After some time, Natalie began to spar with Alexander, a new member joined the group of misfits. It was Lily. That happened when Billy and Alexander started to experiment fighting with the stone sword, and Natalie also tried their stone staff. Until now, she avoided using any mind or weapon. The redhead people were as much tradition as Billy's tribe, after all. Still, in the end, her curiosity got the better of her.
"Let me try that too," Lily suddenly appeared and said.
Billy wondered what he should do. Lily probably wanted to spar with Natalie and then eventually become friends with her. He could see that in her eyes. However, letting those two use weapons that they were not used to might cause an accident.
"All right, just don't aim at each other's heads," Billy said while passing his staff to Lily.
Billy had already learned Swordsmanship when he imitated some of Natalie's moves, and he wanted to learn how to use a bow as well. Still, he would have to ask for some tips from Lily later. In any case, the girls started slowly since they didn't have any experience with those weapons. Still, once they got used to it, they began to attack each other relatively fast. When Billy used Appraisal, he confirmed that Lily also had a high strength… It was only natural after pulling the strings of bows hundreds of times every day.
Like they were copying each other, those two tried to hit their legs, but the staff collided and blocked each other. A low strike like that was easy to land, after all. They also tried to hit each other's ribs. Still, once again, the weapons collided against each other… the same thing happened so many times. Eventually, it became a contest about who was the strongest and who would land an attack first. While it was silly, they went and did that for quite a while… until their arms were hurting so much that they couldn't move.
"Not bad, for an archer…" Natalie said.
"You aren't half bad for someone so hot-blooded either…" Lily said.
It was a pretty weird way to make friends, but in the end, it was like that that those two became friends. While Billy was frowning, Alexander was smiling since the group was getting bigger.
Things were proceeding well, and judging by Billy's experience, something troublesome was bound to happen. After all, it had become a normal occurrence after that point in time. However, the family had some good ones instead of some bad news. When they were having dinner, Camilla announced to everyone that she was pregnant. Her condition had gotten a bit worse over the last few weeks, and her belly had grown, after all. So, it was evident that she was. Billy would have the sibling that he had been waiting for.
Fortunately enough, it happened during a time the Elementalist wasn't attacking that often, so the guards didn't miss Camilla's presence much. However, after several months, everyone noticed that her belly was getting big way too fast… Billy already knew the reason for that, but the others didn't. Apparently, twins weren't a common sight in that world… just Billy had expected. His mother went into labor sooner than anyone expecting and her condition got complicated. However, since Billy imagined that such a thing might happen, he made his mother level up several times during the last few months. He increased her endurance with status points and gave her a bonus in health by leveling up her clothes… in the end, the cries of two healthy children began to echo through the house.
Drew looked ecstatic when he saw that his new kids were a boy and a girl. Meanwhile, Camilla smiled and then let some tears flow because she was relieved. As for Billy, the last time he felt so happy was the time when he was reborn. Unfortunately, he couldn't play with them for several months since they were still pretty frail. Camilla and Anna looked after them day and night during that time, and Billy only helped with miscellaneous things.
"You look pretty happy for some reason…" Natalie said after managing to knock down Billy only once. "Recently, your head isn't here during the spars, so I can't tell if I am making progress."
"Billy's siblings were just born, so he is humming in a good mood pretty much all the time," Alexander explained.
Billy got a bit angry since Alexander involved himself in something that wasn't his business. While that wasn't exactly a secret, he still didn't have any right to say that. That being said, kids will be kids, so they don't watch their mouths.
"Hmm… I also have some news," Natalie said. "The grown-ups said that I can begin to train with them. I am already ten, after all. Soon, I will join the guard and help them fight the enemies."
Natalie spoke like being ten was one hell of an achievement. In any case, her skills certainly improved over the course of the last two years, but it was hard to say if she would be able to learn more from others who weren't as patient as Billy.
"Don't get your ass kicked too much," Billy said.
"Humph! I still will come now and then to show how much strength I will get," Natalie said after snorting. "They can only train me near the walls, and sometimes it is too dangerous to train there. Soon, I will become strong enough to kill all of them…"
It seemed that Natalie's father died in the hands of the Elementalist. No wonder her wish to become strong was so powerful. While Billy didn't have many responsibilities toward her, he was worried.. She was seriously the type who needed someone to watch her back all the time… while he was the smallest of the group, he was the oldest mentally speaking, and at that point in time, he couldn't help but worry about the others.
