The next day, early in the morning, Zeun and Helena climbed into the rented carriage that would take them to the city. Zeun looked at the distant Kroton village, where he had been living for more than two years but had never once visited. Outside the windows, as they moved through a forest, various exotic flora and fauna lined the roadside—some hanging from trees, some plants crawling like snakes through the undergrowth.
The forest path was too narrow for the cart, and Mom's head would often bump against the carriage roof. Tree roots served as natural speed bumps and super bumpers, often giving the travelers the shock of their lives. Helena started complaining about how long it was taking and how fast she would be if she were alone. It was clearly visible that she was quite enjoying the travel, except for the moments when she hit her head.
It was Zeun's first time outside his village, so he curiously looked out, occasionally asking Helena about various plants and animal names.
Except for his magic studies, this was the first time Helena saw her son acting like a child of his age, being true to his feelings. The rest of the time, Zeun would mostly act like an adult.
'The city wasn't far, but it would take them a whole day to reach it because they had to move around a mountain to avoid ferocious beasts. Mom takes only about six hours to go to the city, sell the monster material, and then return. Perks of being a higher-circle mage, I guess,' Zeun thought to himself.
Helena Donovan was the youngest and most ingenious prodigy from a rich Viscount household. Helena had three older siblings; her oldest brother, Timothy Donovan, the current head of the Donovan family, was at odds with her.
From a very young age, she showed exceptional prowess in magic, coupled with her kind and gentle nature.
She had the potential to become a prospective student of the All Empires University of Archmages. One must understand that a student who successfully graduates from this university holds a fifty percent chance of becoming a 10th Circle Archmage.
These beings stood at the pinnacle of the realm of Cerulean, second only to those Archmages in the Sage Realm. Such was the frightening extent of her talent! As for the Sage Realm, it requires extreme luck and a deep comprehension of the universe. They are more exotic and rarer than the Kohinoor diamond on Earth.
Note from MC: Since there is only one Kohinoor on Earth, and Jupiter is thirteen hundred times larger than Earth, hypothetically, it should have more than a thousand Kohinoors at least. Yet, there are fewer than 100 known Sage Realm Living beings on Cerulean.
Hence, the family elders strongly supported her for the next family head position, but she rejected it herself, telling them that her growth would be hindered if she involved herself in family businesses.
However, Viscount Donovan was against it because Helena was not a pure-blood noble. He valued his first wife's—a.k.a. his own sister's—son more than any of his other children. To stop any potential threat against the family, the Viscount indirectly tried to kill his own daughter multiple times.
In the Human Continent of Cerulean, marriage between family members, mainly siblings, was common as it maintained the purity of a noble's blood. Sexual diseases and other blood-related problems could be cured using high-rank healing magic. Thus, pure-blood noble children had an inherent tendency to look down on other siblings who had impure blood.
Hence, as the daughter of a concubine, no matter how talented she was, Helena couldn't get any kind of love or recognition from her father or other foster mothers. She was the prime subject of bullying, mainly from Timothy and her other siblings.
So, when Helena showed her exceptional talent, her older siblings started taking life-threatening actions behind her back. Viscount Donovan didn't interfere, even when her concubine mother was poisoned by his other wives; he simply cast them out from the family.
Later, to care for her sick mother and cover her medication bills, Helena dropped out of the Academy when she was a 6th Circle Grand-Master Mage and became an adventurer. It was at that time she met Paul and others, becoming fellow adventurers.
She later returned to the Academy and broke through to Mage Lord (7th Circle Mage). But it was too late to apply for a university outside the Empire for higher education, as her age was already above the entry threshold .
Since there was no support from her family, Helena only had the money she saved from her adventurer days, and later, what Paul used to give her as pocket money for shopping. She generally didn't need money, as Paul always spoiled her with everything. Hence, she never thought about carrying much money with her.
But whatever materials, armor, weapons, and coins she had would be worth at least a billion, if not more. However, to cure her son's nightmares, she bought a Rank 7 Darkness Crystal, which is rarer than a Rank 8 Beast Core that had taken humanoid form, thereby emptying all her wealth.
'For the last two years, Mother has been hunting wild beasts on her own, even when injured. I'm worried about her. Even with all the knowledge I have from my past life, if I can't help Mom, who has sacrificed so much for me, then it's better to die than be a burden again.' Zeun promised not to repeat his past mistakes in this life.
'But whatever I do, I will never, not even by mistake, attract attention.' Zeun was a big fan of fantasy mangas and web novels back on Earth.
He had read multiple times how MCs who recreated new things from Earth in medieval isekai worlds would attract unwanted attention. That would bring the protagonist multiple inconveniences, sometimes even threatening the lives of those related to them.
Hence, Zeun could vaguely estimate that unless his actions touched the interest of nobles, they would generally not bat an eye.
'My family and I have already suffered enough. Hence, I won't be a single bit greedy. I will only do the least of whatever is necessary for an average life. For that, if we have to beg for food, then I would do that too.'
'Mom told me that my father's family and uncle are very powerful. If he's even more powerful than my mom (who can destroy a small hill with her power) and they're searching for us to kill us, then I can't imagine how powerful they might be. So it's best to avoid any kind of attention. One can never be too careful, after all.'
Zeun didn't know that his uncle's family was in a different kingdom than theirs. But it's difficult to say what turns fate will take in the future. In life, happiness and sadness always follow one another; a person can never be incessantly happy nor incessantly sad. After good times come bad times, and after bad times again come good times, and it continues. This is the truth of life, after all; without difficulty, challenges, and harshness, life would be monotonous.
"Zeun..." I heard Mom's voice, interrupting my thoughts. "When are you planning to join a school? You've been avoiding it for a year now..."
Zeun's eyes wavered. He slowly moved toward his mother and clung tightly to her, a palpable trauma evident in his quivering voice and hesitant movements.
"I..." Zeun couldn't utter any words; his heart was pounding heavily. He moved even closer to his mom, placed his small head on her plump bosom, and hugged her tightly from the side. He was trembling!
(A N - The trauma of an adult cannot be borne by a child's body. Since the MC is now a child, his body and mental strength regressed to fit his child's body. )
Helena saw this and sighed inwardly. 'No matter how mature he acts, he's still a child after all. My son is still facing the trauma of the past that's saved in Zeun's subconscious mind due to his personality.' She gently hugged Zeun and placed her hand on his head.
He stopped trembling, and a satisfied, peaceful look appeared on his face as he slept in his mother's arms.
He woke up, and it was already dusk. The silhouette of a city was visible in the distance. It was more like a small fortress, with very high walls approximately five meters thick, shrouded around the city. Being a border city, it had guards patrolling on the walls twenty-four-seven.
We crossed the city gates, on which was written: 'Welcome to Caspara City'