Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

Chapter 18: Taking one for the team

From what he knew, Rain had ten other cousins. He was the eldest son of their youngest son, so his grandparents had no reason to be curious about him. They worried too much about pedigree and all that kind of nonsense, but maybe they assumed that being 75% commoner wasn't so bad. It was a bit too late to think like that, though.

In any case, they showed up in the middle of the afternoon of the next day with Roan. It seemed that they let him leave work earlier for the visit. Still, they arrived just in time to see Rain mimicking a horse while Dana was giggling and slightly slapping on his back to move faster. That definitely hadn't been an excellent first impression.

"Not that I care, but I suppose I need to behave a bit like Dad said since they are his employer and they are also his parents. They helped him when he asked for help, although not in the most optimal way," Rain thought while he put Dana on the ground and told her to behave.

Rain's grandparents were supposed to see him giving an order to Dana, who seemed to be a bit too willful, and she immediately obeyed; it was hard for that to happen. Even more so considering that another child gave the order.

"Hello, Lord Roswall and Lady Melody," Leiah showed up at the door with Kei in her arms. "Thank you for visiting us. This is Rain, Danarea, and Keinara."

Leiah was trying to keep her smile, but it was clear that it wasn't working that much since she was also sweating a bit. It was a pity since Kei was sleeping, and her cries probably would make things awkward.

"Today, we came to talk about Rain. Your daughters will come at another time," Roswall said.

Rain felt like sighing… another time. While he didn't care about that, his time came after four years of waiting, and they were probably thinking that they would make them wait as well for many years.

Rain heard from his parents that his grandparents were as rigid as brick, and they inherited them from their parents. It seemed a normal way for them to act, and Rain didn't want to judge them for it, but it was annoying to be treated like that, like an issue that had to be addressed at specific points in time. Or in an interval of many years.

"While your birth's situation was abnormal among our family, we believe that the kids with our blood should receive the same treatment," Roswall added.

"So, every kid in the family only sees their grandparents once every five years?" Rain thought. "I guess that the idea of grandparents spoiling their grandkids doesn't exist in this world."

"Soon, you will be of age to go to school, and while not many expect much from you, we are willing to support you on that endeavor," Roswall continued. "Your father told us that you can already read and write, so your mother must have had a lot of work teaching you that."

Leiah looked to the side while showing a nervous look, she didn't want to lie, but it would be even more unbelievable to say that Rain learned how to read and write by himself… Leiah read some books for him, but it was hard to believe that it was enough.

"Make the necessary arrangements for it," Roswall said, and then both of them eventually left.

Rain was left speechless. It seemed that everyone in the family treated status and pedigree above everything. They didn't even consider that Rain was thinking that he didn't want to waste time at school again… no way in hell he would waste a good part of more than ten years in such a place.

That being said, refusing would put his father in a bad spot. He didn't need another rift between him and his parents. Rain wondered if, aside from his dad, every single person in the family was someone that was a status freak; they did everything to improve their status and fame and lived only for that.

"Dad, all my cousins go to school?" Rain asked.

"Yes, they do," Roan replied.

"Even the girls?" Rain asked.

"It is weird for you at your age to care about that, but yes, they do as well," Roan replied. "Until you are ten, all of you study basically the same things with a few exceptions, but once you become ten, more lessons that are mainly for boys and girls begin to appear. You can choose what you can study, but your grandparents will force you and the others to take some special courses, four of them. History, etiquette, Economy, and Military. If you show talent in any of those fields, they will gladly offer you a good position in the family. While I am just a guard, you can become a knight and earn a lot more. You can also become a healer, a powerful wizard, a businessman, a teacher… the options were numerous."

Rain couldn't care less about etiquette; he wondered how people in the human country assumed that they had time to waste with that considering that they had been losing territory to the magic people again and again in the last few years.

Again, Rain didn't want to waste time at school. Still, he didn't want to make things complicated for his father and close some doors to his sisters. It was easy to imagine his grandparents saying something like: "As expected of someone with commoner's blood, these children aren't worth our time" if he does something that goes against them.

"I guess it is time to take one for the team, huh," Rain thought and then sighed.