{Elarion, Age 4– POV}
A lot of time has passed. A full year in a blink. I am still E rank.
I have spent a lot of time with Danny too, a waste of time but it's fine sometimes.
Danny wasn't smarter than me. Not even close.
He was clever—yes. Quick with strategies and fast on his feet when it came to problem-solving.
But I was on another level. My mind had seen war before it saw sunlight. I knew tactics, history, psychology, and death before I learned to tie my own shoes.
That is another thing that I prefer to attack first and plan never, why waste time right??
If you know a person is evil, just kill him why go through the trouble to collect evidence.
I sighed.
But still… he surprised me.
Not because he was stronger. Or wiser.
But because he didn't fear me.
He was a commoner. Weak-bodied, soft-hearted, always babbling.
But he looked me in the eye and smiled like I wasn't dangerous. Like I wasn't a monster in disguise.
> "If I were a villain," he said one day, "you'd be the overpowered anti-hero who pretends he doesn't care."
> "I don't pretend," I replied flatly.
> "Exactly," he grinned. "You really don't."
He didn't say it to mock me. He just… saw me. And accepted it.
" World is doom, if someone like you can be a villain" I deadpanned.
Danny laughed out louder while hitting my shoulder and shaking me, which I didn't react to.
Wise people always ignore it .So did I.
---
Danny couldn't swing a sword, but he could break apart a battle formation with five pebbles and a stick.
One afternoon, he used ants and leaves to explain how smaller armies could outmaneuver a larger one with terrain advantage.
I raised an eyebrow.
> "You know you're explaining this to someone who already knew it?"
> "Yeah. But it feels nice being heard."
I didn't reply.
But I listened.
---
He didn't complete me.
No one could.
But he… filled something.
There were moments where I'd look at him and think:
> If I had someone like him back then… would I have turned out different?
> If he had survived...
I just looked towards him who was busy explaining something, he looked towards me and flashed a smile.
>Hmmm.....will I be able to smile worrylessly one day?? Not like it matters, I should be happy inside not from outside.
---
He brought food to our lessons sometimes—terrible cookies his hands couldn't shape properly.
> "They're ugly but they taste like victory."
> "They taste like salt and regret," I replied.
He laughed and threw one at me.
I didn't dodge.
I didn't need to because his aim sucks.
---
He talked about school often. He was both excited and anxious.
> "What if I mess up in front of the nobles?"
> "Then I'll mess them up," I said casually.
He blinked.
> "You'd do that?"
> "You're my friend," I said, like it was obvious. Then paused.
Did I really say that?
> "You said it," he smiled softly, as if reading my thoughts.
---
He couldn't protect me.
Couldn't fight beside me.
But he grounded me.
When I was too cold, he'd warm me with stupid jokes.
When I was lost in logic, he'd throw emotions in like a wrench in a machine.
He was fragile, but unshakable.
And in this life…
I wouldn't let him break.
---
Few days later:-
We sat in the shade of the training hall porch, the day lazily drifting by. Our lessons had ended early. Marcus was speaking with a knight nearby, leaving me and Danny with time to simply... exist.
He was carving a wooden piece with a dull knife—some new idea of his for a strategy game. I watched him in silence, arms folded across my knees.
> "You're staring," he said without looking up.
> "I'm observing."
> "Same thing, but more mysterious," he smirked.
I didn't respond.
A breeze passed through, and I found myself watching the sky, the clouds—how slow they moved. Unbothered by anything below.
> "You ever wonder what you'd be if you weren't… you?" Danny asked suddenly.
> "I am who I am. Wondering doesn't change that," I replied.
He tilted his head toward me, playful curiosity in his eyes.
> "No dreams? Not even one?"
That stopped me.
Dreams?
I never allowed myself such luxuries. In my past life, dreaming had been dangerous. Pointless. Dreamers died. I survived.
And yet… the question lingered.
I looked down at my hands.
Small, but steady.
Not yet stained with blood. Not this time.
> "I used to want a house," I said quietly, surprising even myself. "Not a mansion. Just... quiet. With a garden. Somewhere far from nobles and knives."
Danny blinked. "You—wait, what?"
I glanced sideways.
> "You heard me."
He stared at me like he'd found gold buried under stone.
> "A house. With a garden," he repeated, as if engraving the words into his brain. "That's... actually really soft of you."
> "Say 'soft' again and I'll throw you in a pond."
He grinned, knowing I wouldn't.
> "And in that dream, do I live next door?"
> "You'd probably sneak in uninvited either way."
> "Exactly!" he laughed.
A house, yes this is my dream. I will eat whatever I want, no need to care about any fake perfection. Be what I want to, do what I like.
Calm, steady and normal yet the hardest life. I wish to live like that one day surely.
Maybe with my children, it won't be bad. I can adopt too.
Then something struck me, I came out of my fantasies, after noticing someone's constant state at me.
" What?"
" Nothing" Danny replied with soft smile and I didn't push it any further.
The conversation drifted elsewhere after that. But he was watching me differently—like he saw something new.
Something real.
---
Later, as we were about to part ways, Danny tugged on my sleeve.
> "Elarion."
> "What?"
> "Thanks… for telling me."
> "It was just a house."
> "No," he said, eyes warm. "It wasn't."
He waved, running off after his father.
And I stood there a moment longer, watching the dust settle behind him.
> Not a big secret. Not a dramatic story.
But I said something I'd never said before.
To someone who deserved to hear it.
> I wish, you can be my neighbour.
------