-Age Ten Kyron Loeth -

“It's becoming harder to keep this hidden...”

Kyron thought as he looked nervously upon the ball of fur lying asleep underneath the tree.

“It's been like— what, a couple of months? Big bro's going to give me a beating when he sees you.” He whispered.

Its ears pricking up as it heard Kyron's approach, the furry creature's tail started to wag in excitement, sweeping up a light cloud of dust behind it before awakening from its nap. It gave out a light yawn, the impressive set of sharp teeth lining its mouth became visible as it stretched its jaws. It then quickly stood up and flicked out its tongue to wet its nose before trotting towards Kyron.

“Iska, no no no! Can't have my clothes be dirty before I go home!” Kyron exclaimed, and evaded the tackle of the beast. Its body having grown large enough that its head reached his own, Kyron would have been covered in dirt had he welcomed its embrace.

The beast circled around twice before stopping in front of him and plopping onto the ground. Lightly scratching on Kyron's boots, the beast whimpered, “Wooooo...” and lowered its head slightly while looking at him with upturned eyes.

“Hey— don't look at me like that! I'll play with you later, yeah? After I change my clothes. I just came to check up on you.” Kyron tried to reassure the beast.

He gave it a good rub on its head and took out a small cloth bag. Inside were leftovers he had sneaked out from today's lunch at the academy cafeteria— half-eaten chicken legs, beef slices, and an untouched pork cutlet— Kyron felt pain in his heart as he had dropped his own lunch inside of the bag.

“Here Iska, dinner.” Kyron laid the bag open on the ground in front of the black-furred beast. “I'll be right back, alright? Just have to get home and get changed.”

Iska, the beast, made another whimpering sound as she licked Kyron's hands, but quickly turned her attention to the bag and shoved her snout into its contents a second later.

Kyron smiled fondly at the beast. Starving during lunchtime was worth it to give her a luxurious meal. He started vigorously ruffling the fur on her back before leaving Iska by her lonesome.

Her snout still inside of the bag, Iska stole a few glances towards the departing Kyron, already mentally counting the seconds before his return.

The time of day— it was such that the majority of the blue in the sky had already turned into beautiful orange, and the figure of the sun was about halfway underneath the Erden wall.

At the door to the Loeth residence, Kyron ran into his mother who was returning from her stroll in the city along with his younger brother Urie and the maid, Patty. They were each carrying paper bags filled with items they bought on their outing.

“Kyron, dear.” His mother, Rivelle, noticed his presence, “Your father asked me to tell you that he had something to discuss with you when you get home.” She informed.

Kyron lurched backward and his eyes widened abruptly. “Was I found out!?” He exclaimed in his head, but quickly recomposed himself after falling under the suspicious gazes of his little brother and Patty.

“He's probably in his study with Vigril, don't keep them waiting.” His mother continued, as she opened the door for all of them, not noticing Kyron's unsubtle reaction. She entered the house first before being followed by Urie and Patty— with Urie still sending suspicious glances at Kyron.

“He must still be holding onto that promise I made way back when.” thought Kyron. His eyes panned to the maid, Patty, who noticed his stare and turned her head to stick her tongue out in his direction before proceeding into the house. Kyron missed the chance to return the gesture as his mind was still preoccupied.

“What could there be to discuss?” He muttered, before gulping down a mouthful of air and heading inside the house, up the stairs to the second floor.

He paused and stood in front of the door to his father's study. His stomach churned as he moved his hand up and down, hesitating on whether to knock on the door or to run and hide.

“What should I do? It's supposed to be forbidden to bring live magic creatures out of the tower—“ He recalled the moment he had picked up a small, abandoned pup inside of Erden's Tower. “—but Iska is a nice girl, she hasn't hurt anyone...” He had brought her up underneath a large tree quite a distance away from any residence, and had even spread rumors of ghosts to keep kids from playing near the area.

Kyron closed his eyes and took a deep breath, resting his knuckles on the door before throwing caution to the wind and knocking. His hands full of cold sweat, he hastened his knocks, alternated with tapping to shrug off his nervousness.

“Come in.”

The deep voice he heard passing through the door entered his ears and felt incredibly heavy on his chest. He placed his hand on the handle and turned it a quarter of the way down. Hearing the lock mechanism click, he slowly pushed the door open.

“What took you so long?” Kyron heard someone ask. His older brother, Vigril, was seated on a couch inside the room, with their father sitting at his desk but facing the couch. Even with the glasses worn on his face, Kyron noticed Vigril squinting his eyes. He seemed a bit tense.

“Didn't we leave the academy at the same time? “ Vigril said with a raised eyebrow.

“I had a few errands to run.” Kyron reasoned, scratching the back of his neck to hide his trembling hand.

“Nevermind that, since you're already here, take a seat. We have something important to discuss.” His father, Gideon, urged him to sit down beside Vigril on the couch.

“What did you want to talk about, father?” Kyron asked, wanting to get straight to the point.

“Magic creatures.” Gideon said with a heavy tone.

“M-m-magic— W-what about them?” Kyron flinched, his voice coming out in involuntary stutters.

“They've started to become active at the wall. Mana beasts have begun to appear.” Gideon answered.

“What? Mana beasts???” Kyron was confused.

“Mana beasts, you should have learned about this in class.” Vigril scolded.

“O-Of course, I know what mana beasts are!” Kyron exclaimed. “What do they have to do with our discussion?”

“I have to leave for the wall.” Gideon declared.

“Wait, Father you're leaving!?” Kyron was taken aback. He had been preparing himself for a debate but was hit with another topic.

“The beasts have just begun to appear so I can stay for two or three months more at best.” Gideon said. “I'm asking you now to prepare yourselves to enlist at the wall after your graduation.”

“The wall...” Kyron didn't want to, he didn't want to leave Iska by herself. Who would take care of her? Should he just divulge his secret to his younger brother? If Urie was going to stay behind, then he might as well do so. “What about Urie?” He asked.

“Your younger brother... He isn't suited for life at the wall. He'll be better off staying here to accompany your mother.” Gideon stated.

“Isn't suited?” Was this about Urie's red seed? Kyron wondered.

“Father, you know how much of an eager helper he is.“ Vigril took off his glasses and fiddled with its frame, “I don't think he'll be able to take it well if you ask him to stay behind. Me and Kyron should have a few words with him before anything else.”

“Then I'll leave the talking with your little brother to you.” Gideon let out a sigh and stood up from his seat. “Let's continue this conversation another day. If you have any questions, you can ask your elder brother, I've already given him most of the details before you arrived.”

Vigril, who was beside Kyron, stood up at the same time as Gideon and went ahead towards the door. He glanced at his younger brother and asked, “Is something wrong, Kyron?”

Busy thinking of ways to take care of his pup, Kyron's attention was recalled by Vigril's question.

“Nothing, let's go.” He answered, and left the study with Vigril and his father. They made their way to the dining room, where the other residents of the house were almost done setting up dinner.

Half an hour and a full stomach later, Kyron snuck out of the front door with another bag of leftovers in hand. He was just about to leave when he heard the front door clicking open behind him.

“Little Urie, go back inside.” He whispered, as he turned around to see his younger brother hurriedly exiting the house with shoes in hand.

“No, I'm coming with you!” Urie yelled, and sat down on the ground to put on his shoes.

“Shhh!” His younger brother was going to give him away! Kyron quickly knelt down in front of him and took the shoes from his hands. “Come on, little brother. I promise, yeah? Soon.” He pleaded, and opened the front door once again— throwing his younger brother's shoes inside. He lightly pushed the reluctant Urie back into the house and ran away before anyone could see him leave.

“Not fair...” Urie muttered, left pouting at the door.

“What's not fair?”

“Second older brother, he—“ Urie covered his own mouth before any other words came out. He wasn't one to break promises. He turned around and fell under the inquisitive eyes of his Eldest brother, Vigril.

“What about Kyron, little Urie? Did he go somewhere?” Vigril crossed his arms as his suspicions were raised.

“It's a secret. I promised not to tell.” Urie replied with a muffled voice as his hands were still on his mouth.

“Promise... Very good, little Urie. You must never break your promises, alright?” Vigril turned his head to the side and clicked his tongue before facing his youngest brother again. Giving him a warm smile, he asked, “Does he always go out like this?” To which Urie answered with a shake of his head.

Vigril grinned and asked again, “Around this time? Always?”

Urie answered with the same gestures, not saying a peep.

Vigril got his answers. Not from Urie's head-shaking, but from his eyes. His youngest brother could never look somebody in the eyes whenever he lied.

“Thank you, little brother. Now, let us go bother mother in the lounge room.” he decided to bury the matter for tonight.

He was in no rush, he could dig it up another day.

***

- Age Nineteen Kyron Loeth -

“You want me to teach you?” Kyron was surprised. “What? How to fight?”

Celeste had suddenly come up to him, asking him for some pointers. It was the day after he had arrived from the Erden Wall, and everyone was relaxing in the back garden. He thought for a bit, before curling his lips upwards. Now was his chance.

Chuckling, he said with a playful tone, “Sure! As long as you call me big brother— Argh!”

Pain shot up from his left shin after receiving a sharp kick on his left shin.

“What was that for!?” He yelled, kneeling down and rubbing the spot that Celeste had hit.

“For your face.” Patty remarked.

She was pouring tea for Elicia at a wooden table they had brought outside beside the stone bench. Both she and Elicia laughed as they watched the exchange.

“For sure, big bro. You work on that smile a bit more and you'll be as handsome as that wrinkly old man at the academy.” Elicia teased, almost spitting out the tea she had begun to drink earlier.

“Hey, I didn't come home just to suffer this abuse.” Kyron replied with a wry smile.

“Big br—brother...”

Kyron snapped his head towards Celeste as his ears caught words uttered in a nearly inaudible volume. He acted as if he didn't hear and mischievously asked, “Did you say something, Little Red~?”

He received another sharp kick to his other shin, prompting him to fall on his back and roll around in pain.

“Alright alright! I get it, I'll teach you whatever!” He conceded and covered his legs to avoid any more blows to his shins.