3 Chapter 2

While her husband was out for the day, Evelyn along with her daughter, had some various errands to run. After she made breakfast for her daughter and herself, she had to restock some essentials for the week. Simple things like flour, meat, eggs, and sugar. That meant a trip to the lower food market. Evelyn really didn't like goin to the food market. She always fealt like the center of attention when she walked around with out her husband. Even though she wasn't a noble or a powerful caster or a famous adventurer, she was beautiful beyond compare. Most commoners had very plain features. They even looked a bit malnourished from working hard everyday, all year round without getting proper sustainance. As far as nobles were concerned most noble women were exceedingly overweight from there ridiculous fasination with sweets. The noble men were in a similar position, either fat from playing politics or extremely well trained and muscular from being knights. The knights often had horrible scars from the battles they fought in, so from Evelyn's perspective they weren't all that attractive either. Evelyn was one of the rare exceptions as far as appearances were concerned. She was a little over five feet tall, with long, straight golden hair that went a litttle past her shoulders. Her breasts were a bit larger than average for her petite figure and her skin was a milky white. Her eyes were a shade of green that resembled emeralds of the highest quality. She knew she was attractive, and although she was glad she was for her husbands sake, she also knew it would bring trouble if she wasn't careful. Some of the nobles already tried to make her into a concubine. Fortunately her husband had friends ranked high in the noble district and she was able to avoid all that nonsense. While she walked down the street with her little child in tow, she was mildly worried someone might try to kidnap her. But ultimately didn't let it bother her too much. Her husband was once an officer in the court rangers. He even developed a lot of the rigorous training and procedures they follow. Even though he's retired from that life, if something did happen she knew her husband would track her down and rescue her no matter the cost. With her morning errands complete, she began preparing for dinner. Starting with making bread, she planned to make a simple stew using vegetables and meat she had just purchased. As she finished cooking, the sun was beginning to set when she heard a knock on the door. She turned to the little girl helping her set the table and said "Alvira, go let your father in". The little girl said in her high pitched voice "okay mommy!".

When Alvira opened the door and greeted her father she noticed he had something on his back. She was about to ask him about it when he said "Alvira, tell your mother to meet me up stairs". She nodded and ran off yelling to her mother " mommy, mommy, daddy said to go meet him upstairs!" Evelyn looked with a bit of confusion when Alvira yelled to her and said "okay. Now stop yelling and get washed up for dinner". When Evelyn got to the top of the stairs she saw Viktor coming out from a spare storage room.

Evelyn said "what's the matter?"

Viktor replied " I found a young boy in the forest not far from what appeared to be a hell hound attack".

Evelyn asked "Is he injured? What happened to his family?"

Viktor said "I'm not sure but it would seem they're dead. It looked like he had been living out there for quite a while".

Evelyn said "well, what's his name? I'll ask around the market tomorrow to see if anyone recognizes him".

Viktor said " Before he passed out, he said he didnt have a name. He doesn't seem to have any head wounds or any other wounds for that matter. For now I think we should wait for him to wake up before we start making a fuss about him". He paused for a moment, then said "should we adopt him or send him to an orphanage? It's your decision, but i think we should make it now before we get too invested".

Evelyn was mildly surprised by how Viktor made his proposal,but he was right. She thought about it for a moment, then replied "If he chooses to stay we should welcome him". Viktor smiled and nodded. Then he said "lets go eat and prepare Alvira for the possibility of her becoming a big sister".

Its been a week since Viktor found the boy. He woke up the next day and decided to live with Viktor and his family. The boy seemed to have no memories other than living in the forest all alone until Viktor rescued him from his solitude. After he woke, Viktor took him to the orphanage and registered him so that he could officially adopt him. The name they gave him was Alastair.

He and Alvira seemed to get along well. He also had an uncanny talent for mastering anything the first time. Evelyn taught him how to cook full course meals in a few days. It seemed that he could do just about anything that caught his intrest. As time went on Alastair had quickly mastered many things from negotiating prices for supplies to household chores. Viktor even began training him some basic ranger skills. He taught the same things to Alvira, when one day they both asked Viktor to train them to fight. Alastair's motivation was that he wanted to protect Alvira when they started school. He had heard stories from Alvira that people would beat each other up. Apparently when she was out playing in the street she saw a bunch of boys a few years older than her picking on another boy. She was a little scared to go to school because she didn't want to be on the receiving end. What she didn't know was the boy getting beat up stole from the other group. Alvira liked to be around Alastair so she knew that if he was training they wouldnt get to hang out as much. So she decided to train with him, if her father let her. Viktor heard their pleas for combat training and thought it might be a good idea for Alastair but was a little worried about Alvira. What if she wasn't any good at combat or worse what if she was? He thought if his little girl was a good fighter she might scare off potential husbands or get into some sort of trouble. After he talked to Evelyn about it, they decided that training both of them would be okay. If Alvira found herself in a bad situation with no one around at least he knew she would be able to defend herself. Most kids started school when they truned seven years old. Since Alastairs age was unknown, they figured by his size that he was about five. That way he and Alvira could get two years of combat training before school. So with that they began with physical training. The training regiment was difficult. It started with running to the outskirts of the forest, then upper body workouts, then sword practice, then bow practice. It was the same training routine Viktor had developed for the rangers when he was active. He expected Alastair to do well, but to his surprise Alvira was able to keep up just as well. After overseeing there training for a couple weeks he had to get back to his blacksmithing job. Even though he had apprentices that could do most work he still didn't like leaving everything to them. He would give them new exercises every week and check on their sword and bow skills once a week to make sure they had the right form. After almost a year of training Viktor watched as his adopted son, Alastair, and his beloved daughter, Alvira, were sparring. He watched in awe as their movements and the strength of the blows exceeded his own. As he watched the almost even match in bewilderment, he began to realize that after only a single year of training, these little children had surpassed their master in every way.