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7 years later…

So apparently I reincarnated. That’s about what I can tell from the first day I landed here. One thing I never want to experience again is childbirth. It felt like my head was being crushed and healed over and over again. I couldn’t understand why I had to suffer such agony. But when I came out, all I saw was a beautiful woman that had a tired expression on her face. My mother, Eleanor.

I understood then why babies cry when they come out of their mother’s wombs.

That aside, I was born into a family of two. My little sisters were born a year ago so they are still infants. So I’m the first son this young couple had. There have been visitors ever since my birth so I could guess that my parents were quite loved. They are a pair of old companions from their adventurer party. My father was a swordsman while my mother was a mage. Although their talents are pretty average, they managed to make a name for themselves. My father was apparently the seventh son of a noble so he had to become independent earlier on.

They make an honest living as countryside people. My father works for the lord of this region while my mother enchants items. It would be illegal to do this without permission but my mother has a family member who works in the Magic Tower in the Kingdom.

..

“Clyde, meet your first cousin~”

My family had visitors today. Apparently they are family of my father. His uncle, Duke Luxembourg’s second wife and child came to visit us. My mother is also friends with the wife.

A silver haired girl was pushed towards me.

“This is Arielle, Clyde-kun.”

The beautiful woman who looks no older than 30 smiled warmly as she introduced her child.

“She’s 9 years old this year. A bit older than you but I hope the two of you can become friends.”

The woman’s name is Kimberly Luxembourg.

In response to her mother’s words, the girl just snorted while flicking her hair back.

‘You act so high and mighty, you little brat!’

“The two of you should go play while me and El catch up. Remember to protect each other alright?”

..

“…”

We walked in silence. More like I kept talking to her but she didn’t talk back to me, so I gave up.

I brought a Magic book tucked under my arm. Might get bored so I could just read the book. She was walking in front of me with confident strides.

Anyways, I never got an answer from god when I asked why I came here instead of just dying or reliving with my memories wiped. It has to be strange, right?

I was always a curious person so naturally I read the multiple books strewn inside our house. One day when I was reading a book, I saw a spell inside one of the pages. Low elementary magic-Gale. My first attempt didn’t quite work out since my mana depleted immediately. However, after my second attempt, my mana increased immensely. All of this happened in my first two years of life on this world. Over the other five years I could cast up to high intermediate spells(although just one).. I reached a bottle neck in my self training.

Having a teacher is extremely expensive. That’s why only nobles can afford such luxury.

“Hey.”

I spoke to the girl walking in front of me.

“…”

“Do you want some sugar sweets, Arielle?” I took out two wrappers. I may be an adult in mental years but I’m still a little boy here that likes sweets.

“…what?”

She turned around and glared at me.

“How dare you speak so informally to me!? Mother forced me to come with you, so don’t speak to me! Humph!” After what she said, she walked faster.

“…eh?”

Isn’t this girl a bit too rude?

“Oi.”

I grabbed her shoulder tightly.

“I might be younger than you but you can’t–“

“How dare you touch me!? Filth!!”

“Uwaaah!”

THUD

I was then thrown into the air and crashed onto the ground.

‘What the fuck!? How is she this strong!?’

It felt like I was thrown off a roller coaster. Are all the people of this world this fucking strong!?

“Ugh!”

“You are beneath me!” She then stepped onto my head with her small foot. “Don’t think we are the same, understand?”

“I-I understand.”

“Humph! Good.”

She removed her foot from my head and walked away, leaving me on the ground.

‘How can masochist guys love something like this!?’

I despaired on the ground at having my pride damaged.

It felt like a boulder was squashing my head from how much force was put into her foot.

“A-are you alright?”

A boy came up to me and offered a hand.

“Yeah… thanks.”

I took his hand and then he helped me up.

“I’m Arthur. Y-You’re Clyde, right?”

‘Huh? I don’t remember seeing this boy in the village…’

“Uh, yeah. How’d you know? I know everyone in the village but I’ve never seen you before.”

“O-Oh. I watch you everyday–ah I mean, I just see you sometimes in the v-village.”

“O-Oh, I see.” I’ll pretend I didn’t hear the first part.

He had an unkempt appearance with his gunmetal silver hair extremely long and covering his face. His clothes’ sleeves looked like it was stitched together a little sloppily. And judging from the dry dirt on his arms, I’d guess he hasn’t washed for a while now.

“Oh, here.”

He brought my magic book I dropped when that brat toppled me over.

“Where do you live?” I dusted off my butt.

“U-Up there…”

He pointed to the northern hills.

‘Oh right. There’s a hut I saw the other day over there.’

So he lives there huh…

“Isn’t it a bit spooky living in such a place? Why don’t your parents built a house here? There’s plenty of trees around after all.”

I saw Arielle in the distance insulting a boy who came up to her. The poor boy was on the verge of tears.

“Ah, my parents died in a skirmish. The one that happened five years ago.”

“The Vitian noble family skirmish?”

A noble committed treason and forcibly took the people from his villages to fight against the other fief lords. In the end, 2500 people died when the Royal Army was dispatched. No casualties on their side though since they were up against farmers and ordinary people.

“I see. Hey, do you want to live with us?”

“Eh…?”

He was busy brushing his bangs when I spoke. He paused midway and looked up at me.

“We can become brothers that way too!” I put my hand on his shoulder.

“B-But–“

“I can’t leave you like this.”

“That’s…”

He still hesitated.

“My parents won’t mind. Besides, you have such strength for your age. Maybe you could help around our farm.”

Arielle already went back so I took Arthur to my house.

He still looked hesitant but I kept reassuring him that it’s okay.

**

“Clyde… that does sound sad but isn’t it better to have an orphanage take him?”

My mother and father listened to our talk. Arielle and her mother already left a while ago. Her mother still has to visit their retainers. It’s important to keep contact with their connections, is what she said.

“I’ll take responsibility for him!” I stood up from the chair.

My declaration caused my parents to stare at me with widened eyes.

“Haha. My boy is already saying something so manly.” My mother patted my head and ruffled my hair.

“Okay but remember what you said, okay? You will hold responsibility for whatever happens.”

Arthur had a blush on his face with his head down. He sat meekly on the chair next to me.

“Bwahahaha! To think you’d be so mature at this age!”

My father said loudly. The ale he drank wetted his beard.

..

“Arthur, the bath’s ready!”

I came out of my room with no shirt on. We had to wash before dinner so I ran to the well earlier to draw water.

“Hiirk!”

He jumped when he saw me undress.

“What’s wrong?”

I felt the temperature of the water. That’s good enough, I guess.

“N-Nothing…”

“Then take off your clothes. Mother said she’ll get new ones in town so you’ll have to make due with my clothes for now.”

“B-But…”

He fidgeted with the towel.

“Haa...”

I took the ends of his pants and pulled down.

“Kyaa!”

He hurriedly covered himself.

“Why are you so embarrassed?” I said with a confused tone.

“It’s so sudden…”

“Haa… come on.”

I had to drag him to the bath and clean him as well. His hair was so damn dirty that I even found a few bugs chilling inside.

**

“Waaah~”

Arthur calmed down after our bathing session. I also had mother help him cut his hair a little so now we can see more of his face.

Not gonna lie though, he has a cute face. Mother called him adorable, fuelling my jealousy. She always used to call me that!

Arthur looked at the food with sparkling eyes and gulped hard. My mother is a splendid cook. No matter what we go through, she always finds a way for me to eat a healthy and delicious bowl of food. Sometimes they have to eat porridge so I can eat the meat. I’m thankful for having such wonderful parents.

Since we have a new member of the family, she made something special tonight. Although I do miss my old world’s food, the food of this world is also equally delicious.

We ate dinner while my parents told Arthur what he should do around the farm. Now I’ll have help for when we work in the fields. The spring harvest festival is coming up after all.

..

“Hey, Clyde?”

When I was trying to go to sleep, I heard Arthur call me. We had to sleep on the same bed since there aren’t extra matrasses yet.

“Hm?”

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

I turned around. He was looking at me under the glow of the Moon’s light.

I forced a smile.

“I’m not sure. I was suddenly thrown into this world, after all. I’m still finding my place..”

“What do you mean? I saw you cast spells so efficiently without chanting.” His big blue eyes looked sleepy as he spoke.

“You were watching, huh? I wanted to keep it a secret…”

“Ah…”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll tell my parents someday about it anyway.”

The Royal Academy is open to people of all status so they might enrol me in there.

“What do you want to be?”

His eyes lit up and he smiled brightly.

“I want to be the strongest knight in the world and protect my friends! Ah, you are my first friend, though…”

I laughed when he blushed and hid his head under the covers.

“I can’t wait to be protected by your strong arms~”

“S-Stop it!”

His face flushed red.

We continued talking before eventually we said goodnight and fell asleep.

Well, only Arthur fell asleep since I couldn’t close my eyes at all. My parents were apparently deepening their love for each other in the next room.

‘Mom, although you casted sound magic to seal off the room, your work was a little sloppy…’

I covered my ears to avoid hearing the moans and grunts from those two.

I fell asleep not long after.