*****

Narsiz POV

Getting ready and bringing out my best clothes: a light blue suit, a white shirt with colorful flowery patterns, light-brown shoes, the Leonandra silver tack pins with the typical design of a wolf biting into the neck of a demon, a snow-white silk handkerchief, it was pretty new since I gifted the one Father gave me, towards Sarah – I was standing and waiting for the maid to put a big white ribbon on my tail.

The white ribbon symbolizes purity, and at the end of the divine legacy, Father, the Lord, will open the ribbon, a ceremonial gesture to symbolize my awakening into adulthood and the discarding of my childhood.

The material the ribbon is made of also shows the person's personality.

Mine is made out of the best silk and stitched with fine symbols from our Estate. Mother had one made out of pure white linen – elegant and rough.

Lorient followed mother, but hers was rougher but sturdier. Father never had one, to begin with, as this tradition only applies to the Leonandra Family, and he is from the Temple and married into our family.

I know that Father will be here in an hour or so, but my divine legacy will only begin at midnight of my birthday today, so I have time to talk to him about different kinds of things regarding politics.

Maybe he agrees to send me earlier away to study, but to which position? I will see as I don't have my divine line right now.

'I am ready.'

*tap*tap*tap*

Walking towards the entrance hall, my butler had already informed me beforehand about Father's and Lorient's arrival in Wolfsteeth.

I saw Mother staying at the entrance with Alexander and Sarah. There were also Noriken, Salyna, and two dozen more servants.

…

*****

Alexander POV

Since I have this damned collar and am not allowed to do anything – I practically can do nothing more than go for a walk or play around... but even this is dangerous.

I got a skill: [Sleight of hand] after I played with cards and tried to do some cool tricks with it. The pain of acquiring this skill was bad, really bad.

Also, the sensitivity of my senses went down by a bit, but enough, so I don't throw up by weak smells.

Shrugging my shoulders inwardly, not like I could change it – as to what Mom said, I am not allowed to do anything for the next couple of months.

Then this sensitivity should disappear.

But today is a big day for Narsi. He gets his divine line, looking from afar at him – he got it, damn! He looks so good!

But I also worry for him, the wolf-kin or, in general, the canine-kin, gets an 80/20 ratio from women to men birthrate. I will pray for you in time for the mating season, big bro.

But right now, I don't need to worry about him, as the mating season only affects 14 and older ones.

It sounds weird to say that towards a 10-year-old. Still, in Earth's time terms, he should be around 14, only counting days, and if I am right that here the days are longer, or rather the rotation of the planet is slower, this means that he should be 15 – 16 years of age, around this ballpark.

I thought a lot about measuring the difference in the Earth's rotation to this planet to get an accurate comparison.

I cant. I don't even know where to start as this kind of thing is far beyond my capabilities. But a Greek, thousands of years ago, could measure the Earth's circumference with 2 damn sticks. I can at least try.

But I also have no fucking idea how fast someone ages and how Mana affects it. It's not like I have a reference point or anything. And there are dozens of races... I will think later about it when I can start reading and practicing again.

Throwing everything to the back of my head, Narsi came up to us, smiling, with a dignifying step and long stride, befitting that of a young aristocrat. "Hello, Family and servants!"

Everyone greets him back naturally. Me too, but I am also interested in how he is dressed for the event.

I know that our family has this kind of thing with the white ribbon, and looking at his one, it screams nobility.

After scanning his whole attire while he and mom were talking, I was already bored to no end. Can you resent me? I was reborn with the ability to use magic, and now I am restrained from doing precisely that and was pulled into some boring formal welcoming for my Dad.

It reminds me of my earlier jobs, where I was in the "Zone" and was pulled into a meeting out of the blue.

Couldn't I just come down when he was... I don't know, already here?! Being nobility is so annoying with all these etiquettes.

Furthermore, Melina held my hand, so I couldn't get away.

It was luckily morning, and my brain was in eco mode, so time flew faster.

"HUUUAAAAM. "

"Mr. Alexander, please wait as the Lord will be here soon."

"I know, no need to tell me, I just need caffeine - where is a Moondeers if you need it?"

"Please also stop using alchemical elven terms. Nobody except you, Mr. Alexander, understands them."

Hehe, I sometimes just say something before thinking and use some terms they have no idea about – as answer what it is, I say it is Elven technology or so – works every time. Nobody has a clue about elves as they live far away in the northwest or so.

"Sure, why don't you learn too? At least you could understand them then." After saying that casually, I thought it would frankly be a great idea to have a couple more hands and since I can't do anything…

She looked a bit surprised. "I am sorry, Mr. Alexander, but I have no skills in Alchemy or anything of this…."

I interrupted her, "It's fine! You practically only look after me, so you can also learn simultaneously, right? You should have the time."

Melina looked a bit annoyed. "Mr. Alexander…"

I interrupted her again. I already understood this hierarchal society. While I don't like it as I lived a very liberal lifestyle, I will use my status as a noble child when I need to, and having another Alchemical expert on the Estate could only benefit, right?

"I will not take no as an answer, Melina. What bad could happen? You learn something, so what? Knowledge is power, and you as my servant should not only be a mindless puppet looking after me, alright?"

She frowned, and her additional eyes changed the color from light orange to purple. Spider-kins are like an open book sometimes as they alter the color of their other eyes depending on how they feel.

*ding* "Oh no…." The pain came instantly as I got some shit-ass skill again! What the fuck is wrong with this damn System? It gives me a skill for everything! Why not give me one for pain suppression, you fucking asshole, huh?!

*****

Melina POV

Mr. Alexander is again so weird and wants strange things from me. I could understand that he wanted me to clean myself thoroughly before visiting him as he is right now oversensitive due to his "accident." Still, his boredom is not really easy to contain.

Having a servant learn one of the most precious skills like Alchemy is unheard of! Hopefully, he will change when he gets older.

I tried to read him some fairy tales a couple of days ago to cheer him up, but he decided on a book on Leonandras History. I never leveled up my [Reading] skill much as this time…

"Oh no…"

Hm? Looking at Mr. Alexander, he was growling. "Is everything all right, Mr. Alexander?"

He looked in pain. "Yeah, I am fine, just accidentally learned a skill."

"M… Mr. Alexander, you learned a skill again? What?! How?"

The young Wolf-kin frowned and looked annoyed at me. "How would I know this?"

This is unbelievable. Most people need weeks to months or even years to obtain skills, and he is just learning them accidentally… maybe...?

I have a child who is 7. Maybe he can learn something from him like Alchemy and assist him? I will propose this later to him - even being close to a genius should rub something down, right?

The voice of the Mistress came through. "Alex, are you alright?"

She looked slightly worried. I can understand her. He just needs rest but somehow levels and acquires skills without any end in sight - luckily, it is rare enough so that his rest doesn't get disturbed too much.

"I am good. Give me please a moment, Mom. The spotlight should be today on Narsi, so just ignore me, please."

We both looked a bit confused, but before saying something, Mr. Alexander already answered, probably knowing that he used some weird Elven jargon again. "Spotlight means something like that: All eyes should be on him. Please give me a hot minute."

The Mistress started to frown, his language skills are much more developed than others, even on the level of adults, but his way of speaking is very légère, like that of commoners.

Seeing how his facial expression changed into one of relief, I think his pain is gone.

*****

Alexander POV

Get your shit together! I can't ruin Narsiz's big day! Just act like there is no pain!

It feels like someone got a pickaxe and is trying to find diamonds in my brain. The only good thing is that I already adjusted to this pain good enough to act it out. It will also not hold for long, at max an hour or two.

But looking at Melina, Mom, and some other servants who listened in, they looked worried, and this made me incredibly annoyed - just look away, goddammit!

…

…

…

Just standing there and trying to relax in this big hall… I can't believe we actually had something like this… well, I only knew of like six rooms at best, as they don't allow me to go anywhere.

*katak*katak*katak*

This should be the carriage with Dad in it. Now let me see what I will look like in the future!

Driving into our Estate's front yard of our Main Building was an oversized Carriage. It was pulled not by horses or anything alike but by 2 giant boars wearing intricate armor. 'Huh, that is unexpected.'

The carriage was red and gold in color, very simple, but it was massive… well, I saw some in NYC, and they were not even close to this in size.

This one had no intricate designs or engravings but looked impressive due to its simple and clean look.

It stopped, and a Fox-kin stepped out. He looked beautiful with a suit on him, like a perfect Aristocrat. Every step he took and every move he made was immaculate.

He opened the carriage door and out stepped a Wolf-kin. A giant black-haired one with green eyes and a 3-day beard… his hair was bound into a knot. His outfit was rougher as he was wearing leather and linen clothes. Nonetheless, they were clean and nice looking.

He was buff. No, it would be an understatement saying that. He was basically super-buffed! But not like bodybuilders, but more in a wild manner.

I could immediately recognize this smell. This is the smell of my own - this is my Dad.

Standing straight, he was a god damn giant... now it makes sense why the carriage was so massive.

He looked towards us, and all the Servants bowed down, like my siblings but not me, as I stepped back. 'This crazy wild Aura….'

I don't know what it is, but this Aura around him feels to me like something menacing. My logical side says that he will not do a thing to me, but my instincts scream: "RUN AWAY!"

Stepping back again, I felt that I bumped into something. Looking back, I saw mom glazing at me. She crouched down and pointed towards Dad. "This is your father, cant you smell him?"

OBVIOUSLY, I CAN! But cant you feel the Aura around him?! "I can… but…" looking back at him, my whole body shivered. "...his Aura … terrifying."

My flight or fight sense hit me even stronger as he moved towards us.

A smile was seen on his face. All others, who were standing straight after saluting, were smiling back. 'Am I the crazy one here?!'

As he stood before me, he crouched down and held his arms open like he wanted me to run towards him.

My heartbeat was so loud I could swear that my heart would jump out. But before I could do anything, I noticed his smell. It was incredibly intense.

As I was already highly stressed, it came out of nowhere, and I couldn't hold back anymore. I puked. *keugh*!

I luckily didn't lose my consciousness but this smell, what the hell is it and that Aura...

Everyone looked at me, and I could feel the gazes. I stood there, with my tail between my legs and ears down. It was really too much to handle for me right now - a terrifying monster was standing before me. This was what my instincts told me, but my mind said that this was all bullshit.

I could hear how hard Mom clenched her hands and looked at Dad. "Wash up, my dear. I will tell you on the way what is going on. I forgot something... Melina, take Alex away and change his clothing."

She looked around. "We will move the reunion for later. Let my husband first make himself fresh."

Dad frowned and looked at me as I was barely holding back - the smell was so terrible, and the fear I felt was even worse.

Lorient came from behind Dad, and she smelled the same - like she bathed in the innards of Animals, who cleaned themselves in feces.

I was already on my way. Looking back, they started chatting with each other. I felt… like an outsider.

*****

Marisia POV

*tap*tap*tap*

"So, you are saying that Alex is a Mage, and he can feel my Aura? How is this possible? He is barely one year old?!"

I nodded. "Yes, remember how Mages, or rather, beings who can sense Mana, are terrified of you."

Kairo started to frown and looked terrible. It was a problem which I forgot about. He has an Aura from a skill that can only be perceived by beings who can at least sense Mana - it helps a lot if you fight these beings.

They get easily frightened and control their Mana much worse - but this skill is so high leveled that it oozes out of him… probably?

We also had never any problems as Mages in our Territory are so scarce, so there was no need to control it. We never had anyone who had a basic [Mana Sense] skill, even looking at our family.

I tried to comfort him as I took his hand. "Don't worry, dear, Alex is brilliant. He didn't know about it and reacted on instinct. After telling him, he will not think any worse of you."

It is a big problem. We all saw how frightened Alex was as soon as he saw Kairo. He shivered and sweated. His ears went down, and he tucked his tail between his legs. It is not something a Father wanted to see the first time he saw his son.

Kairo looked at me with a face that told it all: Sadness. "Hm, but why puking? Normally they wouldn't do something like this!"

Yes, right, but there is the other problem too. "I told you about his accident, right? He is very susceptible to smells and over signals right now. Maybe after he gets better, he will stop sensing this skill of yours too?"

Rage was seen in his face. "DAMMIT!" *BANG!* He punched the wall, and a crater was seen on it while I flinched out of reflex. "I don't want to be like my old man and be feared by my children!"

Little startled, I caught myself pretty quickly. "Dear, don't worry. We will look into it later than you washed up. Please get your smell first off as much as possible before you see Alex again."

He nodded, but he kept his rant going on as he needed to let off steam. "Fuck, did you see how frightened he was?"

I got on my tiptoes and held with my hands his face as softly as possible. "Please don't worry, we will find a solution for this, ok? Just give it a bit time."

He frowned. "Fine, thank you, my little flower."

My face flushed a little bit. He did call me this the last time we were together... it was such a long time ago.

He took my hands as softly as possible - he is usually such a rough man trying to be soft in front of me is so cute of him.

While thinking this, I could feel a smile building up. "I will take a bath now, my little flower. Please look after Alex."

As he bent forward, I closed my eyes and felt a soft and light kiss on my lips.

I opened my eyes again as I didn't feel his hands on my hands anymore. He gave me a lovely look as he turned around and left for his bath. 'I wished he could stay and didn't go away to the east...'

*tap*tap*tap*

While walking away to look at how Alex was doing, my mind was racing as to how I could've prevented it. Kairo and Alex would suffer less emotionally, and we could prepare for it somehow. I should've remembered this...

I bit my lips so hard that I tasted iron. Went with a finger over the blood and looked at it while standing in the corridor. "Damn it..."

While my husband was out there risking his life, I should've managed the Estate as perfectly as possible, and in the end... "I failed."

Taking out my pocket watch and Looking at the time, we had around half a day for other business until Narsiz's legacy.

Standing there and watching the pocket watch, I mumbled to myself. "I hope that Alex can make up for my mistake..." Not that I want to blame him or make him solve the situation, but I hope he will not be so frightened of his Father that he doesn't want to meet him anymore and can understand the problem well enough, so we try it again - but this time more slowly...

Turning heel, I walked towards my son's room, who I hoped would help me make up for my mistake.

*****

Narsiz POV

Going through our garden, I enjoyed the lovely smell of the flowers and being surrounded by Sarah and Lorient, who were chatty - while some beautiful Butterfly-kin servants gardened. The sun shined brilliantly on me, and I could feel a nice warm feeling. The blue and red sky was barely cloudy, everything was so lovely - it was ideal for a nice walk.

Lori blabbered about her adventure and Sarah about what happened here. It is understandable, we didn't see Lori for months, and she grew extensively.

After recounting everything that Lori experienced on the trip, the topic naturally fell on Alex. He was also the number one gossip topic for the servants.

"What was going on with Alex?"

"Remember my over exhaustion with my physical exercise? He had the same, but it was mental exhaustion."

"What do you mean?"

"He can use Mana. He overextended himself by training his Mana and learning like crazy - you should read his compendium about the system window. It is short but explains a couple of things pretty well."

Lorient's eyes went wide. "HOW?!"

Sarah shrugged her shoulders. "How would I know? He even talked about skill tests he went through, so I have no idea how he could come this far without a teacher or anything. Maybe he is a real genius?"

Lorient was now flustered and couldn't say anything.

I giggled. "Your reaction is understandable, but I am more concerned about what happened today."

"Hm, Mama said it was because of Papas smell *giggle*."

Lori was out of her stupor. "What do you mean with smell?"

I nodded. "The aftereffects of his mental exhaustion are that, if he uses or feels in some way Mana, he will experience an intense headache. This is why we put an Anti-Mana collar on him. But... if he also levels skills or learns one accidentally, he will also experience the same pain. In short: he needs a lot of rest."

Lorient was now obviously a little bit worried and annoyed. I understand her. "Wha… HOW CAN HE LEARN ACCIDENTALLY A SKILL?!"

Sarah shrugged. "Don't ask me, but don't you find it thrilling? Having now a Mage in our family. What do you think we can do with one?"

I thought a lot about it too. "I don't know either, but I can see how he will either bring our family to new heights or will create pure chaos."

Lorient could not compose herself. "WAIT! I want to talk about getting a skill accidentally! Did you ask him about this?!"

Sarah slightly yawned. "HUAAAAM. He told me that he didn't know. He does stuff and gets a skill. He talked for like an hour with me, trying to explain it. I just nodded along... He is such a blabbermouth. *giggle*."

I could see Lorients excitement in her eyes. "I need to ask him! What do you think which level he is and how many skills he has?"

Suddenly Sarah got a serious facial expression. "Big sister, I hope you don't think asking Alex to show his system window?"

Lorient and Sarah now looked at each other. Both were ready - I could feel it. 'Oh, not today, damn it!' The killing intent from both was slowly creeping up.

"Lorient, Sarah - both of you calm..." I was interrupted by Lorient. "SHUT UP! I will not be threatened! I will just ask Alex! If he says no, so will it be."

Sarah showed her fangs. "No, you don't! He is naive, small, and can be easily manipulated! You will not do it!"

A furious smile crept on Lorient's face, and her eyes slowly changed their color into red. "It is not your fucking problem..." She started to get into attack position. I need to stop this stupidity!

Running in between them, I screamed out. "STOP! Both of you!" Looking at Sarah. "You will not fight! And you..." Turning towards Lorient. "You will not ask Alexander for showing his system window! If somebody finds this out - the Estate will hunt you down and cripple you!"

Lorient's eyes turned entirely red as she slowly surrounded her body with red mist. "Is this a threat, dear Brother?"

What a moron. It is you who I am worried about. "It is our Estate law. You are only allowed to show your window after the divine legacy, and even then, it is considered a taboo."

"Haha! A law? I am talking about getting stronger for the Estates sake! You should understand it the best. If I get stronger - I can help more!"

I solemnly looked at her. "I don't care how you want to compensate for your insufficiencies, but the law is precisely for such a reason in place."

"What do you mean? I will obviously not hurt him!"

"Lorient, what if he has a skill you really want and will follow him day and night and force him to teach you? What if he can't, and you get angry and lose your cool? What if... you get jealous? What if you get caught at some point by the enemy when you are training outside, and they will read your mind and find out that he has some rare skills?"

A growl was slowly heard coming from her depths - a rage in her voice was building up. "HAHA! I didn't know you thought so lowly of me, Narsi..."

She crouched. The red mist built up around her hands and imitated red claws. 'DAMN IT!' She rocketed towards me like a wild beast.

Before I could think or move, Sarah came from the left and pulled me away. "MOVE YOU, IDIOT!" The red claw glid on my neck - I barely avoided it!

I was thrown towards the ground, and Sarah stood before me - ready to fight. "Tsk, fighting against big sister would be so much more fun if I had my divine line... or a weapon" getting ready, I could see Sarah's smile. My whole family is insane...

I also tried to get into position behind Sarah to strike after Lorient's blind spot, then she attacked.

Both were getting ready to attack, and as they jumped at each other, out of nowhere, Sarusos appeared from the side like an arrow, grabbed their arms, spun around as he took their momentum with him, he threw them both away from each other.

*Bang!*

"Keough!"

Lorient crashed into a tree, but Sarah just landed inside a bush.

"Tsk, her divinity line is acting out - good I was here."

"Sarusos, what is going on with Lorient?" I could see how Lorient was trying to stand up, full of dirt and red blood eyes. "She never acted like this!"

"*sigh* We told that Ms. Lorient should also invest in [Spirit] so the demon Aura doesn't corrupt her too much...tsk, what a troublesome child."

"Her Aura?" Sarusos looked at me like nothing had happened. "Oh right, Mr. Narsiz, it is a Leonandra secret..." he looked again at Lorient "... would you excuse me? I deal first with Ms. Lorient and can later tell you everything, ok?"

I nodded, obviously not oblivious about the situation. "Oh, Mr. Narsiz, please look if Ms. Sarah is ok." from some bush came a rustle. "I AM FINE! NO WORRIES!"

"*giggle* You are such good kids." as he said that, he flashed towards Lorient. She was not standing back up and ready to fight, like a wild monster. She was full of bloodlust... I need to talk with Father or Mother later to find out what is going on with Lorient...

Appearing behind Lorient was Sarusos, one hit against the back of her head, she became unconscious. Before she could hit the ground, Sarusos caught her in his arms and held her princess style.

He looked towards me. "See you later!" and away was he...

Going towards the bush to help Sarah out, she was in a... let's say "weird" position. "Are you alright?" Giving her a hand and pulling her out.

Standing before me was not a sister but a cute scarecrow. "I am fine, thanks."

I started picking some small branches out of her hair. "I should be thanking you. Without you, I would be..."

Stopping me from talking further. "Don't say something this stupid. I would obviously be in a fight much earlier if you didn't stand between us and would probably have no head already *giggle*."

"*sigh* Don't say things like this - so, are you really alright?"

She nodded. "What do we do with Lorient now?"

I started to frown. "It was something about corruption and her Aura."

"Let's go and look for Mama or Papa. They will probably tell us."

"Sure, good idea. Sarusos is probably already there. Let's go."