Lily's daily life

"Hmm..."

The ray of light that entered from the hole she called a window awoke Lily. Beside her, on the same bed that Shui had slept on, was her little sister. The little girl was latched on to her waist, so though she didn't want to, Lily had to disturb this adorable sleeping face.

"Sia, it's time to get up."

"Mmm..."

After a little shake, Sia began rubbing her eyes and then slowly opened them.

"Good morning."

"Good morning, big sister."

The cute, chubby face that turned to her filled Lily's heart with happiness. Seeing this face everyday kept her determination strong.

Once they were both awake, the two came out of the room and went behind the house to get water from the well to wash their faces. Not too long ago, getting water to wash their faces in the morning would be a miracle, but with the money they got from hunting, they were able to move out from the slums. Although their current house was barely enough for all five of them, it was a great improvement, especially since the house had a bathroom.

"Sia, go wake up your brothers."

Once they were finished at the well, Lily sent Sia off to the room where their brothers slept while she went to the kitchen and dining area. Now that they had funds to spare, they could afford to have three meals a day.

While Lily was busy making rice porridge, her younger siblings entered the room, with the exception of Ryan, and sat at the table. Recently, Ryan would always wake up earlier than Lily to jog or swing his sword. This was especially the case after she told him about Shui's apparent age. After he heard the news, he was lifeless for majority of the day and barely had the motivation to eat. Luckily he was very simple-minded, so the next day he was seriously training his sword skills.

As they waited for the rice porridge to be finished, the siblings, Sia and her older twin brothers, joyfully chattered. The topics of their conversation would generally be random, but recently it was the same subject. The twins would bring it up and then Sia would join in with her opposing opinions. That was the usual format.

"Big Bro Ryan said he stopped a carnage deer with his bare fists! I wish I was that strong." said one of the twins.

Sia responded, "Hmph, you're making him too much of a big deal. I bet big brother Ryan was just exaggerating. Well, compared to you, anyone would be strong though."

"Hey!"

At this moment, the other twin spoke.

"Calm down Josh, it's just the cruel truth."

"You two!"

During such a conversation, the final member of their family entered the room.

"Is breakfast ready yet?"

"Almost."

When he heard Lily's response, Ryan nodded and then took his regular seat at the table.

"Big Bro, did Mr. Shin really stop a carnage deer with his bare hands?"

As soon as he sat down, one of the twins, Josh, asked him that question.

"Yeah. It was really cool I tell you. It was charging at Lily but he caught it with one hand and it couldn't even move."

There were two occasions where Ryan would speak in an excited tone like this; when he was talking about swords and when he was talking about Shui. Even after learning that Shui was likely much younger than him, his respect for him still remained. In fact, Shui's position was elevated even further.

"That's so cool! Can you do that big bro?" the other twin, Ross, asked.

"Well, maybe, not, but I could I kill one in a single strike though."

""Woah!""

The twins looked at their big brother with admiration in their eyes. Even though he wasn't lying, it did feel a bit embarrassing since he had to divert the point of the question to make himself look better. It was especially hard on him due to the glare from Sia and the way she shook her head that screamed, 'so you can't do it.'

"Okay, it's ready."

Before Sia could press on that topic further, it was time for breakfast. The meal was done without any needless talking and the time seemed to flash by. After finishing breakfast and washing the wooden bowls, Lily changed into her worker clothes, a woollen vest and pants.

"I need to go to Workers' Association so look after the kids."

"Why? Oh, okay have a good trip."

At first Ryan wondered why Lily was going to the Workers' Association when they agreed to have a break day, but then he remembered that they needed to feed someone.

After leaving their house, Lily went straight to the Workers' Association building, but she didn't even need to enter the building since she found Rut waiting for her at the entrance.

It was starting to get cold, but he still had on a sleeveless jacket without a shirt under it. As soon as he saw her, he lowered his head and waited for the pills to reach into his extended hands. Since she had gotten the recipe from Shui and the ingredients weren't too expensive, Lily was now responsible for the pet in front of her.

"Here."

She handed him the two pills before turning her back to him. Not long ago, just the sight of this man made her knees buckle in fear, but now she didn't want to see him for a different reason. She didn't want to see the pitiful sight of the bully submitting to her.

"Is that you Lily?"

"You look well."

"How're your siblings doing?"

"They're good."

On her way back, Lily was greeted by a few shop owners. These were people who wouldn't even glance at her when she was poor, but after a few purchases it was as if they were long-time friends. It was discomforting but she had learnt to smile and accept it. Just like Shui had once told her, only the strong could do whatever they wanted.

"I'm back."

"Welcome back, big sis."

"Yeah."

When she returned, she was greeted by the twins who were swinging wooden sticks beside Ryan who swung his sword in its sheath. The boys were always like this so she was used to this sight. After returning she changed her clothes and then started doing a few chores. During this time, Sia would normally be taking a nap so she tried not to make too much noise and wake her up. Lily wished their little siblings could make friends around their age but she didn't plan on forcing them. She wasn't a good example after all.

At the end of her chores, Lily made lunch and called everyone to the table. Lunch was basically leftovers from last night's dinner, but that was an improvement for them. It wasn't long before they finished lunch and the younger siblings started leaving. However before they could leave, Lily held them back.

"Have you three been studying?"

All three awkwardly turned away their faces and even Ryan quickly got of the room. He knew how to read and write but still didn't want anything to do with that abominable term.

Lily looked at her three siblings before shaking her head and sighing, which made them lower their heads.

For children who had grown up in the slums, it was very odd that Lily and Ryan knew how to read. This was the accomplishment of their mother, one of her final parting gifts. Their mother was the heiress of a merchant group, however she fell in love with their father, who was a local thug. That ruined everything. After her family found out about her relationship with him, and that she was even pregnant, they disowned her. The man brought her to Cyrus and sucked out all of her remaining funds before getting himself killed because he racked up too many gambling debts. And that wasn't the worst of it. After he died, the debts were forced on their mother.

At that time Ryan had just learnt how to walk, but she had to work to pay back the debts. Luckily, due to her background she had the knowledge and skills to get employed by a small merchant who owned an antique store. He also allowed her to bring her kids as long as they didn't make any trouble. It would have been the ideal workplace if he didn't have ulterior motives. Over the years the merchant constantly forced himself on their mother despite having a wife and kids. Even when she got pregnant he only told her to get rid of them. But their mother was too soft to do that. Even if she kept getting used by useless men, she couldn't give up her kids.

Maybe things would have been different if she looked for another job, but news travelled fast in Cyrus. The merchant had enough influence in the town to prevent her from getting another decent job if she quit, so she simply endured. When she reached ten, Lily wanted to find a job as well, but her mother refused. She didn't want her daughter to face the hardships she did. She loved her children with all of her heart, right up until she died.

It was two years after giving birth to Sia. It started as a simple fever, but then she got dizzy and frequently vomitted. Due to her illness, Lily asked her boss to let her take a break from work but he straight out fired her. He said he didn't want 'bad goods'. That was the first time Lily felt intense hate for someone. However, she was too weak and young to do anything about it.

After their mother died when Lily turned fourteen, they were orphans, the perfect target for slave merchants. If it wasn't for the cultivation method she found under one of their floorboards when she was ten, the family would have long been split up. By somehow cultivating that method, Lily and Ryan had enough strength to fight off adults and do odd jobs as workers.

Up until they met Shui, their life was a series of misfortunate incidents and Lily didn't want that to continue.

"I know you don't like studying, but you know it's for your own good right?"

The three nodded and looked at Lily's gentle expression.

"We'll study."

"Good. Since I'm free, I'll help you."