[Day 1461 or 4 Years Old]
[Planet: Aitera, Death Mist Forest]
Death Mist Forest is a place where no one dares to go into. It is said that if you enter Death Mist Forest, you're either a criminal, a veteran adventurer or a fool.
Death Mist Forest is said to be home to bandits to the deadliest of monsters. However, inside the deadly forest, it is home to a village where they call it Death Mist Village.
Some think that the people who live there are the deadliest bandits on the continent. Others think that it's home to some form of dangerous demi-human race.
None of the people realize that the people who they are assuming are just humans. But if they are just humans, how are they safe from the deadliest monsters or bandits?
No one knew… Not even the people inside the village know how they are safe. Most of them didn't care how they're safe, all that mattered to them is that they were.
Some tried to theorize how they were able to sleep peacefully in a forest, deadly as this one. Those same people gave up because of two reasons…
One of those reasons is that they weren't able to find anything. The other is that some people went missing. Those people were either family members, friends or just lunatics and after they went missing, people stopped theorizing.
When people realized this, they didn't want to follow in their footsteps because there would be no point… As long as they were safe.
After everyone just "accepted" things, everyone was "happier" for it. They either praised and thanked the village chief, God or both.
However, If only they knew what kind of person the village chief was, who he truly was, they wouldn't be singing their praises.
…
…
Inside the village, which looked like any other, there is an orphanage that was led by a Half-Elf named Sylvie Trismyar. Sylvie was an outsider at one point who just came to the village a little over a decade ago. She was known as a very nice and sweet person. She tries to put 100% of her effort into everything she does. This especially towards the place she owns, the orphanage.
Inside the orphanage there were 2 adults and 6 children. The adults were 2 women and the children were 4 boys and 2 girls.
The adults were a young woman who had short blonde hair, beautiful emerald colored eyes that glinted with joyfulness and satisfaction. She was wearing a green dress with purple flowers on them. Her dress was a little bit dirty but wasn't noticeable if you weren't looking too hard. She was currently dusting the corners, ceilings and some furniture, helping out the other adult.
The other adult was a middle-aged woman, her name was Ester. She had red frilly hair that was in a folded dirty white cap. Her eyes were pale blue with a bit of reddish behind her eyes that glinted with tiredness. She was wearing a red plaid shirt with white strips and wearing green pants that went up to her calves. Overtop of her outfit was a dirty white apron. She was wiping down tables with a washcloth that was constantly being rinsed.
She had an exhausted expression from not only cleaning but listening to the constant loud laughter that was in the other room. In the other room were 5 kids. They were 3 boys and 2 girls.
The oldest within the room was a girl who was 14. She had brown-reddish hair that came down to her back. She had deep purple eyes that were flashed with amusement. She wore a rather clean deep purple dress that matched her eye color, along with red flower symbols. It looked like it was a present from a bit ago. Her name was Bethany, but she likes to go by Beth.
Beth was smiling while watching 3 children playing a game of life. They were playing different scenarios like saving the damsel in distress, or being the strongest adventurer defeating the monster.
Of those 3 children were 2 boys and 1 girl.
One of the boys was named Louis. He was 13, which was a few months older than the other boy. He had short light blue hair which matched his eye color. He was wearing an iron knight's helmet, dirty white shirt and brown pants. He was carrying a stick with a curve at the top, while laughing heroically. He was playing the role of a veteran adventurer.
"Let her go, you monster!" said Louis as he was pointing his "sword" towards the other boy
The other boy was named Hayden, he was also 13. When he was younger he was a bit shy, however, it seems he's more open and is even a bit playful. He has brown hair that is down to his neck. He had green eyes that sparkled with enjoyment and playfulness. He was wearing a brown cape over a dirty white shirt and some shorts. He had a stick that resembled a staff while laughing menacingly standing overtop of a girl.
"Kekeke! You'll have to make me, you disgusting human!" said Hayden, laughing at Louis
The girl is named Eve. She's 10 and is still adorable, while maturing a bit. She has frilly blonde hair that went down towards her back. She has bright blue eyes that faked with fear. She was wearing a pink dress that looked clean with a few stains, while also a bit tattered at the ends. She was playing the role of the victim while having her hands tied behind her back with a brown shirt.
"MMMH! MMMM" mumbled Eve while her mouth was gagged with a shirt.
Everyone was laughing and playing, enjoying their childhood while they had it. However, not everyone was playing.
In the corner, sitting in a short children's chair, was a cute, young 4 year old boy. He had short, messy black hair. He had bright green eyes that flashed with curiosity. He had a children's shirt and shorts while wearing blue overalls. He was reading a children's story.
Although he was young, he was able to read and understand stories above his age, which he could be considered a rare genius. Even though he could be considered a rare genius, he was rather skinny. He wasn't skin and bones, however he was on the slimmer side.
This wasn't because of Sylvie. Sylvie fed him numerous times, even though she was told not to by the village chief. She gave him her share of food, as she didn't care if she ate. As long as Abel was happy and healthy that was all that mattered to her.
Although she did this, It seems that no matter how much he was fed, he wasn't gaining weight. She was rather worried that Abel was experiencing some health problems, but she was unable to take Abel out of the village and forest to visit a doctor because it was dangerous.
Abel seemed fine and was rather happy so she would monitor him making sure that nothing arises. She just didn't know where the food went in Abel's stomach.
As Abel was reading his book he heard a small growl from his stomach, indicating that he was hungry.
'Hungy' Abel thought to himself as he hopped out of his chair.
Abel left his book on his chair and headed towards Sylvie. He was rather slow because of his size. He was waddling around like a penguin. Slowly making his way to Sylvie
Sylvie was still dusting, making sure the orphanage was clean. Sylvie enjoyed cleaning as she liked the feeling of satisfaction of the before and after. She was humming a tune until she heard a cute, adorable voice which lightens up her day
"Mommy, I'm hungy" said Abel with his puppy dog eyes.
When Sylvie heard Abel she smiled warmly. Although Abel wasn't really her child, he was still like a son to her so she didn't mind being called "Mommy". Although she stills remembers what the foreign object told her a few years ago, she didn't think it was fair to Abel that he wasn't allowed to know. She planned on telling him when he reached the age of 16, which in this world was known when you become an adult.
Sylvie turn towards Abel's direction and looked down at him and said
"I'll get you some milk, however lunch will be made soon so go back to your book, okay?" Sylvie asked.
Abel looked at Sylvie with sparkling eyes and said with a bright smile
"Okay!" as Abel waddled back to his chair to continue reading
'What a cutie!' Sylvie said inwardly with happiness
Sylvie walked to the kitchen to pour Abel some milk. She took out a small cup and poured goat milk. As she was still pouring she kept humming the tune from earlier.
After finishing, she walked towards Abel and gave him his milk.
"Here, Abel. Make sure you don't spill any of it, alright?" Sylvie asked while glancing at the book he was reading
Abel looked up at Sylvie and smiled with excitement from receiving milk. He took the cup filled with milk and started to sip on it. A few seconds later, he was finished and handed the cup back to Sylvie indicating that he was done.
Sylvie looked at Abel with a concern look because he drank it a little too fast
"Next time you drink something, make sure to drink slowly so you don't get a tummy ache" Sylvie told Abel
"I'm fine mommy, See!" Abel showed Sylvie his stomach, telling her he was fine.
"Okay, I see" Sylvie chuckled at Abel's response.
Sylvie walked towards the kitchen to prepare for lunch, which was no other than the famous soup. The village was poor because of its location as the forest was filled with danger. So they had to make due with soup because it was the easiest and less cost efficient to make.
Even though they only had soup, they were still happy because they knew that there were some people in the world who had nothing to eat, so they had to make sure to be thankful for what they have.
About 45 minutes later the kids heard a loud by soothing yell
"Kids, come and get your lunch!" yelled Sylvie
The kids looked at each other with excitement and ran towards the table yelling
"YES!"
Everyone ran towards the table like someone was going to steal their food if they didn't hurry as fast as they could, however leaving behind a waddling Abel who was kicking his legs as fast as he could, trying to catch up with the other children.
'N-NOOO! W-WAIT FOR ME!!!' Abel yelled inwardly
Abel finally managed to make it to the table where the other children were already sitting at the table waiting for their food. Abel was struggling to climb up to his chair until Beth helped him up. Beth looked at Abel and with a scolding tone saying
"Abel, if you need help, you have to ask and when you receive help make sure to say thank you, okay?"
"O-Okay, Tanks you" said Abel as he didn't like being scolded and being in trouble.
Beth looked at Abel and frowned that maybe she was a bit harsh so she said
"Don't worry, you're not in trouble and I'm not mad. I'm just reminding you for next time" Beth said with a warm smile trying to make Abel feel better
Abel looked at Beth and with a sigh of relief that he wasn't in trouble. Abel got along with the other kids well, however there was one kid who wasn't here that hasn't gotten along with Abel too well.
The other kid was named Connor. He was 16, about to be 17. He had blonde hair and green eyes. His personality didn't change much when he was still a boy. Connor joined the hunter team that was in charge of getting food for the rest of the village.
They would only hunt animals or smaller and weaker monsters. They would usually hunt rabbits to deer. There were sometimes where they were able to hunt monsters like horned-rabbits, small wolves and other smaller monsters. There was even this one time where they hunted a bear, however there were consequences for doing so.
Connor seemed to be dissatisfied with Abel, which was unusual for him as he got along well with everyone in the orphanage. He didn't seem like himself ever since he joined the Hunter team. Sylvie wasn't sure what made him to be so, however she couldn't think of anything. She just assumed that it was like a phase of jealousy so she didn't pay it any mind.
…
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Thanks for reading! As you've read, there was a time skip to when Abel was 4. I did a little recap towards everyone's characters and probably won't do it again until it's necessary if/when there is a time skip.
Anyways thanks for reading!
Check out my other novel:
'Reincarnated as a Horned Rabbit' (Ongoing)
2136 words | Chapter 5: Suspicion/Lunch & Dinner [Part 1/2] |