Aurri just tilted his head, not knowing what those words meant. Even searching through ‘his’ memories, he remembered that he had heard those words before. The adults put great importance on it, and children like the original owner are not yet old enough to worry about it.

Aurri did remember that the adults will only explain it to them once they reach the age of nine. Aurri is now just seven years old, so there’s still some time before he would know of it.

Meanwhile, the atmosphere within the room became heavy. After a period of silence, Nun Juji spoke.

“Everyone, go see the children.”

Everyone, get out. That was how everyone heard it. And so, there were only Nun Juji and Aurri within the room.

While Aurri was confused, Nun Juji went on to inspect the child. As someone who had already stepped into the Mid Physique Establishment Realm, Nun Juji is familiar with the changes in one’s body after one begins their Ascension.

Ascension, the word may seem heavy, but it is common for people in the Eimterra to go through Ascension. ‘Moving or rising up’ is its literal meaning.

Ascension only starts at the age of ten and so on. Typically, children will only know of it at the age of nine so that they are prepared once they reach the age of ten. But that applies to ordinary people. A child is more talented the earlier their Ascension starts.

It is not impossible to start at age seven like Aurri. Still, they are considered geniuses, students of top schools, children with a noble bloodline, and children chosen by the church. Out of all those categories, Aurri could only fall into being a genius.

Nun Juji knows who Aurri’s parents are. They left their child at the orphanage since they couldn’t afford to feed another mouth. After confirming that they are indeed poor and just not trying to find an excuse to get rid of the child, the orphanage accepted Aurri when he was still a child. His parents are nothing special. They may be an eccentric couple who disguised themselves as poor people. However, the chances of that happening are so slim that Nun Juji felt silly for considering that possibility.

After the inspection, her jaw dropped.

A genius!

Nun Juji wiped the sweat from his forehead. No, if she’s not wrong and Aurri did break through his mortality by entering the state of Ascension, then he’s more than a genius!

Even if one child had begun their Ascension a day earlier than the others, they are considered more talented than average.

Not just that but those geniuses who started at age seven had masters guiding them. Meanwhile, they haven’t even explained to Aurri what Ascension means, let alone guiding him! Even if they are guiding him, are any of them considered masters? No!

This could only mean Aurri was secretly being trained by an unknown master for some reason, or Aurri was blessed by the heavens.

The former shouldn’t be possible, Nun Juji thought. If it was any other child, she might consider it, but Aurri is the problem child who’s always being taken care of. From what she knew, today was the only time that Aurri went with the other kids and got a bit far from the orphanage.

So, is there a secret master among the caretakers? Nun Juji felt a headache since that question was stupid.

That only leaves the latter possibility, Aurri is blessed by the heavens…

Nun Juji has no evidence to support this theory, but she also lacks evidence to deny it. The more seconds passed, the more Nun Juji felt it was the only explanation. All her body hair stood up while the sensation of being electrified crawled every inch of her body.

“Aurri… go to your bed.”

Nun Juji suddenly felt fatigued. She calmed herself and decided that it was better to consult this with the priest first thing in the morning. If her speculations are correct, then not just Passing Wind Valley but even the whole Sundenn Province will become a mess.

Depending on how she handled this, this may become a Godsend opportunity or their destruction.

Afterward, Nun Juji had the longest night of her life…

When the sunlight reached his eyes, bells rang throughout the orphanage, waking the children.

Aurri was woken by this as well. The caretaker who was ringing the bell shouted, “Wake up! Wake up! It’s time for your breakfast, children!”

It took them some time, but the half-awake children lined up and followed the caretaker with the bell and into the dining area. Those in charge of today’s service were already awake and helping the caretakers serve food.

While everything was going, as usual, Giel, one of the bullies, pointed at Aurri while tugging Flip.

“Hey, hey!”

“What!?” Flip replied, annoyed. He, too, had a sleepless night then Giel started becoming annoying and tugging his shirt.

“I-isn’t that Aurri?”

When Flip heard the name ‘Aurri,’ he immediately followed the direction Giel was pointing. There, he saw Aurri lining up for breakfast as if nothing had happened.

Relief immediately rushed towards Flip. His expression turned 180 while his angry frown turned into a beaming smile. Except for his deep eyebags, it would seem that Flip was full of energy.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Not just him but the others were relieved as well. It seemed that they had escaped the punishment plaguing their thoughts.

Seeing the group of bullies walk toward him, Aurri didn’t lower his head in fear, which was very unusual. The caretakers knew this, but they just kept an eye on them. At this point, they can’t stop the bullying on Aurri, but they can stop the bullies if they go overboard.

“It’s good to see you’re well, crybaby.” Flip said with a huge smile. Upon getting closer, he realized the Aurri didn’t even have a bandage on him, especially his head.

But, we clearly saw him hit his head when he fell from the tree. Flip exchanged looks with his friends. They all had the same thoughts. They even saw blood covering Aurri’s head which slightly scarred them.

However, it is as if none of that happened.

When Flip approached Aurri, other kids in line gave them space, but Aurri rolled his eyes back to the serving table as if he was not the one Flip was talking to.

“Hey, are you ignoring us!?” Giel hot-bloodedly asked.

“Tsk” Aurri replied.

The bullies had their eyes widened. Wait, is this guy really Aurri? He doesn’t act like he usually does.

“Did you just click your tongue, crybaby?” Flip was about to grab Aurri’s collar but was stopped when someone grabbed his wrist.

“Hey,” the boy who stopped Flip muttered.

Seeing this boy, Flip raised an eyebrow, “You’re protecting the crybaby again, Luca?”

Luca?

Aurri was a bit disappointed that someone stopped Flip. If Flip took the first move, it wouldn’t be his fault if he fought back, right?

Seeing this boy named Luca, Aurri racked his head and recalled that this was not the first time that this boy had tried to help Aurri.

Luca is the same as Aurri. They are both quiet and have no friends. The only difference between the two is that Luca fights back when provoked. Although he couldn’t defeat Flip and his friends all by himself, the fact that he fought before made Flip not target him much.

When Flip switched targets and began bullying Aurri, Luca always stepped in to help. However, while Luca was having a fight with Flip and his friends, the original Aurri did nothing but watch.

Luca didn’t step in the fourth time Flip and his friends found trouble with Aurri. If Aurri couldn’t even assist him, why would he continue helping? Luca clearly remembered how Aurri looked at him that day.

That kid was expecting him to do something. That made Luca determined not to help him ever again.

However, for some reason, Luca stepped in again between Flip and Aurri.

I wonder what happened. Aurri thought.

Luca didn’t reply to Flip and just glared. Flip, who was taller and broader than the two, laughed. There was no way he would be intimidated when six of them were there.

He is the tyrant of the orphanage, except for the adults. No one can stop him.

“You wanna fight?” Flip snickered and said with a low voice. But before hearing a response, Flip pulled his left hand that Luca was grabbing and gave a right hook, not caring that they were still within the orphanage.

The worst that can happen is that their wrists will get slapped while being scolded by Nun Juji.

Flip was used to other children giving way to him, so he wanted to teach Luca a lesson again. But instead of his fist colliding with Luca’s face, Flip hit the air and received a kick to the stomach, making him drop to his back.

“Argh!” Flip grunted with a thud.

“Flip, you little brat! Stop right there!” one of the caretakers immediately bellowed, thinking Flip had started another fight. But when she saw the scene, she shut her mouth.

It was Flip who was on the floor, hurt.

“... what happened?” the caretaker asked, a little confused.

Luca’s eyes went to Aurri and Flip multiple times, not knowing what had also happened. When he stepped in, he didn’t expect Flip to be fiercer than before, actually starting the fight before he spoke. However, before Flip’s punch hit him, he felt a tug behind him. The next moment, he just saw Flip on the floor with a pained expression.

“Miss Roise! Flip did nothing wrong! Aurri kicked him!” Giel immediately pointed at Aurri with a shocked expression. It took him a while to process what just happened, but since an opportunity showed up, he immediately took it.

Miss Roise, the caretaker, blinked a few times and looked at Aurri. This little coward kicked the bully? She didn’t even consider it.

Seeing Miss Roise’s eyes land on him, Aurri innocently pointed back, “He started it.”

“What!? No, we didn’t! It was you who started it!” Giel said, and his friends supported him.

“Yeah, you kicked him!”

“We were doing nothing bad!”

“You are a bully!”

What are these kids saying? Aurri didn’t feel threatened by their accusations. It’s obvious who Miss Roise will believe.

“Shut up! You six are getting detention!” Miss Roise angrily roared. She would believe it more if Flip and his gang were putting up this act to frame Aurri. But as dumb kids, this act was spectacularly poorly executed.

Unfortunately for Flip and his friends, although the three caretakers kept eyeing them, Aurri’s kick happened when none of them were looking.

“W-what!?” Flip didn’t get why. He was hurt, but he’s still getting detention, “This isn’t fair!” He threw a tantrum and cried.

Seeing this, Aurri felt like he had done something terrible. In the original Aurri’s perspective, Flip is like a devil who’s there to make his life worse. However, Aurri now is not the same as before. Even though he’s in a seven-year-old body, he feels he’s being petty and childish by retaliating against a nine-year-old kid. Although a bully, Flip is just a kid. Aurri thought he could have handled this better.

Well, there’s always next time. Aurri didn’t mind it as much and ignored Flip’s glare as they were brought to the detention hall. However, he couldn’t help but think, isn’t Flip too harsh for his age? Aurri felt like he kicked an adult instead of a nine-year-old. If he wasn’t used Sparta-kicking people, he doubted Flip would fall from that kick alone.

“Y-you’re amazing.”

Aurri looked at Luca, who stared at him with sparkling eyes. Aurri sent the big bully, Flip, away with one swift kick. This was already incredible in Luca’s eyes.

“Hehe, that’s right!”

“Are you really Aurri?” Luca then asked with clenched eyebrows.

To this, Aurri just smiled. How could he answer that?

Last night, Aurri’s thoughts were already bugged with so many things. One of them was a dilemma of whether he should act like the original Aurri or not.

In the end, Aurri chose not to. First of all, Aurri wasn’t confident in always acting like a coward and a crybaby. He was sure that the caretakers wouldn’t suspect him of anything.

Could they guess that he’s from another universe? Even if they imagined it, they would just think they were crazy.

The only thing that Aurri fears is the Demon. Only the Demon would be wary of someone like him who was sent by the Ascended.

However, Aurri didn’t worry that much. Unless he has the shittiest luck again, with how big this world is, how could he encounter the Demon so quickly?

Thus, Aurri didn’t put up an act. Not only is it hard, but it may creep others out. On the other hand, he just has to hide his mature side. Acting like the original Aurri is tough but acting like a child free from responsibilities is joyous. Aurri is a bit excited.

Back to the dining hall, Luca joined Aurri during breakfast. Although Aurri didn’t answer his question, Luca didn’t even ask for real.

Meanwhile, everyone glanced at Aurri, wondering if he had hit his head. Noticing their glances, Aurri internally replied:

Why, yes, I did hit my head.

Fortunately, kids are kids. After a bit of curiosity, they went back to eating. However, Aurri’s image began to change within these kids’ minds.

Back to Aurri and Luca, the former was surprised to see the usual quiet lone wolf, Luca, was suddenly being talkative. But it’s not like Aurri hates it or anything. On the contrary, he enjoyed his company.