Note: This is a side chapter, however, you should read it. It will explain some things about the characters.

 

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“I hate you, brother!” A little girl around five years old shouted with tears in her eyes before running away. “I hate you!”

“Ley!”

“I hate you!”

Jane stared at the little girl with a blank look. But he was just a child. He did not know whether to chase after her or not.

“Pff. You made Ley angry.” A blonde girl chuckled with a teasing smile. “Aunt Helen will scold you.”

“I-I will go after her.”

“No, let’s play to the creek.” The blonde girl pulled Jane's hand and dragged him in the opposite direction. “Ley is a crybaby. It’s better if she doesn’t come.”

“T-That, c-can I go?” Another little girl hiding behind a slightly older girl asked timidly.

“Mm… You can come with us, Jessica, but you must listen to me, okay?”

“O-Okay, Karen.”

“Let’s go then!”

Just like that, Karen pulled a child Jane towards the creek, followed by Karime, Jessica, and Andrew.

The five of them were little kids, and Karen who had just become seven years old was the oldest. So she was the leader of the small group.

They usually played in the surroundings, and one of their playgrounds was a nearby creek. It was not really dangerous, so their mothers did not mind letting them play in the nearby creek as long as they don’t go too far away.

Just like every day, they planned to play until it was time for lunch and after that go back home.

However, that day was destined to be different.

Just a few minutes after they started playing, a siren sounded.

It was the alarm indicating that an emergency was occurring.

A dungeon overflow. A nearby dungeon had collapsed, releasing the monsters inside to the surroundings.

The children panicked, but remembering the words of their parents, they rushed towards their houses to seek refuge.

But then, Jane remembered something.

“Ley!”

His little sister was not with them.

Without hesitating, he ran towards a nearby park.

He knew that Ley always hid in the park when she was angry, so she must be there now.

Ley was a scaredy-cat. She surely was so scared that she could not return home by herself.

Jane ran towards the park so quickly that he did not notice something. When Karen saw that he was running towards the park, she and the others ran after him.

However, they never managed to catch up with him.

Because before that, a boar-like monster attacked them.

The monster was not that strong. It was just a weak Tier One monster. Even a group of normal humans could take care of it if they were careful.

However, for a group of children, that monster was like a nightmare.

It was at that moment that Karen awakened.

Filled with fear and panic, the little girl released flames from her entire body and used them to stop the boar from approaching them.

For two entire minutes, the little girl confronted the boar, stopping it from harming her little friends despite her injuries.

At the same time, Jane found his sister and saw her being attacked by another monster.

It was a dog-like monster that was trying to bite her. Fortunately, Ley had hidden below a car, and the dog could not reach her, however, it was just a matter of time before she was caught.

At that moment, something snapped in Jane's head.

And just like Karen, he also Awakened.

Instead of flames, his body was filled with lightning. Violent lightning filled his bones, muscles, and nerves.

He threw himself towards the dog, kicking it away while shouting to Ley to run away.

However, Ley was so scared that she could barely move.

Frozen in fear, she could only cry as she saw her brother fighting the dog desperately.

The battle did not last long. Even though Jane had awakened, his immature abilities could not allow him to defeat the monster dog. Even when he struggled with all his power, he only managed to delay the monster for a while.

In his despair, her overused his mana. The lightning coming from him burned his skin and magic circuits while barely damaging the dog.

In the end, one of the dog’s attacks sent him flying away.

Jane coughed a mouthful of blood. Tears escaped from his eyes, and his vision became fuzzy.

But then, he saw his crying sister sitting on the ground, immobile.

“Run,” Jane whispered to her and stood up again.

His legs were trembling, his body was covered in burns, and his eyes were filled with tears.

But despite that, Jane stood up in front of Ley to protect her from the dog.

At that moment, the dog attacked again.

Simultaneously, the boar that Karen was fighting was about the crush her head.

But when Karen and Jane thought that they were going to die, a man appeared in the sky.

[… Consider this the rent for my stay.]

And with a sword slash, he killed every monster in the human territory.

That sword slash saved Jane’s life.

At the same time, it saved Karen’s life.

The two of them awakened the same day, the two of them defended their friends bravely, and the two of them were saved by the protector duke.

However, their story did not have a happy ending.

Due to the battle, both of them overused their recently acquired abilities. As consequence, their immature bodies were unable to bear the burden.

Jane’s mana circuits developed resistance to mana, and his awakened abilities disappeared. He was destined to never awaken again.

Karen, on the other hand, overheated her body, making her body develop a unique and unheard-of illness that slowly consumed her life.

It was a tragic end to the story of two brave children that risked their lives to protect their family and friends.

And it was the story that marked the destiny of Jane and his friends.