July 15, 1496, Age of the Sea Circle
Orion took a bite of the fruit in his hand and looked curiously at the group of children in the distance.
It had been two days since he had arrived in this village, and he had finally been able to find one of the Named Characters living in this town.
It was the 11-year-old boy, Hannyabal.
It had been difficult to locate him, as the system map didn't provide an exact location for people he hadn't previously interacted with. Still, he couldn't complain about the system map's performance, as it was a magical tool! As long as he was present in a location, the system could record the map of that area without error. Such an advantage wasn't so obvious right now, but in the future, when he had to participate in a large-scale battle or obtain information about an enemy faction, this functionality would reveal its full potential.
For the past two days, he had been exploring this city, called Beru, located on the large island of Cobani. On this island, there were three medium-sized cities, all operating independently. The relationships between the cities were complex and couldn't be described as particularly harmonious, as they often clashed over the exploitation of the area's natural resources.
However, they had never escalated into a full-scale armed conflict.
Rouge spent most of her time resting at the inn, arguing that she needed to slow down her activity due to her pregnancy, although he knew she was simply saddened by Roger's departure and wanted some time alone to think.
Orion didn't object to her position of temporarily withdrawing from the outside world; he had lost loved ones in his past life, and he knew that sometimes it was necessary to take a break and grieve.
Orion had no intention of leaving this island immediately, as he at least wanted to find the Named Characters and see what kind of people they were. However, it wasn't easy for him to find these two people in this city, which wasn't small. He investigated for two days without much success, until finally, this morning, a change appeared in one of the system's features that until now had remained completely static.
It was the "suggestion screen" function. Until this moment, it had never given a suggestion!
Orion didn't know how this function worked, nor why it had been activated at this particular time and not before, but he was still grateful for the information he received, which was like a light in the darkness.
The information on the suggestion screen only told him that it would be beneficial for his search if he went to a large plaza located in the wealthiest neighborhood of this city.
So, without wasting a minute, he said goodbye to Rouge, who had just woken up, and headed off in the direction of the large plaza mentioned by the system, without even having breakfast.
More than seven hours had passed until a group of children finally appeared in the plaza, dressed in luxurious clothes that indicated their social standing.
In the center of this group was an 11-year-old "boy," who, unlike the others, was wearing only a strange skirt, and was bare-chested despite it being almost winter and the weather quite cold.
The other children and teenagers in the group surrounded him completely, talking animatedly, trying to ingratiate themselves with him. Evidently, this strange "boy," who had long, silky hair styled in a somewhat unusual hairstyle, was the person with the highest status in the group.
Orion continued eating the fruit, which was similar to an orange, while observing the group's interactions and listening to their conversations, trying to go unnoticed.
"Is this guy really 11 years old? Isn't his age wrongly registered?" Orion thought as he looked at the 11-year-old boy, who was in no way different from an adult. Hannyabal's height must have been at least 2.5 meters, making him taller than anyone in the NBA in his previous life. But that wasn't the most surprising thing; after all, there were giants in this world, so being so tall at such a young age wasn't entirely unexpected. The problem was that Hannyabal's face obviously wasn't that of a child!
He had the face of an adult! He must definitely have been wrongly registerd, otherwise, how could God allow such an abomination? Or was it a case similar to Benjamin Button?
Orion tried to quell the feelings of rejection that Hannyabal's strange appearance caused him and focused on listening to the group's conversation attentively.
"Mr. Hannyabal, I'm going to join the Ministry of Defense next year. Could you tell your father about me? If I can advance a little through the internal ranks, I could be of great help to you in the future, when you become the leader of the city!" A young man said with a flattering expression, nervously rubbing his hands together.
"I like your attitude, hmm... what was your name?"
"Roco, Mr. Hannyabal, Roco Sommer," the teenager said hurriedly.
"Very well, Coco, you have my word that there will be no problem with your political advancement. And once you're in an important position, you will be my slave in the future and help me maintain my power over this city! Oh, sorry, that was a slip of the tongue," Hannyabal said, placing one of his hands behind his head and trying to downplay the absurd statement he had made by mistake.
An awkward silence stretched for a few moments among the group of young people. Until finally, one of them took the initiative to lighten the mood with a joke, admiring Hannyabal's good sense of humor.
Orion listened to the group's conversation for a long time, and the more he listened, the worse his opinion of Hannyabal became.
From what he could gather, he was the son of the leader of this city, and his family was very rich and powerful. For this reason, all the other individuals from other families, who had not yet reached adulthood, had to curry favor with Hannyabal and try to establish a good relationship with him, something that would undoubtedly help them in their future careers.
This behavior on the part of the group of young people reminded Orion of certain unpleasant experiences from his past life. He had worked as a philosophy teacher in a high school, teaching 17-18 year-olds, but before working there, he had tried to become a professor at a prestigious university.
However, at that institution, he had encountered a corrupt system, full of political factions and chains of favors, and he had finally decided to abandon his pursuit of academic excellence and settle for a simple, secure job.
It wasn't a glamorous story, and many might say he was a loser, or someone rigid and incapable of adapting to the situation, but he simply didn't want to live his life constantly having to bend to his knees in order to keep his position, and he wasn't strong enough to escape the political intrigues of an institution as massive as that university.
Surely there were countless cases similar to his, since his previous world, like this one, was also a world where the powerful ruled the law. The difference, perhaps, was that in this world, the situation was more brutal, and many people were forced to die, unable to do anything to prevent it.
Orion wanted to improve the world; beyond the system's missions, he was an idealist who longed to change the world. Perhaps he had been assigned this system and not another because it was the most compatible with his personality. He had thought this many times, in the quiet of the night, when he was lost in thought, wondering about his reason for being in this world. Why had he been reincarnated in this universe? Was it simply a coincidence? A trick of fate? Or was there a reason for everything that happened?
If he had initially had doubts about it, those doubts had weakened tremendously, almost disappearing after his time with Roger.
His teacher, Roger, had taught him much about this world, including the tyrannical presence of the world government, and now he believed it was probably no coincidence that he had come to this world and received this system. Now, finally, he had the opportunity to do something he hadn't had in his past life: bring about a change for the better in the world.
Orion continued listening to the group's conversation for a long time, and concluded that he didn't want to come into contact with this strange Named Character. His personality was quite unpleasant. He was arrogant and unscrupulous, had a strange habit of speaking his hateful thoughts out loud, and for some reason, he was shivering slightly and trying to hide it. If he was cold, why was he walking around bare-chested in the winter?!
Orion concluded that it wasn't worth trying to get close to Hannyabal. He wasn't a VIP, so even if he had influenced him, he probably wouldn't gain that many SP. If he had been a normal person, he might have tried to interact with him anyway, but Hannyabal was the son of the most powerful family in this place, and it would probably be difficult to find a way to establish contact with him. Even now, there were many guards hidden nearby, carefully monitoring the surroundings.
Orion knew that if he tried to approach the group of rich young men, he would be stopped by these guards.
After all, his appearance wasn't the best. His clothes could be considered rags in the eyes of these young aristocrats, and he wore two cutlasses on his belt, which undoubtedly made him look even stranger. A six-year-old boy carrying two swords on his belt was quite striking. He had also covered the cutlass Roger had given him, Ace, entirely with bandages, as it would be problematic if recognized by someone and endanger not only his physical safety, but also that of Rouge and her baby.
Orion looked up at the sky and saw that the sun had begun to set, so he decided it was time to return to the inn and accompany Rouge. However, just as he was about to leave, he heard a familiar name in the young people's conversation: Doll.
"Mr. Hannyabal, Doll still refuses to see you? Doesn't she know she belongs to you?"
"Mr. Hannyabal, Doll is stupid! She doesn't know what's good for her. Why don't you leave her and take me as your wife? I would make you happy," said a teenage girl wearing a lot of makeup, in a very cloying tone of voice.
"Silence! I've already decided that she will be my wife, and no one can stop me! My father is trying to convince her family, and he'll soon get results. I won't allow you to speak ill of my future wife in front of me!" said Hannyabal, trying to look imposing, but his trembling body and the snot hanging from his nose completely ruined his image.
"Sorry, Mr. Hannyabal, I didn't mean—"
"Enough, you don't need to say more," said Hannyabal, cutting off the flirtatious teenager's words. She paled upon hearing the boy's words, and her eyes began to fill with tears.
In this city, offending Hannyabal was tantamount to social suicide. With just one word from the boy, her life could turn into hell in the future.
A clear example of this was the situation of Doll herself, who had rejected Hannyabal's advances and had therefore been marginalized by the rest of the aristocratic group.
Hannyabal himself had given the order that no one could speak to the girl, and until she accepted his proposal, she would be treated as an outcast in the wealthiest circle of the city of Beru.
All the boys in this group were attracted to Doll; after all, she was recognized as the greatest beauty, not only in this city, but on the entire island! And perhaps in all of South Blue there was no other woman as beautiful as her, at least in the eyes of these teenagers who were her age.
Therefore, when Hannyabal ordered that no one could speak to her, and when he declared his sovereignty over the girl, all the young men in this group could only sigh bitterly and accept that they could never be Doll's partner.
On the other hand, the women in this group were deeply envious of her and had been bullying her for quite some time, long before Hannyabal's order. In their opinion, if Doll could continue ignoring Hannyabal, that would be for the best. Not only would they have the opportunity to marry the son of the city leader, but they could continue to despise Doll openly and with valid justification.
Orion heard the name of the other Named Character he was looking for, and his interest in the group's conversation immediately returned.
"Hannyabal, I heard that these days Doll spends her time alone, and her only friend is the daughter of the gardener at her house."
"The gardener's daughter?" Hannyabal asked, narrowing his eyes in irritation.
"Hasn't she heard my order that no one is allowed to speak to her in this city? Or does she think I won't do anything just because she's a common, low-class peasant?"
Hannyabal's tone grew harsher; he was clearly angry that his capricious orders had been ignored by someone he considered inferior.
He wasn't a magnanimous person, and he wouldn't forgive anyone going against his orders.
"Who wants to take care of this? Whoever teaches that gardener a lesson will earn a favor from me."
Immediately, the group of young people erupted in exclamations, and several of those present raised their hands, asking for a chance to take charge of the situation.
Finally, Hannyabal chose one of the young men at random and assigned him the mission of taking care of Doll's only friend.
Before the sun had completely set, the group of young people left the large plaza, laughing. Orion watched Hannyabal closely, and his hand on the handle of his cutlass began to tingle. If Hannyabal weren't just a child, and his malice couldn't yet have a significant impact on the world, Orion would probably have tried to finish him off right there.
However, he wouldn't do that, at least not yet.
He didn't know the role Hannyabal played in the original story, and perhaps his personality would change in the future. For now, he would continue to observe his further development, and if at any point he deemed him unworthy of keeping alive, he would decisively dispose of him.
Orion didn't return to the inn. Instead, he followed the young man who had offered to take care of Doll's friend to his home. Only once he saw that the boy had gone to sleep without making any further movements did he turn around and return to Rouge.
Tomorrow might be a hectic day.
...............…
July 16, 1496, Age of the Sea Circle
Doll adjusted the large white hat on her head, which had moved from its place when she had bent down to look at the purple flowers.
She was now in the large garden of her mansion, tending her prized flowers.
For as long as she could remember, she'd never had the opportunity to do activities she enjoyed. Her days were spent studying etiquette and political knowledge, which would come in handy after she married some nobleman in a strategic alliance.
Her parents weren't bad people, and they didn't treat her badly, but they had laid out a path for her since before she was born, and she had no choice in the matter. She obeyed her parents without question, and moved through life as a spectator of her own existence.
Only when she worked in the garden, with her precious flowers, did she feel she was doing something she truly loved. And although her parents wouldn't let her get her hands dirty in the soil, she could tend the plants with the help of her best friend Julia, the daughter of her family's gardener, who was a year older than her.
A cold wind suddenly rose, stirring her long, silky hair. She looked toward the large mansion in the distance and wondered why Julia hadn't returned from the market yet. However, she wasn't too worried about her friend; after all, she was an employee of one of the most powerful families in Beru. Who would dare do anything to her?
The young girl lived up to her name. She truly embodied the image of a doll. Her white, pristine skin was flawless, her long hair reaching below her buttocks, her long eyelashes, and her soft facial features. There was a reason she was the crush of every young man in the city. She truly was a beautiful girl, and if there was one word to describe her, it was "pure."
Doll looked around and saw that the guards of her mansion were far away and couldn't see her clearly. She lifted the long white dress she was wearing slightly, revealing beautiful feet encased in luxurious sandals. She ran gracefully, lifting her dress to avoid tripping, but she still tripped over her own feet and stumbled a bit before she could regain her balance.
Unfortunately, no one was around to observe her clumsy side. She had been a bit clumsy all her life, but no one knew it, since her image was that of a perfect doll. Only Julia knew that occasionally, her friend stumbled while walking or knocked over her teacup while trying to grab it, and she felt a certain pride in being the only one who could see that side of Doll. She didn't have any unusual sexual tendencies, but she deeply admired Doll's beauty and grace, and the girl's clumsy side only made her even more tender and adorable in her eyes.
Doll ran quite fast. Her parents had never noticed, since she didn't do any physical activity, but she had physical abilities far superior to those of a normal person, and even Orion, who had the passive ability given by the system "Strong Body (Level 3)", was inferior to her in that regard.
Finally, she reached a large tree that stood a little way from the gardens of her mansion. Making sure no one was watching, she put her hand into a hole in the tree trunk and took out a small tone dial. When she activated it, a catchy rock song began to play.
Doll had obtained this dial by chance during an auction, and it had been her treasure for years. Her parents didn't know about the dial, otherwise they wouldn't allow her to listen to such vulgar and profane music and would force her to get rid of it.
This tone dial had only one song recorded on it. But she couldn't get enough of it.
Every time the catchy music rang in her ears, she felt an intoxicating sense of freedom.
Under the large tree, within the grounds of her grand mansion, the young and beautiful girl, who looked like a doll, wore a genuine smile and her eyes lit up. She shook her head from side to side, revealing a side of her that no one, not even her friend Julia, had ever seen. Although that was about to change in the near future.