As they traveled together, Greyson learned more about his new friend. Claude Devereux: 10 years old, water element, novice stage 3 magician, his father was the City Lord of Sirius. He was definitely nice, but a little spoiled and needy. Sadly, he wasn"t too talented as he was at the same level as Greyson but he was five years older. Yes, Greyson had quickly made his next breakthrough a little before arriving at Sirius so he was also a novice stage 3 magician. He also gave Greyson more information about using magic. Unlike Lucius, Claude was a human so he understood how humans used magic more clearly. Apparently, normal people needed to learn spell chants to use the element in certain ways and they needed to meditate on top of special magic runes which help them interact with the elements better. As Greyson learned more and more, he realized exactly what a miracle it was that he was able to learn magic through Lucius. All of Lucius"s explanations were severely lacking and a person without immense talent would have never been able to learn magic from him. Greyson started to realize there was something strange about him because he did not need as much aid as normal humans. He didn"t need the chants to use the elements nor did he need runes to meditate.Greyson was also feeling more and more uncomfortable with Claude. He kept trying to figure out what exactly it was about his new friend that bothered him. It wasn"t until they pa.s.sed by a natural lake that he finally figured out the problem.
Greyson saw the lake and was excited to finally clean himself. It had been a couple days since they left the city and he had yet to really bathe. It was a beautiful clear lake that was slightly frozen over, however, Claude had a fire magician servant who used a spell to heat up the water until it started steaming. Although Greyson didn"t really need the water to be warm, he still felt very happy with the thought of a hot bath.
"Greyson why don"t you take a bath first? I"ll wait for you to be done." Claude suggested.
"Hmm? We should take it together. Your servants should join in as well. The lake is definitely big enough for all of us. We"ll also save time." Greyson felt confused by Claude"s words.
"Bathe...bathe together?! No, we cannot. This doesn"t seem right."
"Right? What"s wrong with bathing together? Aren"t we friends?"
"Men... men and women should not bathe together like this. I don"t know how it is in your village, but n.o.bles are very strict about these sort of things."
"Of course your maids can just bathe later, I wasn"t talking about them. I meant us, boys, could bathe first. You, me, and the guards." Greyson"s stomach had a sinking feeling as he continued speaking.
"Boys... boys? You and me? Boys?" Claude"s brain seemed to suddenly overload.
"Wait, wait, wait. Claude, you know that I. AM. A. BOY. Right?"
"What?! You"re a boy?"
"How could you not know? You even know my name. What kind of girl is named Greyson?"
"I just thought you had a more masculine name. I don"t know. With your face, I couldn"t imagine you being a boy." Claude suddenly felt lost.
Greyson felt so much rage at that statement that he quickly stripped off his clothes and walked up to Claude screaming, "Look! I am a boy!" After that he jumped into the lake and started swimming away.
...
After that episode, Greyson finished bathing and stomped up to Lucius who was still cracking up inside the carriage.
"Old Man Lu, you knew didn"t you?! I was wondering what put you in such a merry mood these days. Why didn"t you let me know earlier, stupid cat!"
"Hahaha... I just did want to ruin that poor kid"s first love... hahahahahahaha...." Lucius could barely get his words out between his laughs.
Before Greyson could yell more, he heard someone knocking on the carriage door. The door swung open to reveal Claude. The minute Claude saw Greyson"s face he blushed awkwardly then he walked in and sat down.
"Sorry, Greyson, I didn"t realize you were a guy... I still want to be your friend, though. I didn"t just approach you because I thought you were a girl. It was a large part of the reason in the beginning, but after getting to know you I just liked you for your personality as well." He started fidgeting in his seat looking nervous.
Greyson saw this and sighed, "whatever, I get this sort of misunderstanding a lot. It"s not that big a deal. It just hurts my pride a little."
Claude looked up before finally laughing, "see! You can"t blame me for thinking you were a girl. Ah, my sad first love! Gone just like that! How traumatizing..." He dramatically pretended to be stabbed in the heart.
Greyson kicked him, "Who"s your first love, you idiot?! You can"t even tell the difference between a boy and a girl. Who knows what stupid thing you might do in the future? You"re only 10 anyways, what do you know about love."
"I just matured quickly, unlike you midget..." Claude murmured defensively.
"I"m five and you"re ten. I"m not a midget, I have plenty of time to grow. Who knows, I might even grow taller than you!" Greyson kicked him again in mock anger before finally just laughing at this situation. Claude started laughing as well. After finally giggling enough, they stopped and looked over at each other.
Greyson smiled and stretched out his hand saying, "Nice to meet you, I am Greyson. A five years old BOY from Willow Town. I think we can be good "friends"."
Claude smiled widely back and shook his hand replying, "Nice to meet you, I am Claude. I"d be honored to be friends with you."
...
After clearing their misunderstanding, Claude and Greyson became much closer. As they continued on their journey, they meditated and practiced magic together.
"Grey, you"re actually really talented. It"s like you were born for magic or something. You"ll definitely make it into the Academy at this rate! I"m just not sure about me... I"m not so great with this stuff. You"re so much younger than me, but you"re already this strong. There will probably be a bunch of other talented kids like you trying out." Claude felt happy for his new friend, but also bitter because he suddenly realized that he could not compare.
"No, you"re talented, too, Claude! You put a lot of effort into learning magic. We"ll make it together! Plus even I feel like I"m a rather special case. I don"t think there will be a lot of others like me in the kingdom." Greyson could feel his friend"s depression growing lately, so he tried to cheer him up.
"Yeah, you do have a point. If you were the norm, strong magicians wouldn"t be as rare as they are." Claude started to cheer up after hearing Greyson"s logic.
"We"ll get in together! Let"s keep working hard. We"re almost at the capital, I"m getting really excited!"
"Oh, right, you"ve never been to the capital before. It"s really big and cool. You will definitely be surprised the first time you go."