Six years old

waking up, Alex stretches out his arm to see where his boots were, finding them near his bed, he got up and dragged his brother out too, who grumbled.

"why do we have to get up so early?" asked Rudeus not wanting to train today.

"dude, we have to train, and you always slack off if it doesn't involve magic" Alex answered, looking at his brother, and waiting for himself to drag himself up.

"come on, you're girlfriend is waiting for you" Alex pointed out, tired of waiting.

"she's not my girlfriend..." Rudeus grumbled while glaring at his brother.

(after getting to king class magicians we haven't done anything with magic, and I'm trying to recreate the 'Magic interference' but the process is slow, and I had to confront him about the reincarnation gig when he said something in English... I can't believe I was spacing out and answered back) with a sigh, he went downstairs, it was still early and he wanted to get done with training before eating, his touki developed and he was strengthening it by supplying it with mana, and his muscles ware being constantly enhanced with mana, so he was stronger than usual.

unlike his father who subconsciously uses mana throughout his body, Alex was aware and used mana to support every move he knew, be it counter, attack, or deflection.

Paul was running out of things to teach him. his two sisters are still sleeping, so he got out as quietly as possible, and to do so he jumped out of the window.

he was about to go he heard someone's voice.

"Young master, I believe you were told not to use the window for an exit," said his stepmother, how he didn't manage to notice her was beyond him.

"...okay I won't do it anymore, sorry" Alex apologized, as he went outside to run around the village for a few hours.

on the third lap, he saw Rudeus and did the only thing appropriate.

"on you're left" saying that as he passed by, he heard a groan from behind him.

___

"I am willing to work for her payment," said Rudeus, looking at their father.

Paul contemplated for a bit and looked at them seriously before saying "okay, I'll see what I can do".

it will take a few weeks for the letter to get there, and for her to come here, our birthday will pass in three days, so everything is going smoothly, for now.

(...can the man god see me?) a random thought popped into his head (probably not, Bob told me he was bored and he's watching over me, so that guy shouldn't even know I exist...Right?)

___

they were training in the yard with their mothers ware watching them while taking care of the two girls.

"say Rudeus, what if I told you that you won't see Sylphie for a while," asked Paul suddenly, stopping the training, then he looked Over to Alex before speaking again "and what if I told you that you couldn't see us for a while too" this time he asked Alex.

he turned to his father and with a death glare he asked a question of his own " what do you mean, Father" Paul gulped at this, Alex never called his 'father', it was always dad, and he never glared at him.

the kid was already as good as him in swordsmanship, and he was seven, the only thing he lacked in his eyes ware experience and a suitable sword.

only if he knew.

"Just asking," said Paul with a sweatdrop, scratching his head, knowing how we'll he could combine magic with swordsmanship, heck he hasn't seen anything like that, wooden swords can't withstand the magic so they brake and he's too small to hold a real sword for now.

Alex who knew what was going on just sighed and dropped the glare before he started speaking.

"what are you're planning old man?" he asked to which Paul smirked and dashed towards him, deciding that he would take down Alex first since he was better with a sword, he was hoping that the surprise attack would help him in that.

but as his foot touched the ground after the dash it sunk inside. pushing all of his weight on the other foot he gets his leg unstuck and swung the wooden sword at Alex.

Batting the sword aside with a mana-boosted swing, Alex spun counterclockwise and tried to hit Paul's head, but the older man dishes by rolling on the ground.

sending a burst of Air to push his father off-balance, Alex dashed towards him swinging his sword downwards right on Paul's head.

Paul springs back up with his hands and dodges the sword that was coming his way, grabbing his son's hand, he flips him over and down on the ground.

Alex tries to lessen the impact by supplying his touki with mana but he didn't have enough time, he felt the lessened impact, but he couldn't dodge the sword coming down on him.

(...damn it)

before he blacked out he could see Paul turning to Rudeus.