Zero to Hero (Prequel/prototype)

Chapter 2. Home

The sun was high and bright when Emma woke Ken up the next day. As the pair walked leisurely and chatted the whole way home, the sun was already setting when they finally got back.

The supposed orphanage is nothing more than a typical countryside house that their adoptive mother inherited and decided to use as a place to raise children without any family.

The house is two stories high, with 6 rooms, and large open spaces for dining and gathering, the century old wooden house is quite impressive in size even for the countryside and would be considered a mansion fit for a noble family if it was built inside the city walls.

"Hey hey everyone!!! Look who is back!"

"Ken! Emma!" a group of children screamed.

Thanks to the world been at peace and this country being particularly peaceful, there aren't too many orphans, especially in this small rural village. Including the pair who have already turned 15 and would be considered adults now, there are 7 total orphans living here with their adoptive mother.

Beth was 14 years old when her mother passed away from an illness that left her with no more relatives. When she was 16 and working a day job at a nearby village. She found out that someone had abandoned their newborn child and disappeared. At just 16, she decided to take in the baby and over the next 20 years, Beth took in 10 abandoned children with 7 still living with her and raised them as if they were her own.

The family could survive thanks to the small plot of land attached to the house which allowed them to grow enough crops to not starve. Other than working the fields year around to grow whatever they could each season, the older kids would also try to hunt from small animals in the woods, fish in the rivers and streams and go around the neighboring villages trying to do any odd jobs they could get.

Other than Ken and Emma, Gwen at 12 is the next oldest. With human ears but a spotted orange cat tail, she happens to be a human and beastman hybrid. Juila who is 10 years old with long fluffy rabbit ears got a long thin scaly lizard tail. Kevin and Melvin are a pair of twins of 7 years old. While their face looks exactly the same, Kevin's got elf ears with a bushy wolf tail while Melvin's got wolf ears but no tail. Erika is the youngest of them all and is only 5 years of age. When you just look at her, she seems like a regular sheep beastman but when examined closely, her webbed fingers and toes are the definite traits of having merman blood.

While the different races have coexisted in relative peace for around two millennium, racism and prejudice seems to be deeply ingrained. Been mixed is seen by most as inferior since each race believes they are the most superior and by mixing their blood with any of the other race, it devalues their heritage and makes the offspring a lesser being.

Growing up in a beastman kingdom has taught Ken and Emma that been different means you get treated differently, but once you get to know someone and if they are kind at heart, race matters less and who you are becomes more important.

As the years passed, Ken would get fewer and fewer side stares and have less people murmuring behind his back when he is doing an odd job outside of the village. For the folks in his actual small village, they have been treating him and his siblings with kindness for as long as he could remember.

"What took you two so long to get home! Tell us everything you saw in the capital!"

"Before that Gwen. Guess who got accepted to the one and only Dragonspire Academy!"

"Did you really get selected Ken???!!!" All the kids started going crazy and screaming to know what took place during the selection.

"Sure did! Even the king himself came and greeted me after I got selected!"