Chapter 3

The desert was truly an interesting place. It was where nature liked to play with different aspects of itself. In this case temperature. During the day the sun shone hard and the dry winds blew without mercy. Then, when night came, everything was reversed. The temperature dropped significantly, enough to freeze water sometimes.

This phenomenon was one of the many, many things that made life in Vacuo's desert a constant struggle for survival.

A struggle that Robin was currently experiencing as well. True, the tribe was well stocked on blankets and Hilda made sure to give them some of the thicker ones since they were small children. Unfortunately, it was not enough to guarantee a comfortable sleep. They won't freeze, but in no way were they warm.

Thankfully, after some time, the exhaustion of today's events caught up with Robin and he passed out like a light.

Morning came with a gust of hot air, bringing an unpleasant end to an even more unpleasant night. It took Robin a few minutes to reorient himself and take in his new reality. He tentatively stood up. The other children were still asleep, not that he had a bond with any of them, judging by his memories.

When he arrived yesterday and after the beating he gave Vance and his two friends his body was already at the peak of exhaustion. The ecstasy of being reincarnated was the only thing that gave him enough energy to carry on.

Now, having eaten and slept, he had enough energy to seriously contemplate his situation. His status as an impoverished orphan was less than ideal, but he would make do. At least he didn't have to find food and shelter.

The situation with Vance should have come to an end. After what happened yesterday they should be wary of him. Robin was not worried about them involving older boys or their relatives. Life in the tribe did not allow for such fancy wastes of time as bullying. It was something only small children could do. All teenagers and adults on the other hand were hard at work all day, trying to sustain themselves.

No one would give a damn about Vance's words.

Robin would have wished to move to a more safe environment, with better conditions, maybe find a way to gain some personal power for safety. Unfortunately, he was extremely limited by the fact that his body was too underdeveloped.

'Speaking of my body…' With a thought, he brought forward his new appendage. It felt strange having a tail, but the discomfort was only mental. His body felt at ease, like having a fury extension of your spine coming out of your lower back was completely natural. Robin didn't know what to think about it honestly.

Also, was he some kind of different species, like a beast-man? He looked human, the only exception being his tail. Were there other people like him? Now that he thought about it, he did see someone with fox ears last night. So it was something normal?

Well, no one made a fuss about it for now so he left it alone. If it brought him any advantages or disadvantages he will see in the future. At this moment he had to think about improving his situation.

Unfortunately, he lacked information. The previous Robin only cared about playing with his toy and messing around. It was completely normal behavior for a child his age, but that left an unfortunate gap in his knowledge. Something he had to fix soon.

"Good morning everyone! Oh, you're already awake Robin." Hilda came in, carrying what he assumed was breakfast. Thinking of food he found another problem. They were only given two meals a day, breakfast and supper. The food was bland and not very nutritious. Enough to live, not enough for any intense activity.

He remembered one of his fellow orphans asking about meat. Apparently, it was only reserved for specific members of the tribe like the hunters and the gatherers. They did not even have enough for all the adults let alone for them. Even Hilda only ate meat only once or twice a week and she was the chieftain's daughter.

Speaking of her…" Miss Hilda, can I ask you some stuff?" Robin tried to act more like a five-year-old kid. He couldn't afford to act strange and risk alienation from the very people he depended on to live.

As much as the thought of having his life in someone else's hands sickened him, he had to play possum for now.

Hilda just finished waking everyone up and was now distributing breakfast. Black bread and an apple. He winced internally when he got his portion. He won't develop well if he keeps eating like this.

"Sure, what do you want to know?" Hilda asked him curiously.

"What are the Grimm?" Robin was, of course, going to ask about these deadly creatures. Everyone seemed to take their existence for granted for some reason.

He watched as Hilda visibly cringed. "Ah, that, well I guess you'd ask about them. Since your parents…" The last part she seemed to have said involuntarily, but Robin heard her nonetheless. 'Ah, right, my parents were killed by these creatures. At least I have a legitimate reason to ask.'

"Eat first then come find me at the big wagon, you know where that is right?" One of the main forms of transportation the nomadic Yiaya had. It had specially crafted wheels made specifically for traversing the desert's terrain.

" I know. I'll come."

With that, she left. Robin silently ate the bread and apple, as did most of the other kids. No one bothered him thankfully. He didn't have anything against those kids, but he had other things on his mind besides making friends.

He left the tent, wincing as the sun flashed on his skin, already burning strong. He began walking in the direction he remembered, curiously looking around the tribe. Honestly, he felt like he was in some native Indian village in the wild west. People walked with a purpose, most of them already up and about with duties to take care of.

At first glance everything looked peaceful, a normal child would have thought so. But Robin easily saw otherwise. The weapon racks, the elder man teaching a few youths how to use a spear, the group of women making arrowheads, the armed men patrolling. Yes, it was peaceful, but it won't always be. Everybody here knew that.

Was it the Grimm or maybe some other tribe they were readying for? Robin didn't know and that made him very uneasy. It was bad enough that he could not defend himself against danger, but not knowing what he was up against was even worse.

It took him some time to navigate the maze-like settlement. If he didn't have his memories to rely on he would have most likely gotten lost.

Making a turn around a bigger tent, he reached the outskirts of the camp, where the wagons were usually placed as an improvised wall. He looked around and spotted the biggest one.

A few more steps through the sand and he found Hilda talking with another kid.

"...patient. You know your father will eventually take you hunting. Why are you so hurried?"

"I want dad to teach me so I can be strong like him!"

Hilda tilted her head to the side in confusion. " Why do you want to be strong?"

The boy placed his hands on his hips and puffed his chest out. " What kind of man would I be if wasn't strong enough to protect you?"

Hilda gave a small laugh at the boy's antics. She pinched his cheeks and smiled at him.

"Oh, such a cute little man wants to protect me?"

"Geh, stop it Hilda it hurts!" Hilda was apparently merciful and released his now red cheeks.

"Well, if you want your dad to take you seriously you have to first stop being such a troublemaker Vance."

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