Part 1- A Dream of Yesterday
Sometimes I find it hard to…
Wake up.
"Ivan, get up."
Misaki?
No.
"Dude, get up or you're gonna be late for school."
School?
Nah. I don't want to go today. I don't feel like it, so go without me.
THUD!
"Get up, lazy!"
"Ahh! What the hell, Misaki?"
"Misaki? Who is Misaki?"
...
A dream.
"Sorry, Rosa."
"It's fine, but who is this Misaki person?"
"Nobody. Just someone from a dream."
"Okay, but hurry up and get dressed."
Misaki and Rosalind give off the same kind of vibe.
I met Misaki back in grade school. At the time, she was known as the class crybaby, and a lot of the
other kids picked on her.
She was always alone during break time and didn't have any friends.
I felt bad for her, so I figured I'd play with her just once.
But...
That one choice changed my life for the better.
It turned out we had a lot in common. We spent hours playing together, and before I knew it, I was spending more and more time with her.
Later, I found out her family was moving away. I thought I'd never see her again.
Then one morning, while I was heading to the playground, I noticed a moving truck parked in front of the empty house next to mine.
And there she was.
Holding a cardboard box in her hands.
For a moment, it felt like the world had frozen.
The next thing, I knew was that we cried and laugh so hard that our voice could be heard all through the empty hallways of the house.
After that...
Well...
I don't know.
No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to remember what happen next.
Part 2-Another Morning
My mornings here are pretty much the same every day.
I'm five, so I don't do much around the house, but I still have my share of chores. Before I even eat breakfast, I clean up the cow shit, followed by collecting eggs and feeding the cows and chickens.
And yes, we only have cows and chickens.
Our house was specifically made for a family where a hunter lived.
It's about two stories tall, with an extra room on top that my father built to store his armor. Nobody is allowed in there.
Not even Mother.
The second floor has six rooms, including my room, my brothers' rooms, a study where we have our classes, a guest room, and my parents' room.
My room faces the village. Rulf's room is on my right, while Walter's is on my left.
The staircase is beside Rulf's room. Right after the stairs is the study, and directly across from it is the
guest room, which is next to Walter's room.
And the room facing mine at the very end of the hall is...
My parents' room.
Which my brothers and I have secretly named the craft room because... well, you know why, so yeah.
Downstairs, we have a cooking area, dining room, library, a so-called family room, and a home hospital—or my mother's workplace.
A room where I have seen things.
And I'm not talking about the sick.
Craft room number two.
"Ivan, that cow waste isn't gonna clean itself."
Walter, that asshole. I bet he doesn't even check if I did it or not.
"Coming!"
I'm the kind of man who likes taking care of the hardest things first, but cleaning shit is harder than
anything I have ever done.
Even harder than that one time I said no to Misaki.
Now that I think about it...
I did say "no" to Rosalind too, and that didn't end well.
"Hey, Ivan. You missed this spot."
And my dear friends would just stand there and not help me at all.
"You know, you could help out a bit, right?"
"No. Do it yourself."
You'd think Thomas would help me, but...
"Besides, man, I already did my chores. If I help you, I'd be doing more chores than I'm supposed to."
There was a time when Thomas would have helped me, but being related to Rosalind can change anyone.
At least... for the better, I guess.
Thomas is a bit taller than me, with brown hair and big yellow eyes.
That might be because he has a twin sister and ended up with a softer look.
Tomas and Rosalind pretty much have the same face, but the differences are their eye and hair colors. Rosalind has her father's green eyes and her mother's red hair, while Thomas has his mother's yellow eyes and his father's brown hair.
Come to think of it, people here have naturally crazy hair colors.
Like how my mother and Walter both have white hair.
Rulf and Father have black hair.
That includes me too, though I have my mother's green eyes.
Hmm.
I have Mother's green eyes and Father's black hair, while Rulf got everything from Father and Walter
got everything from Mother.
I guess I'm the link between them.
"Oh yeah, what are we learning today anyways?"
There are schools in the village, but my mother is a nun, and nuns are considered some of the best teachers. Because of that, my brothers, my friends, and I study at home. Even the Holt brothers join us sometimes, though the distance from their house means they don't always make it.
I keep calling it a village, but it's slowly becoming a small town.
Almost everyone here is related.
Seriously.
Around ninety percent of the villagers are blood relatives.
The village was found nearly--
"Ivan, you there?"
"Oh yeah, sorry but I think it's history and magic basics."
"Magic again."
Learning the very basic of magic can be a big help for anyone, so kids are forced to learn it even if they have no talent for it.
But for someone like me who can do both combat and casting magic, life is easy going for me.
"Done."
"Finally, come on your father is making breakfast today."
"Wait but you already ate your breakfast didn't you?"
"I did but I still have room and your father's cooking is way to good."
So you wouldn't help me because you would be doing extra chores but you have no problem eating extra food?
Really.
Part 3-Father's cooking and an Unexpected Guest
"Hey, Iron pass the bread here please." my brother is a big bread lover and eats a lot of it.
"Sure, here."
"Hey, watch where your hand is going Iron."
My family calls me iron because I have talent of nothing.
I mean, I can use combat magic and casting magic but I don't stand out like my brothers.
Rulf and Walter.
Because of our dwarf blood, we are stronger than other kids within our age rang but Rulf on the other hand.
Is strong enough to stand his own against a full grown man.
And Walter has so much mana it's actually pretty scary.
I think they call that to make feel good about myself or something, but still crazy that walter would call me a name that sounds badass like "Iron" even if he doesn't call me that all the time.
KNOCK KNOCK
"Pardon, anybody home."
Hmm?
Father stood and went to open the door.
At first…
I thought was it cat because of the tail
But than I noticed the long legs.
Expansive-looking silk suite.
Wait...
Why would a cat wear a suite?
My eyes move slowly upwards.
White hair.
Sharp eyes.
Than-
TWICH
TWICH
CAT EARS!
The orange juice shot out of my nose
COUGH COUGH!
I know it's a fantasy world but I never seen one before.
A beast-folk.