Chapter 3: A Great Truth of This World

After My Confinement

26 / Nyttypohu (Neutral) / 673 – 20 days, 0 months, 2 years

After the disastrous first family dinner I had, I spent a week locked in my room, as father had ordered. Not only could I not leave it, but none of my siblings were allowed to visit me either. My meals were also restricted to only hard bread and water. I was a prisoner in every sense of the word.

During this time, I reflected a lot on what had gone wrong during that night’s dinner. I thought that perhaps the classes for nobles were too expensive. There was also the possibility that my actions were seen as a betrayal against my older siblings, as if I wanted to fight for the inheritance of one of them. Another option I considered was that public education was frowned upon in this world and was only given to those who would hold important positions. It could even be the case that, due to religion or something similar, children were prohibited from receiving early education. There were so many possibilities, and I had no clues as to which one might be correct or incorrect.

At the end of my confinement, it was my sister Iri who visited me first. She brought a tray of food, mostly filled with sweets.

- How are you, Lagu? – She asked as she offered me one of the pastries on the tray.

I didn’t know how to respond, so I simply took it in my hands and began to take small bites. As I continued to think about what had happened, a small phrase slipped out in a whisper.

- Why?

- You must try to understand, little Lagu. – Iri overheard my whispers and began to say some words to console me. – Father is a bit difficult to deal with. Your older siblings have some experience talking to him; however, it was too soon for you to have such a direct interaction.

- But, I don’t understand. – I replied, trying to find answers. – What did I do wrong?

- You didn’t do anything wrong; it’s just that what you asked for was impossible.

- Impossible? Why is it impossible to start my studies while I’m still a child?

- That’s just how things are. And I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but I don’t think father has any intention of financing your education in the future either. According to what he told Fily, it would just be a waste of resources to invest in you.

- He won’t pay for my education? Then, what am I supposed to do from now on? Where is my special gift supposed to be? What is my role in this world supposed to be? Maybe, if I ask Fily to teach me what he knows, he could…?

- I’m sorry, Lagu, but that’s not how the world works. No matter how much you want to learn, until you reach maturity, no child of any race has the ability to learn to do anything. It’s something that’s in our nature, and we can’t change it no matter how much we want to. Perhaps, when you reach puberty, we can revisit the topic directly with Fily. However, until then, you’ll have to be patient and let go of your desire to receive knowledge or skills.

It couldn’t be changed no matter how much we wanted to. Those words gave me a clue to understand that it was about the development of children. It was very likely that the children of this world still had an infantile mind and weren’t given education until their brains reached a certain level of maturity.

I must have still been distraught by what had happened and lost in my thoughts while making a strange face, as Iri continued speaking, a bit worried.

- I know it must be hard for you. It was also shocking for the rest of us the first time we saw father angry, and in your case, it was much sooner than we could even warn you. It was your older sister’s fault for not warning you that this could happen. I hope you can forgive me.

My sister began to apologize, but why was she apologizing?

Her words took me by surprise, and it took me a moment to react to what she said. She wasn’t looking at me when she apologized; it seemed like she truly felt guilty about what had happened. At that moment, I remembered the faces of my siblings when father got angry. A look of total fear toward him. “Ah, now I understand!” I thought. My siblings are afraid of father, probably caused by the way he treats them. If that was the case, it was very likely that Iri thought I was traumatized by father’s behavior that night and now didn’t have the sanity to even hold a conversation. Fortunately for both of us, she was wrong.

I was distraught by what had happened, yes, I won’t deny it; but from being confused about what had happened and a bit depressed because my plan didn’t work, to being completely in shock from trauma, there was a long road separating the two.

- Don’t worry, sister. – I began to say in the calmest voice I could, to indicate that I was fine. – Neither you nor my siblings are to blame for anything. It was I who spoke out of turn and asked for something that was impossible. I’ll be more careful in the future to try not to make father angry.

- Little Lagu. – Iri replied as she hugged me. – Try not to carry the weight of the world on your own; remember that you always have your siblings with you to support you.

I nodded, and after a while, we both moved away to start eating the sweets she had brought.

27 / Nyttypohu (Neutral) / 673 – 21 days, 0 months, 2 years

The morning after talking with Iri, I woke up with renewed energy. If what was happening was that children were too young to receive education, it was likely that, if I demonstrated a talent for learning, father would realize that I already had the necessary maturity and that I would be a valuable asset to the family.

The question now was: How could I demonstrate my talent?

The first thing that came to mind was to perform a series of complex calculations that would show I had an understanding of mathematics; of course, performing calculations is usually useless unless those calculations can be applied to something. Another problem with this is that I don’t know the units and the ways things are measured in this world, so if I don’t use a lexicon and symbolism they can understand, my calculations will be taken as the scribbles of a very imaginative child.

The next thing I thought might work was to keep a record of the food in the pantry and track the flow of these items from when they were purchased until they were used in the kitchen for our meals. Something like a pantry inventory that would demonstrate my “innate” skills for resource management. Unfortunately, and again due to the fact that I’m supposedly still ignorant, there was the difficulty of how to put this inventory on paper if I supposedly couldn’t write, read, do math, or count.

The last thing I thought of was to try to make something with materials and techniques similar to those I would use on Earth. Even though it wouldn’t be of the same quality and wouldn’t be a conventional object in this world, if I presented father with something made with my own hands, it would show that, if given the right training, I could be useful in the workshop for my brother Fily.

The questions were: Where would I get these materials and tools? And, perhaps more importantly, what could I do to demonstrate my skills?

To keep things as practical as possible, I thought I should use a single material that didn’t require many tools and was easy to handle. The first thing that came to mind with these characteristics was clay. Literally, it was a type of soil that could be obtained from the ground, it was easy to handle, and if you didn’t mind it not being very durable, many types didn’t need to be heated to dry and harden. However, although there was a forest behind the mansion, we were in the middle of an active volcano, and the soil in the area probably wasn’t very suitable for what I wanted to do.

With that thought, the materials that should be abundant in the area would be rocks, metals, and other types of minerals from the subsurface that were exposed in the volcano’s continuous eruptions. Of course, even on Earth, carving stone was impossible for me without a grinder, and if I didn’t have the equipment to extract and melt metals, they wouldn’t be of much use to me.

If we think about resources that can be obtained in the forest, the next thing that came to mind was wood. If I had some blocks of wood and a knife, I could carve it into shape. The problem would be getting the wood and the knife. Yes, there was a forest behind my house; however, I remind you, dear co-adventurers, that at that time I was just over forty centimeters tall. Not to mention that my physical abilities weren’t very good, and I didn’t have an axe or a saw. Cutting down a tree was simply impossible.

Then I thought: if it’s just blocks of wood, maybe I could pass them off as toys and ask Fily for them. That would leave us with only one problem: the knife. I highly doubted that my siblings would allow someone who had just stopped being a baby to play with something as dangerous as a bladed weapon.

When we ate, we used knives for certain foods; unfortunately, they had to be left on the plate to indicate that one had finished the dish in question, and afterward, a servant would come to clear the plate along with the utensils. I thought that, if I wanted to steal one, I would have to do it directly from where they were stored or during the times when I ate alone in my room, only after the servant had collected it and placed it on the service cart to take it away.

“Another complicated option,” I thought.

I assumed that, if there were no other options, I would have to try whatever I could. Shaping rocks was still impossible; however, with a stroke of luck, I might be able to get soil that worked like clay or manage to steal one of the knives we used for eating. Therefore, I would try both options at the same time, and whichever worked first or better would be what I would use.

That left us with question number two. For those who don’t remember, the question was: What could I do to demonstrate my skills?

“Father was obsessed with the idea of being a noble,” were my thoughts at that moment. “He got to where he is thanks to an invention he had, which earned him a lot of money and the favor of the Jitammuua royalty. If things work the same as on Earth, money equals power.” I’m sorry, dear companions, but that’s a reality we can’t deny. Therefore, I concluded that if I made something that caught attention and could be sold, that might interest father.

Taking as references some stories I knew from Earth, inventions that usually work in these types of situations are forms of entertainment. I came up with two main ideas: making cards like poker or a simple board game like checkers. Of course, if what I wanted to show was that I had skills for crafts, the ideal would be something not as simple as just making tokens or cards with numbers.

Based on these thoughts, I decided at that moment to try making a chess set. The pieces aren’t too complicated; however, they have enough merit if made by hand. The game is hard to master but easy to learn. And it has a certain connection to wars between countries and tactical movements, so it could become popular among nobles as well.

Having made that decision, all that was left was to gather the materials and start working.

Gathering the Materials.

27 / Nyttypohu (Neutral) / 673 - 21 Days, 0 Months, 2 Years.

Having made a decision about what I needed to do, I decided to leave my room and explore the mansion and, if possible, its surroundings as well. Being the son of the mansion’s owner didn’t guarantee me access to all areas, so I thought it would be good to start by understanding the terrain I could move around in.

I stepped into the hallway, wondering if I would run into any of my siblings; however, there was no sign of any of them. They were likely busy with their morning activities, and we wouldn’t cross paths so easily. For a moment, I considered knocking on one of the rooms or the recreation room to see if I could visit them when needed. However, the ones who might help me would be Iri or Fily, and both were probably busy, so I didn’t want to disturb them without a real reason.

I walked past the doors of the rooms and headed toward the reception area, which also served as a ballroom. Several maids, all belonging to the gpwn race, were cleaning the hall. I hadn’t been there before, but according to Iri, the hall was so large because Father regularly hosted balls or tea parties. Apparently, the nobles used these events to flaunt their power, measuring both the number of events held in a year and the amount of money invested in them.

By the way, I don’t think I mentioned this before, but the primary currency in this world isn’t a precious metal, as in the fantasy stories I’ve read, nor is it paper money, like the bills on Earth. The currency of exchange in this world is mana.

For those who don’t remember, mana is that magical energy used as fuel to power the techno-magic of this world, and it can be found in the form of stones, better known as nefakape. Depending on their size and type, these stones are assigned a unit of value, which is used as currency in the world. I know it doesn’t seem like an efficient system at first glance, but since the evaluations are done automatically by the system, similar to the video games I mentioned earlier, prices are stable, and you’re rarely scammed during a transaction.

Returning to the topic, I didn’t think I could find anything useful in this place, so I moved on to the dining room.

Except for the first day of the week, when we had the family dinner, the dining room was never used, and everyone ate either in their own room or someone else’s. At that moment, I thought the dining room might be empty; unfortunately, when I entered, I noticed several maids inside, so stealing one of the knives from the silverware wouldn’t be easy.

I tried to sneak into the room without making noise. There were about eight maids: two were cleaning the floors, two were polishing the furniture, and the last four were waxing the silverware. However, none of them noticed when I entered the dining room.
Quickly, I tried to hide under the chairs to avoid being seen. I crawled as quietly and quickly as I could, positioning myself at one end of the table and hiding under a chair.

At that moment, I knew it was risky to continue my infiltration. When I entered, I had acted on impulse and had been lucky so far, but I didn’t know how long this streak of luck would last. The maids seemed very focused on their tasks, so they wouldn’t notice me as long as I didn’t make much noise. Besides, I didn’t know when I’d have another chance to get this close to the cutlery.

I did a quick scan: the four maids polishing the silverware were sitting at the dining table, while the boxes containing the utensils had been placed on the floor. With a bit of luck, one of them would be full of knives, and no one would notice if one went missing. I looked to the left, I looked to the right: there were spoons and forks of all imaginable sizes, but none of the boxes contained knives.

“Are they polishing all the knife boxes right now!?” I screamed internally.

- Young master, what are you doing in a place like this? You’re going to get dirty if you keep crawling around the mansion like that.

“Damn it! My luck ran out faster than I thought.” I cursed under my breath as I turned and saw that one of the maids cleaning the floor had discovered me. She probably wanted to start cleaning under the table and that’s when she found me.

- I’m sorry, I just wanted to play a little prank and scare you all.

I said quickly to hide my true intentions. I’m not proud of it, but even though I deeply hate lying, I consider myself a good liar.

- Ains! – The maid who had discovered me sighed. – You shouldn’t be playing pranks like that. We’re already very busy with the general cleaning and preparing things for Master Alzyryap’s New Year’s party; that’s why I ask you not to make us work even more. If you’re bored, why don’t you go play in the central garden?

- Yes, alright, I’ll do that.

Reluctantly, I crawled out from under the table and left the dining room.
“I was so close to getting it,” I lamented as I walked through the halls, until I noticed what she had said. “Why don’t you go play in the garden? That’s what she said. That meant that, as long as I stayed within the mansion’s limits, no one would stop me if I wanted to go out and ‘play,’ right?”

With that thought in mind, I ventured out into the garden. I had already given you, dear adventure companions, a vague description of the garden because, when I passed by one side with Fily, I had only glimpsed it. However, standing in the center of the garden itself was something mind-blowing.

Let’s start this little grand tour at the entrance. The entire garden was surrounded by a wall of arched shrubs, two on each side, which served as entrances. On the sides of the arches were what I thought were mosaics made of knotted fabrics between the branches to represent epic scenes from history. However, when I approached one of them, I noticed that they weren’t fabrics but rather small, colorful flowers with four inner petals and four outer ones, forming a square. They grew in very specific places to serve as pixels and create a more or less clear image from a distance.

“How on earth did they get the flowers to grow like this?! This can’t be real.” That was my first thought, denying the possibility that they were real. To my greater surprise, when I reached out to touch one, the petals felt soft and completely natural.

“Magic is amazing,” was my next thought.

Upon entering, the garden was divided into eight secondary sections and one main one. The secondary sections were attached to the walls, separated by wide stone paths used to move from one section to another. Inside each section were planters, center tables, chairs, and some statues of dwarves, likely historical figures of the kingdom. The most incredible thing was that each piece was unique, as if they had taken huge blocks of marble and carved them little by little until they achieved the desired shape.

An exquisite job, if I may say so myself.

As for the main section, it featured what at first glance appeared to be a monumental stone gazebo. However, as I approached, I felt it was made of a kind of grayish wood that mimicked the texture and shine of marble.

At the heart of the gazebo, a magnificent fountain with finely sculpted ornaments had been built. At its center stood a detailed sculpture of a human woman, graceful and serene. Her finely sculpted features seemed almost real, as if she could come to life at any moment. Later, I learned that this figure represented Holot Zollor, the goddess of diligence, a deity revered in the pantheon of the luminous gods.

Knowing I wouldn’t find anything of value in the gazebo, I decided to approach the planters. I tried digging a little, but to my disappointment more than surprise, the soil had a high organic content. You see, back on Earth, I had read that soil usually has three proportions that define its characteristics. If I remember correctly, these three characteristics are silt soils, which have high organic content; sandy soils, which contain large, crystalline minerals; and clay soils, which contain tiny minerals known for their high water retention.

For my purposes, I needed clay soil. This type of soil retains large amounts of water, making it easy to handle. Additionally, due to its small particles, it becomes sticky when wet but hardens when dry, making it perfect for shaping figures.
In any case, this soil wasn’t going to be useful for my needs. Disappointed, I decided to search in the forest behind the mansion.

Exiting through one of the back doors, without any of the servants stopping me, I found myself facing a dense and mysterious forest. The trees, tall and robust, grew so close together that their lush canopies formed a natural roof, plunging the interior into dim light.
To my left, a winding path cut through the underbrush, connecting the mansion to the servants’ cabin. To the right, a stream meandered gracefully. At first glance, it seemed like a natural watercourse, but a keen observer might notice the subtle magical marks outlining it. This stream descended from an invisible point in the hills, elegantly crossing behind the mansion.

The water in the stream, crystal clear and glowing faintly blue, disappeared underground beyond the mansion, transforming into an underground stream that traveled to the unknown depths of the forest. My brother Fily had told me that this same stream fed the well in the servants’ cabin, providing pure, refreshing water that never ran dry, regardless of the season.

I approached the stream and, with a sharp stone I found on the ground, dug a little along the banks to determine the soil quality. I wet a small mound of dirt I had made, and it became somewhat pasty, but it didn’t seem to have the right texture indicating a high clay content. While it wasn’t bad soil, it wouldn’t be suitable for creating figures that could hold their shape after drying.

- I guess it won’t be that easy, huh? – I said to myself, disappointed.

“Maybe upstream or near the servants’ cabin, there’s a different type of soil,” I thought. However, leaving the mansion’s grounds without adult supervision might be forbidden for children. If I wanted to explore on my own, the best option would be to take the path to the servants’ cabin. “That way, if I get caught, I can say I just missed my old room and wanted to visit it,” I reasoned.

Without further thought, I took the rock, which seemed like a good digging tool, and headed toward the cabin. The path was easy to navigate because a cobblestone road had been laid for the servants to come and go every day, and it wasn’t too far.

When I arrived, I noticed that none of the servants were around, likely because they were busy with their daily tasks. Taking advantage of this, I went to the well and drew a bucket of water. It struck me as odd that the servants still used a pulley system to lower and raise a wooden bucket to get water, while the mansion’s rooms had a drainage system that allowed us to have water anytime by simply turning a faucet. This made me realize for the first time that social groups in this world might be more divided than I thought.

“This is another reason to secure my future from now on,” my thoughts at that moment reaffirmed my decision.

Hopeful but not overly optimistic, I started digging and noticed that the soil was layered, transitioning from a light grayish color to a deep black as I dug deeper. I decided to dig a larger area and separate the soil by its shade. With the bucket of water nearby, I took a handful of the grayish soil and began kneading it with some water. To my surprise, it became sticky as I added water little by little, and after kneading it for several minutes and adjusting the water amount, I ended up with a workable mass with the texture I was looking for.

“Finally, I found something I can work with!” I almost cried with happiness as I thought this.

After this stroke of luck, I thought, “How lucky am I right now that the darker soil might also be clay?” Unfortunately, my luck didn’t hold, and the darker soil, which I could have used to make the black chess pieces, didn’t meet my expectations.

“Well, you can’t have everything in life, I guess.”

It occurred to me that if I mixed some of the grayish soil with the darker one, I might be able to dye it somehow, and although the color difference wouldn’t be as stark, it could work as a prototype. And so, I began making the chess pieces.

My Second Encounter with Father.

7 / Eftek (Fire) / 674 - 1 Day, 1 Month, 2 Years.

After obtaining the materials to make the chess set, I spent about four days experimenting with the best proportions to mix the two types of soil with water. After that, I achieved good results, obtaining two pastes that were easy to handle and, when hardened, remained firm to the touch and somewhat durable.

With the pastes ready, I set out to shape the pieces and the board. For the board, I first made two rectangular slabs of a single shade, the lightest and most durable, and then added small squares of both shades on one side to represent the board's squares.

For the pieces, I started with elongated cylinders and either reduced or added clay as needed. The details remained simple, and I added them once the base for each piece was half-dry; this way, they wouldn’t be destroyed during handling, and the decorations would stick properly to the base.

For a moment, I thought that having only four fingers on my hand, unlike the five humans have on Earth, would make it difficult to handle the clay. However, to my surprise, my new hands were dexterous, and I could manipulate the clay well; in fact, their small and slender size compared to my hands in my past life helped me create finer details.

There was also an important point to consider regarding the pieces: what form should they take? It wasn’t correct to assume that the logic of this world would be the same as Earth’s, so I couldn’t use the same characters as in traditional chess. Based on what I had learned about this world so far, kings existed here, so the king could remain as it was, the most important piece and the one that needed to be protected at all costs.

Now, this world has a system similar to a video game, as I mentioned before. Because of this, the figurines I had to play with were very similar to some of the classes in my favorite games from my past life. Based on that, I decided that the queen would be an archmage, one of the most powerful and versatile classes in terms of firepower. The bishop became a hunter, as they can make unexpected diagonal shots from places where the enemy can’t see them. The knights turned into a kind of assassin, as their incredible agility allows them to slip through enemies and deliver a fatal blow to seemingly protected pieces. The rooks became berserkers, the heavy artillery of any fantasy world that can charge forward without stopping. Finally, the pawns were represented by paladins with large shields; although many underestimate these pieces, from the start, the pawn line functions as a sturdy wall to protect the rest of the pieces.

After another five days of work, I was ready to present my creation to Father. Just in time, I had to admit, because on the night of the next day, the seventh of Eftek, we would have another family dinner where I could see him.

These family dinners were held every week, and I had heard from Fily that we could give gifts to Father on these occasions. When I was still a baby, I wasn’t allowed to attend. After growing up, the first dinner was when the disaster occurred, and I was locked in my room for a week. Due to my confinement, I missed what should have been my second dinner. A week after that, Father and my older siblings, Fily, Zypik, and Iri, were invited to the New Year’s celebration hosted by the royal family; because of that, the family gathering for that week couldn’t take place. This would also be the first time I saw Father after that misunderstanding.

Perhaps it was too soon to present myself with a new surprise, but I preferred not to delay things. I took the boards, used some velvet bags from my toys to store the pieces, packed everything in my clothes, making sure they weren’t too tight to restrict my movement or risk breaking anything, and headed to the family dining room.

The pre-dinner ceremonies were identical to the last time. First, we waited outside the dining room for Father to arrive. After that, the doors opened for us, and we lined up in front of him, waiting for his permission to take our seats. We ate in silence, and after finishing the meal, we proceeded to report to Father one by one. I waited somewhat impatiently until it was finally my turn. Father’s assistant approached him and whispered something in his ear before he addressed me.

Zlagwnil, I see you’ve rejoined your siblings at the family dinner. I hope this time of reflection has helped you realize your past mistakes.

From his tone and the words he used, it was likely that Father not only didn’t remember my name, just as he didn’t remember my sisters’ names, but he had also probably forgotten the entire incident from over three weeks ago or how long I had been locked up and when I had been allowed out again. Undoubtedly, it seemed more and more that Father had no interest in his children outside of Fily and Zypik.

That’s right, Father. – I lied without hesitation. Honestly, what I was thinking at that moment was: how am I supposed to reflect on my mistakes if no one explained what I did wrong? But getting angry wouldn’t get me anywhere. – I truly regret what happened before.

I’m glad to hear that. You may return to your daily life like your other siblings. – He replied, confirming to me that he really wasn’t aware of anything related to us, his children, since it had been about ten days since my punishment had ended.

I appreciate it, Father. Also, as a sign of repentance, I’ve brought you a gift that I hope you’ll like.

I took out the board pieces along with the bags containing the figurines and placed them in front of me while bowing.

What is this supposed to be?!

Father shouted as he stood up, surprised by my gift.

It’s a little game I made in my free time. It’s a strategy game, and its rules are very simple and easy to learn. If you’ll allow me, I can explain them.

I started taking the pieces out of the bags and arranging them on the board.

Zypik, did you authorize your brother to buy this thing?! – Father shouted for some reason.

That’s not the case. I have no idea how this item was purchased. – My brother replied in a tone that made it clear he had nothing to do with it.

That’s normal, since I didn’t buy it. I know it’s hard to believe, but, as I mentioned earlier, I made it myself with some materials I found in the forest behind the mansion. – I wanted to clarify so no one would think I had stolen materials from the workshop or money to buy it. – Since low-quality materials were used, the durability and finish aren’t what I’d like. However, I hope the idea appeals to you, and we can improve the craftsmanship in the future by using higher-quality materials and proper tools.

Fiwlyr! Did you make these things?!

No… Father… I also have nothing to do with this.

Fily said hesitantly, with a hint of fear in his voice. Father began walking toward me. He walked slowly with a neutral expression, so I couldn’t read his face properly and figure out what he was thinking. I panicked and tried to say something to gauge his reaction.

As I said, my siblings didn’t help me with this. I made them myself. If you look closely at the materials, it’s just clay. It’s something simple to obtain and abundant in the backyard, so…

I couldn’t finish what I wanted to say when Father stomped hard on the board along with the pieces, shattering my ten days of work as if it meant nothing. I froze in place, and Father punched me in the face, knocking me to the ground. Without giving me a moment to recover, he climbed on top of me and began hitting me while shouting things like “damn thief,” “filthy liar,” “failure of a son,” and similar insults.

Due to the shock and pain of the first blows, I couldn’t defend myself in any way and was unilaterally beaten by him. At first, the blows didn’t hurt much. They felt like sharp stings that disappeared almost immediately. However, after a few hits, I began to feel each blow directly, and my face started to swell where he struck.

I began bleeding from my nose and mouth. My eyes swelled, making it hard to see clearly. Gradually, I felt myself losing consciousness. I thought I might die at that moment. My adventure in another world had only lasted two years and a few days; most of that time I spent as a baby who slept all day, and now, when I finally had some freedom, I had caused my own father to beat me to death. Could there be a more pathetic end to my second life? What do you think?

Whatever my thoughts were at that moment, I certainly didn’t die. If I had, I wouldn’t be writing this now.

Please stop, you’re going to kill him!

It was Iri who saved me. She shouted in a plea for Father to stop. Our father, completely enraged by the interruption, got off me and started moving toward Iri. I thought he would hit her too, but just as he was about to deliver the first blow, it was Fily who intervened this time.

What my sister is trying to say, dear and honorable Father, is that if a family member, no matter how insignificant or annoying, dies without reason, it will be frowned upon by the other noble families of the kingdom.

Father swung his arm forcefully despite hearing Fily’s words, but he didn’t hit Iri. Instead, he lightly patted her cheeks and said:

How wise you are, my daughter. Certainly, that would be frowned upon by those scoundrels, and they would try to use it against us. It’s best to let your brother live. I’m tired of all this; I’ll leave it to you to make sure that ungrateful wretch doesn’t die. And Zypik, I entrust you with finding out how he obtained that low-quality thing. It’s likely that some mediocre craftsman snuck in without us noticing and deceived your useless brother.

Without another word, Father began to leave, and my siblings remained silently bowing as he did. After he left, Iri ran over with Fily to check on me.

Quick, Azy, you can heal Lagu, right? We need you to use your magic before he dies. Don’t worry about what Father might think; we’ll come up with something later to explain why you had to heal him with magic.

Azyripa ran over to us after hearing Fily’s words and chanted some prayers in the language of the gods:

"w, pey juwhon butujesxew, res xook veleok kytexyxun husopuhyx ux hukohfyx. kytyxew."

As she finished reciting, a warm light began to envelop me, and my wounds started to heal little by little. When I was sufficiently recovered, Iri helped me sit up again. I couldn’t help it and began to cry after the shock of what had happened subsided a bit. Iri hugged me and tried to comfort me.

There, there. It’s all over now, little Lagu. You’ll be fine, I promise.

I… I just… I don’t understand, what am I doing wrong? What am I supposed to do to please Father? – I began to vent almost without thinking about my situation.

It’s not your fault, Lagu. – This time, it was Fily who spoke. – Iri had already warned me: you’re too smart for your age and genuinely concerned about finding your place in the family. I’m the one who should have talked to you before you told such a lie to Father.

Lie? What lie?! – In my own helplessness and being called a liar, I exploded and unjustly directed my frustration at my brother. - I didn’t lie about anything; I really worked hard to make something that Father might like!

Enough, Lagu. Saying that doesn’t help, and we know full well that it’s impossible for you to have made those figurines.

Are you accusing me too?! What do I have to do to make you believe me?

I’m sorry, Lagu, but there’s nothing you can do to prove you’re not lying. This is something I should have explained to you earlier.

Fily picked up some of the broken clay pieces and said something in an incomprehensible language that I couldn’t understand. When he finished speaking, the clay turned into tiny particles of light that gathered in the palm of his hand, forming a nefakape.

This is the first time you’ve seen one, but this is a nefakape. It’s a stone formed by concentrating mana, the sacred energy that gives rise to everything in the universe, into a single object. All the materials we craftsmen use are collected this way, and we can shape them as we desire.

Fily spoke again in the same unknown language, and the nefakape transformed into a detailed figurine of a paladin. The details in the clay figure were so intricate that the ones I had presented earlier paled in comparison to what Fily had made.

With sufficiently developed crafting skills, the right stats, and the optimal recipe, we craftsmen can work these materials, just as you’ve seen. – My brother placed the figurine on the ground and began unbuttoning his shirt to reveal his chest. – To do this, we need to use our shakxyl. There’s no other way to make the pieces you brought, and your shakxyl is still too immature to use skills. This organ doesn’t fully mature until we reach adulthood.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. These were the crafting techniques of this world, something completely unfair. Fily had made in seconds something that would take me months to create. I couldn’t believe it; I refused to believe it. At that moment, I was so unwilling to accept reality that I clung to a small possibility: there was something that didn’t add up in his story.

That’s impossible! It can’t be! If what you’re saying is true, how can Azyripa use skills? How did she heal me with magic?

Your sister Azy is a special case, Lagu. – It was Iri who answered. – She was blessed by one of the gods from birth and became a ypwkxwle. A servant of the gods. Thanks to that miracle, she was born with her shakxyl fully developed. That’s also why she always carries a large book; it’s a tool that allows her to communicate with her god. Furthermore, to acquire any skill, you need to have made an offering to the gods, which is why it’s simply impossible for you to have made the gift you brought to Father.

It was still hard for me to accept, but I couldn’t deny the facts any longer. Certainly, it wasn’t impossible to do things with our own hands—what I had done was proof enough—but it was something that simply didn’t fit the logic of this world.

Let’s put it this way, dear adventure companions: if you had to spend months preparing and working hard to achieve something, or you could simply absorb a little stone and magically create an object you desire, learn a skill to rival the best in the world, acquire the knowledge of experts, and all of that in seconds, which option would you choose? Even better, if this second option had always been there, would you ever have even considered taking the hard path?

It wasn’t my siblings and Father who were wrong, certainly. I had simply done something that defied the logic of this world because of how incredibly foolish it was. Manual labor could never even compare to magical creation, and that’s an irrefutable fact. I realized that my mistake had been in believing that Earth’s common sense could apply to this world.

I… understand… I’m really sorry for causing so much trouble. – I finally said, defeated.

You don’t have to apologize, Lagu. – Fily replied. – As I said, I should have talked to you earlier to explain this and many other things. What I can say is that this time we managed to stop Father, but next time I’m not sure if using external rumors will stop him again. You need to understand that what you did was dangerous and even put Iripca in danger this time.

Yes, I’m really sorry about that. I promise I won’t do something so reckless again. – I said, completely surrendering my efforts.

I’m glad you understand. – My brother replied again. – As for your concern about finding your place in the family, I must say you don’t need to worry about it anymore. We’ve already arranged everything for when you come of age.

Really?! – I asked expectantly. Fily’s words had brought renewed hope to my soul.

Yes, you don’t need to worry. By the time you come of age and Father kicks you out of the mansion, I’ll have saved enough to secure you a good location in the upper districts of the city. In addition, I’ll allocate some of my personal income to give you a pension; with it, you’ll be able to live without worrying about your future.

“Ah, I see. So that’s what he meant,” I thought. Fily wasn’t saying that I would be allowed to acquire skills and have my own profession in this world; he was telling me that I should simply forget about doing anything with my life and live quietly on the kindness he was showing me.

I admit that he had the best intentions possible; however, it cruelly wounded my pride.

It seemed that, in my future, I wouldn’t be able to stop being a nuisance and a burden to my siblings, just as Father had thought since my birth.

I don’t clearly remember what else was said or what we did that night. I fell into a state of depression, and when I regained some clarity, I was already lying in my bed.