In the bustling streets of low-class families ... was a young boy .. around the age of 6 .. walking with a smile on his face as he carried a basket filled with bread ... and when looking closely .. one could see five flat round shining coins .. of silver ...
in this town of poverty ... the richest person could at most be in possession of 30 gold coins ...
yet this boy had silver coins already ...
one should know that .. the most poor family in the town .. had 1 bronze coin for tattered clothes and unhealthy meals ...
so one could imagine how the poorest family in the town would react seeing so much money ...
of course .. this boy belonged to the most poorest family in the town ... or rather .. in the streets ...
today was his first day of taking a stroll around the town to earn both him and his beautiful sister some money to survive ....
who knew that in just one day he would get so lucky to receive such a boon of coins ..
he was extremely pleased with himself as he greeted every person he met on the streets ..
it wasn't a secret that he was from the most sleaziest family ... and everyone naturally looked down on his entire family ... even though all of them were poor .. they felt better when they thought of him and his pathetic sister ...
after .. all it was better to live in an old house rather than living .. in a destroyed shelter that is most comparable to the slums ..
yes the slums ...
but despite all their negativity towards him ... they waved back with fake smiles whilst others waved back with real smiles and caring souls ..
the boy didn't mind any of them ... he just walked happily swaying his arms back and forward ... like a silly child ...
wherever he went .. he waved with a happy smile ...
when he got home ... a home in the slums .. where only him and his sister felt good about existing ...
when his sister saw him .. she just glanced at him nonchalantly before setting her eyes on the basket he was carrying ...
"Is that all you got Tanjō ...?" ... she asked .. looking at him expressionlessly ...
the little boy couldn't read her .. so he just smiled cheekily ... and started chuckling like a silly child ..
"Do you think my question is funny huh ...!!!!" his sister suddenly exploded in anger ... as she stood up from a withered bank ...
the entire bank collapsed under her pressure ..
as she walked towards him raising her hand preparing to slap him .. when the boy brought out five shining silver coins ..
each coin had a face imprinted on it ... it was an old man with a big hat .. and a wrinkled face ...
it had a hole in the middle shaped hexagonally ... just below the face ...
on the other side were ancient scribbles ..
above the hole ... there were words etched ... 'Higashi no' .. and at the bottom .. 'ōsama' ..
the face was the face of their current king ... who ruled over a part of this colony ...
and seeing these silver coins in his little hands .. her anger dissipated and her contorted face was replaced with a smile as she hastily grabbed the coins out of his hands .. and smiled ...
"Good job ... " she said as she patted his head ... the latter enjoyed every bit of that feeling ..
"Thank you big sister Unmei ... I did really good ... that I can see .. from your happy face .." he said happily ..
the latter nodded as she waved her hand at him motioning for him to leave ..
Tanjō didn't wait any longer as he left the slums and went towards the town bustling with music and people ..
he walked past stalls and shops where carriages were fixed and shops where decent clothes were bought ...
he stopped by and looked at the interior with amazement .. after all ... this was the first time seeing such good clothes ...
at first he never thought about changing clothes since he thought it was their normal attire for everyday ...
his skin was already covered in black .. due to hardworking .. and getting burnt ...
his little fingers had scratches that he obtained on his first day outside the slums .. which was today ...
he subconsciously put his hand into his pocket .. and retrieved two flat round shaped coins .. glistening in silver ..
he tightened his hand and went towards the shop with a carefree smile ..
before he even arrived before the doorstep ... a man with robes that were considered high quality in the boy's eyes ... appeared with a smug expression on his face as he placed his huge hand on Tanjō's shoulder ...
"Little boy .. this place is restricted ... I'm afraid you're going to have to turn around and leave to where you can from ..." he gently pushed him back ..
but that force was enough for Tanjō to stumble back a bit before balancing himself ..
"But I ..." before he could even answer ... a crisp sound resounded in the streets as a woman holding a black fan ... slapped him across the face and left a red hand mark ..
"Filthy boy ... " the woman giggled as she walked towards Tanjō ...
"Your kind is not supposed to even walk close than 30 metres to my shop ... yet here you are .. with a stinky smell before my doorstep ... slapping you won't knock some sense into you ... you need a simple hiding ..." she said ... of course this 'simple' hiding .. could be considered a beating ..
a beating that could leave him with permanent injuries ..
but before the man with robes could even react ... Tanjō already put before them 30 bronze coins ... and smiled at them like he wasn't slapped a second ago ...
the woman's face and the man's face changed the moment they saw the bronze coins ...
they instantly reddened from embarassment ... as they helped him up and invited him into the shop ...
no one paid attention to them .. this was their everyday life and no day passed by without a person getting kicked out of a prestigious shop especially ones that mostly deal with clothes ...
even with Tanjō being an exception after a few seconds of getting slapped in the face .. they didn't care anyway ...
with that .. Tanjō walked in behind the two ... and found himself surrounded by clothes that made his eyes widen in respect ..
this was his first day seeing such people dressing in such a unique tidy manner .. so it was natural for him to want that to .. not to mention that he had a reason to think of buying ..
the man got him to know around and told him all the prices for the clothes ..
of course .. he just made up some of those prices up and became a rip off ...
but what he didn't know was that .. Tanjō had already caught sight of every price on each clothing ..
they were blinded by his child body and thought he didn't pay attention to his surroundings ...
after looking around for a bit ... Tanjō asked for a bath ..
the two immediately prepared on without hesitation ... and soaked with hot bubbly water .. filled with bath salts and a lot of nice smelling soap ...
after taking a decent bath .. he cleaned his teeth with twigs of mint branches ... and cleared them from their previous dirt ...
after dressing up in his choice of clothes .. he looked like a noble from this area ...
he wore tight black ... that was connected from his neck to his toes ..
on top of that .. he wore inside an undergarment ... he then dressed himself properly with his new clothes ...
his bright forest eyes .. glistened ... as he looked at himself in the mirror ...
perhaps it was his mindset by he chose the clothes of which fit the right price ...
the ones numbering to the silver coin .. he left them behind and promised to take them another time ..
but before leaving .. he was given a free book .. about good etiquette ...
Tanjō was grateful as he thanked them with respect before setting off to the inner parts of the town where there was a playground for kids around his age .. but since his sister Unmei .. wasn't a noble .. he couldn't even enter even if he showed his two silver coins ..
it was all not worth it .. he could only glance at the entrance with eyes filled with determination ...
he slowly walked past the playground and and stopped underneath a giant tree ..
it didn't give any fruits but sitting under its shade with the sun scorching them ..
he sighed feeling proud of himself ...
he just bought high quality clothes ... and his clothes that had rotten because of sleeping like pigs at home made him feel uncomfortable ...
but now it's his new clothes .. he could afford many clothes from that shop .. but as for now ... he rested .. with his eyes ... closed
this was a boy who only knew bliss ... a boy with a smile that could melt everyone's heart no matter how bad they are ..
a boy with a talent locked up in his misery ...
this was his life ... in the Eastern Continent ... where no one really cared whether he lived or not ..
but even with such a tragic beginning .. it wasn't a foretold story of a tragic ending ...