"Unnie!"

Thea arrived at the orphanage with the two on her shoulders.

"How are you carrying them? Is Janna-Unnie okay? Who is this person?"

Thea was hit by a barrage of questions from a nervous Leaf.

"They're fine, just hurt a bit. I'll put them both in Janna's room. You look over them."

"How about you, Unnie?"

"Me? I didn't fight."

"But aren't you sad that Janna-Unnie got hurt?"

"Janna's bound to get into more fights in the future. She's always been a bit weak-willed so this is actually good for her."

"Janna-Unnie is weak-willed?"

Leaf tilted her head. They reached Janna's room and opened the door. A not so clean room. Training weighs all over the floor. A messy bed. And if you searched in the corner, you would find a bunch of romance books. Janna secretly liked to read them. Though Thea already knew of her hobby during their academy days.

Janna had a bigger bed than the others because she would move around a lot in her sleep. She frequently had dreams of fighting monsters and being a hero.

Thea threw the two of the bed.

"You see her room? She only acts tough on the outside."

Thea pointed out the state of the room to Leaf.

"...I didn't know Janna-Unnie was this messy. Her rooms in a worse state than yours, Unnie."

A direct mental attack on Thea from Leaf. Thea's room was also messy but for other reasons. She had thousands of papers and research results on the floor. And there were also a lot of materials and experimental magic artifacts scattered around.

"My room's not that dirty."

"You shouldn't lie, Unnie. What if Nem learns your bad habit?"

"I learn what?"

Nem suddenly said from outside. He was by the door frame of Janna's room.

"N-nothing. We didn't say anything."

"Okay. Can I go outside now?"

Nem asked Leaf.

"Yeah, it should be fine. Don't cause any trouble."

Nem had made a few friends outside and wanted to go play with them. But because of the situation earlier, he was told to stay at home.

"Alright, Leaf. I'll go help with the refugees. You get the new girl here a healing potion of mine and feed it to her. You can leave Janna alone, she'll heal on her own. Come and find me when they wake up."

"Alright, Unnie."

Before Thea was tracked down by Sophily in the forest, they had hunted a giant boar. It was left outside the forest after Thea escorted the villagers out. Sophily and the villagers were guarding it in the meantime.

Thea quickly rushed over to them.

"Miss Thea, thank god you're back!"

The little girl Tandy was super happy to see Thea come back.

"Yes, the situation was resolved and there's no more trouble."

"I was so scared!"

Tandy complained with beads of tears on the edge of her eyes.

"I told you to go back to the villager, didn't I?"

Sophily said from the side.

"What? Why would I do that? What if our hunt gets stolen?"

"That wouldn't happen with me around."

"Miss Thea, this person is so scary!"

"What did you say?!"

It seemed like Tandy was a bit afraid of Sophily, which was a shock to the friendly Sophily.

"She doesn't leave any trackable footprints and makes minimal noises. Almost like she's a ghost."

"Don't be so fearful of Sophy here. She's not gonna hurt you."

"She can't since you're here. But what if..."

"You little!"

Tandy was implying that without Thea around, Sophily would attack her. It made Sophily furious at the slander thrown at her. She chased Tandy around while shouting that she'll show her how scary she can be.

It was like watching two sisters bickering.

"Alright, stop it."

With Thea's plea, Sophily stopped chasing. But she still gave a few glances to Tandy.

###### "Let's take the boar back first."

Thea pointed to the huge boar. It was over two and a half meters tall. It should be enough to feed around two thirds of the unfed refugees. With the fruits, couple smaller boars and several rabbits, it should be enough to feed all the refugees.

"Alright, same as before."

Thea said and the other villagers nodded their head. After which, Thea put climb up the boar and put her hand on it.

The villagers gathered around the boar and lifted it up. It shouldn't be possible for them to just life it as the boar was super heavy. It was only because of the gravity element that Thea had been training ever since that day she got it.

She could make the weight of the boar cut down to one that the villagers could carry. It wasn't an easy task for her to do this but it worked.

They carried the boar back to the village.

"How did you guys even find this huge boar? They only live towards the center of the forest, right?"

Sophily asked Thea.

"It was Tandy who led us to it. We wouldn't have found it without her hunter instincts."

"It was also because Miss Thea trusted me."

Tandy added to the explanation.

"Huh, this little pipsqueak found it? Are you she wasn't tracking some ant and found it by accident?"

"You ugly ghost!"

Sophily and Tandy started to fight again.

"Stop it. I just saw the confidence she had and trusted her. And you have to admit that Tandy has excellent eyes and tracking skills. It's only because of her that we'll be able to feed all the new people."

"Tsk. I guess I should be the bigger person and be appreciative of her."

"What? I don't need a thanks from ugly ogres like her. Hmph."

"What did you say, you brat?!"

The two were fighting again. Thea couldn't grasp as to why the two were so mean to each other, so she just let them be. It wasn't like they were actually doing each other harm.

Arriving back at the village, they were greeted with happy faces. All the adults were swarming around Thea, saying their heartfelt thank you. It was mostly the people who had been living here for a few months.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

The recently arrived refugees were being cautious to not cause trouble. But Thea could feel their gratitude.

A atmosphere became a cheery one, with people feeling relieved and cheerful. Thea helped to take the boar to the center of the village. She helped the people to make wild boar stew. She kept a fire going with her magic so that the people who were feeling cold would warm up.

Afterwards, she brought the villagers out again to get more firewood. She couldn't keep everyone heated all night with her magic alone.

***

The next morning. Jeanne slowly opened her eyes.

'Ugh...my body...where am I?'

She woke up to an unfamiliar ceiling. Jeanne would usually wake up in her room or a tent. Her body was aching all over.

She heard a sound to her left and slowly turned her head. The sound stopped and a frozen Janna stood there.

"Is that...my sword?"

Jeanne asked Janna, who was holding a white longsword in her hand.

"Uhh..."

It was considered unmannerly to take someone else's sword. It was an unofficial rule of swordsmen. But Thea stealing the hero sword is considered a crime.

"I'm sorry."

Janna put down the sword and quickly bent her body forward to apologize.

"...I don't really care."

Jeanne gave up on the situation. She wanted to say how it was wrong of Janna to take her sword but she chose to give that up. She thought it would be useless and tiring to do so.

"Is this the afterlife?"

Jeanne also thought that it was meaningless to argue as she was already dead.

"It looks more ordinary and...messier than what I imagined."

Jeanne looked at the weights and clothes and books on the floor.

"Um, this is my room."

"Your room?"

"...yes..."

"I don't want to be that person but you should clean it."

"You sound like my dad. I'll get to it...someday."

"Uhm, so....why am I here? I thought you killed me."

"Obviously I didn't kill you. How else would you be here?"

Jeanne sat there for a minute in silence.

"...why didn't you kill me? I'm an enemy. I came to force you out of your home. You should've killed me then and claimed your victory."

"Huh? Why would I kill you?"

Janna had a puzzled expression.

"What do you mean? Because I'm an enemy?"

Jeanne was even more confused by Janna. She had been taught while growing up that you should always kill an enemy in battle so that they never come back as a threat in the future.

"I would never kill someone just because of that. I judge people based on how I feel about them."

"How you feel?"

"Yes, I can tell what kind of person someone is just by looking at them."

"Then...what about me?"

Jeanne carefully asked. She was interested but scared of the answer she would get.

"You're....lonely and pathetic."

"...I thought so..."

Tears were forming around Jeanne's eyes. She looked down at the bed, away from Janna's gaze. Her lips and voice was trembling. Her hands were shaking.

"I...I'm...so worthless..."

Tears started to flow from her eyes as they turned red.

"All my life! I've been nothing but useless and pathetic! I never had a friend! Never had a boyfriend! I'm the weakest in my family! Everyone's always....looked down on me...waahhaahaa..."

Jeanne started to full on ugly cry. Snot flowing out and everything. It seemed she was extremely frustrated with her life until now.

It was Janna's first time seeing an adult crying, she didn't know how to respond and was contemplating reaching her hand out. She had a stupefied expression.

"What's wrong?! Who's crying?"

But before Janna could reach out, a sudden loud voice could be heard from the door. The door opened and Thea came running in.

"Hey, why are you crying?"

"Huh?"

Thea came running in so fast that both were caught off guard. At least it helped to calm down Jeanna. She stopped crying.

"Are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine."

"No, you're not. I can still feel that you're sad and feeling despair inside."

Thea said to Jeanne.

"Tell me what's making you like that."

"Uuh...can you tell me who are you?"

"This is my best friend, Thea. She's a powerful mage, and she owns this place."

Janna answered in Thea's place. Janna felt proud to call Thea her best friend so she always took the chance to introduce Thea.

"Janna, stop it. I've told you so many times that I can do it myself."

"Hmph, you'll never get to do it while I'm around."

Janna had a smug expression.

"I'll deal with you later. Now tell me why you're sad."

"....why are you so interested?"

"It's because I hate being around sad people."

"I see..."

"Hurry up and spill it out already."

"Oh, ah...where should I start?"

"The beginning, of course."

Jeanne sat there for a few seconds.

"My name is Jeanne LeBlanc. That's one of the five duke families serving under the Golden Sun Emperor."

The Emperor, referred to by the people as the Golden Sun, is the king of the Zatiax Empire. It's said he's the most powerful person on the planet but there are other candidates. However, it is unquestionable that he is one of the most powerful person on the planet.

"Being born in the LeBlanc family, I always had great expectations placed on me. My older brothers and sisters are all recognized by the family and strong people."

"How about you?"

"...I'm what people call a disappointment, I guess? I couldn't learn well the swordsmanship of my family. I was always a step behind my siblings. And..."

"And?"

"...do you two know how the power of the families in Zatiax functions?"

"I know that it's all based on fire. And the royal family is the strongest?"

"You know a bit. The reason for that is because the fire they use is different."

Jeanne stretched her hand out and produced a dark red fire.

"The method of gathering mana is the same for all of Zatiax. At some point in early childhood, the type of fire that can be used is decided. Someone injects their fire into your body and you have to incorporate it into the mana gathering method. "

"Is it important?"

"Yes, you can only ever do it one time. That's how the royal family stays at the top and the other families under them. They limit the people who can use the most powerful fire to the royal family. And nobody can go against them because they lose in firepower."

"That's crazy. We were never taught that."

"The royal family doesn't want people know their dirty secret. And the families underneath don't want to be known as slaves of the royal family."

"So what happened with you?"

"There are four tiers of fire. At the top is the golden fire. Then is the blue fire of the duke families like mine. Then for the rest of noble families, there's the orange fire. And finally..."

Jeanne looked at the dark red fire in her hand. A depressed and pessimistic expression was on her face.

"On the day I was supposed to get the bright blue fire of a duke family, a person pretending to be the handler gave me the red fire of common people. I was too excited to see the suspiciousness of the person."

"It's not your fault. You were too young."

"...I know it wasn't my fault, but I can't help it."

Jeanne's eyes started to flow out tears again.

"After that, I was viewed as a mistake of the family. I was allowed to be in the house but no one would take care of me."

"So you've been suffering alone all this time?"

"No, Wendy-a maid would talk to me. And sometimes, one of my older brother would come and try to cheer me up."

"So, you did have someone to rely on?"

"But they always looked at me with pity. And father and mother never talked to me ever since..."

"That must have been difficult."

"I put all my time into training my sword and was able to reach the four star rank with my effort. But I'll never even win in a fight against a three star rank orange fire swordsman."

"Is it that much of a difference?"

"It's a difference of ten times for each level."

"So...is golden fire ten thousand times stronger?!"

"Something like that. I've never seen it myself."

"I became a captain in the army and was sent out to the war. I hoped to get some recognition from my family. But I was never allowed on the frontline and was put of guarding duties."

"Isn't that good?"

"It's not. While the Cleovantra forces ravage the land, I'm doing nothing and sitting guarding some stupid noble who's afraid to fight."

"Ah, so you want to protect the people?"

"I was finally given a chance. To come here and drive you guys out. I was told you guys were wrongdoers and securing this place was important for the war. I thought it was finally my chance to show my worth."

"What happened then?"

"I saw the refugees on the road. And when I arrived here, I saw all the people standing behind you. They're all victims of the war, aren't they?"

"Yeah, most people came here after having their home destroyed."

"I thought so...I didn't know what to do. If I didn't complete the mission, I would be a shame to my family again. If I completed the mission, I would be killing innocent people who are already suffering."

"Shouldn't the people be put first?"

Janna asked Jeanne.

"Of course. But to abandon a mission, my soldiers would be killed also for betraying the empire. And my family would also be faced with punishment. It's the law of the Empire's army."

"Ah. That is a very tough situation."

"So I came to a conclusion. If I died in battle, the soldiers could flee and the refugees could think of a plan to run away."

"You were going to sacrifice yourself to save others?"

"Yes, it was the only thing I could do."

"Oh, you poor child."

Thea leaned in and gave Jeanne a hug.

"Whaaa..."

Jeanne's face turned red instantly. She was feeling extremely embarrassed by Thea's hug.

"You've lived an unfortunate and miserable life until now. But that changes now. You can live here with us. I'll protect you and everyone else here."

"Let...me go first!"

Jeanne pushed away Thea. Her heart was beating really fast.

"What do you mean I can live here?"

"Exactly what I said. You live here with us as one of us and I'll help you."

"But I have a fami-"

"Forget your family."

Thea said in a stern voice.

"Your family has caused you a lot of suffering. I can't give you your lost time back. But I can give you a place to call home. Stay here with us and find happiness."

Thea extended her hand to Jeanne. Jeanne was hesitant to take her hand. She still had some lingering desires to be accepted by her family.

"I'll help you get that golden fire or whatever."

"Huh? You can't do that."

Jeanne thought that Thea was joking and laughed at the absurd joke.

"Why? You think I can't do it?"

But it seemed Thea wasn't joking.

"Yeah, if Thea says she can then she'll do it."

Even Janna was saying so.

"I told you it's something that's decided when you're young and can't be changed forever."

"So what? There's nothing under the heavens that I can't fix. And if there is, then I just haven't tried hard enough."

There was a strange conviction in Thea's voice. Almost like she knew that the future and was saying such things with confidence.

"I'll trust you for now."

Jeanne accepted Thea's hand.

"Great. What did you cry about earlier? "I've never had a friend"? Now you've got real friends in me and Thea. And many more soon. We'll work on the rest also."

Janna remembered what Jeanna was crying about before Thea rushed in.

"Thea will make you the most powerful in your family...you won't be useless and pathetic while living here with us...and what else was it?"

Jeanne took a second to remember.

"N-NOTHING! T-that was it!"

"Ah, you wanted a boyfriend!"

"NOOO! I didn't say that!"

Jeanne's face turned beet red and her heart was pounding like a drummer's drum.

"How about we work on that first?"

Janna was making fun of Jeanne.

"Wh-?!"

But it was too much for Jeanne and she fainted. She was also still exhausted and hurt from the battle. Unlike Janna, who had all her stamina already replenished by her part-dragon blood and only had the cuts left to heal, Jeanne was an ordinary human swordsman who took weeks to heal fully.

It only took weeks to heal because aura can be used to speed up and enhance the healing effects of the body. Otherwise, a normal person would never recover from these injuries.

"What's this?"

Something slipped out from underneath Jeanne's armor.