Leon had a secret that not even his parents knew. The village saw him as a troublemaker, but when he was eight, he lived at his grandfather's house and worked as a knight apprentice at the baron's mansion. He woke up early for training, and his hands grew rough from hours spent with iron swords.
One day, while saving his brother Luke from the other trainees, Leon had an accident and was unconscious for a week. While he was out, he dreamed he was living in a completely different world with a new identity.
Waking up as an eight-year-old with two complete sets of memories, one of a rustic medieval world with unknowns, and another of a modern life filled with technology and entirely different social norms, left Leon feeling utterly lost.
First Panic would seize him in the quiet moments, a fear that he did not belong anywhere. Sometimes he caught himself reaching for words that no one around him would understand, or staring at the walls while his mind longed for something else. He wondered if he was going mad, or if he would ever truly know which life was his.
For those eight weeks, he was not just recovering from a physical injury; he was battling confusion and loneliness, trying to figure out which identity was real.
For Leon, each step was like walking on threads in his previous life. He read about witch hunts during medieval times, how brutal it was; he was scared to death that if anything slipped from his mouth, he might be hanged or burned.
To speak without using strange modern terms, and how to act like a normal eight-year-old boy while carrying the overwhelm and doubts of an adult, Leon just observed and observed during day and night. The only thing in his mind was to learn, learn the new world, learn the hierarchy, learn the necessary, and learn to survive.
In the first two months, the village thought the head injury had made him simple or traumatized. He had spent weeks in near-silence, carefully observing how his mother spoke, how his father treated patients, how the villagers traded, to learn how to play the role of "Leon" without looking like a lunatic. He had to deliberately train himself to forget modern words like electricity and mobile, forcing his tongue back into the local dialect.
During this time, Leon's father Allan and his mother Marie decided to move their family from Marie's father's house to the outskirts for the safety of their children. This was because of the growing threat from Mathias, the vice-commander, who had once been engaged to Marie and was now involved in village politics.
At that time, Marie's brother Elliot was made lord of the outskirts village for his loyalty to the barony, so the family moved to the outskirts.
Time passed. Eventually, the two lives merged. The modern adult's perspective gave Leon patience and sharp observation, while the village boy's identity gave him a physical anchor. As he struggled with the clash between everything he remembered and everything he was supposed to be.
Leon made a conscious choice; it was safer for people to underestimate him. He chose the role of the carefree, lazy village troublemaker because it let him make mistakes without raising suspicion, speak out of turn, or slip up without anyone thinking twice.
Trouble was expected from the boy who avoided work and taunted older kids. Acting foolish acted as a shield, letting him keep his real thoughts hidden. Adopting this persona was his way of protecting his secret and buying himself time to figure out who he really was. It was the perfect cover. Nobody expects grand brilliance or secret depths from a boy right now who argues with twelve-year-olds and gets his hair pulled by kids.
Now, at present time
"I am thinking of sending you to the academy, Leon," his father said
The voice of his father brought Leon back from the daze of his past twelve years of experience after regaining his memory. The once chatty atmosphere at the table was gone anow every one was listening to Allan's sudden decision.
For two full years, Leon had dropped subtle hints, casually bringing up the Royal Academy as if it were just another one of his wild, foolish whims. Behind those casual requests was a desperate need for him to attend the academy, to fulfill the promise he made. To fulfill the dying wish of his master. To open the gates, he needed power and support; a commoner academy was the only way to increase his strength and to gain support.
But every time, his mother Marie had cut the idea down before it could take root. She had already lost her younger brother in monster subjugation. The thought of losing her son just because of a stupid youthful dream weighed too hard in her heart.
Leon looked across the table. Marie wasn't yelling or scolding now. She sat with her hands clasped tightly in her lap, a quiet, flickering discomfort in her eyes as she searched Allan's face, silently asking him why now? Why change your mind today?
"Allan..." Marie began, her voice soft but laced with protective strain. "He's barely twenty. The capital is... It's not like the village.
"I know," Allan said, laying his hand over hers on the table. His gaze shifted from his wife to Leon, his eyes holding quiet understanding that made Leon's chest tighten. "I know what's out there; if you love birds dosent mean that you should always keep it in a cage; you need to let them fly and see the world for themselves. Like that, keeping him hidden here on the outskirts forever won't protect him either. So let him fly that he can see the sky himself".
Allan leaned forward, resting his elbows on the wooden table, looking directly into Leon's eyes.
"You've been asking me for two years, Leon," his father said, his voice dropping into a rare, solemn seriousness. "You played it off like a joke, but I know when a man is staring at the horizon. But it was not the right time. The entrance exam is in three weeks; you will leave after the Firelight Festival. If you truly want to fly, I won't hold you back anymore."
Leon swallowed hard, letting the heavy weight of the moment settle over his shoulders before he spoke.
"I'm ready, Dad,"