The big wheels spinning over the random arrangement of stones on the ground stopped. The horse-drawn carriage that we were riding arrived at the magnificent city of the Angelise kingdom. Capital of Angelise. The sound of chattering and birds chirping filled the fresh air during the day. There is a building in the form of a big city clock in the middle of the city that towers between the densely populated houses. If you look at the time from the clock, it just shows around twenty-one minutes past eleven, which means it's not yet noon. Even so, because the weather was sunny even the wisps of white clouds could be seen very clearly against the clear blue sky.
The ornaments carved in each house rhyme with the colorful merchandise arranged on the bamboo poles. Potted plants and summer flowers bloomed around the city. The hanging of the royal flag further fills the warmth that radiates from this city. Even I could find some people doing attractions near the city's big river.
"We're here!!" said Freya happily.
She carried Venus off the horse carriage. "How? Is there anything we want to buy first?" continued Freya.
I looked around me. I come here quite often, but usually I just hang around watching from above at night because I'm bored with Lily. And in my opinion, the view at night is no less beautiful than the city lights that are scattered on every street and house. Even so, the scenery during the day is really very colorful. You could say this is the first time I've set foot in this very bustling city.
"Mom, sister!!" Venus exclaimed suddenly.
The boy pointed at the grilled meat satay seller among the other food vendors. The place wasn't very crowded with customers, but there were still a few people who came to buy. From a distance you can already smell the aroma of their grilling, Venus is sure to be attracted by that.
"Venus? Didn't we eat earlier at home?" I asked in surprise. But Venus didn't care about my question and kept pointing at the satay seller.
"It's okay, you must be interested because of the delicious aroma, right? OK, we'll buy it." Freya said softly.
Right now our attire isn't as flashy as that of the royal family. Because it would definitely be a pain to enjoy this leisurely outing in a crowded place when everyone came up and recognized their queen's face. And the three of us only went because Aldrich was a king, of course he couldn't just leave his job. Even though there are only three of them, Freya is the strongest witch in the kingdom of Angelise. So even without escort we will be safe from unexpected attacks.
More precisely because there is me too hohoho….
We've been circling here for ten minutes fulfilling Venus' wishes. Starting from buying snacks, toys, and many other things. I could see Freya was a little overwhelmed as Venus kept pulling her from shop to shop. Luckily Freya understood what she had to do by creating a storage magic circle. Venus doesn't want to buy everything, she only buys one thing. But if food he buys quite a lot. I think this kid should be taught how to save money and not be extravagant from a young age like this. Freya asked me to pick something I wanted too but I just nodded and asked permission to separate myself from the two of them for a bit. Of course with the reason of wanting to find what items I want to buy.
"This is a very rare item, you have to be careful."
The whisper caught my attention. I approached slowly to an alley where only a few people were passing around the narrow alley. I could see that there were four of them, two big people, and a small child with white hair lifting wooden boxes that were quite large in size. I assume the little boy looks very desperate and tired because his clothes are so shabby.
Braakkk…
A medium-sized wooden box fell while being lifted by the little boy. And I could see glowing yellow stones of different sizes scattering from inside the box. There are even some that look cracked and broken.
[ Name : Fallen Star Stone ]
[ Use : Strengthens weapons, cures diseases, can open level 1 seal ? ]
System?...
The system circle I made from my original world showed its screen on the rocks. Only I can see this system unless I allow anyone to see it. Since the system circle is tied to my soul the same as Lily's, I think it should indeed work while I'm in Valencia's body. After ten years of not being able to use it, it looks like it's back even though it can't show the detailed descriptions like it used to.
Unsealing, this seems interesting. So what do you mean by that question mark? Why are you unsure of the information you processed??
"You reckless!! Are you stupid or what?! If this item breaks, can a poor useless kid like you pay for it?!" shouted a big man among them.
"Ah.. forgive me.." begged the boy.
The kid even knelt down before the man with lumps of muscle and a dragon tattoo on his hand. Maybe if that guy said he was a martial artist or weightlifter, I'd believe him right away.
"Ha! Useless bastard!! Do it right or I will throw you away!" said the friend of the big man.
"D.. don't dad.."
Is that muscled-up scary guy his father? From the face and hair color are not similar, even the flow of the aura is not the same. Seriously…
Everyone certainly has a different flow of aura. Aura flow is like a fingerprint. But the difference is that the thin threads in the flow of aura that are related by blood, have their own resemblance. It looks like a DNA strand but is more subtle and subtle. What made it so was because the streams of aura coexisted in the blood arteries of living beings. That's why there are still similarities in the flow of aura in biological families. However it had no impact with their main elemental magic. It can be said that not all elementals are inherited.
And sometimes to kill someone easily is to explode the aura flow by blocking it at the main vital point of the body.
I shook my head to get rid of the worst possible thought I wanted to do to those freaks. Rope root. I slowly brought out the root of the rope to take out the piece of rock that the system called a fallen star stone.
I didn't steal it, I'll pay you later, don't worry...
"Sister!!"
That call really took me by surprise. I turned around and found Venus was trotting towards me with Freya smiling behind her. I could feel the people I was looking at just now being alerted by the sudden shout. I lost traces of my aura the moment I came to the center of town, and so did Freya. However, it is different for children aged three years who cannot control their aura traces like most adults.
"There's someone approaching, cover this wooden box with a magic cloak. Let's hide first!" whispered someone from inside the alley.
I felt a little relieved that they chose to leave rather than approach us. Because I'm sure I'll look like a rat who was caught eavesdropping and even taking something that seemed very valuable to them. I decided to walk closer to Venus and Freya so they wouldn't get too close to the alley.
"Sister what are you doing?" Venus asked innocently.
"I,m just looking around. Are you two done yet?" I asked.
I can see the luggage being carried by some of Freya's men.
Are you two sure to buy this much?? And why doesn't Freya use storage magic circle like before??
"Hmm mom, why don't you store those things in the storage magic circle like before?" I asked.
"Storage magic circle? What's that?" asked back Freya confused.
Ah what I saw just now wasn't storage magic like I meant? Then what was that? I closed my mouth silently while Freya looked at the ring on the ring finger on her right hand.
"Ah, what do you mean this is my daughter? Haha this is a storage artifact, not a magic circle," Freya said while showing a ring with a bright green precious stone on it.
"And I think this artifact is full because you can't put anything else in. Mother only brought one problem," she continued.
A storage artifact. I honestly didn't know that in this world they used some kind of artifact to store things. I've seen it in other places, in different worlds to be precise, but here it's my first time seeing it. Being cooped up in the palace with only focus on gathering aura for ten years had really left me behind on some information about this world.
"Okay, since Venus is tired and wants to go back, before you go home have you found something you want to buy?" asked Freya softly.
To be honest from the start I didn't want to buy anything. If I asked for a dagger, I'm sure Freya would scold me since I'm still a ten year old child right now. However, what if it's just like this.
"Yes, I want to buy something mom."
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A dim light glistened under the perfect full moon. The dim stars above the thin clouds are blown by a gentle breeze full of calm. The cold air that feels warm at night attracts fireflies in the beautiful garden that adorns the city's lotus pond. A friendly city full of peace and warmth in every smile of its citizens who are now resting. And in that calm there is a boy's painful cry, full of sorrow, crying over his life's destiny as a useless actor even in his own life story.
"We're down, Lily."
The feathers from the strong white wings fell slowly to the ground. Not up to the ground, I jumped down and the white wolf again flew away. I approached the white-haired man who was sitting quietly hugging his legs, on a large tree located on the outskirts of the city. He didn't even notice me even when I was a few steps away from where he was sitting.
I've been watching that little boy from above ever since he was chased out by a man from a house that seemed to be his father. His body looked drenched because he was flooded with water from the people in the house. He ran to hold back his tears and stopped in front of a large tree which was quite far from the location of the house. The little boy decided to climb the tree and stay there.
"Are you hungry?" I asked.
I could see he was very surprised and lost his balance there, and then fell from the branch of the big tree he was climbing.
"..w, who are you?" asked the little boy haltingly.
Do I need to introduce myself?
"I'm just a moment, I want to pay for your goods." I said while showing the fallen star stone that I took this afternoon.
He looked even more surprised and silently watched this stone. He got up and spoke again in a very low voice.
"Th.. that's n, not mine.. a, and how did you get that item from them?"
"Are you stuttering? Speak casually and look at the other person." I replied casually.
The boy was silent and chose to lower his head. I took a deep breath and looked back at the person in front of me seriously.
"I apologize in advance for eavesdropping on you in that quiet alley-"
"What?! Y.. you were there this afternoon?" asked the boy suddenly by staring right into my eyeballs.
He dared to interrupt my speech. Even though it wasn't clear when he spoke.
I paused and closed my eyes in response to his question. I sharpened my hearing for fear of mishearing a voice that I felt was getting closer. And it was true, there were footsteps approaching this place.
This flow of aura…
"H, how is this.. that's a valuable item they have for sale.. if it, it's gone.. i, I.." the little boy muttered more and more in fear.
"Oh!! Found it! Looks like you're here!!" shouted someone from behind me.
"Come here and work some more, you useless bastard!!" he continued.
I looked at the frightened face of the innocent child in front of me who was also struggling to swallow the empty wind in his mouth. I put the fallen star stone back in my magic scroll and turned to look at someone who just came interrupting. The tall thin person was carrying a bottle of alcohol in his right hand. He was not alone, there was another person behind him but he looked more drunk than the person in front of him.
"Why are you silent?! Come here you idiot!!" shouted the man.
"I.. don't want it, dad.." squeaked the little boy behind me.
I could hear his heart pounding so fast and his breath of fear that is not abysmal. I'm sure right now her wish is to run away from these freaks.
No wonder it feels familiar, it turns out he was an annoying person this afternoon huh..
"Do you want to be separated from this person?" I asked slowly while glancing back.
"YOU DON'T HEAR ME HUH?? GET OVER HERE!!" shouted the man again.
"If you say 'yes', I will make it happen." I said again to the little boy.
I could see that the boy was looking down deeply, fighting with his will and logic.
"DAMN IT!! FUCKING USED CHILDREN!!" shouted the man who was getting angry because he didn't respond at all.
The man raised the alcohol bottle high, preparing to throw it at the innocent child in front of him.
"Help.."
"I'll show you something interesting."
I said relaxed after hearing the soundless squeak. I looked back at the man and swung my right hand from left to right quickly.
Tuk… Praakk…
"HIIIIIIIII!!!!!"
The man's head dropped like an apple from a tree without a scream. The alcohol bottle fell down along with the blood that started to spread over the thin grass on the gravel ground that was stepped on. The man behind looked very shocked after screaming and trying to run away with his legs shaking violently. Slightly attractive smile, sharp gaze fixed on the man.
You think I'll let you go?
A dark blue chain with a carved dragon head at the end appeared and entangled the man who wanted to escape. The sharp teeth at the mouth of the chain bite into the holes of the chain to lock it tightly. I walked closer to him who was trying to break free from the strong chain coils. I placed my hand directly above his head and a system circle appeared around me, showing the memory this man had experienced.
Acts of violence, theft, money laundering, harassment, human trafficking, distribution of illegal goods. I know wherever I meet even the most 'friendly' world, there will always be people like this. I don't know how to respond to this, it's just that there is one thing that bothers me about this person's memory fragments. The cut stopped just as this person met a group of people dressed all in black. My head was so dizzy as that part played like a movie in front of my eyes. Because a moment after that, I was already out of the memory reading magic circle.
What's this? Does it really eat up that much magic aura or is there something that is deliberately covered up? Then what was that?
"You seem to have committed all sorts of crimes, correct?" I asked.
"And maybe it's time for you to be punished, right?"
Really, this is fun!!..
"You! Demon!" shouted the man furiously.
"Don't be rude to children, that's not a good example uncle." I said.
A magical aura surrounds us both. Magic circles appeared below and above in opposite rotation. It was as if the man's screams of pain were inaudible because the rotation of the aura that was getting faster and faster made the ears blind to the sound. A round of magic appeared right in front of my hand and was ready to wait for my next command.
"Go to the palace, meet the king and admit all the mistakes you have made while you were alive. And don't tell anyone who told you to report." I said firmly.
"Okay.."
The magic aura began to subside and disappear. The man got up after I released the chain seal and walked slowly towards the palace. Even though I'm currently covered in a cloak, I would prefer to anticipate him not divulging who ordered it. Because I know, palace bloodhounds are amazing because I've seen them myself during my stay in this world.
Aldrich was the greatest royal sword master in this Angelise kingdom. So it's no wonder that he became a formidable and very powerful king, because actually the true royal blood of this Angelise kingdom is the queen, Freya the mother of Valencia. And they are very anti against the crimes that occur in their area. Therefore this city is always peaceful because actually their king and queen will not hesitate to punish anyone who commits a crime.
Despite the fact that they are very, very filled with love and affection for their children. I guess this is why there are still some crimes that get away with it..
I turned around and found the white haired boy hugging his legs while hiding his scared face. I took out the aura of storage magic in the form of a scroll and walked over to the boy.
You have to appreciate my efforts in requesting these items from Venus.. Boy, I had no idea he was planning on donating all of his items he bought earlier this afternoon to an orphanage and hardly any left knowing..
It's true, when we were crossing the bustle of the city this afternoon, Venus apparently saw an orphanage in the middle of the city which was bustling with children playing near the city's big park. Maybe that's where he decided to buy lots of food and toys because he wanted to share with them.
I have to apologize too for having bad thoughts about that child. I thought he would be a very extravagant child for his own sake..
"I know you're hungry and cold. Eat and change clothes." I said flatly while handing over the bread and clothes I asked for from my mother's offer.
The boy raised his head and showed clear beads on his eyelids.
He cries..
"Don't look at me with that pitiful look of yours, take this." I said back.
He stretched out his hands which seemed to be trembling, trying to take the clothes and food that I gave him. After he got it, he lowered his head and stared silently at the items. Then got up and kept his head down before me like a scared little mouse.
"Thank you.." he said sincerely.
His height and mine are not too far away, I can see his sad eyes that are very tired of accepting the situation that happened to him. His long white hair covered his right eye down to his chin.
"Change behind the tree," I told him because the boy just kept silent.
He slightly bent his body and turned around, walking towards the back of the big tree that he used to complain his sorrowful tears. I turned around and crossed my arms over my chest. I'm going to start asking him some things I want to know.
"How old are you?" my first question.
Silence slowly.
"Twelve, this year.." he replied in a low voice.
"What did you do together with those people?"
"Ah, I had to. I'm trying to stay alive..."
"Is the man I slashed earlier really your father?"
Silence. To be honest, I was quite amazed because he didn't say anything after seeing what I did earlier. I don't know maybe because he was quiet or not brave. The silence was long enough for me to tap lightly on the ground I stepped on with my shoe.
"No."
His words sounded firmer and bolder than before. I closed my eyes and started to think about what other questions I wanted to ask.
"He adopted me from a suburban orphanage. I'm just a child that was abandoned by my original family for being useless. Many of the children raised to be workers and laborers. Even some of them were persecuted to death." Said the child slowly but clearly and painfully.
"What's your name?" I asked finally.
"Carl.. Christopher."
The name is good, doesn't it sound like from a high family?
"Are you sure you were banished for being useless?" I asked again.
I turned around and found the boy already standing behind me with his head down. He had finished changing by the time of the third question. I looked straight into his eyes which he directed downwards towards the ground.
"Don't you think that they threw you out because they were afraid of you?"
The question hit his head on. Because I could see him immediately looked up and showed his surprised face for the umpteenth time.
Exactly.. my eyesight is not wrong..
I'm not going to carelessly help people if that person doesn't interest me the first time I see it. There was something strange about him that I had a hard time defining because it felt so weak. In fact, it was already very strange for ordinary people to see a 12 year old with white hair in this world.
Though to be honest, my real body also had jet white hair. But that's because of Ruu's power..
"It's okay, you don't have to answer that. The point is now I have paid the price of this stone." I continued while taking out the fallen star stone.
"But I guess my efforts look like it's useless if it only goes up to here." I chuckled and walked closer to Carl.
"Don't you want to get stronger?"
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