Zestier I

|Arthur|

Pristine.

That was the word that popped into my head as I gawked at the elven city. It appeared we had directly teleported right past the gates. What I saw before were buildings that seemed to be built out of a jade-like material. These jade buildings were so flawless and smooth that each seemed to be carved from a single, huge stone.

While I stood, slack-jawed like Alistair, still processing the world around me, a shadow whizzed in front of me suddenly, jolting me awake.

Tess was still holding onto Alistair's hand when a group of what seemed like guards arrived out of nowhere. These elven warriors emanated a dignified air, all dressed in coordinated black suits with green trimmings and a golden shoulder guard on their left shoulder. These five guards all carried a rapier strapped to their waists. I mentally noted that these guards had no sensible aura radiating out of them.

The guards ignored both Al's and my presence as they suddenly kneeled in front of Tess In unison. "We welcome back the royal princess."

"..." My gaze flicked back and forth between the guards and Tess and I'm reminded of the time when I jokingly called Tessia 'your highness'.

Tessia was actually the princess of this whole kingdom?

In a voice so cold and apathetic that I mistook her voice for someone else's, she said, "You may rise."

They stood up with their right fist still crossing their chest when the knight in front speaks. "Princess, we arrived as soon as we saw that the royal teleportation gate had been used. The King and Queen are..."

Before he could finish speaking, I heard a cry not too far away.

"My baby! Tessia, you're okay! Oh my baby!"

Running towards us was a middle-aged man and woman. From the crown on the man's head and the tiara encircling the woman's forehead, I assumed that they were the King and Queen.

The King's tall, built body was uniformed in a loose, decorated robe. His emerald eyes were pointed upwards and his thin lips were tensed, matching his short, military-style hair.

The mother's cheeks were lined with tears and the father had a tense expression that looked like he was holding back tears as well.

I turned my gaze to see Tessia's face visibly soften as she started tearing up as well. Alistair seemed to have a sad expression on his face, probably because he was missing his mother.

Tessia landed in the arms of her mother who started sobbing at this point on their knees, both burying their face in their daughter's shoulders.

The last to arrive was an old man well past his prime. His facial features are all sharp, with a gaze that could kill someone on contact. His hair was pure white and was tied in the back, face cleanly shaven. This elderly man didn't say anything, but his eyes did warm up a little when he saw Tessia.

It took several minutes for Tessia and her parents to settle down. In the meantime, the guards were glaring at me with daggers in their eyes, as even the elder was eyeing me curiously.

The King finally stood up and while his eyes were red, he still carried an air of dignity. "As the King of Elenoir and the father of Tessia, I must apologize for this unsightly appearance of mine and more importantly, I wish to thank you for escorting my daughter back home safely," he stated, his voice coming out a bit hoarse. "Please accompany us to our home so that you may rest. After, you can tell us what happened."

His tone was gentle but implied that there wasn't an option, so we both nodded in consent. As I was about to follow behind them, Tessia came to me and grabbed my hand again, filling the surrounding people with expressions of shock. I couldn't help but chuckle uncomfortably as I scratched the side of my head, unable to muster up the appropriate words for a situation like this.

After a strenuously awkward ride that seemed a lot longer than it had been, we arrived at the castle. Rather than a castle, however, it looked to be an enormous tree. This tree, which probably needed at least a few hundred people locking arms to encircle it, was made of a white stone that, I could only guess, had gone through a petrification process somehow.

Stepping through the front doors of the tree, I was pleasantly surprised to see how impressive the interior of this castle was. Two curved staircases created a circle, with a gigantic chandelier floating in the middle of it. This chandelier seemed to be made of the same orbs of light that were dotted throughout the city.

I had told the King and Queen that it wasn't necessary for us to rest and would rather tell them as soon as we arrived, so that's what we did.

Not even washing up, the welcoming crew was all situated around the rectangular dining table downstairs. Tessia's father was on the far end of the table with me directly opposite of him. Tessia's mother sat perpendicular to her husband, with Tessia seated right next to her. The grandpa was sitting across from the mother and daughter while Alistair was sitting next to me, leaving a pretty big gap between us, while the five guards stood off to the side behind the King.

With both his elbows resting on the table, fingers intertwined, the King was the first to speak. "Child. What did you say your name was?"

"Forgive me for the late introduction. My name is Arthur Leywin, and I come from a remote town in the Kingdom of Sapin. My companion here is Alistair. A pleasure to make your acquaintance King, Queen, Elder, and gentlemen." I stood up and bowed slightly while Alistair followed my actions perfectly.

The discussion wasn't going to progress if they were going to treat me like a child.

Both the King and Queen and the guards in the back showed evident looks of surprise at my mature behaviour, while even the grandpa had an amused smirk on his face; Tessia gave me a shy smile.

Regaining composure, the King continued. "It seems you are much more mature than your age. Forgive me for assuming. My name is Alduin Eralith and this is my wife, Merial Eralith and my father Virion Eralith. As for what happened, please tell us. We would like to hear your side of this."

Waving off the apology, I began telling the story. I made sure to be very vague in telling them how I got inside the Forest of Elshire in the first place; I simply told them I had gotten separated from my family after running into bandits, only managing to survive out of luck.

Inevitably, I had to tell them I was a mage. This was followed by another wave of looks of utter disbelief from everyone, including Tessia. Because of the lack of obstacles we ran into on our journey back, I never really needed to use mana so I didn't bother explaining.

I quickly moved on, telling them how I had spotted a carriage and observed them carrying a tied-up child into the back of a carriage before going off.

At this, the King slammed both of his hands on the table, his eyes narrowing into a menacing glare.

"I should've known it was humans..."

I corrected his mildly racist comment and said, "They were slave traders. Them and bandits alike prey on, not just elves, but humans as well, speaking as a victim myself."

This caused the King to shut his mouth before sitting back down, letting out a soft cough.

"I didn't ask Tess... *ahem* the Princess this, but I am curious as to how slave traders even got their hands on the princess of this kingdom," I queried, almost calling Tessia by her nickname. I didn't think calling her something so informal as Tess would sit right with everyone present.

At this, the King almost looked embarrassed before saying, "My wife and I had a bit of a disagreement with Tessia and she decided to rebel by running away. We had decided to let her cool off a bit before fetching her back because we knew where she usually stayed when she pouted, but unfortunately, she ran into some hu... slave traders."

Ah... runaway princess. I sneak in a small grin at Tess and she responded by sticking out her tongue, face flushed.

I glazed over the details of the fight with the slave traders.

"Luckily, I had caught the slave traders by surprise and managed to dispose of them with Al's help before untying the princess and escorting her here."

"So two four-year-olds managed to 'luckily' kill off four adults, one being an augmenter at that, and you simply wave it off like it's no big deal," chimes in the king's father seated across from Tessia, leaning back on the chair so only two of the legs are touching the ground.

"Yes. Half of them were asleep and the two were simply not on guard so disposing of them was not too challenging," I refuted back.

I gestured to Alistair for him to tell them what happened regarding his mother. He had a grieving expression on his face that made me doubt my action but he nevertheless told them about how his mother raised him alone and how she was killed.

After finishing the events, I cleared my throat before asking what I came here for. "As I have mentioned, it has been almost two months since I have seen my parents. I do not plan to intrude on your kingdom for long as I wish to meet them quickly, so I was wondering if you guys had a teleportation gate that could take me to the City of Xyrus or anywhere inside Sapin."

"You're going to leave already, Art?!" Tessia shot up from her seat, her face was stricken with panic.

Both her mother and father gave each other a baffled look as they mouthed 'Art'.

The elder just shot a snide grin at this and chuckled, rocking on his chair.

"I don't think it's appropriate for a human such as myself to be inside this Kingdom for too long, Princess. Besides, I wish to make sure that my family is safe and tell them I'm okay as well," I answered, giving a sheepish smile.

The King responds to Tessia. "It has been a couple of hundred years since the last human has stepped foot into the Kingdom of Elenoir and you, Arthur, are the first human to be in the capital of this Kingdom, the City of Zestier. However, saving our daughter and taking the trouble to accompany her back to us entitles you with a proper reward..."

I take a quick peek at Tessia and see her head down, her gunmetal silver hair covering her face.

"...Unfortunately, the teleportation gate linked with the Kingdom of Sapin opens only once every seven years, for the Summit Conference between the three races. Since the last Summit was two years ago, it'll be another five years until the gate will function," the King continued.

I couldn't help but let out a deep breath in disappointment.

"However, we are more than willing to send a group of guards to escort you back home alongside Alistair. You are correct that it may not be wise to stay in this kingdom for too long. While some are tolerant, many hold animosity towards humans because of the war long ago." He flashed a brief, sorrowful smile at this.

I nodded in agreement. At least I'd be able to safely go back home.

"But wait, why does Alistair need to come back with me?" I quizzically asked.

"That is his choice. Half elves are despised even more than humans so he won't be able to lead a peaceful life if he were to be adopted by an elven family, if even an elven family were to adopt him in the first place. Thus, it would be better if he could go back to the human domain and stay with your parents if possible."

I slightly nodded my head as I understood his words.

"For now, please make yourself at home here. We will have your escorts prepared by tomorrow morning. I do advise you not to wander around outside in the city though, for the reasons mentioned earlier."

The King snapped his finger and an elderly elf lady in a tan maid uniform rushed out, leading us to our room.

The room we were led to was large but elegantly simple in furnishings. While the only furniture consisted of a couch, tea table, bed, and dresser, each looked to be handcrafted out of wood by seasoned craftsmen.

I quickly took a shower and was followed by Alistair.

As I finished dressing into a very silky robe just for your top and short pants, I placed the stone Sylvia left me inside the chest pocket inside my robe and once again, tried to study my mana core.

About thirty minutes in and making only minimal progress, I hear a knock on my door.

"Coming!"

Opening the door, I'm greeted by a pouting Tessia who threw a light punch at my chest.

"You dummy! Why did you act all unfriendly when you were with my family back there," she harrumphed, slipping past me and sitting on my bed.

"Well first of all, you didn't mention to me that you happened to be the princess of this entire kingdom!" Shaking my head, I gripped Tessia's hand and pulled her out of my room. Kids or not, I didn't think her parents were going to like her being in a boy's room.

"Come on, show me around the castle! I won't get the chance to visit this place again." I immediately regretted saying this.

I hear a slight sniffle as Tessia suddenly broke down into tears, trying to talk while sobbing.

"Art, Al! I don't want you to *Sniff* leave..."

"...You're the first *Sniff* people I've gotten ever close to..."

"..."

I just gently patted her head while she was rubbing her eyes with the arm not holding onto my hand.

Alistair spoke from behind, "Um, am I disturbing something?"

"No, you should join us Alistair," I replied with a smile.

We continued walking in silence, except for Tess' soft sniffles, and we made it outside, in the courtyard at the back of the castle. The floating orbs were giving off a dim, luminescent glow, lighting up the well-kept garden in a gentle atmosphere.

A blatantly clear killing intent bombarded my senses. Milliseconds later a faint glimmer gave off the position of a projectile aimed at Tessia. I pushed the still-crying princess out of the way and I prepared to parry the projectile with a mana-infused hand.

However, I was caught off guard when Alistair moved even faster than me and grabbed the projectile.

At that instant, a figure in black was facing my back, his right arm in a stance to attack. I immediately spun myself to block the assassin with my fist. Alistair, however, stayed still even though I could tell he was capable of interfering.

To my surprise, I was face to face with Tessia's grandfather.

I jumped back out of range before angrily shouting, "What the hell! Why are you trying to kill us?"

"Kid. It may hurt a little but I doubt that toy Alistair is holding could kill anyone," he chuckled.

Alistair tossed me the projectile which was pencil sized with both ends blunted and coated in a layer of something close to rubber.

I was tricked!

"Haha! Nice reaction, nice reaction! I didn't think you'd be able to react to me so suddenly! However, that white haired brat is even better! Not only did he catch the projectile, he stopped attacking me because he noticed that I was not a threat!"

He proceeded to throw both Alistair and me a wooden sword fit for our size as he took out a wooden sword of his own, just a bit bigger.

"Here I come!" Not even giving us the time to get in a stance or even the chance to accept his impromptu training, he dashed towards me.

This crazy old bat!

I lowered my stance and, instead of being defensive, I launched myself at him as well, accelerating my speed to throw off the timing of his swing. Aiming for the fingers gripping his sword, I swung upward, reinforcing my entire body.

Right before my sword came into contact with his hand, I was met with only air as he disappeared from my sight.

Whipping my head back, I spotted him a couple of meters apart from where I was standing.

However, Alistair suddenly appeared from behind him, swinging his sword down on his head. The old man was just barely able to spin in time to parry the attack.

"You're scary little brats, aren't you? Looks like I'll have to be a bit more serious!" the grandpa smirked.

His speed increased even more. Even with my previous life being a life of only training and battles, I was only barely able to keep him in my sight. However, being able to see him and being able to respond to his attacks are two different things.

I felt like a sandbag as I could only curse at my own body.

I was able to block one move of his out of every three he landed on my body.

Screw technique, this old bat was messing with me through sheer speed. The only reason I was able to somewhat keep up was by using sword techniques and footwork to minimise my movement, along with the fact that, because of my size, I was a small target.

However, Alistair was starting to get hits on him while he was focused on me, so much to the point that he got annoyed and shrugged me off, "Let me test this feisty brat first!"

His speed increased more than when he attacked me and he attacked Alistair harder. Alistair was able to somehow deflect the attacks if not for the speed and power difference between the two, Alistair would have easily won.

But his beating didn't last long.

As the old bat flashed behind Alistair about to do a horizontal sweep to my legs, I saw him put all of my strength into his legs and leaped back with his sword tucked into his armpit pointing at his head.

With a solid thud created from his blow landing, the old bat stumbled a little before gaining balance.

"HAHAHAHA! I guess I deserved that one!" he laughed, rubbing his swollen forehead.

Throughout all of this, Tessia was surprised at first but after realizing it was just a spar, she settled down. She used this chance, though, to jump out and stomp towards the elder.

"Grandpa! You hurt Art and Alistair too much! You should've gone easier on them!" Pinching the elder's side.

"AHH! That hurts little one. Haha I'm afraid if I went easier on them, they'd be the one bullying me!" he gently answered as he picked up his granddaughter.

He flashed in front of me and suddenly places his right palm into my sternum.

"Just as I thought. Your body is in a dangerous state..."

I stared blankly at him. Through constant use of mana rotation and meditation, my body should be a lot healthier than even the most well-fed four-year-old.

Virion, noticing my doubtful gaze, pressed his palm on my sternum at a certain angle, triggering a familiar searing pain.

"Your mana manipulation is good for a beginner despite your age, and your sword techniques and fighting experience are frightening enough to make me wonder what sort of life you had led to learn all of this." His eyes narrowed. "But you failed to mention one critical thing in your story earlier."

I could feel my heartbeat beginning to rise as I started to suspect that he found out about Sylvia.

"I've decided. Arthur, Alistair, become my disciples!" He nodded, throwing me entirely off guard.

I just stared at him, dumbfounded.

What was this old bat saying?

"What? You can't be serious, right?" I managed to blurt out.

He just tilted his head in response, "Why not?"

"F-for one thing! I'm a human! Is it even allowed to have humans in this kingdom? Also, I need to make sure my family is okay and tell them I'm still alive," I refuted.

At this, the grandpa went silent as he pondered a little bit before speaking again.

"Living here isn't a problem as long as you're under my name. As for your parents... Brat, is it an absolute necessity to meet them in person?"

It was my turn to ponder this time.

"I mean, I guess it isn't strictly a necessity for me to meet my parents in person . Although I miss them, the most important thing is finding out how they're doing and letting them know that I'm fine if they are as well," I answered.

"Then come with me tomorrow morning; be outside the manor by six in the morning, sharp."

"I don't get why you want me as your disciple. Also, you sound awfully hurried . Isn't it possible for me to go back home and spend a bit of time with my parents before coming back here to train under you?"

"Same, why exactly do you want me as your disciple?" Al asked curiously.

"I want you to be my disciple because I see your potential. Kid. An uncountable number of people have asked me to take them in as their disciple, from rich to poor, from young to old. But do you know how many I've taken in so far? None! These new generation brats bore me. Just because some of the wealthy noble brat's parents thought their kid was special, they thought they were qualified to ask me to be their mentor."

I just furrowed my brows, not knowing where Tessia's grandpa is going with this.

"... You're different. I know you have exceptional talent in mana manipulation and only God knows how but you possess better technique than even I, but that isn't the reason why I decided on teaching you. Let's go inside and talk."

He then led the two of us to a room with a fireplace and a couple of couches. We both first sat down before he started, "I'll start with Alistair first since he's easier to explain. This boy... his talent is beyond abnormal, hell he's more talented than anybody I have ever seen!"

I turned to Al in shock. He had a gaping mouth as if he also wasn't sure about what the Elder was saying.

"Brat, you... you can see things in slow-motion right?" he asked while looking straight at Al.

My eyes widened in realisation. 'This is why he managed to get the elder!' I thought, 'He can see movements in slow-motion and react properly.'

However, there was a problem with this theory. Firstly, let's start with the basics. When a human is reacting, there are three broad processes.

Input, processing and output.

Input is the information that the human takes in. This information is then sent to the brain where it is processed. Finally, the brain sends signals to different body parts to move a certain way.

The bulk of the time is taken for mental processing. An average human has a reaction time of 0.3 seconds, while a trained fighter can reduce it to 0.15 seconds. However, this world has mana.

The circulation of mana as the core gets purer over time strengthens the person's body, thus increasing their reaction time and processing speed.

For example, there are mages capable of travelling at hypersonic speeds in battle and reacting in microseconds.

Mana augmentation of the eyes strengthens it so more information can be inputted, but without having strong processing, the reaction time will be increased rather than decreased. Not only that, this 'slow-motion' effect occurs when a human is processing the information so fast that everything seems to be going slow.

However, this is only possible in ideal conditions and only people with the highest level of training and experience can do this. The fact that Alistair can do this is ridiculous.

"Yes, I can. That's not all, I can see mana particles in the air as well as each contraction and expansion of muscles, the filling of air in the lungs and even the slight twitch before someone attacks. My eyes can see everything." Alistair answered, leaving both the Elder and me flabbergasted.

Mana augmentation of the eyes does increase visual acuity, but not to such an extreme point.

"Could your mother also do this?" the Elder asked. He nodded his head before adding, "She could see through the mist of the forest with ease and even slow time to a standstill to analyse situations with her brain."

"So, what your are saying is that when time slows down for you, your brain and eyes still work?"

"All my senses work at normal speed. Of course, my movements don't."

'What an unfair ability,' I thought.

"Arthur, Alistair, I want to see you both spar when you come for training tomorrow." the Elder said before turning to me.