Hello, little Vale," a warm yet playful voice said behind me. "I'm Nina Blackwyn, the grandmother of the girl you were looking at."
She smiled mischievously. Caught off guard, I quickly bowed and greeted her.
So far, I had only spoken to two members of the Blackwyn family Lord Jedric Blackwyn, who seemed calm and composed, and Lady Talia Blackwyn, a kind woman who often stayed near my mother. They already seemed to be friends. But this was my first time meeting Nina Blackwyn herself. I didn't know much about her, except that people said she was a powerful mage.
After I greeted her, she nodded and said kindly, "Congratulations on your birthday." Then, with a sly grin, she added, "It's normal for boys to stare at her, you know. After all, she is my granddaughter, and she's quite pretty. Don't you think so?"
I froze, unsure how to respond.
"Don't tell me you don't think she's pretty!" she said with playful irritation.
"O oh, no, Lady Nina! She's very pretty," I stammered.
She laughed softly. "I'm joking, boy. I'll introduce you to her later." Then her expression changed, and her tone turned curious. "Tell me, can you feel mana? Don't lie. I already know you can."
I hesitated, then quietly admitted, "A little bit."
Her gaze became more thoughtful. "So you even know what mana is? Impressive. My granddaughter only learned about mana when she turned six, and even now at seven she still can't sense it. Yet you already can. Interesting…"
I tried to smile, but my thoughts raced. How did she find out?
After a pause, I carefully asked, "Lady Nina, was that gentle heat earlier was it something you did?"
Her lips curved into a playful smile. "Ah, so you noticed that? Clever boy. I wanted to test what Aeris told me that you could feel mana."
"Oh… so you were checking?"
"Exactly," she said. "I gathered a small amount of mana in my hand and changed it using my fire affinity that's what created the heat you felt. I increased it little by little until you reacted. You're more sensitive than I expected."
She chuckled when I gave a nervous laugh. "Don't worry, young man. You have great talent just don't draw unnecessary attention to it. That's my advice to you."
Then, with a knowing smile, she added, "Our Blackwyn and Lunareth families have long been friends. But you have the chance to make that bond even stronger. Work hard, Vale."
Before I could respond, she took my arm gently and began leading me toward the Blackwyn girl, leaving me no time to process her words.
As Lady Nina gently pulled me across the hall, I found myself thinking, So Grandfather's friends are all monsters like him.
When we reached the Blackwyn girl, Nina let go of my hand and said warmly, "Oh my, Celine, what are you doing all alone here? There are so many people, some of them even our friends. You should go and talk to them. Did you eat something, sweetheart? I must have forgotten to check on you. I got distracted meeting my old friend after so long."
While she spoke, I picked up the girl's name Celine.
"It's okay, Grandmother," Celine answered shyly. "Go talk with your friends. I'm fine."
"Oh, dear," Nina replied playfully, "then I'll leave you with a new friend. He's a year younger than you. Maybe you can teach him a thing or two." She shot me a mischievous smile before walking off toward the two older men.
I stood there, frozen for a moment. Celine seemed shy, and honestly, I wasn't sure how to talk to girls. The only girl I had spoken to often was Lucy, in both worlds. Still, after a few seconds of awkward hesitation, I managed to say, "H-hello, I'm Vale Lunareth. Nice to meet you."
She smiled faintly and replied, "I'm Celine Blackwyn. Nice to meet you too."
After that, the tension eased, and we began talking more comfortably. Myra brought us some drinks, and while I noticed Grandfather whispering something to her probably something shameful I tried not to think about it.
Celine was a bright girl clever, polite, and genuinely curious. Chatting with her felt easy. I quickly realized, though, that her knowledge of the world was limited. She didn't know much about the power ranks, the Eternal War, or the kingdom's geography, only what was around her city. Her grandfather was apparently teaching her how to feel mana, and I picked up his method through our conversation.
She was working hard just to sense mana. Listening her made me decide to meditate more seriously and adjust my martial arts to fit this world. I couldn't let myself fall behind.
Celine also studied math and other basic topics, but nothing too complex. For me, math wasn't as hard anymore once you've learned it twice, it gets easier the second time. Still, even thinking about starting from scratch again made my head hurt.
While I enjoyed talking with Celine and she seemed to enjoy it too time passed quickly. Eventually, Mother returned and called me over to say goodbye to the departing guests. The Blackwyn family would be staying overnight in our mansion and leaving the next day.
That thought made me quietly happy, until I remembered the witch herself Nina Blackwyn and felt a flicker of worry.
After the party ended, I saw the maids cleaning up, and all the guests had gone except for the Blackwyn family. I wandered around and soon ran into Roland. He told me he had a night patrol and would return in the morning before he left. Lucy appeared to be helping the other maids.
While I was exploring, I bumped into Jedric Blackwyn. He looked as cheerful as always, and we chatted for a moment. I asked him why he was called the Black Knight. He explained it was because of an artifact he owned, a Tier 5 dark black armor set. After he departed with Nina, the witch, I realized he also held the mythical rank. With his Tier 5 artifact, he must be incredibly powerful. I could hardly fathom how strong he was.
I remembered seeing Lucy use her wind magic earlier. She had a spell called Wind Bullet. It was an invisible projectile that struck its target faster than an ordinary bullet while inflicting the same damage. She also had a cleaning spell that could sweep away dust using wind. Lucy was only a adept rank A mage and had just these two spells. In this world, learning new spells seemed tough and expensive. The difference in power between her and Jedric, a mythical rank mage with a Tier 5 artifact, was huge.
I learned that artifacts were ranked from 1 to 5, with ranks 6 and 7 being known as relics because of their rarity and immense power. For comparison, a artifacts Rank Tier 1 was equivalent to an Adept Rank, while Tier 7 equaled Eternal. With such a gap, I couldn't even imagine defeating someone like Jedric.
After leaving Jedric, I found my mother and Celine's mother, Talia. She was kind, and while I wanted to talk to my mother about something important, she seemed busy enjoying time with Talia. I decided to discuss it later.
Now, I'm in my room, looking out the window. I can see the magical lights working throughout the mansion and hear the guards patrolling. Some people are still awake, and soft sounds echo through the halls. I watch quietly, thinking about my new life and the people around me.
Meanwhile, Celine, the girl with wavy red hair, lay in her bed thinking about her conversation with Vale. She was surprised that, even though he was a year younger, he seemed to know more about certain things. She felt both impressed and shy, a mix of excitement and embarrassment swirling in her chest. They would leave tomorrow morning, but maybe they would return someday. She knew she had to awaken her power soon, before turning 12 there was no time to waste.
Elsewhere in the mansion, a beautiful elf with golden hair watched a portrait of a white haired man who looked to be around 30. If anyone looked closely, they would see tears sliding down the elf's cheeks. The light in the room made the tears glimmer like molten gold.