A week and a half later, Shayna and I set off for the capital; it’s three days carriage ride each way. If I ran, it would only take a few hours... which reminds me, I need to figure out how to fly. I can make footholds with magic, so maybe I can move them to imitate flying. Wind magic also seems to love me, so that’s an option. I’ll add it to my list of experiments.
The carriage ride is uneventful; everything I’ve seen about this country and my Father’s domain seems to be peaceful. There aren’t even any beggars on the streets, but who’s to say they don’t exist.
I expected the arena for the exhibition matches to be large because it’s held in the capital, but this place defies my expectations.
It’s like the Roman Colosseum, but it’s more of an ellipse than a circle. There are three stories of seating with what appears to be a booth section at the top of either end. I’m assuming royalty or special guests would sit there and enjoy looking down on everything. I’m a tad jealous.
It’s early in the morning, so the seating area is hardly filled, and the matches are amateurish. Young knights are clashing with dulled swords in the center of the arena, and all I can think about is how slow they’re moving. There’s also a lot of security in front of the spectator seats. I turn to Shayna-
“Shayna, do you know why the security guards in front of each seating section are facing towards the matches instead of watching the attendees?”
“Well, Master Alfred, they’re not here to protect attendees from each other; they’re here to protect attendees from the matches in case of rubble or errant magic.”
My eyes scan over the guards and their magic. It’s about as bright as my parents’. “I suppose that makes sense. Do you think they’re all earth magic users who can put up a protective wall?”
“Those on the ground floor may be, but for the second and third levels, they use temporary spatial storage magic to catch whatever may fly towards the spectators.”
I feel a sparkle in my eyes as my enhanced senses lock onto the upper-level guards. “Spatial storage magic? As in the rare magic affinity like healing magic?”
Shayna wears a proud smile as she motions to the rare magic users... “Indeed, you’d never have so many capable users anywhere outside of the capital.”
This is my chance. I blink rapidly, then open my eyes wide and bring my hands together in front of my chest. “Wow, that’s amazing. Since the current match is just with swords, do you think I’d be able to talk to them and ask about their magic?”
“Hmm… if you’re exceptionally polite and agree to leave them be once magic users take the stage, I’ll allow it.”
“Thanks so much, Shayna, I promise I’ll be the perfect gentleman!”
HO HOOOOO what luck, the only rare magic I haven’t seen before, and there are ten of them on the third level alone. If the one in front of our section turns me away, I fully intend on going around to every other until someone is willing to talk to me.
I walk up to the woman tasked with protecting our seating section. Ahem, ok, Alfred Pruss is a polite and curious child… “Excuse me, Miss, do you have a moment to answer a question for me?” Right hand across the chest, light bow, and now look up with puppy dog eyes.
“Oh, hi there, sure, but I only have until this bout is over,” a female guard says. She’s petite with short brown hair. I think she’s pretty.
“Thank you very much! I heard the guards on the upper levels protect these areas from the matches with spatial storage magic. I’ve read about it in books, but I’ve never seen a demonstration before... would you be willing to show it to me even if only for a moment?”
The right side of the woman’s lips curls up, and her eyes soften.
“You’re interested in magic, kiddo? I can make a small spatial opening for you to see...” She moves a fair amount of magic out of her body and makes a violent interaction with the energy in the air. The magic seems to destroy the fog, and in its place, a small black circle appears.
“Once something goes into this space, the caster of the magic will slowly have their magic depleted to keep the space accessible, but also to keep what’s stored safely contained. If I run out of magic before I can remove what’s in the space, it’ll just fly out without any direction.”
“Wow, so that’s why it’s called temporary storage... is there any way to supplement your magic and keep it open for longer?”
The woman reaches into a small bag hanging from her side and retrieves something red. “We have these spell stones in case we’re running low on magic. It’s the only known material in this world that doesn’t break when magic is poured into it. That said, they’re hard to find. You can hold it for a second if you’d like to. This one is empty, so just don’t drop it, ok?”
I hold it in my hand and quell an excited tremble. “Yes, Miss, thank you. It feels like glass, but it’s much heavier. Can actual spells be held in these stones or only magic as a means of fueling spells?”
“Real masters can do either, but most spell stones are used for magic storage, or they have ice magic in them as a means for preserving food.” The woman’s hand comes under mine and lifts it nearer her eyes. “By the looks of it, the stone is picking up a bit of charge just from you holding it... try to push a bit of magic into it.”
Magic flows from my hand and into the stone, where it swirls wildly.
“Alright, I’ll try...” My brain is so stimulated, but this runs the risk of garnering attention. “It looks like the inside is turning, like a little rainstorm is happening.”
The guard watches intently, and her smile broadens. “That’s what they look like when they’re absorbing magic. You’ve got some potential if you can charge a spell stone at your age.”
A yell comes from the center of the arena and catches the woman's attention.
“The next match is up, so I can’t talk further, but thanks for helping charge this stone. It’s nice to have as a safety measure.”
“I’m glad to help, thanks so much for talking with me!"
Ahh, brain happy, but I need to be careful. That stone caught a charge just being near me.
***
Shayna and I watch the entire day of matches, but I’m not so impressed. Hopefully this last one is cool.
A man holds his hands high over his head, letting all his magic pour out into the air. “AHHHHHHHH… AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
His opponent jumps back, readying smaller bits of magic around his body, then igniting and flinging them forward.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” The mass of magic over the first man’s head ignites, flies forward, and swallows the incoming attacks. It’s a fireball several meters across, but it’s slow.
His opponent leisurely dodges and mutters under his breath, “What an idiot…”
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Magic collects over the screamer’s head, then ignites and crawls forward again.
Why am I enjoying this? He’s just screaming and forming big, slow attacks. The fight goes on like this until its unexpected climax.
The screamer draws ragged breaths, but holds his shaking arms up high. His magic flows again, but sputters. “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-”
THUD
He collapses forward.
Well… it did look cool.
Shayna and I stand, then she leans in close to me. “Master Alfred, what did you think of the matches?”
“I liked some of the magic matches, but the swordsmen weren’t as cool as I thought they’d be…”
“Is that so? Perhaps your sword training has made it seem less impressive, since you know how they’ll move. I thought the last sword match was quite intense, I could hardly follow their clashes with my eyes.”
“You’re probably right, Shayna.” I face her and bow respectfully. “I had a lot of fun, so thank you for taking me!”
She smiles down at me and pats my head. “I’m happy you enjoyed yourself. Now there’s one thing your Father asked us to do before we return home: we need to visit a shop near here.”
Shayna leads me to a jeweler that Father placed an order with. I suspect it’s a gift for my Mother to commemorate her third child. Much like the arena, this shop is impressive and well-built. It's filled with various rings, necklaces, bracelets – even unrefined stones and gems to pick from. The shopkeeper discusses the order with Shayna while his daughter gives me a seat and entertains me.
“Hi there, I’m Sophie. I see the unrefined pieces have caught your eye. Do you want a closer look?” the shopkeeper’s daughter asks me once I take the seat she offered.
“Oh, um, sure, I’m Alfred..." Oh no. She’s too pretty. My brain is locking up. "But I won’t be buying anything aside from what my Father already ordered. If you’re trying to make a sale, I’m not the best person to talk to…”
Long blonde hair tied off to the right, light blue eyes, porcelain white skin with a touch of color on her cheeks, and a pale blue dress over curves- that I don’t even dare look at.
She gives me a teasing smile and leans herself across the display counter. “My my, you’re a young man who gets right to the point, but there aren’t any other customers, and Father’s organization leaves much to be desired. We have a few minutes until you’ll be able to go.”
“Oh, alright, then if you wouldn’t mind showing me some pieces.”
Sophie pulls something from behind the display. “That’s the spirit. Now, the first one here is a diamond. As far as I know, there isn’t anything tougher on the planet, so you can pick it up without worrying about it breaking.”
I take the diamond into my hand and feel its surface.
“Right, ok, its edges are sort of sharp, but it’s beautiful in the light.”
It’s like the opposite of the spell stone I held earlier; my magic bounces off of it completely.
“Exactly right, women love diamonds. When you find someone special, or if I’m still unwed in a few years, that’s something to remember. Next to it are high-quality gold and silver. They’ll be melted to be formed into jewelry, so you don’t need to be nervous holding them either, ok?”
She’s picked up that I’m nervous, but it’s not the jewelry that’s the problem…
“R-Right, ok, thank you, this lump of gold is smaller than the silver, but it’s heavier...”
I already knew that’d be the case, thank you, freshman year science class. But now that I’m noticing it, I can’t stop; my magic interacts with materials differently. Precious metals and gems seem to reflect my magic more than wood, stone, and other people do. Diamonds seem to reflect my magic almost entirely. Gold reflects maybe 80% of what it touches, and silver around 60%. While spell stones absorb every bit of magic they can. I don’t know how I’ll manage it, but I want to go to a mine and test this out.
“Now my favorite combination would be a gold ring or necklace with a large gem shown prominently, like here-”
“Sophie, are you telling another noble’s son about your taste in jewelry?” The shopkeeper emerges to reel in his ovulating daughter.
Sophie places her hands on her hips and turns to face him. “Now, Father, I am simply educating a dashing young man about the world of precious metals and gems. It’ll be useful information when he’s courting a woman.”
Sophie gives me a sly wink as she finishes. If Shayna wasn’t here for something important, I think I’d run.
The shopkeeper sighs and places a small package in front of Shayna. “Here’s Count Pruss’s order; it’s wrapped well, so it’ll be safe during your trip home.”
But Sophie heard something she liked in there.
Her body turns away from the shopkeeper, and she leans further across the display. “My, a count’s son, are you the eldest by chance?”
“Sophie dear, please don’t torture the boy,” the shopkeeper says.
“Master Alfred is indeed Count Pruss’s eldest. He’s a boy far beyond his years and has been sword training for a year already. He’s turning into quite the young gentleman.”
If my heart hadn’t been strengthened by hundreds of layers of magic, it would’ve just broken. Sophie looked like she was trying to charm me before, but now she’s looking at me the way I look at meat. I need to get out of here.
I avoid Sophie’s gaze like it’s poison, and stare at my traitorous attendant. “Shayna, you flatter me, but I still have much to learn. My sword arm isn’t as sharp as the combatants in the matches we saw earlier today.”
“Oh, is that so? I thought you didn’t find them particularly impressive?”
“HACK, AHEM - as we discussed, I think understanding how they would fight took some of the excitement away for me, whereas the magicians offered something new and unique.”
Please, Shayna, let this end…
“He’s quite well spoken for his age. Is young Alfred around seven?” Sophie asks.
But Shayna reveals a shining smile. “He’s five if you can believe it. We were concerned with how quiet he was until he turned three. But six months later, he was having entire conversations with us and asking his family more questions than they had answers to. They had to hire a tutor to satiate the boy.”
Argh, so I could’ve talked a bit sooner? I guess my cousin was just stupid.
“He’s only five!?" Sophie's jaw bounces off a glass case before she looks me up and down suspiciously, "he’s rather well built... and he speaks so well; he’s really only five?”
While I don’t love all the information sharing, learning I’m five seems to have calmed Sophie’s lust.
“Indeed, his family is quite proud,” Shayna answers.
“Well, well, I suppose I can wait… but we shan’t keep you any longer; it’s been a pleasure, Shayna and Young Master Alfred.”
She bows politely, but I can smell hormones in the air. I’m also cringing at being called Young Master. Does this world have bleach? I need to drink some immediately.
“Yes, on behalf of the Pruss family, you have our thanks," Shayna says, then walks to my side, "Master Alfred, let’s get going.”
Shayna grabs my hand and leads me out of the store. She’s quite the professional because I can see how badly she wants to giggle at embarrassing me. Well, whatever, at least that’s over, and we can make our way back home.
***
Three days later, we arrive back at my family’s estate.
I hadn’t realized it when we left, but my Father must’ve been disappointed he didn’t get to watch the matches with me. He practically ambushes me at the door with questions. “Alfred, how was your trip, and the matches? Did you see any inspiring swordplay or magic? And Shayna, thank you for escorting him.”
“Yes, Father, I think the magicians were my favorite. In one of the last matches, a fighter made fireballs taller than you and threw them at his opponent until he ran out of magic. It wasn’t a winning strategy, but it was very entertaining!”
“That does sound like a spectacle. When you’re older, we’ll go together and bring your brother Oliver as well." Father smiles happily, but returns to business mode. "Shayna, were you able to pick up my order in the capital?”
“Yes, Count Pruss, and Young Master Alfred seemed to catch the eye of the shopkeeper’s daughter. She couldn’t leave him alone.”
Bleach, please god, where’s the bleach? Young Master - gag.
“Aha, he gets his looks from his Mother, so it’s no surprise." Father chuckles, then lowers himself to my level. "What did you think, Alfred? Did you like the young lady?”
“She was rather beautiful, Father, but she was very forward. I’m not accustomed to women like her…”
“HAHAH, yes, I suppose you wouldn’t be." Father's laugh booms. "The capital has an intensity you won’t find in our domain. When you’re a little older, you should travel and experience the different types of people you’ll find in this world. It’ll serve you and the family well.”
“Yes, Father, I’ll look forward to it!”
I do want to travel around, so if he’s suggesting it, I should act excited. I just hope there aren’t many more Sophies out there.