Chapter 477 - Childhood Part 1

From then on, every time Kuromi sneaked out of the mansion, she would look for this boy to play around with. There were times where she saw him clutching his stomach from hunger and would help him get some food to eat.

"So what's your name?" She asked during one of their play sessions.

"I don't have one." The boy shook his head.

"Eh? You don't have one? What about your mum and dad then?" Kuromi raised her eyebrows in curiosity.

"I don't know. I was raised in the streets." The boy smiled.

"That's kinda sad… Do you want me to give you a name then?" Kuromi asked.

"Hmm… I think it's ok with just a nickname. I heard that real names are given by parents or those that act like parents, so I want to save that for them." The boy shook his head.

"What should I call you then?"

"Well, I guess you can call me little beggar like everyone else." The boy suggested.

"Little beggar? Isn't that rude though." Kuromi frowned.

"Not really since I don't mind."

"Hm, fine. But if I call you little beggar, you call me big beggar then. Since I'm bigger than you, I can be your big sis." Kuromi grinned cheerfully.

"I don't think I should call you big beggar. I'll just call you big sis instead if that's ok."

"Sure, that's ok." Kuromi nodded her head.

As the two continued to talk, the boy would learn more about the girl. How she was trained in the sword despite her reluctance.

The two would always have a set time to meet each other since she had her breaks from training roughly at the same time. After a while, it became a habit for the boy to wait for her patiently.

Kuromi would always be on time to meet the boy as they had become close friends.

Of course, the boy would become curious about the girl's background and had asked during one of their sessions. To which she replied that she came from a normal family that was slightly better off in fear of losing a friend like what had happened long ago.

This continued to winter as Kuromi wore a thick coat to ward off the cold. Getting a spare coat and hiding it under her clothes, she tried to sneak out of the mansion while looking like a giant snowball.

When she arrived at the normal meeting spot, she was confused as to why she couldn't see the boy anywhere.

"Little beggar!" She called out.

Hearing no response, she started to look around the area in hopes of finding him.

However, there were no signs of him being around.

Frowning slightly, Kuromi decided to sit by the crates and wait patiently for him to come back.

Soon, snow started to fall as she quickly pulled up her hood and looked around once more.

Seeing the snow, she couldn't help but wonder if the little beggar was cold right now. The best case scenario would be that he found some shelter.

Waiting till nightfall, Kuromi reluctantly stood up and placed the spare coat down before going back home.

The next day, she quickly made her way back to the meeting spot after her break. Soon, joy filled her mind as she saw the little beggar wrapped in the spare coat that she had left out.

But before she could call out his name, she realised that he looked extremely pale and knew that something was wrong.

"Little beggar! Are you ok?" She asked with concern.

"Mn? Ah you're here. Sorry I couldn't meet you yesterday. The people around here needed someone to go with them to a dungeon." The boy apologised with a slightly forced smile.

"Eh? Why did you go to such a dangerous place? Didn't I tell you to be careful since you're still a child?" Kuromi frowned before scanning him up and down to check for any injuries.

Seeing that he was clutching the coat tightly, she thought that he must be cold and decided to take her own coat off and handed it over to him.

"You look cold so you can have this." She offered.

"Ah, it's ok. I'm fine with just this one." The boy shook his head.

"Then why are you trembling and holding it tightly? You must be cold. Don't be stubborn, I can get another coat from mommy. Just take mine." Kuromi furrowed her brows and pushed the coat towards him.

"Ok fine…" The boy nodded his head since he didn't want her to know the truth of the matter.

Taking the second coat, he tried his best to wear it while not exposing his body under the coat.

All Kuromi thought was that he must be so cold that moving the first coat out of the way would be painful.

"Hmm… give me a second. I'll go buy you some hot soup or a drink. That way, it can warm you up on the inside." Kuromi offered as the boy wanted to shake his head but she had already left the alleyway.

Sighing softly, he leaned against the wall while pressing his arm against his stomach.

Once the girl came back with the hot drink, she saw the boy lying in a pool of his own blood as her face quickly paled.

"Ah! Blood!" She cried out in shock while running next to him.

"Aren't you cold?! Why did you start bleeding!?" She asked with shock.

"Sorry… I was hit by one of the monsters in the dungeon." The boy apologised while trying to stop the bleeding.

Gritting her teeth, Kuromi decided to take the boy back to her home to get him treated. While this may expose her habit of going outside, it was better than letting the little beggar die on the streets.

Thankfully, due to her parent's training, her body was quite strong so she could somewhat carry him with her.

Taking him back to her home through the same path she used escape, she quickly begged her father to heal him.

"You know we're going to have a small talk after we heal him right?" her father reminded her as Kuromi looked down.

"Mn. I know." She nodded, understanding that she may be punished for sneaking out.

Shaking his head lightly, Koji lifted the young boy off his daughters back and produced a health potion.

Feeding it to the boy, he brought the little beggar to a spare room.

Once Kuromi was sure that the boy was fine, she sighed in relief before going to a separate room with her father.

Naturally, the talk was mostly him berating her for sneaking out of the mansion, but it wasn't too harsh. It was more like a reminder instead of berating.

However, this reminder was quite effective on Kuromi as she was feeling guilty for hiding her activities from her father, even though he already knew.

"I'm sorry." Was all she could say.

"Mn, once that boy is awake, you can escort him back to his home." Koji instructed.

"But he doesn't have a home…" She muttered while glancing up at her father.

"The most we can do is help him every now and again but we can't do this to everyone. There are a lot of poor people in the world that we can't see. If we save one, 10 more will appear and if we save them, 100 more would follow. Do you understand? If anything, he'll have to get stronger himself so that he can stay safe in the outside world." Koji said with a soft smile. While saving people wasn't a bad habit, there was only so much a single person can do before it wears them out. He didn't want his daughter to be someone that constantly tires herself to help other people who may not even help her back.

"So if he becomes strong like you, he can live properly?" Kuromi asked since she knew that strength was important.

"Mn." Koji nodded.

Staying silent, Kuromi started to think of ways for the little beggar to get stronger. With how he is right now, going for swords was probably not the best choice since he was lacking physical strength.

Remembering talks of magic from her parents, Kuromi decided to study magic in her spare time so that she could teach the little beggar, making it easier for him to survive.

It was due to this incident that Kuromi decided to stray from the martial path of her family and choose to go with the mage's path. She was going to make sure she studied magic diligently so that she could pass on everything she knew to the little beggar.