The Five of Us

Chapter 1

Father Orsi is the high priest of a small church in the Hage Village. In the past week, 5 abandoned children, Three boys and two girls, two of them being overenergetic and the rest three sleeping calmly, have been found outside the church. The priest lifts the blanket off the sleeping kids. All of them had notes with their names written on them attached to their clothes. "Arthur, Yuno and Aldreda", he read out. He then did the same for the cheerful ones."Asta and Ethedred". He took them all in and decided to raise them together with the nun that works at the church, Sister Lily.  

<Timeskip 5 years>

The 5 were marching uphill while singing a song. Arthur was in the lead with asta close behind. The rest three were marching behind asta, when Yuno fell and started crying. "YUNO!" cried out aldreda like the worrywart she was. Ethedred sighed and helped Yuno stand up. Asta commented, "Yuno you need to stop crying so much and Aldree(Aldreda) you shouldn't worry so much". "Don't be mean Asta", Arthur scolded Asta, then turning to Yuno he said, "Don't worry Yuno, you'll grow out of it". "Maybe, but what about Aldree?" Ethedred taunted. Asta let out a little snicker. "That's not nice Eth", Aldreda said with a pout. Ethedred just snickered.

<Later that day>

 "Arthur, can you deliver this letter to the village chief?" Father yelled out to Arthur. "Not right now father, I'm playing with Asta" Arthur yelled back. "Oh come on, It's important please" "I'll do it", Yuno stuttered. "I'll come too", Aldreda added, "To keep Yuno safe". "Thanks Yuno", father replied, "And you too Aldree". "Bye you two!", Arthur said, as they waved goodbye.

The night was harsh. It was chilly and snowy. The roads were covered in snow. Yuno and Aldree little footprints in the snow. "Yuno", Aldreda said in a concerned tone, "Are you sure you don't want my sweater? It's very cold out here." "It's cold for you too isn't it?" Yuno replied. He didn't want to be a burden, regardless of how cold he was. "Oh Yuno, I can handle it." Aldree replied. Yuno didn't like that. He felt hurt and belittled. "And I can't!?", He snapped back, "STOP TRYING TO BABY ME!" Yuno sped away after that and ran into a stranger. "Yuno!" Aldreda cried out and ran after him. Yuno fell on his bottom. He wasn't really hurt. He looked up at the stranger. He had a messy beard and a very ragged look about him. He was holding a half empty bottle of cheap liquor. "Sorry mister I-" Yuno was stuttering as he was cut off by the stranger. He picked him up by the collar. He yelled at him, "Watch where you're going stupid brat!" and threw him back on the ground. Aldreda rushed to protect Yuno. She got between Yuno and the man and in a pitiful attempt to intimidate the drunkard said, "Get away from him.", in a low tone and lit up a small flame in her hands. The man just said, "😹😹".

<Meanwhile at the church>

Asta, Ethedred and Arthur were waiting at the dinner table. "They're still not back...." Sister Lily said, with clear concern in her voice. Father Orsi said nothing but looked very nervous. Arthur had had enough of waiting. He was worried for his two siblings. He decided he was going to go fetch them. "I'm going to go get them." He declared. Instantly Asta and Ethedred said, "I'll go too!" Sister Lily shot Father Orsi a concerned look. Father Orsi looked at her, looked at the children then looked back at the nun and said, "I think it's best to trust them. The two might be in trouble and I'm sure Arthur can get them back safe." They did not need to hear anymore. Within a moment they were on their way.

<Back with Aldreda and Yuno>

Yuno was shivering. Aldreda charged at the wasted old man. The drunkard refused to take her seriously. She went in for a hit and burned the man's thigh. He reacted violently, yelled, "OH YOU BITCH!" and raised his bottle and tried to smash it on her head. "Aldree!" Yuno cried out, frozen in fear. She got out of the way in time but as the bottle hit the ground, it shattered and one of the shards hit her in the ankle. She flinched and tried to move, but it hurt too much. He raised the bottle going for a stab this time, but before he could bring the broken bottle towards the little girl, it just disappeared from his hand. The man was extremely confused but the the two kids knew exactly what had happened. They looked over their shoulders to see Asta, Arthur and Ethedred running towards them. 

"More brats!?", the man exclaimed. Ethedred instantly ran over to Aldreda and Yuno to check if they were injured. Arthur stood between them and the old alchoholic. Asta didn't stop and fearlessly ran right at the man. He went for a flying kick right in the nuts. The man once again reacted violently, this time however just holding his groin and subsequently falling over. Asta didn't stop though he jumped right onto his stomach and the man screamed in pain. "That's enough Asta!" Arthur yelled out, concerned more for the stranger's safety than for Asta's. 

<Back at the church>

Father Orsi stood in a corner of the room, looking at his underlings interact after quite the experience. Aldreda lay on a bed to the side of the room, with Ethedred and Sis Lily treating her and Arthur standing beside the bed. Sister lily cautiously pulled out the shard of glass. Aldree yelped in pain, which prompted Arthur to console her. Sister Lily then washed her wound with her water magic, and Ethedred used her rain to heal her back up.

Across the room Asta and Yuno were sitting on the ground. Yuno was bawling his eyes out. "I'm so useless, I couldn't do anything. I acted like a coward and now I'm acting like a crybaby" Yuno said. Asta said, "You're not useless!" "All 4 of you took action to protect me while I just shivered behind you all. I even got Aldree injured." Yuno said. "It's ok to be weak, it's ok to be afraid. I'm sure you'll get over it. You'll work for it won't you?" Yuno just replied "😭😭". Asta said," Ok Yuno, tell me this, do you think I wasn't afraid when I saw the crazy guy with a bottle in his hand?" "You were?" Yuno enquired. "Of course I was! Everyone is afraid of something. You can't become truly fearless. You can only overcome the fear." Yuno stopped crying after that. It was comforting to him that even someone like Asta who seemed like he was never afraid had been scared. After giving it some thought Yuno said, "Alright, I'll do my best to become braver and eventually become the Magic Emperor!" "That's the spirit!" Asta replied "But unfortunately it's not possible because I'LL be the Magic Emperor!" Father Orsi smiled from the corner. "Oh!" he exclaimed as he realised he had forgotten something very important, "Did you guys get the letter to the Chief?"

<The Next day with Arthur and the Girls>

Ethedred and Aldree were sitting in a tree and Arthur was leaning on the same tree. "Arthur," Aldreda said, in an interrogative tone, "Do you remember what Yuno and Asta said last night?" "About becoming the wizard king?" Arthur asked back. "Yeah" Ethedred replied, "We were just thinking, I wanna become the strongest healer in the kingdom," "And I wanna be the most skilled fire mage" Aldreda continued, "But what is it that you want?" "What I want?" Arthur replied, "Well you know how there are different realms for nobles, royals and peasants?" "Yeah?" the girls replied, "I don't like that. I want to get rid of these classes. I want everyone to be equal." Arthur replied, "This dream of mine is the most important thing to me." "Even more important than us?" Aldree asked. Arthur smiled and said, "Even I don't know the answer to that question."