Life in this household has been rather interesting, they're all pretty eccentric people. In three years, I've adjusted to their rather unique ways but my personality has me playing the straight man in their shenanigans. It's all simple village life otherwise! Mom is a tailor and runs the only clothing store here, I get to be her model for kid's clothes which is kinda fun!
Reba and I didn't really know our parents before they put us into foster care. We learned that they couldn't care for us, which I couldn't blame them for when I got older. Their situation must've been harsh, Reba was a bit sour when the topic came up. I'm glad in this world I have my family here... If only Reba was here...
My new mom is named Janine and Dad is Pascal? I've heard them called this by friends who've visited over a few years. I'm sure about those two but I may have gotten mixed up at some point.
Reece sits at a corner of the tailor shop as his mom works. He's taken interest in the few books they've had as family heirlooms. They're mostly general education and fairytales. 'Hm, interesting how underdeveloped they are when there's books, do the gods control the tech development?'
[Good question! It depends on if the god actively controls the world, so it's mostly the culture and environment, demon kings are also a factor in this issue.] The red system appears with a pondering expression on her avatar. [This world's god is a nature themed one, so that's also influencing the shape this world takes!]
'Annoying, I hope my next life has proper bathrooms... I'm lucky the castle has the power to make it for me.' Reece flips through the book, it's a story about goblins and fairies becoming enemies. His eyes drift up to look into his newly found castle. 'I am shocked about how much freedom it gives me but at the same time, it's limiting due to it being from a power outside the idols...'
He reaches in and pulls out a loaf of bread from the castle's kitchen. There's been a few basic tests about the rules of it but sadly, you cannot make food from the authority over the castle, however, you can store it indefinitely. 'Such ability will be useful in survival adventures, I wonder if I can make food grow with some adjustments to the rules there.'
Reece smiles to himself while taking a bite from the loaf, fresh as the day he got it from the village's bakery! He's going to make great use of his rather interesting tool. His tail sways with his good mood, just lay back and enjoy his quiet village life until the hero shows up. 'With some training and probably getting the support from an idol, Everything should be easy waiting for them'
Janine Wirth moves back into the storefront with the customer she was working on. A young gnome who was looking for a dress to use on a date. She gets some fancy requests like that pretty often. "Wolfhard, how are you doing?" She says as that gnome left the shop.
"Oh pretty good, almost finished with this book! Does grandpa have any more?" Reece looks up at his mother with big innocent eyes. That tail comes in handy to show excitement!
"O-oh.... Sadly not sweetie! We'll have to borrow from the village's library." Janine says with a nervous tick. She seemingly looks away from Reece for a moment. "You can spend your day there! You're an old enough boy to play by yourself." She snaps into her usual cheerful self.
'Weird, if she's hiding anything from me, I'll find out when it's time.' Reece just smiled like a kid who's just got permission for something great! "I'll share the cool stories I learn!"
At a later time when Mom didn't want me cooped up in her store I started my trip there. A library in such an obscure place isn't an alien idea here, books that lose their families and followers of the idols who allow them to make books in the first place use these places as storage or holy buildings respectively.
Things about my heritage haven't lined up given my family's books. It's something noticeable when I've read all about this world-
A system menu suddenly appeared in front of him and interrupted his train of thought. [Heya! Should I put in some requests for some side quests? The god of this world said we can ask him for miscellaneous quests along as they're helping people!]
'Wait, when the hell did he say that? Do you have a line to the god of this world!?' Reece furrows his eyebrow at the system who probably didn't share a vital fact. 'I have been waiting for quests to appear for 3 years!'
[Oops, I forgot you didn't have access to the inbox... I'm able to send basic messages and get them as well along with generating quests based on their will!] The avatar gives Reece an innocent smile, unaware of her mistakes.
"Bleh... I want to sit down with a good book before doing chores." Reece says to himself walking towards the library at the village's center. The dread of having to do random things for people across his face.
While walking through the village, a group of kids spots Reece. Two of them are gnomes but many of them are kobolds in heritage. A gnome boy waves towards him with unreasonable excitement.
"Wolf! Wolf!!! Over here!!" The gnome boy is waving towards Reece and generally trying to gain Reece's attention. He gets frustrated at him slowly but surely. "Hey!! I know you can hear me, Wolfhard!"
Wolfhard or rather, Reece sighs looking towards the gnome kid calling out to him. He ponders why he should even engage with them while he's technically way older than them mentally. Being a lonely kid isn't really a big deal to him especially after his first life but... A small pull in his chest convinces him to bite the bait.
"What is it... Volker?" Reece gives this annoyed expression towards Volker Spellmeyer. The son of the village's chief and the assumed friend of Wolfhard by the parents. 'What were they trying to do by placing me around this kid? My stats are still all ones...'
"Let's play ball together!"
[Side Quest! - Life full of Fun
Details: Have a fulfilling life within the village's lifestyle! Play ball for the remaining daylight.
Coin Reward: 10]
"... Sure." Reece has to stop himself from gritting his teeth too much around these kids. His annoyance at this system message was simply that immense. 'I hate using these kids but I need every coin that I can get for the demon lord.'
There's a slight celebration between a few of them when Reece accepts the offer? Volker moves over and holds the ball over to Reece before proudly saying to him.
"Then let's begin our game! It's a simple Capture Ball game, you must make sure the ball can be knocked out of your hands and that's it!" Volker gives Reece a kinda stupid smile. "Since it's your first game, you can start off."
Reece is given the ball and he holds it. He takes a moment to realize something. "Wait, are we going to count dow-" He says before Volker kicks it out his hands!
'Little Bastards!' He internally curses at Volker's crew as all of them rush to gain this toy ball. His small frame is just barely able to keep up with kids who are likely a similar age group to him. He actually loses track of time trying to play with them, the rush from this game captures his whole being but will this actually be an easy life?
After all...
In this world, The Demon King approaches and the hero has yet to make an appearance.