Hmm, her father is completely different to what I expected. You know, I had spears pointed at me… Now, knowing Firil is the boss of Gerard, and Gerard did that. Well, I would certainly expect something less... friendly? I might be illogical, but to think he’d allow us to stay. Also, I almost called Aizen dragon in front of him. Haha… Just arrived and I am placing myself at wits’ end with my actions… Hey, but at least we get to stay here as long as we’d like.
“Did my daughter tell you she lived here?” He asked out of nowhere, but I just shook my head. She did not say anything until Aizen questioned her.
“We were coming to the capital and ran into some bandits along the way, that’s where we found Cecil.” He quietly nodded hearing me.
“If you don’t mind me asking, what’s so eye-catching about the capital to adventurers like you? I don’t mean to be rude, but considering you declined items and wealth I truly don’t see the point in being here.” He did say something perfectly reasonable, also he seemed to want to know more about us. I could only assume it was because we were staying here.
“Well, Aizen got a letter of recommendation for the Magic Academy, and I personally came here for materials. I want to be a smith once I reach level 40 on taming,” I said with a wry smile. I was not going to expose myself like that again. I don’t know what could potentially happen, but better this way.
“A letter of recommendation you say?” he said with wide-open eyes. I just nodded.
“That’s the first time I heard of someone getting a letter of recommendation for the magic academy. It simply doesn’t happen. Self taught mages do exist but most of them are already settled so they have no time to waste on something like the academy," he said while looking at the ground. Then looked back at me.
“Is there any reason to why she wants to be in the academy?” he said while looking at me. I just shrugged.
“Well, she just received it without requesting, although. She seems to find it interesting.” I noticed Firil started thinking while looking at the roof but that did not matter much to me. He nodded and looked back at me.
“If that’s how it is... You did say you wanted to become a smith, correct?” I nodded.
“I know this dwarven smith, I am sure he’d be willing to help you if I contact him.” He said with a smile. Noble power huh? I wonder, dwarves… Aren’t they good in smithing and crafting classes in general? Don’t do it… You know it’s best to not do it.
“I would like to meet him at least once.” I said with a crooked and forced smile.
To believe my willpower is so lackluster… Well, worst case scenario I just need to leave the capital. No big deal… Ahhhh! How did I even manage to do this. How frustrating! Truly frustrating!
As I was holding my head in pain, Fenri came over to me and looked at me in the eyes. I guess it was to calm me down.
“Thank you,” I calmly whispered in his ear as I rubbed his head. He was more like a dog or any other animal in all aspects, but what do I know? Wait… What do I know… There has to be a way to get general information about the world, like an encyclopedia or something… Ah, that’s it.
“Umm, Firil, this might sound slightly awkward, but is there a library in the capital?” He was probably my best bet, he seems pretty friendly and owes us a lot (kind of). So he probably won’t question my silliness.
“Hmm, I do have a library. You can ask one of the maids to take you there. If that’s not enough then you can ask Gerard to guide you to the library in the noble district,” he firmly informed me. Although, shouldn’t the library be more available?
“If you don’t mind me asking. Why is the other library in the noble district?” He narrowed his eyes and looked at me.
“Sadly, information is power. As much as I hate to say it, us nobles try to stay on top over common people on all aspects of life, even status wise.” He was pretty serious about the whole ordeal. I guess I got a vague answer but I did get an answer. I wonder what is his level if he is somewhat high.
“If you don’t mind me asking. Do you have more than one class?” I don’t really care about his exact number. For all I could care he could be level 120 and it wouldn’t matter. He smiled and stood up; puffed his chest.
“I have two classes and I am an [Archmage].” He said with a grandiose aura.
“I see..." Just archmage? Didn’t Cecil get that?
“Impressive right? I hope my daughter surpasses me one day. But to do that she needs a class first,” he dejectedly said. Wait… He doesn’t know his daughter has a class? Wow… Well, I don’t know if I should tell him or not…
“Well you s--”
“Yami?”
I was called by a girly voice. I looked towards the entrance to the room, there was no one. But soon enough Cecil peered into the room, looking at me. She entered the room and as she was walking towards me, she noticed her dad and froze.
“Umm… Cecil?” Not knowing what to do I just called for her. She blinked a few times and her eyes gained light again. She silently walked towards me and set next to me without saying a word. I noticed Firil had a drop of sweat running down his forehead. I guess it was just an unexpected situation.
“Cecil.” Firil called out to his daughter. She just looked at him and opened her mouth.
“Cecil? Wasn’t I just ‘your daughter’? Did I even have a name?!” I could hear her resentment.
This escalated quickly… Alright Kuro… Just don’t say anything stupid and you will be fine. These type of things are noble things right? I mean sure, she seems to have gripes with her dad. But what can I do about it? I don’t even have experience with those things… I should just not say anything, I can’t leave the room either; it would look disrespectful leaving mid conversation… What do I do?
As I was having an internal panic attack, I managed to see that Firil had started looking at the ground and fiddling with his hands. Cecil was just looking at him fixedly. I kind of just sat there, not knowing what to do. Suddenly Firil rubbed his temple and looked at Cecil again.
“You are Cecil, my daughter and more importantly, the treasure of my life.” He said with resolute voice. However, Cecil instantly shook her head.
“Am I really? Aren’t I just some object?” she quietly questioned. This time Firil shook his head.
“No… I made a mistake… I did not realize until I lost you how wrong I was, that’s why i want to ask for forgiveness.” he said as he removed himself from the couch and prostrated on the ground in front of his daughter. I had a bad feeling about this noble behaviour. I felt like Gerard would’ve sliced my throat if he was there just by looking at his master doing that…
Firil slowly lifted his head to see his daughter after receiving no reply. She was standing up, looking at him with clenched fists and teeth.
“D-Do you know… How much I lost just to attempt to behave like a noble?”
“Cecil…” Firil quietly called to her.
“Do you know how much I lost?! I have no friends… The teachers in the academy made fun of me... “
She was tearing up.
“I-I am sorry… This foolish father of yours never realized.” He said as he looked on the ground. Cecil just let out a dry laugh.
“... Of course you didn’t… You were too busy doing paperwork instead… I tried my best, but it was never enough for you…”
“I-I--”
“What would mother think?” I noticed Firil petrified. It was probably a forbidden topic.
Silence filled the room.
Firil was looking at the ground and started shaking--after a few seconds he started quietly speaking.
“Cecil… I-I don’t deserve you, I know I don’t...I-I…” At that moment Cecil realized what she was doing to her father. All her pent-up resentment, she was letting it go just on him. However, was Cecil the only one with problems? Cecil just looked at her dad with a bitter face.
“Father, I--”
He was silent, looking at the ground. After rubbing his face he looked back at her.
“Just dad is fine.” He interrupted her as he stood up with somewhat red eyes. However, despite hearing all of this, he still looked at his daughter (Cecil) directly in the eyes. And spontaneously hugged her. Cecil froze and had a wide-open mouth. Her eyes started trembling.
“Cecil… I-I might have failed as a father. But I won’t fail again, please forgive me. Forgive my neglect... forgive this foolish father of yours,” he paused. “... But I want you to know one thing... I am proud of you. I was blinded. I wanted you to be the best, I wanted you to receive the best. But I never realized what you truly needed was nothing like that…” After a pause he whispered in her ear “Cecil, I love you.”
“Uwaa... ” Cecil broke on Firil’s shoulder. Tightly hugging him as she cried. Firil closed his eyes as he tightly hugged his daughter.
Why am I even here?! Should I even be here!? I made a mistake. I should probably go.
“Yami.” Firl called for me while Cecil was still under his embrace.
“Yes?!” Why would he even call for me? Is he gonna execute me!?
“Thank you,” he silently said.
What did I even do? I just stayed silent the whole time watching both of you have a family drama…
After a few seconds Cecil was looking at her dad in a new light with flushed cheeks. After her father let her go and went back to sitting. She stood there looking at him.
“Dad…” She silently called for Firil.
“Yes?” He gently responded.
“I have something to say.” She looked at him fixedly as he took a seat. Firil quietly watched her as he wiped his eyes.
“I became an [Archmage]!” She joyously exclaimed. I looked back at Firil. His eyes grew wide and his muscles let go of him, letting his body collapse on the couch. Cecil started fidgeting as she watched her unmoving dad. He blinked a few times.
“I-Is that true?” He spoke with a trembling voice.
“Yes!” She cheerfully affirmed.
Firil was shaking. I kind of just started playing with my hands as I looked at them. I had absolutely no idea of what to do.
“GERARD!” Firil called out for him at the top of his lungs. I started hearing a disaster outside the room. Broken plates, a lot of running. Until Gerard jolted into the room with heavy breath and bathed in sweat.
“Y-Yes, M-My Lord?!” He was flustered.
“We are having a banquet tonight! We are celebrating!” Firil joyously exclaimed with sparkly eyes. Gerard wanted to say something but Cecil looked at him and quietly shook her head. Gerard gulped.
“I will get things ready.” he bowed and left in a hurry.
“Cecil, how did that happen? And why didn’t you tell me about it?” Cecil started fiddling with her hair as she was questioned.
“Well… About that… I thought you would’ve been mad so I never told you… And then you apologized and I couldn’t believe it, so I ran away…” She awkwardly said with a wry smile as she scratched her neck. Firil awkwardly nodded.
“And about how I became an [Archmage]...” she paused, and looked with sparkling eyes. “Aizen did it! She is amazing!” Firil did not seem to believe her words and just looked at me. I nodded. Firil placed a hand on his chin and nodded. Well, then again I don’t know what kind of impression she left on him. But probably not a good one, I don’t think Aizen mixes well with nobles.
"Alright Kuro… Just don’t say anything stupid and you will be fine."
Impossible
Meanwhile in another universe
"Dad"
"Yes?"
"I have something to say"
"Iam pregnant!"
"I-is that true?!"
"Yes!"
"GERAARDO!"
"We are having a banquet tonight! We are celebrating!"
(just a joke)
Nyaa... *Tilts head* I can see this working on a world of women setting. Otherwise, eh... not really. Thanks for the comment.
@Azrie That's the only setting that exists, what are you talking about?
Nooooo! I caught up! Damn my fast reading, damn it!
Oh yeah! The silence is the best option when you do have a big mouth hahaha… JK.
For a moment in this chapt I doubt who was the adult and who was the children. Unfortunately Ari wasn’t present to settle everything gahahaha I would love to read it.
Thanks for the chapter!
A few of your usual minor mistakes near the beginning, the biggest of which is a little bit of gender confusion right at the beginning when you refer to Firil as "his father." So, it seems Cecil turned into a boy at some point and was then a girl again for the rest of the chapter after that.
Some punctuation errors as usual, this line in particular.
"Well, she just received it without requesting, although. She seems to find it interesting."
Swapping the period and the comma around the "although" would be a simple fix, although not entirely grammatically correct. Getting rid of the period entirely would be more grammatically correct, but the flow of the sentence would likely feel a bit off. The BEST fix would be to say "Well, she just received it without asking. If you ask me, she seems to be doing it just because she finds it interesting." or something similar. It's not correct to begin a sentence with a transitional phrase (such as but, although, or however) but people do it all the time to a point a lot of people are used to seeing it. It is ABSOLUTELY wrong though to END a sentence with a transitional phrase, and there is no reader forgiveness on that one.
Your most critical error though is one I'm somewhat certain is not going to be caught by most casual readers, but will be absolutely grating to those who know better. Your portrayal of nobles and noble society is just... horrible. There's no other way to describe it I'm afraid. I could write paragraph after paragraph on the issues with the exchange between Cecil and her father. For the sake of saving time though, I will just suggest you another series that actually does a fairly good job of portraying nobles and ask you to read that. It's far better to have a good example that allows you to look at your own work and find the mistakes yourself than to have someone else berate you for them anyway. (both in terms of effectiveness, and also in terms of saving on the depression-related down-time.)
https://www.scribblehub.com/series/2135/i-didnt-even-want-to-live-but-god-forced-me-to-reincarnate/
(One key point of contention, if she has no friends then she's an absolute failure as a noble. Nobles are all about social connections, so every noble is expected to rub elbows with all the other nobles. If she has no (noble) friends, then she is basically considered trash among nobles and her father would have absolutely beat it into her how to relate to others and make friends. Another thing is that if teachers made fun of her, then either those teachers were at least 2 noble ranks above her (in which case, why are they teachers in the first place?) or their heads will be on the line. That's something they just would not do.)
I mean, with the bit about how nobles actually are, you have to remember that this is NOT a historical fantasy but something of an isekai, so nobles may or may not be how they are irl.
@Pancake There are perfectly logical reasons though why nobles adopt certain behaviors, and the one about emphasizing social connections and the one about being critical about anyone of lower standing or in the position of a school teacher criticizing a noble would both be things that would develop in any world. There is just no logical reason for those not to develop unless nobles of that world are really self-destructive.
Really, the entire point about "acting like a noble" IS to make it easier to get those social connections. There is no reason to drill in how to act like a noble if you are not going to accompany it with lessons on how to form those connections.
EDIT: Just about the one and only thing that could have the potential to be different in this world Vs. the real world or other fantasy worlds that would make any sense at all is for the teacher to actually potentially be a higher noble rank such that they could make fun of her. Then again, considering the power flashing her family crest is supposed to have, that's really not likely.
@Jemini Well, I agree my portrayal of the uh, whole noble girl arc has been pretty potatoish. Although to be fair, Firil is the weirdest noble along with his daughter. And seeing I have only portrayed one noble... Well, you can see where I am going with it. In truth, I could have made a better effort on actual portrayal. But, it's too hard.
As in -- I don't have the time nor the energy to keep stuff entirely consistent. Life really takes a toll on me lately. So it's rather easy for me to forget the delicate plans I had for the story. Also, seeing it's the only noble seen so far, it's kind of... You know, not accurate. Firil is on the especial side. I might write his backstory towards the end of the capital arc hoping to explain his oddities. But for now, it will be like that. Other nobles will be more, nobleish. Thanks for the input.
@Azrie Hmmm... well, those comments have me thinking a bit. I could see it being the case he may be a commoner elevated to nobility through meritous deeds. That would definitely explain him doing such a poor job of raising his daughter, possibly he doesn't know how to properly act like a noble himself and, even without that knowledge, started to try and force Cecil to act in the ways he saw on the surface level in other nobles without actually knowing the deeper reasons behind it all? Really, that's about the only reason I could see for his job of raising Cecil being such an absolute disaster no matter what angle you view it from.
EDIT: That could also explain a lot of other things. He wouldn't even have to be that high of a noble to be respected by the guards if he gained the status through respect by the citizenry. If that was the case, the guards would respond to his family crest regardless of how powerful his position actually was. It would also explain the teachers making fun of her, if she was a child of someone who freshly gained noble position, then that would earn resentment from other nobles. If the teacher is a lesser noble themselves (which a lot of them would be if they were expected to teach noble children) then they would definitely resent her and want to make her life miserable.
Anyway, knowing and accurately portraying noble society actually is something of a requirement if you are going to include nobility in your story. You need to somewhat accurately portray any element you decide to include. Allowing yourself an excuse here will just make your writing fall apart as things continue on, so really your best bet is to take a ret-con like the one I just offered here. (Unless you actually did plan what I just suggested from the start, in which case it would not be considered a ret-con at the very least.)
@Jemini Yes, Firil is more of a commoner than anything. Which is why he wasn't that annoyed about the whole Aizen personality. As far as academy thing goes. I do have a real explanation. As far as noble society. it might or might not play a big role. Well, it probably won't. I can't picture a real scenario of nobles wanting to meddle with the girls unless of course. Cliche'd "I want you to serve me". Situation... which I will avoid.
@Azrie Right, well, that actually works well and explains a lot. Also, again, the school situation. If the teacher is a noble, it would make sense for them to look down on non-nobles, and they would likely hate the child of someone who rose to nobility even more since they would see such a person as a threat to their own power.
If Cecil's father is someone who rose to nobility, she should have had a pretty miserable childhood and been socially ostricised by a lot of the other nobles who don't want her family to succeed as a new noble line.
So far as creating conflict goes, introducing nobles into the mix kinda introduces a "pick-your-poison" scenario where it could literally be almost anything. Although, if it's a male noble making the trouble, the options tend to be a bit more limited. If you have a female noble making trouble for the girls first though, that could be the result of an entire host of interesting reasons. Jealousy at their beauty being one as they would feel threatened by it. Another is they think they don't deserve to be in such a position, or that the clothing they are wearing is too expensive for their station. Or, she could just be messing with them for some kind of simple "put you in your place" dominance game.
The nobles would want newcomers to know their place and respect them, and they would tend to operate along same gender lines (thus why it should probably be a female noble making trouble first.) So, upon them arriving at the accademy or wherever, a female noble could just insist that they respect her or something. The girls, of course, have no interest in groveling so they blow her off. This gets her angry and she starts insistently trying to make their lives miserable at every turn.
The entitlement that nobles tend to feel is just a playground for the author when it comes to creating conflict situations.
@Jemini I agree, I was just planning to introduce the cliche'd 'status does not matter in academy' of course it really doesn't entirely work out, because entitlement and such. But, I don't feel like creating such a toxic environment in which bullying is dominant and hierarchies are a thing with a lot of shoe-licking involved. While it's avoidable, it is something not planned.