The boy kneeled beside the two children and cried his lungs out. He had never felt such pain ever before.

The other kids fainted long ago or else, the scene would be much sadder.

The woman could only sighed, she patted the boy on his shoulder. “I’m sorry…”

The heart-rending cry echoed for quite some time that dawn.

…

“Child, let’s make a proper burial for them,” said the woman softly.

The boy took deep breaths to calm himself. He clenched his fist, gritted his teeth and nodded slowly.

The woman sighed and said in a caring voice, “I’ll treat your wounds first.”

After some time, the woman said, “Alright, it’s done.”

“Thank you.” The boy answered after some time. He was definitely spacing out the entire time. His eyes were dim, he clearly had lost something that was really important to him.

“Child, I know you are sad right now, but you need to bury them.”

The boy was quiet for some time, but then he stood up as he clenched his fist. “Yes…”

…

The rising sun dispelled the coldness of the night, casting gentle sunlight upon the world. It was yet another new day filled with hopes and dreams.

But hopes and dreams were a luxury to the underprivileged. Those who had been through the batter of life knew that hope didn’t exist for people like them.

That included the boy. He was sitting in front of the graves with stones stacked on top of them.

Since the house had quite a spacious yard, they decided to bury the kids there. The boy chose the farthest corner of the yard that was out of people’s line of sight so Ted and his underlings wouldn’t know about the grave because they might destroy it if they knew.

The boy was still sobbing even after they buried the kids. The woman could only pat his shoulder since no words in this situation could make him feel any better..

“I will avenge you guys. I will make them pay no matter what!” vowed the boy in his heart as tears slid down his face.

He wiped the tears off of his face and faced the beautiful woman, he said in a low voice. “Thank you, I can’t pay you back right now, but I won’t forget your kindness.”

The woman smiled charmingly. “It’s alright, child. You don’t need to pay me back. I’m just doing what an adult ought to do.” She paused for a moment and then patted the boy on his head. “Stay strong, alright?”

After a moment of silence, the boy nodded his head. “Alright.”

“Can you tell me what happened?”

After a moment of silence, the boy finally spoke up. “We were supposed to meet the daily quota, but we couldn’t do it, so they beat us up.”

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The woman sighed, she turned toward the boy. “Do you want to come with me? Of course the other kids can come along too. I plan to go to the City in the North, City of Valedera.”

The boy was delighted at first, he wanted to say yes but then he stopped. He lowered his head and shook it. “I, no, we can’t do that. You are already kind enough to treat our injury. The cost for taking care of us if we are going to follow you will be a lot. We can’t even pay you for your treatment today.”

“It’s alright, child. I can afford it. You and the kids can just help me with some household chores and become my assistants when I’m working.”

“That will be good… but I can’t… before I… make them pay.”

“Child, I know you are angry, but sometimes, you have to see the bigger picture.”

The boy shook his head firmly. “I can’t do that. If I do that and let them go, I won’t be able to face my siblings in the afterlife.”

“Are you planning to take revenge?”

“Yes.” The boy looked toward the woman. The woman could see the determination in his eyes, so she could only sigh.

“Though, I’m thinking of letting Summer and George follow you, my lady.”

“Will they comply?”

“… I will try to convince them.”

“Okay, then. You can try to persuade them. I’ll be here for a day at most since I have to prepare for the journey. When you have the answer, you can find me with the other children at Adventurers Guild or the Castre Clinic at the Marketplace Area before tomorrow, since I will be heading off early tomorrow morning.”

“Okay. Thank you for your kindness.” The boy bowed, expressing his gratitude. He was really thankful to her.

“I have to go now, child.”

“Okay… What is your name, lady?”

“Jade. My name is Jade.”

“Thank you so much Lady Jade. I will never forget you.” The boy bowed again.

“Yes, child. What is your name? I don’t think I’ve heard your name yet.” The woman asked as she smiled.

“Uhm… I don’t remember my name. The other kids just call me brother since I’m the oldest and the Hoodlums just calls me you or sh*t or other insults they know.”

“Hmm, that’s not very nice of them… okay, then. I’ll just call you child for now. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye, Lady Jade. Be careful on your way.”

…

Back at the house, the kids who had fainted before Summer and George were already moved to the room at the back where they usually sleep by the boy and the help of Lady Jade before she left. The children were still unconscious. The boy was tending to them in case they awake from their sleep. He took a bucket from outside, it was filled with rain water, a clean water that he could use to clean the children with and spare some so he could boil some water for drinking.

It was morning, a bit over 7 AM. The sun was shining brightly, the clouds were flying freely in the vast blue sky, although it was close to winter, the weather that morning was good nonetheless although a bit cold.

He went to the back yard to make some fire, he gathered some firewood or scraps around the house to boil the water. Since it’s getting colder and the kids were hurt, He thought that he had to make some hot water to drink and found something to eat later for them and himself.

But the good morning that day felt heavy for the boy. He was thinking about what to do from now on. He wanted to avenge his friends, but the boy knew that he had no power to do so.

“I’m too weak. If I was stronger, this wouldn’t have happened.” The boy was lost in his thoughts as he waited for the water to boil. “I need to train, but magic is out of the question since I don’t have mana at all. If I had mana, I wouldn’t be here in the first place... ”

The boy looked up toward the sky, he clenched his fist and gritted his teeth. He found it so unfair that his life was so miserable. “I have to learn how to fight, the stronger you become, the better. This is a world where the strong survive.”

“Blub, blub…” The sound of boiled water was heard, but the boy was still in a daze, lost in his own thoughts when something suddenly poked him on the shoulder.

The boy got out of his daze and saw flying rags behind him.

“Oh, you are back…”

It was the grimoire. It covered itself up with some rags that were badly tattered, but they did the job nevertheless.

The grimoire observed the boy, it could feel that something was different from the boy, so it touched the boy’s shoulder again and tilted to the side.

The boy looked at the grimoire, he unconsciously smiled with a sad look on his face and said, “I see, you could tell, huh?”

The grimoire was waiting for him to answer, it flew to the front of the boy and stood on a rock across the boy.

“I’ve lost something important to me today.” The boy looked up to the sky, he clenched his fist as he cried. “All of this wouldn't have happened if I were stronger!”

The grimoire was quiet, it opened itself up and on the blank page, words were written at visible pace. What’s more shocking was, the language written there was the common language!

“Wait, what?! Can you understand me now?”

The grimoire was answering the boy with the written words on its page, but because it was nodding itself, the boy couldn’t read it.

“Just nod or shake yourself if it’s a question that you can answer with yes or no.”

The grimoire looked up to the boy and nodded again.

“Good. Now tell me how you can learn the common language. You’ve been missing for quite awhile."