Chapter 2: The Mansion and The Family
( thank you for reading & correct me if you see any mistake)
The journey to the mansion was smooth and without any stops, and it barely took us 30 minutes to arrive at the mansion.
As Willow was escorted out of the car he took a meaningful look at the caste size manor and inwardly admired 'the residence is an excellent example of a romantic, fairy-tale like and otherworldly architecture.' the mansion contain of three section, the Western section was where the servants quarter was situated whereas the Eastern section was where a large ballroom was present and in North was where the counts family and legacy stayed.
As Willow entered the mansion he was greeted by a large hall from where people who seem to be knights of the family could be seen taking rounds or standing guard in thier position, the servants of this mansion moved and work with in a graceful and professional movement that made servants of the old mansion seem like a joke. As he followed the butler throughout the hallways he could see the paintings of the previous heads.
He was brought to a office where a woman with wavy dark brown hair and red eyes which contain a barely visible golden circle within them was sitting, she had a slightly long black coat hung on her shoulder and was wearing a brownish wine colour dress her eyes never once leaving the paperwork she was busy with.
the office was lit by a light element magic artitact hung on the ceiling. As Willow looked around the office he could see cabinets filled with files or books of philosophy and other pieces of literature which sceamed that thier reader was a smart man.
Seeing the office Gabriel was reminded of his stepfather who had a similarly decorated office, as his thoughts reached that direction he couldn't help but remember his time on earth with his step-family as much as he was missing them he knew he currently had no way to know how his cherished family was doing and could only steel himself and navigate in this world as Willow.
as Gabriel was delving in his thought he was brought back to reality by a clear and deep but femenine voice.
"It has been some time since we have seen each other hasn't it Willow I hope you enjoyed your time you spend on vacation at the holiday manor" said the woman with a smile which didn't seem to reach her eyes.
Gabriel thought to himself sarcastically 'ah yes the vacation which lasted more than 6 years, the oh so great vacation Willow was sent at against his will' but he still replied in a calm tone " My greetings countess, yes it's been a great deal of time since we have met and I assure you the time I spent at the 'holiday' manor 'alone' was quite relaxing and enjoyable" saying two words with a little more focus.
"hmm, I assume that Alfred must have already told you about why you were called here, regarding the ceremony you don't need to worry much as we have called people proficient in it from the magus tower to ensure safety of the ceremony there is nothing else to say you may follow Martha to the room where you will temporarily be staying, now you may leave" she said in a nonchalant tone and clapped her hands and got busy in her paperwork again.
An old maid then entered the room silently without making any significant noise and urge Willow to follow her. " Head Maid Martha may I know that when will I get to meet James and also could you kindly inform me about when will my teaching regarding the ceremony will begin" I asked in a childish tone while giving my best innocent face to her for which the graying maid replied in a monotonous voice "You may meet young master james at the dinner after which you are free to talk to him and your studies for young master james ceremony will begin tommorow, you may rest now" she said leaving me in front of a door in one of the secluded areas of the mansion near the west section.
I couldn't help but grumble at the little rude ways I've been getting treated today as I entered the room which was not clean thoroughly, visible by the dust left on shelf and window though the the curtain and mattress looked brand new. Willow made his way to the mattress and laid on it, his body relaxing on the familiar softness he hasn't felt in a long while.
' Willow's light green hair is more than enough proof that sooner or later he's going to awaken with a healer attribute so I don't need to care much for awakening, but the fact that that james asked me to have it with him is concerning me, my relation with him isn't bad but neither is it good' as his thoughts were going nowhere in that direction he thought of the meeting he had earlier ' Elaine Ophelia the first wife of Count Ronald Ophelia, according to Willow's memory she is a famed magic marksman who uses enhancement magic on guns and shoot mana bullets while a normal mage can also shoot a mana bullet without gun, their range and penetrating power cannot be compared to a magic gun' as Gabriel was lost in thought fatigue took over his body and he went to sleep.
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3 hours later
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*knock* *knock*
"uurgh" due to the sound of the knock Willow woke up and witnessed the head made Martha entering his room and telling him that the dinner will be set soon and told him to prepare and come and left while dropping some set of clothes for him to wear.
As he made his way towards the dinner hall guided by an unknown maid he thought ' according to Willow's memory there should currently be only 4 family members in the manor, the first wife Elaine, the second wife Annie, Willow's second sister primrose and his third brother james. the rest are at the academy or royal capital'
as his thoughts ended he found himself in front of a majestic dark wood door with images of various grains carved on to it. The door was open by the maid after knocking and getting permission to enter.
as soon as he entered the door he was greeted with the sight of 4 people sitting ate the top edge of a table containing a vast array of delicious food with a rich aroma emanating from it making Willow hungry.
At the head of the table he could see Elaine sitting at the head seat and on her right side was primrose my second sister who had light brown hair slightly matching her mother Elaine and clear blue eyes gained from her father. On her opposite side was Annie the second wife with blonde hair and blue eyes and sitting beside her was james with blonde hair and jade green eye unlike anyone in the family.
"you're late, sit down quickly" said Elaine in an authoritative tone. as Willow was making his way to sit beside primrose who gestured him to come near her, he was startled by a loud and ruly voice.
" Willow my brother where are you going come sit beside your brother" called james in an overly friendly manner. To not cause any extra drama Willow quitely made his way towards him and as soon as he sat down james threw his arms on his shoulder and spoke while bringing his face closer
" little brother of mine, you finally showed your face here I thought you will spend the rest of your life on vacation in that old manor" to which Willow curtly replied
" I did hope to meet you but I truly didn't got time"
Gabriel mentally patted his back at the bullsh*t he spew with a straight face
"hahaha, leave that aside have you prepared yourself for the awakening ceremony I'm truly sure and hope you have a good element and some attribute for healing."
said james in a joyous tone but Gabriel could see some desperation in his eyes leaving him confused.
while james and Willow were conversing among themselves the first and second wife were talking about the family matters and some balls that are soon to be attended, and Primrose was just waiting to join her brother in their conversation but couldn't find the right words to join them. When Willow noticed the wasted efforts of primrose in trying to enter the brothers interaction he couldn't help but remember of her meek and shy personality from Willow's memory.
"Elder sister Primrose I heard you have also awakened recently I would like to give my congratulations to you on that" said willow.
Primrose who finally got a chance to Converse grabbed it and said in her pleasing voice " thank you Willow, I was just lucky enough to awaken with affinity for water and high attribute for healing I'm sure you will awaken with better attribute for healing maybe even pure" she said casting a short glance at Willow's light green hair to which Willow replied " we can only know about it at the time of my awakening but I do hope your word come true" the conversation continued till the end of the dinner. After which they all left deeper into main section escorted by a knight while alone Willow made his way towards the room he was staying at. Entering the room Willow laid upon the bed thinking of the earlier interaction.
'throughout the talk james would always be talking about my affinity and element and he was more concerned about my awakening asking me to focus on my lectures. this gives me an erry feeling, about the conversation with primrose a pure element for healing is denoted by a bright green, considering my hair colour there is a serious chance I might awaken it.' He also thought about Willow's mother 'According to Willow's memory she is also said to have light green hair just like mine, I know nothing about her did she had pure healing element? was she talented? and many more questions plaqued my mind but I soon gave into comfort of the bed and went into the land of dream.
AUTHOR NOTE:-
while in this fantasy world a various amount of hair and eye colours exist but most of the time it is common colours like black, brown, red, blonde, white. when a person is born with a hair colour different from this norm there is an extremely high chance that they might awaken with an element matching their hair colour eg. a person with blue hair awakening with affinity for water element , another person with orange hair awakening with affinity for fire element.
p.s eye colour is mostly genetics and is influenced very little by affinity. though people with extremely high affinity have thier eye colours affected these people are miniscule in number. our protag is one of latter
attribute are ways their element will work example a water affinity person having high attribute for healing will be able to cast healing spell better than a water affinity person with attribute to flow or defence.
even if a person has low attribute for something they can still cast that spell as long as it is of their element and can even match people with attribute for that with enough practice and talent.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone