When I finally woke up, I was clutching onto my mother’s chest with a stringy bridge of saliva connecting my face to her shoulder. She was in the middle of writing some sort of message on a piece of parchment and looked completely unperturbed by the pool of snot and saliva on her shoulder. “Looks like your up little lion, I’ll be finished soon. We can train and play around in just a little bit.” I sleepily looked at my mom and noticed heavy bags under her eyes. I was fully awake after seeing her face. Her eyes were purple from fatigue, and her face was as pale as the moon. “Are you ok mom?” She responded way too quickly, “I’m fine little dragon I’ll get plenty of rest tonight.” “I hope so, mom.”

Watching her do paperwork was boring so I started to practice the Fireball spell directly above my palm. I made it go up and down and side to side before I heard my mother's stern voice, “Darius, it isn’t a good idea to play with fire magic in a room full of paper.” I had to change my practice to earth and wind magic; that was until I accidentally blew the paper on my mother's desk all over the room earning a terrifying glare from my mother. "Sorry, mom!" I ran around the room picking up all the paper off the floor before she could act out the anger behind her glare. Earth magic was all I had left to practice with before mother finally finished with her work.

“Phew! I hate paperwork! Management is best left to your father. He's much more efficient at it.” My ears perked up a bit when I heard her mention father, leading me to ask about his situation, “Is father ok, mom?” She winced slightly, “He’s going to be fine, Darius. He just might be away for a bit longer than we thought.” “Oh.” She gestured for me to get closer and said, "Come over here, Darius; I want to show you something." She quickly changed the subject before making a grasping motion at a pen on the table; the pen flew through the air and landed right in the center of her palm. “Air Grasp is a spell of convenience, especially if you don't feel like getting up. It's the spell counterpart of Air Flow, channeling air towards a given point rather than pushing the air outward from a point. Start with this incantation, 'Oh wind that flows outward, reverse your path, Air Grasp!'” We ended up sitting on the floor for two hours dragging all kinds of paper and trinkets towards us from her desk.

It was almost the afternoon when we heard a knock on the door. My mother's face tensed slightly before returning to normal. "Come in." A pink-haired man with a very prim and proper uniform came in. He was on the shorter side and had three stars on his shoulders which I knew designated his status in the Tower; what that status was or what his rank was I wasn't quite sure yet, but he seemed confident enough. “Lady Elaine, there's a problem at the first boundary coming from the Renee forest. A two-headed troll killed a few villagers and their livestock near Border Town. It's designated as a 4th Star threat. Orders, mam?” The pink man saluted and bowed. I watched as my mom put her fist on her head and think for a few seconds before saying, “Send a team to investigate before taking care of it. First, use the local adventurers to scout out and gather as much information on the troll as possible. Then you can kill it without compromising the local villagers and the Red Tower's people is that understood?” “Yes, mam!” "You can leave, Lindt." Pinky quickly left through the door and disappeared. My mother looked at me and said, “It's important to always go into any situation prepared. We often use adventurers as scouts for dangerous situations to minimize possible damage. Sometimes monsters too strong for normal adventurers appear and the Red Tower, the army, or depending on where even nobles need to take care of it themselves.” “I thought there were strong adventurers?” “There are some, but they are too expensive to deploy. It's cheaper and faster to send your own people to take care of problems. It's only during wars, monster waves, or disasters when we become much more reliant on them. Alright, Darius, it's time for us to get up.” "Yes, mam!" "Cheeky little dragon, let's go!"

We got up from the ground and cleaned up the mess we made. I wondered why we didn't have a maid or butler come and clean it for us so I asked, “Mom, why don’t we just call someone to clean up our mess?” “Because it’s the mess we made ourselves. Cleaning up your own mess is the first sign of a good leader, don't forget that.” It was not an answer I expected. I disagreed with her, but would never say so. I was curious how my mother ended up thinking like that since she grew up in a big noble household. Her attitude was more like a powerful commander than a wealthy noble.

We left her office and began to explore the Red Tower. "Joseph is the Vice Tower Master, his office is right across from mine." She pointed across the hallway directly in front of us. "We'll see him later, I'd like to show you around the tower first before seeing the least appealing thing in it."

She picked me up and set me on her shoulders as we left the top floor. "The Red Tower has a total of 9 floors with a basement at the very bottom and a Watchtower at the top. The Watchtower resembles an eye from far away and is a magically enhanced telescope capable of long-distance spying. It also has a powerful two-ton magic cannon which poses a threat to even 5th circle mages." "A magic cannon?! Can I see it?" "Of course little lion, but not today your father will be the one to show you around the Watchtower. Your father and the Keeper are the only ones with access to the Watchtower." "Dammit," I muttered under my breath. "What did you say?" However, my mother heard me. "I said, Bandit."

A short spanking later and we made it down the stairs.

The rose red tower was massive with magical cannons manned in all cardinal directions. The cannons each had levels from 3rd to 5th levels with the 5th level being the Watchtower above us. It was built to be sturdy and was infused with all different sorts of magic circles to increase its defenses. The tower itself was massive; each floor was wide enough to hold at least 200 people at a time with more room in the base levels of the tower and less and less room towards the top sort of like a pseudo pyramid. My mother started her tour from the tower master's floor. My father, mother, and the vice tower master Joseph Keller had their offices and even living quarters on the 9th floor. My father managed all of the floors and oversaw all of the big decisions the tower would make. Such as the tower's involvement in wars, large monster raids, or monster hordes that would sweep through the kingdom from time to time.

My mother managed the 2nd circle mages and the tower guards which were responsible for the policing and defense of the city of Renee.

Joseph Keller was the vice tower master. He was weaker than my mother, but when my father was gone he was the one in charge of the tower. He had helped my father manage the tower for over a decade and was a 4th circle fire mage. Joseph managed the knights and 3rd circle mages and dealt with issues outside of Renee affecting the whole of Elion.

We walked down the stairs past the 8th through 6th floors which were the living quarters for the tower's members. The 7th floor was mostly used as the tower's storage space. There was a massive vault taking up a large portion of the floor which was filled with all sorts of treasures and magic materials. The rest of the 7th floor was filled with crates and boxes full of normal magic materials for enchanting or crafting. "There are even individual training halls in the living quarters for distinguished tower members." "Wooow! But mom our place is better!" "Hahaha of course son, most of the mages on the 8th floor have their own homes outside of the tower, but they have a room here at all times until they die all to themselves."

We quickly made it past all of the living spaces and arrived at the 5th floor which was the towers training hall. "HAH!" Knights were working out and training while others were sparring in rings. Some of the knights that had finished training came over to bother us. “Wow! He’s an adorable little guy! What’s his name?” "I’m Darius,” I answered the cute blonde knight's question. “He reminds me of Lord Darien with that nose of his.” One of the male knights responded next to her. I didn’t reply. “Are you kidding me! He looks identical to lady Elaine! Look at his hair and eyes!” I was getting annoyed by them until I noticed in the corner of one of the sparring rings that there was a match going on with someone I knew. "Is that Linda?" "Yes, she's addicted to training." The blonde knight Erica responded first, "Linda spars at least three times a day, if she doesn't she'll get pent-up frustration and blow something up." The male knight Hamburger responded. "Hans, you can learn a thing or two from her!" "HahHahHahHah! I won't deny it!" We watched the spar for a few minutes before Linda won her match. I waved at her and she waved back before mother asked me an important question. "Are you hungry, Darius?" "Yes!" "Let's eat than the next floor is the cafeteria."

We made it down the stairs to the 4th floor with a couple of knights and mages following after us and ate together with everyone. More knights and mages came up to greet me one after another one of which said something interesting. "Young master! We're all praying and wishing the Tower Master the best! We hope he can..." "ENOUGH!" My mother shouted and the air became superheated around her. "Say another word Dawn, and you'll lose your tongue." The young mage had turned completely white before quickly dispersing. Before I could say anything mother said, "He's fine Darius end of discussion."

After eating lunch mother took me to the 3rd floor which was full of boards and job postings. There were receptionists at desks who could go through a list of jobs at a member's level before giving recommending or giving out an assignment or someone would take a paper slip from one of the job boards.

"The Tower's setup is actually very similar to the Adventurer's Guide posts. The Adventurer's Guide has posts set up everywhere as offices or taverns with one to two receptionists in charge of each location, and a large board with job postings that any Adventurer can take. The Guide acts as an intermediary between clients and willing adventurers. Our system is similar but more streamlined. We have a series of jobs always available such as contracts for escort missions with merchants to teaching nobles, and routine forest missions. Not to mention assignments at the border regions which are mandatory for most new members." "Why are the boards different colors?" "Good observation, the pink boards are for 2nd Circle missions and the red boards are for 3rd Circle missions. Anything higher would require a receptionist and anything lower would be on the 2nd floor."

When we made it to the 2nd floor there were even more people looking for job postings than on the 3rd floor. A plethora of people scrying through boards and in line to see the receptionist.

“Mother, can I see the board posts? I want to see what kind of jobs mages do.” She lifted me back up and said, “Of course, you’d want to see that.” She walked over to the job listings in the pink area first while I was on her shoulders. “Bandits found in Renee forest region. Requesting bandits be captured dead or alive.” I read one out loud and looked through the rest of them. There were escorts for merchants a monster subjugation request and one for a research assistant. All of the job postings were 1-Star jobs since we were on the 2nd floor. The ratings for missions went from 1-5 stars with 5 being the toughest and 1 being the easiest. Teaching jobs were mostly 1-Star jobs. There were no 5-Star jobs available, but there was a 4-Star one available. Apparently, it was the two-headed troll that was mentioned earlier. It was the most dangerous mission currently in the Red Tower and it was recommended that a team of six 3-Star tower members and one 4-Star member take the mission.

Very few of the jobs piqued my interest. Then again I once was and still am a combat junkie. I haven’t had a decent fight since I was born. Collecting flowers and fruits wasn't appealing as a mission request for me. We had gone through the entire tower at this point, and I was tired. I wanted to train or spar with my mother before it got too late. "Let's go up and see Joseph, he's your godfather after all." "I didn't know I had a godfather?" "Well you know now, he never leaves the tower so you haven't met him yet."

I got nervous on the way to Mr. Keller's office. I had somehow gotten the impression that Mr. Keller was some stout war veteran with a scar across his right eye and a hook for a left hand. I held my breath as we made it to the door. My mother knocked once before letting herself in. “Excuse us, Joseph, hope you’re not too busy.” We walked in and I got a good look at the man I had heard stories of since I was born. He was stout but not in the way I imagined. He was short with brown fuzzy hair and had a small button nose. His face and body were puffy almost like they were a bit swollen. He looked like he had at least a little muscle underneath his puffy exterior, but the man looked more like a hamster than the dragon I had somehow imagined. He had no beard nor any facial hair really, but he gave off a warm and pleasant atmosphere at least from first impressions he seemed to be kind.

“Oh! Elaine, how have you been, is that your little one? I’ve heard so much about him but have yet to get a look at him.” He was sitting in his chair for one second with a paper in his hands and then the next second he was suddenly standing in front of me. I had eyes that a normal two-year-old could never dream of and was barely able to make out a flash of flames before his rapid acceleration. He snatched me up into the air in one smooth motion and said, “Wow you’ve got eyes just like your mother with her red hair to boot." I noticed his gentle eyes squinted as he tried to get a good look at me. "Hmmm, but I can also see a bit of Darien in you too. You’ve got his monstrous mana talent, it’s an enormous reserve already and flows like a river stream. It's steady and controlled with no intimacy or love just like your father.” His eyes were glowing blue as he looked me up and down. “You will be an incredible mage in no time! I bet you've learned magic already just like your mom.” “I already learned it!” I had an inexplicable desire to brag to the man. “I can already cast over 30 spells!”

My mother seemed annoyed, “Darius, what did we talk about!” I realized what she meant, “Not sharing I know magic?” “That’s for me and your father to do. It’s fine since it's Joseph, but it’s incredibly dangerous to tell others you can cast magic at your age!” “He really knows that much magic already?” Mr. Keller seemed surprised. “Joe, he is an even bigger prodigy than I was which is a headache, to say the least.” My mother grabbed me again before sitting in a chair across from Joseph.

She started bragging about all of the incidents I had already caused in practice with a certain gusto I wasn't used to. It was embarrassing when my mother was the one boasting about every little thing I did. “This little dragon of mine blows himself up every other day trying something crazy!” “Really? Does he get hurt?” “Luckily I’m there to save his little ass but it’s terrifying. He instinctively puts his emotions into spells and reforms them. He multicasted Wind Steps the other day and shot through the air so fast I had to go all out just to catch him.” This time the surprise on Mr. Keller seemed genuine. “Did you just say he's reforming the spells before he casts them? As in Draconic Magic?” “Yes, Joe I’m not kidding he's just started to learn!” Joseph's chubby eyes squinted into small almonds. “Elaine! You must keep this a secret! If word somehow gets out not only will Argon send assassin’s some foolish noble in Elion will send some too. He’ll be the 2nd biggest target outside of the King himself!” Mother looked serious before replying, “I know we have been hiding his talent from the beginning. Less than ten people know about it and all of them are trustworthy. He'll be sleeping with me at night as well from now on." "TEN! Elaine, that's madness! Give me a list of the people that know! I need to investigate them thoroughly before this becomes an issue!" Mother didn't budge at all as she looked Joseph right in the eyes. "You know my background already Joe. You know I don't fully trust anyone." " But still, Elaine!“ "I'm taking proper precautions. He can only escape and cause a ruckus so many times before I become a tyrant. I'm watching him at all times now." "The Red Tower is probably the safest place he can be. I don’t think we have many spies here, but I’m sure there are some even I don't know about so make sure Darius isn’t casually blowing things up all over the Tower, news even from loyalists will spread from that.” My mother glared at me scarily, “This is why I tell you to be careful!” I looked at my mother and asked, “Did I do something wrong?” “No, you just did something really well. People get jealous, envious, and downright evil if you’re too good at something.”

I was tempted to train with the others in the training hall but my mom would never let me. For the next few weeks, I trained with my mother at the Red Tower. Mr. Keller also showed me tricks to use when training and spent some time teaching me. I learned more about magic from him than anyone else so far. I’m a proud person, but I’ve been humbled by enough heaven-shaking talents to keep my head below the heavens at least. After one week at the Tower, I began learning 2nd circle magic.

It was fun it was exciting, but I missed my father I missed him a lot.

Joseph Keller POV

That boy is a monster.

A prodigy would learn the spells quickly maybe even cast them without an incantation in a short amount of time, but not like this, not this fast. Not even in the annals of history have I ever read of anyone like Darius. He has the magical talents of an ancient dragon. He will either surpass his father by twenty or he'll be dead. It will be fun to see which. If Elaine and Darien don’t reign him in a bit he’ll get himself killed. I’ll try to keep an eye on him if I can. I'll do what I can for the boy from the shadows, but I can't do anything if he starts upsetting the world before he's ready. Darien will survive just as he always has, but until he returns this uncle will have to do his best.