Dawn Empire, Dukedom of Rudeus——
In the cold and snowy winter, the world seems to be shrouded in a silver veil. Hunter Adrian, carrying a bow and arrow, stepped into the silent forest.
The cold wind was so strong that it hurt his cheeks, but he was already used to such harsh conditions. His eyes were sharp, scanning the surroundings like an eagle, looking for traces of prey.
Suddenly, Adrian's ears caught a faint sound of crying. He stopped and listened carefully. The sound seemed to come from not far ahead. He walked cautiously towards the direction of the sound, his heart full of doubts. How could there be crying sounds in this deserted forest?
When he pushed aside a bush, he was stunned by what he saw. The two children lay on the snow, wrapped in gold velvet blankets. They have rosy cheeks, blonde hair and blue eyes, and are as cute as angels.
Adrian's heart was instantly touched. He had never seen such a lovely child. He looked around but saw nothing that could identify the child.
Adrian hesitated for a moment, but finally decided to take the two children home. He knew very well that he and his wife had never had any children. Perhaps this was a gift from God out of pity for them. He carefully picked up the two children and set out on the journey home.
When they got home, his wife Liz was very surprised to see the two children in Adrian's arms. She asked in surprise, "Where did these two children come from?"
Adrian told her what he found in the mountains, and tears glistened in Alice's eyes. She thought the two children must be a gift from God, so she decided to adopt them.
They named the older brother Ace and the younger brother Ed. As time went by, the two children grew up. Their appearance became more and more outstanding, with blond hair and blue eyes, as dazzling as the sun. Ace is calm and introverted. He always follows his father quietly and learns hunting techniques. Ed is smart, cute and full of curiosity about the world. He likes to observe nature, think about why it rains and snows, and plays with small animals.
One day, the two brothers went to the forest to play together. Ed found a wounded bird under a big tree. He carefully picked up the bird and observed its injuries. The bird's wing seemed to have been broken when it fell from a tree.
Ace also came over. After observing for a while, he looked at the tree in front of him. He raised his head and saw a bird's nest. "Brother, this bird might have fallen down while incubating eggs."
Ed nodded and stretched out his hand. A warm light emanated from his hand and enveloped the bird's body.
The bird's wounds were healing at a speed visible to the naked eye. Ace looked at his brother's actions without any surprise. He knew that his brother had a high talent in magic. Ever since he saw the priest of the Church of Light use healing magic to treat his mother, his brother Ed had learned it inexplicably.
After curing the bird, Ed hopes his brother will send it back to its nest. Ace agreed, he climbed up the tree and put the bird back into the nest. Looking at the eggs in the bird's nest and the little bird in his hand, an idea flashed through Ace's mind. But he didn't show it. He just silently put the bird back and climbed down the tree.
At night, Ace quietly returned to the forest. He found the female bird, killed it without hesitation, and took away all the eggs.
He had long recognized that this bird was a rare magical beast, and that its meat and eggs had high nutritional value. Ace knew that his brother was kind-hearted, but he had reasons to do so. Right now, the Dawn Empire was in the midst of a famine, and ordinary people were basically starving. He wanted to exchange the bird for money and food to provide food for his family.
Ace's technique was clean and efficient, and his skills in dissecting animal carcasses were now even more proficient than his father, the old hunter. Recalling that when he was a child, his father once teased him by asking him to try to kill a chicken. The five-year-old Ace was not afraid at all and did it with the knife.
At that time, his parents thought he would be scared, but he was surprisingly calm. He looked at the chicken he had killed with his own hands, without a single ripple in his heart.
He stood by calmly, watching the chicken's life slip away under the knife, but he was thinking in his heart: Killing animals does not seem difficult, the knife goes in and out, and life slips away like the wind. He began to question the fragility of life, and even wondered whether humans were the same as animals, as long as... However, his parents' concerns interrupted his thoughts.
When he came to his senses, he smiled calmly and said to his parents, "It's okay."
Three years later, the famine in the Dawn Empire became more and more serious, and the exploitation of the nobles became more and more severe. All the taxes combined left Adrian and his wife's family with little to no food. The old hunter's body began to fail in hunting due to aging, but fortunately, with Ace's excellent skills, he can still hunt animals.
In recent years, Ed has also found his hobby, which is reading. His mother got some unwanted books when she was working for the lord.
Ed felt like he had found a treasure. He was so immersed in the world of the book that he seemed to have forgotten everything about the outside world. His mother couldn't read the books, but she knew her little son had a talent for reading.
They also knew that his youngest son had a great talent for magic, but they were just a hunter family and had no way of giving their youngest son an excellent education.
"Father, what exactly is magic?" Ed, who was only ten years old, was sitting on the lawn watching his father working in the fields and couldn't help but ask.
The old hunter wiped the sweat from his face with the towel hanging around his neck. When he heard his son's question, an embarrassed look appeared on his face. He was just a hunter and had no education. He could not explain such a question at all and could only fool around with vague answers.
Obviously, his father's answer could not satisfy Ed, but the ten-year-old Ed also understood that his father could not give an answer.
Adrian looked at his son's lost expression and felt a pain in his heart. He didn't know how to satisfy his little son's thirst for knowledge.
Boom——
There was the sound of a heavy object falling. Ed looked at the little wild boar in front of him, his eyes flashing with admiration. "Brother, you actually hunted a wild boar!"
"I have been observing this wild boar for many days, and today I finally caught it." After Ace finished speaking, the old hunter Adrian looked around the wild boar and clicked his tongue twice.
"It's not easy, my good boy. Your hunting skills are far beyond mine."
"Father, I plan to sell this wild boar to the lord in exchange for food for the winter." Ace knew that the family had very little food left, so he took the initiative to offer a suggestion.
Adrian nodded and said, "Okay, your mother has been working for the lord. Be careful when you enter the city and go directly to your mother. Sell the wild boar and come back quickly."
Ace nodded and said, "I understand, father."
Although Ace was only ten years old, he was as strong as an average shorter adult and had many experiences of going into the city alone.
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