Chapter 4: To the Colosseum

A week and a half later, Shayna and I set off for the capital, it’s three days carriage ride each way. If I ran it would only take a few hours.. which reminds me, I need to figure out how to fly. I can make footholds with magic so maybe I can move them to imitate flying. Wind magic also seems to love me so that’s an option. I’ll add it to my list of experiments.

The carriage ride is uneventful, everything I’ve seen about this country and my father’s domain seem to be peaceful. There aren’t even any beggars on the streets, but who’s to say they don’t exist.

I expected the arena for the exhibition matches to be large because it’s held in the capital, but this place defies my expectations.

It’s like the Roman Colosseum, but it’s more of an ellipse than a circle. There are three stories of seating with what appears to be a booth section at the top of either end. I’m assuming royalty or special guests would sit there and enjoy looking down on the everything. I’m a tad jealous.

It’s early in the morning so the seating area is hardly filled and the matches are amateurish. Young knights are clashing with dulled swords in the center of the arena and all I can think about is how slow they’re moving. There’s also a lot of security in front of the spectator seats? I turn to Shayna-

“Shayna, do you know why the security guards in front of each seating section are facing towards the matches instead of watching the attendees?” I ask, somewhat confused.

“Well Master Alfred, they’re not here to protect attendees from each other, they’re here to protect attendees from the matches in case of rubble or errant magic” she explains.

“I suppose that makes sense, do you think they’re all earth magic users who can put up a protective wall?” I ask and ponder what their capabilities are.

“Those on the ground floor may be, but for the second and third levels they use temporary spatial storage magic to catch whatever may fly towards the spectators” Shayna says.

My eyes start sparkling.

“Spatial storage magic? As in the rare magic affinity like healing magic?” I ask.

“Indeed, you’d never have so many capable users anywhere outside of the capital” she says with a proud smirk.

“Wow that’s amazing, since the current match is just with swords do you think I’d be able to talk to them and ask about their magic?” I make puppy dog eyes to the best of my ability.

“Hmm.. if you’re exceptionally polite and agree to leave them be once magic users take the stage, I’ll allow it” Shayna speaks her conditions before giving permission.

“Thanks so much Shayna, I promise I’ll be the perfect gentleman!” I repl.y

HO HOOOOO what luck, the only rare magic I haven’t seen before and there are 10 of them on the third level alone. If the one in front of our section turns me away, I fully intend on going around to every other until someone is willing to talk to me. I walk up to the woman tasked with protecting our seating section. Ahem, ok, Alfred Pruss is a polite and curious child…

“Excuse me Miss, do you have a moment to answer a question for me?” Right hand across the chest, light bow and now look up with puppy dog eyes.

“Oh hi there, sure, but I only have until this bout is over” a female guard says. She’s petite with short brown hair, I think she’s pretty.

“Thank you very much!" I reply excitedly, "I heard the guards on the upper levels protect these areas from the matches with spatial storage magic. I’ve read about it in books, but I’ve never seen a demonstration before.. would you be willing to show it to me even if only for a moment?” I ask.

The woman smirks and her eyes soften.

“You’re interested in magic kiddo? I can make a small spatial opening for you to see..” she moves a fair amount of magic out of her body and makes it interact with the energy in the air. A small black circle appears where the magic and energy converged.

“Once something goes into this space the caster of the magic will slowly have their magic depleted to keep the space accessible, but also to keep what’s stored safely contained. If I run out of magic before I can remove what’s in the space, it’ll just fly out without any direction” she adds, gesticulating wildly at that last part.

“Wow so that’s why it’s called temporary storage.. is there any way to supplement your magic and keep it open for longer?” I ask.

“We have these spell stones in case we’re running low on magic” she says and retrieves a small red stone from her pocket.

“It’s the only known material in this world that doesn’t break when magic is poured into it. That said they’re hard to find. You can hold it for a second if you’d like to, this one is empty so just don’t drop it ok?” she says before bending down and placing it in my hand.

“Yes Miss, thank you" I reply and hold it in my hand, "it feels like glass, but it’s much heavier. Can actual spells be held in these stones or only magic as a means of fueling spells?” I ask.

“Real masters can do either, but most spell stones are used for magic storage or they have ice magic in them as a means for preserving food. By the looks of it the stone is picking up a bit of charge just from you holding it.. try to push a bit of magic into it” she says while watching the stone intently.

Magic flows from my hand and into the stone where it swirls wildly.

“Alright I’ll try to infuse my magic..” I say, “it looks like the inside is turning, like a little rain storm is happening..”

“That’s what they look like when they’re absorbing magic, you’ve got some potential if you can charge a spell stone at your age” the guard says while looking at me with a pleasant smile.

A yell comes from the center of the arena and catches the woman's attention.

“The next match is up so I can’t talk further, but thanks for helping charge this stone. It’s nice to have as a safety measure” she says.

“I’m glad to help, thanks so much for talking with me!" I nearly shout from excitement.

Spatial storage magic and spell stones. The magic certainly used the energy in the air, but it felt very different from healing magic. Like the magic that lady used was surrounding the energy in the air and destroying it. And the spell stone is another wonder. From the second I touched it I saw it absorbing the magic coming out of me. I tried to hold it in, but it had already absorbed enough for her to notice. I’ll definitely need to work on containing my magic better.

***
Shayna and I watched the entire day of matches, but none of the knights impressed me. They were so slow, sure their technique was polished, but even when they pushed off the ground by sending magic through their feet they didn’t disappear from my vision for a moment. Maybe I expected too much, but a magic using knight should look way cooler than that.

There was one fight that started off insane. A guy made a two-meter-wide fire ball and threw it at his opponent, it wasn’t too fast to dodge, but it had a great crowd reaction. He used large scale fire like that a few times before he ran out of magic and his opponent encased him in ice. Still, it was cool to watch.

“Master Alfred, what did you think of the matches?” Shayna leans in and asks me.

“I liked some of the magic matches, but the swordsmen weren’t as cool as I thought they’d be..” I reply, somewhat sullenly.

“Is that so? Perhaps your sword training has made it seem less impressive, since you know how they’ll move" Shayna says, "I thought the last sword match was quite intense, I could hardly follow their clashes with my eyes” she adds.

“You’re probably right Shayna, either way I had a lot of fun so thank you for taking me!” I say and bow to Shayna.

“I’m happy you enjoyed yourself" Shayna says with a smile and stands up, "now there’s one thing your father asked us to do before we return home, there’s a shop a few blocks from here we need to visit”

Shayna leads me to a jeweler that father placed an order at. I suspect it’s a gift for my mother to commemorate her third child. Much like the arena, this shop is impressive and well built. It's filled with various rings, necklaces, bracelets – even unrefined stones and gems to pick from. The shopkeeper discusses the order with Shayna while his daughter gives me a seat and entertains me.

“Hi there I’m Sophie, I see the unrefined pieces have caught your eye, do you want a closer look?” the shopkeeper’s daughter asks me once I take the seat she offered.

“Oh, um sure, I’m Alfred.." I reply awkwardly, "but I won’t be buying anything aside from what my father already ordered. If you’re trying to make a sale I’m not the best person to talk to..” I add shyly.

She’s gorgeous. Long blonde hair tied off to the right, light blue eyes, porcelain white skin with a touch of color on her cheeks and a pale blue dress over mountainous curves. Yup, she’s good at her job and I just remembered I’m terrified of beautiful women.

“My my, you’re a young man who gets right to the point” she says with a teasing smile, “but there aren’t any other customers and father’s organization leaves much to be desired. We have a few minutes until you’ll be able to go”

“Oh alright, then if you wouldn’t mind showing me some pieces..” I say and Sophie starts pulling pieces from behind a glass case.

“That’s the spirit, now the first one here is a diamond. As far as I know there isn’t anything tougher on the planet so you can pick it up without worrying about it breaking” she says gently.

I take the diamond into my hand and feel its surface.

“Right ok, its edges are sort of sharp, but it’s beautiful in the light” I say while examining it.

It’s like the opposite of the spell stone I held earlier, my magic bounces off of it completely.

“Exactly right, women love diamonds. When you find someone special, or if I’m still unwed in a few years, that’s something to remember. Next to it are high quality gold and silver. They’ll be melted to be formed into jewelry, so you don’t need to be nervous holding them either ok?” she says.

She’s picked up that I’m nervous, but it’s not the jewelry that’s the problem..

“R-Right ok thank you, this lump of gold is smaller than the silver, but it’s heavier..”

I already knew that’d be the case, thank you freshman year science class. But now that I’m noticing it, I can’t stop, my magic interacts with materials differently. Precious metals and gems seem to reflect my magic more than wood, stone and other people do. Diamonds seem to reflect my magic almost entirely. Gold reflects maybe 80% of what it touches and silver around 60%. While spell stones absorb every bit of magic they can. I don’t how I’ll manage it, but I want to go to a mine and test this out..

“Now my favorite combination would be a gold ring or necklace with a large gem shown prominently like here-” Sophie says.

“Sophie are you telling another noble’s son about your taste in jewelry?” the shopkeeper emerges to reel in his ovulating daughter.

Sophie places her hands on her hips and turns to face him.

“Now father, I am simply educating a dashing young man about the world of precious metals and gems. It’ll be useful information when he’s courting a woman” she says.

Sophie turned and winked at me in the middle of that. If Shayna wasn’t here for something important, I think I’d run. 

The shopkeeper sighs and places a small package in front of Shayna.

“Here’s Count Pruss’s order, it’s wrapped well, so it’ll be safe during your trip home” he says.

But Sophie heard something she linked in there.

“My, a count’s son, are you the eldest by chance?” she turns back to me and asks.

“Sophie dear please don’t torture the boy” the shopkeeper says - he’s a good man.

I turn pleading eyes towards Shayna. I’m begging you Shayna, please interject and take the attention off of me. I’m technically 34, but I’m terrified. On cue, Shayna steps forward..

“Master Alfred is indeed Count Pruss’s eldest, he’s a boy far beyond his years and has been sword training a year already. He’s turning into quite the young gentleman” Shayna says boastfully.

If my heart hadn’t been strengthened by hundreds of layers of magic it would’ve just broken. Sophie looked like she was trying to charm me before, but now she’s looking at me the way I look meat. I need to get out of here.

“Shayna, you flatter me, but I still have much to learn. My sword arm isn’t as sharp as the combatants in the matches we saw earlier today” I say, desperately trying to neg myself.

“Oh, is that so? I thought you didn’t find them particularly impressive?” Shayna asks in a teasing tone.

“AHEM - as we discussed, I think understanding how they would fight took some of the excitement away for me, whereas the magicians offered something new and unique” I reply.

Please Shayna, let this end..

“He’s quite well spoken for his age, is young Alfred around seven?” Sophie asks, making Shayna smirk.

“He’s five if you can believe it, we were concerned with how quiet he was until he turned three. But six months later he was having entire conversations with us and asking his family more questions than they had answers too. They had to hire a tutor to satiate the boy” Shayna says and looks at me like a proud mother.

Argh, so I could’ve talked a bit sooner? I guess my cousin was just stupid.

“He’s only five!?" Sophie's jaw bounces off a glass case before she looks me up and down suspiciously, "he’s rather well built.. and he speaks so well, he’s really only five?” she asks again.

While I don’t love all the information sharing, learning I’m five seems to have calmed Sophie’s lust.

“Indeed, his family is quite proud” Shayna answers.

“Well well, I suppose I can wait longer than I expected too” Sophie says, “but we shan’t keep you any longer, it’s been a pleasure Shayna and Young Master Alfred” she adds with a polite bow.

Christ the lust is back, I just got over cringing at being called Master Alfred, but it’s all the way back. Does this world have bleach? I need to drink some immediately.

“Yes, on behalf of the Pruss family you have our thanks" Shayna says then walked to my side, "Master Alfred let’s get going”

Shayna grabs my hand and leads me out of the store, she’s quite the professional because I can see how badly she wants to giggle at embarrassing me. Well, whatever, at least that’s over and we can make our way back home.

***
Three days later we arrive back at my family’s estate. I hadn’t realized it when we left, but my father must’ve been disappointed he didn’t get to watch the matches with me. He practically ambushes me at the door with questions.

“Alfred how was your trip, and the matches? Did you see any inspiring swordplay or magic?” he asks enthusiastically, “and Shayna thank you for escorting him” he says politely.

“Yes father, I think the magicians were my favorite, in one of the last matches a fighter made fireballs taller than you and threw them at his opponent until he ran out of magic. It wasn’t a winning strategy, but it was very entertaining!” I reply.

“That does sound like a spectacle, when you’re older we’ll go together and bring your brother Oliver as well" father says happily then turns to Shayna, "Shayna, were you able to pick up my order in the capital?” he asks.

“Yes Count Pruss, and Young Master Alfred seemed to catch the eye of the shopkeeper’s daughter. She couldn’t leave him alone” Shayna says with a teasing smile.

Bleach, please god where’s the bleach. Young Master - gag.

“Aha he gets his looks from his mother, so it’s no surprise" father says with a chuckle, "what did you think Alfred, did you like the young lady?”

“She was rather beautiful father, but she was very forward. I’m not accustomed to women like her..” I answer honestly.

“HAHAH, yes, I suppose you wouldn’t be" father's laugh booms, "the capital has an intensity you won’t find in your our domain. When you’re a little older you should travel and experience the different types of people you’ll find in this world. It’ll serve you and the family well” he adds.

“Yes father, I’ll look forward to it!” I say enthusiastically.

I do want to travel around, so if he’s suggesting it, I should act excited. I just hope there aren’t many more Sophie’s out there.