"Brother!"
While Shi laid down in the grass, enjoying the beautiful weather, two cute voices rang out. Hearing them, he smiles and raises his upper body. Looking toward the direction from where the voices came, he sees two small children are running towards him.
"Haha Aurora, Azer, stop running so fast, you'll fall."
Ignoring Shi's words, they continued to sprint toward him and jumped into his body. Laughing, he slowly falls backward, making sure that the two don't get hurt. While laying down, both the twin's faces reveal pure smiles as they look at him. Laughing, he starts patting them in the head.
Aurora and Azer. They were Shi's twin little brother and sister. When Shi had heard he was getting a little sibling, he had been very excited. In his past life, he had been a single child and had always wished for a little brother or sister. A little over two years ago, his mother finally went into labor. During the childbirth, he had been pacing in front of the door, wondering whether he would be getting a little brother and sister when from the other side of the door he heard the sound of a little life being born into the world.
"Waaah!! Waaah!!!"
'Ah….I'm finally an older brother! I'm going to make sure that my little sibling lives a happy life!'
While Shi was in a very happy mood he heard the voice of another child in the room.
"Waah!!" "Waaaaah!!"
"Eh? Twins?!?!"
Two tiny voices started to erupt from inside the room. Not being able to bear it any longer, Shi pulled open the door and rushed into the room. Inside the room, he saw his mom holding two little bundles in her arms. Raising her head at the sudden noise, a smile appears on her face when she sees Shi and she waves at him to get closer.
"Shi, come here and say hi to your little brother Azer and sister Aurora."
With tiny steps, he walked forward. As he reached his mother's side, he sees two tiny angels. Looking at those two, a warm feeling started to envelop him.
'Ahhhh… they're so cute and pure…. I will definitely let no harm come to them!'
Looking at them, he hardens his desire to get stronger even more!
From that day forward, he focused a lot of his time watching over them. He helped his mother change the diaper and feed them. When one of them started crying, he'd rush to them and start making funny faces, making them laugh. Seeing him so focused on the twins, Byrael and Azela couldn't help but be moved and smile at the scene. At first, they were worried that Shi would be jealous of all the time they focused on the twins, but contrary to their beliefs, he spent, even more, taking care of them!
Even though Shi spent so much time with his little siblings, he never neglected to train. Every morning, he would go run. By the age of six, he could run more than ten miles now. Even though he might not have much bulk in his muscles yet, his pink muscles had become very lean but with a hardness that was not expected of a child.
At night, Shi always meditated. His mana purity had vastly improved. If someone could see the mana surrounding him while meditating, they would see a pure grey aura surrounding him. It took the majority of Mages and Warriors a minimum of ten years of meditation to reach this state, but it had only taken him three years. Shi, however, wasn't excited about this as he already knew of one of the highest forms of meditation and that it was easier to improve his purity in the beginning. Later on, as mana became purer, it would become even more difficult.
For the past three years, Shi had spent every day like this.
"Brother brother! Happy birthday!"
Saying that Aurora handed him a drawing. It was a picture that she had spent the last couple of days making of their family. One couldn't really say it was good as it was stick figures but nonetheless Shi felt deeply moved. It was something little Aurora had spent a lot of effort making! Being the doting older brother he was, of course, he would cherish it. Azer, not to be beaten, also handed over a drawing.
"Brother! Happy birthday! I drew this for you."
The drawing that he handed over to Shi was a stick figure that was holding hands with a smaller boy and girl that were smiling. As he saw this, he smiled and ruffled both of their hairs.
"Haha thank you, Aurora, Azer. Brother will cherish these okay?"
Happy that he liked their presents, the twins' eyes sparkled with a big grin.
'I really do have some great little siblings, huh? Even though they're only two years old they still think of me so much that they gave me a birthday present.'
While he was thinking about this and feeling grateful, a voice came through the window.
"Alright children! It's time for dinner. Come inside!"
"Haha alright you two, let's go inside and eat yummy food okay?"
"Yay, dinner!!"
At the mention of yummy food, the two immediately stood up and grabbed his hand, trying to pull him up and hurry up inside to eat. Laughing at their tactics, Shi stood up and went inside holding their hands. As they walked through the door, a tempting aroma greeted them. Looking at the dining table, a mixture of delicious-looking food was laid out. A roasted boar took up the middle of the table while side dishes of vegetables surrounded it. Being excited at the sight, the twins hurriedly sat down in their seats and awaited the feast. Seeing the two, Byrael, Azela, and Shi laughed and also sat down.
"Our little boy has finally turned six, huh? Anyways, starting tomorrow I plan on teaching you swordsmanship so we will go out and get you a wooden weapon for your birthday present, okay?"
"Thanks, dad!"
Hearing that his father would finally start teaching him swordsmanship, Shi was very excited. He had always been curious as to how they would be different here and in his world. Byrael was the sword instructor for the Baron here so that also means that he has to have at least some talent. Azrael had been constantly asking his father to teach him for a couple of years now but he had always refused, saying that it was too soon for him.
Byrael, seeing Shi so happy and hugging him, released his jolly laugh and patted him in his back. , Azela warmly smiled at the sight, feeling very thankful for her wonderful family. Soon afterward, she pulled out something that had a thick package.
"My lovely Shi, thank you for being such a wonderful son. Happy birthday!"
Saying that she handed over the package. Curious to what it was, Shi ripped off the wrapping and opens the box. What greeted his eyes was a large tome that had a title of "History of the continent Xiosu".
"Honey, I know that you have been itching to study so I thought you might like this. This book covers the history of the people of Xiosu."
"M…Mother how did you afford this?! It must have cost a fortune!"
Shi was very shocked. Books cost a lot in this world as they had no method to mass-produce them and could only painstakingly copy them by hand. A book, especially such a large one such as this must have cost over ten gold!
"Hehe, mother has been saving since I found out that you loved reading and wanted this book. Father also helped pay for it. I hope you like it."
Ten gold was not a small sum of money at all. An average family could live off of three gold a year. Even with a five-member family, only four gold was needed for a year. To have spent so much on a gift…. Thinking about this, Shi was very touched.
'Ahhh… I really am lucky to have such loving parents. Thinking that he rushes to mother and father again and earnestly thank them.'
"Mother, Father, thank you very much! I will treasure this for the rest of my life!"
Seeing him so happy also brought joy to Byrael and Azela. They both agreed that it was a blessing to have such a wonderful son. Even though he was still young, he never rebelled and was always polite. After his siblings had been born, he even brought it upon himself to be a great older brother and took care of them.
For the rest of the evening, the family continued to eat and talk happily. When the moon had risen, they finally called it a day before heading to bed. Shi, as usual, took his two siblings upstairs to their rooms and read them a story before tucking them in.
"Alright Aurora, Azer. Sleep well tonight."
"Thank you brother~ good night."
"Good night brother."
Bidding them good night, Shi headed out of the room with the lamp and lightly closed the door. After notifying his parents that the twins had gone to bed, he said good night and headed back upstairs. That night, after spending two hours meditating, Shi brought out his book and started to read.
Ten thousand years ago, our ancestors, in hordes, took to ships and landed here on the continent Xiosu. The reason for why our ancestors had traveled here has been all but lost except to the five Demi-human level Warriors and Mages that came. These five Warriors and Mages, being the strongest, made a pact. Each of them will take people to different parts of the continent and create a kingdom.
These five kingdoms, named after their founder are Raxim, Sunder, Rhostaz, Nifl, and Felicia. After creating these kingdoms and ensuring their prosperity, all of them stepped away and let it be known to all the people that they would not interfere anymore unless their kingdom was under risk to fall. After that, all five had gone into seclusion to train in pursuit of reaching God's level.
For the first two hundred years, Xiosu saw peace. At first, the people from the separate kingdoms stayed within themselves, steadily improving their own lives and getting situated in this new foreign land. Commoners began to cultivate the land while Warriors and Mages went out and hunted beasts. During this time, each kingdom also took separate routes informing.
In the north, the kingdom of Raxim, like their founder, was a kingdom that prided themselves in their Warriors. Even though there were still some Mages, they were few and far between. The Warriors in the Raxim Kingdom quickly stood out and became known as the Kingdom of Warriors.
In the east, the Nifl kingdom took the polar opposite route and became famous for their Mages. Through the teaching of their founder Nifl and their vast investments in magic, they quickly rose and stood out for their advancements and talents for Mages.
The Felicia Kingdom, in the center, was built on the religion their founder brought with them. Instead of having actual anarchy, the kingdom was run instead by the Holy Church. Gaining power through their followers and priests blessed in light magic, they have gained much influence. In the ideal location of being in the center of the continent, the Holy Church branched out and has cathedrals in every kingdom.
The Sunder Kingdom in the south raised through their talented tailors, blacksmiths, jewelers, and architects. Products from the south were quickly recognized as superior and were sought for by all the kingdoms.
In the west, the Rhostaz kingdom rose and became strong through trading and food production. The food ingredients that came from the Rhostaz Kingdom were highly sought after and became very popular with the upper class of all the other kingdoms. Using the fund created from that, they were able to quickly grow and become a large nation.
After all the nations had sufficiently grown, frictions started to occur. The royalties of each nation started to greedily eye territories under different kingdoms and soon fighting occurred. Even though none of the kingdoms had to worry about being totally wiped out due to the original five founders, countries still bitterly fought over land…..
"…master."
For over an hour, Shi had been engrossed in the book, reading the beginning of the kingdoms with interest when he heard the soft whisper. Immediately becoming alert, he covered his body in mana and looked toward the direction of the voice. Floating in front of him, were three smoky substances, colored in red, blue, and black. While berating himself for now noticing their existence, the smoky substance started to solidify.
"….we have waited several centuries for the arrival of someone like you, master."