Siegfried Fors
(09-07-1241)
Stacks of papers covered Granny's desk as the afternoon light slipped through the study windows. The documents were all numbers, harvest reports, storage counts, merchant requests.
My eyes moved through the pages while Granny tapped a pen against the desk thoughtfully.
"The wheat output exceeded expectations this year." She said calmly. "Especially from the eastern fields."
I nodded while checking another report. "The fertilizer bought from Platinum company worked better than expected. The growth rate increased by around fourteen percent compared to last year."
A small smile appeared on her face.
"Having you here is really useful."
"Just doing my part." I said with a small smile.
In less than four years, I will inherit the title of Count along with a land, I need to have the knowledge to manage them.
I continued, pointing at another paper. "But the transport costs also increased. Merchant groups from Valois are demanding higher fees because of magic beasts activity near the roads."
"Hmph they are becoming bolder and bolder every year." Granny muttered.
I glanced through the final calculations.
Even with the higher transport costs... the profits are huge.
The Harvest Festival would bring even more money into the barony too. There are Inns, shops, food stalls, guild commissions.
"We should still make a large profit after selling everything." I said.
Granny nodded slowly.
"It should help the people relax through winter without worry."
The soft creak of the door interrupted us.
"Ma, we are done harvesting most of the fields." Uncle said while walking inside, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Only the cotton fields are left. Pa asked us to wait another ten or fifteen days for them to be fully ready."
Granny gave a satisfied nod.
"Good work. Where is Throvald?"
"He's overseeing the process of moving all the harvest into preservation storage." Uncle answered before taking the seat beside me.
I quietly shifted farther away, the pungent, salty scent of honest labor rolling off him in waves.
He noticed my movement and cut a sideways glance at me. "And what are you doing here, nestled away in the cool air?"
"Just helping here and there." I answered while glancing back at the papers spread across the table.
He narrowed his eyes, studying me with a look that sat somewhere between suspicion and disbelief before leaning forward and picking up one of the papers from the desk.
"You can actually understand these?" he asked, waving the ledger entry in front of my face.
"Yes. Why wouldn't I?"
At that, he just shook his head slowly from left to right, a weary chuckle escaping his throat. "Of course you can. Forget I said anything and… I keep forgetting who I am talking to."
What's with him?
It was not like these papers were impossible to understand. Even Mother used to help with this kind of work sometimes.
"Erik, I need you to do one more thing." Granny said. "Go and move the weapons stored in the attic. I want the servants to be able to give the space a proper cleaning later this week."
Weapons in the attic? I have never been there.
"We still have those?" Uncle asked, scratching his head with a confused expression.
Granny nodded.
"But what about the lock?"
"We never erased your mana signature from the mechanism," she replied simply.
"Alright then." Uncle stood up, his joints popping as he stretched his tall frame.
"Wait," I said, my heart rate picking up. I hurriedly gathered the papers scattered across my side of the table and walked them over to Granny's desk, stacking them neatly. "I am done with my side of the work for today. Can I go with him and see the weapons?"
"Very well."
Then she pointed a finger directly at me.
"But you are not touching or using them. Am I understood, Siegfried?"
...That only makes me want to touch them more.
"Huh? What did you say?" Granny asked, lifting a brow suspiciously.
"N-nothing! I promise not to touch them." I quickly blurted out, trying to keep my face as smooth as a mirror.
I turned around and hurried over to Uncle Erik, pushing against his heavy leg to get him moving. "Let's go! Let's go!"
As we stepped out into the hallway and the study door clicked shut, I let out a long breath of pure relief.
Can she read minds now too? I need to be more careful. Between her and Teacher, it feels like I'm living in a house full of mind-readers.
"So, how are you really doing?" Uncle asked as we started walking down the corridor.
"Huh?" I looked up at him in confusion.
"From what I heard, that Spectre got you pretty badly. What did Doctor Ridge and Lady Serena say?"
"Please. I am invincible." I puffed my chest slightly. "Doctor Ridge and Teacher both said I am in the best of condition. Better than ever, actually."
As we climbed the stairs upward, Uncle scoffed.
"Right."
Then his expression softened slightly.
"You might be fine, but for the other children, it has been traumatic. Nidrik looks the same as always, but James... I haven't seen much of him lately other than at dinner."
True...
James had been acting strange ever since the graveyard incident two days ago.
I closed my eyes briefly and expanded my perception through the manor. I filtered out the bright, buzzing lights of the servants and the calm hum of the guards until I found the specific presence I was looking for.
Found you.
I felt a jolt of genuine surprise.
He wasn't in his usual corner of the library. Instead, I felt him sitting in the far corner of the training field, tucked away under the shade of an old tree.
Is he meditating?
What is with this sudden interest? Is it due to Erina's awakening?
Before this, he hardly ever sat still to meditate and he certainly never exercised unless forced, but look at him now. I suppose something good actually came out of that whole ordeal.
"What about your other lady friend?" Uncle asked, his voice pulling me back to the present.
My legs stopped moving of their own accord.
Perpetua.
She had vanished the very moment the rest of our family arrived at the graveyard. Since that day, she hasn't… shown her face once.
From what little I understood, using those strange powers had clearly affected her badly.
The image of her face as she coughed into her hand flashed before my eyes.
Damn it.
My foot struck the floor hard.
"Because I feel that if I'm not with you, you'll be all alone."
She went through all of that pain just for me, and what did I do? Nothing. I couldn't do anything to help her condition.
If I had been stronger... none of that would have happened.
She would not have needed to push herself like that.
I am supposed to be the one ahead of everyone else, yet I was the one who needed saving.
"Where are you going?" Uncle's voice came from behind me. "We're here."
I turned to see him looking up at the ceiling. Following his gaze, I found the wooden trapdoor leading to the attic.
He jumped with a lightness that belied his size, catching the latch. The door swung open and a set of folded stairs groaned as they descended. "Come," he said, and then he simply flew up into the dark opening.
"O wind."
Wind wrapped around my body and carried me up after him.
The moment I entered, dust greeted me everywhere. I coughed, quickly covering my mouth with the crook of my elbow as I landed softly on the creaking floorboards.
"Wow... there's so much stuff here."
My eyes adjusted to the dim light, catching the silhouettes of countless objects draped in heavy, graying sheets.
Uncle walked deeper inside before grabbing one of the sheets and pulling it away.
The instant dust burst toward me, I pushed it aside with wind magic.
Then my eyes landed on what stood beneath.
A massive black almirah. It was far wider, taller, and thicker than any wardrobe I had ever seen, fashioned from a wood so dark it seemed to swallow the light of the attic.
Above its handle sat a glowing gem.I could feel mana from inside it. No, it wasn't just the gem, the entire structure of the almirah was surrounded in mana not a single drop leaking.
"What is that?" I asked, stepping closer to inspect the stone.
"This is a security lock." Uncle explained casually. "You have to pour your mana into the gem to open it. That mana is then checked against another gem inside that stores authorized signatures. If it's a match, the lock disengages."
Hmm, this must fall under the umbrella of magic engineering. The integration of solid state storage with a physical locking mechanism is quite sophisticated for a household storage unit.
"But couldn't someone just break the wood from the side and take the weapons out?" I asked, eyeing the dark timber. "Magic lock or not, it's still just a cabinet."
At my question, Uncle took a step back and folded his arms over his chest, a knowing smirk playing on his lips. "Be my guest, little genius. Try it."
I frowned at his challenge.
Taking a step back, I bent my knees and jumped forward, pouring mana into my leg before kicking the almirah with as much strength as I could muster.
"What?"
I couldn't believe it. The almirah didn't even move, let alone crack. Not even a single scratch marred the dark wood.
"Is that all?" Uncle asked mockingly from behind me.
...Fine then.
I'll stop holding back.
A mana blade formed over my hand as sword aura wrapped around it.
"Wait."
Ignoring Uncle's voice, I moved forward.
[Swordmaster: Twin Arc Slash]
Two super fast slashes moved across the wooden surface, the mana edge biting into the air. I looked up immediately to inspect the result, only to see the same smooth, dark surface as before.
"Wow, it's even stronger than I thought," Uncle said from behind, sounding more impressed than worried.
"How is it doing that?" I asked, my voice tight. I felt more than a little annoyed that a piece of furniture was winning this fight.
"Ah..." He scratched his cheek while staring at the cabinet. " From what I remember, there is a complex mana circuit drawn inside the panels of the cabinet," he explained, though he didn't look entirely sure of the specifics himself. "It keeps mana moving through the wood constantly, reinforcing the fibers to make them as hard as possible."
Interesting... A self-contained reinforcement loop. Maybe Spelljammer will work…
"Enough punching it. I genuinely feel like you might break it." Uncle said while walking toward the almirah.
Hmph...
I'll try again later.
He placed his hand over the crystal and poured mana into it.
Immediately, I felt the reinforcement around the cabinet weaken before slowly disappearing altogether.
A soft click echoed out.
Uncle grabbed the handles, twisted them, and pulled the heavy doors open.
My eyes widened as I looked at the contents. It was filled with weapons I least expected to see, especially in this world of swords and sorcery.
"Guns?" I said, the word feeling strange on my tongue.
"Oh, you know what they are?" Uncle asked, glancing at me with a look of genuine surprise.
"Sort of," I replied, trying to keep my voice normal.
This is completely unexpected. I didn't know firearms existed here, though these look like relics from a museum.
"How long have guns existed in this world?" I asked, stepping closer to look.
"Hmmm..." Uncle rubbed his chin while thinking. "I think they were originally created by one of the Empresses in the past. It was about six hundred years ago if I remember correctly… This is one of the oldest designs if I am correct." He picked up a small, handheld weapon with a primitive trigger mechanism. "This is called a matchlock pistol. It only holds one bullet and takes a lifetime to reload."
He placed it back before pulling out another gun.
This one looked much more familiar.
"This is the latest model which came out twenty years ago. It is called a revolver. The reload is much easier and it can hold six bullets at once."
Six hundred years of development and they only just reached the revolver?
"But why keep them locked away here?" I asked, my gaze lingering on the weapons, "I have never seen people use them in the city or around the manor."
"People do use them." Uncle answered while placing the revolver back carefully. "It's just that the Conservative Noble Faction has been against them ever since they were invented."
"Conservative Noble Faction?" I repeated in confusion.
"They're a group of nobles who strongly follow the founding emperor's philosophy." Uncle explained. "They believe strength decides worth. Doesn't matter if you're noble or common born. If you're powerful, you deserve to rise."
His words only made me more confused.
If they care about power more than bloodlines, then a tool that grants power should be a godsend to them.
"If it's regardless of status, then it doesn't sound bad. So why hate guns?"
Uncle picked what looked like a musket and stared at it quietly for a moment.
"These things..." He spoke slowly. "They allow people with less strength to actually harm people with actual talent. Such a thing happened at a noble party in the past, and it was a scandal that never truly died. That is why guns are hardly made anymore, and the people who do use them are looked down upon, especially by the high-ranking families."
Then he smirked slightly.
"The only reason we even have these is because grandfather, meaning your great grandfather, liked collecting guns.
As for why we never use them..."
He pointed at himself proudly.
"We're axe people through and through."
...That might be the dumbest explanation I've heard today.
All of this sounds about total control.
"This feels like a waste," I said, my gaze sweeping over the rows of discarded weapons.
To spend centuries refining a tool only to lock it away because of some fragile noble ego. It is a tragedy of progress.
Uncle slowly started cleaning them one by one before placing them into the pouch he had brought along.
"I personally don't think they're all that useful." He said casually. "Even against mages."
"What do you mean?" I frowned. "These things don't use mana. A mage shouldn't be able to sense them coming, and bullets should be faster than most spells."
"You're right about that." Uncle nodded. "But guns are only really effective against mages up to the Gamma Stage. Anything above that, and the physical body becomes too durable. The skin is too strong to be pierced, even if you try reinforcing the bullet with your own mana. For example..."
He rolled up his sleeve.
Then, right in front of me, he loaded a bullet into the revolver.
He pressed the muzzle directly against his own arm while mana flowed into the weapon.
"What are you..."
BANG!
The deafening sound shook the attic.
I stared at him in disbelief.
"See? I told you." Uncle said calmly while pulling the smoking revolver away.
The bullet was flattened against his arm completely crushed.
He brushed the metal scrap away with his thumb, revealing skin that was perfectly smooth. There wasn't even a bruise.
I looked up at him with a completely flat expression, my voice deadpan. "You are actually insane."
He laughed loudly at my reaction.
"This is nothing. Once, a guy shot Pa with this." He held up another strange-looking gun with a wide trumpet-shaped muzzle. "I think it was called a blunderbuss. Best close-range gun there is."
Uncle grinned while remembering it.
"The man blasted Pa right in the stomach."
...And Grandpa survived that?
"But Pa just punched the guy straight afterward." Uncle continued casually. "I still remember Ma pulling the bullet heads peeking out of his skin later while he sat there laughing and talking."
He finished placing the last gun into the pouch.
...Yeah, that sounds exactly like Grandpa.
Looks like the use of guns is quite limited in this world unlike my old one.
Then my eyes caught something wrapped in cloth on a lower shelf.
"What's this?" I asked while pulling it out carefully.
Uncle knelt beside me and unfolded the cloth.
"Oh. This is..."
It looked similar to a magic staff.
But the head was surrounded by broken blades arching around the crystal, cracks spreading through the entire structure. The lower half had shattered completely, though every piece had been preserved carefully.
"Is it a spaff like Teacher's?" I asked tracing the line of a broken blade.
At that, Uncle scoffed with a small smile.
"It is. Ma used it back in the day."
Granny did say her spaff broke during a magic beast attack during the Beast of Cataclysm.
"Can I keep it?" I asked, looking up at him. I felt a strange pull toward the broken thing, as if the mana still humming in the cracks was calling out.
Uncle looked at me for a second, then he just shrugged his shoulders. "It has been lying here gathering dust for years anyway. I doubt anyone will miss it now."
I carefully gathered the fragments and the head of the staff, wrapping them back in the cloth before tucking the bundle securely into my own pouch.
With our business done, we moved back down, the cool air of the hallway feeling refreshing after the stifling dust of the attic.
"So what are you going to do with those now?" I asked while pointing at the pouch full of guns resting in uncle's hand.
"Give them to Ma." He answered. "She will keep it somewhere secure until the cleaning is done."
"If you are never going to use them, why don't you just sell them? Some of them look like antiques. Collectors might pay a fortune for pieces that old," I suggested as we walked.
"That's probably true." Uncle admitted. "But most of these belonged to Grandfather. Pa wants to keep them as a memory of the old man."
"I see." The words left me as my eyes moved back to the pouch.
A sentimental reason for a tactical waste. Typical for this family… and I could never hate this part of them.
My mind kept racing, turning over the mechanics I had just seen and everything I heard.
Still...
"To think that after all this time nobody tried making magic guns that shoot mana bullets..." I muttered without thinking.
"Hmm?" Uncle glanced sideways at me. "There do exist mana cannons and large beam weapons used in the Imperial army."
My interest instantly rose.
"They tried shrinking the designs down into handheld models too, but apparently they never got good enough results. It's hard to stabilize that much energy in something you can hold in one hand."
Then a grin spread across his face.
"But... there is something equally interesting."
He looked at me smugly.
"Want to see it?"
Interesting?
There was absolutely no way I could refuse that.
I nodded immediately, unable to hide my excitement.
With that he led the way, and we arrived outside my mother's room. Uncle grabbed the handle and pushed against the wood, but the door didn't budge at all.
"Huh? It's locked from the inside?" Uncle looked confused, his brow furrowing as he checked the handle again. "Who is even in there?" He knocked loudly against the door.
"P-please. Wait a moment!" A woman's voice called out from the other side, sounding a bit rushed.
Both me and Uncle shared an even more confused look.
Aifa?
About a minute later, the door finally swung open.
A soft sweet fragrance drifted out immediately.
I unconsciously breathed it in before my eyes landed on Aifa.
She wore simple casual clothes instead of her knight uniform, but somehow that only made her look even more beautiful. The lines of her outfit complimented her figure so well that it only added to her natural grace.
She really is ridiculously pretty...
Honestly, in terms of beauty, she was only slightly behind Teacher.
It was hard not to stare.
"Miss Aifa, what exactly are you doing here?" Uncle asked suspiciously.
Aifa didn't answer right away. Instead, she peeked out into the hallway, looking left and right as if she were checking for spies. "Let's talk inside," she whispered urgently.
We both moved into the room, and she locked the door behind us. We turned back to her, waiting for some kind of explanation for all the secrecy.
"Uh, how should I start..." Aifa wondered aloud, her fingers fidgeting with the fabric of her sleeve.
My eyes moved toward the bed.
Mother's clothes were folded neatly on top of it.
"Did you go out pretending to be Mother again?" I asked, looking between the dress and Aifa.
She nodded softly. "Yes, Lady Fors asked me to."
Uncle folded his arms over his chest, his brow furrowing. "But didn't we decide on the story that she went to the western continent, Dhurgar? So why take the risk now?"
"Lady Fors said people would grow suspicious if Lady Valka was never seen during difficult times. Especially with the Harvest Festival approaching." Aifa explained patiently. "So today I went out disguised as Lady Valka using the story that she returned yesterday and would be leaving for the north again in a few days."
She paused briefly.
"Lady Fors specifically asked me to let those rumors spread."
"Why the north?" I asked, trying to piece together the tactical advantage.
"No..." Uncle muttered thoughtfully. "That actually makes sense."
He rubbed his chin while thinking deeper.
"If rumors spread that Sis went north for inspections, the Sovereignty will think twice before making any moves toward our dukedom."
His eyes sharpened slightly.
"And at the same time, it makes Fors look like it's actively contributing despite the increase in magical beasts around us."
He nodded to himself, a look of genuine admiration crossing his face. "As expected of Ma. She covered every angle."
He really is smart when it comes to things like this...
Is this what people call street smarts?
"Thank you for all your hard work, Miss Aifa," Uncle said, his voice carrying a heavy mix of apology and gratitude.
She shook her head gently, her gaze drifting over to me with a modest smile. "I am just doing my duty."
Just duty,huh.
I felt a tinge of sadness on hearing those words.
Her eyes moved back to him, curious now. "But what are you and the Young Lord doing here in Lady Valka's room?"
"Almost forgot." Uncle muttered as he walked past her toward Mother's magic pouch resting on the table.
He opened it and immediately started digging through the contents.
"Where is it..." he mumbled under his breath.
"What exactly is going on?" Aifa asked softly, leaning toward me as we watched him toss items aside in his search.
"He said he was going to show me something interesting," I replied, watching as he pulled out old trinkets and miscellaneous charms one after another.
"This thing is just full of junk," Uncle grumbled. He pulled out a weathered, black leather book and thudded it down on the table before diving back into the pouch.
Is that a spellbook?
Curious, I walked closer and picked it up carefully.
Undoing the latch slowly, I opened it.
These are... notes?
Messy ink scribbles filled the pages from top to bottom.
Wow... this handwriting is somehow even worse than Mother's.
But as I continued reading and squinted at the diagrams, the patterns became clear. These were complex theories on Earth element spells.
Interesting...
I should ask Teacher to look into this later.
Quietly, I slipped the book into my pouch.
Seeing the opportunity while Uncle remained distracted, I quietly slipped a few other interesting-looking items into my pouch, including a crystal ball and a silver storage ring.
Finders keepers.
Then Uncle suddenly placed something long against the table.
My eyes immediately locked onto it.
A broom?
I quickly grabbed it with both hands.
"Is this one capable of flight?" I asked, my voice rising with excitement.
Seriously?
I had occasionally seen adventurers and even some citizens flying around on brooms before. When I had asked Granny about them in the past, she told me we didn't own any.
Huh... I should've asked Mother instead.
Turning toward Aifa, I lifted the broom slightly.
"Do you know how to ride it?"
She nodded with a small, confident smile. "I learned at the university and got my license right after graduation."
"You actually need a license to fly a broom?"
"Yes, there are very strict flight regulations regarding brooms. If you are caught flying without a license by the air guards, you will be fined a significant amount of money," Aifa explained, looking very serious.
"So I can't even use this?" I said, feeling a wave of disappointment wash over me. It is every child's dream who has seen things like Harry Potter to fly on one of these.
"But..." Aifa smiled widened. "Since there are no air guards in the barony, the Young Lord can technically fly as much as he wants."
Really?
"Though please start by practicing at lower altitudes fir–"
"Found it!" Uncle suddenly shouted loudly as he held something up in the air.
"Look." Uncle turned around and held it out for me to see with a wide, triumphant grin.
It looked like a single-hand gun with a sturdy grip and a trigger, but the mouth was circular and unusually large.
And from it... I could feel mana… Fiery mana.
"This is..."
"An elemental gun," Aifa said, her voice dropping into a scoff as she narrowed her eyes at the weapon.
"That's right! A fire elemental gun, to be clear." Uncle straightened his back and pointed it into the empty air of the room, looking proud. "It has a fireball spell engraved directly into the internal chamber along with a fire elemental stone. Depending on how much mana you pour into it, it fires different levels of fireball spells."
His grin widened further.
"Even people at the Beta Stage can use it."
He lightly spun the weapon in his hand.
"This is far better than those old junks we found in the attic."
I heard Aifa click her tongue beside me.
"But didn't you say revolvers were the latest guns made?" I asked, looking back and forth between the high-tech elemental weapon and the memory of the revolver.
"They have only come out recently," Aifa said, sounding quite unhappy about their existence. "Around four months ago."
"That's right. Sis got her hands on it when she went to the capital to attend the funeral," Uncle added, his thumb tracing on the side of the barrel. "These are the future."
His entire attitude toward firearms had changed the moment elemental guns entered the conversation.
Hmm...
Since this uses mana and can be easily detected by any halfway decent mage, the nobles probably won't have as much of a problem with it. I doubt an untalented person could get the jump on someone powerful with this thing, at least not until someone figures out how to conceal the mana radiating from it.
"If you ask me, these aren't that impressive." Aifa said flatly.
Uncle immediately stopped grinning and turned toward her.
"I've noticed you really don't seem pleased by these things." He narrowed his eyes for a second before suddenly realizing something. "Ah... it's because you're an archer, isn't it?"
He laughed loudly.
"Don't let people's gossip get to you."
But instead of relaxing, Aifa's frown deepened further.
"I don't care what ignorant people bark about." she replied sharply. "Bows are still far superior to these toys."
"Please." Uncle scoffed. "With bows you need to draw the arrow, nock it properly, pour mana into it, aim carefully, and carry around an entire pile of arrows along with the bow itself."
Then he raised the elemental gun slightly.
"But this?"
"Aim. Pour mana. Pull the trigger."
His grin returned immediately.
"And it's compact too. Easy to carry anywhere."
Wow He pulled out a whole sales pitch.
But he has a point…
Then, as if reading my mind, Aifa leans in close, her eyes searching mine for an ally.
"Young lord also doesn't prefer guns, does he? It's a dangerous and far too exaggerated weapon."
"Arrows are dangerous too." Uncle pointed out immediately. "They're literally sharp sticks meant to pierce people."
Ignoring him completely, Aifa kept her eyes on me.
I looked back at her for a second before smiling innocently.
"If Aifa prefers bows and arrows, then that's my answer too."
"Aww, young lord is so sweet!" she cried, wrapping her arms around me and pulling me into a soft, warm hug.
Being a child is truly the best… sometimes.
"Oh please." Uncle rolled his eyes dramatically. "He's obviously just saying that to impress you."
Grr. He really needs to learn when to keep his mouth shut and let me enjoy the moment.
Before I could even defend myself, Aifa suddenly stepped forward confidently.
"Then for the young lord's honour, and as a fellow archer, let me prove the true strength of bows and arrows over these toys ."
"What?"
"Great!" Uncle answered immediately while lifting the elemental gun proudly. "Then I accept on behalf of... this elemental gun."
"Huh?"