William woke up with barely a glimmer of consciousness. He felt wet and weak. Like waking up from a coma, he can barely put up a thought. He tries opening his eyes, but his previous memories flash before him instead, like the day he enlisted in Sanctuary, the training they had in the mountains, battling against monstrous insects, and the time when he first lost his limbs and the pain he had when it was reconstructed. When he was able to partially open his eyes, the memories dim like fragments of a dream he could barely hold unto. He hears excited chatter he can't understand. At that moment, he felt something separated him from the white world, he tries to understand why he was lifted towards the heavens. In reality however, he was lifted by the wetnurse and hung by his legs. The nurse was scared he wasn't breathing. William felt his buttocks slapped. The shock caused him to cough and suck in a deep breath of air. His lungs felt the cold air like a thousand needles. The pain shocked him and he screamed. The mother and the nurse smiled happily as the healthy baby boy cried hard. Inside, William was terrified believing he was in the after life.
Days quickly passed by, as William drifted in and out of sleep. The memories of his previous life becomes buried by dreams made of the whiteness of cloth, the warmth of his mother's embrace and the taste of milk. He also has nightmares, made of simple worries, thirst, loneliness and the foul smell of his own poop and urine. He learned that he's now 'Jiro', a new-born child in this new world.
Jiro begins to forget he was once William Cooper. His past life's memories remains only in his dreams. His world was now the cradle that he was in. He doesn't know that he was an aloof foul-mouthed guy in his past life who has given up on the world. He only knows that everything feels so familiar to him that he delights on being able to wake up and live. He was a child who smiles spontaneously.
One late afternoon, a man with thick red mat of a hair visits him and draws various symbols on his body. The man frowned as he finds out that his child has inherited his bloodline. He lifts the baby and kisses the boys forehead. The symbols flickered red and the baby sweats as the protective magic his father laid upon him seeps into his soul. A woman peeks from outside the half-opened door, she smiles as she sees the heart-warming gesture her husband did to the baby when he finally arrives home after several months.
The woman enters the room, looks at her husband and embraces him.
"Welcome home, dear."
"I have signed my resignation."
"You'll be a good father. Don't worry too much."
Jiro's father has returned home.
------
In the village of Hillrock, on its third hill, a commotion was happening in one of the houses situated there. A nine month old baby managed to climb up a tree but doesn't know how to get down. Jiro was only six months when he learned how to walk. Following his older sister everywhere became his favorite hobby. She was nearly four years old, but she teases Jiro by feeding him something delicious, and afterwards, she would run away and hide from him, when he wants to eat more. That morning, she fed him a carrot cake so delicious, that against his fears of going outside the house, he managed to follow his sister up a tree. The young girl didn't know and thought Jiro would eventually give up once he steps outside the house and get scared silly. He frowns at Kyla and called out "Kah-la!", but she was already too high to hear his small voice.
A few months after he was born, Jiro learned to make expressions. He would make puppy eyes when he's hungry or when he wants to be taken outside. Or he would frown when he doesn't want to take a bath. Most of the time, he gets what he wants. But he also began to be tormented by a lot of faces. Each morning, a little girl's face would pop up outside his crib, and poke his butt. She would run laughing and shouting throughout the house when she finds out he pooped. On afternoons, she seem to take great pleasure in talking to him. He would listen to her complaining about being scolded. On some rainy days, having nothing else to do, the girl would poke and pinch him trying to figure out how to make him change expressions. One day, Jiro got irritated and tried biting her, but this only made her gleeful. For some reason, she started sneaking bread and fruits to feed him like her pet. This is how Jiro also learned to talk. His first word is surprisingly "No", and the next word would be "Kah-la".
A woman's shout can be heard from inside the house, it sounds mad with worry.
"Kyla, where are you?! Where did you take your brother?!" The perpetrator was up in the tree checking a bird nest she found yesterday. She was alarmed at her mother's question. She looked down on the lower branches, and sure enough, her younger brother has followed her. She looked in shock at the chubby determined face of the child and exclaimed, "Jiro! Aren't you afraid of falling down?" The baby look at the girl's face for awhile before finally understanding what she meant. He looked down and suddenly started trembling. The very thought of falling down made the toddler shiver as he remembers all those times he fell down from climbing his crib, and those instances he tripped and stumbled into things. Seeing Jiro's teary face at the thought of being hurt, the girl started giggling and climbed down to sit next to Jiro. She hold him still as he finally calmed down. Their mother spotted them sitting on a branch side by side just outside the window. She heaved a sigh in relief, and shouted. "Kyla, get him down from there! You should wait until he's older to play with you!"
Kyla frowned at her mom's accusation. Jiro looked at her, afraid of their mother's scolding, and said "help boss". She wanted to say that it's Jiro's fault for climbing up, but just kept silent. Being the "boss", she decided instead to talk to Jiro. Poking his forehead with her tiny fingers, she admonished him.
"Jiro, you have to think before you act always, okay?"
Jiro looked at Kyla with a puzzled look. He doesn't get it. Kyla climbed down and reached up to take Jiro down. The tree was actually not that tall. She smiled at her mom and quietly carried the toddler to their house.
----
One afternoon, a black haired man was talking with Jiro's father. They were discussing something important. Earlier that day, nearly a hundred knights pass through the village to buy supplies and to fix their equipment. One of those knights is this man currently sipping a cup of coffee in the pantry.
"Thanks for the meal, Shao. I skipped breakfast to prepare the cavalry early morning for the journey." The knight said to Jiro's father, Shao. The man nodded at the knights words, and refilled the guest's coffee mug.
"Don't worry about it. I take it that Argent troops are going to battle again with the demon lord?" Shao heard from passing merchants that the nearby kingdom, Argent had been mobilizing troops since last month.
"Perhaps for the last time, my friend." Dave unexpectedly let loose a wide grin as excitement filled his face. Shao's expression changes to a grin as well as he began to suspect what it is. Nonetheless, he voiced out his guess to confirm it.
"Could it be? Are you planning to finally defeat the demon lord?" Shao's voice sounds like he could not believe it. But deep inside, he already knew that it's only a matter of time that the menace to the south will be gone.
"In fact, I'm returning to the battlefront." Dave's face glowered with a triumphant expression, then turned serious. "We were on the verge of destroying it three days ago..." Dave paused. His face turned dark as he remembered something and the smile that was there before vanished.
"We haven't verified the condition of the heroes yet... but based from the missives it's likely they've all died" Dave replied tersely, seemingly not wanting to continue, but Shao gave him a look and Dave continued.
"It was Rick, Helmint, Shiro and Josh. The rest were leading the armies in the council of twelve's forces scattered at the borders."
Dave and Shao had fought together with the twelve heroes in the previous battles against the demon lord's forces. They were part of the squad of the hero candidates. The squad fought on every battle that the Church of light have on their plate, but Shao had retired early and wasn't able to keep in touch with the other members.
"Shiro was the first to fall. It was an ambush. The full force of the demon lord was released against her. His grudge against her is deep. Shiro shielded the squad though, if not for her, all the heroes, including us knights, could have died. Helmint single-handedly drove back the infernal horde of direwolves that attacked our rear after the demon lord opened a hell gate. The knights were helpless against the direwolves' black flames without Shiro's enchantments. Helmint took up the vanguard however and rescued half of the knights including me. But the flames started burned his soul force until he could barely raise his shield. As a last resort, he used up his remaining soul force in addition to his life force to create a seal against the other planes, which sealed and prevented additional gates from being summoned."
Shao was stricken. In one fell swoop, two of the most powerful adventurers he'd known died just like that.
Both Dave and Shao's eyes turned misty as they recall the quiet priestess Shiro, who used to clobber them with her staff whenever they annoy her by being too reckless, and the big jolly drunk mage, Helmint that seems to eternally reek of alcohol. Shao clenched his fist in frustration. Angry despite himself. Unable to contain himself, he whispered sorrowfully. "They should have known she'd be targeted first. Shiro nearly killed the demon lord countless times, she was also the pillar of the group, because of her healing. As for Helmint, they all knew he was reckless, why didn't anyone stop him from going too far? They depended too much on Shiro to stop them. And what of Paul, Regis, Lira and Kell? They should've known that Shiro was the only support for the team! That thrice damned oaf of a general does not seem to know what he's doing! That damn brat of a prince should have picked better advisors..."
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Dave could only agree with Shao's bitter opinion. Ever since the throne was handed to the first prince, the young ruler's ambitions railroaded existing policies and realigned military strategy for his own interests. First, reigniting old conflicts with the rival states, just to have a casus belli (reason for war). Second, overextending the kingdom's territories by subjugating lesser powerful neighbors, not minding the rocky relationship they had with powerful neighboring states and ignoring the diminishing stability of the outer regions. Now, with the mismanagement of the army and the death of the heroes, it could easily be seen that the kingdom might be headed for disaster.
"What of Rick and Josh?" Shao pressed on, after a few minutes of silence elapsed.
"Rick got too close to the demon lord's shadowmancy. He... was turned into a puppet. Kline and Reus had no choice but to kill him. With Shiro gone, only the bishop or cardinal could have saved him in time. I tried to talk them out of it. To seal him instead, but they say the demon lord could possess his body when he dies. My company, the fifth contingent, was supporting the heroes when it happened. We began to battle our corrupted knights. We had to kill our own friends. I... Rick... All of us, didn't expect that monster to have that much mana left to cast shadowmancy... It turns out there was a mana vein..."
Dave's eyes dried up, and what replaced it was a hollow look as if he was reliving that event. Shao look thoughtful. A mana vein is a well of magical power, this would have explained how the demon lord was able to survive the endless campaigns set out by Church of Light against it.
"A mana vein, huh?" Shao stared into empty space, imagining the might of the spells unleashed by the demon lord. "How were they able to defeat him?"
"That was Josh. He transmuted the mana vein into his soul force. He was unable to contain it. Most of the remaining knights fainted at that moment when his soul force pulsed. I was able to hang-on long enough to see Josh self-destruct to wound the demon king."
Shao turned silent. He whispered "Josh... Always reckless... to the point of being stupid even. Even the demon lord would not do that. The soul force is part of the soul... he should've thought it over..."
"Josh couldn't have known, Shao. Don't blame him. He's not you... But to transmute something like a mana vein?" Dave looked at Shao. "What have you taught him?"
Shao shook his head and answered calmly. "I never taught him that. He borrowed some of my books. He might have gotten the idea from there... But, perhaps, he knew all along what will happen... He loved Shiro after all. I could only understand that."
Dave's voice turned to a whisper. "You have left us far too early. I know I'm not cut out for hero level. But you? You could have been there, Shao. You could have saved them."
Shao hung his head, heaving a sigh. He could not come up with an answer for that.
The knight stood up and wiped his eyes with his sleeve. He dons his helmet, clears his voice and spoke a bit too hurriedly.
"Well, that was a good meal. Thank the missus for me, Shao. I had to get back soon. Sorry about that"
Shao knew that deep inside, Dave, like the heroes in his old squad, believed he had abandoned them, when he resigned nearly a year ago and left without saying anything. As his old friend turn to go, Shao clasp Dave's gauntlet and patted his back, mustering the courage to finally tell his old friend.
"I'm sorry too. I could have helped. But fate has not been good to me either."
Dave saw Shao's expression of helplessness, and whispered, "What do you mean?" Shao gave his friend a sad smile as he closed the door. His softly spoken words could reach only the knight. The knight look struck when he heard his friend's words. His eyes felt moist again and now he finally understood why. He took his horse and flew towards the village square to gather his men. He was the knight captain after all.
---
Shao took out a bottle of Semicoral liquor from his desk. He looked at the town crier scroll before him. It was a written account of the recent events across the continent the past two months. His old friend left it with him. In the headlines was the news that of Verona's completion of the bulwark walls. The eastern region of the freelands was shielded by the Church of Light's holy city, Verona against the hordes of undead affected by the blight in the badlands. This news would be a great relief to the rest of the freeland kingdoms.
Shao's wife, Fujin entered the study carrying their child Jiro. She frowned at the sight of her husband, cradling a glass of brandy, staring out the window lost in thought.
"Shao, did something happen? That knight from yesterday... wasn't he part of your old squad?" Fujin asked.
"It's the heroes. We lost four of them to the demon lord."
Fujin gasped. Jiro looked at his mother's stiff face, and reached out to touch her. She calmed down when she felt Jiro's touch.
"Don't worry, they got him in the end. I'm not being summoned." Shao smiled at his wife's worried face.
"That's a relief. I thought we'd lose you again." Fujin sighed.
"How's Jiro?" Shao asked, changing the subject.
"Oh, he's becoming so precocious. Yesterday, I found him up in a tree. He might have climbed up by himself. Kyla's not saying anything though. She's too protective of her brother." Fujin replied, sensing that Shao did not want to speak of his military background any longer.
"That child grows up so fast. Didn't he learn to walk just a few months ago? I bet he'll learn to speak soon." Shao said in surprise. Fujin smiled at that.
"Ah, but dear, he already knows. Jiro, talk to your father. Don't be shy." Fujin stepped closer to Shao, giving the young toddle to his father. Shao held Jiro, as the child reached out to his fathers serious face and pinched it.
"Pa. smile." A chirping melodic sound came out of the baby. Shao was overjoyed when he heard his son called him father. He lifted his son and laughed.
"Hahaha. I will, Jiro." Shao swung his child, thrilled at having a possibly genius child. "How did he learn?" Shao looked at his wife in wonder.
"Oh, you know, how much Kyla loved to talk to Jiro, even back when he's just a few months old. I think he just picked it up from observing her."
Kyla entered the study, wondering what's happening when she heard her parents laughing and the mention of her name. Jiro was still struggling against his father, lifting and bobbing him up in the air. At the sight of Kyla, his boss, Jiro's eyes lit up in hope.
"Kah-la... help!" Jiro wailed as his father played with him, throwing him up in the air. Kyla could only smile and shake her head. It was Jiro's turn to endure their doting father's playfulness after all.
The gloom in Shao's heart gradually disappeared as he spends time with his wife and children.
---
Jiro seems to easily pick up a lot of skills and knowledge while following Kyla around. He also sits with her when their mother teaches her words and helps her read books. After learning how to read though, she began spending mornings outside of town, where their mother started teaching her magic. The kingdom's laws forbid the casting and practice of any form of magic near residential areas. You can't even light a fire by magic if you don't have the permit to do so. Only those who need magic for their line of work would be allowed. So their mother Fujin, had to take little Kyla and her friends outside of town so they can learn and practice casting spells.
Now, Jiro can't find someone to help him read the picture books because his father was also busy. During that time, his father Shao, had returned to working as a blacksmith on their front yard. So, this is where Jiro stays now during the mornings. He would sit or climb their oak tree and read while waiting for Kyla to return. He would sometimes look at his dad working. When his father catches him looking, he would call out to him and teach him a thing or two about how he does his work.
"Here, Jiro. See how this part is glowing. The brighter it is, the better. Now, be careful."
Jiro would help his father with menial work like checking if a metal is ready in the forge. He also started to learn his letters. At first, he was asked to write the names of their customers. His dad would say them letter by letter and Jiro would write. After mastering his letters, he learned his words. His father would ask him to write receipts and notes to be attached to the items they finished fixing or forging.
"Now, write this down, Jiro. Thank you for the extra materials, mister Xing Cao. Do you know how to use abbreviations? Here, I'll teach you..."
Jiro often received lessons on proper letter writing and grammar as well, so he was able to progress on his reading and writing skills greatly. His father was surprised at Jiro's learning ability. At first, he thinks it too early to teach him such things. But upon seeing how quickly his son took to reading, and how fast he masters the things he's interested in, Shao finally gave in and watched out for things Jiro is interested in. He believes that his son is a genius, so he teaches him all kinds of things that would allow his son's talents to grow.But Shao knew when to draw the line of course. One day he saw Jiro looking interested on him making pancakes, so Shao showed the little boy how to. The following week, they would often catch the little tyke making pancakes for himself with no consideration to his diet or the quantity. Once they even had to give out excess pancakes to the neighboring kids, much to the children's delight. Jiro however was upset, he intentionally cooked too much so he could have pancakes too for lunch and dinner.
Jiro was growing up fast.