It was the evening of the same day when Leonel was taken by the soldiers. Zoeske went to the old woman, his head full of doubts. He saw her sitting beside a candle in her house. Manma, the elder of this small village, she is tiny and always wore brown silk with talismans written on it.

When she saw Zoeske come to visit her, she kindly smiled and welcomed him, patting the ground beside her as a sign for him to come and sit. He ignored her and said, "Grandma Manma," in a low voice. She noticed his depressed face and felt bad for him.

"Look, son, what happened to your mom is still unknown," Manma said. "It might be the goblins, or it might be something else."

"But we saw their swords on the ground next to my mom and the other victims' bodies," Zoeske said. "They must've dropped their weapons after what they did."

Manma looked at her hands, rubbing them together nervously. She had taken on the huge responsibility of caring for the village, but failed to maintain order since the last incident. Worse than that, she couldn't give a satisfying explination to the victims' families.

"Zoeske," she said. "Sometimes problems grow and slip beyond our control, and we can do nothing about them."

"Tell me, please," Zoeske said, his tone turning serious. "How did Leonel learn these advanced techniques?! it's impossible that he learned them himself."

"Leonel is a genius, and he had the potential to learn magic, as Sam saw in him," Manma said.

"And how do you know if we have the potential or not? You've always looked at us and your people as lower than the people in the kingdom," Zoeske shouted.

Her eyes widened as she saw Zoeske shouting at her. He triggered her to shout back at him, "Do you know what will happen if we become even a small threat to them?"

"You're just scared, and I will not accept this humiliation," Zoeske said, as he turn back to leave.

"You're just twelve years old, what do you even know about it?!" Manma said.

Zoeske quietly left her house, tears of oppression falling from his eyes. Desperately, he walked to Sam's house again, searching for a way to become stronger and protect the village from the soldiers. On the way, which took only a few seconds, he noticed the kids playing rushingly before the sunset. At the same time, the birds were flying freely and singing beautifully.

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Sam saw Zoeske approaching and noticed the tears in his eyes. He said, "Hey kid, are you ok?!" he leaned toward him and patted his head.

"Teach me," Zoeske said.

"What?!" Sam said.

"What you tought Leonel, the stranger," Zoeske said.

"Zoe, Leonel became one of us, you're still calling him a stranger?" Sam said. He stood steadily and looked down at Zoeske. "You can't do it, Zoe. we aren't meant to be an explorers."

"Who decided that?" Zoeske said. "You know what? Forget it. You're all the same—pathatic people."

Zoeske couldn't look at Sam's face after what he said. He couldn't see which expression Sam made. All he remembered was he walking away to his father's house. His father is a merchant and he had to gone to the town for work. Zoeske kept staring at the ceiling of his room until he was overcome by sleep. He recalled the image of his mother on the ground, surrounded by bodies and blood. It was like a ringing in his head getting louder with each memory of the soldiers intruding on the village and acting as they pleased.

In the next morning, sunlight hit his eyes and woke him. He woke up hungry, feeling unpleasant and annoyed. He walked to the worn kitchen and stepped on a piece of rough paper, the cheapest kind paper, which was still expensive for the villagers and picked it up.

"You should visit Jacha from Malin, the village on top of the mountain. He is a retired explorer who can help you with your case," Zoeske read. He saw an opportunity to pursue and said, "Jacha? explorer?"

Rushing, he ran to his parents' room, searching for a map. A pile of books fell on his head and scattered on the ground. Among them, there was the map, a long piece of paper that was folded and tied securely. He placed it on the kitchen tabel and unfolded it, revealing a map of the world. When he found Malin village, he took his bag and the map and walked out of the village, sneaking through a blind spot that villagers usually didn't notice. However, he was shocked when Binkines called him, "Zoe!"

He froze in place and slowly turned back, "Bhinkines?" he asked.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"I am leaving," he said. "I can't stay here and live like cattle for the kingdom that took my mother's life."

"But there are Malinians bandits and monsters out there," She said.

"Malinians bandits?" he asked.

"Yes, rumors have spread recently about two young Malinian bandits stealing from people," She said. "My uncle told us about them at the dinner yesterday."

"Oh, I'll be fine," he said. "There are many caves and inns along the way."

She looked concerned...

"Please," he said, quietly. "I'll be back soon."

She looked at him and started crying, but she couldn't disagree with him. Both of them thought that something had to change; otherwise, the villagers would become slaves. She approached him, handed him a necklace, and said, "wear this. They say it will protect you."

"Thank you, Binkines," he said and ran away. "Take care of everyone."

She kept waving to him until he disappeared among the trees, and slowly, she placed her hands down and pressed them together.