Chapter 4 His Name

Ezio raised his head and looked at his uncle in confusion. It was him who told him that this place was a good place to settle down now he's asking him this kind of question. He narrowed his eyes and stared at his uncle without speaking. He then returned the spoon on his place and leaned on his chair.

"What are you talking about?" he crossed his arms and waited for this uncle of his to speak.

Jagan coughed and almost spilled the glass of water he was holding at his nephew's reaction to a simple question he asked. He wiped his mouth with his hand and carefully placed the glass on the water. After coughing a few more times, he managed to straighten himself to give his nephew an answer.

"Nothing, I'm just asking you if you are okay in this place, is there something wrong with that?" he brushed off his question as something ordinary but his nephew's suspicious stare did not disappear and instead, he felt that the child might not let this one go.

Ezio did not speak which made the atmosphere a lot more uncomfortable for Jagan. "You told me when we first move here that we will not be leaving this place and change houses no matter what happens." His statement made Jagan's face red in embarrassment before he sighed and relented.

"Okay, okay, I understand and besides I was just asking." He mumbled before finally shoving a spoonful of rice in his mouth.

Ezio looked at this big man who was acting like a child and shook his head before he too continued to eat. He got used to living in different places and did not dream of having a permanent home because for some reason his uncle would always take him away not until they reached Moonvale where he finally told him that they will settle down in that small town. He was elated when he heard that and now, they had been living in Moonvale for seven years now so he was shocked when his uncle suddenly asked that question. He can't help but to feel upset at the thought that his uncle might leave Moonvale with him and travel to another place.

After the somewhat awkward meal, Ezio prepared to work on their vegetable garden when he saw his uncle who was all dressed up and ready leave. "Where are you going?" he stood in front of their wooden gate with the hoe on his hand.

"Oh, I'm going to the town center. I'll be back later." He grinned and patted him in the head before he walked past him. "Don't worry I'll help you tomorrow in planting." He waved his hand and was even whistling while walking away.

Jagan did not visit any shops and instead went straight to the bake shop where his favorite cookies were. He directly went to the counter and wrote his order before pressing the red button. Not long after he placed his order, the owner appeared from behind the curtain.

"I wasn't expecting your visit today," the man picked up the piece of paper and chuckled at the contents of it and without any hesitation he burned the paper using magic.

"It seems that you told my nephew that you are a mage," his face became grim and gave the man a glare. He did not know this man but if he poses any danger to his nephew then he won't tolerate his existence. "Who are you?"

The man shook his head then looked at Jagan with a grin, "Can you even accept the fact if you ever knew who I am?"

Jagan was taken aback at the sudden change of demeanor from the man and even his smile was enough to make him shiver in fear. He did not feel anything from the man but the pressure from just his words was enough to almost suffocate him. He sighed and shook his head, "I won't ask then."

The man's pressure suddenly disappeared and he was back to that seemingly warm owner of a bake shop, "I did not tell your nephew that I am a mage, he came to that conclusion himself because I just told him that I can use some simple magic. And if you know who I am, I'll give you the honor of knowing my name," he then paused and his smile widened, "Cygnus Altair."

Jagan clenched his fists and took some deep breaths, even though he was not familiar with the name, it still made his heart beat fast and the urge to run away almost overcame him. It was just a name but the power behind it was too much for him to bear. "Did you add a spell to that name?" he forced himself to speak but just speaking made him break into cold sweat. This person was someone definitely dangerous.

"Why don't you try calling my name out to test it," Cygnus was now interested to see if the man would actually say his name. "Come on try it, I want to see if you can do it." He stepped away from the counter and walked towards the man because he wanted to know what would happen to a person in that world if they speak his name.

Jagan's body stiffened with his eyes glued at the man's intimidating gaze. There was like a rope binding him in place as he could not resist the other's influence. His mouth opened to say the man's name, "Cyg-" he was not able to continue because blood suddenly filled his mouth then he collapsed on the floor with his body still twitching because of too much stimulation until he lost consciousness.

"Tsk," he turned around and came face to face with his butler.

"You are doing it again master, you should stop playing with them." The butler's mechanical voice was a bit reprimanding but Cygnus ignored him.

"It's only the first syllable and he was already vomiting blood, how disappointing. I thought he can withstand at least saying my first name because he was a bit impressive from his mana to his physical strength and yet he passed out without completely saying it. I'm starting to get the feeling that this place will be as boring as the others." He walked away and left the butler to deal with the mess. The butler shook his head and looked at the unconscious man with pity. He did not understand why humans always tries to court death. They were truly extreme masochists.

He carried the man and laid him on the long bench inside the shop then diligently cleaned the blood to avoid it staining the floor since it would be uncomfortable for their customers. The butler let the man rest for a while and did not bother him any longer.

When Jagan opened his eyes, he realized that he was still in the shop and abruptly sat up. He looked around and saw that there was no one and that he was on a bench. He rolled his shoulders then used his palms to cover his face while he took several deep breaths.

"Oh, you are already awake," it was the butler who came out to check on him. He placed the food of cookies on an empty table before facing the man. "How do you feel?" he asked kindly while flashing his business smile.

"Who are you people? And what kind of name was that?" he was a bit disoriented as he continued to massage his head. "Only saying a syllable of that damn name has made me unconscious."

"Mr. Jagan, I advise that you should not get to curios about me especially about my master. We came here to have a normal and quiet life as per my master's preference so if you could hear this request then I will compensate you generously." He pointed at the cookies on the table and then beamed at him.

Jagan could only look at the man, stunned at his words. He was left speechless. The other he considered dangerous while the one in front of him was plain weird.

"Is there something wrong, Mr. Jagan?" The butler cocked his head to the side clueless as to what the other's expression meant.

He sighed once again then bowed his head before he finally willed himself to stand up and walked towards the table. "There's nothing wrong and I won't even ask anything about you guys. How about you, do you have a name? I just hope that yours is normal."

The butler raised his eyebrows and was silent for a while before he answered, "I was called CB001-A but the master just calls me butler. So, there would be no problem when you call me butler."

"What? Is that even a name? Those are only a string of letters and numbers." Jagan was not sure if the man was joking or serious since his face remained unchanged even after he asked those questions.

"I don't understand what you mean Mr. Jagan, it is what they called me thus I believe that it is my name, it's just that my master was too lazy to say my name and just called me butler." The butler stated with a straight face. He could still remember his master's look of disgust at the name CB001-A before he decided to just call him butler. Simple, easy to pronounce and that was his job.

Jagan could not understand this logic so all he could was just accept it. "Okay, I understand. I'll just call you butler then." He finished all the cookies in the plate and stood up, ready to bid them goodbye.

"You can comeback anytime, I'll welcome you with open arms." The voice made him shiver and when he looked behind him, the owner of the shop was grinning at him.

"Thank you but I'll pass." He gave them a nod before he left in a hurry.