Chapter 6: 5. Appraisal

When my mother wakes up, she bursts into tears at seeing me awake. I feel immense guilt. Sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you. Even I ended up scared! Enough that I start crying too. Although I understand that I may end up dying young in this world, to die in less than a month of being alive would be embarrassing.

My mother chastises me, asking me what I did to end up that way, but alas, I cannot answer. I am still a baby.

Now more than ever, I understand the importance of a robust magic pool. The question is, how do I increase it? I don’t want to go around casting magic spells willy nilly now that I know they might end up killing me if I’m not careful!

But there has to be a way. The god wouldn’t give me an ability to learn magic only to prevent me from having enough magic to cast anything.

By the time I recover from my Overdrawn status, my father has already returned home with an elderly man in tow. He looks triumphant, by the moment my mother sees him, she starts crying again—so naturally, so do I.

The old man is frazzled as my father tries to calm my mother down and figure out what happened. He looks angry, shouting, “Who hurt you?! I’ll go kill them right now!”

A typical muscle-head response. Eventually everyone calms down and my mother explains what happens. My father points his finger at me angrily, looking ready to explode again, but eventually seems to take deep breaths and calm down. Phew.

“I suppose I was already running around with a sword in my hand when I was your age. At least you didn’t burn the house down.” He sighs.

Um? Was he exaggerating?

“Well, haha, we can add ‘mage’ to the prospective list of future talent, eh?” The old man laughs uneasily, adjusting his glasses as he tries to adjust the atmosphere. He’s a tiny person, especially compared to my tall father, with frizzy grey hair sticking out on both sides of his head and a long nose. 

“Whoops, Master Carus! I forgot you were here.” My father is as rude as ever.

“Lio, that’s not how you treat a guest.” My mother gives an apologetic smile. I apologise, Master Carus. Please sit, allow me to offer you a drink—”

“Don’t give the old fogey anything, Erin, we don’t want him staying longer than necessary.” My father frowns, crossing his arms.

“Lioetes! The Master was willing to come all this way despite your family—”

Master Carus laughs, patting my mother on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve known Lioetes since he was as young as this one. I’ve seen him bald and naked, running around hitting ankles with a stick. Why, I didn’t need to use my Appraisal skill to tell he was going to be a little shit for the rest of his life. Now don’t worry, I came here because I want to see the progeny of little Lio and see what that lousy father passed on. Rest assured, family politics have nothing to do with me, and I won’t be passing on news of a new grandchild in the family.”

Hmm, according to the old fogey, he has a skill called Appraisal, whereas I have a spell and it’s called Examine. In other words, are they different things? Then maybe I can learn Appraisal as a skill after all! Ah, well, when I’m a little older and can ask about it. I don’t want to go risking my neck again!

The old man sits down in my mother’s rocking chair, the one by the window, and I am placed on his lap. His hands are rough and covered in calluses, surprisingly. He’s called “master”, but he’s clearly done heavy physical labour before. He stares down at me, adjusting his glasses that magnify his eyes several times into giant staring pupils.

“Hrmm… oh my. Oh dear, this isn’t good.”

Thus is the ominous evaluation from the old coot. Excuse me? What about me isn’t good!

Wait, it didn’t occur to me before but… this old guy is probably checking out my status screen, right? There’s a lot of sensitive information in there! I panic, starting to wiggle and cry, shaking my fists in protest. Don’t say anything you shouldn’t, old man, or I’ll come for you!

“What is it?” My mother worries, immediately wanting to take me back. “What’s wrong?”

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“Shh, there there, little one.” Master Carus jiggers me on his knee. “As far as affinities go, there’s more of Erin in there than Lio. Yes, I see a preoccupation with commerce. Sadly, that may not be ideal for this child’s future… there is Lio in them as well. Enough to cause problems.”

I abruptly stop crying. What? It feels like maybe I misunderstood. Don’t tell me Appraisal is similarly useless to Examine? Did he not read my status after all?

“What sort of problems?” My father asks sharply. “Is it to do with my folks?”

“…Yes. Normally, a child born between two races will only carry one parent’s lineage. At first, it would seem this little one was born under Erin’s blood, but in the coming years you may see traits from Lio manifesting instead.”

“You mean—?”

“No. Not entirely. In rare instances… well, have you heard of half-elves?”

My parents go silent.

“Elves and humans are the two closest races, sharing common ancestors, and half-elves are considered the most common chance at half-breeds.” Master Carus continues, as though he were asked. “But even then, they’re considered a rare, once-in-a-lifetime existence. For one of our own to perhaps create a half-breed with a human…”

“Perhaps?” My mother leaps on the word. “You mean, you don’t know for sure?”

Carus shakes his head. “Not for sure. Not at this age. By age five, you’ll know for sure. If there have been no changes, then you will certainly have a human child. But if not…”

“My family won’t let us go.” Lio responds flatly. My mother’s face drains of blood. Master Carus stares sombrely at them both.

Master Carus tells my parents he can keep my existence hidden from my father’s family for five years at most, by which point they’ll show up either way. Seems scary! He asks to be alone with me, in order to cast a spell of protection. My mother seems distraught, but my father seems suspicious. It feels like there’s a long-arching prequel here that I’m not informed about.

When it was just the two of us, Master Carus spoke to me.

“Allow me to give you some further advice, little one. Actually, I peeked in and saw everything. You’ve had quite the difficult time of it, haven’t you? I’m sorry to say, things are only going to get harder for you—if you’re not careful.”

Huh. I wasn’t expecting that. So, maybe Appraisal is useful after—

No! Stop focusing on the wrong things! What do you mean, old man?

“Listen carefully—for I know you understand me—and never forget what I’m about to say. You’ve been branded by a terrible god. If anyone ever finds out that you have a connection with the Red King, you will be put in enormous danger. Never speak those names, never ask questions about them, if you hear those names ever spoken, act as though they mean nothing to you! I will do my best to craft a protection amulet to prevent others from Appraising your connection to them, but it may not always be enough.”

After dropping that bombshell on me, Master Carus cast some kind of shielding spell to stop me from being found through scrying and other magical means, and then went to talk to my parents about more general things. After that, he hastily left.

I stare up at the ceiling angrily. Hey, you lousy huckster of a god. What happened to my comfortable, conflict-free life?

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