Chapter 27: Presents

Which child didn't like the sound of presents? 

The children's faces lit up with anticipation and joy.

Mikaela and Lucien stood up and ran to the closed fabric bags on the other end of the room. 

They were magic storage bags able to store a large quantity of goods gaining neither weight nor volume. It left the children guessing what their present would possibly be.

Lucien opened his bag and reached in to pull a well-folded fabric. Its prime material and fine texture were unlike anything he had seen so far. It by far surpassed his mother's knitting prowess and had elegant embroidery and precious jewels attached to it.

Mikaela pulled a sword in a sturdy animal hide sheath. Its hilt was strapped in grip stripes of cloth. It was much more meticulously made than the one he had been using. He curiously unsheathed it.

"Ha?"

It was not your common wooden sword, but a one-edged ebony sword. It was longer, heavier, and sharper than his current one. Now he could call this gift his current sword.

Bianca introduced the cloth in Lucien's arms,

"This is a mage robe gifted to you before you were born by your grandfather. It is anti-magic and a flexible-fit robe. It can be worn at any age and has a self-cleaning function. Well, you will find out the details while wearing it. Sorry, we couldn't let you see him…"

Bianca got more sentimental as she spoke. Her voice became softer and softer until it disappeared.

Lucien didn't have much feeling for the person he had yet met but he was grateful for such a grandfather who thought of him even before he was born.

"Mn! It is a great gift, thank you, and thanks to grandfather as well. D-don't cry." said Lucien, flustered.

Bianca was already tearing up at the mention of grandfather from Lucien. She was always easily swayed in emotion. Her sapphire glistening eyes shed warm streams of tears.

"I'm sorry, my baby!" 

These few words contained a lot of apologies. Lucien felt the weight of it whole.

He hugged her and looked towards his Father in pleading to calm his mother down. Merlin shifted his gaze away as if to say, 'You deal with it.'

He wasn't good at emotional care.

"I-it's fine, Mom. I am happy with you, truly," assured Lucien.

After some time, she calmed down. At this time Mitchell ignored the drama going on the side and introduced the present to Mikaela. 

"This is a present from your grandparents, Adelina Howell and Sagar Howell, your Mom's parents. They gifted this to you since they thought you would make the best swords master in the continent. I guess they are somewhat right…Haha, they love you so much. We love you as well, son," said Mitchell, slightly nervous. 

He was unsure of how to handle it if his son started bawling his eyes out. He also felt proud having given a good introduction.

'Nailed it! The practice paid out,' he thought, inwardly laughing at himself for being so cheesy.

"Pappa, do you have a picture of our grandparents? Could we see them?" asked his little boy.

Mikaela was now curious.

He knew the meaning of grandparents but he didn't know he had them. Now that he knew, he was very curious about how they looked. What they were like and how much they resembled his mother. His simple mind was straightforward with these things.

"You want to see them?" asked Mitchell, slightly taken aback.

"No, Papa, I want to see their picture. Don't you have one?" Mikaela tilted his head.

"We do, we do!" 'But, I don't know when I can find it in the countless things we have in the storage bags….' Mitchell finished his sentence to himself.

He looked towards the mages to find them looking in their direction. Now that Mikaela had brought up such a thing, an idea struck them.

Bianca did a few chants under her breath and her mana gushed out. It materialized and formed what looked like a viridescent foggy oval mirror. This greenish foggy mirror was the height of an adult.

"Come over kids!" she called out.

One by one, figures began appearing in the foggy mirror. They were so vivid and realistic, that one would assume they were standing on the other end of the mirror, separated by just a surface in between. 

A figure resembling Merlin stood alone. He was adorned in a light sky-blue robe with navy blue details. His cold silver eyes stared back as his silver hair fell to his side, well tied up. He was aged but not a wrinkle was visible on his face. His serene cold eyes resembled those that had seen the change of ages. It spoke volumes of his broad repertoire and vast expertise. His noble and flawless nature was portrayed in his elegance.

Lucien and Mikaela stared in awe at this person who they subconsciously started to look up to. 

"This is your grandpa, kids, your father's father, Lu. He is Elias Alaric," Bianca acquainted them.

His figure was pushed aside and, this time, two figures appeared in the foggy mirror.

They stood side to side each with their left arms holding the hilt of their sword. 

The female had a loving expression and warmth seemed to radiate from her coffee-brown eyes. Around her pupils was a red hue shimmering slightly. She had long straight black hair flowing to her hips. She looked like the older version of Anette. In appearance, their temperament was obviously, different.

Mikaela was entranced in her loving smile and subconsciously stepped forward to look closer.

Beside her was a taller man, his wavy black hair was shoulder-length. He had the dominant crimson eyes, dulled with with expressionless face. He didn't express even coldness or warmth. It was certainly unsettling standing in his presence. His gaze seemed to peer into any being true nature.

Mikaela found this slightly similar to his mother's gaze when she was looking at strangers and outsiders. He could tell right away that those were his grandparents.

"These are your gramps. She is Adelina and he is Sagar. They are amazing sword masters," Mitchell introduced.

Mikaela's eyes lit up at the mention of sword masters.

"They are so pretty," Mikaela praised with the only vocabulary he could think of to summarize. His lack of word range made him unable to find the word cool.

The group broke out in laughter leaving him confused about what he had said so funny.

Looking at the three side by side, they realized none lacked the air of oppression and nobility. They didn't frown or glare, they had an overbearing feeling to them. 

Lucien secretly memorized the image of his grandparents. They were the only other strong people he knew of besides his parents and Mikaela's parents.

The night ended with a picture taken with Lucien in his robe and Mikaela holding his sword. After a long day of excitement, their fatigue caught up to them.

They were too tired to hear their parents' further discussions. 

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