Now that the Earl and his guards had left, the atmosphere in the house had began to lighten. Harald had returned to his old jolly giant self, he moved to take a seat next to the girl, kicking his feet up on the dining table. He quickly regretted this decision after receiving a disapproving glare from Erza.
Erza stomped over to Kayn grabbing him by the ear, nearly ripping it off his head while leading him to a chair next to the stoked fire. Kisara, Jayce and Ranni started to shelter their faces as to not catch any residual wrath from their mother.
"How stupid can you be child, it's your first day at the school and your already being sent home like a delinquent!"
It had been the first time Kayn had been punished for his actions by a parent. His previous life his mother died in birth so she wasn't around to punish his behaviour. It was clear that the lack of a mother figure left scars on his emotional maturity and empathy.
His father was wasn't much of a moral compass either being a thief, conman and shake down artist who never had time to pay any attention to his son other than to use him as a distraction or tool to pull on the heartstrings of widows for hand outs.
'I wonder if all mothers are this terrifying.'
"I just made a joke, it's not my fault the snowflake just couldn't handle it."
"Your interpretation of jokes is just berating other people for your amusement. This might work with family and friends that can tell you are joking but how is someone supposed to know you are
joking when they have no idea who you are or what your like!"
"Yeah I see that now but give me a break, it was obviously a joke."
"Clearly, Alfred didn't take it as a joke. This is your biggest problem. That class clown act is going to get you or someone else into some serious trouble one day. If Harald wasn't here, the Earl was demanding for us to pay reparations!"
Kayn knew she was right, it was a wake up call to how his actions can cause harm to those he cares about. Before he had no one to care about, his father was a worthless drunk who barely paid him any attention, but now he had a family that loved him and his selfishness could ruin that.
"Your right, I'm sorry. I'll apologize."
Erza nodded, satisfied by still stern. "Good, Now go change your clothes, they are soaked with water from the snow" Kayn picked himself up to go to his bedroom
"Also, while your suspended your going to take over everyone's chores in the house. Maybe that will engrain this lesson into your mind!"
Kayn opened his mouth to complain but this was quickly shut down by Erza's face screaming "don't push your luck." Instead he took a deep breath and continued his miserable walk to the bedroom.
Now he was alone he started to realise how much he had changed from before coming to this world. His cold heart had softened slightly, here he didn't need to be constantly on guard from someone taking advantage of him. He had a stable home with a loving family.
*'Is this what life would have been like if my mother didn't die in birth. Dad told me once he had a good job and a happy life before my mothers passing. He always blamed me for his loss. I've always been cursed, but maybe this life will be different.'*
Before he started changing, Kisara and Ranni barged into the room cornering him with cheeky grins on their face. Kisara blocked the door so he couldn't escape as Ranni got right up in his face.
"What's this about you and Sara." she asked with a playful tone.
"Ah, shut up we talked one time and now they think we are getting married or something."
"Look at his face go bright red!" Kisara said poking fun at the clearly embarrassed Kayn.
"Real funny, what a shame you'll die ugly and alone." Kayn shot back, trying to regain some control over the situation.
"Oh, such a sharp tongue," Ranni teased, giving him a light shove. "You wouldn't be getting that red if their wasn't something going on."
"There is nothing going on, she's my cousin, that's just weird. Now get lost."
Kisara and Ranni started to leave but just before closing the door said "We're going but I think Harald is already planning the wedding"
*'Great, I'm never going to hear the end of this. Sisters are more trouble than they're worth!'*
Both the girls left the room while he continued to get dressed, following them shortly after to rejoin the family and Harald back in the main room. The heat had died down and he could relax for the moment enjoying a bit of free time before he had to spend the next month miserably cleaning the house.
The next month dragged on like he expected, he had a small meeting with the teacher and Alfred and apologized to them both which irked his pride but he ultimately sucked it up and got on with it.
In an attempt to counteract his boredom while he spent his days cleaning was by trying to make progress with this worlds magic. His mother used different water based magic to create water for cleaning and so he tried to do the same when he had some privacy.
He had no idea about the laws that magic abided to in this world and so had to just guess
Standing in the kitchen with a mop in hand and no one around, Kayn closed his eyes and tried to focus on summoning water. He envisioned a clear stream of clean water flowing from his fingers.
*'Right, lets give this a go, just like mom.'*
Nothing happened. Frustrated but not discouraged, he tried again, this time waving his hand in a dramatic manner.
But alas nothing. 'Maybe water just ain't my thing, let's give a fire a shot later when everyone's asleep.'
He continued his chores without any attempts at magic until after dinner when everyone had cleared out of the main room to go to sleep. He placed some more fire wood in the the fire place and concentrated on imagining a spark that would set the wood alight.
Minutes of silent concentration passed with the only result being his severe lack of talent. He continued to try this over the next few days with varying techniques to see if it was the method that was failing him. However the result stayed the same.
'Well time to drop fire from the list, next is air.'
He took a sturdy pose with his hands out in front of him and tried a pushing motion which is what he associated with a gust of wind. Combining this motion with him envisioning a light breeze seemed like the most appropriate idea. Again no feedback, absolutely nothing to tell him he was on the right, or the wrong track.
Becoming disheartened with his progress he tried to reassure himself that earth was the one.
'Surely earth magic was my hidden talent and I would become the greatest earth mage in the world and spend my life surrounded by money, fame and beautiful women.'
However the following attempt to move some dirt changed that thought to a life of unending humiliation and despair. There was no reaction once again.
Throughout the month he thought of new ideas to test, maybe magic wasn't defined by elements. It could just be that the magic that he had been exposed to had all had some unrelated elemental nature except from the original healing magic that the midwife used when he was born.
This just made everything much harder, the reason he started with each of the elements is because its easy to visualize a path to success. Each of the elements have a basis grounded in science and limitations that are easy to physically see and understand.
If magic doesn't adhere to these rules then it becomes much more abstract. It's going to be incredibly difficult for him to think of rules on something that has no rules or basis grounded in logic. Or maybe he was over thinking it. It could just be has no talent for magic.
'Well, I guess I've got nothing but time anyway so I can only keep trying new things.'