Chapter 4: Preparations

"Ngh…"

"I understand your impatience, Young Master Paul, but please wait a bit longer until we are done"

"I simply fail to understand why it should take this long to dress up…"

"Lord Amarant has put out every expense for your fifth year of life celebration along with your societal debut. The most regal of clothing takes this long to prepare"

"Fine…"

"We are forever grateful for your patience and understanding, Young Master Paul"

Inside a large dressing room filled to the brim with countless intricate sets of clothes by the most reputed of designers and clothing makers, Paul was currently struggling to keep himself composed as a crowd of maids surrounded him while they assisted in dressing him up for his birthday celebration.

The day of his long-awaited party had finally arrived and it was an occasion that didn't fail to live up to the hype that had been surrounding it among the cliques and groups of noble society.

Upon the circulating of rumors regarding the natural intellect of Notos Greyrat's scion and heir, many began to anticipate meeting the rumored prodigious child of the Asura Kingdom's elite class.

As such, Amarant Notos Greyrat spent large swathes of money to fund the celebration. Countless pieces of priceless decor. Tables upon tables of exotic wines and tantalizing dishes.

The accompaniment of famed performers and orchestral companies sets the mood, as a star-studded lineup of invited guests danced and chatted around the prestigious ballroom of the Notos Greyrat estate.

'From the little I saw while the part was being prepared, it seems like a big waste of money to me… all the books I could've bought with all that money…'

Seeing such an extravagant waste of wealth, Paul was reminded once more that he was born into a class of nobility that countless people only dreamed of being born into.

Outside of the royal family, the Greyrat families held absolute power within the Asura kingdom, chief among them being the Notos branch who had a long history of political power in the royal court.

'Just bear with it for now, Paul. Maintain appearances for now. I can do what I want after I've grown sufficiently capable and independent'

After an hour of grooming and preparation, the young heir to the Nosto Greyrat family finally finished dressing up as he met with his family in a separate room near their mansion's ballroom.

Waiting patiently were his father, mother, head butler, head maid, and his personal maid, who all widened their eyes in awe at how the young boy cleaned up after such thorough preparations.

"Ahhh! My adorable son! Look at how handsome you are!"

Almost immediately, Paul was beset by the immense embrace of his mother. Being smothered by her enormous breasts, the young boy naturally drew in a deep breath before diving into her sea of flesh.

"Haha! Of course! He takes after his old man after all!"

Seeing his wife dote on his son, Amarant quickly laughed heartily as he claimed Paul's good looks to be the result of his genetics. Pride in his heart as his heir was perfect in all the aspects he could've asked for as a noble and as a person.

"You're truly the pride of House Notos Greyrat, Young Master Paul"

Last to comment and speak together in sync, the head maid, head butler, and Corrinthia praised Paul as the blessing of the high noble's house. Bowing with reverence as they did so.

'Can't… breathe…'

After a few moments of a tight embrace, Paul was eventually freed from his second encounter with death by his mother's smothering.

Taking a chance to cool down, Amarant began to run through the itinerary of the party with Paul as one last check-up before the real thing.

To no one's surprise, the young boy completely memorized all the things he needed to take note of.

His opening speech. His etiquette and manner. And most importantly, the nobles he would be speaking to in the party.

'I guess my presence here has already begun to affect the story. Paul originally wasn't planned to meet with guests during the party, but for me, I have quite a lot of eager nobles wanting to have a chat'

The reason so many adults wanted to chat with a young boy like Paul? It was quite obvious given the party was a gathering of noble society.

'Ugh… arranged marriages…'

Hearing the rumors of Paul Notos Greyrat's intellect at such a young age, further backed up by countless trusted tutors for noble children, quite a lot of houses began to desire to establish a connection for themselves with the heir of a great house with immense talent and potential.

'It's not surprising to have an arranged marriage at such a young age, but I absolutely refuse to accept any advances'

'Because at the end of the day… I HAVE THE MIND OF AN ADULT! AND A CHILD WILL LOOK LIKE A CHILD NO MATTER HOW I TRY TO SPIN IT!'

Paul absolutely refused to get hitched to a young girl who barely began to experience puberty, Much less mature in appearance.

But the young boy couldn't exactly state his desire not to become a pedophile as to why he didn't want an arranged marriage. So Paul used the next best card he could use, his mother.

"Ugh, do we need Paul to meet those nobles and their daughters? It's obvious that they just want to use him to further their own gains"

"Valentina, please try to understand. I've already accepted your refusal to arrange a marriage for Paul. We just need to keep up appearances"

"Hmph!"

Continuing to be held by his mother, but by her side instead of by her chest, Paul felt relieved as he could hide behind his mother's protectiveness to avoid being hitched.

Amarant tried his best to reason with his wife, but Valentina still stood firm in her disliking of her son being exposed to such things at his age.

'Well, it's not like they did a great job with how intense they go at it some nights…'

After a series of back-and-forths between Amarant and Valentina, it was finally decided that Paul would meet the nobles and their daughters for the sake of formality alone.

With that being finished up, the people in the room performed one last check-up before they arrived at the ballroom, but they were quickly interrupted by a sudden bout of coughing by Valentina.

"Valentina! Head butler! Head maid! Escort my wife to her room. She's already exerted herself too much!"

"D-Dear… I want to witness…"

"I won't allow such things! You were naturally weak, to begin with! You're pushing yourself too far by waiting for Paul for so long"

"But… 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝… 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝.."

Seeing his mother weakly try to act fine, Paul's eyes began to narrow as he recognized just how serious his mother's problem was.

'Valentina Notos Greyrat. Afflicted with a naturally weak body, as such, she spends a lot of her days resting up. Only being able to move about for short periods of time'

'In the original story, she pushed herself quite a lot in order to accommodate her struggling son, Paul'

'But as a result of his desire to have his mother by his side at all times, she eventually took her body beyond her limits… agitating her progressive weakening to the point of death'

Differing from the original, the current Paul did his best not to make his mother worry or push herself for his sake.

He would constantly present himself to be competent. Frequently heading to her room to meet and talk. He even used the moments his mother smothered him in her embrace to try and diagnose her condition.

Spreading his mana around her body through contact before permeating his energy deep into her body, Paul began to scan his mother's body, just as he would do to himself to train his mana capacity.

But despite all the steps he had taken to keep his mother healthy and to drive away her untimely end, Paul recognized that it had little to no effect on her.

Even if she were to stay completely bedridden, it would only afford Valentina an extra year of life at most.

'Even with my knowledge of my past life, I am unable to recognize just what is happening to my mother'

'Muscle deterioration, Bone deterioration. Signs of slowly onsetting organ failure. Along with some traces of mana abnormality… I can safely assume that this is some condition original to this world… not even the best doctors of the Asura Kingdom are able to identify it'

Paul couldn't target the issue and reverse it with his abundant supply of mana and knowledge of biological processes.

So there was only one option left to him, to brute force his mother's survival. How? Through the all-encompassing miracle of regeneration, healing magic.

'If I can develop a spell or magic item that heals my mother more than the rate she deteriorates at… it would be able to buy me time until I can find the root cause… only problem is, I lack the resources to conduct such a project'

Paul would need far more detailed reference materials than what his family's library currently possessed.

He needed professionals to whom he could get a second opinion on, and most importantly, he needed privacy for long amounts of time.

'I don't feel like buying slaves to use as guinea pigs, so I will have to use myself or some criminal as a test subject for my experiments, and naturally, I don't want anyone making a fuss about it'

'I have some time alone when I go to the library or late at night, but the fear of being observed or caught would hamper my progress too much… I need my own space far from prying eyes'

And there was only one place he could think of, the dormitories of the Asura Kingdom's academy.

For higher-ranking nobles, their dorms were more akin to personal mansions than conventional dorms, so it was an ideal place for Paul.

Growing Strong. Maximizing his talent. Rewriting the tragedies that would come to him throughout his life. Paul would prepare for all of it in the time he will spend at the academy.

But for now, he needed to focus on the party. He was in no rush to head to the academy, so there was no need for him to panic.

"Mother, please go rest up, I promise I'll tell you all about the party later tonight"

Pleading with his mother with utmost sincerity, the young boy's request immediately tugged at the heartstrings of Valentina who eventually succumbed to her son's puppy eyes and heeded his words.

"Fine… just remember that I'm so proud of you, Paul… mother always loves you"

"Hehe, I know"

With the madame of the household being escorted back to her room by the head maid and butler, only Paul, Amarant, and Corrinthia were left in the room.

It was silent, but it wasn't a silence born from awkwardness. It was merely the result of everyone in the room not needing to communicate with words to become more serious.

"Paul, noble society is a cruel and unforgiving place, far removed from the loving home me and your mother have tried our best to give you… will you be able to hold your own?"

Looking down on his son, Amarant questioned Paul about his willingness to head into the world of nobles.

The question being asked by his sense of duty as the head of house Notos Greyrat, and out of his concern as the child's father.

"Should it be a question, father? Please have more faith in your son"

With a confident glare in his eyes that didn't fit his age and appearance, Paul returned his father's look with one of his own, causing a grin to form on the stern noble's face.

"Heh, I suppose I should. Alright! Maid! Accompany me and my son to the ballroom! We will be making our entrance!"

"As you wish Lord Amarant"

The three began to make their way to their personal entrance to the ballroom. The opening of their doors would eventually mark the birth of a legend to forever be remembered by the Asura Kingdom, The birth and debut of Paul Notos Greyrat.

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Editor:

The Darkest Knight#4796

Word Count:

2k

AN:

Thank you for reading this chapter!