In the backside village with no name and a mere population of around 50, it did not take a 16-yeard Fenrir to become the talk of the town.

But it was not in a good way that most people think it to be.

Fenrir was young, handsome, and had a soothing temper. Such a combination was rare to find in humans, and ever since Fenrir stepped into the village, he had been popular with the young maidens and the ladies alike.

However, his charms did not extend to the males his age.

“Well, would you look at it? That cripple is here to take our resources again. Why did Madam Herth have to bring it back to the village? Just looking at that face brings a bad taste to my mouth.”

One of the bullies pointed at Fenrir from where he stood on the village fence. At the end of his finger was the crippled he was talking about.

There was something about that cripple that set the young males his age on edge. The air around him felt…weird and non-human, but when they tried to tell anyone else about it, no one else believed them.

So, what could a powerless kid who wanted to voice his frustration but could not do it turn to? The answer was simple: Violence.

These kids had no other way to express their frustration, and as a result, they ended up lashing out at the crippled. They did not even realize they did this until after they were done bullying the crippled.

And because of this, they became the outcasts in the village instead of Fenrir.

The adults and girls did not feel the awkwardness they felt when they looked at the young crippled kid, and the villagers even sympathized with Fenrir when he got bullied.

It could be because they had sharper instincts compared to others in the village, or it may be their jealousy speaking.

After all, being handsome and crippled gained Fenrir a lot of attention from girls their age, while they got none.

There were four boys in the village and girls, so how could they all be dotted on the same person? Should they not divine their attention to the others as well?

“Look, there he goes again. Now, he smiles at Sara, and she pretends to swoon and be taken by him. I have seen this story a hundred times by now.”

Keith, the leader of this small bully gang, pointed out. And just as he said that Sara leaned down and clutched her heart. She looked as if love’s arrow had struck her as she tried to recover.

Sara was the most beautiful girl in the village, but she looked unattractive when she acted like a love-sick fool when she was with Fenrir.

‘Tsk, that bastard. I dislike him and his face. Why did he have to get adopted by Miss Herth in the first place? He brings the vibe of this village down.’

Keith’s thoughts showed on his face, but when he looked up, his heart skipped a beat, and his eyes met a beautiful shade of amber.

It felt as if the devil was looking at him, and that stare was calling out to his soul.

With great difficulty, Keith managed to look away, but he could not tell if his heart was beating faster because of Fenrir’s beauty or because he felt fear while looking at that man.

“Hey, that cripple just looked at you weirdly. Should we head there and teach him a lesson?”

One of the two remaining bullies asked as they watched their leader, Keith, suddenly looking away.

They could only summarize that this was because Keith felt repulsed by what he saw, and they wanted revenge for him.

Keith looked up violently as soon as he heard those words.

“No, don’t! It’s not worth it. It would be better if we spent our time looking for that cattle thief around the village. My mother was complaining that too many animals have been going missing these past couple of weeks.”

Keith’s ‘no’ was instinctive, and he was loud enough even to startle the other two he was sitting with.

In fact, he was so loud that the people standing quite a few feet away from him heard him as well.

“Keith, is everything alright with you? We heard yelling, and Fenrir said we should check to see if we were alright. Are you hurt? Should we call the doctor?”

Sara asked in a gentle voice, and her gentle touch soothed Keith’s soul.

But her worrying also left a bitter taste in the boy’s mouth because he knew that behind her worried exterior was someone else’s consideration.

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Sara was not worried about him because she liked him but because she knew that worrying about him would make her look better in Fenrir’s eyes.

That inferiority complex made Keith lash out, and he struck Sara’s hand away with a little more force than he had expected.

That delicate hand turned red within seconds, and her face looked sad.

“I-I am sorry! I did not mean to-”

Keith tried to apologize but the words would not come out of his mouth. Every time he looked at Sara, he could see Fenrir’s shadow over her shoulder. It made him flinch and lash out harder.

“I don’t need your help. Why did you even come here? Just because that crippled asked you to? I don’t need sympathy like this. Just go back to your flirting and leave me alone.”

Keith was almost convinced that he was being controlled by something. There was no other reason for him to act like this. Even now, those golden eyes that looked at him scared him. His hands shook, but Keith refused to show weakness.

In the end, he quickly picked himself up and walked past Sara and Fenrir. But before he left, he made sure he bumped into Fenrir to make him go off-balance.

His shoulder ached as it collided with Fenrir’s feeble one, and Ketih felt like he had hit metal as he walked past. But even though his shoulder ached, he showed no sign of it, and he continued to walk away.

“Keith…! Hey Keith, wait for us. We are coming after you as well.”

The bullies noticed that Keith was running away, so they hurried to catch up to him. Their uncertain eyes looked at Sara and Fenrir as well, but their loyalties won in the end, and they ended up following after their leader.

“Tsk, those kids…they know nothing but how to cause trouble. Fenrir, are you alright? You did not get hurt when they collided with you, right?”

Sara asked, concern lining her red-rimmed eyes as she looked at Fenrir. She, along with the other people around this village, did not even realize that they were under his spell and had been ever since he arrived in this village age ago.

Had he been his former self, a demon like him wouldn’t have had trouble taking control of this one village.

But because of his powers being restricted and the oath restricting him, he could only control a couple.

“Hmm, I am alright. I just lost my balance because Keith bumped into me, but I did not get hurt…although standing is a little troublesome for me. Can you help me out a little here?”

Sara’s eyes softened even further as she extended her arm and shoulder to help Fenrir up. Her hands felt gentle and soothing, but her temper was raging behind her eyes.

Fenrir had a lot of chances to kill Keith ever since he arrived in this village, but he had not done so until now. It was because he wanted to see what a kid like him could do if left alone.

Desperation was the root that drove most people into action, and Keith would be no different…

At least, that was what Fenrir hoped for. But so far, he had been disappointed in the other male.

‘Maybe it is time I am done with this village. I stayed here because I needed a place to grow my powers and escape the eyes of god. But this village won’t be sufficient to facilitate my growth for long. I will need to relocate to a place with more food and nourishment.’

It was a shame that things came down to this. Fenrir liked this village, and he spent a lot of time subduing it. If possible, he did not want to leave this village behind.

But desperate times called for desperate measures, and Fenrir was desperate indeed.

……

‘Stupid Sara and stupid villagers. How can they not see the truth that is right in front of their eyes? Are they all being deceived by that devil? Can they not see his real face? Just looking at him makes me shudder in fright…no, I mean disgust.’

Even in his thoughts, Keith refused to admit that he was scared of Fenrir. He had no reason to be scared of a cripple, and he refused to entertain that thought.

But the more he locked his feelings behind his mind, the more scared he felt. Finally, he could not take it anymore, and he decided to bury his feelings underneath his anger.

He slammed the door shut when he entered his house, and his mother immediately yelled at him for him.

“Keith, stop it! What do you think you are doing? Who will repair the door if it breaks again? Do you think I am made of money? Why can you not be more like Fenrir? He might be crippled, but he is such a sweet boy.”

His mother’s heavy footsteps alerted Keith that his mother was headed his way. He flinched at the thought of facing his mother, but his worry soon turned into anger when he felt his mother thundering toward him.

In anger and confusion, Keith ended up opening the door and heading out again.

“I am going to check up on the cattle. Since you don’t want me to show my face today, I will make sure to keep watch the whole night. You don’t have to wait for me to come back for dinner.”

Keith yelled before he slammed the door shut behind him with more force than he needed to.

Seeing him leave made his mother sigh in agitation. She looked at her only son, who was leaving her to do the housework alone.

“What is wrong with Keith? I did not even scold him because I felt like he would take offense, but he ended up taking offense anyway! Sigh! What am I going to do with him?”

The mother looked annoyed, but her worries quickly faded away under the hue of her red eyes.

She went back to her work soon enough once magic grabbed hold of her.

This all was not known to her son, who continued to work hard and try to take his anger out on unsuspected things.

He thrashed the fence in his anger and entered the barn.

“Stupid mother and stupid villagers. They don’t realize they are being played by the devil. If only I had some way to make them believe me…”

Keith neared the barn, only for his nose to pick up the sharp smell of blood in the air. It made him tense up, and he opened the door, only to see a young and fragile boy holding up a sheep by its neck.

Sharp golden eyes and golden hair could be seen under all the red, and the fear that bound Keith came running back.

“W- Who are you? Are you the devil? Don’t try and tell me that you are that crippled bastard who cannot even handle a single chicken. I won’t believe it.”

Keith yelled with as much power behind his words as he could muster. But no matter how much he tried to deny it, his instincts were telling him that this crippled was the same person he knew.

“Tsk, what a headache. I thought I angered you enough not to make you come after me. But it seems I was mistaken. Now, how should I take care of you?”