CHAPTER 2
The moonlight pierced the big tent and shone upon us. I could feel his cold backs as my fingers drew upon his skin hieroglyphs I exclusively created for my Familia, it was a sort of protection, I didn't want other people prying into my Familia's secrets.
"You know I'm truly surprised... How come you have done so much?"
The boy's back shivered after hearing my words, I could feel his whole body trembling since I was making his butt something like a chair.
"What are you talking about?" He asked, his head lowered with the eyes closed, Orion and Eirene seemed to have noticed his reaction and approached to hear.
"You know, a god's grace is quite a funny a thing, through it we can basically read a human's line of fate until now, at least that's how I like to call it, it isn't that detailed but I can know pretty much everything interesting you have done your entire life.
"For example, your brother who managed to survive and kill a group of 6 kobolds when he was younger using only his bow and arrows... Your sister who managed to make two powerful monsters fight each other and ignore her...
"But you... how come you did so much? Where did you kill a sea serpent? How come you survived a meeting with the Kraken! Besides, killing pirates? What kind of life did you have?"
Theseus is probably the most unexpected reward I got in this situation, not only was he much stronger than his brother and sister, his experience and achievements were truly worthy of a god's respect.
However... Theseus kept his mouth shut for some reason, could this be a sensitive topic for him?
"Can I know my status?" He asked.
"Okay, here, take a look everyone, those are your status."
[
Orion
Level zero -> Level one
Strength C - 630 -> I - 0 / Endurance D - 510 -> I - 0 / Dexterity B - 718 -> I - 0
Agility C - 605 -> I - 0 / Magic H - 100 -> I - 0
Magic ( )
Skill (
Hunter's Soul: Born to be a hunter, the bows are your bones, and the arrows your blood.
Increase in dexterity and agility when using a bow.
)
]
[
Eirene
Level zero -> Level one
Strength D - 580 -> I - 0 / Endurance E - 460 -> I - 0 / Dexterity C - 600 -> I - 0
Agility C - 600 -> I - 0 / Magic H - 100 -> I - 0
Magic ( )
Skill (
Reason's Voice: Reason is with those who can see the truth
Make your allies see the truth, allows you to forcefully calm them down, and slightly increase their magic.
)
]
[
Theseus
Level zero -> Level one
Strength S - 999 -> I - 0 / Endurance S - 999 -> I - 0 / Dexterity S - 920 -> I - 0
Agility S - 900 -> I - 0 / Magic F - 300 -> I - 0
Magic ( )
Skill (
Blessing Of The Seas: ???
)
]
No matter what, I was still surprised by what I saw, those kids must have trained really hard, especially Theseus, how much work one needed to grow to such an extent? This explained why his body was so sculptural, only someone who had gone through hell would become so strong...
Shaking my head I smiled and watched their reactions.
"Haha! Look at this I have the soul of a hunter, hehe!" Orion had a foolish smile on his face as he held the paper. "See, I told you I should have focused on my bow skills! But instead, you went and forced me to use those useless swords."
"How many times do I have to tell you? Arrows aren't exactly cheap, we need a 1.000 vali just for a sheaf of arrows, and I doubt you'd be able to kill a monster with a single shot." Theseus rapidly reminded him.
What is that? Did he gave it a single look and put it down on the ground? Heavens, this boy isn't easily excited by much is he? Or could it be that he was just distracted by his brother?
"Mm, if we consider that each one of those common crystals is worth somewhere between 50 and a 100... You can barely recover the money you spent when using arrows... I think he is right Orion, unless you manage to acquire magic or a really good bow it would be a waste of money." Eirene's voice echoed through the tent, she was sitting in her sleep bag and brushing her hair.
"Don't worry Orion, I'm sure you'll be able to give more focus on your arrow and bow skills once we arrive at Orario." I smiled at him and got up from Theseus' back.
He stood up and put on his shirt, but even then he didn't give the paper any other glance.
"The first turn is mine, Orion I'll wake you up in 4 hours and you take my place." Leaving those words behind he grabbed his sword and buckler and left the tent.
What was that!? I couldn't help but blink my eyes a few times after witnessing this situation, wasn't he a little bossy?
"Don't worry about him." Eirene approached me and spoke. "He has been taking care of us ever since we were kids, it was always like that, he thinks it's his responsibility... He might feel a little bossy and hard to deal with sometimes but all he wants is our well-being."
I nodded, I could imagine how hard it must have been for them, still, I didn't understand one thing, but before I could ask Orion spoke.
"Whose well-being is he worried about? I'm an advocate of gender equality, and I don't accept being called out to take turns every single night!"
Eirene laughed and gave him a patted his shoulder. "Don't worry, all you need is a boyfriend, at that time you won't have to worry about this."
"You! How dare you-" Before he could finish his words both Eirene and I started giggling, those kids were really a funny trio, thank goodness I ended up finding them and not a group of savages.
Orion's face became red with anger and he grunted. "Whatever, I'm going to sleep."
We watched as he lay down on the sleeping bag and closed half of it.
"Lovely, isn't it?" Eirene turned to look at me, but her words didn't match her face, she looked a little bit melancholic...
"What are your guys' story exactly? Why are you three traveling alone to Orario?"
I was really curious about that. Those kids were so good with the sword despite not having a god's grace before.
What was life like for them? What sort of difficulty, experiences, and adventures they had when they were younger?
And more importantly, Theseus was such an interesting person somehow, I can't understand how someone could grow to such an extent and have gone through so many life-threatening situations if felt like he was doing stunts at the edge of an abyss and getting out alive relying on sheer luck.
"It isn't like you think..." Eirene shook her head. "To be honest with you, I think this has something to do with our father, I don't remember much because I was too young at the time, but Theseus was already 4 years old, and he told me some things.
"Let's go from the beginning then... We used to live in a fishermen village to the east, next to the coast. Our mother had always been weak and sick for as long as I could remember, before we were born however, it seems that this wasn't the case though... But I don't know what was the reason for this."
Eirene stopped for a moment and took from her bag two apples and gave me one.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome. Well, from what Theseus told me our father was once the chief of the fishermen, but not of the village, of course, just the people who worked there.
"He was the best when it came to fishing, no matter the challenge, no matter the weather, if you gave him a boat a net or a spear he would always manage to catch something extraordinary... He took Theseus with him many times, especially so when the village organized large expeditions into the deep sea to acquire resources.
"It was dangerous indeed but it seems that our father was always confident that nothing bad would happen as if he knew the future... But one day... things changed... Our father was called to participate in another expedition, but the weather was especially bad that day, even I can remember the dark sky filled with clouds and lightning.
"But for some reason, our father was reluctant to go, and after he accepted, he refused to take Theseus with him and even told him that if something happened he would be in charge of the house, that he would have to take care of us... My brother agreed... after that we never heard again of them, they simply disappeared, leaving no clues of what happened behind.
"Because our mother was sick and couldn't work he took our father's place, he fished, sailed with the captains, accepted dangerous mercenary jobs to protect ships against pirates, and even went in some expeditions, while he worked, brought money and food for us, we only studied or played around... Haha, we were quite immature at the time, but I think it isn't our fault, our mother did the best she could to help us, but our she and brother always pampered us, at least until she died...
"I think that's when he changed a lot, he started training us, he taught us how to fight with swords, how to fight using a bow and arrow, how to use a spear, how to fish and how to survive... and we taught him everything we learned at school since he never had the opportunity to attend one..."
Eirene stopped and looked at me, she was stunned and I think I know why...
"Sniff, sniff... Y-your life was so difficult..." Tears fell from my eyes, I couldn't help it, I have always been like that, there was a soft spot in my heart for tragedies, the heroes I most admired all had difficult childhoods and life in general.
I jumped at her and hugged her tightly. "Don't worry, I promise you guys that your life won't be so hard with me around!"
"Haha, don't worry Hades-Sama, I'm sure our lives will become better now that we have you with us..." She smiled and hugged me back, we stayed like that for some minutes, until I stopped crying.
"We should go to sleep as well, the more we rest, the more energy we will have to spend tomorrow."
"Yes. Goodnight Eirene, have nice dreams."
Eirene smiled and went to sleep, leaving me behind.
The smile on my face slowly faded away as I turned to look outside, Theseus was sitting alone under the dark sky, I felt my back shivering as I looked at him, those green eyes of his felt cold for some reason, there was a depth to his eyes that reminded me of a calm lake, but one so deep you could lose yourself in it.
Why do I feel that there is more to this story, something you didn't tell your sister? Theseus... Don't worry, I know how to help you, hopefully...