A DRAGON'S JEWEL: the Ancient Mage and the dark arts

Chapter 8: Seeking Truth

It was now around mid-June (about six months after Alythia had moved in).

Kloeye's birthday was just around the corner.

Thus Alythia accompanied both siblings early Thursday morning as they headed into town to stock up on supplies – the celebration was to be held this coming Saturday.

Now, the reader might be curious about the Karnage family's parent-child relationship since I have yet to mention their mother or father.

Truth be told, there is not much to elaborate on. Their parents are graduated Elites who take on many quests and for this reason are rarely home. Alythia did formally meet them once after moving in but hadn't really seen much of them ever since.

Most of the estate's management falls on Karlyle's shoulders.

In actuality, Karlyle – despite what the reader might ensue due to his playfulness with Alythia – has quite a diligent and reliable nature.

But because of his many responsibilities regarding the estate he is fairly busy and thus Alythia hadn't been able to see him all that much for the past few months. So needless to say, she was rather excited for today's excursion.

However, as they arrived in town, Alythia noticed something peculiar.

Everyone seemed to be staring at them... or well more specifically, they were staring at Karlyle.

And it wasn't just any old stare – it was a stare filled with contempt.

It somewhat bothered Alythia but because the siblings remained unfazed she tried for a time to put her discomfort to rest.

About halfway through the shopping the girls felt fatigued and sat down on a nearby bench as Karlyle went to go buy them drinks.

As he walked away and Alythia saw the public's eyes on him, she felt her rage flare up yet again.

She quickly turned to Kloeye and asked her why the townspeople had the audacity to glare at Karlyle so scornfully.

"Oh? It's because brother is a Dragon. Commoners generally hate Elites and Dragon Familiars they despise most of all"

Kloeye looked over at the enraged girl next to her and felt her lips slightly curve up into a smile. She was delighted to see the amount of concern the pink haired girl felt for her brother and wanted Alythia to understand him a bit more so she added "Technically, the person who the townspeople actually hate is the Mage. The reason they generally dislike Elites is because an Elite has a part of the Mage within them. They dislike Dragon's most of all because a Dragon Familiar is thought to be the nearest to the Mage since out of all the Elites they resemble his son the most"

"But why do they hate the Mage so much?" Alythia questioned.

Kloeye pushed her finger against her lips for a brief moment, as if in deep thought, before answering "Because they think him cruel"

The blue-eyed girl looked at Alythia with furrowed brows, wearing a very serious expression "Remember Ally, people don't necessarily believe something because it's true, they believe it because it's convenient".