The Beginning After The End novel Chapter 21

"No! Absolutely no way! Arthur! Do you know how dangerous it is to become an Adventurer? You’ve just gotten back after we all thought you were dead and now you’re saying you want to go get yourself killed out there? No way! Absolutely not."

My mother was on the verge of tears while she said this. She had never been good at controlling her emotions. Eleanor was besides her, clutching onto her leg.

"Mama, don’t be angry. Bruhder not bad a person! Uuu... Mama, don’t cry."

Director Goodsky had left the manor after my announcement. I could tell she still wanted to ask me a lot of questions but we excused ourselves to have a family talk. We were currently inside my parent’s room with my mother standing up in front of me, forbidding me to even think about doing anything remotely dangerous.

Father was a bit more rational. I could tell he didn’t like the idea as well, but he couldn’t really see any reason for me not to be an adventurer besides my age.

I wasn’t going to debate with my mother. She was saying all of this because she was worried and I could never blame her for that. It was something I had expected and I wanted to slowly ease her into the idea, but the meeting with Director Goodsky threw the timing off of everything .

After being silent the whole time, my father finally spoke up. "Honey, let’s hear Arthur out at least. I’m not saying I agree to him becoming an adventurer but don’t you think we should at least listen to what he has to say?"

"How can you still say that after what happened that day!" my mother yelled, breaking down into a fit of sobs.

I looked to my father for answers, curious about what she was talking about, but he simply shook his head and comforted my mother.

It seemed like a good hour before she had calmed down enough for us to speak again.

I grabbed my mother’s hands. "Mom. I wasn’t planning on leaving tomorrow. I was looking forward to spending a few months at home with you guys."

She was still silent, but her face softened a little at that and I just gave her a warm smile, Sylvie followed suit and began licking her hand.

"What I meant by becoming an adventurer was so that I can get some experience. After being in the Elf Kingdom for three years, I missed a lot about what I should know about this world of ours. I just thought that becoming an adventurer would be the best way to gain some practical experience," I urged, not letting go of Mother’s hands.

"I understand where you’re coming from, Arthur. Although I was a bit older, I was also itching to get some real life experience in fighting as soon as I awakened as a mage," he reminisced. "But your mother is also right in that it is dangerous, and unpredictable."

My mother nodded her head vigorously at this.

I stayed silent for a little bit as I pondered. _{fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm}

"Dad. Mom. What if I were to have some sort of guard or supervisor with me? Would that make you feel a bit more at ease with this whole idea?"

"..."

"Hmm... You know, that’s not a bad idea." I could almost see the gears in my father’s head wind as he began thinking of potential candidates.

"B-but... I still won’t be able to see you for three years!" My mother began to protest again.

Shaking my head, I say to her. "Mom, I’m not going to go on long trips or go on dangerous missions to faraway places. I’ll try to come back every few months, maybe even more frequently than that, depending on what I do."

"Bruhder, are you leaving?" My sister had an expression as if she had just been told that Santa didn’t exist.

I started to panic. "Nono Ellie I’m staying here. You’ll be seeing your brother a lot from now on, okay?"

Apparently, both my mother and father had told Eleanor a lot of stories about me and how strong and smart I was. One of Ellie’s favorite bedtime stories was how I saved Mother from a bunch of bad guys on top of a cliff and that I got hurt so it’ll take me some time to come back home. Eventually, I had become some sort of hero to my sister.

I look back at my mother. Her face was considerably more at ease after talking about this. I guess she had just assumed the worst-case scenario and thought I wanted to slay the world’s strongest evil at the age of eight or something.

"Why did you want to be an Adventurer before even going to school anyways? Wasn’t it usually the opposite?" my mother softly muttered.

"Dad’s reason was a part of it; I want to test my skills out in real life situations. Also, Mom, I want to at least try to fit in with everyone when I go to school. It would be a lot harder to fit in if I began school at the age of eight. I don’t think I’ll be able to make much friends with such a big age difference."

It was a very pitiful excuse, but, for once, my mother gave me a look of understanding. I guess it was a mother’s worst nightmare for her child to become a loner.

It wasn’t a complete lie because I said it thinking of Sylvia’s dying wish. She had wanted me to enjoy life and have a life not just of training. This was a promise that I planned on keeping no matter what.

"Besides, I’m going to be here for a couple of months anyway. Who know, maybe you’ll get sick of me by then and throw me out before I even get the chance to leave," I winked at my mother.

That earned me a thump on the head but she chuckled as well. "You! You’re just like your father at times like these. Thank God you at least have my intelligence." She gave me a big hug, leaving me with a warm feeling that I still wasn’t used to.

"Hey! What about my intelligence! He was gifted with my adept abilities in fire too!" My father protested.

"Hmph! My son got his deviant powers from me." Mother just turned me away from my father and just stuck her tongue out at him.

"Ellie too! Bleh!" My sister copied my mother and stuck her tongue out at my devastated father.

"Sniff! No ones on my side." He just playfully cried, trying to hug his my daughter. This left us all in a fit of laughter.

The next day was a Sunday, leaving my father with the day off. Both the Leywin and Helstea family were dining together for breakfast. "So did you guys settle on what to do about Arthur?" Vincent asked, half chewing on his omelet.

Tabitha shook her head; "I swear. Sometimes, I have such a hard time believing you’re a noble with your horrible dining habits, dear."

"Kukuku, don’t worry. At least your husband’s better than mine. Remember that one dinner party where Rey spit out his food from laughing so hard? I had to use Ellie as an excuse to leave the table because I was so embarrassed," My mother just sighed.

"Cough! Anyways! Yes, after talking about it yesterday night, we agreed to let him become an adventurer under some conditions, Vince." My father just lightly blushed as he tried to switch back the topic.

"Oh? What conditions?" responded the curious Tabitha as she was cutting the omelet into smaller pieces for Lilia.

"He’s not going to become an adventurer until after his birthday, which is in three months. We also decided on having a guard with him on his missions. Besides that, I feel like he’ll be smart enough to manage the rest on his own. Of course, the last condition is that he’ll be visiting as often as possible," my father explained, working on the rest of his roast beef.

"Do you have anyone in mind for who his guard is going to be? Heck, is there even a guard that is capable of guarding him? I feel like Arthur would be the one protecting the guard!" He just chuckled at the ridiculousness of an eight year old protecting a grown, veteran adventurer.

My mother answered him, looking at my father, "We haven’t really thought of a person that fits the criteria. Rey and I thought we could use one of the Helstea Auction guards, but we couldn’t really come up with anyone."

"Can I have more omelet please?" My sister chimed in with her fork raised in the air.

"I got it!" My father stood up from his sudden revelation, making me almost choke on the piece of meat that was in my mouth.

"The Twin Horns will be coming back from an expedition in a dungeon soon. I received a letter from the Adventurer Guild Hall that says they should be back within two months! It’s perfect! Why did it take so long for me to think of this? We can just have one of the Twin Horns to look after you. Arthur! You still remember them right?" My father’s eyes shined in excitement.