After reading about 3 pages of the book "101 Reasons why Magic is Inferior to the Sword", he slowly closed the book and pushed it as far away as he possibly could,
Meredith: Mr Eric, I've been meaning to ask,but why do you dislike Magic so much? If Cashew does have a talent for it, then he's pretty much guaranteed a life that's at least decent, assuming he doesn't make any mistakes that mark him as an enemy of the Kingdom.
Eric: Do I need a reason to dislike Magic? It's a cowardly way to fight. Instead of facing your enemy head on in a fair and honorable fight, you decide to hide behind fancy spells and not even give your opponent a chance to fight back. It's Cowardly and disrespectful to your opponent.
Cashew: So you expect me to throw away my life just to protect someones ego? That's all "Fighting with honor" is. Saying that someone else's ego is more important than your life.
Eric: WHAT THE FUCK?! Since when could you speak?!?
Eric yelled as both he and Meredith looked at Cashew in shock.
Cashew: Ah? Uh... *Baby Noise*
"The common tongue here is no different than English from my previous world, so for me, learning to speak was just adapting my new tongue to it. I didn't need to learn any new words or anything, just needed to practice." Cashew explained in his head, telling himself why he could speak despite being about 2 years old.
Meredith: First, he learned to walk, then he learned to talk, and I'm convinced he can read... All at the age of 2... The kid must be a genius!
"No... Not a genius. Just a reincarnated soul that still has memories from my previous life." Cashew thought in response to her comment. Not wanting to speak again, hoping they will think they misheard and drop it.
Meredith crouched down next to the chair Cashew was sitting in with a smile on her face.
Meredith: Hey. How long could you speak?
She asked, eagerly awaiting an answer, but Cashew just looked at her, acting the way he normally does, with a blank, uninterested stare, hoping she will give up.
Meanwhile, Eric kept pacing around the room muttering something Cashew can't hear before leaving the house to go somewhere unknown.
Meredith: Come on! You don't need to hide it anymore, I really wanna know!
Meredith said in a cutesy voice to Cashew, hoping he will speak to her. Which made Cashew start to slowly inch away, not wanting to answer the question.
Seeing Cashew inch away, Meredith turned the chair Cashew was sitting in towards her so that the back of the chair prevents escape.
Recognizing the lack of escape, Cashew internally sighed and raised his hand, launching a Water Ball spell at Merediths chest, feeling it was rude to launch it at her face and not knowing how much it would hurt.
After the Water Ball hit Meredith, she fell backyards with a yelp, Cashew took advantage and bolted to a room deeper in the house and out a window. Planning to hide in the nearby forest for the day.
Meredith covered her chest after realizing her clothes were wet and an even bigger smile formed in her face.
Meredith: He can walk, talk, read and use magic at the age of 2... He's gotta be a prodigy! Gotta tell the village Elder about it!
She said while rushing outside, Still covering her chest, afraid her dress is now see through.
Sara, who was carrying a disobedient cow over her shoulders, saw Meredith Rush out in soaking wet clothes.
Sara: Hey, Why are your clothes wet? Need to borrow some of mine? And why did Eric storm off?
Meredith: Thank you for the offer, but your clothes would be too loose, especially around the chest area, I'm heading home anyways, I'll change there.
Sara: Ok then, but why are your clothes wet?
Meredith: I'll tell you later.
Meredith then rushed off and disappeared around a corner, Sara shrugged and carried the disobedient cow into the barn.
Sara: stop being stubborn! You need to be milked!
Meanwhile, Cashew kept running deeper into the forest before stopping and collapsing near a tree, panting for air.
Cashew: Well, Damn... What now? Run away and never come back? Stay in the forest until they find me? Return and apologize? No... That would be the right thing to do, I'm not gonna do the right thing.
Cashew contemplated his options before deciding to practice spells he hasn't used yet.
Cashew: come to think of it, is the water formed by magic drinkable?...
Cashew wondered while he opened his spell book and looked at the beginner spells. All of them were beginner spells, but he looked at the most beginner of the beginner spells.
Cashew: Ice Ball? Ball? Is it a snowball? Come to think of it, since I imagine the spell the way I want it, can I change the shape?...
After a few moments of pondering,Cashew started casting "Water Ball" again, but instead, formed the ball into a spike within his imagination.
In front of Cashew, hovering above his palm, a ball of water formed in front of him, the ball slowly changed shape into a spike, which he launched at a nearby tree.
*Bam!*
The spell hit the tree and left a small hole into it, a hole no different than throwing a spear into a tree, more or less the same depth and damage too.
Cashew: I see... Let's try it with Ice.
Cashew repeated the same thing, but with Ice magic instead of Water, hovering above his palm, a ball of Ice formed and eventually turned into a spike, which he launched at the same tree.
*Bam!*
This time, the tree collapsed from the spell, as well as freezing around the area of impact. With cold air coming off of the impact area. This startled Cashew as he wasn't expecting this, did this much damage happen to the tree because of the shape or is ice magic normally this powerful?
Cashew also felt much more drained from this, as if Ice magic is more expensive to cast than Water magic. He feels like he can only cast that spell 2 more times before passing out.
Cashew: the tree falling may have caught the attention of anyone nearby, so I'll hide for now.
Cashew said while rushing away from the area, and he was right. A few minutes after he hid, a small group of about 17 Goblins appeared, 2 of them examining the tree and the rest looking around.
These goblins were short and ugly, less than a meter tall, Dark green skin, pointy ears and bald heads, they had either wooden clubs for weapons and torn up cloth for clothes or small weapons that were stolen from previous victims. Any stolen weapons were damaged and rusty from neglect, the goblins only care about reproducing, so they don't take care of any weapons. all of the goblins were wearing a smile that screamed "I don't know what Consent is!"
Back in the village, Meredith was in her room with the Village Elder, changing into a light blue dress instead of her beige dress.
Meredith: So Cashew can Read, Talk, Walk, and even use magic, which is why im wet. I kinda cornered him, hoping to hear him talk some more and he used water magic on me so he could escape. Id like Cashew to learn Magic and even go to the capital, but you know how Mr Eric is, hes against Magic and refuses to let Cashew learn it.
Village Elder: I see... Sara is more open minded, why didn't you tell her?
The Village Elder asked, getting up and helping Meredith out on her Corset, tying it from behind for her.
Meredith: I wanted to run this all by you first.
Village Elder: I see... You want my advice?
Meredith: Yes! Please, what is it?
Village Elder: Not your kid. Not your choice. You get no say on how they raise him. So just tell his parents that he used water magic to attack you and let them decide what to do.
The village Elder said while finishing up on Meredith's corset, tightening it some more.
Meredith: Oh...
Village Elder: what did you expect? Were you expecting advice on how to raise someone else's kids behind the parents back?
Meredith: Well... Kinda?
Village Elder: I thought I raised you better. Go tell his parents what happened and stop trying to raise someone else's kid.
Meredith: But-... *Sigh* Yes...
Meredith said with a voice of defeat. Slowly heading back to Eric and Sara's home.
As Meredith approaches the house, she noticed Sara looking around the property, in a hurry, as if she lost something important, Sara noticing Meredith, she quickly moved towards her.
Sara: Hey, have you seen Cashew? I can't find him anywhere.
Meredith: what? He's missing?
Sara: He's not in the house and he's not hiding under anything, so yeah, I'd say he's missing. Eric is looking for him in the forest surrounding the village.
Meredith: any idea how long he's been missing?
Sara: Since you left, if I had to guess?
Sara responded in a nonchalant tone.
"Isn't she worried? Her kid is missing? Should I still tell her about what happened? Or wait until Cashew is found?" Meredith thought as she looked at Sara's face, wondering if she really isn't worried or if she's just putting up a tough face.
In the Forest, Eric is running through, shouting for Cashew, hoping he will come out. Eric fully realizes that he shouldn't be shouting, as what if Goblins hear him and he ends up surrounded, but he needs to find Cashew before Goblins do.
Back to Cashew, Cashew is still close by to the tree his magic destroyed and is watching the Goblins search the area.
One of the goblins has a scar on its lips and it's ears were full of piercings, he was using a small dagger, but on him, the dagger looked like a sword, it didnt look neglected, so either this Goblin took care of its weapon or he obtained it recently. It's safe to assume this Goblin is the leader of this small group. The Goblin with a Lip scar was examining the tree while 2 other goblins watched his back, the rest of the goblins were all scattered about and searching the area.
Wanting to try something, Cashew decided to Cast "Water Ball" and launch it at the Goblin the farthest away from him that he could hit and not compromise his position. This spell wasn't shaped like a spike or anything, it was the exact same as the spell he used on Meredith to escape.
Cashew Waited until he could cast the spell without being spotted and launched it,
*Bam!*
The spell hit the Goblin in the back of the head, a nearby Goblin didn't seem to know what happened, but saw the one Goblin soaked in water and started laughing hysterically. The Goblin that was attacked thinks that the Goblin who's laughing did that to him and raised its rusty sword in the air, the swords blade broke in half however many years ago and lost its length, as well as being completely Orange and rusty. The Goblin swung its sword down on the laughing Goblin who reacted just in time to raise its club up and block the attack, angry that it was attacked, the Club wielding Goblin kicked the Sword Wielding Goblin in the side and brought its club down on his head, Causing the Sword Wielding Goblins forehead to detach from his skull and go flying in another direction, killing the Goblin instantly and covering a nearby plant in blood.
The Goblin with the lip scar is angry that a fight broke out and yelling in the Goblins language.
Cashew: Interesting...