9 Childhood Memories

Elmer remembered the warm hands embracing him when he was little. In his memories, his mother was a warm and kind person. She was also really shy, as she spent most of her times in the mansion. In that aspect, Elmer thought that he was somewhat similar to his mother.

Elmer was never close to his father. Viscount Marcel stoic face had always frighten him. He didn't have any friend either. Elmer was always in the center of the attention wherever he went due to his look. But he despised the attention. Hence, he rarely socialized with other nobles and spent most of his time with his dear mother. In Elmer small world, his mother was his one and only friend.

But it was about to change when his younger brother born.

Conor was born sick. For quite some time, that younger brother of his was barely alive. Even if he was worried, Elmer was prohibited to visit Conor, and his mother was busy nursing Conor all the time.

He was lonely.

For quite some time, he couldn't even fall asleep. He missed the good old time, but he told himself to hold on for the sake of his mother, and Conor.

One night, when he couldn't get a wink of sleep, he decided to take a walk in the garden. It was then, a mystical soft voice surprised him.

'Young boy, what are you doing here in the middle of the night?'

And it was coming from the oak tree.

—-

'Seems like you got some company, I'll leave you two alone then'

The voice of the tree snapped Elmer back to reality. Elmer once again looked at his younger brother, Conor. It had been a whole ten years since Elmer looked at him properly.

Whenever Elmer looked at Conor, he got a mixed feelings. He didn't know whether he should feel sad, angry, disappointed or glad. They were all mingled together, creating a pain that lingered in his heart. That was why, he would rather avoid seeing Conor altogether.

On the other hand, Conor who just let out anything on his mind noticed the strange atmosphere.

'Did I say something wrong?' Conor thought. He intended to be friendly, but seemed like he said something offending.

"Oh I didn't mean it in a bad way" Conor said, quickly tried to fix his mistake. But the look in Elmer's eyes were strange. As if he was afraid of something.

"I don't know what you're talking about"

Elmer avoided Conor's eyes, he sounded a bit shaky.

Conor was a bit puzzled as to why Elmer looked scared. However, he wasn't here to confront Elmer. Thus, he decided to play along.

"If you say so" Conor said, shrugged.

And then, it was an awkward silence. At this point, Conor didn't actually know what to say before going straight to the point. He wasn't good at beating around the bush.

But Elmer beat him to that.

"Sorry to bother your night walk"

Elmer tried to walk pass Conor, but Conor held him in panic. There was no way Conor would let Elmer escape.

When Conor caught Elmer arm, Elmer froze. Thinking that he could not have next time, Conor quickly said what he had planned before.

"Brother, I don't think it's good to dwell in the past"

Conor voice wasn't loud. But this silent garden made it sounded like an echo in Elmer ears.

"About what happened in the past, I'm-"

Before Conor even finished what he needed to say, Elmer already brushed him off.

"I understand. Please excuse me"

And just like that, Elmer escaped his arm from Conor and walked back to the building. Leaving Conor alone in the garden.

Conor huffed.

Conor didn't actually know what happened in the past. The novel didn't explain it in detail, but he knew that the original Conor did something awful to Elmer. It was pretty bad that Elmer actually developed trauma from it.

That was why Conor tried to apologize. But before he had the chance to, Elmer already refused it.

'Damn it, it wasn't even me but why the hell am I apologizing?'

He thought it would be easy, but after Conor saw Elmer's complicated expression when he apologized before,

Conor somehow felt pity.

Just what did the original Conor had done to inflict that kind of face on Elmer?

Conor decided to not think too much about it.

He still had a plenty of times to mend things together. He was someone to keep promises after all. And it would be good to have Elmer protect the territory for the future.

Conor was about to walk back to his room, but he took a look at the oak tree for the last time. He was a little bit curious about something.

"Hey"

He whispered. But nothing happened.

Conor felt like an idiot that he could feel his face burning from embarrassment. But he knew that something definitely resided in the tree, and that being was listening to him. But, seemed like only Elmer could communicate with that being.

Conor checked his surrounding before he continued.

"We'll come to see you one day. Just wait" He softly muttered.

---

Conor woke up later in the afternoon that day. He slept like a dead man for more than ten hours, however he felt shitty. His body was sore all over, and he apparently got a hungover too. He thought he would be fine since he didn't feel like was drunk.

Conor heard a knock, along with Lou's voice.

"Are you finally up, young master?"

"Yeah"

Conor replied with a cracked voice.

About fifteen minutes later, Lou came in with some hangover soup and lunch. However Conor wasn't in the mood for food since he just woke up. And he got a dinner to attend to. Therefore, Conor was only sipping on the soup while he told Lou to do whatever he wanted for the already served lunch.

Actually, Lou was a really useful and skilled butler. But for some reason, his exsistence alone made him feel irritated regardless he was a spy or not.

"Young Master, I will excuse myself for a while. I still have some personal belongings to move"

Lou said after Conor finished his soup

"Do what you want, I don't care" Conor replied. He was rather thankful for Lou's absence.

Conor then decided to take a walk outside to get rid of his soreness. As he was about to open the door, he felt a frightening aura hovering around. Ren was definitely behind the door.

Just as he expected, Ren's face was the first thing he saw after opening the door.

"What?" Conor asked.

"Work" Ren replied shortly.

"Huh?"

But Conor didn't understand it in the slightest. What work?

"Lou told me" Ren said again.

It was then, Conor realized what Ren meant by work. Did Lou told Ren to stay guard by Conor for today?

'That damn assassin did this to avenge me, huh?'

Conor thought, a little irritated. But he didn't mind it as he preferred Ren following him around rather than Lou. And he didn't have anything to do in particular for today.

"Did you finish your lesson for today?"

Conor then asked to Ren, who immediately nodded.

"Yes" Ren said.

"Good" Conor said again. It was important for Ren to learn quickly after all.

Now that Ren actually worked in mansion, there was a huge possibility for Ren to get attached here. Before that happened, Conor planned to send Ren on a mission. And of course that would happen once Ren was good enough to speak in Araun Kingdom language.

It was also his way to stay close to the original story. As Conor slightly changed the storyline, some things which were supposed to happen were messed up. Ren was supposed to escape after he injured Conor, and stayed for quite a long time in Kupari village.

The village that Viscount Marcel would annihilate in the future.

Conor took a glance to Ren.

"I will take a walk outside, you'll join me?" Conor asked.

Ren nodded.

Now that Lou wasn't here, he wanted to do something that he failed to do yesterday. He wanted to check on something.

They then walked to the main gate. Through their way, the huge training field could be seen. It was the outdoor training field for the Knights.

From afar, Conor could see the Knight Captain Joren was looking at both of them. And then, Joren suddenly ran approaching them.

"What?" Conor asked Joren who was now in front of him.

Joren glanced at Ren quickly before lowered his voice.

"Young Master, Is it okay?" Joren asked.

Conor was confused. He didn't really understand what this Knight saying.

"Ah, I apologize. I mean, if sir Ren keep emanating his magic aura like that, I'm afraid someone would notice" Joren said.

Joren was talking about the secret of Ren being the Demonic Beast people were talking about. Right now, people who knew about it was just Conor, Viscount Marcel, Joren, Viscountess Nadia, Lou and some picked servants and Knights.

But he was interested with Joren who was talking about magic aura. He actually wondered a lot about the strange aura Ren kept emanating. But he never considered it as magic aura.

The reason was simple.

"Young Master probably could not feel it, but magic users could easily detect it" Joren continued.

In the novel, only about one seventh of humans could use magic. The non magic people was born with no ability to absorb Mana from nature. Therefore, they didn't have and aptitude to create magic. And Conor was one of them.

'Then why the hell could I sense magic aura?'

Conor thought. But he put aside thinking about it since he got something else to worry about.

"Then if he hides the aura, it wouldn't be a problem right?" Conor asked.

"He could, but it would be hard unless he practiced to do it for years" Joren said again.

"Oh? then it might be fine" Conor said casually. But Joren looked at him with a confused face.

"Ren, can you hide your magic aura?" Conor asked.

"Magic aura?" He asked, not familiar with the term.

"Yeah that shadowy thing that you have. Because people can feel it coming from you" Conor explained.

"Okay"

In a second, Ren magic aura disappeared. Conor felt the pressuring feeling towards his chest gone completely.

"Now okay?" Ren asked, tilting his head towards Conor who was taller than him.

Joren's jaw dropped. He never seen anyone could hide their magic aura so easily.

"How is it, Joren?" Conor asked

Joren muttered "It's perfect..."

"Good then" Conor said, smiling in satisfaction.

Conor knew that Ren used to hide himself from powerful mosters in The Mountain Range of Death. If a bit of his magic power could be detected, he would be a dead meat.

"Ren, can you just hide it from now on?" Conor asked. He felt fresh now that he was deliberated from Ren's magic aura.

"I get tired easy, but okay" Ren replied with his broken Araun language.

Fortunately, Conor could understand it. Hiding magic aura was no easy task. It consumed a lot of energy. But it shouldn't be a problem for Ren.

Now that all the obstructions had gone, Conor was ready to head to The Mountain Range of Death.