He’s crying…? Uh… Did I do that? Uh…Oops…

“He-uh…Are you okay?” I nervously asked.

He didn’t answer and only continued to cry. He tried to wipe his tears, but they continued to flow.

…Am I a bad person? Did I just make a 16 year old cry? Does he think I’m bullying him? I know my clothes stink, but I don’t think I look scary of anything, right?

There was nothing I could say, I was pretty stun-locked. I wasn’t the best person to be consoling anyone, I think I was actually one of the worser people to ask to cheer you up. I wasn’t mean or anything, but just rather blunt. The best example of this that I could remember is a conversation I had in my previous world.

---

“Are you crying?” I asked, though it was obvious, the girl was bawling her eyes out and had snot coming out of her nose.

“Yes…” She replied, trying to stop her tears, sniffing her nose.

“Why?” I asked, we weren’t that close, but it kind of felt bad seeing someone crying.

“He constantly bullies me for being weak!” She let out.

“Ah! Okay. Then just stop being weak, and he’ll stop bullying you.” I replied before walking away, I don’t quite remember the look on her face, but I do remember thinking that those words would help.

---

“I’m sorry?” I tried to apologize to the crying boy, but he didn’t stop.

I figured it was best to just stay quiet and let him cry. I wouldn’t know what to say even if I were to say something.

After a few minutes, he eventually stopped as he wiped away his tears. His eyes were red, and cheeks were swollen.

“…I’m sorry.” He apologized, sniffing his nose.

Huh? What’s he apologizing for? I should be apologizing instead, no?

“Why are you apologizing?” I asked.

“…I’m sorry?” He replied with a confused tone, tilting his head.

“You have no reason to apologize, everyone cries. You’re allowed to cry.”

“…” He hesitated for a moment, “I see…I’m allowed to cry.” He looked like he was about to cry again.

Huh? What?! Is he about to cry again? Why!? I didn’t do anything wrong, right!?

“Thank you…” He didn’t cry.

“Don’t mention it.” The sun was completely gone, and only the moonlight reflected on the river. “Let’s sleep, goodnight.” I laid down next to the water, it was probably safe enough. Unless a monster were to smell us or something, we’d be fine. We were out of the way from the roads and paths.

I could see him lay down near me and close his eyes before he quietly mumbled, “…Goodnight…”

…

I woke up to the sound of birds chirping and the sun beaming in my eyes. When I looked towards my left, I could still see him, sleeping peacefully.

“Mm… Should I ask him…?” I quietly mumbled to myself before sitting up and yawning, stretching my arms.

I looked at him again before checking out his status, he had the talent ‘Weapon Master’ which sounded completely overpowered.

 

Weapon Master (S Grade)

You are naturally gifted with all weapons.

 

S grade too? Is he a main character in the novel or something?

Despite having such a basic description, it was really OP. In my interpretation of it, it meant that he wouldn’t be uncomfortable using any weapon, he’d be a jack of all trades but a master with any weapon he’d pick up.

I wonder if it also teaches him how to fight? Or does it just teach him how to use it? This is pretty confusing…

I decided to take a dip in the water and wash myself again. Since it was running water, I probably wouldn’t catch a parasite, right?

A few hours later, the boy sleepily sat up and yawned. I didn’t know exactly what time it was, but I’d guess around 9 considering the sun’s position.

“Good morning.” I greeted him, I didn’t do much while he was out. I just continued to think about what novel or world I could possibly be in and what my next moves were.

“Ah…” He was surprised as he flinched before looking towards me, “…Good morning.” He replied.

Is he still uncomfortable? He’s still hesitating when he speaks.

“You have nowhere to go, right?” I asked.

“…Yes.” He replied while looking down, he had a sad look in his eyes and a quiet tone.

Did I touch a nerve?

“Then come with me.” I replied. It might just be for myself, but I could tell that he needed someone.

His eyes perked up as he looked towards mine; He wasn’t expecting those words to come out of my mouth.

I continued, “Of course, I won’t force you. If you don’t want to, just say no and we’ll go our separate ways.” If he didn’t want to then there was nothing I could do.

“…Can I?” He suddenly asked with a shimmer of hope in his voice.

“Huh?”

“…Can I really follow you?”

“Yeah.”

Suddenly, he started to cry. I started to wonder what I did wrong this time, but he quickly stopped, wiping his eyes before speaking, “…Thank you…I’ll follow you…”

“Alright.” I replied, smiling before continuing, “My name’s Leo Vondheart, by the way.”

“…Leo.”

---

We started to head back towards the slums. I wanted to look around a bit more now that I had a native. While the wind breezed against our heads, I started to ask a question, “Where even are we, by the way? Does this city have a name?”

“…It’s the capital of Plough Kingdom…Zojal…” He replied and I immediately stopped moving. He looked towards me before continuing to speak, “...Are you okay?” He asked.

My mouth opened wide as I started to connect the dots.

Zojal? Plough Kingdom? Hundred Lives?

This was my fucking novel…I’m the idiot…

When I was originally writing the novel, I had no idea what to call this place. I just kind of smashed my keyboard and the first three letters were ‘Zoj’ and to make it sound nice I added ‘al’ at the end. But when I described this place, I hadn’t given it much thought.

‘The capital of the Plough, Zojal, in this place the prestigious school, Heavensward resided.’

That was how I introduced it, I didn’t go in detail because I figured it’d just look like a standard fantasy world capital from an anime or something…

That was what I meant when I said if I were to change some things, it’d be the world building… I had never described the slums in the novel, so I think the world did it itself.

As my mind started to get overrun with thoughts, I looked towards the boy and started to speak, “Hey…” I wanted to confirm it.

“…Yes?’

“There’s a school called Heavensward in the capital, right…?”

“…Yes?”

“It’s the most prestigious school in Plough, right?”

“…Yes?”

“Haah…” I sighed, it really was my novel. That meant everything I had written was reality now.

I closed my eyes and put my hand on my head trying to remember the story.

“…Leo? Are you okay?” He asked.

Nothing was coming to mind, I couldn’t really remember anything at the start. I had only knew what would happen to the students of Heavensward. Now, I didn’t want to follow the story I had written exactly but going to Heavensward was probably going to be essential.

I opened my eyes as I stopped thinking about the long-term future and started to speak.

“Do you want to go?” I asked.

“…Yes?” He replied, before he realized what was being asked of him, “…Wait what?” He was confused.

Heavensward was a school all parents dreamed of their kids going to. They had the highest teaching quality and properly helped their students. It was a place with authority above the duke but below the Royal family.

And that place didn’t discriminate by class, the king had even personally promised that all students in the school would be treated equally. That was how I set it up in my novel, the prince and princess had attended this school as well, and they didn’t get treated any better than the commoners.

Though of course, just because the teachers treated the students equally doesn’t mean the students treated each other equally. There were some nobles who had thought they were better than the commoners. Luckily it was very miniscule cause I didn’t really like having that trope.

“Then let’s go together.”

He was surprised by my words, but he quickly replied, “…We can’t…”

“Why not?”

“…I’m from the slums.”

“So am I.”

“…I don’t have money…”

“Neither do I, but I’ll fix that.”

“…I’m not strong…”

“Me neither.”

“…You are.”

“No, I’m actually really fucking weak. Like really weak right now.”

That’s the truth, in fact, I actually had lower stats than he did.

“No…You’re strong…”  He replied, he sounded like he truly believed what he was saying.

“Mm…Hey.” I probably wasn’t going to convince him that I was actually was weaker than he was, stats-wise, so I changed the subject to something I was thinking about before he woke up.

“…Yes?”

“I don’t know your circumstances, but you don’t have a family either, right?”

“…Huh? I…” He was taken aback by my sudden words.

I knew what he was going to say, so I continued speaking, “Do you want a family? We can’t be blood-related, but do you want to be brothers?”

I don’t know who he is, I’ve only known him for a day, but there were a lot of things I could tell about him. One thing I knew for sure was that he needed someone, just like how I needed someone. I didn’t know how to ask it without being blunt, nor did I know if he’d accept it or even appreciate it. I just wanted to help him like how I was helped when I was younger.

Suddenly, he started to tear up. As his tears fell to the floor, I realized that I may of messed up by reminding him of bad memories or something.

“If you don’t want to that’s-” As I started to speak, he cut my words off, speaking louder than he did before, “I do!” He shouted, “Please…Can I?” He asked without hesitation and my heart tensed up a little.

“Of course.” I replied, subconsciously starting to smile, “Then what should I call you? What’s your name?” I asked.

“…I…Can you give me one?” He asked with a soft voice, while trying to look me in the eyes.

“Hah.” I chuckled before continuing, “Alright, Rio.” I paused for a moment before continuing, “Rio Vondheart, that’s your name.”

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