I awoke the next morning somehow in my room. I remember studying until late into the night in the library, even past when Lady Umbra left. Yawning, I looked at the rising sun with an annoyed glare.
Still, I habitually made my bed, brushed my teeth, and cleaned up.
Thud~
"Good morning, Young Master Johan," Friedrich bowed as I exited my room.
"Good morning."
He was one of the few people in the house that managed to always wake up before I did, and I honestly don't know how he does it. Thankfully, I was not required to wake up the Princess as breakfast was hours away. The two of us began our unofficial morning walk of silence. At this time, only a few essential servants were awake, and not many of them would end up on the path we took.
It was a relatively warm morning, probably only being -10 celsius. The bits of sun that peeked above the mountains reflected off the snow in a way that made it look crystalline. Paired with the silence and mild breeze, it was truly a fine morning.
Perfect for studying in the library.
Friedrich bid me farewell, as did I to him.
In the library, I returned to my pile, this time completely alone. I would have liked to continue to read Lady Umbra's first grimoire, but she took it with her last night, so I'm instead reading "Elemental Darkness Book of Spells, vol.1". Compared to Lady Umbra's grimoire, which curates what she found as the best/most useful spells within the library of available 1-star spells, fit with encoding modifications and use-case explanations, this book simply lists a set of the most public 1-star darkness spells.
Unlike most books I interact with, this book has taken me quite a while to get through, but for good reason.
Usually, whenever I read something, it sticks in my brain extremely well. Thus, I usually plow through a book and recall the information when I need it. In this case, I have instead been using it as a guide to work through understanding how each instruction interacts.
Page 792/797
And today, it seems that this will be the final day I read this book. Though I won't say my understanding of 1-star darkness magic is perfect, it's enough to modify an existing spell while under pressure.
Page 793/797
As I read, I recognized every single instruction used. [Dark Eyes | 1 | 6 | Duration] (meaning 1 circle, 6 instructions, and duration type). {DUR-5}-{HOLD-1.D}-{FUEL-1}-{COVER}-{EYE-B}-{CONCEAL}. "Covers both eyes with a film of darkness, shielding them from light."
{DUR-5} means that the spell will last 5 minutes. When placed before {HOLD-1.D}, the spell will only take the exact amount of mana it needs to fuel a 1-star darkness spell for the set duration; 5 minutes. {COVER} will cover the set object/bodypart in the immediate next instruction, which in this case is Both eyes. Conceal makes the shadows actually visible. If this were a more powerful spell, that would practically turn you blind, but since this spell is a 1-star, the shadows are essentially normal, so it would make perfectly sunny midday look more like it was about to thunderstorm.
I tried it out, creating the more ovular spell circle that stretched over both eyes, setting the instructions, and providing the mana. Upon casting, I watched as my vision dimmed considerably. A spell like this wasn't useful in this library as there is far too little light, making everything look like all the lights had been turned off.
I dismissed the spell to get back to reading.
The other spells were mostly useless and/or unremarkable, but I read through them all the same. For the rest of my morning before breakfast, I read a botany book based around the plantlife found in the deadzone past the mountains. For a textbook, it was extremely short, but that was mainly due to the low quantity of plant life over there as opposed to a lack of information.
Honestly, it was probably a waste of leather to bind a book based on the plantlife of an icy wasteland literally called "The Deadzone". Still, it was as informative as it could be.
There were a couple confirmed species of trees, though none of them are particularly special apart from the fact that they are evergreen. According to the textbook, the primary plant found throughout it a "Winterbrush", a short yet wide shrub that has a structure that facilitates extremely heavy snow build up on top of it.
Apparently, its main source of food is through the ground. As it progresses through its life cycle, it slowly creeps across the ground, sapping up nutrients from the otherwise… barren wasteland.
Due to its leaf shape and habitat, it doesn't receive much energy from the sun. Maybe it's able to make up the difference with mana, as it is also known to have some mild restorative effects on mana circuits[1] if consumed.
"Young Master Johan, breakfast is served."
I closed my book and set it in the "finished" pile. "Understood, sir Friedrich."
He courteously waited for me at the door with his hands perfectly folded behind him. As butlers went, he was exemplary. And that says a lot about someone working for the Nemetz's.
Though his hair was graying slightly, the man was almost as built as my father, and even more poised. One would think the man had seen his fair share of frontline action.
One would be correct.
The man, according to what he has told me (at my request), was first introduced to House Nemetz nearly 40 years ago on my father's first expedition.
He was already a young man by then, nearly a decade older than my father, and had built a name for himself as an extremely capable fighter. Throughout the expeditions he had been a part of before then, he had never actually seen a Nemetz in combat, and had expected the 10 year old orphaned Grand Duke of the North to be nothing more than a useless moral support doll.
Instead, this child half his age slaughtered a fully grown glacier tiger alone.
Once he began paying attention to him, he as well as all the other soldiers found it impossible to not build a steady reverence for the young lord.
Still, the thing that truly gained my father's interest happened a while after that.
Around the time my father turned 18 and returned from the Imperial Academy, the two had gotten themselves in a bit of a pickle.
Friedrich refused to explain the details, but what I have gathered is that he pulled off something superhuman– super human by this world's standards– saving my father's life in the process.
Long story short, the rest was history.
I glanced back slightly at Friedrich's perfectly groomed visage, and sighed. "Sir Fridrich, as it has been three months since I turned seven, may I ask again if you would train me in martial arts?"
Though I had already returned to facing forward, I heard a nearly inaudible chuckle. "Young Master Johan, what have I said about referring to me as 'Sir Friedrich?' I am your butler, not a knight."
"That doesn't answer the question," I retorted.
"It is an important thing, the way the Young Master of a Ducal House addresses his servants."
"Meaningless babble about my insistence to give you the respect you are due will not override my request."
"Ohoh, but it did delay the response."
"Wha-" Without knowing, I had unknowingly ended up right in front of the dining hall doors. I shot a mild glare at Friedrich's "innocent"-smiling way before I "relented".
I will resolve this topic before the end of this meal.
As expected, black and purple blur intercepted me before I had any room to dodge, sweeping me up like a teddy bear before nearly suffocating me. In fact, it was one of those days where Lillyan held me hostage, forcing me to endure the embrace of the rest of my siblings in a pileup that would put a professional rugby team to shame.
I did survive, but doing so clearly cost myself and my family even more standing with the princess. Who wouldn't find it uncomfortable to see such PDA?
"Sigh" I just hope these actions don't build the wrong kind of unease between us. I'd really hate to be the cause of the House's downfall despite avoiding the original Johan's actions.
POV: Grand Duke Sebastian Erlach Nemetz
Breakfast flowed as smoothly as ever. Oh how I missed my cute kids' antics! The feeling never goes away even after all of these years felling beasts in the mountains. If I could, I'd never leave here for as long as I lived.
Even more so now with Johan. Every time I return, he looks more exhausted in ways that no child should ever be. Every time it hurts. At least once, just once, I want him to do something befitting of his age.
Back then, his siblings were always all over me, saying things like 'Daddy daddy what monsters did you see?' or 'Daddy daddy tell me about the expedition!'.
The only time Johan asks me about the expeditions is to request the casualty report.
"Father."
Hmm? I looked up only to see my son's magnificent lavender eyes boring holes through my own. I have no favorites, but his eyes always captivated me. That's not to say I was the only one.
From the moment he was born, he always had that… look about him. When I would carry him, he would study my face, then the surroundings, then mouth every word I said as if he were memorizing them.
Knowing him, that might actually have been what he had been doing.
Always, he would be staring wide-eyed and almost unblinking straight through you. And with eyes like his, it wasn't unnerving in the slightest.
My nostalgic thoughts didn't last long, "Yes, Han?"
He placed his fork and knife down in a gentlemanly fashion. I suppressed a smile, knowing he'd be annoyed if I did-
Smile
…Well, I tried.
"I have a request, if you'd be so kind as to listen."
…
The whole room stopped dead in its tracks. Not even the servants taking away or replacing food dared even blink.
Han.
Augustine Johan Nemetz. Has a request. Johan himself is asking for something.
Nearly everyone, save for the Princess and Lady Morin, pinched themselves to test if they were dreaming. This included me.
We… weren't?
I figuratively sobered up. "Y-yes, Han, what is it?"
What will he ask for? Money? Clothes? Toys? A vacation? Food? Books? Jewels? Fuck, what does Han even like? Other than books, as we have every single one he could ever ask for, not even Mai knows what he wants, her expression now proves that.
Taking a deep breath, he straightens up and asks, "I would like to begin to learn martial arts. The time before I begin participating in expeditions only grows closer by the day, and I figure that the sooner I begin my training on this aspect, the lower chances I am to fail in my duties."
…
That wasn't what I was hoping for. Honestly, I'd prefer him not to even have to worry about the frontlines, especially not the idea of dying.
Before I could say anything, he stood up. Though it hadn't been long, his plate was already cleaned to a point where I doubted it needed washing at all. "In the future…"
…In the future? What about it?
Han just stood there with that far-off look in his eyes, the same one that made your heart burn just looking at him. It looked like what he was about to say was something important. He already had the attention of the entire room, but his pause heightened this.
He sighed, "In the future, I am aiming to become the head of the family,"
[1] Note: Mana circuits are, contrary to how they are shaped (like a more angular nervous system), act more like muscles. As mana flows through them, they grow exhausted.