Flügel, now outside the house, looked around. He felt a slight discomfort. In his past life, he rarely left home, and when he did, the fear of people and what they might do to him was constant. Maybe it was because of those disturbing videos he had watched. Apathetic due to depression, he started consuming that kind of content without feeling anything—or at least, that’s what he thought. Deep down, it disturbed him more than he admitted. It was one of the few bad habits he managed to abandon, but the images remained alive in his mind, difficult to erase.
He swallowed dryly as he scanned the precarious houses around him. The full moon shone brightly, illuminating the empty streets—a perfect night for an adventure.
Alright… What can I do out here to make money?
Flügel looked left and right. No path seemed promising. He could try stealing something using his gravity magic, but that wasn’t his way. Despite his apathy and indifference to many things, he held firmly to his ideals, even if they seemed frivolous or stupid to others.
However, when it came to his family or the few people he loved, he knew he couldn''t cling to those principles. It wasn’t a matter of feeling something intense for them—it was a matter of logic. He was human, and humans were supposed to care for their families.
That’s why, when the time came, he wouldn’t hesitate to harm another if it guaranteed the happiness of those around him. Ethical or not, right or wrong, he had decided this long ago. Even before reincarnation, he knew: if a button appeared before him, and pressing it guaranteed his mother’s and brother’s happiness, even if half the world disappeared, he wouldn’t hesitate to press it.
Damn it, even after dying and reincarnating, I still have this damn social phobia?!
Flügel felt his breathing grow heavier, along with his head. Nytheris quickly moved to Flügel’s chest. He felt Nytheris’s strong presence, and despite the horrible sensations of social phobia—now worsened by being in a completely unfamiliar place—he felt a little better thanks to Nytheris’s comforting presence.
"I… And you…" said Nytheris in Flügel’s head, his speech a bit strange. Flügel thought it was because he wasn’t fully developed yet and that it would be corrected as he grew with Flügel’s mana.
Thank you, Nytheris.
Flügel responded gratefully in his mind. He took a deep breath and chose the right path. He knew he needed to be careful. If a bandit appeared, despite being able to use offensive wind magic and probably other types of attack spells, he had the body of a one-year-old child, and moving wasn’t easy at all.
Flügel walked close to the walls of the precarious houses, almost reaching the corner where the path turned right. In one of the alleys, he saw a girl and a boy wrapped in a blanket, sleeping while hugging each other. The girl seemed to be between 15 and 17 years old, and the boy was a little older than Flügel.
Flügel couldn’t help but feel bad. Despite being quite apathetic, part of it was just him not wanting to feel anything to avoid getting hurt again, like in his childhood. He isolated his feelings of compassion. He had always known that life was hard and the world was cruel and rotten, where the weak and sentimental couldn’t survive. Of course, childhood depression had greatly contributed to his apathy.
But he was still human, and because of that, he couldn’t remain completely unaffected after seeing that. He forced himself to move on.
Damn it, I left home to make money or find something useful for my family, but what am I going to do?! How can I earn money as a one-year-old baby? Especially in the middle of the night.
Flügel sighed. Apparently, he was more foolish than he thought. He had been feeling like a genius for figuring out how to sneak out of the house silently and even how to use magic.
He decided to at least keep walking around, familiarizing himself with the alleys and other precarious houses. He frequently saw people sleeping in the alleys.
Damn it, staying here won’t help me at all...
With this thought in mind, Flügel suddenly looked at the moonlit wall.
I could try flying over the wall... But I''m afraid of heights, and I don''t think I can do it... No, I don''t need to fly, just get over it without dying from the fall on the other side, right...? I''ll do it.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!
Flügel started moving toward the wall, carefully passing through the alleys. He always avoided those with people sleeping, afraid of waking them and having them try something against him.
The closer he got to the wall, the more he realized how difficult it would be to climb it. And he noticed something he hadn’t even thought about before, despite having seen it: watchtowers. There were watchtowers on top of the wall.
Damn it, of course there would be watchtowers. Someone could try to invade the kingdom over the wall. Why didn''t I think about these watchtowers before? But... Maybe whoever is up there isn’t doing a great job. Well, I’ll try anyway. I''m small, maybe I''ll go unnoticed... I have an even better idea. Nytheris.
"Yes?" Nytheris responded in his head.
Could you go up there and check if there’s someone for me?
"I… don''t fly..."
Oh, right, so I’ll have to climb anyway...
Flügel sighed inwardly. He felt Nytheris become sad at the sigh.
I''m not disappointed, Nytheris. I''m just a bit tense, not sure if I''ll make it up there.
Nytheris didn’t respond, but Flügel felt him cheer up, knowing the sigh wasn’t directed at him, just frustration.
Flügel looked at the imposing wall. It had to be between 10 and 13 meters high. To Flügel, that was a lot, especially since his gravity and wind magic weren’t very strong yet.
The faster I finish something bad, the faster I''m free from it.
Flügel swallowed a lump of saliva along with his fear and hesitation. He took a deep breath and used gravity magic on himself for the first time. He knew his gravity magic wasn’t strong enough to lift him all the way up, so he just tried to lighten his body.
Alright… I feel much lighter. I’ll try just giving myself a strong enough push to launch over… Or maybe a steady jet? Nah, a push it is.
Flügel took a deep breath, looked up, and gathered mana in his hands, aiming for a strong wind burst under his small right hand. When he felt the wind form, he jumped—higher than expected for his age, thanks to gravity magic. Then, the wind exploded beneath him. He forced himself not to scream in surprise. He passed over the wall but kept rising instead of moving forward, as he needed to get over it.
He quickly adjusted in the air, using small wind bursts to turn. Looking toward the watchtower, he saw the guard sleeping, though he wasn’t sure since he couldn’t stop on the wall. Then, he cleared the wall, seeing the forest it concealed.
He deactivated his gravity magic, falling rapidly for a few meters, then reactivated it, weaker this time, and started descending slowly.
Man, that was a horrible experience. I never want to fly like that again... This body is garbage, it doesn’t let me do what I want.
Flügel landed softly on his back, so he wasn’t hurt. He stood up, sweaty from exhaustion, and used a small wind vortex in his hand to cool off. He struggled through the forest, his small body making the situation much worse. But he pressed on, venturing deeper into the woods.
This forest doesn’t feel friendly...
"Flügel… Let''s go. Danger." Nytheris said in Flügel''s head. He felt Nytheris’ distrust of the forest and his fear.
Flügel swallowed dry, afraid of encountering whatever was terrifying Nytheris. It was very dark, thanks to the trees blocking the moonlight. Flügel decided to go back the way he came, but when he looked back, he saw nothing and wasn''t sure if he had really come from there. He decided to move in the direction of his back. He might not be certain, but he knew he hadn''t turned much, so eventually, he would find his way back.
He tripped and fell to the ground. He wasn’t hurt, but now he was dirty—though he had already been dirty for a while, as he was barefoot.
Damn it, what did I trip over?
Flügel cursed in frustration and tried to visualize a flame. For the first time, he would attempt to use fire magic. At home, he couldn’t try, as he might set the house on fire. After just a few seconds, he managed to use fire magic, creating a fireball the size of a teenager''s fist.
He stood up, looking at what he had tripped over, and was even more surprised by what appeared before him. A dead body.
It seemed to be a man in his twenties. He wore a black bandana covering his mouth and nose, a brown vest over a white shirt, black pants, and dark boots. In his limp right hand, he held a dagger with a black hilt and a blade stained with dried blood. His throat was missing a piece. Claw marks covered his chest. Blood had flowed from his throat down his chest and arms, just as the blood from his chest had streamed down his abdomen to his pants. His eyes were open, frozen in fear. His messy, black, dirty hair fell over his forehead.
Flügel swallowed dry, instinctively looking around to check if whatever had killed the man was still nearby. Seeing that he was "safe", he turned his attention back to the dead body but dimmed the fireball in his hand, afraid of being seen in the dark forest.
Damn it, if I get caught by whatever killed this guy… I’ll probably die. I’m only a year old, and I don’t know many spells, nor do I even know how much I can use them.
It''s way worse to see in person than just in videos…
Flügel approached the corpse. He looked at its waist. A book was strapped to its belt, held by leather. A small pouch was also attached to it. Flügel quickly crouched and grabbed both the pouch and the book. He couldn’t read the book’s title, but he decided to take it anyway. He opened the small pouch and saw a few bronze coins and two silver ones.
A glimmer appeared in Flügel’s eyes. As someone who was poor, money was incredibly valuable to him. He quickly tucked the pouch into the tiny pocket of his tattered pants, but seeing that it was going to fall out, he grabbed it again and held it firmly in his hand. His right hand held the fireball, making it difficult to keep it away, as he had discovered that his mana channels were in his hands.
Flügel decided to shrink the fireball even further and, for the first time, tried to launch a spell away. He looked ahead, in the direction he was going, and attempted to shoot the fireball, trying to control its speed. He had seen this in a novel from his past life.
The fireball floated through the air slowly, illuminating the path until it hit a tree and disappeared. Flügel quickly memorized the path. He grabbed the book and ran in a straight line. When he felt something ahead of him, he knew it was the tree where his fireball had hit. He saw, far beyond the tree, the wall. He just ran, not caring about the path.
A chill ran down his spine. Instinctively, he looked back and saw a silhouette in the darkness, darker than the shadows themselves, with something resembling a wolf sitting beside it.
That sight made Flügel swallow dry, and he quickly reached the base of the wall. Maybe it was because of the desperation, but he immediately noticed something he could have done earlier. He put the small pouch in his mouth, holding it with his teeth. He tucked the book under his left armpit, using his left hand to remove gravity from his body and his right hand to create wind bursts to lift and redirect himself. He did this much more subtly and fluidly than the first time.
When he reached the ground, he quickly started running, holding the book in his right hand and the money pouch in his left. When he reached the front of his house, Flügel sat down to rest.
Damn it, I almost died back there… But at least I got some money. This will definitely help Aragi and Sophia… Now… Where am I going to hide this money?
Flügel looked up at the sky. The moon shone brightly, lower than before. Only a few hours remained until dawn.