A/N: So as a quick preface I will fully admit I totally forgot the specifics behind Eris's siblings and the whole thing with the Boreas family tradition and whatever… buuut I will also admit I do not have a mind to redo the first chapter to suit what's the canon statement after checking the details again. Should I have double checked? Yes. Do I want to redo 12 pages of writing JUST to align with such a small detail? No.
So, I'll just roll with the unintended change because let's be real, it's completely inconsequential anyway so it's not THAT big of a deal.
Besides this'll make it hurt all the more with what I plan to do.
Chapter 2: It's Already gone Awry!
A month after Eris was born, Philip had left for Ars to deal with business involving the main branch of our family.
Nobody really bothered to tell me—the two-year-old—what the exact politics were, but from context I could assume enough of it, so really I just hoped I was right. Well, that and some family logs I'd found in the library plus more sat-in-on that gave me a wider idea of what the Greyrat clan even was outside my basic knowledge of our ties to the royal family and what not.
First step, it's actually a rather big clan. To be precise, the Greyrats are made up of four distinct houses. You have my house, the Boreas, the Notos, the Euros, and the Zephyrus. The Four Winds theme definitely stood out, but from what I managed to research I couldn't tell if this was a purposeful theme or not. Either way, from what I learned, each of the four clans had their own distinct set of attitudes within their branches along with other traditions and whatnot.
Oh, and specific fetishes. Yeah turns out my family is so well known for being a bunch of perverts—and I am assuming this is some nobility in general to preserve my sanity—that not even the official records aren't so flattering as to not bring them up. I already knew it seems the Boreas have a thing for Beastfolk, the servant staff says enough about that. Meanwhile, the Notos men are pretty well known for favoring busty women.
Most of the information I got was about what you'd expect. Family history, chapters dedicated to famous members of the clan—or infamous in a few cases, and whatever self-aggrandizing stuff the author felt like writing in.
I'd bet the writer got paid a bit too well to fluff up the Greyrats a fair bit.
Naturally, I spent most of my research time in my family history on the Boreas. Things like chronicled family members and the like. But what I was looking for was the Boreas traditions, the specifics of what this branch of the Greyrat clan did as common practice. I knew that whoever took the position of the head took post at the estate in the main capital, which Sauros had left to take up the lordship over Fittoa now that Phillip and my uncle were primed to decide who'd be the new head.
"Let's see…" skimming along the passages, it seemed I'd found something close to what I'd been looking for. "if there is a conflict between heirs during an interim period resulting in a power struggle… hmm… still figuring some of these characters out. I think… yeah… when the new head has been decided as a result of the power struggle then…" I found myself trailing off as I continued reading the passage. "… then any current sons will be sent to live with the new head and raised in the successor branch."
Closing the book, my brow knit together, and…
"That's kind of fucked!" Boy was I glad nobody else was here. Suddenly spouting off into such a harsh curse out of nowhere probably would've made some poor maid faint. "So what, if Phillip loses Leonel and I are gonna get carted off to the capital anyway? Hmm… we'd probably be more like hostages than potential heirs, wouldn't we? And it'd be the same if Philip wins instead. Hagh… of course nobility would come with scummy crap like this baked into it. The hell kind of tradition is that?!"
"Aegir!"
"Young Master Aegir!"
Next I knew, Alfonse and Leonel were hurrying into the library. Alfonse also had a letter in his right hand, ever so slightly crumpled up from the rush as he and Leonel cleared the gap from the door to my seat. Going by the looks on their faces, whatever this was, it wasn't good.
"What's happening?" but, keeping up the act of an innocent toddler I must. "Is it about Father being in the capital?"
"Well, yeah but… but…" Leonel's eyes started budding with tears as his hands clenched, biting his lip in clear frustration. "Why? You promised me… you promised me you'd win!"
Oh…
Alfonse cleared his throat. "It seems that… despite best attempts, you father has lost in his bid for leadership of the Boreas clan. Your uncle, Lord James, has been recognized as the new head of the Boreas Greyrats… meaning that, on Lord Philip's return from Ars, you two will return with Lord James to join the main family and begin your education anew in the capital."
"Ah…" Perhaps I'd been expecting something better. Expecting that maybe, some luck would hold out and maybe, maybe I'd get to follow along some novel trends and get a decent head start in this new life of mine.
I should've known better than to expect it to be that easy.
Leonel and I had a few days to prepare ourselves for what was coming. By carriage, it took about three or four days to get from Roa to Ars. So we had four days to get affairs in order… well, that'd fit more if we were older. Or I guess, if Leonel was older. I understood all too well how all of this was nobility politics kicking in, as much as it felt like bullshit to be dealing with. I couldn't even try to feign anything other than blind confusion as much as it annoyed me to do so.
Leonel was far worse off than me. The fact Philip had broken their promise, however unwillingly, had obviously done nothing well for my brother's emotional state. He spent the first day crying his eyes out in one hell of a tantrum that not even Ghyslaine was willing to try and stop. By the time Leonel had finally passed out, Alfonse had found his room an utter mess and more than a few things had gotten a sword slammed through them. After that, Leonel just spent the next few days stewing in his own frustrations, unable to really get why all of this was happening.
As for Hilda… well needless to say she was far from pleased to know that barely any time after having a daughter, her sons were suddenly being dragged off because of branch family bullshit. Several days of tearful hugs and rants at the servants followed. And I was sure Philip was going to get the tongue lashing of a lifetime as soon as he got back.
Sauros was about as pissed as you'd expect. Soon as he'd gotten the news, I'm sure all of Roa heard that man raving at the top of his lungs about what he was gonna do to James if he ever got ahold of his, and I quote, "rat bastard excuse of a son." I really am not sure if I wanna know what my uncle could have done to incur this kind of wrath from Sauros, but it must have been severe, that was for sure. And maybe tied to why Sauros had stepped down from being the head and taken up the lordship in Roa opposed to his sons.
And when the day finally came, Leonel and I were escorted out from the castle to the outer part of Roa. Alfonse wanted to ensure nothing… unsavory happened, so Sauros and Hilda were being kept out of the exchange. Ghyslaine of course came along for her own duties, but her thrashing tale told us all she was far from being in a pleasant mood as we waited for the carriage that would deliver Philip and then take us away from Roa to arrive.
As the all too fanciful carriage pulled up, the silence was thick enough you could have cut it with a knife. Even the normal constant traffic in and out of Roa seemed stock still to watch this and see if anything would happen. Philip was the first to exit the carriage, and one could see the guilt on his face as he approached Leonel and me.
"Boys… sorry, it seems your dad tripped along the way," Philip knelt, putting a hand to our shoulders. "Leonel, I know I said I'd win but… well, it seems I may need more time."
"But you promised!" Leonel's voice was still hoarse as he snapped. "You said you'd win and take us to the capital yourself?! How could you lose!?"
"Leonel…" Philip tried to give a soft tone, but the frustrated child clearly wasn't having it.
"It's simply that your father proved the lesser between us," a condescending voice came strolling out from the carriage first. And then we were greeted by him, the man who'd be taking us away from here. Our uncle, James Boreas Greyrat. He looked a lot like Sauros as it happened, a spitting image of a younger version of the man. And if anything, that likely just contributed more to Sauros's ire towards this man. "Had the succession race concluded sooner, you two wouldn't have even been aware of this. After all, Boreas tradition is that the men are raised with the head of the family from birth. Our father just pulled some strings is all, lucky for the two of you."
"James, the point has been made between you and I, can we not push it further?" Philip's tone was frosty but firm, James shrugging as he leaned against the carriage. Philip turned back to the two of us, his hands tightening on our shoulders. "Both of you… I'm sorry to have failed like I did. But… tradition is tradition, so you two will be going with James to the capital. I know it may not be in the way you wanted, but all I ask is you pursue the dreams you want to, even in this situation."
"But I… I wanted to go there with you… with mother and Eris…" Leonel brought his sleeve to his eyes, using his other arm to pull me into a side hug. "But… I'll try! I'll make sure to be a good brother for Aegir too!"
"That you should. Be the best older brother you can be."
"Best you listen to your father boys… it'll be the last time," James's mugging expression was enough to get me to glare at him, and the older man flinched at the look. He certainly wouldn't have expected a two year old to have the guts to glare like this, much less seemingly actually understand what was going on. "Hurry it up and say what you need to. I'm not fond of sobbing children."
"Always so harsh…" Philip sighed, pulling both me and Leonel into a hug. "Again, I'm sorry… but do your best there. You'll likely be sent to school at the academy the other nobility attend, but don't be afraid to follow your own paths. Do well in your lessons, and play things smart… and I promise…" Philip glanced back to the carriage, making sure James wasn't listening. Though when he spoke next, he dropped his voice to a whisper. "No matter how long it takes, I'll get my payback for this and return our family to how it should be… just be patient."
"A… alright," Leonel nodded, while I remained quiet. Next, Ghyslaine approached the two of us.
"I'm not really good at these things, to be honest," said the beast woman. "Leonel, remember the lessons I taught you, and you should be able to show up any other nobles in swordplay. And for both of you, Ars is also home to the dojo for the Water God school, I suggest looking there if you want to train with anyone other than whatever tutors James lines up for you."
"Got it," I nodded in response. Considering what I actually wanted to do, potentially, that was a good thing to file away for later. Still… right now, it seemed I may need to step up more.
Some more final goodbyes were said, and once James's patience seemed used up, Leonel and I got carted into the carriage. It was as lavish a thing as you could expect, though it was also done in two parts… likely so occupants could remain separate. I can't imagine how awkward and tense the ride back here was for Philip and his brother. And now, it seemed James was using that separation to ensure he didn't actually have to put up with us for the few days we'd end up spending on the road.
As the journey started, for a while all was silent, Leonel quietly sniffling as we sat together, and I was doing my best to soothe him. During this bit though, eventually a partition into the forward half of the carriage opened, James side eyeing the two of us from the other side.
"A word with you two," As James glanced in, Leonel glared his way while pulling me close. "Oh, quit with the defensiveness. Boreas tradition is what it is. You two will be treated as any other noble would, my own sons as far as the others are concerned. But understand this: don't get ahead of yourselves. I don't know what my scheming fool of a brother said, nor do I care. And I don't doubt my father is cooking up some crock idea of a plan anyway. Your roles are, to put it simply, keeping those two in line. So long as you are members of the Boreas family, you are insurance. You will be raised as potential heirs of the house, of course, that is only fair. But don't for a second, over the years to come, think you two are anything other than an insurance policy… if you prove yourselves however… well, I suppose I shouldn't put too many ideas into the heads of a five-year-old and a toddler who barely looks like he understands what's going on. There'll be time aplenty. Do try not to be too noisy these next few days, else something could happen."
The threat was clear enough as James shut the partition.
"He's seriously our uncle?" Leonel's voice was almost a hiss, and he turned to me with the best reassuring smile he could muster. "We're gonna be fine! I'm sure he was just messing around."
Yeah a part of me doubts that. Pretty sure if tradition wasn't involved, we wouldn't even be here.
"We'll be fine," said I. "After all, you're tough! You've learned how to use a sword from someone like Ghyslaine, and I can even use magic!"
"Haha… kinda sucks you won't be taking lessons with Ghyslaine too, huh?" Leonel pat my head, clearly doing his best to keep up a strong front for what he no doubt felt was his clueless little brother not understanding the situation in full. "Still… darnit… how did Dad lose? He promised… he promised…"
Try as he might, the sting of having that promise broken no doubt stuck with Leonel way too hard. My brother hugged me as he started crying again, and all I could do was give him the best hug my small arms could manage. We had a few days, enough time for Leonel to at least process some of this. For me… maybe it was the brief amount of time, or just my own difference in mentality that didn't leave this hitting that hard.
But I can't really say the idea of dealing with the politics of these nobles is entirely something that sounds fun.
Especially when I'm basically a hostage.
Ars was a three-day carriage trip to the southeast of Roa, and as one could guess for the seat of power to a kingdom, was the single biggest city in the Asura Kingdom, situated nicely along the western coast and adjacent to abundant farmlands in the plains beyond its walls. James had been more than happy to inform us Ars was also the largest city worldwide period, not simply for a capital.
And large it was. Even just following a boulevard through one part of the city, that scale was all around, the city stretched out like a wave from the upper regions of the city. Aqueducts coursed alongside the streets, blending the livable architecture with its infrastructure throughout. The spires from temples peered above the lesser buildings, and I was sure there was plenty more I couldn't see in the distance.
But even at a distance, the landmark that stood out the most was the royal palace itself. I'd read about it once or twice while studying in the library. The Silver Palace, the peak of Ars' architecture and home to the royal family of Asura. A grand castle of sterling whites and blues, decorated in bright silver accent colors and Asuran flags fluttering across its walls. Surrounding that palace was also the many manors of the nobility, creating a spread within the city that split from packed boulevards to a few swathes of green created by the spacious manor grounds.
And it was all as bustling as you could expect. As the carriage rumbled on, countless people were milling about the streets about their business. From the average worker to patrolling knights, tradesmen haggling at stalls. Anything and everything you'd expect to see in a bustling city, and I could only imagine that the port at the other end was even busier.
"So this is Ars…" despite his troubles at the start of all this, not even Leonel's bad mood could last in finally getting to see the city he'd wanted to see so badly. Even I had to admit, something about it was uplifting.
Even if three days in a carriage with only a few breaks to stop at smaller towns to sleep and whatever else meant even this tiny body of mine was more than a bit stiff.
"Don't be too impressed by the outer parts of the city," said James as he opened the partition. Leonel was quick to direct a glare at our uncle. "The noble district is what's truly impressive about Ars. Though you'll likely be spending most of your time at the academy once you're old enough."
"Not even going to bother having us at home?" Leonel had a particular snap to his voice, to which James simply chuckled at.
"Unlike a backwater city like Roa, nobles in Ars don't simply hire out tutors to teach the children at home. There's a proper way to do these things. Even at your age, the life of a noble is a public one. Your privacy only comes within the bounds of the manor. You'll have to get used to such things. Of course, if you desire to simply… teach yourself something, that's not out of the scope of possibility to pursue. In your own time, anyway."
"Roa's not a backwater…" Leonel's grumbling earned a very unwelcome snicker from James.
"You'll find most in Ars don't share that opinion. Roa may have a grand history, but a fortress town full of adventurers isn't quite the thing the nobility has a fondness for," James chuckled as Leonel's glare only got fiercer, and my own clear distaste to boot. "Relax a bit, will you? I have some respect for my birth city. I'm merely stating things as they are. That's how it is for us in nobility. You two are better off accepting that fact, for your own sakes and mine. Though mostly mine."
The partition shut again, Leonel audibly growling over it.
"I'll show him… Aegir! We gotta do it! We gotta show him the way we were raised in Roa worked out! If we're gonna be sent to some academy, then we're going to have to show everyone else up! And what Ghyslaine said too! First chance we get, let's go to the Water God Style dojo and become students!"
"You're fired up."
"I wanna be ready for it too," Leonel slapped closed one hand to a fist and then slapped it to his palm. "Father said he would get his payback. So… I want to trust in him. Meaning you and I need to be ready for when that happens."
Seeing his face, I wonder if I do need to try and do more. Leonel has the face of someone who's as determined as your typical anime protagonist. Fired up enough who knows if he'll hold this up into our teenaged years.
Though… perhaps I shouldn't think like this is some novel. I already got burned from that idea.
Things changed as quickly as you could imagine once Leonel and I got settled into the Boreas manor in Ars' noble district.
The immediate change was how lavish things were. Don't get me wrong, the palace in Roa was certainly fancy, but it was a home that told of its origins as a fortress castle first and a home for nobility second. It had a certain rustic, down-to-earth feeling, a lack of ostentatious decoration that reminded you of the history behind the home. Contrasting it though, where Roa's castle had the dull stone walls of an ex-fortress, the Boreas Manor of Ars was a much finer construction.
An exterior of lavish whites and reds, the interior almost too striking with the red and gold decorations that marked the natural browns of the wooded used to craft such things. More rooms than one would ever care to count and other matters of noble accommodation galore. Be it the expansive library dedicating almost an entire wing of the manor to itself, an indoor training room with walls lined in decorative weapons and shields bearing the Boreas coat of arms, etcetera, etcetera.
If anything, the only similarity I felt was the fact the maid staff was nigh entirely made up of beastkin women. That was consistent at least.
Aside from the servants, there was then James's own wife and son. The wife basically did all she could to avoid me and Leonel, clearly deciding the two of us weren't worth her attention since we were only here for the sake of tradition. The son was named Romeo, and was about the same age as Leonel give or take a month or so. As it was, he was still more innocent about things and seemed excited to meet us.
Though I wondered how long that was going to last considering the way his parents saw us.
And as time passed on, days becoming months, it felt less… homely.
Meals and dinners were all too formal affairs, none of the friendly family chatter that had come with my family in Roa. Everything was planned out and scheduled for those who had actual business, to the point that as soon as Leonel and Romeo were sent off to the royal academy to begin their formal education, most days were just me and the servants assigned to my care… on rotation, so I barely got time to really get to know anyone either.
But hey, it also meant I was left to my own devices often enough that, and I had a few years to practice things on my own before I too got my butt shipped off to the academy. For now, I was just resuming magical practice until my body was developed enough to actually use a practice sword properly. So during the months, I started developing some practice routines off of my initial habits from my practice in Roa.
First routine was developing my mana capacity, so I made a point to try and use as many spells in a day as I could before I began to feel fatigued. I kept it simple with repeatedly using Water Ball to fill various containers in the morning, at personal request from the servants and an agreement they wouldn't inform James I was helping their morning water gathering as a sneaky way to practice magic. Though they were certainly surprised when the toddler strolled up saying he could perform basic magic out of nowhere.
The next routine was experimenting with spells and improving my ability to silently cast them. It was a simple enough process: Start from the full incantation, repeat continuously and start to truncate it with repeated attempts until casting was as easy as saying the spell's name. With a few more months of practice in, I was starting to manage most of the basic Elementary-tier spells without a lot of trouble. This came with the added benefit that I was able to test my way through the elemental categories and find out which ones I seemed to synergize with more than others.
Fire seemed to be my best affinity, though testing it was a bit risky for the… obvious reasons. I wasn't about to accidentally burn the house down, though thankfully the grounds proved to have ample enough space to safely practice weaker fire spells at without much trouble. From there, ease of use went down from wind and water being about even, while earth spells seemed to be where I was struggling the most.
Part of my method was also thinking of Mana as a "base particle" and working from there ala physics. In short, my image for elemental magic was taking that basic particle and altering it into another shape. Raw energy becoming fire, wind, water, or earth, and then refining it further from there into different spell types, be it converting water into ice for spells like Ice Blade to form an, and don't be surprised, sword of ice, or further controlling the air to create fine blades within the gust or generating a flame and controlling its heat to further intensify it.
Earth though… something about it was proving trickier to handle for me even for the basic spells. I could make the ground shift just fine, or even create a bit of pliable clay no problem. But beyond that trying anything else just wasn't clicking. Maybe it's just a mentality thing or my affinity for it really does just bum out that much.
My third routine was more in line with mastering silent casting, and it was modifying spells. Once it clicked that incantations set the parameters for a spell when put into action, as I acclimated with a spell I was practicing, I'd do what I could to tweak it and maybe improve on it a bit. Say, making a water spell spin and "sharpen" to act like a pressure cutter, or intensify a fire spell until the flame changed color, so on and so forth. It was probably more tiresome in attempting to do than just repetitively casting spells, but I feel that kind of experimentation would serve me well once I'd adjusted to casting more effectively.
Between my sneaky magical practice, I also took the chances I could to read up on what I could in the library. The staff were surprisingly welcoming when I expressed an interest in languages besides the main one, and that had led into a whole other lesson from a few of the maids.
There were four languages I kept in mind that they told me were most relevant to a noble. Human Tongue, Fighting God Tongue, Beast Tongue, and Demon Tongue. The first was the language I'd picked up since my birth, while Fighting God was a variant on it, with differences in vocabulary and expressions. Beast Tongue was the one I was actively being taught by the staff since they all spoke it. Beast Tongue also had its variants among the Beast Tribes and as I was so informed, Elves and Dwarves as well.
So, mark those off the fantasy trope list to boot.
Lastly was Demon God Tongue. It was a language that wasn't really spoken on any continent where non-Demons lived, so I didn't get much information about it sans the fact it exists, and not a single book in the library was actually in its written form either. Seems that if I wanted to pick up this one, I'd need to meet someone from the Demon Races first. And according to the maid who was teaching me Beast God Tongue, that was very unlikely here on the Central Continent.
Eh, not like I didn't have time to possibly do that.
The few days Leonel got a break from school, he would always come back to tell me what he was learning. About what you'd expect for a school for nobility and their associates, things like court etiquette and general studies, and apparently the academy did hire out instructors for swordsmanship and magic, though it was far from a primary subject the attending students were expected to take. For many, it seemed they regarded studying these fields as "beneath them" the higher up the ranks one happened to be.
Leonel had also met some of our other relatives there, which wasn't all that surprising considering how large our family was. An interesting thing I learned out of these various reports was that my other uncle had been taken out of the succession race for the Boreas due to marrying into the Eurus house. Leonel assumed James had played a role in that happening.
Whatever it was James pulled to take leadership, a part of me does assume Sauros perhaps had some… unforeseen consequences to his choice of action for deciding how his sons would take leadership of the family. My guess? Leaving them to resolve it among themselves. James setting up one of his brothers to get married into one of the other Greyrat branches probably contributed to that feeling of distaste Sauros had towards him now.
"But… a part of me doesn't really care."
Such was what I ended up muttering as I was out practicing spells in the yard again. Maybe it was just the age I was at mentally speaking, but a part of me just couldn't muster up a desire to really care. Or rather, I just didn't give a rat's ass about the politics of nobility. Because I wasn't intending to let any of that dictate my life, not one bit. Sure, while I was still this young, I basically had to roll with the punches, but if there was a chance to ditch this? I'd take it for sure… maybe after helping Leonel out if he cooks up some plan as he gets older, we'll see.
But, for me? I wasn't here to have my second chance at life be dictated by the whims of a bunch of nobles who'd use me as nothing but a pawn. Hell, as far as James is concerned, I'm probably worth less to him than Leonel… meaning I'll also be under his notice so long as I play it smart.
"Maybe I'll be able to actually do things my way," giving a chuckle, I turned to the magic manual I had propped up on a tree stump for easier reading. Lugging this damn thing out here when I was still a toddler was more of a workout than one could guess. "Let's see… I think I've had enough practice to try out an Intermediate spell. Let's see… Ex-Flame huh? Why not… gonna want to aim this one up though."
Taking a few steps back, I raised my right hand upwards, using my left to steady my arm as I looked back to the book for the incantation.
"Let the vast and blessed flame converge at thy command. O raging fire, offer us a great and blazing gift. Ex-Flame!"
I was perhaps expecting a larger than average fireball to form above my hand, something about basketball sized or such. Not a ball of raging fire as large as I was. But as the spell loosed, firing past the trees and high into the air, leaving ribbons of flame surrounding its body as it rocketed upwards… there was a beauty to it too. Burning like a small star, trailing light behind it before bursting into a fireworks like rain of embers.
It was the sudden screech of a maid who was no doubt coming to make sure I hadn't passed out from overusing any spells that reminded me I had in fact let off what was basically a magic bomb high in the sky of a noble estate. In the middle of the royal capital. That was the single largest city on the planet.
Meaning that had probably been seen from the royal palace as well.
"Ah… shit."
Well, mistakes are part of the process and all that. Either way, I felt my path here was clear. Nobility or not, rolling with the flow for a while was my best bet for learning how to apply myself in this world.
For the sake of having a life this time.
For the sake of doing something, of being someone. Of making sure this name of mine ends up meaning something. If to nobody else, then at least to me. This time, no coasting along and being average.
I'm taking this new life seriously, and there's no backing down from that.