1 Pilot

Roland Benji hadn't always been an orphan. From what little he could remember of his early childhood, he had been raised in a very nice manor just outside of the city of Yolens, where he resided currently. Other than a few memories here and there, he remembered close to nothing of the time before he woke up to the side of a bazaar with nothing but his parents' journal.

There was only one thing he remembered distinctly: the name Raphael.

Unfortunately, Raphael was an extremely common name in the country of Galbalia, even more so because of the predominantly Angelic culture, with many scrambling to sacrifice the names of their firstborn to receive any kind of fortune from the Angel of Healing. Thus, Roland's journey to solve the mystery behind his parents' disappearance began.

From what he read of the journal, most of it was gibberish to him, and the rest seemed to have something to do with the legendary augurs that had not been seen in thousands of years.

"Hey Old Maud, you got any more bread for me?"

Even though his self-proclaimed journey had begun, he had not made much progress. There was very little an orphan could do in a regular city, let alone the educational center of Galbalia. Here, it would be a miracle if one of the snobby apprentices of the distinguished Soul schools even spared a glance.

Although he had made some progress in investigating his journal and the secrets it held, his ventures had not borne much fruit.

Old Maud grunted out something akin to be a yes and tossed Roland a chunk of hard black bread; it was all Maud had to offer, however, and Roland was touched by the generosity.

Unlike the heartless majority, Old Maud decided to take in a young 12 year old Roland wandering the city who just had a small journal, going against the advice of his many friends. A 14 year veteran of the Imperial Army of Galbalia, Old Maud had quite a few accolades to his name. All of these meant nothing to the man who was left without a right arm or a family by the Miere Revolutionary War, in which the now independent country of Miere broke off from Galbalia with the unofficial support of several countries under the table.

Roland understood how much Old Maud was risking. If Old Maud lost the respect from his fellow veterans, he could possibly lose the last bit of soul power keeping him stable and keel over, dead.

Luckily, Old Maud's experience in the Imperial Army apparently had strong impacts on his friends, for as far as Roland knew Maud was holding up strong.

Roland faintly heard a knock at the door through the patter of the hard rain on the windows.

"I'll go get it!" He exclaimed. It was not very often that the Maud household got visitors after the first few weeks of Roland's unofficial adoption.

The aging oak door opened with a creak. Behind it was Guianne, one of Old Maud's closest friends.

"Ah, Roland! So good it is to see you. Is Old Maud around?" Guianne casually asked as he entered, haphazardly thrusting Roland his slightly damp overcoat. It was still warm, a testament to how far Guianne had cultivated his military techniques while in the Army.

"Yeah, he is," Roland stammered, fumbling around the coat in his hands. "He's in the family room."

Guianne acknowledged him with a simple wave and walked off to find Old Maud.

Roland knew that Guianne had never completely accepted him, but Roland was not entirely sure why. After all, he had done everything Old Maud had asked over the past 4 long years, including activities that seemed to have little rhyme or reason, such as breathing in a certain matter or physical training. Roland had excitedly assumed that these meant that Old Maud was willing to teach him the military cultivation techniques for the first half year, but slowly became discouraged when he did not feel anything special. Roland understood he was mistaken when Old Maud simply told him that he had no talent at all for Soul cultivation.

"Benji. Go chop firewood," Old Maud disconnected Roland from his inner thoughts violently.

"But Old Maud, in this weather? How!? Even if I chop it, when I bring it in it won't light-" Roland was rudely interrupted by Old Maud shoving him towards the back door.

"Chop. Firewood."

Old Maud's tone brook no room for argument. With a soft sigh, Roland put on his ragged coat, tucked his journal under his jacket, and made his way out the back door, leaving Old Maud and a silent Guianne to begin their discussion.

Heading outside, Roland haphazardly grabbed the ax and stopped in front of the soaked stump of a tree on which he and, decreasingly, Old Maud cut wood. Although it was pouring rain, Roland was still able to cut the chunks of wood into more manageable firewood with the help of the daily physical training Old Maud knowingly or unknowingly put him through.

Roland mused about what Guianne and Old Maud could possibly have to speak about that would lead Old Maud to push Roland outside in this rain.

'Perhaps something happened between Miere and and Galbalia?'

Even though Roland was just an orphan now, he still knew how to read and write Toledian due to his upbringing in an apparently wealthy family.

Even though he had told Old Maud everything that he knew about his family, Maud was still unable to find anything, and the name Raphael did not help at all.

'No, that doesn't make any sense. Old Maud let me read all of his books, why would he send me out over something like the relationship between countries?'

Roland had no idea what was going on, but that wasn't going to stop him. With a sigh of defeat, he collected the soggy firewood and made his way towards the door.

'If I just pretend that I was delivering firewood, Old Maud can't possibly get mad at me for listening in, right?'

Just as he got to the door, Roland cracked open the door to listen in. From what he saw, Guianne was facing towards Roland with Old Maud closer to the back door. There was a bottle of cheap wine on the table and a cup of relatively untouched alcohol in front of both men.

Seemingly sensing something, Guianne's ears pricked up, unnoticed by both Old Maud and Roland.

"He must go now! You cannot hold him any longer. If you don't throw him out now, you will lose the respect of the last of your comrades and die a mortal. I can't believe the vice captain of our squad has fallen to such a level. We were all counting on you to bring us up the ladder but you found this brat to be a worthy replacement for your son? A worthy replacement for US!?"

Hearing the last sentence, Old Maud couldn't remain silent any longer.

"... Very well. In two days-"

"Two days isn't good enough! You have until the morning."

Roland first expressed shock, then disbelief, then outrage. At who this outrage was directed towards, even Roland himself did not know.

Stumbling back, Roland shut the door with an audible sound and fell back into the rain. He grasped onto the ax like it was his the last thing holding him upright.

Old Maud heard the sound of the door shutting and quickly turned around.

"Benji!"

The edges of Guianne's mouth curled up.