After turning around to face everyone in the room, I began addressing them.

"You ask why do I look at the world as if it lacking. Let me try to put it into perspective for you... My cousins here." I gestured at my cousins before continuing.

"Right now, they look at all they have come across outside the village we came from as the future, what our village could have become if we weren't forced away from it... Buildings made of stone, armor made of metal, and vehicles in general... These things are beyond them currently as we spent our lives without them. As some of you said earlier, they are 'barbarians' aka uncivilized. That is how you see them."

I then looked at Leon, Sasha, Karl, and Paul before speaking.

"I won't speak for your individual personalities, but this society you live it looks at the 'barbarians' around them as well as the world as a whole as if they are under their domain. The world's fate is in your hands... Right?"

I watched their reactions and saw them nod at my words so I decided to continue.

"Well imagine how I feel seeing all this... Your castles made of stone look domineering, but how can they compare to steel and glass towers that reach far into the sky, sitting alongside the clouds above? Its lights shine so brightly that they may block even the light coming from the stars above. How can a mere stone mound compare?"

Of the adults present only two of them had looks of wonder, those two being Leon and Sasha, while Karl and Paul looked at me as if I was telling them I could do magic. They both frowned at me while trying to sway Leon and Sasha away from my 'nonsense' by saying things such as 'steel should be used for armor' or 'well-defended castles are invincible'.

It was mostly Paul who had the most to say while Karl just backed him up whenever he finished one of his points. I let them finish their 'rebuttals' before continuing as they really only helped make my next point for me.

"Your armor is useless, to put it nicely. It is a waste of time and effort if you wanted me to keep things real with you. If I had weapons that could pierce through a metal plate from over one thousand feet away, What use will your armor have? You might be thinking that you could just take cover within the walls of the town or inside your castle here. But what if my armies also had weapons that could plow over any wall or tower, stone or steel, as if it was sand in front of a crashing wave? What if I told you these weapons didn't even need to see your town or castle to strike them? If no wall could stand before such weapons what makes you think any man can?"

I stared directly into Paul's eyes as I said those last few words just to see if I could get him to tone down his arrogance a bit. It seemed to be a bit too effective though as he almost immediately turn his head away from me allowing me to see the few drops of sweat that had formed on his brow.

I looked away from the man toward the rest of the people present to gauge their reactions as well. Ash and Bell seemed to have disturbed looks on their faces as they pictured the images I described within their minds. I couldn't possibly know what they seeing but judging by their faces it was probably not pretty. Kai and Luca both had looks of wonder and intrigue on their faces as they both took turns looking at the armor in the corner as well as the walls surrounding them. I think Kai was more interested in the 'rifle' I vaguely described while Luca seemed to wonder about my vague description of artillery.

Leon and Sasha both held their heads as if they were in deep thought. They also whispered between each other about a few things that I could not hear, but I assumed they were talking about me as they both kept looking in my direction while talking. It probably wouldn't be appropriate to ask them to speak a little louder so that I could hear them, so I decided to just leave it at that.

I then looked toward Zoe, however this time it was me who immediately turned my head away with a bit of sweat forming on my brow. It was not because of fear, well at least I will never admit to that being the cause. It was because of the strange look she had in her eyes. I don't know how to describe it other than a look of undying loyalty. It was the kind of look that no one in the modern world would like to see after someone had just finished a speech. If I could get more people to have that kind of look, would it bring prosperity or disaster to the future of this world? Well, that would be my choice and my choice alone and I believe that is where my unease was coming from. But it was too late to turn back now...

I shook my head to get rid of those thoughts before preparing to speak once again, but Leon cut me off by standing up and walking towards the same window I was standing in front of. He then placed his hand on my shoulder before turning to look at the rest of the people in the room.

"I believe you have answered Miss Sasha's question to the fullest extent, young man. Anything more would just be you convincing yourself, no?"

Leon said as he turned his head toward me while he poked at my uncovered arms. I felt a bit strange being poked like an animal so I tried to step away from the man. But he seemed to expect my reaction and reached his hand that was on my shoulder around to my other shoulder, stopping my movement entirely, before turning back to the group of people watching us. He then spoke once again.

"Since that is now settled, why don't we move on to something more essential to your current situation? Your family has been killed and you all are now wanderers without a place to call home. I do not bring this up to remind you of the tragedy, but to offer a solution to one of your problems. I know it is impossible for me, my wife, or anybody else in this world to replace your lost family members... But what I can offer you all is a place within my household. To be completely transparent with you, I offer you this because my wife and I have not been able to produce any offspring in our thirty years of marriage and we have both reached the point in our lives where it will probably never happen..."

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Leon sighed as he removed his hand from my shoulder before looking out one of the windows we were standing in front of currently. Although I did feel sorry for the couple's struggles, I can't allow myself to think such charity would be given to strangers even if they did save your life. Nobody is that nice right?.. I know that I decided to save the couple because they could possibly bring us to any other place besides that forest, but if we would have walked up on two dead bodies and one bandit then I would have tried to get directions from him all the same. This wasn't because I didn't feel anything for the couple, obviously I felt bad for them, but my priorities at the time were my cousins and myself and whether or not we would survive. Obviously, Leon didn't know that.. Maybe I'm just being too cynical.

Instead of standing here like a deer in headlights though I would probably be better off if I just asked the guy who brought up the offer in the first place.

"*clears throat* Let me get this straight... You are offering to adopt us?? Would it not be better to get somebody who is younger and more 'malleable' than us?" I asked Leon while studying his face for any signs of a reaction.

He was still looking out the window but the part of his face that I could see had expectance written over it. He then turned to me before speaking.

"You are correct in that I could have found a child whom I could have raised to inherit what we have, but that would only leave another of fallen nobles to suffer in our wake." This time it was he who studied my face for any type of reaction.

I honestly didn't have a reaction to give the man beside a nod of affirmation. I wasn't shocked by the revelation as much as I was confused with why he told me he was a merchant in the first place. I mean the man did have his own guards and staff, not to mention a whole castle. There was no way a simple merchant can afford all of that. I decided to just ask him the question instead of trying to figure it out by myself.

"A 'fallen noble' huh? Sounds pretty self-explanatory to me, but why did you tell me that you were a merchant when we first spoke?" I asked Leon as he continued to study my face with a confused expression of his own.

"I- You-.. Wait! You are not angry at the idea of me being a noble? I only told you I was a merchant because almost all the common folk share a hatred for the nobles. I assume you would share that hatred as well, especially given your situation." Leon said while pointing at our bags that were placed by the door leading out to the corridor.

I shook my head before responding.

"I was pretty vague with our reasons for fleeing our home so I guess I should've explained it a bit better. I think I told you that we were forced out due to power struggles. That was the case, but it wasn't like what your citize-- er common folk has experienced. I assume that to be the case at least. Our village was nothing in comparison to this town or the collection of buildings outside of it but there was still a hierarchy that was in place albeit very loosely. My family, or should I say our family was basically at the top of this hierarchy controlling almost everything inside the village besides the warriors. It was these warriors and their leader who killed our parents and the de-facto leader of our village, our grandmother."

I looked at my cousins who all stared at me with similar expressions of hopelessness. Leon saw this and asked the question the very same question that ran through my cousins' minds when we escaped.

"But why would they do that? Did no one in your family sus--"

I stopped him with a wave before he could continue as his next words would only enrage my grieving cousins, even if it was a valid question. But another reason I stopped him was that I was the person who had suspected something. I should have spoken to my parents or my grandmother about the suspicion but I... I don't know what I thought, to be honest...

I sighed before answering Leon's only complete question.

"*sighs* They killed them because of me... Earlier in the day before our family was murdered, all the sixteen to eighteen-year-olds took a test to determine what position they would have within the village. My cousin Kai here was gonna become a warrior most likely--"

"I would have never listened to the teachings of that traitor Dak if I knew he was planning this all along!!" Kai said as he slammed his fist into the wood table in front of him, which surprisingly didn't shake as much as I thought it would give his sturdiness.

I continued once Ash,who was sitting beside Kai, calmed him down.

"The profession would have fit him well as you can see." My cousins snickered at the joke but quickly went quiet once again.

"The twins there Ash and Bell were set to become our village's first artists, although I'm sure they would have been called something else. They were also gonna be healers who would have been led by my mom. Luca was gonna follow in his father's steps to become the leading wood and metal workers in our village, better known here probably as carpenters and metalsmiths. And Zoe was gonna be a.. an umm.. err Zoe what were you gonna choose as your profession?"

Zoe shook her head at my question before answering with a smirk on her lips.

"I wanted to be a hunter or a warrior but my mom said that was impossible. I did both the male and female courses so I could have chosen anything. If I would have known you were gonna become the chief, I would have to ask you to create something for me."

One of my eyebrows shot up similar to a famous wrestler back on Earth when I heard her answer. This was mainly because she seemed to be using the informal language I brought along with me from Earth. I merely nodded at her before looking toward Leon. He had a look of understanding on his face as he began speaking.

"So you were to become the chief of the village. And at your age no less... I believe I can fill in the rest. The leader of the warriors did not agree with this transition and decided to attack your family leading to the adults being killed and you teens fending for yourselves in that damned forest." Leon said as he looked over our group. He then nodded his head deeply before speaking again.

"*sigh*Even after all of that you all still had enough humanity to help my wife and me in our time of need. So on my wife's behalf as well as the rest of the people who work under us, I want to thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. But that is not enough--"

What the man did next shocked me as well as my cousins to our core. Like in so many films I had seen back on Earth, the man literally bowed at my feet with his knees and elbows on the floor before the adults in the room did the same, all with their heads pointed toward me.

"Sir Rallo, please accept this vow of subservience--"

The only words I could hear was my own thoughts that were screaming the same thought I had when I 'awoke' in the world.

'What the fuck!?!'