"Ha…"
The hands gripping the sword lost its strength. The wooden sword fell onto the grass with a soft thud.
Kael sat down on the patch of grass to catch his breath, his body hunching from overexertion. He let out another long breath, letting his body fall entirely on the ground.
He just laid there, breathing in air, regulating his mana.
The words spoken by his father echoed in his mind again.
I need to focus…
Kael clenched his fist, feeling the tingling sensation still coursing his arm. He did not want to let his father down, and more importantly, letting himself down. He did play around, like most teens do. It has not hit him yet, about what was truly at stake.
But this caused a surge of guilt in his chest.
Father feels disappointed in me…
The look in Rheon's eyes did not disguise it. Kael closed his eyes, and in his mind he wished he was stronger, more talented, and more serious like his father had wanted him to be.
While he was self criticising himself, suddenly he felt a soft, warm object pressed against his hand.
"Hm…? Hey…White." Kael noticed the fluff against his hand.
He tilted his head to see the white rabbit, a small smile carved on his lips seeing him. It was a good feeling to have his pet snuggling up to him when he was feeling down, it's almost therapeutic.
Kael moved his hand to pet its body to and forth.
Shou just felt Kael was working too hard, to the point of being unable to stand up properly. A part of him just cannot ignore him an felt a sense of care.
The man and the rabbit just stayed there, with Kael already closing his eyes almost falling into a nap.
"Hey White…"
Shou's ears stood, visibly listening.
"Roll." Kael tilted his head, looking at the rabbit with some anticipation.
Tch. How many times do I have to do this?
Shou was pouting, not that his expression could be read. He reluctantly rolled to the side.
"Hahaha." A laughter of amusement escaped from Kael's lips, his heart filled with joy. It was nice to have this little company.
Kael rested his head back on the grass, thinking about his life. After seconds, he sat up after letting out a large breath.
"White, look at this." Kael called out to the rabbit, while his hand waved towards the ground. Light yellow misty light escaped from his palm, and the earth the palm pointed to shook and rose into a 30 centimeter tall mount.
Wow! Now this is magic!
Kael smiled seeing the big pupils on the rabbit, and the way his tail moved left and right. He took the pile of earth into his hands, and with skillful squeezing and manipulation, he created a life-size version of the rabbit in earth form.
Woahhh!
Shou looked at it left and right, placing his paw on them to check its nature. This was more interesting than whatever he did with his sword. Now he really wanted to try using real magic like this.
He rubbed his paws, his face scrunched trying to imitate Kael's actions. But he only felt like an idiot seeing nothing come out. He sat down in defeat, his paws crossing over his body in annoyance.
"Hahaha. White, you want to use magic too? Too bad you…"
Kael stopped his words for a second. He recalled how they, humans, were able to use magic. They basically imitated Magic Beast first.
"Maybe you can…" He muttered to himself.
Kael turned his head to Mary who had been standing meters away from them ready to serve any time.
"Mary, bring the set to test elemental affinities."
Mary was dazed in a while hearing the order. Her quick wit concluded Kael wanted to have the rabbit test them. The rabbit did have unusual intelligence…
"Yes, Young Master." Mary left with calm haste.
Meanwhile, Shou was still struggling to use magic. He imitated the scene of meditation he saw before, and channeled the mysterious energy inside of him.
Kael's hand that had been patting Shou mindlessly suddenly stopped. His eyes widened in shock.
"I feel your mana flowing…" He muttered, reconfirming by channeling his own mana slightly through his palm.
Kael observed the rabbit carefully, his heart feeling with anticipation and even excitement. The rabbit kept giving him surprises.
The rabbit suddenly stopped after another minute of trying, his ears deflated as if losing his spirit once more.
Kael just chuckled inside seeing this. In a matter of minutes, Mary returned with a silver tray carrying different objects.
A chunk of amber crystal, a beaker of mysterious black metallic liquid, a metallic cylinder with a green crystal embedded in it and finally a white coral with crystallin clusters.
Mary placed the tray in front of White, to which he looked at them with curiosity and questions.
"Just channel your mana through it." Kael instructed the rabbit, but seeing his clueless face that was just staring at him, he remembered once more this rabbit definitely did not understand what he was saying.
"Like this." Kael took the ember color crystal onto his palm. In a few seconds of pouring his mana into it, heat was released from it.
Shou leaned closer, surprised feeling the warmth spreading from the ember.
"If it reacts, it means you have the elemental affinity for the Fire element." Kael said before placing the ember in front of White to try.
Shou understood from the gestures and placed his paw, concentrating to move the flow of the energy inside of him through his palm. His fur glow slightly under his control, mana was outwardly escaping his palm.
But to Shou's disappointment, it did not react.
"Try others."
Kael replaced the ember with the beaker containing metallic liquid. Kael demonstrated first, causing the liquid seemingly to turn solid under his palm.
"This is to check for Earth elemental affinity."
Shou tried and he failed again. Kael placed the metallic cylinder with a gap showing the green crystal inside next to Shou.
"Mary, demonstrate it to him."
Mary nodded and sat gracefully on the grass before placing her palm near the metallic artifact. The green crystal glows, with visibly arcs of green sparks appearing between Mary's hand and the green crystal.
Shou tried, but still failed. Shou pouted in dissatisfaction. His gaze turned to the last piece of object, a white coral with crystal-ish appearance. Shou didn't wait for the two to order him, he hopped closer to it and placed his palm on it.
With the energy escaping his paws, the coral actually show a reaction, the coral's translucent structure turned more transparent, and the surface of the coral became almost watery.
"Huh. So it is Water affinity. But you are a rabbit not a fish…" Kael had a weirded out expression on his face. It didn't seem to fit the theory of evolution of magic beasts. But then again there were always exceptions. Maybe it was a mutated rabbit? Kael thought.
Shou didn't care about the questions, he just felt happy seeing this object reacted finally. In his assumption, the ember was to test for fire elements, the black metallic liquid for earth, the cylindrical metal is for lighting seeing the sparks, and this coral thing that turned transparent and wet to the touch must be for water.
Shou turned to look around, as if looking for a source of water. Just then his eyes landed on the leather flask resting near Kael. He looked at it with excitement, wishing badly to try to do something with it, then looked back at Kael trying to figure out how to get it.
Kael just smiled, seeing his eyes he could understand what the rabbit wanted. He picked the flask and uncocked it, poured some water onto his palm then held it close to the rabbit.
Shou felt happy that this man actually understood what he wanted to do and raised both his paws. With focus, accompanied by a not-so-handsome expression, the water's surface trembled and shook.
I feel it… so this is how you control it…!
It was as if he was touching, or holding it, with some invincible energy tethered to him.
Kael and Mary was inwardly shocked seeing the rabbit really could control the elements with mana.
Shou grunted, moving more energy inside of him wanting to make a splash. The water really did splash upward all of a sudden!
The water splattered right onto Kael's face, even right into his nose.
Kael was literally choking on them, the water entering his lungs making him cough violently for a second. Veins bulged on his head as anger rose instantly.
"You dare-! Come here!" Kael tried to grab him, furious.
Ah! I don't mean it!
The rabbit skillfully rolled to the side, dodging the big hand like it was a boss attack and ran away quickly.
"Come here you stinky!" Kael stood up and chased it, wanting to teach him a lesson.
Why are you so angry! You are so unreasonable!
"Damn why is he so fast?!" Kael couldn't believe how his 1 meter legs couldn't catch up. Shou was a wild rabbit, and a magic beast too, not a normal domesticated one so how could Kael catch up.
Mary at the side chuckled lightly seeing Kael so active and excited. She recalled the way Kael used to be like this whenever his father was not around in his childhood.
The scenes of Kael playing around with a wooden sword, claiming himself as the Hero and she had to be the evil demoness. The games he secretly play without his father's knowledge, those memories passed in her mind. Alas, over the years, Kael's personality became milder. Maybe it was him growing up, or maybe it was something else.
It was rare seeing him as expressive like this. She couldn't help but appreciate this moment.
"Stop or I will stew you!" Kael shouted from the bottom of his lungs. His already exhausted body couldn't keep up and he had to stop in a matter of twenty steps.
"Damn you… ha… ha…"
Shou stopped and looked back seeing Kael couldn't chase anymore. He chuckled and without much thought he flicked his tongue out with a sneer on his coney face.
Seeing the gesture, Kevin froze, he almost could not believe his eyes. He couldn't comprehend how this rabbit could make that face, and it was clearly mocking him!
"You…- You-!" Kael's face turned from shock and disbelief, onto red with anger and even embarrassment. To think a rabbit out of all things could mock him!
Mary laughed seeing this. She couldn't believe her eyes either. If she told anyone about this no one would believe it she thought.
The man continued to chase to no avail. Frustrated, he had enough.
"Mary, do not let him come inside! He needs to learn his lesson!"
Kael huffed before turning away, going back to the mansion.
"Eh?" Young Master… you are so petty towards a rabbit. Mary just shook her head, used to Kael's antics.
Shou tilted his head, seeing Kael stopped playing with him. Maybe he was tired already, he thought.
Mary picked up the magical objects back onto the tray. She looked at the rabbit for a second, considering whether to really leave him outside as instructed.
But Kael was probably not serious so she didn't say much to the rabbit and just headed back as well.
While the two walking side by side, Mary couldn't help but say "You can really understand us?" Mary glanced down at White, just asking for no reason really.
Shou had learned enough from Kael's commanding words to understand the question 'understand?' so he nodded vigorously. Shou really just wanted a chance to properly communicate, in fact, desperate to communicate.
Mary stopped her steps for a second. A sense of shock crept up onto her only now seeing the nod and those clear eyes. She wasn't sure if Kael ever realized that this rabbit was not just smart, it's almost… like a toddler?
Since Kael didn't want the rabbit inside his room for the day, she felt like testing the limit of the rabbit's intelligence.
"Follow me, Mr. White." Mary added a title out of fun, leading Shou around the mansion. The servants in the mansion nodded towards Mary as a form of greetings, but each time their eyes swerved to look down on her feet where a rabbit was walking alongside her.
"Young Master's pet is so tame…" A male servant commented and took the chance to pet the rabbit's head. Shou saw the incoming hand and like the wind, he rolled to dodge it with grace and hid behind Mary's feet skillfully.
The man gasped at such skill. He was baffled. It reminisces the scene he saw when he was younger, seeing soldiers attacking a giant beast and the way they rolled to dodge the beast's attack were the exact same.
The man retracted his hand, a begrudging respect grew in his heart. He took a step aside, letting the rabbit pass and giving him his space.
Shou snorted coldly, his head raised high as he continued walking imitating the Young Master. Since he was in the mansion, naturally he had to act like a noble rabbit. And no one can act presumptuously in front of him!
Mary was wondering if she was imagining it, that posture was almost similar to Kael's… yes, it's definitely her imagination she thought.
After handing the magical objects to another servant (it's called task delegation), Mary led the rabbit to the servant's quarter.
Shou looked around curiously, amazed once more at how big and how well the servants were treated here. The pay here must be good too, he thought.
Mary led him to her quarter. It was furnished simply, but the quality of each item was definitely of high standard. The scent of chamomile permeated from a scented oil diffuser on the bedside cabinet.
She went to the cabinet and took a piece of paper and a pencil before taking a seat on the desk filled with jewelries and skin care items. She made some space by pushing those aside and gestured for the rabbit to come up.
Shou understood the gesture and hopped onto her laps, and hopped again to reach the table.
Mary was amazed at his understanding, and now she wanted to test more.
"Ma…ry." Mary wrote down the two symbols, pointing at the 'Ma' and 'Ry' on the paper.
Shou looked at them, then at Mary with many nods.
"Ka…el." Mary wrote another two symbols on the paper and pointed them to the rabbit. Once more the rabbit nodded again and again.
"You really understand or you are just nodding mindlessly…" Mary felt it was too easy, and she wondered if she was just overthinking it.
Mary placed the pencil on the desk, her arms crossing trying to think of a proper test. But before she could think of one, her lips parted open in surprise seeing the rabbit trying to pick up the pencil.
Can you really…
Mary looked in anticipation. The rabbit managed to hold the pencil up with his two paws, and with great effort, he drew a crooked line from the word 'Mary' and drew another crooked V at the end of the line right towards her.
Mary's lips parted enough that her jaw dropped fully. "Oh Luminus… you really…"
Mary became more excited herself and decided to teach more words to him. How could she not be excited when a literal animal had so much intelligence they can learn things like this.
And just like that, Mary started to secretly teach the rabbit how to write and read without anyone else knowing this secret, keeping confidentiality tight.