97th day of Autumnal , in the year 1102
'
Dear Mary, it has been almost 10 years since I left for the wall. I miss you so much. I hope that you and the kids are doing well. How are you?
I have been looking for an opportunity to write to you for ages but unfortunately, I only just recently found the time to do so. Don't worry too much about me, for a Rank 1 like me, they never let me leave my post on the wall for too long.
Recently, Commander Yeon has hunted a Monster Crocodile and she has given the meat to all the soldiers. The meat of this thing is the most delicious thing I ever ate. I heard it absorbed the Essence of Gluttony, so that must be part of the reason why. What have you been eating recently?
I hope you have been eating well too, and someday maybe I can bring you to try meat like this.
I am sending you 400 silver this time, 100 more than usual. Please buy something nice for yourself as well. The money I send this time is a little more than usual since I just got a bonus, don't hesitate to spend it on whatever you want.
By the way, isn't Roland turning 16 next month? I wonder how much the kid has grown.
Does he still remember me? Probably not. Still, tell him I wish the best of luck for him. I have 5 years of service left, so I won't be able to make it for Roland's Path awakening ceremony but I will definitely be there to send off Rose, and Lucian. Remember, I always love you my dear Mary.
With love,
Desmon
'
Lucian's face as he finished reading the letter. For years, he had been curious about the contents of these letters. His mother has been receiving a letter every couple months that would put her in such a good mood. Now that he finally read one, he couldn't help but feel that he had peeked into something that he wasn't supposed to. Seeing his parents flirting through old-fashioned letters left him with a mix of strange emotions.
Still, even though he doesn't remember much about Desmon, he still had a lot of respect for the guy..
Pushing all of these thoughts aside, he put the letter back down on the bedside table and grabbed the pouch of silver next to it, heading back downstairs.
From the staircase, he hears the sound of loud laughter and the clatter of things getting knocked over. As soon as his foot reached the final step a burly man suddenly picked him up and threw him onto the sofa. He then took the money from my hands.
"Hahahaha, give me the money kid, let's see how much this kid Roland got compare to me"
The burly guy who threw me is Mr. Freddy. He was one of the earlier kids adopted by mother Mary, however he failed to awaken a Path so he came back to Backridge to settle, where he now works for the government and has a family of his own.
"What?! 100 silver, that's 10 more than me!" Freddy exclaimed, stunned
Mary, seeing the commotion came to rescue me.
"Lucian, are you alright? Don't mind your big brother Freddy he just gets a little crazy when drunk"
Mary dusted me off and patted my head gently.
"Come, join us at the table. The soup is gonna get cold soon."
She then turned towards Freddy looking a little angry and pinched him on the thighs.
"Freddy! Are you crazy? I always give everyone 100 silver. You only got 90 back then because you nearly burned the house down. You are lucky to even have gotten 90 silver."
"Oww! Alright, okay! okay I am just joking." As he staggered back to the table.
Lucian follows him.
The dinner table was packed with noise and food. There were about 8 seats and all of them were taken. At the head of the table was Roland, with Mary to his left and Rose to his right. I navigated my way to the table dodging a bunch of kids play-fighting on the floor and sat on the empty seat next to Rose.
A large pot of mole rat soup steamed in the center of the table, accompanied by a stale loaf of bread and a few scattered fruits. Adults drank beer; the kids had fruit juice.
Rose then slid a bowl of soup towards Lucian.
"Here, I saved you some of the legs."
"Thanks, Rose", I grabbed the bowl and began to eat it wholeheartedly.
The texture of the mole rat was tough and chewy, tasting like dry chicken left out overnight. But to everyone on the table, it was like a delicacy.
We continued to feast well into the night. Eventually, food ran low, a few people began to leave, kids went to bed leaving empty plates on the table. After helping clean, Lucian headed straight to his room.
Their house has 3 bedrooms. One for Mother Mary, and any babies, one was for kids under 10, and one for kids over 10. Lucian, having his room upgraded just recently, made his way there.
Inside 5 mattresses lined tightly packed on the floor one in each corner, and one to the far end near the window. In the middle of the room was a low table with a bunch of books haphazardly strewn about. The room was small, but cozy.
My bed was the one on the far left corner of the room, so I began to make my way there. Along the way, I greeted Rose, Benson, and Lily. However, Rolan's bed was empty.
"Where's Roland?" he asked
"I don't know dude, thought he was with you." Benson answered while his hands were still reading some sort of romance book.
"I'm gonna go look for him"
As Lucian stepped back into the hallway, Rose's voice called from behind him.
"Lucian! Wait, I am coming too."
She quickly caught up with me. Rose right now was taller than me, she had silky white hair, and gentle green eyes. She was a very kind girl, but a little weak-willed, as such it caused her to get picked on and bullied a lot in school.
Lucian himself changed alot since infancy. He has sharp dark yellow eyes, and jet-black hair. He has slightly handsome facial features and a lean build.
Although Lucian liked every kid in the orphanage, if he had to pick who he is closest to, it would probably be Rose, and Roland.
Walking till the end of the dimly-lit corridor, there was a ladder and a trap door leading to the roof. Lucian climbed up first followed by Rose.
Sure enough as soon as Lucian made his way out onto the red-tiled roof, he was hit with the cold mountain winds. Roland sitting crossed legs looking out at the mountain ranges in the distance.
The view on the roof was always beautiful, especially on a full moon night. There were beautiful verdant green forests, and dark silhouettes of mountains and hills in the background. Looking closely you can see the little lights on the side of the mountains, likely because of the copper/iron mines in the area. Making the slopes look like some kind of deflated Christmas tree.
The star dotted above us was also equally mesmerizing. Lucian learned a bit about astronomy back on Earth but even then he couldn't recognize any of the stars. Rose, and Lucian walked over and sat on either side of Roland.
"It's getting late Roland", Lucian said. "What are you doing here?"
Roland glanced at both of them before giving us a quick nod, continuing to stare into the distance lost in thought.
I decided not to say much, and just accompany him on the rooftop. The silence continued for a whole minute before Rose finally broke it.
"B-Big bro Roland, are you scared?"
Roland didn't answer.
Hearing no response, she continued.
"After you go.. will you come back?" she asked, her voice trembling.
"Definitely." Roland answered without any hesitation.
"Even if you successfully awakened a Path?" She pressed, her eyes watering.
"Will you promise, that after you awaken you will come back here with us and not go to any of those academies?"
"Rose, you know I can't do that."
Tears began to slip out of Rose's eye. Seeing this Roland stood up and gave her a hug.
Rose was a strong girl, for a 10 year old to hold back tears until now was quite impressive. In fact Lucian was also a little sad at this moment. After all, if Roland successfully awakened a Path he would need to go to one of the academies in the big city. By then, it would take at least 5 years for any of us to awaken a Path like him. Even then, it is not certain that we will even go to the same academy.
After Rose calmed back down, we all went back inside.
Back in our rooms everybody else was already asleep. Roland went straight to his mattress, and after Lucian helped tuck Rose in to sleep, he went back to his bed.
Once he was sure that everyone was asleep, He reached down and grabbed his tattered diary book. As he opened it up, a pen slipped from the pages.
Using the moonlight as a lamp, he began to jolt down everything he could remember from the day.
He didn't particularly like writing diaries. But it is something he had to do.
In fact, he only picked up the habit about 5 years ago. By now, he had written thousands of diary entries, none of them something that he will ever read again.
Why do you bother to write it then, you might ask?
Well, it is because I discovered a secret little power that came with me during transmigration. This thing is probably the golden finger I have received. And tonight, I will probably find out what it does.