His new daily life was uneventful.

Being a child he couldn’t do much, especially being a commoner.

Many in the village couldn’t read or write to any significant degree.

The only words he really could learn to read were ones related to food and money.

The only words that were absolutely necessary for the profession of his parents.

His only duty would be to move mugs of ale and small dishes to the tables needing them.

Nothing else was expected of him at this age. He honestly found it very refreshing and soothing as a result.

He thought to himself that he had taken his previous childhood for granted.

Sure, it’s unfair that there are so many rules blocking what you can and can’t do.

Some would make sense with age and others seemed to be foolish traditions or selfish impositions but as a kid, simply following them gave freedom. Responsibility was ages away.

Well, except on the odd night where his family was working or sleeping.

Since young children had the tendency to wake up quite early and sleep quite late, his parents gave him the latest shift at the counter. At this point food that required cooking was gone and none of the expensive drinks were offered. Yukichi was told to manage the front.

It would seem slightly unfair to take advantage of him like this but it was usually just the one guest. If any problems were to occur he could just call for help.

He suspected that this duty was also partially so that he wouldn’t interrupt his parents when they wished to have private time with one another. It was quite a reasonable thing to him.

Still, not many people would stay that long and those who would visit were too tired to be any real trouble. Though some odd people would often arrive at these hours much to his dismay.

However the most common of the odd guests was a single woman.

She looked about twenty years old to Yukichi.

She wore light silver armour around her shoulders, from her knees and below and a pair of gauntlets.

The rest of her outfit was red fabric with a golden border and wooden buttons down the centre.

A small half cape flowed from her left shoulder. It was the flag of the Darhine Republic.

A golden phoenix soaring within pitch black.

Drops of white ash fell from the tail feathers of the divine creature.

It was always impeccably clean even if he spotted stains on the rest of her.

She was a soldier and more importantly a knight.

The rank and file foot soldiers he had met until now wore similar uniforms but the red of their uniforms; if it could be called red, was dark and gritty. The gold on them was dirty hay coloured yellow.

They also lacked the banner of the country on their person's.

Her face was constantly flushed red whenever he saw her.

That being said, he could not deny she was quite pretty.

Her hair was bubblegum pink that stretched a few inches below her neck. He had encountered many odd colours since he came to this world so this was actually one of the more tamer shades.

Despite the drunken state she was constantly in, he could tell her face was normally quite pale.

She was no doubt a noble who had spent a lot of time on maintaining her beauty as well as having lived much of her life in a place where she didn’t need to be exposed to harsh sunlight.

Though he could swear her complexion was getting a tad more tanned with each meeting.

Not in a way that would drastically change but enough for him to notice.

Her eyes were something else to him though.

Dark blue irises shone a light that pierced into him.

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Her lashes were long and dark as ink. She really was a lady as well as a knight.

He looked at that face each night more than anywhere else and there was a sizable pair on her chest he could look at but perhaps his current prepubescent body didn’t find it too attractive.

Her gaze was sharp like steel. No matter how many drinks he served her, no matter how flushed her body became, they did not change one bit. He couldn’t help but stare at them.

They were marvellous… and whenever she caught him she wouldn’t say a word.

Just smile. He couldn’t help but nervously smile back.

Though her personality was; at least in the bar, questionable at best.

He would listen to her moan about her job.

How fighting was tedious. How commanding troops was just the worst.

How some sleazy asshole back in the capital had harassed her to the point she had no choice but to become a knight or else she’d be forced to marry him.

Something about her grandfather being very important and it had caused all sorts of troubles.

A lot of the deeper, more heavy issues only came out when her lips were loosened by ale and her speech became slurred, so he couldn’t make out the finer details.

Also, when she was that drunk she’d start patting his head or hugging him, so he found it hard to ask her to clarify about these things when he was suffocating from an emotional and physical embrace. “T-thank you…! Sho, cuttteeete… stupid men… don’t grow up like those bastards… you’ll be a good lil boy for me okay?”

If he was older he would probably enjoy this more but for now, it was adorable but inconvenient.

She came around almost every day but least in summer and most frequently in winter.

Yukichi always stayed awake until she was ready to leave, which was at the breaking of dawn.

The very first time they met he asked for her name. She smiled the way she always did, with sly and noble cunning. “Nope. Here’s a tip. Men love women with mystery to them. This won’t be the first time or the last.

"So get used to it.”

Every single time she got up to leave she did the exact same thing.

She’d get a blue ribbon, tie up her hair in a downwards flat ponytail and would look him right in the eyes just as a beam of sunlight would fall from the windows and lay between them. Her eyes. Sparkling like the sea.

Despite how long the nights were this ray of sunshine was worth it.

Yukichi was not a very stable person. So the feeling of being relied on by this lady knight and knowing he was doing good work for his family was enough for him.

Every time she’d come by he’d try to guess her name. He’d get one guess whenever she left.

He had failed utterly every single time. This world wasn’t earth and the names that were like back home only made things more difficult. It turned to guessing alphabetical characters and syllables but she’d always just smile at each attempt and swing her head from left to right.

“Sigh, I love coming here. No need for daggers in smiles or thinly veiled threats. Fake politeness? Abuse of power? None of that with you. Just a kid who knows nothing. I like that.”

This inn and the bar had become a safe haven for her.

Yukichi was more than happy to provide that. Soon he found himself not wanting for much.

While his dismissive attitude of himself hadn’t improved his mood was slowly getting better.

Living life here was good. He had friends. Sure, they were children and he had the mind of someone about ten years older than them but it wasn’t bad just frolicking about and enjoying nature. Boys and girls just being kids.

A few scuffles and tears were par for the course.

He had two older brothers aged 13 and 9 while he was 5. He had one baby brother who was born only a few months ago. While he couldn’t say they were the best of siblings, it seems his quiet and understanding attitude made his brothers quite accepting of him.

He wasn’t a brat that kept getting in their way and quickly proved he could take care of himself.

There was some awkward distance between them likely caused by the difference in both physical and mental ages but nothing was outright negative.

So seasons would pass and things didn’t change much.

He grew older and bigger. When he was 8 years old his interactions with the Lady Knight began to change. She took one of the two sabres attached to her hips and threw it to him one day.

“Let’s play. Would hate for something bad to happen to you and you can’t defend yourself.”

“Why would I need to-!”

She began to teach him how to fight. Watching her movements you’d never think of her as drunk.

“C’mon! Put a little more into it! Slash and stab at me like you mean it! Stick it in me!”

She wasn’t taking no for an answer and while he swordplay wouldn’t diminish when drinking…

“I’m going easy on you and you can’t even land a single hit! Pathetically cute! No girl likes a guy who can’t hold his own! Nowsh… get that blade upssh and… make a mess of me!”

Her lips were spilling out words that made it harder for him to concentrate.

She eventually started drinking a mug with her right hand and repelled him with the sword in her left.

He was just a child but she was taking it incredibly easy on him. Deliberately leaving openings that he could strike at but she could also stop without even an ounce of strength.

He was forced to wield the blade two-handed due to his small frame.

Whenever she’d attack to push him back, he would be sent reeling from the smallest push.

It doesn’t take much to dominate an enemy who is smaller and inexperienced.

Even so, he felt something odd whenever they would spare...

She was like lightning and he was a snail.

As months passed he got better but he couldn’t even tap her clothes.

Her insults and taunts became more… uncomfortable as time was passing.

“Dig it insssh… deep... Come at me like you’re going to kill me! Beat me and I’ll give ya a kisshhu… don’t disappoint me! Nooowsshhuuu come at me!”

He noticed her eyes became harder with each passing day. Her verbal complaints had turned to the singing of steel and Yukichi could feel her frustration grow with each session.

Something was happening to her. He didn’t know what it was but he sure as hell knew it was as painful, sharp, and heavy. He did this for two years without even coming close.

At the age of 10, he was going to start a new chapter in his life.

The lessons would continue. This life of his would not, however.

Destiny can be kind and cruel.

In the summer of his eleventh year… war broke out on the borders of Darhine and Rose.

Soon, death would knock on his door and send him into the Shimmering Fields.