Heir of Synthesis: The World Mage

”Are you feeling a little nervous by any chance?”

Priam raised his head when he heard someone speaking to him. He was traveling in a carriage. A middle-aged man with a stern face and two protruding fangs sticking out of his mouth was seated across from him.

”It’s because this is my first time leaving my city,” Priam muttered while looking out the window.

He had left his home behind and arrived at the planet’s central city after a day’s journey in a carriage pulled by enormous beasts. Their speed was terrifying, even faster than a bullet train on Earth. Yet inside the carriage, it felt like a smooth ride.

”I understand how you feel,” the man said, showing some sympathy toward Priam.

This soldier had also been born in a branch family of the clan, but he possessed decent talent and had been recruited as a soldier of the main clan. At the moment, he was serving as Priam’s escort.

”Would the Young Master mind if I gave him a piece of advice?” he asked.

Priam nodded. ”Of course.”

”If you’re already feeling nervous, then every day spent at the main estate will be extremely torturous. Just keep your mind steady and show your best side, because your worst side... that will be exposed by everyone all the time.”

There wasn’t a trace of amusement on the soldier’s face. And although those words were offered as advice, there wasn’t the slightest hint of concern in them.

Noticing this, Priam smiled.

”Thank you for your advice, Sir.”

Priam was fully aware of his current situation. Since he wasn’t part of the clan’s direct bloodline and had been evaluated as supreme trash years ago, he would be treated as poorly as possible by everyone there.

Without losing his smile, Priam continued looking out the window.

To hell with other people. He was excited to see this new world. He wanted to train, fight, grow stronger, and live each day as intensely as possible.

Internally, he wasn’t a fifteen-year-old boy; if he combined both of his lives, he had lived for thousands of years. Although, in truth, he had barely lived at all during those years.

’Maybe they’ll gather all their soldiers to welcome us, then loudly announce who’s arriving and how humble his origins are?’ he imagined, but quickly shook his head.

The clan would save that kind of treatment for those who were actually considered talented. He didn’t even deserve something like that. Considering they had only sent a single soldier to escort him, they probably wouldn’t even bother arranging a welcome for him.

Priam asked casually,

”How many people are participating in this year’s coming-of-age ceremony, Sir?”

”Including Young Master, there are 40 coming from the branch families. In addition, three heirs of the main bloodline will also participate.”

Currently, the clan was led by a woman from the generation before Priam’s father. She was married and had three children.

One of them had been born a year after the previous ceremony, making him nineteen years old now. The other two were a fifteen-year-old girl, the same age as Priam, and a sixteen-year-old boy.

When Priam remembered his current age, he couldn’t help but sigh. He wanted to know the difference between himself and those youths, but... having to compete with children was somewhat embarrassing.

He took a deep breath and remembered a distressed voice that had spoken to him before he left:

”Son. Whatever you do, don’t try to compete with the main clan’s children. No matter how outstanding you are, you won’t be a match for the direct bloodline heirs.”

Priam remembered the dark expression his mother had worn at that moment. She couldn’t hide her fear that her son might fall into despair after meeting the children of the main household.

’...Even so, I can’t help feeling excited to see just how talented they must be.’

Priam shifted his gaze away from the window. They had already passed all the splendid sights the capital had to offer, and now the carriage was leaving the city behind and entering a forest.

The forest was surrounded by towering walls.

”From this point onward, we’ve entered the main clan’s estate,” the soldier said.

...

A few hours later, the carriage finally came to a stop.

After opening the door on his side and stepping down, the soldier walked over to Priam’s door and opened it for him.

”Welcome to the main estate of the Ylisse Clan,” the soldier said politely, bowing his head as a sign of respect.

The central building was visible through the wide-open gates. As expected, no one had come out to receive him.

Priam slowly raised his gaze. White flags lined the road leading up from the main entrance, and a rainbow was embroidered in the center of each one. This was the clan’s crest.

He turned to the soldier. ”Have any of my other relatives arrived yet?”

”Young Master is certainly the first to arrive,” he replied.

’Excellent,’ Priam thought, nodding.

---

The place Priam was taken to was an annex built beside the main building.

On the way there, he hadn’t even caught a glimpse of a single relative. Why were they all so far away? Shouldn’t they at least be a little curious and come see the arrival of their fifteen-year-old relative?

But at least he wasn’t being received with complete rudeness.

Upon arriving at the annex, he discovered that a personal maid had been assigned to attend to him.

The maid greeted him. ”Please, call me Flora.”

She was a young woman who didn’t seem much older than Priam. She had pale skin, long blue hair carefully tied into two side braids, pointed ears, gray eyes, and a round face.

She wore a black maid outfit filled with white embroidered details. Her appearance gave off a sense of nobility and a peculiar beauty.

”If you need anything, please ring this bell,” she said, lowering her head and handing him a small bell.

”Am I the only one using this entire annex?” Priam asked, looking around the spacious building.

He was only asking to confirm. After all, Flora was far too young to oversee an entire annex by herself.

She bowed. ”I’m afraid that’s not the case, but you shouldn’t experience any discomfort during your stay.”

”So I’ll be staying with some other relatives. Do you know when they’ll arrive?” he asked indifferently.

”Everyone should arrive within four days at most.”

Priam nodded. That meant he would be stuck there with nothing to do for at least four days.

”Is there a training gym in the back?”

”Huh? Yes...” she replied, confused.

Priam continued, ”Do I need permission to train and exercise?”

”That is... no... I think...”

”Great,” Priam said with a smile as he headed straight toward the training area.

Flora took a deep breath and followed him. There was a helpless look on her face, because she knew there were certain people who visited this place from time to time, and she felt it would be better for Priam to avoid them.