Chapter 4: Chapter 4 – The Doubts And Worries

The first thing Lorenard showed Narias was the Training Grounds. That was something totally new for him, which he didn’t expect to see. The place looked like an arena of some sort. His father explained he was training here to improve his skills and magic. And when Narias would grow up, he would be able to train together with his dad as well.

“Magic, huh?” Narias just couldn’t believe such a thing existed.

“Curious, aren’t you?” Lorenard took Narias comment as a request to demonstrate it. “Let me show you how it’s done, son. Why don’t you stand aside, over here?”

The little boy made a few steps back.

“Watch closely, Narias. I’ll show you a magic spell called the Wind Blade,” his father made a step forward and raised his right arm. “Haaa! Wind Blade!”

With a swift motion of his hand, he swung down, almost like cutting through the air. A greenish blade like wave shot from his hand as a result. It flew forward and hit the first obstacle it reached.

“Wow!” Narias jumped up, with eyes as wide as they could get. “Amazing! Unbelievable! Can you do it again?”

“Ahahaha,” his dad laughed. “One time is enough I would say. Once you grow up, and become stronger, you will be able to learn to cast magic spells as well.”

“Really?” the little boy was excited beyond belief.

“Of course. You already tried to cast your first spell yesterday. Have you forgotten about it?” Lorenard gave him a strange, almost suspicious, look.

“Oh, yeah. I mean…” Narias realized his comment might’ve raised suspicion about who he was. “I’m sorry. I honestly can’t remember what happened.”

It’s not that he couldn’t remember what happened. It was more like he didn’t know what really happened.

“Aahm… right. I’m sorry Narias,” his father eased up. “Your body must’ve experienced quite a shock. The trauma from the incident could’ve blocked your memory about it. It’s ok. Don’t stress too much trying to remember what happened. I apologize for bringing it up.”

“No, no. It’s ok. It’s just that…” the little boy didn’t know what to say.

“Hey, how about we go visit Alistar?” his dad suggested excitedly.

“Ok,” Narias didn’t know who that was but he responded enthusiastically.

“It’s quite a walk from here, so how about I give you a lift?” he picked up Narias and sat him on his shoulders.

“Woah,” the boy gasped.

It brought back a few memories from his past childhood. When Anthony was a little kid, his father would sometimes carry him on his shoulders as well. That seemed to be such a long time ago that Anthony had forgotten how amazing it felt.

“Ok, let’s go,” Lorenard was happy to see his son to be so excited.

They past a few fields on the way. People who worked there greeted and waved to them. Narias couldn’t recognize the crops that were grown there. Some of them looked like flowers, some like vegetables, most of which he couldn’t recognize.

As it turned out, Alistar was an older gentleman who was in charge of the people who worked at the Talrone’s estate. He was past his fifties, had some grey hair and a pleasant, warm smile.

“Master Talrone, and the young Master Narias. Welcome,” the older gentleman was very polite. “What a pleasant surprise. I didn’t expect to see you today, sir. Especially with the young Master as your companion.”

“Haha. Good to see you, Alistar. There’s a good reason for that,” Lorenard smiled like no tomorrow.

“Oh, that’s right. The young Narias turned three only two days ago. Please forgive me for not taking it into the account, Mr. Talrone,” Alistar bowed down.

“No, no. Don’t apologize, Alistar,” Lorenard stopped him. “That is not the reason I brought him here.”

“Is that so? What is the reason then?” the kind man asked politely.

“Narias is learning how to read. And it was his own idea to do so. Can you believe that, Alistar?” Narias’ dad told him with great enthusiasm.

“That is so admirable. And at such an early age,” Alistar smiled warmly.

“Haha. Isn’t that great?” Lorenard added, clearly enjoying the moment.

Narias was standing nearby quietly. He thought he’d better not interrupt the conversation. Of course, he realized part of the reason why his dad took him on a tour to show around Talrone’s estate. It was more to boast to other people that his son started to learn how to read. Lorenard also mentioned it to a few people they met on the way here.

Narias didn’t mind that, of course. He was glad his willingness to read made his new father so happy. But he learned a lot about how big his family’s estate was. He couldn’t believe they had so much land, and so many people working for them. Yet his father said they are only a middle sized family estate.

As soon as Narias could read properly, he immersed himself into the wonderful world of books. He wanted to learn about this new world as much, and as fast, as possible.

One thing that really got him excited, was the concept, and the ability, for people to use magic. The real magic. Not the magic tricks the ‘magicians’ from his previous world would do. That’s why they were called magic ‘tricks’.

After his father showed him the real magic spell, Narias wanted to learn it himself. He became really excited about it. However, he knew he had to take things slowly. After the incident during Narias birthday, the three year old boy’s birthday, Lorenard and Alvina didn’t want to teach him magic just yet. They were afraid Narias was too young, and too weak, to learn magic.

Unfortunately, that just ignited his desire to learn even more. Narias’ eagerness to read grew bigger. He would wake up earlier, before Layla showed up in the morning, and would rush to the library to read. He would get scolded by Layla for doing so but Narias couldn’t help it. Seeing how it was hopeless to change Narias’ behavior, Layla made sure to show up earlier in the morning instead.

Worse yet, Narias started to miss meals in order to read more. That didn’t make his current parents very happy. He was locked out of the library for a whole day after one too many not shows at the dinner table. Needless to say, it was one, long, hellish day to get through for Narias. After that, he made sure to show up on time for the family’s meal every time.

Learning about magic was exciting. The concept for a person to have mana, which Narias perceived as spiritual energy of some sort, was astonishing for him. If he knew how amazing magic was back at his own place, he would’ve read more fantasy books for sure.

One interesting thing Narias found out, was that simply having loads of mana wasn’t enough to learn magic. Casting spells, especially stronger spells, required the person to be physically fit as well. If you were physically weak, you would get tired fast. As a result, you wouldn’t be able to focus, or cast spells, no matter how much mana you had.

Physical activity wasn’t something Narias was fond of. He even thought it was a waste of time because he’d rather read books than do exercise. But now he had a good reason to become physically fit. If having more stamina meant he could learn and cast more magic spells, then it was well worth it.

His father, Lorenard, would sometimes let him come to the Training Grounds to see him practise. Narias loved the part where his father was casting spells the most. But Lorenard would never show him more than a few basic spells he knew. He said it was too dangerous to do so. None the less, Narias would observe closely how his father moved and what he did each time he would cast a spell.

Narias shut-in studying didn’t go unnoticed. His parents were happy about their son’s eagerness to learn, but at the same time, Narias started to notice they were worried about something.

One day, when Narias was rushing to the library again, he overheard Alvina’s conversation with Layla. They didn’t notice him to be there, hiding around the corner, but he could hear what they were talking about.

“I thought maybe Narias is angry with us for some reason?” he heard his mom’s voice.

“I am sure he is not, ma’am. I had never heard him speak any ill word about you. He would always say that both of you are wonderful people,” Layla tried to reassure her.

“I am really glad to hear that. However, as you said it yourself, he wouldn’t call us mom and dad, would he?” Alvina added worryingly.

“Oh, now that you mentioned it lady Alvina,” the young maid thought for a second. “You are right. I don’t remember hearing him address you as ‘mom’ and ‘dad’. I’m so sorry for not noticing it.”

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“You don’t have to apologize, Layla. But we are worried about Narias. Ever since that incident during his birthday, our son seems to be different. More distant actually,” Alvina said in a sad voice. “He doesn’t seem to enjoy me embracing him in my arms as much as before.”

That’s because it is so embarrassing. You’re literally squeezing me in between your-

“Don’t worry, lady Alvina,” Layla’s words interrupted Narias’ thoughts. “I am sure he loves you as much as before. He is really keen to learn more. That in itself is a good sign. Narias always talks about how amazing his father is. He said he can’t wait to learn magic and show him what he can do.”

“That is so sweet,” Narias mother brightened up. “I just hope my little boy is not pushing himself too much.”

“I’ll be sure to keep an eye on him, my lady,” Layla smiled.

Keep an eye on me? Yeah, right. – Narias frowned.

Layla was certainly keeping an eye on Narias. But it was more than that. In Narias eyes, Layla was teasing him with her cuteness. He couldn’t ignore the fact of how pretty she was. It didn’t matter that he ‘was’ a three year old boy now, his mind was of a sixteen year old’s.

However, Layla’s teasing was completely different from his previous sister’s, Miranda’s pranks. Layla wasn’t making fun of Narias. Oh no, quite the opposite. She was praising him the best she could.

When Layla was teaching Narias, she would sit really close to him. So close, their bodies would touch each other on the sides. She would point out at the new word, while trying to explain what it meant. And she would do it in the most earnest way. However, the new word wasn’t what Narias was staring at during those times.

You’d think it would be preposterous for a fifteen year old girl trying to seductively tease a three year old boy. But that was not so. It was all in Narias’ own head.

Under the normal circumstances, a three year old wouldn’t care about how pretty a fifteen year old, or older, girl was. Or whether or not she would tease or flirt with him. But Narias’ mind was of a sixteen year old teenager. He couldn’t ignore a cute girl sitting right next to him.

Since Narias was inexperienced with girls, it didn’t take much for him to get distracted when Layla was around. When Narias would stare at Layla for too long, she would wait patiently for his eyes to raise up. As soon as Narias would see Layla’s cute smile, he would know right away he was caught again.

“Are you having trouble with this word? I already explained it to you, young Master,” Layla would point out with a smile.

Narias hated those moments the most. Especially when Layla was sitting right in front of him. He knew her comment had nothing to do with the new word. It meant he was caught staring again.

However, even if Narias was getting distracted by Layla’s cuteness, he had to admit she was an amazing teacher. She never made fun of him and would always help Narias to understand new words, no matter how many times she had to explain it.

Layla was very smart for her age. Much smarter than any other girl he knew from his previous life. And she was very kind too.

“I won’t keep you any longer, Layla,” Alvina’s words brought Narias back from his pleasant daydreaming. “You need to go help in the kitchen, don’t you?”

“Yes ma’am. I will make sure that dinner will be served on time,” Layla smiled.

“Thank you, Layla. I suppose we will have to go get Narias from the library again. Heehee,” Alvina chuckled.

“Heehee. Probably,” the young maid laughed as well.

Oh crap, they are coming this way. – Narias panicked.

He didn’t want them to find out that he heard what they were talking about. Narias quickly scrambled to hide behind a curtain near the window.

“Narias?” his mom didn’t expect to see him at the table. “I’m sorry, I thought you would be at the library. I’ve just sent Layla to get you.”

“Ahm… I didn’t want to be late for dinner, and…” Narias felt a little awkward.

“And?” Alvina gave him a puzzling look.

“And… you are such wonderful parents. I was causing you trouble for being late. I’m sorry, please forgive me,” Narias blurted everything out as fast as he could.

“Aaah,” his mom was dumbstruck by his apology. “Wuaaa. My sweet baby.”

He should’ve known what would come next. Narias found himself embraced by his mother’s heavenly hug again. But he didn’t resist or made funny faces this time. He knew that the least he could do was to play the part and accept them as his new family. Even if Narias felt embarrassed about his mom’s affection.

“Well, well. What happened here?” Lorenard asked after he saw Alvina sparkling with Narias in her arms.

“Our son is so adorable. He called us ‘wonderful parents’,” Narias’ mom shared her excitement.

“Is that so? Too bad I missed it. Haha,” the man laughed.

“I’m sorry lady Alvina. I couldn’t find, oh,” Layla entered the room and saw Narias in Alvina’s arms. “The young Master is here. I will go get your dinner ready.”

Needless to say, the evening was very much pleasant after that. Even after dinner, Narias stayed with his parents, telling them how much he learned in the past few weeks.

The next day, Narias didn’t rush to the library either. No, he had other plans. In the middle of the excitement last night, Narias’ father suggested they would go have fun at the city. It wouldn’t be the first time Talrones went to the city but it would be the first time for Narias.

As usual, Layla helped him to get ready for the day.

“Here you go. You are all set, young Master,” she smiled at him. “I wish you an amazing day in the city.”

“Huh? You’re not going with us, Layla?” he was disappointed to learn that.

“You’re so sweet that you want me to come along, young Master,” the cute, young maid had the sweetest smile ever. “Sometimes I accompany your mom when she goes out, but today you will have your father with you. Besides, I have a lot of work around the house.”

That just burst Narias’ bubble to have a cute girl with him when they went out. Him and Layla were spending time together during reading sessions and Narias started to like her. Well, he started to like her more than before.

Unfortunately, Narias had to remind himself that he was a three year old child. Even so, he enjoyed being together with Layla.

 

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