My native language is not English, so there may be mistakes.
On the outskirts of the kingdom of Darlik, in a small town near the mountains, stood a small orphanage. It was built from bamboo and the cheapest wood. Its roof was made of compacted straw, covered with crooked clay tiles. It was clear that each one had been meticulously shaped by hand and then kiln-dried.
This place housed orphans who had been either abandoned or left at the orphanage's doorstep. It sometimes happened that children who found themselves on the street would wander in by chance. The person in charge here was a matron named Frieda—a mature woman of fifty with thick black hair, occasionally streaked with strands of silver. For her age, she had a very slender, almost wiry frame, with taut muscles.
Judging by her hands, one could tell that her life had contained plenty of physical labor. Her palms were covered in cuts and scars, and her skin seemed very rough and parched. It must be said that in this world, for a commoner woman to live to such an age was already a rarity. Perhaps she was lucky to live in these parts, and not in a big city.
Besides Frieda, four caretakers also lived in the orphanage. In fact, all of them had also grown up under this roof. They were now young women with rather plain appearances. Their figures could not be called refined either, as they worked no less than Matron Frieda.
In essence, the women did not stay at the orphanage out of compassion or good intentions. For them, it was almost the only chance for a relatively peaceful life. The children's situation was no better...
Ending up in a place like this was a blessing! In this world, child death was simply commonplace; no one would even bat an eye. On the other hand, the caretakers could also live relatively normal lives. In the city, nothing even remotely close to a "good life" awaited them. This was a world of cruel warriors and strength. You could be killed, raped, or enslaved simply because you were weak. Such situations happened all the time; they didn't even evoke empathy from passersby and onlookers.
In another world, this orphanage might have been a paradise... A mountainous area, plenty of greenery, clean air, and even a small river flowing down from the mountains...
But alas, in this world, commoners could hardly even remember the taste of meat. If it ever appeared in a household, it was only in dried form, done to extend its shelf life. And it should be added that this happened once every few years, and even then, only by luck.
This was because the wild lands were full of ferocious beasts. Not every warrior was capable of venturing far beyond the city's adjacent territories, let alone the villagers. It was said that some of the beasts could reach three meters in height and ten in length.
A delicacy like meat could only be enjoyed by the strongest, those fortunate enough to catch some game outside the city. There were also ordinary animals, like birds or small, tasty critters. But they were also food for the ferocious beasts. If you wanted to steal food from such creatures, you needed immense courage and perfect skill.
This world was ruled by strong people, warriors who could fight and defend themselves. The strong were the unquestionable law, and the weak were cattle.
Legends circulated that there were people who developed their strength to such an extent that they could influence the forces of nature and even summon fire from the air. Those capable of such miracles were called cultivators—those who had managed to develop the so-called energy...
However, for commoners, this was just a beautiful legend... Such stories were told to children so they would have something to dream about. Strength was something held in universal esteem. That's why, deep down, everyone desired to possess it.
And here lived a little boy of seven named Kai. He had snow-white hair and incredibly bright azure eyes. All this distinctly set him apart from the other children and adults. Frieda told him how he had simply been found on the riverbank not far from the orphanage one day. He was lucky that one of the caretakers found him. Otherwise, he could have simply been thrown into the river, or even eaten by beasts... From early childhood, Kai was very calm and thoughtful, and what was surprising, even frightening—he reasoned like an adult, and learned to speak almost immediately after being found by the river. It seemed as if the boy's mind grew and changed twice as fast as others', although his body grew quite normally...
He almost never cried and was astonishingly quick to find an approach to understanding the children around him and even the adults. All the orphans loved him very much, and many called him "big brother," even if they were older than him by age. This could be explained by his aura of calm and reason.
There was even a local legend in the orphanage that just before Kai was found, the entire area shone, and on a sunny day, thunder pierced the heavens! Frieda loved to tell this story, and the other children willingly believed it, for Brother Kai was noticeably different from them.
Kai was kind to everyone, yet always maintained a certain distance. For many, it was a mystery what was actually going on in his head...
One should not be mistaken about life in the orphanage. In this place, only the unaware children had it relatively easy. From birth, they thought hunger was normal. Even with the hard work of Matron Frieda and the caretakers, there was never enough food for everyone. Sometimes there were days when the children ate nothing at all... Then the adults would try every way to distract them and invent a cheerful reason why they had to endure it today.
Kai was a very curious child, if one could call him that... By the age of seven, he already knew the entire landscape and geography of everything surrounding his orphanage. Fortunately, there were no ferocious wild beasts in this region. Kai often ran away from the orphanage to the town to steal food or earn some. But who needed a useless seven-year-old kid? So, mostly, it came down to theft...
Sometimes, when he was caught, he miraculously remained alive, and his injuries and wounds were nursed for weeks at the orphanage. But even after countless talks from Matron Frieda, Kai still regularly ran away. He always knew that if he could scrounge something in the town, his brothers and sisters would get more food.
One day, Kai, as always, decided to run away to the town to find some scraps of food. Glancing around to see if Frieda was nearby, Kai climbed over the fence and immediately crouched down, hiding in the grass.
"Brother Kai, the Matron will scold you again..." a timid voice came from behind him.
Turning around, he saw a little boy standing with a guilty look. He seemed to understand perfectly well that his big brother was doing something bad and sympathized with him...
"Jean, quieter!" Kai hissed through his teeth. "If you keep quiet about me running away, I'll bring you something tasty!" Kai said with a smile, and immediately crawled away, hiding in the grass.
An hour later, he finally reached the small village. Naturally, he didn't enter through the main gate, to avoid attracting unnecessary attention.
The streets were very untidy... The paths between the houses were mud mixed with straw and rubble. The houses were built of wood, with roofs of bamboo and tile. Only occasionally were there buildings partially made of stone. The villagers were mostly thin but very sinewy. This was due to a lack of food but an incredible amount of physical labor. The village was protected by the chief and his small clan. They were all strong people, and only because of that could they maintain the small town. There were even rumors that the village chief had begun to faintly sense the energy in his body. But it wasn't clear if these were just rumors or something the villagers simply wanted to believe. After all, their safety depended precisely on these people...
Kai noticed that on this day, everyone seemed very preoccupied, and there was an atmosphere of panic and anxiety in the air; he even managed to steal some food for himself quite easily. At that moment, he noticed a large crowd gathered in the main square, and curiosity stirred within Kai. He began to squeeze through the rows of villagers to hear what was happening.
At that moment, in the center of the square, standing on a raised platform, was the village chief. Kai clearly sensed a mysterious aura from him and immediately remembered the rumors about the chief's energy and strength. But right now, that was completely unimportant, and Kai didn't pay much attention to such things.
"Everyone! Today, a rumor spread that the neighboring Ghostly Halberd Empire has begun an advance on our Empire of Lunar Radiance. For now, it's not a full-scale invasion, but just a probe of the borders. This can be trusted, as the information came from Lord Flick's Mansion itself!" the Village Chief said seriously, sweeping his gaze over all the villagers.
"But don't worry! Although we are on the border, I don't think our village will be of great interest to the Ghostly Halberd Empire. For warriors like them, we are no more than ants. Who in their right mind would want to crush an ant if it doesn't bite them?" the Village Chief asked rhetorically, hinting that the villagers should not dare cause trouble.
At this moment, Kai grew slightly wary... He agreed with the chief's words on certain points. But after a moment's thought, Kai smiled slyly... In a time of such chaos, he could steal quite a lot of food! This would definitely help the orphanage survive, especially if enemies arrived. Moreover, they were just children, who would surely be left alone. There was nothing to worry about!
And so, until evening, Kai scavenged through the town, gradually gathering provisions...