He opened his eyes and saw plot armor incarnate herself. The most accurate representation of Elm would be an amazonian princess, possessing both the glorious stature of amazonian warriors and the dignity of a princess. Her hair was like gold, not the fake blonde dyes the brunettes in his past life seemed to like so much.

It was as if she’d been blessed by the sun, possessing skin the color of bronzed olives and eyes the color of the sky but appeared clouded and bored, as if she’d seen everything the world had to offer. She wore a simple, loose tunic over her brown breeches that showed off her lithe, athletic figure with long legs that reminded him of those Olympic runners in his previous life. From years of training with the sword under the gleaming sun, she was a beautiful woman possessing skin the color of bronzed olives.

To put the cherry on top, her eyes were the color of the sky but not as vibrant, inheriting the sky’s wisdom rather than it’s optimism. Such was his younger sister, Elm - the protagonist of the game he’d found himself reincarnating into. Despite cutting a she-goblin in half, he saw that Elm still had that same bored look on her face.

“You just got goblin blood all over me.” Willow sniffed the heavy smell of monster blood and immediately cringed. “It stinks.”

“Sorry.” Elm cut the air in an arc, splattering the traces of she-goblin matter onto the ground before she sheathed her sword. She handed him a towel. Willow took the towel and dragged his feet to the river, washing the blood off his face.

“Didn’t Mother warn you not to stray too far from the town, Will?” Elm chastised her older brother.

“Geh.” Willow shivered from the cool feel of the river water against his face. “You know I don’t like being cooped up in the house all day, little sis.” The river splashed across his eyes as he took the time to gurgle the water as well. “Sometimes, I need a little bit of fresh air.” He felt Elm walk towards him so he opened his eyes, seeing that something had blocked off the sun behind him.

Elm had the same clouded expression in her eyes but this time, he thought he saw a trace of worry in them. “This is the fifth time you’ve been assaulted by a monster, brother. Something tells me there’s going to be a sixth. A seventh. And, an eight.”

Willow quickly washed off the remains of the blood before he wiped himself with a towel, standing up to his full height with a puffed chest that made it known who was the real sibling in charge here. Even though if one looked from afar, they wouldn’t exactly think that Willow was the older one. “A little cocky now, are you? Need I remind you what I did to prevent mother from spanking your arse when we were ten?”

“I’m . . .sorry.” Elm apologized, with her head down like a puppy.

Seeing this, Willow sighed before he stood on his toes and petted the young girl’s head. “I know you were just worried about me but the both of you NEED to stop treating me like I’m just a little boy! As far as I know, I’m six months older than you and after the Awakening, I’ll be considered a full-fledged man.”

“A man?” Elm whispered with a look of disbelief. As much as she loved her older brother, he

Ever since they were young, she had felt a need to protect him from anything that would harm him - mostly sexual. Her parents didn’t even need to request her watch over him as she would do so nonetheless. It made her feel satisfied just being by her beloved brother’s side, although since she was so close to him all the time, it was hard not to notice his “womanly” features.

She had to restrain herself from pouncing onto him so many times and as a very healthy, dominant young woman, it was beginning to prove difficult.

“Besides, it isn’t my fault that monsters have been appearing more and more frequently around the area now, is it?” Willow said. “Wait. I thought you were supposed to be with dad, hunting?”

“We finished early.” Elm nodded. “There were a couple of things amiss in our hunt this morning.”

“Which is?” Willow asked.

Elm opened her mouth and closed it multiple times. “It’s the reason I need to ensure that you’re safe.” She sent a look over to the dead she-goblin carcass. “At least until tomorrow.”

Willow wanted to say something but held no further argument. ”Fair Enough.” He looked at the dead carcass of the she-goblin and how close he’d been to being raped as the reality of his own emblem-to-be settled on him. He knew exactly why monsters were appearing more frequently, destroying crops, stealing livestock and basically, being a nuisance around the town.

Basically, it was all due to him. He remembered reading a little article that talked of his emblem or Willow’s emblem and the immense influence it had over monsters - more specifically, Alpha monsters. He had read up on the lore behind Willow but it was much too thick to be explained in a single sitting so he summarized it for himself, with the fact that if it weren’t for Willow, none of the plot in this world would happen.

No Heroes, No Monsters and No Demon Gods. It was all due to Willow or more specifically, his emblem that the world had been fucked a million times over. That was the responsibility he’d been given tomorrow at the [Awakening] where the first major event would occur. And he knew that the recent monster sightings were a foreshadowing to tomorrow’s event where so much innocent blood would be spilled.

Willow had already prepared for such an event, to the point where he planned on capitalizing upon it but there was nothing he could do to completely avoid such a future since this was a major event for the main plot of the game and is the spark that would set Elm’s journey as the Celestial Hero on track.

He knew enough about time and space that if he did anything to deter such an event, he’d definitely bring about a great catastrophe upon the world, perhaps even it’s end. Yeah, he was definitely not doing that.

“Brother?” Elm asked softly.

Willow shook himself out of his thoughts before he focused on the subject at hand. “I was just a little nervous. Thinking about tomorrow. How are you faring?”

“I don’t understand your question.” Elm said, tilting her head to the side in confusion.

Willow slapped his forehead, wondering how he forgot that Elm’s character setting made it so that she didn’t really feel anything other than primal feelings. “Sorry. Are you hoping to get a specific emblem?”

“No.” Elm said, before coming closer to her brother. “I’ll be fine with something that can protect you.”