Half a year after I started my training I managed to return back to show I used to be, I even put on a little bit more of muscle. This body is still young so if I continue like this I could have my dream physique sometime in the future.

My hand-to-hand training with Shina helped a lot to toughen up my body as well as refine my skills. And after we parted ways I started my magic training again.

I spent two seasons not doing anything. Then another training with Shina and another training my magic. Which lands me back in the summer season.

Since it's summertime that means I just turned nine years old. Hanna and Alexander returned for the summer season which marks the end of the school year. The next one will begin at the start of autumn.

There were small breaks in between seasons. And one thing I noticed was that Hanna came back more often than Alexander.

As I sat up on my bed I saw Mia rise from beside me as well. "Morning," she said, her voice a bit hoarse as she let out a loud yawn while stretching out her arms.

"Aren't you old enough to sleep by yourself now?" I asked. For the past year that we've been living in this house, Mia has spent every night in my room.

"Nope," she replied before pushing away the covers in order to get out of bed. "I'm gonna go get ready for breakfast now. Bye," was the last thing she said with one last look in my direction as then ran off to her room.

"She's really attached to you, don't you think?" I heard the small wolf beside me say, stretching her paws forward after getting up.

"Maybe," I replied then took a long look at her. "Why do you only choose to talk in front of me?" I decided to ask, changing the conversation.

"I don't feel ready to talk to other people yet," she said. "You're the only one I feel comfortable around to talk to."

"Aww," I let out, smiling awkwardly taken aback by her straightforwardness, and then patted her head. "You can talk to me anytime. I'll always be here for you."

"I know, I know," Flare said as she drove her head forward into my palm. Then, as her face came out, she looked at me. "Let's go eat I'm hungry."

"Right," After changing out of my sleeping clothes clothes. Flare followed behind me to the dining room.

When we got there I noticed that, as always, I was the last one to get there. "Morning," I said sitting in my usual spot.

"Oh, Arata!" Theodore spoke having noticed my arrival. "Have you heard the news?" he asked, sounding a bit excited.

"What news?" I replied, trying to recall any events that have caught my attention recently but ultimately nothing came to mind.

"The Royal Banquet is coming up," he answered.

"Great!" I replied sarcastically, sharing his enthusiasm. "What is that?"

"You've never heard of it?" he asked, looking shocked. "Well. . . It's a celebration that takes place in the Royal Palace about every seven to eight years where nobles all over the kingdom gather to get acquainted and show off new heirs," he explained.

"Hm? Now that you mention it. . . I think I have," I spoke tapping on my chin as I thought back to anything that might be related. Oh yeah, Leon told me about it once before. He said he jumped two high nobles at that same gathering. "So what? Are we going too?" I asked.

"Of course we are," He said. "But first we need to prepare ourselves. Grandfather already hired a private tutor to teach us proper etiquette and mannerism along with dance lessons."

Dancing, huh? I absolutely hate dancing. Maybe because I never learned properly. But if anything I'd rather avoid dancing. "Do we have to dance?" I asked.

"Well, if you get asked to by another person it's only polite to agree and in doing so you have to put up a good performance to not embarrass yourself as well as your house," He said. "Plus high nobles like us get asked to dance a lot by other nobles, so we basically have no choice."

"Is that so?" I spoke trying to think of a way out of this. "When is the tutor going to arrive?"

"In the afternoon," he replied. Looks like I got no way out of this. I'll just have to do the best I can. Letting out a deep breath I braced myself for what was coming.

-----

The afternoon come around our tutor arrived. As we introduced ourselves she had us start immediately. We moved outside to the backyard where we paid close attention to her lessons, or at least I did.

Until. . . "Okay, kids, choose a partner to dance with," she said. It was time for the dance lessons.

We all paired up. Alexander with Ada, Hanna with Nina, Theodore and I, and Mia got left out but she'll be taking turns with either Hanna or me.

'Man, I hate this' I thought as Theodore and I clung to each other. As I looked at Theodore he too looked uncomfortable. The dance wasn't anything complicated. It's a simple hand-to-hand slow dance. I guess this isn't that bad.

The next morning I woke up early for once. I saw that Leon was all dressed up. He said he was going to the Royal Castle to help with preparations for the banquet and asked if I wanted to come along.

Apparently, his group was chosen for that specific task. Hearing his words I nodded and quickly got dressed because the carriage was already waiting. I left Flare with Nina.

I looked out the window of the carriage staring at the city on our way to the castle. When the castle came into view I was left at a loss for words like many times after coming into this world. As we passed the main gate we stopped at a large garden. We then walked on a paved road decorated with flowers, trees, and bushes all around.

There were many guards and servants as we walked through the wide and elegantly decorated hallway. Then came to a stop before a double door. "We're about to meet the king of this kingdom." Leon said as we stood outside it. "Just follow my lead."

Walking past the double doors we had entered the throne room. It was more like a large hallway than a room. There were large windows in the walls and guards lined up beside a red carpet which we walked on.

At the back center of the wall was a dais that supported the throne. And sitting on that throne was an old solemn looking man with fancy robes and a crown atop his head.

"Your Highness," Leon spoke, getting down on one knee. Seeing his actions I did the same. "I've come as requested to aid in the preparations for the Royal Banquet," Leon said then got up. 'Following his lead' I got up as well.

"Yes, I was informed of your arrival," the king said, his voice old and raspy as he then looked at me. "But not his," the aura he emitted carried so much authority that I was afraid to even move.

"Forgive me, sir," Leon said placing a hand on my shoulder. "This is my son, Arata. It was his wish to accompany me and take in the sight of your highness's beautiful palace."

"Y-Your Highness," following his words I bowed down in a panic.

"Hm," he let out taking another look at me. His face seemed to relax when Leon mentioned I was his son. "Don't worry about it," he finally said. "You're free to roam around as you please, boy. . . You may leave, now. I'm sure you have a lot of work to attend to."

"Thank you, sir," Leon replied. Bowing one last time before we made our way out of the room.

"That was very nerve-racking," I said in relief, taking a deep breath.

"Tell me about it, I can still remember the first time I stood in front of the king like that." He said. "Although back then he used to be more optimistic."

"Are you serious?" I said a bit shocked. "That old man looks like nothing in the world matters."

"Well, his son died recently," Leon pointed out. "Maybe it affected him in a way."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"King Morgen's son was the previous king but unfortunately, he died of a mysterious illness about two years ago. Some say he was cursed others say he was assassinated or poisoned," Leon said. "Anyway after his death, his father took the throne again. Once the current prince becomes of age he'll inherit the throne so that King Morgen can retire."

"Who is the current prince?" I asked. Two years ago? I'm pretty sure I was lost in Canavar at that time.

"The king's grandson, Prince Hansel," Leon said. "He's still young and barely started going to school. He's around Hanna's age I believe,"

That would mean he's in Hanna's grade as well. "Well, I have to meet with my group in the grand hall to help with the organization and decoration of this generation's banquet," he said. "Are you coming?"

"No, I think I'll go have a look around the castle," I told him, because who wouldn't? Now that I think about it who are the members of his squad?

"I figured," he replied letting out a small sigh. "Just be careful and stay out of trouble, this is the Royal Palace after all."

"Don't worry I'll behave," I said, dismissing his concerns as I began to walk away.

I went back outside to walk around the garden and ended up following a path that was lined up with arcs of flowers. It was a good way to keep myself entertained since I'd never been to a place like this, not even in my previous life. Until I reached the end of it.

There was a small open area along with a little girl sitting on a bench. The girl looked to be around my age and was using wind magic to make leaves float above her hand. As I looked at her face I noticed her expression was a bit sad. I assumed she was a nobleman's daughter, Like myself.

As I watched her conjure up wind, I noticed that she was very compatible with wind magic, even more than me. Extremely compatible in fact, that I bet if she was special born her special affinity would be wind. I wonder. . . I thought while tapping on my chin. . . She just might be able to.

No, no. I shouldn't jump to conclusions just yet. I need to observe her a little longer to be sure. But it'll be awkward if I just stand here. Should I introduce myself? Maybe getting acquainted with other nobles will benefit me in the future. Yeah, that's what I'll do, what could go wrong? "Hello," I spoke up, walking up to her.

"Huh!?" she let out startled, due to being fully concentrated she didn't expect my arrival. "H-Hi," she said awkwardly as the leaves she had afloat dropped to the ground.

"Sorry I didn't mean to scare you," I said, a bit in amusement. Looking back at her I saw she wasn't going to speak so I decided to carry on the conversation. "I noticed you were using wind magic just now. Do you like magic?"

"Y-Yeah," she replied confused, probably wondering who the heck I was. "I practice it to keep myself distracted," she said then tried to make the leaves float again. But maybe because she was cautious around me she couldn't keep them stable

"Here, let me help," I said, placing my hand below hers using my own wind magic to help balance the currents of the wind making the leaves flow steadily in a circular motion.

"Wow, you can also use wind?" she said a bit surprised. Then, catching a glimpse of my hand her expression changed. "Is there a style that you practice?" she asked. "Your hands look pretty rough."

"Yes, I practice the Euro's style as well as the basics in of Avalon style," I answered.

"Do you not use have somebody use healing for after your training," she asked, looking up at me.

With healing magic, it heals any and all damage leaving the skin unblemished. But this does nothing to toughen up the affected parts as it just returns to its original condition. And since I didn't use any healing, my hands and a few other parts of my body became calloused as well as becoming strengthened. "I'd rather not," I answered

"Why not?" she asked confused as if it were a question that wouldn't even need to be asked.

"Well. . ." I started to say not wanting to reveal the secret. "It's. . . Sort of like a mark I'd like to keep," I answered. "Just to show how much hard work I've put into my training."

"Hehe," she giggled to herself. What's so funny? I thought as I looked at her behavior. "That's so lame," she spoke. Even though she said what she said, it didn't sound like a criticizing comment.

"Well excuse you!" I exclaimed, still a bit hurt by her words. "Take that back please!" I told her. But in all honesty that is a pretty lame excuse.

"Hehe!" witnessing my actions caused her to let out an even larger laugh. "I'll tell you what," she said with an amused smile. "If you show something that's not lame then I'll take it back.

"Deal!" I replied, looking at her with full determination, which left her a bit taken aback. "Here it goes," I mumbled, letting out a sigh as I focused my mana. Raising my arm I charged up my lightning until it started crackling around my hand. And finally concentrating it on a single point I shot it out.

"How's that," I said, looking back at the girl whose eyes went wide in response. ". . . You. . . Okay?" I asked, waving my hand in front of her face.

"Wow, that was so cool!" she said, looking at me with sparkling eyes as her face lit up immediately. "I've never seen anything like that," she spoke, sounding shocked. "Are you special born?"

"No, I'm not," I said, speaking truthfully unsure as to whether she would even believe me. "I learned it."

"Learned it!?" she repeated, looking confused as she pondered if my words were true.

"Yup," I answered, my voice filled with confidence. "And you can too."

"Can I. . . really?" she asked unconvinced as her face fell, eyes gazing at the floor.

Placing both the tips of my fingers on her forehead I pushed her head up and looked straight into her eyes. "Do you want to?" I asked with full certainty as if it was a thing anyone could learn, which only served to push away her doubts.

Looking back at me I noticed her cheeks turn a shade of red. "Y-Yeah," she replied a bit uncertain after a moment of hesitation. Whops. I thought, lowering my hand. Hope I didn't make her uncomfortable.

"Great!" I spoke. "Now, before we get started there are a few things you should know so I'm gonna need to have your full attention."

As she tilted her head in confusion I kept on speaking and explained that lightning was an extension of wind magic. And from what I've seen, this girl seems to be incredibly compatible with wind.

So taking that into account she just might be compatible enough to learn lightning magic. There's a high chance that her compatibility might overtake her lack of understanding.

I'm not entirely sure if she can but I'm only doing this because I'm curious to see if any other person that is not special-born can learn magic this way. If I end up hurting her feelings then, GG, big L, skill issue, don't care, don't know her anyway.

I then went ahead and explained the technique behind mana friction as simply as I possibly could. As well as explaining how the mana would behave once achieved.

Hearing my instructions she then brought both her hands together and conjured several tiny spheres of wind magic, only visible by a white glowing thin outline. In the space between her hands, the small orbs began rotating around and around colliding many times in the process.

If I remember correctly the way this works is by using high-speed winds you can rub different volumes of air, which is just the space that air takes up, together. Causing the insanely high number of small particles that make up mana to clash against each other.

Once you've had this process running for a while you can call back the mana that was used only to find that it now has a different charge. And finally supplying that with pure mana acts as a conductor which will then release all that pent-up negative charged energy in the form of lightning.

We're starting small so a static shock should suffice. But. . . She seems to be having trouble with that. After about half an hour she spoke up and asked me for help.

So I came up with a new idea. By creating a vertical stream of lightning with my hands I had her imbue some of her mana into it. Which caused the lightning to react by shooting out in different directions. With this, she was able to get a better feel for the lightning as well as newfound hope to succeed and try again.

Until finally, after another half-hour of continuously trying this method. Her mana reserves were low and she was at the point of giving up. But. . . Slowly reaching her finger up to my face, she tapped me.

Right when she did, I felt it, a faint tingle feeling spread across a small area on my cheek. Even if it was faint, it didn't matter, it was still there. She had officially succeeded. "I-I did it!" she said, looking surprised while staring down at her finger.

"You did!" I said, sharing her excitement while grabbing both her hands and quickly swinging them up and down.

Wow, it actually worked. I thought when just then. "Arata!" in the distance, I heard Leon's voice calling for me.

"Oh," I let out, turning in the direction that the voice was coming from. "That's my father," I pointed out. "It's time for me to go," I said, then looked back at the girl. "Just keep practicing that by yourself, okay."

"I will," she replied happily with a nod.

Before I walked away I took in her image once more. "I never asked for your name," I pointed out as she looked at me in confusion.

"Hm?" she let out, thinking something over, then finally looked back up at me. "Call me Asia," she said. "And your name is. . . Arata?" she asked based on Leon's calls.

"Yup," I replied, then turned around. "Se ya around," I said as I began to walk away. After my encounter with that Asia girl, I meet up with Leon and together we went back home.

At home, in the afternoon, we continued our lessons with the tutor. Which was something I wasn't looking forward to.

Later that night as both Mia and I were getting ready for bed, I heard a knock on my door. "Come in," I said.

At my words, the door creaked open revealing Nina on the other side. "Hey, sorry to bother you at this hour," she spoke with an apologetic smile.

"It's fine," I said, disregarding her words. "Come in, what did you need?" I asked.

"Your father asked me to tell you that he was going to the Royal Palace again and that if you wanted to go, to meet him at the front door tomorrow morning," she explained.

Ah? No wonder we didn't stay over for a longer period of time. I guess this request is one that takes a couple of days to finish. "Got it, I'll do that," I replied.Of course I want to go to the Royal Palace. Who wouldn't? I couldn't get enough of it when I was there earlier.

Before Nina left, her gaze wandered around my room for a second. "Oh?" she let out, noticing that Mia was laying down next to me. "Is Mia sleeping with you today?"

"More like every day," at my reply, Mia let out a low puff as her expression turned into a pout. "But I don't mind it," I added quickly.

"Why?" Nina questioned. At her age, she probably thinks that sleeping alone and spending time in your own room is 'cool'.

"Sometimes it's nice to sleep the night with someone you enjoy spending time with, don't you think?" I said, speaking honestly. But looking at her face I noticed she still looked unconvinced. "You should try it sometime," I added as if it were an experience of a lifetime.

"Alright, I guess I'll give it a try then," she said while walking inside my room. Then, reaching up she began to climb atop my bed.

"What are you doing?" I asked looking at her odd behavior.

"I'm doing what you said," she spoke, laying down on my right while Mia was on my left. "Or do you not want me here?" she added, her head already buried deep within my pillow.

"I guess it's all right," I told her, not wanting to reject her. Well, this is awkward. Mia usually falls asleep immediately. But with Nina here, there are just going to be awkward moments of complete silence. I don't even know what to talk about with her.

"I heard from Theodore that you went to Canavar last year and that's how you got so strong," she started to say. "Although I still don't know what happened after you got lost. How did you get separated from your father? And how did you manage to survive all alone?"

As she spoke I saw Flare curl herself up on Nina's stomach. Reaching her hand down Nina began petting her. Traitor. I thought as I looked at Flare.

"I fell off a cliff, that's how I got separated from the group," I pointed out. "I lost consciousness shortly after so I don't really remember how I survived. I just know that I was found floating atop a log in the middle of a lake."

"Who found you?" she questioned. What's with all these questions all of a sudden? I didn't think she was the type that enjoyed stories like this. Perhaps she's just trying to make conversation? Or perhaps she's. . . Worried about me? She is a very caring girl after all.

"A group of three centaurs," I answered then paused as I turned my head to look at her. "I told Theodore the whole story. Did he not tell you?" I asked.

"No," she replied, looking back at me. "He said the story sounded better coming from you."

"If you really want to hear it, then I'll tell you," I said, shifting my attention back to the ceiling. "Now, listen closely."

Following my words, I then started to tell her my story. But halfway through, I noticed her beginning to yawn as well as having trouble staying awake. By this time Mia was already fast asleep. "Is my story that boring?" I joked as I turned to look at her face.

"N-No, it's just. . . I'm quite sleepy," she said, her voice soft as she brought her hand up to cover her yawn.

"Go to sleep, then. I'll tell you the rest some other time," I told her in a gentle tone as I too was about to fall asleep.

"Thank you," she said then turned her head, locking eyes with me. "You know, you really are a nice person," she spoke as the corners of her lips curved up into a smile.

"Huh!?" hearing her words left me feeling a little surprised. "Where is that coming from?" I asked, curious as to why she said what she said.

"From me," she replied turning her body to face away from mine. "I'm going to sleep now," she said, pulling the covers up to cover her upper body. "Good night."

"Good night," Was the last thing I said as I drifted to sleep.