Rebellion: Prince of Dawn

Chapter 4.6: Dormant Talent

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RAY VAN CAMARO

I was in the middle of changing the hay that Tank was using as his bedding when an explosion from somewhere in the village rang into my ear. Tank's first instinct was to stand up and head into a defensive position while I stood there confused.

Were bandits attacking the village?

No. Bandits are smart in how they attack and they certainly wouldn't be stupid enough to attack a village without knowing who was in jurisdiction. And even if they did know, they wouldn't be stupid enough to attack if they knew I was here.

Monsters?

There shouldn't be any monsters in the area and we just took out a heart earlier this week. This is unlikely to be a monster. Especially since the sun is still so high up.

I put on my glove and snapped two Marching Dolls to stay with Tank before heading off in the direction of the explosion.

The source of the explosion was Trisha's house. I forced my way through the gate, finding Jaime and Ilias crawling out of a hole in the side of the house. They were dazed, swaying as they tried to get to the front yard.

Why are they here?

That doesn't matter right now.

"Marching Dolls!" I yelled, snapping five times in areas near the two children. "Are you two alright?"

Gama and two soldiers showed up. They spread out to search the Payne property before returning to report no suspicious activities. Trisha, accompanied by an additional two soldiers ran through the gates, dropping to her knees to comfort Jaime and Ilias.

"You four," I said to my soldiers. "Search the area in pairs and take one of my Dolls. Gama, climb onto the roof and see if you can find anything. Climb down if you spot something."

"Yes, Colonel," they all said before doing the orders they were tasked with.

"Are you two hurt?" Trisha asked.

"A bit, but it's going away," Ilias answered.

My gloved hand was ready to snap while my eyes were in a constant state of searching. "You two, what happened?"

Both of them avoided eye contact as if they did something wrong.

There was no way they caused all of this. Right?

Right?

"Huh?" Trisha picked up an intact book that lay behind the two kids. "Did you two read from this book?"

Ilias was the first to take responsibility. "I'm so sorry, Mother."

As much as I hated false alarms because of all the paperwork that came with it, I wanted to thank the gods that it was just that and not an attack of some sort.

"You can come down now, Gama," I shouted to the roof. "It's a false alarm. Please, go tell the others."

"Who caused all of this?" Trisha asked.

"It was Ilias," Jaime said. "I was only able to perform the water ball spell but he skipped all the way to Water Cannon. Actually... I made him skip ahead because I didn't want him to outshine me."

Trisha shot a look at her boy. "You opened the door I specifically told you not to open?"

"I take responsibility for that too, Auntie," Jaime spoke loudly. "You said he wasn't allowed to open it. I was the one who did. He simply walked through."

"Jaime!" I spoke sternly.

Again, Jaime looked to the ground and avoided eye contact.

Trouble always happens every time these two are left alone.

I'm not taking my eyes off them ever again.

"So you read from this book and performed an intermediate-level spell first try without any hardships?" Trisha began shrieking in excitement. "Ray! See? Look at how talented Ilias is! He can do jynx at just age five! Look at that!"

Jaime's look of guilt turned to that of melancholy.

"Wait, Trish, there's a hole in your house. Can we take that into consideration first?"

Trisha lifted Ilias into the air, giggling. "Now this is something you definitely got from your father!"

Later that night, after adventurers and villagers who knew a bit of jynx patched up Trisha's house, she and Ilias showed up at mine just after Jaime and I finished with the dishes.

Jaime immediately dragged Ilias into her room.

"No," I told Trisha after she closed the door behind her.

"I didn't even ask the question yet."

"You were going to ask me to teach Ilias in jynx."

"Yes," she giggled.

"Still no. First off, I'm already teaching those two basic education and swordsmanship. Second, I made a contract with myself that only lets me use summoning jynx—specifically only Marching Dolls. Thirdly, Ilias performed an intermediate spell that even I don't know. I can't be a teacher if my student knows more than me."

"If you can't teach Ilias, do you know anyone who can? Maybe someone you met while you were in the Capital?"

"Trisha, children don't usually start learning jynx until they are eight. Your boy's gates are fragile at this age. His birthday will be in a couple of weeks so it'll only be a two-year wait."

"Exactly. Children's gates are fragile, but not his. Ilias told me that Jaime performed Water Ball multiple times before fainting. One Water Cannon uses more mana which would most certainly damage Ilias' body in some way, but he's moving around fine. He didn't even pass out. The broken bones he had were from the force that sent him back. Ilias' gates are not weak. You know that. You saw it."

Just then, Jaime's laughter drifted out of her room as Ilias begged her to stop whatever she was doing.

How can that boy have so much patience with her?

"No jynx!" I yelled. The ruckus stopped not long after and I went back to the conversation. "Fine, I do want Ilias to start learning as quickly as possible, but most tutors won't accept students younger than eight."

"You didn't say all. You've got someone in mind, don't you, Ray?"

I thought about the only other person who passed the State Jynxist Exam with me. A silver-haired elf who became a jynx tutor not long after passing. Luckily, we were on the same team during phase one so she wasn't a complete stranger. However, she didn't know how to interact with others and that was a result of her upbringing. Because of this, she had an apathetic attitude towards anyone who tried to approach her.

But that wouldn't be a problem with Ilias.

Who knows? Maybe the kid can help her learn how to use emotions.

I sighed, giving in to Trisha's request. "I might know someone who can teach your boy jynx."

What's next on Rebellion?

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Thanks for reading this far and don't forget to comment and vote as it would help push this story out a lot.

How is Gilead? Does it feel like a lively village?

I also hope you liked the more character-focused plot in this chapter.

Also, what do you think of Ilias acting like a kid but thinking like an adult?

And what was your favourite character interaction this chapter?