False Hero

"Ummm--- why are we here?" I asked Professor Blake.

We were seated in a pub that was situated in the dept of the Vashi city. It was the kind of place that was not on the street. You would have to like know the place, like some sort of secret meetup place.

But yeah, it was wierdly crowded. Not exactly crowded ---- it was mildly crowded. Mostly people were minding their business, ----- well it was a peaceful environment. 

"Since you are my only student, why don't we change the place," he said as he kept his hand on my shoulder. 

"I always wondered, why don't they fire you? like no students come to you and also they are lenient enough to allow you to teach me in this pub." 

But my question was answered by the bartender "Well, it is king's order. They can't fire him even if they want to and they wouldn't want to fire him since this man has a big legacy. No matter how much like a loser he acts ---- he is not a one. I mean he is a loser, but he is very much useful and this man has too much worth and importance that is the reason why the academy won't fire him and it's the king's order that they can't take him off the job." pouring the drink on to the class, he slid it towards Professor Blake.

"By the way, kid. Aren't you too honest? The professor here has a fragile heart." asked Bartended as he laughed. 

"Well, he is aware of the things I said, so yeah."

He took out a glass, wiping it with a clean cloth he asked "Do you want something to drink?"

"Give me something tasty--- don't give me something particularly strong since I can't really get drunk." 

"The curse of Ormr blood, eh?" he asked as he poured a red-looking drink. Passing the glass down to me he spoke "This blood of cloud, well it's not really blood---- it's just name of the drink. I love the taste of it."

I looked at the bartender as I took the glass "I appreciate it, man."

This man is definitely someone important. He is well informed and his presence alone is making everyone well behaved in the pub. But well he has a look----------- retired. But this man was something powerful in the past.

It's not business to pry and neither I am interested. 

"Last time you told me professor to focus on who I am and we focused on that in the last lecture. But when I try to focus on being me I still get this very messed up pattern. It's as if the mage circle is empty yet it's jumbled with various different lines. How am I supposed to make my own pattern? how am I supposed to know that what am I really?"

Professor took a sip out of the glass as he said "It's not really jumbled, it's you as a person. You fail to recognize it because you still don't know what you really are. But well, you are still fourteen, at a young age, most youngsters don't really know what they really are. It gets clearer and clearer as you grow up and experience things.

But it doesn't mean that your pattern won't change. You can understand yourself at a very young age or something drastic would change the pattern of the mage circle. But the output of the mage circle changes from pattern to pattern. If you remember your old self, you can also use your previous mage circle. Remember this, there are various versions of you, and each version will have its own mage circle and its own effect."

I drank a sip of the blood of cloud as I asked "So what you mean is---- I need to understand what this pattern means?"

"Not really, you don't need to understand it. You need to embrace it ----- but part of embracing is to understand oneself. But understanding alone is not enough to make you capable of embracing yourself, you need to face every part of you. Well, the part of achieving a consistent circle is to keep healthy mental health." 

"To keep healthy mental health? ----- eh, that's hard."

"I know right."

After I didn't really say anything since all my questions were answered. Nor did i practice the mage circle, I didn't do since I wanted to think in silence. 

There were various things that were going through my mind, for starters my main concern was the rattle gang's pattern.

It's a small gang in Lenton city. Well, they are not really from Lenton city. They are just a group of bandits, a bunch of money-hungry people. They try to attack our goods from time to time but have never been successful. 

But the pattern of their attack is quite frequent, I hope it's nothing major.

"Ah, by the way, professor I heard --" 

Before speaking anything more, I stopped. All my attention was caught by three-person who walked into the pub. It was the first time that I have ever seen them, but by the first look I can tell ------ the white hair, it was obvious about who they were.

But I don't the specific exactly they are----so I just did the most logical thing, which was to grab Professor's Blake hat as I said "Give me that hat and if someone asks just tell them that I am your student or something. But don't tell my name."

They came and sat on the chair near the counter. All three of them sat side by side and in their presence entire pub was quieter, some even left the pub by tipping their hat to the oldest man among them.

"It's fine people, you can have your drink. Just try to enjoy it and don't mind me." said the oldest man with a white. His silvery-white hair wasn't because of old age, it was natural white hair just like mine.

"Your highness, what would you like?" asked the bartender as he looked at two men and the one woman who was seated in front of him. 

"Something light would do," said the oldest man. The bartender looked at the woman and the young man, they simultaneously said the same things "Do the same for us."

"Dad, you are staying sober to see your grandson right?" said the woman with a smug smile. 

The old man continued to take a sip out of the glass as he said "I don't know what you are talking about. I just prefer to be sober and the only reason I came here is to see what kind of brat does that useless son of mine has raised."

"Grandpa, what are you talking about? you nearly smiled when you got the letter from uncle Ranulf after years and when you read that your Grandson ----- what was his name ---- yes Grey was alive, you smiled for a full second. I saw it with my own eyes." said the young man as he pointed towards his eyes. 

The old man just looked at him and it was enough to scare the young man. He quickly looked away as he drank his drink in silence. 

"Why are you scaring him? he is saying the truth." said the woman. 

"Why you are the only one who is not scared of me?' asked the old man. 

"Because I am your beloved daughter. ---- Ah, by the way, even I am excited to meet the son of my Little Ranulf. I want to see what kind of boy is my nephew."  said the woman. 

"Well, I just came here to see what kind of guy he is and whether he wants the throne or not. I will show him his place and introduce a hierarchy between us. " said the young man.

They didn't say anything to him and it was the right thing to do. In a family, especially in a royal family. A hierarchy is an unwritten thing ---- it should be developed or there will be chaos. 

In a fight for the throne, he will try to hold power over me and so will all of my other cousins from both the Ormr and Hoffmann families. That's the natural thing to do and once everything is set and done, there is one person who is sitting on the throne. 

We are not allowed to hold any kind of enmity towards each other. That's how the royal family maintains its stability. Usually, the elders don't involve themselves in the younger one's business, they only do when it is required.

"He is the son of Ranulf and Alice, he probably won't be interested in the throne. They both were the best fit for the throne, but they weren't interested in the throne. But well you can't say, Grey might have his own plan."

The old man didn't really speak much, but he finally opened his mouth, as he said "Do you what you boys and girls want to do, but don't spill a single drop of blood or else i will personally execute that person."

This was the ultimate rule. No killing is allowed in the family. 

By the way, the old man was Thomas Hoffmann, my Grandfather. The woman is Rose Hoffmann, my aunt and the young man is Well Hoffmann, my cousin.

{Author: By the way the aunt is Hoffmann because the man who married her took the Hoffmann name, it's a royal thing lol.}