In a far away island where civilisation is less civilised andresources are much more scarce.
Kuen village, the birth place of Baby 5 and many other unfortunate children who were abandoned in the forest area to survive on their own.
The only vegetation in the village is dead trees and tall grasses that are slumped due to lack of water.
Because of the severe lack of fertile lands and food, many of the people within the village had prioritised their survival above all else.
If a child was born, it had to be of use to the village to either produce the next generation or to work.
If the child had any defects, wasn't born a male or was born from one of the less influential people within the village, many would band together and convince the mothers and fathers to abandon their child because they are a waste of food.
Many children die young and have a hard time surviving alone in the wild because of their decision but that is not always the case.
Alyssia and her crew had been exploring many islands in the North Blue collecting materials, books and making trips to various underground auctions to purchase some special materials that are more difficult to get ahold of.
The biggest finds were not the goods that she had bought but instead were the slaves.
She had found quite a few talented people in different area that we're up for sale within the slave auctions.
What she lacked most right now was not only manpower but talented people if her experiments and other things needed to be built.
It takes time to build much larger things and requires many people to reduce that time down, it also needs those people to be suitable for the task so that no accidents happen during the building process.
So while she did pick up some talents with a poor foundation, she also found some that previously had work in that profession and more experienced before they had fallen into debts or got taken advantage of and had to be reduced to a slave.
Many new people joined her ship as the status of a slave but instead of showing them pity and releasing them she instead turned to them and calmly explained that they now owe her for her purchasing them..
If they can find a way to work off or pay back the berries to buy them along with the food and education costs then she will remove their collars and grant them the ability to walk about freely.
This was a better way to keep them by her side but also show that she was not a kind hearted fool that could be taken advantage of.
However after arriving at the village, she showed a look of helplessness in her eyes.
Many skin and boned people were wandering about the village and just coming back from a long walk to bring back some water and others had just came back from a hunt with very small prey which could hardly be split between them.
After visiting the island, she found that most of the lands were suffering from drought and famine so bad that it was difficult to recover from.
At times is was difficult to even locate food and water unless the villagers were skilled enough to find a water source or knew how to make the sea water drinkable.
Unfortunately they did not seem to possess these type of survival abilities so only attempted digging deep holes to find a suitable water source while hunting small animals in the wild.
She tried giving them the suggestion to move closer to the water where they could fish, use methods to distil the sea water and set up a way to improve their lives but many were far too stubborn and stuck in their ways.
Helpless… she ignored them after attempting to teach them some basic survival tips and headed into the forest area.
An eerie atmosphere overwhelmed her as stones and pointed sticks were throne in her direction.
Many childish and teenage voices were mixed in with each other as she heard them yelling. "Adults! Begone! Or! Attack!"
What she saw before her was a small tribe of children ranging from as young as four to as old as seventeen if her eyes were not wrong.
Their bodies were horribly malnourished but compared to the adults, these children seemed to be much better suited to surviving on their own.
She coughed and then spoke. "I mean you no harm. Who is your leader?"
Among them a taller boy around the age of sixteen walked forward."What do you want?"
Alyssia sighed upon seeing their figures. 'Sure enough, Baby 5 was one of the lucky ones… even if she had her own problems at least she survived and ate and drank well.'
She continued to talk to them. "I am part of an explorer group on the sea, my ship will be leaving soon but I have come here to offer some aid but the adults did not accept it. I have two options for you, come aboard my ship and you will receive training, education, food and drinks. All I ask is that you remain loyal and carry out your tasks while on board and do not break the rules of the ship or bring trouble to my group. The second option would be that I can stay and teach you all some ways to survive better. Have a think about it."
She thew a cheap compass over and said. "Follow where the pointer is towards and you will be able to find me by the water if any of you wish to join or learn. If not then survive as long as you can."
She couldn't help but feel some sympathy for the abandoned kids who had turned hostile towards the adults because of being abandoned.
They must of survived and gradually worked together to find others like themselves and formed a large group to protect themselves. She
Their hostility with the adults had their reaction to her when they attacked on the spot to make her leave was something that also suggesting that territorial or hunting disputes happen often between the adults and the children.
The way they had dressed had somewhat made her think of the lost boys of Peter Pan or something similar but the state of their bodies were much thinner and they were a little more on the savage side.
Even if they had grown up poorly they had great survival skills and worked well together, there were also some with strong potential so she decided to give them a chance.
At first she did not think of coming to this place but since it was on the way, she wished to see how bad it truly was.
However reading a manga or watching a small clip from the anime was not enough to prepare herself for the true reality.
She tried to offer help but the many villages had become so stuck in their mob mentality and their old ways to listen to her advice or accept her help.
There was also no reason for her to be so charitable to them all and use her own supplies since it would only be a waste.
Instead of giving them something short term, she preferred something more helpful to them in the longterm.
Like famous quotes from her old world like or similar to 'You give a poor man a fish and you feed him for a day. You teach him to fish and you give him an occupation that will feed him for a lifetime.', she also wished to do the same for these people before she left but they were far too stubborn.
The next couple of days were spent teaching them how to build rafts and small boats, craft spears and other tools like a bow and arrow to help them hunt better.
She also passed on some methods on how to find water sources and how to make sea water drinkable along with some basic hygiene and health tips to keep them healthy.
At the end of the final lesson, the leader among the children raised his head and stared at her for some time. "Some wish to follow you, we will split up soon."
Alyssia understood the meaning behind his words. "So you are staying then.. What will you do then?"
The young man had a pair of determined but also fierce eyes and he spoke. "I will protect the children."
Alyssia sighed. "I would have tried to convince you to come with me but it seems that you are determined so I will not try to.. good luck and live well, you may probably never see me again but if you ever do wish to leave this island. Perhaps we may meet again if it is fated."
The young man nodded before turning back to walk towards his forest territory once more.
It was unknown if they would meet again but the young boy was even more determined and found even more of a reason to improve himself to better survive and protect the weakest among the children.
Many people on board wished to take care of the children but many of the children were too determined to stay with their leader to help him protect the other children on the island who suffered the same fate that they did.
Fortunately, a small number of them arrived on board the ship the next day and began to be introduced to the crew along with their new study plans and the small tasks they had to complete daily.
After leaving the Island, the crew headed towards the Reverse Mountain and were fully prepared to leave the North Blue.
The North Blue had very little interest for Alyssia but exploring the various lands had given her a wider view of the world and the different cultures along with each of their difficulties.
Now that she had done some exploring after getting her new skills and slowly learning from them, she felt that it was about time to step into Paradise.