Turung..Turung..Turung…

While Feeling the vibration of the magical train beneath his seat, David looked out of the passenger window as he watched the beautiful scenery of the landscape pass by at Lightning speeds.

Lush green trees and fields of grain passed his eyes one after another as he continued to blink, sometimes he saw people hard at work while at other times he saw groups of kinds running around smiling and playing all in a matter of a second before passing away.

Watching this made David feel strangely at peace, the only regret he had was the fact that he couldn’t enjoy this scenery more slowly and really take it in, but at the same time he was also glad that he didn’t need to sit inside this shaky train for too long and continue hurting his bottom since it was going at a fast pace, in his original world a train with a speed like this would be already considered a bullet train if not something faster, if only they could improve the cushion then it would have been perfect..

But for a civilization that looked as if it had only recently switched into the industrial age it was quite the achievement indeed as the speed of vehicles and their travel capacity was one of the major gauging points of how advanced a civilization was, and with the rumors about a working prototype flying machine in the air, David predicted it wouldn’t be soon until the humans of this world would start to unravel the skies.

Of course this had nothing to do with David as he wasn’t really interested in aircrafts, these topics were merely something he thought about to pass time inside this boring train without any acquaintance to talk to while at the same time distract him and keep him from getting too nervous about the place he was headed to.

On a second thought maybe it was better for him to relax a bit more and not think about anything at all, it had been a long time since David really stopped whatever he was thinking and really just do nothing and just as he was about to give in to this thought and sink into a blank stare…

-Mama! Mama! Look at that Mister! The pen above his palm is spinning so fast in the air and he isn’t even touching it! He must be a Wizard!

A high pitched cheery voice all of a sudden brought David out of his mind as he realized that it was him who this little girl was describing, out of reflex he looked towards her, she was in fact sitting right in front of him which was the next seat, standing atop the seat while barely being able to peak her head over the back rest, David saw a adorable little girl with a cute little sailor hat that covered her long brown hair coupled with a sailor uniform, she had big beady brown eyes which reflected David’s figure like a mirror as he saw himself within her.

The image that reflected was obviously something he already knew well which was a boy approximately 15 to 17 years of age, with medium long blond hair that was tied into a tail, he had tanned skin from long time of working outside in the fields under the sun ever since he was 8 years old together with his sharp facial features and his deep blue eyes, the boy looked quite exotic compared to the other people within this train as they all either had black or brown hair together with a pair of brown eyes.

David’s height was also slightly bigger than the average as it was 185 cms making him a bit taller than most people, his built was also quite lean and slightly bulky from daily hard labor, the black and white uniform he wore perfectly captured his figure extenuating his manly figure even more.

Its because of David’s outlandish features that he was sometimes mistaken as a foreigner even though he lived his entire life in this kingdom, though the truth was that half of David’s bloodline did indeed come from somewhere else as his mother was a woman from the mountainous cold regions of the Nohrn Kingdom to the east where people like him and his mother were commonplace while his father was from here the Grann kingdom where he and his family lived located inside a small agricultural village.

Quite a few women in the train already took a couple glimpse at him from afar clearly liking what they were seeing.

But to David those glimpses weren’t flattering at all being a guy who generally had very little self-confidence all his life he didn’t know how to react to those glances, even back at his village the local girls weren’t the ones to shy away when it came to admiring his looks, David felt a bit uncomfortable at first by this new sensation of being praised just through his outer appearance, but as time went on he got used to it even if he didn’t quite accept it choosing to ignore it instead.

To top it off things wouldn’t be this troublesome if weren’t for the fact that this world is different from his previously one in one large aspect, though mentioning it now seems pointless.

David wanted to sigh, but seeing that the girl was still staring at him with her sparkling eyes he didn’t want to seem rude, looking down he watched his palm as a pen floated above it spinning like a fan, the girl wasn’t wrong when she called David a Wizard, but at the same time David knew that this was just a mere parlor trick compared to real magic, calling himself a wizard was an embarrassment to wizard culture as he was just a mere apprentice or even below that.

-Fiora ! Sit Down would you?! It is rude to stand on your seat and even ruder to point at people, so leave the young man alone!

Seeing what was going on the mother immediately reacted as she scolded her child not wanting others to look at them as if they were some uneducated dregs of society.

The girl in return was clearly not happy as she pleaded to her mother while being dragged and put in her place.

-But mom I wasn’t even doing anything! Even the mister didn’t look like he minded so what’s the big deal!

-You…!? What did you say you little!

Looking as if the little girl was about to earn herself a beating with her back talking David decided that he should quickly intervene since he was partially responsible for pulling the attention of the girl towards his little parlor trick.

-Madame, please I really don’t mind, it is natural for girls her age to be curious, it is my fault for openly showing my tricks in the public, anyone would react like this and I can see that your daughter didn’t mean anything, I am sure she is very smart and will learn from her mistakes so for my sake can you forgive her?

Seeing David unexpectedly speak up for her daughter, the mother was a bit surprised, coupled with the fact that the other passengers now watched them with interest, she knew that making a scene would be very bad and coupled with David’s appearance it seemed as if she cooled down a lot since he had also praised her daughter.

And just as predicted the woman reacted exactly as David thought.

-If… If you say so young man then I am obviously obliged to accept, but really my daughter could use to learn a lot from you young man, especially since you are a student of the prestigious Ravenwing Academy.

-No, no you are overestimating me, I am merely a common student nobody special really.

As soon as the mention of his school came by David quickly tried to downplay his importance as the passengers started to look at David with even more appraisal and curiosity, some even looked as if they wanted to come forth and strike a conversation with him, especially the ladies who looked to be the most eager…

It couldn’t be helped really.

They were already very intrigued by him as his uniform was something nobody in this kingdom could mistake belonging to the national school of magicians where not only nobility but even royalty studied to become excellent Wizards.

Normally someone with David’s talent or origin wouldn’t be able to attend such a prestigious school under any normal circumstances, but because of a few coincidences from when he was young David was given a full blown scholarship for 5 years from a mysterious Wizard he had met when he was little.

He called the Wizard mysterious because he never saw his or her appearance as it was hidden behind a cloak plus David at the time didn’t know what this was all about either, the mysterious Wizard had only said that once David came to age he would send someone to bring David away.

After that he or she disappeared leaving David terribly confused and not sure what to do, before that person left he or she gave David a single book on how to control mana and a letter for his scholarship as proof of his legitimacy.

He never told anyone about this not even his parents, but when the time came close and his 15th birth started to arrive indicating his coming of age, he decided to mention this to his parents and told them what happened when he was younger and even showed them the letter from those many years ago that still didn’t age or crumble no matter how many times he bent it.

Of course all this happened within an afternoon dinner and obviously his parents were shocked, they thought that their son was just joking but knowing their son who rarely joked and seeing the letter which magically couldn’t be destroyed for some reason together with the book about mana control that David read and studied from ever since he was little allowing him to do some neat things with his mana they had no choice other than to accept it as reality.

But the most shocking point to this all was how well David had hidden all of this from them, when he was little David still wasn’t very used to the world he found himself in but since he was mature at mind he still understood that he had encountered something extraordinary and that it was better to be hidden until the right time came, adding to the fact that while the family of 3 did live together they were all very busy everyday with work, David also not being a kid his age learned how to read and write pretty easily from the Sunday school his village held every week end allowing him to study the book by himself whenever he had free time within the confines of his room.

It took only a mere 1 year to completely comprehend the contents of the book which details on how to control mana, David was only 5 when he finished the book and knew how to do everything in the book which mostly were all just exercises to controlling mana like levitating an object above his palm and making it spin or create wisps of light of all shapes and sizes, the book was for beginners so it didn’t have many advanced exercises or theories to speak of which is why after finishing the book David’s first thought was to find another book with more difficult exercises and theories.

Alas, finding such a thing was impossible with someone his standing, books were also an extremely expensive commodity even now mostly owned by mid-ranked merchants or higher to nobles, added to the fact that it wasn’t just any book but a book about magic, the only way he was even going to get his hands on a higher level book was to show his abilities and make someone invest in him, but David was too scared, knowing that the ability to use magic was rare he never openly showed his magic to anyone other than his parents close to his birthday in fear of repercussions.

Fortunately, he quickly solved his problem of not being able to find more difficult tasks to train his magic but this was for later.

-Mom! Does this mean I can talk to the mister?

-Fiora !

Coming back to reality once again David watched as the mother was about scold her child again, seeing them about to fight David again intervened telling her that it was no problem for him to play with her since he was also a bit bored himself, the mother was obviously a bit hesitant at first but after considering some things and seeing that David was sincere and kind she reluctantly allowed her girl to go over to David telling her again and again that she shouldn’t bother the young man and come back after a while.

David watched them warmly while it was happening, already missing his own family even though it had been only a day since he parted from them, as soon as his coming of age birthday celebration ended a big luxurious carriage came out of nowhere with the driver calling for David, knowing what this was all about after being informed by David his parents quickly packed everything David could need on his journey and told him to go and not miss this opportunity of a life time, they gave him as much as they could literally throwing him into the carriage with his stuff before he could even make heads or tails, it was only after the carriage started going away that David could really sort out his thoughts and he was sad, looking at his new world parents as they waved goodbye at him hoping him luck, David didn’t cry though as he had already felt this way once in his previous life from his original parents when he was sent to university.

-My Parents…I wonder how they are doing.

Muttering as such made David think about the past again, on a second thought it seemed like it was only yesterday that David woke up inside this strange new world as an infant.

As it was very clear by now, David wasn’t a human from this world, he was in fact a former resident of earth where he lived in an average household as an average male who decided to take programming as his major and make a decent living for himself by working at home through taking requests as a freelancer.

David’s former life was extremely uneventful, he wasn’t like the protagonist from some novel who was born as the heir to an ancient martial arts clan or some super genius who could assemble gun powder from memory alone and make advanced weaponry by hand.

By all intents and purposes David was a mere 26 year old bachelor who lived by himself inside his high rise apartment doing work day in and day out behind his computer, he never dated or touched a woman in his life as in his former life he was quite an antisocial individual coupled with his more than below average looks and his shy and easily hurt emotional fortitude, forced him to take programming as his major as it was the profession that needed the least amount of interaction with others and had a decent to high amount of income.

Of course it wasn’t as if David never wanted to date a woman or marry, it was simply that David was too scared to do so as he had previous unpleasant encounters with woman that left him scarred and fearful all of which came from high school and even university.

Which is why it was one of David’s happiest moments in life when he finally graduated at the age of 21 and was able to do work never having to interact with anybody again, fast forward 5 years and David had already had made quite a name for himself in the programming circle as someone skilled and reliable at his job, work came flooding in at a steady pace with more freedom of choice than he could handle with varying amounts of pay, it was at this time that David also started to experience the pain every single and successful bachelor would face from their parents.

They wanted him to marry and have kids so they could coddle their grandchildren.

David remembered the conversation he had with his parents as vividly as it could get, promising them that he would quickly find a girlfriend to introduce them to while knowing full well that he was just spouting hot air.

Being an only child and being obedient all his life with a lot of expectations on his shoulders that weighed heavily on him every day, David could never say no to his parents who raised and loved him all this time even when it hurt him, he had too much filial piety to refuse them, which is why he made his promises to them so easily.

That day he also remembered getting piss drink to the point where he couldn’t even stand anymore, normally David never drunk or even attempted to, but that day in particular caused him to break as he tried to find anything in particular to make him forget or at least numb enough to calm down which logically led to alcohol.

After that David’s memories get cut, the next thing he knows he awakens to find himself in the body of an infant in completely unfamiliar place in a completely different world then he was in before making the rest obvious as to how it led to here.

David was 100% sure that he had died from intense alcohol poisoning, he wasn’t sure how much alcohol was enough to kill a person but he was sure by the time he finished his last bottle of wine his stomach was bulging and sloshing and his throat felt tight, but he didn’t care he just wanted to drink and forget.

It had been a long time since he last thought about the life he used to live which is why he couldn’t help but mutter to himself as he looked out of the window watching the beautiful landscape.

-I am sorry mom, I am sorry dad, your son was an idiot, I swear this time I won’t do the same mistake, I won’t run away again, this time I try more seriously…

David wanted to cry, but no tears came out, it was better this way anyways since it would be too embarrassing to start crying without any reason with so many people around, in a sense, life in the fields and the constant teasing of the girls had made David’s skin thicker and more robust, he was still not very used to woman but at the very least he wasn’t scared of them anymore.

-Mister! Mister! Mister! Are you listening?!

-Uh? Oh sorry I didn’t catch you there, I ended up thinking about something, what did you want to say?

David smiled, he wasn’t too comfortable around woman but when it came to kids then he always felt the urge to protect them, he liked kids a lot of after all to the point he wanted to be a kindergarten teacher before he became a programmer, but alas because of his appearance he knew this career line was doomed before it even began which is why he stopped dreaming and became more realistic.

But now, who knows maybe he could really become a kindergarten teacher.

-I said my name is Fiora ! Fiora Ebonstein ! I am 9 years old, I can write and read books, my papa said that I was smart enough to one day go the Ravenwing academy if I studied really hard and become a Wizard, is it true that if I continue to read those boring books I can really become a Wizard?! Hey hey tell me please!!!

-Hehe.

David laughed at her curious nature as she pestered me for answers, his teachers always told him that he was a bit too patient both in a good and bad sense, but David didn’t think that it was a bad thing since it was because of his patients that he could easily talk to this girl and answer her questions calmly one after another.

Their conversation in fact seemed to draw a lot of people as they were all pretty curious about the academy themselves, unfortunately there wasn’t much David could answer with certainty as everything he knew came from the student handbook he was given by the chauffeur who dropped him off on this train, his uniform also came from him, how they managed to find Davids exact size was beyond him, but in the end he chalked it up as just magic, before quickly forgetting about it.

-Ah! I forgot! I didn’t even ask misters name!

-Haha..

-Hehe, that gal is a funny one.

-Hahaha..be quiet what if they hear you ?

The people around them who were listening started to snicker the moment they heard what Fiora just said, Fiora who didn’t seem to mind them at first seemed incredibly embarrassed for the first time as her cheeks flushed an intense red up to her very ears, even her mother looked as if she was starting to get beyond tired from her foolish daughter’s antics, but David honestly didn’t mind and simply answered her question with a smile his voice a bit nostalgic for some reason.

-My name is David, it was David back then and even now its David…

-Eh? What do you mean mister David?

David looked at her the moment she asked that question, but he didn’t say and simply shrugged before snapping his finger creating wisps of light all around them that turned into butterflies immediately making the girl forget about Davids weird answer as she lost herself in the sea of butterflies smiling and laughing.

========================================

If you want to read more, over 10 chapters are on my site https://kakemonoko.wordpress.com/ please check it out if you like.