Overwhelming Firepower

Lucen was training with his younger brother Cael when he suddenly realized something. He and his younger brother had never once played before.

All they ever did since they learned how to walk was study and train. The only time Lucen had played was with his own creation, Territory War, but for his little brother, he hadn’t played even that.

As the oldest ducal house, the Thorneharts were a rigid and proud family. They had no time to play around.

After Vahn was satisfied with today’s training, Lucen approached Cael and spoke to him.

”Cael, can you come with me for a second?”

Hearing what Lucen said, Cael wanted to say yes, but before he did so, he looked at Vahn first. Seeing the look on the young master, Vahn smiled as he nodded his head.

”Of course, Big Brother.”

Cael, despite feeling happy on the inside, still showed his stoic expression on the outside. The two brothers went out to an open space.

”What are we going to do here, Big Brother?”

”We’re going to play!” Lucen declared grandly. Cael tilted his head a little to the side, confused.

”Play? Doing a play like the ones in the theater? Have you written a new play, Big Brother?”

Lucen sighed when he heard Cael’s response.

”No, Cael. Not that kind of play,” he said, shaking his head with a faint smile. ”We’re not acting or performing. I mean... Play like other children do.”

”I do not understand.”

”What I mean is to have fun.”

”Fun?... Just being with Big Brother is fun for me.”

Cael said something incredibly sweet with his stoic face, which hit Lucen pretty hard in the heart. Lucen froze for a moment, feeling something twist in his chest.

’Damn it, he thought. Why does he have to say things like that with a straight face? This kid might turn into those natural lady-killer types. Straightforward with total sincerity without knowing how powerful his words are. Also, knowing what he will look like in the future. I guess the only reason he wasn’t popular with girls in the game is because he’s always beside the true protagonist, Alexander.’

He coughed lightly, trying to keep his composure. ”That’s... Nice of you to say, Cael. But that’s not what I meant.”

Cael blinked, still expressionless. ”Then what does Big Brother mean?”

Lucen rubbed his temples. ”I mean, doing something just because it’s fun. Not training. Not studying. Just something pointless.”

”Pointless?” Cael tilted his head again, genuinely puzzled. ”Then... What is the purpose of doing it?”

Lucen stared at him for a moment, utterly defeated. ”The purpose is that there’s no purpose! The goal is simply to have fun, nothing more, nothing less.”

Cael looked even more confused. ”Then it sounds like a waste of time.”

Lucen nearly groaned. ”You really are our Father’s son.” But then his lips curved while shrugging his shoulders. ”Fine, it’s better to show you than to keep explaining.”

”Let’s play a game of hide and seek.”

”Hide and seek?”

”It’s a simple game of one person hiding and the other person seeking out that person.”

”So it’s training to sense the presence of others.”

”... No, that’s not it!” Lucen couldn’t help but raise his voice a little and then sighed. ”Then let’s play tag. It’s a game were someone who is it, will try to touch the other player to make that person it.”

”So it’s training for capturing opponents?”

Lucen pinched the bridge of his nose. ”No, Cael. It’s not training for anything. It’s just for fun. Fun! You know, laughing, smiling, running around. You know, like normal kids!”

”Why did you say it like that? Are we not normal kids? We aren’t adults yet, so we must be children, right?” Cael asked with his stoic expression.

Lucen paused, blinking. ”…You’re technically right, but that’s not the point.”

Lucen started thinking about what kind of children’s game they could play that Cael wouldn’t think was training. After thinking about it for a while, Lucen couldn’t think of anything.

Most children’s games in his past life were physical games that made a child move around until he got tired, but if you look at it closely, almost all of them could be excused as training if you do them well enough.

He could not think of anything. He was about to ask his younger brother, but remembered that that wasn’t the whole point, because Cael did not know anything about games.

’Damn it! I can’t think of anything we can do that this kid wouldn’t think was training...’ Lucen was thinking as hard as he could, but no answer was coming to him.

”Big Brother, we don’t need to play games to have fun. Training with Big Brother is already fun for me.”

Lucen stared at his little brother, struck silent once more. ”You’re going to grow up making a lot of girls cry.”

”I don’t want to grow up like that, Big Brother. It’s not honorable to make any person cry. A Thornehart would never do such a thing.”

”That’s not what I meant... Whatever, if I can’t think of any game we can play, I’ll just make a toy we can play with.”

”A toy?”

Lucen did not bother saying anything more and simply pulled Cael to a carpenter’s workshop.

”I just need to borrow some of your tools.”

”As you wish, young lord.” The carpenter gave way to Lucen.

Lucen examined the carpenter’s workbench with a faint gleam in his eyes. The smell of sawdust, oil, and varnish filled the air.

”This should do,” he murmured, scanning the assortment of small scraps and spare bits of wood.

Cael stood beside him, hands behind his back, watching curiously. ”Big Brother, what are you going to make?”

Lucen smiled faintly. ”Like I said before. Since I can’t think of any games we could play. I’m planning to make a toy we can play with.”

Lucen took a deep breath, centering his focus as he set the knife against the wood. The sharp sound of carving filled the quiet workshop, each stroke deliberate and clean.

Thin curls of pale shavings rolled off the blade and scattered across the bench like soft, dry petals.

Cael stood beside him, hands clasped behind his back, his eyes following every motion. He didn’t say anything, didn’t fidget, didn’t even lean too close. He simply watched, calm and curious, as though this too was a form of training.

Lucen didn’t mind the silence. There was something strangely soothing about shaping the wood, the familiar resistance against his knife, the smell of resin in the air, the subtle warmth of the grain under his fingertips.

His mind wandered back to the world he came from, to the small wooden toys that had entertained children for centuries.

He had a woodworking class as a child, and he was pretty into making figurines, making him good with his hands.

He turned the piece slightly, smoothing the edge with his thumb before carving again. Bit by bit, the rough scrap became a clean, even circle. He set it down, examined the symmetry, then began on another.

Cael tilted his head slightly. He could tell Lucen was working with intent, the kind of focus that usually came when his Big Brother was building something important.

The second circle took shape faster than the first. When Lucen placed them side by side, they mirrored each other almost perfectly, simple but balanced.

He gave a small hum of approval under his breath, then reached for a thin wooden dowel and measured it by eye.

A few quick cuts, a bit of sanding, and the small rod fit snugly between the discs. Lucen pressed the pieces together, tested the alignment, and adjusted the spacing with careful precision. His movements were exact, but there was a subtle rhythm to them, patient, almost artistic.

He picked up a bit of sandpaper next and ran it gently over the surface, rounding the edges until the discs looked polished and smooth. Dust clung to his fingers, fine and soft, and the scent of worked wood filled the air.

He drilled a small hole through the center of the rod, then reached for a length of thin string from the carpenter’s drawer.

After threading it carefully through, he tied a neat knot and tested the tension with a few tugs. The wooden shape turned smoothly, the light catching on its rounded sides.

Finally, he set the finished toy on the table, exhaled, and brushed the sawdust from his palms.

Cael’s expression hadn’t changed much, but there was a quiet spark in his eyes now, faint curiosity, or perhaps wonder.

Lucen, who was getting the hang of things quickly, made a second one to give to his younger brother.

Once he was done creating the second one, he tied the end of the string to his middle finger, then rolled the newly created toy, making it spin, then come back to his hand.

”This,” Lucen said with a faint grin, ”Is the new toy I made. I call it a yo-yo. You can have fun by doing tricks with it.”

He flicked his wrist, the toy spun down the string, kissed the ground, then zipped back up to his palm with a satisfying thunk. Lucen proceeded to do simple tricks like walking the dog and around the world.

”Here, try it. I made one for you, too.” Lucen handed the other yo-yo to his brother and tied the string onto his middle finger.

Cael looked at the yo-yo in his hand and copied Lucen’s movements to make it fall and come back. He then tried to do the tricks walking the dog and around the world, but failed.

”It takes some practice to do tricks like I did.”

”But Big Brother, you did not practice and just did it.”

”... Well, I am the creator of this thing, so I had a basic idea of how to do tricks with it.”

Cael looked at Lucen for a few seconds and then nodded his head as he continued playing with the yo-yo. After playing with it for several seconds, Cael spoke.

”If we added weight or made the round parts into steel, couldn’t we use this as a weapon?”

”Cael, please, can you stop thinking about such things, and just enjoy playing with the toy I made?” Lucen rubbed his temples and sighed.

”If that’s what you wish, Big Brother. I’ll do my best.” Cael nodded his head with a serious expression.

”It has no point if you don’t wish for it yourself.” Lucen once again sighed.

The two brothers continued playing with the yo-yos for the entire day. All throughout, Lucen tried to make Cael relax and simply enjoy what he was doing.

After some time, a small smile appeared on the stoic seven-year-old’s face. When Lucen saw that smile, he felt relieved. It took a while, but he was able to make Cael have fun while playing.