Ascension of the last Celestial

"Tell me the truth, why did you start the fight?"

Hearing the woman ask that question, Valerian stopped thinking for a moment.

’She knows...’

’But what do I do?’

’Do I lie? No, she would notice, and besides, why would I lie? The reason I challenged them to a fight was because they were making fun of me, and what’s wrong with showing them that they shouldn’t mess with me?’

’It’s not my fault they are so weak.’

While Valerian was debating what he was going to do, Aurelia put her elbows on the table and folded her hands in front of her face. She was closely watching every change in his face, every twitch of the lips, every frown or shifting of the eyes.

’What will you do?’

She was curious how the 5-year-old would react. Will he lie to her about the reasons, pretend he didn’t start it, or tell the truth? Expecting a 5-year-old child to have such a complex thought process would normally be seen as weird, but Aurelia was certain that the boy sitting in front of her wasn’t normal.

After two full minutes of silence, Valerian finally opened his mouth.

"I did it because they thought they were better than me, acting all high and mighty because they are older and awakened their mana core. What’s the point of talking so big and then getting beaten by a 5-year-old? That’s just pathetic."

Upon hearing his answer, Aurelia slightly relaxed in her seat. The relief that he didn’t lie made the weight on her shoulders feel slightly lighter.

"Why did you break the promise you gave me? I am stronger than you, so shouldn’t I be allowed to act ’all high and mighty’ to you, and you should listen because you are weak?"

Hearing her mention the promise, Valerian looked at her with confusion written all over his face.

"What do you mean ’break the promise’? The promise was about not using mana when playing with the others. You never mentioned that I can’t challenge others to a fair fight."

Hearing his justification, Aurelia couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh.

"Val, hurting others just because they laughed at you is never justified. Listen, I know how it feels when others are making fun of you. I was a commoner that worked for the king. These ’nobles’ never missed an opportunity to mock me, but I never hurt them. Look, I will tell Tristan and his friends to apologize to you for making fun, as long as you go to Tristan and say you are sorry for hurting him, okay?"

Hearing her offer, Valerian fell into thought for a few seconds, contemplating what to do.

’I mean, it seems fair to me, but still, this feeling to hurt them is there...’

Deciding to think about why he still wanted to hurt them later, he turned his attention to the present moment.

"Okay, I will say sorry to him."

Hearing Valerian agree to the offer put a smile on Aurelia’s aged face.

’At least he agreed to apologize.’

Done with dealing with the situation for the moment, Aurelia allowed Valerian to leave. As he walked to the door, his eyes turned to the wall of books on his right. Remembering that Aurelia mentioned the king in their conversation, he became curious about the world beyond the orphanage. Putting on his puppy eyes, Valerian turned around to Aurelia.

"Grandma Aurelia, can I please take some books with me, pretty please?"

Taken aback by the shift in behavior and the cuteness of Valerian’s "puppy eyes", Aurelia hesitated for a second before agreeing for him to take books with him. Elated that he got to take some books, he went over to the bookshelf and took a look around.

There were a lot of books, like really a lot. They counted in the hundreds. So finding the right book proved a bit of a challenge, but after looking around for a bit, Valerian finally found a book that caught his interest.

The Boundless Atlas: Geographies of Eldoria

It was an old book. The cover looked like it was flipped open hundreds of times, featuring a blue and green planet and the title in fancy writing.

’Perfect!’

"Grandma Aurelia, I will be taking this one!" he said, holding up the old book.

"Okay."

After Aurelia approved his decision, Valerian quickly left the office, and silence once again returned to the room.

’The Boundless Atlas: Geographies of Eldoria... Is he already interested in the world outside?’

Valerian moved quickly through the hallways of the building, soon arriving at the door leading to his room. He swung it open, revealing a modest-sized room with a bed that an adult could sleep in in the left corner of the room. There was also a desk with a chair on the right side. He quickly moved to his bed and jumped on the mattress. Excited, he opened the book and flipped through the pages.

Because it was a large book and Valerian wasn’t that fast at reading yet, he finished the book when it was already dark outside. Falling back on the pillow, the book laying open on his chest, he collected his thoughts regarding the world.

’The world was called Eldoria. It had a circumference of 155,000 km. Most of the planet is still not discovered. In between the large undiscovered parts and the large oceans are also a lot of kingdoms and empires. The kingdom I am in is called Solaria, and it is one of the biggest kingdoms. The Solaria kingdom also borders on one of these undiscovered parts. The large forest surrounding the orphanage is actually kind of part of the undiscovered regions. It is a forest called Voidwoods. It is almost entirely unmapped and apparently expanding.’

Thinking about the scale of the world and the dangerous forest next door, Valerian found himself in... excitement? Yes, he felt excitement about all the adventures he will have once he grows up.

Before succumbing to his slumber, Valerian thought, ’I can’t wait to finally leave this place and live my life!’