Completing our map of the island, and killing every monster we came across, we quickly dried up any excitement left on the island. Discovering that we had no Dungeons or Labyrinths on our main island, I became quite depressed as it meant I would need to hold out to explore further till I was at least twelve years old. At that point, I could potentially strong-arm my father into allowing me to travel a bit, on my dime, but that was a long shot.
'If only that old hag and her spawn were not sucking our coffers dry, I could travel freely.', I thought, sitting on the edge of the island while Roxanne picked off Flying Fish monsters with her sling, 'Ugh…I do not want to stay here!!'
"Is everything okay?", Roxanne asked, noticing my frustration.
"I am just annoyed that we are out of things to do now.", I admitted, "We have explored and conquered every inch of this island, even the underground caves. At this point aside from those fish monsters, there are no monsters on the island anymore."
Understanding the feeling well, as this dry spell was hampering her ability to help her household, Roxanne asked if we could go to the neighboring, uninhabited islands to explore there.
"You could fly us to another island, could you not?", she inquired, unable to understand the amount of mana it would require to do so.
"Till I can refine my mana consumption further, flying us more than a few hundred feet is out of the question. While I can recover my mana quickly, that will not do us any good if we do not have solid ground beneath our feet.", I chuckled, as I looked over at her, "We cannot buy tickets to go anywhere either. Not only are they expensive but since we are under twelve, our families would need to purchase them for us."
Reviewing the options we had at the moment, an idea popped into my head. Recalling that my father said grandpa's old airship was rotting behind our house, I wondered if I could fix it and take the two of us somewhere else. The concept of airship licenses did not exist here so in theory there was nothing stopping me from piloting the ship myself. Deciding that it was worth a shot to ask my father, I stood up and told Roxanne to follow me. Explaining my idea to her, she eagerly agreed to help me if my father approved my request.
Finding my father reviewing a new budget from his first wife, the bane of my existence, my old man looked exhausted and on the verge of tears. Clearing my throat as I entered his office, he looked up and smiled at me.
"It is unusual for you to come home so early, is something wrong?", he inquired.
"Since Roxanne and I have finished mapping our island, is there any way the two of us can explore the small, uninhabitable islands in your territory? To do that, I want to fix Grandpa's old airship and use that to fly us around.", I told him.
"I…uh…hmm…", he said, thinking about it for a moment, "Luce, come here for a moment would you."
Calling out to my mother, as he dared not make this decision without her, she quickly came into the room with a worried expression. Initially assuming it was to do with the budget he had received this morning, she was relieved to see Roxanne and I were in the room with him.
"Yes dear, is something wrong?", Luce asked.
"Leon and Roxanne want to explore the islands around ours, specifically the uninhabited ones. Instead of asking us for money to charter an airship, he wants to fix up my father's old airship in the backyard to get there. What do you think?", he questioned, "If he can fix that old thing, I am more than happy to let him use it for his exploration."
Staring at him for a moment, then turning toward me, I watched the smile on her face turn into a scowl.
"I begrudgingly allowed you to play around our island for fun, now you want to venture out and explore the edges of our territory. As your mother, I am proud to see you developing into a strong, young man but on the other hand, it terrifies me to think of what might happen to you out there. You are only five and a half years old, you should slow down a bit and enjoy your childhood while you can.", she scolded me.
"Mother, I am enjoying it while also preparing myself for the future. As I have said before, I have no hope of inheriting anything from this household or your household. I can only rely on the two of you till I am eighteen, after that I am on my own.", I reminded her, "At the very least can I please fix the airship first, then broach the subject again after it is working?"
"I think that is a fair compromise.", my dad agreed, trying to help me out.
"*sigh*... alright, I see no harm in letting you work on the airship.", Luce relented, "I need you to swear though that you will not fly it till your father checks everything is in working order. If you break your promise, I will ground you till you are twelve. Do I make myself clear?"
"Thanks, Mom and Dad, you guys are the best!", I proclaimed, "Come on Roxanne, let us get to work!!"
Running out of his office to get work, my parents let out a sigh as we left the room.
Waiting till Leon and Roxanne were out of earshot, Luce looked at her husband with a worried expression.
"Dear…what are we going to do about Leon?", Luce asked, with a worried expression, "If he manages to fix that ship, his situation will get even worse. The Adventurer's Guild is already looking to scout him the moment he turns sixteen, and the Crown is watching him closely. Between ridding our island of monsters and completing all coursework needed to graduate from the Academy, with perfect scores no less, everyone wants a piece of our baby boy. I am genuinely worried that one of them may kidnap our son while we are not looking."
Having initially doubted that Leon was the one who completed the coursework, the Academy had dispatched several different teachers to their territory to verify his results. Shrugging off even the most complex and confusing questions they threw at him, each and every one of them left dumbfounded and awestruck by his genius. While the Crown had not said anything to them yet, Balcus was certain they would eventually be summoned to the capital to discuss Leon's future.
As for the Guild, they were equally skeptical of Leon's achievements but they had no proof that he was fake or a fraud. The fact that no Adventurer had set foot in the Bartfort territory in a decade and that the receptionist testified on his behalf, the Guild was forced to recognize the potential powerhouse in the making here.
'Talent like Leon's only appears every few generations, there is no way they will let him slip into the general populace. If he is lucky, he may receive a Cabinet Minister's position or even his own noble rank. That said, if he could also fix my dad's ship, he could easily open an airship workshop in the capital and make a killing fixing relic airships. There are only two workshops in the entire country that can repair and build ships, and neither of them could fix my father's ship. With Leon's brains, opening a third shop would be easy.', Balcus thought, "I would not worry about Leon being taken from us. He is too big of an asset to the Kingdom for them to do something like that. Our boy is a prodigy without equal!"
"I suppose that is true.", she agreed, with a smile, "If only a fraction of his genius could have rubbed off on the others…"
"Oh come now, they are above average as well.", Balcus argued, with a smirk, "All of our children are brilliant, Leon just stands out a lot more.
Laughing at his comment, Luce turned the discussion toward a more pressing matter. Approaching her husband's desk, she nervously took the budget request from him to see what the damage would be this time.
"This is a twenty percent increase from last year!!", she seethed, "Does she not understand that we need the funds to maintain and improve our territory!"
"It is my fault, I let several corrupt knights go who were just leeching on us. Somehow Zola found out about it and now wants to claim that extra money we freed up.", Balcus groaned, running his fingers through his hair, "I do not know what to…I cannot tell her no, but we really need this money to renovate the harbor. It is barely hanging on as it is and repairs are becoming ridiculously expensive."
"How about giving her a ten percent increase, and seeing if Leon can come up with a plan for the harbor?", Luce suggested, "He may have some ideas to renovate the harbor cheaper than the engineer's quoted. Every dia we can save is money we can put toward the territory."
"I will try…do not be surprised if she pays us an unexpected visit…", Balcus sighed, silently agreeing with Luce on this, "We can talk to Leon about harbor tonight at dinner."
Agreeing with her husband, Luce swiftly left the room to check on their other children.