A figure arrived at dawn to the training field. His pace calm and controlled. He was totally aware that leaving a kid alone with his head upside down for that long was dangerous, even lethal. He was a scientist after all.

Still he had no doubt that this brat had managed somehow to get out. As he arrived and looked at the tree to which he had attached him, as mere confirmation, his absence provoked a huge smile of satisfaction.

This kid will manage.. somehow.

He wasn't even thinking about the experiment. As of now, they were the irrelevant to him. Romuald was thinking about the end game.

Did this kid that he had one sidedly accepted has his son have what it takes to survive.

Phew, so where is he now? He scanned the area. Hesitating between yelling at him and jolting him awake or letting him sleep. As he thought, his face warped into a devilish grin. His choice was made.

He located the brat, he was a few steps away from the tree to which he had been hung. Sleeping leisurely. He felt something was off, he couldn't quite put his finger on what.

This sense of danger that had save him from many perilous situations, this almost animal instinct of his.

Normally, this would have lead him to kill, but in this situation he knew what was coming.

So the little brat is fighting back?

He approached silently. Muffled his footsteps as to be sure to not rouse him. After all, the surprise of his victim would be bigger if he couldn't see it.

And as he neared and saw the body of the kid from closer, he realized something.

"Brat I know you're not sleeping"

He waited for a response, but as if the kid was committed to his act there was no change in his behaviour. No that wasn't quite right. A slight change in his breathing patterns, as if taken aback at having been found out appeared, and it went without saying that Romuald had noticed it.

Uh, quite the crude plan you got there?'

"How did you manage that...? You probably attached an end of the rope to a rock that you threw over that branch over there." He said as he pointed at the branch to which was hanging the snare rope.

"You then.."

"Hmm.. you then let the rock go down to the ground and attached a much bigger rock and counterweight to that."

"Before that you dug using said rock as makeshift shovel, a hole that would be deep enough for the the rock to hoist me in the air. This is proved by the dirt on your hands and well the suspiciously uneven ground behind the tree."

"Then.."

He jumped over the trap, and went behind the trunk of a tree. "Bingo."

As he had guessed, a big rock that could potentially be used as counterweight was there, and maintained in the air by a nest of thread. The same thread, that was used to make the Galvrungs lab vest.

"You probably got that from Albert right."

These threads while thin, were also remarkably durable. And they were attached in such a way, that 3 shared the weight of the rock and all connected to nearby trees. One of these threads was then connected to a thread held in the hands of the mischievous kid, forcibly displacing one would rupture the stability of the structure and the rock would without problem slip through. He didn't say it out loud, but he could see. As a pureblood Galvrung, Romuald innate magical ability was sensorial. And linked to his sight, not only he could see much farther than average, his visual acuity even at long distances was higher, he could also see through things. This was one of the ways he had been able to confirm with such certainty the accuracy of the meridian charts, and this was also how he could be certain of what the kid was currently holding.

"You used these threads to hoist up the rock and attached another to the center one, so that you could pull on it at the right time, to capture me.."

His reasoning was incoherent, no disorganized. He kept guessing accurately but he guessed in the wrong order, as if he was first figuring the different parts and couldn't care less about voicing how it all fitted together.

"So you probably, attached the threads first, as there's no way you'd have done that while holding a rock that big in the air. Then you thew the light rock over the branch over there... then"

"Hmm I am missing something, I don't think you'd have been able to attach such a rock in the air stably even then" He said, thinking out loud.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

"There's no way you asked for help either"

He looked at the ground for hints, still mockingly avoiding the trap.

"Hmm if it's that, it could work?"

He said looking at two relatively deep holes in the ground.

"Ramps?"

"Yes ramps.. you looked around the forest for long and straight fallen branches and planted them in the ground there. It should work if they're evonite... Using rocks as makeshift hammers, you then left them rest on the thread and rolled your counterweight up them, until they reached a point where the rope was accessible. You placed yourself there, maintaining a part of your weight with your body while the ramps did the stabilization work"

"You then attached the counterweight to the rock, pulled the remaining distance placing the rock gently on the strings and then removed the ramps.."

"Am I correct?" He said his face ambiguous.

His senses still teling him something was off, even though he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

The sleeping kid clicked his tongue. "You got me old man."

"But crude.? That's not really kind..." He said as if soiled.

"Just calling a spade a spade," Romuald replied laughing.

As the kid said that he released the thread as he had been found out, and raised his hands in the air.

"Eh I lo--" He said as he looked at Romuald. His feet at entered the danger zone, he had stepped into his own trap, and Romuald had been waiting for it.

As soon as he did, Romuald flashed devilish teeth. "Payback time"

"Wh?"

Was the only thing the kid could utter before being dragged feet first in the air, in a similar position to the one he had been the night before.

"Well well well, look who's laughing now"

Romuald walked with dignity in front of the kid who was now powerlessly hanging. He then mocked him senseless.

A lot of things had happened to allow this whole thing to take place, and to make sense of them, one had to go back a few hours earlier.

#

After dancing for what had felt like all night, I had arose with a revigorated body but a mentally taxed mind.

So it didn't take long for me to fall asleep. Some time later I woke up. I could feel that I had slept less than usual, way way less.

"What did I just discover..." I thought to myself with beaming eyes.

"This is amazing!"

I obviously had to verify further, after all, I had no real way to ascertain how much time I had spent there in trance, but if I had really danced all night the implications were terrific.

I made a mental note to investigate that later.

Still after that, my mind was clear, and considering this was the last day, I wanted to commemorate it well.

"Vengeance time." I snickered.

Until now, I was forced to fight him in bouts of force. It was obvious I would lose. But that rope, the thread I got from Albert's robe, the rocks from the training field, as well as evonite sticks... there's definitely something I can do with all that.

.

.

.

A trap?

This was the most sensible decision. The goal wasn't to harm him, there was no way I'd manage that with only these materials, and as angry as I was, I didn't really want him dead.

Yes a non-lethal trap.

I was both wanted to try to see if I could prepare something that'd put even Romuald, a Galvrung, in a pinch.

Yea but how do I do that? He's sure to notice it.

I thought back to all the hunting books I had read as a kid. The only silver lining of these 6 years of solitude was the knowledge I had gained. I digged and digged in my mind.

Considering my main concerns of non lethality and discretion, I was only left with one option, snares. They were simple, relatively camouflageable, didn't require much more material than what I had, and would be much easier to set up.

The main trouble would be finding a suitable idea, as well as finding a tree to which I could attach the snare. After all, the great advantage of Evonite trees and what made them excellent weapons, their mind boggling density was also exactly the issue for my snare trap.

Considering the functioning of such a trap, I'd need a weaker tree. One that could be loaded like a spring, and released when the prey entered the trap. In the unyielding forest however, such things were rare to not say inexistant. The unyielding forest was a forest dominated by evonites, other vegetal species existed for sure, but they were shrubs and flowers that lived in symbiosis with said evonites. Useless, so what could I use instead?

I sat down, and closed my eyes. I frowned as if to make my visualizations clearer. The most sensible option would have been to give up at this point. After all, besides a cheap thrill what was the point of this? He for sure wouldn't be pleased, and considering the circumstances he might even retaliate? But my pettiness told me otherwise, my childish anger about having been refused Kress games, as well as my conflicted feelings about the events from yesterday were enough for me to rationalize this whole thing.

Also he was the one who said it, "Right now, you're my hostage!"

There's absolutely no way a hostage would escape his captor and then just wait for him patiently right?

With that said, the issue still remained. What could I use as an anchor for my snare.

Something springy... something springy...

I couldn't really use the evonite tree, after all considering how dense it supposedly was, and after having been hit first hand with it, there was absolutely no way it'd be helpful by itself.

What about some counter weight system? I asked myself. This was quickly put aside too. The evonite trees were obscenely tall, and pulling anything to that height would take way too long, not even mentionning installing the rope in the first place. Also it'd be way too obvious.

Then what!?

I sat there frowning my face ever so stronger.

Tired of thinking, I clicked my tongue. This won't get me anywhere let's do some sightseeing.

The criteria to respect were simple but also hard to meet.

Close enough to the location that it wouldn't be too suspicious, even if admittedly some level of suspicion would be unavoidable.

Some material with enough give and spring, that could be used as the anchor point of my snare mechanism.

Something discrete.

As I walked around, my eyes were constantly darting from side to side, as my head was smoking from calculations. Constantly scanning the area to make sure Romuald wasn't hiding somewhere nearby, while also reviewing the terrain and looking for a suitable spot.

At that moment, I dearly regretted the fact that I didn't have some digging ability. Combining a hole with a snare, to catch Romuald while he fell while also being able to camouflage it by playing with perspectives would have been easy.

What do I do?

Oh wait a second.

What if I did this?