Merlin's POV
"You asked for me, mother?"
I spoke in a respectful tone while following etiquette. My mother simply nodded as she continued writing.
She's usually kind and spoils me a lot, but she's currently in family head mode.
In this kind of situation, I have to follow etiquette and be respectful. After a few minutes, she finally stopped writing and focused her attention on me.
"Indeed, I requested your presence."
Although I've known her for 4 years now, I still struggle to get used to her voice and the atmosphere around her when she's in "serious" mode.
She exudes an authority similar to, no, I mean superior to that of my university professors in my past life, and her voice always has that ability to grab attention, as one would expect from a warrior who made a name for herself on the battlefield.
"As you already know, the magus association will soon send their representative to our town to check the talents of citizens aged 4 and above," she explains, keeping an emotionless expression.
Despite her neutral expression, I can tell from her scarlet eyes that she's slightly worried.
Chloe, my mother, is a Baroness of foreign origin to the empire. She was born from an elf and an unknown race.
She's always avoided discussing the subject of my grandfather, and it's the same for my father. I think she'll tell me the truth one day.
So, I'm a descendant of the elven race, with unknown genes. At first, I thought my father was human, but my ears are currently longer than my mother's.
"Excellent... but where should I meet him?"
I don't know why mother seems worried about my meeting with the person who will be sent by the magus association. I'm a male and, moreover, of elven origin.
Elves have the lowest number of males on the continent and they are extremely protected and watched over by their royal family. There are multiple reasons to explain the behavior of the elven royal family.
One of them is to safeguard the purity of the elven bloodline or to keep their power available at all times for their kingdom.
Elves have the fewest males among the races on the continent, but they undoubtedly have the most powerful magus due to their race's strong affinity with magic in general.
That's why a half-elf like my mother had no chance of obtaining their seed. She unfortunately had to seek that of another race.
Although I have blood from unknown races, I'm not worried about my talent related to magic. I'm an elven descendant and a male.
I will definitely have high talent and the chances of a male having no talent for magic are low to none.
"He will arrive here in the afternoon or tomorrow morning. I hope you will be properly prepared to receive him."
She's making so many preparations, but I'm sure the magus who will come will just be an apprentice and not even a male, not that I mind.
Real magus are just too busy and their status in general in the empire is superior to that of low-ranking nobles like mother. I can hardly imagine the magus association sending one of them to such a remote area of the empire just to check talents.
"I'll take my leave if my presence is no longer needed." I bowed slightly before turning to leave.
"Are you already abandoning your dear mother?" I felt arms tenderly embrace me from behind and a head rest on my hair.
"Now that I'm done speaking as the matriarch of the Blight family, we can talk as mother and son~"
After these words spoken in a teasing tone, she lifted me effortlessly to carry me to her desk.
She gently placed me on her lap as usual.
"So Merlin, aren't you too worried about the awakening ceremony?"
She finally shows the concern she was trying to hide. The awakening ceremony literally decides a person's life.
It's through this that magic users can verify a person's talents, and these range from the lowest which is F to the highest known level SSS+.
According to the novel "The Fallen Empress", there are ways to improve one's talent, but these are risky with side effects and not yet discovered.
If I wasn't a male, then my chances of becoming a magus would be low and I would certainly take the path of a knight like her.
"I'm not worried, mother. I'm a male, so I'll certainly be talented enough to become a magus, and my elven heritage guarantees it even more." She just looked at me for a while in the eyes before nodding.
I suspect that mother's concerns are necessarily related to the origin of my father or that of her father, aka my grandfather. I don't see any other explanation from my point of view.
A true elf would be too proud to buy the seed of another race than that of elves, but I'm sure no elf wanted to sell his seed to a mulatto like her, or my mother simply didn't have enough money.
The absurd price of elven seed and their racism (or xenophobia) must have unfortunately pushed mother to further thin her elven heritage.
"Yes, my little hero is certainly a future magus." She smiled before starting to tickle me.
"Stop, hahaha!"
That's how I spent more than an hour being spoiled by my mother before leaving her office.
...
"I should start asking her again to stop the tickling." I say this, but I know she won't stop spoiling me despite my protests.
I even think it will have the opposite effect, like a few months ago. I can only accept my fate for now.
"I want to eat." The servant who escorted me to father's office just nodded before taking the lead.
I didn't really have the right to be completely alone since my reincarnation, and it's a feeling that weighs on me a bit, but I understand the necessity of such surveillance.
"Say thank you to the cook, I appreciated it." Unlike mother or most nobles, I like to be slightly friendly with the servants.
Of course, I generally speak to them very little, only if necessary and with few words.
I made the mistake of being too "kind or polite" to them at first and got severe warnings from mother. I ended up understanding her point of view.
She surely didn't want the servants to get the wrong idea and mistake my kindness for weakness. She asked me to avoid being too good and to stick to minimal interactions with them.
*Sound* Sound of a chair being pushed back.
I headed to the library after my meal, it was to analyze and store the new data from recently brought books.
'Clarisse, start the analysis and storage of information',I gave the AI my instructions through my mind
It was a remnant of my past life, an AI named Clarisse that I often used thanks to my computer.
I don't understand how it followed me into this new reality, but thanks to it, I was able to memorize all the information in this library in a few months.
I could have done it much faster, but I'm monitored 24 hours a day.
So, I had to pretend to read. I love my mother, but my reincarnation and the AI are a secret that I will carry alone forever.
[Understood, user Thomas#####. I will proceed with the analysis and storage of information...]
I continued for a while to flip through the pages before finishing the book. The servant just observed me from nearby.
[Information archived...]
[Please give a name to the folder containing the information]
'You will name it "basic alchemy" '
Alchemy is one of the many extraordinary things related to this universe. It can be practiced at the beginning by anyone who has enough money to start.
Unfortunately, only apprentice magus can begin to practice the intermediate level of this mystical science.
Of course, real magus are able to study and practice advanced alchemy.
Mother had a lot of trouble getting these books. She accepts my unreasonable whim for the simple reason of the praise from my teachers about my intelligence.
' Without alchemy, I couldn't do a lot of things in the future.' I was really blessed to have the AI in this reality.
According to my future knowledge, I couldn't really go far in my path to power without alchemy and another magical art that I should undoubtedly study in the magus association.
'Transfer me a copy of the information from the document "Basic Alchemy" .'
I received a flow of information that lasted only a few seconds. I was currently a pro in basic alchemy theory.
I just need to practice it a bit to officially become a beginner alchemist.