"I don't want to do this anymore! Why do I have to carry water home all alone again?" A little red Oni asks their mother while they carry heavy buckets of water through the dense forest. Their frustration is valid, although a bit rebellious and dumb.

"Because I said so," Such a motherly response comes then from Oni's mom, who doesn't really care about her son's feelings, to be precise. Albeit such a crude response didn't quite satisfy the kid, the mentioned child simply accepted his fate and kept moving on, following the trail one step at a time. 

'If only I could just master the magic of water wielding, I could simply manifest water at our house!' Thought the Oni as his feet struggled to keep on walking with hundreds of pounds on his back. The art of water wielding wasn't an easy feat, however.

In order for anyone in this world to be able to use any type of magic or unique ability, each person or creature must be blessed by something known as an "Earthly spirit." Earthly spirits are the keys to magical power in this world, and almost everyone receives one by the age of twelve, although in some cases, some people will take longer to get one.

The case for a longer wait was thus the case of the little red Oni, who, despite already being age fifteen, still hadn't received his keys to magical power. Yet this did not stop Little Oni from training other areas of himself to try and become the best version of himself to reach peak physical and mental strength.

Even if he struggled with his desires, he did it. Even when nobody else wanted to complete the tasks he did on a daily basis, even when he didn't feel like leaving the comfort of his bed, he left it. The art of controlling his wants and desires was little Oni's strenght.

However, it might not look like it when he complains about everything almost all the time. You could simply point out that his actions speak louder than words. Tasks half done or quitting entirely? That was not the style of the Magicless Oni. 

[Pespective swap]

The ground is a little colder than yesterday; it seems like winter arrived earlier than expected. Well, fear not; my father and I have already harvested most of our crops and have plenty of grain for the winter, so it should be easy sailing this year.

I do worry, however, that it's been unnaturally peaceful in the past few years. It's not like I wish for war or anything, but caution is not a bad thing. Anyway, it's not like I will be of much help if a war breaks out, but still, I don't just want to stick around doing nothing, so let's not hope for the worst just yet.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

{Grunt}

My mother grunts with apparent tiredness in her voice. I hear it as straightforward and loud as one can. I'm sorry for asking such a stupid question, Mother. I know you also have to carry some water back home even if it's less than half of what I bring; please forgive me, Mother, for not being strong enough to do this trip alone yet.

It's not so much the weight I struggle with but the creatures that suddenly come out of nowhere trying to attack me. I can easily do away with my mom's load, but I can't fight back without magical power. My fists are my only option, but they're locked away in this position. What a pain.

I'm already an adult, Oni. I really shouldn't need my mother's help for anything, yet here I am, still relying on my parents for survival! I'm such a disgrace, and I know it. When is my spirit going to choose me, damn it? I've been such a good boy my whole life, so why?

All the other Oni's and Kijo's have already got theirs, and some of them are not worthy at all, yet it's me who doesn't get one! It's unfair! Very unfair! But worry not; I'm sure I'm a simple case of delayed spirit! It might be a rare case of it, sure, but some elders have told me it took some of them longer than expected for their keys as well!

It's just a bit of a bummer because I feel left out and alone at times. Many of the games and sports others my age play require magical power of some kind, so when I have nothing, I simply can't compete or have any fun in many cases where the game requires merely everyone involved to have magical keys.

I could always go back and play with others without magical keys, but those are primarily children. I don't know about you, but as an adult, playing with kids feels awful! Mainly because those little shits can be quite brutally honest without a care in the world!

I get called all sorts of names by those little suckers! 'The useless one,' 'Special Tom,' 'Dumb shit,' and the list goes on. So yeah, I'd rather not have friends than try and get some at this point. I mean, who needs friends anyway, right? It's the only family that matters!

Hey! Don't look at me like that! Stop looking at me with pity! I don't need your looks on top of all the things I already deal with! I swear I have friends, okay? My friend list is not entirely zero, alright? I have two extraordinary friends back home, yeah!

Here, let me show you! Oh yes, I almost forgot. Let me just place the water over here, and I'll show you my little friends for life, by the way! Alright, the water is now secured. Now come, come stranger! I bet you're not going to be laughing once you see my extensive list of friends! You'll see!

Without further ado, I walk past my father, who is cooking something weird, and head straight to my room, where I have three little beetles inside a small metal cage hanging from the ceiling. Let me present to you the three musketeers! Athos! Porthos and Klain! Because of copyright issues!