As she walked into the library, she swept the room with her gaze, the anxious look on her face there the whole time. But that look turned into one of relief when her gaze fell on a six-year-old boy with shaggy brown hair and eyes sitting on the floor with a thick book in his hands. By the looks of things, he had already read half of it.

"There you are!" She sighed in relief.

The boy didn't react, he wasn't moving. If it wasn't for the rhythmic contraction and expansion of his chest, one would have considered him dead. As it stands, he was only asleep.

The woman walked towards the boy and shook him awake.

"Mom?" He muttered, rubbing his eyes, "Did I fall asleep here again?"

“You should stop reading so much, you might get sick one of these days." She said, stroking her hand past the side of his face, brushing some of his brown bangs away.

The boy looked at his mother's ocean blue eyes and pouted, "But I like reading."

The woman chuckled, "I'm not telling you to stop reading completely, I'm only telling you to stop reading so late."

The boy made a whining sound in his neck, before relenting under his mother's stare, "Fine… I will try to control myself."

The woman grinned, ruffling his hair, "Attaboy, now come, you need to get some sleep."

The boy yawned, covering his mouth with the back of his hand, "Yeah, goodnight Mom."

"Not yet young man, I'm going to see you fall asleep before I leave you alone."

"Aw man, there goes my idea…" The boy muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing mom!"

Zach POV :

That was a pleasant dream. I thought as I got up from my bed, heading straight towards the bathroom to splash some cold water over my face.

I did trouble Mom a lot back in the day. I thought with a chuckle as I brushed my teeth.

After that I quickly followed my daily routine, and walked out of my room, closing my door gently.

I walked down the halls, heading straight to our dining room.

"Good Morning Dad, Mom." I greeted, seating myself on the far end of the rectangular chair.

"Good Morning." Father muttered as he too sat down.

"Morning brother!" My little sister, Mia exclaimed.

"Good morning my little genius."

For the last time, just because I read a lot doesn't mean I'm a genius.

I didn't dare say that out loud.

Soon the maids came in with their trolleys, each holding a couple of cloches.

It took them a minute to set them on the table, along with 4 glasses, two of which contained wine, and the other two with orange juice.

Then they began removing the lids. First came the meat, straight from a demon ram. A fire-type beast whose meat was exceptionally spicy due to the fire-type mana that flowed through its veins.

Next came the wide array of fruits, ranging from the most basic of fruits to the most exquisite.

"Did you sleep well?" Father asked.

"Yeah, I had a pleasant dream." I replied.

"Oh? What was it about?"

I smiled sheepishly, "I dreamt about the day mom found me passed out in the library."

He chuckled, "Your mother was worried sick when she didn't find you in your room."

"What about you, dear? Weren't you under the impression he had been kidnapped?" Mother cut into our conversation.

Father flushed crimson, sipping from his wine glass, trying in vain to hide his flustered face, making all of us laugh.

After the laughter died down, we dug into the meat.

"Did yu fin ou anfing abo ta shoo?" I spoke while chewing on my food.

"Do not talk while chewing Zach." Mother chided.

I gulp down the food in my mouth before repeating my question, "Did you find anything about that school I told you about?"

Father sighed, "I did, the institute doesn't have many requirements. But the one that's the most important is to have achieved rank in the higher B, lower A spectrum."

"Low A class…" I mumbled.

It wasn't like I was a total amateur when it came to fighting and mana, I had been training for a few years under a private tutor. But even then I was barely in high C class, much less low A.

"I'll need to train harder then." I said, unfazed.

Father grinned slightly, "That's the spirit. You have four years to get to that level, it's more than enough for someone of your caliber."

"You praise me too much Father…" I muttered, flustered myself.

"Isn't brother already strong? Why does he need to be stronger?" Mia suddenly asked.

"I am not that strong, Mia. Besides this school, Sanctity is the best in all of Avernia! So it's understandable why they have such high standards."

She 'hmph'ed "I think brother is pretty strong."

"Your brother is very strong for his age." Mother agreed.

"I'm not that strong…" I muttered.

"You're too modest for your own good son, you should take pride in your achievements." Father spoke.

"But I do…" I muttered under my breath.

Fortunately, no one heard that.

We continued to eat our breakfasts, with some small talk here and there.

Finally, after we finished eating the meat, another maid came in with a newspaper on a plate.

As father began reading the paper, his eyes widened as he brought it closer to his face, zooming through the letters.

Seconds later he put down the paper and sighed.

"What is it, dear?" Mother enquired.

"Last night the King of Zaseon was assassinated, and the assassins bore the insignia of Advestria. King Ronan denies this, believing that this was set up by someone. He's blaming it on Prince Hojosa, claiming he did it to get the throne."

Mother placed a hand in front of her mouth, "That's terrible!"

Father nodded grimly, "Yes, and what's more, the youngest prince has been missing ever since King Benjiro’s death."

"I feel bad for his family. Didn't they lose another member a few years back?"

"They did, the king's brother was killed similarly. His son too had gone missing… I am seeing a pattern here." Father muttered the last part to himself.

"Didn't they increase their security?" I spoke up.

"They did, but after half a decade they must have relaxed a bit." Father explained.

"This could spark another war between us." Mother added.

"I suppose a few decades of peace was too good to last. If war does break out, it would be devastating."

"A war is the last thing we need." Mother agreed.

"Agreed, this is troubling news…"

Mia had not spoken a word during our conversation, considering she's only 9 years old, it's understandable.

The atmosphere of the room had turned gloomy a long time ago, and now, we silently got up from our seats and headed out of it.

Even Mia understood the gravity of the situation, or perhaps she was just too scared to say anything.

I had 4 years to get strong enough for sanctity, and I'll give it all I've got. Reading and gaining knowledge can wait until then…