3 House

The captain looked at the two boys lying on his bed. Many memories surfaced in his head when he saw them.

He was an orphan. He also did remember having a little brother in his younger days. They both volunteered in entering the army.

Together they faced blood, anger, regret, remorse...but...he alone faced his brother's death.

He soon retired after the Mage Continent was defeated and continued as the captain of this city's guards.

Everyday he would stare at the sky while asking to himself why is he still alive...? You can't live just for no reason...even beast live for a purpose. They live for surviving, for feeding their kin,...even livestock lives in order to get eaten.

And there he was sitting on his chair, trying to convince himself that he lived for protecting the city even though the only thing that kept his fire burning was long gone.

He though of himself as a being lower then beasts and livestock. That was until he saw them.

The two brothers that reminded him of what was long forgotten. When he saw them, he felt like the tiny flame inside of him became a large fire.

The captain sighted as he it an oil lamp next to the bed. He grabbed a chair and sat near the two boys.

"I know you're not sleeping...talk to me."

Alfred's eyes slowly opened. He slightly turned his head and looked at the captain. The light emitted from the lamp shone on his face showing his tired middle-aged face. His silver hair was tied behind him into a bun by a red cloth.

The two of them stared at each other's eyes and stayed there. They listened to the sound of the gentle breeze as it slowly caressed their faces.

The captain finally opened his mouth seeing the boy's silence.

"I know you are not from the Sword Continent."

Alfred eyes showed a hint of surprise hearing his statement. He quickly calmed his heart and regained his usual state of mind.

"What tells you so?"

The captain looked at Alfred's clothes and silently chuckled.

"No matter how dirty your clothes get, sharp eyes could still see the difference."

He yawned and smiled at Alfred.

"Don't worry. I won't do anything to you guys. I don't care wether you are from the Mage Continent or the Sword Continent. I just rescued you to fulfill my selfish needs."

The captain picked up a mirror on the nightstand near the bed and looked at his refection.

What he saw wasn't a warrior nor a brother. What he saw was his reflection. This is the refection of himself, the reflection of what he has become.

What he was staring at wasn't a mirror. He was staring at the consequences of his action.

While still holding the bronze mirror, he kept on calmly talking to Alfred.

"The mages are being chased and persecuted. Even though the war ended, it is still going on...but in my eyes the only war that is going on is the war in which I fight against myself."

He put the mirror back on the nightstand as he relaxed on his chair.

"Why am I even telling this to a kid?"

Alfred was about to tell him something but he was interrupted by the captain's words.

"Sleep now. You guys will cause me some problems tomorrow so sleep."

He closed his eyes and instantly fell asleep erasing all thoughts out of his mind.

Alfred was still staying dumbly on the bed. He shifted his head to his left and looked at his half little brother. He was already sleeping peacefully.

He closed his eyes and also slowly fell asleep.

Alfred was standing in the void. All around him was darkness. He looked in front of him and only saw something darker than the darkness itself.

He didn't know why but he immediately ran towards the abyss as if it were some black hole forcing him to approach.

He ran and ran and ran not knowing a thing. No matter how fast he ran, the abyss kept on moving backwards making him run aimlessly without reaching it.

Alfred didn't know how long he had ran but he was brought back to his bed without even knowing it.

'A dream?'

He slowly stood up from the bed and rubbed his eyes.

'Yes...a dream.'

Alfred saw that Blade was still sleeping so he slapped his head to wake him up.

Blade immediately rose from his bed and looked around him in confusion. He looked at Alfred and finally remembered what happened.

He was knocked out by Alfred and that's all he remember.

"Where are we?"

Alfred took out two thin metal bracelet from his belt and put them on both his wrists. They bracelets shrieked to the size of his wrists and increased in lengths till they became metal bracers.

"We have to careful. The guy that took us in knows that we aren't from the Sword Continent. He says that he doesn't care about our origins but we still have to stay aware."

Blade nodded his head. During his unconsciousness and his sleep, he was exploring the secrets of the necklace and managed to learn the runes of the fireball spell. It needed 10 percent of his mana to launch a fist sized one. He needed at least 10 seconds to cast the spell.

He also discovered a method to store a spell by reducing all the runes of a spell into a very small size and putting it into a mana circle. The latter was stored in the eyes. When activated, the eyes' pupils would take the form of the runes. That gave the spell the name Rune Eyes. The amount of spell that could be stored depends of how small the circle was created.

Blade could only store two spells, one for each eye.

He didn't report his discovery to Alfred because he didn't want to be used just like earlier.

While Alfred was still doing his things with his bracers, he got off the bed. He smelled a faint scent that made him hungry.

Alfred was to busy with his bracers that he didn't notice it at all.

When Blade was about to check were the smell came from, a man with fit body opened the door.

Blade was surprised and immediately froze on spot. It was actually the first time he saw this man. He still hasn't prepared any spells so he looked at his brother but he was sitting on the bed, no longer continuing his earlier actions.

The captain smiled seeing that the two finally awoke.

"Welcome to the Sword Continent boys! Come let's eat! I don't want to give you a bad experience since you're my guests."

Alfred thought about the situation for a very long time while preparing his bracers and concluded that the captain really meant them no harm so he signaled Blade to follow him.

The two brothers followed the captain to the other room where there was already food on the table.

They were both really hungry. They haven't eaten since their arrival so their stomachs instantly rumbled when they saw the soup.

Alfred managed to control himself but Blade immediately leapt towards the chair and started eating.

Alfred shook his head seeing his brother's reckless action but he too was hungry so he took his seat and started eating.

The captain looked at the two brothers amusingly. They might not know it but they were at the same time very similar but also very different from each other.

He also sat down and ate his food.

'Maybe I too look like them?'

The captain shook immediately took away that thought. He was no longer a kid.

He decided to talk to these boys about what to do about them.

"I will not ask about your backgrounds our anything about you. Due to my selfishness, I can only give you boys two choices: you either become my adoptive sons or work under me."

Alfred lowered his spoon and looked at the soup while thinking. Blade also slightly paused but quickly continued eating. His Elders always told him to let Alfred do the decisions for him so he didn't really care of the choices that were in front of him.

The captain saw that Alfred was still in deep thoughts so lazily leaned his head on his hand.

"Of course, you can still choose to not choose any of these and make a living on your own in the city or somewhere else..."

Alfred rose his head and answered the captain. "It looks like we will be under you for a while sir."

"Call me Captain Karl." He was slightly unpleased with the decision they took but still respected their decision.

"Wait a moment! You want me to be his servant?!" Blade actually thought that Alfred would choose to be his son!

"I am a mage! I don't do the work of patrol or guard or whatever you do!"

Alfred slapped his face when he heard his little brother. Why is he so stupid?!

Meanwhile, Karl was also shocked at his revelation and also his stupidity.

Realizing what he just did, Blade quickly covered his mouth in shame. He looked towards Alfred to see what he would do.

Indeed, Alfred already took action the moment Blade looked at him.

He abruptly leaped off his chair and sent his arm to wars Karl's neck. He opened his palm and a blade extended from the bracer he put on.

Unfortunately, Karl calmly grabbed his wrist easily as if he had already predicted his attack. The blade was just slightly about to touch his neck.

Karl really couldn't blame them for missing. His experiences in combat was too abundant.

"What about you boy, are you also a mage?"

Alfred tried moving his hand but couldn't do so. He thought of attempting another attack with his other hand but abandoned the thought of doing so.

"I am no mage. My constitution is the worst for the path of magic."

Karl released his hand and continued on eating. He talked while putting the spoon in his mouth.

"You should listen to your little brother's words boy. You also have no aura, the energy used by warriors in your body."

Alfred's hand trembled when he heard that. He quickly put them behind his back like he usually did.

He always had the thoughts of practicing the warrior's Aura since he couldn't use magic at all.

He realized that he had no other talent than his knowledge. He could do maths, but are these useful against fireball shooting straight towards his face.

'No! Alfred! Stop demoralizing yourself.'

He forced the shaking to stop with his willpower and a resolute expression appeared on his face.

He might not have the talent but he could create many 'interesting things'.

He looked straight in Karl's eyes arrogantly and told him with a resolute tone.

"Tell me. How did you people of the Sword Continent fight before the discovery of the Aura?"

Karl was instantly taken by surprise by his words! His surprised expression slowly faded away as he started laughing.

"Ok then! You will work under me while the other little boy will be my son! No oppositions?"

The two brothers nodded their heads. Everyone was satisfied. Karl got his selfish desires fulfilled, Blade got a rather nice position and Alfred got what he wanted.