As we entered the ground, I looked around to see many familiar faces that I used to play with daily. They immediately noticed us and obviously recognised me as they stopped what they were doing and came running towards me.

“Cyclos! Thank god you are fine! I am so sorry for running away that day, I promise I won’t do it ever again.”

“I too am sorry for running away Cyclos, to show how sorry I am why don’t you eat this apple that my mom gave me?”

“I am sorry Cyclos….”

All the children started apologising for running away, maybe it was because of their parents scolding them or maybe the incident itself made them ashamed. Whatever the reason, they were swarming to apologise to him and giving him all sorts of bribes, from fruits to magical animal tooth necklaces. Eventually, I had to stop them.

“Guys, guys, it is okay! I am fine now! I have been fine since the next day itself, the reason that I have not been coming to play is not due to any of your behaviours. It is because I am training to be a Hunter and a healer with the help of my dad and mom, so I haven’t had enough time to come play.”

However, among all the children that apologised to me, I still didn’t see the face that had the most hand in almost becoming a vegetable. I couldn’t spot K’len which was odd because he spent the most amount of time in the playground among all the kids.

“Hey, where is K’len?”

All the kids looked at each other as one of them answered, “After hearing that you are training to challenge the village leader trials, Uncle Ilyon started training him to be the village leader as well, now he hardly comes to the grounds anymore.”

“E-eh, Cyclos, I think you should keep away from K’len” another kid suggested.

“Why?” I was a bit curious about the reason.

The kid hesitated for a second as he said, “Well since it was because of you that he has started training to be a village leader, he now hates you for making him unable to have enough playtime. He, he even said that it would have been better if you had turned a vegetable from the viper bite”

At the last statement, Cylix suddenly clenched his fist and said, “That bastard, how dare he curse Cyclos when he was the one that was helping him get the ghillie that day.” I knew Cylix was angry so I calmed him down by resting my hand on his shoulder.

“Well, he doesn’t have to stick with the training every day if he doesn’t want to do it. Uncle Ilyon is always out of the village most of the time anyway,” I said, baffled at how any of this was my fault.

“Well, unlike you, Uncle Ilyon arranged tutors for him so he can’t skip training.”

It still wasn’t anything I caused but if he hated me for something so out of control of my hand then he wasn’t a good friend anyway. At least he should have apologised but it wasn’t my problem if decided to be hostile instead. It isn’t like he scares me or anything, but now that I think about it, he would be the first enemy I made in this world. Anyway, I came here to relax so I diverted the topic, “Guys let's talk about him later. For now, let's play. It has been a long time since I last played and I want to have some fun”

The kids, seeing that I wasn’t having a problem with the K’len issue, also put it behind them as they got back into fun mode. We then played capture the flag and then finished by playing statue maker. After that it was already getting a bit dark so we said our goodbyes and dispersed to our homes. I always thought that with the memories of an adult like Angleo I wouldn’t be able to have much fun because I was so much more mature than the others, but today proved to me that I am more Cyclos than Angelo.

Even if I was influenced by the memories to be more mature, I was still more Cyclos than Angelo and today helped a lot in relaxing me from stress I didn’t even know I had. I looked towards Cylix and I could see he too was very relaxed and looked happy. And now I am feeling guilty that my parents and I are keeping from enjoying his life.

I couldn’t help but ask him to clear my conscience, “Hey Cylix, did you enjoy today?”

“Yeah, it was fun, I enjoyed it.” he replied with a happy smile

“Do you ever regret coming to our family? Do you feel that you lived better when you were in the orphanage?”

“Wh-What? Why would you think that? I am happy where I am?”

“But you were so happy today! The only other time that I saw you so happy was when we finished building the wheelbarrow. I feel that we are putting you in unnecessary stress by making you follow two careers.” I said a bit morosely.

“Are you forcing me to work?"

“No, but-”

“No buts, I am doing this for myself. I don’t ever want to be in the situation my parents were in. I want to be strong enough to protect myself and if possible, others as well.”

“You know?”

“That my parents were killed by raiders and not the beasts? Yes, I know” He said it in a despondent tone and continued, “While most adults are careful, the forge is only so big, I heard it from some of the blacksmiths that were talking.

I am proud of them for dying while helping the village, but some other part of me wants to curse at their weakness of being unable to protect themselves. If only they had been strong enough maybe they would be here today, it is something I hear myself say whenever I feel like giving up the training”

I gave him a one-handed hug as I said, “Hey it is not totally their fault, if we had spotted the raiders between the beasts earlier, they would have had enough time to retreat. Maybe we can invent something that we can see from the far future so that a similar incident doesn’t happen again.”

“Yeah, that would be great,” Cylix replied smiling. By this time, we were already at home when we noticed that there seemed to be more people than mom and dad, curious we both entered the home. Inside the house there were four people, one man and three ladies. I immediately understood who these other two women were from the countless times mom mentioned them, but this is the first time I am meeting them, well first time at least according to my memories.

“Ah son, here meet your aunts. This is Aunt Priscilla and this is Aunt Misa. This is your sister Valia she is two years old, and this is your other sister Nykka who is 8 months old”

What the heck! This old man suddenly drops such a bomb so casually without giving me any time to prepare. In the first place if we are having a family reunion, he should have at least intimated me before to prepare me.

“Hu’lo, ‘m Valia, ‘m two. Are you my big bwother?”

And that was it, a one-hit KO for me. How can someone be so cute! Ah, the way she shortens words, the unintentional lisp in brother. This is too cute! I am going to die! Ah, if she is in danger, I will sacrifice this old man without any compunction to save her. I knelt down in front of her and said, “Hello, Little Valia, I am your big brother Cyclos”

“Ciclos?” “Cyclos” “Cyclos?”

“Yes, good job! High five!” I encouraged her as I put my palm forward and while she probably didn’t know what a high five was, she instinctively slapped my hand with her little hands.

“Good job!” I praised her just then, little Nykka rolled over and started crawling towards us and raised a hand as well. She did what she wanted. I raised my palm again towards her, and she slapped her chubby baby hands. But the violent motion of the hand was too much to balance and she lost balance but I was fast enough to catch her before she hit the floor.

I have read that mana causes improvement of mental capabilities of all children and on some level knew that both Cylix and I were great examples, it wasn’t until now that I feel that it has so much truth.

“Well, looks like the kids get together very well. I was worried for nothing then.”

Dad said with a sigh of relief. It was only then I remembered that I had yet to introduce myself to my aunts.

“Oh I am sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Cyclos. Nice to meet you Aunty Priscilla and Aunty Misa.”

Both of them nodded to show that they received my greetings. Now that I noticed it, it looks like my dad is quite the lucky guy as all three wives are beauties. My mom was a brunette and she had the charm of a calm and collected doctor, while Aunt Priscilla was a black-haired beauty that had the charm of a rich girl, and finally, Aunt Misa also had black hair, but unlike the other two, she gave the vibe of perky and energetic woman who was recently tempered into a mature person due to motherhood. Dad himself was not bad at all, he looked like the people from underwear ads, with his light stubble and heavily trained body from reinforcement.

“Nice to meet you Cyclos, it seems that Valia likes you. You should come to our home and play with her sometimes.”

“Yes, yes, you should come to our home to play with Nykaa too” Both of them suggested.

“Of course, I didn’t know about them before. But now that I know, I will visit them frequently. I have always wanted a sister, and now I have two.” Like I was going to reject playing with these little balls of cuteness. Even if it turned out their invitation was rhetorical, I will still visit them shamelessly now that I know of my sisters.

“Good. So, what do you want to do when you finish growing up Cyclos” Priscilla asked?

“Of course, as the village leader, I have already started training for it.”

Immediately Mom, Dad and Aunt Misa who were drinking water immediately spit out their drinks and Aunt Priscilla was looking at me with a bit of a surprise on her face.

“What? Cyclos you never told me you wanted to try the village leader trials.” Mom said with amazement

“Yeah, me too” Dad continued he was a bit stunned.

“Yeah, well I have been thinking about it for quite some time. Mom, remember the time you explained to me what a village leader was? I have been aiming for it since then.”

“Well, that is an excellent ambition for Cyclos. So, how are you preparing for it?” Aunt Priscilla asked me as if to test me.

“Well, I have already opened my mana senses and have been moulding my body with reinforcement already. Other than that, I have been learning magic and healing from mom. I also dabbled a bit in inventing, you must have seen the new wheelbarrows around town, it was me and Cylix who made it together.”

“Wow, that is amazing, isn’t it Nykka?” Aunt Misa said as she asked Nykka whose only response was cute baby noises.

“Well, now that the introductions are over, let's get to the meat of the matter”

“I have an announcement to make. Priscilla is pregnant again.”

“Wow congratulations aunty Priscilla.”

“So today we are here to celebrate a new member of our family.”

Thus, throughout the night, stories were exchanged as we partied to welcome a new member to the family.