Freedom had proven to be an illusion.
His parents had inevitably found out about his escapades in the watch post and the story that’d led him there in the first place. He didn’t know how, and frankly it didn’t matter. They were pissed, his mother more so than his father.
Brennan didn’t know what he’d expected when the strongest man in the village came down to interrogate him personally. It had been obvious by that point that his observations held some meaning he had ignorantly put to paper.
The first thing Kane had made him do was give him a blank piece of paper and have him redraw what he saw to make sure there wasn’t some mistake or fault in his memory. He’d had to sit and think for a moment to recall properly, relying on Lucent Comprehension to help him out. It hadn’t leveled again, but other skills had.
[Drawing (Common) Lv. 8] -> Lv. 12
[Situational Awareness (Common) Lv. 3] -> Lv. 5
[Focus (Common) Lv. 97] -> Lv. 98
While he hadn’t expected that much improvement in such a short time span, he definitely wasn’t complaining in hindsight. During the questioning itself, he’d just been under a ton of pressure, it’d felt like. Every line needed to be perfect, a precise depiction of what he had seen the night before. If Kane had the Intimidation skill, he wouldn’t be surprised. Keeping his hands from shaking was the most difficult part of recreating the illustration.
Getting his story straight remained the priority throughout the interview, specifically the part where he had to make it clear he was working alone. “Working” in the way they expected a child to be capable of work. He’d held no delusions that they were overestimating his competence in that interview. Their questions suggested the opposite. They very much saw him as a snotnosed brat who’d seen something he shouldn’t have, and treated him accordingly.
He had to admit, maybe the detail about how he’d tipped the merchant off and basically let their only lead get away unpunished vindicated that stance. Not his proudest moment. On the other hand, the granary was still open, though he had no idea how they would handle that.
However they decided to tackle that issue, he wouldn’t be a part of it. The whole thing was officially out of his hands now, and worrying about it more would only cost him more time. One thing he had been curious about was what seemed so special about his drawings. After the seventh time he asked, he’d gotten a curt reply.
The answer, he learned, lay in the enchantment markings, or rather, the “runes.” As symbols, they hadn’t meant anything to him, but Kane and the guard who’d noticed them were knowledgeable enough to spot the differences between this style of enchanting and their domestic one.
In other words, the magic items were made by foreigners. Which elevated the discovery from a likely black market operation to evade kingdom taxes to a potential national security risk. Way above his station.
He suspected the source of this conspiracy operated all along the border territory. At minimum the region encompassing the surrounding towns and villages. The scope of the illegal dealings would span far wider than quaint little Craswidge.
Should things escalate beyond a couple of arrests, the royal family would have to get involved. If it were further inland, the onus of rooting out organized crime would have fallen on one of the noble Houses, but the frontier was directly presided over by the throne. Aside from extracting talent, they also used these lands to prepare military advances into neighboring countries.
Please don’t let it come to that.
Greater forces creating ripples bigger than he could imagine. He would have to get used to that in his second childhood, as it would be happening often in this world. Earth had been the same, but there he’d had modern civilization’s veneer of normalcy to numb himself into a life of slow monotony.
Here, he lived much closer to the eventuality of death. What would happen if they experienced a Rank-4 Zone Break? The village would probably be flattened unless somebody came to save them. There would be plenty of forewarning with people consistently scouting the area, sure, but just the fact that it could happen in theory sounded insane to him.
Coming from a world where power was predominantly understood in terms of one’s ability to influence other people, Brennan struggled to wrap his head around the idea that there existed humans in this world who could vaporize mountains with a hand.
The fact that none of those monsters lived nearby was cold comfort for him. Someday, when he grew stronger, he planned to strike out on his own. And that would mean getting closer to their stomping grounds.
Fortunately, that day was still years away. Plus, he couldn’t go anywhere right now even if he tried, what with him being grounded. He wouldn’t be able to leave his house for a week. Enjoying the story? Read on at novelping . com.
Doris had meted out the punishment, with a sickly sweet smile on her face and narrowed eyes filled with fury. Her reaction showed the difference between Kane and his parents. Namely that they actually knew him. Hence they were also aware that he hadn’t entered the merchant’s wagon by accident. He’d tried to lie about it, to no avail. His mom saw through him.
George had worn a grave expression initially, given him a stern talking-to, and then clapped him on the back once his mother was out of the room. Even if his father knew he had the mental capacity to recognize the danger he’d exposed himself to, what he accomplished did make the builder proud. Brennan had asked if that pride warranted some time off his grounding, earning him a boisterous laugh as George had exited the house.
The author's publication is behind this chapter, but the copy here was made without approval; the posted version supports its creator.
That was three days ago. Currently, he was sitting on a stool in his room, scribbling in the notebook he’d received for his fourth birthday. Now that he spent all his time indoors, he had started making the final push for Writing.
[Writing (Common) Lv. 95] -> Lv. 97
[Drawing (Common) Lv. 12] -> Lv. 14
[Sense Magic (Uncommon) Lv. 65] -> Lv. 66
The other two increases happened during breaks he took between writing sessions, the bump to Sense Magic surprising him. He hadn’t even been practicing it super deeply. He’d merely been focusing on things he still didn’t understand like elemental conversion.
Regardless, on the side of writing, he adopted a pattern of writing in code. He didn’t know if it helped him gain more level experience, that wasn’t what he needed it for anyways. The code served to allow him to write about productive topics in a way that wouldn’t make it easy for his family to open the notebook and know all about his plans.
As for the code itself, it wasn’t an extremely elaborate cipher with unique symbols for each letter or anything. He just wrote a fake biography that spoke in flowery metaphors. If discovered, someone might think he was an aspiring poet. Brennan wouldn’t blame them; what other way could they explain a child less than halfway towards Classing talking about the sky’s ever-shifting white mantle, or the roots underground drinking the essence of life?
In reality, he was using symbolism for his skills and making notes on their progress, with some speculation about future specialization here and there. During this exercise, he discovered that thinking in abstract concepts evolved his understanding of his skills and attributes by distilling them down to their core purpose.
He finished another page when a knock arrived at the door. The front door, not the one to his room. Getting up, he concentrated on the sound of his mother opening it, speaking to the person on the other side. Hearing only a single voice, he strained harder to hear. Again, nothing.
The front door closed, and he heard someone walking in his direction. “Brennan,” Doris said, turning the handle to reveal herself standing in the hall with her arms crossed, the picture of a displeased parent.
“Mom? I’m already done with my chores,” he began to argue.
“The chores you’re doing because you abused your freedoms, yes,” she agreed. “I gave you time to think about what you did.”
The silence drew out, making him realize she wanted him to say something. “I thought about it. I won’t bother strangers anymore. Especially dangerous strangers.”
“And?”
“And… sorry.”
Her nostrils flared, and for a second he thought she was going to blow up at him. Then she breathed out a deep sigh and continued in a softer tone, “Just promise me you won’t go behind my back anymore if you ever think you’ve seen something bad. I need to be the first person you tell.”
“I promise,” he said instantly. Whether he would keep that promise depended on the circumstances, but he was absolutely going to say whatever he had to if it got him out of this situation sooner. Eh, he would try.
“Good.” Doris nodded, oblivious to his flagrant disregard for her peace of mind. “Now be on your best behavior in front of your guest.”
Brennan frowned. “Guest?” This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
She ignored him, looking to the side and beckoning. “Come, don’t let him keep you waiting.”
On cue, a small figure showed up in his doorway, wavy hair covering the top half of her face. The moment they saw each other, she stopped fiddling with her dress to give an excited wave.
“Agnes!” He ran up to her, putting his hand on her shoulder. “I didn’t think you’d visit.”
“This’ll be the last time if you break the rules again,” Doris warned.
“So we can go outside?”
“No, your grounding isn’t over. Now go play before I make it two weeks.” With that, his mother closed the door, leaving them to their devices.
“Thought so,” he said with a sigh. Putting it out of his mind, he turned to Agnes. “Did you check?”
The girl nodded rapidly.
“Okay great, nobody took it?”
A shake of the head.
“Fantastic. We’ll get to testing next week when I can leave the house. I’m kind of stuck here until then,” he said.
He was referring to the enchanted stone they had taken four days prior at the time of their joint wagon infiltration. The most valuable item in his possession. They had found a semi-secure place to bury it, somewhere people weren’t going to stumble on it at random.
Based on Agnes’ report, the stone either didn’t have a tracker in it or the original owners had chosen to steer clear of Craswidge for some reason. How beneficial they could make that turn of events, they would only be able to ascertain once they found out what the item did.
If he had to guess, he was betting on a compass or a catalyst for the potions he’d seen in the chest he grabbed it from. No way to know with close to zero hints. He clenched his fist. The daylight filtering in from the window tempted him, daring him to sneak out, but he knew he wouldn’t succeed.
Drawing himself out of his musings, Brennan looked at his unexpected houseguest. He couldn’t continue writing practice in her presence. And since they couldn’t go outside, his predicament limited his options on that front too. Magic training constituted a large chunk of his thoughts, and hadn’t had tangible effects yet. Should he start there? Nah.
What else, stat training? Also a no. He brought a knuckle to his chin in deliberation. Wait, he had an idea. Striding past her to the side of his room, he leaned back on his bed and gestured for her to join him.
“So,” he said, “have you thought of a game yet?”
Agnes’ lips parted a little, confusion evident on her features.
“Kidding.” Brennan poked her in the cheek, eliciting a quiet giggle. “Let’s go over what I did in the meantime.”
Now that he could have her over, the next few days would pass in a flash.