~ Chapter 8: Unexpected news ~
The name the young boy revealed was outside of his father's initial presumptions, but at the same time, it made a lot more sense now. Only after Alutras went to the Festival of the Divine did the young boy's behavior showed signs of change. At first, his parents believed he was awestruck by all those amazing practitioners, but since he was unable to have such a future, he quickly became depressed. After all, their world was not the same as that of the commoners with no talent for the Art of Divine Energy Control.
However, the most puzzling question for them was regarding how their child found out such things. For the adults, these matters were common sense, but for the young four years old, it was something new and exciting. As far as the parents could remember, no such event happened when a practitioner proved to their child that he truly had no future in their world.
Now, with Alutras revealing the emotions of care and desire he felt towards the girl named Ryuciel, Teorak finally understood that rather than being awestruck, his son had been love struck all this time.
With a soft smile on his lips, the man patted the child's head, while he showed him in return an expression of confusion.
“Being young like this is good. Even father was like that.” Teorak spoke in a gentle tone of voice.
“What?” Alutras asked as he was getting more and more confused by this man's strange words.
“About the young lady of the Tamasky family, she is one flower I'm afraid you cannot pick. Vast riches are needed to pave your way towards her heart and even the skill of a master!” he declared in a tone of revering rather than condescending.
“Why would I wish to pick a flower?” Alutras asked tilting his head to the left.
“Ugh... Maybe you are too young to understand such things?” his father wondered as he scratched the back of his head.
“I am not too young! I am four!” Alutras retorted, showing him four fingers.
“Sigh... Yes. Yes.” Teorak patted his innocent son's head.
Meanwhile, inside, Shengo was really confused and began to regret the fact that he asked his father for advice. It was clear that they weren't on the same wavelength.
Even so, in order to keep his child persona and not give him any reasons to suspect that he was a bit 'different' than the other children, Shengo gave up on trying to contradict him. Instead, he planned on just listening calmly to what he had to say, while praying in his mind for this talk to be over quickly.
“The young flower of the Tamasky family, Ryuciel, while she is capable of stirring your heart in such a way, she is not someone you can reach. However, it is wise to remember how you feel about her now because when you will grow older, another beautiful lady may stir your heart the same way.” Teorak tried to explain as best as he could.
“Why?” Alutras asked.
“Well... such is the way things work.” he shrugged.
“Why?”
“Because the gods said so?”
“Why?”
Teorak squinted his eyes and then gently squeezed the boy's head.
“You aren't by any chance trying to make a fool out of your old man, are you?” he asked, showing him a threatening smirk.
“No! Gods forbid!” Alutras quickly replied while trying to shake his head left to right.
Letting go, he smiled and patted him “Good!”
After letting out a sigh, Teorak continued his lesson “Anyway, you would do well not to try to pursue the young lady Ryuciel. She will soon be leaving our fair city Waving Night.”
“Huh? Leaving? When?” this new piece of information caught Alutras by surprise, and he looked up at his father with big eyes.
“Well, as it happens, while I was at work, I happened to catch a rumor saying that lady Ryuciel requested to leave for Star City, where all the best and brightest practitioners of the Art of Divine Energy Control gather to grow even stronger, wiser, and more powerful! They say the minimum age of entering is of 12 years old, but one must also have been able to reach at least the Silver Three Pearl Rank. They demand such a strict requirement because a lower ranked practitioner would never be able to survive inside, while someone like you or me would die before we even reached the city's gates because of the pressure of their might alone.” Teorak explained all this in one breath, trying his best at making the city sound like something completely out of their reach.
“When will she depart?” Alutras asked, seemingly unfazed by his father's words.
“Huh?” the man blinked confused at his son's lack of reaction.
Teorak could still remember the time he first heard about Star City, it left him daydreaming for hours.
“When will Ryuciel depart for Star City?” he repeated himself.
“Ah, erm... I don't know.” he shook his head.
“Can you find out?” Alutras asked tilting his head to the left.
“No, I'm afraid I cannot..” Teorak shook his head “The matter of the time and day of her departure is a well kept secret by those close to her. While we know for certain that she will leave in two or three months from now on, we don't know exactly when. It is meant to be this way in order to avoid all those who are envious of the young lady and wish to bring harm upon her.” he explained.
“I see...” Alutras looked down and let out a sad sigh.
“Just give up on her, my son. This is for the best.” Teorak showed him a gentle understanding smile.
“Thank you, father...” he replied.
“Don't worry too much about it. You are still young, and in the future, many flowers will bloom on your path!” he patted his head.
“I don't need flowers...” he retorted, but his father only looked at him with gentle eyes and then left the room to let him be with his own thoughts for now.
While alone and gazing up at the sky, Alutras could only think about one thing.
Even though father's words were filled with nonsense, at the very least I got to know of something important... But why would Ryuciel request to depart for Star City? Does she hate me that much?
Letting out a sad sigh escape his lips, Alutras said “Ryuciel... What must I do for you to forgive this old fool?”
Of course, only the wind was there to listen to him, but even it wasn't strong enough to carry such heavy words spoken by a mere child.