{A Parasyte? What? Of course not, why would I think that?}
{Nevermind, it's nothing. Let's get home, your mother is probably preparing something for your father's return.}
{Elsa...}
***
"Tell the vice-captain he's been promoted, make sure word of this incident doesn't spread. I don't care what cover-up story you come up with, the minister of defense is coming in a few days and if he finds out that our security was breached he might take it as an excuse to send royal troops here," shouted Count Berilia before walking past all the kneeling knights towards the door.
"And what about her?" asked one of the other black knights, referring to the prostitute who was still shivering in fear behind the bed.
"Oh, I almost forgot about her. Kill her, she wasn't as good as they said anyway."
"N-No please, I-I won't tell anyone I pr-" her head fell to the ground before she could even finish her sentence, her eyes still wide open in fear.
"Call the vice-captain, and issue a command of silence, anyone who breaks it will be executed for treason," ordered Servius as he cleaned the blade of his ebony sword before walking out of the room, the four black knights walking out behind him in a double pillar formation.
***
"Where are Gray and Armin?" asked Arya as he watched Lillian mop the living room. Streya and Leon had gone off together, much to Arya's dismay, so he was left alone watching his mother prepare for his father's arrival.
"They said they were going to train, I'm sure they'll be back soon."
"Arcia Virtu," with that spell she lifted the table into the air, mopping beneath it before placing it back on the ground.
"You should really work on your mana control mom." Arya's eyes blazed a faint yellow as he stared at the large clouds of mana that his mother was expending on a mere low level cantrip.
"I'm too old for all that, Arya," smiled Lillian before ruffling his hair.
"Oh, can you go get a few spices from Jernah's shop? I just realized that we've run out and I want to prepare something special for dinner." Lillian pulled out a few copper coins from the pocket of her apron before handing them to Arya, wiping the beads of sweat that collected at her forehead right after.
"Arya?" Arya had zoned out staring at his mother, it was little moments like these that made him wonder how things would've gone had his first mother been in different circumstances. Sometimes he felt like she and Lillian were the same person. Although they were vastly different in both appearance and personality, he felt the same warmth radiate from both of them, the same warm feeling that made his chest feel fuzzy.
He couldn't help but lose focus, it felt as if she would be snatched away by life at any second, as if the dream he was living in would come to an end and he would wake up in his old life with nothing. Which was part of the reason why he needed to hurry up and learn magic, he had to be prepared to protect her in case life decided that it was tired of letting him have his share of happiness.
"Yeah, okay."
"Thanks, don't be long now, I need you to help me with lunch."
As Arya walked along the dusty gravel road of the shanty districts, he saw a few children running about, kicking what looked like a ball made from plastic along the street. Many of them didn't have shirts, with the only clothing covering their bodies being ravaged shorts that barely protected their private areas.
{Poverty here is that bad huh? My family might even be one of the rich ones,} thought Arya as he walked past the group of kids.
"Hey, you."
"Huh?"
One of the kids stopped in front of Arya, he was slightly bigger than the others, but was severely malnourished, it looked as if the wind could blow him away at any second.
"You're from ogre's house aren't you? The one with the brat that knows magic." The other kids stopped playing when they heard this and began to crowd around the two.
"Yeah?" Arya didn't like how he called Armin a brat, but decided against acting aggressively after he realized how many they were and how much bigger they were than him.
"You're going to Jenah's shop, aren't you? Pfft, why am I even asking? It's pretty obvious, I mean you guys must be pretty loaded since you have a genius mage in your family. And I heard the older one is going to apply to be a knight as well."
"What are you getting at?"
"I'm saying that it's a bit odd that the rest of us are suffering yet your family is thriving. You even get special treatment from the village healer. My father says that your mother slept with a demon and that's why you guys have been having so much luck. It makes sense though, I mean look at you, white hair, yellow eyes, you're clearly a demon," the boy moved a little closer to Arya, his eyes blazing in both anger and greed.
{I see, so he's angry with the way things are, huh. However, that doesn't mean he can insult my mother.}
Arya threw a punch at the boy, catching him by surprise. Sadly his small body didn't have a lot of strength, and the boy he had punched seemed to be at least nine -although he could've been older, it was hard for him to tell due to the boy's malnourished frame.
"Get him!" shouted the boy as he held the side of his face where he had been punched.