CHAPTER 6

When I was done getting ready, I headed to the dining room yawning every now and then.

The reason was that I was exhausted both physically and mentally, even though it was only the middle of the day. Physically because I had woken up early after almost a week of traveling, for a sixteen year old boy like me it wouldn't have been that tiring, but now I was in the body of a four year old. As for the mental exhaustion, it was due to my magic training: when you cast a spell you must first visualize it well in your head, so it is mainly a mental effort, the higher the level of the spell you want to cast, the greater the mental effort will be.

But how do you understand if a spell is high level? What parameters decide what is high level and what is low? At first I thought it was based on the strength of the spell, only after thinking about it a bit I realized that it was too generic a term, because there are different types of spells created with different purposes. I could have asked my mother, since she was an expert magician, or my father, since he had been an adventurer anyway.

But in the end I didn't ask either of them, because the answer to the question is simple: they are classified based on how they fulfill the purpose for which they were created. Let's take an example: two spells, one of defense of level C and one of attack of level D, if the defense one is higher it means that it fulfills its defense task better than the attack one its attack task. So in reality you can't compare two spells of different types.

"Oh you're back."

While I was absorbed in my thoughts, Arrick who until that moment had been walking in front of me, probably also absorbed in his thoughts, noticed me.

"So, what did my mother have to talk to you about? You were gone for a good half hour."

"Only half an hour? It seemed like more time had passed."

After that little exchange, we decided to walk together towards the dining room. During the walk we had this and that, Arrick told me a bit about his life in the academy, honestly I expected something more, especially seeing the beautiful theater composed by the two beautiful lovers that he brought with him. I didn't tell him anything about myself, because I had nothing to tell him, what could I ever tell him? I spend all my days sleeping, training alone with magic and hanging around. Basically what I did in my previous life if you replace training with magic with studying, with the only difference that before I was sixteen.

But in the end we managed to talk about a topic that interested me: who Erika was.

"Arrick, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, ask me whatever you want."

"but who is Erika? I met her before while I was talking to Mrs. Dwile, but apart from her name and that she is a good magician I don't know anything else. I would like you to tell me something more, like her last name, her story of how she became a good magician etc..."

"I don't know much about her, she knows my parents not me, and neither my father nor my mother have told me much about her, I don't even know her last name and the family she comes from. But I know one thing: she is a talented adventurer. She is currently a C rank, but from the potential it seems that she could even reach the S rank."

As soon as I heard those words my eyes widened, S ranks are very rare, currently there shouldn't even be thirty in the kingdom of Rottengar. But there was another thing that struck me about her speech.

"Excuse me, you just said that she could reach the S rank, how do you know?"

"Guilds have a way to figure out a person's magic talent. But I don't know much, because I'm a wizard, not an adventurer."

"Too bad, I'll try to ask Erika directly."

Even though it was an option I would have preferred not to consider, because I don't know why but Erika is super suspicious of me. During the entire journey from where we were to here she did nothing but observe me suspiciously, as much as she managed to hide it well her mana betrayed her: in these 4 years I have noticed that emotions are somehow reflected in mana too. When a person is calm, I can perceive their figure very well, but when they feel an emotion strongly their figure distorts and small waves come out, based on how the waves move I can understand what they are feeling. In this case the waves seemed to create a barrier that protected her, as if to mean that she didn't trust. Obviously it is not that easy, because otherwise I would be able to read them all perfectly, the movements are more evident when a person has a high amount of mana, in this case she had a lot of it and it was easy to understand, in fact I am very surprised that until then she had managed to maintain the

calmly, since there were no movements that I could understand.

So the question is: what did I do to make her get to such a point of suspicion?

"Let's leave it, it's better."

"What excuse?"

"Nothing, nothing, I thought out loud."

Better to leave it and enjoy the lunch that was about to arrive.

***

We arrived in the dining room, I had already visited it with Ryan so there was nothing surprising, but this time unlike this morning there was not a huge table in the center, but many mini tables for two people scattered around the room. I understood why, Mrs. Dwile did not want to sit at the same table as Nelly.

But wait, isn't this by any chance an event from a novel? There are tables for two people also quite far from each other, surely there will be a challenge between Nelly and Mary to see who will sit with him. It could also be that in the end neither of them will end up with him, but I doubt it since they are guests, and therefore they certainly can't be left with strangers, Arrick must make them feel comfortable, they are guests.

"All right, there are tables for two. I think I will sit with my brother Ryan, who will you sit with Arrick?"

"Um, well..."

I'm sorry, but if I have to participate in this little show I want it to be quick, take a position and decide.

"I don't know why there are these tables, but I think and hope it's only for today."

After a short pause, he continued.

"I would put you two together, but I know you don't get along, so I will sit with Nelly."

"You made the worst choice, buddy. "

I thought to myself, then Arrick turned to me and said:

"Leonard, how about we get together with Mary? You're both commoners and, honestly, I think you're the best fit even in terms of character."

In reality I had no reason to refuse, all I had to do was pass Ryan off to Tom and that was it.

"Okay, I'll do as you wish."

And so Mary and I sat down at a table, luckily Arrick had the decency to sit at a nearby table so Mary wouldn't feel alone, although more than decency I should call him "romance killer."

"So, tell me a little about yourself while we're at it."

There were still about ten minutes left before lunch, so I decided to strike up a conversation to find out more about her.

"I didn't have a remarkable childhood, I was simply good at magic and that made me popular among the people in the village, I studied and entered the academy."

It's clear that she doesn't want to talk to me, since she didn't even bother to look at me while she was talking, but she kept her eyes fixed on Arrick and Nelly's table.

I wanted to tease her by asking her for spicy things, the problem is that I don't think it's normal for a child to talk about love, or at least the way I intended to tease her was definitely not normal. Maybe it's because of this behavior of mine that Erika started to suspect me.

"Do you plan on watching them for a long time?"

"..."

And I idiot was also rooting for her, I don't think Nelly would have behaved differently, but I expected her to be the kind protagonist adored by everyone, with this behavior she seems anything but "kind".

Now I couldn't help but snort as I watched Nelly trying to always have physical contact with Arrick, next to me Mary, who had become a beaver given how much she was gnawing, continued to glare at them.

Right now I'm bored. My grandfather once told me that human beings need boredom, because it allows you to test your creativity to find something to do. Or it allows you to better compare yourself, because having nothing to do one of the many that comes to mind could be your future. I agree with him, in this life many times I found myself bored and I compared myself, and every time I did it I ended up bursting into tears. That's why now I prefer not to be bored.

"Welcome, Mr. and Mrs. Noimar."

At the best moment, Rose and Gerald finally appeared. Elegant, classy, ​​tidy and composed are everything that Rose and Gerald were not at that moment, it was clear from afar that they had just woken up.

"Hi Leo."

Rose said

"Oh yes, hi."

I replied.

"Try to treat us with more respect."

Gerald said ironically

"You slept all morning, you just woke up and it shows, and just because I greeted you in a bland way I was wrong?"

I replied always ironically

And after this exchange of jokes, lunch finally began.

***

I was heading to Mr. and Mrs. Dwile's study after being summoned by Erika, lunch had just finished and it had been a disaster: Nelly shamelessly tried it on with Arrick in front of everyone, Mrs. Dwile couldn't resist and saying she didn't feel like it, she abandoned lunch halfway. Seeing the smug face

Nelly's words, who knew full well that she was in control of everything, did nothing but make me nervous, so with the excuse that Ryan and I wanted to play cards with him we managed to separate him from her. Of course she tried to play with us but we rejected her, Arrick didn't oppose when we rejected Nelly, this because he was tired of her too, and you could see it on his face.

Towards the end of lunch, Erika came up to me and told me that we needed to talk in private with me and my parents. They had gone with Erika first, I had stayed a little longer because I had to finish a game of cards.

"No way!"

From the hallway I could hear my father yelling, angry as never before

"And what the fuck did Erika do to make you so angry?"

Stopping in front of the door, I could sense a very angry Gerald holding Erika by the collar, with Rose and Mr. and Mrs. Dwile trying to stop them.

Should I go in or not?

Finally I decided to go in, opened the door and spoke.

"Okay, okay, what's going on? Dad, could you let my potential future magic teacher go?"

As soon as Gerald saw me, he let go of Erika and tried to assert himself to take me away, but Rose stopped him. When the waters had calmed down, after 5 minutes of absolute silence, Erika took the initiative.

"Leo, how about you come with me tomorrow morning to explore the forest?"

"What do you mean? I've explored it enough today."

"Only the outer part, but not the inner part. Tell me, Leo, have you ever seen a goblin?"

"No."

"The goblins live in the center of the forest, would you like to accompany me tomorrow morning since I have to get rid of them? Obviously if you don't want to see them I'll make sure you don't see them, it's more of a field test to see how you behave, you want to be an adventurer, right?"

I'm intrigued, but I don't know why it sounds so like a load of bullshit to me, why would you invite a 4 year old into a forest in the morning? There's clearly an ulterior motive beyond what he said.

"No way!"

Gerald said again as he slammed his fist on the table, breaking it."

"Gerald..."

"What do you think, Leo?"

Mrs. Dwile turned her attention to me, asking me that question. It took me a few minutes to think and elaborate on my answer.

"I would like to go to the forest, but I would prefer if someone else were to accompany me."

"Someone else?"

"Yes, I don't trust you enough to go in the morning, in a potentially dangerous forest where my life depends on you, even if I think I can kill 1/2 goblins, in fact I'm sure of it."

I took a short 5 second pause before continuing.

"If I had to choose someone to go with, it would definitely be my father, because he is currently, and probably always will be, the person I trust the most in the world."

"What if he doesn't want you to go and refuses?"

"Then I'm fine, I would certainly be sorry if I couldn't go, but as I said I trust him more than anyone else in the world, so I'm sure he's doing all this for my own good."

Gerald was extremely happy after hearing those words, he lowered his head, probably because after those words he wanted to take me, but he knew it was too dangerous.

The words I said were all true, Gerald is Leo's father, and I am him now, so it's obvious that the people I trust the most are them.

"I'm fine, if you want to go with your father go ahead, but on the condition that you tell me what you did."

"Why don't you come with us?"

I asked

"The reason I had to go was to kill the goblins, if your father agrees to accompany you then he'll take the trouble of killing them."

"But I'm on vacation and it's very risky."

Mr. Dwile said

"Luke, that's fine. I broke your table and I take your hospitality for free, I don't see why I shouldn't. And as for Leo, there are no high-grade monsters, the goblins are F-rank and I should defeat them easily. If Leo stays behind me, nothing will happen to him"

Then he turned to me and said:

"If that's the case, then tomorrow we'll go to the forest, that means you have to wake up early, okay?"

"That's fine, I already woke up early this morning because of Ryan, the real question is whether you, who have been hibernating all morning, will be able to wake up."

Everyone in the room smiled as he said these words, Gerald even laughed. And so, after we had agreed on what to do, everyone except Mrs. Dwile left the room.

***

Back in the dining room, I saw Arrick sitting alone, shuffling the cards.

"Where are the two beauties and my lovely brothers?"

"Nelly is playing with Ryan and Tom, contrary to what it seems, she loves children. While Mary has gone to her room."

"How about we play another game?"

I asked.

"Okay, fine:"

So we started playing.

"However, can I ask you a question?

"Of course."

"Did you have a fight with your father?"

As soon as I heard those words my heart started beating faster with every passing second.

"No, why?"

"You're so cold with him, you seem uncomfortable when you're with him."

"You're a good observer if you noticed. Yes we had a fight."

I made up the first excuse that came to mind, if he found out that a 4-year-old feels uncomfortable with his parents for no reason he would start to suspect that maybe they treat me badly.

"Actually it was obvious, everyone noticed: Me, Nelly, Mary, my parents and even the waiters.

"Wha-"

My head started spinning.

It's not possible, and yet I did everything in order not to let my emotions show, so why did everyone notice? If everyone noticed, then Gerald noticed too.

I jumped up and said I had to go to the bathroom.

"I'll be right back, you wait here. Don't look at my cards, okay?"

"Yeah, fine."

As soon as I was out of Arrick's line of sight, I headed to my room. Needless to say, I never ended up going back to him to finish the game.