Rumble Rumble
The urchins were hanging out in the cave that they were using for a party a while ago. Now, the mood was somber. Everyone was quiet, like the party that they held in that cave was only just an illusion. Maybe … maybe all of this was a dream. A dream from their drunken stupor.
Rumble Rumble
The ground was vibrating, but the urchins did not react to it at all — not because they got used to it. But because they could not get their mind off … from the atrocity they just committed. John was just leaning on one of the earthen pillars, staring blankly on the tunnel that was being dug by Regulus.
The rumbling stopped. And Regulus came out from said tunnel.
“It’s done.”
Per Kisara’s request, Regulus dug a chamber so they could put Ana’s body inside it … then maybe … maybe they would just collapse the tunnel and moved on.
D’aka lifted Ana’s body that was covered in a piece of fabric that was previously used to cover one of the crates they stole. He entered the tunnel, followed by Kisara and urchins that were closest to Ana, preparing to say their last goodbye. The rest of the urchins stayed inside the cave. Most of them were not particularly close to Ana — some have never even spoken to her. Yet they committed a grave sin for her all the same …
…
…
Was it worth it?
…
“...n”
The smell.
The smell of burning humans still lingered in John’s nose. Surprisingly, they smelled a bit like pork.
…
“..hn”
It was not the first time John had killed someone. In fact, he was one of the few children who had taken a life before all this. Three in fact. The first one, he had a couple of sleepless nights after the kill. The second and third were easier.
He wondered if he could just sleep this one off.
“John!”
D’aka finally managed to wake John from his daydreaming. He thought only a minute had passed, but it seemed he had zoned out long enough that Kisara and the rest had returned to the cave, and the freshly dug tunnel had been collapsed.
“Are you okay, John?” D’aka was worried about him. It was unlike him to just spaced out like that, and he was no longer drunk.
“Yeah, I’m okay.”
“Are you sure, John? Cause your hand is shaking like crazy.” That was the moment John realized his hands were trembling like crazy. He tried to hold it, but it just kept shaking.
‘Oh. I guess I won’t be sleeping tonight.’ John smiled sarcastically when he had that thought.
“John?” D’aka became more worried. John was acting out of character, unlike the steadfast leader of the urchins he had always known.
“It’s ok, D’aka. I’m … I’m …” He could not bring himself to say he was okay. So John changed the topic instead. “How about you D’aka? Are you okay? This night was … rough.”
D’aka realized John was trying to steer the conversation, but he chose to indulge John. “Yeah. Rough night … I’m not okay John. I wish … I wish I was there for Ana. That there are things that I could do better …” D’aka was silent. He was thinking of a word that can help alleviate both his own guilt and John’s. “... but we avenged her. And we can get stronger. Strong enough that we can protect everybody. I know we can John.”
John was dumbfounded. What happened to Ana was horrible. But what they did after that … was equally horrible — worse even. Was D’aka not worried about that? Heck, was he proud of that? Did watching Regulus slaughter Krieg and his gang desensitized him? Did he not realize that this time it wasn’t Regulus' hands that tore the Lorca to pieces, but their own hands that burned them to ashes?
“Yeah, you’re right, D’aka. Thanks. We’ll get stronger.” John mustered up a smile, he even managed to stop his shaking. He was putting up a charade for D’aka, and D’aka bought it. He was convinced that his pep talk worked. “Can you give me some alone time, D’aka? I need to think about our next move.” D’aka agreed to leave John alone. He thought John had regained his composure and had returned to the reliable leader he knew.
John could not blame D’aka, his friend, to not even think about the people they just killed. He was angry about Ana. That was the only thing in his simple mind. He probably did not even register the smell and the wailing of the people they burned.
If anything, it was his own fault. He was the one who came up with the plan to burn them alive … But the original plan was to just burn the building to force them out, and then let Regulus kill the people that were directly responsible for Ana’s death.
They did not even need to burn the building in the end. If it were not for Kisara stubbornly insisting to made sure all of them were dead … but he could not fault her either. If anything, she was more affected by Ana’s death more than D’aka. She always championed herself as the leader and protector of the girls. The gang needed someone to take that role, and she did it better than anyone could ask for. Someone had to protect the girls from the boys’ sexual urges. That someone could not be him. Even John had to admit that he sometimes leered at the girls pervertedly.
Besides, all of this would not have happened in the first place if none of them were drunk. So was it Cooper’s fault for finding a wine warehouse and suggested them to rob it? … No. Cooper was just doing his job.
All of this chain of warehouse robberies would not happen without Kisara’s idea anyway. But then again, it was not her fault because the robbery did benefitted the gang all things considered. And it was only possible because of the Molrrets’ and Regulus’ digging capabilities.
…
…
Regulus.
All of this chain of events. Even the Burhan gang massacre. All of it would not happen if they never met him. Now that he thought about it … wasn’t the reason Eda, Grigori, and Azali met Regulus in the first place because they failed at pickpocketing some Burhan. Honestly, the worst that could happen to them if they got caught was being sold to slavery. The gang could easily rescue them without killing anybody. And they would have rescued them. D’aka and Kisara would not let them be sold to slavery, even though they were not really contributing to the gang at the time.
John scanned the cave. He found Regulus, Eda, Grigori, and Azali sitting together, just like usual. He noticed that Eda and Grigori looked pale, troubled, and preoccupied. That’s probably how John looked to D’aka just now.
Meanwhile Azali’s face was not as bad as the other two. She just looked concerned about them, the way D’aka’s face looked when he was talking to John. She was too young to understand the weight of murder — and John also noticed she did not throw a single bottle back then. There was no blood on her hand. Lucky her.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
And Regulus…
Regulus looked as calm as he usually was. Like nothing in this life could bother him. How could he? Did lives hold no meaning to him? He killed the two Burhan, which led to him massacring every single one of them. He easily dug through the warehouse and helped them with easy robberies. Which ended up with them getting complacent and celebrated with too much wine. He sank Lorca’s hideout. But he did not make sure to kill all of them — even though he could easily do it.
They would not have to burn those people if Regulus just slaughtered all of them.
Regulus …
It was all his fault.
**********
“Please, I’m begging you. Just spare me. I don’t want no throne. I don’t even want to be born. Just spare me and I’ll disappear forever. I’ll never return to Azalia.”
The young boy begged the knight in front of him. His yellow eyes, trembling, sparkling with tears. The knight, wearing beautifully adorned armor, raised their sword. The boy closed his eyes and accepted his fate …
… but the knight did not swing their sword down. Instead, their hands were trembling. The boy knew — he had a chance. The knight was hesitating, they had a heart.
“You don’t have to do th—” Before the boy could finish his words, a burst of flame burned his entire body.
The boy wriggled, trying to put out the flame, wailing as he did. In a matter of seconds, the boy’s body stiffened — he was dead. Burned alive.
Those sight, those smell, those wails … They were enough to made the knight threw away their helmet and puked violently.
“Oh but we do boy. We have to do it.” That was the voice of the culprit. A colleague of the knight, Rex.
“REEEEX” The knight swung their sword at Rex, filled with anger, not [Aura]. An Auraless sword swung so simply did not bother Rex at all. He covered his left hand with [Iron Body] and casually grabbed the swung sword. “What are you doing Lia Weston? Same side remember?”
“You… You Beast!!!” Lia Weston was boiling with rage. If it were not for the fact that they were serving the same master, the First Imperial Prince, Tiberio Davi Zarsuss Azali, she would have covered her sword with [Aura] and cleaved Rex in two.
“Yezus , Lia Weston.” Rex invoked the Son of God’s name in vain. “If you don’t want a job of killing bastards, you should have just opted out. Getting angry over me being a model worker. Are you on your period, woman?” Rex roughly shove Lia’s sword away, getting irritated at his colleague's unreasonable anger.
“I … I …” Rex’s words cut deeply. It was her who volunteered to join in the massacre, wanting to proved that she was a capable knight, not just a female knight to her peers. Her past self did not truly understand what it meant to kill helpless civilians, to kill a child.
“Listen here Lia. We’re doing good work right now. We’re at a civil war, Imperial Princes fighting each other over who gets the biggest pie of Azalia. The last thing we need is another faction, led by bastards, adding to the chaos.” That was the justification for this senseless massacre. That was the justification that Lia believed. But now that she had to actually do it — she realized it was just a flimsy excuse.
“Now, whether you want to do your job or not, that’s up to you. If you’ll excuse me, our esteemed previous Emperor like to fuck everything that move. There’s too many bastards skittering about in the capital.”
Rex left the shocked Lia to her own device. Continuing to do the job that was bestowed upon him and Lia. Continuing cold-bloodedly massacring innocent children who had no political influence to affect the war at all.
That day was known in history as Butchery of Bastards, Where the first son of the Emperor, Tiberio, ordered a group of young and ambitious Imperial knights who wanted to serve under him to killed all of Emperor Alexandross’ bastards that were living in the Capital of Azalia. That day, a total of thirty-three bastards lost their lives; and Rex was responsible for eight of them, earning him the moniker Bastard’s Bane.
While Lia Weston … Lia Weston resigned from the Imperial knight after that day. She wandered the continent, fighting as a way to made a living. Sometimes fighting as mercenary, sometimes fighting monsters as slayers — Most of the time, fighting addictions and nightmares. She spent her days wandering and fighting, till the day she reached the port of Hazen. The place where she met the master she wanted to dedicate her entire life to.
*******
Dame Lia’s gaze was fixated on a tiny figure who was kneeling in front of the statue of the Saintess Theressa, Holy Mother of the Son of Luminous, Yezus. The little girl was praying fervently, like she was possessed. Seeing the girl reminded Dame Lia of herself, a woman wrecked by guilt — by sins she could not erase nor forgot. She could not believe she was about to bore her sword in front of a child again. She had not changed at all. She was still a despicable human.
“I wonder what kind of life she led.”
Her master, Lady Beaugard, was sitting on a pew next to her. She too wondered what weighs the little girl’s conscience. From her face, Dame Lia could tell that her young master had a mixed feeling watching the little girl. One of pity, and one of guilt; guilt that she was the one to be born in a privileged upbringing, while other children were suffering. Her master possessed a kind soul, sometimes too kind for her own good — she ended up torturing herself with her kindness.
Tap Tap
Footsteps approached them. Dame Lia was familiar with these footsteps. It was owned by the old nun, Sister Marie, the head of the monastery they were currently in. “Good morning Lady Bea, Dame Lia.” The old nun greeted them, the two bowed in exchange of her polite greeting.
“Good morning sister Marie … Sister Marie, is it possible to…” Lady Bea looked at the little praying girl. Even without finishing her sentence, sister Marie could tell what she wanted to say. “That would be difficult, Lady Bea.”
“Why? If it’s money I could - “ Sister Marie cut off Lady Bea by shaking her head. “It’s not about the money lady Bea. You already donated more than enough on that front. There are various reasons why it’ll be difficult.”
“And those are?”
“First, there’s a matter of capacity. There’s only so many nuns and beds in this monastery. There’s only so many children we could house and care for at the same time. Of course this is a problem that money could help with. But we still need to train more nuns, build more rooms, and have enough land for expansion. There’s a limit on how much money could do to solve those problems.”
Those reasons were so based on logic and operational side that it dejected Lady Beaugard. That was a reality any project had to face.
“And then there’s the human reasons. Not all street urchins wanted to enter an orphanage.”
“But why? Isn’t living in an orphanage better than living on the street?”
“Not always. Some of these children do not trust adults at all. It could be experiences from horrible parents or badly managed orphanages. They might also prefer the freedom the street gave them compared to the rules of orphanages. It’s shared living after all, we need to set boundaries.”
Lady Beaugard nodded. It was an acceptable reasoning but she was still not fully convinced.
“And just like how many children in the orphanage considered the friends they made here as their family, the children of the street also considered each other family. If you love your family, abandoning them is a hard thing, even if it might be the best thing for you.”
That was what convinced Beaugard. By no means she wanted to abandon her family, but she understood familial love and not wanting to disappoint them. “Is there nothing I can do for her?”
“There is one thing you can do for her, my lady. You can try being her friend.”
“Be her friend … how do I do that?”
“You should try talking to her.”
“I know. But what do I say exactly? How do I open a conversation that would lead us to being friends?” That was an innocent question. Sadly it was a question with no right answer. Not even the wise sister Marie could answer that question.
So she decided to do the wisest thing she could, “Ah, would you look at the time. I’m sorry Lady Bea, there are some church matters I must attend." She decided to retreat.
Sister Marie speed walked out of the situation as fast as she could. Leaving the confused Lady Beaugard on her own. With no one else to turn to, Lady Beaugard looked at Dame Lia, hoping she would have the answer.
“Aaah … uuuhm.” But she did not have an answer. She was a loner, she barely had any people she could call friends even in the Hazen estate.
“Sigh”
Beaugard sighed. She too knew about Dame Lia’s lack of social skills. Dame Lia felt hurt, for disappointing her master and being indirectly called out on her social awkwardness.
Their musing had to be cut short. The little girl had finally finished her prayers. Whatever she prayed for, it did not help her much. She was still looking dejected. Beaugard braced herself and started a conversation with her.
“Hi, … Eda. So … how are you feeling?” That was the best she could come up with.
“Uhhhm. Fine. I guess.”
…
…
Awkward silence.
Lady Beaugard turned to her knight, Dame Lia. But she had no salvation to offer.
“Good. Good. Hahahahah … ”
…
…
Truly a disaster. Lady Beaugard wished she could find a hole to hide in. “Well, I guess see you later then?”
“Can I come here again?” asked Eda. Surprisingly, the conversation was actually going somewhere. “Of course, of course. You’re welcome to come here at any time. I’ll make sure to talk to sister Marie to give you permission.”
“Can I also bring my friends with me?”
“Yes, of course.” Lady Beaugard felt a gaze from her knight. When she turned around, she got what her knight was trying to tell her — This was it. A conversation topic. “So your friends. Who are they?”
Eda’s face brightened up immediately. “Well, I got three of them that I’m really close with. They felt like family to me.” Lady Beaugard and Dame Lia were excited, they hit the jackpot topic.
“There’s Azali. She’s a cute girl. She’s like a little sister to me.” Lady Beaugard and especially Dame Lia were shocked. Why did a street urchin have the name of a royal family? There were two possibilities, they were a bastard or they named themself that. The first one was nothing but trouble, while the second one was a capital offense. They were hoping it was the latter, because then they could ignore it and possibly hid it.
“Then there’s Grigori. He’s an idiot.” Lady Beaugard and Dame Lia were shocked. Was this Grigori kid really her friend? “He’s an idiot, but he’s a nice idiot.” Eda added. Now the both of them were sure they were friends.
“And then there’s … “ Eda lost her excited tone. Her face looked troubled once more “ … Then there’s Regulus.”
Lady Beaugard and Dame Lia noticed immediately. This Regulus boy might be the cause of Eda’s worries. “Is … Is Regulus a nice kid?”
“He’s very nice!” Eda realized her tone made it seemed that Regulus was a bad kid. “He’s reliable and strong. He protects us … It’s just … He’s … He’s a bit inhuman.”
That last word struck Dame Lia particularly. Whatever type of person this Regulus kid was, he might be problem. Both Lady Beaugard and Dame Lia were curious about Regulus, but judging by Eda’s body language, it might not be wise to prodded further. So Lady Beaugard decided to end the topic. “They sound great. Don’t be afraid to bring any of them here. And If I am here when you’re here — Introduce them to me alright.”
“Alright! Thank you, lady! I’ll come here again.” Eda said cheerfully. She ran out of the monastery while waving at Lady Beaugard and Dame Lia on the way out.
“What a nice girl.”
“Agreed, my lady.”
“So … Dame. What do you think of her friends?”
“Grigori seemed fine. Azali … if she is younger than Eda. She might not be the Emperor bastard. Let’s just hope they named her Azali because they are living in Azalia and nothing else.”
Lady Beaugard nodded. She too wished that Azali’s name would not bring any political problem.
“And then there’s Regulus. I think we need to be a bit wary about him, my lady.” The way Eda spoke and acted about Regulus rang all the alarms on Dame Lia’s danger sense.
“But isn’t he just a kid too … probably?”
“Lady Beaugard. Lord Odyssus was also just a kid during the war. He ended up decapitating his own mother as a kid.”
Lady Beaugard was reminded of Odyssus’ infamy. About how he killed his own mother, Empress Rosa and paraded her head around. A story that seemed exaggerated but was indeed true. The only good thing that came from that story, was the fact his action marked the official end of the War of the Empress.
For one who was never saved, to bring salvation to all.
In the vast continent of Aethelgia, legacy is power. Bloodlines decide talent, ancient Arcana shape nations, and forgotten miracles still echo through the roots of Aethelhum, the cosmic tree worshiped by millions. Empires rise around inherited might, and behind every noble crest lies a history written in magic, conquest, and silent tragedies.
Siegfried Fors was not born into this world. He once lived behind screens and firewalls, a hacker who bent digital laws until fate bent him instead. After dying in an act of selfless instinct, he awakens as a child in Fors Barony. But peace is fragile. Strange forces hunt for children marked by destiny, empires whisper of national treasures gone missing, and ancient powers stir beneath the soil. In the middle of it all stands a boy who was never meant to exist here.
Yet Siegfried’s arrival is not a coincidence but the beginning of a quiet upheaval. For one who was never saved in his first life, he now walks a path where salvation becomes something he must forge with his own hands, for himself, for his family, and for a world teetering between old rivalries and awakening dangers. As empires maneuver in the shadows and forgotten legacies resurface, a single boy carries the potential to tip the balance… or shatter it entirely.
What to expect:
- Emotion-rich storytelling centered on flawed, compelling characters
- Unique magic systems, elemental paths, and Arcana
- Deep worldbuilding with layered mysteries that expand across arcs and continents
- A progression system tied to growth, struggle, and discovery
- A protagonist who grows through vulnerability, not perfection, moving through grey area.
- Themes of redemption, family, salvation, and destiny
Appeals to readers who enjoy: Mushoku Tensei, Frieren, Lord of the Mysteries, TBATE.
Volumes One Completed & Two ongoing — steady releases.
New chapters released regularly — join the journey.