Two years had passed, and I was getting close to turning five years old and therefore close to awakening.
That meant that the tensions between the Blade and Forger families were at an all-time high.
The Forger family was clearly on the losing side. If not for my great interest in forging being actually a good argument in their favor, I would probably already be completely separated from my mother.
And that scared her, a lot.
Like every time I spent with her, she refused to leave my side, no matter what I was doing.
Eating?
"Do you want Mama to feed you?"
Bathing?
"Don't make a fuss, Marcus. Mama will clean you."
Taking a small break from reading to go walk in the garden?
"Wait a minute! It's too sunny outside you need a hat and sunscreen!"
Studying the book?
"Look at you, my little boy, so smart! Do you want Mama to help you understand something?"
Well, the last one was actually pretty useful.
The point was that she was scared. According to some gossip from the servants of the family, whenever I was in the Blade family with my Father, Mother would eat less, sleep less, and look absentmindedly towards the door that I would eventually walk through whenever I came to stay with her.
As for my Father, he seemed to grow more and more confident.
And that was partially my fault.
Who would've thought that I was so talented in swordsmanship?
Of course, I still wasn't fit to actually wield a sword, however, I was already being taught about wielding a sword.
The traditions of swordsmen, the techniques, which targets to prioritize in a fight, and the advantages and disadvantages of different weapons when faced against a sword.
I feel like, normally, one would blame the fact that he was a reincarnated person as the reason why he could pick up those certain concepts pretty easily, but I felt that was not it.
The things that my father taught were things that I never touched in my previous life, and yet reciting the knowledge that was taught to me just came so naturaly.
It was both unreal and creepy.
Anyway, with that being the state of being of my parents, my custody was slowly and slowly being pushed into the Blade family's favour.
And while I already studied enough from the book to serve well for the rest of my life, I was now fighting for my mother's family simply to calm down her distressed mind.
My opinion was heard, fortunally.
The most empathetic members of both families repeatedly tried to push the more steadfast members into signing an agreement with the other family.
The process of convincing them was not going so well.
And that led to the current situation.
I was now in front of a room full of old, bald men. The elders of the Blade family.
After hearing the opinions of the more virtuous members of the family, they decided to have a conversation with me.
'Seriously, who decides to have a custody dispute decided by a 5-year-old kid? Well, this works in my favor, anyway.'
With this time in the Blade family, he had also found out the advantages of siding with the Blade family.
So, now I was going to completely drive the situation to my favour.
'I will get the best of both families!!'
My plan was relatively simple. To find a way to make them understand that it will be better for my growth to learn from both families.
And luckily, I had knowledge of the future.
You see, since I knew what profession I would get once I awakened, I could just take the gamble and tell them to decide my custody, taking into account which one would benefit me the most.
"We have heard from some of the members of our Blade family that you wish to stay with your mother, child."
The one who spoke was none other than the High Elder, the previous representative and head of the Blade family before my father, i.e., my grandfather.
"Yes!"
It must surely look quite funny. A five-year-old child, with its small stature, the baby face, and the oddly standing-up black and white hair. I bet that my serious face must look adorable.
"You are the son of the head of the family, you are to be the next head. You cannot abandon that fact and abandon your rightful place."
'They could at least try to be a little original. They always use this argument. Thank God I came prepared.'
"The next head doesn't need to be me. You were once the head of the family, but your father was not. You inherited the title from your brother that inherited it from your uncle. Father has in total seventeen siblings, eight of them with solid marriages, and from those eight, three of them already have children."
That sent quite the stir throughout the room. Some of the elders were talking to each other. The terms "brainwashed," "Forger Family," and "set up" floated around.
I didn't let them breathe. Today I was saving not only my mother but also my future chances of growing stronger.
"But I understand that just because there are others to take my place, it doesn't mean that they should. Legitimacy is a great factor to take into account when accepting a new head. So I have a proposal."
The murmurs stopped, and the elders once again focused on me.
My grandfather looked at me with sharp eyes, urging me to elaborate.
"My birthday is in around three weeks. Once I turn five, I will awaken and receive a profession from the System. Once that happens, let's decide where I will end up according to my profession, and if the profession requires both families to be better put to use, then why not work together in exchange for a person capable of boosting the reputation of both families?"
This was it, the final stretch. If they accepted, at the very least I guaranteed three weeks of peace in this custody dispute.
'Perhaps I should throw one more argument?'
"And if my profession turns out to be not that promising, then is it really worth it fighting for such an untalented member?"
The elders and my grandfather looked at me in silence, seemingly pondering what was the best course of action.
"All in favor of waiting until the awakening of the family member Marcus Blade, present your swords. Those not in favor, draw your swords."
As per tradition, instead of raising their hands or using other voting methods, the elders of the Blade family obviously used swords.
The first group of people to make a decision were those that had convinced the rest of the elders to hear me out.
They picked up their swords, still sheathed, from their waists and placed them in front of them horizontally. No words were said.
The next ones to make their decisions were those that had been murmuring before with the most passion. They unsheathed their swords and placed them vertically, the blade turned away from them.
Once again, no words left their mouths.
The rest of the elders took a certain amount of time before making a decision and then placed their swords in accordance with their votes.
The number of elders in that room was exactly twenty-seven. With the High Elder, my grandfather, there were twenty-eight voters.
My grandfather was the only one that hadn't voted yet. He was with his eyes closed in deep thought, most likely replaying the conversation we had just had, weighing the credibility of my arguments.
He then took his sword out of his belt and placed it.
It was sheathed and placed horizontally.
The voting was completed.
Seathed Swords: 18
Unseathed Swords: 10
A 9:5 ratio of votes, it was a great result. It was better than winning with two votes more than the others.
"18 votes in favor and 10 against."
There were some groans of displeasure from the defeated party, as expected.
"As agreed by the majority, we will wait for family member Marcus Blade's awakening before fully making a decision about his custody."
After saying that, the High Elder then picked up his sheathed sword and struck the ground with it.
"Everyone is dismissed, return to your previous duties."
Everyone stood up and walked away from the room. And so was I, along with my father, when my grandfather, still seated, called out to me.
"Young Marcus, please stay behind."
Looking at my father, I waited for him to voice his opinion.
"Do as he says."
Simple words, really. He then walked away, leaving me with my grandfather.
"What exactly do you want?"
"Hm?"
That question came out of nowhere.
'Is he still unsure of the possibility that I am being influenced by my mother's family?'
"I only want to become really strong. If I end up awakening with a profession similar to Mother's, I won't be able to realize my full potential."
Mother's profession revolved around creating objects and using said objects as arrows.
"So, what you want is your custody to be regulated according to what you believe is the best path for your growth, huh?"
Besides the fact that no one would speak to a kid like that, was that a look of ... pride?
"Yes. And Mother is really stressed out nowadays, I'm really worried about her."
He closed his eyes, deep in thought.
"You can leave now, I will take your words into account."
"I understand, thank you, High Elder."
Bowing slightly in a sign of respect, I left.
***************************************
Author's Note: Thanks for reading. Leave your thoughts in the comments, and also, check out my other novel, Unsealed Demonic Dragon Goes to the Academy.