beast-kin race and their god. And they were the ones that slaughtered the most humans among the other three factions. They held no regard for their life, they relished in battle.
The beast-kin held no real grudge for the human faction, even as they went extinct. They believed in the survival of the fittest as a first rule.
The humans simply proved to be the better opponent.
However, the two other major races caused more logistical damage to the human factions. The notoriously mismatched dwarf and elf races held hands to combat the common enemy.
The wisdom and magic of the elves combined with the strength and craftsmanship of the dwarfs was a fearsome combination.
They lasted significantly longer than the beast-kin; they chose to play the defensive game.
Alas, the humans were constantly in improvement as well. Stronger, better, faster blessings were found in children. Those same children, after years of ruthless training under Robert Alabax himself, would come knocking on their door swords in hand— ready to spill blood in the name of their glorious purpose.
For the first decade, it seemed as if an unstoppable force met an immovable object. But, that didn't last long. It only took another decade for the last couple of dwarfs and elves to draw their last breath.
The other two gods have also lost their battle against the Human god. There was no way for them to exist without the races they governed.
As such, they decided to go with a bang.
The two remaining gods gathered together and cursed humanity— the only thing they could do at that point as some form of retaliation; the Human god was, far, too strong.
They made sure they would lose the divine power going through their veins.
Something that they shouldn't have done.
No god is allowed to directly interfere with the affairs of mortals. As the two gods perished out of existence, a massive cataclysm greeted the lower world.
All sorts of beasts and monsters roamed the world.
Humanity was alone in dealing with them, and it did not go well. Having lost their divine blood, the humans were nowhere near as strong.
Their blessings turned into large containers with barely anything in them.
Robert, already weak and weary from the accumulation of age, having already achieved his mission in life, sacrificed his life for the sake of his people.
He managed to transfer what little pure divinity he had to all remaining humans, perishing in the process.
With the slightly better blessing than before, yet nowhere near what it was prior. Through blood, sweat, and tears. The last remaining race was barely able to survive this predicament.
Thus, Robert Alabax the first was hailed as the saviour of the human race— and still is to this day.