After a quick wipe down and a fresh change of clothes, with his wooden sword secured to his hip, Sam and his family were making their way to the gate to exit the village. Sam didn’t exactly want to bring his sword, it wasn’t like it would be of any help if they ran into any magic beasts or monsters, at least not without aura. And definitely not like his parents would even let him engage in combat with those beasts in the first place. He only carried it out of a sense of obligation since his parents insisted that, “their little knight”, should carry his sword.

Soon they arrived at the gate which was wide open. The gate, along with the rest of the wall, was essentially a bunch of roughly fifteen foot tall logs secured together with a catwalk along the top so people could be stationed in case there was fighting outside. For other villages fighting would generally be from bandits, but this village was too small and not close to any major trade routes. This left their primary threats to come from magic beasts, but mostly monsters. 

Atop the catwalk stood a figure facing away from the village. He wore a green hooded cloak that stopped about knee length and since the hood was down, shoulder length blonde hair could be seen.

“Hendrick,” John called out, then waved as the man turned around.

Without a second of hesitation Hendrick walked to the edge and stepped off the catwalk and landed hard on his feet, going down to one knee as he landed. Sam could also tell he used aura to reinforce his body as he landed. When he stood up he had a big smile on his face behind a scruffy blonde beard. 

“So, finally taking Sam out for his first hunt?” Hendrick asked.

“He’s not even six years old,” Sarah scolded sternly. 

“So? I was six when my father took me out for the first time, and I wasn’t nearly as talented as Sammy here,” Hendrick replied as he tousled Sam’s hair.

Hendrick had the stereotypical build of a lumberjack, except instead of an ax his primary weapon of choice was a bow. Aside from his bow and arrows he was equipped with a pair of brass knuckles hanging from a brown vest, and two daggers, one in each boot. Unlike Sam’s parents, Hendrick didn’t bother getting married, and didn’t fool around with any of the women in the village. He enjoyed his bachelor life, and being the fun uncle to his party mates kids.

In Sam’s case being the cool uncle entailed teaching him archery as well as tracking skills. Unbeknownst to his parents, he also learned how to properly dismantle a horned rabbit that was unfortunate enough to wander into Hendricks field of vision while teaching Sam to shoot. This would remain their secret from both of his parents.

“We’re just going out for a picnic by the river,” John replied.

“Picnic you say…” Hendrick questioned suspiciously as he stroked his beard. “I heard you somehow got Barrett to give you both the day off last minute. I can only remember one other time that’s happened,” he said with a knowing smirk as his eyes went back and forth between the two.

“Don’t you dare start,” Sarah threatened as the temperature noticeably dropped.

“Hahaha, relax. I won’t say anything, besides I know you’ll tell everyone soon enough if I’m right.”

“Anyway, how’s everything out there? Anything noteworthy?” John asked.

“Something clawed at the wall last night, but it looks like whatever it was is moving away from the village now. Barrett and Carina are checking out along the wall for weaknesses just in case.”

“Why not just hunt it down?” Sam asked curiously.

“Our first responsibility is to ensure everyone in the village is safe. If we leave to hunt something that decided the wall was too much trouble and something else comes and hurts someone then we failed to do our job,” Sarah replied.

“Then maybe we shouldn’t have a picnic,” Sam commented. “What if what clawed the wall was only testing it and comes back with more monsters?”

All three adults looked down at Sam, taken aback from his insightful comment.

‘Shit! Was that too smart for a kid?’

“This kid ‘ll make a great leader one day,” Hendrick commented with an amused tone.

“You don’t need to worry Sam. There aren’t a lot of monsters around here that could break this wall down,” his mother reassured.

“And I’ll protect you and your mother if anything comes while we’re out!” his father added confidently.

——————————————————————-

The family walked through the forest along a worn walking trail, formed by the repeated number of villagers who would walk to the river. The river was about a thirty minute walk from the village, which wasn’t too far, even for Sam. Thanks to his training, without aura or mana his body had grown stronger. Not as strong as he wanted, but noticeably stronger than any other kid around his age.

“This looks like a great spot!” John announced as they arrived at the river. The trees ended leaving a roughly ten foot clearing before the river.

Sam walked closer to the river and looked at it. He had never seen such a picturesque view even in his past life. Never on Earth did he ever have the opportunity to view the natural world as a child. The first time he saw a forest was in basic training, but he was too focused on completing that training with an over fifty pound rucksack on his back to appreciate the sites. 

“Sam, don’t get too close to the bank. You don’t want to fall in,” Sarah warned.

Sam stared at the water. It wasn’t raging rapids, but the water was definitely moving fast enough that he wouldn’t be able to fight it without aura or mana.

“Yeah, I don’t think I want to try swimming here,” he replied back.

“If you want to swim there’s a nice calm spot a bit further down. We can go over the summer when it gets warmer,” John replied.

“Ok,” Sam replied and turned back to his parents.

The blanket was already out, along with a pitcher of water with pieces of apples floating, and a few plates. John then pulled a plate of sliced ham, a loaf of bread, and some vegetables out of his satchel. This was of course no normal satchel, but a magic tool.

‘Magic is so amazing. I really wish I could take that apart so I can see how that thing works,’ Sam thought to himself. ‘I asked my parents about it, and they gave me a pretty simple explanation, so I think it would be possible for me to eventually make one myself. The only concern I have is my mothers warning. I asked if she could make one, but apparently it can be dangerous if you make a mistake. I really need more access to more sources of information around here.’

They made sandwiches and ate them, then relaxed by the water. Soon after a freshly baked apple pie was brought out, the steam was still rising. The magic bag didn’t stop time for the items inside, so food couldn’t be preserved indefinitely, but it did slow it down to roughly a third. The rate at which time was slowed, as well as capacity of magic bags was all dependent on the mage that made them. That said, just being able to slow time at all was a significant feat, meaning this bag cost a small fortune.

‘I wonder how my parents managed to buy such a high end item? Are they secretly high ranked adventurers that are secretly rolling in money?’ Sam wondered.

“That was so good,” Sam praised, then laid down on his back. “I’m stuffed, so I’m going to take a nice long nap.”

His parents chuckled softly.

“It’s a little too soon for a nap,” John stated. “There’s a reason why we’re here today.”

“Other than eating a ton of food?” Sam asked while still laying down.

“Yes,” Sarah stated. “So please sit up, we need to tell you something.”

Sam sat up and looked at his parents expectantly.

“So, you know how we came home early yesterday?” John asked.

“Yeah, mom wasn’t feeling well.”

“I was having a stomach ache, and when the priest tried to help me he found out why.” She leaned closer to John. “We’re going to have another baby,” they announced in unison happily.

Sam sat there staring at them for a moment. “So I’m going to be a brother?”

“That’s right,” John replied as he tousled his hair.

“That means we need you to set a good example for it,” Sarah added, though she knew it was unnecessary. Sam rarely cried as a baby, and has always been well behaved and did as he was told. He was a model child, and his parents would count their blessings every time Barrett and his wife talked about their daughter’s behavior.

“Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl yet?” Sam asked.

“No, not yet. We'll have to wait a few more weeks before we’ll be able to know,” Sarah replied with a smile.

‘That was about right in my previous world too. Though we had advanced technology, I suppose the priests have some method of finding out in this world.’

“Hmm,” Sam thought to himself.

“Sam? What are you thinking about?” Sarah asked.

“I think I would prefer a brother,” he stated confidently.

“Oh? Let me guess, so you’ll have someone to play with?” John asked.

“No, he would be too little for a while. I just think a little brother would be less trouble.”

“And why is that?” Sarah asked, with an amused curiosity as to how he came to that conclusion.

“Simple. I’m confident if you have a girl she’ll be cute, and as she grows up boys will give her attention. Not only will some of these be the type boys that shouldn’t even be around her, some may even hurt her. It’ll be very annoying to get their bodies out of the village to hide them.”

Sarah’s mouth hung agape as she heard her son's logic. “John! Say something!”

“On it.” John placed a hand on his sons shoulder. “Sam, you can’t just kill all these boys.”

“That’s right!” Sarah interjected.

“You need to threaten them first. Make sure they know the risk involved with dating your sister. That will drive off most of them. The ones who stay will at least know the risk, so if they cross the line then they knew good and well what they were getting into.”

“Hmm, good point. A strong warning to keep all those who aren’t serious away, and make the serious ones cautious not to do anything stupid. Leaving only those who were either brave or too stupid to heed our warnings.”

“Exactly. And as for getting the bodies outside of the village, you just need to make sure they get out of the village and deal with them there. There are plenty of trees to hide a body under.”

Sarah just sat there in shock as she listened to her six year old son and husband bond over plans of covering up killing people.

Suddenly Sam and John both stopped their discussion, they felt a primal bloodlust approaching. John quickly pulled his sword and shield from the satchel, as Sam’s instincts caused him to reach for his right hip to reach for a side arm. He became completely frustrated with himself as he reverted back to over twenty years of training that no longer applied. He instead reached over to his left and pulled his wooden sword from his hip. Keeping his aura hidden was important, but staying alive was even more so.

Seeing John draw his sword, Sarah pulled her wand from her hip. It looked like a simple stick with magic runes carved into it, but it was in fact carved from a rare tree found only in the mana rich part of the continent known as the Wild Lands. And to top her wand, a small blue mana crystal at the base.

“What is it?” Sarah whispered.

“Something…no, somethings are approaching.”

Thump, thump, snap, crash

The heavy footsteps of monsters or magic beasts could be heard as they moved through the trees, breaking branches, even knocking a tree over. The trees that weren’t knocked over swayed as the approaching threat made no effort to conceal its presence. As they closed in the sickly pale yellow color of their bodies could be seen moving through the trees.

“GRAWWWWWR!”