As Sabrina trotted off in the hallway, happily humming a tune to herself, she soon bumped into someone a half-head taller than her. When she looked up, she was struck by fear—it was Gregory. He didn't appear happy when he saw her. In fact, he looked annoyed.
"Sabrina, why aren't you working?" Gregory said sternly, clearly annoyed at her for "ditching" her duties.
"!" Sabrina froze up, yelling a small yelp. Her previous happy self vanished within an instant, as Gregory was a person she feared. Remembering her gift from Fenris a short while ago, she mustered up the courage to stand up for herself.
"I...I..." But Gregory interrupted her mid-sentence, and he wasn't very patient either. It was clear to see that Gregory treated Sabrina like a slave.
"Know your place, slave!" Gregory, out of anger, punched Sabrina in the eye. The punch was loud enough that it made Fenris jump onto his feet from his bed. The subsequent crying was recognizable.
A burst of adrenaline hit him as he opened the door. He saw down the hallway that Sabrina had been hit in the face and was on the floor crying. Fenris, seeing this behavior enacted by his so-called "brother", couldn't take it anymore.
As his face filled with anger, he clenched his fist. All that anger from the harassment he had endured since before he could walk culminated in this moment. He was done. He had had it with Gregory's sh*t, and he wanted to prove that.
"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HER!" Fenris shouted as he ran towards Gregory as fast as he could. Even for a 7-year-old, the way he dashed at his own brother like that showed he had a natural killing instinct, even if he wasn't aiming to kill him. Fenris leapt into the air and punched Gregory's face.
Due to how fast things boiled down, Gregory barely had time to react and block Fenris in time, so he took the full brunt of the punch and was knocked down on the floor. A loud "THUD" could be heard downstairs, shocking his sister and father. Both ran upstairs as soon as they heard the noise, while Fenris turned to Sabrina, who was still hurting.
"Are you alright?" Fenris almost shouted, as his attention was now focused on Sabrina. He examined her face and saw a black eye and a red area around it. It seemed that Gregory had hit her pretty hard, which made Fenris even madder.
Sabrina, still shaking from the pain, placed her hand on Fenris's arm. It seemed that Sabrina's body shivered, and Fenris's warmth helped her calm down. However, when asked if she was alright, she couldn't honestly say she was. After all, she received a black eye injury.
"No...I'm not." Sabrina shook her head while replying softly to him. This kind of injury warrants immediate medical attention. Even Fenris knew that. He would help her up to her feet while Marcos and Fenris' little sister, Liliana (the family just calls her Lily for short), entered the scene.
Marcos was shocked by what had happened, seeing Gregory knocked out cold and Fenris still standing. While he deeply loved his son, this kind of situation immediately called for questioning.
"Son, what happened here?" Marcos asked in a serious tone, still appearing shocked, as he had never seen anything like this occur within his own family before. Fenris's sister, Liliana, hid behind her father, scared after seeing what had happened.
"Me and Gregory got into a fight." Fenris responded, not seeing any point in beating around the bush. He then added, "Gregory hit Sabrina first, soon after she exited my room after I had given her a gift." Fenris shifted his head to show the damage done to her face, leaving Lily and Marcos at a loss for words.
"So, you were trying to defend Sabrina here, I assume?" Marcos asked, turning his eyes over to Gregory, who was beginning to regain consciousness.
"Mm-hmm," Fenris said. "I defended Sabrina because I care about her, unlike my 'brother'." In the latter half of that sentence, Fenris's tone got rougher as he turned his eyes sharply to look at Gregory face-to-face, then returned to his father.
"I see." Marcos, now understanding what had happened, turned his full gaze over to Gregory, who gulped at what was to happen next.
"Gregory." Marcos said it in a stern, serious voice. "Come with me; you will be taught some manners for what you did to Miss Sabrina."
Gregory froze up for a moment as he tried to speak for himself in defense. "B-But she wasn't working like she was supposed to-"
"Enough!" Marcos yelled back, silencing Gregory. Gregory winced slightly as fear bubbled up inside him. "Son, what you have done is an embarrassment to the clan of mages, and you should be ashamed of yourself for it."
Marcos grabbed Gregory's cloth and dragged him across the carpeted floor. Gregory attempted to struggle to break free, but as he was still a child physically, all his efforts were in vain.
In the end, Fenris felt happy. He felt really good about what he had done. While he may have acted violently toward his own brother, he had a valid reason for doing so. After all, Gregory has been treating Fenris like shit since he was an infant, so getting back at him like this was a very pleasant feeling.
Fenris' smile widened with an almost sadistic grin on his face for a moment. However, he came to his senses soon afterwards, as he then carried Sabrina on his back to his room. When they got there, he placed her on his bed and let her rest. Fenris was glad to know she was safe and sound and away from Gregory.
Sometime later...
Seeing how his brothers get formal education from their tutors and how he is denied such a privilege, Fenris got his hands on the numerous books found in the basement library of the mansion. There was no one minding the store there, so why waste such an opportunity?
Fenris began to read the titles in the library, which had thousands of them. This was quite large for a lord to possess all to himself. Through this, he studied magic and how it worked. He didn't know whether or not he could use magic himself, but he remained enthusiastic as he read.
Fenris also studied the history of the nation he lived in, the Holy Kingdom of Asura. The Asura Kingdom was one of the known world's great powers and had abundant, rich land. It was said that Asura would never be hungry because of how much farmland there is for everyone, and it boasted a population of around 50 million people.
As Fenris studied these topics on his own, he became curious about trying magic for himself. He used a spell book for basic and intermediate-level spells, as he needed to work up to some of the more advanced forms of magic and he needed to start somewhere.
"So, according to this book, all I have to do is say the name of the spell and let my instincts do the rest of the work for me. Got it." Fenris read off the text as he prepared to cast a very basic spell, Incendio (Fireball).
Fenris used objects to create stairs. He prepared to cast the spell out of the window on the top floor of the mansion, not wanting to accidentally start a fire inside the house. He held out his hand, speaking the incantation.
"Incendio!" Fenris exclaimed. He could feel mana rushing to his hand, which formed a fireball right in the palm of his hand. Something extraordinary happened...
"Huh?! It's blue?" Fenris was surprised. Even better was a blue fireball than an orange or red one! He studied that magic depends on talent, so he must've had magical potential!
After the spell finished forming, Fenris fired off the fireball, expecting it to float off into the distance. However, instead, a stream of fire was released from the fireball, expecting it to float off into the distance. However, instead, a stream of fire was released. Did he do the spell wrong, perhaps? He had hardly any time to think about that, as the amount of power he released at once caused him to fall off his feet and fall onto the ground. It didn't hurt that much, though.
"Hold on, did I just release a stream of blue fire?" Fenris asked himself, disbelieving he had actually done it. To know that even a simple spell could produce such remarkable results as this made him very excited and happy. He quickly got up on his feet, dusting himself off, while his brother Roland ran into the room to see if Fenris was all right.
"Fenris! Are you alright?" Roland called out, wondering if Fenris was all right after hearing the giant stream of blue flames raging from outside.
Fenris turned to Roland and said, "Yeah, I'm fine, Roland." And almost instantly, Fenris's excitement got the better of him.
"Did you see what I just did?! I released blue flames from my hand! Does that mean I have a high talent for magic?" Fenris said it in an enthusiastic way and almost imploringly asked Roland He wanted to know he wasn't just hallucinating.
Roland had indeed seen a stream of blue flames release from the window. However, he never thought Fenris could do such a thing. His eyes widened for a moment when Fenris openly admitted he had done it.
"Yes, I saw blue flames released from the top floor—wait, you're saying you did that?" Roland said, trying to confirm with Fenris himself.
"Mm-hmm!" Fenris smiled big. He was definitely proud of himself, and he waited for his brother's reaction.
"That's...that's great! It's astonishing that you can use magic that well at that age. We should have Father get you a tutor, so you can hone that magic to your full potential." Roland replied, his expression relaxing. Being alone with Fenris like this meant he could express his true feelings about him. He truly viewed Fenris in a bright light. Seeing him use magic at such an impressive level at his age only heightened his respect for him.
"A tutor...?" Fenris was confused at first, but after giving it a moment, he realized what Roland meant. He widened his eyes out of excitement as Fenris practically jumped up and down.
"Yes! Get Father over here so I can show him!" Truthfully, Fenris wanted to show his father that he could do magic. Another reason for it was that Fenris thought Marcos hadn't seen it happen, so he wanted to prove it to his father.
"Right on it." Roland responded, exiting the room and heading downstairs to get Marcos. Within a few minutes, he returned with Marcos. Marcos seemed curious, implying that Roland must have told him what had happened.
"So, Fenris, you say you launched a stream of blue flames from the window?" Marcos asked just for confirmation.
"Yup!" Fenris replied enthusiastically. He wanted to get started immediately, so he turned himself around and hand-signed for his father and Roland to come up to the window and watch Fenris perform a spell.
He reached his hand out, concentrating his mana into his hand, while speaking out the spell incantation exactly as he had done before. "Incendio!"
From Fenris' hand, a blue ball of flame formed. He adjusted it slightly upward, then released an abundance of mana into a powerful stream of fire that extended several meters.
"I don't believe it." Roland responded, with both his and Marcos' jaws dropping after seeing what Fenris had done. They were both very impressed, and now Marcos understood why Fenris was so excited about it.
"I see you weren't lying when you said you had potential, son." Marcos adjusted his expression, then spoke to Fenris with a soft smile on his face. He was impressed with what his son had accomplished in just a single spell. He seemed convinced that getting his son a tutor didn't seem like such an awful idea anymore.
"Alright, Fenris. I'll find you a magical tutor as soon as possible. In the meantime, keep studying your magic. My only rule is that you don't damage the mansion while doing so, alright?" Marcos replied, placing his hand on Fenris' shoulder and letting off a small chuckle. He was proud of his son and promised to find a magic tutor as soon as possible. However, he knew it might take some time, as tutors lately have been difficult to come by.
To Fenris, all this meant was that now he could learn the same way his brothers did. He had accomplished his goal, but there was one thing left undiscussed on his agenda.
"When I am old enough, can I enroll at Arcana, father?" Fenris asked his father, whom he knew had the connections necessary to make it happen as soon as he was old enough to. Arcana's entry age was 12, and Fenris was currently 8 and coming up to 9. So he had a little more than three more years to go.
"The elite magic academy? Are you sure about this, Fenris?" Marcos asked with a concerned look on his face. Entering the Arcana Academy was difficult. There were two ways to secure your spot as a student there: 1) You do well in the written and practical exams, and 2) You pay an expensive tuition fee to enter. The latter is more popular with nobles than commoners due to the obvious difference in wealth. However, the former option is still emphasized, and the majority of people opt for this option anyway because they wish to prove themselves.
"Yes, I am, Father." Fenris nodded at his father, knowing he wanted to go there. In fact, discovering that he had this much potential made him want to enroll there in the first place. He wanted to hone his magical abilities to the fullest and make friends along the way.
Marcos replied, "Alright, when you come of age, I'll make it happen." There wasn't much he could do to stop his son, it seemed. Because he loved him so much, he was put in a position where he could hardly refuse his wishes, so he had no choice but to agree.
Fenris was very happy with his father's answer as he jumped off the steps and onto the floor. He was looking forward to meeting this magic tutor of his when his father found the best one to train him.