Rebirth of Azure

by Storm Reaper VII

After the events of Central Fiction, Ragna finds himself in a bizarre new world that seems to have the chance of a fresh start for him. What is this realm he's been brought to? Is this just another possibility of the Azure? Why does he still remember his past life so vividly? What's the point of it all? The story of the Grim Reaper continues...

2. Half-Blood

Blue I: Half-Blood

Seven Years Later

Fourteen year old Ragna let out a mild sigh of relief as he put his equipment in the tools shed and headed off his village's farming grounds, his hair, skin, and linen clothes were dirty and roughed while his brow was covered in sweat from his day of manual labor. He'd started working in the fields a few years ago and in the time that his life had more or less become a mundane collection of tasks along with his training in order to maintain and improve his toned body. Like all of the other children, he was still staying with Aaron in the orphanage, but unlike them he kept thinking of moving on and getting out of the village to join the Mage's Guild or at least do something other than being a farm boy and waiting for someone to visit the town in hopes of adopting a child as old as he was.

"Calling it a day?" he heard a voice behind him ask. Turning his head, Ragna saw Eric coming to talk to him. While Ragna had done his job to help with all of the children, he inevitably ended up spending the most time with Eric since was the closest in age. The former mayor's son had started working in the fields about the same time as Ragna had in order to help the town out of a growing food shortage. He was still shorter than Ragna, but his broad shoulders and hardened muscles certainly weren't lacking. "Seems a bit early for you to be heading off."

"The traders are supposed to come into town today, remember?" Ragna reminded as he cricked his neck and finally got rid of that painful cramp that had been bothering him for that last hour. "If I head back now I can help them unload the wagons and try to get some coin for it. I've already done more than my usual share of the work anyways."

"So that's why you worked through the lunch break," Eric said with a well knowing smile. "And here I thought it was because you didn't want any of Lilith's cooking."

"I'm sorry, but who was the one who taught her to cook in the first damn place?" Ragna asked rhetorically, rolling his eyes as he did.

Lilith, of course, was another of the orphans that were staying in Aaron's church. When she'd arrived she'd been close to youngest and most nervous of the lot, but thanks to watching Ragna cook and helping him prepare the meals, she currently did most of the cooking for the orphanage and took great pride in her work.

"Hey guys!" The two saw Emily coming down from the hills to greet them. Like he had with Eric, Ragna had remained on good terms with Emily ( though she still often teased him on never opening up among other things) and the three of them became their own little trio. While Ragna and Eric worked in the fields, Emily never really had any desire to become anyone's housewife so she'd begun to learn how to use her father's old hunting bow to help provide for her family. Unlike Ragna and Eric who dressed in linen, Emily often wore collected furs over light leathers in order to offer more protection and to help mask her scent from her prey.

"So the huntress returns," Eric said, earning a cocky smirk from Emily. "So what did you manage to net this time?"

"Unfortunately not much, all I managed to get were a couple of rabbits and squirrels," Emily told them as she looked at the game bag she was carrying, not noticing Ragna's slight cringe as he thought back to Rachel (who he'd called Rabbit) and Makoto (who was a squirrel beastkin). "I'm just heading back to skin these and see if they'll go well in my mom's stew. Hopefully the merchants will be as generous as last year."

"Let's hope so, I better get going if I'm going to get any money from them today," Ragna muttered as he headed off from his usual group.

"So what's he trying to save up for anyways? Hasn't he earned enough copper pieces with the extra work he does around the village?" Emily asked. In small farming communities like this one, most people conducted trade using physical goods and copper coins, occasionally silver when the merchants visited.

"Probably so that he can get some funds before leaving town with the caravan," Eric told her with a hint a sadness in his words. "He's been saying it to me a lot lately, I think this year he's serious about actually doing it."

"Well he's always been telling us if it wasn't for the village needing extra hands for the harvest he'd have already left by now," Emily said, a little sad to see him go herself. "Do you want to follow him?"

"To the Mage's Guild? You're joking; I can't make heads or tails of what magic even is and you think I can join a guild of magicians?"

"Well Ragna's never used magic before and he thinks he can join them, why can't you?" It was obvious that Emily had never seen Ragna use his powers of Azure before and Eric had kept his word to Ragna about staying silent after he'd been healed when the two had first met years ago.

"For one thing I'm not great with books, remember? It took Father Aaron forever to teach me how to read and even now I get my words mixed up," Eric told the huntress. "What about you? Don't you want to go with him?"

"I have a family that I need to provide for and I don't think my little brother would want to let me go," the huntress told him. "I should probably head out now anyway; got to get the pelts skinned and the meat in the stew if we're going to make good coin on day one."

"Yeah, I've got to get back to the fields anyhow," Eric told her. "Without Ragna helping us the rest of the day we'll have to pick up the slack to keep from looking bad. How the hell he's able to harvest like he does though is beyond me, maybe it's got something to do with the way he uses his scythe?"

Meanwhile

Ragna made his way to the town well were the merchants would soon be arriving. The place had plenty of room for them to park their wagons and set up shop. While the town didn't have too much money coming into it, there was always the occasional sweet or bottle of brandy that the merchants were willing to sell at a cheaper price than usual for a good bowl of food or some travelling rations. The ex-criminal thought that he'd be able to get some peace and quiet while he waited, but when he saw a certain someone taking notice of him he knew that the chance was gone.

"What the hell doing you think you're doing out of the fields? My father doesn't pay the orphanage for you to slack off!" Ruth shouted at Ragna with a nasty sneer. Ragna simply groaned and hoped he'd get this encounter over with already.

In the six years that had passed Ruth hadn't undergone anything resembling a positive change; now instead of bullying Ragna with verbal insults and bringing his cronies along for good measure, he often berated him for his work and used his father's authority as a wall to hide behind. Most of his lackeys had taken jobs in the village guard and he'd sometimes steal his father's liquor and go drinking with them, but with the few that had ended up in the fields he wouldn't give them a second glance or even acknowledge that he knew them. He often walked around the village making threats and was never seen without his father's ledger under his arm.

"Well… are you going to answer me or not?" Ruth shouted trying to get in Ragna's face, which wasn't working because Ragna had since become a half foot taller than him. With the continued silence he was receiving, Ruth threw a sloppy punch to Ragna's head which his target barely moved in order to dodge. Ruth was left stumbling and nearly fell to the floor.

"Still trying to land that first punch on me..." Ragna said with demeaning smirk as he shook his head. "If you didn't keep making a complete fool out of yourself I would've gotten tired of this a while ago."

"So you're not answering me, you're not being cooperative, and you're trying to antagonize me," Ruth said as he his angry expression changed to a more triumphant one. "As soon as we get done with this season's trading maybe I'll make a prison cell for you to rot in."

"And where the hell are you going to get the money? Your dad's got control of most of the copper in town and I doubt your allowance is that big," Ragna said as he crossed his arms and leaned against the well.

"I'm going to have control of that money soon enough, he's already letting me do the big bartering deals with the traders this time around. You should do everyone a favor and get out of town, it's not like anyone's gonna miss y-"

"Ragna!" Both young men turned their heads to the source of the voice and saw Lilith running up to the well with a small leather sack in her hands. "I've got your lunch for you!" Lilith stood at about a head shorter than Ragna and always had her black hair cut short so that it wouldn't get in the way when she was cooking. While she she wasn't overweight, she was a bit more rounded than the other girls, which was fitting for a cook.

"Eh? How'd you know that I didn't have lunch?" Ragna questioned as he took the bag that she was holding out for him. Inside was a loaf of bread, some preserved meat, and a filled water skin.

"I saw that you left your food on the table after you left to work," she told him with a large smile on her face. "The Father wouldn't let me take it to you until I got lunch ready for everyone else though, so sorry you're eating this late."

"Oh… thanks," he said a bit sheepishly as he took the bread out and took a large bite out of it. While he began eating he couldn't help but notice the smug look that Ruth was giving him. "What's your problem?"

"Just thinking how sad the ladies of the orphanage are if they all think that they have to settle for a bastard like you," he said with a smug tone, causing Ragna to groan and Lilith to glare at him. "I mean really, they think that you're the best that they can do, the unwanted son without a family to his name. You're really just a-"

"Ragnaaaaaa!" The man of the hour didn't even have time to turn to the source of the voice before he was tackled in by Hilda, a girl from the village who'd come to fetch water. Lilith appeared to only get angrier as Hilda latched onto Ragna's arm and refused to let go while Ruth sputtered on his unfinished sentence in surprise. "It's been forever since we've seen each other!"

"Forever? I saw you two days ago," Ragna said passively.

"Yeah, and that's forever to be away from you! Were you avoiding me you big meany?" Hilda said gleefully as she continued to hold onto Ragna's arm and smile. Her long, bright blond hair and deep blue eyes were certainly rare in the village and attracted a lot of attention from the boys.

"...Mind letting go of my arm; it's kind of hard to eat with you clinging on like that," the ex-Reaper said as he tried to keep his blush down. Ruth was about to try addressing both of the girls with another demeaning remark, but before he could even begin…

"Oh Ragna! Fancy running into you here!" a girl with a basket full of vegetables said as she passed by the well and smiled.

"Hey Sora," Ragna awkwardly greeted as he tried to get Hilda to let go of his arm with minimal success. "Getting food ready for the traders?"

"Yep, just getting some of the ingredients over so we can make a feast," Sora told him cheerfully. Though Ragna hadn't taught her anything she was a fairly good chef herself and often played a prominent role in the kitchens with Ragna whenever the village's festival season rolled around. Her light brown hair was tied behind her to keep it out of her eyes and despite being a cook she had a very thin frame. At this point Ruth was praying that this wouldn't progress the way it been, but of course his punishment came in full."You know I actually came up with the new soup recipe just a few days ago. I can make some if you want to come over and try it."

"I might be busy these next couple of days…" Ragna began as he tried to turn her offer down.

"Hey! Are you trying to steal my favorite customer from me!?" Lilith demanded as she stormed over to Sora. "Show the soup to your family or something, I need Ragna for help with my harvest festival recipes!"

"You have an entire orphanage for that!" Sora heatedly argued back. "Ragna's got the best tastes in the village so I need him to make sure my recipe is perfect! And Hilda! Get off his arm already!"

"Nope!" Hilda said simply with her bright smile as she refused to let go of Ragna.

"...I actually need my arm to eat lunch," he tried to tell her, but to no avail. He then heard something that sound like a mixture of gasping for air and choking on spit and turned to find Ruth stuttering on his words and doing just that. Seeing his constant antagonist in such a state, Ragna allowed himself a snarky smile. "No one would miss me huh?"

Ruth tried his hardest to come up with something, any form of rebuttal or insult to Ragna and the girls, but in the end he simply had no other choice but to growl and storm away. With Ruth out of the picture, the azure eyed youth gave a well earned chuckle. Even with the patience he'd eventually gotten as he'd matured in his last life, Ragna couldn't begin to count the number of times he'd wanted to hit the brat in the face. He couldn't of course, not without stirring up trouble for Aaron or the others in the orphanage, but seeing Ruth's pride crushed so viciously had certainly made it worth his while.

Eventually the girls left and not a minute afterwards the trader's covered and ox driven wagons started to appear in the village. After watching them park in their usual places, Ragna headed around the wagons looking to see if he could find any of them that needed his help setting up. Sadly, most of the merchants weren't looking for help and brushed him off.

'Well that's just great,' Ragna thought to himself with an exasperated sigh. 'Here I was hoping that I'd be able to make some extra coin today, but all I'm stuck with is my regular.' Figuring that there was nothing else to do but hoping he'd at least get a meager earning today, he headed over to the last cart that had come into town. "Oi! Jonathan! You in?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming out oh spiteful one," came a voice from inside the wagon. Ragna waited patiently as Jonathan Songsworn came out of his wagon while carrying an open crate full of silks and other fine goods. "Here to help an old man out of the goodness in the heart or looking to make some coin?"

"What do you think?" Ragna asked with a small smirk as the merchant placed the crate a short distance from his wagon.

Jonathan was about Aaron's age, but where the Father had a black grizzled beard his was white and long like his hair. As usual Jonathan was dressed in his brown travelling cloak and had his beloved lute strapped to his waist. Before he'd become a merchant he'd traveled the lands as a performing minstrel, playing anywhere he could to make the coin to eat. Nowadays he never sang and hardly ever performed, but Ragna was always eager to listen to whatever tale he had to tell even if most of the village thought the stories were completely outlandish.

"So are you actually going through with leaving the village this year or is there going to be another season in the harvest?" the merchant asked with curiosity.

"I'm hoping that this is going to be the year that I finally get out of here," Ragna told him. "Now I'm old enough for Aaron will let me go, I've got enough coin to last me until something better comes around, and the fields are finally back to normal." He headed over to the back of the covered wagon to begin helping Jonathan unload, but was surprised to see a small hooded child about half his size sitting inside the wagon. It turned to look at Ragna for a moment, but quickly shied away. He narrowed his eyes, something about the hooded figure felt… different. "Jonathan? You've got company back here."

"Indeed I do. Come out child, no need to be frightened." While the child did come out of the back of the wagon, it immediately ran and hid behind Jonathan so that Ragna couldn't get a proper look at it. "You'll have to pardon little Silvana here, she's rather shy around strangers ever since we found her. Poor child's mother had died from sickness, but I'm taking her to stay with Aaron for the time being."

"Another orphan then," Ragna said with a small sigh. "Anything I can do to help?"

"You could unload my cart for me," Jonathan told him. "The sooner she and I talk to Aaron the better and I want to get my wares out as soon as possible, so set my store for me and I'll double your pay from last time."

"A whole six copper? Deal," the azure eyed youth said as he looked to the inside of the cart. "So what do you want to set out this year?"

"Just put out everything, the caravan's not going to be leaving this town for another week at least," Jonathan said as he took Silvana's hand and lead her away from the wagon.

'A week?' Ragna thought to himself as he continued unloading the wagon. 'Weird... normally they only stay here a couple of days at most.' Ragna shook his head and tried to keep his mind focused on his work so that he'd have earned the money Jonathan was paying him.

Later

It was dark by the time Ragna finally made it back to the orphanage. After he'd finished setting up for Jonathan shop and getting paid he'd gone to his usual spot in the woods to continue his training and refine his Azure techniques. With another long day behind him, he was ready to put his feet up and get some sleep for another day of working in the fields. Ragna hadn't even finished taking his shoes off before Eric came from the other room to greet him.

"You're finally back," he said as a casual form of greeting. "Out practicing?"

"Like usual," Ragna told him. "What'd Lilith make for dinner?"

"Just vegetable soup; she wants to save the rest of our meat to make something special for the festival," Eric told him before shaking his head. "And of course she made us all leave a little food for you in the end."

"Nice," Ragna said with a victorious smile; he'd figured that he'd have to miss dinner tonight since he'd decided to stay late to train so managing to get an already made meal was just a bonus to top today off.

"Before you eat Father said that he wanted to see you," Eric told him, causing Ragna to pause. "He's waiting for you in the study with that new kid, dunno what he wants."

"Did he seem upset?" Ragna had to ask.

"Not really, but he seemed a bit more annoyed than usual." Hearing his best friend groan in annoyance Eric gave a small laugh. "Good luck, I've got a feeling that you're gonna need it."

"No kidding," Ragna muttered as he headed off to the church's study. He passed by the dormitory where all of the children were dressed for bed and were talking or playing with their toys while a few candles kept the room lit. "Do me a favor would ya and extinguish the candles? Aaron probably only let them stay up 'cause I was out anyways."

"I can do that, but can't you just put the candles out after you talk to the father and get into bed?"

"And have to help you put the entire orphanage to bed? Pass. 'Sides; stars are out, moon's bright, and there's a nice soft wind. Sleeping outside sounds like a dream right now." He entered the office and gave a small smirk to Eric. "Nice try though."

"Almost had him…" Eric groaned as his friend entered the study. "Is it wrong that I want Father to chew him out, just a little?"

Inside the study, Ragna gently closed the door so that he wouldn't make any sudden sounds. He found father Aaron reclining in his rocking chair with his eyes gently closed as he rocked himself back and forth. Silvana was sitting a short distance away from him and didn't even try to to make eye contact with him as she looked into one of the books, her hood from earlier still covering her head. Ragna figured that she was simply looking at illustrations of the different gods and goddesses, but taking a closer look he found that she was looking through one of the few novels that the Priest owned, one that didn't have any pictures.

"She can read?" Ragna questioned, leading for Aaron to bring his elderly eyes to narrow open with his gaze directed at him.

"Silvana has a name Ragna," Aaron responded strictly, getting the silver haired youth to acknowledge his mistake with a slow nod. "You missed dinner again."

"Lilith saved some for me, I'll eat as soon as I get out of here," Ragna told his caretaker.

"Of course she made sure you ate, just like she brought you the lunch that you left here," Aaron said as he shook his head with disappointment. "If it weren't for that girl you'd have starved to death by now."

"I'm pretty sure I'd have managed," Ragna told him, remembering earlier that morning when Sora was trying to get him to come for dinner. "So is that all you're calling me for?"

"Hardly, it has to do with Silvana," Aaron said as he gazed at the girl from where he sat. "I've introduced her to the others and their meeting seemed... awkward. She was too shy to say anything and the children were too unnerved by her hood to get near her. I doubt they'll be able to sleep in the same room, so I'm putting her in the guest quarters for now."

"Well that sucks, but what do you want me to do about it? I'm still working in the fields until harvest is over and then-"

"And then you plan to depart with Jonathan after the festival, I'm aware," Aaron interrupted. "I'm keeping you out of the fields for the rest of the harvest; the town will be finished shortly with or without your help. As of right now, Silvana's your responsibility."

"Mine?" Ragna demanded as he glanced to the girl who still had her head buried in her book. "Why bother? I'm heading out of town soon so she'll have to spend time with the others anyways."

"According to Jonathan, that won't be the case," the priest began. "She's only staying with us until the merchants leave the city. Afterwards Jonathan will be taking her with the rest of the caravan and send her to the Mage's Guild."

"She- Silvana's going to the Mage's Guild? You mean that she's ready to learn magic at her age?" Ragna questioned as he glanced down to the hooded girl who was continuing to read.

"Indeed, so I'd suggest you two try to get to know each other a little better since you'll likely be seeing a lot of each from here on out… provided you make it into the guild yourself." The silver haired youth rolled his eyes, fairly confident he could take on whatever challenge the guild was going to send his way. "Show Silvana to her room, you'll start watching her tomorrow after breakfast."

"Got it, got it," Ragna said as opened the door to guide Silvana. While she still kept her distance from him, the young newcomer did rise from the floor with the book and followed him as he brought her to the guest room. "There isn't much here, but make yourself at home."

Silvana stayed silent as she walked forward into her room and glanced around, trying to absorb the details of the place she'd be staying in. It was small, but it had a bed, a nightstand, and a small lantern for light which was currently unlit.

"Want to stay up and read for a bit?" Ragna asked the young girl. She nodded so he grabbed one of the lit lanterns from the hallway and used it to light the one in Silvana's room. "That should give you enough light to read in," he said as he set the lantern back and stood on the outside of the doorway. "Just be sure not to stay up too late; the others have a tendency to be loud in the mornings so you'll-"

"Eyes."

"Eh?" It was the first time that Ragna had heard the child speak, but her voice didn't sound that childish. It had a strange calm and emotionless to it, which would have reminded him of Rachel had he not known better. Now that she had her gaze fixed on his face, he could actually piece together what she looked like under the hood.

Her skin was a fair shade, just a tone pinker than his own. Her eyes were a bright and full sky blue that seemed to be fixed on him with all of the curiosity of a young child. Though the hood still covered most of it, Ragna could see barely noticeable clump of bright pink hair; a hair color that he'd never encountered in this world.

"Eyes," Silvana said again, not bothering to expand any more as she continued to stare at Ragna.

"Eyes? You mean mine?" he asked, trying to figure out what she was getting at. "What about 'em?"

"...Scary." She closed the door after addressing Ragna again using only a single word. He stood outside the doorway in surprise for a moment before shaking his head and heading into the kitchen to prepare himself the food Lilith had saved for him.

The Next Day

Ragna gave a loud yawn and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he groggily rose off his back from where he'd been sleeping. The tall grass near the church had been plenty soft and provided him with a decent makeshift bed for the night. Letting a low groan he used his right arm to pull his head over, resulting in a satisfying collection of pops. Sighing a breath of relief he came to a completed stand, just as he realized he wasn't alone in the dark outside.

'Someone's out here with me? How the hell didn't I wake up when I sensed them?' Ragna thought as he looked around. He noticed a vague presence of life surrounding him and he soon realized it was coming from the top of the church. 'What the hell is someone doing on the roof this early in the morning?'

Sighing to himself, Ragna headed over and leapt to the roof in a single well placed jump. Since he was careful about where he landed there was no danger on the roof falling in on itself. Once he was up there he saw Silvana casually sitting and staring out into the sky, her hood on as always.

"How'd you get up here?" Ragna asked, knowing there wasn't a clear foothold or any other easy way to get to the roof. "Better yet why are you up here?"

"Sunrise," Silvana told him, again answering his question with only a single response.

"You're out here to watch the sunrise?" Ragna questioned and the young girl nodded. "And you came to the church's roof to get the best view of it?" Another nod. "Good grief, you're crazy kid."

As soon as he had said those words, the first of the rays of the sun started to shine over the distant mountain peaks. As Ragna turned his gaze to follow Silvana's a soft gust of wind blew threw the area, gently carrying leaves from the surrounding trees. The sun's rise was a slow one, but Silvana seemed to take in every detail of it. Only once the sun had cleared the mountains and the children below began to stir did she rise from where she'd been sitting.

"Ready to get down?" Ragna asked, just a split second before Silvana leapt off the roof. "Hey! What're you-!?"

The reincarnated Reaper was then hit by a much stronger breeze, one nearly strong enough to cause him to lose his footing atop the slanted roof. A small whirlwind had formed under Silvana's feet, one that greatly slowed her descent as she fell to the ground. She landed on her feet with ease before looking up at Ragna like she was expecting him to follow her.

"So you really do know magic, you could've saved me the worry at least," he muttered with a sigh before he leapt from the roof and landed on the ground beside her. "Come on kid, let's grab some food."

"Outside," she said vaguely, causing Ragna to again have to question her.

"You mean you want to eat outside, away from the others?" he asked and was rewarded yet again with a single nod. "...Alright, alright, just wait here and I'll grab the food."

Heading inside Ragna passed by several of the other orphans who were groggily getting out of their beds or heading to the outhouse to relieve themselves. Heading over to the pantry, Ragna grabbed out two loaves of day old bread, some regular farm vegetables, and two apples.

"I see you're not waiting for Lilith to make you breakfast," Father Aaron said as he made his way into the pantry. "Just a meal for the two of you then?"

"Silvana doesn't want to see the others, so we'll eat outside," Ragna told his elderly caretaker as he grabbed two bowls to put all of the food inside.

"You're not already having second thoughts about this are you?" Aaron said as he picked at his beard. Ragna hesitated for a moment, but eventually shook his head. "Good, because as far as things stand currently you're the only one that I can trust."

"And why's that?"

"Two reasons; the first because you're obviously the least uncomfortable with Silvana's hood." Ragna could understand where the elderly priest had come up with that conclusion, but he still couldn't help but feel that it was a strange one. Before moving on to the second reason, Aaron quickly glanced around the pantry to make sure no one else was within hearing distance, though he still whispered into Ragna's ear. "The second reason is because of her latent ability as a mage. You remember the story of Vizulla the Demoness?"

"Think I napped through most of that story in class honestly, but something about a sorceress a couple of decades back that destroyed the old town with her army of soldiers?"

"That's the sloppy and short version, but yes. A magic user invaded, enslaved, and destroyed the town that stood where we now live. That story is still told in the village to this day giving them a distaste for magic users. They're fine with the idea of you learning magic since you've been raised here, but an outsider like her… well best not think about that."

"Got it; I'll keep quite," Ragna reaffirmed. "I better get back outside before she wonders what's taking me so long."

"Oh, and I don't want you to lose track of her, so none of your training while you're watching Silvana." Ragna went rigid at Aaron's words and he lost his grip on the bowls. Their contents would have fallen all over the floor if Ragna hadn't been ready to catch them thanks to his reflexes. It wasn't often that the Father smirked, but Ragna always hated it when he did. "...Might I have struck a nerve?"

"Be quiet…" he groaned as he carried the food out of the pantry to take to Silvana, trying to figure out how Aaron had discovered him training… and just how much the Father knew.

Later -The Merchant's Camp

Jonathan sat atop an empty crate that he'd used to hold his wares, relaxing his body as he smoked on his favorite pipe and waited for the townspeople to start their day of exchanging wares. Ragna had done his job of setting up the temporary shop so there had been very little to do, mostly just a few rearrangements in order to go the store a bit more visually appealing.

All five in the merchant carts sold a specific set of wares or services, meaning that would be little competition or conflict between them in order to make profit. They had Kenneth the blacksmith and convoy leader, Edward the leatherworker, Markus the elderly apothecary (someone who dealt in potions), Marian who dealt in selling fine rugs and silks, and then there was of course Jonathan himself. He dealt in a bit of a mixed set of wares; he sold pieces of parchment, ink, and quills which would be useful for squires, but he also sold lutes, harps and books on music that would be useful for travelers hoping to become bards. However, his most popular product that he sold by far were his own crafted sweets, small delectables that were beloved by child and adult alike. It was his main source of revenue and it paid rather well around festival time.

Anyways, while the rest of the merchants were awaiting for the day ahead, Jonathan saw Ragna and Silvana approaching his cart. Silvana was still keeping her distance from her apparent guide as her guide kept his face void of much emotion.

"You two seems close," Jonathan said with a small hint of whimsy in his sarcastic words. "What brings you to my humble shop?"

"Just checking in I guess," Ragna said with a shrug as he looked over the wares Jonathan was offering, despite having set most of them out the day before. "Silvana said she wanted to see you… at least that's what I think she wanted, pretty damn hard to tell what someone wants when they only say one word at a time."

"She's already talking to you? Seems she likes you more than I would've thought," Jonathan teased again, leading Ragna to give a low and annoyed growl through his teeth. "You'll learn to cope with her ways of speaking, you'll have to if the two of you are going to be travelling with each other… Perhaps you could take her fishing up north, the lake doesn't have too many fish in it this time of year, but I have two fishing rods that you can borrow and some bait you can use."

"Might as well," Ragna said, again shrugging as he looked down to his charge. "Got a problem with that kid?"

"No," Silvana said as she looked up at Ragna.

"Guess we'll do that then… by the way, that jerk Ruth said that he's going to be handling the big trades this year. That true or was he just blowing steam?"

"Hard to say, we likely won't be doing the larger trades with the town until we've had a few days to sell our smaller wares. My guess is the larger trades won't start until we get close to the festival… more time for us to work with."

"Why are you staying so long anyways?" Ragna questioned as Jonathan headed inside his wagon to grab the fishing rods for the two. "Since you normally only spend a couple of days at most it seems odd that you'd spend an entire week here, so what brought the change on?"

"Reports among the merchant's guild have suggested that there's a large band of bandits in the area attacking merchant convoys among the Balio town path… But since this little village is a good distance away from Balio town it should have nothing to worry about." Jonathan added that last part in when he noticed Ragna's look of concern. "But what's weird about it is though they've found the wreckage of several of the caravan's there have been signs of some valuables left over and no bodies to accompany them; very odd for bandits, to say the least."

"So you're waiting a week then because of that?" Ragna asked with doubt as the merchant returned with the fishing rods. "Is your plan just to wait for the bandits to move on? 'Cause that seems kind of…"

"Stupid." Ragna blinked before turning to Silvana who'd somehow managed to guess what he'd been about to say perfectly.

"Look at you! You've barely known her for a half a day and she's already finishing your sentences for you!" Jonathan said before giving a hoarse laugh, causing Ragna to groan in annoyance while Silvana remained rather passive. "In all seriousness though you're right, it would be stupid, which is why we're going to meeting with a group of mercenaries at a roadside inn a little to the north for protection."

"You could've just said that in the first place," Ragna groaned as he took the fishing rods and bait from the old merchant. "Well I guess we'll head out for the lake then, see you old timer."

"Take care of yourself, and remember I get half of whatever you end up catching."

"When was that part of the deal!?" Ragna shouted.

"Well I am letting you take the fishing rods, giving you bait to use, AND letting you ride in my wagon when we travel to the mage's guild," Jonathan listed out with another victorious smile on his elderly face. "Be sure to catch a nice and big one! It's been forever since I've enjoyed fish meat!"

"Good grief," Ragna muttered as he walked off, only pausing for a short moment when he heard a small squeaking noise coming from Silvana. Had he not known better, he would've sworn it had been a giggle…

Meanwhile

'Twenty-seven years and it's still beyond me where they get all of this energy,' Aaron thought to himself as he watched the children kick a leather ball around, laughing as they ran. '...Then again, when it comes time for them to clean up after themselves all of that energy seems to just slip away.'

While the traders were in town and the children were eager to look at whatever wares they were offering, Aaron had offered to watch the children from the village as well as the ones from the orphanage. The parents had only been too happy take him up on that offer, now able to scour the wares offered without their children pleading to buy toys, sweets, or anything else they'd desire.

"Father Aaron…" Aaron turned his head to the source of the voice and found Ruth with his ledger in his arm and a smug look upon his face. "We need to talk."

"If you wish to speak with me, do so when I'm not busy with the children," Aaron demanded as he turned his attention back to the kids and their play. "Besides, I heard that your father saw fit to send you to negotiate with the merchant caravan this year, shouldn't you be talking with them?"

"Negotiate? What kind of game do you think I was playing?" Ruth asked as he spread his arms and looked to the sky, as would an actor in his defining moment of a play. "I had them at an disadvantage, they're staying in town a full week for a reason and I found out because they had no choice; they NEED to wait because of the dangerous bandits out on the prowl."

"Hmph, so you intend to take advantage of that," the priest of Reslavia summarized, not seeming at all impressed. "So how much damage do you image you'll deal to our quaint little farming village?"

"Damage? You really don't understand anything you old fool," Ruth said as his cocky sneer grew. "I'll get them to PAY for staying in town and to be defended by our own personal town guard. We'll make double than what me managed to get from selling our crops last year and something tells me there's even more money to be made."

"...Tell me Ruth, have you ever heard of the saying that you missed the forest for the trees?" Hearing the young lad chuckle as he shook his head, Aaron continued. "It means that you're too focused on reaping immediate gains, you don't plan for the future and the consequences your decisions could have."

"You think I'll drive the merchants away with my dealings? Who needs this batch?" Ruth gave a dark chuckle that reeked of greed. "With the extra money we made here we can expand; make this crummy and nameless farming village into an actual town. We won't have to rely on the traders every year when we can provide for ourselves. My father's already eager to get started, within a few years we'll be a bustling city!"

"You'd be changing the entire village's way of life, ending a millennia of tradition that could was only ever shaken once. You'd impose your own will on the very community that raised you." The Father struggled to keep his words calm in order to keep the playing children from worrying, but the slight tinge of aggression was apparent in every word.

"I'd be helping them grow, but it won't a problem either way. If any of them would prefer to remain with their dreary lives as farmers it's their problem. And if they hate the town I'm creating that much, they're free to leave… it's their choice." Ruth smile only seemed to be growing as he tried using some of the father's very principles of his belief against him. "Speaking of leaving, that brings me to you…"

"I don't intend to go anywhere," Aaron threatened as he glanced back to the children. The conversation was beginning to worry them as they stared at the both of them until Aaron waved them away.

"It's not exactly that I want you gone Father, it's that I want that church of yours empty," Ruth said as he began opening his ledger. "I've been going through our records and my father's been donating plenty of money towards you and that little church of yours, money that you've used to provide a good life for the children no doubt… Ah, here's the section I was looking for. Let's see… in total I'd say over all of the years you've been here my families given you… 9 gold."

"What!?" Aaron's blood grew cold as the amount given was enough to make him numb.

Gold coins were worth far more than the six copper Ragna had earned for himself the day previous. To give you an idea, consider a loaf of freshly baked bread to be the equivalent of a single copper in this village (it would cost much more elsewhere). Now, 30 of those little coppers would be equal to the worth of a single piece of silver and 15 silver pieces would be equivalent to a gold coin. For a village that mainly used copper pieces the use of even a single gold piece was unheard of.

"Now normally the money given would be considered a donation, but since my father had bothered to write all of times he's given to you in this ledger it looks like more of a loan," Ruth said. "Who knows, maybe when we've expanded enough we can let you run your orphanage again, but now we're going to need a place for our incoming builders to stay in… and as far as I can tell you're no closer to getting those children adopted."

"That's there's been a lack of interest in adoptions lately," the orphan's caretaker told the over privileged teenager. "Since the children first came to our small little village we've only had seven total visits from hopeful parents to be."

"And of those seven you managed to send how many away? Two? Why could that be Father Aaron? Were you too hesitant to get rid of a few of your choir boys?"

"Watch. Your. Mouth." Aaron could take a lot of insults (part of the reason Ragna hadn't been kicked out yet), but implying what Ruth had was taking it several leagues too far. With a menacing glare he stood so that he was towering over his instigator. "If you'll excuse me, I have my children to attend to. Don't you ever come near my church until you decide to grow a sliver of morality."

"It won't be your church for long!" Ruth called after the Priest. "You've got until the merchants leave! It's the children or your home!"

"That arrogant little…" Aaron fumed as he gripped his fist tightly.

"Father Aaron?" Alexander, one of the younger orphaned children asked as he tugged his robes with a little hand. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine child, it's nothing to concern yourself with," the Father told him with a reassuring smile as he lead the children away from Ruth. "Let's head back to the church and see if Lilith's needs help with lunch. Maybe we can visit the merchants afterwards and see what they're selling this year."

"Okay!" the smiling child said as he ran of to gather the other, leaving their caretaker following slowly behind, concern weighing heavily on his shoulders.

"Lady Reslavia grant me strength," Aaron prayed aloud as he walked. "These children won't be forgotten or abandoned… I'll make sure of that."

Later -The Lake-

Ragna gave a soft yawn from where he lay in the soft grasses at the edge of the village's lake, his fishing pole already baited, cast, and stuck in the ground in front of him. He'd been fishing before, and while it certainly wasn't the most exciting thing in the world he could at least always use it as an excuse to get extra sleep in.

'Damn, this is peaceful,' Ragna thought to himself. 'Normally whenever I have any time to myself I go out to the woods and train my skills, so its been a while since I could just lie out in the sun and take a nap. Takes me back to when I was with Taokaka.'

His peaceful thoughts were interrupted as he felt a tiny finger tapping him on the shoulder. Non-chalantly opening one of his azure eyes, he saw Silvana looking over him with a tiny pout on her face.

"...What's your problem?" he asked from where he lay before moving his open eye downwards and seeing that she'd brought her fishing rod out of the water. "Giving up already? We haven't been here that long, have some patience."

"Bored," she said, keeping her pout visible and seeming to be more annoyed. "No fish."

'She used two words in a sentence that time,' Ragna thought to himself before shaking his head. "Look, we promised Jonathan we'd bring him some fish back after heading out and we don't have any yet. You can't rush these things."

"...I can," was what she said in response, right before violent gusts of wind start to flow around her, having enough force to be barely visible as teal colored blade.

"Whoa! Let's hold off with that for now!" Ragna shouted as he immediately leapt to his feet. "Using your magic here is just gonna cause problems Silv, if someone else finds out what you can do with it they'll run you out of the village." Silvana didn't seem to like it, but she did allow the winds to slowly die down before fading completely. "That's better. You know the sunlight feels really nice now, you should take your hood off."

Ragna hadn't even finished his sentence before he heard a yelp come out of Silvana's mouth, one that actually seemed fittingly young and girlish compared to her earlier monotone words. The young girl had skirted a good distance away from him, protectively covering her head to not let her hood be pulled off as she looked at Ragna in terror.

"Alright, alright, I won't take your hood off," he promised, raising his hands to say 'my bad.' Silvana wasn't buying it and continued to edge slowly away from Ragna. "I said I won't do anything to your hood!" he called again, but no response. "Jeeze, just what the hell's your problem with me anyways?"

"Eyes."

"This again?" he muttered in annoyance. "Okay then, next question; WHY do you think my eyes are so scary?" Silvana didn't respond to the question, but with the confused look she was giving as she turned away Ragna was beginning to suspect she really didn't know. "Good grief, well do whatever you need to feel safe, I'm gonna keep fishing until we get a couple of bites."

"...Still bored," the young hooded girl said. Normally at this point Ragna would've gotten angry, but there was just something about this girl that made him pause, maybe it was the fact that besides Jonathan and Aaron she didn't have anyone else to turn to. For now Ragna decided he'd try his best and keep his cool.

"How 'bout a story?" he offered as he took a seat in front of his fishing rod which remained in the ground in front of him. At the mention of a story Silvana's eyes seemed to light up as she eagerly nodded. "Okay… You ever hear of The Drunk King and the Sick Bard?" Ragna had remembered being told that tale by Jonathan, so he wasn't to surprised that Silvana knew it. "How about The Traveler's Three Tests?"

Again she nodded, indicating that she'd heard the story before. Ragna then went on to list all of the stories he'd heard around town or had read in the church's small library. She'd heard them all, even some of the most bizarre ones that he'd had trouble making sense of. It was like she was an encyclopedia on the world's lore.

'So she obviously knows more stories than I do,' Ragna thought to himself. 'This sucks, it looked like she really wanted to know a new story, but the only other one I know is…' "Hey, I have an idea, but… I sort of made the story myself. That okay?"

"Made?" she repeated, cocking her head to the side a little. She seemed to be pondering what kind of story Ragna could have made up. Eventually she gave a small nod and sat besides him, leading Ragna to clear his throat.

"Right, now this was a hard story to make, so listen up," he said with a rather cocky smirk. "This is the story of the Six Heroes..."

For the next while Ragna retold the very legend he'd been sent back to the past to create. He recounted the details as best he could, describing Valkenhayn the King of Wolves, The Great Sage Nine, Trinity Glassfield the Platinum Alchemist, Jubei the One-Eyed Lotus, The Just Sword Hakumen… and Yuuki Terumi. Recapping it from a story teller's perspective was more than a little strange and he occasionally had to charge certain terms on the fly, but at he managed to tell the tale.

"And using the sword gifted to him by Nine, Hakumen finally slayed the Black Beast and ended the Dark War. The world was saved and efforts soon went to rebuilding all of the destruction that had resulted due to the Beast. Though they'd saved the world, the Six Heroes vanished and… Well, that's a story for another time," Ragna said as he finished the story. "So what'd think?"

"...What happened? …To... Bloodedge?" Silvana asked struggling to make a sentence that was more than her two word limit.

"...He was gone," Ragna said after hesitating before looking up in the sky. "He died to the Black Beast and the truth was only a few people even knew that he'd stopped the Beast in the first place… Kinda sucks I guess."

"Ragna," the young girl said to him. Unlike any of the other times he saw that she was actually looking him in the eyes, not shying her gaze away and looking at another part of his face.

"What is it?" he demanded, feeling a little uncomfortable under her unblinking stare.

"...Ragna… the Bloodedge..."

'What?' he thought worriedly, about to go into a cold sweat. 'H-how the hell does she even come up with that!? I just created a storybook character based off my past life! Does she really know where I'm really from? How could she HAVE known where I was from!?'

"Good name," she said before giving Ragna a big smile. He was unsure how to respond to her statement so he sort of just stared at Silvana with a deer in the headlights expression. He didn't even seem to register the fact that his fishing rod was shaking until she told him. "Fish."

"R-right," Ragna said as he strolled over and awkwarded retrieved his catch from the waters. It was well above average in size and looked like it would make an awesome meal… but he was still too unsettled by Silvana. Just what was she?

Later -The Orphanage-

It was close to dinner time when Ragna and Silvana finally made it back to the orphanage. After Ragna's story telling, the two had oddly began catch fish much more frequently than they had before it, managing to catch six that Ragna had thought were decent enough for eating. They'd already returned their equipment and given his choice of three of the fish to Jonathan, so now all that was left was to bring the other three back to the orphanage and cook them up for the others. Once he'd made it inside and taken his leather shoes off, Ragna turned adress his young companion.

"Listen, I know you don't really get along with the others so if you want to go read in your room go ahead. I can take these to Lilith and bring you your food when it's time." Nodding to his suggestion, Silvana headed for the guest room and shut the door to resume the book she'd taken the night previous. Walking into the kitchen Ragna found Lilith busy starting her preparations for dinner. "So what's on the menu tonight?"

Upon hearing him, Lilith turned to face Ragna with a smile which only seemed to grow when she saw the basket of fish he was carrying. "I was beginning to wonder where you were. You weren't in the fields today so I thought you'd have run off like you normally do."

"Nope, had to go fishing with that new kid," Ragna said as he handed the chef the basket. "She's a weird one, but I guess she's alright…" Glancing at the dining table he saw most of the children helping to set their bowls and washing up, but their was no sign of the Father. "So what happened to Aaron; normally he's here helping with setting the table."

"I don't really know, he's been in his study since lunch ended, leaving the kids to watch themselves."

"That doesn't sound like him at all," he said with a slightly worried voice as he narrowed his eyes. "See you Lilith."

"Oh, Ragna can you-" she was about to say, but Ragna had already left and was headed for Aaron's study. "Aw… I wanted to make dinner with him, just the two of us."

Inside his study Aaron let out a sigh as he looked over a map of the surrounding territories. He knew there was no way he'd have nine gold in order to pay off his supposed debt to Ruth's family, but he was resolved to put the children first, hence he was looking at map to see where he could leave the children to ensure their safety. Options now were slim; the few orphanages that were close by were in large cities and likely already overflowing with unclaimed children and the further locations would be a long and dangerous journey that still result in wasted effort.

"Hey, you in?" Aaron heard Ragna's voice from outside his study call. "Old man are you in?"

"Come in, come in," Aaron said with a sigh and the door slowly opened revealing his eldest charge. "The other's always call me by the title I ask them to, so why don't you?"

"Don't care much for titles, even for the small ones," Ragna said before smirking. "Plus, this way it'll be that much easier for you not to miss me. But enough about that, Lilith said you've been holed up here since lunch so…"

"You got worried? About me?" Aaron said before giving that rare smirk Ragna hated. "Are you sure I'm the one who'd have trouble saying goodbye?"

"Tch! Keep thinking that," Ragna muttered before seeing the map on Aaron's desk. "So what's that you're working on? ...Aaron?"

'...I can't tell him,' the priest thought to himself darkly as he looked over the map. 'He's wanted to follow his own dreams ever since his seventh summer when he heard about the Mage's Guild. The earliest anyone's been known to apply for the mage's guild was ten years of age and he missed that chance because of the lack of farmers for the year's harvest. He could have left with Jonathan and likely would have if work hadn't needed to be done. And if I tell him that Ruth's the one who's threatening me that could just lead to more trouble. If he did something drastic or even as simple as standing up to him, Ruth's family might be able to bring in soldiers with promises of silver and other deals… This has to be my fight as Priest of this church, not his.'

"Hey, anyone awake in there?" Ragna said as he waved his hand in front of the Father's face, causing Aaron to blink a few times before glaring at him. "Seriously, what's with you today? I've never seen you so out of it."

"I was thinking about something important for you journey," Aaron told him, which wasn't a lie. Knowing that he had another map to use, the priest rolled up the one on the table and handed it to Ragna. "I want you to have this map for your travels. It should be a straight path to the Guild, but I want you to be prepared regardless."

"Oh… thanks then," Ragna said as he took a look at the map in his hand. "You sure this thing is up to date?"

"For the surrounding areas I am, for the rest you should talk to Jonathan and see what he has to say about it." Aaron was about to resume his work, but realized that if he'd instructed Ragna to leave there the youth might get suspicious. "So how was your day with Silvana?"

"Fine I guess, I mean I just took her fishing and told her a story I came up with."

"You created a story?" Aaron repeated dubiously. "Not that you don't have other talents, but you've never really seemed that… creative."

"Says you, she happened to like it," Ragna said with a strange sense of pride before turning to leave on his own accord. "I'm going to see if Lilith needs any help with dinner, don't keep yourself shut in here all day for my sake old man."

"...He hasn't changed," Aaron said to himself after Ragna had left. "And for some reason I highly doubt he's ever going to."

The Next Morning

Ragna grimaced as he was rudely brought out of his sleep by repeating tapping on his shoulder. He'd spent last night like he'd spent the one previous, sleeping on outside on the soft grasses and hadn't expected to be awoken until later in the morning. Opening his eyes he found his hooded charge looking over him in waiting expectantly as she continued to poke him.

"Okay Silvana, I'm up…" he groaned as he rose his back from the grass and sat up. "So what do you want when it's still dark out?"

"Sunrise," she said as she pointed to the church's roof.

"I'm not stopping you, go and watch the sunrise if you want, just be careful," Ragna told her as he laid back on the grass in a hope to catch some last minute Zs. He'd barely lied down before he felt the tiny finger poking him in the shoulder again. "Now what do want?"

"Watch sunrise," Silvana said to him. It took Ragna a moment to get it, but eventually he realized that this was an invitation to watch the sunrise with her like they'd done the day previous. Sighing, he fully rose and leapt to the top of the church's wooden roof before Silvana followed him up with wind magic.

The sunrise wasn't all that different from the one the two had seen the previous day, but Silvana still watched every detail closely, watching as the sky slowly changed colors as the sun emerged from behind the mountains. Ragna himself watched, but only because he'd feel like kind of a dick if he didn't.

"Well there's that done," he said once the sun had completely risen. "So what do you feel like doing today kid?" The only response was a small shrug. "Well… I guess we'll just figure things out as the day goes on."

After eating a quick breakfast outside of the orphanage like they'd done the previous day, Ragna and Silvana headed out into the town. Ragna had no particular plan for what to do, so he'd simply decided that he'd wander around until he found something.

'We could go say hi to Eric in the fields, but I think that might piss him off more than anything else… Maybe I could try to catch Emily before she heads out hunting… But then we'd have to bring Silvana with us and that might just slow her down… What to do...'

"Ragna," Silvana said as she tugged on his arm for a moment while he was deep in thought, snapping the Reaper out of his trance. "Someone's coming," she said while pointing towards a figure that, sadly, he recognized.

"Keep your eyes to yourself and just walk past him," Ragna told her while keeping his voice as low possible, but loud enough to where she could hear him. His strategy went unrewarded however as the newcomer crossed his arms and waited for the two as they approached. "Shit… What the hell do you want Ruth?"

"I want to know where you've been," Ruth said to his hated foe. "I was annoyed enough when you left the fields early a few days ago, but now I hear that you haven't been back there once since then."

"I've got other crap to take care of," Ragna responded with due rudeness as crossed his own arms. "And when they needed workers to help a couple of years back, I didn't see YOU volunteering."

"You think a business man's going to lower himself to working in those god awful fields? You're delusional," Ruth said before glancing down to Ragna's accomplice. "And who's this following you everywhere?"

"...Just a guest who's staying with us at the orphanage until the traders head out," the azure eyed young man said, his eyes narrowing as he heard Ruth chuckle. "Something funny about that?"

"Nothing especially, just a bit of an inside joke," the more privileged youth said with a sneer directed at Silvana. "So why's she wearing that hood anyways?"

"Why do think; she's shy and she'd rather not have creeps like you leering at her all day," Ragna said before allowing himself a dark smirk. "Maybe it'll go in style with the rest of women in town."

"Funny, let's see what she looks like under it." As Ruth lunged to take Silvana's hood away by force, Ragna's hand immediately sprung out and forcefully knocked it away. Silvana was startled for a small moment before diving behind Ragna for protection, already knowing full well that she'd come to hate Ruth.

"Hands to yourself," Ragna said, standing ready in front of his charge. Ruth was about to call out the ex-Reaper, but something in the blue eyes he gazed upon stopped him cold. "C'mon, there's better people to get to know in town. Not everyone's an uncaring ass…"

As the two headed off Ruth considered telling his plans to Ragna about shutting down the orphanage he was staying at, but decided he'd quit while his opposer was still enraged. Besides, since he didn't know Ragna's plan to leave with the merchants he thought he'd be able to see the shock on the Reaper's face when he kicked him out of his church.

"They're not all like that," our silver haired protagonist told Silvana as the two continued their walk through town. "Fact is he's easily the worst of all of us, so don't worry too much about the others, they'll treat you alright… Well, it might take some them time with the hood, but you'll be okay. It's almost festival time and I've seen people from feuding families dancing with each other then… The ale probably helps with that though."

"Festival?" Silvana asked with curiosity.

"Yeah, we host it every year at the end of the harvest," Ragna told her. "We have this huge celebration that everyone in town pitches in for. Normally the merchants have to miss it, but because they're staying the extra days we'll be heading out of town the day afterwards." 'When the hell did I become this talkative?"

"Oh…"

"Trust me, you'll love it," Ragna said before noticing a group of kids off in the distance playing with a leather ball. "Let's go say hey to them, it's a start to the day at least." Ragna hadn't made it far in his approach before the kids came running forward to greet him. Being the oldest of his generation, old enough to work in the fields, but not stuck up with his seniority, our protagonist was understandably popular with the village's youths.

"Hey Ragna!" Lodor, Emily's younger brother, shouted in greeting as he approached. "I thought you were out working in the fields."

"Come on, I'm already in hot water with Ruth for not being there. I don't need you kids blaming me too."

"Well Ruth can go… What is it you always say again?" Tomas (another child) asked.

"H-Hey, don't repeat what I have to say, especially in front of the parents," Ragna said as he became worried, knowing that despite his best effort he still didn't have the most child friendly choice of words. "...But if they do hear you say it, tell 'em you learned it from listening to Ruth."

The children laughed at that idea, while also keeping a mental note to follow his instructions if the occasion ever arose. "Do you want to play ball with us?" one of the younger girls from the village asked.

"I dunno…" Ragna said as he tapped his chin, feigning the need to consider it as the kids pleaded for him to join them. "Tell you what, I'll join in as long as Silvana here can play too."

A few of the children glanced to the newcomer before glancing back to Ragna, who nodded for them to proceed. Eventually the children relented and allowed for Silvana to join in the game. The game itself didn't have any set rules or victors, the main goal was to keep the ball for yourself and if you had to give it up, save face and intentionally kick it to someone else. Silvana was slow to start, tripping over the ball and falling behind when a rush for the it began, but very quickly she began to show an amazing aptitude for the game that was helped in large by excellent coordination. Her skill then gave way to impressing the children, who could only watch in awe as she performed tricks that they'd only thought Ragna was ever capable of.

TimeSkip

Over the next part of the week the village began to bustle as the Harvest Festival edged ever closer. Soon the fields had been harvested, animals had reached the proper age and size to be slaughtered for their meat and hides, and booths were being set up to offer additional fun for the evening.

While the rest worked upon setting up for their celebration, Silvana and Ragna continued to develop their newly forged bond. Ragna continued to show her around village and show her a bit of an easy going side of life. He introduced her to Emily and re-introduced her in less awkward terms to Eric. She still didn't say much, but at least now she was having an easier time talking to others, even if it was still just two words at a time.

The time passing was not pleasant for everyone however; Aaron in particular was worried as they got closer to the festival, knowing that the day after the merchants would leave and that was when Ruth intended to make good on his promise to evict the Orphans from the church. He'd tried talking in secret to some of the families in the village to see if they could raise any of the children, at least for a while, but out of all of them only three were able to accommodate for a single child. Knowing he had little choice, Aaron began preparing for a long, harsh, and dangerous trip to the churches found in other villages. He hadn't told anyone in the orphanage about the necessary trip… he felt they should at least be able to enjoy the festival without worry.

"Hey Ragna, you mind cutting these for me?" Lilith asked as she held a large bowl of vegetables for Ragna. The two were in the church's kitchen preparing her dish for the festival just a few hours away. People were already finishing their stalls, putting up the bonfires and decorations, and most importantly rolling out the barrels of ale to enjoy. Nodding, Ragna took the bowl from her and went to work with his knife as Lilith added some spices to her stew and took a whiff of the aroma. "Mmm… By the time I'm done this food's going to be fit for the gods."

"Well with you spending all your free time trying to get this right I'd be surprised if it wasn't," Ragna said as he finished chopping the vegetables he'd been given. "Done, now do you want all of these to go right in the pot, or does your recipe do something different?"

"Adding them all in now is fine, but you'll have to cut some more up." Ragna nodded and was about to take the bowl over, but Silvana grabbed it before he could and hurried over to the large cooking pot to add them inside. "Looks like we have a little helper with us. Not too surprising, I mean everywhere you go she goes."

"I guess that's one way to put it," Ragna said as he began grabbing more food from the pantry. "Anything special you're looking to add?"

"Hm… Either some mushrooms or those potatoes I guess… What do you want in it?"

"You're the chef so you choose, it's your dish," he reminded.

"Yeah, but… I'm making it for you really…"

"Eh? You say something?" Ragna called from inside.

"N-Nothing," Lilith quickly stuttered from inside. "Just grab whatever you think would work best."

'What the heck is she trying to do?' Ragna thought to himself as he grabbed the mushrooms from the top shelf. He was about to bring them back to where he'd cut the other vegetables, but Silvana grabbed the bowl from him, brought them over to the cutting board, and began cutting them herself. "Someone's eager to cook…"

"I don't mind, the more help the better!" Lilith said cheerfully as she began gathering the spices to add into the stew. "Plus, it's always more fun when you're cooking as a group."

"Cooking as a group huh?" Ragna repeated before giving a small chuckle. "Can't argue."

"Fun," Silvana eagerly said in agreement.

Later that Night

The sun had just finished setting and already the Harvest Festival was in full swing. It was an impressive display, moreso because the merchants had contributed this year. The bonfire in town had already lit and was large enough to provide light for the entire festival. There was drinking, games, music, dancing, food, everyone was enjoying their greatest time of the year… well, save for one person. Ruth was sitting alone helping himself to a beer, the constant scowl on his face deterring anyone from approaching. He'd recently come from negotiating the offered price for the harvested crops and had gotten much less than he'd intended to, putting him in a terrible mood.

Meanwhile, over in a nice dark and quiet spot in the village, Ragna laid in the grass with his hands behind his head as Silvana sat beside him. The Reaper wasn't exactly a social person even if the Festival was his favorite time of the year. To him, the best way to spend the evening was just to relax and listen to the commotion.

"Feel free to join in if you want," Ragna told Silvana. "There's no reason why you need to stick with me."

"Yeah, don't stick with the lone wolf," Emily said as she came away from the festivities towards Ragna with a smirk on her face. Ragna peeked one of his eyes open and realized this was one of the few times she was actually wearing a linen dress. It was a simple tan brown, sleeveless, and tight enough show off part of her figure. "This is greatest time of the year and where's Ragna? Snoring in some corner by himself."

"What's it to you?" Ragna demanded as he sat up. "Can't I enjoy the festival the way I want to?"

"Not if either of us have anything to say about it!" Eric said as he approached Ragna as well with a mug in his hand. Ragna could tell that his friend was slightly red in the face, a sign that he was slowly becoming intoxicated. "Come on, live a little! Find a pretty girl to dance with! Lord knows this'll be your last time-!"

"Quiet!" Ragna hissed through his teeth.

"C'mon, it's not like you haven't told them," Eric said with a drunken chuckle. But he was quick to overcome his current state to remember who he was talking to. "You haven't told anyone!?"

"Ixnay on the eavinglay!" Ragna demanded.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Emily asked with general confusion. Ragna slapped his forehead as he realized that Pig Latin hadn't been created in this world. "Oh? Looks like your fanclub's found you."

"My fan-? Oh no…" Ragna groaned as he realized that the trio of Lilith, Sora, and Hilda was approaching him now that they'd located him. "You both realize I'm going to get you back for this?"

"No time," Silvana spoke up, reminding Ragna know he wouldn't have time to come up with and execute a revenge plot if he was leaving that morning.

"Ragnaaaaa!" came Hilda's familiar call as she rushed towards her apparent crush and immediately began clinging to his arm. "I thought that two days was bad enough, but then you spend a whole week away from me?"

"H-Hey Hilda," Ragna said with uncertainty as he glanced from her to the other girls.

"Hilda, do you always have to grab Ragna the second you see him?" Sora chided with slight jealousy. "So Ragna, did you try the soup that I brought tonight? It's the same one I told you about at the well."

"What about the stew we made together?" Lilith put extra emphasis on the last word as she gave a challenging look at Sora, which was returned in full.

"See sparks," Silvana said as she looked at both of the girls. Eric and Emily both nodded in agreement.

"N-Not yet," he responded with difficulty as Hilda continued to snuggle with his arm. "Please let go. I-I'll try them soon, I just wanted some time to myself."

"Poor choice of words," Eric said with a smirk. "You'll have plenty of that soon."

Ragna's eyes grew wide as he realized where Eric was going with this. "Don't. You. DARE."

Eric dared. "What? You'll have plenty of time to yourself when your on road to mage's guild, won't you?"

"ERIC!" Ragna shouted as he glared at his 'friend.' He was about to give him a well deserved knee to the gut, but before he could the ladies were demanding answers.

"You're going to the Mage's Guild!?" Hilda demanded, her tone was enough to tell Ragna that she felt betrayed. "You're leaving the town behind!?"

"When were you going to tell us!?" Lilith demanded as she grabbed Ragna by his shirt and shook him violently.

"S-s-stop," Ragna begged as the orphanage's cook continued her outburst. Luckily, it seemed like Sora managed to get between the two for a moment. "Thanks SorAH! Hey! I'm not a punching bag!"

"Stupid! Do you have any idea when you're coming back!?" Sora demanded as she continued blindly punching all over our apparent victim.

"N-Not really?" Ragna defended trying to give a poker face smile, but it was so bad all it did was immediately scream guilty. He then gave a startled grunt as he was grabbed by the three and dragged out of the shadows. "Hey! What gives!?"

"Well if it's your last night in the village the least you can do is dance during the festival for once!" Lilith shouted.

"And I'm getting the first dance!" Sora shouted as she tugged on him even harder.

"No you're not! If anything I'm dancing with him first!" Hilda shouted.

While the girls continued to argue and drag Ragna off, his friends just stayed back in the shadows and watched his plight.

"Crazy…" Silvana noted in her monotone voice.

"You're telling me…" Emily said with concern.

"Eh, those three are okay," Eric told them. "They're actually pretty normal most of the time, but the moment that Ragna shows up they start to get really possessive… And Ragna being Ragna doesn't have a clue."

"Still, don't you think that might've been taking a little too far?" Emily questioned as Eric took another swig of ale from his tankard.

"For stiffing me on getting the kids down this last week he's earned it," he responded with a smirk. "'Sides, he should have told the town that much. That parts on him not me."

"True…" Emily admitted before kneeling so that she was face to face with Silvana. "So, do you want to check out some of the stalls? I bet you could do pretty well at some of the games that they're offering."

"Okay," she said as she rose from where she was sitting with a small smile.

SInce Eric's tankard still had ale in it and he didn't have any real interest in dancing, he decided to tag along. The three first headed for the game where you had to throw small hoops on wooden pegs. Emily and Ragna usually dominated this game having the best coordination in the village, but Silvana gave the huntress plenty of a challenge. Eric, still slightly tipsy, gave no effort and barely made a shot out of every four he threw.

"You're a pretty good shot Silvana," Emily said as they left the stall. "An eye like that could get you pretty far, especially if learned to use a good hunting bow."

"Thank you…" Silvana said for the compliment before looking back to the center of the square. "Ragna, trouble."

"Trouble?" Eric thought with alarm as he looked to where the young girl was gazing. When he found the type of 'danger' however, he couldn't help but laugh. "Is that supposed to be him dancing!? He looks ridiculous!"

Eric wasn't wrong, it was apparent that Ragna had never danced a day before in his life. He wasn't showing much initiative and it seemed that he had to take convincing from one of the three ladies in order to even move awkwardly. And with the way the three were trying to move at the same type, Eric was half surprised he didn't immediately fall over.

"That's… honestly not too surprising," Emily said as she headed toward him. "You two have fun, I'm going to go save Ragna."

"Save him? You mean get him out dancing?" Eric asked, feeling a little disappointed that Emily was giving him an easy out.

"Hardly, I'm just going to teach him the basics and make sure he doesn't make a bigger fool out of himself," Emily said. "He could use the dance lessons anyways."

"...Heh, she always teases him to his face, but whenever I'm with her alone all she ever seems to do is worry about that idiot," Eric muttered with a smile before he noticed Silvana tugging on his sleeve.

"Ragna, friend?" she said.

"Is he my friend? Of course he is, 'fact I'd go as far to call the guy my best friend," Eric told her.

"Then why?"

"...Well we don't exactly have a regular friendship, but I'm not really for the whole flowery stuff. We make a few jipes, take a few jabs at each other, and all around have a good time with it… Maybe he shirks me on a job every now and again, but whenever I or anyone else was in trouble he'd always be the first one there."

"...Okay," she said as she watched Emily try to dance with Ragna. "Food?"

"Sound good to me. I tried Lilith's stew earlier and by Reslavia, that stuff's to die for. We should probably get some more before its gone."

Some time later, Emily had managed to pry her childhood friend away from his fan club and was with Ragna trying to teach him how to dance it properly and having… some success. But hey, give the guy a break, who would've taught him to dance? He'd be too prideful to learn from Rachel or Valkenhayn and Amane had a tendency to creep him out. Now at least he wasn't tripping over his own feet and he had an actual form as the two danced in the fire's light. That still didn't mean he was confident in his ability.

"Am I doing this right?" Ragna decided to finally ask.

"Well let's see… You haven't come close to falling over in a while, I'm getting death glares from the other girls in the village, and my dad's scowling at you…" Emily then gave him a big smile. "You're a natural!"

"Rgh… Be quite," he muttered before noticing that the music was starting to die down… No it wasn't starting to die down, the song was slowing. He glanced toward Jonathan playing his lute and the old man seemed to be oblivious to his gaze, but he then gave a small and knowing wink at the Reaper. "I-I think that's enough dancing for one day…"

"It's me or them Ragna, me or them…" Emily warned as the slow music continued and village girl's gazes continued to remain fixed on him. Weighing his options, Ragna decided he'd keep his current partner and put his hand on Emily hip to get ready. "See, I knew you were still that smart boy from when we were growing up."

"Thing with you is I'm not sure I'll miss you the most or the least when I'll leave," Ragna groaned as the two proceeded their slow stepping routine.

"...Hey, you'll come back right?" Emily asked out of nowhere. "I mean… you're not leaving the village for good… Are you?"

"...I doubt it," Ragna said honestly as the two continued to dance. "I mean the Mage's guild might be a few towns over, but if I'm ever in the area I'll make a point to stop by."

"Good, cause knowing you you'll probably never make any friends outside of town," Emily teased causing Ragna to roll his eyes. "Maybe I should go with you, introduce us both to people so you'll have an easier time opening up."

"...I opened up to you didn't I?" Ragna asked rhetorically.

"Did you?" Emily questioned back accusingly before resting her head on Ragna's chest while they continued to dance "...You're a real fool…"

Ragna felt death glares coming at the pair from everywhere, but he tried his damndest to ignore them. "...I'll miss you, ya know?"

"Yeah… I will too…" she said, giving a small, sad smile.

Further away from the fire, Eric and Silvana continued watching the two as they danced slowly. They finished their stew and again had their gazes were fixed on Ragna.

"...He leaves tomorrow and NOW he decides to have a moment with someone," Eric muttered at the melancholy in front of him.

"Moment?" Silvana questioned.

"Well… kind of hard to explain that," Eric admitted, being no expert of feelings. "I guess the easiest way to put it is they're starting to become even better friends… which might turn into something else." He paused for a moment as the music started to die down. "Looks like this song's ending… Maybe you should try dancing with someone."

"...Ragna," Silvana finally admitted as she walked forward. Eric stood back and watched her approach.

"Heh, well I guess whatever works," he said before bringing his mug up to his lips, only to see it empty of ale. "...I can take a bit more, so why not?" he thought aloud before heading to get a refill.

Silvana edged ever closer to where Ragna danced as the song died down. She proceeded carefully, trying to make her way past dancers and other party goers without disturbing them. Eventually she made her way to Ragna and reached her arm out to tap him and get his attention since his back was to her.

"Move."

The next moment Silvana was roughly shoved back and landed on the ground with a painful thud.

"Hey! What the hell's your problem!?" she heard Ragna shout in her startled state. Shifting her gaze upwards, the young girl saw Ragna had stopped dancing and now he and Ruth glaring at each other in the face, both of them looking pretty pissed.

"She was in my way, just like you are!" Ruth said as he attempted to shove Ragna down as well, but the former Reaper wouldn't budge.

"You're really starting to piss me off..." Ragna said darkly, angrier than most people had ever seen him. He was about to continue speaking out against Ruth… but that was when a woman screamed.

Shifting her gaze to the woman that screamed, Silvana found the woman staring at her. The young girl's blood turned cold as she slowly brought her hand up… her hood was down, and because of that the people could finally see what she'd been hiding beneath… they could see her ears.

Ragna gazed on at Silvana not able to see what the big fuss was about at first until he too found himself getting a better look at her ears. Their color seemed to be normal, but they were longer and slimmer than normal ones, not to mention their was a slight point to the top of them.

"A Half-Elf! She's a damned Half-Elf!" Ruth shouted at the top of his lungs, causing the music to abruptly halt and many of the party goers to immediately back away. "Who… WHO THE HELL BROUGHT HER HERE!?"

"It was Jonathan! He's the one that brought her here!" one of the townspeople shouted as everyone turned to glare at the merchant who was growing nervous.

"You idiot! Do you have any idea what you've done!? A half-elf in the village is a threat to us all!" Ruth shouted. "The old village was destroyed by a half-elf's magics and you've brought one at the end of the harvest!? She'll burn our food to the ground and leave us to starve through the winter!" Many of the townspeople were now focused on the newly discovered half-elf in glares of hatred at the mention of the old town's destruction.

'Vizulla the Demoness was half an elf?' Ragna thought to himself before realizing. 'Wait… what's the big deal with Half-Elves any-?' Since he was distracted with his thoughts, he didn't notice Silvana run off in tears until she'd left the fire's light. "Silvana wait!"

"Let her go, it's better that she run off and die without anyone else to curse," Ruth said, stopping Ragna cold as the young half-elf continued to run away. "It's a miracle you're still alive after spending so much time with that freak. Did that monster ever-?"

CRACK!

Ruth lost conscious before he'd even hit the ground, his nose had caved in on a gruesome angle and blood was leaking out all over his face. His eyes still seemed to be wearing that smug gaze, even when he'd landed, though his jaw was slack and remained open awkwardly. Everyone had taken a step back in shock when he'd landed, but now they were staring at Ragna in fear for the punch to the face he'd delivered. He continued to grit his teeth at what Ruth had done before glaring at the people who'd agreed with the crap he'd been spouting. Without saying another word, Ragna left the safety of the light and followed after his friend.

Meanwhile -The Lake-

Silvana sat at the lake's edge and cried as the moonlight reflected on the water's surface. This wasn't the first time she'd been called out because of what she was, but this time had hurt her more than ever. These were people that she'd begun to get close to, that she'd played with and had gotten to know. Now they were like the rest, they hated her and saw her as just another monster. She was so deep into tears that she didn't even hear the calm footsteps behind her.

"Seriously kid, you really know how to run," Ragna muttered as he slowly approached He saw Silvana shiver in fright before looking like she was about to bolt. "Calm down, unlike those idiots I don't give a damn if you're a half-elf or not."

"Ragna…" Silvana said as she looked at him with eyes that were still filled with tears.

"Damn, it's always gotta be someone," Ragna thought aloud as he remembered the fear and racism against beastkin back in his home world. "So this isn't the first time you've been run out I've been guessing… Does Jonathan know?"

"Yes…" Silvana said.

"Well that's something...but what's the big deal with half-elves anyways?"

"I'm a... crime," the young girl said as it looked like she was about to cry harder. "Against gods!"

'A crime against the gods? That's what they're calling half-elves?' Ragna thought with disgust. 'I was wrong, this racist filth is even worse than it was with Beastkin…' "Well don't listen to any of that shit kid. Half-elf, half-human, whatever you are I really don't care; you're Silvana and that's good enough for me."

"R-Ragna…" Silvana began losing it at that point as she began to sob ever harder.

"Hey quit that," Ragna ordered in a low voice and Silvana barely managed to stop and listen. "It ticks me off having to listen to people cry…" It was a harsh statement, but a fitting one from him. "...If you can manage that, I'll be there to beat the shit out of anyone that even thinks of calling you a monster."

"O-Okay," Silvana said as tried her best to give Ragna a smile, though tears continued to fall down her face.

"Well I guess that's a start," he muttered before hearing the sound of rapid footsteps approaching him. "Hmph, finally managed to catch up?"

"Don't blame us…" Eric groaned as he was clearly sweating from the run. "It wasn't easy to sneak away and it's hard enough to follow you when it's light outside, you even give Emily a run for her money and you know how good her tracking is."

"Yeah, yeah... " Ragna nonchalantly shrugged off. "So what'd things look like back in town?"

"What'd you think? You just threw away any chance of a happy homecoming," Emily told him with slight worry. "Ruth was still out cold on the ground and everyone's pretty shocked… but since the two of you are leaving in the morning there's really nothing worth them doing."

"I guess that's as good as we could've hoped for," Ragna muttered as he crossed his arms. He was about to continue further in his thoughts, but he suddenly seemed to grimace harshly. "Gods above… what the hell is that smell?"

"Smell? I don't smell anything," Emily said as she sniffed the air around her for a moment. "Wait, I think I… Gah! Whatever it is that's foul!"

"No kidding," Eric said as he held his nose and Silvana did the same for a moment before they heard a snap. "What was that?!"

Ragna said nothing, though he cast his narrow eyes on where the sound had seemed to come from. A moment passed… then two… three… Ragna kept his eyes locked ahead at that, right up until a soft 'twang' was heard. His arm shout out with precision and quickly caught the shot arrow out of the air. His friends gave a short gasp of surprise, right before he snapped it.

"Looks like we've got company, and it ain't friendly," Ragna said darkly.

Out of the shadows approached a large group of creatures, becoming clearly visible as they entered the light cast by the moon and the lake's reflective waters. They were rather short, not even fully reaching a 3 feet in height. Their skin was pale green and wrinkly. They looked rather vicious with their jagged teeth, blood red eyes, and violent sneers. They were equipped with shredded leather armor and mainly wielded rusted short swords, though there were a few holding crossbows, one of surprising high quality, especially considering the condition of the armor.

"Goblins!" Silvana screamed. Goblins are creatures that aren't inherently evil, but murder and stealing come easy to them. They're known to eat humans and even their own kind without reservation. Though they're very agil, their bones, muscle and skin is quite weak, so they are forced to rely on overwhelming numbers. They also have an odd fixation with shiney materials and absolutely despise the very sight of magic, sometimes going as far as to savagely target the caster first regardless of position.

"That's a lot of them," Emily said worriedly as she instinctively reached behind to grab her bow, only to realize it wasn't there. "And this is why I never wear a damn DRESS!"

"What the hell are they waiting for?" Eric demanded as he tried to stand protectively in front of Silvana, despite knowing there was little he could without a weapon.

"They're trying to surround us," Ragna said as he slowly approached them and cracked his knuckles. "Stay close to the water, you'll see them easier that way. I got this one..."

"You're not serious are you?" Emily demanded.

A single goblin in the front gave a small snarl before rushing forward with its twin knives, saliva drooling out of his mouth in anticipation from eating the flesh before him as it brought its blades to carve across Ragna's chest. He responded almost instantly by letting his entire right arm become completely coated in blue flames. As his three friends stared on in disbelief at the display, Ragna effortlessly dodged the side before winding up and throwing a powerful Azure covered punch to the goblin's head, completing breaking it to chunks of flesh and a spray of green blood upon impact.

"Like I said, I got this," Ragna assured before he rushed forward to meet the rest of the enemies. Since the goblins had seen him using a mysterious power which could have resembled magic, they immediately targeted him in their bloodthirsty rush, making things all the easier for him.

"Sapphire Spike!" the Azure Wielder shouted as he unleashed a blue Black Beast head from the ground which sailed forward into the enemy and sent them flying. Ragna then delivered a powerful spinning kick to another goblin's chest, killing it as its broken ribs pierced its heart. The crossbow wielding goblins shot arrows at him from afar, but he merely created a barrier of blue flames in front of him and deflected him from the hastily shot arrows.

"Blue Fang!" Ragna shouted as he rushed forward, this time his left arm was blazing as he struck through and killed several goblins. "Shatter!" He finished by throwing up his right hand and sending out another wave of azure from the ground that destroyed the monsters where they stood. Ragna then performed a powerful sweeping roundhouse kick that sent two goblins flying back before he performed a Gauntlet Cobalt attack and brought his leg down on another group of monsters.

"I figured he'd been working with magic since I've last seen him, but I had no damn idea he could do something like this," Eric said as he stared at Ragna as he continued to destroy massacre the enemy.

"Wait, you mean you knew about this?" Emily demanded as she wanted an answer to why she wasn't let in on the secret.

"I've only ever seen him use it once when he healed a bad injury that I'd gotten. I didn't ask him much about it, but he wanted me to never tell anyone about this," he told her. "Now I can see why; if the village saw something like this…"

"Disown him," Silvana finished darkly.

"Looking at him now I'm starting to see what they were so afraid of," Emily said as she watched her childhood friend unleash a powerful blast of azure that disintegrated a few goblins without resistance. "He's fighting like a demon from hell."

'They think this is bad, they should see me when I lose control,' Ragna thought to himself somewhat smugly before he grabbed a goblin by its head and viciously slammed it to the ground. Most of the remaining goblins had taken gather around Ragna in an arc before lunging forward all at once hoping to overwhelm him. Time seemed to slow around the Azure wielder as he brought his right arm up and opened his hand.

"Grimoire Blade."

A dense collection of blue flames formed in his hand before quickly changing form and extending a sword's point outwards. He'd gotten the concept idea from seeing the attack used on him before by Susanoo and with significant practice he was able to create a lesser copy of the move. Right now the weapon was about the length of a standard longsword (three and half feet) which was far from the length of old enemy's weapon, but it still had great destructive properties. Letting out a roar, Ragna swung the Azure blade in great arc, cutting through each of the goblins with ease.

The six remaining goblins had managed to reset their crossbows and unleashed another volley of arrows, but Ragna's Grimoire Blade was more than fast enough to cut through the projectiles. He then leapt into the the air until he was directly over the goblins.

"Cerulean Edge!" he shouted as he dove downwards with his blade, cleaving through two of the goblins. Once he'd landed he sent out another wave of azure out, blasting apart three more goblins where they stood. The final one with the quality crossbow hastily tried to load its crossbow to get a shot off, but Ragna was much too fast as he dashed forward and closed the distance with another flaming fist of blue energy and blasted his foe to gory pieces.

"Looks like I've still got a ways to go," Ragna muttered exhaustedly to himself as he let the blue flames around his body fade, knowing he was still nowhere close to the level he'd once been at. He'd utterly destroyed this set of enemies true, but these were just goblins. They had weak bodies and little skill, in fact an NOL private would easily be able to take out the group he'd beaten, possibly quicker. Putting his progress aside for the moment, he turned to the three behind him. "You alright?"

"We're fine," Eric told him with a slow nod. "A little… shocked, but fine… Do you think they were after the village?"

"Wouldn't put it past 'em," Emily said as she looked gazed towards the town in the distance. "You can still see the fire light from here. They were probably going to try to kill us after all of the town guards passed out drunk… Might've caused even more problems if you had to defend the town there."

"Yeah, no kidding," Ragna said before looking to Silvana. "Ready to head back to the church kid?"

"...Yeah," she said with a small smile, grabbing Ragna's hand with her tinier one.

"You're not heading back to the square?" Emily asked with a small smile. "You know they'd probably overlook what you did to Ruth if you wanted to leave Silvana with me or Eric."

"And have to go back to dancing with Lilith, Hilda, and Sora? Pass," Ragna muttered, earning a chuckle from Emily. "Yeah, yeah, I know, I've got two left feet and a body that won't dance."

"You will if you don't keep practicing," the huntress added with a smirk before she noticed their other friend looking over the bodies. "Something catching your eye Eric?"

"Yeah, just wanted to see that good crossbow from earlier," he said as he over the goblins in the back. "Here it is… Knew it."

"Knew what?" Ragna demanded.

"This crossbow came from Balio town; I know because my father had ordered one of these for one of my brothers. I remember the design well enough because he let me use it from time to time. The maker always left his insignia close to the trigger, right here… And that's not all they have on them." Ruth pulled a filled and heavy bag from one of the bodies. "Looks like they managed to hit a bank or something…"

'Doubt that this batch would be able to take on a town with a bank in it,' Ragna thought to himself. 'Then again, Jonathan did say some about merchants being attacked… So I managed to bring down the culprits.' "Alright, might as well see what they've got on 'em."

After going through all of the goblins the four managed to find a crossbow, a shortsword and a knife that didn't look like they were rusted or chipped, and a total of nine bags of coins. Ragna had used his Azure to destroy what else remained, so there would be little proof of the events that had taken place.

"If Ragna's the guy that managed to kill off the goblins he should be the one to take all of this," Eric advised. "You're going to need all of this on your journey right?"

"It's too much cash to carry, even where I'm going," Ragna refused. "I'll take three of the bags, you all can take two to do whatever you want with the gear."

"You can't really mean that," Eric said before seeing that Ragna was indeed serious. "Well if that's what you want… Thanks."

"Go ahead and take that crossbow too if you want it," Ragna told him before he picked up the sheathed dagger and walked up to Silvana. "I want you to carry this with you wherever you go. If you can't use magic, use this to keep yourself safe. Got it?" Silvana nodded and Ragna scuffled her hair. "I guess that just leaves the shortsword… You want it Emily?"

"Ragna, you can't expect us to take all this, I mean what'd we do to deserve this?"

"For starters you guys haven't been complete asses to me," he said as he crossed his arms. "Plus you've been my friends for a while, so think of this as sort of a 'see ya' gift. Just want to make sure you'll be doing well enough next time I see you."

"Tch… Gotta play hero don't you?" Eric asked as he gave a bitter-sweet smirk. "Alright, head back to the church then and take the crossbow with you, I think I might head back to the festival and make sure Aaron's doing okay with the kids."

"You do that, I'm heading home," Emily said with a yawn. "'Sides I still need to-"

"Get out of that damn dress?" Ragna guessed with was rewarded with a smile. "Yeah, I'll see you guys in the morning before I head out. C'mon Silvana."

"Okay…" Silvana said as she held Ragna's hand and followed closely behind him.

Later that Night

Ragna gave a soft yawn as he laid on the grasses outside of the church and looked up at the stars. Silvana was already fast asleep in the guest bedroom and the sounds of the festival were slowly starting to die down. The Azure wielder was starting to feel tired after the day he'd had and he knew it was going to be a long one tomorrow, but he wanted to stay up just a little longer, just to make sure no one tried anything while Silvana was fast asleep in the church.

As Ragna twisted his neck to get a pop out of it, he noticed Aaron returning from the festival with the children. While most of the children were groggily walking back to the church on their own, Aaron was carrying one of the younger children in his arms. Slowly getting up Ragna quietly made his way over to see if Aaron needed any help.

"All right, the lot of you get ready for bed," Aaron told them. "We're going to have… a busy day tomorrow, so I want everyone well rested." As the rest of the children headed to the dormitory to prepare for bed, the child in Aaron's arms started to stir. "Don't bother waking up Alexander, it's already time for bed."

"Okay…" he said with a soft yawn. "Hey Father, can you tell that story again, the one about the orphan that grows up to be king?"

"Y-you want to hear that story? I'm not sure…" Aaron was about to refuse, but after a moment he nodded. "Alright… I'll be sure to tell it tonight."

"Thanks," Alexander said as Aaron put him down.

"I thought you always hated that story," Ragna said with as he entered the church behind the Father.

"I don't hate it, I just always found it a little too… easy. Everything along the child's journey just went off without a bump in the road… But, maybe they want a story like that…"

"Yeah, maybe," Ragna agreed before smirking. "What kind of a king do you think I could make?"

"Honestly? I don't want to imagine that, it'd be interesting for sure," Aaron said with a return smirk. "I can't expect you to be completely safe on your journey, but I want you to fight to stay alive until your last moments. Promise me that much…"

"...I promise," Ragna said as he looked into the dormitories. "Did you know about Silvana?"

"I did," the father told him.

"And you didn't tell me?"

"I didn't think you'd care one way or the other," Aaron explained, and Ragna had to admit their was some truth to that. "I talked to Jonathan and the others, the caravan is going to be leaving before sunrise tomorrow. If you want to say goodbye to the children, now's the time."

"So this is it then?" Ragna asked and the Father of the Church nodded. "...Thanks for everything then." Neither of the two were much for embracing people, so they'd decided to keep their goodbyes to a short nod of acknowledgement… in a way this spoke more for the two than words. "I'll go tell the kids the story, might as well say goodbye to 'em while I have the chance. Get some rest, you've already had a hard enough day old man."

Aaron groaned as he shook his head. "I'd appreciate it if you called me by my title once before you left… Even if it's just the one time."

"I already told you I don't use those, so tough luck," Ragna told him before moving into the dormitory. "Hey! Sorry about the scare earlier, but who's ready for a story?"

"I was right he's not going to change..." Aaron said before he headed off to his study to finish preparing for tomorrow. He'd miss Ragna more than he let on, that much was certain, but he still had others he needed to ensure safety for.

The Next Morning

Ragna gave one last yawn as he finished loading Jonathan's cart with its last crate of goods. Like he'd said earlier, Jonathan and the others were already planning on leaving the town before sunrise and Ragna was trying to make sure that they kept to that schedule. Silvana, meanwhile, was fast asleep in the wagon already, knowing that it be harder to sleep when the wagon started moving.

"That should be the last of it!" Ragna called to Jonathan and the merchant gave him a satisfied nod. "We ready to go?"

"This eager to get out of here early are you?" Jonathan asked with a small chuckle. "Give us just a minute and we'll all be ready to head off."

"Alright," Ragna said as he stretched his arms upwards. "So how'd the rest of the town treat you after the whole… incident last night?"

"They're letting me leave at least," Jonathan told him with a less cheery demeanor. "I doubt our convoy's going to be receiving as warm a welcome next time we travel here, but what's done is done… You didn't look that bad dancing last night."

"Well you're not seeing me do that again, I can guarantee that," Ragna said with a growl. At the sound of footsteps, he turned his head to see Emily and Eric heading towards him. Emily was in her hunting furs and carried her bow behind her back with her new short sword at her hip while Eric had his new crossbow and ammunition clipped on and carried an axe on his shoulder. "So I guess this is it."

"...About that, there's been kind of a change in plans," Eric told him. "You mind getting some extra company for the road?"

"Wait, you're coming with me?" Ragna demanded. "I thought Emily was taking you hunting."

"Nah, we're just both dressed for traveling," Emily told him with a cocky smirk, letting Ragna know she too intended to travel with him. "Convincing my dad that I was going with you wasn't easy, but I made sure they had enough to get by with a bag of our you know what from last night."

"Even your little brother was okay with this?" Ragna asked, knowing Emily's brother had tendency to stick close to his sister whenever possible.

"Turns out Lodor was actually what let me leave in the first place," the huntress told him. "He kept insisting that if I was with you I was sure to be alright… So if he's wrong, my dad's gonna kill you. Okay?"

"Not okay!" Ragna immediately shouted in response which made Silvana shuffle around in her sleep for a moment before going still again. Knowing it wouldn't be fair to wake her now, Ragna decided to keep his voice down. "What about you Eric? What did Aaron have to say to you?"

"He said I was good to go… And he seemed to be in a much better mood than we've seen him this last week for some reason," Eric told him, though it was clear he didn't understand the father's change in behavior either. "Anyways, he even let me take this axe here so I'll have something to contribute other than my new crossbow."

"Eric… that's the axe we used to chop firewood," Ragna reminded with an awkward expression.

"Yeah, and Aaron's got a spare back in the church. Besides, I know my way around this axe better than anyone. Remember how I was always the guy to cut firewood with it?"

"There's a bit of a difference between cutting firewood and cutting someone's head clean open," the Azure Wielder informed before he realized something. "But if you're coming with us, we're heading to the Mage's Guild. Neither of you know magic…"

"Yeah, but that's no reason why we can't still help you out with your own jobs," Eric told him with a cocky smile. "So are we going or not?"

Seeing Ragna about to immediately turn them down, Emily played her winning hand. "Of course we could go wake up Sora and Hilda; they probably don't know that you're about to head out and I bet we could have Jonathan play a couple of bars for a last dance."

Silently, Ragna gave a glance towards Jonathan who a gave a shit-eating smile and a passive shrug as he gently tapped his lute. He then turned back to his friends with a defeated smile. "Well get on if you're coming with me, we ain't got all day."

Eventually the three were on board the wagon, just before Kenneth called for the wagons to head out. Since Jonathan's wagon was at the back of the convoy Ragna and the others were able to watch the small village as they left for the open road, and the world ahead…

Three Hours Later

"Ugh…" Emily groaned as the wagon continued to rock. The young huntress hadn't adapted well to the constant movement that came with riding in a wagon. She'd been gripping her stomach for a good while now and had been praying to Reslavia, Vinaria, Vizacis, any of the seven really. She just hoped that this damned ride would be over soon enough.

"You asked for this," Ragna decided to remind with a smirk on his face, amused that now he was the one teasing after leaving the village. He was sitting across from Emily while Eric sat next to her. Silvana was sitting next to Ragna and rested her head on his shoulder as she continued to sleep blissfully.

"Just stop this damn thing… soon," she groaned as she began to grow wozy.

"I'm afraid that won't be happening," Jonathan called from the front of the wagon. "Fortune Step Inn is a ways away; even if we travel all through the day it's possible we won't make it there by nightfall. And if we don't have anyone to protect us the less we spend on the road after dark the better."

"No…" she groaned again, her skin starting to turn a sickly shade of green. Deciding to take some pity on the poor girl, Ragna made sure Jonathan wasn't watching before channeling some Azure into his hand and sending a small pulse into Emily. He'd learned that he could use his power to achieve specific minor effects if he practiced enough with it and he'd already learned how remove an illness by helping out some of the sick in the village in secret. This ability seemed to calm her stomach and her complexion seemed to improve immediately. "Thanks."

"I just didn't want you throwing up on me," Ragna told her with another smirk.

"I just remembered something, you all have money?" their merchant driver asked from the front. "I'm a friend of your village's even after what happened, but I'm a man of business not charity. You'll have to pay for your own rooms and food at the inn."

"Yeah we've got the money," Eric answered with a small wink to his best friend. "After all, Ragna's managed to save up for all of us."

"R-Right," Ragna said with a very nervous smile as he began to sweat. Both Eric and Emily looked to each other in confusion. "J-Just don't forget I already gave you the money."

"A-already gave us the money? What're yo-?" Emily began before she caught on. "You don't have it!?"

"Just not my share," Ragna admitted as he embarrassedly scratched the back of his head.

"Well where is it!? You had the largest share!" Eric demanded as Silvana again seemed to stir for a moment before continuing to rest on Ragna's shoulder.

"Well…"

-The Village-

"Pick up the pace you louts, lest I dock your pay!" Ruth demanded as he angrily led several members of the town guard forward toward the church with his ledger. The spoiled child's nose had needed treatment and several bandages after the blow he'd received the night previous, so he now spoke with a sort of off tone and looked even sillier than he had before his injury.

"Are we really doing this?" one of the guards said, he was one of the several that didn't completely trust Ruth.

"Yes we are, and you're going to be a part of it if you want to stay in my village!" Ruth demanded with a nasty sneer. Now that Ragna was well out of town, he was more than confident that he could get Aaron and the children out of his church. The workers would be arriving as soon as he got a message out, but he wanted that church cleared now. "Remember if that old fool starts trouble you kill him, and if you can make it LOOK like he's about to start trouble I'll give you an extra seven copper."

A couple of the guards glanced at each other once before sighing and realizing that they didn't have much of a choice. Even if they disobeyed, Ruth would have still have more members under his influence to do the job for him. They were haunted by what this nightmarish raid would look like, they'd be removing children that wouldn't even be able to fight back. As they approached the church, however, they were surprised to see Aaron standing at the front, like he'd been expecting them.

"I thought I told you not to come near my church until you grew a sliver of morality," the Father said before he glanced at the town guard. "And judging who you've brought with you I highly doubt that's happened."

"Who needs morality? I've got coin and weapons, that's all I need." Ruth began to take a step forward. "Fath- No, just Aaron… You've been indebted to me and my family for years. Your current debt is nine-"

"Oh shut that filthy mouth of yours and take this will you?" Aaron growled before taking a small coin made of light metal and tossed it to Ruth. The coin hit him square in the forehead before bouncing off and landing on the ground in front of him. "That's what you wanted, correct?"

"Who do you think you're fooling!?" Ruth shouted as picked the coin in front of him. "You think a single piece of silver is enough to turn me away you old bastard!?"

"Mind you mouth," Aaron said to him as he casually looked to the church's entrance. "We have children listening in." Ruth was beginning to absolutely fume, but Aaron seemed as calm as ever. "Look closer at that coin in your hand, notice the marking and the material?"

"What? What's so-?" the words were caught in Ruth's throat. The piece wasn't made silver like he'd thought; it was made of solid Platinum.

To recap; 30 copper to a silver and 15 silver to a gold. That alone made gold valuable, but a coin made from platinum? That was worth a solid 10 gold, making a single one of them worth a great deal. Ruth's face seemed to blanch as he stared back up at the Priest who didn't seem amused in the slightest.

"If I recall, we owed you nine gold, but this piece of Platinum is worth ten," he said, every word a sharp sting to Ruth. "Now I may not as good with my numbers as you are, but I think that means your family is now indebted to the church." Aaron's face then became a harsh and terrifying scowl, one which he never used on his children. "Now put that in your accursed ledger and get away from my church."

Sweat slowly fell down Ruth's face as he glanced from the father, to his book, to the coin in his hand. If he attacked the father now that the debt was placed on him there'd be trouble, enough to destroy his plans for the future. He grit his teeth so harshly that a single drop of blood fell from his lips. Without saying another word, he turned and left with a few of the more loyal town guards. Those remaining let out a small sigh of relief as they saw that they'd gotten out of a truly nightmarish act and one even fell to the ground as the strength in this leg's finally gave out. Aaron gave a short chuckle as he made his way over and helped up the man who'd fallen.

"Bless you Father Aaron," he said, seeming somewhat out of breath. "Bless you."

"Blessings to you as well," Aaron said with a content smile before turning to the rest of the guardsmen. "I believe Lilith is just about done preparing breakfast, would any of you care to join us?"

-Back to the Convoy-

"So you left it all with Aaron," Emily summarized at last. "All of it?"

"Every last coin," Ragna told her seriously.

"Even the stuff you made by…" she glanced at Jonathan who only seemed to be focused on the road. "By actually working?"

"Every. Last. Coin," Ragna repeated wonder how many times it'd take to get the message through.

"Okay… why?" Eric decided to ask.

"He raised me ever since my mother left me on the step of his orphanage when I'd just been born," Ragna told him. "I've been with him my whole life up until now… He's had to have been pretty patient with me, so I felt that I needed to pay him back somehow. This was least I could do."

"You've got a point," Eric admitted, but immediately followed up when he received a harsh elbow from Emily. "But don't you think it's a bit much? I mean-"

"I wanted to make sure he was going to be okay the next time I saw him, same with you," he explained, hoping that'd be the end of it.

"Well maybe you should keep a little for yourself!?" Emily shouted at him. "Jeeze, even I only gave a single bag of coin to my family, but you gave Aaron three of them right before you left! What were you planning on doing if we hadn't shown up?"

"I'd work it out as I went, just like I'll figure it out now," Ragna said.

Despite himself he couldn't help but smile. He looked out the back of the covered wagon and looked up the sky, the endless azure sky above. He'd been in this new world for fourteen years, but this is where things really began; this was the true start to his second life, his chance to live a life that he wanted.

"It's a big world; who knows what I'm gonna find out there?"