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"Grandpa, let's go,"
Yuna called out.
Grandpa Orion came forward and put Yuna on his shoulder.
Drizzle…
The pouring rain rang loudly. Grandpa Orion opened the door and walked out. As soon as they walked out, the rain parted, forming a container-like shape around them.
Yuna controlled the falling water and let it avoid her and her grandfather.
"This saves the trouble of needing to bring an umbrella. Little Yu is amazing!"
Grandpa Orion did not forget to compliment his lovely granddaughter.
"This much is nothing," Yuna said haughtily, flicking her non-existent bangs.
"Haha… my amazing granddaughter."
"Hehehe."
Jovially, both the granddaughter and the grandfather made their way toward the shop.
"Hm…?"
On their way to the shop, Yuna noticed a boy walking under the rain and making his way toward the forest.
It was Austin.
He must've wanted to hunt some prey to sell at the Merchant Guild and earn some money.
The male protagonist, just like her, also had a relative.
For him, it was a sick but loving mother.
For Choi Min, who was an orphan and never received such warm love, he desperately clung to it and worked himself to the bone to save his sick mother from dying.
As a financially struggling family of two, Austin registered himself as an adventurer and took low- and mid-level missions. All the money he earned was burned away on medical expenses.
Yuna pursed her lips and moved her gaze away.
Austin seemingly perceived a gaze, turned his head, and locked his eyes on the back of Yuna, who was being carried on the shoulder of her grandfather. He silently looked at the girl's back before withdrawing his gaze.
The bread that he had received for free was tightly packed inside a worn-out waterproof bag as his lunch inside the forest.
….
Wherever the place, school was always boring and annoying.
"…..This kind of creature likes to dwell in dark and dirty places…..blah blah blah…."
Yuna's eyes started to become vacant as she began to daydream.
When lunchtime arrived, Yuna made her way toward the last bench.
She put a big lunch box on the table and said, "Come, eat with me again to finish it, lest Grandpa scold me for not finishing lunch again. So don't think that I am a kind person."
"…En."
Austin clamped his stomach, which was protesting in hunger.
As his training became more intense and his absorption of mana increased, he easily got hungry due to the rapid growth of mana.
His financial condition made it so that he could not eat enough even if he wanted to.
Austin found it hard to say no to someone who offered him food when he was severely hungry and lacking enough nutrients to keep up with his growth. All the prey he caught, he sold without leaving any for himself, as his mother needed to consume medicine every day so that she would not have a painful relapse.
His mother could only consume medicinal soup, as other food made her throw up. As for him, he had been relying on the free bread he received for the past few days.
Obviously, it was far from enough to abate a child's growth and increasing need for nutrients.
Recently, the girl called Yuna would approach him to share lunch with him. Obviously, a little girl would not bring such a big lunch box for herself. And Austin was smart enough to know that she did so to help him in her own way.
It was the second kind person he met in this world, aside from his mother.
The world became a bit more breathable.
"…Did Yuna have a crush on Austin?"
"I think she must be…."
"Tsk… shamelessly approaching a male."
"….."
Of course, the bright and good-looking Austin had admirers.
"Children these days—instead of wasting time in mindless gossip, they should study more."
Yuna tutted while shaking her head.
Austin, a grown-up at soul, although unaffected, could not remain oblivious when he thought about how the girl, who was still only a child in his view, had become the center of mean gossip and pointed eyes because of him.
"…Sorry," Austin whispered, hearing Yuna's snide comment.
"Who are they to me? Why should I mind? …Who are they to you? Why should you apologize for them? Tch… Eat."
"Oh…"
Austin wisely decided to remain quiet at the little girl acting like a mature adult and scolding him. His instinct told him that if he said more, it would get him nowhere but more scolding.
His instinct rarely failed him.
"You come to the shop after school. There is too much leftover bread that we can only throw away. You take them home to eat."
"…Thank you."
"Tch."
Yuna, although not exactly a good person, was not a cold and emotionless machine. She was not so indifferent as to directly ignore someone who was having a hard time.
So what if he was a male protagonist who would face many hardships and whose close ones might get entangled with him? It's not like he wanted that either!
She had to answer to her own conscience.
What was wrong with trying to alleviate a small hardship for him?
At the end of the day, she was still a reader and had affection for the main character.
She never stated that she would ignore the main character and get as far away as possible. She just didn't want to follow him everywhere and be caught up in his trials.
Feeding him to relieve his hunger was just her trying to uphold that small bit of her conscience. Since she knew his hardship and could help him in some way without needing to suffer herself, of course—as a normal socialist citizen—she would help him.
As for money, bah.
Even she herself was a poor ghost. Most townspeople were not exactly loaded with money.
More than half of the food went into Austin's stomach, and Yuna contentedly got up and went back to her seat.
It was nice being able to feed the main character. She had fulfilled the dream of many readers with a mother mentality who were distressed for their child (the main character) who was starving.
When class was over, Austin walked along with Yuna under the rain—who parted the rain that was pouring down.
"You don't seem to like training."
Austin looked at Yuna's ease at bending elements and started a conversation to break the silence.
Although she never seemed to train much, Austin could see that she was unexpectedly better at controlling elements compared to children her age who worked hard.
"Hm… I am the 'do less work but strive to achieve more' type. Those kinds of high-intensity training are not for me."
Austin chuckled lowly.
She seemed to have her own way, and it bore better results than others.
Yuna rolled her eyes at him and continued, "Although I am not of high nobility or a pampered rich young miss, I still will not wrong myself to do things that I know I don't have the strength for."
"You don't vie for strength?"
"…It's not that I am indifferent to gaining strength and becoming stronger. I just want to gain strength at my own pace, even if all my peers go far ahead of me. I know I am lazy and unmotivated. I also know that I lack compared to those hardworking peers who want to become stronger. I'm not envious. I like the way I go with my life."
Austin listened quietly, and when she finished her speech, he commented seriously, "They say that having a goal to live stably and leisurely without any care in the world is unambitious and cannot be considered a goal. But it is often the goal that is the hardest to achieve. Some people work all their lives just to achieve that kind of stability and carefreeness."
Yuna, listening to him, slowly pointed out, "Just like you."
"…Umm… just like me. I want strength to protect my peace."
Because he would not be able to keep and protect those close to him if he was weak—a lesson he had learned deeply in his previous life.
Yuna just smiled slightly, not encouraging him that he would surely achieve it.
Hah… main characters always have it so hard.
Yuna sighed with pity.
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