After taking a nap, Ardent decided it is time to frolick with those of his age. Unfortunately, he is in the body of a child, so his peers would be the same age as this body, namely 7 with the oldest like being 12 years old. Any older than that and they already start working.
He sighed, 'I hope I can act childish enough or that the 7 years old of this village is even more mature than I expected.'
-x-
"Look, Ardent's here!" a blonde-haired child yelled seeing the sight of the black-haired child that is Ardent.
Quickly, the group of children surrounded him, asking many questions. Ranging from,
"Why did you not come to the lesson the previous week?"
"Do you have a terrible illness that make you stay at home?!"
"Is it boring staying at home for that long and could not even play?"
Overall the standard questions of small children, which he is. He quickly answer all of it, hoping to satiate the curiosity of the children and hoping no more questions would be thrown in his direction.
Thankfully, after learning he was sick and the village doctor asking him to stay at home to rest for the week, they no longer asked him any question and instead go to the topic children would often discuss.
"So, what are we going to play today?" the blonde who greeted him first asked. Ardent learned his name is Frank and he is a son of a rather young guard, about the same age as his father, who is still young, for him that is.
"Let's ask Ardent what he want to play today? He did get stuck inside his house for so long." a short green-haired boy said, saying it in such dramatic ways that is was like he was imprisoned instead of resting.
It also one thing he learn about this world, in that coloring of hair is the same as in anime or manga. In that it is very colorful, unlike the rather drab color of black, brown, blonde, and red of his old world.
He pushed the thought that get out of tangent away for a moment and instead decided to pick 'Ardent' favourite game.
"How about hide and seek?" he said. The children immediately agreed as Frank quickly walked to the front.
"I will be the seeker." he said proudly.
"That's because you want to be a guard, like your father, Frank." the green-haired boy, Curt, exclaimed, earning chuckles from the other children while Frank pouted at him.
"Come on! Are we going to chit chat, or play?" Ardent asked, acting his part as an impatient child.
"Alright, let's go!"
As the children disperse, Ardent made his way to the nearby forest. As he get close to the fences and small walls protecting the village, he looked around for any guards. When the coast is clear, he jumped over the wall, the deeds possible by using Mana on his legs.
When he passed the walls, he quickly will for Mana to gather on his palm. Since he did not know any way to cast spells, he could only go by trials and errors.
"Let's see, how about shaping the Mana?" he said to himself. Quickly, he found the Mana on his palm to transform.
However, just as he was about to celebrate at his success, it exploded. Thankfully, it was not too bad, resulting in slight scorch mark, with no actual pain from the explosion, and that the explosion is not loud.
But, some guards could here it so Ardent booked it, not planning on explaining why he, a child is on the other side of the fence.
-x-
When Ardent returned back to the village, he head straight to where the other children where before taking a relatively easy hiding spot, for the seeker that is.
Sure enough, Frank quickly spotted him, hiding inside an empty barrel.
"Found Ardent! That only left Curt!" Frank said in excitement as the rest of the village's boys helped to look for the green-haired boy, him included.
With so many people, it did not take long before they found the boy, hiding inside a large tree stump. In fact, even looking inside would not yield any result in in finding the boy, as he make sure to cover himself with leaves.
It's only when Frank spotted movement at the leaf pile did he finally connected the dot and find the last boy.
"Now then! Are we going to continue with hide and seek or are we going to play other game?" Frank asked.
While the children talked to one another, Ardent could only thought how Frank showed signs of being a leader.
'I wonder if he will be the leader of the guard in the future.' he thought before talking to the other children.
-x-
Playtime lasted until the sun already touch the horizon, the sky turning red. Seeing this, the children said their farewell before leaving for their respective home.
"Bye everyone! Let's play war game next!"
"Alright! Bye!"
"Bye!"
Ardent said his farewell and head straight to his home, where his parents waiting. They did not look upset at how long he spend outside and in fact have a soft smile on their faces.
"I hope you enjoy your day, buddy." his father said, ruffling his hair like he was a chi- oh wait, he is one. It can be easy to forget it sometime with the memory of his previous life.
"I have fun, dad!" Ardent exclaimed, smiling joyfully as he pretend to have fun. What bring him the greatest joy was actually the ability to practice magic. Unlike inside, where he need to be careful or his parents would be suspicious, if he could control it well outside, he might learn how to cast spells in few more days. If the technique he used actually works. It hard to tell with nothing as a guideline.
'I should see if there is any children of the village mages. Maybe they knew something.' Ardent thought, making plans for the future. For now though, he would be enjoying dinner before sleeping.