Lano faced the biggest predicament of his life. His tiny legs strolled through the city, with his bodyguard and caretaker, Diana, walking beside him.
"What do you think about that?" Lano asked Diana, his brows furrowed with concern and urgency.
Today was Ianus' Embermark Day, an annual celebration of his first breath into the world. On this day, a party was held with family and close friends to honor it.
However, this wasn't just any Embermarking celebration; today marked Ianus' first Embermark Day. The significance went beyond Lano; it was a monumental moment. On a person's first Embermark Day, they would gain their first Embermark. This is when a baby chooses their Emberflower, which then burns, leaving ash used to mark the individual with their age. It's a special event native to their empire and of great importance.
Right now, Lano was trying to find a good gift for his baby brother.
Diana looked over to see what the young master was pointing at.
It was a weapon shop specializing in large and heavy weapons.
A drop of sweat rolled down her cheek.
The young master had his other strengths... gift picking wasn't one of them.
"How about we go to that shop?" Diana pointed to a small corner shop selling toys for younger children.
Lano immediately took interest and hurried to the store. He opened the door, and the bell chimed, notifying the shopkeeper of his presence. Without hesitation, Lano ran to the shelves, inspecting everything.
He browsed the options carefully while his nanny talked with the shopkeeper.
"My, he's quite focused. Is something special happening that I'm unaware of?" the shopkeeper joked.
Diana let out a long sigh, revealing the challenges she had faced all day.
"Today is the young master's brother's Embermark, and he hasn't picked out a gift yet."
"Oh wow! How old is he turning?" the shopkeeper asked.
"It's his first."
"His first?! Wow, how time flies. It feels like just yesterday that young master Ianus was born!"
Diana nodded in agreement and then glanced at the boy she had watched grow up since infancy.
She had been there for everything and understood the feeling of time slipping away.
She smiled and walked over to Lano.
"Young master, if I may suggest, I think I have a good idea for young master Ianus' gift," she said tenderly.
Lano looked at Diana with hope. Even after searching for quite some time, he was honestly feeling very distraught about it all and wiped away a few tears, fearing he would disappoint his younger brother.
Diana instructed Lano to leave it to her and escorted him out of the shop after asking the shopkeeper a question. The shopkeeper was happy to help and went over to her office, coming back with a piece of paper.
Diana thanked her and walked Lano back to the manor.
---
Hai sat cross-legged on her bed, surrounded by various items she had collected during her outings, intending to give them to Ianus when he was older.
Well, now he was older, and she needed to find a suitable gift.
She ruffled her ivory hair in frustration and fell back onto her bed, annoyed.
None of these were good enough.
She thought about her adorable baby brother, and nothing seemed cute enough.
She stretched her arms out and got up from her bed.
She rushed out of her room and found her teacher, Saffron.
At that moment, Saffron was enjoying his day off, swinging his longsword a few times to work on new moves. Suddenly, he heard a familiar, irritating voice.
"SAFFRONN!" a young girl screamed.
Saffron could feel the gray hairs coming in, and he wasn't even old yet.
Then he saw a girl with short ivory hair, almost reaching her shoulders, turning the corner of the training grounds and spotting the tired man.
Saffron was a well-built veteran who now lived at Naosi Manor. He had auburn hair that reached down his back, piercing golden eyes, and dark skin with a few old scars.
He stared at the girl and felt more stress than he did in decades of fighting.
What was this troublemaker doing coming to him during his time off?!
The answer soon came to him.
"Help me find a gift," she said bluntly and nonchalantly.
"A gift?" Saffron hadn't been expecting that. It was more in character for Hai to ask for things akin to what a barbarian would want.
She stared at Saffron, her big eyes draining his remaining reluctance dry.
"What do you need a gift for?" he sighed, giving in.
"For Aine."
"Ianus?"
"Yes, it's his Embermark Day."
Why was she being oddly sensible?
He looked at the little girl, and the little girl looked back at him, unmoved.
Saffron let out a huge sigh. He couldn't win, even if he tried.
"Why don't we go to the city and search for some gifts suitable for young master Ianus?"
Hai's eyes sparkled with admiration. She placed her hand on her hips and nodded.
Why hadn't she thought of that?!
---
Today was Kichiro's first birthday. Despite what one might think, it had been entirely uneventful.
As a baby, Kichiro didn't have much energy and spent most of his time sleeping and eating. When he wasn't sleeping or eating, he listened to his siblings' stories and tried his best to move around. He eventually learned how to grab things, look at them properly, lift his head, sit up, and even stand!
While these milestones might seem insignificant, they were the result of endless hard work, praise, and nap times.
And he had also graduated from breastfeeding, his proudest achievement.
Kichiro was very proud and had fully adjusted to his new body.
Though sometimes it felt unreal, like not being able to do some of the common things he did unconsciously, like speaking and walking. It was a powerless feeling he had never fully experienced before and was very frustrating.
Right now, Kichiro was in his nursery. From others' perspectives, he was playing with toys, but in reality, Kichiro was thinking about more pressing matters.
He knew nothing about this world. From what he had observed throughout his year here, he realized that there wasn't much difference between his planet and this one, but that didn't mean there weren't differences.
Firstly, this world was ruled by an aristocratic government. His own father in this world was an Earl and owned an earldom in the northern part of the continent. That was probably the reason he had been so busy every day since he was born.
Next, there was a wide range of cultural diversities in this world. Hai and Lano would tell him about their studies of geography and cultural studies, and there was quite a bit of information, which was astonishing since this was basic information given to a child. From what he heard, there were five main languages, and there were different races that used them. That was also a surprise to hear, like in video games, there were beings like elves and dwarves.
Kichiro was never one for those kinds of things, and video games were one of the few things that he sucked at. He probably wouldn't even know what MMORPG meant if it weren't for Derek being a huge fanatic for them.
The information about which races specifically there were and more detailed information didn't reach Kichiro's ears, so he was left guessing.
The last piece of information he had received was that there were indeed magic-like powers in this world. The children didn't delve too deep into it, but from time to time, he'd pick up on a few stray details that reinforced this fact. When kids came of age, they unlocked the ability to use their unique abilities, but the when and how were never specified.
As Kichiro reviewed his findings, warm, slender hands embraced his baby frame, lifting him up from the ground.
It was his mother. Seeing her smile at him made his face light up too.
"Aw, is our little Ianus excited for his first Embermarking celebration?" she pinched her baby boy's cheek, leaving his pale skin with a little red mark.
Embermarking celebration? Was that what they called birthdays here?
Kichiro had found out that while everything was auto-translated for him, some things couldn't be as there weren't any words he knew to describe them definitively. This was also the reason why he hadn't talked yet. He was still unsure if what he would say would be his language or not. He was unsure if it was simple translation or if he actually could understand it fluently.
Kichiro let out a giggle to satisfy his mother. She enjoyed hearing him giggle a lot, for some reason, but how could he understand what mothers do? He simply went along with it.
Hearing her son laugh made Calla feel warm. She took it as a confirmation.
"I'll let you in on a little secret since you're so cute!" His mother said sweetly.
"Your Eldaros and Elvalina are working hard today to get you something special," she said with a light-hearted laugh.
Kichiro, on the other hand, wasn't that surprised. The two of them cared for him deeply, and as someone who was an only child previously, it was something even he could feel and was beginning to understand.
Then something newsworthy came out of his mother's mouth.
"Your father is also stressing over making your Embermark memorable."
Kichiro's baby mouth opened wide; he couldn't suppress the shock.
The man with an aloof face and demeanor was the type of person Derek would have advised Kichiro to steer clear of. Now, hearing that this serious figure was stressing over him?
Seeing her son's funny expression, she pinched his cheek again.
"Don't be too surprised. Your father loves you very much, even if he doesn't show it openly," she reminded him comfortingly, as if she knew exactly what he was thinking.
She set her son back down and smoothed his brown hair. Between her and her husband, Ianus resembled her more. His eyes weren't as big as Hai's or as fox-like as Lano's, but they carried a bit of both. His brown hair was a surprise, as everyone had expected another head of ivory hair. Yet here he was with a bunch of brown, complemented by the cutest apricot eyes.
She adored her son deeply and couldn't wait to see what path he'd follow. The thought sparked an idea in her, like a light bulb turning on. She spoke to her son again.
"Today, you'll see something you've only ever seen in picture books."
Huh? Is there going to be a dragon at this party?