It was a remote village of commoners, under the control of a noble with bad habits like seeking out already married women or women with children.
A girl was born in that village. Her mother would later think that girl was the product of that noble because she, her daughter, a girl she named Irisdina, possessed magical power.
This is her story.
◇◇◇
At five years old, Irisdina boarded her first boat.
It was a traveler's ship for those who didn't have great resources to rent one for themselves.
Irisdina had nothing special about her.
Like the others in her village, she had blonde hair, blue eyes, and beautiful skin as white as fine silk.
She was walking near the nobles' section.
There, a boy was playing with some marbles; she felt curious about what the boy's game was.
She tried to approach him, but the boy acted very hostile towards her.
"What do you want!"
"You want to bother me today too!"
Despite his hostile tone, the boy was crying while playing alone. His clothes were too dirty for a noble.
Irisdina ran away from there to the commoners' area, while the boy...
"Damn it... I just accidentally dropped the shovel on Baron Lebrón's foot... it's not fair that Father and Lyle hit me hard for that mistake."
He was crying alone in a section where, for the entire journey, a girl was his only companion.
◇◇◇
Irisdina had turned eight.
Her hair had grown long.
The feudal lord of this land didn't like long hair, so he ordered all his vassals to cut it and keep it short.
The long, beautiful, silky hair of Irisdina was being cut by her mother.
"Mom, it hurts, slower."
The mother was cutting her daughter's hair forcefully.
Instead of using scissors, she used a dirty kitchen knife.
"Mom, slower, it hurts!"
The mother had already cut almost all her hair but kept cutting...
"Mom!!"
...Until the mother, full of anger, accidentally cut her own hand.
A large amount of red liquid came out of it.
The daughter, immediately upon seeing that, ran towards her mother and, placing both hands together on the wound to treat it normally, until a faint white light shone.
It was daytime, but the light inside that small stone house was more intense than sunlight.
The girl was surprised by that oddity.
She had questions about what happened.
(What was that!?)
The mother, on the other hand, upon seeing how the wound on her hand had disappeared along with the blood, did something no one would expect.
"Haha, hahahaha. Ahahahahahaha!"
Laughing.
The mother laughed like a madwoman at what happened.
The daughter tried to calm her down until she heard her mother.
"What a great day today is. First, your father loses a leg in the fields, I discover I'm spitting black saliva, and now you. You are an aberration to this world! You used water magic to heal my wound. Disgusting, you truly are a disgrace that came out of my womb. Why did you bring misfortune to this miserable family."
The girl heard that and ran away from home. After several minutes of wandering the island, she reached a crowd gathered near a tree. Out of mere curiosity, she went to see.
There was a hurt girl, just like her mother. The girl was still sad about what her mother had said, so she thought the people here might have different responses than hers.
The warm feeling she felt with her mother was still inside her. Maybe helping the girl she didn't know would make her feel it again.
After finishing placing her hands on her, Irisdina hoped the others would say nice things to her.
"Dirty half-breed!!"
Unfortunately, that was not the case.
Looks and voices of disapproval surrounded Irisdina.
Once again, the tears that had just stopped began to flow as she ran away.
◇◇◇
Irisdina had reached twelve years of age.
Normally, she only left home to run errands for her father or help in the fields.
She didn't have a smile in her gaze despite it being a beautiful summer.
The reason was...
"There's that girl again."
...The voices of the villagers.
Different and terrible voices were clearly heard.
"I heard her mother died recently. The village shaman said she cursed her daughter for everything."
"I found out that the day her father lost his leg, she used magical power."
"Eh! How horrible must that be? The father probably lost his leg because of that, right?"
Irisdina heard that.
(They're wrong. He got drunk, and a construction unit carrying stones dumped them where he was lying.)
The women's voices were terrible, while the men's filled her with panic when she went out.
"Hey, have you seen her? Damn, she's crazy pretty."
"Yes! But the real admiration is those boobs!!"
"I get you!! I wish my wife had boobs that big, and to top it off, she's still developing!?"
"!! You mean those boobs can grow more!!"
Irisdina could feel the obscene gaze of the men fixed on her.
(This is why I don't like going out!)
For a long time, she had wanted to leave that place.
◇◇◇
Days had passed, and the village people were making a commotion.
Apparently, a very important noble had come.
Irisdina was changing in her room to go out and harvest crops when she heard a sound.
It was a bottle that had fallen on the floor.
Turning around in panic, she found her father with his pants down. It seems he wanted to go to the bathroom, or at least try, even though her room and the bathroom were in opposite places.
She covered her slender and very developed body for a sixteen-year-old girl.
Her father tried to calm her down.
He made gestures with his hands to indicate it was okay and that he had fallen trying to go to the bathroom.
But for some reason, Irisdina didn't trust his gaze.
Her father, staggering, stood up, and before leaving, he said.
"Today a noble *hic* came to the village. You should do something useful for us and *hic* just like your mother, use that body to bring us benefits."
He took the bottle that had fallen on the floor to his mouth but didn't find a single drop.
Upon noticing there was nothing inside, he threw it on the floor, breaking it. He headed to take another drink, but before doing so, he said...
"Pick it up. A bitch is only good for picking up what men throw at them."
Irisdina had a sad and pained look while repeating to herself.
(I want to get out of this place, please!!)
Then someone knocked on the door.
Her father didn't seem to care as he sat on the floor.
Irisdina approached the door and upon opening it...
"Good afternoon."
...Her wish came true.
◇◇◇
Irisdina had turned sixteen.
A year ago, she was officially considered an adult.
Her father had died from alcohol poisoning.
She was packing her bags.
Four years ago, a man in a suit had come to her house. She was a little scared, but it seems the man came to imprison the feudal lord of these lands for various crimes.
He had caught him in carnal acts with the women of his vassals.
Immediately, both the lord and his heir were executed.
The man had heard rumors about a commoner who possessed magical power.
She showed him what she could do on a wound she made on herself.
The man marveled at what he saw. He thought it was water magic since it's normally used to treat wounds and accelerate cellular healing.
Since he didn't know what it was, he still gave her a letter saying she could enroll at the Royal Academy in the capital of her country, the Kingdom of Altfode.
He also gave her things like children's books to learn to read and write.
And, as a gift for the village, he left an instructor in education and manners in the village.
It was then that Irisdina learned of strange words she had never heard, like calling a respectable person "san."
Irisdina had spent four years of her life learning.
Since then, every day she wanted to know more about the world and her surroundings.
A ship had come to pick up the people going to the capital.
She was truly happy.
Her face showed a smile so pure and beautiful that it dazzled everyone around her.
Her short hair had been styled by the instructor who had been living in the village for four years. She didn't know that style was called a bob cut.
The ship had finally arrived, and she prepared for what the future held for her.
◇◇◇
Suddenly, Airi woke up.
She was sleeping on a school bench.
((When did I fall asleep??))
Her head was a little foggy since she didn't remember what happened.
When she turned her head to one side, there was nothing but people—students carrying boards, paint, and other things.
And when she turned to the other side.
((Rudel-san!?))
She found a Rudel reading a book about improving tea and cookies.
Upon hearing her voice, Rudel's serious face changed to a smile, and he responded.
"Good morning. You look like you've been very tired lately."
"Huh?"
"For some reason, I found you sleeping here. And you looked so vulnerable, so I decided to protect you, making sure no weirdo approached you."
"Don't tell me you..."
"Oh, sorry. Don't worry, I would never lay a hand on you despite being a mere country Baron. You can be at ease!"
Airi was a little terrified when she heard she had fallen asleep, then a little anxious when Rudel said he was watching over her. And now, for some reason, she was a little annoyed by that in the middle.
But even so. She was happy.
Sounds of hammering and people shouting could be heard.
"Bring that up here!"
"We need to set up a sweets stand before the weekend."
"I heard some girls are making a servants-only café."
Despite all that commotion. Rudel never turned away because he was only interested in Airi's well-being.
He asked her, "Did you have a bad dream? You sometimes made a bad face."
And Airi responded with a smile, "It must have just been exam stress. Let's go find Alisa; she must be hiding from her pursuers."
The two headed off to find their friend.
Airi smiled as she walked with her first friend, Rudel, looking for her first friend, Alisa.
For the first time, she felt an inexplicable happiness.
Unfortunately, soon enough, she would go through that nightmare again.