Chapter 3: Chapter 2: What are things that’s harder in life?

‘I didn’t think it would happen so quickly.’

It was four in the morning. Alice and Aya were both asleep. But he was wide awake by an untimely arrival of an old friend he had not seen full of vigor in so long.

He got up from the bed. He was sweating bullets. Cold sweat trickled down his forehead as he began to feel uncomfortable. 

‘I made a mistake.’ he had miscalculated.

‘Ever since the incident I had never felt it. But… of course it would reappear now that I’m young again.’ 

Sneakily, Theo left their room. He was very careful not to wake up his sisters. No, he made sure that his sisters would not be able to see him. He wanted to hide his shame.

It was a matter that he would walk on eggshells around a woman. Especially to his family. He would not lie about his reincarnation. But this was an entirely different matter.

Ka-chak~

After successfully extracting himself from the room Theo pressed his back against the door.

Theo’s heart settled. A semblance of peace and tranquility finally showed itself. But, looking down he saw what he thought would never show itself ever again.

It had risen once more.

The General could finally salute.

A Soldier awaiting to enter a battlefield.

From the afterlife it had risen with him.

Seeing it outside of its tent, even Theo could not stop a single tear escaping his young tear ducts.

For once more. After years. Once again, he saw his “little brother” stand proudly.

Truly, it was enough to make a grown man cry.

Or in this case an old child.

He was proud, but, ‘...now what?’

He could not do anything but wait for it to settle down.

Shining his musket was not something he could do.

It wasn’t that he saw choking the general as a shameful act. No, Theo kept no such pure virtues in his heart. 

The reason was far simpler.

He was six.

That’s right, the curse and blessings of puberty was three years beyond his reach, that was if he was lucky.

As someone who regained his memory, Theo had always thought life would become easy for him. But only now did he realize how wrong he was, ‘Truly, life is Really hard… hehehehe… hard.’

As one would expect of a father. Theo was an ardent advocate of a particular humor that many would find puerile and unbefitting for a man of his age. But, Theo believed otherwise.

{“A man does not grow up. We just learn how to act in public. Men are somehow perpetually stuck at the age of seven.”}

{“Dad, I just asked if you could tone the jokes down. There are children nearby.”}

{“Never! They don’t even get it. And if they can, that means they are smart.”}

Against the protests of his children, Theo did not change. He simply enjoyed life. Humoring with his children and grandchildren. Feeling joy when they laugh together.

‘But really I don’t know what to do.’ Only to wait for the soldier to calm down and realize that it had no ammunition fight.

He could only sigh, ‘Luckily, I’m not horny.’

The girls in his house were his sisters. He didn’t find them the least bit appealing. If he had, it would’ve been far weird and had packed his bags after seeing them.

He had principles as an adult.

He decided to protect them ever since becoming conscious of his life.

Not lust after his own family.

‘...maybe I’ll go for a walk. But first, I need to drain the pipe.’

Click-Click-Click-Click…Click—

‘Did the Lightning Beast pass again?’

The lightbulb was not turning on. So Theo had to do his business with only the moonlight peering from the window that was directly above the toilet.

Sudden power outage had been happening for three weeks. And it was all because of the [Magical Beast] known as the Lightning Beast.

A powerful creature born from manacilum or mana as it was more commonly known.

That’s what a Magical Beast was.

A Horse that has a mane of blue fire running through the skies, sundering the heavens as it travels the world without constraints.

A Hawk born from a volcano that would cause hellfire to appear when it flaps its wings. 

A Ghost of a fallen warrior holding an olden 

A Serpent that has no flesh and slithers amongst the living with only bones as a body and a purple orb as its heart.

Magical Beasts were creatures that looked like the mutation of “normal animals” that have a deep connection to the [Chaos Weave]. It remains to be discussed what came first, the Magical Beast or the Animal.

You are reading story The Young Veteran at novel35.com

There exist millions, possibly billions of Magical Beasts across different worlds. The Lightning Beast was such a magical beast. 

It hops from one cloud to the next. It conjures mana storm that resulted in city wide blackout. 

For the past three weeks it had been the cause of multiple blackouts. The [Local Government] and [Local Order Branch] have placed a hefty bounty on its head. Not to mention private organizations trying to capture it for their own designs.

But it remained for so long. 

“Yeah, let’s not go out tonight. I like not having holes in my body.”

Of course he could not.

He was “pulseless” and had a kid’s body. If a Magical Beast was to breathe in his direction he would most likely suffocate and experience a well-earned foolish death.

‘Using [Aura] in my current state is very dangerous. My “babies'' are no longer mine as well. They are most likely buried with my body or have been passed down to my children.’ a smile carrying a hundred emotions surfaced from the corners of his lips, ‘I hope they at least used them for themselves.’

After doing his business. Theo decided to not go outside. He didn’t want to end up becoming a stain on the mouth of such a respected beast. 

He didn’t want to be rude to the Lightning Beast. 

He had manners.

‘I don’t want to trouble it.’

A minute later, he was relieved and satisfied. The soldier had also been tricked and had been put to sleep.

Yawn~

‘I am already tired anyway. I am… yawn~ still affected by the physiology of a child’s… hmm? What’s that?’

A ball of blue light caught his attention.

It suddenly appeared in the skies. And a beautiful pulse ring of lightning expanded outwards with it as the center.

It was beautiful. It resembled a star descending upon the world. 

Even Theo, who had lived a long life, was mystified by such a beautiful sight. However, an unsettling feeling was quickly rising from Theo’s gut. 

Theo got an idea what the ball of lightning was. And it was not something he wanted to acknowledge. 

‘It can’t be right? There was now warnings! There wasn’t even a Siren!’ Theo didn’t want to believe it. 

But, he was already climbing down from the toilet.

‘There couldn’t be someone so devious and greedy. Right!?’

But, when he turned around to check. The ball of blue light had become bigger. In time it became more pronounced. A ball wreath in lightning.

His eyes widened and he wasted no time. He moved without thinking. Storming out of the bathroom.

“BIG SISTER ALICE!”

The worst case had presented itself.

“AYA!” 

He ran without missing a beat. Bumping furniture, and hitting his shin and toes on ledges as he ran to the rooms of his sisters.

“WAKE UP!!”

He shouted in desperation as he ran towards the direction of their room.

But.

Crack~

He heard the cracking of lightning.

“ALICEEEE!!!!”

His blood curdling screams echoed. Calling for his sisters in desperation. But….

He watched the ceiling right in front of their room cave in.

The blue light illuminated the once dark hallway. 

Theo’s eyes widened in absolute fear.

“NOOOOOOOOO!”

He screamed in defiance.

No matter how much he tried.

No matter how much he screamed.

Life never goes how one expects.

After all, life was as unexpected as it was hard.

BOOM!

The ball of blue light exploded.