It’s been 4 years since I’ve been reincarnated. The life I’ve led after my reincarnation has been nothing but pure happiness. I had a loving family, a great contrast to my previous one. They gave me their attention, they gave their time, but most importantly, they gave me their love.

My past family never gave any of it after the birth of my younger brother. As one without the good genes back in my original world, I was simply worthless in their eyes, as well as society. Here, however, they viewed me as not a tool for their gain, but they viewed me as a human, a person.

They viewed me as who I am, not what I am. I am a human, I am their child, but most importantly, I am myself, I am Michael. And they viewed me as just that, just Michael.

I even had siblings, and all of them loved each other unconditionally. One was my twin sister, Michelle, who was a little bundle of joy and who was very, VERY, attached to me. She won’t even accept being separated from me for even a few minutes, so everything we did, we did together. Be it bathing, eating, playing, and sleeping, we were never far apart for more than a few minutes at most.

Next was my older sister, Mariam, who was 3 years older than me. She had a lovely smile and always strived to be elegant and perfect, not wanting to be found inadequate by her peers. Of course, once she’s home alone with only her family, that persona broke into one I found extremely laughable. She’s as lazy as I was back in my past life. Though, she still loved her family and would do anything to keep them safe, even if it meant doing some… unquestionable things…

That’s one scary 2^nd grader…

Then the oldest sibling, my older brother Maxim who was 6 years older than me. Quiet, stoic, and was naturally aloof in all things, sometimes coming off as expressionless, but underneath that exterior, he revealed to be a caring and selfless person. Though, even he had limits.

Then my parents, Nyla and Nicolas. Nicolas was an incredibly good father figure, though he had his vices. Nyla, our mother, was the one to always reign him in, in case he went too far. Said vice was… not being able to treat children as children. He wants us to taste the adult world too early in our lives.

Nyla however, was what you would call a perfect mom. Always finding time for her children, giving sound advice whenever possible, helping arguments de-escalate, and just being a good mother. Though she was too noisy in the bedroom, which had me awake nearly every night.

Energetic people they were.

Currently, me and my twin sister, Michelle, were both in class, if you would call it that. It was just me, my sister, and our instructor. I was born into a noble family, the one that managed a region as a lord within the kingdom.

Welcome to the Drismond family, ranking as Earl in the hierarchy. We were quite famous for being generous lords, though I can chalk that up to the upbringing of Father and Mother. That’s a story for another time.

“Now, Young Lord Drismond, bring your arm under your chest, yes, just like that, then bow slightly,” I followed the instructions to do a bow used for greetings those of similar positions as us, “wonderful, perfect.”

The instructor smiled gently as he then focused on my sister, his smile twitching a bit from the… display of etiquette she’s shown.

“Young Lady Drismond, your feet are too close to each other, distance them a little bit,” the instructor instructed while eyeing her form, looking for any blemish and mistakes she may make. Michelle followed the instructor’s advice and separated her feet a little bit and did a shaky curtsy.

“Raise your gown a little bit higher, yes like that, and bow slowly, yes, perfect!” the instructor happily exclaimed as he congratulated us two.

“You two are shaping up to be fine nobles,” the instructor said as he checked the time, “but unfortunately, that’s all the time we have for today. I’ll see you two on our next session, good day, Young Lord Drismond, Young Lady, Drismond.”

The instructor tipped gave us a bow and left the room. A slight glimpse of maids escorting him as he left caught my eye as the door closed, leaving the two of us alone.

“Mike!” Michelle quickly glomped me once the two of us were alone, causing us to tumble into a mess, a sight the instructor would be horrified of. Imagining his pale face and wide eyes with mouth agape made me chuckle a bit, which prompted Michelle to glomp me even harder.

“Come on, Mich, let’s get those pesky sandals off,” Michelle quickly released me from her grasp and presented her feet to me. I gently, and carefully took the sandals off. The last time I did it quickly, she did not like it, like at all.

Done taking off her sandals, her lips formed into a bright smile that could blind my eyes. I chuckled, and she danced and twirled, finally free of the constraints of the dreaded high heels. I wore it once in my past life, I don’t know how many times I fell that day, and was made a laughing stock by my… friends… no, friends aren’t appropriate, acquaintances? No, even they don’t deserve that title, stranger? Yes, more likely…

I was guided out of my thoughts by the beaming Michelle grasping my tiny hands in hers. We both then twirled and danced around, briefly forgetting about the world around us. At this moment, it was just us two, us kids playing with each other without a care in the world.

“Young Masters?” a knock interrupted us from our trance and brought our attention to the door. It opened and revealed a maid wearing the classical maid outfit. The Gothic Lolita style of clothing, with the skirt reaching down to her ankles. There was little, to no exposure of her skin at all.

Understandable, seeing that the condition of the maids and butlers represent the image of the house and family. I straightened my back and assumed the posture of a dignified noble. We may be children, but even we have an impact on how others view our family, little may it be.

“It’s time for your reading and writing lessons,” the maid formally said after bowing towards us for her greetings. I nodded back while Michelle grasped my hand in hers as we were guided by the maid towards the room where we were going to be taught reading and writing.

Peaceful days, and I hope it never stops, I’ve had enough of pain for one life…

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

I was currently alone after having done my homework for the reading and writing class. Michelle had to participate(forced) with our sister so she could introduce herself to her friends and peers. But frankly speaking, I don’t think Mariam considered them friends. For a girl so young, she’s taken to being a noble like fish to water.

Long story short, she’s befriending them for political clout.

Ah right, I forgot to mention this, I was reincarnated in a world of swords and magic, the cliché theme of mangas, animes, and light novels alike. During my time learning about this world, I learned that we lived in a continent named Vreoworis, and in the said continent there stood 5 countries.

The kingdom of Haiyecaea where we lived, the empire of Bakiton, the kingdom of Edridora, the dynasty of Aedrugia, and last but not least, the Merchant Kingdom of Aduidatha.

For convenience's sake, think of the number 5 on the dice. That’s how the countries are arranged, though the territory is marked differently. We have the Haiyecaea in the northwest, Bakiton in the southwest, Edridora in the southeast, and Aedrugia in the northeast, with Aduidatha in the middle.

I haven’t been told much about them though, so that’s all I know currently, except for the fact that all countries are in a shaky peace treaty due to the situation of overflowing monsters. The reason for that is still unknown, but hey, I’m still a kid, leave me alone for a few more years.

While I was busy in my thoughts, a cold breeze swept around my body, causing me to shiver. A look to my right made me realize the cause. It was just an open window, the sun’s rays peeking out from the cascade of clouds above.

I sighed and ignored the open window. We were on the second floor damn it. No one was going to sneak in here.

A brief flash of memory I want to be forgotten entered my mind and made me wince. No stop it, they aren’t here. They won’t harm you. They’re gone, alright, gone forever. You won’t meet with them anymore…

I shook my head in an attempt to shake off my current negative monologuing, before continuing with my walk. It appears that Michelle has a much bigger impact on my life than I thought previously.

The walk was a short one since it was just through the corridors, but then I happened upon a strange book lying on the floor. Maybe somebody dropped it when they borrowed it from our library. I took it from the ground, noticed how thick and heavy it is, and carried it in both arms.

“This… is… very… heavy…!” my child body not being able to bear the weight of the book, I let go and the book landed with a loud thud, echoing through the halls. I sighed and decided to leave it there and have the maids or butlers pick it up and place it back inside the library.

However, a slight glimmer on the cover made me rethink my decision. The text was in the Haiyecaean language, so there should be no problem at all reading it. I tapped my chin before making a decision. I grabbed the book and dragged it to my room, which wasn’t that far.

It took me a few minutes, but I managed. At the end of it all, I was tired and out of breath, but still had the energy to spare for the day. I propped it up on my desk and climbed the chair. Opening the page, a picture greeted me depicting a man in a cloak wielding a scythe. On his hands, an orb of energy swirled around, siphoning mana from the people around it, and making the mana flow into him instead. Under the picture, the title read…

“The Legend of Qhohaed”

I flipped the page and I read the first paragraph, then the second, then the third, and from that point on, I was so engrossed in reading the book that I lost track of time. The story was very good, detailed usage of magic that you could mistake this for a ‘learn magic book’, a compelling plot, realistic characters, and the main character.

The main character just a normal person, until an incident happened that took away his wife and children. Wanting them back, he researched forbidden magic, even if he hadn’t an ounce of magic within him, to try and resurrect them back into the living. Ultimately, he failed, but he did make something that revolutionized the world of magic as a whole, even if it did cost thousands of lives in the process.

That invention was called the ‘Mana Absorbing Sphere’ which was then re-engineered into a ‘Mana Recycling Sphere’. In a nutshell, the Mana Recycling Sphere makes all sorts of magic efficient, and less consuming, practically boosting the capabilities of magic by 3-folds.

However, the Mana Absorbing Sphere wasn’t the cause of the deaths, no, it was what Qhohaed did to them afterward which killed them. The sphere just siphons the mana from a person’s body into the sphere, that’s it. Though it could also kill them if they are completely drained of mana.

Anyway, the sphere was made of crystal, so it had a limit, but for some reason, I have a feeling that the sphere wasn’t the final product. Qhohaed after all went against an entire army, the amount of mana of those people sucked into a single orb of crystal? I don’t think so…

Before I could continue theorizing, the door to my room opened and came in a sprinting Michelle before she glomped me harder than ever before.

“MIIIKKKEEE!!!” she practically screamed in my ear as she hugged me tighter against her body. “Those girls at Older Sister’s party were scary!”

I closed the book and looked at her, tears were forming in her eyes and a cute pout was etched into her face. Holy good lord, the amount of cuteness this girl has is too high! Her blonde hair was styled into pigtails, her left eye a bright red, and her right a dark blue.

I quickly had her in my hug. I had, no, NEEDED to hug her right now. I cannot pass up this rare display of cuteness, I would regret it my entire life!

So with my attention-seeking twin sister, the both of us continued cuddling each other like there was no tomorrow.