There was no such thing as school or an academy in this world when you reached the age of four years old.

Your schooling was basically left to your caretaker or parent.

It was, essentially a tradition in this world for parents to teach their children their knowledge as soon as they reached the age of four years old.

If your parents know how to read, then they will also teach you how to read. If your parents know how to write, then they will also teach you how to write.

It was a dog eat dog world. The strong writes history, while the week have no such privileges.

Knowledge was power as much as physical strength was.

Kids were taught to keep secrets at the young age of six.

Fighting techniques, medical knowledge, how to blacksmith or forge a weapon, how to conjure a magic spell, and much more are all valuable information and data that could be used to your advantage.

If your father is a blacksmith, then he would pass his knowledge of how to blacksmith over to you. If your mother is a medical practitioner, then she would also pass along her knowledge to you.

Elkend's mother, Veanda Bulruk, formerly Veanda [???] before marrying, came into this village two years ago while still grieving the death of her husband.

She was looking for a place to retire from fighting endless battles.

She was tired of raising swords instead of flags, tired of bringing down beasts and spilling blood.

So she traveled far from her birthplace, and saw a village near a lake, and decided to retire right there and now.

Soon, she quickly adapted to the life of a normal farmer. After all, it couldn't be more difficult than slaying a minotaur, right!?

Instead of learning how to hold swords, she learned how to hold sickles. Instead of spilling the blood of beasts, she learned how to cultivate vegetables and fruits for the prosperity of her village.

It was practically a place of refuge for Veanda who was still grieving the death of her husband.

She thought that nothing would go wrong while here.

But happiness is never eternal, for winter was coming and mother nature was never merciful.

Winter was approaching and soon, in five months snowstorms would befall their village and they needed to prepare immediately.

The village was scraping every bit of food they could get to survive the winter. Storage houses were continuously getting re-stocked.

All the animal livestock were either bred or killed for their hide, wool, and meat to provide sustainability for the villagers.

Most of the food was prioritized for women and children. Men were either sent on expeditions to neighboring villages or towns to buy wool clothing or were taught the basics of hunting and sent down to the forest to hunt for a game or two.

Winter isn't forever, it will pass eventually. All she has to do is survive until then.

She was mostly doing fine until she started vomiting.

She was scared that she may have caught a deadly disease, and she didn't want to burden her village with taking care of her, especially as they were preparing for the winter.

What if it was a dangerous virus that infected other people upon bodily contact? What if it was a disease that made people go cannibalistic?

This world is full of the unknown, she wouldn't put the idea behind her that some unknown disease out there can transform the infected person into a dragon somehow.

She knew that her reaction was irrational; It was just vomiting and it wasn't anything serious, but she still didn't want to risk putting her village in danger.

She couldn't bear the thought of endangering her new family just because she didn't want to go see a medical practitioner.

So as soon as word came out that the village was preparing to send an expedition to the neighboring small town to see if they could buy meat to re-stock the warehouses, she immediately volunteered to go with them.

At first, there were some people who didn't want her to leave the village, exclaiming that she needed to stay and tend to the children but they eventually quieted down once they saw she wasn't budging at all.

Veanda smirked in triumph at the small victory and went back towards her small cabin.

She packed all her needs into a small bag.

Some food and water for the trip, light clothing to protect her skin from the sun, and a single magic crystal for the medical checkup.

Satisfied at the swift preparation up, she picked up her small bag and slung it on her shoulder, and went out of the door—!

Only for her brain to remind her that the expedition is tomorrow and not today.

Veanda sighed at her stupidity and went back inside her small hut.

She started slowly undressing off her clothes and set them inside her drawer and took her nightgown.

Her nightgown was made of silk and not cotton—It was an expensive gift from her deceased husband.

She felt tears beginning to pool at her eyelids but she wiped them before they had a chance to fall. There was no time to cry, she has to get a handful of sleep or else she won't have the energy for the expedition tomorrow.

She slid in bed, closed her eyes, and willed her body to relax and slowly but surely, she eventually fell asleep.

————————————————————————————————————————————

She woke up groggily and tried to blink the sleep out of her eyes. After a failed attempt, she walked over to a barrel of water and started opening the top, and then cupping some water with her hands she splashed some of it on her face to wake herself up.

She let out a content sigh at the feeling of the cold, rejuvenating water on her face as it slid down her jaw and on the ground.

Yawning, she went outside and grabbed two eggs that were left on her doorstep; the village would leave two eggs each on everyone's doorstep as breakfast every other day and in return, the residents of their village would help with mundane tasks such as cleaning the chicken farms, tending to the livestock and much more.

Veanda was already used to eating food with no spices or extra ingredients at all; a side effect of being an adventurer since you had to depend on raw rations to survive inside dungeons, especially if you're not a front-line combatant.

She looked at the sun from her window while eating the two boiled cooked eggs and noted it was still rising from the horizon from the east, which would also mean that it was close to approximately 6 A.M., her favorite time of the d— Wait a minute.... wasn't that the time they agreed to...?

It took her brain a second to catch up with yesterday's events, and two seconds to realize that it is indeed close to 6:00 A.M., which is exactly the time the expedition team told her when they will be leaving.

She practically shoved all the remnants of her breakfast into her mouth and undressed her nightgown and threw it on her bed while pulling out her old adventuring equipment—A pair of shoulder guards, arm bracers, a small knife, and a dagger with a hair tie to tie her hair into a ponytail and two knee guards.

Her body wasn't suited to be a front-line combatant. She has agility and stealth, but not strength.

Her fighting style depended on ambushes when she has information about her targets, which was easy to get since her usual targets were mindless monsters—Except for S–Rank beasts but she never took missions that included them.

After checking that she hadn't forgotten anything, she slung her bag on her left shoulder and went off to where the caravan was waiting for her with the other expedition members.

She nodded to the four men that were waiting for her as a greeting and hopped inside without any further words and soon, all of the men were inside and ready for the trip to the neighboring city.

Veanda stayed close to the further back, knowing for a fact that if bandits ambush them, she'll be the first one to get off.

Knowing that the trip to Smulstig will take hours, she crossed her arms and dipped her head to rest and conserve energy while still trying to be on alert.

—————————————————————————————————————

Fortunately, the trip goes relatively tame, except for the few odd but expected rogue horses here and there that are probably escaping their new buyers.

They were almost there.  They could see the tall, gray wall of the small town of Smulstig  on the horizon and hear the bustling noise of the people beyond the wall.

As soon as they reached the tall wall they now realized that there is a long line in front of them waiting to be given a pass into the town.

The line is neither short nor long and soon enough It only takes them four minutes to reach what appears to be a big, tall wooden wall that slides from the top to bottom to allow for easier mobility and efficiency.

"Halt!" Say both of the guards simultaneously when they arrive within hearing distance.

"State your reason of visit and step down from the caravan so we could search for any suspicious objects that may endanger Lord Reignald's safety!"

One by one, all of them calmly step down, and then the leader of their expedition, Botolph, steps forward and calmly states their reason of visit while one of the two guards are busy searching the caravan.

"Gentlemen, I assure you we're only here for meat and clothing; winter is approaching and It just won't do for our village to not have enough emergency food."

The guard that is searching their caravan grunts in affirmation while the other raises an eyebrow looking at Veanda's equipment and dagger, a clear questioning look in his eyes.

Veanda steps up from the rear back of their small team and answers the unspoken question while looking at the taller guard in the eye.

Her tone is clipped and short as she answers, clearly trying to steer out of potential conflict.

"Ex-adventurer. C–Rank. Name's Veanda Bulruk. Won't say what magic I specialize in."

The guard raises an eyebrow at her tone and takes out a small notepad from his back pockets, quickly noting something. Probably her name and status as an ex-adventurer if he wasn't an idiot.

As soon as he finished writing on his notepad, the other guard calls out in a gruff voice as he steps down from the inside of the caravan.

"Oi ya dunce, I finished searchin' ther carav'n ya can let em' go now."

As soon as he finishes his sentence their small team gets inside the caravan while their expedition leader, Botolph, takes the leash of the horse to guide her to the nearest stable while navigating through the small town that's bustling with merchants, traders, and adventurers.

Veanda curious about the interior of Smulstig, peaks her head out.

The houses are tall, but not short either, some are made using gray bricks or dark wood and some are made using both materials. It's obvious that they are in the residency area and not where the merchants and traders are selling their goods.

Something out of the corner of her eye grabs her attention and she looks to the side.

Slaves, demi-human children between the age of ten to twelve to be exact.

She raises an eyebrow at the assortment of slaved children that are walking in a straight line. All of them are chained and connected between their necks.

She noted their depressed and empty expression, devoid of any emotion.

Most of them either only have one arm or only have one eye; It's obvious their slave owner ordered for all of his slaves to be disabled in some way.

Maybe a way of showing dominance? Or perhaps trampling on any hope of escaping in the future? After all, they probably can't escape with only one arm or eye, can they?

Oh well, It's not like she's interested in buying a slave either way, and It's certainly not her problem.

Satisfied after taking in the beautiful interior of Smulstig, she ducks her head into the caravan to ask Botolph when they will arrive at the stables.

"We will arrive there in approximately two minutes according to my rough calculations so please have patience, Veanda."

Veanda apologized with a sheepish smile, "Sorry!" but otherwise stayed silent for the entirety of two minutes that they used to reach the stables.

They stepped down from the caravan when they arrived and sat at a table that was next to the huge door of the stables to rest and discuss mundane topics while Botolph went inside the stables to search for the owner of the stables to request a room for a horse.

Soon, Botolph came back under three minutes and clapped his hands to grab their attention.

"Gentlemen, I have negotiated with the landlord of this stable and managed to lower the price of housing our dear horse for only two silver coins an hour, so we must use our time fairly well, understood?"

He paused and looked at each of the men and the single woman in the eye to make sure everyone understood.

"Laulgrif and I will take care of buying a huge assortment of clothing ranging from the age of seven to forty-five while, Veanda, Dror, and Petaem will take care of buying barrels of drinkable water and bags of meat and other categories of food and liquid such as but not limited to seeds of vegetables, fruits, beans, milk and much more. Do not hesitate to hire a cart to transport our goods to the caravan. Understood?"

They all collectively nodded while Botolph continued, "We will come back here at this spot three hours later, so use the time you were given wisely."

With that ending note, they all separated in their assigned teams to go do their assigned tasks.

Halfway through the job Veanda used the crowd to her advantage to intentionally lose tail of Dror and Petaem; after all, she wasn't someone who specialized in stealth for no reason.

By the time Dror and Petaem realized she was missing she would already be at the doctor's doorstep.

—————————————————————————————————————

Veanda felt like she was about to pass out as she stumbled out of the doctor's room after the shocking revelation.

She was fucking pregnant! She, Veanda Bulruk, was pregnant! She cannot believe it! How did this happen? Her husband was dead!

How didn't she also notice the signs!? The vomiting! The unnatural headaches she would get at the dead of the night! Oh God and the increased metabolism and hunger!

Eventually, she shook herself out of her shock. Right. The expedition team. She needed to get back to them, and there was no doubt in her mind that she was in for a long scolding and a lecture from Botolph about following the rules and trying not to get lost again.

Still. What is she going to name her child? If he was a boy she would immediately name him Elkend; He would no doubt be similar to his father's son, and it only felt right for her child to take his deceased father's name.

And on the way to their village, even with caravan packed with barrels of milk and water, bags with meat inside and other assortments of food making it highly uncomfortable to sit in and with Botolph's strict and scolding tone numbing her ears, for some odd reason, she felt, for the first time in weeks after her husband's death, she felt weirdly whole and happy with herself.....

Perhaps...

Perhaps this is what loving a child feels like...?