{Trigger Warning:Parental abuse.}
[Back to GreenWood Village.]
-'Water isn't wet.'
Stephen was currently looking on as Neiro was enjoying a commoner's breakfast, which was a loaf of low quality commoner bread and a slightly mushy apple. It was currently early autumn and the Smith triplets were going to start their 5 year mandatory schooling at the village church.
[While in the Aurora Empire, someone is an 'adult' when they are 15, that only means that it is then that they are treated as 'people' instead of their parents property.
They truly become able to legally get married when they are in their early twenties. This was established by the very first summoned heroes during the first demonic invasion.
From birth until they are five, a child is free to do as they please.
From age five to ten, they are required to finish their mandatory education, which is funded by the noble family in charge of the settlement. During this period they properly learn how to read and write in Midorish and Aurorish along with how to count, how to add,subtract,multiply and divide numbers.
The numbers and letters in both Midorish and Aurorish are from Earth, with the numbers being written in Arabic numerals(aka 1-9) and the writing system is in Roman script. Most understanding of math was taken from one of the summoned heroes, who was a teacher, which ended up becoming a minor deity in Campbell's pantheon, becoming the Goddess of Letters and Numbers.]
When he heard what Neiro said into his mind, he immediately retorted with.
-"Yes water isn't wet but it can be. The property of something being wet is for an object to either have lingering liquid residue hanging off their body or soaked into their material. Water is a liquid, but water in solid form, like ice, can be wet."
Neiro was pleasantly surprised to see himself not be contradicted by Stephen.
-'Here I was expecting you to tell me that water is wet and then we have a little back and forth.'
Stephen let out a small chuckle as he continued talking a bit with his friend.
-"Maybe I am in an agreeable mood today, who knows. What do you think about your first day of 'school' Neiro?"
As Neiro went to clean up Vamas' and Lana's dirty mouths he responded back with a curios tone.
-'From what you have told me of school, should I be worried about stumbling upon 'arrogant young masters'?'
Stephen let out an awkward cough, which let Neiro know that his friend was feeling so embarrassed that he forgot he didn't need to cough.
-"If you would classify bratty young kids that don't know better as 'young masters' then maybe?"
-'...but that's literally how you described 'young masters' before.'
-"Oh wow would you look at how you look? You're probably the cutest (and youngest) father ever."
-'While I do appreciate the compliment, that was a very obvious attempt at trying to divert my attention.'
Neiro was now five years old and the father of a lot of children. When Melissa left along with Mirelle he decided to take a more masculine appearance and so he started slightly increasing his height and muscle mass while still looking like a normal, albeit large for his age, kid.
His caramel brown hair was straight and somewhat long, having grown to his shoulders, and so he tied it into a downward ponytail by braiding it.
His grayish-blue eyes got more 'focused', but they were hard to see due to his half lidded eyes.
His skin was a healthy Caucasian white, only very slightly darkened by his time spent outside while his sister and brother both had lightly tanned skin. Lana due to spending a long time outside in the sun, talking with the animals she was allowed to be close to, and Vamas due to his long amount of time playing pretend warrior-priest.
Lana's golden, curled hair reached all the way to her waist while Vamas decided to always keep his hair in what would be described as a light buzz-cut, saying that it would be inconvenient to fight with long hair.
Of course, Vamas' haircut was done by Neiro with the supervision of their parents, who were watching and making sure that they did not accidentally get cut or stabbed.
Neiro ended up getting scolded for using a real razor instead of a dulled one when 'playing barber'.
They brothers wore tan or light brown tunics and pants while Lana got a long skirt and a cheap blouse.
Neiro also got a skirt and blouse as a present and when he tried it on, he felt it looked nice and so he decided to send it to Melissa as a present, considering that at the time, it was her birthday as well.
After Neiro side-eyed Stephen with the eye growing out of the top of his head he then led his siblings to the church. He was the eldest brother and so it was his responsibility to take care of his younger siblings. Or so Anastasia told him.
'Maybe I should also tell Meli to take care of her younger siblings? Though I think it would be impossible for her to take care of all of them...'
The walk to the church didn't take long, only a couple of minutes, and so the Smith triplets had enough time to play with each other as they waited for the other children to come.
[In a certain home within GreenWood village.]
-"Alright Raymond, you are soon going to be ten years old and will be able to start your apprenticeship, how about you give sewing a try before you have to go to church?"
The last two years have not been kind on Sofia as she now looks like she had aged by ten years.
She was currently holding a small sewing needle and a spool of yarn while her nine year old son, Raymond, was looking outside the window. The window was facing the church and in the distance, three children could be seen playing at the building's entrance.
Raymond was half-listening to his mother and wishing that he was outside and playing like those three children.
Sofia saw this and felt incredibly frustrated, she only wanted to be a good and attentive parent to her child and help him become someone that the village will love and depend on!
"Ray, could you give sewing a try? Or maybe even becoming an apprentice at the Church! I am sure that a smart boy like you will become a great Teacher."
-"I want to chop Vintu's like dad, mom."
-"What?"
She could understand that her son wouldn't want to sew or even become a Teacher...But a lumberjack? A neglectful, unsupportive lumberjack?
"Ray, you don't want to become a lumberjack, they don't get paid a lot and you can get a much better job!"
-"...but dad is a lumberjack, and I want to be more like him."
-"You want to become more like your father? Why would you want to do that?"
Sofia had started to raise her tone without even noticing as she said that.
Raymond gave his mother a confused look. For some reason she had started acting weirdly these past two years, getting more hostile with his father and just staring outside the window every time the younger kids would go to church.
-"Because I like dad, his callouses look cool and he told me that his callouses got the attention of a lot of girls!"
Raymond had a small crush on one of the girls from the village and so he wanted to look cool for her, and since his father told him that callouses look cool, saying that they are a sign of a truly working person.
-'It got the attention of lots of girls alright...'
Sofia was starting to get even more angry, as the topic of 'other girls' and her husband resurfaced memories of Anastasia gaining the love of her husband without even trying and then leaving. She always got her sloppy seconds.
The three children in front of the church started laughing and playing more, which got Raymond's attention. He wanted to go outside and play as well. He wished:
-"I wish I was like those three."
He wished that he was outside playing instead of getting yelled at by his mom. He loves his mom but sometimes she could get real-
The sound of a slap echoed within the house.
Sofia was panting with her hand down while Raymond did not quite know how to react.
-'You wish that you had Anastasia as your mother instead of me!?'
"You ungrateful little-!"
Sofia tried to slap Raymond once more but the sound of him sobbing and then running off stopped her. She only managed to hit her hand against the windowsill. She let out a pained grunt and then she saw Raymond run to the church.
She looked at him running away, running away towards those same three children that had stopped playing and were now looking at Raymond with different facial expressions. She could see their facial expressions clearly for some reason, even with her bad eyesight and tears of frustration clouding her vision. She could remember their names clearly.
Vamas had a confused look on his face as he saw Raymond run at the church doors and pound at them while continuing to cry.
Lana had a shocked and sad look as she saw the red mark on Raymond's face and how he was quickly let inside. He was having difficulty breathing properly and when one of the priestesses tried to touch him, he flinched.
Neiro had a wide, happy smile as he saw her look at him. It was an innocent, childish smile.
He was the only one facing her, and she was the only one that saw his face, everybody else was looking at Raymond due to his previous loud cries.
She then saw him slowly turn around and bring his siblings into a protective hug as both Lana and Vamas started crying after seeing Raymond act like that. Children can be like that sometimes, so very aware of someone's emotions and empathizing with them.
But sometimes, children can also be cruel.
[An hour later, inside the church]
Neiro was now inside the church with his younger siblings and the other children that had come for their mandatory education. Some of them were looking at Raymond who was trying to explain to Teacher Fabian what happened. Some of them were looking at Thomas as he tried to, and failed to, comfort his son.
While others were looking at the still angry Sofia, who was accosted by two guards. She wasn't under arrest but she was retrained in order to not harm any more children. One of these children that she had tried to harm was being stared at by Stephen.
-"Did you make her do it?"
-'Hm? I have no idea what you're talking about.'
Stephen had expected something like this, but not like this.
-"Don't try to act coy Neiro, you know what I am asking you. Did you make her do it?"
-'I am going to assume that you are talking about the very shameful behavior of Sofia. Truly, I will never understand someone that could be able to hit their own child.
Now now, don't start giving me that look. I did not made her do anything.'
Stephen was glaring at the back of Neiro's head, directly staring at the eye hidden behind his hair that was staring at his rectangular body.
-"You are telling me that you did not make Sofia strike her own child? Her only child that she is very protective of?"
Neiro slowly let his siblings sit on his lap as they fell asleep from crying. He continued to look at Teacher Fabian's increasingly angered face while Sofia tried to interject and yelled at her son for telling such lies about her.
He told them about how she started acting weirdly, being more aggressive towards his father, making him study more and more while limiting or sometimes even banning him from playing with his friends. He tried to tell what happened today several times but couldn't stop himself from crying.
He kept apologizing for wanting to play and that he was sorry for not studying hard enough.
Neiro looked at Raymond with pity.
-'I did not make her do it. Did I enjoy watching her destroy her relationship with her child? Yes.
Did I make her see or hear things more clearly? Yes.
But I did not make her do it.
The role of a parent isn't to live their life through their children. It isn't to make the perfect child and it is certainly not to 'discipline' their child.
A parent is someone that cares for their child, encourages them to be their own person, to become better than them but not be ashamed for their shortcomings.
A parent's role is to protect their child.'Stephen fell silent and then asked him one more thing.
-"Are you saying that you are innocent? That it isn't your fault?"
Neiro shook his head.
-'I am taking responsibility for this, but I am only partly to blame. I only cut a thin rope, but I wasn't the one that thinned it out.'
Stephen looked at Raymond once more. He never had children in his past life and also never had a wife, even though he had a girlfriend before. When he heard of cases of children getting mistreated, he didn't really take it seriously in the past.
But seeing a child be scared of their own mother. Of apologizing for things that didn't need apologies. That made him curse his past self out.
-"I am not forgiving you for doing this Neiro. You may have not made her do it, but you were still involved. I am still your friend, but involving children after making a point of adults bringing in children into their fights is hypocritical."
Neiro nodded and then looked down at Vamas and Lana, and then at Raymond once more.
-'I do not think that what I did was wrong, but I am a hypocrite. I only care about my friends and
family but at best I feel pity towards Raymond.'
Stephen looked at Neiro and saw the expressionless look on his face. At the way he felt only slight pity at a crying child.
-'It seems that I tend to forget that you aren't a human Neiro.'
[A few days later]
What happened to Raymond caused a huge uproar among GreenWood village. Anastasia and Bertholdt came as soon as they could to the church and when they saw Neiro cradle a sleeping Lana and Vamas that still had tear streaks, they were about to kill Sofia with their bare hands.
They were stopped as they heard their children call out to them, but just as they were about to hug, Sofia screeched as she saw Anastasia, blaming her and her children for all that is happening, saying that she is trying to steal even her own child's love just she did for Thomas.
Bertholdt was confused on many levels, Anastasia on slightly fewer levels and Thomas was visibly embarrassed and enraged. Before could be said however, Teacher Fabian tried to put his best calm face and told all of the parents to take their children outside as he had something to discuss with Sofia.
Sofia protested against this but before she could even try to call out to Raymond, Thomas hugged him tightly and took him outside.
Once everybody got out, it was told that the church visibly quaked as Fabian started berating Sofia, sometimes using other languages. Of course, the building didn't actually shake, but for the villagers that knew Teacher Fabian as a kind and well-mannered old man, that is how they saw it.
What Sofia did wasn't illegal, instead for the most part, what she did could be considered tame when compared to other households inside the Aurora Empire, but for GreenWood village, things were different.
It wasn't the only one that heavily punished such acts but it was still considered extremely rare for a punishment to actually occur. Unfortunately, Lord GreenWood did not see what he considered a 'small scolding' to warrant an arrest or an actual punishable act, and so she remained unpunished by the law.
She did not however escape the villager's punishments. Both Raymond and Thomas asked to stay at other people's house, but while the villagers were supportive of them, they weren't supportive enough to let them live in their homes.
And so, with much shame, they asked the Smith family if they could live there. They were accepted but they had to live in the storage room of the house, but they did not really mind.
And so, the Smith siblings were spending some time with Raymond while he tried to recover from what happened with Sofia.
His mother was still staying at their old home, since it was 'her house', with Thomas giving his house away to a different couple that moved into the village some time ago. She would rarely come out and whenever she saw Raymond, she would scream at him to come back to her, and when Anastasia would try and protect him, she would scream even more.
The Smith triplets were currently preparing to go to church for their official 'first day'. Before they went, Neiro glanced at Raymond, who was also eating his breakfast. Thomas had already left to work more, wanting to get enough money in order to both pay back the Smith couple and also buy a house, but that is unlikely to happen.
Raymond had started to feel a little better but he still would feel nervous whenever it came to going outside and he had started to rub his cheek when he felt stressed. Lana and Vamas tried to play with him but Raymond didn't want to play with 'babies', and so they got mad and started ignoring him and calling him childish insults.
Stephen would always make sure to look over Raymond, feeling guilty about not knowing about Neiro's scheme. He would hover over Raymond and Thomas and wonder about his past life, of how he was around Thomas' age and didn't have a child.
Would he have been just as neglectful? Would he have been a good role model? Would he be missing his previous life on earth instead of simply accepting his role as a 'System'? He wondered about when he first met Neiro.
About how he was simply going along with what the company was saying, about how he was even thinking about killing an innocent infant just so someone else could take over their body. He had thought about this many times, especially when he saw the more 'human' side of Neiro over the years.
Stephen did not know how to feel about Neiro. He treated him like a younger friend, like a newly hired truck driver that did not have much experience or sometimes like a younger brother. They would joke around, chat about various things, talk about his child.
But now that he was looking at a more 'normal' child, someone that was affected negatively by Neiro just playing around...
-"Ray Ray, do you want to play?"
Raymond got startled as he heard Neiro's voice. He had barely talked with him over the last few days, with Neiro preferring to interact with his family more and choosing to ignore him and his father.
The nine year old child did not know how to respond for a few moments, his hands slightly frozen as he was about to take a bite of his food. Both Lana and Vamas were surprised as well but then started getting excited.
They still wanted to play with a 'cool kid' like Raymond but did not know how to approach the topic after getting rejected.
Raymond let out a small scoff and then looked at Neiro's face.
-"You think I want to play with you three babies? I can play with my friends once I go to church, so no thanks."
Both Lana and Vamas started pouting but then stopped as Neiro slowly got off his chair and went to the bedroom. His siblings and Raymond got a bit curios and followed him in, and when they saw Neiro pull out four wooden sticks that looked a lot like various weapons, they immediately got excited.
There was a very big stick that looked like a war pick, with one side of the hammer looking like a hammer while the other one had a spike.
There was a war axe as well, with the blade of the axe having a sharp tip which could be used like a spear.
There was a long staff shepherd's staff and the final one was a long sword that looked like a German flamberge.
-"That's a shame, I found these in the forest and wanted to give you one so we can play, but you don't want to play with us babies."
-"Wooooow, Big bro I want the big hammer!"
Vamas immediately went to the war pick and tried to pick it up but was surprised at the weight, but since he didn't want to look weak in front of his little sister and Raymond, he simply raised it up by the 'handle' part of the stick.
Lana was also excited, but at the same time, she was also very curios about something else.
-"Big bwo, when did you go to the fowest?"(Big bro, when did you go to the forest?)
She had started to speak better but she still had a hard time pronouncing some letters, especially when feeling strong emotions.
Stephen also wanted to know the answer to that question, but considering that these 'sticks' weren't green, and instead looked more like the floorboards of the house, he could guess how The Anomaly actually acquired them.
Neiro simply shrugged and let out a small smile while putting a finger to his lips and spoke in a slightly quieter voice.
-"Don't tell mommy and daddy but I sneaked into the forest when you all went to sleep."
Lana could not detect any lies and so she started walking towards Neiro and held out her small friends.
-"Can I get the staff?"
Neiro nodded with a smile and then gave Lana the Shepherd's staff, but just as Vamas was about to warn her about how heavy these sticks are, Lana immediately grabbed the staff and started moving it around and giggling.
As Vamas was starting to think that his sister was hiding a lot of muscle under that small frame, Neiro glanced at Raymond, who was staring at the war axe stick with clear want in his eyes.
-"If you will play with us then you can have it."
Raymond was surprised that a small kid like Neiro would give such cool 'toys' away, as if he were in his shoes, Raymond would have kept them all to himself. He was even thinking about simply taking the cool sticks from them but stopped himself.
He slowly rubbed his cheek and then went to Neiro. He slowly grabbed the war axe stick, and after managing to pick it up and testing how it move through the air, he looked back at the oldest of the Smith triplets with a small smile.
-"Thank you, and sure, let's play later. Now it's time for you little sprouts to go to church and study! I'll make sure to take good care of your sticks while you are away."
Both Vamas and Lana suddenly remembered that this was their first day of 'school' and stopped playing with their new toys. They were really tempted to just stay home and play with Raymond and their big brother, but after they saw Neiro call them over, with him already at the door, they reluctantly put their sticks down and went to church.
As Neiro and his siblings were walking to the church, now being slightly late, Stephen glanced back at the Smith home and then at Neiro.
-"That doesn't make up for what you did Neiro."
Neiro nodded as his caramel brown hair started flowing with the wind, along with Lana's while Vamas only felt a cool breeze.
-'I know that. I don't feel guilty either, I would do it again with no hesitation just to see Sofia suffer.'
-"Then why are you suddenly being kind to him? Do you want to 'play' with him too?"
-'No, I simply want to play with him. Children can be cruel, but they can also be kind, Stephen.
And I am a child too.'
Stephen stopped and looked on as Neiro opened the church door for his siblings and started his first day of 'school'.
[Lana Smith Status Window]
Name:Lana Smith
Species:Basic Midorian Human
Existence Rank:Abysmal Basic Basic Midorian Human
Stats:
STR(As strong as a normal five year old):0.5
AGI(Has an average reaction speed):1
DEX(As flexible as a normal person.):1
END(Started to train her endurance by playing):0.8
THG(A little less fragile.):0.7
PER(Started learning how to listen and see better):2
WIS(Her emotional intelligence is higher than her elder brother's):1
CHR(Cutest little sister in the village):50
INT(Started learning more about nature.):0.8
LCK(Average luck):1
Mana Capacity(Girl power!): 85/85(Full)
Trait(s):
-Medium Level Nature Spirit Affinity( She is seen as a friend by the nature spirits and other creatures attuned to nature.)
Skill(s):
Active:
-
Passive:
-Animal Language Knowledge(Intermediate):She can understand roughly understand what some animals are saying.(Example: if a canus were to bark in order to say that it wants to go pee outside, she can differentiate the bark from one saying that the canus is hungry.)
-Plant Language Knowledge(Intermediate):She can understand roughly understand what some plants are saying.(Example:If a Vintu isn't getting enough water, she can learn that by observing the plants before the plant starts showing signs of 'dehydration')
-Fungi Language Knowledge(Intermediate):She can understand roughly understand what some fungi are saying.(Example:She can access the mycelial network of a fungus and learn the location of other plants or fungi connected to said fungi.)
-Investigation(Beginner):She is starting to learn how to better understand the body language of other people.
Title(s):
-Little Sister of The Anomaly(Given by Existence)
[End Status Window]
[Vamas Smith Status Window]
Name:Vamas Smith
Species:Basic Midorian Human
Existence Rank:Abysmal Basic Basic Midorian Human
Stats:
STR(Started training himself in order to become a warrior.):0.6
AGI(Has a slightly higher reaction speed than an adult):1.2
DEX(Started doing small flexibility training):1.2
END(Running around the village has increased his stamina):1.2
THG(Got sick a few times and hurt a bunch of times and so his body is becoming more resilient):1.1
PER(Started to train his senses in order to catch his elder brother off guard, hasn't mentioned to succeed yet):2
WIS(As his brain is developing, he is starting to become smarter):0.6
CHR(Cutest little brother in the village):50
INT(Is interested in learning more about warriors and in becoming an apprentice at the church):0.8
LCK(Average luck):1
Mana Capacity(Still growing): 65/65(Full)
Trait(s):
-
Skill(s):
-Active:
-Passive:
Title(s):
-Little brother of The Anomaly(Given by Existence)
[End Status Window]
[Raymond Status Window]
Name:Raymond
Species:Basic Midorian Human
Existence Rank:Low Basic Basic Midorian Human
Stats:
STR(Had started training in order to become a lumberjack):0.7
AGI(Average):1
DEX(Average):1
END(Due to playing around a lot and from studying for a long time, he can function with less sleep than an average child.):1.5
THG(Holding on):1.2
PER(Can see that his life won't be the same.):1
WIS(Not dumb for his age but not good enough.):0.7
CHR(Due to still being a child, he is seen as cute by other people. His cuteness is slowly fading.):5
INT(Had to cram a lot in order to get good results.):1.2
LCK(Was born to a father that doesn't want to be home and to a mother that wants to live her life through him.):0.8
Mana Capacity(Almost done developing): 80/80(Full)
Trait(s):
Skill(s):
Active:
-
Passive:
-Learning(Beginner):Has a slightly easier time memorizing and understanding information in written and spoken form.
-Woodcutting(Beginner):Was told a few things about woodcutting by his father but only about how to properly hold an axe when hitting a tree.
Title(s):
[Status Window]
Name:Neiro Smith
Species:Human
Existence Rank:Guess
Stats:
STR(Very strong for a five year old.):0.7
AGI(Has a slightly higher reaction speed than a normal people):2
DEX(Average):1
END(Average):1
THG(As tough as a regular adult):1
PER(Average):1
WIS(Average):0.8
CHR(Cute):10
INT(Average):0.8
LCK(Average):1
Mana Capacity(Average): 65/65(Full)
Trait(s):
Skill(s):
Title(s):
-The Anomaly(Given by:Existence)
-Sire of Calamity(Given by:Existence)
-Youngest Parent(Given by:Stephen System)
-Dear(Given by:Melissa's Mama)
-Papa(Given by:Melissa)
[End Status Window]