After the grueling battle, Ezio reached their home that was located a little bit on the outskirts of Moonvale. It would take him approximately an hour to walk back and forth because it was expensive to own a horse. From a distance, he could already see the house that was surrounded by a flower garden as well as a vegetable garden where they grow most of their food.
He pushed the wooden fence door that would always sway back and forth every time it was touched. Ezio shook his head and noted to himself that he should fix it before it completely fells. The wooden door of their simple abode creaked open with his push. The sound was loud enough to wake anyone who was in a deep sleep, luckily, they don't have any neighbors so it was alright.
"Is that you nephew?" a booming voice came from the kitchen. Still holding the full bag, he went to the kitchen and saw his uncle cooking.
"I thought I was going to cook?" he placed the bag on the table and brought out the things he bought.
"You don't have to worry about that. Of course, I can't let you cook when you already went to shopping district to buy what we needed here in the house," his uncle stopped mixing the pot and instead patted the teen on the shoulder then he spotted the bag that contained his guilty pleasure. "Oh, you were able to buy it! That's great! This is great!" he was about to grab the bag but it was snatched away by Ezio.
"You can't and besides you are still cooking, we can eat this later while drinking a cup of coffee," he grinned as he hid the bag of pastries behind his back. "Since you volunteered to cook, I'll leave you be for now." He rushed out of the kitchen because his uncle might snatch back the bag.
Jagan raised a brow at his nephew's words and before he could reprimand him, the teen was already out of the door. He sighed and instead finished what he was cooking so that he can eat the cookies his nephew bought.
The two of them ate in a peaceful silence and after their hearty lunch, Ezio finally brought out the bag and opened it. He observed his uncle's expression and surely, his eyes were wide and sparkling at what he saw. The cookies were given to him while the other kind of bread was left for Ezio.
It was a comfortable silence which made the teen eager to tell the story to his uncle and he was not disappointed because Jagan noticed that his nephew became fidgety all of a sudden. "What's the matter?"
At his uncle's words, he could finally let out the excitement that was building up and thus came the question. "The owner of that shop knows you, are the two of you friends?"
Jagan shook his head, "We aren't exactly friends but I can say that I'm already acquainted with him since I have been to his shop a couple of times now and that man is a little bit weird." He stroked his chin before continuing, "and according to him, he only came to this place a couple of months ago but I only discovered his shop a few days ago, isn't that weird?" He looked at his nephew and instead of a frown he was surprised to see that this teen was smiling at him widely. "What happened to you?"
"Nothing and that man is not weird well maybe a little," he laughed then grinned like he knew some kind of secret that his uncle doesn't know.
"What is it? Just spill it out, I don't like being left in the dark." He demanded with a serious face, even his cookies were now forgotten because of his nephew.
Ezio was a bit surprised at how fast his uncle's mood changes so he decided to just tell him, "Well, that shop owner uses magic! And I could guess that he is a mage, isn't that amazing?" He exclaimed in excitement. His grin reached from ear to ear because he felt that he discovered something big but his uncle retained his cold face, clearly, he was not amused at Ezio's statement.
The once happy atmosphere turned awkward the longer Jagan remained silent and the grin on Ezio's face slowly faded.
"I've told you so many times that mages don't come to places like this. They only stay in the capital and would visit neighboring towns but the chances that they come to a small town like ours is zero. That shop owner might only be able to use some basic spells but he isn't a mage, since it is beneath a mage's reputation to come in a secluded place like Moonvale and even bake cookies to sell." He slowly explained because he did not want his nephew to be disappointed.
Since Ezio was a child, he was already interested in magic but sadly he did not have enough mana to manifest even the simplest spells let alone becoming a mage but even so, he remained fascinated with the idea of power and magic. He did not stop reading books about magic and listening to stories about mages which in his uncle's opinion was not healthy any longer. This obsession might someday hurt him if he discovers that not all mages were righteous.
Ezio narrowed his eyes towards his uncle, "Uncle, why do you keep talking about mages like you knew them personally?" it was a question he was dying to ask his uncle because he noticed that his uncle's expression would always become gloomy when the topic was about mages or magic.
"All I knew about them are things I heard when I was traveling and it is not good for you to be fixated too much on them. Why don't you look for other things you can do instead of talking about mage or magic all the time?" His words came naturally like he had practiced it for so many times already.
The teen knew that his uncle was avoiding the topic so he let it slide for now but it doesn't mean that he'll forget it. "Alright, alright, I relent!" He raised his hand. His uncle was about to speak but the moment that his mouth opened a cookie was stuffed in and he could only give his nephew a glare.
The next morning, Jagan was rudely awoken by the loud 'bang' of a pan being hit by a wooden ladle beside his bed. He opened his eyes and even let out a string of curses. "Do you really need to do that every morning?" He rubbed his head before looking at his nephew who was currently enjoying the show.
"It's to make sure that you won't oversleep because our vegetable garden needs some attention today and I found a letter on our door step, I was not sure if I should open or not and figured out that it is better that you should look at it." He handed him the letter before he left the room to give his uncle some privacy while he read the letter.
Jagan stiffened when he saw the letter that his nephew had and even hesitated to take it but he did not want his nephew to get worried so he still took it reluctantly. He stared at the letter for a while before he decided to open it. Even though there was no name from the sender, he already knew who sent the letter.
He trembled and the veins on his neck and arms were bulging at how tight he was holding that piece of paper. His lips were set in a straight line as he crumpled the paper. Jagan took several deep breaths before he could finally calm down before he stood up from his bed. He rummaged through the cabinet and when he found what he was looking for, he went straight to the window and directly burned the abominable piece of paper. He would not let those people enter his nor his nephew's life, never, he promised himself.
At the kitchen, Ezio was busy cooking for their breakfast oblivious to the calamity that was brought by that simple letter. His life will completely change in ways that he never imagined.
"What's for breakfast today?" he heard his uncle's voice coming from the doorway and when he looked at his direction, he was already seated and ready to eat at the dining table. Ezio's forehead scrunched up but he could only shake his head in disappointment because of his uncle.
"Meat stew since I bought some yesterday and we have left over vegetables," he simply explained while he was scooping a generous amount of the stew and carefully placing it inside the bowl. He then carefully carried the two bowls towards the table and placed one of it in front of his uncle then the other on the opposite side of the table. He also served the cooked rice before he too took his seat.
Before he could even savor the flavor of the meat stew he cooked, his uncle suddenly asked a question which surprised him.
"Are you happy and satisfied at living in a place like this?"