[V1] Side Story 1

[June Hill's POV]

My name is June, or it was, I have been married to Andrew Hill an A rank adventurer for 5 years now. I consider myself lucky to be married to such a powerful and amazing man. Before my marriage, my father, who runs a normal store in the city square kept me sheltered. And by coincidence, Andrew saw me at that time and asked for my hand in marriage.

So far that happiness has only multiplied with the birth of our first son together, three years ago. We named him Clark, his looks and attitude both go after his father, he is very vigorous and likes to fight, I think we will enroll him in the Knight's academy. He says he will become an adventurer like his father.

There are a few ups and downs of being married to a famous man, sometimes my husband doesn't return home because of quests. And we started arguing a little bit here and there. I was also not in the right state of mind after my father died untimely in an accident.

He fell down the roof while fixing it, I was devastated to lose my family. Well, I had a husband and a child, but losing a person that took care of me from my childhood was the worst experience of my life. I thought I will never get over the grief of him passing away.

But today, my new baby is born, and the joys of seeing a new life birthed by me are more than any grief and despair I was facing. I still remember my father's face when Clark was born, that was the happiest I had seen him for ages.

When I see his face, I just imagine wherever my father is, he should be happy about the family we made. I never lived in a true family, my mother died in childbirth, and we commoners can't afford expensive potions, all we can afford is the run-down version that cures cuts and bruises.

I have heard about potions that can regrow limbs, although this is just a rumor among the masses, if I am lucky, I'd see one with my own eyes.

We named our new baby Jake Hill, his facial structure goes after me and his eyes are of his fathers, 'fufufufu, my little baby boy will be a lady killer in the future. Times pass peacefully as I take care of my little family, a thing that I always dreamt of, even though my father's passing still hurts me, the pain has certainly lessened over time.

— -

Over two years have passed of my non-eventful life, even if I say it as non-eventful, I am quite content with my life. My husband has started staying more at home lately to train our son and rarely goes far away for a quest.

Money is not a problem for us unless we get into an emergency, we are well off in that aspect, so he doesn't need to go into dangerous situations for him to earn money. Today is Clark's awakening that he was waiting for quite a while.

My Husband and Clark have gone to the adventurers guild as I was sitting and feeding our second child, Jake. What can I say about my second child, he's quite... unique, he doesn't act baby-like at all, at first I was a bit worried, but when he started speaking in just 7 months, to say I was flabbergasted was an understatement.

I thought he was one of those who matured earlier, some neighbors did tell me a few stories about kids that mature this fast. But it was the first time I had seen it for real. That wasn't the end of surprises, he surprised us so many times that I have become numb to it.

From walking earlier than expected to learn new things faster. He learned how to read and write perfectly in just 17 months! His writing is better than anyone I have ever seen! His list of unique antics doesn't end there, he was quite mature at such a young age that he can hold a sensible conversation with me.

In direct contrast to Clark, who was always full of energy and liked breaking things, Jake was very... patient. Sometimes I force him to play childish games like tag and hide-and-seek with me because it feels really weird to see a kid this mature and calm.

My Husband and Clark returned with shocking news, "Mom I awakened a Bronze Talent with Thunder" Clark said to me, beaming with a smile. I was really happy to see him smile like that.

"Hahaha" after all he is my son, you have the same talent as your dad, a bronze, now you will have your dream to be an adventurer easily completed. " My husband said to Clark which also made me happy. I have never been inside these powerful struggling environments, I have lived a sheltered life since my childhood, and the only exposure to powerful people was my husband and his stories of adventures.

It sounded a lot dangerous to me, who was far away from any kind of battle, but all he said was this was part of the process, and that's the life a person lives if he had powers. Yes, fighting monsters and other dangerous people can be life-threatening, but they pay according to the degree of danger.

A part of me don't like that the child I birthed was so eager to expose himself to danger, my husband then said that Clark needed to go to the Adventurers Academy of Ishara town for a few years to learn the basics and how the world works.

This further soured my mood, I have never been away from my family for too long. The times my husband was away for his adventures were manageable, but to send my son so far into this dangerous world seemed outrageous to me. I requested my husband quite a bit to home-school him as he already is A rank adventurer. What more could the school teacher do that he didn't know?

I didn't want to be away from my family, the only dream I had was to have a normal family and live peacefully. Although my life here is peaceful, without my child, it was just incomplete. My protests were only replied by, "You don't understand June, it's not about knowledge, it is about the experience and making friends, I made my party when I was in the academy".

I should have foreseen this when I married him, that every child we have will be influenced by Andrew to have lofty ambitions, they will leave me behind who only had a modest ambition to live with family together. But there was no way for a silly girl who liked fantasies would have thought that.

— -

Time didn't stop for anyone and passed slowly as we returned to normal life, Clark was sent to Adventurers Academy and only returned on holidays. The house felt empty because the one with the most energy has went away. My second son, Jake was too calm and mature to ever make noise, he started taking sword lessons from his dad and trained his body.

He often overtrained which I scolded him for, training until he can't even sleep at night because of pain. I checked up on him often in his room only to find him wide awake at midnight writhing in pain. So a common way for us to interact and converse was when I rubbed oil and gave massages to him.

In that way, I got closer to him than Clark, because we talked for hours at night about many topics, sometimes he told me amazing stories that I have never heard. About a princess whose hair was too long, and a girl who was cursed to sleep by a witch. It reminded me of my father when he told me about bedtime stories in my childhood.

Sometimes, when he slept or we didn't chat, my day felt incomplete. Jake's presence became influential in my life. But the day I was fearing for came the awakening ceremony. Although I will be happy for him if he got great potential and followed his dream. But, deep down, my selfish side was hoping that he didn't awaken something great, so he can still live with me, and didn't have to go away for his studies.

I know I was selfish and thinking the worst thing a mother can think for his child, but I don't know anymore how will I live alone in this big house, I got over Clark leaving this home because of Jake if Jake leaves then? What will happen?

My worst fear came alive in an even worse manner, my son Jake awakened Silver talent, something that is considered a gem for both commoners and nobles alike. Jake has to be sent to the other side of the Kingdom, to the capital, where my husband also only has heard stories about.

But I can't say anything to my son, except support him, I can see it in his eyes, the determination to go through the journey. With all the conversations we have had, I can at least guess what he was feeling.

After the spar with my husband, which I was genuinely amazed by, he started preparing for his new journey. Also, I noticed that Clark was jealous of his brother and that he was more powerful than him and gets to go to a new journey. I can't really resolve his feelings of jealousy towards his brother as he has to do it on his own, and Jake and Clark won't be able to see each other for a long time, I hope Clark matures in this time.

If anyone asks me who has made me the happiest in my life, I would name Jake without hesitation, he came into my life when I was at my lowest and never let me feel lonely even when his brother went away. He is so little, yet he has given me such moments I can't forget till death. My biggest fear was what if he forgets the bond we have. The nights he told me those fascinating stories, everything.

When he prepared to leave, I couldn't help my tears from falling and instructed him to write often write to me, that's the most I could do. I said goodbye to him. Who knew this tragedy will befall us?

— -

Some days later, when I was cooking inside the kitchen, I heard a door knock. It wasn't rare for us to have visitors, especially after Jake awakened. But this time it gave me a sense of foreboding, shaking my thoughts away I opened the door, only to find a knight with a gloomy expression.

Only then I received the news of my son Jake's... death, I didn't even hear the whole thing and passed out right there. When I woke up, my husband was with me with a gloomy expression, I asked him about our son just to confirm what happened earlier was just a dream. But my fears again came true, I lost someone I love, again.

Apparently, it became the hottest topic of town for months and years, but I didn't care, my world has already turned gray and my dream was shattered into pieces. If only I had married a normal man, I would have had the normal family I always wanted. I began to regret everything, hating my life and hating my husband, through which influence, I lost my second son, and my first son doesn't even have affection towards me.

The world feels just passing by to me, as I am stuck at the moment when Jake left me.