Following my father, I couldn't help but think about our situation and a bit about this world, which Leon sometimes calls an 'Otome Game'.
We were indeed nobles, but we were poor countryside stock. We had a small number of knights and subjects, and they decreased by the dozens every year, Not to mention we often had to toil the fields ourselves.
But thank God Leon and I were born with strong bodies, and when I say strong, I mean really strong—we were physically stronger than the knights when they were not using magic codes to strengthen themselves.
In the Holfort Kingdom, where continents of varying sizes surrounded the capital continent (which was the largest of them all by a large margin), women ruled here.
Here, a man who couldn't get married by the time he graduated from the Academy was considered flawed.
'Still single by twenty, then you were second-hand goods.'
And society came down really hard on the sons of lower-ranked families; commoners and higher-ranked noble sons had a pass.
For men, this world was ridiculously harsh.
Marriage also affected job opportunities and advancements, as second and third-born sons had to go and strike out on their own. They were merely spares in case something happened to the firstborn, and when the firstborn produced heirs of their own, the rest became useless, losing their only value of being spares.
So not finding a wife left the path of the soldiers for the country or knights for other noble families, as no noble with a sound mind would ever take in someone who could compromise their rule.
And as Leon would say, this really was a shitty world, but men are forced to fight, bleed, and die for their country, and women still rule.
Still lost in my thoughts, we finally arrived at our shed.
"Sit down, boys. As my father did for me, and as I did for Nicks two years ago when he was about to turn five, I will do for you. Now, there will be no questions until after I'm done, understand?" With how serious he seemed, all we could do was nod along.
Then he began telling the story.
"At a time before creation, there was light in the realm, white that shone in a glow that covered the whole realm.
Until it gained sentience. But with this new change, the light came to know loneliness.
It then did the unthinkable; it split itself into seven different colors, all of different emotions, with red taking the majority of the power and the original personality becoming the father as well as the oldest brother.
But as no single entity controlled the power of light, the world came to know DARKNESS.
This new entity was the opposite of light. Where light sought to create, it sought destruction; where light sought life, it sought death.
To this day, the battle between light and darkness rages on, or so they say." He took a break to drink water, but the way he stopped our questions showed we were far from done.
"You might be wondering why I'm telling you this story. Well, it comes down to this: the world is constantly under attack from monsters of darkness, but we just call them monsters.
In the past, only the blessed could stand against these monsters with the abilities of Graces, abilities said to be given by the light.
Since one required a grace to access mana, that was why only the blessed could fight monsters.
But these days, due to the study of the blessed, humanoids or 'creatures of the light,' as they call themselves, were able to create spell codes. By bounding artificial codes of Graces into a humanoid's body, one is given the ability to collect, manipulate, and expand mana, same as a blessed. Don't let it fool you; a natural blessed and an artificial one are different.
Whereas a natural has their code in their soul, an artificial's is in the body, so a natural's grace has no limit; an artificial reaches a point where the body holds the grace back.
Some people think the light is beginning to lose because the number of monsters appearing is growing, along with their strength and size, while the number of naturals being born is abysmal compared to what it once was. These days, one in 100,000 is born a natural.
Most monsters appearing now are so large that humans now require giant mechanized suits to battle them, along with battleships, to protect all the floating islands."
"You can now ask questions." That was all I needed for the floodgates of questions I was holding in to quickly flow out.
"Father, do you have a grace?" To that, he took off his shirt and showed us his back, where an intricate tattoo lay. In moments, it was glowing; the heat in the room began rising, but it quickly began to fall.
Putting his shirt back on, he said, "As my grace is on my body, you know it's artificial, so I've the artificial grace of fire."
Then other questions flowed out, to which he gave simple answers:
"When can I get my grace?"
"When you turn five if you are a natural, but ten if you require an artificial one."
"Can only men get graces?"
"No, women can too."
"Will I be a natural?"
"I don't know."
Before I could ask more, he turned to Leon, who had been quiet all this time.
"Leon, son, don't you have questions of your own?"
Thanks to that, I finally noticed that Leon had been quiet all this time.
Leon's POV
"What the fuck is going on here?" I screamed out in my head, hoping the answer just magically poofs into existence.
'The game had magic and mechas for sure, but they were just put there without any thought or explanation, so what is this here about light vs darkness bullshit?
'Mommy, I wanna go home.'
'Come on, Leon, it's still too early to give up. You need to get stronger to survive this fucked up world.' he motivated himself
With the thought of getting stronger, I couldn't help but look back at my brother who sat besides me.
'If it weren't for this giant dumbass's consistent nagging to improve with him, I would be way behind by now.'
'Oh, my father asked a question.'
"Just a few, Father?"
My response seemed to have shocked him.
"Okay, ask away."
"Father, if I become one, do I have to absolutely fight, and do I have to fight monsters only, or are there other enemies such as humans?"
"Nice question, son. To your first question, yes, every male noble has got to fight at some point in their life.
And while we are only at war with the Principality of Fanoss, there are tense situations with a majority of the countries that surround us, so you will have to fight other humanoids at some point.
"So, my sons, after your fifth birthday, we will travel for the capital at the center of the main continent, so between now and then, please do what you can to get stronger than you are now."