The Protagonist's Sister Is Actually The Strongest Chapter 263: The Flame Of Your Hearts

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“For the first ti in my entire life, Anna, I felt truly alive…” smiled the heavenly empress. “When I did sothing nobody else would do with their food. When I ran into the village in the middle of the night carrying bags of food and went into the darkest and most dangerous places of the village. And I t them, the children; they looked at with fear. They thought I was going to beat them like the other thugs…”

The scene changed, and it showed exactly what she described. The young empress was in front of the children, hiding in the corners of the village covered in mud and filth.

“Hahh… Hahh…” she was gasping for air, looking at their misery.

With pity.

And empathy.

“Please calm down… I won’t hurt you,” she sighed. “Here, please eat… I brought everything I have. It’s mostly rice and seeds. T-There’s so fish in there- Woah!”

The children imdiately jumped towards the bags of food, tearing them open and eating the seeds, rice, and the grilled fish.

They were like savages, and the little crane was afraid of them for a mont, but she didn’t back down; she remained there until all dozens of them finished eating.

She noticed as they ate that they didn’t fight for the food and equally distributed it, or well, as much as they could.

“It felt satisfying to finally do sothing in my life…” the empress sighed. “To finally act, even as weak and pathetic as I was. I helped people… I made of my life sothing else than just the empty husk I had beco after my parent’s deaths.”

“Master…” I couldn’t help but smile at her. “And what happened?” I asked.

“Once they finished eating, well…”

The girl stayed there until they finished eating, and then she smiled back at them with a gentle smile.

“Was it tasty?” she asked.

The kids felt slightly weird, afraid even now…

Why would soone ever give them anything?

In this harsh world full of shit?

They thought it was a sche, that she wanted to manipulate them or sothing; maybe the food was poisoned and she was going to use their bodies for sothing.

“W-What do you want from us?”

“Why did you feed us? Was it poisoned?”

“Just why did you show us kindness? What’s the reason?”

The kids asked; the black cat was there too; the boy had grown up a lot and looked… very bitter, glaring at her with suspiciousness.

“She’s probably up to sothing! I’ve only seen a white crane before, and she just ran away when I t her! She’s no good; she poisoned us or sothing!”

“It’s you,” the girl said. “Listen, I’m really sorry… A-Ah, I got so more fish here; can you give it to your sister?”

“My sister?!” The kid started crying, slapping the girl’s hand as the fish fell in the mud. The kids gasped due to the waste of food. “My sister died! She died of hunger… Her little body… her little body couldn’t hold on anymore… Mom used to feed her milk, but mom grew sick and died… I couldn’t… I couldn’t protect her… I was… I’m a terrible brother…”

The boy fell to the mud, crying tears of regret and sorrow.

Hue Xian remained in silence, looking at him, regretting her own decisions.

If she hadn’t run away that ti, if she had invited them to her house.

If she had fed the boy and his sister…

She wouldn’t be dead right now.

“Maybe most people would find it stupid to ever bla yourself for sothing outside of your control,” the empress sighed. “But to , that mont… It impacted more than you imagine. It made realize that there was a way for to change people’s fate. If only I had done the right thing, if only I had given food—sothing as simple as food, which I always had plenty of—lives could have been saved. And the boy in front of wouldn’t be crying.”

“I-It wasn’t exactly your fault-”

“It was!” she roared. “It was my fault she died! It was my fault my parents died too! This is my penitence; these are my sins! I carry many with . The regret, the guilt! I… this is also part of my power. The power of Hope… Forgive , I… I lost my composure. So old I am, yet to think old mories could move my heart. I am quite literally an old granny now, and yet… I have such outbursts of emotions. How shaful of …”

“I-It’s fine… You’re a person at the end of the day, master,” I held her hands, caressing her feathers. “You’re a wonderful person… Don’t say such things about yourself… I admire you.”

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“Anna,” she muttered. “I… Ahem, well… I am grateful, but let us continue.”

“Ah, yes…” I nodded.

The scene changed again; the kids that did not trust Master at first were fed regularly by her.

It was almost sothing that happened every few days, at least twice a week.

She couldn’t feed them every day; her farm wouldn’t give her enough food after all.

She fished as much as she could, picked fruits and berries, and edible herbs and roots.

Master fed the children without asking for anything in return.

Over ti, they slowly trusted her.

“As I slowly got to know the children and the other poor people of the village and fed them, I learned about their lives, their stories, and how they ended where they were,” she said. “Most of them were simply born already in the streets, never ever given a chance at anything… I took upon my responsibility to take care of as many people as I could. But I mostly prioritized the children; they were the most vulnerable. The beggars that were old and wrinkly… they knew how to survive—to steal and deceive. But the children had yet to know how to survive the way the world wanted to. There was a chance for to correct their path.”

“And so… let guess, you recruited them?” I wondered.

“Naturally,” she nodded. “I felt guilt for what I couldn’t do, and I felt responsible for their wellbeing. Many of the people that saw doing these things mocked . They even reprimanded and tried to assault and steal the food from , but I had wings, and they didn’t. Bird tribes were very rare around that area, so I flew away every ti. My wings were my greatest weapon, but I only fled; I never fought.”

The scene showed young Hue Xian walking through the hidden path to her house, the children right behind her. The grumpy black cat that had blad her for her sister’s death had changed a bit.

He had beco overprotective of her and was always watching her back; although he still acted grumpy, he was perhaps the most loyal of the kids.

“I never asked you guys nas! Especially you, what’s your na? I’m Hue Xian!” she said with a cute smile.

“M-My na is Ku Zi…” sighed the boy. “My sister was Ku Za… It ans Right Half and Left Half in the tongue of our tribe…”

“Oh…” Hue Xian sighed. “I-I see…”

“Hmm, you know, you don’t… need to bla yourself for it. I was dumb, sorry…” the kid said. “Err, you’ve done a lot, so… I feel bad for it… I want to help sohow… at least to help you get the food.”

“Thank you, Ku Zi! And sure, everyone co!”

She led them to her house, big and old, surrounded by so much vegetation it was impossible to discern from above and even in the path.

This was the little sanctuary her parents built, hidden from the world outside.

“The path is sure thorny around here- Woah…”

“This is your house?!”

“So you’re rich then!”

“I-I’m not, I have no money, I just get food from the big farm and the river…” Hue Xian said. “But I always feel lonely. If you want, I can let you live inside… as long as you help with the chores. And take a bath first.”

“R-Really?!”

“But this is…”

“Are we really worthy?”

“We’re just poor beggars good for nothing... Why would you go out of your way to help us so much?”

“I… I don’t know, I just want to, okay?” Hue Xian smiled. “I feel better when I use what I have to help others… It makes feel like… Like I exist.”

“You’re weird… haha,” laughed Ku Zi. “This world, since I was born, has been harsh and horrible. People kill each other all the ti... Everyone starves to death. Only the strong and wealthy live, or their relatives. Yet you’re neither strong nor wealthy… But you help others anyway, for no reason at all…”

“Thank you, Hue…”

“Thanks…”

“I-I want to help as much as I can!”

“ too…”

The kids nodded, looking at Hue Xian with smiles full of…

Hope.

The world, which they had always thought to be so empty, crude, and cold…

So ugly and filthy, and full of hunger and pain.

A single girl, with wings, an angel, brought them food.

She asked for nothing.

She did nothing else than feed them and talk with them.

There were never ulterior motives.

Just pure kindness.

From the bottom of her heart.

And with her kindness, these innocent and young souls were rekindled.

The fla of hope once more lit up inside their hearts.

“And that’s when I felt it, for the first ti,” she smiled. “I’ve eaten grass that activated ridians but was unable to control my Ki before. It was unstable… You see, every person is born with so sort of Elental Ki. Oftentis dictated based on the place they live, what they eat… or their bloodline. My bloodline, the White Cranes, were graceful and beautiful, but weak. Our talent with Ki manipulation was very pathetic. And our kind was often used as slaves, luxurious slave concubines for wealthy and strong people.”

“However, in that mont, when I had already given up on cultivating, when I had lost the Hope to use strength to save the weak… It surged. My elent. An elent I created, that I cultivated with my kindness and my actions, with changing the children’s fates… by rekindling the fla of hope inside their hearts.”

The scene showed it clearly.

As the children thanked her, from their chests, little flas of gold surged.

And they flew inside of Hue Xian’s chest, fusing with her heart.

FLASH!

“W-What is this?”

She gasped, unable to ever believe her eyes.

The children were surprised too; they saw the tiny flas reach her; they were shocked.

“T-This is… Amazing! Hue Xian! You awakened as a Cultivator! That’s the Aura of Ki!”

“You did? So nice!”

“You can be strong now! You won’t be trampled!”

“Hue Xian! I’m so happy!”

As the kids beca happier, the fla beca stronger. Hue Xian, who was always weak and ek, and only ran away…

Could now finally feel the strength of her bonds with the children; their emotions beca her power, her elent…

Hope.

“Instead of refining a Martial Core, my heart was refined by my elent; it beca a Heart of Hope,” she said. “I beca stronger by giving Hope to people and keeping it up. By helping and asking for nothing in return… It wasn’t exactly my own power; it was the strength of everyone that relied on …”

“Master… It’s so wonderful!”

“It is, isn’t it? This heart of mine…” she sighed. “I cultivated the power of Hope for three more years. Living with the children and becoming stronger. I learned to wield its flas, to use its power to move faster, to strike faster. I hunted Martial Beasts with them and taught them to beco strong too.”

“A-And?”

“And eventually, of course… I avenged the old rat man. He was the grandfather of two of the children I took care of…” she sighed. “They loved him very dearly, and they were very traumatized after the death of their grandfather… I took revenge for them and fought that panda man. My first ever challenge.”

“W-When you were just a child?” I gasped.

“Yes…” she smiled. “Well, a young adult by then.”

Yeah, she’s truly a protagonist, huh?

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Author's Note: I know these last couple chapters been boring so far for so people, and I'm sorry if this isn't what you expected the story to be. But I was very invested into writing these characters, their backstories, and everything related to this amazing power Anna will inherit, which will help her all the way to the end of the story.

So I thought I had to put more effort into everything, more passion, more emotion, and all of that. I know everyone wants action and battles, don't worry, you'll get plenty of that too, you'll get as many battles as we also have chapters like this. So I ask you to have patience and appreciate things besides battles. Thanks for reading so far!