10 Chapter 10: Arthur's Return

Cecil Leywin:

"That will be all for today," Enwyld said, putting away the training sword. "You learned everything I had to show you. Now it's up to you to make it yours."

I imagined my eyes having starred in them right now when he said that.

I convinced Mom to become an adventurer almost a year ago, but I needed Enwyld's approval first. So that's why I've been focusing more on my sword training.

"Does that mean I can become an adventurer?" I asked just to make sure that's what he meant.

"Yes, you can become an adventurer. Now you just have the hardest task left," He paused and looked at me, "To tell this to your mother. I told her it would take at least three years to learn everything, but you did it in one."

I chuckled nervously, thinking about moms reaction when I told her this. It was Dad who proposed I should learn everything from Edwyld first so he would not have a good time.

---

"No! You are still too young!" Mom argued against me becoming an adventurer even after making the deal before.

"Alice, we promised him, and besides, when I was his age, I also wanted to be an adventurer." Dad tried to calm Mom, but it didn't help.

"Reynolds, you were a teen when you became one. He isn't even seven!" Mom yelled and had a scary aura, so I stepped in.

"Mom, you know I'm already stronger than most teens with just my magic, and with Edwyns training, I could rival even the stronger adventures."

"But you are still a kid! What if something happens!?"

"What if I had a guardian with me?" I asked, remembering she allowed Arthur to go when he said that.

"No!"

"Alice, let's talk through this." Dad tried his best to help me, and we spent the next few hours discussing my future as an adventurer.

Dad was a big help in convincing Mom, so I mentally gave him a thumbs up.

Ultimately, it was similar to how it went with Arthur. I would have one of the Twin Horn members as a guardian and come back every few months.

After that, a few days passed with nothing special happening besides the tournament, so I knew Arthur would be here soon. I was currently training with Dad, and after about half an hour, a maid came to tell us he was back.

We didn't waste any time and ran directly to see him.

"Arthur!" Dad and I shouted as we saw him. I missed him, of course I did, he was my brother, so when I saw our family together again, I couldn't hold myself from crying.

"Two Brothers?" Ellie asked, tilting her head before whispering something to Mom.

"Yes, this is Arthur, the big brother we told you stories about."

Ellie's eyes started sparkling at that, and I held myself from chuckling, remembering the embarrassing stories I told her about Art.

---

Arthur explained everything that happened since his fall, withholding the information about Sylvia, and Mom questioned him about the illness he told us about.

"So, what color are your cores now?" Arthur asked, looking at us, and Dad replied with a confident grin.

"With Cecil always training, your old man couldn't fall behind and broke through the red and orange stage and is a dark yellow mage."

Hearing that, Arthur's eyes widened in surprise, and it wasn't a strange dad who was in his early thirties and didn't attend school was incredible, especially without any use of cores or elixirs.

Of course, I secretly purified his core when I got the chance, but even without my help, he would be dark or solid orange.

Then they both looked at me, waiting for an answer. I didn't talk much about my core level with them, and the last time I told them was after masking my core to look solid red.

"Dark Orange..." I told them quietly, not wanting anyone to know my true core yet. Sorry, Mom and Dad, but I also need to have some secrets, I told myself while checking my Dark Yellow core.

To this, all of them were surprised. If I could, I would hide my core more, but this is as far as I could hide it as of right now.

"Enough about me. Art must have asked this to brag about his core." I told them to divert their attention from me.

"Ahh... I'm only at light red." He said, scratching his head.

I just imagined what stage he would be in if he didn't spend three years assimilating with his Beast Will.

He went from Dark Red to Light Red in just a few months after finishing the assimilation, and if I remember correctly, he was light orange before going to the academy.

"Ha, it seems my sons inherited my magical talent," Dad said proudly, only to Mom sigh at dads antics.

Remembering Dad was going to ask Arthur for a spar, I decided to do it myself. It was something I had wanted to do for a while now.

"Let's have a quick spar, Art," I said, grinning.

"It seems magical talent wasn't the only thing he inherited from you, Rey... Sigh... Men. Always trying to fight. Isn't that right, Ellie?" Mom said, shaking her head.

"Brothers are men!" Ellie said, mimicking Mom.

And right on queue as we were about to move to the backyard, the door opened by the Helsteas.

"Rey! I just heard Arthur was alive. What the hell is going on?" Uncle Vincent asked.

"Vincent, this is my eldest son Arthur. Arthur, this is Vincent, my old friend and the person I now work for." Dad introduced them to each other.

After their introduction, Uncle Vince introduced Art to Aunt Tabitha and Lilia.

"It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Arthur Leywin. I'm not sure what my family has told you about me, but I was in contact with them a while back. I also told them not to tell anyone until I got back, so I apologize for the confusion. Thank you for taking care of my family all this time." Arthur said, bowing at a ninety-degree angle.

"Yeah, It's really no problem. I'm glad you're alive and safe... Meet my wife, Tabitha, and my daughter, Lilia." Uncle Vince said, pushing them forward so they were in front of him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am, Lilia." He said and bowed again.

"Great to have you in our home, Arthur."

"Wow, you look almost identical to Cecil," Lilia said, looking at Arthur and me and then noticing Sylvie on his shoulder, "What's that? It's so cute."

"Kyu!"

"This is an infant mana beast that I'm bonded with. Her name is Sylvie."

"Uncle Vince, Aunt Tabitha. Arthur and I were about to have a spar. Do you want to watch?" I asked them, getting slightly impatient and wanting to spar already.

Hearing that, Lilia got excited, "Arthur, are you also a mage?" she asked, forgetting I had already told her he was one some time ago.

"Yeah, Cecil and I awakened early, and I assume you also did."

Lilia became even more excited, "Yeah, I awakened a year ago and broke to solid red a week ago!" She replied.

"If you don't mind me asking, at what stage is your core Arthur?" Uncle Vince asked.

"I'm at the Light Red stage." He answered, which shocked them.

While it wasn't much higher than Lilia, she had the help of expensive elixirs while we couldn't afford them, and many nobles lived on beast cores and elixirs to progress their core.

"L-light red?" Uncle Vince managed to stutter.

"Well, it's nothing compared to Cecil, who is younger than me and is on Dark Orange," Arthur said without thinking much about it, but Lilia had her mouth wide open, and Uncle Vincent looked like he was about to faint.

"Cecil, you are an Orange core mage!" Lilia shouted, surprised. I hadn't told them about my core stage since they first found out I was a mage, and they still thought I was at the red stage.

It took some time, but we finally made our way to the backyard, where Arthur and I started stretching.

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Authors Note:

Thank you for reading this chapter.

During the week, I started writing a new fan-fic, and before I even noticed, I had multiple chapters written, so if you want to read a Tensura fan-fic, check out my profile. The first week will have daily updates.

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