Abe the Wizard

Under the starry night, the great Bennett Castle stood to guard the plain that it was built on.
Everything in this territory belonged to the Knight of Bennett.
The king granted it to him.

This territory was located at the southmost point of the Duchy of Carmel, right at the crossing border of the Earth-Dividing Mountain Range.
It was a location far away from conflict, and it served as a crucial granary to the Duchy of Carmel.

It was summertime now, and the crops were plentiful.
Every time the chilling night breeze came by, the whole field danced in uniform to signify the prosperity of this land.

A boy who looked to be around twelve was swinging a sword about the size of his body.
As if it wasn’t heavy enough for him, this boy was also wearing a steel armor that was clearly oversized for him.
He was about 150 centimeters tall, so the armor looked more like a belt as it was covered around him.

As young as he was, this boy took his training seriously.
The look on his face suggested that training was something sacred to him.
Every time he swung his sword, he shouted with as much vigor in his lungs as he could.
There were reasons for that.
One, to breath in as much air as he could, and two, to squeeze out all the strength in his muscles.

This boy was focused.
His black hair was completely drenched in sweat, and those purple eyes of his were glowing with youthlike passion.

Well, they were until he heard the sound of a horse coming his way.

“Look what I’ve brought to you, Abel,” a young man of eighteen called out as he jumped down from his horse.
He had blonde hair, thick brows, a tall, edgy nose, and eyes that were as blue as the sky.
His whole body was covered in leather armor, and the boots he was wearing were made especially for riding.

“Welcome back, big brother,” Abel welcomed his brother back.
Unlike most children, he wasn’t particularly curious about what the gift was.
Manners, for him, was something that came before his own personal interests.

As Abel’s older brother, Zach was already used to seeing Abel like this.
A year ago, Abel was severely injured after falling off his horse.
He became much more mature after that.
It was hard to get used to at first, but one year was more than enough to adjust to this sudden change of personality.

For the sake of clarification, both of these young men were sons of the Knight of Bennett.
The older one was Zach, a rank four novice knight who just got back from Fort Lee (a town).
The younger one, who had been busy with his training, was Abel.
It had only been two months since he began his training as a novice knight.

As the oldest heir to the Knight of Bennett, everything his father owned would be passed down to him after he became a knight.
He would have full ownership of the Bennett Castle and the estate it was built on.
Abel, sadly, was not blessed with such privileges.
He had to rely solely on himself if he was to make a living.

As unfair as the rules might seem, Abel had a good relationship with Zach.
Every time Zach went to town, he would always spend the little money that he had to buy presents for Abel. He was a good brother.
He strived to make Abel happy.

Abel, on the other hand, was considerate enough to not ask for any new training equipment from his father. Although the family’s estate was about 50 kilometers in radius, there wasn’t much income apart from what they used to buy food with.
Worse yet, only 500 gold coins were left after they’ve paid for their taxes and day-to-day expenses.
It was just enough to pay for the maintenance of Bennett Castle.
If you were to then take out the tuition fee of Zach’s knight training, this family practically had no savings at all.

The package Zach had for Abel was a long box.
To show how much love that was put in this gift, Zach had it wrapped around in some very colorful paper.

“What a beautiful dagger this is,” Abel exclaimed as he waved his gift around.
This dagger was made with fine steel, something much heavier than what you use to make a regular steel dagger.
Normally, a dagger like this would cost a lot more than a normal one.

“Glad to see you like it. Lucky for me, the guy selling it didn’t know how much it was worth.
He sold it to me for 30% off the price of a regular dagger, so I took it.”

“Glad to see you like it.” Zach meant it when he said that.
It had been a while since he saw his little brother smiling like a kid, and nothing was more precious than the expression Abel was showing just now.

“You can keep training if you want.
I’ll go back home now,” Zach said as he got back on his horse. He wasn’t planning on interrupting with Abel’s training, even if he was going to keep using the only steel armor that they’ve had.
It was Zach during the day, and Abel during the night.
It’s something that they’ve agreed between themse