Ok… the bird is already cut up, now it just needs a pinch of salt and pepper, and I can add it to the stew.

I still can't believe those boys were eating just meat every day for every meal, who taught them that? All that training too, whoever found them had the time to teach those weird movements but couldn't take them to an orphanage?

Honestly, adventurers have no heart lately, it used to be good practice to help abandoned kids.

Maybe they weren't helped because they're mixed race? No, it couldn't be, adventurers these days are accepting of even seafolk and half demons, wars are a thing of the past, after all. Well, except for the one in the ruined continent, but that doesn't count.

Besides… They're just so cute! Who could abandon these adorable things?

But it's not just that, Cona learns so quickly, he might be a genius, and Toba has an unnatural strength for his age, even accounting for how quickly beast hybrids develop.

I wasn't planning to go straight into teacher mode, but Cona kept pulling my robe and pointing to random words on books, how could I say no to that? He even tries his best to pronounce every word I teach him. When we met, he tried telling me his name, he said it completely wrong but later he just pointed at himself and Toba so I could understand, and he waited for me to introduce myself too. He's a clever kid for sure.

The guys at the clan always made fun of me for being named Luna, but his name is even weirder, so we match! Also, whoever taught them all this stuff at least bothered to name them.

He's way too serious for his age though, and when I carry him close to my chest he puts on an even more intense expression. At first, I thought he didn't like it, but when I put him away, he pulls himself right back. Poor thing… He must be missing his mother.

Could it be that he's older than Toba? The only thing different in him is his green hair after all, maybe he doesn't age as quickly as other half demons, or maybe he's just human.

But if that's the case, why would he be here in the forest? Maybe his parents died?

Well, regardless of that, I'll stay here for a long time anyway, so I might as well raise them. This wizard tower is a goldmine after all, and it will take years to copy all these circles and read all these books. Who would have guessed that the famous old hut in the dwarf forest was actually this all along?

It's been only two days and I already can't take my eyes off them, even if this place wasn't packed full of rare magic circles, I still would have stayed a bit.

It's just so fascinating to watch their routine, I've never seen training like this, maybe it's a military drill from far away? No, I would definitely know about it if it was. Regardless, these kids are just too interesting!

I'll admit that I was shocked at first when they started swinging that gilded short sword, but they wouldn't part with it no matter what, and their movements weren't so bad for kids, so in the end I just accepted it. Maybe I'll even instruct them later.

If they get hurt, I'll heal them, but I'll also take away the sword for a while. The materials for healing spells are expensive after all.

Anyway, they must be getting hungry.

"Cona, Toba, food is ready!"

I could hear the "tap tap" of their footsteps already, I can't get enough of these boys.

Noctra forgive me, but I'm about to pass out from the cuteness. Seeing them walking in my direction with those serious faces… I don't think I can take much more!

I served them both with my travel tableware and we ate on top of the blanket I had laid on the grass. Everyone makes fun of me for carrying around this stuff, but it always comes in handy. Adventurers need to make all sorts of places into their temporary home, and no one likes a messy, uncomfortable home.

They seemed to be enjoying my food, but Toba was having a little trouble eating it. The stew kept dripping off the side of his mouth that was missing, and the vapor was getting into his exposed eye.

I placed down my bowl and put him in my lap, two days ago he would never let me do this, but he was starting to trust me.

I took away his spoon and gave him a fork so he could skewer the meat and vegetables, which he learned to do after I fed him for a while, then I reclined his head a little bit, and tilted the bowl with the edge on his mouth so he could drink it without spewing.

It took a little trial and error, but when he went for seconds (and thirds, and fourths) he was already feeding himself.

What a shame, I wish I could feed him forever, but it seems I'm just too good of a teacher, hehehe.

Cona was looking at us the whole time, like he was analyzing something. I wonder what he's thinking, this boy is such an enigma.

Just as I thought that he started spewing the stew on purpose! I couldn't help but laugh out loud, but I wiped him up and fed him too, despite his obvious jealousy.

They're just children after all, and they must have been through a lot, a little spoiling wouldn't do much harm. I also had a soft spot for Cona, since he started calling me big sister after he learned the word, I even had to hide my tears.

I wonder how long I'll stay with them… It's not like I have a mission to do right now, and there's plenty of research to be done here, not to mention the countless magic circles I need to copy. I'll try my best to raise them up and teach all the basics, if I need to leave early, I'll drop them off at Alport, but I prefer not to do so.

Adventurer towns aren't good for children; there's also a good chance that their parents live there and abandoned them in this forest to die.

Honestly, this practice should end already. If your wife cheats on you with a different race, the baby has nothing to do with it!

Maybe if I ask to be relocated to this area I can stay with them, if I do it under the pretense of gathering all the resources in this tower, I'm sure the boss will understand.

But enough worrying about the future, for now I'll just enjoy this moment, it's like I have two little brothers, and I love every second of it.

Maybe I should try teaching them animal names today, I found an illustrated encyclopedia in the tower that'll be perfect! It could be a good idea to teach the numbers first though… Cona seems to be smart after all, what if he turns out to love calculating as much as me? That would be a dream.

***

I woke up quietly, and immediately looked to my right. Toba was still sleeping peacefully.

Nice, I woke up early, this is my chance

I carefully lifted my head from my pillow, it was a good pillow, even if I had to share it with Toba. It did not come for free, however, and today, I wasn't willing to pay the price.

I got up slowly and walked to the shelf without making a sound. I needed my sword, otherwise I wouldn't have much to do all day. I managed to grab it without a single clatter and began walking towards the exit.

Finally, this time I'm sure I made no mistakes, I'll train with the sword all day and return at night. I won't even count my sword swings, no numbers for today.

Just thinking about it was enough to send a wave of relief over my body, and so I finally set out.

Jesus Christ, I can't believe I'm free from that witch. I hope this little trip gives me enough rest; she'll grind me to dust when I return.

I managed to take a single step onto the grass outside, before a hand grabbed my hair and lifted me up.

"Gaaaah! Stop Luna, stop"

"Bad Cona, no running away from math class"

"Hair hurt, stop" I said as I put on a helpless face and looked at her, forcing tears into my eyes. In reality, being lifted by the hair didn't hurt one bit, but I needed to play all the cards I had, or it would be double the equations for today.

It seemed to have worked, because she started carrying me the usual way, my head rested against her chest. Little did I know, it would be triple the equations today.

We were living together for a week, and this was my fourth attempt at escaping. I wasn't ungrateful for finally being able to learn from another human, it's just that… Luna was a huge math nerd.

When she started teaching us the numbers, she decided to show us simple addition as well, for some reason. Then, I got bored and made the mistake of showing her that I already knew it.

It was arguably the worst decision of my life, now she thinks I'm a genius, and forces me to study math every day. I also couldn't show her I knew too much, and had to pretend to be just learning fast, otherwise she could realize I'm not a kid, and God knows what she would do.

I was faking not understanding equations, in hopes that she would give up after a while, but she was persistent. It did help that I screwed up once in a division problem, but let's pretend it was on purpose.

What's even worse is that she quickly gave up on Toba, who had the appropriate reaction for his age. If I had a little more patience, I wouldn't be going through this.

It wasn't just a lack of patience though, was it? I was trying to impress her… Ok, maybe I deserve this.

Although I had to suffer through that, I really was learning a lot from her, in just a week I learned more words than I thought would be possible in a month, and it was nice having her around. Really nice, actually. I couldn't have enough of her smell, her warmth, and most importantly, her breasts.

To think that I used to hang out in a moist cave with wolves… I have certainly moved up in life. I just needed to escape the math lessons, and things would be perfect.

There was one other thing nagging me: Toba wasn't learning much. I don't know if he was too shy or just slow, but he was still having trouble speaking. Maybe that's normal, since he doesn't have memories from a past life like I do, and he has spent a long time being raised by just wolves. Either way I shouldn't worry too much, oneesan was taking good care of him, and he was strong.

Anyway, I didn't give up on escaping math class. My initial plan didn't work, but a week had passed, and that meant it was time to show her that I knew how to use magic… Well, I actually didn't, but maybe puking is already enough to impress her?

If I could shift Luna's focus from math to magic, I would be able to learn something more useful.

I was carried away inside the tower again. Thankfully, she usually taught us by the evening, and the mornings were free, aside from the workout. Today was a rest day, however, so I could take the time to persuade her.

I pulled on her robe and led her upstairs, she seemed to be curious about my intentions, and was giggling to herself. I joked before, but she never got mad, she always looked happy to take care of us. It made me happy, especially for Toba.

We got to the second floor, and I stood in front of a bookshelf.

"Up" I said as I pointed at the book I wanted, but instead of picking it up for me, she lifted me so I could take it myself. It was hard not to blush.

Honestly, if she keeps at it like this, I might agree to study math every day. Women are scary.

I got down and carried the book near the window as always, this was my usual way of practicing it, since the puke would end up on the grass outside and I wouldn't have to clean it. This time, however, I would do something a little different.

I opened it on the page with the usual red magic circle, showed it to her, then flipped to the pages depicting the correct movements, and showed her again.

"Can… big sister… this?" I tried to scrape a sentence together to ask if she could cast this spell, I still couldn't talk properly, but what's important is being understood.

She paused for a while, thinking about something, but then took the book and traded places with me. She said something but I could only understand the words "show", "you", and "careful". Either way, this was finally my chance to see what I was doing wrong, and to witness a spell for the first time!

She carried the book on her left arm, quickly touched the circle with her right hand and- Wait, isn't she supposed to touch it with the left and keep touching it during the spell? She raised the hand she had touched the circle with to shoulder level, briefly closed her hand into a fist, and almost in the same motion she extended her arm and pointed her finger outside the window.

"[Ignis]"

A fist sized firebolt exploded out of luna's fingertip like a bullet and flied fast, crashing into the barrier and making a loud noise. The flames expanded beautifully against the invisible forcefield; it was like watching a slow-motion video on the internet.

I stood there in awe, now it was my time to be frozen in place. My ears were ringing from the small explosion, and my face betrayed me, opening into a wide smile.

I wanted to try it right away, I finally understood what I was missing, it was that word! Since I couldn't read, I could only imitate the movements, but the spell seems to be activated by speaking. It all made sense now.

I was frantic to try it out, I feel like it wasn't her initial intention to let me, since she looked conflicted, but I was so excited that she just couldn't say no.

I got up on the window and prepared myself. I wouldn't try to imitate her smooth movements, that was probably a product of years of experience, so I should stick to the basics I learned from the book.

I placed my left hand on the circle, raised my right hand while closing it into a fist, then extended my arm, pointed out my finger, and…

"[Ignis!]"

I didn't puke! Again, a firebolt exploded out from the fingertip, but this time it was much slower. Instead of flying straight forward, it started spinning around in the air like a dying mosquito, slowly moving ahead before crashing into the ground, the size and power of the explosion didn't seem any different from Luna's spell though.

"I FUCKING DID IT!"

I couldn't contain myself and screamed at the top of my lungs, then hopped straight into my new teacher's arms. Naturally, I screamed in Portuguese.

She had an awkward face, however, like she couldn't decide between happy and worried, and seemed in a rush to do something.

Crap, did I do something wrong?

As I thought that, she placed me down, took a thick book from her robes, and hurriedly opened it on a page with a grey magic circle on it. All while looking out the window with a worried face.

The book seemed to be nothing but magic circles on every page, and it had tons of thumb indexes, it also had a thick, bronze looking metal lining the cover. She could probably kill someone with it, it reminded me of female clerics in RPGs who would wallop goblins in the face with their tomes.

I managed to stand on top of some books so I could see what was going on outside, and I quickly understood her worries. Unlike her spell, which crashed high up on the barrier, mine hit the grass outside and was quickly burning everything up in its surroundings. Just as I let out an awkward scream of shock, however, she immediately started casting a spell.

This time her movements were too fast for me to follow. She touched the circle and did some sort of spinning and closing motion with her hand that made it very clear she was slowing herself down before.

"[Vacuum]"

After a second of silence there was a snapping sound, and all the flames were gone in an instant, leaving only smoke in their place. It was like she had extinguished a candle, only it was a sea of flames that would probably end up burning everything inside the barrier.

Now that I think about it, it was probably a good thing I didn't manage to cast this spell before…

I looked at Luna with newfound respect, I could see the experience and competence in her movements. Before I could attempt to say anything, however, I started to feel dizzy. I usually prepared myself for this feeling and managed to stay standing during it, but this time I was caught off guard by the situation, and I fainted as I ran out of MP, or whatever it was.

The last thing I saw before I went out was the proud, beautiful face of my teacher looking down at me as she held me so I wouldn't fall. The fainting lasted only a moment, but I decided to sleep right there in her embrace.

I know it's weird that secretly I'm a 24-year-old bodybuilder, but at least she's not underage, ok? Leave me alone.

***

"Eight… Nine… Ten… Come on Toba you can do one more! You did eleven last week, I told you to eat more today you fucking pussy!"

Toba managed to execute half a rep more, before falling on the ground, dropping me and the three huge sacks of grains he was balancing on his shoulder. I landed on my feet of course.

"Cona be nicer to Toba please, he's not feeling well today."

"I know but that's why he should have eaten even more! If he sent all his calories down the pit, he needs to replace them!"

"Cona…"

"Ok, ok… Here." I extended my hand to Toba and helped him stand up after all the squats he did

"What did you eat to get like this anyway? We even ate raw meat before but never got sick."

"Bad red fruit, squishy inside."

"A rotten fruit… Why am I not surprised?"

2 years had passed since Luna moved in, and life was pretty good. I already knew how to read and write since I really pushed myself to learn it as fast as possible, and although it did mean I neglected almost everything else, it was fine. I was still a kid after all.

I could also cast minor firebolt a little better (although still only once a week), even if I was focused on reading and writing, magic and swords are way too interesting to push to the side.

That's not to say I didn't learn ANYTHING else though, I did have some basic knowledge about this place I reincarnated into.

Basically, everything now was about adventurers, one way or another. I say "now" because apparently there were different eras preceding this one, and before adventurers started popping up, the whole world was involved in constant war.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

As I quickly learned when I first got here, there were also lots of different races, enough that I couldn't memorize them all, but the main ones in terms of influence were humans, seafolk, and demons. Beastfolk were also very numerous, but they weren't organized in any specific territory.

With all these different races, of course, came countless combinations of mixed races, something I understood very well, having been a Brazilian in my past life.

Also, as luck would have it, apparently both me and Toba were of mixed origins, and that was what caused our abnormal growth. Luna explained it like a combination of the aspects of both races, that resulted in a unique development that only hybrid children went through.

From what I understood, humans were the only ones with a constant, and short development cycle. The other races nearly all had an accelerated development in the beginning, until hitting a certain wall where things would halt for a long time.

Where exactly their development would slow down was individual to each race, but what mattered was that since both me and Toba were half human, we still had the initial growth burst (which was much appreciated), but our development wall would be less drastic than our pure counterparts, and our lifespan not as long too.

Well, I say "we" but according to Luna, I was probably 3/4 human and 1/4 demon, which was a rare occurrence since usually the child should just be born a regular human. My quick development, and apparently my green hair, too, said otherwise.

She did warn me that she wasn't certain, however, since her only evidence so far was my lack of demonic traits, apart from my hair of course.

And all this time I thought people were just born with vibrant colors of hair… Why is pink a normal human color but green isn't? I'm sure I can find a way to victimize myself with this… There isn't a twitter here though, so I guess I'll just accept it.

Luna also tried teaching us geography, but it all went over my head, I don't have that much space in my head, it was already a miracle I was learning so fast.

Despite my initial doubts, Luna was a competent adventurer, and so she had a lot of practical knowledge that I begged for her to teach us about. She was proficient even in things I didn't expect, like swordplay and grappling, apparently every adventurer needed to know the basics, even full-on mages like herself.

I could guess why. From what I observed so far, every spell required a magic circle, and judging from the frequency with which Luna practiced, spells seemed to be very limited in the number of times you could cast them. I can imagine a wizard running out of fireballs while backed into a corner and with all their party members dead, a mage who couldn't handle a sword was just a ticking timebomb until their death.

That was fine for me though, and for Toba even better. Despite Luna's best efforts, Toba could just about speak a few words stringed together, and he avoided magic circles like the plague. But there was one thing he excelled at, and that was strength.

We were both getting impressively strong for our size, but Toba was already far ahead of me, at least in terms of raw power. I had a bigger biceps, but he could take down a tree in 4 sword swings, I needed at least 8. He could also climb things with an agility I just didn't understand, and out of the 10 sword matches we did every day in sparring, I could maybe beat him in 3, if I was lucky. Simply put, the kid was a beast, pun intended.

"You boys are done for now, right? I need help bringing water from the waterfall."

Luna said to us with a hopeful but complicated expression on her face, she was looking at Toba, but her question was mainly directed at me, and the reason for that is that Toba was a little shut in who wouldn't get out of the barrier no matter what. Even she was starting to give up on trying to get him to come with us.

"Yeah, I'll get the bucket. Toba, you coming?"

"…"

"Whatever, but you don't have to be such a coward, you know? We haven't even seen that tiger again after all this time."

"… Not afraid."

"Yes you are."

"…" Toba had shame written all over his face as he stared at the ground in silence.

I left Toba there and went to fetch the bucket, I did enjoy teasing him, but it also had a purpose, I didn't want him to stay locked up in there in fear.

I'll admit that even I didn't like to go alone at first, especially in the waterfall where we almost got turned into tiger food, but that beast never even showed it's face again in 2 years, it probably stays in another area now. And besides, even if he does show up, I'm sure he's no match for Luna.

Yeah, I still don't go out alone either… But hey why take the risk when she's here with us, right?

Either way, it was probably a matter of time before he worked up the courage to accompany us, I know he doesn't like to be left out.

"I'm ready big sister Luna!" I said while doing my best possible adorable kid act.

"… SO CUTE!!"

As she lifted me up and squeezed my head against her chest, I got the feeling that someday I would have to pay for my actions.

If I have a guardian angel, I'm sure he's angrily shouting "He can't keep getting away with it!" right now, but mister angel I assure you that while I still can, I'll enjoy every moment of it.

While Luna was busy caressing my cheeks without using her hands, I thought about something. Wasn't it time I started hunting again? Food falling from the sky was great, and I didn't slack off on my workouts or my sword training with Luna, but if I didn't expose myself to danger a little, I would grow soft.

Besides, while I had only lived for 3 and a half years in this place (which I still don't know how to call, since apparently people just call it "world" and have no name for it), my body was already that of a six- or even seven-year-old, and according to Luna my bastard growth privileges still had a while to go before completely stopping.

My physique isn't bad either, I look like those weird calisthenics kids you would sometimes see on the internet. Toba is strong too, but he looks more like a creature than anything else.

Having made up my mind, I looked up at Luna and said:

'I wish I had your milk instead of the wolf's'

Just kidding, but I bet her reaction would be amusing to watch

"Big sister Luna, after we finish collecting water, can we fight some beasts?"

She paused for a bit, considering something while making a very cute face, she looked like she was trying to solve a puzzle on a cellphone game.

"Ok, but you have to obey everything big sister says, and if you misbehave, I won't take you again!"

"… Alright!" I said with a smile after a brief pause.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting her to agree so easily, I was prepared for it to require at least a few days of nagging on my part.

But now that I think about it, she is surprisingly lenient when it comes to these matters, she didn't fuss about the sword, and she even showed me magic and let me cast it, despite the obvious dangers.

Looking at her one would think she'd be the overprotective type, but her actions couldn't be further from that. Maybe it's a cultural thing and that's normal in this world… Anyway, there's no reason to fuss about it, after all this benefits me greatly.

I'm not sure yet what I'll do with my time here, but I feel like I would fit right in with the rest of the adventurers, the idea of slashing and hacking and blowing up monsters with magic excites me.

After all, I couldn't do anything similar back on earth, hunting was an expensive hobby, and I was broke.

Just before we walked past the barrier, I noticed Toba looking at us with a complicated expression.

Huh, maybe there's even a side benefit to this little hunting trip. I bet he'll want to come with us next time if I bring a huge boar back home.

As we walked towards the waterfall, I took the time to admire the scenery before me, Dwarf Forest, as they call it, is truly beautiful. The plants are diverse and colorful, the smell is refreshing, and the temperature is just right for hiking. At night I didn't appreciate it so much, but this forest is a really nice place to live.

"Luna, Luna." I said as I tugged on her robe, and in response she looked at me with a smile, waiting for my barrage of questions.

"Why do predators live in separate parts of the forest?"

"Hmm… I'm not quite sure, but I think they have separate territories to avoid killing each other, predator meat isn't as good, so they rather keep to themselves and hunt the other animals… I'll have to read about it later though!"

"And where are all the dwarfs?"

"Hm? Oh! You mean because of the name? I'm surprised you know about dwarfs already, but the forest was named like this for its characteristic trees."

She walked up to a stubby tree nearby and gestured for me to follow. Weirdly enough, the squirrels and birds living in the tree didn't move an inch when she approached, but when I got there, they all scattered.

"See, for you it may still look big, and big sister isn't so tall either, but comparing to other trees, the trees here are all short and thick."

"Just like a dwarf?"

"Exactly! You learn fast hehe."

"Thanks!" I said as I already thought about my next question.

I do this kind of questioning as frequently as possible whenever I am with Luna. For some reason she hasn't taken us out with her when she went to get supplies in the nearest town, so I try to learn as much as I can from her, since I'm not able to leave the forest and see the world with my own eyes yet.

Today, however, my questions are all about this place. I get the feeling I'll spend quite some time here, so I need to get familiar with it. That's also part of the reason why I asked her to fight a beast with me.

"Luna, what about those big red insects that sing at night?"

"You mean the blood crickets? They're dangerous, you shouldn't go near them, ok?"

"Why? Are they poisonous?" I didn't open with this question right away because it would be suspicious, but it was what I was aiming at from the start.

"Yes. Their blood can paralyze an adult for a couple of minutes, but since you're small it should take you out for an hour. Also, it causes light hemorrhage, usually on your eyes, but if you concentrate it and mix it with purple death petals, the bleeding gets strong enough to kill an elephant before the effect goes away." She said quickly like she was the biggest poison enthusiast in the world.

"Ok…"

That was… oddly specific. But good to know, I guess.

I couldn't help but keep staring at her for a couple of seconds, I wasn't expecting that level of detail.

"Uhm, hehe… I learned a bit about poisons so I could be better at making potions. I need to be careful about this stuff, you know? You wouldn't want to drink a poisonous healing potion now, would you? If you know about the most common poisonous effects, you can prevent mixing something you shouldn't."

"Yeah, that makes sense!"

She sounded a bit suspicious at first, but I guess I was worried over nothing.

So, she knows alchemy, huh? With all that glasswork upstairs, I could ask her to teach me a bit. Only a bit though, I hate chemistry.

Just tell me what to mix together and in what order so I don't accidentally kill myself.

Poison surely is useful in the right situation, especially since I'm still small. I wouldn't want to eat poisoned meat though, so I won't use it for hunting.

We continued leisurely walking towards the waterfall, when suddenly Luna stopped talking in the middle of answering my question about spells

"Big sister?" I asked while looking at her trying to guess if something was wrong.

My answer came immediately. She had a serious look, and I could see coldness in her eyes, she wasn't making any exaggerated facial expressions, but somehow just looking at her chilled me to my bone. It was like she turned into a completely different person.

She stopped walking and seemed to have noticed the shocked look on my face, because she turned to me with her usual smile and said:

"Don't worry Cona, there are some bad guys following us, but Luna will take care of them, ok? You just need to close your eyes and only open them when I tell you to."

As soon as she finished saying that she turned again to stare directly in front of her with that same cold look. Her smile vanished faster than it had appeared.

I pretended to close my eyes at first, but obviously I kept them slightly open. I wouldn't miss this opportunity for anything. Not only I would witness my first real fight, I could also participate in it if I waited for the right moment. To say my body was filled with adrenaline was an understatement.

Holy shit! It's finally happening! All those years daydreaming that I was reacting to a mugging were not for nothing after all!

Ok… I can do this. I watched enough gore on the internet to make a serial killer blush, and I've been in enough fights to not tense up now. I just have to pretend I'm an innocent child and strike at the right moment.

I don't have Toba's strength, but I have courage. I'm sick in the head! I'm a sick bastard! I can do this!

"How long are you going to keep following us for? Aren't you ashamed of skulking around a lady and a child?"

Just as she finished saying that I started hearing movement in the nearby bushes, and then I noticed we had walked into a little clearing. It wasn't big, but it was the only clearing near the waterfall that I can remember.

If they had been revealed earlier when we were surrounded by trees, we would be frighteningly close to them, and they could attack without time for us to react… Has she led them here on purpose?

Just as I was beginning to see Luna in a new light, four bandits walked out from behind trees. How did I know they were bandits? Because they were the most stereotypical bandits imaginable.

Some wore hoods, others wore bandanas, one had a shaved head, and all had lots of scars and bruises. I mean, come on, they had leather armor and short swords, for God's sake! It was impossible to be blander than that.

It was like they were randomly generated, if I squinted really hard, I'm sure I would be able to see their level and health bar.

Guys, a little variety would be nice, this is my first combat, you know? It should be a little special.

Just as I thought that, two more bandits appeared, readying their bows.

Fuck… What kind of comedic timing is that?

At this point I was starting to get a little nervous, the made-up scenarios in my head were all 1x1, I couldn't fight more than one adult at once, even if they looked like a generic level 1 bandit.

Luna seemed to maintain the same cold expression, not even a hint of doubt or fear in her eyes.

It was scary, but at the same time it soothed me. If she knew their exact number before, it meant that she was really skilled, and if she didn't but also didn't flinch even a little when they came out, then she surely had the strength to back up that calm and composed attitude.

"Woman we all know you're not just a helpless lady, you can drop the act now. What happened to the three men we sent to investigate the tower, huh?"

"You mean the three bandits you sent to rob us? Who knows, maybe a tiger ate them." She said playfully in a surprisingly threatening way, it was like the bandits were no more than ants in front of her.

"Fine… Play your game all you like, I don't know how you got in that tower, but you will tell us all about it soon enough… hehehe."

The man with the disgusting laughter was one of the four bandits with swords that appeared, he seemed to be the leader, but he wasn't dressed any different.

What really caught my attention, however, was what he said about the three other men he had sent, how long have we been observed for? I thought this forest was in a secluded place since Luna was the only other human I saw, but apparently, we're not as alone as I thought.

I unconsciously got closer to Luna and tightened the grip on my sword, she seemed to be waiting for something and was observing them carefully, her eyes seemed glued on the two archers standing further back.

The "Leader" noticed that too, and when her eyes wandered again to the archers, he and two other bandits started moving from our left and rushed at her with surprising speed.

They were fast, I could still follow their movements with my eyes, but my reaction time didn't even come close to being able to react to it. Luna, on the other hand, reacted so immediately to their movements that if it wasn't for the clear attempt at a surprise attack on their part, I wouldn't be able to figure out who moved first.

I didn't know when a dagger had appeared in her left hand, but just as the first bandit got into range, she parried his sword perfectly, and struck his right eye at an angle in a perfectly fluid movement. I didn't have time to be impressed, however, because as soon as she did that, my brain got overwhelmed with information.

Not only the other two bandits had closed the distance, but I also heard bows being fired from the direction of the archers. Not only that, but the fourth melee bandit started rushing at me from behind!

It was too much happening at the same time, so I decided to try my luck avoiding the arrows and focus on not dying with a sword stab on my back.

Turns out real combat was a bit more complicated than that.

I just about managed to turn around and already saw a sword coming in my direction, all I had time to do was tighten the grip on the hilt as much as possible and strengthen my base.

Luckily, I was already holding my sword in front of me, and I don't know if the bandit attacking me was underestimating me or if it was just incompetence, but he didn't change the trajectory of his attack.

His medieval style short sword clashed against my gladius, and somehow It didn't go flying out of my hand.

My entire body ached, my arms hurt like they were going to break, and I was almost thrown to the ground, I just barely managed to keep standing while holding my sword. Much to the surprise of the bandit it seemed.

"What the fuck?"

That confirmed it, he wasn't expecting resistance at all.

I fought against every instinct in my body that was trying to make me stand there like an idiot, I had thought badly of Luna before because she often stood in shock when something surprised her, but now that my life really was at risk, I was the one who was about to get killed by inaction.

I had to move, I spent all my life saying men were made to fight wars with swords and hunt game with spears instead of sitting for 8 hours in a chair listening to teachers rambling, I couldn't waste time now that I got what I wanted.

I knew I was a hypocrite, but I needed to pretend at least a little bit!

I screamed at the top of my lungs to shake away the fear, and taking advantage of the bandit's surprise, I stabbed in front of me with one hand while taking a large step forward.

I didn't aim, I didn't have time to even think about aiming. But… I was a kid still, and so, much to the dismay of my opponent, my sword pierced halfway through his crotch.

That's a weird angle to defend, I guess.

"AAAAAAAAARGH… YOU LITTLE SHIT, I'LL KILL YOU."

My eyes widened as I stared at the blade coming straight down my head, I didn't have time to react at all. All I could do was scream.

Well, I guess this is it. Considering Luna doesn't cure him or something, at least I can die knowing that I won't leave this world with a negative KD.

My scream was interrupted with a sharp sound of metal clashing. And a moment after, the bandit's neck painted my face red, squirting blood like a garden sprinkler as he fell on his knees.

"Luna?" I turned around in confusion. Just a few seconds had passed, had she already finished her fight?

I was so afraid and immersed in my first battle to the death, that I didn't notice the sounds of the battle behind me. The two other melee bandits were laying on the ground with stab wounds in their necks, right next to the leader that had his brain pierced through the eye earlier.

As I turned again to check the archers, I stepped on two broken arrows, their tips were dented like they had hit solid rock, but what scared me the most was that they were clearly pointing at me. I don't know what Luna did, but it saved me.

Just as my senses were fully returning from the shock, a terrible smell invaded my nostrils, and then I remembered I was going to check the archers before my attention was caught by the arrows at my feet.

It was a gruesome scene to say the least. The archers were blown in half and completely carbonized, the grass near them was also completely black, with the fire slowly advancing around the black ring of the explosion. The only color inside that black ring where 4 halves of human shaped coals stood was the red and pink of their guts slowly crawling from inside their bodies, breaking flakes of burnt flesh and organs in the process.

Did I mention I had seen plenty of gore before? Well, let me tell you something, the internet doesn't smell.

"Blech…" I ungracefully vomited a little from the putrid smell.

The battle was over, and only now I was beginning to realize that I almost died. With the adrenaline leaving my body I was beginning to feel nervous again, but that's to be expected. Life or death situations were not something I was used to yet, but I would be fine in a couple of minutes.

Huh? Why… Why am I crying? Why can't I stop? Shit, I can't let Luna see me like this!

In my head I was trying my best to stay calm, and in some sense, I was.

I was still in shock of course, but as I said before, that was to be expected. For some reason, however, I couldn't stop myself from crying a bit, and my body was lightly shivering.

Luna was quick to notice me, she had a sad expression on her face that was full of regret.

As she got close, she knelt down, cleaned the edges of my mouth with her robe and gave me a tight hug. We were both covered in blood, and the smell of burnt flesh was still strong as ever, but somehow that hug was enough to make me forget about all of it.

Damnit! Why am I like this? Am I that much of a pussy? I already died once, I shouldn't be so afraid.

"You should have stayed with your eyes closed Cona, when big sister is with you, you'll always be safe, you can trust me." She said while her regretful face slowly gave way to a comforting smile. She was obviously blaming herself but wouldn't let that trouble her now that her attention was needed. Surprisingly mature.

"But I- I would die if I didn't guard that blow."

"I kept my eye on you, I didn't interfere because you acted quickly and I saw the resolution in your eyes, but I had a spell to protect you."

Those words stung a little, my life was never really in danger since she apparently had total control of the situation, but even with her assisting me, in the end I couldn't finish the job.

"So, you believed in me, but I still couldn't kill him by myself in the end. If I had reacted after my initial blow, I could have killed him. I had plenty of time to do it since the pain took him by surprise, but my body didn't react fast enough."

She had a slight surprise on her face as I said that, I usually tried to speak in a way fitting for a kid but I ended up being careless due to all the strong emotions I was feeling.

"Cona, your body could fool someone with all that muscle, but you're still 3 years old remember? No matter how strong you are already, and how fast your hybrid heritage makes you develop, you simply don't have the experience yet, no children should have."

The experience part is true, but I'm not 3 years old…

"Besides, you did great today, you made the right judgement trusting your back to me, and because of that you almost managed to win against a much more skilled adult. In fact, to be honest I'm a little shocked at how you managed to stand your ground."

"… That's only because of my training, but I could have killed him if I reacted faster."

"…" She paused for a minute with a complicated look on her face, it was like she was pitying me, but there was also something else mixed in there.

"What?"

"That word… No child should say that word so casually."

"…" Now it was my turn to be speechless, even if the crying helped me maintain appearances a little (which was on purpose by the way, I definitely wasn't scared after almost dying), I was still insensitive in my words, I had to remember I was still a child.

She was surely suspecting something by now, if I didn't come up with a good story, I would be up against the wall soon.

"Just who was it that took care of you and Toba before I found you two? You already knew how to do all those weird training movements, but you didn't even know how to speak."

I needed to bring back my acting skills asap or I would eventually be found out. The way things were, I couldn't lose Luna just yet, there was still much to learn about everything, and as the present situation just proved, I couldn't properly defend myself.

"Big sister… I don't remember so well…" I wasn't quick enough to think about something that was not obviously a lie, so I decided to act like it was a mystery even to me.

I had also previously instructed Toba to not talk anything about our past, and my plan was to think about a fake background eventually, but well… I procrastinated.

"I see… You two definitely don't have a normal past, but I'll do my best so you guys have a normal childhood from now on."

She stared at me with a resolute face, and after thinking about it for a second, she continued.

"Ok, I've decided, no more fights and training for you two. You have been neglecting your studies even though you're a prodigy and Toba has a great difficulty with learning, you're both too young for swords and spells, the priority should be the basic education."

SHIT, SHIT, SHIT. This is bad, I've only just learned that Luna is a huge badass and now she won't teach me combat anymore? I need to turn this around quick.

"…"

"Cona? What's wrong baby?" I stared at the floor and she immediately reacted to my abrupt silence, I was not letting her see my eyes.

Think about something sad… I need to think about something really sad…

Me dying on stage and loosing the competition? No that's not enough… Grandma's death? No, not doing it either, but it's getting there…

"… Sniff"

"W- What's wrong? I'm only thinking about what's best for you! Didn't you get scared just now?"

Good, she's already wavering, but I need more.

My girlfriend breaking up with me? Ooh, that stings, but not enough. My friends leaving me? Nah, there's no way something like that would- Wait, what the fuck.

"Uuuuuuuh…" Much to my surprise, tears began to race quickly down my face, and soon I was fully crying.

Now I just need to add in a bit of desperation and ride that feeling.

"No, d- don't cry! I was just-"

"WAAAAAAAAAAAH… BIG SISTER WON'T TEACH ME ANYMORE FUN STUFF AND I'LL LEARN ONLY MATH…"

"N- No! I'll teach you lots of stuff! We'll just put dangerous training on hold and- "

"I'LL NEVER LEARN HOW TO PROTECT TOBA... THE TIGER WILL KILL US BOTH… WAAAAAAAAAA"

"No, It's... Sniff... It's not true…" Her eyes began shine while they were slowly filled with tears, and even her voice was already nasally, signaling that her tiny nose was getting clogged.

Wait, she's crying too?

"I'll teach you… Sniff… So don't cry… Uuuuuuuuh"

…

We kept crying for a while. I took the opportunity to discharge a little bit, but soon got over it. Luna, however, kept at it for several minutes… In the end I was the one who had to console her.

"Don't worry big sister, I promise I'll stop running away from geography class, and history class, and botany class… I- I'll stop running away from classes, I just don't want to learn math anymore…"

"Sniff… You promise?" She raised her head and asked, still with tears in her eyes.

"I promise" I said while patting her head.

This woman… One moment she's cutting throats and exploding people, and next she's breaking down completely...

Luna oneechan you're scary but you're too easy, if you give in that easily I'm going to start sneaking in while you bathe.

And so, we got up. Pink haired women and green haired child, covered in blood and smiling with humid eyes in the middle of cut open bandits and exploded corpses.

Certainly, a memory to be kept.

Cona Stats

Strength and resistance:

10 weighted pull ups (Toba)

12 weighted squats (Toba + 2 sacks of grains)

11 weighted push-ups (Toba + 1 sack of grains)

30 minutes of sword training

Spells:

Minor firebolt

KDR 0/1/1

Toba Stats

Strength and resistance:

9 weighted pull ups (Cona + 1 sacks of grains)

11 weighted squats (Cona + 3 sacks of grains)

12 weighted push-ups (Cona + 2 sacks of grains)

30 minutes of sword training

Spells:

Managed to puke once