After sneaking into the Village Elders home, Baby Cashew looked around to make sure nobody is around before moving deeper into the house and towards that room the book was in.
He suddenly stops moving. "Wait... The Ape was here... So that means the Village Elder knows I'm missing. That would probably make it difficult for my plan to work... Or maybe it would've easier? Maybe she would see it as me being desperate to learn magic to the point of risking angering my father... I'm already trapped in here, might as well see it through." Cashew thought about how his father leaving here would effect his plan before realizing he can't back out now.
Cashew Sneakily moved through the Village Elders home, heading towards the room that the magic book was in originally. Hoping that it's back in there and he can make his scene.
He finally reached the door and found it was already opened. Deciding to peak in there and make sure the room is empty before going in- or wait? Maybe it would be better if she's in there? Less waiting for her to happen upon this room before making a scene.
He decided to peak into the room and found it empty, so he strolled in there and started looking around, thinking that maybe the Village Elder lied and she did have spell books and just didn't wanna let a baby see them.
After a few moments a snooping around, not finding any obvious spell books, he heard the front door slam open and heavy footsteps enter.
Eric: Cashew! Where are you? I know youre in here, some of the villagers said they saw you sneak in here after I left!
Cashew heard his father yell and panicked. Not sure what to do now. "Maybe if I continue with the plan and the village Elder sees- no... The Ape would see too. Hide? No, what would I do then? Run away? He's gonna see me again eventually... What should I do?"
As Cashew thought about what he should do, his dad suddenly barged into the room and spotted him
Eric: Found you.
Eric stated as he picked up Cashew and carried him away. Cashew didn't bother fighting back.
Eric: Sorry, Village Elder, sorry for barging into your house. I found Cashew, leaving now.
Eric said loudly for the Village Elder to hear. She didn't have any response to anything. Not even coming out to see what happened.
Cashew thought about what his father would do when they got home. Was he an abusive man? Will I be beaten? No... Maybe because Cashew is so young, his dad won't beat him out of fear of breaking something. Or maybe because Meredith is probably there. He thought about what might happen the entire walk. Not looking at his father at all.
When they entered the home, Eric Hugged Cashew tightly, which is definitely something he didn't expect.
Eric: Why did you run off?... I thought you were wolf food...
Eric said repeatedly. Cashew did not expect this at all, he expected to at least be yelled at, not hugged and told about how worried the Ape was.
In his old life, Cashews previous dad was abusive. Verbally, physically, he even evicted Cashew on his 18th birthday. He expected his new dad to be the same, but he's rather confused as to why he's not.
"If this dad isn't physically or verbally abusive? How far could I test my luck?"
...
6 months later. (Two years since Cashew was born)
In this world, people don't keep track of birthdays. Only exception would be important people, such as Kings, Queens, and their children, but among normal people, you don't keep track of your birthday. People tend to remember the general time frame someone was born, For example, Cashew was born near the beginning of Winter, but his parents and nobody else kept track of the exact day he was born. That being said, it's not uncommon to forget even the season someone was born after a decade or so of life. Most normal people spend their days working from sunrise to sunset, so they have more important things to worry about than the day they were born.
That said, Eric made sure to remember the general time frame that Cashew was born. Why? Because to keep his son away from magic, he said that he would start teaching his son the way of the Sword. Even finding books on swordsmanship and Chivalry, since Cashew seemed interested in books and seems able to somehow read, despite Meredith constantly saying she didn't teach him to read.
Eric doesn't remember if Cashew actually is 2 years old now or not, but it's close enough.
That all being said, Cashew didn't sit around waiting either. After His little stroll through the village, Eric started bringing him to work with him, so that several guards have eyes on him and he can't try running off again. Meredith is also coming along so that the guards aren't babysitting, but if Cashew did decide to run off again, there would be several guards around who are great at finding people that flee.
Cashew having the mind of an adult who loves to run away from his problems, was able to adapt pretty quickly. He made sure to only sneak around on solid ground, so the guards wouldn't have footprints to track him by, but on the off chance he can't avoid dirt, he got two pieces of wood and turned them into makeshift sandals he can hide under his clothes and spent several nights carving paw prints on the bottom of them, so the guards would see cat tracks instead of his baby tracks.
He also made a habit of sneaking around the jail area and visiting the evidence box every chance he got. Thinking that maybe the guards would have arrested a magic user at one point and confiscated a spell book or any other book related to magic, which, after 3 months of near daily searching, he finally did find a spell book. One that primarily taught Ice magic, as well as some of the most simple water and poison spells.
Happy about finding a spell book, he skimmed over the pages before realizing he's been gone too long and needs to return to Meredith. As for how he's been getting away from her, he would usually wait until she left for a bathroom visit or to get food to feed Baby Cashew.
Cashew did get bigger and was actually able to hold this spell book he had, although mostly because it was on the smaller side and decided to hide it underneath his shirt. Ditching the makeshift sandals as he no longer needed them for now. Plus he could return for them the next day, or make new ones should someone find the old ones and mistake them for firewood or something.
Cashew returned to where Meredith left him and was lucky she hadn't returned yet, so he got on the bench and pretended to sleep, thinking about the spell book and what he could learn now that he had found one.
While pretending to sleep, he genuinely did fall asleep and his dad carried him home when he was done on guard duty. His dad had light plate armor on, since his dad didn't mention the book or feeling something underneath Cashews shirt that wasn't Cashew, Cashew assumed the armor his dad was wearing prevented the book from being discovered.
As soon as Cashew was put down, he immediately ran off and rid the book.
Back to the present, Cashew spent the time mostly learning the most basic Water spell in the book, "Water Ball". This spell is no different than dumping a bucket of water on someone's head, but Cashew figured he could use it for distractions. Launch a Water Ball at his dad's head when he's not looking and his dad will run off trying to find the culprit, giving Cashew a chance to run off elsewhere and continue practicing magic.
Learning magic at the beginning wasn't so easy though. The Ice magic spell book didn't teach you how to control your Mana, saying that if you can't do that, you can't learn magic until you can.
He spent a week trying to learn how to conjure up mana before eventually deciding to try and picture what he wants to happen in his head while chanting the spell he wants to cast. Which surprisingly worked! He's unsure if all magic users do it this way, but it works for him, so he will continue with this method. Unfortunately, he was only able to cast "Water Ball" once every 5 or so hours, as casting the spell once would completely drain him to the point of passing out.
From finding the spell book to about 2 months after was the most active and, at the same time, the laziest time of Cashews life so far. He would cast "Water Ball" pass out, wake up about 5-6 hours later, cast "Water Ball" again, pass out for another 5-6 hours, Rinse and repeat for 3 months until present time. It did gradually take more casts before Cashew would pass out, eventually he could cast "Water Ball" twice, then 3 times, then 4, 5, 6, all the way until his current limit, 13 times.
"This must be my manapool getting larger." Cashew thought as he continued to cast "Water Ball" until he passed out, hiding from his parents.
Around 6 Casts, Cashew realized the he was nearing 2 years old and his dad seemed adamant on teaching him swordsmanship. So he started questioning whether or not he should keep practicing until passing out or start conjuring up a plan to run off and practice actual spells in the wilderness...
"Or, maybe learning swordsmanship wouldn't be completely useless... I have nothing to go off, but my magic capabilities don't seem too praiseworthy." Cashew thought. "I have the mind of an adult, so I'm more than capable of surviving on my own... If people can ignore my age, so once I get a bit older, I did plan to move out and survive on my own, maybe adventurers are a thing? Well, if my magic isn't worth bragging about, then maybe I should learn to defend myself with a melee weapon."
"I'm a Toddler, so maybe he wouldn't push me too hard with practice."
After a few moments, Cashew decided to try out the training his father had in store, thinking he could still practice magic and do this on the side.
Cashew was sat down at a table in front of several books on swordsmanship and knighthood.
Eric: Meredith did a lot of negotiations for you. So for now, I'll stick with books and teach you proper form for a few months... Which works for me, that Goblin cave is getting too active lately, even if she didn't negotiate, I still wouldn't have a lot of time to dedicate to teaching you.
Meredith gave Cashew a friendly and proud smile after Eric finished talking, seeming proud of herself for successfully negotiating.
"These are all books on etiquette and honor... Stuff I don't care about." Cashew thought as he glanced at the books In front of him. Looking at the titles and decided to read one that seems to teach you actual swordsmanship.
Eric: Haha! Going straight for the neck, huh? You need to learn etiquette first. So read this book first.
Eric said while putting a book in front of Cashew.
"101 Reasons why magic is inferior to the sword..." Cashew internally read the books title to himself before deciding to open it and see what it says.
Eric: When did the kid learn to read?
He whispered to himself.