Neighbors

When his mother taught Zaos how to read the magic book symbols, she said that unless the mage has them memorized in their heads, they have to touch a magic book. When that happens, their mana is drained, and after a while, the spell is activated. That was very well and good, but Zaos had so little mana that he barely could read a few symbols, and he soon would feel exhausted. Thanks to that, his first lesson ended after a couple of minutes since he fell asleep. Also, thanks to that, when he woke up the next day, he didn't know why the weird bars in the corner of his vision changed.

"I remember hearing a voice mentioning something about sorcery, but after that, I fell asleep," Zaos rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe I don't have an aptitude for magic, or maybe this body isn't that strong yet. However, I feel fuller in life today if compared with yesterday."

Zaos wanted to ask his mother if there was a reason for that and if everyone could see those three bars in the corner of their vision. However, he decided not to do it. Not only was magic seen with bad eyes, but things might get complicated if people notice that something is off with him. He was a reincarnated individual, so maybe that was a result of the transmigration. Now that he thought about it, Zaos had no idea if he had been reincarnated or transmigrated.

"I wonder if someday I will recover the memories of my old life…" Zaos thought.

Zaos was getting sidetracked since the questions that he had decided to bury in his head were returning with full force. In any case, before his mother could wake up and take him to that walk in the garden, Zaos concluded that his mana increased thanks to that voice he heard. As for his health and stamina, it was hard to know… but if he had to guess, the fact that he has been growing strong probably was the reason for that. That happened on the day of his birthday, after all.

While Zaos wanted to see magic in action, he didn't have the chance to use or see it. Lyra decided to teach him the overall meaning of the symbols, but she never let him use any spell, even though she said that now he had enough mana to use the simplest ones.

"I never heard of someone using magic when they are too young, so we have to be careful, Zaos," Lyra said. "Around the time they began to learn how to wield a weapon, some kids also began to learn magic. We are four years too early for that, but it will be good for you if you use your mana daily and learn the meaning of most symbols. It will be boring, but you will have to hang in there."

Zaos nodded when he heard that. His mother could use magic, and if she thinks that building the foundations was important, who was he to disagree? As far as he was concerned, the feeling of learning new things and using mana was more than enough for the time being. Zaos certainly wasn't like the other kids, but he certainly had the endurance of one. If he makes a mistake somewhere, the magic that he wanted to learn might end his life.

The days passed fast and, in the end, the day of the party in the castle finally arrived. Although he was just a one-year-old kid, Zaos was forced to wear some clothes that were made for nobles. Since those clothes were clearly made to show off, they were very uncomfortable. Zaos could understand if women were forced to wear clothes that would attenuate their body lines, but he couldn't understand why he was wearing pants that were so tight. As if that wasn't enough, he was wearing a white t-shirt, another brown t-shirt like the thing above it, the white one, and a cloak… It was hot as hell. Occasionally, his father was wearing something quite similar.

"Hehehe, you look so cute, Zaos," Lyra smiled from ear to ear.

Lyra was wearing an astonishingly beautiful red dress, it suited her, and that was why Zaos didn't complain about the fact that the clothes were too uncomfortable. In any case, those three silently left the residence and quickly found several armored individuals guarding the gates. Zaos had never seen those guys before, but he assumed they guarded the existence against the outside since the ten meters tall walls probably weren't enough.

The armored guards guided Zaos's family to the castle, and he couldn't help but frown since he was walking. Even though Lyra was holding his hand, Zaos's stamina wasn't that impressive, and he would tire after ten minutes of walking. However, much to his surprise, Zaos found a massive castle just a few minutes from his home. In fact, the Sielders' residence was pretty much a real close neighbor of the royal family. The walls of the castle and walls of their residence were only a few meters away from each other.

"How come I never saw that before?" Zaos frowned.

It was probably because the walls of his home were too tall, and Zaos was too short. In any case, the castle was much more impressive than his home. It had several towers, but the main building was at least forty meters tall. Although the sun was setting, the silver-like walls were emitting a light orange glow that made the place look magic.

After a couple of minutes, they arrived at the castle entrance, where they saw many carriages coming and going. People wearing fancy clothes were the only thing he could see. As expected, that was supposed to be an event like no other…

Although his social skills needed some work, Zaos's father was greeted by every single person that noticed him, and as much as that was exhausting, he also greeted all of them. To the point where they wasted several minutes outside the castle. Weirdly enough, those people also looked quite a lot toward Zaos since it was hard to see such a small child walking by himself.