A New Star Chapter 7

I took my time looking through the training equipment, noting that there wasn't any armor small enough to fit me. I would have to have a set custom-made for me, so I dismissed it for the moment. I looked through the training swords before I found two blades that were nearly perfect; at least, they were perfect for me right now. They were too short and narrow for me to use once I had even close to regained my full height, but they would do for my child-sized frame. I set them aside and moved back to where I had passed the one-handed swords earlier, finding a set of almost the same blades, though not as training weapons but as real, sharp swords. They were a little too long and not really in the shape to be short swords, but they weren't really long enough to be actual one-handed blades. I wondered if they had been a custom order for someone. 

I decided to confirm with the captain, "Are these claimed?" 

"Ah, no, they are just part of the armory," Mina replied after looking over the blades. 

"I will be taking them," I said stoically.  

"You'll be taking them? You're four!" Mina shot back. 

"I find it fascinating that everyone else keeps telling me my age. Is that a common thing on this wo-, er, here; that everyone forgets their age and must be reminded of it?" I asked caustically. 

"You're quite highly developed for a four-year-old," Mina responded. 

"I'm precocious," I deadpanned. 

"If that's how you want to play it," the captain returned, not seeming convinced, if I were to judge by her tone of voice and the raising of her rather thick eyebrows. 

"That is how I want to play it, captain," I said.  

"Hmph," she grunted in response. 

Taking that as assent, I grabbed the set of blades in their scabbards and then grunted myself as I saw the belt they were attached to was clearly intended for someone of an adult size. I browsed the armory for a minute until I miraculously managed to scrounge a belt that would fit me, and not even on the lowest notch. I threaded the scabbards of the real blades on the belt and equipped it. Fortunately, my height was enough already that I only had to wear the belt slightly high on my waist to keep the scabbard tips from scraping along the dusty ground. Speaking of dust, the armory could certainly use a cleaning. 

"Got any guards that need punishment?" I asked the captain, eliciting a surprised snort as the initial response. 

"One or two. Why d'ya ask?" she asked in return. 

"Get some supplies from the staff and have them clean this room. It's filthy," I replied coldly, wrapping an extra belt around the scabbards of the training blades and grabbing the center with my left fist, holding the blades up over my left shoulder as I walked to the door.  

"I hate to have to even say this, but it's really not that bad," the captain rumbled as she followed after me. 

"'Not that bad' and 'good' are not synonyms, captain," I replied tersely. 

"I'll get somebody on it." 

I nodded as I walked, not even bothering to look back at my enormous shadow as I wended my way out of the barracks. I made my way back through the rear doors of the estate, crossing the kitchen area before heading down a set of half-steps leading to a basement servant passage. Mina followed me relatively silently, making far less noise than I would have suspected of someone of her size and weight. I wondered if she had an affinity that was affecting how much noise she produced. 

We walked for a few minutes until we reached a point near the far side of the basement, emerging from a small door placed in a way to make it appear insignificant. I walked down several rooms, counting in my head until we reached the third, near the very end of this hallway. Opening the door and entering it I frowned at the far heavier dust buildup, lifting my shirt to put over my nose and mouth to filter the dust my opening of the door had kicked up. I moved to the large table in the center of the moderate-sized room, inspecting what was laid out upon it. There were all manner of glass containers on the table, a number of them connected at different points, whereas some were simply empty vials and beakers. It was, in short, everything a beginner alchemist would need.  

"Do we have a glassblower on retainer?" I asked the captain idly as I inspected the equipment, seeing several of the pieces displaying wear and tear. Even the ones that didn't have cracks or chips might not survive the tender handling of a total novice such as I for very long. 

"I, uh, actually don't know. You'd be better askin' one of their lordships something like that," Mina replied. 

Much of the space around the edges of the room was taken up by shelves meant to store both ingredients and finished products. They were mostly empty, with a few vials I cast a very wary eye over, as well as a couple boxes. The boxes were the type that were meant to store ingredients, usually enchanted to keep herbs and beast parts fresher longer but, considering the thickness of dust in the room, I wasn't holding my breath.  

"Does the young lady hold an interest in alchemy?" Mina asked as she surveyed the room, at least able to recognize it as the alchemy workshop it was, or rather, was intended to be.  

"More than an interest," I replied as I finished my inspection. 

"Alchemy is not viewed very favorably, young miss. I would recommend pursuing a different hobby." 

"It is more than a hobby," I replied, waving my hand before Mina could retort. "Just be patient; you will see." 

With my preliminary check of the room done, I moved back into the hall, sighing in relief as I lowered my shirt. I was mostly done with what I needed to do today, but it looked like I would have to stop by and talk to my parents before I returned to the library. I planned on continuing my studies, but at a much lesser pace as I started my physical training.  

I retraced our path through the servants' passages, the area around the kitchens serving as a nexus for those passages to transition floors. I moved back up to the first floor, making my way to the large office my parents shared. The two guards at the door came to attention as they saw me approach, though, on second thought, it might have been at seeing the captain approach.  

I opened the door to the office, ignoring the odd looks the guards gave me as I strolled inside. I probably should act a little intimidated of my parents, or perhaps awed, but the memories of my last life, the height I had stood at, fifty thousand star systems following in my wake…I could not even bring myself to pretend. Everyone in the room had looked up at the door opening, with my eldest brother and my mother's secretary having slack-jawed expressions plastered across their faces.  

"Mina! Why does she have swords?! And not just one, but two sets. She's four!" exclaimed my mother. 

"I'm glad she reminded us how old I am," I quipped as I looked up at the minotaur, who had started to rub her forehead.  

"Your daughter, who is also apparently an estate security expert, decided she was going to acquire some swords. I would have reported that after making sure she didn't hurt herself with them, but she came here herself, which makes me telling you a little redundant," Mina explained. 

"And why is she wearing the real pair and holding the training pair?" my mother asked sharply. 

"If I were attacked, the best strategy is to throw the training pair to stagger the attacker, giving me time to draw the actual swords and, hopefully, the opening to gut the person," I replied in my usual deadpan. 

"Came up with that all by yourself, did you?" she said to me a little crossly. 

"I'm precocious," I replied, hearing Mina above and behind me groan. 

"You are something, alright," my mother replied, putting down her pen and standing from her place behind her desk. My father had been watching the proceedings, but returned to his work as my mother approached, likely still listening as he wrote and signed, over and over. Approvals; how tedious. 

My mother stopped before me and crossed her arms below her quite ample chest, glowering down at me. She held that pose for a minute and, when my expression remained unchanged and I didn't fidget even an inch, suddenly lashed out with her right arm. It was a probing strike, and performed extremely slowly, but centuries of battle experience kicked in just like the instinct to draw another breath. I pushed with my power of time, accelerating my timescale while trying to slow my mother's, feeling like I was literally shoving a mountain as a four-year-old. At the same time, my right hand darted down and drew the blade on my left hip, executing a rising slash with a twist of my wrist as I pushed against time. 

The blade met the inside of my mother's forearm as I stepped back and to the right, using my footwork to move out of range as my strike left nary a white mark. As I moved, I spun, letting go of the training swords and slamming my left elbow into them, pushing them into my mother's knees. I drew my right blade as soon as my left hand was free, completing the spin away from both my mother and Mina as I drew even with the far couch, both blades in a high-ready stance.  

Everyone in the room, including both my parents, were staring at me with rather wide eyes, though my mother was the first to recover. She bent down and picked up the training blades that had partially tangled her legs, tugging the belt around them tight before handing them back to me. Unthinkingly, I re-sheathed my blades in a single, fluid motion, noticing the twitches of several sets of eyes after I did so. I took the training blades from my mother and resumed holding them over my shoulder, looking up at her as she re-crossed her arms. 

"Have you been training already?" she asked. 

"I start tomorrow," I replied calmly. 

"And how did you pull that move off? You're four!" 

"I think, perhaps, it's because everyone else has trouble remembering ages," I said, looking up at the captain, who simply groaned and rubbed her forehead again. 

"What's that all about?" my father asked from his desk, raising an eyebrow as he gave Mina a piercing look. 

"Everyone on the estate constantly tells me how old I currently am, as if I do not know. It is very strange," I answered him calmly. 

"Well, we are all quite surprised by you, I must say," he replied, setting his pen down and steepling his fingers as he looked at me from across the room. 

"Do we have a glassblower on retainer?" I asked, deciding to steer the conversation back on track, considering the circles we had been wandering around in. 

He blinked for a moment in response, seemingly both taken by surprise and having to actually deeply think before he could answer. "Well," he said, pausing again for a second before continuing, "we do have a glass shop in the town, as a matter of fact, that we deal with fairly often." 

"The fastball incident," my mother interjected as she walked over to and around her desk, resuming her prior seat. 

My father winced at her statement before continuing, "Yes, the fastball incident. Better soon forgotten. Anyway, why the sudden question? Please tell me you haven't broken any windows." 

"I am not so clumsy," I replied with a small frown, not failing to take not of Thomas’s glower and the vein standing out on his temple. "I was wondering about the possibility of getting multiple sets of alchemical equipment made and delivered to the estate." 

"You're an alchemist now?" Thomas asked in a sarcastic tone. My older brother was really not growing on me the more I interacted with him. 

"No," I replied coldly. Just as he made to speak again, I said, "I intend to become an alchemist." 

My mother snorted as my father gave Thomas a bit of a glare, causing my eldest sibling to subside. My father then rummaged through his desk for a moment before pulling out a ledger and flipping it open. The somewhat large book was moderately thick, but my father clearly knew what he was looking for, finding the page immediately. 

"Here we have it," he said. "Fairlight Glassworks. They operate a moderate size glassworks in the middle of Umberton." 

Umberton was the town located several miles down the road from the estate, though it was more a small city than a town. It appeared there was a glassworks perfectly capable of producing what I required in the town. The rest of the battle was convincing my parents to actually provide the seed capital for my new business venture. 

"What would the cost of the glass products be? And how would we fit that within the budget?" I asked my father, seemingly surprising everyone within the room again. 

"Well," my father replied, "I believe, depending on what exactly you need, it would easily be covered by the estate budget." 

I nodded and turned to leave, stopping when my mother cleared her throat. "What do you have to say, young lady?" she asked. 

After pondering for a moment, I replied, "Work hard," before turning and leaving the room. Mina stomped out after me, intent on her nanny duty for the day. I was intent on the library, returning to continue my study for the rest of the day, giving Mina a glare or two as she hovered right over my shoulder for the rest of the day. 

The next morning, I was up just before dawn, going through my morning routine before my maids even made it to my room. I waved away their attempts to hover over me, as well as their attempts to feed me. I left the room with them still hovering around me, ignoring them as I made my way through the building. It had apparently been only a bit too early, as we ran into my new nanny as I made my way to the kitchens, Mina dismissing the maids as we walked. 

The minotaur trailed me down to the kitchen, where I requested oats, fruit, and some cuts of bacon. Chopping the fruit up and mixing it in with the oats, I ate the porridge quickly before devouring the bacon, washing it all down with water. I pick up the few dishes and took them over to the area where the servants washed them before heading out the back doors, crossing the courtyard and moving around the guard barracks to the training yard.  

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