Chapter 3 - Rio

He's crying? Uh? Fuck? Did I do that?

"Uh...Are you okay?"

He didn't answer and just cried

Was I a bad person? Did I just make a teenager cry? I don't think I look scary or anything, maybe he thinks I'm bullying him?

I couldn't say anything, I wasn't good at consoling someone. I was rather blunt actually; I remembered a conversation I had in my previous world.

"Are you crying?"

"Yes..."

"Why?"

"He constantly bullies me for being weak!"

"Then stop being weak?"

I don't remember the look on her face as I walked away, though I remembered thinking that was good advice...

"I'm sorry?"

He was still crying

I didn't say anything and just let him cry, I didn't even know what to say.

After a few minutes he eventually stopped.

"...I'm sorry."

He was apologizing for crying? That didn't make sense to me.

"Why are you apologizing?"

"...I'm sorry?"

"You have no reason to apologize, everyone cries. You're allowed to cry."

"...I see... I'm allowed to cry."

Huh, was he about to cry again? Why!? I didn't do anything!

"...Thank you..."

He didn't cry.

"Don't mention it... Let's sleep, Goodnight."

I laid down next to the river, we were probably going to be safe, we were out of the way from the roads.

"...Goodnight"

I woke up when the sun started to come out, looking to my left he was still sleeping.

"I wonder if he'd want to stay with me..." I quietly said

He had the talent 'Weapon Master' it was a broken talent, so I wondered if this guy was the main character in the novel.

Weapon Master (S Grade)

You are naturally gifted with all weapons.

It was a basic description, but it really was OP. It meant he wouldn't be uncomfortable using any weapon, whether he picked up a sword, or bow. Someone else would think he had trained with that weapon for years.

I wonder if it also gave him some combat sense...

I decided to wash myself, it wouldn't hurt to be clean.

A few hours later the boy woke up and yawned, I couldn't tell exactly what time it was, but if I had to guess it'd probably be around 9 A.M.

"Good morning."

"Ah...Good morning."

Was he still uncomfortable? He still hesitated when he spoke.

"You have nowhere to go right?"

"...Yes"

He looked particularly sad; did I touch a nerve?

"Then come with me."

His eyes perked up; he wasn't expecting those words to come out of my mouth.

"I won't force you. If you don't want to you can say so."

"...Can I?"

"What?"

"...Can I really follow you?"

"Yeah."

He started to cry, which made me wonder what I did wrong this time, but he quickly stopped.

"...Thank you..."

"...I'll follow you..."

"Alright."

"My name's Leo Vondheart, by the way."

"...Leo."

---

"What is this place called by the way?"

I asked while we were walking back

"...It's the capital of Plough Kingdom... Zojal"

I stopped moving

"...Are you okay?"

...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 about it when I first introduced it, I just related it to look like a stereotypical capital from an anime.

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

I had to confirm this was my novel.

"Hey..."

"...Yes?"

"There's a school called Heavensward... Right?"

"...Yes?"

"It's the most prestigious school in Plough, right?"

"...Yes?"

"Do you want to go?"

"...Yes?"

"...Wait what?"

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."

"...We can't..."

"Why not?"

"...I'm from the slums."

"And? So am I."

"...I don't have money..."

"I'll fix that."

"...I'm not strong..."

"Me neither."

"...You are."

"No, I'm pretty fucking weak."

That was the truth, in fact I actually had lower stats than him.

"Hey."

"...Yes?"

"Do you want to be my brother?"

"...What?'

I didn't know how to ask this without being blunt, nor did I know if he would accept it. I don't know how he was raised; I didn't know if he had some sort of vendetta against his parents. But I figured I'd ask.

He started to cry. Maybe I fucked up, we've only known each other for a day anyway.

"If you don't want to that's-"

"I do!"

"Please... Can I?"

He didn't hesitate to say those words, and my heart tensed up a little.

"Of course."

"Do you have a name for yourself in mind?"

"...No..."

"...Can you give me one?"

I don't know why, but I smiled. It was a warm, gentle smile.

"Rio."

"Rio Vondheart."

"That's your name."