Chapter 5: The garden of oracles

Yue replies, "That's because..."

A loud voice interrupts their conversation, "Hahaha! This loser actually came to the temple to look at his magic attributes! There must be a mistake!"

Turning around, Kyrie looks at the group of three boys who were around the same age as his body. The one talking must be the young master from Mayer's family. His face carries a mocking expression. He is the one who bullied the other Kyrie in the past and causes him to hate magic.

"Hugh Mayer," says Kyrie while looking at him with hostility.

How can he not get information about the one who bullied Kyrie? This fat freckled bastard has really too much time in his hands!

"Woah! Really? Did Kyrie come to the temple? What a surprise!" said Greg Omond, the boy next to Hugh.

He is tall, but stick thin. His eyes shink inside his face like he is sleep-deprived all the time. His face hangs a sly smile, and his eyes stare calculatingly.

Another boy stands quietly at these two noisy and pretentious boys. Oscar Reed. He has light blue eyes with bright red hair - a boy who carries a handsomeness from his strong features inherited by his family. He is someone who will be on the sidelines to observe and never intervene in other people's business until it is his business or something pique his interest. Although he remains silent in this situation, Kyrie's eyes immediately get attached to his fire red hair. The bright red catches anyone's attention from ten miles away like a sore thumb. Terrible color to wear on his head if he ever goes to the battlefield.

The earthshaking steps that Hugh takes towards Kyrie grasp Kyrie's attention back to this fatso. Hugh looks at Kyrie like he is ready to deploy all his sick plans accumulated for a year that they did not see each other. His face carries a smile like he is already mocking Kyrie. However, Kyrie sees that behind his mocking smile hides something else.

Of course, Kyrie would not let this kind of insecure kid to go under his skin. Since they are from the aristocrat circle, naturally, Kyrie would use this to take at least a piece of flesh off this kid who needs to shed some.

"With what confidence are you speaking? Hugh Mayer, your family, throughout the generations, have only one attribute floating in your blood. Plus, your family title of Viscount due to your ancestor's achievement as a merchant. HEH! Are you now comparing yourself to the Rowans?" scoffs Kyrie.

Hugh Mayer's face twists and turns all kinds of colors as he holds his anger. The other two are shocked at Kyrie's words. The Kyrie they know would never utter such sharp words and would just let other people tramble him like a total loser. They know him as someone who would collapse in fear when he saw just a little bit of magic. Mentioning his own family title rings warning bells to them. After all, none of their families are higher than his. Plus, the house of Rowan even has its own knight order. Before, they are able to get past the adults because Kyrie would not say a beep on the things they did to him. Kyrie has changed completely.

Greg Omond, the sly fellow he is, says, "Come on... We are just joking. Don't take this seriously. hahaha." He tugs at Hugh's sleeve and signals him to leave.

"Didn't we have to meet with our parents before the ceremony?"

Hugh violently shakes Greg's hand off and points at Kyrie, "Just you watch out, pipsqueak!"

Before they left, Oscar gives Kyrie a meaningful look. A quick smile finally cracks his indifferent expression. He whispers to himself as he goes with the rest of the group, "Interesting..."

[Well... At least I will not be so bored in the academy…]

Yue looks at the group that was leaving and turns to look at Kyrie with a smile.

She thinks, "This Kyrie also changed."

After a couple of minutes after Hugh's group left, Marquis and Marchioness Rowan return from the meeting with the archbishop. They both look drained from the interaction. The church does have a significant influence since it is the only place where humans get into contact with Vita. So, for political reasons, no one, not even kings, would ignore the servants of Vita.

The same priest who greeted them at the entrance is showing them the way for the ceremony. He is in a good mood that he is able to yank a good piece of donations from the Rowan family since their kid is coming to discover his attributes. They enter through an enormous door into an open space. He walks into a circular garden surrounded by white pillars decorated simply but refined.

Kyrie turns his head up to witness the unreachable sky that for once looks close enough for him to feel that he is able to touch the clouds with his hands. Through the pillars, he sees that the garden is suspended in the air, surrounded by clouds. Those clouds even look like a sturdy platform to walk on. However, the spaces between them look like a neverending fall if someone mistakenly steps on the deceiving clouds.

Then, Kyrie observes the garden. As he walks towards the altar that is high up guided by a long staircase, he listens to his crunchy footsteps on the grass. His footprints magically disappear after a couple of seconds as if the garden can auto regenerate.

This kind of change of environment throws Kyrie off because he has never seen anything similar in his previous life except maybe in books and movies. However, those things are not real in his previous world. Seeing it and experiencing it are two completely different things.

[This place is within the temple? How come I did not see it from the outside?]

Yue explains to him by whispering in his ears, "This is space magic. You just got transported into another dimension. It's ancient magic for you, humans."

[Ancient magic? As in there are no scrolls of such magic accessed to humans anymore?]

"Yeah. Vita took it away a couple of centuries ago due to a war sparked by two fallen empires. They were fighting for the talent who has this rare magic. It was a complete mess. Vita saw that this kind of struggle will appear over and over again, so she decided to take it away from humanity. Now, the magic would only appear in this world for the garden of oracles if a new temple of Vita is built," replied Yue.

[No wonder the church is so powerful. This kind of phenomenon is a clear indication that Vita is present in the human world.]

"Hm. Yeah."

When they arrive at the altar that is in the center of the garden, Kyrie sees that the families Mayer, Omnond, and Reed have already arrived. They are already prepared to go up the stairs towards the altar. Kyrie decides to go last since he is curious about what those boys would get as magic attributes.

As expected, both Hugh and Greg get one attribute since their family only has those attributes throughout generations. Hugh gets an earth attribute, and Omnond gets wind. The more surprising case is that Oscar got two attributes: earth and water. They are perfect for the hybrid magic of plant manipulation: green magic.

The results for Oscar get Kyrie's chest to feel stuffy, and his face turns to near disgust.

[I could have expected somewhere along the lines of fire and wind, but green magic. This goes against the law of novels and anime!!! His appearance of red hair and blue eyes does not match the magic!!! This goes against the aesthetics of this world!]

Yue sighs at this stupid idiot as Kyrie agonizes at the mismatches as if someone switched on his fanatic side.

When it is finally Kyrie's turn, Oscar is walking down from the altar. They catch each other's eyes, and Oscar can feel the resentment in Kyrie's expression.

[This guy ruins the aesthetics of this world]

Oscar thinks, "Did revealing my attributes cause resentment from the Rowan family? Did I incur his jealousy? This could get my family in trouble if, in the future, the Rowan family is not in good terms with the Reed family. What should I do?"

Yue, on Kyrie's shoulder, thinks, "No, Oscar... He is just resenting that your features do not match with your attributes."

[Should I suggest that he dye his hair?]

Yue continued, "And is thinking of wanting to dye your hair."