Chapter 4: Old Habits

In the same room with the crib, there are four people, Sylvia, Dad, Mom, Two other people, and Alaric. Five of them are still trying to process the information they just discovered. Especially Dad and Mom.

Their thought right now was something close to 'Is our child a prodigy in magic?!' and this wasn't something they could just internalize and go with, this information shocked both, and they're trying to find their own way to cope with it and digest what just happened.

(I caused way more trouble than I expected with this.) Alaric thought to himself. (But I hope it doesn't destroy my plans, I would be problematic if they decided to stop me from interacting with magic.)

The atmosphere in the room was different from the usual as both his parents were still standing in the room silent, but then Dad looked at Mom and said.

"Let's go to my office, we have some things to decide now... But if you need some time, we can do it after a 'small break'." Dad said very seriously but she also seemed somewhat tired.

"Actually, I would prefer a 'small break', we'll meet each other here in 4 hours, so at 13:00." Mom said in the same tired way as Dad. "Sylvia please look after Alaric very attentively, and don't lose him for a single second." Mom continued while looking at Sylvia, a frown visible on her face.

"Yes! Miss Lofn." Sylvia nodded and regained her posture as much as she could.

Before this could end, however, one of the two other people present intervened.

"Your parents are right here and you ask a maid to do this? Amora, I'll actually get mad at you. Of course, me and your father will take care of little Alaric. Sylvia, you focus on housework." The lady with six arms spoke to Mom as she got ahold of Alaric.

"Even though she's being a bit dramatic as usual, I do agree with your mother." The other woman said.

"Fine! Do it your way, just be careful with him. Now if you'll excuse me." Mom left the room hurriedly, and just as Dad was leaving, he gave Sylvia a probing gaze before turning and continuing.

Now the only ones left in this room were Alaric, his grandparents, and Sylvia. The maid soon left to continue her work, while the grandparents took care of the baby.

(This is truly limiting…) Alaric could only think to himself.

-In another room-

In a small room that could fit about three people at once, Amora was now surrounded by wooden shelves, each containing ceramic flasks with different symbols on them.

Walking to one of the shelves, she grabbed a flask that had the symbol of blue grains of sand, then took it to a small table with a tea set on it and a chair right next to it.

There she looked at the flask for minutes on end, going back and forth as if to think of what to do next. Time continued passing until she couldn't take it as she felt her body tremble and took a deep breath.

Amora sat on the chair and opened the ceramic flask to drop a blue powder that was inside the flask into a teacup with hot water in it.

The blue powder fell inside and began to delude in the water, then she picked a spoon and a different container, this one holding sugar, and put a full spoon in the teacup.

Right after, she began to mix the sugar and blue powder in the teacup under the liquid in the teacup, which now had a dark blueish color in comparison to the lighter tone it had before.

She lifted the cup to her nose and let the fumes produced by it get inhaled.

"Ahhaaa" A short moan could be heard as she trembled and her face carried a big silly smile.

"It's been a while... Maybe I shouldn't go back to this... But just a little wouldn't hurt, right? I just don't want to see my little chick fly away." Amora said to herself as she looked at the cup expelling its blue fumes.

"No, it won't happen, after all, we are both different people. There's no way it would end the same way, we are better and won't let it happen...

"I won't let it happen... Yes, it's all going to be fine... We're not going through that hell again." She continued speaking to herself in quite a fast manner and with her eyes twitching.

Her sour mood slowly faded as she slowed down.

"Yes, I better relax and drink my tea." Amora said as she sipped from her teacup.

"Awww!I missed this." She said as she giggled and continued sipping from her tea some more.

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In a different location, the area is an average street with a few folks walking around and maybe one or two carriages passing by, the climate was cloudy and gray, as it was early in the morning, and not many people were active in the streets yet.

Walking through the streets there was a woman with a slim but muscular physique, and dark skin, wearing a green mask while dressed in some simple and poor quality cloth shirt and pants.

Her green mask didn't have any holes in the eyes, so it was a mystery how she could even walk without bumping into something or someone, but no one paid her attention on the streets, and she just continued walking unbothered until she reached a two-story wooden and stone building that had a plank with some weird symbols in them.

The woman opened the door and went inside this building and was met with stares from all over the room, as inside there were multiple tables some of them occupied by a group of men and others empty.

At the end of the room, there was a counter with multiple wood stools in front of it in a horizontal line, and behind it, a man cleaned wooden cups with a piece of cloth, while behind him stood shelves with various alcoholic drinks and beverages.

The woman with the green mask walked to the counter and sat at one of the wooden stools, then she said.

"I'm in for a round of ale, also what wines do you have?" The woman ordered her drink and then asked a question.

"A round of ale coming right up! Also, we are out of wine for now... If you really want to drink, I suggest you come back later at night." The man responded as he started getting the ale.

This man was tall and big bulky, with a strong mustache but no beard, he had short straight blue hair and wore both a beige shirt and pants with low-quality cloth, while his feet had brown boots.

"I see, just bring me the strongest ale, you already know what I like, Harmon." The woman with the green mask said.

"I told you to not come here at this time of day again Lo... Just, stop doing this to yourself." Harmon said as he served the man with a green mask a mug of ale, he almost said something but cut himself and just left off with a piece of advice.

"No need to tell me twice, you know I'll come back someday." The woman with the green mask said then grabbed her mug of ale and as she did so a part of her mask opened up and now, her mouth area was exposed as she began drinking her ale like there was no tomorrow.

"You're a lost cause." Harmon said while shaking his head.

"Maybe, but at least this way things don't get worse..." The masked woman said as she kept drinking her ale until she finished and immediately ordered another round.

This continued for hours on end as a pile of mugs built up, and Harmon was forced to cut it out and get the knockout woman out of there.

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8 hours later in a room, there was a desk in the center of it, and on one side was Dad, and on the other was Mom.

"Now, it's time we discuss Alaric's situation." Dad said with a very serious expression on her face, and her eyes completely centered on Mom.

"Yes… I'll say it now, I don't know what to do… I don't want another son of mine to get taken. I just want him to live his life whichever way he chooses for himself." Mom said holding her face, and looking almost tired with a frown.

"I don't even know what to say… As much as I would rather say no, there's nothing we can do about this…" Dad said in response to Mom, her expression just as bleak.

"Are you planning to let Alaric get involved in this mess?!" Mom asked clearly opposed to it.

*Sigh* "It's inevitable, are you just planning to not baptize him?!" Dad questioned right back.

"Of course not! I'm no lunatic, but maybe we could talk to a priest or ask the Silverheart for help! Something! Anything!" Mom said as her expression went from serious to simply frustrated as she began to rub her forehead.

"No matter what we do, the best will be to start training him the moment he's old enough, that's the best we can do for him." Dad said with a calmer look on her face.

"... Why must you insist so badly? Can't our child just have a normal life?!" Mom yelled at Dad.

"You know the answer! We are a family and have to do our best for everyone! We can't just go and let our emotions decide for us! Do you think I don't want to just go away or forget today ever happened?! We just can't!" Dad said firm and teary-eyed.

"... This stupid country and its damn politics! I'll definitely take him away if he ever asks me to!" Mom yelled at Dad again.

"No, we are not going to make the same mistake! I also don't want that to repeat itself, he's my child too. Things will be better this time, if we do it right." Dad said in response narrowing her eyes.

"Then why let this happen? There are ways to go off the radar if we really need to do it!" Mom asked with watery eyes.

"We can't, and you know we can't... That's a sacrifice of his life as much as the other option." Dad said with her head down.

"I'll take him away!" Mom yelled as she slammed her hands on the desk.

"You know you can't..." Dad said and a drop of what seemed to be water fell on the desk.

Seeing this Mom took a deep breath, got up, and hugged Dad.

"Just promise me, it will all be fine... Promise me I won't lose my child... Not again..." Mom said with tired eyes.

"I wish I could... But I can't..." Dad said with her head still down.

Both of them stood like that for a while longer, and soon a new conversation between them started.

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Back in the room where the grandparents and Alaric were staying, Grandpa was unable to stay still and occasionally got up to move around for a bit. While the Grandma was rocking Alaric with her six arms.

(Now that I can sense mana, all I can do is try and improve my mana link, but I don't know how that would go considering what happened earlier...) Alaric thought to himself.

Not long after Dad and Mom came in.

"You can leave now, thank you for your help, Mother and Father." Mom said with a forced smile on her face.

"I'm the boy's grandma, of course, I would do this. Just be careful with yourself. As for you Loralaine, treat my daughter better!" Grandma said in response before she handed Alaric to Mom just as she was leaving.

"Be careful with yourselves both of you, things get rough, and if you aren't able to handle the weight, asking for help is no sin." Grandpa said to both of them.

"Thank you for your help." Dad also thanked them, and then they left.

After a while, Sylvia came to check on them having taken care of everything around the house.

"Dinner is ready." Sylvia said as she came in.


"Thank you for your work. I was wrong in accusing you. You're dismissed for the day." Dad said with a cold and distant look in her eyes. Apparently still not fully convinced.

Sylvia bobbed and smiled slightly before going back to having a bland expression and leaving.

"You could just have said I'm sorry, you are too prideful." Mom said as she moved towards the bed with Alaric in her arms.

"It's not about being prideful, it's about being suspicious of the situation. You should know." Dad said as she moved to the bed and lay on it, tired.

"It's not her fault that things happened this way. Latching out on her won't help us." Mom said as she once again started breastfeeding Alaric.

Dad didn't say anything in return as she just lay on the bed silent. After a while, Alaric was fed and Both Mom and Dad started to prepare to sleep, and just like that another, day went by.

Chapter end