"Hiraeth ... wake up... I have to leave immediately."
Irish, the woman awakened her son who was still sleeping even though the sun had gone up into the sky, replacing the dark and dense night into the bright day. Irish put her hand on the son's forehead to ensure whether the son was sick or not. "He's not getting a fever!"
"Mother? What are you doing? Is there something on my forehead?"
Hiraeth asked a bunch of questions to his mother whose face was right in front of his, and the mother's hand was on his forehead. What is she doing?-
"I have to go to work soon. So I woke you up."
"What time is it?" Hiraeth asked, taking a sitting position.
"About eight o'clock."
"Eight? Mom, aren't you supposed to be at work at this hour?"
Hiraeth was panicked and worried. What if this weak woman was punished for being late. After all, how could he just wake up? What's worse was he was awakened!
"No problem. I just won't get lunch, so I can pack meals from home, we have enough supplies," she said. "Besides, you slept so soundly. I didn't have the heart to wake you up."
"But you awakened me in the end."
"It's because I have to."
"You should do that from the start, Mom."
"Why?"
"I'm afraid you'll get punishment from your master. I know so well..." Hiraeth was silent.
Hiraeth couldn't say for any further, as all this time the real Hiraeth had never interacted with servants so as he had no idea about the punishment and consequences for the undisciplined servant. Normally, the butler was more fierce than his own master, the one who knew the fact was Evan, the soul that had been merging with Hiraeth.
"Thank you for worrying me. But I really mean it when I say that everything is okay." The woman rubbed Hiraeth's head, convincing. "Now, wash your face and have breakfast."
Without complaining, Hiraeth nodded, then went down from the bed. When headed to the door, he turned to one of the rooms that was supposed to be a wounded bird. "Where is Owen, Mom?" Hiraeth was panicking .
Since he got his consciousness, he had no friends, neither human nor animal. Even if there are children his age, they just want to bother him, not to make friends. Whereas he was so happy when he got new friends, moreover that was a bird.
"Owen?"
"The bird came last night!"
"It's in the kitchen."
"You cooked it?"
Irish laughed hearing the question of her boy. She did understand, the boy liked the bird and thought that she had cooked it. Especially since childhood, Hiraeth was very happy to raise animals, even rabbits that were supposed to be dinner often ended up becoming pets. Although some time later they would be slaughtered silently.
"He's eating. I also treated his wings."
It was obvious on Hiraeth's face that he was relieved. Regardless of his mother, he went to the kitchen immediately to ensure whether the mother was lying or not. He didn't understand the reason he doubted his mother so much, but when he was in the kitchen, he could see the bird was eating.
"Doesn't it look like a portion of human food?" Hiraeth asked his mother who followed him into the kitchen.
"The bird is a carnivore. But it seems that he likes bread, so I feed him."
"You know a lot, mother. Have you raised a bird beforehand?"
"Yes, I have. perhaps it came from the same type. The bird was a gift from my brother. But my pet used to be very picky, unlike this clever Owen."
"Maybe he's not smart, it's just he doesn't have any choice... right Owen?" Owen screamed back at Hiraeth as if he was offended by the words Hiraeth said.
Hiraeth only laughed at Owen's screeching. The eagle he named Owen was eating bread, while the fish only had its head left. It was perhaps because of the relatively large size of the fish head.
Hiraeth accompanied Irish to the door, after the woman got going, he washed his face right away and afterwards had breakfast along with Owen.
***
Hiraeth turned to the wall clock, there was still time left before going to the quarters. He expected that he would get a bunch of fish, so that he could exchange it for more flour. He made up his mind that he would do business.
But before that, he was not allowed to forget his main aim. He had to be strong so that he could get his revenge on Disher. That was a mandatory thing in his life, or it could be said that was his reason to survive and undertake until this time. One of the ways to be strong was to improve health and his bad nutrition. It was surely to get nutritional food containing vitamin, omega, carbohydrate and other nutritions, he needed more money. That was the reason why he had to be rich first.
Before leaving home, Hiraeth cleaned up the kitchen, afterwards he headed to the river. The river he visited at the moment was in the safe zone, or a river that was commonly used by local communities. It could be used to get a bath, wash, or take water.
After three weeks didn't do anything, he felt like a pig. The first step he took was to stroll around his house. All he did slowly so that it didn't damage Hiraeth's weak body.
After a week of running a relaxing walking program around his house for ten minutes, Hiraeth increased the amount of time to fifteen minutes, then it increased steadily over time. After feeling better, Hiraeth tried to run at a distance of about thirty meters, then it increased to fifty meters. He did it all gradually to train his body.
Then, the last two weeks, Hiraeth increased his activities, namely swimming.
Even though he had a past memory of swimming, it didn't mean that he could do it in this second life. He trained his body to float, then moved his body in the water. Besides, he also trained holding his breath so it would be better in controlling breathing, both when he was swimming or running.
"Swimming again?" A woman addressed Hiraeth, the woman seemed to just finish her washing activity.
"Yeah."
They continued their way, until finally Hiraeth arrived at the river. Not far from him, about a hundred meters from his standing place, there were several women who were washing clothes, then about fifty meters from him there were several children who were swimming.
"Wait here for a moment. Don't go anywhere." Hiraeth warned Owen while undressing.
Just wearing shorts, Hiraeth got into the river slowly, the aim was to avoid soreness while swimming and minimize muscle cramps. Hiraeth had also warmed up earlier. Afterwards he walked a little in a circle, because he already obliged himself to take a leisurely walk every morning for thirty minutes, and ran 50 meters back and forth, or 100 meters.
This morning he was ready to swim for thirty minutes. That was enough, even though he used to swim for more than an hour.