17 Chapter 15: Family gathering

Entering into the garden with many purple flowers, Theo quickly found his father Darwin, mother Mira, and Lucia, sitting under the shadow of the tree on their chairs, waiting for Theo, Stella, and Aurellia.

Approaching the table with many meals, he quickly realized that he was very hungry, so he didn't waste much time and began killing a soup and some bread.

His parents didn't pay any attention to his actions, they themselves have already started eating their meals, so Theo didn't break any rules.

A short time later, when Theo filled his stomach, he turned his head and looked at his parents to listen to their conversation.

"So, when do you think when will we return control back to us over that part of the river?" asked Mira, sipping a glass of water, "Have the dwarves answered to our request?"

"Well, expedition forces are preparing, all the noble families have sent supplies, and began gathering in the camp not far from the city." explained Darwin with a heavy sigh, "Dwarves are repeating that they won't make a move until those monsters won't enter into the territory of their kingdom, you know, it's us who depend from this river route while they can easily use their tunnels to move goods to another bigger and safer river route."

"As always, those neutral bastards, they would never leave their forges and mountains to help neighbors. Our family has already been their partner for hundreds of years, while you already work with them for more than a hundred years. Those greedy bastards ..." said Mira, clenching her fists, "Remember what happened at that time, even when one of their partners was on the brink of destruction, they didn't make a move. Just sent a messenger, saying that they won't interfere in the business of others."

Mira wanted to continue talking her words when she noticed Darwin shaking his head, pointing at Lucia and Theo that were also listening conversation.

"Calm down, dear, we didn't expect anything from them anyway, it's well-known fact that though they are strong, they showed their battle prowess only for several times in the last thousand of years, and all the times their armies appeared were the times when someone created huge problems and obstacles for their race. Short closure of our river route is just a temporary small inconvenience. They have a lot of ships, coming to their kingdom every year from river routes, land routes and ocean routes, the income from our trade route is so insignificant in comparison to others." explained Darwin, caressing Mira's hand to calm her down, "Please, don't talk about that period, we learned a painful lesson, it would never happen again."

Just as Darwin finished talking, Stella and Aurellia, appeared, sitting in their places.

When the whole family gathered for the dinner, Darwin and Mira looked at their children.

Lucia was finishing another slice of cake while Theo has long ago finished eating and waited for the arrival of his sisters.

Moments later when both Stella and Aurellia started eating, Darwin attracted their attention by coughing and clearing his throat.

"Stella, Aurellia, the time when you would apply to the Supreme academies is approaching. I don't doubt in the abilities of my daughters, but you need to get an experience of big battles, so you will be given command over the squadron of knights and mages in the coming expedition against nagas," said Darwin with a serious expression on his face, "Of course, your guard will follow after you, and there is still a month or two left before the expedition army would settle, so use this time to get stronger. Stella, concentrate on stabilizing your energy source, you have made too quick progression when you became a gold knight, though you have one step left before the next realm, I suggest you stabilizing your foundation at first."

"The same applies to you, Aurellia, you should have spent more time as a silver mage, mastering your abilities and skills before becoming a gold mage," said Mira with a strict expression on her face.

Both Stella and Aurellia agreed, nodding to their words.

"By the way have you decided in which supreme academy, you would go to study?" asked Darwin, closely looking at the reactions of his daughters.

"Belgone supreme academy, I would follow my father's and ancestor's footsteps and would prolong family tradition," said Stella with a light smile on her lips.

"Mana heart supreme academy, I would like to see the place where mother studied in the past," said Aurellia, touching her glasses.

"Are you sure about that Aurellia? I have just stayed there for several months before moving to another place, there are much better supreme academies out there," asked Mira with a clear question in her eyes.

"I know, mother, but other academies are near the capital and are flooded with the scions of the Trade Union high ranking officials, it's not a good place for the noble, especially to the noble of the old noble bloodline. People pot there hate all nobles regardless of whether they are their vassals or not. I would better choose a place where I won't be a white raven and would be able to calmly concentrate on my studies. Besides, I have always wanted to see a place where my parents met." explained Aurellia with clear resolution in her eyes.

Mira sighed before smiling and looking at Darwin.

Both Darwin and Mira exchanged fond glances and warm smiles, conversing through the eyes while their children concentrated on their meals, averting their gazes from landing on flirting parents.

Sometime later, Darwin smiled before looking at his children.

He continued starring at them for some time before releasing a sigh.

"I have got an interesting sword technique recently to save it for our family and family members, but it's pity that nobody in the family can use it," said Darwin, releasing a heavy sigh.

Almost instantly, Stella raised her head and looked at Darwin with a clear question in her eyes, even Lucia stopped eating her cake and looked at her father.

As if anticipating their reactions, Darwin sighed once again.

"It's not just another sword technique that you can learn Stella. In this case, it's not suitable for you. The technique manual is called the "Mana sword", and it's on par with strong Great knight sword manual in terms of power," explained Darwin before shaking his head, "Unfortunately, you have no magic talent, Lucia is concentrating on her battle energy, while Aurellia focused her efforts on magic, and is not that good with a sword."

Both and Stella showed their regret by releasing a sigh, but a moment later, Stella's eyes lit up and she looked at her father.

"Father, give that manual to Aurellia, I will help her improve her sword mastery, and soon she will become suitable to become a magic swordsman," said Stella with a resolute expression on her face before looking at Aurellia.

Darwin pondered a bit, thinking about Stella's decision before shaking his head.

"I would be glad to do so, but I spent quite an amount of family finances to get this manual to give it our family guardian mages. That manual can't be copied, and only one person can use it at a time. So, if she really wants it, she will have to polish her sword skills first to the knight's degree of mastery, and then I would give this manual to you," said Darwin, looking at the nodding Stella and Aurellia. He wanted to talk about something with his wife when a question bumped into him.

"Father, can I get that manual?" asked Theo, looking at his father.

Darwin looked at Theo, pondering for several moments.

"In theory, you can use, you have recently become a 1st rank squire, and advanced to 2nd rank adept, you learn both the magic and sword mastery, but it's a bit too early for you to learn that manual. You won't be able to make even one attack with mana sword because you don't have enough mana." explained Darwin, looking at his son, "Besides, as a small punishment for your recent actions in the pressure caves without talking with us first, I won't give it to you just for the fact that you're my son. You will have to spend all your merit points, and proof that you are suitable."

"If you really want to get it, let's make a bet." proposed Darwin, looking at Theo, "Since, you want to catch up with your talented peers that much, I will give that manual for you if you become a mage, and get into the semi-finals in the city tournament next year. Only then, you will have enough strength to use and learn that manual."

"What do you think about such bet?" asked Darwin, closely looking at his son.

Mira and others also turned their heads and looked at Theo.

Theo pondered a bit but quickly made a decision before looking at his father.

"I agree, but what will I get if I win the bet?" asked Theo with a light smile on his lips.

Darwin and Mira smiled when they heard Theo's words.

"Don't worry, if you really win the bet, and clear your old reputation, your family will find things with which they would congratulate you." said Darwin, looking at Mira, Stella, Aurellia and Lucia, "Am I, right girls?"

All the family members smiled and nodded to Darwin's words before returning their attention back to meals.

Nobody noticed that a mysterious sly smile appeared on Theo's lips when they agreed to reward him for the victory in this bet.

Only he knew how he would get that victory.

***

Half an hour later, Theo returned back to his manor, it was already evening, the skies have already begun darkening. Though he trained a lot today, Theo still had some spare energy that he could use, so without thinking much, he quickly took his alchemy book and moved to the garden.

Sitting in the garden in the small pavilion, illuminated by light stones, Theo opened the book and began reading its content.

Unlike before when he just skimmed the book and got a headache, now he felt ready to learn a huge amount of new information.

Thanks to the advancement in his adept rank, his mind became a bit stronger, so it wasn't difficult for Theo to begin memorizing many plants and their properties.

The 1st ten pages of the book had only information about the basic and common plants and herbs, commonly used in alchemy and medicine.

There were plants that could help with headaches, stop blood bleeding, solve stomach problems, herbs that help with broken bones, and other herbs with different usages.

The more he read, the more Theo immersed himself into an absolutely new world of plants, herbs, and medicine, and he continued to read to book without paying attention to the passing time.

Theo also marked different plants and herbs that he found interesting, and wrote his thoughts in the empty spaces near the pictures of the herbs. Soon, many thoughts appeared in the book as if it was a diary.

Theo continued to read the book, immersing himself deeper into the new world of a huge amount of knowledge. Only after several hours when it became dark, Theo began shivering from the chilling wind, and Arthur appeared in the garden near the pavilion, Theo raised his head and put the book away.

Theo decided to read alchemy books every evening before going to sleep, beginning from today. So, after talking a bit with his personal aide Arthur, Theo moved in the direction of his manor and soon he immersed himself into the world of dreams.