"Should we try those other fruits too ?" Elijah suggested after seeing that Sebastian wasn't having any better ideas. He didn't expect to awaken his magic, he had come to terms with his current inability. But, he really wanted to taste all those other fruits.
"Huh ? What do you mean ?" Sebastian stopped his movements and looked towards Elijah with pity. 'He must think that different fruits have different qualities, he's but a child'.
"Young master, eating more than one fruit doesn't have any special or qualitative effect." He explained with a tone filled sympathy and worry.
"I want to give it a try" Elijah declared in a decisive tone maintaining his poker face. 'Give me those damn fruits as a compensation to ruin my magical dreams'
"But,…Let's give it a try" Sebastian went and plucked a neon coloured pear. Elijah received the fruit and started eating it.
"It's better than previous one" Elijah mumbled
"Really? Can you perceive mana now?" Sebastian was filled with joy and asked in anticipation.
'It tastes better than that apple' Elijah didn't felt necessary to clarify that, " Sebastian it feels much better than the earlier one, please give me some more"
"Huh.. what?.. sure" Sebastian hesitated at first, but then feeling hopeful he quickly went and brought back a blue star shaped fruit.
"Hmm,this one tastes quite unique" Elijah closed his eyes savouring the taste.
' By any chance he is, no that can't be true' Sebastian shrugged off his uneasy thoughts and continued to observe his young master's actions.
After finishing up the third fruit Elijah's five year old belly became full and he felt quite disappointed with his little appetite. He stood up from the bench and started walking towards the exit.
"Young Master ?"
"Let's go report this to mother and" after a slight pause he asked "is there any other way to become strong, if one cannot use magic?"
Sebastian walked behind Elijah watching his tiny back, his heart was filled with admiration for Elijah, at his resolve and the ability to still have hope, which was rare for a five year old in this world full of mana and magic.
"One can train his body and soul even without magic" there was hesitation in his voice "there are some ancient techniques of martial arts which have become rudimentary due to development of magical arts" he continued, "more importantly, young master, there are still other ways to awaken magic during puberty, so don't lose hope yet" he declared in a determined voice
' I hope they don't involve any near death experiences' Elijah mumbled in his head.
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Alina's hand caressed Elijah's cheeks, she turned him around and placed both of her hands on his back, a faint golden light started to shine from her palms covering whole of Elijah's body. Alina's expression became complicated and her forehead started sweating.
"Your body and mana channels seem to be healthy, but your soul is getting unstable for some reason, how could it be ?" Alina mumbled, ' we knew at his birth that he had too strong of a soul for being a newborn, but it was dismissed as something good, this is unprecedented.' Alina tried to make sense of it all and she came to a possible conclusion regarding her son's inability to awaken magic.
"Magic awakening involves the balance between body, soul and mind to stabilise the body after forming a mana core, may be I was in too much of a hurry." She paused and then continued,
"But, your body is too weak to handle both your soul and mana core at the same time, maybe, that's why it's rejecting mana. Your body has no trace of mana even after five years, it's concerning." Alina said in a concerned and speculative tone.
"Mother, I want to live a peaceful life" Elijah blurted out his inner thoughts in front of his mother, which made her mother worried and a sorrow crept over her face. Elijah was unaware of all this as his back was facing her. Alina removed her hands from his back and stood up, quickly removed the sorrow from her face.
" It's not all bad, if we look at it from another perspective" Alina declared in a determined voice
'Yeah, that's what I told myself when I was dying surrounded by marigolds' Elijah retorted in his head thinking about his last moments on earth.
"My son, you have to first start strengthening your body to contain and stabilise your soul, then it's possible, no I'm certain that then you'll be able to perceive mana and awaken your mana core" she continued and declared in a reassuring tone.
Sebastian nodded in agreement and felt that a weight was lifted from his chest,
"My lady I'll personally train young master" Sebastian declared
Elijah turned around and watched as two of them started discussing plans regarding his future. A discussion full of enthusiasm took place between the two of them with occasional determined or excited glances towards him from his mother. 'This doesn't seem right, they are behaving like some company employees, who got a big deal just when they were about to go bankrupt. This doesn't seem like a conversation between a countess and her butler, it's more like she's his granddaughter or something' Elijah observed the discussion which was not going to end any time soon.
He made himself comfortable in his mother's office and began eating cookies which were laid on her mother's table, 'she seems to have a bit of sweet tooth.' Then he observed all the of piles of documents in the room and a small portrait which was placed in the corner of the table shadowed by all the papers. There were seven people in that portrait, a young man with deep crimson coloured hairs and green eyes, Arthur, holding two red head twins with golden eyes in his hands stood in the middle; a blonde beautiful girl with golden eyes same as the twins was standing beside Arthur, she must be the Dragon princess, 'damn she looks so beautiful'. Elijah picked up the portrait and started staring at it.
Behind the happy couple stood Sebastian and his mother, she seems too young, around thirteen or fourteen years old. There was another middle aged man with red hairs and green eyes standing between Sebastian and Arthur, he must be my grandfather father, Abraham, the third head.
'Damn, the whole family looks like models, I also want red hairs and green eyes' Elijah became jealous of his own new family.
Observing the continued discussion between his mother and Sebastian he let out a deep sigh in his mind, 'she must have had a hell of a difficult experiences and the dumb me told her that I want a peaceful life.'
''I'm truly living a sad excuse for life, haaaa" Elijah mumbled and continued to sigh at himself.