Chapter 10: Friend

Thanks to Rena, I'm no longer scared of the judgement from others, if she could push through, living in a continent built upon racist ideas about Demons, I could do the same. It's not like I'm in either of those situations but the same thing applies.

I walked across the snowy fields, I am now almost six years old, it's been almost a year since Rena left, I don't really see anything to do, my drive to improve in magic is really starting to diminish, although I still would love to get stronger, right now I feel like I should enjoy my time as a child.

Well right now I'm already at a level of magic where not many can reach, if I just practice consistently I should still be able to improve.

I look at the beautiful peaceful snowy landscape, with every step I take, my feet sink deep into the soft snow on the field.

"So this is what snow is like!" I excitedly mutter to myself, throughout the years of my past life I never really went to places that had this much snow, I was more of a city boy, where I lived in Tokyo was relatively warm, although it's not actually the city it was pretty close to it. 

I never went skiing either, it's kind of a shame I didn't get to experience that, of course it was partly my fault.

"Shut up, you little filth!" A voice shouted from afar, echoing in the cold snowy fields, the voice was young, about five or six years old, the pitch of the kid's shout spiked as he said the word 'filth', there was hate in his voice, a sort of hate I myself is all too familiar with.

It was natural that I became interested in what was happening over there, maybe it was a squabble between friends or… Bullying. I had all the time in the world right now, I need to head back home yet, it's still pretty early in the afternoon, there was no reason for me to not get a glimpse at the situation, I mean if someone was getting bullied I would hope that I could help them. I know that it doesn't feel good, I know that all too well…

"Why not?" I shrugged before walking towards where the hostile sound was.

I hiked up the snowy slope up to the top of the small snow hill. A small girl leaned against the tall willow on the hill, her clothes stripped away leaving her in all but just a small piece of rag which covered her tiny body. The girl looked to be about four or five, she had long golden hair which was wet, she shivered as a stream of water ran down onto her body. 

I hid behind the thick trunk of a leafless tree, peeking out at the situation unfolding in front of me. There was a group of three young boys, about my age or maybe a little older, who stood above the little girl, looking down on her. One held a small leather sack in his hand, tipping it over and pouring the water inside onto the little girl, the boys crackled as they poured the freezing water onto the submissive girl.

The little girl shook as the icy cold water ran down her body, damping up the thin piece of rag she wore. The evil grins on the three boys' faces grew larger as they saw the suffering girl. 

One of the boys walked up to the tiny girl, he was fat, his body had the word 'ball' written all over it. A kick was launched, the hard bottom of the fat boy's snow shoes digging deep into the little girl's stomach, "That's what you deserve, you little runt!"

The girl wouldn't resist as the boys continued to kick her body, tears welled up in the little girl's eyes, her face scrunched up in pain as she tried to hold in her tears. I couldn't bear to watch this any longer, seeing this just gave me chills, not from the cold but from my past…

I blinked, a flash of my past blasted in my mind, I saw myself…

The painful memories flooded back into my brain, the horrible nightmares I had, the reason I once locked myself inside the safety of my tiny apartment, the final straw of making me the shut-in bum that I once was…

That tone of hostility, that tone of underclass, that tone of hatred… They remind me of the very tone that my once friends used as they ganged up on me atop the school roof, burying the hard tip of their black leather school shoes into my chest, stomach and legs. That was the tone of someone who used numbers to their advantage, tormenting the one beneath them. Maybe this only applied to me, but I am still pretty darn sure if they went one by one, I would have destroyed all of them back then…

"What do ya think this little runt would scream like if we buried her under the snow?" The fat boy asked.

"I don know man, I mean the other ones all cried and screamed for help." The other boy answered, his face twisted in a disgusting grin. 

"Who can say unless we try this one out? Maybe this one would cry even more, look at her trying to hold in her tears. Pathetic!" The boy lifted the little girl by her cheeks, crackling in her face before throwing her back onto the snow which was melting under their body heat becoming a hard mixture of cold water and ice.

I should stop them now, I thought, it was the ethical thing to do… There is this wise quote from the spider man movie right? Yeah. I should step in.

I walk out from my hiding space, stepping out into the light. 

I hold out my hand, aiming my palm at one of the boy's head. I began to image the spell, mixing the intermediate earth spell create-mud with the beginner water spell water-ball together, in front of my palm a brown orb of sludge hovers. 

I push another gush of mana out of the center of my palm, the orb of muddy sludge fling forward.

Splat—

The gooey brown liquid splats over the fat boy's face, the runny mud drips down his face and onto his clothes. 

"Haha," the boy next to him laughed out loud, carrying his stomach in his arms, "Did ya just get shit on by a bird?"

Pointing at the fat boy the other boy on the other side of the fat boy burst in laughter, as the uncontrollable laughter caused him to weep.

"Guys, it's not funny." The fat boy stomps on the floor, his arrogant tone becoming annoyed. 

Damn he's really some brat. I thought as I aimed another orb of sludge at the boy this time, I flinged the orb forward, this time a little faster than last time.

Smack—

This time instead of the watery splat sound, the impact of the orb made was a loud smack that echoed across the snowy wheat fields.

The other boys instantly became alert after the second orb of sludge, the boys scanned around the place looking for the culprit of the offence as the fat boy laid there on the floor clutching his muddy reddened face.

"It's dat boy ova there," one of the boys yelled, his finger pointed at me who stood behind a sparse bush.

"Are ya sure ya wanna mess with us!" The other boy yelled. 

I chuckled as I saw the two boys struggle to run towards me with their stubby legs, jogging up and down, their feet sinking deep into the snow with each step, creating small pot holes in the fluffy white snow piled up on the ground.

They ran about halfway from their original position to my spot.

"Okay then," I muttered, "This should be within range now."

I stretched my back before kneeling on the floor with on knee, disappearing behind the bush, I held my gloved hand against the floor, "May the divine blessings of the Goddess of Earth, Mother of all beings hear my plea, may I borrow thy power, slow my enemy, sink down and allow thee to show thy true prowess… Earth— Sinkhole—" I chanted softly but confidently.

By now, I have memorised a lot of the incantations of the commonly used spells. It wasn't as hard as I thought, I seem to have an improved memory, at least it's way better than before… Maybe this is just a side effect of being in that learning age.

I stand up, looking back at the shadow beneath the tree where only the little girl sat. There was no sign of the fat boy, just drops of mud and small potholes in the snow which led to the village. 

"It seems like he fled…" I grumbled, "I thought I could have taught him a lesson." I walk towards the little girl, undoing the sinkhole spell I did.

"You'll— You'll— pay for this!" One of the boys said before running away, heading in the direction of the town.

For the first time in my life… I have beaten the bullies, not that I have been bullied a lot, nonetheless that was an achievement in its own right.

As I approached the small girl, I noticed something odd about her, there were two tall spikes in her hair, like bed hair poking out like a sore thumb. She looks to be my age, although she might be a little younger given how skinny she looks, she had rather long eyelashes and long flowing golden locks. Her skin was perfect, smooth and pristine white, there was not even the slightest hint of imperfection on her skin. She was like your cute scared neighbour's cat, in addition to that she's a cutie.

She was the kind of girl that I would have liked when I was school aged and before I became the shut-in that I was. Not trying to brag or anything, I was kinda a looker back then, I had your jock build with that straight clean jawline to match the slightly tanned skin. I would know that because I would have multiple girls try to get my contacts almost everyday.

Sigh— If I was just able to keep that up.

The girl turned to look up at me, her eyes watery as her fragile body shook under the cold temperature, "Thank you…" The little girl said softly, there was still slight fear lingering in her voice.

I got a close look at her face, she was really a beauty, as I analysed her face, I found that she was missing ears… There weren't any ears present on either side of her head. 

"Wait what?" I said, as my thoughts slipped out of my mind, it was kind of a shocker not seeing any ears in that spot.

The girl looked at me in confusion, the two spikes of bed hair twitched as she tilted her head cutely.

Hold on… Are those… Cat ears? I thought to myself, inside I feel like I was about to explode from the extreme feeling of excitement. If I was really into this sorta stuff I am sure that I would have busted a big load when I noticed that.

Taking a deep breath I remain calm, hiding the excitement I'm feeling to myself.

"Are you okay?" I asked the girl, continuing to hold down my urge to rub her head.

"Yeah— I'm… fine." The girl answered, there was still a sort of hesitance in her voice, stopping in the middle.

Her gaze met mine, her eyes were as beautiful as any other part of her face, she was like a small animal, a kitten or a puppy, something everyone would want to shield and protect, the feeling was so prominent that I thought I was getting charmed. 

The small rag on her body was all she had on her, not to mention that the rag is filthy, drenched in the dirty cold water the bullies poured on her. 

There was really only one option for me right now, "Why don't you change into this real quickly." I took off my thick fur coat jacket, handing it to the girl.

The girl tilted her head in confusion again, even still she began to do as I said. I guess she's just that sorta kid who just does as they are told, she was definitely not the defiant sort, if she was, I am sure that she would have fought back against the boys who were bullying her. On the spot she began stripping her damp rag off.

"Hey! Woah there!" I said, stopping her midway, her arms pulled up her rag halfway revealing her crystal like skin on her stomach.

She looked down at herself, before flushing red in embarrassment, turning around and crouching low on the snowy floor.

I turned around looking the other way, I felt heat build up inside me. Well that was something I was sure not expecting in a time like this and on a day like this… I felt a light bulge and a throb in my pants. I took another deep breath before calming myself down.

I felt a few light taps on my shoulder after a minute or two, I turned around to see the little girl fitted in my fur coat which was way too big for her, her hands holding the damp rag she wore before.

"Can you hand me that?" I asked, pointing at the wet clothes in her hand.

The girl handed me her wet rag, I swear I heard a purr just now. 

I lifted the dirty old rag and pants in the air, I conjured a stream of water before heating it with some fire magic, blasting it at the dirty rag. After cleaning up the gunk and dirt off her clothes, I use some fire magic and wind magic to make a blast of hot wind, drying off the clothes. 

"All right," I said, turning back around, "that should do it." I hand her her clothes back, my hand grazing against the soft skin on her hand.

"Thank you." The girl said, her voice filled with gratitude and still a slight tinge of lingering embarrassment.

"Hey, why don't you try to fight back against them," I asked out of pity and genuine curiosity, maybe I could even give her a little advice on how to deal with this sorta thing, I mean I'm quite experienced myself although not really successful in doing so until now.

"I can't beat those guys, and even if I do, they would just tell the bigger kids to come…" The girl muttered under her breath.

So that was it, if she tried to fight back, those boys would've called their buddies, and even though she didn't say it out loud I knew that they would give her a rough beating. No matter what world we live in, is it Earth or this world, discrimination is a thing, wherever there are people, it's a thing, there is no way to bypass this disgusting human nature, not laws, not regulations… Rena seemed to have been putten through this sorta thing, maybe not within the boundaries of the mansion, but in town it was pretty clear that they haven't accepted Demons roaming the street in broad daylight.

"Have you ever thought of suicide?" I mumbled, the thought of that leaked out of my mouth as the memories flooded my mind again.

"Huh?" The girl replied.

"Uhhh… Nothing." I said. Okay good… She didn't hear me.

If I'm not incorrect, she should be a beastmen. Just to confirm I'll ask.

"What race do you belong to?" I asked, this isn't a weird question to ask someone, right?

"I don't really know…" The girl replied, shaking her head.

She doesn't know? I guess it's not uncommon…

"I know that mother came from far away, far away across the sea." The girl continued, "And father was also from that place."

That confirms it, she's probably one of the beastmen, if I had to be exact, she was probably a descendant of a cat based tribe. That also explains why the boys were bullying her. Rena taught me that humans view themselves as the superior race in their continents while elves and beastmen are lesser. A word they called these were Demi-humans, also known as the impure races.

All the bullying I have received was from the stupid shit I have done, but not her. No real amount of effort could change how these kids treat her, let alone changing her race. There's not really any sort of thing I could do either, she was destined to be viewed as a lesser being, there was no escape from that, at least there isn't an escape in the horrible continent.

The girl tilts her head, confused at why I stood there looking blankly in front into nothingness.

"Let's go then," I said.

"Where?" 

"Weren't you heading somewhere before those kids came up?" Hey, there gotta be something that's she's doing, a kid's parents aren't just going to let their kid roam around the snowy field without a purpose, unless the kid is also an imperial class mage of course.

"Wah– What? Why are you coming with me?"

"Hey, you never know if those guys from before will come back with their buddies, cuz if they do I'll drive them off and tell them to never mess with you again. Were you going somewhere?"

To my understanding, beastmen had a bunch of different tribes which each of them have different animalistic behaviour, some are like dogs, some cats, some raccoons, and there are way more. And they are all pretty cute right? This wasn't really based on anything, just my japanese otaku mind. I am sure that this is only a Japanese thing, beastmen in western games have the ugly shaggy animalistic form, and even the Chinese have them look a lot like that.

This also applies to elves in a way, we mostly think elves as a more beautiful or gorgeous being with humanlike faces and bodies, just more perfect in a way. There is also the 'fact' that they are particularly good at using a bow, daggers and wind magic. And of course we can never forget the long ears. In the foreign cultures they mostly have their elves have angular and pointed facial features, which, as I see it isn't your common definition of beautiful.

I can see that we otakus are right about both, elves for one are your perfect blond hair, blue eyed hot lady with the big bosoms, and for the other, beastmen are pretty cute, at least the one in front of me right now is.

"Umm… Why– why are you protecting me…" The girl asked anxiously, her slightly shaky voice just makes me want to protect her even more.

"I just don't want anyone to suffer. Not you, not anyone around me." I replied with a bright smile on my face, I was hoping I got the main character treatment where my teeth would glisten. [I am pretty sure that they didn't.]

 "What if the other kids do not let you play with them because of this… What if—"

"If that was the case, I will just play with you, from now on we are friends." I said, I was a pretty common case in both worlds, getting bullied for helping the victim.

"Huh?!"

Maybe it was a quick turn of events for her, I guess it would be surprising when you just got bullied, then after a few minutes someone asks to be your friend. We were all grouped up now, normally there would be some sort of beef between the bully and the bullied, but sometimes people would just pick on someone just because they felt like it. I was sort of an expert in this department, back then I was instigating this sorta stuff after all. 

After understanding how it feels to be bullied, I guess it changed how I view the world. Right now I would rather help out the victim something I would've never done before. Hell, I might even help out in the gang up, making it a one v four. Granted this time it wasn't the same themes as before, this girl hadn't done anything wrong, the hate was just rooted deep into her blood. This was something I couldn't stand.

"Do you have other things to do, housework? Or maybe other things?" I asked.

"No— not really…" Her voice was still shaky, her timid and unconfident expression. 

"Oh yeah, I haven't gotten your name yet, haven't I?" I asked, "I'm Gryne, I live up there." Pointing at the horizon where the mansion sits, at our viewing point the mansion was no more than a tiny dot in the far away background.

"I… I'm… My name is… Rias—" Her voice drifted into a soft whisper.

//

Turns out Rias was just walking back home when the boys assaulted her, so I went with her… I'm kind of nervous, I haven't met a girl's parents, not in the old world nor this one. I guess I can call this a house date, can I?

We traversed across the snow for about half an hour or so. It was outside of town, a lone pair of houses stood in the middle of the thick piled up snow, the houses were made out of wood, it was clear that one was maintained better than the other. Rias headed towards the shabby old shack on the left side.

"I'm back."

"Thank you for having me."

I looked around the house, the inside was unusually tidy, on the outside it looked to be an abandoned haunted house. The sound of soft crackling flames filled the house, it was warm, even in the cold winter, this broken house had a sort of warmth I have never felt before.

"Welcome home, Rias!" A voice says, as a man walked out from the tight hallway. 

The man had messy golden hair, a pair of long furry cat like ears poked out of the top of his head. He had nothing on, just some baggy jeans which covered up the lower half of his body, his body was built like a brick wall, he looked like a fierce lion to a sense.

The big man crouched down, Rias jumped into his open arms, with a soft whisper using his deep voice, he asked, "Did you get bullied on the way home again?"

"Yeah, but just a little bit. Someone helped me out when I got bullied."

Rias turned her gaze to me and the man followed, I bowed down slightly.

"Nice to meet you sir," I said firmly, "I'm Gryne Notros–Farion, the second son of the Notros–Farion family."

"Farion? That name sounds familiar, I swear I have heard that before." The man paused, he closed his eyes deep in thought for a moment, he continued, "By chance might your father be Julian?"

Julian? I'm sure that none of the people in Feris would call the lord of the region by his first name, there must be some type of connection between this man and father, I replied, "Yes, sir, he is my father. How did you know?"

"Man that brings back memories," He said, "Julian and I used to adventure together, it's a shame that he quit after having his first baby, if I recall correctly his name was Von. Well, that was in the past already, I'm sure almost all of us have retired by now," The man stood up and stretched his back, "You are quite the polite boy, Julian's genes must run pretty strongly inside you. I'm Heyrm, Heyrm the Tank."

The Tank? Was that his title? He must be a pretty impressive fellow to get the title of 'the Tank'. He doesn't seem to be all that wealthy though, based on this house, I'd say it's the complete opposite, but both him and Rias don't seem bothered by this fact at all.

"You were the one who saved my little girl Rias, huh? Just like a knight with the princess… Sigh— I don't know what Julian taught you but it sure seems to be working, sigh— I hope you two will be good 'friends' with each other." Heyrm said, patting me on the shoulder, "Just be nice to her, okay?"

"Of course sir Heyrm."

"You two should go up and get a change of clothes, if not you might catch a cold." Heyrm said, "Gryne, you can take some of mine from the top cupboard."

Catch a cold? Look at you, you legit have nothing on right now. I thought. 

We walked into the hallway, taking the fresh change of clothes out of the old wooden cupboards. The wooden floorboards creak under our weight as we trekked up the steep wooden stairs. 

As we finally reached the top of the stairs, I stopped in the hallway, "I'll just change out here." I said.

"You can come change in my room if you want." Rias replied, "J–Just don't look at me when I change…" Rias' cheeks flush red as she pulled me into her room.

Ehh? I took a moment to process the situation… I'm in a girl's bedroom?! And she's changing right in front of me?! This was a surprising turn of events, a moment ago we were strangers and now we are changing in an enclosed room? How naive can a child be?

Th

I turned around facing the wall as Rias began buttoning down the fur coat I gave her. "Are you not scared that I'm going to do something to you when we change together?" I asked, as I glanced back at Rias,

"I don't think you are that typa person… I trust my instincts." 

All was silent for a minute or two…

I arrived home, I was extremely happy, I just made my first real friend.

Back then I never really thought I needed friends, I have been betrayed and beaten down by the very people I once thought as friends, no they weren't… It's closer to allies, allies in bullying, that said, I believe the correct term for the relationship should be accomplices.

I laid down upon my soft pillowy bed, my body sinking deep into the cushion… As I drifted to sleep, I smiled… knowing that I have gotten my second real achievement.