Under the bright shining sun was a lush green forest, rich with flora and fauna. Amidst that forest was a mighty yet beautiful castle. In a corridor of that castle, a boy was running, who looked to be no more than 8 years of age. He had crimson red eyes and short deep black hairs and fair, spotless skin. While running around a corner, he bumped into a tall burly man wearing a black chestplate that had a symbol of 2 swords crossed and a rising sun behind them carved onto it.
"I'm sorry, sir Herald!" The boy said and continued running. The tall man looked at the running boy and chuckled, "Young lord Alden is as lively as ever" then continued on his way.
After running for a while, the red eyed boy arrived before a closed room, pushed open the door and entered the room. Inside, a gorgeous lady with lustrous black hairs and deep blue eyes was being dressed by 3 maids. She looked at the boy asked "What's wrong sweetie? Shouldn't you be with Mr. Harry?"
"No! I ran away from him! I don't wanna learn that silly math from him!"
The gorgeous lady couldn't help but give small laugh "Oh dear, math isn't silly. It's very important". But the boy retorted, not ready to listen "Math is stupid! Today he was speaking nonsense about negative numbers! How can a number be negative?! What does it even mean?!"
"Alden, return to continue your class or I will tell this to your father when he returns"
Alden froze for a second, his mother's threat had taken effect. "Fine!" He said and walked out of the room grumpily, leaving his mother and the maidservants.
He then returned to Mr. Harry Lane, to continue his private lecture. "Welcome back, young master" he said with a smile on his face. Watching Alden grumpily take a seat with furrowed brows, he thought for a minute and said "Young master, let's end the mathematics lecture here for today. I'll tell you something else now"
Alden suddenly cheered up and said "Yes! Thank you! Anything but that stupid maths is fine!"
"Ok. Then tell me, do you know how many continents there are in our world of Gaia?"
"Hmm... there total 5, right? And our continent is called Aruntha. I don't know others..."
Harry Lane nodded his head in agreement and spoke "Yes that's right. We humans are the dominant race on Aruntha continent. To the west is the Neutral continent, or you could say the central continent. To the far east is the Elfheim continent. To the north is the Draythar continent and to the south is the Agrona continent. Now tell me, Young master, do you know which continent is ruled by which race?"
Alden thought for some time before replying "For Aruntha, we humans are the dominant race and Demi-Humans and Dwarves are the minor races. And there are thousands of other species as well"
Harry nodded again. "That's correct. For Elfheim continent, the dominant race is Elves, be it Wood Elves or Ice Elves, and minor race is Dwarves. For Agrona, Vampires are the dominant race, Werewolves are the minority. On Draythar, Dragons are the dominant species while Phoenix and Griffins are the minor species. And as the name suggests, no one race is dominant on the Neutral continent."
"Now, tell me, what is the region ruled by your father The Duke Gunther Ashfeild, the Ashfeild duchy, is called?"
"Hmm..." the young child thought for a few seconds "Ah yes! I remember! It's the Vulcan Region!".
"Good good" Mr. Harry nodded in approval, "And our neighboring regions?" Watching that the young Alden stayed silent, betraying his lack of knowledge on the particular subject, Harry Lane continued "Ashfeild Duchy is in the western most part of our Grandell Empire, to our south is the Cromwell Duchy. Ashfeild Duchy and Cromwell Duchy together gaurds the western border of Grandell Empire from the Tenebria Forest. On east, Grandell Empire shares it's border with Arslenn Empire. On the Northern border are Ganrir Kingdom, Gracelia Kingdom and Leon Kingdom. To the south is Orin Archipelago, beyond which is the Kenkar Ocean. And to-". Before this teacher could continue, he was cut off by Alden's shout "Stop! Please! That's too much"
"It seems like that will be enough for today. See you tomorrow, Young Master". Alden's eyes gleamed with happiness as Harry announced the conclusion on today's lecture. "Thank you!" Alden said and quickly ran away.
Then the red eyed boy aimlessly roamed around in his massive family castle to pass time till dinner. He soon came across a woman with deep blue eyes and long black hairs that cascaded down her back, wearing blue long skirt with intricate patterns and complex designs, who looked extremely similar to Alden's mother. She was the eldest child of Victoria and Gunther Ashfeild. "Sister Isabell!" Alden exclaimed
"Hey Ald. Done with your class? What did Mr. Harry teach you today?"
"Don't even ask. First it was something as silly as negative numbers and then he kept talking about geography. It was so boring!"
Isabell chuckled elegantly, covering her face with back of her hand. "Mathematics and Geography are important. Anyway, since you were so bored, wanna read some stories with me?"
"No way! All the stories that you read are full of that stupid romance". The lady elegantly shook her head and said "Romance is beautiful, you are just too young to understand it". But the boy retorted "It's boring". Isabell heaved a sign "Whatever you say. Then do you want to have some snacks? I just heard from a maid that several barrels of wholeberry juice just arrived from White County"
Alden's eyes shone with excitement "Yes! I love wholeberry juice!". Isabell held her little brother's hand as they walked towards her room. On the way they saw a maid cleaning an expensive vas, Alden ordered her to quickly bring 2 glasses of Wholeberry juice and some pastries to Isabell's room.
After waiting in her room for a little while while chatting, a maid knocked on the door entered with 2 glasses of wholeberry juice and a plate of pastries. Alden started stuffing his mouth and gulping the juice, forgetting all the etiquette and mannerisms he had been taught.
After eating that, Alden and Isabell walked into a garden, enjoying the scene of the setting sun and breathing in some fresh air. After some silence, Alden asked "Sister, when is father gonna return? He's gone to the capital city Hesta, right?"
"How would I know when he is gonna return? But Carl would probably know". Carl Ashfeild was 3rd child and 2nd son Gunther Ashfeild, younger brother of Isabell and elder brother of Alden.
"I see.... then do you know why he went to Hesta?" Alden continued to express his curiosity.
"I don't know that either. All I know is that His Majesty the Emperor Ivan IV summoned father to discuss something with him. Carl would probably know the reason." With a pause, she said "You are unusually curious about father today, what happened?"
Alden stayed silent for awhile and said "Nothing... I was just thinking that he is always busy. He is intimidating too... I get easily scared when mom takes his name to make me do things. I don't dislike him though, nor do I ever feel like avoiding him, but still..."
Isabell laughed while covering her mouth with back of her hand. "I know how intimidating and scary he can be. After all, our father is a very powerful man, he is one of the 6 Dukes of Grandell. Besides, it's completely normal for a child fear their father"
Alden only hummed in response and gazed at the sun sent. They chatted about random topics and soon it was dinner time. So they went to the dining hall to have dinner with his family- his mother, elder sister Isabell, elder brother Carl, another elder sister, his second mother and Duke's second wife, his half sister and 2 half brothers. Alden was the youngest child. After the sumptuous dinner, he went to his room, did some drawing and went to bed, drifting in a relaxed slumber.