Chapter 59: We underestimated him
Today, they had gathered for their monthly meeting to decide whether Prism was good to leave the house or not.
They would discuss what things they had done with or to the boy over the month and what they make of his current self. Lastly, they would announce their vote for his leave.
"So far, we have received eight positive votes."
As the Elder lady looked around, she saw some hands raising up.
"Aside from me, I believe he has been with Elder Hume and..." She did not say his name but the way she looked at him was enough for the others to understand what she meant.
"What are your thoughts on him?"
Firstly, she heard a detailed report from the two of them over what things the boy did with the two of them.
"He is too smart for his age. And too knowledgeable." Elder Hume evaluated the boy very highly.
He expressed how the two of them had been reading various old books recently.
In the family library, there were various old books that even the elder had not yet deciphered from the olden times, however, the boy helped him with a number of them.
"I have taught him various things that may not connect together at the usual levels. From molecular alchemy to Theonumerical logic, we have been discussing a lot of new things."
The elder told the others how the boy was fluent in various languages of the different continents already.
What surprised the elders the most was the fact that the boy was also fluent in High Viskari.
It wasn’t a language that was known in today’s world. In fact, even for someone who has lived for thousands of years, the language of the [Old World] would be a thing of the distant past.
The people who could speak the language around the entire world could just be counted on fingers. And yet, the boy was one such unique individual.
"I do not know about his knowledge of the books, however, he is still too weak." Elder Valor had a different image of the boy.
"He is weak and he knows that." There was a strange smile on his face that they did not see on this old man often. He was happy right now.
"In the little time we spent together, he used every means he had to hunt in a place that was a threat to his life."
The elder then started his tale of how he put the young boy through hell in the demon forest.
"He was ruthless like his father, calm under extreme stress like his great-grandmother. Also, he had the adaptability that I’ve seen only in a few."
The elder gave him a sword, he killed with a sword. The elder forced him to fight without a sword, the boy fought with his bare hands.
Spear, bow, throwing knives, daggers, hammer, even magic spells.
"Despite his innate inability to release Mana, his knowledge of spells and ways to use magic items surpassed my imagination."
Be it a spell on a scroll or a consumable magic item, he used flames like water and water like wind.
He knew how the winds can become like ground and how the ground can flow like water.
"Seeing him fight and challenging him with new things seemed like seeing a hundred different warriors in a single body."
Elder Valor was a military man.
He had fought in some of the bloodiest and worst wars throughout his life.
Of the Sungrade knights and soldiers, he had trained the best ones. Many who studied under him had made a name for themselves faraway from these eastern lands.
And yet...
"If I could keep him for five, no, just two more years, he would be the worst nightmare any battlefield would have seen."
None of the individuals that trained under Elder Valor had ever received such grand praise from him.
He saw Sam as someone who could do wonders on a battlefield, however, as someone had seen his father rise to the highest seat of the east, he knew potential and talent alone did not decide one’s destiny.
"I’ve done everything I could for him. I’m of no use to that boy now."
Prism had already decided on his future and that was neither in this faraway east nor on a battlefield. He wanted something else.
The boy already knew he needed to do something far more than that with his life.
"I formally acknowledge his request to leave."
He did not like letting such a splendid warrior go, but he also understood how restrictive this family and the rest of them would be for his growth.
"Oh?" Lady Testerosa was surprised how quickly he gave up on the boy.
He certainly was as dumb as she has always thought him to be.
"You guys and your extremities." She sighed as she looked around him, seeing the defeated faces of the old men who had spent years making others’ lives miserable.
"He’s just a boy. You were defeated by a boy, do you realise that?"
She was not going to give her vote for his leave until she saw him tame a beast. And until he does that, she would take her time learning every bit she can about the things that he was still hiding from the rest of them.
Elder Hume had similar thoughts since he also did not give his vote at the end, however, she could tell the boy would get him soon as well.
He was smart enough to target the weakest links first, so he was smart enough to break the strongest ones as well.
"With this, he has nine votes." Three months and nine votes from nine of the stingiest old people in the whole of the east. "The boy might just succeed."
Even if he were to get all the other elders, she wasn’t going to change her mind.
She’d do anything for him to achieve his goal, but she had made her decision.
Now, it was up to the boy to achieve what he wanted... though, the fate wasn’t a gust of wind that favored the elements that stood in their way like a tree in the middle of some faraway ocean.