Hiro was afraid that they would hate him, mainly because of his black hair, which was considered cursed and brought bad luck, where he lived in the past. And his fear was emphasized when he saw Gilda's face.
"What do you mean,? You're not ugly, you're really cute!" Gilda spoke after seeing Hiro's sad face.
"Brother is very cute!" Louise added.
"Re-really? Am I not a disgraceful being?" Hiro was doubting what the two said, nobody wanted him, that was his thought, he just hadn't been lynched before by the other members of his old village, because they had a belief that until he reached the age of 15, one could not expel or kill, otherwise the land would become infertile.
Hiro learned to read and write, hiding in the window of a school and listening to classes. He stole some books to help with his studies, but he put them back when he realized that someone was starting to repair the disappearance. He realized he was going to be killed after hearing some of the village elders' conversations. He wanted to live to see wonderful things, even if he suffered.
So the day before his 15th birthday, he secretly entered the church, took an awakening stone from a tray, and ingested it, his new abilities appeared on his information screen.
Active: [Healing Beds], [Flames of Empowerment] and [Burning Feet]
Passives: [Change shape], [Fast learner], [Wisdom] and [Sharp ears]
Hiro quickly read the skills; he had already prepared everything to flee. When he left the church, he heard voices of villagers cursing him, with weapons in their hands, but one thing a villager had in his hand caught his attention: it was his backpack with supplements; they realized he was going to flee!
Realizing he had no more time, he started to run out of the village. A villager saw the boy running and shouted, showing everyone where the boy was. Hearing the noise of the villagers, Hiro panicked. At that moment, the skill Burning Feet was activated, his feet were on fire, but he was faster. Managing to escape from the village, he did not leave unharmed, he had an arrow stuck in his arm and, unable to bear the pain anymore, he stopped. He removed the arrow from his arm and tried to use his new flame healing ability. A fire appeared that healed his wound, but then he felt dizzy.
As Hiro wanted to go as far away from that place as possible, he kept walking for 2 hours, until he couldn't stand it and passed out, when he woke up he found a woman and a little girl.
"Of course not! Why would that be?" Gilda spoke.
"Because I was born with black fur, and black fur cats are cursed." Hiro said, looking down.
"Well then, you are not cursed! And now you are now a member of our family," Gilda said, adding, "We call you Hiro, but you don't have a name? and how old are you?"
"I wasn't named, can I continue as Hiro?" The boy spoke.
"Of course!" Gilda replied instantly, and after hearing the answer, Hiro smiled.
"And I'm 15," Hiro replied to the second question.
Gilda was impressed with Hiro's size compared to his age.
"Louise, you are 12, right?" Gilda asked
"Yes." Louise replied.
"I wanted to ask you something. Why, you wanted me to bacame your family?"
"Because I see in you what I learned is a family!" Louise replied.
"I think you are a cool big sister." Hiro said.
"Ok, I understand, I'm the big and great sister." Gilda said, looking at them.
After a while of conversation and introductions, it was late afternoon, Gilda, who hadn't slept the night before and had spent a reasonable amount of mana, couldn't take it and fell asleep.
"Looks like sister fell asleep." Hiro commented.
"That's right, it looks like I'm the leader now! I'll go out to train my powers." Louise spoke excitedly.
"I don't think so; imagine if you get into trouble." Hiro worriedly said.
"Okay, little brother, I know my way around, and I have the magic barrier." Louise replied.
"But what if you get a surprise attack? And who will stay to protect big sis? I only have support skills." Hiro kept trying to convince
"Okay, I'll keep watch, but if any wild animal appears, I'll hunt it!" Louise continued
While Louise was watching around, Hiro lit a fire with one of his skills, as the skill only strengthens whoever the skill user wants, and can be used as a common and neutral fire that will disappear and will not cause damage.
Already in the middle of the night, Gilda wakes up and notices a fire, and the two little ones are also sleeping. Gilda held a stick in her hand and looked around to see if everything was safe, and again, it was she who was on the lookout.
That night Louise had no vision, but she had a dream that she doesn't remember, but she knows it was really cool. Hiro slept badly and was cold. He had a nightmare in which he ran away from the villagers of his old village, but at the end of the nightmare, a light appeared that he was chasing, and when he reached the light, he woke up and saw his new mother and sister.
"I couldn't stay awake to protect us, I'm sorry," Louise said with a little regret in her eyes.
"All right, you didn't do anything wrong, and Hiro, do you know of any civilized places where we could go?" Gilda asked.
"Yes, I know that beyond the forest, where we were, there are kingdoms, I read that the first kingdom lies beyond a plain." After finishing his cookie and sharing a bottle of water, Hiro said.
Gilda and Louise looked at each other.
"Are you sure this realm is safe?" Gilda still wasn't very confident.
"Yes, the village I lived in just didn't move there because in that kingdom they didn't accept some of their ideologies, and as there were laws, it was difficult for them to accept," Hiro stated firmly.
"Alright, then let's go to that realm!" Louise spoke excitedly, and Gilda remembered the horse from the plains and felt a little angry, she decided that if she saw that animal again, she would kill it.
"Okay, but what kinds of races are there in this world?" Gilda asked.
"There are: monsters, humanoids, divine beings, demons, and beasts. As main differentiators of races, which may have characteristics of more than one race, such as myself, who can be considered a beast and humanoid, the species also has a specific name to be differentiated, such as elves, mermaids, beastmen, or dragonoids, to name a few examples," Hiro responded to the question.
"That's cool! There are fairies too?" Louise asked.
"Yes, I've read about them, they are of the divine and humanoid types." Hiro replied, and Louise made a strange face.
"Then it's decided. Let's go to that realm! Do you know the name, Hiro?" Gilda asked.
"Yes, the kingdom is called Edezil." Hiro answerd.
They started walking, took approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes until they managed to get back to the lake. Louise understood that Gilda wanted to get some water as theirs was already running out.
"What a beautiful place." Hiro observed the beautiful lake in front of him.
"It really is beautiful," Gilda said.
Gilda filled the water bottles and took the opportunity to clean her clothes.
Next to Gilda, Hiro and Louise were talking.
"Hiro, where do your clothes come from?" Louise asked.
"They come from my changing shape, it's extra," Hiro replied to the question.
"Do they regenerate? Are they part of your body?" Gilda kept asking without understanding how it worked.
"I don't know exactly, but it's the same clothes I wear in human form, which stay on the body," Hiro replied.
"So if you use a backpack, it will disappear too? What if you're wearing a cat-form outfit?" Louise realized that she was asking too many questions, and Hiro didn't know the answer either, so she decided to save those questions for another time. "No need to answer now, first, let's go to the kingdom."
"Ok, now let's continue the journey." Gilda took the backpack and called the two.
"If we don't get to town so soon, Louise can borrow one of her dresses to you." gilda commented.
"No," Louise said looking at Gilda a little angy than she calmed down remembering that now Hiro is her new brother.
"If you wanna I can borrow one of my dress to you" Louise said trying to fix her mistake.
"Okay, he can wear one of the clothes that Louise hasn't worn yet" said Gilda.