"Feliza, I know you're injured still, but this could be an important day for you! You're meeting several other kids your age, this is your chance to make some friends and have some relationships!" Amelie stated as she led me forward towards the town center. She was obviously excited for me, as she was pushing me somewhat excitedly, almost as if she was giddy with joy to see me with a bunch of other friends laughing and having fun.

Sorry to disappoint, but I highly doubt I'll be able to even have any friends, period. I have no desire to do this at all, and the only reason why I'm doing this is because you're forcing me to. So please, let me just go and have some fun to myself.

Besides, no one would ever want to be friends with a shitty mess like me.

I didn't pay attention to any of my surroundings as we both moved. To be honest, I was kind of dead inside, being forced to do something like this. It was like being introduced to your cousins, and them being so much better than you in every aspect that it was just depressing being around them, period.

I didn't like my family gatherings, and I won't like this either. I can feel it in my bones, the sensation that tragedy and depressing thoughts were going to be coming soon.

That, or I was still suffering from the muscle pain I had from training yesterday night.

Yes, I went and did the same exact routine again. After Alise fed me and helped me out with doing the duties more than before, I waited until everyone went to sleep before going back and committing myself to doing nightly training.

At this point, I have planned to make it routine, even with these hand injuries. I had to because otherwise, I would just fall into this routine of monotony and potentially forget about my dearest mother.

On the day that happens, God, you fucking bastard, you may smite me. I grant you permission to go ahead and kill me in the most brutal fashion you can imagine because, at that point, I have descended far beyond that of human trash. If anything, that single crime could never be redeemed or forgiven, so please do exactly as I ask, you shitty excuse of an omniscient being.

Nevertheless, I was being taken to the location, and when I arrived, it didn't seem to be anything enticing at all. No toys, apparatuses, or even random objects to pique our interest.

All there seemed to be was the plain ground with dry dirt, along with some random vegetation scattered around. We were in front of a decently large building, which seemed to have two under-equipped guards manning their stations.

Seems like this place was somewhat important, and since I couldn't read the sign hanging over the door, I couldn't figure out where the heck we were.

"This is the village center, where the elder and his family are. They work here every day, and they always host these events so that kids like you could have some fun!" Ah, thank you for answering my question, Amelie. Unfortunately, this place was really boring, so I might need to try to sneak inside just to learn some stuff.

Maybe they have some books that I could use to learn the written language. I was hoping that I could probably get inside and just be by myself while I learned how to read.

Now that we were closing into the building in question, I spotted a small crowd of children, around fifteen of them in total. They were all talking to each other, running around in circles, and doing some random stuff in general.

I knew from this first glance that I most likely was not going to get along with any of them. Better to save my breath than to waste it on trying to communicate with these guys.

"Alright, we're here! Have fun, Feliza, and remember to make a lot of friends!" My stepmother said as she started to leave, heading back to the house.

Honestly, that's probably not going to happen. If anything, I might just try my best to ignore these guys.

Nevertheless, let's see if I had to actually interact with these kids first. I immediately headed over to one of the guards sitting down next to the front door, and he turned and looked at me.

He was way skinnier up front. From a distance, he looked buff and intimidating, but now that I was right in front of him? He looked like a shrimp, someone that could be knocked down way easily if I just poked him.

The armor is definitely doing its job, especially since he looked way scarier from far away. That would definitely help in warding off certain criminals from attempting to enter the village center. Oh well, now that I knew he wasn't as he seemed, I felt like I could talk easier to him.

"Ah... um..." Then again, probably not. "Could... is there..."

"What is it, little lady? Did you lose your mommy and need help finding her?" The shrimp boy asked as he leaned over and gave me the biggest shit-eating grin ever. Yeah, I should have known that the guards here were going to be complete assholes.

Okay, take a deep breath, and just try your best to say 'Hey, you arrogant jerk, I want to know if there are any books here I could read. Could you please just do your job properly and tell me?'

"Uh... I'd like... some books." I couldn't help myself at all. No matter how hard I tried to speak, my voice seemed to be getting softer and softer, almost as if I was absolutely terrified of what the response would be.

"Huhhhhh? You want some books? Aren't you a little too young to even attempt trying to read?" Just like that, my hopes and dreams were curb-stomped mercilessly by this bastard dressed in really shitty, torn leather armor. Ah of course, why did I figure things would be different this time around?

In any world, in any place, there were always going to be bastards like this guy. In every place, there were going to be those gyaru like girls that just love to pick on the weak like this. Why did I think this was going to be different?

I turned and left the guard, and ignored whatever happened between him and the other guy that was walking up. Why should I care? They were definitely going to be talking about me behind my back.

In fact, I could imagine it now: 'Hey, that girl wanted to read a book!' 'No way, isn't she supposed to be a retarded brat that can't even figure out her ABCs, haha!'

I felt ashamed. I wanted to go into a corner and die for asking such a stupid question. I just chose at that moment to go ahead and find a random wall of the building to sit against. I didn't care all that much at this point.

I looked and just watched the other kids have fun, while I just basked in the darkness. To be honest, I felt... nostalgic. This reminded me of home a lot, and I felt like I was belonging here in some way.

Truly, to be feeling like human trash once more was bringing back some memories. Most of them bad, but still bringing up the past in some form.

I just stayed there, staring at the bright and cheery kids while contemplating all the dark thoughts I had. That was when the jerkass's friend came up to me. He was dressed in shitty leather armor too, and had a buff appearance with a light beard growing.

"Excuse me, little girl, are you alright? I'm sorry about my friend, here, I'll help you up." He said as he held a hand up for me, with a small smile on his face. He looked friendly, but he wasn't going to fool me.

This was probably a plan to make me get shit on or something, maybe even make sure that I'll be ridiculed or shown why I'm someone to not hang around with. At this point, do I really care?

Besides, worst comes to worst, I'll just stay at my home and just train every day. I don't have too many attachments to these freaking people, so why should I be worried about how I looked?

I grabbed his hand, and I noticed that he looked a bit surprised as he pulled me up. "Little lady, why do you have bandages on your hands? Did you get hurt?" Buddy, I could tell you don't care, drop the fucking act.

"What.. what do you want?" He looked at me, with surprise in his eyes. Did you realize I looked through your plans and knew what you were plotting? I'm not that dumb. "Why... why are you... you here?"

He sighed as he kneeled down, getting in front of my face. "Look, I'm here to apologize for my friend. He has good intentions, but he's just not good at saying what's on his mind. Can you forgive him for this?"

I couldn't understand. He was apologizing for his friend, and thought I'd sincerely forgive that jerk that easily? Please. That's not the case and never will be.

I know from too many past experiences that there's no such thing as a good person that willingly hangs out with a scumbag friend. Either that good person is completely blind to the jerkass nature of their horrible friend, they support that nature and try to make that disgusting person worse, or they are also cruel and a monster disguised as a human.

Eat shit asshole, I'm not that dumb.

"No." He blinked. Didn't expect that twist, did you? "I... don't want... want to be bullied." God damn it, why can't I say what I want up front easily and calmly? Is it really that hard to just talk to someone, and try to tell them to get fucking lost?

"Woah, kid, calm down. I don't want to do anything like that." He said as he let go of my hand and put his other free hand in front of me in a show of restraint. Nice try, but I've seen through your act. You're not fooling me.

"Please... just leave." At this point, I must've done something to the guard's emotions, because he put both of his hands on my shoulders.

"Kid, please. I don't plan on doing anything like that. I don't know what kind of impression my buddy gave you, but I can assure you, I have no desire to do any harm to you. By the Sun Goddess, where did you even get these horrible ideas?" He asked as he looked right at my eyes, his face looking grimmer as he stared at me longer. Almost as if he didn't know what else to say anymore.

Good. I'd rather be alone right now.

"Just... leave me... leave me alone." He looked torn and horrified for some reason, before leaving around the corner. Finally, he was freaking gone. Now I wouldn't seem like a retarded kid who didn't know how to speak for the first time, and I could relax for once.

Then, he came back within a single moment, dragging his friend with me.

I couldn't get a single break. I sighed and just sat down again, waiting for something to happen. That was when he grabbed his friend's head and forced the skinny jerk to bow his head down.

"My friend, Johansen Alger, would like to deeply apologize for his words and actions. Whatever he said to you, please forget them because he just doesn't know how to speak to a young kid like you." Really? That's the excuse you're making?

"Hey, buzz off William, I only questioned her!" He shouted before the other guy just rapped him on the helmet.

"Idiot, I heard the whole thing. Why did you have to be so condescending to her when she just asked for some books shyly? Now she thinks we're going to bully her or something along those lines!" Huh? Why are you acting like this? Weren't you planning to do exactly that, or even worse?

... now that I think about it, was I perhaps just making some heavy assumptions? Maybe William was just a decent guy, and Johansen was just an asshole?

No, that doesn't make any sense. What kind of self-respecting nice guy willingly hangs out with a completely intolerable asshole like that? That's the kind of stuff you see in bad anime or manga, that just isn't realistic.

This was definitely a type of bullying tactic that was far more advanced than the typical insulting and the casual sabotage. I've had this done to me before.

The whole scheme is that you get a friend to go ahead and act nice to the victim, pretending to apologize for their friend's misdeed. If the victim took the bait, then it was all over. That single line of trust was like a rope from heaven: too strong for them to get rid of, and too entangled to actually think about getting away.

With that, the game was over. They could do anything they wanted, and all that mess and horrible tragedies could be washed away with a simple apology.

I knew about this situation, I've seen it before with my own eyes, and I definitely had some experience dealing with. No, they're not going to pull the wool over my eyes with this. My past life was coming in handy, thankfully enough.

"I... I get it." I didn't know myself, and now both of them were looking at me weirdly. "I... I'm sorry. I'll just... just leave. I'm too much trouble..." I stood back up and started to head on over to the forest. I could just leave this place and be by myself, maybe even train my body and get stronger. I couldn't care less about these people and the other kids.

I just wanted to go home and sleep. At this rate, I'll probably be tired of human interactions for a while. This was straining me mentally already.

"Wait, what do you mean! That's not what I meant, you stupid kid!" Surprisingly, Johansen was the one whole blurted out in response. Man, can't you just give up or something? "Seriously, what's your deal! My friend's making me apologize, why are you lumping him with me?"

"He's... helping you. Why would he if you're a jerk?" I asked, almost as if there wasn't anything more obvious in the world. Seriously, he heard that, and then decided to intervene way after the fact? Who the hell does that kind of horrible shit? "He came... came to help now, rather than earlier. Get lost."

"That's not... kid, calm down. We're trying to make amends here." William tried to state, but I had enough. I didn't want to bother talking to these guys anymore, so I just started to head towards the forest.

"Hey, wait, stop! Where are you going?" The asshole asked as he took a step further.

"Forest," I replied simply, as I kept on going. Why the hell did they care? Didn't they have a job to do, like guarding the front door against random kids who were curious or something?

"You're not allowed to go into the forest! Come back here!" The jerkwad shouted as he started to walk towards me, and grabbed my arm. I could tell that he was trying to be gentle, but I didn't want any part of this, so I tried to get out of his grip.

No luck. He wasn't letting go, and he started to walk back towards the yard. "Look, maybe we're not the right people to talk to. Just... go back to your friends, alright?" William said as he followed his bastard of a friend, who was currently leading me towards the group of kids that were staring at us now.

Absolutely not, stop fucking forcing me to do shit. I get it, I pissed you both off by ruining your chances of bullying me, but you don't have to stoop so low to force me to interact with people.

At this point, I'm honestly just about done trying to fight back. Whatever. Let's just get this over with.

"Hey boys and girls, what's up?" William asked the group of children as he casually pushed me forward a little. "Who's this girl? Anyone know her?"

Silence greeted him, and I just walked towards the children, not caring at all. "Um... okay. Well, get along with her, okay? She needs some friends to help her out, since she's not feeling all that well."

Heh. As if. Since you're saying that, obviously now they'll try, but they won't. I'm not going to make any friends. Didn't plan to, and I'm not going to. End of story.

After the two failures of guards walked back to their posts, some kids tried to talk to me. I just ignored them as I just sat there, staring at the blue sky.

The clouds were pretty. I could see them morph into some different shapes, like cows, hamburgers, and swords.

Ah, I could go for some hamburgers right now. That would hit the spot because I certainly was a bit hungry.

I looked back down, and I noticed I had a little circle around me, an aura that just stated 'Stay away from me'. No one bothered to come near me.

Good. I liked it this way.

Throughout the entirety of the day, I just laid there, watching the clouds and just ignoring everyone doing whatever they wanted to do around me. I did mental exercises again, to ensure that my mind was in top shape.

While I was staring up, I decided to check out my stats. After all, they must've changed a bit, right?

"Status," I whispered as softly as possible, and the information flew through my brain.

[Level 1]

[HP 7/9]

[MP 0/0]

[Strength 5]

[Endurance 5]

[Intelligence 9]

[Wisdom 8]

[Agility 6]

[Dexterity 4]

[EXP Points: 50]

I blinked. Why did my stats grow so much all of a sudden? I didn't do anything different yesterday nor two days ago, so what warranted this growth? I only did exercise during the nights, but why did nearly all my stats grow so much?

I couldn't understand it, but I'm not going to complain about that much progress within the span of two nights. That just meant the plan was working, and that I should truly commit to this. After all, if I had gotten better, that was just icing on the cake.

"Hey. You hungry?" I looked up to see Johansen's face once more, looking right at me. Honestly, why the fuck do you care? Go back to your post and just ignore my ass. You were happy belittling me earlier, why do you care so much now?

"Do you really care?" I asked, genuinely wondering if he'd bother telling me the truth or not. I've honestly had it up to here, and I'm pretty darn pissed off. He grimaced a little, before sighing.

"Look, kid, I know I said some really bad words to you, and I regret them. But you're taking this a bit too far, aren't you?" Am I? Isn't it common behavior to be paranoid for any future actions after such a bad meeting?

"Can you just go?" I finally asked out of complete exasperation. I've tried and failed, at this point I've truly given up. "Leave me alone."

"Look, I know I was rough. I get it. But why are you putting up such a big front over some insults?" Okay, I get it, I'm overreacting. I'm sorry, so just leave already.

He sighed, before sitting down. Seriously? Do you honestly have nothing better to do than just mess around with a shitty girl like me? Don't you have a failed friendship or something to take care of? Anything other than talking to me?

"Look, I'm... not the best at communication." No shit, Sherlock. "I'm pretty harsh, and I can't talk all that easily. So look, can you please just forgive me? Surely, I couldn't have hurt your feelings that much, right?"

Buddy, I am the wrong person to ask. I turned towards him and glared right at his eyes. "Just. leave." And at this point, I wanted you gone yesterday.

He seemed to understand now, and he got up and headed back to his post, obviously distraught. I didn't care all that much, he was reaping what he sowed.

To be honest, both him and I were, but I won't tell him that. After all, he's worse than I am, and I don't plan on helping him out.

Now all I had to do was just lay here and wait for someone to pick me up. I'm hoping it's Terry because he doesn't seem to be the kind of guy to care. If it's Alise, she might just kill me with all the worry and disappointment.

Oh well. At this point, all I could do was wait and see. Nothing more, nothing less.