Chapter 17: Five More Years

The next day, Neo got up as early as he always did and quickly went through everything he had to do in his room before heading for the door.

"Aina said we're going to start training a bit later today so I guess…."

He pulled the door open to find his father walking past his door and he paused as soon as he spotted his son.

"Hey, Dad, good morning." He greeted.

"Good morning, Neo." He responded with a smile.

"I'm surprised to see you haven't left for work yet."

"True, I would normally be already gone by now, but I'm going to be signing in a bit later than usual today." He disclosed.

"Oh, I see," Neo uttered before turning toward the staircase.

"So, how's your training going?"

"Great, Aina agreed to start helping me yesterday." He turned to him with a smile. "She's great with the sword so I believe."

"I see, looks like you're about to take another leap forward."

"You bet." He responded quite abruptly before turning back to the stairs. "Well, see ya."

He quickly made his way down the stairs after that while Henry stood there and watched with a proud smile on his face.

Just after making his way downstairs, Neo found himself in the kitchen where he found Nicole and Emilia who happened to be busy getting breakfast ready.

Nicole was chopping some vegetables while Emilia stirring what appeared to be a pot of stew.

"Oh, hey, Neo," Emilia called as soon as she spotted him.

Meanwhile, Nicole pretended not to see him.

"Hey, Emilia." He responded his gaze shifting to Nicole. "And Nicole."

There was no response from her as she focused on the carrots she was chopping so Neo just sighed before turning back to Emilia.

He just stood there and stared at her for a while before deciding to ask her a question that had popped into his mind in the spur of the moment.

"Hey, I was wondering."

"Huh? Wondering what?" Emilia asked, turning to him.

"What's going to happen once the three of you get married?"

"Huh?"

That wasn't the kind of question she was expecting and now she was staring at him with a confused expression on his face.

"What will happen once we get married? You'll get new maids I guess but I don't think that will be happening any time soon." She responded.

"Won't be happening any time soon, are you speaking for just yourself or the others too?"

"The others?" She muttered before turning to Nicole.

At first glance, she didn't really seem to be paying any attention to the two but then her eyes slowly shifted to Emilia while she was still facing what she was doing.

"I'm twenty-five now, most married women my age would have already been married for long." She remarked.

"Okay, and what are you trying to say?" Neo asked, turning to her.

She let out a sigh before turning to him, maintaining her usual poker face.

"I'm saying I have no intention of getting married at least not yet, I'm quite satisfied with where I am now." She uttered before turning back to the chopping board even though she was already done chopping everything there.

"Seriously? But you promised we'll get married once I turn eighteen."

"I never made such promise." She retorted. "And I already told you, you don't need to turn eighteen to get married if you're so desperate to do so."

"No, you're getting it wrong." He shook his head. "I'm not desperate to get married, I'm only desperate to get married to you." He remarked with a subtle grin on his face.

He slowly shifted her gaze to him at that moment before turning away with a sigh.

'I wonder what it'll take to get her to blush.'

"You know, you're not the only one." Emilia chimed in.

"Huh?"

"Yesterday when we went to the market together, she got approached by about eight men, some of them trying to know her name and some straight up asking for marriage." She disclosed, giggling a bit on the last part.

"Oh."

'Was that supposed to surprise me because it sure didn't do the trick?'

"What about you?"

"Huh? What about me?" She responded with a confused expression on her face.

"Yeah, how many of them asked you out yesterday?" He asked.

"About four, I guess, why do you ask?"

"Just making sure you didn't get swallowed up." He responded.

"You know, there's something you ought to be focused on instead of the matter of what will happen when we get married."

Those words came from Nicole causing him to turn his gaze back to her.

"And what's that?"

"The Academy or the Knight Academy of Flemero to be precise." She stated. "You should be eligible to join five years from now, although, without an awakened ability, it'll be difficult for you to pass the entrance examination."

"Oh, yeah, I heard Mrs. Eleanor mention that once," Neo uttered with his hand on his chin. "Well, there is a chance I might awaken my ability before then."

"A chance, yes but I think you should prepare for the worst, and even if you manage to pass without an awakened ability…."

"I'm going to get bullied by the other kids who have already awakened their ability." He interjected.

Now, she was looking at him with a puzzled expression on her face.

"I've gotten used to the fact that your mental state is more advanced than that of kids your age but still some of the things you say surprises me sometimes."

"Well, what can I say?" He shrugged. "I just figured that sort of thing would be prevalent in an environment like that."

"Exactly, you're not supposed to know that since you haven't been in an environment like that before." She retorted.

"But I have read a lot of fiction, some of which had outcast main characters and Academy arcs."

"Fair enough." She uttered.

"I don't think it'll be that bad though," Emilia remarked, turning down the heat on the cooker.

"Huh? And why's that?" Neo turned to her to ask.

"Well, for one thing, I'm sure Miriam will be there." She uttered.

"Wait, Miriam?" He responded, raising his eyebrows in surprise.

"Yes." She nodded. "Nicole forgot to mention that the entrance examination age limit being sixteen is only for normal people and people who couldn't awaken their abilities, exceptional prodigies like her can join the Academy as early as fourteen or fifteen so you two might end up being classmates." She disclosed.

The room suddenly fell quiet after that with the only notable sound coming from the barely boiling stew.

"I see, we could be in the same class." He muttered with a subtle smile on his face.

'It'll be nice to see her again.'

_________ _________

Neo returned to his room after that since Aina was taking her time returning from wherever she went.

He let out a sigh as he walked into the room before turning to the left where his wardrobe was located but that wasn't exactly what he was looking at.

There was a small brown rectangular bag hanging on the wardrobe, that was what he was looking at.

"Hmmm." He mumbled before making his way to the area.

He got to the bag in no time, and as soon as he did, he picked it up and opened it.

The bag happened to contain all the items he got on his seventh birthday and a couple of other stuff and when he dipped his hand in there, he pulled out a small black scabbard, one meant for a dagger.

He stared at the thing for a while before pulling out the dagger hiding it, a black dagger with rough edges outlined with red.

'I'm still wondering why the old man thought this would be a good birthday present.'