Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, Ray noticed his little sister sitting at the dining table, smiling and kicking her legs while humming a song to herself.
She had short black hair and blue eyes, just like her mother.
The little girl looked up and grinned even more once she saw Ray step into the dining room. "Big brother!! Good morning!! Have you awakened your powers yet? Are you super strong now?"
Since Ray had celebrated his nineteenth birthday yesterday, it wouldn't be surprising if he was able to awaken a class the next day.
However, this rarely happened to commoners from a simple background. Nevertheless, Emma had been praying really hard for her big brother to awaken his powers, so that she too could awaken hers once the time was right.
Most times, nobles had the luxury of awakening a class right after their nineteenth birthday while ninety-five percent of commoners couldn't even awaken theirs.
Only about five percent of them were able to accomplish this, and right now, Ray was currently among the rare five percent, and that made him the first ever person to awaken a class in their remote village.
In his last life, Ray had been viewed as a celebrity in the village.
Yes, many had been jealous and others didn't like him, but he never cared about what others thought of him because at the time, all he had wanted was to be a member of the elite warrior party.
However, that choice had prevented him from protecting those he loved, and Ray wasn't going to make that mistake twice.
He glanced at his little sister and nodded with a smile, causing the little girl's eyes to sparkle with delight as she exclaimed.
"Really??" Emma asked before swiftly turning toward her mother who was just as surprised as her.
"Mom!! Did you hear that?!! Big brother has awakened…" Emma's voice faded into the background as Ray focused his attention on the young lady in the kitchen.
He walked towards the kitchen to find Mira standing by the stove.
The young lady was busy setting down a plate of eggs and a loaf of the freshly baked bread he had previously perceived. This allowed Ray to take a good look at her with her long brown hair tied back with a ribbon.
It was the same red ribbon he had given her when they were ten, and Mira had been wearing it ever since.
He also noticed her large bull horns and tail which were signs of her being a Tauren, or more precisely, a cow-eared demihuman.
Upon getting closer, Mira's ears twitched the moment she sensed his presence.
She swiftly turned around to meet his gaze and her lips widened into a smile.
"Good morning, Ray. I made your favorite. I hope you're hungry."
She said excitedly, but Ray's vision became blurry as his heart was struck by Mira's warm smile.
It was a smile that he had slowly begun to forget over the years.
But he still couldn't believe that she was standing right in front of him.
The first girl he had ever had a crush on.
The first girl he had ever loved.
The only girl he had ever hoped to spend the rest of his life with.
However, he had never been brave enough to confess his feelings to her.
He had always convinced himself that he wasn't ready to tell her yet. But the truth was that he had just been too scared of being rejected, which was why he had never attempted to tell her how he felt about her.
In his last life, Ray had made a promise to himself to tell her how he felt once he had accomplished his mission with the elite warrior party, but in the end, she had died before he could even achieve his goals, let alone return home.
And while he had ventured out of the village to follow his dreams, Ray didn't know that the Baron who owned the village, had forced the residents to pay a ridiculous amount of tax, knowing full well that no one would be able to afford it.
Nonetheless, he had dragged a couple of villagers out, including Mira, and each of them was tortured to death in front of the other villagers, as a show of force, and a way to remind everyone of what would happen to them if any of them went against him.
The incident was supposed to happen three months from now, and just remembering it made Ray clench his fists as he tried his best to suppress his anger.
Now, the Baron had automatically become his enemy and first target.
Meanwhile, Mira noticed how quiet Ray had become, so she tilted her head and asked.
"Ray? Is something wro…?"
However, before she could finish questioning him, Ray swiftly crossed the room in three strides, before grabbing her shoulders and kissing her right on the lips.
Mira's eyes went wide and she froze as a quiet squeak escaped her throat.
However, Ray didn't stop.
He kissed her deeply without even caring that his mother and sister were still in the dining room which wasn't that far from the kitchen.
He didn't even care that Mira was too shocked to respond either.
All he cared about was that she was here and that was all that mattered to him.
After a while, he pulled back and Mira's face was now bright red.
Her lips were slightly parted with a look of shock her face and her ears were still standing straight up.
"R-Ray?! What…? Why…? I…?" She stammered but Ray simply smiled and placed his hand on her left cheek, before caressing it gently with his thumb.
"Mira?" He called out.
"Y-yes?"
"There's something I need to tell you. I want us to…"
"Y-yes." Mira immediately responded, her face still as red as a tomato.
Although Ray hadn't even completed his statement, she could already guess what he was about to say.
She could barely wait to hear what Ray had to say, and since she could already guess what it was going to be, Mira swiftly replied with a shaky smile on her lips.
Ray smiled in return and he couldn't believe what a fool he had been in his first life.
For years, Mira had felt the same way as him. But since she had been waiting for him to make the first move, she had tried her best not to appear desperate.
Ray wondered why he had been so blinded by fame in his first life when he should have simply tried to live a simple life with Mira, his mother, and his sister.
If this had been his dream all along, things surely wouldn't have turned out the way they did.