There was a graveyard silence in our carriage while we were headed back to our estate. For once, I was actually regretting not being able to hear the sounds of a diesel engine or the neighing of horses. This silence was simply unbearable...

I kept staring at the floor of the carriage because I was unwilling to look my family in the eyes. Somehow, I felt like I did a bad thing back at the Earl's house. Cassandra didn't say a word about it either.

One of the reasons why I came all the way to this little town in the middle of nowhere was because I heard there were some promising children here. If their Blessings were rare, I planned on stealing them. After all, why bother to hunt for adults who could properly use them when children were far more vulnerable and easy to catch?

“If I am not mistaken, then these two must be Baron Drakarys' children?” Mister Dejun asked.

“Yes, the boy's name is Leonidas and the girl's name is Cassandra.” father replied to him with a smile.

“It's a pleasure to meet you both.” he smiled and bowed his head in front of us.

“The pleasure is all ours.” we replied at the same time and bowed respectfully.

The one who was accompanying the so-called Royal Knight was the teacher from the prestigious Gallyater Royal Magic Academy, where Cassandra was supposed to be enrolled this year. He didn't have such a frightening air about him as the knight did.

We spent another half an hour or so in the company of Earl Rupert Levias of Briston. Father entertained him with various political and economic subjects, while mother and the two of us children took part only as listeners to this conversation.

For Cassandra, this conversation wavered between boring and annoying, which was shown on her face. The Earl noticed this as well, but he took it only as a little girl who wasn't used to 'men talking'. It was far from what went on through her head though, most likely only brutish armors and stories of battle heroes.

A pig... In front of me was a creat... a man with the face of a pig and enough body fat to put a blue whale to shame. Yet, this pig-faced man with short red curly hair, long mustache and fancy red clothes decorated with all sorts of jewels and detailed golden embroideries was none other than Earl Rupert Levias of Briston, the Lord of this small town.

“Welcome! Welcome! I've been expecting you – oink!” he said with a big smile on his face and his palms rubbing together like a greedy merchant who was aiming for a good deal.

Our tenth birthday was going to be one of those special events we were supposed to remember for the rest of our lives because it was supposed to mark the very first step we took into our adult lives.

Normally, for me this was the second time I reached the age of ten, but I didn't really remember that much about the birthday I had back on Earth. My childhood memories were all a bit fuzzy, but I had the feeling I could summarize it into one word: normal.

We were beat.

We were broken.

Aunty Eliza's training was by far the worst yet! My whole body was aching, my thoughts were unfocused, it felt like HELL, a merciless torture, a nightmare! Aunty was a DEMON!

“Ungh... body hurts...” Cassandra groaned.

“You can still move, so you are doing better than me...” I said as I laid down on the grass while looking up at the sky.

This was going to be a historical day for me and my little sister!

For the first time in our lives, we would witness someone using the active power of their Blessing, and with a bit of luck find out how to do it ourselves.

With a smile to show her overwhelming confidence, aunty Eliza took a stance and began to focus on an enemy only she could see. It was the so-called shadow boxing training technique, only here it was better to call it shadow sword fighting.

“Rise and shine!” aunty Eliza shouted at 6 AM in the morning while standing in the door with a big toothy smile on her lips and her hands on her hips.

Both me and my sister woke up with a startle. We looked at each other with sleepy faces and then at the cause of this racket, the big muscle-head.

“It's too early in the morning!” I voiced out my complaint.

Ten years seemed to have gone by in a flash, and it was only one year ago when I requested my dear father to release Luthecia from her slave contract. Now, she was living together with us as our legally employed maid.

I was happy that I was able to help her regain her freedom. Without a doubt, the gods had something good in store for her. Maybe an unexpected meeting with a handsome prince or a role as someone who was going to change this country? There were quite a lot of opportunities to choose from, but in the end, most them were only my overzealous delusions.

In a sense, I acted exactly like a child my age who misunderstood something. Unable to see or think outside my own box, I hoisted all the blame on my shoulders and acted as the sole culprit of this whole situation.

In their eyes, I was probably just a small child who believed that the one who should be found at fault for my sister being unable to journey through the world as an adventurer similar to aunty Eliza was none other than me, who had only one Blessing. That this very difference we couldn't control was to blame.

Today was the big day!

I tried to prepare myself mentally for this moment, but since I had no mirror available, I couldn't repeat my lines in front of it. In the end, I used a bunch of lined up dressing mannequins aunty Eliza carved for me as an impromptu audience. But even after I managed to convince myself that there was no way I was going to mess this up, I still found myself to be a nervous wreck. I was in a worse state than I was back on Earth when I had my first interview for a big company.

The most frightening thing in the world?

If someone were to have asked me this several years ago, I would have answered: To face a dragon in a battle!

Now, I would answer: To see my wife and children in harm's way.

It so happened that my birthday was coming up. I was going to be nine years old now, just another one, and I would be ten. Then it was off to school with me and my sister.

Our family was a bit different from other noble families when it came to celebrate the birthdays of its members. These parties were kept at a modest level and focused more on having fun together with everyone than on trying to impress someone. We didn't bother inviting special guests or using this event to brag about our latest achievements. We ate some cake or pie, then we offered a small gift of appreciation to the celebrated one.

When one was bought as a slave, they could forget all hope and dreams they had before as a free man or woman. Every second, every minute, and every hour from that day on was to be offered to their new masters.

That was the law and truth of this world.

Today was the big day!

After reaching the age of seven, aunty Eliza was finally going to teach us how to cast our very first spells. Despite this being the first time when we were actually going to do it, both me and my sister already read several tomes of magic from beginner to intermediary level. In theory, we already knew the incantations for several spells. However, knowing and doing were two very different things when it came to magic.

My older brother had two hobbies. One was tailoring and the other was annoying me to no end by trying to get me to wear cute clothes... or rather what HE believed to be 'cute'. Mother too, she loved them and often plotted with big brother to force me to wear them, but I wanted to be like aunty Eliza. She was beautiful, strong, and the way she looked clad in armor was amazing! A true warrior fit to stand on the battlefield just like all those heroes from the books I read.

At the moment, we were not the esteemed ducal family we once were in the past, for various reasons. In our society, me and my husband, excluding any other previous family members, were known by established noble families as fallen nobles, while the general populace referred to us as average or common nobles. For me and my husband, this status was exactly what we desired to hold in order to properly raise our children, but even so, we couldn't neglect invitations from a noble family of a higher rank. Our current titles were only those of Baron and Baroness, after all.

My new extracurricular activity was seen as being a tad bit weird by my little sister, and at times as something curious. This was because I didn't spend as much time playing with her as I did before. Of course, I wasn't practicing for several hours a day, just an hour at most.