Chapter 3 - Outside the estate

While having breakfast, Theo's father, Albert, looked at his two sons with a smile.

"Happy Birthday Theo. So what do you want to do today?" Albert asked Theo.

"Hmmm... I was thinking of staying in the library" Theo replied with calmly. He didn't find birthdays particularly interesting as he would be on missions or busy planning missions in his previous life, thus he spent it like every other day.

Albert's smile froze and gave a small sigh while Theo's mother laugh softly at their cute little son.

'He is too mature for his age, can't he act more excited like a kid on his birthday? He takes after his mother too much.' Albert thought looking at his wife.

Alex suddenly interjected, "No you're not." He then looked at their father and said, "I'm planning to bring Theo around the territory, we're going to look for a present he likes, have pastries and desserts at the shops."

'That'd actually not a bad idea' Theo thought.

Since he came here, Theo hasn't explored the territory outside the estate much as he was too young. He wanted to look at the daily lives of the people here and see the outside for himself.

"That'd a good idea Alex. It's good that you like to read but you should do something special on your birthday Theo." Theo's mother, Lila said with a smile.

"Alright" Theo nodded his head then looked at his brother.

"Great! I'll arrange a few knights as your guard. Eventhough you're in the Ashwell territory remember to becareful when you're out. Alex, I trust that you will take care of your brother" Albert said.

"Yes sir I will!" Alex replied with a huge grin.

"Be back before dinner, don't stay out too long." Lila reminded her two sons. Theo and Alex nodded in respond.

After breakfast Theo was introduced to the knights that were in charge of their safety, Pero and Resh, who were the two most promising young knights in the estate. Theo who often observe the knight's training from the side recognised the two of them.

"Greetings young master Alex, young master Theo" the two knights greeted Alex and Theo.

"Thank you for keeping us safe in advanced." Theo said to them, while Alex nodded with a smile in acknowledgement as he was already familiar with the two unlike Theo.

Pero and Resh were slightly surprised by Theo's reply as young children were often afraid of them as they looked slightly scary and gave out some pressure as well trained knights, while Theo looked comfortable around them and he seemed a little too mature for his age as well.

Little did the two know that Theo was older then them mentally and had more combat experiences than them from his previous life.

Unsurprisingly, Alex was more excited about going around the territory than Theo. Alex would often brag about Theo to the locals and his friends about how smart and adorable his little brother was and is finally able to show him off now that he is bringing Theo out of the estate.

Unaware of what's in his annoying brother's mind, Theo followed Alex while looking around the territory with much interest. He could see kids playing tag, vendors selling newly baked bread, knights patrolling the territory.

'The territory looks like its doing very well. Apparently the Ashwell Territory is one of the richer territory famous for mining ores.' Theo thought while remembering what he read.

Much to Theo's protest, he was dragged by Alex to the candy vendors, pastry shops, toy stores and introduced to the locals. He is forced to smile and greet everyone politely while Alex is constantly repeating, "This is my baby brother Theo!"

"He is as cute as you described him to be young master Alex!"

"Here little young master, have some candy."

"Oh, look at how polite little young master is."

Alex stood beside Theo with a proud smile while Theo cursed him in his mind while greeting everyone with a smile.

After being introduced to some of the locals, Alex patted his brother's head ignoring the obviously annoyed look Theo was showing as he was used to it. "So, what would you like as a present for your birthday! It'll be my treat."

'I would like you to shut your mouth and stay 2 meters away from me' Alex thought inwardly.

"I don't think there's anything I want but I would like to go to the bookstore and the blacksmith after if there's time"

Theo has been interested in the idea of blacksmithing since it is often mentioned in books and shows back in his previous life. It would be nice to see it with his own eyes. Now that he had access to his stats and skills, he could spend more time learning new things and grow stronger instead of reading. Unlike what his family thought, Theo is not a huge fan of reading, he just wanted to get to know and understand more of this world thus making him read more than kids his age.

Now that he has mostly understood most of this world, he had decided to spend more time on other things.

As for the bookstore, although he had access to a huge library at home, he still wanted to have a quick look around. It would be nice if he could find books about other continents as he had only ever read books on the continent the Kingdom of Oriborn is in.

"I knew you would want to go to the bookstore, how boring. Why the blacksmith though?" Alex asked with interest.

"I have never been there before, I would like to see how weapons are made." Theo replied briefly.

"Alright"

While bringing Theo to the bookstore, Alex introduced the different streets, stores and restaurants along the way.

Finally reaching the bookstore, the two brothers entered while the knight said outside.

Ring!

The bell hung to the door was heard when they entered. Theo looked around with much interest. There were many selves full of books as they walked further into the store. A lady who looked to be in her 50s is seen sitting behind the counter at the end of the store.

She looked at Alex, "Oh what brought you here young master?"

"Good day Helen, it's my brother's birthday and he wanted to visit the bookstore." Alex replied politely.

"Oh, so you must be young master Theo then. I heard that you love reading." Helen said looking at Theo. "So, what can I help you with today."

"I just want to have a quick look around if possible."

"Well of course. Feel free to look around. There books from novels to history to travel logs here. Take your time. I'll be here if you need me."

After looking around, he decided to leave for the blacksmith as there wasn't much books that he was interested in as they were mostly books on fiction, history that he had already read, literature and economics which he had zero interest in.