*Swoosh*
There was a hooded figure rapidly flying in the air in a certain direction.
The person seemed to be effortlessly standing in the air while the wind did all the work. Her long black hair fluttered along with the gusts of wind that were generated. Her glistening amethyst eyes were dancing around. She had a faint smile, remembering the surprising encounter she just had with little Eldric.
After finishing her magic instruction, Aldora left with more questions than answers. She came to see the second son of count Armsworth; his news of recovery was already spreading in the capital.
She was expecting the usual snobby noble child model, especially the child of a count household… What she got was the complete opposite. Not only did he only have any stupid ideas about prestige and whatnot. He even had a certain hunger for power that truly captivated her.
She was sure that he would not have given up even if he didn't have a certain affinity. His eyes made you believe that— just like his father's.
Fortunately… He didn't seem to be as much of a muscle brain as the Armsworth count.
Her smile turned into a grimace when she remembered the light element Eldric possessed. She was sure it went beyond a simple light element, but she didn't know the rest; that was impressive in and of itself.
It wouldn't be wrong to call her one of the five strongest magicians in the entire world. So much mystery was very strange to her; exciting, even. From the amount of Mana he carried, all the way to this strange element… Everything was exciting.
She was not sure what the others would do if they found out. The other magicians would do much more than just express a simple sense of curiosity. She was the only young one among those traditional fools.
Luckily, little Eldric was not just anybody.
Despite her thoughts, there was a vicious smile on her face. She definitely isn't going to let little Eldric get dragged into that hellhole of pious stupidity.
'He's got too much potential to be wasted on those church fools.' she chortled.
Aldora looked back at the large Armsworth estate that seemed to get further and further away and smiled.
She would be coming back to teach little Eldric it seems; he was worth it. She couldn't wait to see what he would achieve.
— Aldora wasn't even the one that was supposed to come. She heard rumours about the supposed crippled second son.
She may or may not have 'bribed' the mage that was supposed to be here.
—-
Eldric had no idea about what his supposed magic instructor was thinking. He was peacefully having his lunch together with the entire family; save for the still absent James.
"How have you been, Eldric?" inquired Sarah from his right.
It appears that there is a special ranking even on the table, learned Eldric.
With James absent, the first lady would be at the head of the table; Faith in this case. The other wives would sit as close as possible to the head.
The children would sit on the side of their mothers. This time, Elah and Cenric were sitting alone at the other side of Eldric's table.
Cenric was the closest one to his mother; that didn't seem to bother the quietly eating Elah, however.
It seems she couldn't care less about it.
"I'm much better now. Thank you for asking Auntie Sarah." respectfully answered Eldric.
Sarah couldn't manage the squeak that escaped her mouth. She chastised him after, however, "I told you to not talk like that with me."
Eldric stopped for a second to process what he would say back. He went with a casual reply. "Sure, Auntie."
"Good." Sarah nodded her head.
*Clack*
Eldric looked to his left when the sound of silverware dropping made its way to his ears.
"What's wrong, Bellah?" worriedly asked Sarah.
Bellah didn't answer her. Instead, she crossed her arms and there were a few tears pooling in her eyes.
Sarah sighed," You still can't get used to table manners, huh?" she questioned.
Her tone did not carry any chastising.
Bellah, the little angel, nodded, " Teacher is a big meanie." She was one further movement away from balling her eyes out.
Just as he surmised, girls were under much more pressure than boys in this society.
Eldric was very much surprised to learn the very jam-packed schedule of Bellah— a four year old child.
From table manners to dancing, to language, and even early noblewoman training... The only time she had to herself was when she slept... Even then, there were special instructions on how it should be done.
It was completely ridiculous. Normal children would soon break from that pressure.
Unfortunately, that was to be the purpose of such an assortment. They needed the perfect future noblewoman.
Eldric looked at Elah; someone that seemed to oppose such an assortment.
'At least she seems to be doing what she likes. Although, that itself must put her under a lot of pressure..' he wondered.
He sent her a faint smile when she sensed his gaze.
Surprisingly, she didn't return the small gesture, as Eldric thought she would.
He was a bit confused at that. He dropped it after a bit of thinking, however.
The lunch continued unassumingly, other than the times when Cenric would try to bore holes into him with his staring.
Faith, the first lady, was much better at taking stealthy glances toward little Eldric; no one was the wiser.
However, behind that cold mask that she wore as usual— a calculative smile was forming in her mind.
—---
Eldric headed to the library to do some more research. He would have started doing some reading about magic, but he did just have a magic instructor visit him the same day.
No matter how much of a ditz she appeared to him... Aldora was indeed a full-on fledged mage; going by her use of magic at least.
Thus, Eldric chose to trust her for now.
Apparently, a lot of terms that Eldric was used to didn't exist in this new world.
The prospect of Science wasn't around. At least there was basic arithmetic.
Therefore, the technological advancements are… very backwards. It was so bad that the advancement was on the level of cartwheels and horse-drawn carriages.
Eldric could understand that magic was a natural inhibitor to technology. The biggest reason to change throughout history was a need.
With this world's residents already having magic to do what the low-level inventions would do. They would naturally not think of making something up; why fix something that is already working.
The magic stones also worked as fuel. There was no need to create a lamp. You can just put a good quality magic stone inside a crystal and have a special mage ignite it. The user would only need to send a minuscule amount of magic into it.
—uses like that.
The commoners didn't have it nearly as easy, They had no way of affording such luxuries. That's where the struggle truly was.
"Thank you, Epine."
"It is to be expected, young master," responded Epine from the side, taking the empty plate Eldric gave her.
He was indeed in his chambers. Eldric decided to have dinner in his room; it seems it was not as taboo to have dinner alone for some reason.
The books that he ordered lay on the small desk he was reading above. A small reading-lamp like structure to his right; equipped with the same ignited magic stone that he just read about.