(Flynn's POV)
Making my way back through the garden, I began to ponder over a bunch of things.
The videogame, "The Lone Hero" and its sequel in the form of the novel "The Lone Swordsman" was something both I and my brother knew like the back of our hands.
The more I think about it though, the more I feel like this wasn't just a coincidence.
I remember searching a bunch of forums for guides when I first started the game but my search results came back as 'These Videogame Cannot Be Found On Our Website' every time I did.
I even asked people if they'd ever seen or played the game on various social media apps but no one responded. As of then, I'd just thought it was a discarded game from an indie developer who probably took it down as soon as he uploaded it.
That was the only logical conclusion I could come up with even though I still felt my deduction was a bit flawed.
"Come to think of it, Liam…"
'Maybe I should stop calling him Liam and start calling him Aiden. It'll take some getting used to though' I thought to myself as I kept walking.
I was now almost out of the garden and even though it was really beautiful, it looked very poorly maintained. I knew the reason for that.
Anyway, I remember Liam, I mean Aiden talking about how he never found another copy for "The Lone Swordsman" even though he visited quite a lot of bookstores.
He wanted to get his own copy because he apparently found it on an empty bench after he got off his part-time job and decided to read it to pass time till he could go to the next job but instead, he actually got to his other job quite late that day because he'd apparently been so engrossed in the novel that he lost track of time.
In a hurry, he just took the novel along with him but he tried to return it several times by placing it back on said bench but even after a few weeks, no one claimed it so he just concluded that the owner probably never wanted it again. That's how it came to be in his possession.
Aiden Belmont, the protagonist of "The Lone Swordsman" is the eldest son of the declining Belmont family and the only person to be able to stand up against the Demon King after he resurrected after several millenniums.
'Several millenniums in the videogame yes but about 8 to 10 years from now according to the novel…' I mused to myself.
Flynn Belmont however is the younger brother of Aiden Belmont and the youngest son of the Belmont Family.
In contrast to his talented older brother, Flynn was a coward. A guy who only had good looks as his redeeming feature. He was never originally like that though.
Even though he had similar mana pools to his older brother, he could never fully utilize it because the concepts surrounding the usage of mana was something he never really understood, hence slowing his progress and fueling his inferiority complex.
The last straw was when his older brother awakened the very powerful gravity magic their ancestors were known for but he only awakened telekinesis magic.
Although telekinesis was a powerful magic, Flynn lacked the both the mental aptitude and mana capacity to fully utilize it due to his already weak mind.
'Not me though…'
Mana cores were graded from the lowest to the highest as: D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS and EX Ranks.
Each rank had a low, mid and high-tier stage. Flynn had a high-tier D-rank mana core while his brother Aiden, had a low-tier B-rank core.
Although telekinesis was a rare ability, due to his low mana core and his weak mental capacity Flynn felt like he wouldn't amount to anything even if he practiced it and proceeded to take his life.
It also didn't help that other young nobles from other families ridiculed him for it even though he was from The Great Belmont Family.
Their bloodlines were said to be among the best but in recent years, they'd been declining in both status and power due to their descendants not having similar power levels to their ancestors.
This was a dog eat dog world and as a result, the support that was given to their family was withdrawn gradually till they were just a shadow of their former glory. This was evident from the way their mansion which seemed like a luxurious place looked quite poorly maintained.
Normally, noble families had a bunch of businesses that they could fall back on even though they lost their power. That way, they could maintain a bit of their status and gradually look for a way to regain their power but the Belmont Family had nothing of such.
'Darn those muscle-headed ancestors of mine' I inwardly cursed.
I was now past the lawn and close to the doors of the mansion.
I looked around a bit as I walked forward while slowing my pace to get a good look of my surroundings.
There were three cars parked under the canopy in one corner. The lawn however itself was full of overgrown weeds and tall grasses peeking out of the pavements of the path walks. It still felt beautiful by my standards but very unkempt nevertheless.
'Yeah, compared to our previous home, this is miles better…'
I eventually reached the doors of the mansion and opened it to make my way to my mother's room.
From Flynn's memories, I could easily remember the route I needed to take through the mansion to get there.
After walking for about a minute, I stood still for a few seconds in front of my mum's door and took a deep breath to ready myself for whatever harsh reprimanding and scolding I was going to get.
'Flynn you buffoon! Just how weak were you to try to kill yourself' I inwardly reprimanded myself.
-Knock knock knock
I tapped on the door three times while awaiting a response from the other side and I didn't have to wait long because almost immediately, I heard a calm feminine, soothing and elegant voice from the other side telling me to come in. I took one more deep breath before I opened the door and stepped into her room.
As soon as I stepped in, I saw my mum, a strikingly beautiful otherworldly woman with silver hair with just like mine but a darker shade of green which cascaded down her back into soft tresses.
She seemed to be in her thirties and was sitting by the window side while the white curtains fluttered near her. She also seemed to be painting something on the canvas in front of her.
As she raised her head from the painting to look at me, her light amber colored eyes locked onto mine while I stared back at her with complex emotions in my eyes.
She might not have been my real mother in my last life but she was my mother here and I felt the love I had for her from my memories.
Flynn may have been weak minded but he truly loved his mum. She was now also my mum. After staring for a while, I tried to say something but I couldn't. I felt choked up so I just resorted to lowering my head and my gaze to the floor. Her eyes seemed to contain a hint of anger but mostly sadness.
As I stared at the ground thinking of what to say, I heard the sound of her getting up from the chair she was sitting on as she walked towards me with gentle steps.
After standing a few inches directly in front of me, she stood there for a while before she finally decided to speak. I tightly closed my eyes shut as I expected her to seriously scold me.
"Flynn, look at me" she said, almost in a commanding tone.
I slowly raised my head readying myself to meet her gaze head on and take whatever scolding I was going to get but instead, my eyes looked up to see tears streaming from her eyes. The otherworldly beautiful woman was crying. My mum was crying and it was all my fault.
"M-Mum… Please don't cry. It was all my faul- " I tried to say as I was flailing my arms but I was immediately pulled into a warm and tight embrace.
"Why did you that Flynn? You could've really died!".
"…"
-Sniff.
"What would I have done. Did you have any idea the pain and sorrow I or even anyone else in this family would've been in. Promise me! Promise me that you won't do anything like this again" she said as she continued to sob and hug me in a very tight but warm embrace.
I could feel the motherly love from her hug and warmth as I also clutched her back and buried my head in her shoulders as I began to feel overwhelmed with so many emotions.
It may have been just because of Flynn's memories, no, my memories and also my memories of my previous mother and how much I'd craved a motherly hug for the longest time but I made a promise with all of my heart as I spoke.
"I promise Mum. I promise to never do it again".
We held on to each other for quite a long time, my mum's sob echoing through the room as I melted into her warm motherly embrace.