ã€ŠChanging Oneselfã€‹


 Chapter 1 - The start and the end

    Its started with a flashing light, then receding darkness, and end with a soundless click.

    What a soundless click is, I¡¯m not even sure. How does one person hear it if it didn¡¯t produce any sound?

    But I did.

    ¡° Where.. am I?¡±

    Up and down, left and right, completely enveloped in the darkness, a mystified young man with an unexpected bored expression, unfit with the situation falling him, that is me.

    How did he ended up with a nonsense situation like this? Lets rewind time a bit.

    Exactly one hour ago, somewhere in the middle of a city ¨C

    SLAP!

    ¡° I have enough of you, ASSHOLE!!! If you THAT bored of me, then lets just break up!!! ¡±

    ¡° Okay, sure.¡±

    In the bustling street, where there many different kind of shop, from fashion to restaurant, each with people walking in and out with varying intention, some of them disappointed, not able find what they are seeking, some of them with satisfied expression. Everyday is the same, repeating routine, for people at the street at least.

    But today is different, it seems someone, no, a couple, with a little bit different than those people, standing in front of a woman fashion shop. A shouting crazed young woman and a bored looking young man. Not a regular event for sure.

    A confused expression plastered on the woman face, then a look of understanding, quickly replaced into fury and anger, with a bit of embarrassment. Her face turned as red as a tomato in a matter of second.

    Whoa, I don¡¯t know you can get this redder, mused him. While ignoring the stinging pain from his slapped cheek, he observed the woman, his girlfriend in from of him. Better avoid it next time, he isn¡¯t fan of pain after all.

    ¡°You..you.. How dare you, you heartless bastard!!! Go and DIE you shithead!!!¡±

    Oh, its coming. Taking a step back, he narrowly managed to avoid an incoming hand, intending to give him harm. It¡¯s a success!

    Celebrating his small victory in his head, he continue to observing the speci-, wrong, girlfriend..., that¡¯s not right either, ex girlfriend in front of him with his usual bored looking face.

    Still red faced, one can wonder how long she can maintaining her consciousness with all that blood going into her head. She glared at me viciously and opened her mouth for a second, then closed her mouth promptly without producing any sound, clicked her tongue one last time, she stomped her heels and walk away. A dangerous glint painted her eyes.

    That¡¯s strange. Based from my observation for one weeks of dating, I was sure she will go batshit crazy. Maybe he was wro-

    WHOSHH

    Shifting his body to the right side, he avoided the incoming projectile inch from his head. He looked back at the small but deadly projectile lying at the pavement behind him. It¡¯s a nail clipper, with its blade out. Its seems his guess hit right at the mark. The woman is crazy.

    ¡° I will NEVER FORGIVE YOU!! I hope you die and be alone FOREVER!!!¡±

    She turned her back and runned with tears and snot on her face, the crowd gawking at our fight quickly moved out to the side, giving way for the crying woman.

    The crowds went still for a moment, then explode with activity, murmuring and whispering with each other, all looking and some pointing finger at me, eventually the crowds bored or decided its not worth their time, dispersed. Leaving me alone like nothing ever happened.

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    What a great day

    I walked away and mingled with the unsuspecting crowds.

    <hr>

    Its been half a hour from earlier fiasco, right now I¡¯m sitting with burger and fries in front of me, at a surprisingly empty fast food restaurant. Across the table is my friend, eating joyfully at his junk food. Finished his meal, he wiped his mouth with a tissue and beamed a cheerful smile at me.

    Taking a fries and pointing it at me, he opened his mouth to speak. ¡°Man, when I thought you finally get yourself a girlfriend, you just goes and end it in a week huh?¡±

    ¡° Hmm? I though a week is pretty long..¡± I lazily answer him.

    ¡° Pftt, yeah, its admirable that she managed to bear you that long, Hiiro.¡±

    Laughing out loudly, this man in front me is Akira Hijimoto, always smiling and beaming with cheerfulness from year to end, the number one popular guys in university with his normal plain face. In the lecture, he always crowded by people, as if he have some short of mysterious power, he can pull people in. He has that charisma. And I, always have bored and gloomy aura surrounded me, can proudly declared that I am the number one in the least people want to get near with.

    Ironically, we became friend rather quickly. Its strange that someone like him want to hang out with a gloomy person like me. They said same feather flocks together, but we are totally opposite of each other. Everyone always ended up leaving me, abhor me, whether for my personality or other, no one in my life is an exception. Except him. Or that crazy woman. But I guess she doesn¡¯t count anymore.

    ¡° I did told you to tell me your progress with your girlfriend, but I never imagined the first news is a fight and she threw a nail clipper at you, pft.¡± Akira tried to stifle a laugh, but failed miserably.

    ¡° Really, you should smile more, with your handsome face and all that. You could have all the lady dancing in your palm. Or.., don¡¯t tell me, the gentlemen is what you aim for?!¡± Starting with a light tone, and turned slightly serious at the end, Akira keep a rather shocked expression on his face that didn¡¯t suit him. Though I can see his mouth twitching, holding himself from smirking.

    ¡° Ehh, whatever you say.¡± Putting his head on the table, Hiiro look clearly uninterested with the conversation.

    Sighing at his unmotivated friend, Akira shake his head hopelessly, ¡° I feel pity for.. er, Sayuki chan, is it? That woman feeling to you is genuine, I can tell you that for sure. Even she is a bit¡­. Eccentric. ¡±

    ¡° Well, at least I tried.¡± I moved my head to the right, facing the transparent glass window with my head still on the table. Gazing at the crowded street, people with varying age walking past and goes, reflected in my mirror like black eyes, the grey cloud adorned the sky, indicating the changing weather.

    A memory flashed.

    Everything became monochrome, colorless, soundless, like sinking into deep sea, its heavy. A familiar woman with long black hair. Yelling. A broken house. Crimson blood. A dead eyed child. Wounds filled with pus. Smiling. Broken limbs. Foul stench. A bloodied pale lips, whispered-

    ¡° Hey, Hiiro? Did you hear me?¡±

    Standing up, only to receive a pair of questioning eye. I answered with a short ¡°toilet.¡±, then continue my short walk to my destination.

    The toilet is pretty empty, obviously because we are the only customer at the fast food restaurant. Quickly finishing my business, I wash my hand in a nearby washbasin, cold water running through my hand, I lifted my head to face the mirror, that¡¯s where I notice something is wrong.

    There is no reflection. More precisely, the mirror didn¡¯t reflect me.

    ¡° Hm?¡±

    Is this a prank? Is there a mechanism behind the mirror? When Hiiro observed the strange mirror, something outrageous happen.

    A black dot appeared out of nowhere inside of the center of the mirror, pulsating and squirming like a worm.

    He realized this is wrong. His instinct telling him something is going to happen, whether its good or bad, more likely the latter, he need to leave this place. But his body doesn¡¯t budge an inch, as if time have stopped, even with his mind working at full speed right now. He can fell the encroaching coldness. The only thing moved is the cold water brushing with his skin and the ever squirming black dot.

    For a moment, its stopped. Still, like a calm water surface, a flash of light come out, then the darkness fully enveloped him.

    That¡¯s how Ayasaka Hiiro, hopelessly ended up in this empty black space.

    <hr>

    What should I do? Their nothing in here, did I died? Is this the afterlife? Or is it just a dream? Can I wake up? Argh, how annoying¡­

    Scratching my head, a slight frown can be see on my eyebrows, otherwise there nothing changed on my expression, feeling frustrated. Somehow he had been thrust into this troublesome situation. I haven¡¯t even touched my fries yet!

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    In this black void, something moved, more exactly, something formed using the black space around it. Like a black hole sucking its surrounding, forming a sphere. Wait, how can I see ¡®it¡¯? Hiiro realized that he can see clearly even he was in this strange black space.

    After a few seconds, the black sphere stopped sucking. Its floating, unconcerned with its surrounding. Hiiro waited, he didn¡¯t want to get close to something with potentially dangerous. One minute turned five, ten turned twenty, when the black sphere clearly didn¡¯t going to do anything, warily, Hiiro moved closer to examine it, since it¡¯s the only clue to his abnormal situation.

    Currently, the distance between the sphere and him are approximately 30 cm. Now looking it closely, he find it funny that he can see a black sphere in a perfectly black space. Looking won¡¯t change anything, no pain no gain, raising his index finger, he poked the sphere then quickly retracted his finger.

    At least that was the plan.

    The moment he touched the sphere, blistering pain travelled all of his body, its unbearable. He opened his mouth, but find out he unable to produce any sound. Unable to breath, his body spammed, like an electric shock. No matter how hard he try to shook it off, his finger glued to the sphere. Black claw with mist like consistency snaked to his body from the sphere. First his hand, then his chest, his head and his feet, until all the sphere mass moved out. The black claw formed into a pattern all over his body, like a tattoo, carved into his skin.

    The sphere is gone, his finger is free, still the pain linger. In fact, its getting worse. The pain filled his mind, his face contorted with agony. His skin is burning, his head feel like splitting.

    It¡¯s hurt, It¡¯s hurt, It¡¯s painful, stop it.

    Like a gradual crescendo, the pain reached its climax, and Hiiro mind faded into unconsciousness.

    For the first time since in this void, he truly in the darkness.

 Chapter 2 - Lady luck is hating me

    The moment I regained my consciousness, pain assaulted all over my body, and the splitting headache didn¡¯t help at all. Though the pain definitely more bearable than before, I still groaned out as a response. The different tone that came out from my mouth didn¡¯t registered at my mind at the moment.

    ¡°Ugh, *cough* *cough* damn it, haah hah, the hell is that.¡±

    I lay at there panting, trying to sort out my mind, the headache is gradually subsided, and the pain reduced to only slight annoyance, no longer bothered me. I breath a handful of air and exhaled. I tilted my head and feel the grass brushed against my face.

    Wait, grass?

    I slowly pulled myself up, only to see a bunch trees. Trees, tall and wide trees clumped together everywhere. And I¡¯m sitting at a strange patch of land, only grass and strange flower, the nearby tree spans 2 meter away from me. A chirping sound entered my ears. I moved my gaze to the source and a multi colored bird with 4 wings entered my vision.

    ¡­.

    ¡°Just give me break damn it.¡±

    Plopped down into the grass, I closed my eye and lay there immobile for a while. The bird chirping with a strange melody, I can feel soft breeze hit my face, a strange flowery scent filled my nostril. Just like that, I tried to relaxing my whole body.

    Right now, I need to organize my thought. First, I was supposed at the fast food restaurant toilet, but a mysterious black dot appeared and sucked me into a black space. Two, a black sphere formed in the black space and when I touched the sphere, I lose my conscious because of pain. Three, when I wake up, a scenery straight out of fantasy book appeared in front of me¡­. Moreover, there something I need to confirm¡­.

    A raised my palm right in front of my face. A cute small hand with smooth white skin. I stared for a while, took a deep breath, and exhaled.

    My body had became a child isn¡¯t it?

    When I moved my body, its strangely light, so I was skeptical at first, but.. this hand is impossibly small for a grown adult right? I¡¯m nineteen this year. This whole situation is ridiculous. Did I go insane ? Am I hallucinating? I grab a clump of grass and pulled it roughly, the roots and dirt cling to the bottom of the grass, I yanked out more forcefully and finally its parted way with the dirt. I feel the grass with my finger, and scrutiny it more closely with my eyes, moved the grass closer to my face, I sniffed it. Feeling exasperated, I came in conclusion that this is indeed real, not some hallucination nor dreams.

    This is all real.

    Well, denying this won¡¯t help me any better. Just keep moving forward. For now, I need information. Lets move out and investigating my surrounding. Decided my first goals, I pull up my body, and start walking deeper into the trees. Just as I took the first step, my feet tangled and fell down face first.

    ¡­

    That¡¯s embarrassing. I hadn¡¯t fully adapted to this small body yet, I miscalculated. I placed both palm in the dirt and pushed up my body. Looked back, I found my pants, boxer, and shoes beneath my feet, well, too oversized for me right now. I feel like I¡¯m forgetting something¡­

    My smartphone!! I excitedly searched my pants pocket, I have great expectation, the phone will clarify a lot of things, the GPS will tell me my current location. I pull out my phone, black screen displayed, I pushed the power button, but its seems it¡¯s a futile effort, no change displayed on the screen.

    Disappointed, the useless piece of electronic now dangled weakly in my hand. Cannot be helped, I should still bring this thing with me, armed with my trusty watch in my left arm, pair of oversized socks and loose long sleeve black sweater which big enough to cover my body until my knee. This will do, though not wearing any shoes made me uncomfortable..The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    I leaved my other clothing behind, walking again, my eyes gazing straight deeps into the woods. My adventure has just began.

    <hr>

    One hour worth of walking, and I still didn¡¯t found anything beside trees and occasional wild life. A bunch of rabbit with three eyes, a black deer with spiky silver blade jutted out from his head, crystal like flower, monkey with wings, and a shiny horse with horn¡­ wait, that¡¯s a unicorn isn¡¯t?! Ah, I need to take a closer look! It¡¯s not like I am excited or something like that. Its all for information!

    I excitedly quicken my pace to the unicorn, the mystical creature noticed me, but didn¡¯t made any violence gesture nor intended to run away, the unicorn just stood there and watched me. I stood in front of the unicorn, raising my arm intend to touch him. The unicorn lowered its head until I can reached him with my hand. Aah, I¡¯m petting a real unicorn!!

    The unicorn closed his eyes, enjoyed the stroking at his head. What I did found out during my investigation is, the forest wild life is surprisingly friendly. I found out first when I meet a bunch of three eyed rabbit. They snuggled and rubbed their head to my feet. I was too fascinated, petting and observing their third eyes in the center of their forehead that I didn¡¯t notice the black deer snucked behind me. The black deer is roughly two meter in height, or maybe more, compared to me who is a child right now, I feel dwarfed. Blood drained from my face, and I didn¡¯t dare to move. Then using its snout, the deer rubbed to my face with affection.

    I was loved by all kinds of animal, but to think its even worked with this kind of beast¡­

    Well, enough of petting, I patted the unicorn two times, and start walking again. The legendary beast didn¡¯t follow me and just continue eating the crystal flower with crunching sound.

    I am pretty sure this not earth anymore. I am not a flora nor fauna specialist, but I don¡¯t think bird with four wings and flying monkey exist in earth. Moreover, I already walk for two hours straight, but I didn¡¯t even feel a bit tired, in fact, I feel better than before. This body is abnormal, the fact I turned into a child is more abnormal. Is this another world? If so, then why am I here? For what reason? So many question and no answer.

    After another hour of walking, that¡¯s when I noticed something different. The scenery slowly changed. Colorful flower, giant tree intertwined with each other became less and less, and replaced with normal forest tree. The abundant crystal flower, which gave the forest a colorful light and powerful aura disappeared. Now the forest look like a normal forest, the difference between them is like heaven and earth.

    Its like I¡¯m back in earth, except its not. The occasional four wings bird flew past me can confirm this. Its will be nice if I can found a human settlement, if there is any human of course. While I was mulling all kinds of supposition in my head, I found something, no, I was founded by something.

    ¡° Huh, what a brat doing at here?¡± A rough voice filled my ear.

    After 3 hours of walking, I met my first human.

    A human, I was supposed to be happy to met a comrade in this woods, but the person appearance made me rethink twice about it. Wearing a dented plate over a filthy rags, a rusty short sword can be see hanging at his waist, tied by some short of cloth. His dirty brown hair, tied behind him. His aging face made a stunned expression for a few second, before turned into a hideous smirk.

    This guy is totally bad news isn¡¯t it?

    ¡° Hey, are you lost? I can help you, come here, you don¡¯t have to be afraid anymore.¡± The man softened his voice, calling out to me. He made a toothy smile, revealing his blackened and broken teeth. Uh, I think your teeth need more help than me.

    This is tricky. I need information, but the suspicious man in front of me, can I believe him? Probably not. Hmm¡­

    ¡° Who are you? ¡° A voice, soft but clear like a bell, came out from my mouth. First, I should try to squeeze out information from this man, then I can act from it. I doubt I can just run away from this man, the distance, weapon, and difference between our build made running away without any distraction doubtful.

    His smile didn¡¯t falter, in fact, I think his face is becoming more vile and vicious. ¡° Aah, I¡¯m an adventurer, let me take you to the nearby village, I¡¯m sure you must be tired and scared, lets get you home, shall we? ¡° the man slowly walked towards me.

    ¡°..Is it far from here? The village, where is it?¡± I asked him one last time.

    ¡° No, no, its only a short walk, the village is northeast from here.¡± The man already stood in front me, reached out with his hand, a foul smell filled my nostril.

    I punched his genital with all my might.

    Running with my life depended on it, I ran to the opposite direction that man pointed out for me before. I didn¡¯t look back, but the groan of pain behind me indicating my simple plan is a success.

    I should be able to outrun him even he managed to pursuit me. But alas, its seem nothing is going my way. Two minutes of running, a person with the same clothing and appearance appeared 5 meter in front of me. Clicked my tongue with annoyance, I changed my direction to the right, avoiding him altogether. Before a desperate yell resounding from behind me.

    ¡° Get that damn kid!! Don¡¯t fucking let him get away!!!!¡±

    ¡°Tch!¡± How can he recovered so fast?! I put more power in my leg, trying to run more quickly. The uneven dirt and branch didn¡¯t help at all. But ridiculous thing happen. Defied psychic and laws, the man which was five meter away from me, instantly appeared in front of me.

    Wha?!

    ¡° Sorry kid, don¡¯t blame me for this. Blame your bad luck.¡± Muttering out an apology, he punched me right at the solar plexus, I can see black dot in my vision and I lose my consciousness for the second time today.

 Chapter 3 - Lost and awaken

    I groggily opened my eyes for the second time. The first thing I saw is stalactite up in the stone cave. I tried to move my body but I feel a resistance. Moving my gaze, an old thin rope has been tied to my hand and feet. Its seem things going this way after all, huh?

    I raised my head and observed my surrounding, I was in some kind of hideout. Cloths, brown paper, wooden box and all kind of miscellaneous stuff strewn across the small cave. The cave is pretty bright, and I didn¡¯t see any of those ruffian. I observed myself, my black sweater still with my body, but my watch and phone is gone, probably taken by those people.

    Where are them really? Nobody leave a person you caught alone. At least you leave someone here to stop them trying anything funny. I am a kid now, but still¡­

    I snorted. What a bunch of careless kidnaper. A normal kid would be trembling and crying right now. Blame your shabby luck, for I am someone intelligence who is beyond your imagination. Mwa ha ha ha ha ha¡­..

    Still kidnapped and tied like a pig ready to be roasted though.

    While I have a monologue entertaining myself in my mind, my head swirled to left and right looking for something sharp, a blade would be preferred. I rolled my body to a nearby wooden box and pulled up my body to kneeling position, looked down, the wooden box is empty, next one then. I squinted my eyes, trying to find anything useful in my surrounding. Finally, I caught something in the corner of my eyes. Broken ceramic from a pot scattered beside a shabby make shift table. That will do. I rolled to the side of the broken pot, grabbed one that have a protruding sharp edge, and started my poorly thought escape plan.

    My attempt at cutting the rope is longer than I wish for. After a lot of struggling, cutting and swearing, the rope tying my hand finally break off. After finished cutting the rope on my leg too, I finally regained my mobility.

    A sigh of relief came out from my mouth. Then I kicked into action immediately, my feet took me to the outside, I would like to find my belonging but dawdling here any longer would be bad. Quick but steady, I carefully made it outside. Slowly popping my head out, I observe my surrounding. Its seems those people were not in the vicinity. Good.

    I take my first step outside. Ready to leave this small cave. A scream full of agony entered my ear, bone crushing, flesh tearing, crunching, twisting and dying cry. Those sound melded into each other, composing a morbid symphony.

    I turned my head to the left, to the source of suffering. Blood, crimson red filled my vision. A severed hand has been thrown near to the small cave. The blood dripping from the crushed limb tainted the grass beneath it, coloring it into the same red. I can barely saw a black blur, devouring his victim behind the trees just ten meter ahead of me.

    There is no hesitation. The only thing I could do is ran.

    I forced my short leg to the maximum capacity, even if I had boundless stamina, my speed can only taken me as far as a child could ran. My heart filled with annoyance. Whatever monster back there should be occupied enough to not noticed me.

    Aagh, what with this chain of event? Did I get cursed?

    After running for a while, I slowed down my pace after I felt comfortable with my distance and that damned monster. A sight of relief came out from my mouth. The monster didn¡¯t chase me.

    A stinging pain appeared on my palm. I raised my right arm and stared at the fresh wounds, together with the piece of sharp ceramic. I brought out with me from the hideout. Seems like I unconsciously gripped it a bit too hard. Drop of bloods dripped to the ground. I stopped and teared my sleeve and tied it at my shallow wound as a bandage replacement. The black cloth absorbed the blood, given it a tinge of deep red color.

    After finished treating my wound, I started to move again. Better get away as far as possible. Honestly, I already fed up with this forest. Threw into this mess, without any information nor knowledge, being into life and death situation that I didn¡¯t ask for. Did someone have a grudge with me?

    Just when I was grumbling in my mind, a rustling sound made me full alert. My body tensed, I grabbed my weapon tightly and I prepare for the worst. My right palm is hissing with pain. Did the monster decided to chase me? I observed my surrounding, trees and bushes around me, but I didn¡¯t saw anything else. Maybe I heard it wrong?Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    A snapped branch resounded from my behind. So I threw my body to the side with all my might.

    I managed to saw a blue blur before I felt a searing pain on my left thigh. I suppressed groan of pain bubbling behind my throat, instead I stared the new threat in front of me. Dirt and filth cling to my body and clothes, I stood up, my left thigh is throbbing with pain, bleeding profusely, but I ignored it. After all, the opponent staring at me isn¡¯t something that I can take my focus off.

    A blue, one horned wolf stood magnificently in front of me, its eyes never left me, watching for any weakness I displayed, ready to pounce in at any given opportunity. The horned wolf had the same height with me, and the aura emanated befitting of that a hunter. Blood presumed to be mine, dripping from the wolf horn. I can feel its different between the creature I meet before, the black deer and the three eyed rabbit had this friendly and peaceful persona behind them. But the horned wolf in front of me is fully intending to harm me.

    Within this standstill, we stared at each other. This continue for a while, before the wolf lost his patience, made the first move. Using its powerful hind leg, the wolf sprang upon me, aiming for my throat. Once more, I evade it, this time more prepared. I shifted my body in the nick of time, the wolf rough fur brushed against my face, an animal stench floating in the air. The wolf turned its body after landing, missed his target, he relentlessly charged again. This time, I raised my only weapon to eye level, my right leg in the front, my eyes focused on the wolf each move. Now! I put my weight in my right leg, using it as a pivot, I turned my body to the side, as if time had been slowed, the wolf head passed me, we both made an eye contact with each other.

    Then I slashed.

    My weapon managed to cut the wolf in its body. The wolf yelped and glared at me, anger gleamed in its eyes and growled viciously.

    ¡° Grrrah..!!¡±

    Tch, not good enough

    The blue wolf still standing using its four leg, its back hunched, ready to pounce at me any time. The wound that I produced barely hurt the wolf, in fact, its only angered the beast, no blood trickled down from the 4 cm wide cut. My poor weapon didn¡¯t even pierced its flesh.

    Right now I¡¯m in disadvantage, the blood trickling from my left thigh since our fight began never stopped, and it¡¯s going to be bad if I didn¡¯t end this now. The distance between the beast and myself is approximately 2 meter. I managed to distanced myself when the wolf is distracted with its new wound.

    The wolf started its short run, I tensed and prepared my self. I moved my body to the left when the wolf look just about to pounce me. And that is where I made my first mistake. A fatal one that can kill me.

    The wolf didn¡¯t pounce me. It¡¯s was a false alarm, and I pay dearly with it. I forgot the wolf is a creature capable of learning from its experience, not just a robot executing its script.

    I put both of my hands in front of me, as a last defense from the rows of sharp teeth incoming to devour me. The wolf bitten my left arm, the teeth tearing my flesh and reaching my bone. The wolf weight and momentum pushed me to the ground. I gritted my teeth from the pain. Not missing any opportunity, I stabbed the weakness every creature had. The eyes.

    My weapon pierced deep on its left eye without any resistance, a sickening squelching sound could be heard. Before I could do any more damage, the wolf howled in pain and released its grip on my arm. The now one eyed wolf staggered backward, the pieces of glass still stuck deep in its eye socket.

    I didn¡¯t fare any better. I lost my only weapon to protect myself and the new wound worsening the situation. The wolf inching closer to my position, snarling with saliva dripping from its jaw. I pulled myself up, my current appearance must be looking pretty messed up now. I had been cornered to a tight spot. The wolf keep inching closer, like a death reaper reaping its meal. With this near death situation, my mind had been constrained to the limit.

    I¡­ don¡¯t want to die, not in a place like this..

    I want to live.. I¡­ still have my promise¡­

    The wolf stopped moving, its eyed warily, sensing the abnormal aura enclosing its supposed weakened prey.

    Live.. I will live¡­

    A pale golden aura appeared on Hiiro. His body slowly transformed. A primal instinct overtaken him. His human ear gone, replaced with a pair of fox ear resting on top of his head, a tail appeared behind his back. Black tattoo emerged, snaking into each part of his limbs and torso. Hiiro in his semi conscious state didn¡¯t realize the transformation happened to his body. He stared at the enemy in front of him, his gaze excluded power and authority. The wolf whimpered, terrified of the unknown force.

    I WILL NOT DIE!!

    He rushed forward, meeting the wolf head on. Its pupil widened, surprised by Hiiro speed. Unbeknown of him, he shortened the distance within a second, the difference from before is apparent, raw power surging within him. He raised his arm just before colliding with the terrified wolf. With blurring speed, his tiny fist punched the wolf head.

    And its exploded like a firework.

    The skull cracked inward, shattered into thousand pieces, the brain tissues crushed and exploded, together with pieces of flesh into everywhere. The force behind that punch blown away the leaves and branch around them with a booming sound. After that, silent permeated the air. Then, a resounding thud could be heard.

    The headless wolf fell down to the ground. And the last one standing is, Hiiro.

    Blood splattered all over his face, bits of flesh cling into his cheek. His clothes ripped and smeared with dirt. Still, he is alive.

    ¡°¡­need to get out of here..¡±

    With blood all over the place, this place bound to attract troublesome creature. And with my condition, an instant death is possible. I moved my leg, taking the first step, then two, before my leg wobbled. I fall to my knee, then the rest of my body follows. Shit.

    My vision is blurry, I can barely maintain my consciousness. A hazy silhouette appeared, standing in front of me. Then its leaving. As a last resort, I whimpered.

    ¡°¡­.he..lp..¡±

    The silhouette stopped, as if hesitating. My eyelid slowly closed, and I drift into the dream world.

 Chapter 4 - Picked up something troublesome

    *Villager POV

    Today is 7th of Sahur! Sis Mira birthday! Today I will definitely get a Brizzly Boar, their meat is supposed to be tender and exquisite. Mira sis is definitely going to be surprised. Hehehehe

    A dirty blonde haired youth smiled dumbly, he has a plain face and excluded an undependable aura. But exceeding people expectation, he was able to navigate the forest expertly like a seasoned hunter. Today, he was going to check the various traps he set three days ago. The bait is a piece of hare meat, smeared with merberry and llyor herbs, all of it is Brizzly Boar favorite, and its not cheap!!

    The youth had bribed various of his senior hunter with hare meat that he hunted tiredly. Just to get info about the Brizzly Boar turf and the ultimate bait for its capture. Thinking about all the hard work for this few days, the youth is more than determined.

    He had made four traps all over the boar turf, three of them had meet with disappointment, only one red fox and a hare, one of the traps completely empty. The youth quickly butchered them using a knife, turning the previous animals into meats and hide. He wrapped them in cloth and put it into his shabby bag.

    Only the last traps remain¡­ please..please.. a Brizzly Boar¡­oh Goddess of hunting, Niamh

    He walked toward the final traps and silently prayed. The youth wasn¡¯t an avid believer of gods, he trusted hard work more instead of some unknown powerful beings he never met. Still, right now he can¡¯t do anything beside pray.

    The final traps located slightly deeper into the forest, near the edge of the forbidden territory. He heard a small squeal, excited, he increased his pace and arrived. A pale red boar with orange mane, its a young Brizzly Boar, squealed weakly, his leg is bleeding because of the trap.

    ¡° Aah, hahaha, lucky~.¡±

    The youth immediately killed it, giving it a mercy death, prolonging it inevitable fate would be cruel after all. He carefully separate the skin and the flesh beneath it, with perfect precision, he butchered the meat. He didn¡¯t want to damage his prized possession after all.

    The youth face is smiling, he was pleased with today hunting. When he was just about to return to the village. A booming sound resounded. He immediately tensed and grabbed his bow and quiver behind him, ready to shoot at any incoming enemy. He observed his surrounding, yet nothing is happening.

    The sound is coming from the forbidden territory. The youth is conflicted. Should he go and investigate, or return to the village?

    After a moment of indecision, he decided to go deeper into the forest. He should go and see what was going on, an unknown force being this near to the village will be dangerous. Taking a peek then immediately run away, sound like a good plan to him.

    So the youth, Sol Nierheart, for the first time in his life, took his first step at forbidden territory.

    The village has its own rules. And the forbidden territory is included in it. Right now Sol is breaking the rules, but taking a peek should be okay right?

    Treading carefully in the unknown inventory, he gripped his trusty bow and continue walking closer to the source of sound. He keep staying alert of his surrounding, looking left and right, making sure that no creature will sneaked to him.

    Not for long, he managed to found the source of incident. He opened his jaw like an idiot, his pupil widened, shocked by what he saw. What he see can be called a carnage, with blood and flesh splattered all over the place, copper smell filled his nostril. A headless monster body entered his vision.

    Wha?! Isn¡¯t that an Aqua wolf?! That¡¯s a D rank monster! What it is doing in here? I need to tell the village folks..

    Just as Sol turned his body and ready to leave this disturbing place, a weak voice called to him.

    ¡°..he..lp..¡±

    The voice is so soft and weak, like is going to disappeared any minute. Sol turned back his body and searched the origin of the voice. Slightly farther than the monster corpse, lay a beast child, the child is bathed with blood.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    !!!

    Sol immediately ran toward the child, he crouched beside the beast child and examined the child condition. The child left arm had been bitten and bleeding profusely, his thigh didn¡¯t fare any better either. Sol grabbed a cloth from his bag and bandaged the child wounds, tried to stop the bleeding. The child seem to had lose his consciousness.

    ¡°Shit¡­ I need to get him to a healer!¡±

    He carried the child, and ran towards the village with desperation.

    <hr>

    ¡°He¡¯s late¡­¡±

    Mira Nierheart is currently waiting for his little brother, Sol. In the morning, he excitedly gone into the forest, talking about traps or something. Its noon right now, and he still didn¡¯t came back. Mira is worried, did his brother get into some sort of trouble?

    Mira sighed, looking out at the windows, she have the same blond hair as his brother, but they differenced in face. Her face is oval shaped with blue almond eyes and high cheek bone, a lovely lady. Few man already courted her, but all for naught, she merciless rejected all of them.

    Sighed once again, she turned her body and walked to the center of their small wooden house. A loud bang shocked her. She jumped a little then quickly facing the noise. His brother standing in the doorway, panting heavily.

    ¡° What do yo-¡°

    ¡° A child had been injured! ¡°

    Sol immediately cut her sister word short. Time is important, the emergency aid he done to the child won¡¯t hold for long. His sister immediately widened her eyes and gazed at the beast child he was holding.

    ¡° Bring the child to the table, quick!!¡±

    Sol followed her sister instruction. He lay the child carefully in their wooden table. He can see her sister examined the child closely, biting her lower lips, she cast her healing spell.

    ¡° Ohh, Lord of Light and Creation, Crea, lend your grace and your power, give us your compassion, to give salvation to the lost sheep, Cure!!¡±

    A middle tier healing spell, a warm yellow light manifested, slowly envelop the child from head to toe. The wound stopped bleeding and he can see the injury slowly receding, although not fully healed, he can see the color is returning to the child face.

    ¡° Strange.. its should heal him fully..¡±

    Mira muttered under her breath, his brother is too ecstatic to hear her properly. The child is saved and he finally can exhale his breath. Unnoticed by his brother, Mira stared at the child then at him.

    ¡° Where did you found the child? I¡¯m pretty sure he isn¡¯t one of the village member. We didn¡¯t have a fox kin family in this village. ¡°

    Sol body frozen up, remembered that he found the child in the forbidden territory, his sister is definitely going to get mad at him.

    ¡° err.., uhm.. we..well, where I found the child isn¡¯t important at all, what matters is the child is now saved!! Ha haha, haha... ¡°

    He awkwardly scratching his head, laughing out loudly. His sister in the mean time, keep staring at him, and didn¡¯t say anything. Cold sweat dripping down from his forehead. He feel uncomfortable with his sister piercing stare. This continued for a while, before his sister sighed.

    ¡° Well, for now, you clean up this child, then we can talk about it later.¡±

    ¡° M.. Me?¡±

    Mira scoffed, ¡° Of course, you picked him up, so of course you will take the responsibility. I will find some clothes for him, so bathe him in the meanwhile. ¡°

    His sister walk away, leaving him alone with the blood caked child.

    <hr>

    ¡° Ha, my day is ruined.¡±

    In the well beside their house, currently Sol is tasked with cleaning the bloodied child. He make sure to clean every blood off, including the child tail and ears, the blood stick into every strand of the fur, making him harder to do his job. Of course he clean it carefully, afraid to hurt this wounded child.

    After the cleaning, he make sure wipe the child dry, catching a cold in that state would be troublesome after all. Right now, the child is clean from filth and blood, and his appearance obstructed before is now fully revealed.

    The child have a round face, and long eyelashes. He have a small and refined nose and a small lips. His hair and fur is pure white, giving him a delicate and otherworldly aura. His appearance is like those of beautiful doll, except the child appearance didn¡¯t feel artificial at all.

    Sol stared for a while, feeling fascinated by the child appearance, then realized he had stared far too long. He shakes his head, and that¡¯s where he found his sister standing behind the well, her hand carry what he though is the child new clothes, she just stood there, watching him.

    ¡°Huh, if you are here, give me his clothes, I¡¯m j-¡°

    ¡°You.. don¡¯t tell me you..¡±

    Her sister hand trembled, and a shocked expression plastered on her face. Feeling something is amiss, he asked her sister.

    ¡° What is going on, sis Mira?¡±

    She opened her mouth, what came out is shocked him to the core.

    ¡° Are.. you into children?¡±

    ¡° What? What the hell are you saying?!¡±

    ¡°But I called you and you didn¡¯t respond to me, you just keep staring at the child body..¡±

    Right now the child is nude, and with Sol creepily staring at the child seem had made a misunderstanding with her sister.

    ¡° Even how unpopular are you with the woman, you can¡¯t do this, Sol.¡±

    ¡° Wait! This is a misunderstanding!! Believe in me!!¡±

    ¡° Then¡­ why?¡±

    Sol desperately tried to dispel her sister misunderstanding. He racked his brain, panic clouding his mind.

    ¡° Err, uhm, because he is pretty!! Wait, that sound wrong..¡±

    Clothes dropped from her hands, tears forming in the corner of her eyes.

    ¡° You.. I¡­ u.. whaa¡­!¡±

    Mira ran away, can¡¯t accept what she was hearing from her brother mouth. Leaving Sol flabbergasted. He hopelessly raised his arm, his palm pointed to the his sister retreating figure.

    ¡° Wait, listen to me, Siiiissssssss!!! ¡°

    It took him quite a while to made his disgusted sister believe in him.

 Chapter 5 - Dangerous for the heart

    ~Sol Nierheart~

    ¡°¡­uh..I think we should change his clothes..sis¡­¡± I tried to convince my sister, my face twisted into worry and awkwardness. Unsure how to handle this unexpected situation.

    ¡° Why? He look absolutely amazing! The clothes is perfect for him!! ¡° complained Mira. Her face is blushing red from excitement and she clutched my clothes vigorously, one can wonder where that strength came from. Stop, its going to rip at this rate!

    ¡° Maybe you should calm down first, lets take a deep breath, okay? Inhale and exhale, inhale and exhale..¡± I take my sister hands before she going to damage my clothes further. As per my request, she take a deep breath and exhaled it.

    ¡° I still think that clothes suited him the most.¡± Mira firmly said. Conviction can be seen in her eyes.

    I inwardly face palmed. Lets take a different approach, or else he will stuck in that clothes forever. I grabbed her shoulder and looked straight at her eyes.

    ¡° Sis, listen to me, right now that child is a patient, he need rest. Now, look at him, wearing all that frilly and heavy cloths, do you think that will helped him recover?¡± I pointed my right hand toward the child which is resting in my bed.

    Right now, the fox kin is wearing a red and black frilly dress, with a big ribbon attached in front of the chest area, his pure white tail popped up under the clothes. Between his fox ears, rested a small hat decorated with frill and ribbon, fastened with a black rope to his head. His current appearance could be mistaken as a princess.

    ¡° but.. but..¡± Hesitation is apparent within her voice. Now to nail the final hammer!!

    ¡° Mira, right now, can you call yourself a good healer? ¡° With the most serious voice I could muster, I talked back to her.

    ¡° Ugh!!.. Lets change his clothes..¡± My sister dejectedly follow my instruction.

    I sighed in my mind. I managed to avoid a crisis and the emerge of second victim. I¡¯m not that cruel after all. Sol closed his eyes and remembered his memory when he was still a child, fully at his sister mercy. He shuddered.

    His sister, Mira, absolutely adore anything that is cute and fluffy. When he dispelled her sister misunderstanding about him by letting her see the child appearance, she frozen up. Her sister didn¡¯t said anything, only her mouth opened slightly. Then her face slowly became red, she began panting heavily, her eyes became crazed. Sol immediately moved the child farther, his instinct told him his sister is more dangerous than a Blood iron bird right now, the bird is famous for its tenacity.

    ¡° Aaargggg, He soo CUUTEEEEEEE!!!!!!!¡±

    Hell happened right after, within the small wooden hut, scream and shout could be heard until to the neighborhood house.

    <hr>

    I smiled wryly at my dejected sister, currently the child is wearing a more normal clothes, a loose brown tunic and a short pant. She put a blanket over the child, caressed the fox kin hair and ears tenderly. She stood up, facing me.

    ¡° Then you stay at house and take care of this child, meanwhile I will find the village elder and talk to him about this. Ohh, also about you stupidly walked to forbidden territory.¡± She glared at me before continued talking again. I found the ceiling terribly interesting right now.

    ¡° You managed to saved this child, but you did break the rules, I hope you prepared yourself.¡± Mira sighed and walked away from my room. The door slam shut.

    I sighed to myself once more, and found my gaze moved to the unconscious child. I sat with my back on a wall beside the bed, and decided to wait for my sister news. I closed my eyes and rested a bit from all that fiasco. Not for long, I heard a rustle and a groan. I opened my eyes immediately and looked at the source if that noise.

    The child is awake!

    The fox kin slowly opened his eyes, he pulled his body up, the blanket slid off his torso, and muttered something under his breath, too soft for Sol to heard it clearly.

    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡° Hey, are you alright? ¡° I talked softly to the child, afraid to startle him.

    The child jumped a little, and moved his gaze to me. One golden with a tinge of blue, and one red with tinge of black, these two orbs stared at me, as if piercing my soul. My emerald eyes stared back, mesmerized by what I seen. The child opened his mouth, talked to me.

    ¡°Who#ea@uy?¡± I can only stare at the child dumbly, unable to comprehend what I just heard.

    ¡° Er, could you say it one more time?¡± I asked once more.

    The fox kin stared at me, his face is calm and unreadable, unlike those of a child. As if thinking about something, the child keep his silent for a while.

    ¡°Cnaoy&un*@resndaem?¡± Once more, a language he never heard before entered his ears. Its seem communication is impossible right now. I shook my head hopelessly. Aah, what should I do? I should at least be able to tell him my name.

    I made a gesture, hand pointed at me and said my name. I repeated this many time, making sure that he can understand it. The fox kin is quick to comprehend my intention. He raised his tiny arm and pointed it at me, he tilted his head and his fluffy ears turned to the right.

    ¡°Sol?¡±

    I immediately nodded my head. The fox kin retracted his arm and pointed at himself.

    ¡°Hiiro.¡± He said what I supposed is his name.

    ¡°Hero?¡± I repeated, and he shake his head.

    ¡°H - I ¨C I ¨C R ¨C O.¡± This time, the fox kin repeated his name slowly.

    ¡° Hiiro?¡± I said it once more, and the fox child, Hiiro, nodded satisfied.

    I smiled wryly, this little guy, Hiiro, is quite different than I imagined. Since I found him in that bloody carnage, I though he will be more scared or afraid. Instead, he look absolutely fine, emotionally wise. Thinking of the carnage, the Aqua wolf I found dead had its head blown off, did he defeat him by himself?

    I stared once more, this child, Hiiro, is thin and delicate, as if never worked in all his life, different than any children that I seen before. Still, his strength should be more than average human children because of his race advantage. But no matter how strong he is, Hiiro is a child. Its impossible to defeat a D rank monster barehanded. Or worse, maybe this little guy is hiding an unimaginable power¡­

    While I was in deep thinking, Hiiro seem to be worried by my constant staring. He clutched part of my clothes, his fox ears fell down, his adorable odd eyes stared at me innocently.

    ¡°Sol?¡±

    Ugh! T..That look is cheating!! My heart skipped a bit, somehow I can understand my sister feeling a little bit. This fox kin have an appearance that can made people feel weak. How dangerous. I took his thin arm and smiled, assured him that there is no problem at all.

    Well, no matter. Even if he had some hidden power, as long as he didn¡¯t made any harm to the village folks here, it should be all right.

    Right?

    <hr>

    ~ Ayasaka Hiiro~

    Ugh.. damnit, my head hurt.

    I groaned out, a mild migraine is haunting my head. I slowly opened my eyes and pulled my body up. A blanket slid down from my torso.

    ¡° Just how many time I fainted already..¡± I muttered under my breath.

    ¡°@#vhhwjb#?¡± A voice with uncompressible words entered my ears. I jumped a little, surprised by the sudden noise.

    I moved my gaze to stare at the perpetrators. A blond haired youth wearing a dark green tunic with black pants, his dark brown belt with various knife and tools fastened to his waist. The youth is smiling and had a dumb expression on him. Somehow this person doesn¡¯t feel like he could be depended at all.

    And this person now just keep staring at me. It¡¯s a bit unnerving. I remembered a human shaped silhouette before I lose my consciousness. Did this kid saved me?

    ¡° Who are you?¡± I asked the basic question, what I received is a strange puzzled expression in the youth face.

    ¡° jo*@njd#bs*jdbf ¡° The youth said something incomprehensible again.

    Strange, the kidnapper before use the same language as me, but this guy didn''t use any language i had heard off.

    Little did Hiiro know, the people kidnapped him is a treasure hunter, they had a magic device that can made the hearer understand the wearer, breaking the language barrier. Of course such convenient tool didn¡¯t even cross Hiiro mind, he came from a magic less world after all.

    I spoke a few more words and the result is the same. The youth didn¡¯t understand me at all, he scratched his head, thinking about something, then he made a few gesture and repeated the same words again and again. Is he telling his name?

    Its seem Hiiro guess is spot on, the youth name is Sol. I copied Sol gesture, and told him my name. He pronounced it wrong, so I corrected him. I am not a hero after all.

    He back to staring at me again, lost in his mind, he should fix that creepy habit. I clutched his clothes and called his name to wake him up from his dream. Somehow he had this shocked expression on his face. Weird.

    I can hear a ruckus outside of the room. Sol seem to heard it too. He made a gesture what I think is ¡®stay here¡¯, he walked away and close the door shut. I am now alone.

    ¡­

    What should I do now? That guy, Sol, doesn¡¯t seem like a bad guy, he is friendly and helpful. Way better than those people I meet before. I observed the room, it¡¯s small and consisted of a bed, a wooden table with an oil lamp on top, a shelf and a window. I decided to get off from the bed. A fluffy white tail appeared at my vision.

    What

    ¡°What.¡±

    I gingerly touched the tail. The tail is soft and fluffy, its feel good in my palm. I moved my hand, following the tail, I found the base of the tail, just above my butt. What.

    If had a tail, then¡­

    I moved my both of hand to my head, a pair of fluffy animal ears rested on top of my head. This getting more ridiculous. First a child, then animal ears and tail. I am not even a human anymore.

    I let my body fell down to the bed, spreading my limbs wide. I won¡¯t understand it even I think hard of it. I lack information, I can¡¯t made any conclusion. Lets do thing step by step. My ears twitched, I hear sounds of footstep, walking to this room. Big ears have its use I see. I have to deal with this first.

    The door to the room opened. And I can see a total of three person. First is Sol, with worried expression plastered on his face. The second person is a woman, her hair tied into a pony tail, her face resemble Sol, except she had a blue eyes, I shuddered a little when I saw her eyes, a dangerous glint could be seen, I should stay away from her. The third and the last came into view, an old man with a short brown beard, his body look toned, undefeated by age. He looked at me, then he smiled. I stared back at him, my real focus is not at his face, but the thing rested on top of his head. A pair of cat ears. Yes, it¡¯s cat ears, placed so naturally as if they are made for each other.

    The cat eared toned old man made a quite bizarre combination, giving me a lasting impression.

 Chapter 6 â€“ Back Again

    In this small room, there are 4 people with various age and gender cramped together. One of them is a youth named Sol, right now he is standing anxiously, his head swirled right and left, looking at the cat eared old man and me. The second one is a young woman, her face displayed an unconcerned look, but her eyes betrayed her face and keep focused on me. The third one is the cat eared old man, an old scar starting from his eyebrow, crossing his closed right eyelid, to his cheek. His appearance was like a seasoned warrior, but he had this gentle aura around him. The last one is me, who just realized five minutes ago that I¡¯m not a human anymore, sitting comfortably on the bed.

    The smiling old man walked toward myself until we are face to face. Just when I though I was going to interrogated or something related, he raised both of his arm and put his palm on my now animal ears. He pulled, caressed, he checked and stared at my eyes too. Then he put his right palm over my chest, a strange feeling overcame me. How should I describe it¡­. It¡¯s a bit ticklish.

    The strange feeling only lasted for a few seconds, before the old man retracted his arm. He stroked his beard, I can feel that he¡­ impressed? The old man took out a necklace. A red gem bound by silver chain, the gem had a beautiful deep red color with a bit of brilliant golden color inside it. He raised his arm with the necklace at his palm to my direction. He nudged his palm to my chest.

    Is he.. giving me the necklace?

    I warily grabbed the necklace. The old man nodded satisfied and walk back to Sol and the other person. They talked a bit, the woman had this bright and excited expression on her and Sol keep bowing to the old man. The old man just smiled and patted Sol back. Then as quick as he came, the old man left the room just like that.

    The room is silent for a moment. Then the woman turned to me, as if founded her new toy, she excitedly walked toward me, with Sol follow at behind her, a.. face full of pity.

    I had a bad feeling about this¡­

    <hr>

    Its turned out the woman name is Mira. And right now feast with all kind of varieties displayed on the table. The smell really is appetizing. I raised my head to see the brother sister combo in front of me. Sol is making a wry expression directed at Mira. The current culprit tried to spoon fed me with a blissful smile, even though I can move my hand just fine. I shook my head and grabbed my own wooden spoon. I scooped the stew with unidentified orange meat and strange shaped vegetables near me. Mira dejected, but didn¡¯t press me more.

    Well the smell is fine¡­ how about the taste..

    I sniffed and decided to take a bite, putting the unidentified stew in my mouth. I widened my eyes. The taste is unexpectedly heavenly, more delicious than anything I had eaten before. The meat is juicy and tender, a bit like beef, and the vegetable had this exotic taste that suit the meat quite well. I don¡¯t think I will get tired of this taste.

    Sol seem happy with me eating the stew. When I scooped my second spoon, they started eating too, enjoying the meals. My mind take me to the past, after the old man leave the house, Sol made a bunch of gestures to me, I interpret some of it as ¡®eat¡¯ and ¡®sleep¡¯, I cant make sense nor understand the rest, but I can guess..

    Are they telling me to stay at here? Aren¡¯t these people are a bit too friendly to someone they just met?

    A bit mystified by this whole situation, but I still accepted their hospitality. I will decided what I will do later, for now, lets just move with the flow. I¡¯m alone in this strange land after all, any help would be appreciated. After finished the tasty meal, Mira cleaned up the table and I tried to help her, but got refused instead. She shook her head and smiled, pointing her index finger at Sol. She looked at her brother and said something to him, which Sol returned with a nod. Honestly, not being able to understand what they are saying are really inconvenient, I need to fix this sooner or later.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    Sol walked up to me, grabbed my right hand, and led me to the outside. Being led by hand like a kid, moreover by someone younger than me to boot, really does some damage to me, mentally I mean, and I don¡¯t like being touched by someone. I gently shook his hand off. Sol looked down to me and raises his eyebrows. I just nodded and walked ahead to the door. I stood still at the door, waiting for him, he just scratched his head, and decided to respect my wishes. He opened the door and what greet me is a fantastical scenery that I wouldn¡¯t seen at earth.

    The wooden hut is the only house located on top of the hill. Fresh air flowing to my face, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Behind us, there lays a giant forest, I presumed is the forest that I roamed before. Just right in front of the forest, I saw floating stones, encircling the forest. Looking at something that defied psychic, I didn¡¯t even bat an eye, I don¡¯t think I could be surprised anymore. After all, there all three suns, how this planet can still maintaining life with three of them scorching this place isn¡¯t something that I want to think about it. I already give up thinking too complicated, my sense and knowledge don¡¯t apply in this land.

    I looked down from the small hill. I could see part of the town, bustling with activity down there. Sol walked past me and climbed down from the hill. I followed him. Our direction made me sure that our destination is the town.

    After a worth while of walking, we finally arrived at the town. The town is cramped with all kind of entertainment and food stands, the people walking back and fort too, had all kind of body traits that made me curious. A green haired woman with long sharp ears, a kid with dog ears and wagging tail, a short and stubby man with messy beard, a humanoid person with a curving horn protruded from his forehead. This feel like I¡¯m in a game, with all this fantasy race popped out in front of me, but the incident with the blue wolf made sure this is reality.

    I walked beside Sol, looking my surrounding with great interest. This town appearance is like those of medieval fantasy, house built using wood or stone. I can felt a lot of pedestrian stared at me, but I ignored it. A grilled meat skewer stand selling his food to a dog eared woman and her child. She gave him 2 single brown coin and exchanged with 2 skewer.

    So that¡¯s the currency¡­

    Maybe I stared a bit to much, Sol looked at me, and walked to the stand, bought three skewers, and handed two for me. How kind of him.

    I thanked him even though our language differenced. Sol just smiled and nodded, patted my head. Its seems like I had been treated like a child again, even though I¡¯m older than him.

    Still, this feel nice¡­ Wait, what am I thinking?

    While a conflict had formed in my heart, Sol stopped patted my head, and decided to continue our journey while eating a skewer at his hands. A sigh of relief came out from mouth, released from the child treatment, I ignored the slight disappointed bubbled within my heart.

    After I finished gobbled all the skewer, Sol stopped walking and stared at a certain building. We had walked quite far away from the crowded road, this building is quite isolated, only a few people walking at the street. My ears twitched, I can heard a lot noises coming from the inside of the building. I looked up at Sol, wondering what business that he had in this building. He unexpectedly sighed, and walked toward the largest building in this area.

    He opened the door and I peeked inside. Scarce with decoration, there are only a long table, two chair, a lamp, and a strict looking elf, sitting and writing something at a paper. Large shelf behind her, filled to brim with books. This place feels like a receptionist area.

    The elf raised his head, he squinted his eyes, scrutiny us closely. Sol walked toward the elf, they talked for some time, and in the mean time I had nothing to do, I¡¯m just roaming around the room, observed anything that caught my eyes. I found another door, just in the corner of the room. Bored and curiosity overwhelm my mind, I decided to take a look what lay behind the door. Just when I raised my arm to the doorknob, I can hear footstep behind the door thanks to my animal ears, I immediately move backward, but its seems I¡¯m a bit late, the door slammed open with a bang before I fully moved to safety. The door hit my nose. Ouch.

    I raised both of my hand to my face, massaging my bruised nose, I stared at the perpetrator, blue twin tails greeted me, the girl had this haughty expression on her, she slightly taller than me, and she is human, I think. My knowledge with the race existed in this land is too little to made proper judgement. Maybe she an imp or devil for all I know.

    She didn¡¯t even look at me, I think my existent didn¡¯t even register to her mind. She walked to the outside, ignored all the people in this room, the door lead to the outside slammed shut. I saw the elf is massaging his temple, tired by the incident take place a moment ago.

    The elf left his table and chair and walked toward myself. He gave me a glance and patted my head. A yellow light came out from his hand and I can felt my nose doesn¡¯t hurt anymore. Magic sure is awesome.

    The elf finished his healing, he said something to Sol, and made his ways deeper into the building. The unclosed door before closed. Leaving us alone in this room. Sol patted my head, why everyone like to do that?

    Its seems his business in here is over. We left the building, what await us in the outside is the twin tailed girl before, she leaning toward a big tree, her gaze cast downward. She gave us a brief glance, before walked away. What a strange kid.

    We walked again, this time our destination seems to be back at that wooden hut. Ten minutes worth of walking, I saw a group of people in front of us, they talk to each other, smiling and playing, before they noticed us. I can heard Sol beside me clicked in annoyance. They stopped walking, an orange haired youth walked slightly ahead from the group, he squinted his eyes and his mouth twisted into a snarl.

    Really, trouble followed me everywhere.

 Chapter 7 - Control

    ~Sol Nierheart~

    Tch, why them¡­

    Right now Sol is in a pinch, because in front of him is a group of trouble maker, trouble maker that targeted him. These people always tried to pick a fight, really. A sigh came out from my mouth.

    ¡°Don¡¯t they have anything better to do?¡± I muttered under my breath. My head turn downward, a shadow cast over my face. They inching closer toward me. The guy in front, Elsoul seems pissed today, did something happened to him?

    ¡°Hey you shithead, I heard you trespassed the forbidden territory, you think you can walk away like this without punishment?¡± Elsoul shouted to me when he is within earshot. Only one meter between me and him, his gang followed behind, snickered, clearly looking forward to see me got beaten up. I gritted my teeth, i can¡¯t let my emotion take over me. That¡¯s what they wanted, a fight, and I definitely wont let them do as they wish.

    ¡° So you heard from the elder, your father, huh? Then you must heard that he decided to forgave me this time, since it¡¯s an emergency. I don¡¯t think that I need to receive punishment from you.¡± I said it in one breath, Elsoul orange tail keep swishing right and left, clearly annoyed by my words.

    His feline eyes glared, red pupil focused on me. Tension on the air. I focused my gaze at Hiiro beside me, worried about him. But looking at him, he displayed his usual poker face, looked uninterested with this whole situation. My action caused Elsoul to follow my gaze, he raised his eyebrow, stared at Hiiro.

    ¡°.. Is that the kid? You saved him in the forbidden forest?¡± He frowned, his eyebrow scrunched up, as if thinking about something, in a second, his face changed, turned into a sneer. ¡° I don¡¯t understand why father allowed this, letting a kid stay at your house. Clearly, letting someone stay in a ¡®murderer family¡¯ is very dangerous. Who knows when they are going to became insane, like their criminal ¡®father¡¯ killing those poor people!¡± Elsoul shouted loudly, while his follower behind laughed and mocking me. A few pedestrian walked past, whispering and looking at the commotion.

    I glared at them, my palm scrunched up tightly. I didn¡¯t answer them back, holding down the anger bubbling up in my heart. I took Hiiro hand with me.

    No need to be provoked by them, just let them be.

    I chanted it over and over again, deep inside my heart. I ignored them and intend to walk past them with Hiiro on tow. My boots stomped the dirt, each step getting me farther from here, when I walked just beside Elsoul, he spoke it aloud, directed to me, his words vile and pompous.

    ¡° Ha, I heard that Gror old man actually went and propose your sister, even when he already married, I bet your sister seduced him huh, what a slut, I bet she spread her leg to ever-¡°

    BAAAMMM, CRACKK!!!!!!!

    I punched that asshole with all my might, his face twisted to the right, drops of blood came out from his mouth, danced freely in the air, before dropped with a splat to the ground. He managed to withstand the force, just barely able to hold his ground and didn¡¯t fell down pathetically. He widened his eyes, as if can¡¯t believe what was happened to him. He turned his face to me and growled, his canine teeth became visible.

    ¡° You.. You will regret this you trash!!!¡± He growled viciously, his stance changed, like a hunter eyeing his prey, he bent his body down, ready to pounce on me. I raised my downcast head, my eyes gazing solely on him, determination and anger glinted on my eyes, my face twisted with fury. My voice vibrated on the air.

    ¡° I don¡¯t care what you said about me, or that stupid fucking father! But don¡¯t you dare insult my sister!! ¡° I shouted at him, my whole body is trembling because of wrath.

    His gang of follower slowly encircling me, with no way to run, my only option is to fight myself out, and that idea feel very tempting to me now, my head is filled with the urge to beat them down to the ground, anger is clouding my mind.

    Its four vs one, I¡¯m in disadvantage, but I don¡¯t care about that. I glanced in the corner of my eyes. I pushed Hiiro out before I punched that asshole, currently with his butt on the ground, Hiiro is groaning and massaging his pained back. he is outside of the encirclement now. Good. I can¡¯t pull him to my fight.

    Right now, I need every advantage I get. I focused my eyes to the opponent in front of me. I don¡¯t have any weapon on my body, so I had to fight bare handed. We currently on a standstill, tension is high on the air, a bead of sweat rolled down from my forehead to my cheek. Nobody made the first move, each of us gauging another. Eyes strained to the limit, observing any movement.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    With no notice nor alarm, Elsoul moved, he pounced on me with speed befitting of that a cat kin. His sharp claws grazed my cheek, but I managed to avoid the full blow. Unfortunately for him, but fortunate for me, his attack leave him open from the side. With split second reaction, I punched him right on his ribs, a motion that ingrained to my body from many years of training. The force of my fist pushed him away, he groaned and tumble in the air for a second, he curled up his body like a ball, and he positioned his feet pointing to the ground before he fall down, he bent his knee, and both his arm touching the dirt, balancing his fall.

    While Elsoul is blown away, his three underling moved together, didn¡¯t miss the opportunity created by their boss. Working with each other, they attacked me with a crazed fervor, desperate to land a hit on me, luckily, neither of them brought out any bladed weapon and their battle prowess is lower than Elsoul. One of them punched straight at me, which I responded with a side step and followed after with a right hook, right at his chin. The second one attacked from behind, thinking he can get me when I¡¯m busy with his friend, he was proved wrong with a blow from my elbow to his head. The third one managed to land a hit on me, a low kick aim at my knee, my balance is disturbed, I gritted my teeth and stomped my feet hard to hold my body from falling and crashing down to the ground. But its seem their motive is not to incapacitate me, but to create an opportunity.

    Elsoul somehow crossed the distance between us, he managed to sneaked up behind me without me noticing and clawed at my back, his sharp claws shredded my cloths and scratched my skin deep, drawing blood out from my body. I groaned out as response, and quickly rotated my body, using my left foot as a pivot, I gave him a high kick, which he promptly avoided it. I immediately moves backward, putting some distance between us. I panted hard, my eyebrow scrunched up.

    This is bad.

    ¡°Hah, now you can¡¯t talk back do you? That overbearing side of you will be your doom.¡± Elsoul raised his chin, he looking down on me, arrogance laced on every of his words.

    He sprinted towards me, not giving me any time to recover. His leg moved and started with a middle kick, followed by his other leg. His kick is packed with power and a swishing sound could be heard, his feet only an inch away from me. I focused my eyes to him, reacting with his movement, I avoided, crouched, and bended my body with every punch and kick he unleashed to me. I can see Elsoul is getting frustated with me avoiding all of his attack. Suddenly, i can feel something crawling on my skin, my intuition telling me the next attack is dangerous. An attack that i had to avoid on all cost.

    I throw my body to right, more than I need to avoid a punch, but its seem my instinct proved to be right. Elsoul fist glowed with red aura, the air he punched exploded, the force throwing the leaf and dust nearby to the air.

    That damn Elsoul actually strengthen his fist using his mana! Did he want to kill me?!

    His fist glowing menacingly before its faded. He retracted his fist and looked down at me. He sneered at me.

    ¡° Surprised?¡± He tilted his head and walking toward me.

    ¡° For someone like you, be glad that you can taste my skill, someone useless like you who cannot control your own mana." His walk turned into run.

    "You fucking TRASH!!!¡± He roared and pounced at me.

    Our battle continued.

    <hr>

    ~Ayasaka Hiiro~

    Ouch. Its hurt damnit, he didn¡¯t need to push me that strongly.

    How did this came into this, while I wondered in my mind, I massaged my pained back. I look at the fight ongoing in front of me. Just when I though I will get my peace back, trouble always brewing in my life. I raised my head and squinted both of my eyes, observing the fight.

    Right now Sol is shouting and punching them like an avenger. His friendly face replaced with fury, one that I never think that i would see in his face, I never thought him as a hot headed character. Honestly, I though he was one who would be silent and receiving the bully attack without fighting back. I was wrong. My impression of him, which is undependable and weak, destroyed to bits. Even with more than one opponent, he was able to handle them expertly, he clearly had been training in his whole life, his determination and will isn¡¯t weak. I apologized to Sol in my mind for doubting him.

    Still, even with how skilled he is, there are four people he facing right now. He is in disadvantage, and the longer this fight continued, the disadvantage is getting worse and worse. He already wounded by that cocky looking cat boy. Damn, what I can even do? His underling spectated from afar, i think they couldn''t follow their boss and Sol speed.

    A booming sound resounded, I turned my head back at the fight. A gust of wind hit my face. A glowing red colored fist entered my vision. I could see Sol with flabbergasted face plastered on his face, he sprawled on the ground, unharmed save for his back.

    I need to help him somehow, he did saved my life after all, and I¡¯m currently staying at his house, better gain his trust. I looked around me, searching for something that can be use as a weapon. The cat eared kid was punching and attacking Sol, except now his fist glowed red, and Sol keep avoiding it by throwing his body far away from the attack. His action right now should eating a good chunk of his stamina. And getting hit by that blow would not be pretty.

    After a while, I finally found my weapon, a grey stone. Not the best, but it will do. I need to divert his attention from Sol, creating opportunity for him to fight back. I¡¯m using it as an artery, since the cat eared kid focused on Sol, he won¡¯t notice me, I sincerely hope so.

    I grabbed the stone tightly using my hands. Then I turned my body to the side, with my head looked straight to my target. I mimicked baseball player, my right arm moved behind with the stone, I puffed out my chest, leaning forward, my left feet stomped hard on the ground, using the momentum, I throw it with all my strength in my thin arm to the target. The stone travel with frightening speed.

    WHOOSSHHH

    The stone hit squarely at the cat eared kid right on his head, his head twisted to the left, his body following the momentum lifelessly fell to the ground, blood dripping out from the new injury, and his pupil rolled behind his eyelid. He is unconscious.

    Silent grasping the surrounding air, nobody made a sound, can¡¯t believe what they just saw. After all, the stone speed isn¡¯t something that can be follow with their eyes, Elsoul cannot evaded the attack even if he know its beforehand, and the mere stone packed such a punch that can knocked out a person who strenghten his body using mana.

    Everybody stare at the perpetrators. Currently the subject of the attention, Hiiro, is bewildered. He intended to create an opportunity, but he ended the battle instead.

    What the hell?? he fainted with just one hit¡­ well, they had magic here, so that kid should be all right.

    ...

    Right?

 Chapter 8 - Learnt

    Well¡­ I guess its over?

    I tilted my head, my ears followed the gravity and fell down to the left. I watched my surrounding, this place is pretty deserted, there aren¡¯t any people beside us, a whole difference feel from the crowded center of the city. But we aren¡¯t that far from that large building with the strict looking elf, our ruckus should be heard by him now.

    I walked towards Sol. His mouth opened, eyes widened staring at me, overall, his stupid expression is back. He didn¡¯t made any other reaction even when I¡¯m in front of him. So I tugged his sleeve slightly, waking him up from his daydream. He jumped a little but I ignored it. I raised my arm and pointed at his house direction. He stared at me, then at my finger, lastly at the direction I pointed out.

    He stood still in his place and didn¡¯t made any indication that he was going to move any time soon. Annoyed, I pulled his sleeve forcefully causing him to tumble a little. But he stopped dead on his track and craned his neck to the cat eared kid, his underling has already run away after they saw their defeated boss, leaving him to his fate.

    Sol stared at him for a while, his pupil dilated, eyebrow frowned, as if hesitating what he about to do. He sighed. He strode his way toward the person he fight just a moment ago. He crouched and grabbed the cat eared kid arm and put it around his shoulder. He winced a little. He was wounded too after all, but he moved forward with a burden at his back. His destination seems to be the building we came before.

    I¡¯m a little surprised. What a soft hearted person. Or should I said naive? Judging by their previous interaction, the cat eared kid must had provoked him. I doubt Sol is the type of person would punch people out of nowhere. But, he helped him instead of leaving him here rot.

    I followed right behind him and matched his slow pace. We walked until to the building stone pathway and found someone was waiting for us. The elf was waiting in front of the door, as if he already know we would came here. Sol trod to the elf and spoke to him and the elf took over the cat eared kid in custody. The elf face is frowning, using his free hand, he gave Sol a chop at his head. I can feel that the elf is unsatisfied by him. Sol only gave the elf a wry smile and scratched his head. I stood watching while they exchanged their banter.

    Its seems they had know for a long time. They spoke with an old familiarity feel to it. Old friend perhaps. They finished their talk and entered the wooden building with the cat eared kid, leaving both of us alone. Sol with his battered body sighed again and then he looked at me. He said something that I can¡¯t understand and the only thing I could do is tilt my head at him.

    He smiled and turned his body, facing the other direction. This time, we can finally go back without any interruption.

    <hr>

    I¡¯m standing at the grassland outside of the wooden hut. The hut is surrounded by flowers and small tree. In my palm is a small stone, I raised it up to my eye level. I gripped the stone tightly, a small crack appeared, and getting more bigger as I putting more force to my palm. The stone didn¡¯t last long and destroyed to bits. I let go the bits of stone, it fell down from my palm and landed into the grass and dirt.

    I stared at the destroyed stone. Currently I¡¯m experimenting with my physical prowess. In that fight before, I displayed strength unbefitting those of a small child. Is it because I¡¯m not a human anymore?

    My pointy, triangular ears twitched slightly and my fluffy tail flicked. I remembered the various race in that town, there are normal human, some of those people had beast trait like me, and some of them have difference appearance altogether, scaled lizard walking with two legs, short and stout child sized people, and wings instead of human arm sprouted on their shoulder.

    The question is, did my strength count as normal here?

    I grabbed another stone in the ground. I played it in my hand for a while, before I throw it with all my strength to the nearby tree. My experiment stone hit the small tree, the tree barks cracked inwardly, bits of wood shard threw out into the air. The stone stayed stuck inside the hole it created.

    ¡­

    Yup, doesn¡¯t look normal at all.

    I dropped into the ground, sitting cross legged. Judging by Sol flabbergasted reaction, I doubt normal kids in this world can made a hole in a tree like this. This mean I am abnormal. In this fantasy world, where magic and mythical beings exist, I¡¯m counted as an abnormal among them. I sighed.

    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    ¡°Haa, well, power is welcome here, since this world is dangerous, I should gladly accept this.¡±

    This world is dangerous, that much is true, this power will prove useful. I have a hell lots of problem. But I guess the most important thing is to learn the common language first. I need information, I need to know about this world. But I can¡¯t even talk to the people here.

    I raised my head to the sky, my pupil reflect the white cloud floating freely in the vast ocean of blue, and my mind is filled with question and more problem. I need to adapt to this world, and watching the people here, there is something that I want to try a long time ago.

    I drop my head down and gazed straight. I raised both my arm gingerly. My heart beating slightly faster. I take a deep breath and exhaled it. Then, like a character in comic and cartoon, I tried to imagine a power dwelling inside of me and expelling that power, forming a flame.

    ¡°F..Fire¡­¡± I stuttered.

    I can feel a tug inside of me. I waited for a while, a gust of wind passed me, otherwise nothing happened. This is stu-

    WHOOO

    A tiny flame flicker alive in front of my palm. The size of that flame is like those of a candle, small and weak, as if going to disappear any moment. Still, happiness is blooming in my heart. I can do magic!

    I put down my arm, but the tiny blue flame still floating in the air, undisturbed by anything. I observed it more closely. My first magic. It¡¯s weak but it was the first step. The tiny flame slowly flickered out, disappeared without a trace.

    I can summon a fire.. What about other?

    I raised my arm again, excited, but before I was going to do my second magic, I heard a voice calling me from behind.

    ¡°Hiiro!!¡±

    I turned my head and found Mira standing in the door way, just before stepping into the terrace. She gestured with her hand, telling me to come to her.

    Oh well, I can do it next time.

    I jog a little, wandering what she wanted from me. I walked inside and Mira followed behind me, closing the door. She walked toward the only table in this room and I followed her. This small hut only have two rooms functioning as the bedroom, with the main room connecting two of them. Currently we are in the main room, there are a small pantry, and one square table with three chair, one window in the pantry area and one window beside the door. The main room was only eight meter in length and five meter in wide.

    I reached the table and found a lots of paper and book on top of it. Mira sat in one of the chair, she gestured me to sit beside her and I oblige. I made my way to one of the chair and stared at her, wondering what is this. She smiled and open one of the books in front of me. I gazed at the content, and found out it¡¯s a picture book, illustration with word scribed beside it. I raised my head to look at her. Using her hand, she gestured to me, I think she wanted to tell me that she will teach me the content of the books.

    Is she reading my mind?

    I immediately nodded my head fervently. She chuckled a little. Now my immediate problem was solved.

    She teach me the basic first, her lesson is easy to understand, as if she is experienced in teaching people, and I too absorbed the knowledge like a dry sponge. Before the lesson ended, I already learned half of the book on the table. She taught me till evening, and the outside is getting dark. She take a look at the windows and stood up. She turned to me and spoke.

    ¡°Food?¡± She asked me which I answered with a nod.

    She walked away to the pantry and start preparing for our meals. I followed to help, but chased out by her from the pantry. With nothing to do, I tidied up the table and walk to the bedroom. The door creaked slightly as I opened it. Inside, I could see Sol tending and sharpening his knife. He is sitting on the chair with tools and knifes scattered on the table. A small oil lamp stood in the corner.

    I slowly closed the door and stride toward Sol. I peeked from behind his back and look at him doing his work. For a while, he focused on his job and ignored me, only until he finished and sheathed his knife that he noticed me.

    ¡°Huh, Hiiro?¡± He raised his eyebrow and stared at me. Seems a little surprised by my sudden appearance.

    ¡°I. Bored.¡± I spoke to him, my word in pieces.

    He slightly widened his eyes, now truly surprised my ability to speak the common language, even it¡¯s a little choppy. Actually, I am surprised too, my learning and comprehending skill is too amazing. I¡¯m good at learning new things, but this speed is more than the past me. Did my brain get an upgrade too?

    ¡°Hiiro, @# you :¡Á* speak ?¡± His voice entered my ears, I can understand a few of his words.

    ¡°A little.¡± I nodded my head at him. And he smiled.

    ¡°Great! Good job, Hiiro.¡± He patted my head again. Why do people like to pat my head that much?

    This is troublesome.. oo.. this¡­feel nice¡­.how dangerous¡­

    I closed my eyes, my ear dropped down, letting him stroke my ears. I admits. He had skills. Right now, I¡¯m completely letting him petting my head, my guards down.

    Just as I enjoying this full headed massage, the door opened and Mira walked in. She facing us and smiled. Although her eyes had this strange glint on it.

    ¡°Food ready. Come out and eats.¡± I found out that her smile is more intended to me. She glared at Sol viciously, and the person himself right now is avoiding his sister gaze, stared at the me instead. A bead of sweat rolled from his forehead.

    Mira stared for a while, before she walk back and closed the bedroom door. Sol released a relieved sigh.

    ¡°She mad. Apologize?¡± I tilted my head.

    ¡°Yeah.. I will apologize #*=, I shouldn¡¯t @$& & ?, fight.¡± A face full of regret plastered on his face. I patted his head, consoling him.

    A wry smile formed in his face. He get up from his chair and together, we walk in tow to the main room, our meals are waiting for us after all. And getting Mira wait for us too long will only put her in bad mood.

    After we ate our meals, Sol using this chance, apologized to her sister, which she accepted it begrudgingly. When we came back from our little adventure, Mira truly shocked to find his little brother beaten and battered. He immediately bombarded by healing magic and questioned by her sister. His sister doesn¡¯t seems to like his explanation about his fight with cat eared kid. She sulk and won¡¯t talk to him for the whole afternoon.

    Mira seems to be tired, so we decided to end the day. We walk back to our respective room. I choose to slept in Sol room when Mira asked me about it. I think she a little disappointed, but this is for the best.

    I bring my picture books to his room. Honestly, I didn¡¯t feel tired at all even with all that fiasco. So I decided to read the books to spend my time until I¡¯m sleepy. Sol is tired like her sister, he did fight with those people after all, he immediately plopped in the bed and slept in a matter of minute.

    I sat in the chair with my legs dangling around, various books strew across the table, the oil lamp slightly chase away the darkness in this room, my only companion is the book in my hands. Just like this, I read for the whole night.

 Chapter 9 - Question

    ¡°Huh, this is lighter than I have expected.¡± I picked up a bunch of firewood that we collected. The firewood piled high up to my vision. Of course, they were tied properly, to increase our efficiency in carrying.

    ¡°Haha, they are light for you though.¡± Sol wryly smiled, he had a defeated expression on his face, lots of tied firewood placed inside the basket behind his back. The basket is larger than his body, you can put two male adults inside it with no problem, and the firewood jutting out higher than his head.

    I have the same basket tied behind my back, except mine is filled to brim, as if going to burst out. With my small stature and thin body, the large basket behind me created a ridiculous image to whoever saw me. It¡¯s like a rabbit lifting a lion on its back.

    Sol tried to stop me from carrying this much, but after he saw me lifting the heavy load with much ease, and rotating myself with the load behind me with no problem. He gave up persuading me and walked back to pick his firewood instead. His defeated back is amusing to see. It seemed like I have hurt his pride. Oops.

    Currently, we are in the forest, though we didn¡¯t wander too deep. We are walking back now since our objective is fulfilled. I walked behind Sol as he knew the forest more than me. It would be horrendous if I lost my way here. Meeting dangerous monster is not my hobby.

    ¡°You really do learn quick, huh? Nobody will believe that you can¡¯t speak common language four days ago, Mira sis was really surprised.¡± Shrugged Sol, he easily treaded the uneven terrain and evading tree¡¯s branches and bushes. Meanwhile I had more difficulty than him. I almost tripped a few times and getting crushed by a bunch of firewood doesn¡¯t sound very tempting for me.

    ¡°Well, you can say that I¡¯m a quick learner. But I have something I want to ask you Sol.¡± I asked Sol, trying to turn our conversation to else.

    ¡°Hmm? Just ask anything.¡± He answered while his feet never stopped.

    ¡°Err, I know that this is a strange question and might sounds rude. But, why do you and Mira help me this much? I mean, I¡¯m a stranger, and you never asked me where I came from or why I lay near death in that forbidden territory, yet you guys provided me a comfy living place and food to eat.¡± I said it directly, didn¡¯t bother to hide my intention.

    This question has been swirling in my mind for a long time, since the first day living in their house. Suspicious and doubt keep budding in my heart. So, I thought it would be better to just ask him. It might be reckless, but at least I would get some answer to my situation here, even the answer I received may be not the truth.

    Sol stopped walking, he raised his head and looked up, his finger at his chin, thinking about my question. He maintained this state for a while before he turned his body toward me. His eyes gazed straight and slowly opened his mouth.

    ¡°Because I wanted to.¡± Said Sol leisurely.

    ¡°What? What do you mean?¡± I asked him, a bit taken aback by his answer.

    ¡°Well, when I saw you beaten and bloody at the forest, I just saved you without thinking. But I don¡¯t regret it at all, Hiiro.¡± He beamed a smile at me. Ugh, that¡¯s cheating.

    ¡°Actually, the elder told us that he will accept you as a town member and you are free to leave if you wanted to. Me and my sister volunteered to take you in at our house, well, since I¡¯m the one who founded you, so I thought I should take the responsibility.¡± He scratched his head awkwardly. I didn¡¯t react to him, my mind is distracted by what he just said to me.

    The elder accepted an unknown person like me? How suspicious. I heard from Mira that the forbidden territory is something like a taboo to them, they even have a story about that place. I read it in one of the story book Mira gave to me when I was learning their common language. It was about a beloved god prophet gone mad and went to a killing spree or something¡­ Just as I tried to remember the rest of the story, Sol continued his talk.

    ¡°And about your past, we won¡¯t force you if you don¡¯t want to talk about it. Honestly, I¡¯m not too interested about it. Furthermore¡­¡± Sol walked towards me, as if becoming a habit, he raised his arm and petted my head. My head bobbed down with the force he put in his hand.

    ¡°You are a kind person, Hiiro. I can guarantee that. Although you are prone on suspecting things.¡± He petted my head continuously.

    ¡°hmm, how can you be so sure? What if I¡¯m an evil monster in disguise?¡± I taunted him with my words.

    ¡°You really don¡¯t talk like a seven years old kid, do you? Well, if you want to be so sure, then my answer is, intuition.¡± He stopped petting my head and answered my question proudly.

    ¡°Intuition?¡±

    ¡°Yep, intuition.¡± He said it again proudly.

    I squinted my eyes with an unbelievable expression plastered on my face. Sol sensed this. He frantically tried to explain(?) his undependable answer.

    ¡°H-Hey! Believe in me! My intuition is never wrong, all right?! And when I said you are a kind person, it¡¯s not just me! Mira thinks that you are a good kid too. Just accept my answer, and we need to go back already, it¡¯s going to be noon soon.¡± He panicked a little, before I could have said anything else, he turned his body and started to continue his walk again.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    ¡°¡­well, fine...¡± I sighed and followed his walking figure grudgingly. His pace quickened than before.

    After four days of living with them, I rated them as good people. It¡¯s just that I personally can¡¯t accept his assessment to me. While treading the dark part of the forest, I whispered to myself.

    ¡°...I¡¯m not a kind person after all.¡±

    <hr>

    ¡°We are back!!¡± Sol energetically announced himself at his home. Happy that he finally freed from the firewood from his back. He opened the door loudly and raised his arm to the sky. I walked behind him calmly, greeting her sister.

    ¡°Mira sis, we are back.¡± I greeted her.

    ¡°Welcome back both of you, and Sol please stop slamming the door, it¡¯s going to be ruined by you at this rate.¡± Mira greeted us back and followed up nicely with a sermon to her brother.

    ¡°Ugh, yeah yeah...¡± He huffed and walked to the table. He plopped down to the chair and his head fell to the table lazily.

    ¡°You are fifteen years old now, please be more mature, all right? Don¡¯t make me worried about you day and night.¡± While talking to her brother, she put down a bowl of boiled meat and vegetable to the table.

    ¡°I think Sol is mature enough for his age, even more than his peers, you don¡¯t need to be worried about that Mira.¡± I sat down beside Sol, inserting my own opinion while waiting for the food.

    ¡°See! Even Hiiro look up to me. I know that you are worried every time I gone alone to the forest. But I can defend myself, I¡¯m not that weak kid anymore, beside..¡± He put his arm down and gripped the chair, lifted it up a bit and moved near me. He put his arm around my shoulder.

    ¡°I had Hiiro with me now, we can watch each other¡¯s back!¡±

    ¡°Err, I don¡¯t think I can help you in that area..¡± I denied his claim.

    ¡°What are you saying? Hiiro is still a child! I don¡¯t even think about letting him to the forest is a good idea.¡± Mira puffed her cheek. She sat down with us after finished putting our lunch to the table. Sol rolled his eyes.

    ¡°Sis, he is able to lift a giant rock with ease, his physical ability is already exceeded a normal human adult. And don¡¯t you ever forget, he made Elsoul fainted with a small stone. I will never be able to forget about that.¡± He raised his head and looking up to the ceiling, arm crossed in front of his chest, remembering the fight.

    ¡°Right, so when are we going to eat? I¡¯m starving already.¡± I grabbed my cutlery placed in front of me.

    As on cue, everybody started to eat. Our lunch today consists on brown bread and boiled meat with vegetable. It¡¯s simple but delicious. After finished our meal and do our dishes. Both Sol and Mira stand before me. Their face serious. Its seem they want to talk about something. Mira is the first to open their mouth.

    ¡°Do you want to go to school?¡± asked Mira.

    ¡°Huh? School? Where does this came from?¡± My eyes widened slightly, confused by their sudden question.

    ¡°Well, you see, every child above five attend school in this town. And the elder told us to let you in too. Of course, if you don¡¯t want it, you can just refuse. We won¡¯t force you.¡± Mira keep fidgeting in her place, she seems to be worried that I will outright refuses her proposal.

    The elder again? He kept popping out today. What does he want and what does he know? I need to meet him someday. While I was deep in thought, Sol talked to me, waking me up from my musing.

    ¡°You like books, right? I saw that you kept borrowing books from Mira to read when you have free time. The school have a larger stock of book than we have at here. And being a student is easier to access the book there than normal civilian.¡± Sol shrugged his shoulder and explained in one breath.

    ¡°Hmm, you are not wrong...¡± My eyebrow frowned, I still had my doubt. The offer is tempting but...

    I looked down and focused on my necklace. The necklace gem shined with red radiance. I received this from the cat uncle, the elder. I¡¯m still don¡¯t know the reason for giving me this expensive looking necklace. I asked Sol and Mira, but they only shook their head, they too don¡¯t know the reason why the elder gave me the necklace. Hmmm¡­

    ¡°Fine then, I don¡¯t have anything to do anyway. So, when do I start?¡±

    Both of them beamed a smile to me, they look at each other, nodding their head. Then they faced me again, this time Sol is the first one to speak. He clapped his hand and rang out with a crisp clap. What came out from his mouth is not what I expected to hear.

    ¡°Great! Then let¡¯s start it now!¡±

    <hr>

    ¡°Today we have new student in our class, please introduce yourself.¡± The strict looking elf, Cirdan Strongwood, introduced me to the twenty kids in front of me.

    Right now, I¡¯m in the Strongwood school, established by this elf, even though I said school, this is more like a small tutoring house than a school. The school has only six classrooms and divided into two different type. Lower than ten years old and those more than ten years old. And I¡¯m stationed at the lower one. They only had four teachers here, they teach basic information about the world, simple mathematic, and writing. They also teach magic here, if you had the aptitude of course.

    All of it, I heard it from Sol. Its seem he and her sister graduated from here. An alumni. He said that he can¡¯t use magic even he had the aptitude to it when tested in the mana stone. Somehow, he was just incapable to force or shape the mana in his body. He still hasn¡¯t given up though. I saw him secretly practicing in the backyard when he think he was alone, mumbling magic spell, and weird hand gesture.

    I introduced myself while I scanned my surrounding, its seem part of the class is built with stone and wood. They have a blackboard at the wall and teacher desk in front of the class. Just when I looked at the bunch of student, I found a familiar face sitting beside at a window, in the corner of the room. It¡¯s the twin tailed little girl from before.

    She has a bored expression plastered on her face, her chin placed on her palm and the table supporting her arm. She was looking out from the windows, uninterested with the event unfolding in the class. A whole different with the other kids, who keep chattering and excited by my appearance.

    The desk beside her is empty, and as expected I was told to sit beside the girl. What I didn¡¯t expect is the whole class gone awfully quiet. The previous noise and chattering disappeared into thin air. In this strange situation, a blonde-haired girl with pointy ear raised her arm up.

    ¡°Esteemed teacher! I think that the new student should sit somewhere else. We don¡¯t want him to get ¡®hurt¡¯ accidentally, after all. He can sit with me.¡± She said it loudly enough for the whole class to hear. A confident smug appeared in her face.

    A few students snickered and peeked at the girl behind them. Some of them even agreed to her and speak it out. The class quickly became noisy again, but this time the noise is directed to the girl rather than me. Horrible words hurled mercilessly to their target. Things like ¡®ugly¡¯, ¡®disaster walker¡¯, ¡®useless¡¯, ¡®disappear¡¯ can be heard of.

    Bullying? Kids sure can be scary.

    My face still facing straight, but my eyes peeked at the victim of the bully. The girl still maintained her calm fa?ade. But I can see that she is wavering, her lips pursed and her hands trembled. She is going to break soon, if someone didn¡¯t intervene.

    ¡°SILENT!!¡± Cirdan shouted, his voice strangely reverberated closely in my ears as if he shouted directly on my face. I winced by the noise. Most children with good hearing closed both their ears using their hands. I doubt that it will help. Since I¡¯m sure his voice must be tampered with magic.

    The class became dead silent again. No one dared to talk or move even an inch.

    ¡°If you guys intend to continue this useless racket, then don¡¯t complaint to me if I gave my punishment, understood?¡± He glared at the students and they all nodded their head vigorously, scared by their scary teacher.

    ¡°Then Hiiro, please find your way to your chair, the class will start soon.¡± He sent me away to my seat and I followed his instruction wordlessly.

    All of the student¡¯s eyes glued at my walking figure. I seated at my wooden chair and the stare didn¡¯t break. The girl beside me keep looking out to the window as if everything didn¡¯t concern her.

    ¡­

    Whelp, this is going to be long and annoying

 Chapter 10 - Trouble, trouble, trouble

    ¡°Hey, hey, where do you came from?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s play Hiiro!¡±

    ¡°You are really pretty! And extra fluffy!¡±

    ¡°Your eyes are strange.¡±

    ¡°Hiiro will play with me!¡±

    A group of kids grouped at my desk. They pushed each other and talk messy. A kid with citrus hair and a white horn decorated his head keep pulling my tail. His chocolate skin made a deep contrast with my pure white fur. I complained but it¡¯s a futile effort. A girl with wavy hair and freckles at her face was touching my face shamelessly, she pulled and pressed on my cheeks. A brown headed boy with unnecessary loud voice keep shouting on top of his lung. My ears cries in pain. I want my privacy back.

    I peeked at my right side. The little girl in twin tail had already long gone. When the teacher announced our short break, the children¡¯s yelled happily for their attained short freedom, except my desk mate. She immediately stood up from her wooden chair and silently walk out from the class, leaving myself alone to be assaulted by the curious children.

    ¡°Ehm, sorry guys, need to go to the bathroom!¡±

    With my lame excuse, I pushed them out and ran away from the crowd. Disappointed voice and groan could be heard from behind. My footstep rang out with each steps I took in the quiet corridor. After I put enough distance between me and them, I slowed down and stood still, sigh of relief came out from my mouth. Not even a day have past and I had already begun to regret it.

    I raised my head and gazed at what laid outside of the window beside me. Greens and flower decorated the dirt, the back garden is desolated, except for the one girl sitting with her knees curled up and head stuck between them. It¡¯s the blue haired girl. Her long straight hair tied in twin tail flowed down covering her face.

    Is she crying?

    I tilted my head. I agreed and came to the school is primary for the library and magic. Everything else came second. For these reasons, I will even bear with the nuisance that came with it. Trouble will be the last thing I want. But the girl reflected in my eyes had caught my interest.

    I leaned to the window, my arm crossed and lie at the window sill. I was mulling around, wandering what choice should I make. I could call out to her, but doing that would mean brewing my own trouble. She is the subject of bullying after all. Getting close to her will bring enmity to me.

    But fate have its own plan, before I could decide, the girl turned his head to the left. Her bright, light, sparkling blue eyes stared at me intently. I have been caught. My own odd eyes stared back at her too, I can faintly saw pearl of tears forming in the corner of her eyes.

    Her big round eyes widened from shock. She sprang up from her position hastily, but it caused her to lose balance and tripped down to the dirt.

    How clumsy

    The corner of my mouth slightly turned up, amused by what was occurred in front of me. The girl groaned, she caress her pained back, her eyebrows frowned, tears grew bigger, threaten to roll down any minute.

    I pushed down both my arm at the window sill and threw my body out of the window. My feet fell down to the ground soundlessly. I walk leisurely to the girl and stood in front of her.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    I raised my right arm with my hand pointed at her. She stared at my hand for a second, before she promptly ignored it. Using her own power, she raised her body up, face turned to the other side. She refused to look at me. And I can guess why though. Her ears is beet red, embarrassed by her clumsy dispaly earlier.

    Silent prevailed between us. And it¡¯s getting more awkward for me as time goes. The girl stubbornly refused to even take a glance at me, so I initiated the first conversation.

    ¡°Uhm, my name is Hiiro, if you haven¡¯t heard about me before. Since we will be sitting together from now on, lets get along, what is your name?¡± I asked her.

    She didn¡¯t answer immediately, and I waited. After a while, she turned her head toward me and finally spoke. What came out from her mouth isn¡¯t her name. But an ominous warning.

    ¡°..leave me alone, or you will regret it.¡±

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    Her face is serious, unfit for a child. She turned her body and walk away. I watched her retreating back, getting small and smaller, until she left my vision fully. I stood still alone in the garden. Thinking about what she just said. In the end, I shrugged my shoulder, no need to trouble myself in something I didn¡¯t understand.

    I too left the back garden, I jumped back to the corridor using the same window. Now, back to my real reason for leaving the classroom, and that was to find the library. The library was supposed to be located just beside the staff rooms. I wander aimlessly, sometime a few kids and teenager walk pass me. I asked and they pointed into the same direction. I jogged a little, can¡¯t wait to see the library with my own eyes. More books means more knowledge. More knowledge means more question answered.

    I finally arrived at the library. I stood in front of the door, raised my arm and my finger reached the doorknob. I pushed the door open, the scent of paper and ink waved through me. Nice. I blinked and looked around the library. Tables and chairs for study placed in every corner. Shelf upon shelf placed all over the place. Book filled up to the highest racks. Ladder placed beside the shelves.

    This place felt like a maze. I closed the door behind me, walked around and inspecting every book that appeared in my vision. My arm raised, my fingers touching the shelf and books as I walked. The shelves made of ebony wood with simple carving engraved to the racks. The thick book with cover made of colored leather and wood seems to be in good condition. Whoever take care of this library must have loved these books.

    I picked one that caught my eyes. The title inscribed at the cover is ¡®The world of Nevaeh¡¯. Perfect. Mira mostly collect story books and the class I attend teaches about the country in this continent. What I lack is something more fundamental and basic. Hopefully, this book will provide it. I crouched down to the ground and opened the book.

    After twenty minutes or so, I finished the book I was holding in my hand. I closed the book and put it back to the shelf. My mind was swirling with new information. While I was mulling around, a loud sound woke me up from my thought. The door to the library had been slammed open. Noisy chattering entered the supposed silent and peaceful library. I carefully peeked from one of the shelf, my eyebrows immediately frowned.

    A cat beastmen with his friends tailing behind him. His orange coloured tail flicked left and right, clearly annoyed. His friend keep talking to him, attempted to cheer him up, which proved useless with his worsening mood. He grabbed one of the chair in the library and sat down on it, his friends follow and gathered around him.

    That guy¡­ he is Elsoul isn¡¯t it? How troublesome

    Right now I¡¯m stuck in this place. I hid behind a shelf, trying to avoid being discovered. They were gathering at the table near the window, which was the nearest table to the door. The library is rectangular, the door placed in the right corner of the room and Elsoul group gathered in the left. No obstacles stood in between them . If I ran toward the door, they would bound to notice me.

    Wait, if I think about it, the one he hate is Sol, not me. I¡¯m just an innocent passenger. And when he fight with Sol, he completely ignored me. He didn¡¯t aim me nor take me as a hostage. So I should be safe right? I don¡¯t need to hide myself like a hunted prey.

    I tip toed, walked until I was one shelf away from the door. Even though I told myself not to be this anxious, I couldn¡¯t help but to be careful for the noises I could have made. Now the moment of truth, silent but swiftly, my leg took me to the front of door, I raised my arm to the doorknob, that¡¯s where I noticed something was amiss. The chattering was gone, replaced with dead silent.

    ¡°Hey you there, come here.¡± A voice called me from behind.

    It seem that I couldn¡¯t escape it after all. I slowly turned my head toward them and discovered that all the eyes in this room is focused on me. Elsoul beckoned me using his right hand. I could have just walk away and ignore them, but the consequence will be a pain to deal later. It¡¯s better to follow his order for now. I squinted my eyes.

    Lets see what he wanted from me.

    I walked toward him, not too quick, not too slow, just leisurely. Each step bring me closer to him. I stopped, now in front of him, I stared straight at his feline eyes. Now I saw him up close, I can see his face clearly. Unexpectedly, he had a childish face unfit with his delinquent attitude. His orange fur is tabby patterned. His ears slightly twitched, he gazed at me before he opened his mouth.

    ¡°It was you right? The one who threw the stone and injured me.¡±

    He squinted his eyes and stared at me from head to toe, judging me. I almost forgot that I was the one who made him lose that fight. Must be his lackey that told him. I guess he had a reason to pissed off by me now. I gulped and eyed on him warily, I put one foot behind, ready to run in any minute. He raised one of his eyebrow and put his arm on the table, leaned on it.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to be that cautious, I don¡¯t have any intent to harm you or anything like that. I was just curious when they said that a kid injured me to that state.¡± He stared at me, interest could be seen in his eyes.

    Aren¡¯t you a kid as well?

    I complained in my mind, but this situation wasn¡¯t as bad as I think of. He seemed to be friendly enough, for now at least. He keep staring and looking at my face, which was a bit unnerving.

    ¡°You have a pair of strange colored eyes, I never saw an odd color like that on a beast kin. That kind of eyes were only normally seen on the fairy races.¡± Elsoul explained his curiosity to me.

    ¡°Fairy race? You have seen one before? I never saw one on the town.¡± I asked him.

    ¡°Hah! Of course you haven¡¯t! The fairy race only lived at the Great Northern Forest, and they lived in seclusion, away from any civilization for thousand of years, almost no one will see a fairy for his whole live.¡± He scoffed at my lack of knowledge. His friend smirked and laughed beside him.

    ¡°Almost?¡± I asked him again, since he is unexpectedly talkative, I should wring out information from him as much as I can. He smirked, as if waiting for this question. He straighten his body and puffed his chest proudly.

    ¡°Yes, the only person who have saw the fairies for the last one hundred of year, people call him the greatest adventurer in the last century, the Lion of Tvora, the elder of the town of Eschaton, my father, Ember Ashenbelt!¡± He said it in one mouthful of breath, clearly proud of his father achievement.

    ¡°Yeah, Elsoul father is amazing! I heard that he obliterated a basilisk with a punch!¡± Lackey A suddenly joined in the conversation with fervor.

    ¡°No, no, I heard that he fought on par with Everlast of black from Nvill Valley!!¡± Lackey B too joined the chatter.

    ¡°No way! That¡¯s so freaking cool!¡± Lackey C shouted in excitement.

    ¡°Ha! What you heard is only just a drop of it, listen well, my father¡­¡± Elsoul too, excitedly told his father stories to them.

    The previous tension had long gone, replaced with excitement and fervor. They keep talking about the elder adventure and his achievement in the world. They are like a group of fan boy idolizing about their hero, which is sort of true.

    Honestly, I was surprised by the elder popularity and he was stronger than I imagined. He seem to be an adventurer before he took over the elder position. And his achievement as an adventure was so amazing that his name was well known in the whole continent.

    A person like him gave me an unidentified, expensive looking necklace. For what reason? My image about the elder is getting more mysterious as time goes. And letting them know that their hero have given me one of his belonging will be bad.

    Lets keep this as secret, as I thought about it, I slightly griped the mysterious necklace in my pocket. I raised my head to look at them and they were still talking about the elder nonstop, they keep pulling me in their conversation, making me unable to find a chance to leave this place. I can only made a wry smile to their obsession to the elder. Their noisy chattering and shouting made my head hurt. I raised my head up again, looking at the ceiling, I sighed.

    God, i just want to leave already.

 Chapter 11 - Golden light under the darkness

    ¡°So then..¡± when Elsoul was in the middle of his tenth stories, a bell chimed around the school and rang two times before it died down. My ears immediately straightened up.

    Finally, an opportunity!

    ¡°Elsoul big brother!!¡± I raised my tone and interrupted his story telling.

    ¡°H, Huh, big brother?¡± He stopped talking and gazed at me instead. A confused expression plastered on his face. Somehow, he was fixated with the fact that I attached a big brother behind his name.

    ¡°It¡¯s nice to learn about the elder extraordinary adventures, but I really need to go to back to the class now, bye!!¡± As soon as I finished speaking, I turned my body and immediately ran away from the library.

    I ran away as quick as I can, running past the same corridor and windows, my feet stomped hard at the stone floor and finally arrived back to my class. I opened the door swiftly and found all the students had already properly seated. The teacher, the same elf again, Cirdan turned his head and stared at me. His eyebrows frowned, he raised his arm and using his index finger to fix his crooked glasses.

    He didn¡¯t said anything, instead, he used his hand to shoo me back into the class. I quickly walk my way to my chair and sat on it. After a minute or so, the elf started his lesson, I relaxed my body and sat comfortably in my chair. It seems I barely made it.

    I turned my head to the chair beside me and found it empty. Twin tails girl didn¡¯t came back into the class. But since the teacher continued the lesson without making a fuss, he must had already known the reason for her absent.

    I focused my gaze back to the front. For some reason, all of the kids were surprisingly attentive to the class and their face beamed with excitement. Usually I could saw some of the students sleeping or talking, which will be punished by cirdan with eerily, precisely flying chalk in their forehead.

    Cirdan raised his arm till his chest level and opened his palm. He muttered under his breath, too soft to heard it properly for my ears. The air above his palm distorted, just an inch above of his opened palm, a flame roared alive. The red flame moved continuously, dancing and licking the air with tendrils of fire. It¡¯s a fireball with the size of a volley ball.

    The kid shouted with excitement. Sounds like ¡®amazing!¡¯ ¡®Ooo!¡¯ ¡®Aaa!¡¯ could be heard from the masses, some of them even jumped up and down, knocking down their chair in the process, in short, it¡¯s a total chaos.

    Honestly, just like those kids, I¡¯m amazed by the magic demonstration too. I could only produce a tiny candle like flame after all. But in the corner of my mind, I can¡¯t help but to be a bit apprehensive toward the fire magic. Part of this building is made of wood, it would be disastrous if the classroom catches on fire.

    Cirdan looked around the class and glared with his sharp eyes, the class instantly became quiet. After making sure each of them is properly seated, he nodded his head and opened his mouth to explain while the fireball still floating above his palm.

    ¡°As you can see, what I cast just now is one of the basic fire spell, fireball. The question is, how does we cast magic?¡± the fireball floated away from his palm, making a full circle in the room, before it disappeared with a hiss. The teacher keep looking at us silently, waited for one of us to answer his question.

    A girl raised her arm, her short blonde hair glistened beautifully in the sunlight shined in from the windows, her face is brimming with confidence. Her face is familiar to me, then I remembered in the corner of mind, she was the little elf who is very enthusiast to separate the twin tails girl with me, she also had the most vicious mouth in the class. Her eyes gazed straight to cirdan, which he promptly replied with a nod. Then she immediately stood up and answered his question.

    ¡°Magic is cast by deriving and controlling the mana, the source of life, that existed in the air, our body, and every living and non living being in this world. We can mold the mana we collected into spell, whether by using chant or gesture, or even by drawing it on a paper by using magic circle as a conduit.¡± She answered it smoothly, as if she already know it by heart.

    ¡°A good answer, Cevilia.¡± Cirdan nodded sagely, seem to be contented by her answer.

    The little elf girl, Cevilia, sat back into her chair, I can saw a glimpse of smug smile plastered on her face. Her friends beside her keep showering her with praise and envy, which she turned her head to them and replied with a ¡®this is nothing for me¡¯ expression. She sat on the front row, directly in front of the teacher desk. Must be a studios type, albeit with a foul mouth. After her seemingly perfect answer, Cirdan continued the lesson.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, we need Mana in order to form a spell, but the method and means to form it, like chanting or gesturing, isn¡¯t a must.¡± He added another explanation to Cevilia answer, I turned my head to her and saw Cevilia twitched a bit.

    He stood still for a second, he didn¡¯t said anything nor any movement could be seen from him. Then suddenly, I can saw the air around him is distorted, something is about to happen and I could faintly sense it. Four fireballs poof out from nothing, two fireball on his left and another two on his right, floating freely undisturbed by anything.

    ¡°Chant, gesture, magic circle were all means to aid the spell you are forming. As your skill, Mana control increased, you are able to grasp and understand the energy source you had been using more . Of course, raising this skill is no easy task.¡± While explaining his lesson, he raised his index finger and pushed up his glasses bridge, the circular lens gleamed as it reflect the light.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

    ¡°Unless one have strong magical talent itself, one may not be able to use chantless spell for all his life.¡± As he finished his explanation, the fireball disappeared with it. He walked toward his table, and crouched down, disappeared from our sight. When he appeared again, his hand grabbed a fancy looking purple box.

    He placed the box down to the table with a thump. The class became noisy again, anticipating what was in front of them, its seem they known what was going to happen next, while I remain clueless here, wondering what he would show us. I sat idly and contemplating the magic he performed before.

    Chantless is a rare skill that not everybody could done it even they practiced with all their life. Yet, I who had no knowledge of magic or whatsoever, managed to made a tiny flames alive without any chanting at all. Does that means I had a ridiculous magical talent? While my face still maintained my usual poker face, my heart thumped slightly, excited by the prospect of my future. I imagined myself summoning a flamethrower or even a tornado. My imagination is running wild right now.

    ¡°Now, as I had said yesterday, today we are going to test your affinity element, whether you are blessed by the spirit of four basic element and its divided family or even the high element, using this crystal that I had prepared before.¡± Cirdan talked to all of us while opened the box lid. The lock opened with a click and slowly opened up, revealed what was hiding inside it.

    Its a beautiful transparent crystal, it was round but with thousand of flat edge in the surface. The crystal is tennis ball sized, its rested snuggly at a comfy looking cushion placed in the bottom of the box. It was shining brightly, reflected by the light in this room.

    ¡°Now, each of you will came to the front and place your palm at the crystal, imagine your Mana inside your body, flowing directly into the crystal. Quick please, we don¡¯t had time for all days.¡± He explained it in one breath, and immediately ushered us to move.

    Starting from the first row to the right, one by one the students walk to the front desk. The first one is a human boy, his freckled cheek flushed in red, whether from excitement or shyness. His walked jittery until he was in front of the crystal, he took a deep breath and raised his right arm, his palm hovering right up at the crystal. He closed his eyes, for a moment nothing seems changed.

    Then, the supposed transparent crystal glowed slightly. A tiny ball of light glowed in the center of the crystal. It was dull blue in color and the tiny speck of light resided inside floating calmly. The boy opened his eyes and looked at the crystal, then raised his head higher and looking at the teacher. His eyes shined with expectation, waiting for explanation.

    ¡°Hmm, congrats Dony, you had little affinity with water, but your Mana capacity is so low that even if you cultivate it diligently, I doubt you will be able to cast advanced spell in all your life. Next.¡± Cirdan ruthlessly smashed his expectation with his short words. The boy opened his mouth, hanging it open with a blank look in his face. He then walked back to his seat with hunched back, a disappointed expression plastered on his face.

    Wow, he really didn¡¯t pull any punch isn¡¯t he?

    I raised one of my eyebrow, Cirdan clearly didn¡¯t think to beautify any of his words at all. He was harsh with his students and said the ugly truth directly to them. Not masking it with consoling the boy or pitying him. Its seem being a mage isn¡¯t something that easy to attain.

    The next one is a human girl, who is clearly more nervous because of her predecessor. Sadly, it seems she isn¡¯t any better than the boy. This continued for a few times until is Cevilia turn. In contrast with the nervous students, she excluded with confidence and walked with her back straight to the crystal.

    She does the same motion with other students, and the crystal glowed bright immediately. Its have a cool mint green color, and the light inside the crystal swirled circularly like a tornado. Somehow, the light had this calm but pressing aura feel to it. The ball of light is bigger than any of the students before.

    ¡°Cevilia, congratulation, strong affinity with wind and upper level in mana capacity. Next.¡± Cirdan fixed his glasses again, his face betrayed no emotion, his word is short and curt, even when Cevilia clearly got different result than other.

    Cevilia walked back to her chair, her head tilted down, her hair casted a shadow to her face, but I caught a glimpse of her biting her lower lips, looking unsatisfied, before she sat down and turned her back to me.

    Her reaction was a bit different than what I had imagined. For sure I think she will be prouder of herself and her smile will become smugger. What¡¯s with this mild reaction? Clearly there are something must be going on with the result, or maybe¡­

    I observed the teacher who stood in front of the class, Cirdan had an emerald colored hair, his hair grew until to his shoulder, slightly brushing his collarbone. He had the same emerald colored eyes and a mole adorned beside his right eyes. His appearance excluded ambiguity in gender. Age wise, he looked around twenty years old, but his race made me doubt it. In games and comic, elf is a long lived race after all. I should find some book about race in this world later.

    While Cevilia and him had a different hair color, they had the same bright emerald eyes. Maybe they are related. Maybe they are father and daughter. Maybe they are brother and sister. I won¡¯t know it for sure until I asked someone I guess.

    While different thought invaded my head, the student keep continued taking turn to test their affinity with the crystal. Some of them were good, some of them were bad, some of them were affinity less, which I came to known later. But none of them made a big impression like Cevilia, I guess she was one of the special.

    Now on the last rows, the last student walked to the crystal, which is me. All eyes were focusing on me. I was a bit excited, wondering what was my affinity. I stood in front of the crystal, with Cirdan nodding his head as a confirmation, I raised my arm and does the same thing as everyone else. I closed my eyes and imagined an energy, what they called Mana, flowing inside of me. That¡¯s where something strange happened.

    I felt a bottomless void, resting inside of my tiny body. It was like a black sea engulfing me whole, pure black with nothing in sight. At the bottom of the blackness, I can faintly sensed it, a faint brilliant golden sphere, it was small and faint, as if will disappear in any moment, but it was there, glowing amidst the darkness encircling it. The golden light somehow feel warm, different with the cold hard darkness.

    Is this what they call Mana? I didn¡¯t felt anything like this when I called forth the tiny fire before.

    ¡°Is there something wrong?¡± Cirdan asked me as I stood there motionless for a while. I immediately shook my head and focused on my current task. I flowed a bit of the pitch dark thing into the crystal. There, everything went wrong.

    The crystal instantly went dark, the transparent color before gone. Small crack appeared on top the flawless crystal, the crack traveled into all of its surface in alarming pace, eerie black light leaked out from the chipped black crystal. For a moment I saw Cirdan eyes widened like a saucer, and immediately raised both my arm up in front of my body, a feeble defense. I known something bad is going to happen next and I won¡¯t be able to run from it in time.

    As I expected, the crystal exploded in a magnificent explosion.

    BOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!

    Or its supposed to be.

    My tightly closed eyelid quivered a little. Awaiting for the pain that will eventually assaulted my body. I waited and waited, but the pain didn¡¯t came to me. I slowly opened my eyes and what greeted me was an out of ordinary sight.

    The explosion indeed happened, the loud booming sound I heard weren¡¯t a trick of mind. My eyes widened, surprised by what I saw. A thin film of red enveloped the box with a perfect sphere, my mind instantly thought it was a barrier or some sort of it. Still, the barrier was badly damaged, crack appeared on the surface with pieces of crystal stabbed from inside. If the explosion was a little bit stronger, the barrier is doomed to break.

    The class was silent. All of them was confused and flabbergasted. The explosion happened in a matter of second, no one was able to follow what was happened. No one except Cirdan, the one who deployed the barrier, and me, the reason the crystal exploded in tiny bits. Cirdan stared at me intensely.

    And I can only stood there stupidly.

 Chapter 12 - Foreboding

    I was dumbfounded. I mean, how couldn''t you?

    That damn crystal exploded!

    I complained deeply in my heart, the crystal exploded like a firework when I inserted a bit of my mana into it. Luckily, Cirdan is quick in making decision, otherwise I would have become a mincemeat already. I raised my head to look at Cirdan. Our eyes meet and I found that he glared at me quite intensely.

    The silent classroom suddenly became noisy, murmurs and whisper could be heard from behind me. All of them were anxious and guessing what was happened with their friends. Some of them eyed me warily and pointed their finger at me. It seems doubt has budded in their heart and I have been pointed as the perpetrator by the children.

    Cirdan clapped his hand and the sound rang loudly across the room. The class instantly became silent again.

    "A little accident had happened, so please remain calm and seated." Cirdan calmed the group of children. He tilted his head down and stared at me. I stared at him back.

    "You too, Hiiro, please go back to your seat."

    "...yes" I answered him.

    I followed his word and walked back to my desk. The wooden chair scrapping the floor as I pulled it, I sat down promptly and ignored the gaze gathered on me. I turned my head to the left and looked out of the window, my mind was in chaos while thinking what was happened and what caused the explosion. In the end, I could only think about the strange pitch-black darkness when I tried to imagine my mana. Is that even Mana?

    After Cirdan cleaned up the remains of the crystal, the lesson resumed as if nothing had happened, the children too didn''t say anything. My eyes focused to the lesson in front of me, but my mind is in elsewhere, I ended up not paying any attention to the lesson at all. I stared at the teacher writing at the blackboard, the chalk scrapping the board, colored the black into white. Various thought ran through my head, in the end, I decided to confront him directly would be the best.

    The class ended shortly after that, some of the children said farewell to their teacher and ran out from the classroom, happy that finally free from the stuffy room. Right now, the only one remaining in the classroom is me and Cirdan. He stood beside the opened door, I walked and stood facing him, raised my head and stared directly at his eyes. I immediately opened my mouth and intended to ask the question that has been haunting in my mind.

    "Teacher, I had a question to ask of you." I asked him, and he stared at me for a while, as if contemplating about something, since he didn''t say anything at all, I continued my question.

    "That crystal, why did it turn black, why did it explode? Is there something wrong with my mana?¡±

    "Yes, everything about that is wrong." He sighed and turned his back to me. My eyes followed his walking figure, his fingers touched the smooth desk surface, which was protected by the barrier before. He turned his head toward me, his face is passive and unreadable.

    "Your Mana is tainted, and it is the vilest one I had ever met." He answered my first question, which popped another question again.

    "Tainted?"

    Does that mean I am cursed or something?

    He squinted his eyes, as if looking at my reaction at his reveal. If he really looking for my reaction, then he would meet with disappointment, since I displayed my usual poker face. He turned back his head, looking around the classroom, the orange ray of sunlight peeked through from the rectangular windows and colored the classroom with an orange tint, the shadows were now twice as long as themselves, giving the classroom a foreboding feel to it.

    "Tainted... means someone that had been touched by the mad prophet, Elise, or at least relic that related to her. The contaminated one or the cursed one, will slowly find his Mana uncontrollable, then his body will slowly deteriorate, unable to use his limbs properly or slowly losing his five senses. Then the curse will reach to the mind, turning the person into a madman. Lastly, the curse will creep into one soul, devouring them fully. Which mean dead. The process took approximately seven days." Cirdan face was flat, he explained it calmly like explaining what he ate for breakfast. I listened thoroughly every of his words. I can feel my heart beating slightly faster and beads of cold sweat rolled down from my forehead.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    "You are cursed, and the curse already spread to the level that nothing can save you anymore. Which beg the question, how could you still be sane? And how could you still alive? And the strangest thing is, the curse somehow harmonizing with your body and soul perfectly. Like you are born with it. Like Elise." He stopped talking for a moment, his finger drummed the desk with a rhythm I never heard before. While I was digesting the info I just received, he took a deep breath and start talking again.

    "I had heard from Sol, that idiot trespassed the forbidden territory, and found you injured deep inside the Forbidden Forest. Somehow the elder seem to be quite fond of you, accepting you easily in this town without knowing who are you or where you came from. You weren¡¯t a mere lost child. Who are you really?" He titled his head to the right while turned his head toward me. His gaze was sharp, as if piercing through the feeble mask I adorned. I could feel the cold bristle through me like ants crawling at my skin. I gulped and keep my mouth shut, as I looked into his eyes, I could feel him searching deep into my soul.

    In the end, the one who break the eye contact first is Cirdan. He sighed for the second time and the previous heavy atmosphere is gone, replaced by his usual nonchalant attitude. And I too, relieved that I finally free from the piercing gaze, then I finally realized that I had been holding my breath quite a while.

    "If you didn''t want to talk about it. That¡¯s fine, I don¡¯t intent to force your past out from your mouth." He explained while sitting down to his chair. I raised one of my eyebrow, I thought I had screwed up but it seemed like he won''t be pursuing the earlier topic from before. It''s something to be happy for, but isn''t he giving up too fast?

    It seems my feeling was easily read by him. He scoffed and beckoned me closer. I warily walked closer to him. He raised his arm and put his palm around my head, giving me a rough head pat.

    "?, What are you..doing.." I was confused by his sudden action, while my head bobbed up and down because of the head pat.

    "Well, I can''t sense any ill intent within you, so I didn''t feel like to make a fuss about it. This town is composed by troublemaker after all. Most of the town people had a few pasts going with them. Adventurer, people exiled from his own country or people with criminal record with nowhere to go, different races coming from all over the continent settled in this unwanted town. Adding one more troublemaker isn''t going to change anything." He retrieved his hand back, leaving my white hair messy. Then he stood up and walked to the door, intent to leave this place. Before he left the classroom, he turned his head towards me and gave me an ominous advice while fixing his ever-crooked glasses.

    "One last thing, if it was me, I wouldn''t want to trust the elder too much, who knows what kind of plan he laid for you. You better think for yourself, about what to do next instead following along the flow."

    Then he left. Leaving me alone in this orange-hue classroom. The sun is starting to fell into the horizon and the color deepens. The previous orange color mixed and mingled into red, as if a warning to my current situation. The classroom is devoid of sound, save for my own breathing and my shoes tapping against the floor, slowly walking away from this classroom. While I stood outside of the classroom, I took a brief glance before promptly closed the door shut.

    My surrounding blurred, like a video player, the world fast forward itself while my feet walked to my supposed home. On the contrary, my mind is in slow motion, deep in thought, I didn''t notice that I already walked to the outskirt of the town. A paper hit my head and I found myself snapped into reality. I ripped the paper out from my face and found it was not a paper. It was a kite. The body is rectangular shaped with two-long wing shaped paper attached to the main body. The overall design is like a bird.

    So they have kite in this world

    My line of sight followed the thread binding the kite to its owner. And found a bunch of kids running to my direction. I gave the kite back to them and they happily received it. They immediately ran back to their base and continue to raise their kite up to the orange colored sky. I absentminded sat down in the nearby rock and watching them play energetically.

    "...What should I do know, huh?"

    I had been in this world for nearly a week. My communication problem has already resolved. I have basic knowledge about this fantasy world. Now what? I tried to not think about it before, but now, searching for way to transform back to my own body? Searching for way to go back to my world? In the first place, do I want to go back to that place?

    I raised my head, looking at the dusk colored sky, the group of children have already tired of their game and go back to their own respective house, to their own family. I thought about my previous world, anything that I left behind or things that I regret before. In the end, nothing popped out from my mind. I don''t have any family left and I don''t have anything I particularly fixated about. I have always lived with the flow, going to school, going to college, going to work, I followed what other normal people would do.

    I lowered my head and stood up. Continuing moving my feet, I walked up the hill, to the lone hut with trees scattered around it. When I stood in front of the door, I turned my body and looked at the town built upon the grassland. I looked further. I could saw the mountain and forest behind the town. I raised my head. I could see the giant mountain with cloud floating or maybe magical beast flying around it. The light from the suns had dwindled, hiding behind the mountains, the orange and blue mingled with each other, creating a mystical landscape, more than the usual fantasy scenery.

    I stood for a while, enjoying the view I couldn¡¯t see in my world. Contemplating my current situation. I don¡¯t have anything that was shackling me to my previous world. In other words, I¡¯m a free man. And this world is giving me a new chance to start my life over again.

    ¡°Hiiro? What are you doing out here?¡±

    The door opened, and revealed the person behind it. Mira stood there with her hand still grabbing the doorknob. She widened her eyes a little, and quickly ushered me into the house. I stepped inside, walking past the door, this time with a new determination welled in my mind.

    Inside the house, the room is bright unlike the darkened outside. Delicious scent waved around the air. My nose twitched and I could feel my stomach grumbled. I immediately looked on top of the table. It seem dinner is ready. Sol already sat on the chair, ready to devour the food in front of him.

    ¡°What took you so long? The class should be over already.¡± Sol complained, his stomach protested with grumbling sound. It seem they were waiting for me for the dinner.

    ¡°Aah, sorry about that.¡± I scratched my head and apologized to him.

    I walked to the chair and sat just beside him. Mira joined too and we started the dinner. After finishing the delicious meal, I stopped Sol just before he go inside his room. He raised an eyebrow while looking at me. He opened his mouth, but before he could speak one word, I spoke faster than him.

    ¡°Please teach me how to fight.¡±

 Chapter 13 - Extermination

    The sun rays slowly peeked inside through the windows, and the room became slightly brighter. The morning light is warm and the wind breezed through the room, circulating the air with the fresh and cool one. The smell of morning dew and grass set foot in the room. The bird chirping from the branch of tree, as if welcoming the daylight and starting their brand-new day. The ray of light slowly moved, until it reached a certain person laying in the comfy bed. This person still had his eyes closed and roamed in his dream world.

    But not for long.

    The light shined slowly onto his face, then it moved to his eyelids. His fox ears twitched, his fluffy tail moved in annoyance, his white eyebrows frowned, his lovely face scrunched in distaste. Unable to ignore the light shining through his eyelids, his long eyelashes slowly fluttered, revealed what lays beneath them. Two orbs with brilliant color, golden in his right and red in his left, they gleamed under the sun light.

    His half-opened eyes reflected the wooden ceiling, his mind still clouded in his semi-conscious state. He moved his arm, his hand gripping the blanket tightly, he pulled up the thin fabric over his head, hiding away from the annoying sunlight. But his feeble attempt to wander back into his dream world seem to be in fain. Because the stomping footstep drawing near to this very room didn''t bode well to him. He raised both of his hands and pressed down both of his sensitive ears, shielding it from the incoming loud noise.

    The door opened with a slam, and the culprit is standing by the doorway with a cherry smile on his otherwise plain face. He walked inside promptly with his destination is the sole bed in this small room. His dirty blonde hair swayed with the light breeze coming from the windows. His hair gleamed in the sunlight, making the usual dull blonde color became lighter and beautiful to look.

    He stood beside the bed and stared at the person hiding behind the thin blanket. The one laying in the bed ignored him, no movement could be seen, except the fluffy tail popped out from the fabric and currently swishing in annoyance. His smile suddenly becoming wider, an idea popped into his head. He moved closer and sat down at the edge of the bed. He moved his head and placing his mouth near to what he thinks is the person ears. He whispered over the blanket.

    "...Tulganis sitting in the living room right now."

    "WHAT?!!!!"

    The sleepy state before immediately washed away. Shock overcame his body and he immediately sat upright, his eyes widened to the limit and his messy white hair was like a bird nest, strands of hair defied gravity stood up left and right. He stayed in this stunned state for a few seconds, before turned his head to the other person, currently chuckling and holding his laugh.

    "...please stop this meaningless prank Sol." I wearily complained to him.

    "Pffht! But you wouldn''t wake up if I didn''t do thatHiiro." He raised his arm and put his hand around his mouth, trying to hold back his laugh.

    The blonde-haired man, Sol, failed to reign his chuckle, currently laughing out loud and holding his pained stomach. After two second of laughing, he received a slap from a furry tail straight to his face, stopping his laugh fully. He groaned out from pain and glared at the culprit,Hiiro, which is me, who is unconsciously adorned a smug face on my face right now.

    "Ugh, what was that for!" He complained at his horrible treatment by me.

    "Aah, well, sorry about that, your face look very slapable right now and I couldn''t help it." I said coldly and didn''t felt apologetic at all, my face back to my usual flat emotionless expression.

    "Youcocky little brat..., receive my ultimate attack!" He suddenly sprang upon me, and with my body just woke up from the sleepy state, I didn''t manage to evade him in time.

    "Wah! Wai...t..Pfft, stop it!" I protested loudly at him.

    His ultimate attack plan seemed to be tickling my body nonstop. I pushed his head away forcefully but he was obstinate in executing his attack. Our ruckus continued for a while, and our noise attracted another inhabitant in this house. We froze up when a woman voice entered our ears.

    "...What are you guys doing?"

    A woman stood by the doorway, she wore a simple light blue dress with a grey apron attached to her front body. Her eyebrows scrunched up, seem to be dissatisfied by what she saw in front of her. Her feet tapped in annoyance and her arms crossed in front of her chest. Her hair was styled in one long braid, placed at her front body. It was Mira, Sol older sister.

    "Err, wakingHiiroup like you told me?" Sol tilted his head to the right, explained to her older sister who stood before him. Mira sighed as a response, sheleavea parting words, then turned her body and walk away.

    "I prepared a bucket of water beside the well. You can clean yourself up, and the breakfast is ready, come and eat it before it gets cold."

    Just like that, she left and only us remains the room. Sol stopped his tickling attack and released me from his grip. I glared at him and he only shrugged his shoulder as a response. He then walked to the doorway, leaving the room to follow her sister order. I could only sigh and walked over the door, leaving the now empty room.

    After I cleaned myself, I walked back to the house and stride over the dining table. Mira and Sol already seated in the chair, so i sat at one of the empty chair to join them. While we ate the hearty breakfast Mira prepared, Sol talked to me while he was biting a piece of brown bread.

    "Today you are going toTulgan¡¯splace, right? Remember to say hello to him from me." He smirked while chewing his bread, then swallowed and raised his hand to grab another one. I glared at him quite fiercely, which he promptly ignored it by focusing his food instead.

    "No need to glare at me that much, you asked me to teach you to fight, and I directed you to the right person to teach you." He raised his wooden spoon and dipped it into the orange colored soup.

    "Sol, I thinkHiirohad a right to be angry to you. Since you basically thrusted him toTulganwithout explaining what he will be subject to." Mira raised her eyebrows and sipped the soup from her spoon gracefully, unlike her brother which ate his food disorderly.

    "Hmph, at least Mira understood my feeling. I thought I asked you, but you threw me to that guy instead." I swallowed the food on my mouth down to my throat and complained to him.

    "Well..., sorry about that, but you couldn''t deny his skill, could you? Mira and I both learned from him too. Although his personality is a bit unwanted for." He put his apologetic face and gave me his usual wry smile. He seems to be finished his meals and stood up, gathered the dirty plates and spoons to wash it.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    "Even Mira?" I was a little surprised by this bit of information, I thought she was a mage type. I turned my head to Mira and stared at her. She was slim and didn''t look like the type to meet the opponent head strong. Mira finished her meals too and wiped her mouth clean with a piece of cloth.

    "Although not for long, I indeed was under sirTulganguidance for a while. As a healer, stamina is important and being able to defend yourself when everybody counting on you is critical." She smiled at me and stood up from her chair.

    "And thus, The Berserk Cleric born to this world. The story about a Cleric clobbering a group of runaway criminals to a pulp with a measly healer staff has been spread wide among the commoner and adventurer. I heard that even the noble had taken interest to this incident!" Sol walked back to us and sat to the chair, he talked nonchalantly, unbeknownst the catastrophe that will befall to him a second later, while I was steadily walking away to the door, knowing what will happen next and I wouldn''t like to be part ofit..

    "Oh? Since when your hobby is gossiping, Sol? If you are that curious about the story, why don''t I teach you personally, like how I defeated those criminals?" Mira smiled sweetly, but her aura around her is a different story. Sol finally noticed his mistake and alarmed. Beads of cold sweat rolled down from his forehead and he was desperately trying to calm his raging sister.

    "W... Wait! I just accidently heard it from the town folks! I swear I didn''t talk about you with everyone else! Trust me! You are my beautiful sister and wouldn''t dare to gossip about you! I mean I will punch those guys who will talk bad about you!" Sol voice trembled and his body quivered. He keeps shaking his head and looked around him. When his scared eyes meet mine, I could feel that he was pleading help from me.

    Right now, I''m already stood in front of the door. To his desperate call of help, I only answered with a smile and a thumb up. Which means good luck to him. I turned my body and opened the door, I swiftly made my way outside. Before I closed the door fully, I could glimpse the terrified Sol and the figure of wrathful Mira walking closer to her little brother.

    The door closed with a thud and a sigh full of relieve came out from my mouth. I raised my head and the suns greeted me, one was deep red and one was orange in color, the slightly smaller one was in deep blue. They form a triangle and I squinted my eyes because of the light. This otherworldly sight was still foreign for me, even I already seen this scenery for nearly a half month, I still couldn''t use to it.

    I walked over the grassy land and down from the hills. I did find it strange that theNierheartsiblings lived far away from the populated area, when I asked them they only smiled and said that it was the decision of their father who already passed away. That¡¯s how I found out that they weren''t born here.

    I arrived at the checkpoint, it was a small gate with a tower post for observation purpose. I strode past the gate which was guarded by one guard. I nodded to him, and he replied my nod. He continued to stare at the never-changing forest beyond the small hill. I walked past the market district and continue my way to the guild districts. This place was divided by four sections, the market area, the guild area, the residence area, and the school area. The street people slowly dwindled in number until became scarce. One can know this is the guild district by looking at the buildings around this place.

    I stood in front of a sturdy looking building, which was the only one fully made of stone in this place. A board with a symbol etched on it was placed in front of door. It was a bird spreading its wing with sword behind it. It''s the adventure guild. Below the board, a wooden plank hanged with word ''Closed'' displayed on it. I opened the door and stepped inside. All eyes were focused on me immediately. I ignored the stare and walked inside, when I thought everything will proceed without problem, a person appeared before me.

    I raised my head to look at the one blocking my way. It was a human, a huge sized bald human. He had a broadsword hanging from his hips and a terrible burn scar decorated his left cheeks. He looked down on me raised his eyebrows and snorted.

    "Kid, the adventure guild is closed for today. You can come back tomorrow.¡± He politely suggested me despite his fierce appearance. But I stood unmoving, since my objective is related to the adventure guild today.

    "I''m not here to post a request. I am here to join the extermination of the Lesser Nightmare monster." I explained to him calmly. The guild instantly became silent, then burst into laugh and jest.

    Well, this is the normal reaction

    If a kid said he want to join the extermination of a B class monster, of course people would laugh at it. What can a weak pale brat do in front of a terrifying monster that even the veteran would afraid of? Most of them will think like this, but my decision to join the fight have its own reason. The laugh continued for a while, before a loud noise instantly silenced the room.

    Everybody turned his head toward the source of the noise. An orc stood before of a broken table. He was two meters in height with scar decorated all over his body, he had a short black hair and two tusks protruded from his lower mouth. He wore a black body armor with a spiky gauntlet around his deep green colored hands. His whole appearance is quite terrifying. His snout huffed in annoyance and his two beady eyes glared at me.

    "You are late." He snorted and walked toward me.

    "Err, I think I made in on time?" My head tilted in confusion, I was sure I am not late. I think I even come sooner than I expected! He walked past the bald guy and stopped when he was in front of the door.

    "Let''s go." With only this short word, he pushed the door open and walked out from this room. I followed behind him, leaving the adventurer inside with a stupid expression plastered on their face.

    "W...Wait!" A shout coming out from the bald guy before, he burst out from the adventure guild and called, stopping both of us to turn our head at him. He ran toward our direction and stopped when he reached us. He opened his mouth and complained.

    "Tulgan, are you sure about this? Taking a brat with us? We are going to face a nightmare,Itwas a lesser one, but it still going to be dangerous. We aren''t going to protect a helpless kid when we are fighting." The bald man spoke to the orc,Tulgan, specifically about me. It seems he doesn''t want me in this expedition.

    The other adventurer started to pour out from the building, totaling to six people including the bald guy, most of them are human race, with a dwarf and an elf mingled within them. All of them share the same feeling as the bald guy. I can only raise my head toTulgan, wandering how he will handle this troublesome situation.

    ¡°He can protect himself so just leave him be, the monsterain¡¯tgoing to wait for us.¡±Tulgansnorted and walked away, ignored the bald man completely.

    I raised my eyebrows, that¡¯s one way to handle it. I turned my head and stared at the bald guy, he clicked in annoyance and glared at me, then immediately followed behindTulganwithout complaining, the adventurers followed too. It seems they were quite afraid ofTulganand decided to respect his decision. Well,Tulganis this town guards¡¯ commander after all, he can kick them out if they made any trouble, he had that much authority over them.

    Our expedition of exterminating the monster started. We walked till the infamous Forbidden Forest, which I learned the name two days before. The forest had been divided into two parts, the normal, less dangerous one and the monster infested area. Right now, we are moving to the dangerous one, which was apparently the place where Sol found me.

    TheNierheartsiblings house located near the normal forest one. There was a barrier formed around the forest to prevent anything dangerous beings to be wandering out. But mostly it was to prevent the small beast like foxes and wolves. Monsters, they rarely wander outside of their habitat, they prefer to stay at their own Mana rich environment.

    Everybody readied their own weapon and entered the forest alerts. They were looking at their surrounding warily, ready to deal with any incoming enemies. In right hand gripped a small knife.Tulgangave it to me when we are on the way to the forest. The blade gleamed under the sunlight, and my mouth unconsciously smiled. When I am at this forest for the first time, I only had my body and my clothes. Now I had a proper weapon instead a broken piece of ceramic.

    We are walking deeper as time goes, when we walked past a certain point, I could feel the atmosphere changed, the trees are clustered together closely, the leaf became denser, leaving little light entering this part of forest. I could sense the Mana around here is denser than before. My ears twitched, I can hear a rustling sound seven meters in front of us. I immediately alarmed them about my discoveries.

    "Incoming enemies!" I squinted my eyes and stared at the bushes in front of me. I raised my knife to my chest level, preparing for the incoming enemies. Everybody stopped and I can see that they were doubting my word, but prepared themselves anyway, better safe than sorry I guess.

    Not for a few minutes, a pack of wolves appeared upon us, it was Aqua wolf, a D rank monster. Five of them circling around us, ready to attack in any given opportunity and weakness we displayed. Of course, we didn''t give them that opportunity,TulganImmediately sprang upon a surprised Aqua wolf, the beast didn''t able to react on time and received the full brunt ofTulganpunch. The spikes on the gauntlet sank into the wolf body and the punch sent the beast flying. I could hear a crunching sound before the wolf body hit the nearby tree and fell down lifelessly.

    It''s a one hit kill.

    The nearby adventurer also moved in action, they worked together, each of them moved in synch, covering each other weakness and blind spots. Looking at their movement, I can see that they had been a party for a very long time. But I don''t have the time to observe the other right now, because an Aqua wolf have locked it sight with me as its prey. He sprang onto me with his sharp teeth bared.

    Even with the incoming attack, my mind was calm. The moment the wolf was only five inches before me, I side stepped with minimal movement and immediately slashed my knife at its neck from up to down with thundering speed. The wolf body brushed pass me before fell to the ground. The beast head was completely severed clean from its body and rolled at the ground before it came into a standstill.

    With a flick, the blood clinging to the blade fell to the ground, a faint red glow could be seen at my blade before its subsided. I stared at the corpse for a second before I raised my head and looked at my surrounding. The fight was over and the pack of wolves had been completely decimated. One of the adventurer got a bite at his left arm, except him, all of the member is free from injury. It was an easy fight.

    It was a whole difference from before. Before I was struggling just to stay alive, now I could end it in just a minute. I stared at the knife I was holding in my hand. Willing a bit of Mana inside of me, I let it flow into the blade, imagine what I wanted, the Mana gave the blade a red sheen to it. This spell is what make me able to slice the wolf neck cleanly into two. I let a smile forming into my face.

    Magic sure is convenient.

 Chapter 14 - Unexpected Situation

    After the adventurer skinned the wolf and took anything valuables, we moved away from the spot and started walking again. While I was looking at my surrounding, a voice called me from behind.

    ¡°Hey, fox kid.¡±

    A human walked to the same pace as me, I tilted my head up and found it was the bald guy before. I raised one of my eyebrows, wandering what he wanted from me. Because of the height difference, he had to look down when he was talking to me. He scratched his head awkwardly, as if not accustomed of what he was about to do next.

    ¡°err, it¡¯s about before. I¡¯m sorry, for underestimating you." He stuttered a bit as he apologized to me.

    I raised one of my eyebrows, I was surprised by his apology, I never would have thought that he would apologized to me, it just didn¡¯t suited him at all. I looked behind me and found the group of adventure was waving awkwardly at me. They had a wry smile plastered on their face. I stared at them for a bit and turned my face back to the bald guy beside me.

    "It was fine, it was a normal reaction after all, if a kid told me that he was going to the monster infested forest, I would had stopped him too." I shrugged my shoulder and accepted his apology. The bald guy widened his eyes and hit my shoulder while he laughed out loud.

    "Ha ha hahaha! What''s this? You talk like you aren''t a kid yourself!" He grinned and patted my head roughly which somehow annoyed me.

    "My name is Brey, a swordsman and a D rank adventurer, nice to meet you kid! And these guys behind me are my comrades." He introduced himself while patting the broadsword hanging at his waist, then he pointed to the people walking behind us.

    "Oh oh, it''s my turn to introduce myself! My name is Tina! My rank is the same as Brey, and close combat is my specialty!" An energetic woman suddenly waved both of her hand and introduced herself, she had a short red hair and wore short pants with a sturdy looking vest. Steel bracer tied to her knees and elbow. She smiled and stopped walking, she punched the air with her heavy looking gauntlet, an invisible force pushed out from her punch and hit a nearby trees, leaving a deep circular dent in it.

    "Woaa, calm down Ti. I know you want to brag your new weapon and all that, but don''t waste your Mana in something like this." A tall but skinny looking man scoffed at Tina, his eyelid narrowed and his golden-brown pupil stared at her. He wore a long grey robe which enveloped all of his body, only leaving his head and feet on sight. Tina blushed and glared at him dissatisfied.

    "Shut up, stop nagging me. That''s why you never had any lover. I bet they are all fed up with your rotten personality and ran away, Gil." Tina responded him with an annoyed tone. Her face is beet red, whether by embarrassment or her fury. In contrast with her taunting words, Gil only smirked and looked at her calmly.

    ¡°Oh? How did you know that I didn¡¯t had any lover before? I didn¡¯t know that you would pay attention to my love life so closely. Yo-- gfhuu!¡± Gil didn¡¯t able to evade in time and his side rib received the full brunt of a gauntlet cladded punch. A strange glass cracking sound picked up by my ears.

    His body bend to the left and a groan left his mouth. He moved a few inches from his position and managed to stand despite the force he received from Tina. He glared at her with his hand clutched at his side. Tina had a smug face formed at her still red face.

    ¡°Are you out of your mind? If I didn¡¯t put up a barrier on time, my rib would be broken to pieces!¡± Gil shouted to Tina angrily.

    ¡°Hmph, you did come out unscathed didn¡¯t you? Stop complaining like a kid.¡± Tina scoffed at him and walked away before Gil managed to open his mouth to retort at her. She walked past the other who was gawking at the commotion. I looked at Brey, he only facepalmed at his party antics.

    "You guys..., never mind." Brey shook his head helplessly and walked away, deeper into the forest.

    Gil had a flabbergasted expression plastered on his face. He sighed as if giving up, an elf walked beside him and put his hand on his shoulder. He had a wry smile and his yellow eyes is full of pity.

    ¡°Just let it go buddy, you know her short temper. And we need to move now before it gets dark.¡± The elf patted his shoulder a few times and offered a few consoling words before walked past him. He stopped walking when he was in front of me.

    ¡°Heya, my name is Elva, and as you can see, I¡¯m an elf-¡° He pointed at his long ears. ¡°-and i would like to say that you are really amazing there, I had never saw a child with a battle composure like you. And you are quite exceptional in controlling Mana at your age, make one wonder if you really are a kid, ha ha ha.¡± He was smiling and laughing while praising me, but I could see that underneath his friendly eyes was laced with suspicion.

    The elf really is a distrustful bunch huh?

    ¡°Well, it was because of those exceptional people around me. Cirdan taught me a lot about magic, and Tulgan taught me battle techniques.¡± I shrugged my shoulder and explained to him. I can feel that he wasn¡¯t satisfied with my short answer and opened his mouth to ask more, but interrupted by a voice.

    ¡°Wa ha ha ha ha! Anyone able to endure Tulgan training should at least able to do this much!¡± A hoarse and heavy voice entered my ears and a dwarf entered my line of sight.

    The dwarf wore a steel helmet and armor around his body, his heavy leather boots stomped the dirt and his axe clanking behind him with each step.  He had the same height as me. Our eyes meet and he grinned at me.

    ¡°My name is Gordg! When Tulgan said there will be one more person to join us, I would never though it was a child! Imagined how shocked I am. You did well to impress us kid!¡± His voice was loud and noisy, his grey beard swayed as he laughed out loud. Elva frowned, and looked annoyed by the dwarf beside him. He opened his mouth again but was interrupted for the second time.

    "Uh..., I, I think we should get going, we are falling behind them now..." A short young man spoke to us softly, his body was thin and small. He wore a white robe with blue lining and his almond shaped eyes gazed at us. His body was rigid and both his hand clasped in front of him. His body posture screamed with nervousness.

    "Haa.., you are right, Vil, let''s get going." Elva sighed and walked away, following the other. Gordg patted my shoulder a few times before followed just behind Elva, leaving me and Vil alone. I stared at him for a few seconds and I could feel that he was uncomfortable with my gaze.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    "Err.., your name is Hiiro, right? Uhm, My name is Villaren, I think we need to go too.." Vil smiled and nodded awkwardly at me, then quickly walked away in hurry, as if afraid of me. I too, didn¡¯t felt the need to dawdle in here any longer and moved on.

    After twenty minutes of walking or so, we arrived at our destination, a small circular clearing with a small cave in front of us. Two of the adventurer went inside the cave to investigate while the rest of us surrounded and watched the place. Somehow this place felt familiar, I turned my head left and right, observing this place, when my eyes rested on a red patch of grass near the cave, my memory jolted, I remembered. This is the place where I was kidnapped on the first day I lost into this world.

    This expedition started because a treasure hunter reported to the guild a week ago. Apparently, the person ran back to the town and immediately went to the guild with his body painted red with dried blood. He was in a state of shock, the lone treasure hunter cried and sobbed about how it was eating his partner and blabbered incoherently about a man-eating monster to the guild staffs. The staff took quite considerable of time to calm him down and found out about this monster in fact is a rank C monster, a Lesser Nightmare.

    The guild immediately posted a request of monster extermination on the bulletin board, which accepted by Brey party''s. And when Tulgan heard about it, he thought it¡¯s a good idea for me to engage in a real battle with monster instead of practicing in a mock battle with him, leading to this situation now.

    To think the supposed treasure hunter would be that two-bandit looking kidnapper..., they sure didn''t look like it.

    While I was mulling around, a hand tapped me in the shoulder, I turned my body and found out it was Tina. Her eyes gleamed with curiosity.

    "Hey, what are you looking at? You had been staring at the ground for a long time." She questioned me and looked down to see the object I had been staring. She raised one of her eyebrows and crouched down to look at the red patch of grass more closely.

    "Is... that blood?" Her tone sounds a little surprised. She moved her arm and touched the dried blood.

    "Yeah, the blood is dried, I think it''s already been here for at least for a week. Maybe it¡¯s the blood of the Nightmare victim." I lied with a deadpan face. I already know that this was the blood from the severed limb.

    The monster I saw before must be the Nightmare, then it should be still in this vicinity...

    BOOOOMMMM

    A loud sound echoed and all of us turned our head in sync. Two people ran outside from the cave, it was Gil and Tulgan. They glared at the cave intensely and we all ready ourselves at the incoming enemy. Slowly, the monster revealed itself. It crawled slowly with its black centipede like legs, its body was pulsating and squirming like a worm, the monster had no eyes or any facial feature, only big gaping mouth with sharp teeth protruding, even at the inside of its jaw, layering into rows of shark like teeth. The monster was two meters in height, maybe more, its skin gleamed with black sheen and looked strangely impenetrable.

    ¡°SCRREEEEEEEECCHHHHHH!¡±

    It screeched with a high pitch scream, it was like an infant cry combined with a squealing pig, in short, it was horrible, especially on my ears. I winced and squinted my eyes from pain. I glared at the monstrosity in front of me. The monster, Nightmare, had finally appeared upon us, and immediately attacked us with speed unbefitting with its huge body. It sprang into Elva¡¯s direction with its sudden burst of speed.

    "Tch!" The elf clicked its tongue and evaded the monster attack by jumping impossibly high, straight in front of him.

    He was just above of the monster, with his nimble hands, he immediately fired an arrow with his bow straight to the monster body, the arrow glowed with greenish light. With eerily precision, the arrow lodged deep in between the monster body. The Nightmare howled, and turned his body to intercept the landing Elva.

    But before the monster managed to attack the defenseless elf, a sudden heavy blow pushed the monster body to the right, it was Tina, the monster diverted its attention to the elf and didn''t noticed her. The Nightmare was pushed one meter away, Tina didn''t continue her attack and fall back to us, Elva too, using this chance to ran back to group with us.

    The monster recovered from Tina attack and stood up, its gaping mouth faced us, it screeched again, and black spikes suddenly protruded from all of its body, making the previous grotesque body even more horrible. Then with burst of speed, the monster sprang upon us. When the Nightmare was two meters far between us, a bluish colored barrier form into existence, its was three meters in wide and height. I could see Gil mouth moving nonstop, chanting the magic spells. As if the monster can sense it, the Nightmare changed its trajectory and ran around the barrier.

    But it was a mistake.

    When the Nightmare stepped into an inconspicuous patch of land, a magic circle appeared, the ground suddenly shook and earth spikes protruded from the ground, intending to pierce through its target. The monster barely managed to evade it, raising its head and body up, but this action exposed its underbelly which was free from its black spikes.

    Using this chance, the combatant moved in sync, Brey ran past the barrier and toward the monster. As he ran, his blade flashed and slashed the defenseless belly, but he didn''t stop, continue running past the monster. Tina immediately continued the attack, her fist punched at the wound which Brey had inflicted, black blood gushed out from the wound. The monster screeched and its scorpion tail moved, intending to hit Tina.

    I jumped in the air, my blade shone with red glow and using the momentum, I gripped the knife hilt tightly and slashed down, the blade slashed deep into its flesh and bone, and the tail completely severed from its main body. When the deed was done, I immediately put some distance between myself and the monster. The Nightmare was howling in pain.

    ¡°Move out!!¡± A shout called out from behind and Tina immediately fell back to behind the barrier.

    Behind the barrier stood Elva, his bowstring was pulled to the limit, I could feel Mana was rampaging around the arrow, a strong wind spell was casted on it. His eyes were focused on the monster, then he let go the arrow, brimming with Mana.

    SWIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHH

    With a hissing sound, the arrow traveled with a speed comparable to a bullet. It pierced through the monster¡¯s wound and punched through its flesh. The arrow momentum didn¡¯t stop and continue to travel until it was out from the monster¡¯s body, leaving a small gaping hole in its belly. The monster spits out black blood, the Nightmare was nearing its limit.

    It fell down back to the ground, squirming in pain. All of the combatants started to attack the heavily injured monster fervently. Villarean and Gil are the only ones stayed behind the barrier. Vil chanted his healing spell when the combatants were injured by the spike. Tulgan fist punched through the steel like spike and crushed its flesh, I slashed at the monster centipede legs, to prevent the Nightmare to flee, now its fate was sealed.

    Bordg raised his heavy axe, intending to dealt the last kill at its head. When the axe was just an inch before the monster. A black blur flashed through and went to Bordg. It was sudden, and nobody anticipates it. Bordg could only watched the black blur with widened eyes.

    It''s a second Nightmare monster.

    "Wha-"

    His surprised voice was cut short, and his defenseless body immediately hauled up by the new monster. All of us was shocked by the new monster, before we could save him, a scream attracted our attention. I turned my head toward the scream, and found the situation is getting worsened as time goes. A bloodied Villaren, one of his arm are gone and he was bleeding profusely. Gil was struggling to keep the third Nightmare on bay. His face was pale and panting, the monster across of him had a deep gash on its head.

    Shit!!

    I immediately ran toward the mage and the healer duo, since my position is the nearest, I thought it was the right thing to do. The third Nightmare gaping mouth sprang upon the them, intending to swallow them whole. I jumped, and my feet landed at its head in the nick of time. I kicked it using all of my strength, and the heavy blow turned the monster injured head to the side, landed to the ground while screeching in pain. I jumped backward and positioned myself in front of Gil and the wounded Vil.

    "Can you still stand?!" I shouted at both of them. Gil looked surprised by my entrance, he nodded his head to answer my question. He glared at the monster in front of us.

    "Shit, we were taken by surprises, the Nightmare was supposed to be a lone monster, DAMN IT!!" Gil treated his comrade wound with a basic healing spell, not enough to heal it completely, but at least enough to stop the bleeding.

    Vil lost his conscious, probably because of the pain of losing an arm. Gil stood beside him, protecting him from any incoming danger. I faced the monster struggling to get up in front of us and I could hear battle was ensuing behind me, so that''s mean Brey and the other won¡¯t be able to help us here, at least for a while.

    "Ha.., isn''t this pretty?" I sighed and scoffed at the situation I found myself in it. I raised my head and glared at the monster, which is ready to attack me in any moment.

    "I can cast at least three more spells before I''m completely out, the last spell I casted used too much of my Mana" Gil informed me his Mana pool and I frowned. I stared at the deep wound at the monster head, its black blood keep pouring down from the wound. it seemed that Gil had managed to hit it with a spell when the Nightmare attacked them, which somehow used a lot of his Mana.

    The Monster screeched, and decided to attack, I readied my knife in front of me, ready to intercept the monster in front of me.

    My battle with the Nightmare have started.

 Chapter 15 - Blood Spilt

    I have people injured behind me, my first thought was luring the monster further than here. The monster sprang upon me, blood dripping from its injured head while it moved. I stood still, gazed at the monster unmoving, I gripped my knife tightly, but I didn''t make any indication to use it. Instead, the moment when the monster was going to devour me, an icicle shoot straight at the Nightmare. I can feel my Mana have depleted a bit.

    Truly, the monster was fit to be called a C rank monster. In the instant the icicle was moving toward it, the Nightmare shifted its body to the side, barely avoided what would be called as an instant dead. The icicle grazed the monster skin, but my attack didn''t stop here. Icicle upon icicle formed unto existence, the instant the monster avoided one, two more icicle attacked the monster, not giving it any moment to rest.

    Like this, I managed to goad the monster farther than here. I turned my head to behind me, Gil was staring me with eyes wide open, a shocked expression plastered on his face. Villaren was laying at the ground beside Gil, his face was pale, he must had lost a lot of blood. I think a bit, then I spoke to him about my thought.

    "You, stay here and protect this guy. I will deal with the Nightmare."

    "Wha-!" Before he managed to say anything more, I already ran toward the monster. Leaving them both behind.

    When I join this monster extermination expedition, Tulgan commanded me to use magic only for the bare minimum, like strengthening the knife for example. The purpose is to hone my battle sense and physical ability. But right now, restricting my magic would be stupid. I''m fighting a C Rank monster alone, I don''t want to get injured just because I was too stubborn on following someone order.

    I will end this quick!!!

    With a kick to the ground, my speed doubled and I reached the monster. My knife brandished in front of me and I jumped, evaded the monster scorpion like tail whipping at me. My feet landed at the monster body, the Nightmare immediately screeched and moved its body widely to shake me off. I jab my knife into its squirming flesh and its screech raised a notch. I casted a spell into my short knife and the blade are now glowing with an ominous red.

    Then, I ran. With my knife still jabbed deep in its flesh, across its body, drawing a line of bleeding black blood. The wound is deeper than my knife length and the monster screeched in pain. Knowing what will happen when the monster is in desperation, I jumped high into the air with a kick into its wound. As I expected, black spike appeared on its back as I hover in the air. When the gravity was doing its job, I kicked again in the air, as if there is an invisible platform, I jumped higher than before.

    In this height, I can saw the whole clearing clearly, I craned my neck to look at the other battle happening right now. Tulgan was busy dealing with one of the Nightmare, with Brey and Tina dealing with the other one. I saw Elva tending to the heavy injured Borgd, who was hauled up by the Nightmare before. I turned my attention back to the monsters I was fighting, it raised its head with its gaping mouth toward me.

    Bead of sweats rolled down from my forehead and my heart was beating slightly faster, I squinted my eyes and glared at the monster beneath me, using wind magic, I can prolong my stay in the air for a bit longer. Slowly, the air around me quivered. Chunks of ice appeared into existence and molded into tens to fifty of spikes. Not wasting any more time, the icicles home into the target, falling down like thundering rains.

    Of course, the nightmare tried to escape from my attacks, it evaded the icicles with burst of speed. Or so the monster must have thought, the icicles didn''t stop and crush to the ground, instead, it follow the monster like a missile. If the monster has facial features, I guess right now a shocked expression would displayed on its face.

    The icicles punctured the monster, one by one until all of the icicles jabbed deep into the monster body, like a sea urchin. It screeched a deafening dying cry. I landed back on the ground, my legs wobble a little but I managed to get my balance up. My eyebrow scrunched, panting heavily, I can feel a good chunk of my Mana has gone. Honestly, I wasn''t used to casting spell, according to Cirdan, I always dumped to much Mana into a spell when it supposedly didn''t need that much.

    Well, can''t be helped, I just need to practice more, that''s all that matter.

    I stared at dying monster in front of me, it was still struggling and squirming when it was supposed to be on its dead door. Its gaping mouth threw out a lot of blood, dyeing the green grass and the missed icicles to black. I maintained a healthy distance with the Nightmare.

    I formed an icicle hovering beside of me, bigger than the ones stabbed at the monster body. The icicle then moves forward with a blurring speed, jabbed deep on its head, ending the Nightmare life. The monster went limp instantly and I breathed a sigh of relief.

    Now...

    I ran back toward Gil and Villaren, running past the now dead Nightmare. I found them at a nearby trees, Gil was standing beside Villaren who was laying on the ground, and a stone was placed on top of Villaren body. When I reached them, I could saw a thin film of sphere enveloping the injured adventurer. Gil turned his head towards me, and then to the defeated monster behind me. He sighed.

    "...You really are something else, casting those spell chantlessly, and killing a C rank monster alone in a mere ten minutes." His face taken aback by my display of magic, as if he couldn''t believe what had just happened in front of him. I only shrugged my shoulder as a response.

    "Maybe it was fast, but it takes almost half of my Mana to defeat it. I will go and help the other now, what would you do?" I stared at armless Villaren on the ground, more exactly at the stone placed on top of him. The stone was round in shape and a glowing word scribed in it. I tilted my head.

    This is a barrier rune isn''t it?

    "I will join you, I placed a barrier and it should function even without me, leaving Villaren here should be fine." Gil confirmed my thought and nodded at me, then he turned his body and ran toward the other battle ongoing right now. I followed closely behind him.

    When we were nearing the battle, shouts and sword clashing could be heard. My sight lays on Tulgan, who was punching the life out of the monster, it was a matter of time for the Nightmare to drop dead. I turned my head to the group, which was having trouble with fighting the other monster. It was Brey, TIna and Elva, they are dealing with two Nightmare.

    Wait, did the monster increased?

    From the two Nightmare, one of them is heavily injured, it still screeched and whipping its scorpion tail at us even it had a hole in its abdomen. It was immobilized from the lack of leg, one can see that this monster is the first nightmare we fought. The other one only has light injury, a few slashes wound and broken spikes on its back. I increased my speed and ran past Gil, and towards the heavy injured monster.

    I jumped and making a full spin on the air, before slashing down my weapon at the Nightmare. The knife blade shone with a green glow, and a wind slash born into existence. The wind slash grows wider and stronger as it travelled from the air, down to the immobile monster and completely decapitated its head. The other monster noticed its comrade demise and attacked me as I landed back to the ground.

    A thin film of barrier sprang into existence and stopped the Nightmare from its track. It screeched from annoyance for failing to attack its prey. I jumped back and maintained a healthy distance from the new monster. Gil, Brey, Tina and Elva ran towards me. Their body was battered, and with the lack of a healer they can only endure it.

    "Thanks for the barrier." I uttered a short gratitude to the pale faced Gil when he stood beside me, he seems tired from the lack of Mana.

    Well...even if he didn''t do it, I can deploy my own barrier though

    "Please don''t just ran out on your own like that next time." He sighed and glared at the screeching Nightmare. Brey, Tina and Elva too arrived to where we stood, their face was grave, a serious expression plastered on their faces.

    "You, if had that power, why didn''t you immediately use it before?" Elva stared at the decapitated monster and glared at me. He seems dissatisfied with me hiding my own power.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    "Stop it, if you want to talk then do it after we kill this monster." Brey stopped Elva from interrogating me, which I silently thanked him in my heart. Elva clicked his tongue but didn''t say anything more, he turned his body and faced the monster in front of us.

    "Uhh, Hiiro, Gil, are you guys alright? What about the other monster?" Tina tilted her head, wondering about the monster which was supposed to attack Gil and Villaren.

    "He killed it, alone." Gil pointed his finger at me like I''m guilty of something.

    "What?! Really?! Are you serious? Wow..." Tina looked at me strangely, in her eyes gleamed admiration and... longing? Somehow her eyes now reminded me of Mira. I shuddered.

    "Never mind about me, what about Bordg?" Feeling slightly uncomfortable with the stare, I directed the conservation topic to else. Tina face instantly darkened and she bit her lower lips.

    "Bordg...he was injured pretty bad, also..." Her mouth was quivering when she was talking, but before she can say anything more, a shout cut her word short.

    "Stop talking and move now!" The monster moved as Brey shout out loud to us. The Nightmare hit the barrier with its tail, making a few cracks with each hit.

    With the last whip, the barrier broken to pieces and we moved with the same timing. Tina ran towards the monster, her fist was glowing red and her speed had taken the monster by surprise. With a shout, she punched the Nightmare head with a heavy blow and the monster was stunned by her attack.

    "Nice one Tina!" Brey used this chance and make a dash toward the monster, his sword slashed with blurring speed. Of course, I didn''t sit back while watching them fight, the air beside me is getting colder, and chunks of ice molded into an ice javelin shaped, the javelin was hovering beside me, eager to move as I command.

    "Gil, can you cast a long-distance healing spells?" I turned my head and stared at him.

    "Well, yes, I can, although I could only cast the basic one though, the potency isn''t as great as Villaren spell." Gil raised an eyebrow and a bemused expression appeared on his face.

    "Then I will leave the healing to you, please use it only when we required and don''t cast anything else. I will be the substitute as magical support." I uttered these word to him and focused back to the monster. The javelin beside me instantly shot straight towards the monster.

    The Javelin only grazed the monster body and missed its target, it shot past the monster for a few meters, before coming into a standstill and turned back to its target. I clicked my tongue in annoyance. My accuracy still need improvement and with these people here I can''t just bombard the monster with icicles. I also need to save my Mana, who knows if the monsters will continue to increase.

    Elva shoot arrows and more arrows to the monster, each strike was with pinpoint accuracy and attacked at the monster most vulnerable places. I deployed barrier with perfect timing as the monster attacked at the combatants. The monster screeched in annoyance, unable to do anything as its life was slowly chipped away by us.

    Then, the monster suddenly stopped attacking us. It turned its body to the left, even with Brey blade slicing through its flesh, it ignored us and scuttered away. When we thought it was going to ran away, the monster did something that no one here would expected it. The Nightmare ran and hauled its dead comrade body. It munched on its flesh with a sick squelching sound. We are too shocked to comprehend what had just happened.

    "Di, Did the Nightmare just ate its own kind?" Tina was flabbergasted by the situation. I frowned.

    Something was not right.

    I shot my ice javelin towards the monster, when the javelin was just an inch away from the monster, it evaded with speed different from before. I widened my eyes, the monster should have getting slower with the wound accumulated in his body. What happened? What changed?

    Before I could make sense of what is happening, Brey already ran toward the monster with his sword brandished in front of him and Tina was closely following from behind. The monster didn''t make any indication to move or take any action, its body was squirming and pulsating, as if something was going to burst out. I focused my eyes on the Nightmare and prepared my barrier spell.

    As I thought, the monsters screeched and something burst out from its body. Two black claws appeared from its upper body and it was dripping with thick black liquid. Three horns appeared on its head and its body was getting bigger. I could see Brey was faltered for a second, but didn''t stop running toward the monsters.

    The monster instinct seemed have gotten stronger than before. Just as I manipulated the Mana to cast my spell, the monster immediately moved away from its position, it was running toward my direction. Ignoring Brey and Tina which was closer to it.

    Did the monster think I should be dealt first?

    "Not so fast!!" Tina stomped at the ground causing crack to appear on it and sprang to the monster as she relentlessly punching at the monster.

    The Nightmare dodged and screeched. Using its brand-new claw, it swoops down to Tina direction. She turned her body to the side and the claw grazed her face, drawing blood on it. Tina immediately continued her attack, this time Brey joined in too. I scrutinized the monster in front of me. My Ice Javelin shoot forward, leaving after image behind it. The monster raised its claw and caught the Javelin, then crushed it to bits.

    I squinted my eyes, I wasn''t surprised anymore when it managed to evade my spell with ease. I bite my upper lips in annoyance. I want to end this battle already, and Tulgan seem hasn''t finished with his opponent. Elva keep attacking the monster with its bow and the monster seem to be getting hang of evading it. And more importantly, the monster wound actually started to close, it was regenerating!

    If it like this, then!!!

    The air around me changed, my heart was beating fast as if it was going to burst out. My pale skin is getting paler within seconds. The air around me quivered and chunks of ice appeared into existence, tens, hundreds of them formed above me, the icicles were mismatched in shape, but all of them had pointy end on it, sharp enough to serve my purpose.

    "ALL OF YOU!! MOVE OUT!!" I shouted out loudly, loud enough for the combatants to hear, they turned their head and shocked to find the numerous icicles floating above my head. They immediately moved away. The Nightmare was staring at the magic I displayed.

    With a command, the icicles fall down to the monster like shooting stars. It managed to evaded few of the icicle, but couldn¡¯t keep up with numerous icicles I have created. It shrieked in agony as one by one of them stabbing through its body.

    The ground trembled, when all of the icicles had done their job, a dying nightmare appeared on my vision. My feet wobbled and gravity take over my body. When I was falling down to the ground, someone managed to catch me in a nick of time. I looked up and found it was Gil.

    "You really managed to surprise me over and over again, Hiiro." He looked down and stared at me, a wry smile appeared on his face. Then he raised his head and stared at the dead monster, he muttered something under his breath, but I was too tired to make sure what he had said.

    A loud rumble makes us turned our head to the same direction. Tulgan has finished his opponent with the same timing as us. The monster body was battered beyond recognition, it was lying dead at a group of broken trees. Tulgan turned his body and walked back toward us. He stared at the dead monster then at me.

    "You can''t defeat it without magic after all." Tulgan snorted at me, and an annoyed feeling bubbled within my heart.

    "...If I didn''t use magic, more people will be injured." I pushed Gil hand which was supporting my body gently and sat down to the ground, a tired sigh came out from my mouth. Suddenly, a force pushed my tired body down to the grass.

    "Hiiro!!! You are soo awesome!! What''s that magic? You end it with one strike!!!" Tina squealed and hugged me excitedly. She squeezed my body tightly to her chest which was making me hard to breath. Fortunately, someone came to my rescue.

    "You brawn-headed idiot, he is in Mana deficiency state now, don''t put burden on his body anymore." Gil grabbed Tina clothes from behind and pulled her up. A short disappointed ''aah'' could be heard from her mouth. I slowly stood up and sheer away from Tina, walking to Brey side.

    "I''m just glad it''s over, I will complain to the guild later. Where is Villaren and Bordg?" Brey sighed tiredly and looked around us, looking for the missing member from his party.

    "Villaren is over there, although he is unconscious from the shock of losing his arm, he isn''t in life threatening condition, so he should be alright." Gil pointed at Villaren which was laying down near a tree. A sigh of relief came out from Tina. Brey nodded his head and looked at Elva.

    "Bordg is dead." Elva told us simply with three words, and silent cascaded into us.

    "Wha...what, why, he drank the potion, wasn''t he?" Tina face immediately frowned, her hand was gripping tightly at her arm. Her eyes were misty.

    "...it was not enough, his heart was bitten through and his left arm and leg was bleeding profusely, a mere basic potion can''t heal that kind of injuries. I''m sorry, I should have brought a more potent potion, then he wouldn''t....." Elva titled his head down and a shadow cascaded around his face. He left his word hanging and full of regrets. Brey only stared at him then sighed, then tilted his head up to the sky.

    "Stop it, all of us has done their best. Remember it, we are adventurer, death always living near us. Where is his body?" Brey patted Elva shoulder and he only nodded as a response. Then Brey and Elva walked away to fetch Bordg dead body.

    I only stared at their back, a sob then entered my ears. I looked at the source and found it was Tina. Tears rolled down to her cheeks, she was clearly trying hard to hold back her tears, but failed to do so. Gil stared at her and raised his hand up to her direction. But before he reached her, his hand fell down back to the side of his body and gripped his palm tightly, his nail was digging on his palm and blood dropped down from his hand.

    The atmosphere has become cold and dry. I turned my head to Tulgan and his stern face didn''t change even with the sad news. As for myself, I didn''t feel sad nor happy. My time with them is too short to force a reaction out from me.

    "...I will get the Mana crystal." Gil said solemnly and walked away toward the monster I killed. But when he walked a few steps, something happened. The dead monster moved.

    I was startled and instantly opened my mouth to warn him. But I was late. The supposed dead monster shot something out in a blurring speed from its bloody mouth, even when its body was stabbed with tons of icicles. I tried to cast a barrier but I was to drained to do that.

    Red blood filled my vision.

 Chapter 16 - Distraction

    Tina POV

    "When is this going to end?" I panted tiredly from the continuous battle with the Nightmare.

    I, Tina Fulff, in all of my life as an adventurer had never met situation as abnormal as these. There are actually four Nightmare in one place! Even though the monster supposed to be a solitary creature...

    Tulgan was dealing with one Nightmare, and me, Brey, and Elva was dealing with the other two. Hiiro gone to help Gil and Villaren. The situation has gotten worse, our wounds continue to accumulate as our healer was in another battle. I bite my lower lips in frustration and glared at the monster in front of me.

    I ran toward the monster, my short red hair fluttered in the wind, with my glowing gauntlet raised in front of me, I punched the Nightmare head with all of my might. I throw an upper kick at the stunned monster and followed with another middle kick. I dodged a swiping claw above my head and throw a consecutive punch as my counterattack. I turned my body to avoid the monster deadly maw, but I was distracted and didn''t notice the other monster creeped up to me until the last minute. I raised both of my gauntlet, braced myself for the impact that will hit me.

    A slicing flesh sound resounded in my ear, accompanied with blazing wind. I peeked through my gauntlet and found the monster head has been cleanly sliced into two. I was shocked, I turned my head and saw Hiiro with his usual flat expression landing on the ground, a thin barrier appeared and protected him from the attacking monster.

    My eyes fixated on another person. It was Gil. He was running and panting, his garment and cloak is battered and messy, his face seems pale, otherwise he is all right. I sighed in relief, as if something heavy burdening my heart has been taken away. I immediately ran toward them.

    When I arrived to their position, what I learned had shocked me, Gil said that Hiiro alone managed to defeat the C rank monster! I was in awe with the fox kin in front me. Before I managed to ask more about it, the barrier that Gil deployed made a cracking sound. I immediately turned my head toward the monster. It was whipping its tail to the barrier. We readied our weapon in front of us, even with two of our teammates injured, my heart feels lightened with the arrival of Hiiro and Gil.

    I immediately rushed out with the same timing as the barrier destroyed. I attacked the monster with all my might. When we are busy beating the monster, a javelin shaped ice attacked the monster. Since I''m pretty sure Gil didn''t had any ice spell in his arsenal, it must be Hiiro spell. How does he managed to control the ice like that eluded me.

    When the monster was at its end, it suddenly ran away, or so I though. Instead, it hauled up its kin dead body and munched through it. Blood splattering and crunching sound, I was thoroughly disgusted by the Nightmare behavior. And worse, the Nightmare somehow was getting stronger! I had never heard or saw Nightmare getting stronger like this.

    My heart shrank when I saw the wound we inflicted to the monster started healing, when I though this battle was going to be endless, Hiiro shouted to us. I turned my head and widened my eyes, countless of floating ice shard was right above Hiiro head. I understand his intention and quickly make way for the spell.

    It was beautiful, and deadly. That was my first thought when I see the falling ice shards. The shard impaled the screeching monster one by one until nothing was left. The Nightmare deformed shape was far away from its former self. I turned my head to Tulgan battle, it seems like he is already done with the nightmare and walking toward us, as expected of a former A ranked adventurer. He was in a different league than us.

    I trembled, felt relieved and happy with the outcome. All of the monster is dead and I couldn''t contain my excitement. I walked toward Hiiro direction, hugged him, patting and feeling those fluffy fur. I was in bliss until Gil separated me from Hiiro. I was disapointed, but Hiiro had a relieved expression though. We talked for a while, while the other joined in.

    "Bordg is dead"

    My mind went blank for a few seconds, before I truly realized what Elva told to us. Tears slowly welled up in my eyes, I was crestfallen. Bordg, that dwarf, he joined us when we met in a quest at the capital. Although we only had known for a month, he had slowly growing in my heart, he maybe a little perverted, but he always kind and helpful.

    The tears accumulating in my eyes fall down to my cheeks, I sobbed, mourned my passing comrade. I have seen a lot of dying adventurer in my profession. I thought I had grown numb of it, but when it is someone I know, I couldn''t stop my feeling from pouring out.

    Silent cascaded, our leader and Elva had gone somewhere before I know it. Gil was muttering about something but I didn''t really focus on what he had said. I raised my head and saw Gill walking past me, when he was a few steps away from me, I noticed something wrong.

    I squinted my puffy eyes, I thought I had saw someone behind the trees over the dead monster, I blinked and the shadow had gone. That shadow, I feel like I had seen it somewhere, a memory flashed within my mind, then an image popped at my head.

    That shadow is..., why, why is he here?

    Before I could think about it, something else happened. The dead monster moved. It was squirming but slowly. My skin crawled and my heart pounded. The nightmare opened it¡¯s torn mouth. I quickly moved toward Gil, where the nightmare directed at. I raised my hand up, reaching him.

    Something black came out from the monster with scaring speed as it travelled toward Gil. With no hesitation, I pushed him out of the way. Gil was shook, he fell to ground and our eyes met. As if time is slowed down, I can see his horrified face, dread gleamed within his eyes. That black glob is now just a meter away from me.

    Memory flashed, my whole life was flashing through my eyes. My parents, my village, my friends, my comrades, my adventure, Gil. Gil, we always bickering, I remembered when we finished our first quest, you were laughing happily like a child. I remembered when we saved a carriage from monster, the girls were fawning over you and I was jealous. I remembered when I was mad at you even though it was not your fault, yet you still didn''t get angry with me. I remembered you carried me behind your back while I was hurt, even though you were not strong physicaly and trembling while carrying me.

    Gil, I''m sorry, I''m sorry for always being selfish, but for the last time, let me confess this selfish word...

    "I like you."

    My vision went white, and then fall into darkness. I can no longer feel anything.

    .

    .

    .

    .

    <hr>

    Hiiro POV

    I closed one of my eyes, somehow the blood splattered into it, red blood dripped from my stained hair, fresh blood clinging persistently on my clothes. I stared at the bloody mess in front of me, the girl I just spoken before is long gone, replaced with a deformed corpse. Her head was gone, destroyed with the impact, her upper body is a mess, with broken bone jutting out, her entrails fell out from her ripped stomach and decorating the ground around her, endless fresh blood keeps flowing out from every part of her body.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    She died.

    I turned to Gill. His appearance was messy, he was sitting in the ground while painted in Tina blood, bits of flesh cling on his face and body. He had a blank look on his face, as if his brain couldn''t process what had happened in front of him. He slowly tilted his head down, looking at the fresh corpse. His shoulder trembled, then followed by the rest of his body. He opened his mouth, but his word came out incoherently. Tears rolled down to his cheek, he started to sob, then slowly became a full mourning cry.

    It was too fast, or maybe it was my sense have dulled. We weren¡¯t able to do anything except watching it happen before our eyes. Brey and Elva with the dwarf corpse lay on the ground, they were speechless by the sudden death of their comrade. Tulgan was walking toward the squirming monster. He unsheathed the knife he had and ended the Nightmare life for good.

    The atmosphere is at the lowest was miserable. No one moved, except Tulgan.

    ¡°We need to move from here, any more monster won¡¯t do us any good.¡± Tulgan spoke with a flat voice. He walked to Villaren unconscious body and picked him up over his shoulder.

    ¡°Wait, Tina.., Tina body.¡± Gil spoke with a hoarse voice. His hand was trembling, Brey with Bordg corpse behind his back walked toward him, Elva followed right behind Brey.

    They mourned for a while, then they solemnly moved away. I was a little surprised. I though they will mourn for a little longer, or is it because they are an adventurer? For this world which is full of dangerous monster and magic, dead is more of a norm in here than my previous world. This notion made me realize for the second time that I was on a far different world now.

    Tina body was too messy and beyond salvable to pick up. They decided to burn her body right here, better then letting it to be eaten by the wild beast. Gil lit the first flame, then it slowly travelled to all of her remains. The fire blazed with an orange hue, Brey had his head down casted. I couldn¡¯t saw his face clearly but I could see a tear rolled down to his cheeks.

    I watched the flame slowly eating up her corpse. Various thought flashed through my head, I only know her not even for a day, and spoken to her for a few times, she is a stranger just like the other, her death shouldn''t affect me much. So, what with this uneasy feeling keep nudging in my heart? Is it regret? Or guilty of not being able to save her? Or is it something else? I look at the red eyed Gil and the image of her pushing him out from the danger appeared from my mind. I shook my head.

    No, just forget it.

    My back faced the fiery flame and started walking away from that uncomfortable place, the other started to move after the flame died with a slow pace, they were tired and wearied mentally from the death of their comrade. When we exited the forest, it was already noon with the suns high up in the sky, Tulgan said he will handle the rest and they left to report to the adventurer guild. I was left alone in the busy town bustling with activity.

    I was thinking about following them, but decided against it since my job was over. With nothing to do and free time to waste, I wandered aimlessly in the town that I had been living for these past two weeks. My first adventure has end with bad taste in my mouth. Even if all of the monster was exterminated, two people died in this quest.

    I was wandering while looking for something to distract me from my bad mood. The vendor and merchant were shouting out for their goods, many weaponry and magic tool shop has been established in the streets. I decided to stop at one of my favorite food stall. When I was looking for bench to sit with for meats skewer in my hands, my eyes caught a familiar blue haired twin tail and I smiled.

    Found it

    I walked to a fountain with stone sculpture decorated it, my feet stopped walking when i was in front of the familiar girl. The girl that I had been trying to get along for a while. She raised her head and stared at me with her big blue eyes. Her face twisted into annoyance in the moment that she realized it was me.

    "Hello Llna, want some meat skewer?" I spoke to her with the best smile I could muster.

    "Stop it, your smile looks so fake." She berated me but still take the meat skewer from my hand. I sat down right beside her and we were silent for a while.

    "So..., what are you doing here?" I attempted to form a conversation with her, I bite my last meat skewer from the stick. She glared at me and I stared back, it seems I was quite hated.

    "Nothing." She spoke with a curt tone and turned back her head to the busy market in front of us.

    "Oh, I see." I answered back. Then we were silent again.

    My effort for these two weeks at trying to get along with her seems working. At first, she avoided me like a plague, then when she realized that she wouldn''t able to shake me off easily, she shooed me with harsh words. Of course, I won''t back up with just a few words. In the end, she gives up and started to open up to me, but still glared at me for a few occasions though.

    I burned the wooden sticks on my hand, the leftover from the meat skewer. The fire lit at the tip of the sticks, then slowly made way to the end. When the fire was going to reach my finger, I let the stick go and it fell to paved ground. The wooden stick burned nicely until nothing was left. The reason I did this is because I was lazy to find a trash box though.

    While I was washing my sticky hand with the water I conjured, I noticed the girl beside me was staring intently at me for a while. I turned my head to her and she seem to be surprised by my sudden motion. She immediately turned her head elsewhere and pretended to not staring at me.

    I didn''t speak and we continued this pleasant silent (at least for me) for a while. When I was idly counting the number of people going past me, Llna turned her head to me. Her mouth opened and closed again, as if hesitating about something. I waited patiently. She gulped and finally decided what she would speak.

    "How do you control it, I mean, your own Mana." She fidgeted in her position, seemingly uncomfortable with her own question.

    "How? Well, I just imagined a water tank." I thought for a while then answered her question calmly.

    "A.. Water tank?" LLna tilted her head, confusion was apparent on her face.

    "Yes, a water tank." I nodded sagely. We stared at each other for a while, when it was apparent that I didn''t look like I was going to explain more, she bite her small lips in annoyance.

    "Are you playing with me?" She frowned and pouted at me. I was mildly amused by her expression.

    "No,no, I was serious. Look here." I created a floating water sphere in front of me. Llna seem to be in awe by my quick spell casting, her slightly widened eyes is evident of that.

    I slowly molded the water into the shape that I want. A square box with a short tube in the middle. The tube had a lid on it. I nodded satisfied with my creation. Complicated shape was still beyond my ability, but this should be enough for now.

    "Imagine this square box is a water tanks. The box is our body and the water is our Mana." I pointed at the floating box, Llna was staring at it intently, her back was straighten unconsciously, like a good student.

    "This tube and lid is our control at Mana. When I want to cast spell, I opened the lid until I get the amount that I want. When I don''t use it, I just put back the lid." I end my explanation there and collapsed the floating water. The water fell into the fountain behind me with a splash. Llna seemed to be processing what I said.

    "Wait, how do you, err, opened the lid until you get the amount you want?" She asked me impatiently.

    "Practice." I answered to her question with no hesitation.

    "Even a Mana control genius would still need to practice their ability, there is no other way." I shrugged my shoulder lazily.

    "...it¡¯s impossible." She tilted her head down, her long bang covering her face, her tiny fist was gripping tightly. It seem I had flipped a switch in her. So the rumor about her uncontrollable Mana is true.

    ¡°Do you even try it?¡± I asked her bluntly.

    ¡°Of Course I had tried it!!¡± She shouted and stood up facing me. A few pedestrian stopped to see her outburst, then walked again when they realized it was nothing serious.

    ¡°Do you tried it again? And again?¡± I asked her for the second time.

    ¡°Huh?¡± this time, she had a blank look on her face.

    ¡°I see, so you stopped trying when you failed for a few time. Of course you won¡¯t get any better with that.¡± I spoke without putting any consideration on my word. Her face slowly turned red. She¡¯s angry.

    ¡°Someone like you wont understand!¡± she shouted again, this time closer at my face.

    ¡°You are afraid of hurting other people when your Mana explode right?¡± I stood up and stared right at her eyes.

    ¡°Wha, what, you¡­¡± She was deflated by my proclamation. Her previous red face gone, replaced with disbelief.

    ¡°Let me help you.¡± Her mouth was agape, she was unable to follow my pace.

    ¡°Aah, before you misunderstand, my purpose on helping you is because I am curious with your case, not because out of pity. So you don¡¯t need to feel responsible with whatever happen next.¡± I raised my hand and patted her shoulder.

    ¡°¡­it¡¯s dangerous you know.¡± She tilted her head down and muttered under her breath.

    ¡°Well, you did saw my ability, so that¡¯s why you asked me that question right? And like I said, whatever happen to me will be my own problem, not yours.¡± I sighed and crouched down, I raised my head and my eyes meet hers.

    ¡°So? What is your answer?¡± I stared at her for a while.

    ¡°Even if I said no, you will still nosily stick in my business.¡± She sighed tiredly.

    ¡°Yes, you are right.¡± I nodded sagely.

    She glared at me quite fiercely, then turned her body and walked away. I hastily followed behind her. My previous bad mood had completely gone.

    ¡°Hey, wait for me, Llna~!!

 Chapter 17 - Trouble will always find you

    Curiosity killed the cat.

    Yes, curiosity. Every living being at least has this basic urge on their mind. Even if the object of their curiosity is the one that will endanger them, threaten them. To satisfy their knowledge thirst, they can¡¯t help but fell for it.

    And in this situation, it killed a fox.

    At least metaphorically.

    ¡°¡­again.¡± I repeat this word for the tenth times. I wiped the dirt which was clinging persistently to my face.

    Right now I was outside of the bustling town. Though, not too far from it since I can still hear the merchant shouting on top of their lung, but the place is desolate enough to serve my purpose. My eyes wander to the mess in front of me. It seems I had bitten more than I can chew.

    Llna was panting hard from the fatigue, her thin arms stretched out in front of her, her palms were pointing at a nearby tree. And the tree was messed up till even I felt pity for it. Only a little though.

    The tree bark had holes with various size drilled inside of it. The ground beneath the tree was filled with leaves dropped from the tree branches. While I was wondering how long this helpless tree could last, a thud sound brings my attention back to Llna.

    She was sitting on the ground, her blue twin tails flowing beside her like a moving river.

    ¡°Give up already?¡± I walked to beside her and plopped down to the ground. I sat cross-legged while she was glaring at me quite intensely.

    ¡°Rest. Mana. Stupid.¡± She spoke between her unregulated breaths and somehow still managed to insert an insult.

    I nodded my head indicating my understanding, it seems she needs to replenish her Mana. While I was waiting for her to catch her breath, various thought was clashing in my head.

    I admit the reason I decided to help her was on impulse, and her special condition perked my curiosity too. My mind wanders back into the past, to when Cirdan informed me about my cursed Mana. Since then I have combed the whole library for information.

    The cursed one, or Elise Curse, where one Mana is corrupted and deformed. Apparently, the curse infected when you touched the Elise artifact, the Mad Prophet who had attempted to destroy the world five hundred years ago. But I don''t really remember touching something able to curse me. Or things that are scream ¡®dangerous¡¯.

    My hand slipped into my pants pocket, I grabbed the necklace I received from the elder before. I already gave it to Cirdan to examine it, but he said it was just an ordinary necklace.

    And for a curse of this caliber, the information about it sure is scarce, or more exactly, the information about Elise is shrouded in mystery. As if someone trying to cover up the history. How strange.

    I wonder if I go to a different library, will I get a complete information?

    From the little information I gained, Elise had a dark affinity, the same as this girl in front of me, which was staring at me with her eyebrows frowned. Oops, it seems I had stared at her far too long.

    "Sorry." She suddenly apologized, which puzzled me for a second. Her blue eyes gazed at my burnt hand, and understanding came into me.

    "No worries, really, I underestimated the Mana recoil, so this is what I get. And the burn is not that bad, it isn''t even hurting now." I waved my slightly burned left arm in front of me. She stared at it for a while.

    This second-degree burn was caused by my arrogance. I told her to cast magic on the tree while I prepared the barrier. Turn out, the normal barrier isn''t enough. The recoil by the out of control Mana was greater than I expected. Of course, I didn''t let any harm fell to Llna, but the tiny explosion burned a bit of my palm, and bits of dirt''s splatted to my face.

    "...Why didn''t you use healing magic? With your skill and all that, I doubt that priest didn''t teach you any healing spell." That priest? Ooh, she means Mira.

    "Actually, I can''t cast any healing spell." I shrugged my shoulder helplessly.

    "Huh? Why?" Llna tilted her head to the side, her long tied hair followed her head.

    "Who knows? I tried it many times, but the moment I cast the healing spell, nothing happens." I had my own theory about it, but since it''s only a speculation, I didn''t say it to her. I stood up from my sitting position and stretched my body. My eyes looked down to Llna.

    "Well, how about we end it today? Its afternoon now, we can continue it tomorrow, let''s find something to eat." I reached my hands toward her. She stared at my hand for a few seconds, before she placed her tiny palm on my hand. I pulled her up and she mumbled a soft "Thanks".

    We walked to the town while chatting on the way, I asked her a few questions while we were looking at the food markets. My stomach has been protesting since some time ago, my metabolism seems has been quicker since I transformed into a beastman.

    "Llna, what do you know about Elise?" My eyes scanning the delicious food sprawl in front of me, ranging from meat skewer, baked goods, candy, and other exotic looking things, there still a lot of things I haven''t tried it yet.

    "Le..Let go..." Her voice was so soft that it was drowned in this crowded market.

    "Hmm? What did you say again?" I turned my head to Llna and found her face was red like a tomato.

    "Your hand, let it go, I can walk by myself." She raised her voice this time, but her eyes didn''t meet mine.

    "If I didn''t do this then, you will have lost in the crowd and we will be separated, no?" A tint of amusement seeped into my voice. I was holding her hand this whole time, but she only complained now. Did holding her hand shocked her this much?

    "I... I''m not going to get lost in the crowd! I''m not a kid!" Her embarrassment was mixed with a bit of anger.

    You are a kid though

    "Well, if you hate it that much, fine then." I casually released my grip on her hand. She sighed with relief as if holding hand with me is something to abhor to.

    We are weaving through the crowd, searching the perfect snack to satisfy our stomach, then I suddenly remember the question I want to ask before, I turned my head to Llna to ask her again, instead of the blue-haired girl I was talking just a moment ago, was gone, disappeared from my vision. I looked to left and right, still didn''t find her in my sight.

    "...How troublesome." I sighed, I just told her and she still lost in the end.

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    Searching her in this crowd will be a pain, and definitely will take a long time. I calmed my breaths and closed my eyes. The crowded market disappeared from my vision, replaced with utter darkness. The sound of people chatting and muttering slowly dimmed down. Then I can finally ''feel'' it.

    All things have Mana inhabited in it, whether it was a living being or nonliving one. And sometimes, the elementals attached to them, giving the Mana color and shape. I learned this sensing trick a few days ago. Clumps of Mana gathered around me, all of them have various color, various size, various shape, going past me and on. I expanded my sense more, and I finally found it. A hazy black colored Mana was surrounded by a group of small-sized Mana. A sharp but clear green colored Mana was standing slightly forward than the group.

    I opened my eyes. My vision and hearing are back to normal. A slight migraine was haunting my head, an after effect of taking in too much information, but it¡¯s worth it. I have found the girl I had been searching for, but it seems she has some company, and it¡¯s definitely not friendly. I had befriended a trouble magnet, didn¡¯t I?

    I quicken my pace, my feet took me to a small alley, or more exactly a small space between two buildings. When I arrived at my destination, I was greeted by the scene of five girls, three of them had a nasty smile on their faces, the other one had a more serious, frowning face. They are encircling a little girl with her body drenched wet from head to toe.

    It was Cevillia with her gang and Llna.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think this is a very childish behavior, Cevillia?¡± I spoke out loud, gaining their attention immediately. Cevillia turned her head toward me and glared in annoyance.

    ¡°¡­Why are you here?... Are you her friend?¡± She completely ignored my previous taunting words and asked me instead. But someone answered her question first before I managed to.

    ¡°He isn¡¯t my friend.¡± Llna answered back with flat expression plastered on her face.

    ¡°She is my friend.¡± I could saw Llna twitched at my remark. I take a step forward, and they take a step back, except Cevillia.

    ¡°Your father won¡¯t like seeing you bullying a defenseless person, you know?¡± I bring up her father since it¡¯s the quickest way to end this.

    Cevillia taut expression falters, she clicked her tongue and walk away without saying anything. Her friends scurried behind her in a hurry. I walked to Llna, now only two of us stood in this forgotten alley.

    ¡°¡­They will target you now.¡± Llna spoke with her head tilted down.

    ¡°I will be fine, Cevillia seems hell-bent on making you suffer, and do you know the reason?¡± I took out my handkerchief and give it to her, she silently received it and wipe her drenched face.

    ¡°You are too easygoing¡­ never mind, I doubt they can hurt or do anything to you.¡± She sighed.

    ¡°Yes, you are right, good insight Llna.¡± I nodded sagely. She glared at my praise.

    ¡°¡­ And for the reason, I think it¡¯s because I hurt Mr. Cirdan, her father hand when my magic was out of control.¡± She stared at my slightly burn arm. Huh, so Cirdan suffered the same fate as me.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Llna face was covered with my handkerchief, her expression was hidden beneath the cloth.

    ¡°For saving you or being your friend?¡± A rare smile formed on my face, seeing her like this somehow warmed my heart.

    She peeked from the handkerchief which was still covering her face. Her blue eyes glared at me. Like a kitten trying its best to scare people with its tiny fang. Before she could answer me back. A new person entered this alley.

    ¡°Hiiro? What are you doing here?¡±

    Both of us turned our head in synch. I immediately recognized the person standing in front of me. And that very person seems to be not alone.

    ¡°Sol? What are you looki.. Hiiro?¡± Mira popped up behind Sol, she stared at me bewildered, and then her gaze slowly moving to Llna, she gasped.

    ¡°Oh my, what happened? You are drenched wet!¡± Mira immediately moved to Llna side, she took off her cloak and put it at Llna body.

    ¡°Come, let''s get you changed, or you will get cold later.¡± Mira pulled Llna, which was in a bewildered state by things happening in quick succession.

    Then they are gone, as swiftly as wind.

    ¡°Uh, I think it would be better to follow them first. We can talk later.¡± Sol scratched his head, he had a wry smile on his face.

    I nodded my head. Then off we follow, when we arrived at the house, Mira dragged Llna to her room and ordered us to prepare hot milk for Llna. After the hot drink was ready, we were waiting for them while sitting on the dining chair.

    ¡°What are you guys doing in the town?¡± I was making small talk while sipping my special chilled milk. Sol cup has chilled by my magic too. He seemed to love it.

    ¡°Well, the festival is getting near, so we are buying the necessities at the market and getting ready for it¡­ but! The most important thing is¡­¡± He stopped talking at the critical point and spread his arms wide, adding the dramatic effect. A big grin formed on his face.

    ¡°Out with it already.¡± I sighed at his antic.

    ¡°He he he, I, Sol Nierheart, finally got my adventurer card!!¡± He pulled out a card from his pockets and pushed it at my face excitedly like a child, sometimes, I felt Llna was more mature than this guy.

    I grabbed the card from his hand and gazed at it. The card was rectangle shaped and seem to be made from metal, or at least something similar to it. There are words inscribed on the card. Name, birthplace, guild rank and job class, behind the card, have the Adventure Guild symbol etched into it.

    What interested me is the birthplace column. It wrote ¡®Whirleis, Druantia¡¯. Druantia is the name this kingdom I currently reside in, and if I¡¯m not wrong, Whirleis is the capital name.

    So the Nierheart siblings came from the capital huh

    While I was pondering about this new information, Sol shout wakes me up from thought.

    ¡°Ha! Elsoul must be gritting his teeth right now, since I passed the test quicker than him!¡± His grin turned even wider than before.

    ¡°Well, you get your card, congrats, then what are you going to do now?¡± I give him back the card, which he promptly took it back with care and slipped back into his pocket.

    ¡°Adventure of course!! With this, I can officially accept the guild quest and earn money with it. I can wander the world, became stronger, and know by people as the strongest adventurer!¡± He was standing with his hands raised high, his eyes were shining brightly like a child.

    ¡°I see.¡± I nodded my head.

    ¡°And you will come with me!¡± He pointed his finger at me.

    ¡°Huh?¡± I was confused by his word, never would I thought that I will get an invitation to travel the world from him.

    ¡°Well, looking at you, I doubt you had any plan for the future, so why don¡¯t we travel together?¡± Sol asked me with a toothy smile on his face.

    He is right, I don¡¯t really have a concrete plan for the future. My current plan consists of getting stronger until I was able to defend myself from the monster, but¡­

    ¡°Why me? I¡¯m just a kid you saved half a month ago.¡± I tilted my head and my tail swished to the left and right.

    ¡°Just a kid huh, well then, you are a kid that able to kill a C rank monster alone, that speak the volume of your power, and also..¡± He raised an eyebrow and scoffed at me, somehow the news of my morning fight already traveled to him. He walked to my side and patted my head.

    ¡°We may be only know each other for two weeks, but you are my friend, I can trust my back to you, not just anybody, but you. You are a bit paranoid, cold looking on the outside, but I know that you are kind, a person who would protect his friend when they are in danger.¡± He beamed a nonchalant bright smile while talking these cheesy words to me. Even if I didn¡¯t agree with some of his words, I still felt a bit embarrassed, affected by his words.

    I didn¡¯t know how to react in this situation so I just keep silent, letting him pat my head as he pleased. Sol may don¡¯t have the most remarkable face, but he sure has a remarkable charisma. Someday, in the future, surely many people will gather around him.

    Probably.

    ¡°Ah! Since you joined the guild quest, you must have an adventurer card already, show me!¡± He stopped petting me and quickly urged me to show my adventurer card, which I indeed have it.

    I pulled the card I had in my pocket, the card gleamed in the light. The moment my card entered his vision, he widened his emerald eyes and mouth hanging open, he was in the state of shock.

    ¡°Tha, That bright green color, that¡¯s a C rank card! How in the world¡­. I know you managed to defeat a C rank monster but the promotion shouldn¡¯t be this damn quick¡­.¡± He raised his voice and slowly became mutter in the end.

    ¡°I already at C rank when I got this card you know?¡± I smiled playfully at him while waved my card in his face.

    ¡°Shit, I only managed to jump to E rank¡­¡± He stared at his own dark green colored card.

    ¡°Well, better than the lowest, G rank isn¡¯t?¡± I consoled him, but seem to only fuel his bitterness.

    ¡°Uggghhh¡­., hearing you said that only made me angry somehow. Just you wait, I definitely will surpass you!¡± He clenched his fist and trembled with determination.

    Mira room door suddenly opened, we turned our head to see the two female walking out from the room. Llna have changed her clothes, but the very person seems to be hiding behind Mira skirt. Mira pushed Llna gently out to the open, where her blushing face and clothes are bare for us to see.

    She was wearing a blue colored crochet with her belly button revealed open, a long patterned skirt with a slit on both side, baring her leg out. She wears bracelets and anklets on her limbs, all of her accessories had strips of colorful cloth attached to it. An antler-like horn was attached at her head, with a black shawl draped over it. Overall, it has a very traditional feeling clothes.

    ¡°Ta-da! The festival maiden garment! She looks adorable right?¡± Mira puffed her chest up, proud of her work.

    ¡°Wow, you look really nice in it!¡± Sol complimented Llna and nodded in agreement with her sister words.

    ¡°But why the festival clothes?¡± I asked her, fueled by my curiosity.

    ¡°Well, I found it went I rummage the old clothes I had, and since I have a perfect model here¡­ he he, but never mind about that, what do you think about the clothes Hiiro?¡± She smiled innocently and expertly nudged the conversation to else.

    I stared at the transformed girl in front me, usually, she has a daunting and sharp aura around her, but right now she is reduced to fidgeting, bashful girl by the clothes she didn¡¯t accustom wearing.

    ¡°You look cute Llna.¡± I complimented her.

    She seems startled by my remark. Her eyes gazed at the ground intensely, then suddenly she turned her body and ran toward the room. But she stopped by Mira before she touched the wooden door.

    ¡°Ugh, let me go priest, I want to change back to my clothes!¡± Llna struggled in Mira grip futilely.

    ¡°Wait! You can¡¯t change before Hiiro changes his clothes!¡± Mira spoke to Llna while maintaining her grip on Llna shoulder.

    Suddenly I have a very strong urge to leave this place.

    ¡°Uh, I think I don¡¯t need to change my clothes.¡± I was glancing at her with suspicion in my eyes.

    ¡°I found another child festival garment, I think it will suit you very well!!¡± The excitement was evident on her face, she was hugging Llna tightly now. Llna stopped struggling, she has given up and acceptance could be seen on her face.

    Ugh, it seems I couldn¡¯t escape this one¡­, fine, it''s not like it will getting worse than this.

    ¡°¡­Sis, I don¡¯t remember I ever had a festival garment before¡­¡± Sol asked her sister, confused.

    ¡°Hmm? What are you saying? Of course, it was mine!¡± Mira clapped her hand together and beamed a smile at me.

    ...

    Damn it.

 Illustration - Hiiro and Llna

    Not a new chapter, but an illustration i drawed. Although im not satisfied with Llna appearance...

    Hope you like it.

    Hiiro and LlnaIf you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    *********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

 Chapter 18 - The Festival of The Beginning

    A glowing blue sphere was expanding and squirming, threaten to spill out at any moment. The sphere was slowly transforming, drops of water then fused together, turned into a floating glob of water, which was lasting only a few seconds, before falling down to the ground with a splat.

    There was two pair of eyes staring at this phenomenon. One of them was bright blue, like a cloudless sky, the other one has a heterochromia eyes, blood red with brilliant golden.

    ¡°Aah, you did it.¡± I nodded in satisfaction. It was still sloppy, but it was definitely better than before.

    ¡°¡­¡± Llna didn''t react to my remark.

    ¡°Hello? Llna? Are you okay?" I waved my hand at her face. She was still staring at the ground with great intensity. It seem she was in a state of shock.

    "...I did it." Oh, she spoke. I thought I need to pinch her to get a reaction from her.

    "Yes, you did it." I nodded my head for the second time.

    "I did it." She repeated her words as if she couldn''t believe what she has just said.

    "Yes, you d-" My word was cut short by her tackle.

    "I DID IT!!" She hugged me tightly. My body isn''t prepared for her unexpected tackle, so both of us fall to the grassy ground.

    "I did it, I did it, I really did it..." Her voice slowly tuned down until it became a mutter. Like a prayer, she uttered these words again, and again. While I was laying down on the grass helpless with her on top of me, the back of my head was slightly hurt from the impact from the ground.

    Looking back these one week, Llna really tried her best. From the first day we started her special training, until today, never she whined or trying to give up. I also reaped a lot of benefit from this particular training, as a result of experimenting and deployed the barrier numerous times for containing Llna out of control mana, I learned lots of neat tricks that will useful to me in the future.

    Llna condition is fixable, maybe her control is a far cry away from a normal person, but that''s mean she just needs to practice more and harder than other people. My head turned to the side, my eyes lay on the battered tree that we had been using as a target for this one week. Almost all of the leaves have fallen down to the ground, the tree bark was littered with holes and it was a miracle that the tree still managed to stand tall. Still, with the tree condition, it won''t last lo-

    Creeekkk

    The very tree I was scrutinizing suddenly shook, it slowly ripped off from the middle portion of the tree, leaving the upper portion fell helplessly to the ground. The tree hit the ground hard with a boom and trembled. Llna was surprised by the sudden sound and immediately raised her head. She turned her face toward the broken tree. Both of us were staring at the tree demise with silent, before Llna suddenly chuckled, and slowly turned into full laughter.

    "Pfftt, hehehe, hahahaha!" She rolled to the ground beside me and laughing continuously. Tears are forming in the corner of her eyes and she was clutching her stomach while rolling on the ground. I didn''t find the broken tree was something to be laugh for, so I just keep silently watching this strange laughing girl.

    Her laughter slowly ceased and stopped. She wiped the tears from her eyes and stood up. She turned her head toward me and beamed the brightest smile I have ever seen on her face before.

    "Hiiro, I will never be able to walk to this point without you, surely I will give up, feeling sorry to myself without doing anything to change it, so what I want to say is, err, thank you very much!" She bowed down to me as her gratitude, and when she raised her head again, I could see tint of pink creeping in her cheeks.

    She extend her right hand toward me, so I gratefully take her hand and let her help me to stand up from the ground. I brushed the dirt and grass clinging on my clothes and raised my head to meet her.

    "Well, you are welcome, I learned a lot from the training too, so just call it mutual benefit." I tilted my head up, with my hand shielding my eyes from the direct sunlight. The sky was clear blue, and the lack of clouds made the suns more glaring than usual.

    "It''s a bit early, but let''s call it off today. I need to help Sol to pick up firewood''s from the forest for the today festival." I tilted my head back down and slowly, a playful smirk crept into my mouth while I was staring Llna.

    "W, What?" Llna was a bit unnerved by my expression, she took a step back and watching me quite warily.

    "I heard from Mira that you have been appointed as the festival maiden. I look forward to your dancing, I''m sure it will be a sight to behold, Llna." My childish teasing seems to be affected her quite severely, as her face immediately reddened and her expression is full of embarrassment and anger.

    "You!" She kicked me and I evaded nimbly, her feet stomped the ground and missed the target quite far.

    "Then I will go first, see you later!" I chuckled and ran, leaving Llna on our training ground alone.

    I ran toward the forest, my speed took me no longer than a few minutes to see the forest entrances. My sharp eye saw a lone human standing near it. Sol was practicing with his sword, and when he noticed me, he sheathed his blade back to its scabbard and waved at me. I picked up my pace and stood before him.

    "You are a bit early, Hiiro, I thought you would accompany that girl a little longer." Sol smirked playfully.

    "Well, both of us have job to do, so I thought ending it early would be better." Somehow, Sol smile is getting wider, which annoyed me.

    "Hoh? So if you didn''t have any job to do, you will be rather with Llna? Well, I understand, she is a cute girl after all." Sol nodded with understanding on his face, I only sighed and walked past him into the forest. Did I just get teased after I teased someone else? Is this karma?

    "Hey, wait for me! I only half joking alright. Still, I''m glad that you have been enjoying your life here." Sol hurried after me and walked beside me. I raised one of my eyebrows while staring at him.

    "In the beginning, you always hide your expression behind a mask, maintaining a distance with everyone here, I was worried, Mira too, and now you have smiled more often and talkative recently, we are happy that you finally opened to us!" Sol laughed and patted my back.

    Enjoying my life here? Well... he is not wrong...

    As he had said, maybe, I was enjoying my life here more than my previous world. In this magical world, I feel more at home and comfortable. I''m already attached to this place even though I only lived here for nearly a month. The Nierheart siblings are probably the nicest bunch I had seen in all my life, Llna, Cirdan, Cevilia, Tulgan, and other people in the town..., I probably know more people at this world than my previous world.

    Speaking of my previous world reminded me of Akira. I wonder what''s he doing now?

    I shook my head to clear my thought, it''s not like I can come back to my previous world, or even if I ''wanted to''. I focused my attention back at the forest in front of me. Time to gather some firewoods!

    We remained in the forest until it was afternoon. When the firewood''s we collect is enough, we moved out and walked toward the town. While we are walking on the street, I can see all of the stalls and shops are closed, earlier than the usual closing time. We walk forward until we are in the center of the town where the festival will take place. The center of the town is a large park, with a stage set up for this special occasion, a bunch of firewood, presumably for bonfire, was placed at each side of the stage, lots of tables and chairs, people with various races grouped together, some of them even started drinking even the festival hasn''t started yet.

    "Sol! Hiiro! Over here!" A shout called our name. We turned our head and saw Mira with a group of people. We walked toward her, and I can smell roasted meat and stew drifting in the air. Looking past Mira, I can see they are preparing the food for the festival, my stomach already grumbling from the tasty looking food.

    "Thank you for the hard work! Here¡¯s your reward." Mira received the firewoods from our hand and gave each of us a plate of roasted meat. We happily received it and moved to another place to eat after saying goodbye to Mira.

    The day slowly turned dark, it was evening, and simple torches fashioned out of long wooden sticks were planted on the ground all around the park to light the pathway. More people joined in the festival and slowly became a large crowd, the chatter slowly fused together until it became unseparated symphony.

    I was eating my third plate of roasted meat, Sol has gone with his friends and left me alone. When I was standing up to get my fourth plate, a large drum sound resounded clearly in the middle of the festive. The drum sound slowly became an unfamiliar rhythm. The peoples were cheering, welcoming the rhythm amidst them.

    I stared at the drum which was set near the stage, and someone was walking to the front of the stage. So I decided to walk closer and see what was going on. People already gathered near the stage, and thanks to my small body, I managed to squeeze my body through the crowd and to the front of the people.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    I raised my head and found the person was the elder of this town. This was my second time meeting him since I arrived at this place. His head suddenly tilted down and his eyes meet mine. He smiled kindly at me then raised his head again, this time staring at the crowd forming before him. The drum stopped beating.

    He keeps staring without uttering a single word. Slowly, sound of muttering and chatting was gone, replaced with utmost silence. The elder nodded his head in satisfaction and opened his mouth to speak.

    ¡°A long time ago, an ancient prophet went insane and attempted to destroy our beloved world.¡± He waited for a while to let his word sink into the crowds, then opened his mouth to speak again.

    ¡°Her action killed countless of innocent peoples, kingdoms were destroyed, all of the people trembled before her might, the world turns into a dark age that never had seen before¡­But! Hope appeared, our warriors of the old, each of them is the strongest among their race, they decided to work together, to defeat the evil before them. Their battle spans for a long time, and the last fight with the prophet ended in the now called as The Forbidden Forest." An attendant walked beside the elder, his hand carried a wooden tray with a wooden bowl on top of it, and from my position, I couldn''t see what is inside of the bowl.

    "After the battle ended with victory, each of the courageous warriors turns back to their own respective country, hailed as a savior of the world. But, Hreidmary Hillcoat, the warrior of the Dwarf, decided to leave behind the lavish life she could have, and lived a modest life in a house she built near the forest. Slowly, people gathered around her, village was built, and slowly grown into a town, our splendid town!" The elder raised both of his arms and the people cheered.

    A house near the forest? Wait, don''t tell me that house is...

    "And as per our tradition, today mark as the 777th year our world was saved by the warriors of the old, the end of the dark age, the start of the age of prosperity, let us celebrate this wonderful day, let the Festival of the Beginning, start!!" The elder grabbed and raised the bowl up, the crowd cheer became louder and the drum start to beat again. The bonfire was lit and blazed into fiery flames.

    The crowd slowly dispersed and back into stuffing their mouth with food or drinking their fill of ale. While I was wandering around, I spotted Sol with an unexpected company, Elsoul. Their face was flushed beet red. They were sitting at the same table while glaring at each other, a large mug was placed on each of their hand.

    "He, he he he...., how''s that!" Sol was laughing while pointing his mug at Elsoul. The mug tilted and the liquid inside spilled out a little to the table.

    "Youuuu willl reg..ret thisss." Elsoul voice slurred while glaring at Elsoul as hard as he can in his state, which means not by much.

    How the hell they are drunk just as the festival started is beyond me, but their antics makes me curious, so I decided to observe them for a while, with a bowl of sweets on my hands of course.

    "Ku hu, hehhee, see th..is?" Sol continues to laugh while waving his adventurer card in front of Elsoul. He was sweating. A lot.

    "Kuhh, noooo, get that ooout from my faceee." Elsoul waved his hands, attempting to grab Sol arm, which failed splendidly.

    "Tell mee thenn, wh..y, you, ugh, always trying to pick fight...mee." Sol downed the liquid in his mug, his voice started to slur like Elsoul.

    "...I.. Was.. an..gry..., Herfi, diedd, when your father... thaattt... you know..." Elsoul glare disappeared and sadness washed over his face. His arm fell lifelessly from the table.

    "¡­" Sol didn''t speak. He silently hears what Elsoul wanted to say.

    "I... know it was not your faulttt, but, I... I was angry and..." Elsoul started to sob. Which honestly surprised me. Did he just start to cry? In front of Sol? Alcohol sure can do a number on people.

    "You, IDIOT!!!" Sol fist suddenly punched Elsoul right on his face. Elsoul fall down from his chair and their table was kicked to the side.

    "Guh, wwhat the.." Elsoul was too flabbergasted by the sudden punch. He was laying on the ground with his right hand on his cheeks. Sol walked over and grabbed his collar roughly.

    "Then... Do you think Herfi would like you being likee thissss!! He is my frienddd too!!" Sol shouted loudly, then he suddenly started to sob too. Now, both of them sobbed uncontrollably. Even with all of the ruckus they had made, the people around them just ignored their antics and continue doing whatever they do.

    I guess at a festival where alcoholic beverage is served, this is a normal scenery huh?

    While I was thinking that I already have enough of watching them both crying, a tap on my shoulder waked me up from my musing. I turned my head and found an unexpected person in this merry festival.

    "Hey, it''s been one week since I saw you, Hiiro." It was Gil, he wears a simple blue shirt and black pant. He was smiling at me.

    "Can we have a talk?" Gil motioned to an empty table near us, since I have no reason to refuse him, I nodded my head and we walked toward the table. We were silent for a while, then Gil was the first one to initiate the conversation.

    "So... how did you do these day?" Gil started with a small talk. I raised an eyebrow at his question.

    "Fine I guess, but I should be the one to ask that question, aren''t I?" Gil laughed at my words.

    "Well, you are right." He sighed tiredly and tilted his head up toward the starry night skies. I looked up too. Two moons with countless stars greeted my eyes, this is a sight that was still novel to me. I wonder how long for this scenery to become a normal sight for me?

    "She always liked the festival. She said she loved it when everyone was hanging out together, the festival music, the food, the sight of the bonfire, she loved it all." His brown eyes became slightly glassy, looking further than the moons, he was deep in memories before he closed his eyes to clear his thought.

    "We hold both Tina and Bordg funeral a few days ago." He tilted his head back down and stared at me.

    "I see..., so what would you guys do next?"

    "Our party... has disbanded." He smiled wryly at me.

    "Huh? Why?... Is it because.." I left my word hanging, Gil shook his head to deny my thought.

    "Even before losing... our comrades, we decided before that will be the last quest for our party. After all, each of us has a dream we intented to achieve, living as adventurer is not what we sought, we already collected enough money to start our goals. But, I guess this last quest really leave a bad aftertaste in our mouth...Villaren lost one of his arm, Bordg and... Tina, died." He sighed again.

    "¡­" I keep my silent, but my mind was running amok with thought, the image of the red-haired girl popped up in my mind, how she pushed her comrade away from the danger without hesitation, how her bloody, broken body lay powerlessly on the ground overlapped with a familiar black-haired woman...

    I shook my head to clear my mind, why on earth I remembered ''her'' now of all the times? I focused my attention back on the mage in front of me, he was rummaging his small bag, then take out two small jingling brown pouches. He put the pouches on the table then pushed it at me. He motioned me to open it, my finger pulled the string and the pouch loosened, revealed the gold coins with a few silver one mixed inside of it.

    "This is..." I stared at Gil, demanded an explanation.

    "The quest rewards, 57 gold coins and 15 silver coins." Gil explained the content of the two pouches.

    "That''s a lot, isn''t this too much?" I tilted my head at him.

    "Not really, you basically killed two ranked monsters alone and ended the third one. If you didn''t come with us at that time, maybe all of us will die on the spot." He chuckled at his dark humor.

    "You are giving me too much credit." I frowned at his remark.

    "And you are too humble to yourself." He stood up from his chair and walked to me. He raised his arms and put it on my shoulder.

    "Well, this is it, I''m going now, thank you for everything you have done, I hope we can meet again someday, Hiiro." He smiled at me then walked away. I looked at his retreating back, slowly disappeared from the crowd.

    I put one of the pouches in my pocket, and the other one tied around my waist. The pouch fell heavy on my body, and sadly, I didn''t know any weight reducing spell, or if they even existed. My eyes stared at the crowds around me, the festival was reaching its peak, and the drum beating continuously all of this time, suddenly stopped.

    A different type of sound appeared, it was a mix of flute and song. My eyes wandered to the stage, a group of people was standing on the stage, and the age was quite varied, from children to young adult. All of them wearing eye-catching clothes, my eyes landed on a person I have known well for these few weeks.

    It was Llna.

    Then they started their dance, it started slowly at first, then slowly picked up its pace. It was getting quicker and the moves were powerful yet elegant to behold. Llna face was determined, she managed to execute her move perfectly. The dancers moved down from the stage, they pulled the spectator to dance together with them, the people cheered and started to dance with their partner.

    A single girl with the same height with me stood before me, she was fidgeting and embarrassed by what she is going to do next. Then she raised her head and stared at me.

    "Uhm..., w, would you like to dance with me?" She stuttered a bit while her face flushed red. I smiled unconsciously.

    "Sure, Llna." Her face lit brightly with happiness and she quickly grabbed my hand.

    She pulled me into the crowd and we danced. Since I have never danced in all my life, I was a bit lost at what I should do. Llna laughed at my predicament and I could only smile wryly at it. All of the people were laughing and smiling brightly, enjoying the festival to the fullest.

    My eyes wandered around the park. I could see Mira was dancing with her friends, Cirdan actually joined in with her daughter, Cevillia. He was holding her daughter hand tenderly and she, for the first time has a happy, satisfied expression plastered on her face. Sol and Elsoul have a silly dancing contest, the crowds were laughing at their drunken dance. The music was nice to the ears and the dance continued for a long time.

    I enjoyed this, and I truly feel I belonged in here, in this place, in this world.

    ''But happiness always didn¡¯t last long.''

    I stopped dancing. I stood still and immediately scanned my surrounding, my heart thumped and beaten faster than before, beads of sweat formed on my forehead. Nothing. I found nothing around me, nothing that will produce that sickly-sweet woman voice.

    What was that?

    "Hiiro? Are you all right?" Llna looked at me worried. I patted her head to reassure her nothing was wrong.

    "Ahh, nothing, I''m fine. Let''s -" A scream cut my word short. Both of us, no, all of the people around us turned our head to one direction.

    A person was laying on the ground with blood pooling beneath his body. There was another person was standing across of the injured person, his body was splatted with blood and strange black marking was slithering on his body. I was intrigued by the marking, it was... familiar.

    THUMP

    Suddenly my head ached, like somebody just beaten my head with a metal bat continuously, I grabbed my head and shook helplessly, my body feels like on fire, I was sweating profusely, this sensation... it was similar to that day, before I was transported to this world, I was in that dark space with that eerie dark sphere. The person with the strange marking looked upon the sky, then what came out from his mouth was a cry that a human shouldn''t be able to produce.

    "GYAAAARRRRRRRAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!"

    The inhuman cry immediately snapped everyone from their reverie, dread filled them and some of them trembled. It was chaos.

    "It, it was The Cursed!!"

    "Shit, run!"

    "Oh god, please save us!"

    Panic immediately ensued the crowd, the merry festival was replaced with unimaginable horror. Normal people whom can''t fight ran away from the cursed man, some of the people with fighting abilities have a grim expression on their faces. They warily watched the man while drawing their weapon out.

    "Hi,Hiiro, I think we better get out from here..., Hiiro?" Llna tugged my sleeves, but I''m in no condition to reply her, standing already took all of my power and focus.

    The cursed man didn''t move, instead, he suddenly turned his head toward me. His black dark eyes stared at me intensely. When I thought I have become his target, I can feel the Mana around the man fluctuated, it was moving and expanding quickly, the Mana was moving crazily, as if some sort of large spell was going to cast right here, and we are right at the edge of the magic spell.

    My first thought was to push Llna away. I gritted my teeth through the pain and pushed Llna out of the spell magic radius. Llna has a shocked expression on her face.

    Aahh, Did Gil had this kind of expression when Tina pushed him away?

    A random thought entered my mind, the cursed man was screaming in pain as all of his Mana was forcefully taken out from its body. The spell was pumped with Mana until this place was shining brightly. I stared at Llna, then opened my mouth.

    "We will meet again."

    Then everything turns white.

    .

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 Chapter 19 - A Gamble

    It''s a pure white place

    The ground was made of smooth white ceramic, it was polished, well maintained, not a single spot of dirt could be seen. The white wall was decorated with beautiful carving, one that I never saw before, but feel familiar for. Sculpture placed on both side of the wall, it stood magnificently, judging the worth of people passing by and goes. An eerie laughing voice from afar.

    My vision shifted forward, my body walked on its own. I''m not in control of my body, or is it mine? My legs spring as I walked, moving forward, passing the same colored corridor, the same carving on the wall, the same sculpture looming over me, over and over again. So much time has passed, until I didn''t know I was moving forward or backward. The eerie laughter persisted.

    I stopped walking, in front of me was a grand lavish looking door. The door too, has the same color as everything in this pure white hall. Longing and happiness, then dread, stemmed from my heart, which emotion is mine truly? Caressing the door tenderly, as if my long lost lover, I opened it. The eerie laughter was getting louder.

    The room was dark, world different than the hall outside, still, I stepped inside, the darkness crept in fully. Slowly, as I walk, small lantern appeared to light the darkness away with its pitiful small flame.

    Squiish

    My feet stepped into something, I looked down, it was a black fox doll, the doll forehead was brutally ruined, the cotton inside was flowing out, I picked it up and held it close to my body. The eerie laughter was near, as if beside me.

    I continued my aimless walking, my surrounding slowly became narrow as time goes, then I arrived at a dead end. A large mirror with elaborate frame was hung across of me. I walked closer to the mirror, then everything became clear.

    The one who was laughing was me.

    The mirror cracked and shattered into hundreds of pieces. I closed my eyes and my vision went dark. The dream ended.

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    I opened my eyes.

    I pulled my body up and look around me, I was in the middle of the forest, with trees and grass surrounding me. A thug in my pants switched my gaze down and a pair of ruby eye meet mine. It was a pink rabbit with two pairs of ears, currently was gnawing my pants as if it was the most delicious thing in the world.

    "Tch, Shoo! Go away!" I shooed the monster away, but the little critter didn''t even budge, ignored me and continuing gnawing a hole out of my pants.

    Annoyed, and the headache haunting my mind didn''t help. I cast an earth spell and the ground beneath the critter trembled, before it managed to notice what was going to happen to him, an earth spike pierced the rabbit looking monster right on its abdomen. It squirmed helplessly, before it stopped moving as its short life ended.

    The monster was hanging on the spike with its blood flowed out continuously. It was overkill, but it helped me on venting my frustration out. I tilted my head up, the suns was high up in the sky, it was noon, that''s mean at least one night has passed before me. I sighed.

    What''s with me and being forcefully teleported away? And the hell with that strange dream?

    So many questions were swirling in my mind and sadly, there was no answer in sight. I sniffed the air, there was no familiarity with it, meaning I was in a different forest from that town, forest that I had never been before. I looked at the dead monster in front of me, with my empty stomach rumbling, the monster looks extremely delicious.

    "I can explore this place later.... for now, let''s eat!" I exclaimed at myself.

    With my short knife I always bring with me, I make a short work of the monster. Now the monster was sliced clean with its pelt on my right, its gut on my left, and its Mana crystal in my pocket, the meat was skewered with a branch and planted vertically on the ground in front of me. Using magic, I roasted the meat with fire until it was well done.

    The smell was appetizing, and with no further ado, I grabbed the skewer and bite through the roast meat.

    "...bitter." is what I immediately felt on my tongue.

    Maybe it lacks seasoning? I''m not an expert in cooking, but this definitely needs to improve.

    I continue eating the not so tasty meat until it was all gone into my stomach. I stood up and moved away from my previous spot, exploring this forest. Right now, I''m only equipped with a short knife, money I received from Gil before, a mana crystal from the rabbit monster, my adventurer card, the necklace I received from the elder before and my current clothes.

    Looking at the current situation, at least I will fare better than my first time wandering in this world, when I know close to nothing and left with only my body to defend myself. First, I need to get out from this forest and find the nearest village or town around here. Then find out where the hell I have been teleported to. After that, I guess I will decide what I will do later when I find a civilization here.

    As I continue to walk, hacking away the branch and vines obstructing me, I didn''t find anything besides trees and the occasional weak monster. Two unknown rabbits monster which I didn''t know their name and a pack of Earth wolves.

    I killed them all and gratefully loot their body for Mana crystal, these things will earn me some money when I sell it. Although I have a vague inkling as for where I ended when I see the native monster and plants, my ears twitched and I was distracted from my thought. It was far away from my current location, but I was sure of what I heard.

    A battle...., three or four humans and lots of monsters....

    As I warily walk closer to the ongoing battle, the occasional shouts and screams didn''t bode well with me. I hide in a nearby bush and peeked with leaves covering me. My eyes greeted with four humans cornered by seven Earth wolves and one human laying at the ground flat, dead probably, since a large pool of blood was accumulating beneath his body.

    They seem to have trouble with dealing the monster, well, they are outnumbered after all. One of them seems to be a warrior, with a one-handed sword as a weapon, the other one is an archer, he was holding his bow while shaking from fear, a robe wearing woman was crouching on her knees with her leg bleeding profusely, and the corpse on the ground was wearing some sort of robe too, mage I think.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    My eyes latched on the third living person, this one has interested me, since compared to the other whom has injuries all around their body, this person doesn''t have even a cut on his body. He was wearing a light grey shirt and a dark blue vest, on his waist was tied with a belt which was attached with lots of brown colored pouch, his black pants and black boots was smeared with blood.

    He has a dark grey hair with long bang covered his eyes, and his long black scarf around his neck was making his facial feature harder to see. He was griping two knives on both of his hands and raised up to his chest levels. There were four corpses of wolves laying on the ground around the humans.

    "Damn it, I have enough of this shit, it''s all your fault, Stef!!" The sword-wielding man was shouting angrily while slashing down an attacking Earth Wolf.

    " W, what! I''m not- ARRGGHHH!!!" The archer''s arm was bitten by one of the Earth wolves because of his carelessness. The grey-headed man immediately slashed the wolf and saved his comrade. But the damage is done and the archer couldn''t hold his bow for now, making him useless in this battle.

    "Shit, shit, f*ck, I''m not going to die here!!" The sword-wielding man exclaimed and look around him, when his eyes gazed at the archer, he grabbed him by his collar and raised him high. The archer sported a confused expression then turned into fear and dread.

    ¡°Since you are useless, at least you can be my shield.¡± The swordsman smirked.

    The swordsman ran, straight to the wolves. The archer was struggling in the swordsman strong grips. The man used the human shield to push forward and barely able to parry away the wolves behind his back with his sword, when he was in the edge of the wolf encirclement, he immediately throws his comrade to the wolf and ran away. With the wolf focusing on killing the screaming archer, the warrior managed to run to the forest, leaving all of his comrades to defend themselves.

    "Nooo!!! Noo..., are we going to die here?" The only woman in the group sobbed and started to cry at their hopeless situation. The grey-headed man only silently watched their traitorous comrade running back.

    Perfect timing

    For the first time since I found them, I finally jumped out and joined the battle. I make my entrance with killing the nearest wolf around me, attracting the other wolf''s attention. The humans are staring at me with shock, at least the woman expression is, I couldn''t see the grey-headed man faces clearly.

    Three wolves run straight at me while the other four decided to attack the humans. Using magic to strengthen my short knife, I dodged the first charging wolf and slashed at its body. Using magic, a spike spews out from the ground and stabbed at the second wolf behind the first one, stopping the wolf completely.

    The wolf yelped in pain, using this chance, I doubled my speed and stabbed at the first wolf at its heart. I yanked my blade out from the dying wolf and turn my body to the side, evading the third wolf charging at me.

    With a swing, I slashed deep at the third wolf neck, blood spurted out and the wolf falls to the ground, whimpering as its life faded away. I walked to the bleeding second wolf, its seem the wolf managed to barely able to evade the spike from puncturing it''s vital.

    I killed the wolf with a short jab at its heart. Raising my head, I found the grey-headed man killing the last wolf, ending this battle. I quirked my eyebrows, if that man was able to kill four Earth wolf in this short time, they shouldn¡¯t have any trouble dealing with the group of wolf by themselves.

    I walked to the human duo, when I look closer at them, the woman was staring at the grey-headed man with doubtful eyes, and when she noticed me, her eyes widened, then turned into disgust.

    The grey-headed man was watching me quite warily. While I was mulling how should I approach them. Unsurprisingly, the woman was the first to open her mouth and speak.

    ¡°Why does a mere beastmen walk around without a collar? Who is your master?¡± said the woman with the most disdain she could muster. Her eyes were moist and red from her crying earlier.

    ¡­ugh, this is going to be annoying.

    ¡°¡­ lady Marinl, I think we better get back to the city for now¡­¡± The grey-headed man stretched his hand toward the woman, Marinl, but she only glared at him and swiped his hand away.

    ¡°Shut up! Who do you think you are, peasant?! It¡¯s all of you incompetent fools fault!! ¡± the woman was shouting spitefully and her beautiful face scrunched up into an ugly scowl.

    ¡°Mister, could you please tell me the nearest town from here?¡± I ignored the woman and asked the man for direction. Remaining here won¡¯t do me any good. The man stared at me for some time.

    ¡°¡­Walk east from here and you will find a river, follow it downstream and you will arrive at the city of Clyde." The grey-headed man pointed his finger at the east. I bobbed my head and uttered a sort thank you. Then I turned my body and immediately walked away.

    ¡°Hey, stop ignoring me!! And who said you can walk away like that! I¡¯m the second daughter of Clyde city lord, a noble!! Come back here you mutt!!¡± she was shaking her fist in anger, seeing that I didn¡¯t stop walking from her outburst, she turned her head toward the man. ¡°Go! Stop him Amb, bring him to me!!¡±

    The grey-headed man, Amb, looked at her for a few seconds, then sighed. ¡°¡­I¡¯m afraid I couldn¡¯t fulfill that wish." The woman frowned and opened her mouth, intent to shower him with insult, but stopped by what the man said next.

    ¡°The city lord told me to stop you when you are abusing your authority, lady Marinl.¡± The woman immediately shut her mouth and looked down. She was muttering something, but I was already too far away from them to hear clearly what she had just said.

    Following the direction that man pointed before, I hurried and quicken my pace, I already regret helping them and I certainly didn¡¯t want to meet them again.

    Just my luck, the first people I met was the city lord daughter. But, the city of Clyde huh¡­.

    Just as he said, a clear river appeared and I stopped for a while to quench my thirst, then I resumed toward my destination. Not for long, I reached the end of the forest and found the city stood tall across of me.

    ¡°Aah, damn it, I was hoping I¡¯m wrong¡­¡± I sighed at what I saw.

    The brown city wall was well maintained, with soldiers standing on their post, watching for any suspicious activity or person in the vicinity. Two flags were planted on both sides of the city gate. It was brown in color with a black circle and golden bull head embroidery. The flag of the kingdom of Jordg.

    It seems I was stranded in the neighborhood kingdom.

    I can feel my headache is coming back to my head. In all of the countries and kingdoms in the world, I actually landed in the worst place possible for me. The kingdom of Jordg is a country that functions with slavery system, mostly they enslave other races than human. A human supremacist kingdom.

    ¡°Arggh¡­ now what?¡± I scratched my head in frustration. A child beastmen without a slave collar would be too suspicious.

    Should I stay in this forest? But I don¡¯t want to stuck at here forever, I don¡¯t have any map or direction I could go either. A human¡­Hiding my identity as a beastmen? How can I do that? I don¡¯t know any magic spell to transform.

    My mind was running in full throttle, I decided to head back into the forest before the guard noticed me. Walking back and forth, I sighed and sat down on the ground. I stared at the ground, wriggling my toes, stroking my tail, scratching my head, nothing came into my mind.

    ¡°Maybe I should break in when it¡¯s night, but cities usually have their own barrier¡­., should I try?¡± I cocked my head to the side.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that is a good idea.¡±

    I jumped and turned my body to behind me, a man with grey colored hair was standing two meters away from me. I maintained a calm facade, but my heart was shocked by how the man was able to sneak up behind without alerting me.

    "¡­what do you want? I thought you decided to let me go?¡± I asked the man warily. The man sighed and throw something in my direction. It landed right at ground in front of me, a small transparent bottle with suspicious green liquid swishing inside.

    I stared at the strange man, demanding an explanation. A breeze blew past us, and his overlong bang flowed briefly to the side, revealed his ash-colored eye, gazed at me unblinkingly. He had a tenderness hiding beneath that sharp and cold gaze.

    He sighed once again, and raised his hand, he grabbed at his black scarf and throw it at me. The scarf landed on the ground softly, I stared at the two item in front of me, confused.

    ¡°That bottle is a transformation potion, it should be able last for one day, and that scarf is made of Titan Spider silk, it should be able to hide your smell from the ¡®poacher¡¯.¡± He explained to me, but that only made me even more confused than before.

    ¡°Why?¡± I voiced out loud of my current thought, he shouldn¡¯t have any reason to help me, a stranger he just met, a beastmen which should be hated and look down for in this land. I watched him even more warily. He was silent for a while, then finally opened his mouth to speak.

    ¡°You helped us don¡¯t you? I don¡¯t like being in someone debt, so I will help you this time.¡± He said it coolly.

    ¡°¡­you are fine helping a beastmen?¡± I pointed at my animal ears. He nodded his head in confirmation. I keep staring at him with unbelievable expression plastered on my face.

    We were staring at each other for a long time, birds chirping and unknown animal howling from afar, our eyes stared unblinkingly as if this is some sort of contest, neither of us moves, until the man run out of patience and broke the silence.

    ¡°Aargh!! Just take it already!!¡± He moved closer rapidly and take the two item on the ground, pushed it at me. ¡°Stop being a hassle and drink it already! There are a group of party entering this forest now and I don¡¯t want to be seen together with a beastmen child, it will be troublesome if people saw a collarless beastmen, got it?!¡± he was talking quickly and glaring at me, my previous image of him, which was a mysterious silent guy wavered.

    I stared at the items I was holding in my hands. Truthfully, I actually did hear lots of footsteps nearing this spot. I could just run away from here and go to another place, but that won''t solve my biggest problem, and that is my appearance and my race. I need to take care of this problem sooner or later. So I decided to take this gamble and do something unlike me.

    I wear the scarf around my neck, the scarf was too long for me and I ended dragged it on the ground. I hold the bottle with one hand and popped the lid open with another one. I stared at the liquid one last time, exhaled a breath.

    Then I drank the mysterious liquid with one gulp.

 Chapter 20 - Heading into new territory

    Usually, a stranger offering kindness without payment would be suspicious as hell to me. He should have the ability to defeat those monster by himself, why would he want to repay me? Even though that I''m a beastmen that will endanger his position in this place? What kind of nonsense is that? He could be working with the oncoming group and try to deceive me.

    But maybe the fact I''m in a strange land with everything potentially hostile to me, or the strange dream I had before, or my instinct, or my tired mind and drained nerve, made me threw out all those thoughts and decided to trust this strange man, at least for now. If this potion really worked as he said, then this would be a great asset for me. I waited for a moment, then tasteless green liquid I downed has worked with wonder.

    As if an illusion has been cast on me, my ears replaced with human one and my tail have disappeared. My hair changed into brown and I think my eyes color changed too. Surprisingly, I didn''t feel anything when the transformation happens, just a tingling sensation in my stomach moving around my body and that''s it. A whole different kind of transformation potion that I had read on books, which involve a very painful experience that people won''t love for.

    I stared at the empty small bottle in fascination, although I want to question the ash-haired man more, the group of people that have been drawing closer has arrived before us, the man stood in front of me, as if protecting me from those people. I watched and observed the group of humans silently.

    They are wearing steel armor with two insignias etched in front of their breastplate, the Jordg Kingdom symbol with another one I didn''t recognize. One of them stepped forward, this man was wearing a slightly fancier armor than the other and he was glaring at us with his distrustful brown eyes. Another person stepped forward, a woman with blonde wavy hair, her eyes are striking blue, her beautiful face was twisted with anger and directed to us.

    "You!! Don''t think just because you know my father, I can tolerate your disrespect behavior any longer!! How dare you leave me alone at the gate!" The woman was fuming and pointing her finger at the ash-haired man.

    This woman..., uh oh, she is that person before, shit, I should just run away after all...

    "I''m sorry." the man apologized, even though his voice didn''t feel a little bit sorry at all. The woman seems didn''t satisfied with his apology. And worse, she noticed me and observed me for a second. After my face registered with her mind, her eyes widened in shock.

    "That brat!! He is that beastman I met before!! Guard, grab that child!!" She immediately ordered the soldier around her to capture me. Of course, that order was met with confusion, since the child in their eyes should be just a harmless human child.

    "My lady." The soldier with fancier armor before bowed slightly to the woman. "Forgive me, but I didn''t see any beastmen child around here..." He glanced and looked at me from head to toe.

    "That child is a beastmen!! He must have used illusion magic to conceal his beast ears and tail!" She was pointing her finger at me, then she glared at the ash-haired man fiercely. "...You, you should have recognized that brat, what do you think you are doing? Hiding a collarless beastmen is a crime!"

    "...What are you saying? I don''t see any beastmen here, I think you mistook him as someone else. You must be tired from the ordeal before, I think you need some rest, lady Marinl." The man shrugs off her proclamation. The woman has flabbergasted face, shocked by the man lies. She was flapping her mouth open and close without producing any sound.

    "...How about this, lady Marinl, I will bring this child to the poacher, they should be able to discern this child true identity clearly." The soldier before suggested to the shocked woman. She comes to her sense immediately and closed her opened mouth.

    "Yes, that should bring the truth out to the light, I will go back now, I will leave this matter to you, Captain Tress. Make sure to punish them the moment they are proven guilty." She glared at us one last time before turned her body and walked away. Four soldiers followed her, leaving the captain and one soldier with us.

    "Now." The captain squinted his eyes at us. "You two will follow me and don''t even think to ran away, if you dare to do anything funny.... you can count yourself dead."

    The soldier urged us to move, my heart was anxious with this development. Since I used a transformation potion and not an illusion magic, it should not be that easy to be detected. I raised my head and stared at the ash-haired man, if they managed to discern my true race, then this man would be judged as criminal. The man seems to have noticed my stare and looked at me.

    "Don''t worry, we will be fine." He patted my head to assure me, although I didn''t feel fine at all. Hanging my fate on another person didn''t bode well with me.

    We were walking toward the city and passed the gate without a fuss. And the first thing I do was holding my breath, literally, because the stench was overwhelming me. I let my eyes take in the scenery around me, the paved road was unmaintained, with holes and crack everywhere. A lot of beggars was scurrying beside the street and alleys. Only a few people were walking on the street, most of them were peeking through their house window, watching us closely.

    "...This city has three gates, this place is for the poor civilian, the poacher place should be slightly east from here." The man whispered to me, I nodded my head and continue to look at this forsaken place.

    We walked for a while, until we entered an area that was slightly better than that place before, although not by much, at least the smell was gone and the road was maintained properly. My eyes latched at the biggest building we were heading, it was three stories and colored in black, the building gave an ominous feeling. We entered and the door ringed, a bell was attached at the upper side of the door.

    "Good afternoon, welcome Captain Tress, how rare for you to came here without the lord, how may I help you?" A fat middle-aged man came and greeted us, he was dressed in colorful clothes with fancy decoration everywhere. Gold ring and necklace adorned his finger and neck, speaking full well of his wealth.

    "Issen, bring one of your poachers out. This child has been placed suspicion to be a beastmen and I need one your men." The captain pointed at me. The fat man, Issen, moved his gaze to me, his crescent eyes stared at me from head to toe, making me extremely uncomfortable.

    "Aah, of course, of course, will do, please wait in the room we readied while I bring my men here." He clasped his hand together and smiled widely. Soon a servant came and escorted us to a room, we waited for a while, before Issen came back with another person in tow. The moment the new person came into my vision, I immediately noticed.

    This guy is a mage

    He was wearing a dark brown cloak, in his hand was a staff with a red crystal attached. His eyes darted around the room, until it settled on me.

    "...this is the child?" He asked and was confirmed by the captain with a nod. He walked until he was in front of me, his staff was raised and the crystal started glowing, infused with Mana.

    "Don''t move." Then he chanted a few spells that were foreign to my ear. After a few minutes passed, the crystal stopped glowing and turned into normal red. He put down the staff he raised and turned his body toward the captain.

    "He is a human. I can''t detect any illusion magic or any abnormalities in his body with my spell." He reported his finding with a flat tone, seemingly uninterested with the ongoing event.

    "...Are you sure?" The captain squinted his eyes at the mage.

    "Yes, I''m sure of it." The mage stared at the Captain unblinkingly. "Even if you called another person to check on him, you likely will get the same result as well."

    "I see..." The captain seems in deep thought. The mage was dismissed by Issen, then the silent ash-haired man finally spoke, breaking the silence.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    "If you are done, can we go now? I still have job to do." The man sighed and stared at the captain. The captain in turn glared at him, then his gaze moved to me.

    "Wait, answer me this question first. Why would a defenseless child go into the forest? What is your purpose at there?" He was staring at me intently, watching my every movement I made.

    "...Actually, I was playing dare with my friends and I slipped outside when the guards aren''t watching, I''m sorry." I spoke sheepishly and tilted my head down, looking like a guilty child. The captain was silent, while I was hoping that he will bite this lie without a fuss. Hopefully.

    The captain sighed. "Fine, both of you are dismissed." He glanced at us one last time before walked away. We too, walked outside since we don''t have any reason to stay at this creepy place. I sighed in relief. Crisis avoided, I guess?

    "My name is Ambrose, what is yours?" The man suddenly spoke and I raised my head to look at him. He was looking at the retreating back of the soldier before.

    Ambrose huh? What a girly name.

    "Hiiro. And thanks for helping me there." I uttered my gratitude at him. Although I didn''t know his reason or motive, this man had helped me even though it put him in danger. At least he wasn''t someone that wished me harm.

    "Hiiro, what is your plan after this?" He tilted his head down and stared at me, while I was thinking about his question seriously.

    "Uhm, my first priority is getting out of this kingdom, I guess? Although I didn''t know where I should go exactly." I tilted my head at him. He sighed then scratched his head in frustration, he looks at the sky as if he was conflicted with something in his mind.

    "Hah..., you are really troublesome, follow me." He walked away without explaining more and I followed right behind him.

    We walked to a more crowded area, this place was brimming with shop and food stands. We turned and entered an alley. The alley was dirty and littered with trash, we turned to the left, then left again, right and left, after the numerous turn, the man finally stopped walking. In front of him was a wooden door, he raised his hand and turned the doorknob.

    I peeked inside, it was clean and has this roomy feel to it, unlike the dirty alley and cracked wall we passed before. I followed the man and looked around the room. Two table and four chairs on the right side of the room, a stair was placed behind on the left. In front of me is an old wooden counter.

    The wooden floor slightly creaked as I walk. Suddenly, the door behind the counter opened, a woman with a simple grey dress walked into our vision. She stopped her movement went she noticed us.

    "Welcome back, Amb. How rare, it seems you have brought a guest?" The woman smiled and stared at me.

    She has droopy sunset colored eyes. Her light brown hair was tied low and flowing down from her shoulder to her chest. She put down the blanket she held on the counter and slowly walked to my direction. She crouched down and her eyes meet mine.

    "You are really cute, what is your name?" Her voice was soft and mellow. She patted my head and squished my cheek. I take a step back, a bit uncomfortable with her sudden touch. But my retreat has failed by her hug.

    "Aah, smooth and fluffy, you are like a doll, ¡­let me hug you." She was scrubbing her face onto mine, her thin arm was surprisingly strong.

    "???" I was shaken by this strange woman unrestrained action. I raised my head and look at the man, demanding an explanation.

    "This woman here is Vivian, the innkeeper of this place." Ambrose pointed at Vivian and introduced themselves, but made no indication to help me.

    "Err, my name is Hiiro, nice to meet you Vivian, so... this place is an inn?" I pushed Vivian away, making sure that I didn''t do it too forcefully. Ambrose nodded his head.

    "Vi, he is going to stay at here for a while." Ambrose explained shortly. I was surprised by his declaration.

    Was he going to let me stay at his place?

    "My, how wonderful, welcome to the Greenyard Inn. Are you hungry? Let me whip up some food for you." Vivian clapped her hands together and beamed a smile at me. She stood up and walk back to the door before.

    The woman has gone as quickly as she comes and silent cascaded for a while. Ambrose walked to a nearby chair and sat on it. He put his two short swords on the table and staring at the window wordlessly.

    "Sir Ambrose."

    "Ambrose is enough." He stifled a yawn. His eyes still latched on the window.

    "Uhm, I want to ask you... why would do this far for me? Hiding a collarless beastman should be dangerous to you." I stared at the man, curious with his motive for helping me. So far, in this short time we are together, I was pretty sure he isn''t someone who was wishing me harm. Instead, sometimes his eyes which were hidden behind his long bang, contained a sort of longing when looked at me.

    "¡­On the point huh? Well, how should I explain this¡­" He ruffled his own hair. His light grey colored eyes fully revealed for a moment, deep into his own memories, before his attention back to reality. He turned his head and stared at me for a while.

    "In the past, I have a friend, she was the same race as you. Looking at you just reminded me of her, so I helped you out of nostalgia and that''s it." Ambrose rummaged one of his pouches on his belt, while I was in deep thought.

    I don''t think that is all of the stories.... but I guess that''s fine. If he wants to help me, I don''t have any reason to refuse him, I need every help and information I can get. I didn''t sense any ill intent from him too and this place will serve as a nice temporary base before I can get out from this kingdom. The problem is...

    Where should I go?

    I don''t really have any strong reason to go back to the Eschaton town. I''m pretty sure the Nierheart siblings and Llna was out of the teleportation spells. And actually, I planned to leave that town and explore this world either way, although that plan is for a few years more....

    "Here, take this." Ambrose put five small bottles at the table and pushed it at me. Each bottle was four inch long and one inch wide, inside the bottle was the same liquid I downed before, my eyes immediately widened, the transformation potion!

    "One potion only last for one day, so make sure you drink this before the transformation effect disappeared. Also, you better fill your stomach up with food first before you downed this, and ..." He droned on and on, explained what I have to do and don''t before using this potion, information about this town rules and this inn. I stared at him silently, despite his sharp eyes and distant aura around him, he was quite a caring person.

    "You are a very kind person, aren''t you?" I spoke my thought out loud and he stopped his long explanation, his mouth was agape and I''m pretty sure he was looking at me like with a disbelief expression.

    "Wha, what the hell are you saying?!" His voice raised and his reaction was a bit unexpected.

    "Hmm? Saying a fact? That city lord daughter must have called that group of soldiers to capture me. And you know it and came to me first, helped a person you have never met before, giving him a place to stay and hide his race from other people, moreover you did all of this without rewards. What else should I describe you?" I tilted my head and look straight at him. His ears are a bit red... huh? Is he embarrassed?

    "You..... never mind, just take these potions already, I don''t have any left so you better take care of it. Don''t blame me if you got taken away by the poacher got it?!" He was speaking quickly and his calm demeanor before is gone. His flustered state has amused me and didn''t suit his cool appearance at all.

    I see, so he is the type who can''t handle praise? Then how about this...

    "Ah, I want to ask this since a while ago, since only you two lived at here, is Vivian your lover?"

    "No, why would you think that?!" He was waving his hand swiftly, denied my proclamation at their relationship.

    "Hmm, of course, you have an above average face and Vivian is quite pretty too, both of you have lived in this house together for a long time, normally people will assume you guys are a couple.... Hey, what do you think of her, appearance-wise?" I inched closer to Ambrose and he was taken aback, he was confused by my barrage of questions and his ears was getting redder. In my mind, I was grinning like a Cheshire cat right now. My bad habit with teasing people has surfaced.

    "What, do I think of her?" He became silent for a while, before he realized what I mean.

    "I don''t have any reason to tell you, we just met today, and what with you?! Stop asking these strange questions!" He stood up from his chair and slammed his right hand on the table like a hot-blooded person. Aah, he definitely blushing right now

    "What question?"

    "Wahh?!" Ambrose jumped from surprise and immediately turned his body. Behind him was Vivian, which was holding a tray with two plates of food. She was looking at Ambrose with her innocent eyes.

    "Hmm, what question? What question, Amb?" She repeated the word like a parrot and inched closer to Ambrose until they could feel each other breath. Ambrose was moving backward until his back hit the wall, he was really flustered right now.

    "We were talking about what he thinks about your appearance." I answered her question instead of Ambrose, and he was staring at me with shock.

    "My appearance?" Vivian tilted her head and I nodded. Then she moved away and walk toward the table, Ambrose was sighing in relief, freed from her grasp.

    She put down the tray she was holding on the table. She turned her body and faced Ambrose, raising the hem of her simple grey dress, she twirls slowly for two times, her dress flutter as she spins. Then she looked back again at Ambrose, this time with an expectant face. "What do you think?"

    "Huh?" uttered Ambrose. He was still standing with his back on the wall.

    "My appearance, do you like it?" She asked for the second time. Ambrose was stunned by the question.

    "...why are you like this too..." He ruffled his hair in annoyance and his eyes stared at the ground beside him.

    "So, you hate it?" Her face saddened like a wounded puppy. Currently, Ambrose has a conflicted expression on his face, I''m sure he was too embarrassed to put what he thought into words, but as a caring person like him, he doesn''t want to hurt her feeling. And here I am, watching their drama at the sidelines.

    "...I don''t hate it, I guess..." He was speaking in a very soft voice, his eyes still looking at elsewhere, while scratching at his hair awkwardly. Vivian smiled brightly, she takes his hand and pulling him to the table.

    "Here, I made some food for you too, Amb. Hiiro eats it too before its get cold." She placed the plates of food in front of us. Then she gets herself a chair and sat at the same table.

    She was smiling happily while watching us eat, Ambrose clearly looked uncomfortable by her stare, I was enjoying my food while feeling amused with this whole situation. Putting a chunk of meat in my mouth, my mind wanders to what going to happen in the future.

 Chapter 21 - A Normal Day

    One night has passed. After resting in a comfy room Vivian gave me, I slept like a log and fortunately, no strange dream was haunting me this time. I wake up groggily and in my semi-awakened state, I was startled by the different surrounding, then I remembered that I was in a different place now.

    "...right, I was teleported huh?" I yawned and stretched my body, a nice bone popping sound to the right place resounded. Then I watch my leg dangled down to the floor and left this room.

    I stride down the stairs and an appetizing smell drifted to me, so I decided to follow the scent and arrived at the small kitchen. A woman was humming a nice melody while slicing the purple vegetable, she didn''t notice me yet, seemingly enjoying her knife work in the kitchen table.

    "Vivian, good morning." I called her. She turned her head toward me and smiled.

    "Aah, Hiiro, good morning." She greeted me with her usual bright smile. Her hand was still moving, slicing the vegetable even though her gaze was on me, which was something dangerous to do when handling a knife. But strangely, no accident happens and the vegetable was sliced with clean, precise slice.

    "Did you take your potion yet?" She turns her attention back to the kitchen and continues her cooking. Aah, so Ambrose did tell her huh..

    "Not yet, since I took the first potion in the afternoon, the potion effect should last until that time. But, are you fine? Like Ambrose, you didn''t hate the other races?" I idly watched her cook while striking a conversation with her. Suddenly, she stopped her cooking and crouched, facing me. She turned her head to the side and moved the hair covering her ears with her finger.

    "That ear? You are not a human?" I was surprised. Her ear was longer and sharper than a human, although it was shorter than elf ears, it was evident that she has the elf blood within her. She smiled while staring at me.

    "I was born from an elf and a human. My mother is a slave and as a child of a slave, I followed her fate." She closed her eyes for a moment, reminiscing her memory. "Being a slave, we lived with the whim of our master, our life was hanging in his mood. Sometimes, we didn''t get to eat for days, and we are beaten for what we did not do. My mother died from illness and hunger, and I too, thought that I will follow her into her grave." She opened her eyes and smiled. "That is, until three years ago, a person appeared and freed me."

    "Ambrose?" I guessed the name of that very person and she nodded happily.

    "I still remembered it very clearly, it was a windy night, and the chain on my neck and legs felt terribly colder than usual. I couldn''t sleep because of hunger, and while I was wandering in the slave quarter, a scream pierced the silent mansion. I was in the basement and the scream was on the upper level. I can feel something was happening in the mansion, and the other slaves felt it too, crying and shouting for their fate. But I didn''t feel afraid or anxious, instead, I just sat silently on the corner, even when the door to the slave room opened and all of the slaves rushed outside, I didn''t move at all." She smiled sadly. "I guess at that time I have accepted my fate, like my mother does." I was silent and listening quietly to her story.

    "The ruckus and screaming stopped, and all I can hear was a footstep heading toward me. A pair of legs stood in front of my eyes, so I raised my head and was met with a person colored by the blood of the other. At that times I felt...." She stopped talking and take a deep breath. "I felt empty. I didn''t feel scared to the man with the sword, who could have ended my life in one swing."

    "But he didn''t take my life, instead, he cut down the chain on me and just stared silently. He draped his bloodied cloak around me. Then he said, '' follow me'' and reached his hand toward me." Her sad expression changed into happiness, she placed both of her hand on her chest. "At that time, for the first time in my life, I felt a will. A will to live. So, I take his hand and was freed from the brand of a slave."

    "I see... you must have go through a lot of hardship." I spoke and Vivian shakes her head.

    "After that, Ambrose let me stay at this place and teach me the normal people way of living. I have a lot of happy memories." She was smiling happily while reminiscing her memory.

    Her story was long and informative, it left me a new impression on the woman in front of me. She was strong, more than I expected, she didn''t curse her past as a slave and lived with it. Her story also left me a few insights with Ambrose and this city current state.

    "Oh my, it seems I have talked too long. I put the clean clothes on the counter. You can change into it while I prepare our breakfast." She realized she hasn''t done her cooking yet, she stood up in a hurry and back to her work.

    I was pointed that there was a well in the backyard, I grabbed the clean clothes and walked to the back of this house. In times like this, I missed the modern world, although only for the bathroom and the shower. I removed my clothes and promptly wiped my body clean. After I lived this past week as a beastmen, the lack of tails and animal ears have thrown me off a little bit. I wear the oversized clothes and that''s when the door suddenly opened.

    "Hiiro, the clothes- hmm?" Vivian stared at me. My upper body was still naked, but her attention was latched at my back. She tilted her head as if she had seen something she couldn''t comprehend.

    "Hiiro, why is there a drawing on your back?" She asked me while walking closer.

    "Huh? A drawing? What kind of drawing?" I was surprised by her inquiries, I scrubbed my back and nothing came off, so the drawing must have etched on my skin. She looked closer at my back then grabbed a stone and started to draw on the ground.

    Her drawing was quite detailed, the drawing was shaped like a clock, with twelve strange symbols replaced the number. A single line replaced the clock hand was pointed at what the symbol where the twelve should be, two circles framed the symbols inside, the color was black according to Vivian, making it more ominous. An uneasy feeling was budding in my heart.

    What is going to happen when the line moved?

    I shake my head to clear away the bad thought haunting my head. I will need to investigate this later. I wear my clothes and walked with Vivian in tow to the dining rooms. While we were eating the breakfast, I noticed that we lacked one more person.

    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    "Where is Ambrose?" I asked Vivian. She looked up in thought for a moment, before she answered me.

    "He went out before you have awake, I think he gone to the city lord places. So, what are you going to do for today Hiiro?" Her eyes were shining brightly, awaiting my answer. I was a bit taken aback by her enthusiasm.

    "Err, I think I will go to the market and buy some stuff..." I answered her gingerly and she clapped her hand together in delight.

    "Then let me accompany you! I know a lot of great places! Oh, let me change my clothes first!" She stood up quickly and ran to her room.

    I didn''t even say yes....

    I waited for her for a few minutes, she came out with a brown cloak draped over her. We exited the house and went to the market. The market was surprisingly quiet, only a few stands opened by the merchant and even fewer people walking around the market. Vivian patted my shoulder and my attention is back to her.

    "What do you want to buy Hiiro?" Vivian looked excited. I noticed her elf ears has become human ones.

    "I need a small bag..., map, weapon and things for traveling, stuff like that I guess." I spoke what I think I will need, Vivian smiled and pulled my arm. We walked for a while and arrived at a shabby looking shop, a wooden plate with bear and sword drawing was attached to the front door. We entered and the smell of iron and leather assaulted me.

    "Welcome! Huh? My, isn''t this our young lady! Where is that sullen-looking young man?" A middle-aged man greeted us over the counter. He has a brown beard with the same color short hair. He looked at Vivian warmly, he seemed like a friendly person. Another person appeared behind the counter, this time it was a middle-aged woman, she looked at Vivian with a surprised face, then turned into delight.

    "Hello Mr. and Ms. Dallan, Amb didn''t come with me today, instead my friend here accompanied me." She introduced me happily. I greeted both of the shopkeepers and they immediately shifted their attention to me.

    "What a cute friend you have bring!" The woman shopkeeper smiled brightly.

    The shopkeepers and Vivian talked for a while, exchanging small talk with each other. Meanwhile, I walked around the shop, looking and picked up anything I need. I walked back to the shop counter and pay for it, the total was 1 gold and 15 silvers. Luckily, I still have the money Gil gave to me before I was teleported away. I silently thanked Gil in my heart. When we are going to leave the shop, the shopkeeper suddenly halted us.

    "Wait, do you guys have heard about the ''Leaf of Salvation?" The male shopkeeper spoke with a worried expression on his face. I looked up at Vivian, but she only shakes her head, seemed to not know what the shopkeeper talking about.

    "Well, you see, it seems it was a drug that has been popular with the civilian lately, people said that the one who consumes it will become insane and behave like an animal." Mr. Dallan explained to us, while his wife was nodding her head fervently, agreeing what his husband said.

    "Yes, it was awful, please be careful both of you. I heard that terrible things came from those lowly demi-humans!" I could see Vivian flinched when Ms. Dallan spoke the word ''demi-human'', although it goes unnoticed by the shopkeepers. In the end, she only smiled and thanked both of them for their warning.

    We both exited the shop, Vivian has a slightly sad expression on her face, while I was wondering what I''m going to say to her. Suddenly, she slapped both of her cheeks hard, leaving a red mark on her cheeks.

    "Vivian? Are you okay?" I was surprised by her sudden action. She turned her head to me and smiled, it seems she was back to her normal happy self.

    "I''m fine, this is something that can''t be helped. Let''s go, we have more shop to visit!!" She pulled my arm and we visited other shops. After finishing my shopping, we walk around the market idly, then I remembered there still one place I still haven''t go yet, the adventurer guild. We walk to the guild together, but Vivian opted to stand outside of the guild, so I go in alone. There were only a few people at the guild, I ignored the stares on me and immediately go to the quest boards area.

    "Wolf extermination, finding a lost item, retrieve spider silk......, guarding a caravan, Aah, there it is!" I tore the quest from the board, the caravan was heading to the city of Tvora tomorrow, the nearest city to the border. I walked to the counter and was met by a rude staff. A glasses young man was chatting with his friend, ignored me completely.

    "...Hellooo?" I raised my voice and finally gained his attention, he tilted his head down and clicked his tongue when he saw me.

    "Posting request is at there." He pointed me to another counter, then he back to chatting with his friend. I sighed, this is going to take a while. I grabbed my adventurer card and slammed hard on the table, the guild staff was surprised and glared at me. I spoke before he managed to open his mouth.

    "I''m here to accept this quest." I pushed the card and the paper to him. He was looking at me in doubt, before he stared at my guild card, then widened his eyes in shock.

    "Wha-?!" He stared at me with a flabbergasted expression, his hand which was holding my card was trembling. Did he need to be this surprised?

    Back at the town of Eschaton, when I get my first guild card and displayed my combat ability, the guild staff there didn''t look shocked as much as this four-eyes did, they handed me the guild card without a fuss.

    "So? Could you process my quest now?" I tapped the table and that waked him up from his reverie. I could see he was looking at me with different eyes now. He immediately grabbed the quest paper without complaining and processed it. Which was simply filling more paper and handling me a token for accepting this quest. I took the token and prepared to leave this place, but was stopped by an alcohol smelling man.

    "¡­.haaa...." I sighed, feeling annoyed. The man was red-faced, a dark ring beneath his eyes, he was armed with a one-handed sword on his waist and on his right hand was a bottle of beer. He was hiccupping while glaring at me, then he pointed his bottle at me.

    "Hey!! You shittyyyy brat!! You... what the hell you are looking at!" He was speaking nonsense while swaying left and right. He tried to stop me from walking away and failed miserably. He tripped and fall to the floor, groaning from pain. I was only a few steps away from the door, before a shout from behind gained my attention.

    "Arggh! You, all of youuuuu, don''t you dare look down on meeee!!!"

    It was the man before, his sword was out on his hand, he was waving it around crazily. The people around him moved away, evading the sword warily. Since most of the people in this place is an adventurer, nobody was wounded by the crazed man sword. An adventurer decided to stop this nonsense and tackled the man. The sword slipped out from his hand and stabbed the floor.

    The crazed man was squirming and screaming, but being held down by two more adventurers make his escape impossible. His mouth was foaming with yellow froth. His current expression makes me doubt the man state of mind. Suddenly, the man scream turned from anger to pain, he was coughing blood and his eyes were tearing blood. The adventurers holding him immediately moved away, befuddled by the man changing state.

    He was crawling in my direction, when I look closer, his ears are bleeding blood too. He will never make it to me, since his crawling is slower than a snail. His hand was reaching up, as if asking for help.

    "Give meee, give mee, give me....., I don''t want to dieeee...." His voice cracked, his face was full of desperation, he keeps uttering these same words again and again, like a prayer. Then his hand abruptly fell to the ground and never moving again. An unsettling silent engulfed the guild.

    "He died?" "How troublesome." "Who going to check?" "Oh my god." "This is the fifth time already." "If he going to die, why don''t do it outside?" "I want to drink." "Ha! He deserves it." "Hey, when is the guild staff going to move?" "I think I will go back home."

    The guild was exploding back with activity, the people are talking and whispering to each other. Two guild staff came out and moved the body away, moped the bloody blood staining the floor and the guild was back to its normal state, as if nothing happened and no one has died. I stood still for a while, I was curious, but I decided to leave.

    This is not my problem, I''m going to leave this place tomorrow anyway.

    My hand reached to the doorknob, but someone swinged the door open before I touched it. I managed to avoid from being hit by the door as I tilted my head up and stared at this unknown man. His face was plain and unmemorable, if it isn''t for his all black clothes, I probably would have missed him in a crowd. He has deep green almond-shaped eyes and his orange hair make a striking contrast with his black hat.

    "Hmm? Aah, I''m sorry, did the door hit you?" He noticed me and asked for my well-being. I shook my head and he smiled warmly at me.

    "I see, that''s good then." He walked away and I too, finally left this place. I reunited with Vivian and we decided to call the day off. We walked back to the inn while I was talking about the quest I accepted. Vivian was making a sad face, since I was leaving so soon, but she accepted quickly that I was going to leave this place and her face turned into energetic once more, saying something like preparing a great feast for me. I smile wirily at her changing mood.

    I raised my head look at the darkening sky, the shops are starting to close and the star started to reveal themselves. Lamp and torch lighten up the road we were walking. While I was wondering that I haven''t seen Ambrose for the whole day.

 Chapter 22 - Brewing Storm

    Marinl Stringfray is a proud noble, through and through. It is in her blood, her proud background, her beautiful appearance, everything about her is different than those peasant, she was born to stand above the commoner, it was her birthright and a fact. Right now, she was wearing her favorite dress and her favorite shoes, a bowl of merr berry was placed at a coffee table beside her, and it was her favorite snack too.

    All of this still didn¡¯t lift up her sour mood.

    She picked a berry and ate it, her eyes wander to the group of servants lining up beside her, ready to serve her at any moment. Their head was tilted low, afraid to meet their mistress eyes. Marinl gaze focused on a single servant, a maid with a ponytail, the maid has a wheat colored hair and a pair of dark brown eyes.

    The maid currently was terrified by her mistress intense gazes, sweat trickled down from her forehead. Her mistress is cruel to those servants, everybody working in this mansion know about it, and whomever to be noticed by the mistress spell doom to them.

    The reason for Marinl gaze was because she has never seen the maid before, a new maid has been posted as her servants and her particularly terrified face has amused her. Marinl reached the tea beside her, her finger brushed the teacup carefully, then pushed it from the table.

    The teacup fell to the floor and shattered, the content inside spilled out and soaked the carpet. Her group of servants was calm, as if anticipated this kind of behavior from Marinl. But the new maid seems to be surprised and flinched, unfortunately, the maid''s eyes meet her mistress eyes. The maid immediately regretted it after seeing her mistress smile.

    Marinl stopped the other servants from cleaning up the shattered cup, she pointed the new maid to do it instead. The maid gingerly abided her mistress order and walked to the broken cup, she crouched down and her hand was reaching toward a piece of the teacup shards. Suddenly, a foot ruthlessly stepped down on the maid''s hands, the shards immediately pierced the flesh and blood poured out from the wound.

    "Arrghh!" The maid moaned from pain, she was trembling and tears are slowly forming from the corner of her eyes. Still, the foot on top of her hand never loosened and instead, increased in intensity.

    "Hey, what is your name?" Marinl questioned the maid with a smile on her face.

    "Ugh.., its, its Piona, miss Marinl.." The maid answered in pain, the group of servants could only watch her from the sideline, although they pity her, nobody makes a move to save her.

    "I see, Piona, do you know why I did this to you?" Marinl put a berry inside her mouth, the berry popped and the sweet juice filling her mouth. The maid, Piona, shakes her head.

    "Because you had been impolite to me, who says you could lift your head, hmm?" The maid was trembling and couldn''t do anything before Marinl, a noble, her mood became slightly better than before.

    "Hmpph, I will forgive you this time, leave." Marinl retracts her foot from the maid''s hands. The maid thanked for her mistress benevolent and left the room in hurry with a bleeding hand.

    The other servant cleaned the mess and Marinl stood up, left her room, two servants accompanied her. She walked to the upper level of the mansion, where her father resides. Two servants were standing in front of a lavish door, they bowed when they saw Marinl and opened the door for her. She stepped inside and the smell of ink and books waved over her.

    Her father was sitting in his chair with lots of paperwork in his desk, he seems tired and the dark circle adorned his eyes, another person was with him, Marinl frowned her eyebrows, her mood instantly soured again, because the man which was talking with her father was that damned person, Ambrose!

    "Aah, here you are my dear daughter, come." His father golden eyes noticed her and beckoned her. She walked until she was in front of her father and glared at the impudent adventurer besides her.

    Marinl is a mage, with her noble blood, she naturally has higher affinity with element than the commoner. Her magic teacher also praised her as a genius, as she was able to learn spell faster than her friends with the same age. Her power swelling her proud ego, she tried to see how she will fare against the monster, her father has disagreed with her plan but she managed to persuade him anyway.

    But her plan went downhill when one of the adventurers her father hired died, the monsters started to overwhelming them with their number. One of them even betrayed her and ran away! But the most frustrating thing is the collarless beastman she saw yesterday.

    She ordered the soldier to capture it, but the beast suddenly appeared as a human before her, and the guard captain reported the poacher confirmed the child as a human. With no evidence, Marinl could only let them go with frustration. After all, the only who saw that child true form is Marinl and that accursed person, Ambrose, which is helping that child somehow.

    "Marinl." His father sighed, "Yesterday, I heard you had strayed away from the path and walked around by yourself without listening to the adventurer? You do know the forest is dangerous right? Especially for a mage like us, I hope you learn your lesson from this." His father stared at her with disappointment, Marinl gritted her teeth, things weren''t supposed to go like this!

    "...yes father." Marinl replied her father nonetheless, her father nodded and pulled out a letter from his desk, the letter was sealed with wax and stamped with a familiar symbol for her. He pushed the letter across the desk toward her, Marinl opened the letter and widened her eyes when she looked at the content of the letter.

    "You will attend the Everett Magic and Combat Academy next week, the form and the preparation are already done." Her father informed her with a tone that didn''t accept any disagreement from her.

    "But, father!" Marinl protested, but to no avail, her father only shakes her head and dismissed her. Marinl body was trembling in anger, she stomped her feet unfit for a lady and walked outside of the room.

    The door closed, and the only one remained in the room was the city lord, Alberto Stringfray, and the silent adventurer, Ambrose. The city lord sighed once more, he leans in his chair and looked at Ambrose.

    "That child tempers really resemble her mother, it must be hard to protect her huh, Ambrose?" The Lord smiled wryly at one of the few people he trusted, Ambrose only shakes his head at the city lord.

    He has found him in the street, an ash haired child with ragged clothes, exhausted and starving, the child looked haven''t eaten in days, the same as other children in the slum. But strangely, the child light grey eyes never dimmed with despair, instead shone with flaring determination. Maybe because of this particularity, he reached his hand toward the child and offer him to work at his mansion.

    The child was not used working at the mansion at first, but adapted quickly, moreover, the child has a talent for combat and sharp intuition. So, he decided to train the child and Ambrose became his personal agent at the young age of teens. His aides have protested to him, employing a person with unknown background was dangerous they said. But in his eyes, the past is no concern of him, Ambrose has proven his worth and more loyal than anyone he knows.

    The helpless child in the past has grown to become a fine young man before him. Although Ambrose has retired as his agent one year ago, they still maintained a friendly relationship with each other.

    "Thank you for doing this for me, you have already retired as my agent, I''m grateful you will still heed my call." The city lord smiled fondly at his ex-agent, Ambrose could only scratch his head awkwardly.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    "It was fine, really, no need to thank me, I owe you a lot of things after all." Ambrose spokes to the lord truthfully, after all, the Lord saved his life once as a child. He was grateful to the lord as he never questioned his past and accepted him whole fully at his mansion.

    "...Lord Alberto, I have done my job, then if there isn''t anything else, I will excuse myself." Ambrose speaks after a moment of silence. The lord nodded his head and dismissed him. Ambrose walked to the door, and when his hand is touching the door, the Lord called him from behind with a serious face.

    "Ambrose, if anything happened to me.... never mind, you can go." The Lord shakes his head, Ambrose felt something was amiss, but he didn''t dwell on it too much and left the lord room.

    -

    -

    -

    "Damn it, damn it, damn it!!" Shrieked Marinl in her room.

    She scrunched up her dress in frustration, the chair and table have been kicked down in a fit of her anger. Her servants have been dismissed, she wants some time to be alone after all hearing what her father planned for her.

    She plopped down on her bed, while her mind wanders to the institute her father sent her to. Everett Magic and Combat Academy are renowned for their unmatched ability in education, most of the prominent mages and knight came from there. Many nobles sent their children to the institute, so it should be normal that her father wants her to attend the academy.

    But it annoyed Marinl, the fact that the academy accepts any races and anyone from different background as long they passed the admission test irritated the hell out of her. Status equal nothing and power reign it all. Marinl is confident in her ability as a mage, but because of the academy system, that means even a commoner will be able to stand beside her, no matter how slim the chance is.

    Marinl gnawed her nail, she needs to talk to her father again, and she will persuade him no matter how it takes. Living with commoner is something that never crossed in her mind, she hates them with all of her soul.

    "...mother." Marinl sighed, all of this event made her reminded of her mother, who is passed away when she was a child. She lay down on the bed and closed her eyes.

    Her memory flashed and her mother face surfaced. As always, her mother is beautiful, her smile always brightens her mood when she was a child. She still remembered when her mother patted her head and praised her, when her mischief earns an earful of scolding, how her mother hugged her when she was sad and crying.

    How her mother was killed.

    Her father and mother are both good people, they are kind to the people around them, even to someone who was lower in status than them. Other noble families scorn them for their attitude being unfit for someone with a high status, but their family ignored them and continue to be kind and merciful. Oh, and how foolish it was.

    It ended, her warm world ended with just a tick of a clock. The knife stabbed deep into her mother heart and her blood splashed into her childish faces. The commoner her mother gives kindness to responded in a cold, sharp, crazed eye.

    "Unforgivable." Marinl griped her pillow tightly, she chanted the word over and over again, so that she won''t forget it. The overwhelming emotion she felt that day, the despair and anger that consumed her child''s hearts. And so, she slowly drifted to sleep, and her consciousness was gone to the dream world.

    -

    -

    -

    TRANGGG!!!

    "ugh... what, it so noisy, what time is it?" Marinl rubbed her sleepy eyes, a loud noise has waked her up. For her, it sounded like a breaking glass.

    Her leg dangled down from her fluffy bed, she strides over the carpet and towards the door. Her hand touched the door handle, an unease washed over her, she hesitated, still, she opened the door and looked outside.

    It was evening, the sunset light illuminates the corridor with an orange hue. Marinl looked left and right, no servant was in sight. She realized what has been making her uneasy. The silent. It was too quiet. Usually, at this time the servant will be busy preparing dinner and other stuff, but now, there wasn''t even a soul in this place.

    Marinl walked, trying to find anyone to ask about this abnormality. For a while, she didn''t find anyone, then she decided to find her father, which should be still in his workrooms. Climbing up the stair to the third floor, her eyes captured a dark shadow leaning against the wall. Because of the lack of light, she couldn¡¯t see it clearly.

    "Who there? What are yo-" She walked closer, but her words were cut short by what she saw.

    A bloodied maid with a knife stabbed at its heart. The maid''s hand was bandaged around its palm, it was the new maid before, the one she talked and bullied. The maid''s eyes were hollow and her face was in despair, blood keeps bleeding out from her chest and mouth. The maid was dead, the person in front of her is a corpse.

    She instantly gaged from the scene, the stench of blood was filling her unbearably. She wanted to run, run away from this horrifying scene. Her feet staggered back, but then she remembered about her father.

    Father.... Father!!!

    She pushed down the urge to vomit and ran to her father study room. The closer she gets, the more corpses appeared in her vision. There was no evidence of battle, just like a marionette with their string cut, the corpses sprawled around the corridor with a clean stab on their vital. She ignored all of this and continue to ran.

    The silent was overbearing, she was scared by this whole ordeal, but her worry for her father pushed her this far. Finally, she arrived in front of her father room, the usual guard standing outside was gone, she gulped and her hand trembled, slowly, she pushed the door open.

    "...father?" She called for her father, her father room was dark, she blinked a few times until the darkness settled in.

    "Aah! Isn''t this our cute little lady!" Marinl jumped, surprised by the unusual happy tone, unbefitting with this whole situation, moreover, this voice isn''t her father.

    "Who, who are you?" Marinl stuttered, she was scared. Her usual proud character is nowhere to be seen. Her eyes darted left and right, searching the source of the voice.

    Someone emerged from the darkness, a man clothed in black, in his head was a hat with matching color with his clothes, Marinl eyes darted down to his hand, which was a sword dripping with blood. The plain-faced man smile sends a shudder to her spine.

    "Father.., where is my father?!!" Marinl raised her voice to this unknown man, which was getting familiar as time goes, she was sure she had met him somewhere before.

    The man calmly walked to her, she noticed the man was holding something with his other hand. The man throws it in her direction and it lands in front of her with a thud. Marinl widened her eyes, and horror overcame her body. Her father was sprawled lifelessly with blank eyes, blood was pouring out from his mouth.

    "No, no, father!!" Marinl kneeled beside his father and shake him. But her father didn''t respond to her, instead, the blood staining both of her hand is an undeniable fact that her father won''t respond to her ever again.

    "Don''t worry, I won''t kill you. You will help me to catch an annoying stray." The man crouched and stared at the trembling figure of Marinl warmly. If stared closely, the right hand of the black-clothed man was injured, a deep slash wound dripping with blood. But the current state of Marinl was too in shock to notice such a thing.

    "You... You..., I won''t forgive you!!" Marinl shrieked and raised her right hand, mana was gathering at her and a spell was being constructed.

    "Flame!! Gather an-, huh?" Her mouth stopped chanting and the gathering mana was dispersed. She has a dumbfounded face, the reason was that her right hand was lying on the floor, instead attached to her wrist.

    "Uu, aaa, AAAAAAAARRRGGG, MY HAND, MY HAND!!!" Marinl screamed and crying from pain. Her right hand has been cleanly sliced off from her wrist, blood keep pouring out from her flesh and veins uncontrollably.

    "Woah, calm down, can''t have you go crazy with magic here. Sira, stop her bleeding." The man flicked his sword and blood splatted to the floor. Another person appeared from the darkness, a woman with cat ears and tail. She bowed to the man respectfully then walked to Marinl.

    Marinl was panting hard, the fact her father was gone and losing her hand constitutively shook her mind greatly. She shrieked when the cat woman crouched beside her and forcefully grabbed her arm. She moaned from pain and surprised when the woman started to chant healing spell. But the cold gaze the woman directed to Marinl is enough to speak the hate she has to her.

    When the woman, Sira, was done, she walked back to the man and stand slightly behind him, her loving gaze on the man back could be said as adoration and admiration. The man stood up and looked down on Marinl, who could do nothing and living on this man mercy.

    "...why?..*sob, sob*, what do you want?" Marinl said with a cracked voice between her crying. The man suddenly stifled a laugh, then turning into a crazed laughter, which was only adding the feeling of terror for Marinl.

    "Why huh, why? Why? Why?" He repeated the words many times. He walked deeper into the room, behind the city lord work desk, he opened the windows, revealing the moon hanging in the sky. The night wind blows inside the room and the numerous paper on the desk flutter to the air, only to land on the bloody floor.

    The black cladded man took a deep breath and turned to face Marinl. With a smile that send a chill on Marinl spine, he opened his arms wide and stared at the now parentless girl trembling on the floor.

    "Well, I just want to watch the city burn~?"

 Chapter 23 - The Mysteries and The Truth

    The Lord of Clyde City was assassinated.

    In the morning, the news quickly spread wide like a fiery fire. The citizen was in the state of unrest, from the lifeless street and closed stores, most of them cooped themselves at their home. My eyes gaze on the city perimeter, I was standing at the highest building I could get, the bell tower which was conveniently placed in the center of the city.

    The security on the wall was raised to the highest point, both gates at the city wall were sealed off, preventing people from going inside or out. The city was brimming with soldiers on the lookout for any suspicious person, because the criminal whom killed the lord hasn''t been found yet. Strangely, the daughter of lord was spared of her life.

    I sighed deeply, the situation has become complicated, I glanced at the wall once again, before I promptly jumped down from the bell towers. Utilizing the shadow on the building and magic to silence the sound I make, my scarf fluttered with the wind as I moved across the building from one and another, something that impossible to do when I was still a human back in my past world.

    I smiled wryly at myself, how much I have changed from my past self? While I was mulling these kinds of thought in my head, my eyes noticed something plastered on the wall of a random house. I stood for a while, looking at the poster in front of me. The poster was a drawing of the most wanted criminal in this city currently.

    A man with a long bang and tied hair, his cold, sharp eyes will easily convince anyone that he is the murderous criminal. His hair and eyes color, with height and other description was written hastily on the poster. All of this matched with one of the two people I know well in this city. Ambrose.

    "...Hah..., what the hell are you doing, Ambrose?" I sighed for the second time for today.

    I ripped off the paper from the wall and burned it. Then I continue my search for the wanted criminal all around the city. It''s been three hours since I sweep around all of the places that I think he would be, in the end, I found nothing of his traces. I tilted my head up, the suns were high up in the sky, my hand shielded the light from glaring both of my eyes.

    "...let''s get back first." I decided to stop my search for now and ran back to my temporary hideout.

    I ran while evading the soldier''s eyes which was on the lookout. After a few minutes, I''m back to the house and opened the door.

    "...I''m back-" before I managed to finish my words, I was promptly tackled by a girl with desperation and hope in her eyes. That very girl was Vivian, the other person I know in this city.

    "Did you find him?!!" Her eyes were red and puffy, she was definitely crying while I was outside.

    "No, I don''t." I break my result of fruitless search to her. She immediately disappointed and plopped down to a chair. Her face is full of worry and her mind is going on full throttle.

    The criminal is Ambrose, or so the soldier and the executive at the city said. The witness is the city lord daughter, Marinl Stringfray, the one that managed to escape the deadly night. When we heard the news at the morning, Vivian vehemently denied it, and said that Ambrose definitely won''t kill the city lord.

    Although I have only known him for one day, I also don''t think he was the killer either. The fact that that lord daughter is alive and even managed to saw the killer face is strange and suspicious. Will a killer which was able to slaughter every person in the mansion leaves a potential witness alive? Even his face is revealed to that very witness? Definitely not.

    Something was working behind the scenes, something more big and dangerous than I know for. The problem is, what should I do now? Searching for Ambrose will drag me more into this deep mess. It was like poking into a hornet nest, knowing what will it do to me. Will it worth it? Putting my life in front of the person I knew just for a few days?

    "...I''m going out." Vivian suddenly stood up and walk to the front door, I immediately snapped out from my reverie and stop her.

    "No, you can''t go outside right now, people know you are acquaintance with Ambrose, do you know how dangerous is it?" I stared hard at Vivian, which was gritting her teeth in frustration right now.

    "I know, I know it, but I can''t just sit here and do nothing! Who knows what happen to him now? And besides, I couldn''t just let you do all the work Hiiro, you are doing this for us, even though you aren''t obligated to." Tears started to form on the corner of her eyes. I sighed and scratched my head roughly, then I resigned myself and decided to plunge into this madness.

    "Hah.... Vivian, I need you to stay at here, there also the possibility that he will come back here, right? And I''m more suited for searching people anyway, so just sit here and scold him for being reckless when he came back all right?" Droplets of tears start rolling down on her cheeks, she nodded meekly and go back to sitting in her chair.

    I stood for a while, thinking where the heck could he be. I combed the city quite through roughly, except the noble area, maybe he was hiding there? But that place was heavily guarded by soldier, more than the civilian area. I doubt he would still lingering near the murder scene happened.

    Suddenly, something clicked in my mind. The underground sewer! How could I miss that place? My feet swiftly turned to the door, stooping just before I step on the ground outside, I turned my head to Vivian, glancing at her one last time. She still sitting on the chair, her red eyes raised and she nodded. I opened the door and once again, I''m hunting for the missing Ambrose.

    This time, I immediately search for the entrance of the underground sewer, and quite quickly I found it, just a few minutes after I exited the house. I eagerly went down the stone stairs and immediately regretted it. It was underground and it was damp, the sloshing, murky liquid in the pathway contained all kind of filthy substance you could think of.

    "Uggghh, damnit Ambrose, if I found you, you better pay me back for the trouble!!" The terrible stench was quite horrible enough for a human, and for someone who has the beast nose, it was hell. I pinched my nose and squinted my eyes, my feet tread the road padded in front of me and I could already tell that this was going to be a long, gruesome, search.

    Since my nose is useless in this place, I mostly rely on my eyes to do the job. A small ball of light was floating on my palm, slightly banishing the darkness in front of me. It has been near an hour since I entered this (wretched) place, the endless passage and tunnel in this place were perfect for hiding, but in doing so, it was the worse place to search for someone who is intending to hide.

    While my urge to get out of this place is getting stronger, my ears picked up a sound that was so soft that you could pass off as an illusion. I stopped walking and dissipated the light on my palm. I immediately blended in with the darkness and stealthily walked to one of the passages in this underground.

    Although my appearance was a human child, my traits as a beastman such as my night vision still retained within my eyes, although I don''t know how exactly the transformation potion work, I''m glad for it, especially in my circumstance right now. I avoided stepping the puddles of water and inching closer to the dark passageway. I unconsciously hold my breath and my right hand latched on my knife handle, ready to strike at any moment.

    As I was getting closer, the hazy sound was getting clearer. It was soft and haggard, like a panting sound, echoing on the narrow tunnel. My eyes latched on the vague human silhouette, it seems whoever it is, he still didn''t notice me yet. As my mind was on high alert, a drop of water fell down and hit the back of my hand.

    I flinched a little bit, and I''m pretty sure I didn''t produce any kind sound or noise, but the human seems to perceive my slight quickened motion and raised his head immediately. A determined glint, with a sharp, light greyed eye preyed on me. And I immediately recognize the man crouching before me.

    "Ambrose?" I picked up my voice, I was slightly happy that I was able to find him faster than I expected, and of course getting out from these foul stenches place.

    "...Hiiro? Is that you?" A weak voice traveled onto my ears, his eyes were rounded by my sudden appearance before him.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    "Yes, it''s me. And you look like you have been thrown into a washing machine." My eyes latched at his bloody arm, his clothes have various torn in various place and his face was smeared with dirt and filth. I walked closer to him and realized that he didn''t have any wound on his body despite his bloody appearance.

    "What? A washing ma, macine?" He cocked his head to the side, befuddled by my choice of words. Although he didn''t have any wound on his body, his face was sickly pale, like someone who has lost a lot of blood.

    "Don''t mind it, just a term from my village. So? Would you care to tell what the hell happened? Vivian was extremely worried about you." I crouched down and stared at him, he immediately frowned and sighed, he sat down on the stony ground and his red-stained sword clanked with him.

    "It¡¯s a long story, tell Vivian I won''t be able to come back for a while." His eyes gazing on the molding wall, his breath could be heard clearly in this silent darkness. I sat beside him, waiting for his explanation.

    "So, did you kill the city lord?" I asked since he was silent for a while, but the reaction I got was more than I expected.

    "NO!! Why would I kill him?!" He raised his voice and glared at me. It was the first time I saw him angry, albeit we did only know each other for two days.

    "I believe in you, so calm down, all right?" I patted him on the shoulder, he seems to calm down a little bit and turned his head back to the wall.

    "Sorry, I was just frustrated, haaa..."He sighed once again and closed his eyes for a few second. Then he turned to me and started to explain what happened in that night, at least the rundown of it.

    It was yesterday, when the moon was high up in the sky, the Mana stone on his pocket glowed, it seems the stone was linked with the lord Mana stone. While he felt strange that the Lord called for him in this hour, he still goes to the mansion and looks for him. And when he arrived, the guard that usually standing on the mansion gate was nowhere to be seen.

    An unease waved over him, so he entered the mansion with haste. The first things that came to him were the stench of blood, and he realized the lord could be in danger. He immediately went to the lord room, ignoring the corpse-littered around the hallway. When he was in front of the lord room, he could sense three presences inside, and immediately a scream followed it.

    He barged in without thinking and found the lord was stabbed right in his chest, by a black-clothed man. He immediately attacked the stranger, but was interrupted by a woman from beast race. The woman managed to wound him by surprise, and when he thought things won''t get any worse, a group of black-cloaked people appeared and cornered him. He has let his guard down and was put in a bad situation.

    "...A black-clothed man?" Somehow the black-clothed man on his story picked up my attention.

    "Yeah, he has a plain face you could find anywhere, but his smile really ticks me off." Ambrose clicked his tongue in annoyance and frowned at the man in his mind.

    A black-clothed man with a plain face, I think I have seen this guy before...

    While I was jugging my memory and tried my hardest to remember, Ambrose continued the story from where I have interrupted him.

    "...well, in the end, I managed to run away and now leading to this situation. Hah, serve me right I guess." He laughed deprecating at himself, was it for his fugitive status or the fact that he couldn''t save the city lords? We maintained a few minutes of silence.

    "By the way, what do you intent to do now?" I decided to change the topic, since the prolonged silence doesn''t sit well with me.

    "¡­ what to do huh.., there is only one way isn''t it? I will find that man and get the bottom of this problem." A glint passed on his eyes, he tightens the grip on his sword. Then he stood up and looked at me.

    "I''m sorry for involving you in my problem, but please stay with Vivian and-" Before Ambrose managed to finish his words, a knife flew past and scratched his cheeks, dodging it by a hair breath. I was surprised, not because of the knife, but the fact that someone was able to go this close to us without alerted me.

    "Kuh... how persistent." Ambrose wiped the blood on his cheeks with his thumb. He glared at the attacker in the darkness in front of us. Slowly a woman with black cat ears and tail walked upon us, her face was stony and unreadable, she glanced at Ambrose for a second before turning her attention to me.

    "...You are the same as me." Was the first word she uttered. I keep my silent and readied my weapon, but I can feel my heart was beating faster from her appearance. We keep staring at each other, neither of us moved and I could feel the tension is getting to the peak.

    Then I opened my palm and a bright flash of light filled the tunnel.

    "Wha?!" Ambrose was surprised, but Ignored his grunt and pulled him with me. He seems to understand my intention and both of us ran away, leaving the blinded enemy.

    Ambrose managed to run just fine, even though his eyes should be blinded too. We continued to run, entering another tunnel and passageway, passing the canal and pathway. Ambrose rubbed his eyes, it seems his vision is back to normal.

    "Is that woman...?" I asked him, and he confirmed my thought with a nod.

    "She been chasing me since yesterday night, I thought I managed to shake her off by entering this place, but I guess it wasn''t going to be that easy huh? This way." He turned to the right and I followed him, since it seems he knows this place more than me.

    "I thought you are going to fight with her." His eyes darted to the left and right, while our feet continue to move with silence, a metal door was in front of us and Ambrose pulled a rusted key from his pocket. The door opened with creaking sound and we swiftly entered.

    "...I just have a bad feeling." I looked back at the closed door, we managed to shake her off for now, but I''m pretty sure she will find us somehow.

    "You aren''t wrong though, we crossed swords a few times and her speed make her hard to deal with." Another door appeared again and he fumbles the pocket on his pants, just how many keys he has? "The annoying black cloaked henchmen''s always near her, although they are weak, their number is quite numerous, I wouldn''t want to fight that woman in an outnumbered situation."

    The door opened and we went through to another pathway. There is a lot of old tools and dusty box strewn around the place, broken pieces of glass and shards of wood littered around the ground. We slowed down our pace because of the obstacle around us. The terrible smell from the sewer was gone, replaced with old iron and rust on the air. This place looks like an unused old storage room.

    "¡­ Is there something on my face?" Ambrose suddenly speaks after a moment of silence. Then I realized that I have been staring at his face for quite some time.

    "Your wound in the cheeks ¡­ it healed? How? I don''t think you have used a healing spell or something similar." I pointed at his cheeks, a smudge of blood was present on where the wound was, but the injury has disappeared, as if the knife never grazed his cheeks before.

    "I just heal fast than other people." He replied me with steady voice, but I doubt it was the entire truth. Since he seems didn''t keen on explaining, I didn''t ask more.

    A static sound, like a broken radio ringed, at first it was a soft hum, but slowly becoming louder as time goes. Ambrose stopped walking, it seems I''m not alone in hearing the strange sound. The static sound changed into a talking voice, or more specifically, a woman voice.

    {"-ne more time, my master wish to meet with you, come to the Lord mansion or you will lose something precious to you, and for the fox, if you wish to know the truth of your existence in this world, came with the adventurer."}

    The announcement ends, and so the buzzing static sound. I hold my breath, the damp air feels cold against my skin, beads of sweat rolled down from my forehead, my palm unconsciously tightens and my mind is in turmoil. The woman managed to see through my transformation, but that''s not what matters.

    If you wish to know the truth of your existence in this world-

    They know. They know it, they know that I''m not of this world, they know why I have been summoned into this world, with this body. How much do they know? Why? Did they are the one who responsible with the summoning?

    I shake my head to clear my mind. It still not confirmed yet, it could be something else, maybe I''ve misunderstood the meaning of their words. I breathe slowly and calmed myself down. The reason for my existence in this magical world is the greatest mysteries for me, all the book I have read never mentioned about summoning otherworld people, even in storybooks.

    But the possibilities they know about it is high, this is the first clue, even if they didn''t have the full knowledge, it could be something that could lead me to the whole truth. I couldn''t stop myself from grinning, I was excited, even though I was a bit worried about the danger of getting into this mess, this is worth it. Getting to know why I was summoned to this world is one of my to-do list in this world after all.

    "¡­ shit!" Ambrose shout snapped me out from my reverie, I look at him and he was already far from me, running deeper into the pathway.

    "?!!!" I hurried after him, we ran faster than before, and in no time we already on the outside, away from the underground sewer.

    It was evening now, the orange painted the sky, and I was reminded how long I have been at the underground. We continued to run and the destination seems to be the house. I was confused at first, then the realization hit me, the woman also mentioned about losing something precious. The excitement I have before dwindled and grim emotion started budding in my heart.

    "VIVIAN!!" Ambrose opened the door roughly and called for her. Only silence answered him.

    Ambrose ran inside and search all of the room. I stood at the front door, everything looks the same as before, orderly and clean, you wouldn''t know that someone has been kidnapped from this place. Unease and frustration, slowly becoming guilt, if I had let her came with me, then this won''t happen, or so I thought. I clicked my tongue in annoyance and clear my head from dark thought, no use crying over spilled milk.

    Ambrose seem done at searching the empty house, he walked pass me and stomped outside. His face was cold and devoid of emotion, but I could feel the anger overflowing from his body.

    "Wait." I called him, he stopped walking and turned to me. A frown adorned his face.

    "I''m going with you." I walked beside him, he seems to hesitate for a moment, then he nodded his head.

    The sunset slowly overtook with dark night sky, and our fight is far from over.

 Illustration - Characters

    Here another illustration featuring some of the cast, hope you enjoy it. Can you recognize who''s who?

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