Chapter 2 A Home

9 years later

The village still looked somewhat the same, but there were a few new buildings. The children in the church all grew up to be fine men, but their youngest member was still a young adult. Lucas grew up to be a happy and curious boy. He had trouble with emotions, in the beginning, figuring out all these things took some time. His mind was more logic-oriented, every new experience he first approached it with a logical mind, he only needed to factor in emotions and it would be a normal rational view. But that's for the future.

His circumstances weren't the greatest, but they made him enthusiastic or happy about the smallest thing. The other villagers, but mostly his own family started to call him their little sunshine, referencing his attitude and brightly colored hair. Embarrassed by the name, he secretly appreciated the love behind it. He grew up surrounded by loved ones, his family had more members than other families but that didn't hinder them in any way. They only had each other, making arguments was fine, but it never turned into anything big for that could hurt most of them in the long run. Recognizing this they all swore to never hurt one another, only teasing was allowed.

This morning the sister went to get some food for the family. She went inside the bakery and smelled the freshly made bread. Her mouth started to water but she quickly swallowed it down to talk to Olivia. "Hey, good morning Olivia, how are you?"

"Oh I'm fine darling" the somewhat plump woman said. "You're looking a lot better these days, does your faith make you retain your youth or something?"

Although said in a joking way, she was quite jealous of her. They couldn't have such a big age gap, yet she still looked no more than 20 years old while she was in her mid-thirties.

The sister giggled a bit "Thank you Olivia, you're looking pretty yourself you know."

"Oh please, stop flattering me, what's it going to be for today?", feeling a bit bitter her instincts as a merchant popped back up.

"Two small loaves of bread please." the sister was happy she didn't have to worry about her family's financial situation anymore. "I remember the days that you passed by asking for the leftovers or scraps, how the times have changed huh?"

"Yes, indeed, ever since the boys were big enough to help with the construction works we finally got some stable income."

"You really did get lucky the Baron was looking to expand this little village. Otherwise, you'd still be in trouble, does your church not get any donations?"

"We do, but since we're a church for The Order of Nature instead of Light we're not that popular among the townsfolk."

"No matter what you believe in honey, you'll always be welcome here, as a client of course." Olivia started to laugh and the sister joined because it would've been awkward if she didn't.

Walking back to her home she was doing some quick calculations. She had taught the boys a little more about calculus during the years. It became especially difficult for her when Lucas started to ask her about things she didn't even know about, like what was the number after hundred, and how to divide things by uneven numbers. Even Marie didn't know some of the things he was asking about.

She specifically taught the boys, not that she wanted to exclude Tris, but she was simply not cut out for it, so she was searching for other things to do. Marie was thinking of training her into another priest but didn't want to force her. 'The Order of Light might pressure people into religion, but we don't!'

'With the income we receive now, we need to wait another month and we'll be capable of buying a church closer to the capital.'

There you're safe from any monsters that live in the woods that surrounds most of the village. Normally those monsters don't bother planning any assault against a village, but you never know.

She could see the church in the distance, but there was some commotion. Two people wearing leather helmets that protected the ears, but exposed their faces were standing at the door. They were having an argument with one of the grown-up children, namely Gregory. He grew up to become a fine man, looking a lot like his father. He grew a small stubble and looked quite handsome. Jack, Korian, and Rast were all adults as well, but they didn't give off the same vibe that Gregory did. They all relied on him for big decisions and followed his lead.

"We won't let you in unless Sister gives you permission!" Greg said, the other men standing behind him affirming his decision.

"Listen, we are tasked to look for any that might practice dark magic, and you people of Nature's Order are the only people who would willingly hide someone like that. So let us in before we have to start using force!" They both had spears with iron tips, any common foot soldier or even farmer could use those kinds of weapons. Still, the children of the church didn't let them pass. "Sister! Help us, they want to break into our home!" Another boy yelled when he saw his sister approaching.

"We're not breaking into your church, we are just checking if there is anyone inside, and watch your words son, there's a mage coming to this town! One more insult to us and I'll just tell him I saw you practice dark magic!"

"Bastard" Gregory said under his breath so the guards didn't hear his complaint.

'Everything can become dark magic when it fits their agenda!'

Dark magic was forbidden by the Goddess of Light, every person that practiced it had to be brought in for questioning without exception. The problem was that not a single person in the village had seen any kind of magic, so they obviously couldn't tell what dark magic was. It was quite simple actually, anything they didn't understand became dark magic.

"Dear guards, this is a Holy place of our Order, we can't just let you come inside unannounced with weapons! That is extremely disrespectful!" The Sister said

"Oh please, like your Order is wanted here, don't even try to think we'll respect your false goddess."

"I still don't want you to come here with weapons, we are not hiding anyone, I can assure you that much"

"Like we would believe y-", the guard was suddenly interrupted by his colleague

"Stop, it's fine, we'll take her word for it, I don't want to be wasting any more time with this stupid bitch"

"HEY! Don't you call our sister that you a-" a hand suddenly covered Jack's mouth "shh, remember, we can't insult them anymore, don't give them excuses for a fight" He reluctantly let his anger go to avoid further escalation.

"I guess some of you still have some intelligence, although not much. Let's go, we still have a few other places to check"

"Thank you guys for stopping them even though you could've hurt yourself" the sister said.

"Anything for our home." Gregory said "Also, why are you not calling me by my name? I clearly said you don't have to call me 'sister' anymore."

"Hahaha it's become a habit, I couldn't imagine myself calling you Marie."

"sigh, fine" Marie sighed "Where is Lucas by the way, I don't see him here?"

"Oh Lucas is probably getting bullied by the other kids again, or he's trying to help with the construction works"

Tris looked at Gregory "What, you still haven't stopped their fights?"

Tris had a long ponytail reaching the middle of her back. Because of the malnourishment, she experienced from young she had a very slim body. Nevertheless, she got a lot of glances from the other men in the village.

"He can't hold himself back when we're insulted, he wants to defend our honor" Korian said, feeling proud to have such a younger brother.

"Defending our honor doesn't do anything when he's hurt alright. Argh, why do you all have to be so stupid, you bunch of brutes?!"

"Calm down Tris, Gregory do you know where he is now?" Marie said, being a bit worried about Lucas. Because he was different from the other children and he got a nickname, the other children didn't like him that much. They were jealous and tried to tease him about it from time to time, but that sometimes developed into a scuffle.

"Nope, I think he went to the nearby river to wash himself up, but he's been away for quite a while now"

Marie had a concerned look on her face and quickly handed her groceries to Korian. "Let's look for him around town, I want all of us to be home by nightfall, I have a big announcement"

All the men nodded in unison and went to look for Lucas.