John and Hendrick burst into the temple infirmary carrying Barrett, their team leader, with an arm over each of their shoulders. He had shoulder length brown hair, a short beard, brown eyes, and muscular build underneath a set of lightweight leather armor.

"Oh no!" Father Michael said in worry as he scrambled to his feet. "More Ogres?"

"Yes and no," said a large man from behind them, carrying Barrett's spears in his hands.

The man was only a little older than the rest with silver hair in a short ponytail, a handlebar mustache and glasses that made him look older than he really was. He was at least a head taller than everyone else with a bulky build that made him look fat, but on the contrary he was physically the strongest member of the party. Attached to his back was an equally massive greatsword that most others would struggle with just because of its size. In fact his entire appearance was a complete contradiction, even down to his personality. Outwardly he appeared to be the strong silent type, but get him around some children and he was just a big teddy bear.

"We did run into a few more ogres, but he didn't get hurt by them."

"Shut up Tyson!" Barrett scolded, identifying the large man.

"You shut up!" Said a young female mage from behind Tyson.

This young woman was none other than Tyson's little sister, and the main reason he joined the party in the first place, Carina. She had just turned twenty this year and was a little shorter than Sarah with bright orange hair. Contrary to Sarah who used a wand, Carina wore a bracelet on each wrist with a cloudy yellow mana crystal. Opposite Sarah who specialized in ice magic, Carina was particularly adept at fire magic, perhaps a bit too adept.

She was the first mage born into a family of aura users. It wasn't that she was shunned by them, her parents and brother loved her unconditionally as a family should. They just had no idea how to teach her magic. They got her books, but as commoners that was all they could afford. They had hoped books and practice would teach her control, but it never did. In the end they all thought real world experience was the ticket, as that was a common practice for aura users. So with Tyson beside her she became an adventurer to gain experience.

She had earned the nickname firebug, as when she first became an adventurer she had a tendency to start small fires everywhere she went. She had an enormous pool of mana at her disposal, and in the beginning horrible control.

She had before cleared the entire first floor of a dungeon purely by accident, because she created too big of a flame to deal with a group of low level magic beasts, and couldn't control the flames afterwards. This was the main reason why Tyson stayed by her side in the beginning, to essentially protect her from herself. The two drifted from party to party until they found their current one, where they had Sarah to counterbalance her and help teach her control.

"You're only embarrassed because you tripped and twisted your ankle on the way back," Carina shot back, causing several chuckles to be heard.

Behind them Sarah entered and went straight for Sam as Barrett looked away in embarrassment while being healed.

"Sam sweetie are you ok?" She asked with worry as she held her son tightly.

"Mom...air," Sam forced out as she squeezed the air out of him.

"Oh no, I'm sorry," she replied urgently as she released him.

Sam dramatically gasped for air. "Physically I'm fine, but did you have to call me sweetie? It's embarrassing."

She hugged him again, though lighter this time. "You will always be my sweet little boy."

"Even after I'm as big as dad?"

She held him a little tighter. "Shhhh Shhhh. We don't need to talk or even think about that."

"Ugh. Well I'm fine. Is everyone else? Are they ok?" He asked stretching his neck to try and see everyone else.

"We're all fine killer," Hendrick replied proudly.

"Killer?"

"Your dad told us how you took down an Ogre out there," Tyson chimed in with a thumbs up.

"Oh Fuck! He told them. Will they keep their mouths shut? Father Michael and Sister Rose I know will keep their word, but these guys? Maybe not intentionally, but if they got drunk and ran their mouth to the wrong person..." Sam thought as he began to panic.

There were rumors in his previous life about children who mastered their internal energy at a very young age, and oftentimes disappeared before their teenage years. The conspiracy theory was that the empire kidnapped gifted children and either experimented on them, or brainwashed them into becoming elite soldiers. Sam had met some of these elite soldiers before, and they truly were gifted, they also seemed more like robots than people. He didn't give the theory much thought then, but now...

Carina plopped down on the bed next to him and gave him a side hug. "We all understood you were a genius, you learning to read so fast and all. But to awaken and develop your aura on your own to a point where you took on an Ogre? That's just crazy!"

"Ahh yes. It seems my dad thought this one out. Even though it's extraordinary, me awakening my aura at a young age isn't nearly as astonishing as becoming a second circle mage on top of that."

"Haha, thanks," Sam replied, knowing he'll need to talk John to get the story straight before he slipped up.

"You know," Carina pulled Sam even closer. "Sams going to be so handsome one day, on top of being strong." A wicked smirk formed on her face as she looked at Sarah. "Maybe I should just keep him for myself."

Sarah gave Carina a smile that sent chills down her spin.

"You're already far too old for my son."

"Abby isn't," John called out.

"You keep my daughter out of this!" Barrett yelled. "The guy she marries needs to be stronger than me for me to be able to accept it!"

"Well at the rate Sam's growing that won't be too far away," Tyson teased.

Just then the doors burst open and a woman with flaming red hair and a very pregnant stomach rushed into the room. Behind her a young six year old girl with matching hair in pigtails.

"Barrett!" The woman rushed to his side, her eyes wide in panic, the little girl right behind her. "Are you alright? I heard you got hurt on the hunt."

"Carrol, everything's fine, just a twisted ankle," He said reassuringly as he placed a hand on her cheek.

"Daddy, did you get that ogre back for hurting you?" Abby asked with stars in her eyes.

"Oh umm, he was already dead. I just stumbled after finishing it off," he replied awkwardly.

"You stumbled?" There was a change in his wife's tone that caused the others to back away. "You made us worry that you got badly hurt, over a stumble?"

The color drained from Barrett's face. "Honey..."

She grabbed him by the armor and started shaking him violently. "You sorry little! The only good thing you've ever done was give me our children! Other than that the stress and headaches you give..."

Sister Rose stepped up without fear and placed a hand on Carol's shoulder. "Carol, you need to calm down for the baby."

Carol stopped shaking her husband and released him. "You're right." She placed her hands on her stomach and started to breathe deeply.

"I'm sorry honey, you know I don't want to worry you," Barrett said as he placed his hands on top of hers. He then leaned closer and kissed her. "Come on, you know me. Nothing around here will ever kill me." He kissed her again but she just rolled her eyes. "Come on, don't be mad." One of his hands moved around behind her and caressed her butt.

She fought back a smile. "You are incorrigible." She then faced him and returned the kiss.

At this everyone awkwardly looked away, not wanting to be staring at the affectionate couple. This included their daughter, who in doing so caught sight of Sam sitting on one of the beds, and decided to visit him.

"Hey Sam," a dark yet playful smirk formed on her face. "heard you had to be carried back into the village. What happened? Did you faint when you saw the ogres?" She teased.

"No, I just passed out from exhaustion," he replied casually.

Being so close to the same age and being Barett's daughter, Abby and Sam practically grew up together. Sam was pretty much a loner in his previous life, and acted the same in this one. That being said, Abby was the only one of the kids that he would even call a friend, despite her near constant teasing. While other kids didn't take all that kindly to her words they didn't really phase Sam. With his mental age what it was, the worst he ever saw her as was annoying. To him this was just childish antics to try and get a reaction from him, so he just deprived her of one. Since she was just a child her attempts of teasing him weren't usually very creative, or significant. He just took to teasing without caring much about it, which only annoyed her and caused her to stop.

"Exhaustion? Seriously?" She replied with amusement.

"Well of course he would be. It takes a lot to bring down an ogre," Carina stated.

Unlike Sam, Carina did let Abby's attitude get to her. Making her look more like a child than Sam.

"Mrs. Carina, please don't fib. There's no way Sam could even hurt an ogre," Abby replied in a condescending tone, that sounded way too mature for her age.

"She's telling the truth sweety," Barrett called out. "Sam awakened his aura. Sam, show her."

Sam sighed in annoyance, finding this whole thing annoying and childish. Nevertheless, he raised his right hand up as he channeled aura to coat it in a protective manner, giving it a blue glow with a fire-like appearance that they could all see.

Even though all the adults heard and believed it, just seeing it left them in a state of astonishment. As for Abby, for the first time ever she was left speechless at the sight.

"I just have one question," Carina started, peeling her eyes from his hand and looking at John. "You said he's a two star. With how excited you were, I don't understand why you didn't tell us earlier?"

John was left speechless and looked to Sarah for help.

"Because I didn't tell them," Sam replied, realizing his father didn't have any idea how to get out of this.

"Why wouldn't you tell them?" Abby asked confused.

"Oh please just buy this." "Well, I read in mommy's magic book that mages don't awaken until they're older, so I figured it was the same for aura."

"I don't get it. What does that have to do with you not telling anyone?" Sarah asked.

Sam faked the most ashamed and pitiful look he could. "Well, if I'm not supposed to awaken aura till I'm older, I was afraid I'd get in trouble for doing something I'm not supposed to do."

There was dead silence as he finished his excuse. Abby looked like she was going to call him out when Carina spoke out first.

"Awwww! That's too cute!" She replied as she gave him the biggest hug she could.

Sam looked out at everyone, and it was obvious everyone else believed him. "Seriously? How stupid do you people think I am?"

——————————————————————-

Soon after Sam's explanation everyone dispersed, and now Sam and his parents were heading back to their home. He was currently walking between his parents, feeling a bit embarrassed as he was holding both of their hands. They walked in silence, though Sam had many questions, but the middle of the village wasn't the place to ask them. However as they got further from all the people and were getting closer to home, Sam learned he wasn't the only one with things to say.

"I'm sorry Sam," John apologized as they walked. "I put you on the spot back there while we didn't have a plan." He then chuckled, then released Sam's hand then picked him up as he spoke to his son with pride and placed him to ride on his shoulders. "I was just so proud of you that I just wanted to tell everyone and it just slipped out."

"Uhh, it's ok. But if you were so proud then why didn't you tell everyone the truth?"

John's mood sobered. "Tell everyone the truth was only going to complicate things, and make things more difficult for us all later. I trust our team, but I can't trust the wrong people won't hear them talking about you."

"Is that why you didn't say anything about the ogre general?"

"Yeah. Normally it should take someone a lot stronger than you to take one down, but the way you did it... I've never seen anything like it. If the nobles heard about that, there's no telling what might happen. At least with regular ogres, a two star aura user can handle them one at a time."

"Are the nobles also why you didn't say anything about me using magic?"

John lifted Sam up and set him back down on the ground, and took a knee so he could be close to his level.

"You can never tell anyone that you can use magic."

"Why? Mom can use magic."

"Yeah, but things are different from how things were when your mother started. Just trust me. It's too complicated to explain."

"I'm almost six now, I can understand things," Sam replied, trying to sound like a normal kid eager to grow up.

His parents chuckled, and Sarah knelt down as well.

"We know Sam." She sighed. "But you still won't be able to understand everything about why. Just know that if people learn you can use magic they'll take you far away from us for a very long time."

"What? I didn't read anything about that in the book? Is it like I feared? Was I right and the nobles would take gifted children from their parents?

"Ok," Sam replied, his mind racing as "what if" scenarios were forming in his head. "I promise I won't tell anyone."

His parents smiled. Sarah took her son into a hug and John tousled his hair.

"I bet you still want to learn more about magic don't you?" Sarah asked, to which Sam nodded. "Don't worry, we'll find a nice secluded place and I'll start teaching you everything I know."

"And I'll start teaching you more about how to use aura," John added.

"Finally!" Sam thought to himself in excitement.