[Interlude] Filehien Drei Menexes (1)
Continental Calendar 570 ~
The town where I grew up was part of the Menexes Kingdom, in a vast territory to the east known as the Turmare Margraveate.
Three nations bordered it, but none were hostile, so it was a peaceful town. Precisely because the territory was so large, its forests were wide, and it even had a dungeon, which meant there were many knights to keep the peace.
The former Turmare Margrave who raised me said that my parents were the king and queen of this kingdom. If that were true, I couldn’t help wondering why I, supposedly a prince, wasn’t living in the royal capital.
I always assumed he said that so I wouldn’t feel sad about not having parents. His daughter was said to be one of the king’s concubines, and apparently I was supposed to be her son.
The current Margrave was the younger brother of the woman claimed to be my mother, making him my uncle, but since he worked out of the townhouse in the capital, I had never met him either.
Well, I suppose you can’t exactly introduce a fictional person as your nephew.
My grandparents—the former Margrave couple—managed the entire vast territory, and I was raised there.
But I never once felt any sense of a grandparent-and-grandchild relationship with them.
Until I could take care of myself to some degree, I spent my time in the Margrave’s large mansion.
I’m not sure how normal nobles live, but I ate my meals alone in my room, and the teacher came to my room for lessons. Only when practicing swordsmanship did I get to go out to the training grounds; the rest of the time, I stayed in my room.
I had no memory of ever eating together with my grandparents. In fact, we never interacted or spoke at other times either.
I heard the current Margrave had children of his own and that they were being raised in the townhouse. That meant one of them was the heir.
So why was I even in this house? I wasn’t taught anything about succession, and my grandparents never forced anything onto me. I understood very well that no one expected anything from me.
I received my baptism at the age of seven.
When I was baptized at the Church, it was declared that my strong attributes were Darkness, Earth, and Fire. Because of that, the bishop commanded every noble present not to speak of it.
Most children had two attributes at most, but I had three, and on top of that, one of them was the rare Darkness attribute.
People with Darkness were few, and in this kingdom, they appeared only among the royal family and high nobles like dukes.
Even with the gag order, children were present at the ceremony, so news spread among them regardless.
Rumors that I might be related to the royal family were inevitable.
My eyes were the same violet as the king’s. The Turmare Margrave had said, “That’s the very mark of royalty,” but because of that, people started saying I was “the king’s illegitimate child.”
But the king’s hair was blond, and so were the crown prince’s and the second prince’s. My hair was a grayish white, so the local nobles teased me: “Your magic and eyes might be similar, but with hair that shabby, you must be the useless bastard of Duke Raftara.”
Raftara was the current king’s uncle, a duke with nothing but pride and no true ability.
He had a bad habit with women, and aside from his legal wife, he was rumored to have children all over the place.
He didn’t even have violet eyes, but people claimed it might be a skipped-generation trait.
That was the sort of childhood I had, but when I turned twelve, the former Margrave decided to send me to a magic academy in a neighboring country—perhaps to give me an education, or simply to get me away from the local nobles.
“By meeting many people at the academy, broaden your horizons.
If you find a wonderful opportunity and wish to go on a journey, that’s fine too.
But we will always be waiting for you to come home. We could never be your true parents, but we think of you as our son.”
He told me that the day before I left for the academy.
Until then, they had never treated me like parents, maintaining a distant but not cold relationship, so I was shocked they would suddenly say such things.
Still, I was glad for the chance to leave the town and its nobles behind.
The dorms were fully residential, and noble students were allowed to bring servants.
But since I had been living in the servants’ quarters since my baptism, I could take care of myself. I didn’t want them spending unnecessary money and then charging me for it later, so I chose to stay in a two-person dorm room.
“I am grateful for all the years you have supported my life.
From here on, I will attend the magic academy, and after graduation I plan to travel the continent as an adventurer to broaden my knowledge.”
When I went to thank the Margrave in his office, he looked terribly sad, but I still didn’t understand why.
◆◇◆◇◆◇
The academy was in the Lizmoni Kingdom, so we traveled by ship.
By land, it would have taken two months, but the large river-ship from the Turmare territory could reach the coastal town in only three weeks.
We passed through the three small nations of Heilan, Fimro, and Milad. The ports of those countries bustled with trade, and watching the lively scenes from the deck was enjoyable.
“This ship always sticks close to the shore. Wouldn’t it be faster if it sailed farther out?”
The ship’s crew consisted of people skilled in Wind and Water mana who managed the route and speed.
After a week of sailing, we’d gotten familiar with each other, and when I asked, they gave me a baffled look.
“You’re from a big kingdom, right, kid? The sea’s got monsters. Land monsters come in all sizes, sure, but sea monsters tend to be huge.
And the farther you get from land, the more space they’ve had to grow. Sailing far from shore is suicide.
At night, they come into relatively shallow water. That’s why we always make landfall by evening.”
I had seen adventurers on deck occasionally fighting off monsters, but I didn’t realize how dangerous the sea really was.
I had trained in weapons and mana, but I’d never been able to register as an adventurer.
I learned about land monsters from the knights, but since the Turmare territory wasn’t near the sea, I knew nothing about the ocean.
Now I understood why the ship left before sunrise and stopped at a port a little after noon.
I’d thought we could reach sooner by sailing through the night—but that was far too dangerous.
Ports apparently had anti-monster devices, and if the ship arrived late, it might have to moor outside their protective range.
That was why such a large ship always entered port while there was still daylight.
“File… what was it? Henerhen? Complicated name. I’m calling you Fil.”
“Oh, Fil’s got two attributes? Fire and Earth, huh. With those you can do fine as an adventurer. Earth’s good for defense, and for offense, Fire’s the best.”
After two weeks, I’d also become friendly with the adventurers escorting the ship.
A party of four—two archers and two mages—who mainly worked ship escorts.
“Swordsmen hardly get to shine in sea escorts. Hup!”
“Right, right. Sea monsters come from above or below, so without ranged attacks you can’t hit ’em. Wind Cutter!”
The archers, Marcelo and Kuzma, stayed alert while casually shooting things down.
Leerzel, skilled in Wind mana, talked while firing spells into the sky.
Dirk, skilled in Water mana, created walls of water to block incoming fish swarms.
Because my name was too long, they began calling me Fil, and from noon to evening after landfall, they taught me mana and archery.
Adventurers usually formed parties with people of similar skill levels. Solo adventurers existed, but entering dungeons alone was dangerous, so they sometimes formed temporary parties—but if you didn’t know the person, they could be more dangerous than the monsters.
I… preferred to be solo, though.
Their party’s name was “Water Dragon’s Shield.” Adventurers could choose their own party names.
Since they mainly guarded ships, that was the origin. Many liked to include words like “dragon” because it sounded cool—understandable.
“See ya, Fil. Do your best in school.”
“Yeah, kid. When you’re a top adventurer, I’ll hire you as a ship escort on the way back.”
After three weeks, we arrived at the port town of Fontana and parted ways with Water Dragon’s Shield and the crew.
I learned so much from them—things I’d never known.
My violet eyes, which had been mocked in my hometown, were rare here too.
I was told that the royal capital where the academy was located had magic tools that could change eye color, and I should hide mine.
Apparently, rumors of being royal blood weren’t good.
Adventurer registration was allowed after baptism, and many academy students were also adventurers.
Commoners could attend the academy too, so many registered to earn their living expenses.
With that, my first goal was set:
When I arrived in the capital, I would buy an eye-color-changing tool, then go straight to the Adventurers’ Guild to register.
You couldn’t accept extermination requests unless you reached Copper Rank.
That meant I had to take on small jobs before classes began. Adventurer rank rose with your own ability.
No one had ever expected anything from me, but the thought that I could build something on my own strength motivated me.
Water Dragon’s Shield were mid-level Silver Rank adventurers.
If I could reach that level someday, I’d be recognized as truly capable.
What do you think about this chapter?
