“Sang, Adolf! You two again! You’re supposed to be resting in your rooms, not running around causing trouble!”

The sudden voice startled Sang and Adolf. Sang, shameless as ever, immediately raised both hands and said, “Sister Lillian, this isn’t my fault! Adolf forced me to come out!”

Adolf: “???”

He’d never seen anyone so shameless.

And then—

The voice behind them suddenly broke. A snort of laughter escaped, and then it burst into full-on giggles.

Sang and Adolf realized something was off. That laugh didn’t sound right. They turned around, and sure enough, it wasn’t the orphanage director, Lillian. It was a beautiful girl with blonde hair and blue eyes.

Luna beamed at them.

Sang and Adolf rolled their eyes in unison. “Luna, could you stop pretending to be Sister Lillian just to scare us!?”

Luna ignored their complaints and teased, “Watermelon, you have no loyalty at all. You dumped all the blame on Adolf just like that!”

Sang shrugged and rolled his eyes. “Sister Lillian would never blame Adolf. He’s her favorite!”

“Heeheehee, true~ I like Adolf too. Watermelon’s the one I like least!” Luna chimed in.

Hearing Luna, the boy Sang sighed, looking a little helpless.

As I mentioned earlier, Adolf was mature and steady, tough and dependable. He always thought of others, had a strong sense of justice, and stood up for the weak. On top of that, he was handsome and well-built. He was the most popular kid at the orphanage, and even Sister Lillian doted on him.

By comparison—

In the eyes of everyone at the orphanage, the boy Sang was probably plain-looking and average-built, with only a little cleverness to his name. He was a lazy couch potato who spent all day slacking off. If he didn’t keep tinkering with strange gadgets, they probably wouldn’t remember much about him at all.

At that moment—

Luna stood with her hands behind her back, smiling brightly. Her delicate blue eyes curved into crescent moons as she asked, “So, what are you two doing here?”

Sang spoke up first. “Adolf said he’d treat you to meat as a birthday present~!”

In this world, where the Blood Clan reigned supreme and humans were looked down on, things were different from Sang’s old world. Being treated to a meal with meat was a pretty great birthday present. Having enough to eat always mattered more than material or spiritual comforts.

So Luna clapped her hands, instantly looking delighted. “Thank you, Adolf!”

After that—

Sang, Luna, and Adolf decided to roast the pheasant and rabbit at their secret base: beneath this very tree.

They didn’t have much choice. There were simply too many children at the orphanage for everyone to get meat. That was the reality of their situation.

In a cruel world, there was nothing wrong with being a little selfish.

While Luna took care of the barbecue, Adolf must’ve been too bored to sit around doing nothing. He made the most of his time by practicing his swordsmanship. In the blazing midday sun, he stood a short distance away and swung his rust-covered, battered iron sword over and over, until sweat soaked him through and his sturdy physique showed.

That battered iron sword had actually been a birthday present from Sang and Luna a few years ago. It might’ve looked like a piece of junk, but it had nearly cost them all the money they’d saved over the years by collecting cigarette butts. Adolf treasured that rust-covered sword as if it were a priceless heirloom.

A little while later—

Adolf must’ve decided that swinging his sword alone was getting boring. He turned toward Sang, who was lying on the grass beneath the tree, and called out, “Watermelon, how about we have a rematch for the first time in ages!?”

Sang frowned at the suggestion and drawled, “Ah… I’ll pass. I never win against you anyway.”

This was a world that valued martial skill over scholarship, and being a knight was the noblest profession. Almost everyone, grown-ups and kids alike, dreamed of becoming one.

That was exactly why—

In an orphanage with hardly any entertainment, sparring was one way for the kids to have fun. From the time they were little, the boys would often play at being knights in the yard. They’d fight to see who was stronger, and Adolf almost always came out on top by a landslide.

In truth—

You already know that the boy Sang was hiding his abilities. Every time they played knights, he got knocked out in the first round and was widely considered the weakest person in the whole orphanage. It wasn’t because he wanted to play the fool and surprise everyone later. He was just protecting himself.

If Adolf was an ordinary genius, then the boy Sang was probably a once-in-a-century prodigy. In a world ruled by the Blood Clan, a human genius like that might really end up in trouble.

What if some Blood Clan member decided a genius’s blood tasted especially delicious and took you home as a Blood Servant? Wouldn’t that be awful?

Adolf was persistent. “Come on, play with me… I promise I won’t hurt you.”

Luna chimed in. “Watermelon, don’t be a wimp!”

The boy Sang rolled his eyes. He really did spoil these two too much. After a while, he sighed and said, “All right, all right. We’ll have a little spar.”

They were just kids fooling around, so Sang and Adolf used a small wooden stick as a knight’s sword.

As for the result—

There was no need to say it. Adolf won easily, just as he always did.

The boy Sang was knocked to the ground in fewer than ten moves. He didn’t look pitiful, just completely worn out. “I give up.”

Luna looked at the two of them with an unsurprised smile. “Adolf’s amazing. Watermelon’s terrible.”

Adolf was still a boy, after all. He didn’t tease Sang much, but there was a hint of superiority in his eyes as he reached out to him with the air of a victor. “Watermelon, are you okay?”

Sang shook his head. He took Adolf’s hand and gave a wry smile. “Ugh, I told you I didn’t want to fight. Now I’m filthy.”

Back in his old world, Sang had been a somewhat sloppy shut-in. But after coming to this other world, he’d developed a bit of a cleanliness obsession. The main reason was that people here had such poor hygiene. Everyone else was so filthy.

“Watermelon, you should practice your swordsmanship too. Getting stronger can only be a good thing,” Adolf advised, looking serious.

Sang waved him off and drawled, “I’d rather not. My dream isn’t to become a knight. I just want to be a carefree couch potato, find a decent job, and marry a beautiful wife. Life would be great~ Besides…”

“Besides?”

“Besides, I know Adolf’s going to become a great and powerful knight. You’ll protect me and everyone else.”

As he spoke, the boy Sang wore his usual lazy but sunny smile, looking like a carefree fool.

Hearing that, Adolf stared at the carefree boy Sang and froze for a moment. Then his expression turned utterly resolute. “Yeah. I’ll protect everyone.”

At the same time—

A short distance away, Luna was preparing the roast chicken and rabbit. She’d heard what the boy Sang said, especially the part about marrying a beautiful wife. She couldn’t help turning her head to look at him, sitting on the ground with such a careless air, and grew thoughtful.

About half an hour later—

The roast chicken and rabbit were ready. Sang, Luna, and Adolf sat beneath the afternoon shade of the tree and dug in. Luna especially could barely keep from drooling at the golden roast chicken, glistening with grease.

Even so—

Before the three of them started eating, Luna wrapped a chicken leg and a wing in a lotus leaf. Sang and Adolf weren’t surprised. Luna dreamed of becoming the orphanage director, just like Sister Lillian. She was a kind and lively girl.

The chicken leg and wing were for Xiaduo and Hugo. One was a girl and the other a boy, and they were the youngest children in the entire orphanage. They were at an age when they needed to grow, so they had to get enough nutrition.

And so—

That left only the roast chicken wing in Sang’s hand and the roast chicken leg in Adolf’s. Adolf noticed what Luna had done and still gave her his chicken leg.

Luna blushed a little, looking grateful. “Thank you, Adolf.”

Adolf replied steadily, “You don’t have to thank me. It’s your birthday, after all. You shouldn’t have to eat less.”

The boy Sang watched the two of them being so sweet to each other, then glanced at the roast chicken wing in his own hand and thought it over. It seemed today was his birthday too. Well, he wasn’t giving his up. He’d just eat it.

That was one reason the boy Sang wasn’t popular at the orphanage. In the other kids’ eyes, he was a little selfish. And spending all his time with Luna and Adolf only made the contrast more obvious.

For the next half hour—

The three of them devoured a roast chicken and two roasted rabbits in no time.

Once they were full, they lay down beneath the tree. On a scorching summer day like this, it felt amazing to stretch out in the shade, enjoy the breeze, and drift into a light nap.

There was something wonderful about the slow, peaceful rhythm of country life.

If they could eat meat every day, staying in this remote little place, Kahn Town, for the rest of his life didn’t seem so bad.

Just as the boy Sang was having this thought, Sister Lillian’s urgent cries suddenly rang out in the distance, jolting Sang, Luna, and Adolf back to reality as they were about to fall asleep.

The three of them looked up in unison. Sister Lillian, dressed in a nun’s habit and drenched in sweat, came hurrying toward them. She looked frantic.

“Sang! Sang! Sang!”

“Come back to the orphanage with me, right now!”

The boy Sang froze for a moment, his brows knitted in confusion. “What happened?”

“You… you’ve been chosen! You’re going to become the True Ancestor’s Blood Servant!!!”