As he finished writing the paragraph about Greiss and Eretrios, Apollo sighed as a means to pretend that he exhausted himself, he was a six year old young boy and he wanted to play the part convincingly. Noticing the slight frustration of her son, Helaine couldn't help but lean forwards and kissing the top of Apollos head,

"I think thats enough for today Apollo, keep working hard and someday you will become a great man like your father".

She lifted the boy up and placed him on solid ground again, "You can go",

Apollo enthusiastically smiled and quickly walked out of her study, "Don't forget to come home early" shouted his mother just as he left her sight.

"*Phew*, that was harder than i thought".

Apollo struggled in pretending to be his age, it was fairly difficult to imagine how a 6 year old was meant to act like, he was still uncomfortable whenever he was treated like a child knowing full well that he used to be a grown man back on Earth. Thankfully, there was an etiquette on how to act around people as the son of a Count, he simply had to obey what he had been taught with a slight emphasis on childish behaviour, at the end of the day, appearance was key.

Before returning to his room, Apollo found the reliable Alfred standing before his doorway with pastry at hand and a cup of hot chocolate.

"A small snack, young master?", he offered Apollo the pastry before handing him the drink.

It was a big slice of apple pie, glazed over with honey and chocolate sauce,

"Thank you Alfred, you were just in time".

Apollo kept wondering how Alfred always knew whenever he was hungry, it was like he had an antenna on the top of his head which told him the needs of his master. Whatever it was, it was very convenient. Truthfully, having a butler in general was very handy, he found it awkward at first but he overcame that feeling the more he interacted with him. Alfred was specifically assigned to him as a means to lessen his troubles, a trusty aide if you will, his father mentioned that Alfred came from a subsidiary family related to the Heimarchs, called "Aragon". They had a long history of serving under the Heimarchs due to a mutual pact made thousands of years ago, both families quickly became inseparable overtime.

"Undercover, Alfred, I'll meet you at the usual spot", hearing this command Alfred immediately understood his young masters plan,

"As you wish"

With that, he swiftly walked away to an undisclosed area of the grand estate. Apollo watched him leave as he quickly ate the pie afterwards drinking the warm cup of chocolate. "Undercover" was a term coined by Apollo which he explained to Alfred as wearing 'normal clothes' and acting 'normal'. This was done whenever Apollo wished to visit the city as an unsuspecting character, it was because he felt threatened wearing expensive clothes whilst having a butler donned in a black suit following him around the towns or cities filled with questionable individuals.

It was like driving around down town Miami with a brand new Ferrari, he was essentially placing a golden bullseye on his forehead. It didn't take much convincing to order Alfred of this action the first time around and he found it oddly weird. In fact, Alfred was tasked to carry out any and every order his young master asked of him.

Apollo entered his room and locked the door behind him, he opened his wardrobe and took out the diary hiding underneath the stack of clothes before placing it into his inventory, then he picked out a plain white shirt, brown leather shorts and a pair of leather shoes that was found underneath his bed, all of which were of moderate quality akin to the apparel of commonfolk.

This should cover my crimson hair, as he took out a common hat and placed it on his head. I don't like the way people look at me with a strange look plastered on their faces whenever they see my dark, 'blood-like' hair that contrasted my pale blue eyes. They always said that i looked like the male version of my sister, Ares but i do have to admit that their comments are true. He had the same hair colour as his mother and the same eye colour as his father, just like his sister.

However, he did have more masculine features such as thicker eyebrows, a bigger nose, a pair of sharp intimidating eyes, strong cheekbones and an even more sharper jawline. It was very much different compared to his sisters soft face. Truthfully, he was very handsome in the eyes of everyone that had seen his appearance, even whilst wearing unremarkable apparel, he would still catch second glances from girls his age.

Crimson hair was a rare genetic trait that he had inherited from the Kraisler family, his mothers side of the family that were known for their beautiful red hair. Traditionally, the Kraisler family was strictly a generation of merchants that controlled vast numbers of taverns and restaurants across Eretrios, they were considered high up on the social ladder but nowhere near the likes of the Eretrian royal family, or the wildly known Khans of Redania. Apollo hadn't met any of his relatives on his mothers side since they were based in the north of Eretrios, closer to the central plains of Redania where the holy emperor resided in.

This looks passable enough, I should probably meet up with Alfred now, then he walked out his room and continued down the grand hallways of his spacious estate, he looked outside the windows and saw a lot of servants trimming hedges and other house works. He avoided coming into contact with any of them since it would be weird seeing their young master in plain clothes as if he were about to do something 'un-noble' like. That was why he took to the places that were lacking in a pair of eyes.

The Heimarch estate was a pretty sizable land, It was split into three major areas: the enormous manor in the middle, the barracks to the right which housed 12,000 enlisted soldiers under Count Tyranir and the garden in the west. Around the entirety of the estate was a sturdy ten meter high wall containing the large fields owned by the Heimarchs. Escaping such a complex area would be close to impossible for Apollo as he hadn't forgotten about his fathers 3,000 elite regiment of soldiers donning thick Iron plated-armour with the standard sword and shield that patrolled the manor 24/7. What was interesting about their shields was the fact that it had the insignia of House Heimarch which was a crowned-knight helmet crossed with two swords. They were much better equipped than the enlisted troops who only equipped simple leather armour and medium-length spears.

The vast majority of the elite troops were of Aragon background, especially the officers. It would be impossible to escape unnoticed without knowing of the secret tunnel under the garden which led out of the estate.

After rendezvousing with Alfred at a specific spot in the garden, Apollo led the way towards an unsuspecting 'false-wall' behind thick shrubs, he then pushed at a specific 'rock' on the surface of the wall and a mechanical sound would erupt ever so slightly revealing the inside of the wall which burrowed deep into the ground with stairs. Alfred and Apollo entered the space and turned around to press a lever on the opposite side which closed up the exposed 'wall'. Thereafter, Alfred took off a torch from the wall and lit it up with a piece of flint illuminating the dark and cold tunnel which seemed to extend miles deep and thus they began walking through as if it were a normal day. This escape route was only known to a handful of people in the Heimarch estate and Apollo found this out from his dear mother in case of emergencies.

"It looks like i avoided suspicion this time around",

In fact he had been caught several times over the years but surprisingly his parents just turned a blind eye to his childish behaviour, they assumed he was only having a little fun, they weren't particularly worried about his safety knowing that Alfred would accompany him the entire time.

"A worthy achievement young master", looking back at his trusty aide who wore a brown coat, a white shirt and some leather pants, he could only remind him,

"Now, now Alfred, remember we're 'undercover'?",

"My mistake Apollyon"

"At ease, Alfredo", chuckled Apollo, he felt that a nickname for himself and Alfred was required to separate his noble life from his temporary escapade. After walking for a solid 15-minutes, both guys exited from out of the ground, quite literally out of the ground. No matter how many times I look at this sliding platform disguised as the nearby terrain, I still cant wrap my head around how it works, "Alfredo what do you think of that exit?",

"What exit Apollyon? do you mean this sliding bed of rock? Well i suppose its the work of the dwarves"

"Dwarves huh, i've never met one yet, is it true what they say about them being able to live past the age of 100?"

Alfred, pondered for a moment, in fact he's only met a handful of dwarves but none of them ever disclosed anything about their age. Now that he thinks about it, they all look alike, he couldn't really tell what age they were just by looking at their face, the ones he knew of looked to be around the age of 40-50 but they could be 100 or 200 years old for all he knows.

"Not to my knowledge, why are you so curious of dwarven age?"

"Nothing serious, I just heard a tale from my mother", Acting like it was just a rumour, he evaded the curious mans question, not that he didn't trust him but because of what he actually would like to know is something that he shouldn't know of currently as a six year old boy. He wanted to at least pry out some answers based around the longevity of a specific race, to see if living longer was possible at all. He knew that there was a race of 'Immortals' but he couldn't find any sources of information about them being forever young. It was almost like a taboo subject it seemed like.

"Anyways we should go to Hollevin now there's some places i'd like to visit"

"Lady Hela- *ahem*, your mother said to return early so its better to hop onto a carriage"

"That's fine with me, lead the way"

Alfred walked towards a beaten path in a slow manner taking into consideration of the child's small strides, he kept a close distance to Apollo like a trained bodyguard and he would often take keen observations of their surroundings looking at every small detail that was out of order. They trekked through a patch of wooded area until they reached a paved road, nearby was a station for horse drawn carriages.

"Lets take an ordinary carriage, Alfredo",

"No problem, ill pay for it".

Money in Greiss was rather simple to understand, the main currency of the world were, Gold, Silver and Copper coins in descending value. 1 gold coin was the equivalent of a 100 silver coins whilst 1 silver coin had a value of 100 copper coins. A typical carriage asking price was 5 copper coins per individual.

After paying and boarding a carriage for Hollevin, Apollo sat down on the inner part of the open carriage with Alfred to his left, opposite him was a man in his forties staring at him curiously, he wore a dirtied attire that reeked of manure suggesting that he was a local farmer, Apollo felt his gaze and so he looked back at him curious as to why he was staring,

"Sorry for staring young man, but i noticed that you don't look like you're from these parts"

Apollo was about to reply when Alfred interrupted him, "My son and I are visiting some relatives in Hollevin, we hail from Salem to the south of here"

"Oh yes Salem, I frequent the place in between the sale of my crops, taxes are cheaper over there compared to Hollevin, my name is Peter"

"Alfredo nice to meet you, this here's my little rascal, Apollyon, go on say hello to the mister"

Having been pointed at, Apollyon could only play along, "Greetings mister" he said meekly. This was their cover whenever they were outside the estate, it was quite convenient since Alfred was old enough to play the part and because he was good at making up convincing lies on the spot.

"No need to be shy young lad, you know I have a daughter right about your age, I'd like for you to meet her but right now she's at home resting due to her sickness"

"Was it the flood last month?" interjected Alfred,

"Yes, it was, terrible that one, wiped out half of my crops" he had a saddened look to his face and it was reasonable to be sad knowing that half of his income had already disappeared, he thought about his daughters medication bills and couldn't help but tear up a little.

"Anyways, it looks like we're nearly there"

Looking to his right, Apollo could see the grand city of Hollevin in the near horizon, it was a walled city that his father presided in, it roughly housed 120,000 citizens of all shapes and forms. roughly 10 minutes later, the carriage stopped at a local station and soon they exited the carriage before saying farewell to the weathered man.

"It looks like we'll part ways here, im off to the sticks",

"Goodbye" waved Apollo.

"Overview"

Apollo Kraisler Heimarch Level: 1 (0.0%) Age: 6 Race: Human (Eretrian) Title: None Affliation: Eretrian Noble Resource: Health: 60 Stamina: 20 Mana: 10 Stats Strength: 0.5 Agility: 0.3 Intelligence: 1.0 Constitution: 0.6 Leadership: 0.2 Combat Skills None Miscellaneous Skills None Statuses None Equipment Stats None