chapter 7

As the carriage started moving, he inadvertently looked outside the window. The environment is slowly shifting from a rich neighborhood to a market, and the human presence is also slowly increasing.As the carriage passed through, a crowd of people looking at the insignia of a burning bird gave way to the carriage.From their respectable but also frightened expressions, it can be seen that the people there both fear and respect the Ashborn clan.As Arthur looked at the expressions of the people, he started to consider the circumstances surrounding him as well as the world.The continent they live on is called the utopian continent, or, in short, Utopia. It is part of the Great West region of the planet. The planet is divided into the great west, the great east, the north, the south, and finally the central areas. The utopian continent is part of the Great West region, and the kingdom in which Arthur is now is called the Utopian kingdom.Once upon a time, the whole Utopian continent was ruled by utopian kingdom, but after many successive wars and economic crises, the kingdom got divided into succeeding kingdoms.Even though the present kingdom cannot compare to its former glory, it still stands as one of the strongest kingdoms in the Great West region.The Ashborns are the noble clan of the Utopian kingdom and are considered one of the strongest clans in existence. It is said that they are descendants of the legendary phoenix, hence the name Ashborn, or person born from the ashes. Even their insignia is a burning phoenix bird rising into the sky.Whatever the reason may be, they are considered one of the strongest military clans in the empire, and that is also one of the reasons they value personal strength over any other qualities.In this world, everybody awakens an element when they turn 15 years old. Usually it will be a natural process when they turn 18 years old, but it can be sped up by drinking a potion called mana elixir when they turn 15 years old. Usually, most of the nobles use this method for awakening. The mana elixir is an amazing potion created by the Holy Church that speeds up the awakening process of a person, and the best thing is that it does not have any negative effects on the person.As Arthur was lost in his thoughts, the carriage slowly reached the holy church, where the awakening was conducted on a large scale.Usually every three months, the awakening is conducted on a large scale in the holy church, and most of the nobles and even slightly rich commoners come on the day to awaken their family's youngsters who have reached the required age.Once upon a time, this mana elixir method used to be costly, but in recent years, any person who is slightly middle-class can use this method because the church voluntarily made this option affordable.Julius slowly came to the cottage and spoke to Arthur: "Young master, we had reached the church. You can use the side entrance to go inside. Our family has a separate waiting room arranged for us. You can rest there until the awakening process starts."Hearing this, Arthur slightly nodded and got down from the carriage. As he observed the church, he saw a huge crowd of people at the entrance waiting for their turn to go inside.Because the awakening process usually happens only at the church, there will always be a huge crowd of people coming on every time it is conducted.Arthur observed the crowd for some time and slowly walked to the side entrance, where there were two knights guarding the entrance. On seeing Arthur, or actually his insignia stitched on his clothes, the two guards opened the door to allow his passing.In the empire, it is a huge crime to impersonate nobility, so usually nobody uses this method to cut the line because the cons far outweigh the pros of doing that.As Arthur went inside, he saw a huge open space in the front and many individuals standing, forming small groups, and chatting with each other.Arthur went to the side where there are waiting rooms available, with one insignia denoting a burning bird.As he went inside, he saw a couple more youngsters, all belonging to the Ashborn clan.On seeing the door open, they turned to look at the entrance. On seeing Arthur, they all showed a mocking look and went back to what they were doing.This is quite normal for Arthur, so he did not mind them and went to a corner and closed his eyes to get some rest. He expected that nobody would disturb him or actually care about him, but he was wrong.One person among the Ashborn youths came towards Arthur. Sensing that someone was coming near him, Arthur opened his eyes to see his stepbrother walking towards him with a wide smirk on his face."Hey Arthur, are you nervous?" asked William.William Ashborn, the second son of the head of the Ashborn clan and Arthur's younger brother.Arthur is the son of the head of the Ashborn clan, Reynold Ashborn, and his first wife, Amanda Wellington. Unfortunately, Amanda passed away a few years after giving birth to Arthur. Reynold's second wife, Sabrina Wornstar, also gave birth to a son a few months after Arthur was born. And this second son is William Ashborn.