New World, New Life: I Became A Bigshot In The Ancient World

Aristia got down from the swing. She had been sitting outside on it for a while. The swing was her favorite place to sit and was the only thing in her home playground that she gave attention to. The other playground equipments were too childish to her.

She had just returned inside her house when she passed by her parents room and heard them having a discussion.

The door was slightly ajar so their voices were clear enough for her to unintentionally listen to their conversation even as she walked to her room.

Eavesdropping was not something she would do, and she would have continued to walk in the direction of her room had curiosity not gotten the best of her when she heard her name being uttered.

"I'm getting worried honey. I just can't seem to forget about that note and the strange man's words, and how it's connected to Ari." She heard her mother say to her father in a voice filled with worry.

"Don't worry, my love," Her father had replied in an attempt to comfort her mother even though he sounded equally worried. "That note is just a silly prank and that man might just be trying to scare us. Maybe he just wants to extort money from us. A lot of people have tried a lot of things in order to get money from us. This might just be one of those tricks. We can't fall for that." He was clearly trying to convince himself.

[What note? What man? What are Mom and Dad talking about and how is that related to me?] She thought in confusion and then listened in on the conversation again.

"Might?!! Richard, you said 'might'!!! That shows that you're not even convinced." Her mother's voice increased in volume; something that happened whenever she was scared or nervous, which she wasn't usually. In this case, it was both. What could have made her strong mother fear? Aristia wondered.

Then her mother sighed. "I'm sorry honey, I just... I just can't help it," she heard her mother say in a cracked voice. "I have this strong feeling that he might not be joking, call it motherly instinct or something, and it scares me, more than I can imagine."