In a large and luxuriously decorated room sitting next to a half-open window was a young man, warm rays of sunlight were projected on him while he maintained a carefree posture lazily resting his chin on his intertwined hands contemplating the landscape, outside you could see a training camp in which a dozen guards were sweating while performing a series of exercises, some performed stretching, others practiced fighting stances, there were also some who used weapons and practiced certain techniques.
The gaze of the young man in the room slowly wandered around focusing from time to time on some of the guards before continuing, until finally he noticed one in specific, this guard at first glance was not particularly outstanding, he appeared to be between 20 and 23 years old, and although he was not that old his fighting skills were average at best, around him the rest of the guards kept their distance, he seemed to be an outcast. However, the guard did not seem to mind this fact as he continued to perform different combat stances with great dedication; time passed in this way, as the hours passed the guards finished their training and dispersed to attend to other matters, however, that particular guard continued training, it was as if he did not know fatigue, on the other hand, the young man in the room continued to observe him and although most would find this constant observation very boring, the young man did not seem bored at all, in fact it was as if he was watching something particularly interesting, so much so that from time to time his gaze would unfocus a bit as if he was contemplating something, at one point while the young man was still watching the guard a rhythmic tapping was heard from the door of the room followed by the soft voice of a woman.
TOC TOC TOC TOC
"Young master, it's time for lunch", after saying it, the woman outside the room remained silent without making any additional noise, and although a few minutes passed without hearing any answer, she did not show the slightest sign of impatience; she was a rather beautiful 17 year old girl, she had a delicate face with thin eyebrows and a pair of light brown eyes, in contrast to that her hair was dark brown and extended loosely from her head to the end of her back, her figure was well proportioned having a pronounced bust and a slim waist, she was wearing a maid's uniform of a traditional black and white style that seemed to highlight her figure even more.
After a while the door to the room opened and out came a young man, he was tall and about 1,80 meters tall, pale skinned and with a slim build he looked to be only 14 years old, his face was quite attractive and his dark blue eyes stood out, his golden colored hair was long and reached his shoulders; he was wearing black silk pants, black shoes and a loose fitting long sleeved white t-shirt. After leaving the room he did not seem to notice the maid's attractiveness at all as she spoke without changing his expression.
"lead the way."
The maid nodded and replied.
"as you command, young master"
and immediately led the young man to the main dining room, when they arrived the table was already mostly occupied, there were six seats in total and four of them were occupied, three of them by teenagers whose ages varied, two boys of 16 and 17 years old and a girl of 15 years old, the remaining seat was occupied by a woman of 38 years old, Upon seeing them seated the young man walked to his seat, took it and then kept silent, from the moment he arrived until he sat down he maintained an indifferent expression, after the initial look he did not pay attention to those who were already at the table as if the latter did not exist at all, upon observing how he behaved, the people at the table reacted in different ways, the 17 year old only frowned slightly for a moment but kept his composure, the 16 year old on the other hand, adopted an unsightly expression, looked angrily at the young man who took a seat and let out a cold snort before looking away, the 15 year old did not seem at all surprised by such behavior, she looked at him for a moment before losing interest and looking away, on the other hand, the woman frowned deeply and opened her mouth trying to say something but after a while she simply sighed with a sad and tired expression.
Everyone at the table waited in silence, after a few minutes footsteps were heard, from one of the nearby aisles a middle-aged man approached the table, he had golden hair and a beautiful face, and like the young man who had just arrived in the dining room his eyes were dark blue, although he was a little older he did not show many signs of old age, his figure was robust and he had a firm gait, he walked straight to the main seat and sat down, he clapped his hands twice and the surrounding servants began to serve the food, after which those at the table began to eat.
As the meal went on the place was silent, with only the occasional sound of the cutlery coming into contact with the plates, after a while the voice of the middle aged man was heard.
"Aldous, how are your lessons going?"
Hearing this the young man who had arrived shortly before the middle-aged man paused, took the napkin in his lap and calmly wiped his lips, then turned his head to the middle-aged man and said.
"Father, my lessons are fine, although with the recent changes in the schedule I found myself a bit lost, I have recently gotten used to it."
The middle-aged man nodded upon hearing this and was silent for a moment in contemplation; Aldous said nothing more, he withdrew his gaze and is about to continue eating when he heard the man say.
"I have been told that lately you seem to be interested in the training that the guards go through."
Aldous turned his gaze back to his father and was silent for a moment, thinking a bit before he said.
"I am thinking of taking on some guards, I wish to travel to outside and gain some experience."
The moment she said those words the place fell silent and even the sound of the cutlery disappeared, an expression of surprise could be seen on the face of the middle-aged man, the others at the table had expressions of shock and disbelief.
The woman seemed to think she had misheard, she cast a glance at Aldous and asked.
"do you want to take a trip abroad?"
Aldous didn't even look at her and completely ignored her question as he spoke to his father
"while I have learned a lot in my lessons, ultimately, they are theories, practical experience makes an integral part of my training, or at least that is what the tutors have said."
The middle-aged man calmed his expression and kept silent, Aldous and the rest could only remain silent and continue eating. Truth be told, Aldous was aware of why everyone was so shocked by the fact that he wanted to go on a trip, but he simply had no intention of explaining himself in more detail; in the morning when he was watching the guards training from his room a specific guard caught his attention, but it was not because he was outstanding, in fact he was average either in looks, physique or skills, the reason was in fact, that the moment he saw him he felt that if he approached him something good would happen to him; this event of course would be dismissed as a delusion by an ordinary person, however, Aldous is not an ordinary person.
(I am different), he said to himself as he ate in silence.