Years passed in the blink of an eye. Percy had slowly picked up an undeniable reputation by the time he was eight years old.
The high halls of the fortress were heavy with rumors of his abilities. The transition between lords wasn't easy for the servants, but the prowess and skill of the small but terrifying House Amphene were reassuring. Especially their strange child.
Percy began reading at age three, tired of waiting for them to start teaching him. By the age of five, he had already started belting out complex sentences that even the adults couldn't string together.
He spent concerning amounts of time in the library of the fortress, consuming anything he was allowed to read.
Percy would have liked delaying his development in the eyes of the adults a little more, but if he had to spend one more second playing with the colorful blocks they gave him, he would start banging them against his head.
Even though he exhibited enough talent with Spiritmancy to defy logic, Hecate hadn't allowed him to start training early. He still had five years of life to waste till they taught him the first incantation.
His only other pastime was reading the scrolls that documented the city's layout and positions of all key resources, like storages and wells. He was deciding what type of project he wanted to reproduce in this world.
He could easily create a water pump system around the city, using the force generated by water gates as a driver. But that was too simple, he could just draw up diagrams and instructions and hand them off.
Spiritmancy could also do the water drawing, but it seemed too costly and it was looked down upon to use the spirits in such a way. There needed to be a middle ground.
He wanted to bring magic into invention, making something that could never exist in either worlds. Percy slumped against the blueprints, sighing.
The library was quiet in the afternoon, any research that advisors needed to do before their evening presentations to Hecate were already done. So Percy had the whole place too himself… mostly.
Long mahogany tables arranged in rows occupied the center of the library, but they were all empty. There were a few clerks littered between the bookshelves, but otherwise it was dead quiet.
There was of course the upper level, but he wasn't allowed up there or towards the back of the library where more sensitive documents were kept. The clerks kept to the basic sections though, but Percy assumed they were sent by his mother to keep an eye on him.
As if the nanny wasn't enough. Percy turned to the severe-looking woman beside him. She was dressed in an emerald green jacket and skirt that looked suede-like in material.
Lady Sirena was the nanny that raised Hecate, a strict black-haired woman that was very concerned with tradition and propriety.
Two things Percy had never given a fuck about.
She rapped her hand over his forearm painfully.
"Don't slouch, Perseus."
He had the urge to bite her hand. She was far too comfortable hitting him. They both stared at each other, vaguely aware that Percy was one intrusive thought from lunging at her.
"I'm going to bite you."
Sirena looked like she would come to tears.
"Please just behave normally, Perseus. You aren't an animal, you can't just bite people."
"You have a hand and you can use it to just slap me. I have teeth, why can't I just use them to bite you? They're very itchy teeth too, and I like biting things."
She massaged her temples, quite used to Percy's strange and often unpredictable mood. Her usual training method for children seemed practically useless here.
But Sirena was an adaptable woman that had worked with many different heirs.
"Are you feeling the absence of your father? Is that why you resort to violence?"
Thalos had left the fortress to hunt a rank two beast that had been terrorizing the shepherds in the grazing fields a few miles from here.
But Percy was more worried about the monster than his father. Actually, he was more worried about anyone unlucky enough to face a person that cut themselves for fun.
"No, father will be fine. I resort to violence because it's an option. It's either keep reading these trash scrolls or biting your ankles. And your ankles are looking rather nice today."
Sirena raised her hand, but after a moment of thought, brought it back down.
"Don't say such things to women, you risk coming off as impure."
"I'm a kid. Everything I do is based on boredom and the instinctual desire to cause problems. Impure thoughts are the last thing on my mind."
Sirena rolled her eyes, deciding to change the subject.
"Are your studies not entertaining? I've never seen a child so diligently focused. Now if only you could bring that dedication to your etiquette training…"
"Being confined to just reading bylaws on building construction is leagues more interesting than knowing the right fork to use."
Sirena nodded, gears turning in her head as she tried to bring this to something Percy could use practically.
"Okay, fair. But what about this; use etiquette at the weekend feast to impress your mother and we could ask for something."
The weekend feast was meant to host all of Hecate's useful serfs: Barons, Knights, retainers, guildmasters and so on. Somewhat interesting people, but not what Percy gave a shit about. Content originally comes from Nov3lFɪre.ɴet
He pointed behind them to a staircase tucked into the corner of the room.
"The only thing I want is access to the magic section. She won't agree to that."
"But we could go into the city when your father returns. We can meet some of the other children and eat some of the local cuisine. I hear honeycomb cakes and cinnamon rolls in Dema are to die for."
Percy stared at her for a moment. Nobody gave a flying fuck about talking to children, it was at best an annoyance and at worst a waste of time.
The food did sound interesting, Sirena knew Hecate didn't let him have much sugar and was trying to win him over with them.
But he wasn't a kid. He couldn't be bribed with sugar—
"They also have these coffee cakes that I've heard a lot about," Sirena added offhandedly.
Okay, that many options could bribe any man. Yes, all of us would gladly accept such a deal.
Sirena passed him a leather-bound book with a satisfied smile.
Percy took it with disguised glee. Going into town didn't only mean he would be free of Hecate's watchful eyes, it meant he could study the wells and gain inspiration on what he should make.
He would also be free to possibly run off and find a source of magic that he could tinker with.