C1 — I will live well.

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The crisp sound of dried leaves being crushed under pressure reached my ears. The wind howled through the alley streets, further making the night time even more ominous. Clouds rolled by, covering the stars and moon. It left the world in pitch black darkness.

If it weren't for the street lights illuminating the streets, no one would have been able to see anything in this darkness at all.

This year's winter was harsh and merciless. There was not a single day where snow ceased from falling. I'm really curious, you so-called wise god; what kind of higher being are you?!

I just wanted to sleep, sleep, and sleep!

Why did I wake up in this shitty fantasy as fuck world as a street rat?

You should have made me into a spoiled rich beyond words young master of an aristocratic family so that I could have lived well until old age without doing a single thing!

But because I gave you a middle finger, you were petty enough not to?!

What was the point of saving my world from a virus spreading worldwide then?!

Ugh nevermind, I should stop cursing before that god hears me and makes my situation even worse.

As someone who lived life inside a lab for countless of years in search for a cure, the life of a street rat had been eye-opening. The continent I'm on was called Seiryu - a continent on the East side of the world. According to legends, there were four guardians before the creation of the world.

Seiryu was one of them.

He was to be the protector of the East when the world was created. However, at first, there was no land big enough for him to live in just like the other guardians. Thus, the four of them roamed the world together. The four guardians were close friends.

When one needs help, the other three would go and lend a hand.

However, their peace was destroyed when an unknown entity arrived. None of them knew what it was as it came out of nowhere. Not even god, who raised the four guardians, knew what kind of being it was.

Since this entity arrived, one by one, the primordial humans living in the scattered islands began acting strange. God created them to bring life to the world, to nurture each other and treasure all life. But the presence of this entity negatively influenced the primordial humans.

From respecting and cherishing life, they plundered the world's resources, the weak became the slaves of the strong, and other life forms waged wars with each other.

The four guardians finally noticed this after decades of fighting with the entity. By the time they wanted to help, it had been too late. The faith of all life forms have in them waned bit by bit until they no longer believed in them.

The guardians could roam the world because of that faith and the second the last one lost their trust in the guardians; they vanished from the world. Even the god who raised them no longer appeared. Thus, the entity ruled the world in their stead.

When the guardians disappeared, however, four giant continents formed in each fundamental direction.

No one knew who named them but these four continents were called Seiryu in the East, Suzaku in the South, Byakko in the West, and Genbu in the North.

The legend came from a mysterious man who no one knew. The only distinguishable thing about him was the white cloak covering him from head to toe, lined with golden threads and embroidered with a blue dragon, a red phoenix, a white tiger, and a tortoise with a serpent.

After that was the beginning of history.

But!

I have no interest in that bullshit.

Since this was my second life after being murdered by the people who ordered me to search for a cure, all I wanted was to be the number one laziest yet richest person in the world! I've always fantasized about the day I could just buy an entire store with a flick of my hand just because.

How am I supposed to do that when I was born in the streets though? My mother died just a few weeks ago from starvation and hypothermia while my father, well, he went to buy milk and never came back.

The fucking bastard.

I had to ask the other orphan kids to help me dig up a hole to bury my mother near the waterfall at the other side of the forest. Fortunately, the kids were indebted to her because mother looked after them on top of taking care of me.

Currently, I feel like I'm about to freeze to death under this dilapidated house mother and I built together in the slums. The coarse blanket draped over my shoulders barely blocked the freezing winds.

The winter in this city had been going on for two months already. If it weren't for the fire system mages melting the thick blanket of snow, perhaps the city would have been buried already.

Right, mages; I almost forgot about their existence. Following the appearance of the four giant continents was the evolution of life. When that entity took over the world, mages appeared. In every one thousand life forms, one would be born with a magic core.

This magic core was the center of activity for mana - they were like atoms. Mana was the building block of magic. Without it, magic can't be performed.

Even when tens of thousands of years had passed, no one knew where mana came from. There were theories that the entity was the one who made mana appear in the world, that mana was the last thing god left behind for us before disappearing, or that mana came from the deceased bodies of the guardians.

Mana was like energy - it cannot be destroyed or made, only converted into another form.

Thus, the different system of magic came to be-

"Aya!" Someone barged into my house all of a sudden, pulling me out of my thoughts. There stood a kid about more than half my physical age - I was seven at the moment - with a panicked look on his face.

"How many times have I told you not to call me Aya? It sounds girly!"

"That ain't the point!" He rushed in, picked up the only cloth bag I owned, and shoved all the things in my house that could fit inside. My wrist was snatched away and he dragged me out of the back door and into the woods.

I stared at him in confusion. "Brother Yuu, where are we going?"

"Outta the city."

"Why?"

"That eldest prince's knights came tah get rid of the slum."

My eyes widened in surprise. The eldest prince? You mean that good-for-nothing brat who knows nothing but spend his money left and right? Since when did he get smart enough to utilize his subordinates to do something for him?

Can I, maybe like, take a look at his brain? Perhaps he hit his head and it rearranged his braincells or something.

"Why would that prince do something like that?"

"Dunno," came Brother Yuu's short answer. "But we hafta escape tonight. I heard from the adults at a bar that the prince's people would arrive at dawn."

"What about the others?"

"Sheesh don't worry 'bout those guys. They can take care of themselves. Yer the youngest among us, you know?"

Touché.

It was true though. The next youngest was a nine-year-old who lived at the other end of the slums.

We reached the rendezvous of us orphan kids at the big stone located at the middle part of the forest. This forest was a place we frequented at so we knew the area like the back of our hands. Even if the knights plan to track us down, we would be able to throw them off our tracks using some simple tricks.

Brother Yuu made me sit at the big stone with a flat top, handing me a piece of stale bread to chew on with a slice of cheese. For the most part, even though I was born in this condition, I was pretty pampered by everyone at the slums.

Born with a weaker body and a delicate appearance, everyone took pity on me and gave me all the best stuff first. I was touched, really. After all, no one coddled me in my previous life because I was specially cultivated to research a cure for a virus.

Brother Yuu, other than mother, was the closest person to me.

The first thing I saw in this life was not my mother but Brother Yuu who made silly faces.

I was terrified to the point I fainted at the time.

To be honest, it was a bad first impression for Brother Yuu. However, the more I got to see him, the more I realized that he was the type of person to be over the top. If he says he would give me candy, he would make sure to give me an entire pouch of it.

Candy was a luxurious snack in this world so whenever Brother Yuu gave me some, I knew he treated me the best besides mother.

"Aya."

... my patience is wearing thin with him.

"It's Ligaya. Stop calling me Aya!"

A smile bloomed on Brother Yuu's face. "But Ligaya sounds weird since it's a foreign name, ya know?"

"That's because my mother is a foreigner, duh."

Mother came from a small island southwest of Seiryu Continent. It's an island with a beautiful cultural diversity that my mother often told me about before going to sleep. Every night, I hope I can one day visit mother's home.

Perhaps I could find some of her relatives who managed to escape the slave traders.

My eyebrows furrowed when I heard the wind whistle.

No, it's not the wind per say. It's more like-

"Aya!" I was knocked down by Brother Yuu all of a sudden, trapped in his arms when I heard the faint sound of something digging into flesh. His arms tightened around me, making it difficult to breathe but what alarmed me the most was that tiny metal tip protruding out of Brother Yuu's shoulder.

It was an arrowhead.

"B... Brother Yuu-"

"Aya, you hafta live well for mine and aunt's sake." Hos voice sounded weak, faint to the point I wouldn't have heard him if I hadn't strained my ears. Tears stung the corner of my eyes as I tried to leave his embrace.

I could still save him!

I know that crazy doctor at the middle class side of the city would help us if we exchange some herbs!

"Brother Yuu, we have to leave together!"

"I - " there was the sound of hesitation in his voice before pushing my head into his chest, making it difficult to see what was around us. "Aya, never come back to this place - "

What the... why did he suddenly sound so fluent?

" - never seek revenge nor put your life at risk. This brother of yours has things to do here so you must go."

My head was a mess. The more I tried to think things through the information I know, the more my mind became messed up. Is Brother Yuu not a street rat like the rest of us? But Brother Yuu had been by my side for as long as I could remember.

I reached out to wipe that trail of blood from the corner of his mouth. A look of surprise appeared in his eyes before he displayed that same smile he gives me whenever he visits.

"Ligaya, live well."

In an instant, a ginormous magic circle extended from Brother Yuu's feet. It glowed bright blue, just like his eyes. The light burned bright, turning the night as if it were morning.

The last thing I saw was a battalion of knights surrounding Brother Yuu, pointing their swords at his direction.

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