Kaelen Elaris
That's my name.
…Now, where do I even begin with this?
…Hm.
Alright.
Let's start from the very beginning.
As I mentioned, my name is Kaelen Elaris, and I am a nobody.
But that doesn't matter, because I never cared about fame.
I never had grand dreams.
Never aspired to be more than I am.
Power?
Prestige?
Nah, that wasn't me.
It wasn't because I didn't want to.
NO.
It's because I couldn't.
I never had that choice from the very beginning.
Just like 90% of the rest of the world.
I was born with so little.
Barely anything to survive in this cruel world.
Back then, I always heard people talk about destiny and fate
Trying to find a way to forget their reality by blinding themselves with the possibility of a better future in the name of fate.
They say no matter what life throws your way, no matter how low you find yourself in life, you can always change the situation; you have the power to write your own destiny.
I say take my middle finger.
Most of the time, it's about talent. Hard work only gets you so far, but... never far enough.
I wasn't such an idiot as to buy those cheaply sold dreams.
From the day the awakening took place and I saw my talent... I knew I was fucked.
To be honest, I just laughed.
This world had no place for me, and sincerely, I didn't care.
I wasn't my father.
I didn't have big dreams.
No.
I didn't like pain.
I wasn't some masochist who didn't know when to quit.
Those idiots still die anyway.
So here...
Have my middle finger.
That's all you're getting from me.
I didn't want to die for no damn reason.
So from that day I awakened, I told myself the hard truth.
I couldn't survive here.
I just couldn't.
From that stage as a kid, barely even ten, I had already begun planning out my life.
To be clear, even as a kid, I was smarter than kids my age. That was the main reason I didn't get myself killed back in Alpheriosa.
Damn, the things I had to endure in that godforsaken place...
Well, just as I said, I knew my place.
Even though my dad was a duke, I knew there were powers I couldn't go against, powers I couldn't dream of competing against... at least if I still wanted that peaceful life.
As for the life I imagined for myself? It was quite simple, actually.
To become a farmer.
I wanted to own a huge plot of land somewhere far from civilization.
Somewhere where the chances of betrayal and conflict didn't exist.
And that was only possible if I was alone.
I avoided making friends since most kids my age got on my nerves anyway, particularly after that incident where I tried to play the hero.
Hah.
I can never forget that day.
It was from that day that I realized something.
Only the powerful had the right to be benevolent.
A weak, utterly powerless individual like me...?
… We just die.
There is no two ways about it.
The whole reason I wanted this was because my duchy handled all the food storage and farming for the kingdom. I got to see up close how peaceful the farmers' lives were.
The duchy had always been peaceful. People simply worked their farms and enjoyed time with their families.
It was the absence of any hunger for power... that was what captivated me.
I didn't even want my dad's duchy.
It was too much trouble.
With how weak I was, it was only a matter of time before I got betrayed and killed off one way or another.
So I decided to run away when I reached a certain stage in my life.
A peaceful life in a quiet forest, with my farm, a house, and maybe—just maybe—a wife.
I wasn't picky.
As long as the girl wasn't like those bitches I had to endure in Alpheriosa, I was okay.
But... fate... fate being the whore she was, didn't like that plan.
No...
She never liked me from the very beginning.