Chapter 6: The Passing of Time, and Family History.

  Two years and nine months have passed since my third birthday, and I have picked up another skill in that time.

  Unlike I had first assumed, learning to read and write didn’t give me any pseudo skill experience, likely because Literacy was an active skill, granting me the typical 4 experience per level in the skill. My mother was happy when I told her I had unlocked the skill just a couple of months after my fourth birthday. I had unlocked it early given my age, but not so early that it was considered strange for this world.

  My parents explained to me that the skill was a rather special case among all other skills, as while one could learn to read and write without it, one could only read and write ‘mundane script’ with that method, and learning to do so took significantly more time.

  I was interested to learn that in this world, there existed a runic language that was used in both enchanting, and ward magic. Apparently, if I were ever to practice either craft, I'd need the skill active. I still haven't seen anything beyond ‘mundane script’, but the idea of being able to enchant weapons and armor, or place magical wards excited me greatly. I realize now that my parents likely used the idea of magic words to trick me into being excited about learning to read and write, and it worked. It was quite effective, perhaps too much so, as my mother and father took to calling me their little genius after I started leveling the skill.

  A couple of months after my fourth birthday, I learned about the existence of combat skills. I wasn’t supposed to hear about it, but I happened to be nearby as my father talked to Alfred about a recent beast attack. Apparently there was a merchant that hadn’t hired any guards to escort him on his journey between villages, and the beasts of the Westwood had gotten him just a mile from the town bordering our estate. My father asked if the merchant had any combat skills, and Alfred informed him he had some low level magic, but that was it. There wasn’t much left of him from the sounds of it, but my father still ordered a number of guards to search for his remains, and return them to his family for burial.

  On my fifth birthday, I learned more of our House’s history, and got to see our family crest for the first time. My father took me into his office, which was usually off limits to us kids, and showed me a scarred grey shield with a black tree painted in the center. As I examined the details of the shield, my father explained to me the history of our house.

  “House Blackwood is one of the houses that were raised to the rank of noble for our part in the settling of the great Westwood forest, some 200 years ago.” He started slowly, hoping I would understand.

  “While we have built towns in the Westwood, it is still home to countless threats and magical beasts. Despite our best efforts, the forest is far from conquered. Even now it covers most of the southwestern portion of the empire we call home. Its depths remain unexplored, and only the bravest of men chose to venture within.” He said the last bit wiggling his fingers in the air, I think in an attempt to add an air of reverence, but really it just seemed comedic.

  Laughing at my dad’s antics, I paused realizing this was the first time I had actually heard about our country, so asked “What is the empire called?”

  He simply smiled and said “We are a part of the Arcanian Empire, on the Continent of Telestria. That’s all I’ll say for now, but don’t you worry, your mother will be sure to teach you all about the empire in a few years.”

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  “For now let’s focus on our family history, eh? Where was I?... Oh right...”

  He cleared his throat and started again in a clearly exaggeratedly aged tone “For centuries the Westwood forest blocked trade and passage to and from our southern neighbor. That is to say nothing of the beasts, which posed a terrible threat to the lands north and south of it. Since before our kingdom has existed, the forest was an impassable wall.”

  I ran my hand down the sigil on the shield and asked “So what changed?”

  My father took on a somber look and pulled out a dusty tome from his desk. He blew the dust away and handed me the book as he explained the best he could. Using simplistic terms a child could understand, he started to ramble. I sort of tuned him out as I began reading the book instead. From the book I gathered that it was a group of 40 young and promising unsworn Knights and their militias that broke through the wall that was the forest.

  The book detailed how the company of Knights had petitioned the royal council of our empire for permission to launch an expedition into the forest. They had one aim; to settle the lands within.

  Eventually, after much debate and pushback, it was the royal crown that had agreed to the knight’s petition, overruling the council and even issuing a decree to help bolster the effort. Any commoners who distinguished themselves within the service of these Knights, would be able earn the title of Knight themselves, and be able to claim a small portion of land within the forest for themselves. In total, the Knights had gathered almost 10,000 men and women who believed in their cause… And that’s how a campaign was waged against the beasts and creatures of the forest.

  I gulped, understanding the sheer enormity of what my father was trying to tell me, and the story within the book.

  The book went far further in depth than my father, explaining that it took 15 winters to carve the initial path through the woods and another 40 to secure the furthest of the settlements within. When all was said and done, over half of the Knights and three quarters of the men and women involved in the campaign had perished. The 19 Knights who remained were elevated to the status of nobles, and of the roughly 2500 commoners who survived, 500 possessed the skills and prowess necessary to be granted the title of Knight.

  I then came to the portion of the book detailing the houses of the Westwood region. According to the book, in our current age only 17 noble houses, and 455 of the knighted houses remain. Each of the remaining noble houses, ours included, maintains a force of at least 25 knights sworn to their house, in addition to employing a number of residents as guards.

  I flipped through the pages until I found our house in the book. The page detailed much of what my father had just explained, that our house was one of the original Knight houses that fought in the Westwood campaign, and that the people we now govern are mostly the descendants of those who fought for our land. It ended the description by stating our family motto ‘Our roots run deep.’

  I skimmed the names of the members of our family line, learning the name of my grandsire, and that I had two uncles. My grandsire's name was Reon, like my brother, and my Uncle’s names were Narion and Percival.

  I asked my father “Dad, I didn’t know you had two brothers?”

  He dawned a look of surprise as he put a hand on my shoulder and said “Well, they are very busy men, and they have outgrown the humble lands of the westwood, so I don’t know that you’ll ever get to meet them.”

  I had more questions, but I could tell there was a hint of pain behind my father’s eyes as he spoke of his brothers so I bit my tongue.

  After realizing my father didn’t wish to discuss his brothers more, I moved on to the Knighted families sworn to our house. I found the Knight family Steel-Arm listed at the top, out of order from the rest. Reading the blurb about Alfred’s family I learned he was the current head of his family, and that he had a son once. Reading on, I learned his son had died while fighting alongside my father in a beast attack. His name was Loxus Steel-Arm.