"You're telling me you want to focus on both magic and your swordsmanship?" mumbled Aldora.
Eldric looked seriously at her, his eyes glowing with determination," Yes," he simply replied.
He was a man of action; he'd rather show her his resolve than keep talking.
She hummed," You know, magic is not so well-perceived among noblemen.?"
Eldric shook his head," I did not. And why would it be not as popular?" he inquired.
"Is magic that much weaker?" hypothesised Eldric.
Aldora looked offended by what little Eldric, but she somehow managed to keep her cool and answer professionally.
"It is a question of prestige." she blurted out.
Eldric made a gesture to let his magic instructor continue on.
He would have liked to listen to her 'lecture' sitting down; at least not standing upright. But, there was nothing he could do about it.
Almost at the same moment, an earth chair sprung up from nothing. It looked basic, yet was perfect for the occasion.
Aldora pouted when that didn't warrant any reaction from little Eldric; she was hoping to at least impress him.
"*Cough*... Where was I again?"
"The prestige." monotonously declared Eldric noting her reaction as he sat down on the earth chair— Aldora chose to stay standing.
*Bang*
Aldora's staff hit the floor.
" Right."
"As I was saying... There are multiple issues with magic when you consider males. The first glaring defect is how hard it is to learn magic without the corresponding blessing." She paused to let him fully take in what she said.
" For an individual such as myself, carrying a magic blessing, the use of magic comes naturally. There are no other thoughts that cloud your mind." she half-bragged.
Her head was held-high; such a brisk action had a wonderful effect on her breasts.
She showcased a bit of magic, water streams and wind gusts danced around her. She looked really proud by the mouth-agape expression that slowly introduced its way to Eldric's figure.
"Woah, that's cool," he muttered.
Eldric was truly amazed. For a few moments at least.
"Of course it is." bragged Aldora.
She seemed to have forgotten herself in the performance.
It was Eldric's turn to cough to grab her attention.
"So what is your blessing?" inquired Eldric; barely hiding his eagerness.
"Are you sure you want to know?" Aldora's eyes squinted for a few seconds.
Her eyebrows creaked as her shoulders seemed to shrink.
Aldora closed in on him, and her breasts were all too close to his face. She slowly went to his ear; she made sure to look left and right just for good measure— her breasts swayed along with her as she bent down to match his height.
"There is no coming back if I tell you now." her voice echoed throughout the small room.
Eldric apprehensively nodded at that. He had to suppress the urge to gulp from the tension that was created.
'Just what could it possibly be?'
She said in a hushed tone," It's
— a secret.'" as she gave a bop to Eldric's little nose.
He looked blankly at her.
Eldric at that moment had the most deadpan expression you could find on any seven-year-old.
Aldora's cheeks were starting to redden by the second. She barely resisted the urge to cover her face from embarrassment; she totally thought she tricked little Eldric— now a child was looking at her as if she were an idiot.
What she didn't know what that she indeed managed to grandly trick him…
'Oh my god! I can't believe I fell for that.' screamed Eldric on his mind. His flat-lined expression betrayed his inner ramblings.
'This woman seems to have a few loose screws.' he grumbled in his mind. Well… that was just Eldric being sour at getting tricked like the child he was.
If she heard what he thought, poor Aldora would have surely cried rivers of tears.
He looked at her strangely; furthermore damaging her already tattered ego.
"Miss Aldora. Can we continue the lesson now?" he calmly said.
"O-Of course we can." she managed to barely stutter out.
The lessons quickly resumed after that initial hiccup. There were a lot of things that Eldric learned.
And just as his magic instructor said in the beginning; there was a massive stigma around magic for noblemen.
Apparently, magic is considered a woman specialisation.
As ridiculous as that sounds at first; there was some truth to it. Most of the magic-related blessings are indeed found in women.
The difference between someone carrying a blessing and someone that is not is as vast as the sea; at least in terms of natural talent corresponding to that blessing.
Something that Eldric experienced first-hand.
"We already knew you had no blessing related to magic," muttered Aldora under her breath. "Maybe we can work something out?" she encouragingly continued.
True. Eldric was already expecting to not be the best at everything… But it still hurt to be told you are talentless.
"What? You're giving up already?" grinned Aldora.
Normally, she wouldn't do such a thing, bringing down the talentless was not something that she particularly enjoyed doing.
But she could feel the magic power bubbling in little Eldric; that was more than she could say for the vast majority of people that had no magic blessing.
'Fascinating.' breathed out Aldora as she took in the childish face in front of her creaked in concentration.
Eldric tried as hard as he could. He even went as far as imagining the process of the elements forming, hoping what bit of science he knew would help him.
He could feel something rising deep inside him, but it would extinguish the moment it got to the outer world.
"Wait a second." she stopped him from continuing.
Aldora brought a paper. Eldric couldn't make out its content.
The fact that she was putting her finger in the middle of it did not help— at all.
"Here, try to channel your magic the same way as before. This time— hold down this paper." she held his little hand and put it over the paper; making sure to keep hers in.
Eldric repeated the same process. Yet, nothing special happened.
He was about to stop when Aldora nudged him.
He looked up to see her encouragingly smiling at him. Likewise, he gained a bit of confidence after that.
*Shine*
The paper started to slowly ignite with a white flame until it disappeared out of existence.
Aldora widened her eyes as much as she possibly could.
'He actually has the light element!' she puzzled. She remembered the state of the special paper. 'No. He might even have the holy element!'
After a few moments of silent contemplation; worrying little Eldric. Multiple thoughts went through her mind at that moment.
"Congratulations. You have the rare light element!" said Aldora happily, ruffling Eldric's head.
She chose not to say anything else.
Eldric was too busy feeling the changes happening in himself to register the expression changes Aldora was going through.