We arrived at the training grounds after a few minutes of walking.
When Becca saw the wide open space, her eyes shined and her face had a huge teeth filled grin.
"I have always wanted to practice my magic in a training ground instead of secretly in my room!"
She walked as fast as she could into the training grounds and went straight for the training dummies in the middle, while small giggles were slipping out as she tried her best to keep her composure.
She reminded me of a kid on Christmas morning. This has been a dream of hers for so long, I am glad that she is able to have it finally fulfilled.
As she was still examining the training dummies and their durability, I turned towards James.
"James, I don't know much about magic, so I will sit back and let you test her ability. Let me know if you think she is Royal mage material. Be unbiased about it, I don't want to rush her into something she is not ready for, especially with all the backlash she will get if she is weaker than an average Royal mage.
Also, help her out if you see things she is doing fundamentally wrong. She is self taught after all, so she might be doing things suboptimal."
James understand that I was putting my trust in his judgement, so I could tell he was serious about this.
"Ok Nick, I will have her go through a few tests with her spells and once we are done, then you can hop in to try some combination attacks."
I put a hand on James' shoulder.
"James I know a lot of things happened in the past, but I really care about Becca now. After all the stories I have heard, I am not happy with the man I was in the past.
Please don't set things up for when I get my memories back. Deal with the me in the present. Deal with me with my memories back when it actually happens. It might never happen.
Even if I was a jerk before, when I get my memories back, I can't get mad at you for listening to my own orders.
Also, please try to be friendly with Becca and respect her. Us three are going to be working hard together to make our dreams a reality from now on."
"I understand Nick, I will make sure to follow through on all your orders without worrying about the future. I did swear my oath to you.
And about Rebecca, I was confrontational with her earlier, but if she really can use the intermediate spell ice freeze, then she is not weak by any means."
Becca popped up behind us while we were talking. For some reason, she did not look happy.
She pointed at James and spoke in an angry whisper, "Hey! Why are you calling him Nick out in the open like this?!"
I didn't understand what Becca was so mad about, but James seemed to get the gist of her complaint.
"He told me to call him Nick from now on."
Becca was not happy with his explanation,
"And you agreed to that?"
James scratched his cheek nervously,
"Well…he is my Lord, so I have to listen to what he says."
Becca put her hand on her forehead, "he doesn't have any memories! You have to help him not get into trouble for acting too differently even if it means not listening to him!"
I was too out of the loop, so I put my hand on Becca's back.
"Hey Becca, can you explain to me what the problem is?"
With me calling out to her, her expression changed from annoyance to a soft smile and she replied to me gently,
"Oh, sorry Nick, the issue is that in the Kingdom, it is unprecedented for a commoner to call a noble by an intimate nickname. Even calling them by their first name is very rare.
I heard him call you Nick before in the office, but I thought you had agreed to only let him call you Nick when you two were alone. That is ok, but he should not call you that out in public."
I grimaced at the Kingdom's logic.
"But Becca, I don't want to look down on people and I don't want people to put me on a pedestal."
Becca also put her hand on my back, so now it was like we were giving each other a half hug.
"I know and I like that about the new you, but remember you wanted me to help you so that no one would be able to tell that you lost your memories? Well, this is the type of thing that would be very suspicious to other nobles if news of it spread.
The Nicolas with your memories was a very proud man that always looked down on commoners. So for now, you have to act the part until we establish our foundation and start changing the society and perspective of you slowly.
Maybe I will try to ask my father to visit soon so that we can hear stories of what it was like for him to learn how to act like a noble."
I was shocked at Becca's words. They made me realize how dumb I was being. I was trying to change so quickly that it would be suspicious to most people that knew the original Nicolas.
I can use me falling in love with Becca as an excuse for most of my changes on my views of love and my wanting to change the laws in the Duchy, but it would not explain why I suddenly wanted commoners to treat me as equals.
I still want to lessen the gap between commoners and nobles in the Kingdom, but that is something to implement towards the end of our goals, once the Duchy is already warming up to change, not right of the bat.
I need to be more careful was I start heading out into public social circles. So far, I have only talked to James, Becca, and a few workers. Luckily, I have Becca on my side to quickly correct me now. I also had a fun idea about her last suggestion.
"Becca, instead of your father coming here, we should go visit your family when we have some free time. I want to see the place you grew up and the things you did as a kid."
Becca didn't seem to have even thought of that course of action.
"Really? Ok, I will try asking my family about it. I also want you to get to know me more." She was smiling again, so I was happy.
Then, I turned to James.
"Sorry James, it looks like you can't call me Nick out in public anymore, but you can still call me that when we are alone, if you would like."
James bowed to me, "Don't worry my Lord. Just the knowing that you wanted to means a lot to me. I am sorry I didn't bring up the same concern as my Lady."
Becca teased James a little bit by putting her hand to her mouth,
"Oh my, you must have been sooooo excited to be able to call him by a nickname that you lost all logic. But I am the only one who is allowed to call him Nick in public."
Becca was being a little mean spirited, but I think it was a fair revenge for how James treated her earlier today, so I would say they are even now.
I smiled and gave them both a small push on their backs,
"Stop talking smack and start your magic training!"
I adding this scene because a comment said it was not smart to let James call him Nick and completely ignore customs. I agree that the logic was flawed, but I think it works well with Nicks idealistic character. Rebecca will keep him more in check from now.
Also, I didn’t know where I wanted to go with the story after this training because I had so many ideas but I didn’t know the best order to do everything in. I sat down yesterday and made a story timeline. A lot of great stuff is come!