The sensation of having played a real match of Echoes was still vibrating through Olivier's body. He might have lost one match, but the sensation and the thrill of the battlefield had still not gone down in his blood.
He was overexcited and it showed in his footsteps. He could not contain his happy bounce.
"I am a sorry young man. I talked about your condition to my master without your permission. But I had a feeling you would appreciate it more if I was the one to bring this topic up with the adults and, -"
The butler was saying things that went inside Oliver's ear from one side and out of his other ear. Focusing on anything but his game right now was too difficult for Olivier.
"There is no need for you to be worried. Both, Master Williams, and his wife are good people. They never agreed with your father on principles, but I am sure they will not shun a young life like you."
The butler tried to make Olivier feel better. He, along with everyone else, was making this situation more complicated than it needed to be.
First, Olivier was still alive and well but even the news had pinned him as dead. His feelings were all over the place for now.
"Well, in you go. Remember kid, just be yourself and I am sure master and mistress will let you stay here for the time being."
Somehow, Olivier doubted this very much. He did not have a lot of good memories of his time in this house. But then again, this house was a place Olivier had felt restricted in.
"You can come in Adolf. Have you brought the child you told us about?"
His uncle sounded much older than before and Olivier shivered when he heard his voice. Memories flooded in his mind without Oliver's consent but he shook them off.
His precious game was the only thing that should be occupying his mind, not these useless thoughts.
"Go in kid. And I hope you do your best."
Olivier took in a deep breath and opened the door to his uncle's room. It was time to face the music.
His uncle had aged considerably since the last time Olivier had seen him.
The seemingly imposing man was gone, now replaced by a fragile-looking elder. Looking at him now, Olivier could not help but flinch and recall all the arguments he had with his uncle.
His aunt on the other hand looked no different from the day he had left. She was beautiful but her eyes were as cold as before.
"Come closer, brat. Let me have a good look at your face."
His aunt called him closer and Olivier felt his body respond. Before he knew it, his face was in his aunt's hands and she seemed to be observing him.
"Hmm, you look like your father. I guess Adolf was not lying when he said that you were Olivier's son. You do look a lot like my nephew. Even the look in your eyes is the same as that brat."
Olivier's aunt examined him up and down. She did this until his uncle decided to interfere and finally made his aunt let go of him.
Once Olivier had calmed down and been let go of, his uncle coughed into his fist and looked Olivier in the eyes.
A long time ago, Olivier hated when his uncle looked at him like this. It made him feel smaller and his anxiety got the best of him. But it was a time that was long gone by and Olivier no longer felt the same nervousness when his uncle looked at him.
"I know it is a tough time for you, kid. But since we are your family, I need to tell this you. Your father, my nephew, is dead so you have nowhere to go. However, since you are family, we have decided to take you in."
His uncle did not sound happy. Heck, his aunt did not look happy. And finally, Olivier was not happy to be with them as well.
He might not have lived as lavishly as these people did, but Olivier had been happy with the life he had carved out. His instincts would not allow any interference in the meantime.
"Look kid, we are as troubled as you are but we must protect you until you turn into an adult. So, it is either our home where you will not lack anything or foster care where you will not be able to get precious resources for yourself. The choice is yours to make."
His aunt sure had a way with words. But Olivier knew that his aunt was right in this regard. He would have to live with them if he wanted to continue gaming in peace.
"Alright, I get it. So, since my father is dead, you both will adopt me until I am 18? Then, does that mean I am free to do what I want to?"
The look of disgust on his aunt's face was worth laughing at. She had never been good with independent kids. She was a controlling human who needed to know what was going on in her domain.
But his uncle seemed to have changed over the years. He no longer cowered in front of his aunt's anger and he even held his ground.
"Olivier, I know you think you know what you are doing, but you do need to listen to us adults from time to time. We can discuss what your boundaries are later. For now, you should get settled in your room. Adolf, can you take him up? I need to talk with my lovely wife here."
His aunt's expression was sour. She had always had very narrow thinking and Olivier was sure she did not like him.
But she would take care of him for publicity's sake. His original family was too 'high-profiled' not to care about public opinion.
"Young master Olivier, there is no need for you to worry about what is going to happen to you now. I hope you have a calm and stress-free stay in our home."
Adolf spoke all this with a calm voice. Being with him was calming and it reminded Olivier of his childhood. He was happy to be with Adolf.
........
As it turned out, his childhood bedroom was the same place Olivier was given. The room had changed a lot from his time in this house and Olivier could see that the curtains and even the furniture were new.
But it did not compare to the PC that made its way into the corner of the room.
The first thing Olivier did once Adolf left him alone was not to check out the room, but to check out his PC and how comfortable he felt while adjusting to it.
The power source and data cable seemed to be connected and Olivier switched on the PC to check for the internet speed.
It was not the highest but it was decent for now. However, this internet speed would not be able to sustain a high-intensity match for long.
The motherboard was decent but the graphic card would need to be changed soon. That GTX 3040 was hardly going to cut it for the bare minimum.
Now, Echoes was not a game that required a lot of RAM or high configurations, but the performance of the players surely began to lack lower specifications.
It would not be a problem for now, but Olivier was sure the difference would begin to show once he reached the higher ranks and began to participate in tournaments.
"Let us worry about it all later. For now, I should check for any passwords and other setbacks I can experience."
The PC turned on without much problem and it also connected to the internet. But as expected, the speed of that connection was not what Olivier was used to.
He quickly went to the Echoes website and downloaded the newest patch. It had been years since he had played the beginner stages so Olivier was a little excited.
In the meantime, he decided to play other FPS shooters to get familiar with the PC controls.
And once he did begin playing around, another problem reared its ugly head up. It was the lack of compatibility between Olivier and his hardware.
Now, do not get him wrong. His keyboard and mouse were made up of the best material and he was sure that they were costly as well. But they just were not made for his current hand size, or optimized for gaming.
Especially the mouse.
It is only a right click and a left click with a scroll in between. The lack of specialized extra buttons hurt Olivier's gaming capabilities.
'Yet another thing I will have to worry about later. For now, should I swipe the controller from Diantha's room so that I can play?'
Olivier contemplated this idea before scrapping it altogether. It was too much hassle for a little amount of pay-off. Olivier was not sure if all this was even worth it at this stage in his carrier.
Once the game loaded for real, Olivier lost himself to the gameplay and character customization screen. It had been some time since he had been here so he needed to pay attention to his skill set and level.
Naturally, after his first attempt at customizing his character skills and equipment weapons, Olivier had to use his secret technique - he had to start again because he made a mistake.
He put too many skill points in his speed, while his endurance suffered. It was a good amount of time wasted for him.
In the end, Olivier was only able to complete his character customization before the day was over and he was being called down for dinner.
Olivier did not want to lose his precious game since he had not even done anything yet. But the food was a necessity.
And as much as Olivier hated to admit it, he needed to be on good terms with his family now. They were his gateway into the gaming world.
This dining table was tense and Diantha seemed to be the only one who had an appetite. She was also the one most confused by Olivier's presence.
"So, who are you? You have been here for a while now but I am sure I did not see you before today. My friend Mirai, also said that you look a lot like Olivier Williams. Ah, I do not think you know who he is. He is a professional Echoes coach. Echoes as in the game we played today. According to Mirai, the coach was good but he died yesterday and-"
*cough*
His aunt stopped Diantha before she could finish speaking. Cold eyes looked at Olivier and Diantha at the same time. But as expected, Diantha did not notice her mother's murderous look.
"Diantha, you should not speak so much at the dinner table. I am sure our guest would rather eat their food than answer all your questions. Besides, I will answer any question you have later."
Diantha opened her mouth to ask again before she closed it. She seemed to have sensed that her mother was not in a good mood today.
She looked toward Olivier but the teen did not look back at Diantha. He also hurriedly made his way back to his room once dinner was finished. He did not want to be around for the awkward conversation that was about to take place between mother and daughter.
"Mother, what is going on here? Did you adopt a child and not tell me? You promised me you would not do anything reckless to get a son."
Diantha spoke up once Olivier was gone. She looked up at her mother with a patient expression but her mother had a blank look on her face.
"Well, I guess it is time for you to know what is happening Diantha. Hurry up and take a seat because it will take you some time to digest everything you are about to hear."
In the end, it was her father who told Diantha what was going on. And she had a complicated look on her face once he finished speaking.
She had suddenly gained a foster brother she never wanted.