At the Nerphen street, in the afternoon—
Heimfher walked among the busy roads with his head lowered, his eyes stared at his shiny shoes and his school uniform.
He remembered one of Heimfher's previous memories, when his mother enrolled him into the Swordmanship Academy, she had a huge smile on her face, and he gave her the same smile back, along with hope that one day, she would see him wearing a knight armor.
But that hope was no longer exist, not after Heimfher's death and his regret of not realizing his lack of talent sooner.
'I left the academy.. From today onwards, i will start my path as an awakened.' He thought as he passed a few civilians.
Eventually, Heimfher arrived at the inn he was staying, but he wasn't there to rest.
.
.
"You're leaving?" A middle-aged woman was shocked to hear Heimfher's request to leave the inn, she was the owner of the inn and had been accepting Heimfher's rent every single month.
"What happened?"
"I quit the academy, so.. Im going back to my mother's house.." Heimfher replied, the corner of his mouth twitched as he let out a faint smile.
"You're quitting the academy!? Are you serious!? Did you get expelled?!" The woman said, she looked worried for Heimfher.
"Im fine, i quit because of my own choice.. I just realized it now that swordmanship isn't really my thing, and i found out what i was actually good at, so i want to focus there instead of learning how to swing a sword." Heimfher said, he gave the inn owner a silver coin as a thank you gift and left.
Before Heimfher was about to leave, the inn owner suddenly called out to him, he was already at the edge of the front door when he turned his head.
"Heimfher, good luck out there! You can come again whenever you want." She said, her face softened as her smile widened and gave Heimfher a warmth that he rarely gets beside from his mother.
Heimfher waved at the inn owner, he sighed deeply as he took a step forward, his figure disappeared from the inn owner's vision for the last time.
The sun was setting in the horizon, everyone on the street was starting to come back to their own home, their work had already over for the day, and the womens were preparing dinner for their husband or childrens.
The street was filled with laughter as Heimfher strolled, a minute had passed since he bid his goodbye to the inn owner, and now Heimfher was heading towards the direction of the slum.
A place where laws barely worked, crimes being a normal occurence, and survival being risked at every morning, despite the city's constant guard and patrol, the slum district remains a place where no officials dared to enter, as it had been known to be controlled by strong individuals who were mostly an awakened.
.
.
At a certain wooden house within the slum district—
A women with white long hair and black eyes was seen cooking from the outside window, the smell of cooked mushroom stew and carrots permeated across the rooms as she poured the stew into a wooden bowl. She then carried the three wooden bowl to the other room and was greeted by two of her childrens.
"Here it is, eat up okay?" She said as she placed the wooden bowl onto the table in the middle of the room.
The three family was about to start eating when the door beside them suddenly knocked by an unknown person.
Knock knock!
"Hm? Yesss!" The woman said, she stood up from her chair and walked towards the door.
Creakk!
What awaited the woman at the other side of the door was Heimfher, his lips smiled and his eyes looked teary, then with a gentle push, he hugged the woman infront of him.
"Im back mom." Heimfher said.
The woman turns out to be his mother, Maelya. The person that had been working hard to take care of him and his siblings for the past years after their father's death. His visit was so unexpected that it made his mother also cried after seeing him.
"H- Heimfher?! What are you doing here.." Maelya said, her hands subconsciously hugged Heimfher back.
Their reunion was heard by Heimfher's siblings, and when they heard that their brother was back, they immediately left their food at the table and went on to see their brother.
"Brother Heimfher is back!?" Sylvia said with excitement.
"Brother is here? Where?!" Ferthrune also followed Sylvia to see Heimfher.
Sylvia was only 8 years old at that time while Ferthrune was 14, they met Heimfher at the front door and shared a few handshakes while also asking about each other.
The conversation lasted for over 15 minutes before Maelya told everyone to go back to the dinner table.
"Have you eaten?" Maelya asked to Heimfher, he noticed Heimfher's skinny figure and wondered if her son was doing well.
"Ah, yeah.. I ate a while ago." Heimfher replied, he had no choice but to lie because if he told the truth, it would cause his mother to unnecessarily worry him nonstop.
"Mom– Actually, i came here because i wanted to talk to you about something."
Maelya was caught off guard by Heimfher's sudden serious tone and asked if there was something wrong.
"What is it?.." She replied as her smile gradually faded.
Heimfher and his mother soon told Sylvia and Ferthrune that they would eat in another room, and that they should finish their food first. Both of them then went into Maelya's bedroom and Heimfher sat down on the bed along with his mother on the side.
"What do you want to talk about?" She asked.
And with a hesitant voice, Heimfher began to talk about everything that had happened to him, of course he didn't told her about the fact that he wasn't the same Heimfher from before.
"Mom– I.."
Heimfher spoke with his mother for over an hour, at first his mother was utterly devastated upon hearing that he had quit from the academy, but after telling her the reason, and admitting that he was recruited by the Protection Bureau, her face slowly calmed down. Heimfher also explained about the awakened, how his talent wasn't in swordmanshop but rather magic, and how he was trying to become an official while also acquiring magic power.
.
.
"So.. You're saying that you wanted to become an awakened? And work with the Protection Bureau?" Maelya said.
They've been discussing and now have reached the end of it, Maelya tried to tell Heimfher about the risks, yet he stood firm and told her that he was ready, she wanted to see if her son was truly sure about it, and after talking for a long time, she found her answer.
"Yes.. It'd be quite the same as when i was still at the academy.. I might not see you or Sylva and Ferthrune in a long time, but i'll make sure to send you a few coins every month." Heimfher responded as his fingers fidgeting with each other.
"It will be dangerous, I know i'll be dealing with criminals and bad people, but that's what i wanted to become in the first place, isn't it?"
"...You're right." Maelya said softly.
"But still.. I never thought that the protection bureau had a group of awakened in it.. From what you're describing, those awakened seems to be people who practice forbidden sorcery—
"Sorceries are managed by the churches, and they only approved a few sorceries for people to use like fire or healing magic.. You said that one of the people in there can trap you in an illusion, i never heard of such sorcery or magic before.."
Heimfher was a bit surprised when hearing his mother words, as he realized that a law for awakened actually existed.
'Approved sorcery?.. Then, does that mean Murph's power was illegal? Or is he an exception?!' He thought.
"You know about these?.." Heimfher asked his mother, he never knew that she had a few knowledge in God's Magic.
"I've seen an awakened before.. Unlike aura that knights or warriors uses, an awakened is rare to come across, i'd say those who are awakened usually hide their sorcery, unless their power was one of the approved sorcery by the churches.. The one that i met was a priest from the Blazing Flame church, he can create fire from his fingertips." She replied calmly, remembering about her pasts as she watched Heimfher looking curiously.
"I see.." Heimfher straightened his head and looked down.
'That means using any other God's Magic would've been illegal and get me caught by the churches, well maybe unless i have a proof that i was a member of the bureau.. From mother explanation, it seems like the churches here held some authority like the protection bureau.. They can arrest people and punish, so that makes them the second police organization.' Heimfher said to himself.
While Heimfher was thinking, his mother then spoke a few more.
"I won't stop you from joining the bureau, but i just want you to promise me that you won't put yourself in a situation where you can't win." She said.
Heimfher quickly looked at his mother and smiled, he was confident enough with his decision that he didn't spare a second before answering.
"That's an easy promise.. I will live to be 50, trust me." He said.
Maelya froze at her son's words before she suddenly laughed, amused by Heimfher's confidence, but also relieved to find that he had finally found a goal that he can be proud of instead of swordmanship.
Their conversation ended with Heimfher's mother agreeing, and they left the room to meet the curious Sylvia and Ferthrune. Heimfher and the rest of his family enjoyed their time together that night, until he fell asleep and the day changed.