I was sitting under a tree, Jasly was next to me. After a few minutes the man came out and walked towards me, behind him was that woman with the sword, my brother and my parents.
"Do you think you're better than him?" The Count asked, looking at my brother.
"Yes, I'm stronger, I've been training swords for many years and he hasn't even started his studies."
The Count laughed a little.
"Use fire magic, I know you can do it," he looked at me.
So he knew I used magic, in fact, I used something similar, but it could be mistaken for magic.
"Is this a joke?" My brother asked. "I'd know if he knew how to use magic."
"You think you're the fittest to be the leader of the family, but you don't know that your brother is a magic user, if you don't know what's going on in your house, do you think you can run it?" The Count looked at Caldor, then at my father. "You too, what kind of father are you?"
My father kept quiet, he couldn't offend a nobleman in a higher position.
The Count looked at me again, I had no choice, I made some fireballs appear in my hand and then I made them disappear.
"As I said, he has more talent than you," he said as he looked at Caldor, who was holding back his anger.
"Do you want to train to be one of the Count's guards?" She was looking at Jasly, "In the end, you'll receive a temporary knighthood, which will give you various privileges."
Jasly didn't react but accepted. Then she remembered that she had to have her parents' permission.
"We can go to your house, and you, Gael, come with me, you'll be living in my mansion now."
I didn't say anything, but I understood the situation, my brother was angry, not only with me, but also with Jasly, since she had received an invitation that would give her a slightly more prestigious position, not in terms of rank, but in terms of money.
I accompanied the Count and his companion to Jasly's house.
The Count explained it to her mother and managed to convince her; her father had already accepted. But her mother was afraid, refusing an invitation like that was considered very rude and acting like that with a Count is not a very smart thing to do. But the Count was calm, his voice was nostalgic, he spoke and explained how he understood her feelings. In the end he succeeded and agreed to let Jasly visit her family.
The woman with the swords kept looking at me, I felt a curiosity coming from her, I couldn't explain what I felt, but it was also nostalgic. To tell you the truth, this world has many experiences that I consider to be like that, but at the same time are not. I've never lived through it, but I feel as if I have, maybe they're just memories that I somehow don't remember, but it's possible that I've just forgotten, living too much wipes out the memory.
The Count's mansion was at least four times bigger than my house, it was protected by large walls and two guards stood at the gate.
We went to a group of soldiers who were training. The Count asked a woman to train Jasly and me.
Her name was Eleanor Whitmore, she was serious and had a calm, slightly hoarse voice, she didn't look a day over 25.
"I'll do as you ask," she turned and stared at me for a moment. Then she told me to run and do some push-ups. She asked the same of Jasly but was kinder to her.
I did as she asked and then she came over to me.
"You seem to have more stamina than I thought, your body gives off the image of a more fragile child than you really are."
She paused for a long time and then walked over to some wooden swords, she stared at them and it looked like she had given up. Then she went up to one of the guards and asked for his sword, he didn't want to hand it over but obeyed the order.
The Count was sitting looking at her, and the woman with the sword was standing next to the Count, they both seemed to be enjoying the situation.
Eleonor handed me the guard's sword, it was heavy, but not so heavy that I couldn't handle it.
"You're still weak, so the weight might bother you."
It's true, I remember the first time I held a sword, and I soon got used to it, I've never used wooden swords, my training has always been heavy and dangerous, as expected from my family, maybe if my parents saw me with a heavy wooden one, they would laugh at me and then fight.
Eleonor came to attack me, but I defended myself, not as quickly as I would have liked, but I quickly filled my body with spiritual energy, made my body stronger and more resistant, so I was able to move faster than before.
She looked at me, then attacked me again, but I was able to defend myself against all her attacks, I was very rusty, but I could see the movements she made, all of which Sorene considered sloppy, she would certainly complain about these movements and complain about me later.
She had always been like that and that's why I gave her the freedom to treat me as an equal, so she was the closest person I could call a friend.
I was getting the hang of it, little by little I was getting used to the sword, it had been a few years since I had last touched a sword, I had stopped using it because I thought that using lighting was more effective than using a sword. Sorene complained, but then agreed that it was the best thing to do, since my skills with spiritual energy were much better than my sword skills.
Sorene also used lighting, but she only used it to strengthen her body and heal herself. She also used it to move faster. She was better with strengthening than with manipulation.
I was good at both, but I hid the fact that I used energy to strengthen my body, so I left some secrets in the way I protected myself. Enemies thought of me as just an enlightened man and not a swordsman, or a holy swordsman, which was the name given to enlightened practitioners who used swords. I never liked the name and my people didn't use it either, it was more something humans liked.
Eleonor attacked me, but I moved faster, I just heard a scream, and I ended up cutting her hand.
Everyone was startled, except the Count and the woman with the sword, they were laughing at the situation.
The Count got up and went over to Eleonor, he used healing magic, her hand started to be reborn.
"You'll still feel a little pain, but it will pass soon," he said to her. "You have to restrain yourself more, you're very good, unlike your brother."
In the dining room, Caldor and Gael's parents were looking at a magical transmission, the Count had left a transmission plate in the house and said that it would show his family why he was better than his brother.
Caldor punched the table. He was angry with his brother, and he was also angry with himself since he knew he couldn't even scratch Eleonor.