Chapter 3 - The General is a Noble

  “You did what!?” my mom screamed, pag around the room. It was the fourth time I expihe story to her, and every time she sighed in disbelief at the craziness of my as. Acc to her, I could have gone blind if any piece had flown into my eye.

  The test I performed is only used by people wanting to see if they have the potential to be mages. The problem is, I’m already going to be a mage… my mom is a mage, and my dad was too. Children of mages don’t o take this test or it will result in acts with their mana… I admit, there was no way I could have predicted this; I skipped the small print and warnings…

  “Sorry, Mom. I promise I’ll be more careful ime.”

  My mom sighed.

  “Nathan Evenhart!” she looked at me sternly.

  Gods! She used my full name; I’m dead.

  My mom doesn’t like us mentioning my st name, so if she used my full name, I’m in trouble.

  “You’re only 3 years old! You should be eating mud and stealing dy,” my mom said, staring at me. She’s very scary.

  Why would I eat mud? Stealing dy, I uand; they’re very good.

  “My son, don’t try to do that again. It’s dangerous, and you could get hurt,” Katherine gave me a hug.

  Her hugs always make me feel like the most special person in the world. I don’t know what kind of power moms have, but being loved by them is the best feeling of peace that has ever existed.

  “I messed up, I promise I won’t do anything dangerous again…” I tried to give her puppy eyes.

  She sighed.

  “Alright, the important thing is that you’re okay.”

  Katherine tinued hugging me.

  “By the way, Nathan Evenhart, where did you get the leaf for your test? I hope for your sake… you didn’t pluck it from one of my pnts…”

  I am definitely dead now.

  ***

  POV Katherine Evenhart

  My baby retly turned 5 years old. He keeps getting cuter and cuter, and I don’t know if it’s possible for a child to beore adorable, but mine has mao do just that. I know all mothers say they have the most beautiful child in the world, but miruly takes first p my heart.

  “Will that be all, ma’am?” the shop attendant asked me.

  Oops! I got lost in my thoughts.

  I was so absorbed in imagining him wearing these new clothes that I didn’t even realize I was still iore. Nate doesn’t like being dressed in my style, but he o uand that I’ll make him look as cute as possible, whether he likes it or not.

  My heart melts even more when I see him in these outfits. I ’t wait to buy him a little suit.

  I left the store, taking the opportunity to look at some stalls. ayed at a ons shop; he became friends with the owner since he lives near our house. He spends hours listening to the stories behind each on and how they’re used.

  I hope the shop owner doesn’t tell battle stories to my baby again; I don’t want him to get scared.

  “Lady Katherine?” a voice called from behind me.

  Hearing that made my heart freeze.

  It 't be! They've found me!? But what about the agreement we made?

  I turn around and see a figure standing there, eyes wide as if he’s seen a ghost.

  “It’s really you! You have no idea how long I’ve been looking for you!” the man excims, ing towards me.

  They weren’t supposed to track me! THAT WAS ONLY IN THE LAST RESORT!

  “Stay back!” I tell him. “Stay back or I’ll scream for help,” I say, gng around to see if there are others nearby.

  This ’t be what I’m thinking. I ’t let them take Nathan from me!

  “My dy, please. I beg you, you don’t know how long we’ve been searg for you. H-how is the child? Are you both well? Are you in need? How are you managing? Gods! I finally found you,” he says.

  I swallow hard, weighing my options. I don’t know what to do.

  I o run a Nathan, but if Hugo follows me… he might discover where we live. He’ll take my son from me.

  “H-Hugo! Please, pretend you didn’t see me. I… I don’t want to get involved in these power struggles. I just want to live my life in peace with my baby. That was Ethan’s greatest wish… his father never wao get involved, but he had to act. Look where it led him! Leave my son alone!” I try to appeal to him. Hugo is a father too, even though he’s a noble vassal, I hope he uands.

  “A son!?” he excims, even more shocked. “A male heir!? The lord… left an heir…”

  He rushes to me and falls to his knees.

  “Lady Katherine! I beg you, e back with us. His father was a mage, and you are a mage too! This child will be blessed with magid is our future. The way things are, we have no choid there’s a risk the Wolves will take over the Evenhart family. e back with us! I beg you!”

  Everyone is staring at us in the middle of the marketpce. They’re seeing a knight with the crest of a ducal house kneeling before a oner.

  I o get out of here!

  “Mom!” Nate runs to my side.

  Of all the times you could have shown up, this was not one of them! What do I do?

  I look at Hugo, who has lifted his fa shock, staring at Nathan.

  “Y-y-young master!?” the knight shouts.

  POV Nathan Evenhart

  “So, this type of sword is more for thrusting, while that other type is better for warriors in heavy armor,” the ons shop owner expins to me.

  Clyde is our neighbor, and he and his brother run the business. His brother, Anthony, is a bcksmith who’s always busy making ons and is a terrible salesman. His brother ’t price things right and always gives in when someone haggles. Things get worse when nobles get involved; his brother is too embarrassed to demand payment when they’re te. Acc to Clyde, it’s easier to make money selling equipment to advehan to nobles.

  He expihat true nobles have their own bcksmiths. He said there are families so powerful that other entire families serve them for every need, including bcksmithing. The lower-ranking nobles are the ones who serve the higher families and buy their things iy. Clyde suspects it’s because they like to feel superior and enjoy showing off so that we plebeians ‘lick the ground they walk on.’

  As if I would ever do something like that…

  These nobles often end up causing trouble and dey payments. That’s where Clyde es in. He says he's a terrible bcksmith but a great iator. The guy’s a natural artist. The first time I talked to him, within five minutes, I felt like being friends with this sdrel.

  He’s naturally charismatic.

  Clyde has a knack for spotting problems and identify a noble who’s likely to dey payments. When a noble pces an order, the bcksmith stops earning moo focus on that order. If he doesn’t get paid at the end of that time, it screws him over. That’s why Clyde uses his silver tongue duriiations to mention he knows other nobles, implying he’ll report any issues. He also has a knack for attrag ers, and everyone from the guilds prefers to buy here.

  “Clyde, is this sword called a Cymore?” I ask him.

  Luckily, he likes talking about these masterpieces and doesn’t mind.

  “That’s right. It’s a giant sword used with both hands. Usually, warriors with a more brute and ‘berserker’ style use it, equipping heavy armor and charging into the front lihrowing themselves at the enemy. This sword is known as a ‘mage syer.’”

  “Mage syer? What do you mean?” I ask, curious.

  Clyde scratches his head.

  “I don’t know if I should tell you... st time, I got scolded by your scary mom...”

  I get scared of her when she’s angry too... I uand, buddy.

  “Don’t worry, I didn’t tell her any of your stories. It was your fault fetting so excited and not notig when she arrived.”

  He sighs.

  “Alright. The term ‘mage syer’ is because berserkers charge straight at mages otlefield. Usually, fighting a mage is tricky, but if a squad of berserkers decides to team up against one... that mage better be powerful or they’re dead,” Clyde expins.

  “But isn’t a mage worth at least 50 warriors?” I ask, intrigued.

  “A lousy mage is worth 50 warriors... a good mage... if they’re also a battle mage, oh, the sky’s the limit.”

  My mom doesn’t like expining magie. She says it’s not time yet. I uood why wheouched my hand and pced it on her belly. I could feel the energy of her Mana Gem flowing inside. My Gem is still dormant and will remain so for a while until it awakens.

  “And what about that type of ohere?” I point.

  “Those are halberds.”

  Clyde begins to expin. I ask all the questions I . In this world, there’s a great variety of ons. In my world, we practically only had two ons: a sword or a spear. The rest were banned by the Goddess Athena, who said they were useless to learn. As the Goddess of Strategy, she knew she’d have more effit power in her army if she focused on teag these two types of onry.

  The on ban happened long before I was born sino one could pare to her army, and the best way to try and fight back was to learn the same fighting style. In the end, bcksmiths in the world only produced single-handed swords and long spears.

  Of course, there were other ons like daggers, shields, bows, and knives. I’m talking about the most only used on by frontline soldiers, which was usually a sword or spear, while support soldiers used bows.

  I don’t disagree with what Goddess Athena did in that regard. A warrior who learo use a spear could be useful on horseback or even against another warrior on horseback. When Athena revolutiohe world with the iion of the spear, she became uable. Armies of a thousand cavalrymeo a hundred spearmen. They just o hold their position, and if the horse charged... it died.

  Athena also revolutiohe world with the best use of 'Battle Aura' or just 'Aura,' teag it to her soldiers. I mentioned before that there was no mana in my world; Aura was the fuel for our power.

  Battle Aura is someone's vital energy densed into the physical pne. If you manipute your vital energy through the iy of your fury, you'll have a great accumution of physical power while it's active. I'm talking about true brute power: we could crush a skull with our hands or make the enemy soil their pants just with the iy of our killer gre.

  The final test to see if a warrior was fit to be called Athena's Soldier retty simple. They threw the boy in front of a hungry tiger... it might sound crazy, and it is crazy, I agree. The test was about making the tiger fear yaze. If you made the tiger back off in fear, you passed the test. If not... let's just say the tiger wouldn't stay hungry.

  Few survived the final test, and that was just the test to allow you to be a soldier... I haven't eveiohe tests to bee a General. In my old world, earning the title of Athena's General meant you reached the pinnacle of battle power and Aura mastery, being a Born of War. This was the special training Athena developed after subjugating Sparta and using her ultimate intelligee true warriors.

  In Spartan training, only 1 in every 100 children reached the title of General. In the improved Spartan training by Athena, only 1 in every 10,000 children could bee a General.

  It's a shame there's no Battle Aura in this world... all my deadly teiques died with my old body. What's the point of knowing how to flick off someone's head if I don't have the Aura to make it happen?

  I sigh, remembering my past.

  Why should I ment? I promised to live a simple life with my mother. I'll make her proud and be a good son. I've never had someone love me this way, and I'll treasure it. She doesn't talk to me about mana or what she do... I don't want to bee a soldier again, but I think it would be fun to at least py around with the ability to gee water.

  How many times did I go days without water in a battlefield? Feeding an army is hard, especially in the middle of a war. I could just turn my finger into my mouth, gee water, and drink... man, being a human in this world is awesome.

  I went through Athena's special training and became part of her army. No wonder she is the Goddess of Strategy; with her knowledge, she formed an empire aiming to domihe world, and for that, she e these skilled Aura warriors. I don't eveo tell you who traihe Generals personally... I think you guessed it. Was it Athena? No! She wouldn't dare reveal any of her teiques... my mentor was someone different and hungry for battle. I think you guessed it, him... Ares, the God of War.

  “What is he doing?” someone shouted outside.

  A crowd is f. Clyde ran to look.

  “What’s happening?” I ask Clyde, who’s looking at the otion.

  It sucks being short...

  “Trouble!” he shouts. “Big trouble, I see an Evenhart knight on his khat’s crazy! Why would someone like him do that?”

  Evenhart? Isn’t that my st name?

  “Kid! Isn’t that your mother?”

  Before he even looks at me, I run when I realize my mom might be in trouble.