It is now my twelfth birthday. Five years have passed since the day of the village meeting. My father and I stormed out of the meeting hall leaving behind an enraged village elder and a bunch of villagers cowering in fear. For the first year and a half, they tried to make things work. Some even tried to steal from our land only to end up being sent home in a box. My father was being very territorial. Even some of the village guards had quit their posts to come and beg for my father to take them and their families in. These people were on good terms with my family, so my father allowed them to move into one of the abandoned houses.

From what I heard, the main village had become split. There were two factions fighting it out every day at the village elder’s house, trying to get him to lift the banishment on our family as they had no way to get wheat to feed their family.

Trent had also been let out, but I am sure he had wished he stayed in prison where he was protected. My father told me that villagers had found him dead out in the forest. This, of course, caused another stir. Some blaming me, saying I did it when I had not even seen that brat since that day, and others think that someone did it out of anger because he was the cause of everyone’s suffering.

In the end, the village elder had come to beg my father to allow the villagers to use the land once more and lifted the banishment he imposed on my family. But sadly, things were a bit too late for that as my father had already worked things out with the merchants to have them stop by our land to sell some wares when they visited the village. At that time it was basically two villages living side by side. While one was suffering, the other was growing.

My father has become the village elder of what is now Cyrilia village. Yes, he started his own village and sold plots of his land to the villagers, who were always nice to our family. It was a village where discrimination was something that would put you into jail. We ended up turning some of the wheat fields into housing areas. In truth, there was much more land than needed and some that was uncultivated. We had a good supply of fresh produce every year, and the people living under my father’s flag were all very nice.

I am also an aunt now. Kind of funny if you think about it. I mean, I am an aunt, and I am only twelve. But this was just how this world worked. My brother ended up marrying the girl who used to watch him work out in the fields. I learned that her family was actually on good terms with ours and was one of the first to move to our village.

Even though he is married and has a bundle of joy, a baby boy named Leo, to take care of, he has never changed. He still brings me home shiny things. I am still not sure why he does this even after all these years. His wife’s name is Rachel, and she is a very kind, warm-hearted girl. She spends a lot of time with me, which is nice. While I could consider her a friend, in a sense, we were family, so it was only natural for us to get along.

Although she does have this strange habit of polishing the scales on my tail, it has become a nightly ritual. But I don’t mind because my tail has become very shiny and pretty because of it. I myself have grown up to be fairly cute if you ignore my chest area that is budding but nowhere close to anything special. My wings are much bigger, and I can now use them to fly if I want. While I have matured in other areas, my height has not gone up much since I was ten. I look like a mature ten-year-old, sadly, but I am still cute. I think it is all due to my race, so I am sure I will grow more over the next few years…. I hope anyway.-.

My level has stagnated, though. The higher the level I am, the stronger the monsters, the tougher the fights, and the more experience per level I need, making leveling very slow. Currently, I am only level 17.

[Name]: Faith Cyrilia[Age] 12

[Level] 17

[Race] Dragonkin

[HP] 5500/5500

[MP] ∞

[Status Points] 40

[Strength] 510

[Vitality] 550

[Intelligence] 510

[Mind] ∞

[Agility] 510

[Skill Points] 15

[Skills]

[Appraisal (LVL 1)]I have still yet to use the evolution stone. But I have decided to use it. Actually, I had made the decision a few years ago and have only been waiting until I was older to do it. I haven’t told anyone about it, but I could only hope after my evolution, nothing will change. But I am firm in my resolve. I figure becoming an actual dragon would allow my strength to grow more. I think I have become obsessed with growing stronger. I can’t help it, though. I am closer and closer to the day I should finally set out on my own.

I already told my parents that I plan to leave soon and see the world. My mother cried, and my father sighed nonstop for almost two weeks until they finally came around. They knew I needed to go out on my own. Mainly my mother keeps telling me to find a nice man and bring her home some grandbabies. But that won’t happen any time soon. I am someone who is destined to be alone for life, I think.

By the time I even look old enough to have a relationship, my parents will probably be gone. I don’t like saying this, but the average lifespan of a human in this world is only one hundred years at most, just like on Earth, while the average lifespan for those with lots of mana is around one hundred and fifty years or more if human. If lucky, my parents will live longer lives, but this is only if things like plagues and other health issues do not surface. I can only pray to whatever god oversees this world that they can live to a happy old age.

Since I have decided to undergo my evolution soon, I have already scouted a spot in the forest to evolve. While it says it only takes a single hour, I figured it would be best to find a safe, secluded space to do it in, just in case. The place I found is a cave that sinks into the plateau. It was uninhabited, and even if something did move in, I would just chase them out. I figure once I set up a bunch of barriers to keep everything out, I will be safe to do my evolution.

Currently, though, my mother is decorating the house and working on making some snacks along with a meal. I am banned from doing anything. Rachel is in the kitchen with my mother as they work on the festive dinner they were preparing. Birthdays were only normally celebrated on the day of becoming an adult, but because I am planning to leave soon to adventure out on my own, we are holding it now.

When evening fell, everyone sat out in the yard to enjoy the nice spring day around a large table my father made just for this occasion. I had my nephew in my arms as I cradled him, rocking him back and forth. He was very cute and looked like he was going to take his looks from my handsome brother. Not that I am saying Rachel is ugly. She is actually quite pretty, but my nephew needed that strong chiseled jawline that will make him look very handsome in the future. Or this could just be my bias as I find both my father and brother to be very handsome.

I have no idea how long my trip will be after I leave the village, but I do know that no matter how far I travel and how long I am gone for, I will always be worrying about my family. I have no idea how many times I have promised myself to at least come back every year or two if I can. Maybe one day, I can research and create a teleportation spell that will allow me to return in an instant. The smiling faces of my family will always be something I miss. But that is life. I can not always stay here. I need to venture out and explore the world I have been dreaming about seeing with my own eyes.

What path I take and where it will lead, I do not know. I only know that I will figure that all out as time goes on. Life will always lead you to different places. I mean, I ended up in another world, so anything can happen.

After an amazing meal, I sat by the campfire and stared up at the sky, thinking about all the things I have done in the past twelve years. Time really does fly by. “Four more years until my past life’s death anniversary.”

Luckily no one was close enough to hear me talking to myself. Any time I was alone staring up at the stars, my thoughts always drifted back to my days on Earth, making me wonder how everyone was. But on this night, my melancholy thoughts were interrupted when something dropped on my stomach. I looked down to see a shiny rock…. “Brother….”

“Hmmm? So happy you are speechless?” My brother asked with a bright smile on his face, seemingly oblivious of my questioning look.

“I am just wondering when you will stop giving me shiny things!” I said with a pout, but in truth, I was finding this whole thing funny.

“What!? You don’t like it!?” My brother seemed truly surprised. “But you always smile and say thank you every time I give you something shiny!”

“That’s because it came from you! Of course, I would treasure it, but I have never once said I loved shiny things!” Well, this was not true. Even now, I have this strong urge to take this shiny rock and stash it away with the other things.

“Ah? Ummm…” My brother’s cheeks turned red. “Then give it back. I will get you something else.”

“No! This is mine now!” I said, using that as an excuse to take the shiny rock and run away. I can’t help that I actually do love shiny things!

Volume One End!

**AN: Hopefully this did not seem rushed but I really had nothing else planned for this volume. Let me know what you think. Tomorrow the second volume will start! Also, no more time skips for a while.***