Solo was the first son of a village chief, a happy kid loved by everyone in his family. The village he lived in was not a poor village surround by barren land, it was true that the village was on the outskirt of the kingdom, but one of the frequently used roads from the Sacred city to the capital of the kingdom of Vatsa, passed through the village.
The village was directly under control of King and was a safe place to live, although the king never came to the village. The people lived in this village paid tax once a year if they were a free person with just a few coins, from the rumor told to the people by the peddler and traveler passing by the tax rate also low compared to fiefdom control by noble, hence the livelihood of this village people were quite good.
Two years ago, the king of Vatsa even encouraged people to study by sending a retired knight or royal magician to every village under the king's direct control.
The village Solo resided, was surrounded by the forest but no ferocious monster lurking around, only animals like wolves and boars in rare occasion would attack the people. The village chief then prepared the abandoned house to be a teacher place to live and let him taught the village kids there.
The concept of school was already established in Noseth but only a few countries really adopted it. The cost was high and the outcome was not to be seen in a few years, very powerful country like Ramale republic or wealthy mercantile countries around the inland lake would prepare a place for children to learn.
You could say that the king of Vatsa was a very generous and smart king to using only one policy but could both found a place for his retired forces and educated his people at the same time.
The teacher would teach every child from 7-12 years old altogether with no separate class or exam. The subject would be about mathematics, science, religion, literature, magic and practical way to handle a weapon. Although the name of subjects sounds very hard the content was only about everyday knowledge than the real things. At most the subjects were similar to what modern people learn before secondary school if not lower, only physical education was harder. The children would practice bow and various other ways to handle a weapon. Whether this was the king real intent was not known but later his son in law would pick up the fruit into good use.
One day, Solo heard his parents talked about monsters and animals, he thought this was a good topic and he wanted to know about it. Solo was a curious boy when he went to school he asked his teacher.
"What's the difference between monsters and animals?"
"Well, nothing. This two word came from the record in the archive of either the church or the six towers. From the hearsay, no distinct definition between the word animal and monster, it was just how they like to call it. Another thought was that animal refers to animal from the other world in the realm that God once let humans roam free, while monsters were of this world. Since no one bothers to try searching it the topic about the two words usually became a topic for trivia chitchat on the dining table."
Solo seems to understand but yet fully accepted it. He looked to his left there were two kids, the 10 years old boy and his sister.
"Hey! David! What are you thinking?" Solo Asked David.
"Nothing, Solomon" David said.
"Geez, how long are you gonna call me Solomon. My name is Solo. You really gonna make me believe that I really called Solomon."
"It's a nickname. If you don't like Solomon, how's about Hansolo?"
"Neither is good and why my nickname became longer than my real name Call me by my name, please. If you gonna call me Solomon, then I will call you Dave."
"No, David is good. It makes me feel like I am gonna become a very good looking man in the future." David said jokingly.
If David was a transmigrator, he may need to try to remember his name so that everything will look normal, but he was not transmigrator. He was a reincarnator, he already remembered this name as his own a long time ago, living with it since his birth. There no need to adjust himself, in contrast, he needed to remind himself that he was reincarnated here in the new world, so everything he knew won't be forgotten. The gunpowder formula, physic, and war strategy, everything was important and could not be ignored.
Solo heard Mr.Abra calling David, so he stopped chit-chatting with David and focus on the class.
When the class was finished, a girl called out to Solo and David.
"Big brother, Solo big brother play with me." A lovely adorable girl called to David and Solo.
"No! I'm busy. Play with Solo. Solo please bring her home for me, you are going straight back to the chief house, right?" David asked Solo.
"Fine but why don't you go back with her."
"I will look for some rabbit at the trap I set in the forest, you go back with her first and please inform my mother that I will be back before the dinner."
"Okay." Solo agreed, he planned to take this girl back to her house first and restudied everything he just learned.
Solo was a smart boy himself and born from the chief house as the first son, his father was a youngest third born from a Count house but It was not like he was disowned or abandoned he just chose freedom to live peacefully with the maid he loved. Solo was not only smart but was very good with his physical too, he could win against an adult with a sword brought surprise to anyone who saw his handsome yet feminine face.
Also, Solo noble uncle seem to have no children and Solo was his grandfather only male grandchild, it was likely that Solo would inherit the house if there was no boy born soon in the main house.
With his status and ability, Solo could be an arrogant boy but he was very well behaved.
A part of the reason may come from David. For sure, Solo was smart but he could not compare with David at all. David was only ten but his magic was better than the village elder and his intellect was good that he could write and read from the young age, while the most of villager could not write and read fluently.
There was gossip in the village that David may be an illegitimate son of some noble who had an affair with David's mother, but the gossip was soon quiet down as David's father declared that he would not believe any stupid rumor and would beat the gossipers to a pulp if they were men.
In Solo opinion, the rumor was nonsense and baseless, he knew that David was a hard worker from a very start, anyone would know why David was so good by just looked at how hard David tried.
Both of them born in the same years and their mother were close friends since young. And since Solo's grandfather sent slaves to take care of Solo, David's mother would ask Solo's mother to take care of David and later David's sister who was three years younger when she had to work on the farm. From his earliest memory, Solo always saw David tried to read anything with the alphabet in his house and would try to mimic adult by casting a spell before falling asleep.
While walking, Solo found out that the girl did not want to move, she was grumbling and refused to move.
"Oh! What's wrong?"
"..."
"What's happen? Please, tell big brother." Solo gently said.
"..... f….low"
"Hm?"
"I don't want to go back! Let's follow big brother." the girl burst.
Normally, the girl was a very obedient and compliant girl but this time she acted willful won't back down at all. Maybe the god of love had started her work for this little girl, or maybe the god just knew about the tragedy that would happen decades later so they let this girl met her true love early.
"Be a good girl and follow me back, Okay?"
"I don't want to, I want to go. Uwah..wah…." The girl used women best weapon "tear".
"Stop crying, please. Okay, big brother will take you to David's hunting ground, but if he was not there we will go back home, promise me?"
"I promise." She stopped crying instant when she gets what she wanted.
Solo spent a lot of time to brought her to her home and now had to went back all over again to the school. He carried her on his back when they went into the forest but when he already arrived at David hunting ground, he could not found David anywhere. Solo then asked the girl to went back home as continuing further could be dangerous.
However, the girl suddenly shouted David's name. Solo thought that David just came back but when he looking back, he was shocked with what he saw. Well, not only solo but David too was shocked.