The door swung open with a loud bang.

“Lucan! Come quick!” Zeph said with a bright smile on his face. His demeanor being the complete opposite of how it should be, seeing as how blood dripped from every corner of his body.

“Why did you take a literal blood bath?” Lucan tossed a towel to the bloodsoaked kid and followed him out the door.

A brief walk through the forest along the trail of bloody footsteps led them to the corpse of a lesser wolf.

“Am I not the best?” Zeph struck a triumphant pose.

Lucan crouched down to examine the corpse thoroughly. The pelt suffered multiple damage marks but none of them pierced through. A long slash across the throat finally ended the wolf which explained the tomato kid.

Lucan sighed. “Zeph, you’re skinny as a twig. Why are you hunting wolves by yourself?”

“You said you’d train me once I was ready!”

“You’d have to pay someone to take this wolf from you with how much you butchered it.”

“I still killed it!” Zeph fired back.

Lucan stared at the kid momentarily before letting out a sigh. “You’re just gonna run off even if I don’t teach you.”

-

Zeph crawled on the ground, panting heavily.

"You didn't do too bad, but I'm still wondering how you managed to kill the wolf when you're like this." Lucan stood there and didn’t break a single sweat.

"How… how am I supposed to dodge any of your attacks?! The wolf only knew how to pounce while you're attacking me from twenty different angles!"

The lesser wolf strategy involved pouncing until the target died. Even then, Zeph struggled to fight that, not to mention a well-trained veteran like Lucan.

Lucan passed the canteen to Zeph who downed it hastily.

“I don’t understand, you’ve been going on daily runs with me yet you’re still as skinny as a twig. Are you throwing up your food?”

From the moment Lucan stumbled upon Zeph, he had struggled to put on weight, even though Lucan urged him to eat copious amounts of food.

“Let’s keep going.” Zeph handed him back the canteen.

Zeph stared at Lucan from across the field, brandishing his blade. A fireball hit the ground and marked the start of their battle.

Lucan instantly dashed across the field to close the gap, slicing down towards Zeph. Instead of retreating, Zeph took advantage of his small body to dash into Lucan, aiming the blade towards his stomach.

“Not bad kid, you’re still too green though.”

Lucan pivoted to the side on one foot and knocked Zeph with his other.

“Again.” Zeph walked back to his starting position and dusted himself off.

Three more bouts happened before Zeph’s legs gave out. He was no longer able to move himself.

“Hey Lucan, why did you choose to raise me?”

“Weird question to ask isn’t it? If I don’t, then who else is going to?”

“Orphanages exist don’t they?”

“You caught me. Unfortunately, I’m not telling.” Lucan let out a small smile.

Zeph didn’t beg for an answer and fell asleep on Lucan’s back.

The next week, Zeph’s training consisted of fighting more lesser wolves. These abundant wolves terrorized the forests which meant free game for anyone willing.

In a similar fashion to yesterday’s bouts, Zeph had stared at the wolf replacing Lucan.

“If you can’t pierce the wolf’s head, why not go for the neck?” Lucan advised him after seeing his car accident of a kill the other day.

Zeph’s feet pushed off the ground as he charged towards the wolf. How could the wolf let Zeph do as he pleased? He pounced towards the human but unfortunately Zeph was too used to its attacks, letting Zeph cleanly pierce its neck.

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“I guess three is my limit.” Zeph panted heavily. His body served as the biggest roadblock in his training. At this rate, he might as well join the Dwarf Kingdom with how small he was.

Lucan walked out from the forest and saw the three dead wolves in a pile.

“Good work kid, maybe you can take on a normal wolf now.”

Wolves were smarter than the lesser ones, they could scheme and wouldn’t pounce so haphazardly. That was if you were lucky enough to find a lone one of course, as they often traveled in packs.

Zeph predicted that if he could kill three lesser wolves in a row, one big wolf would be his absolute limit. Although it was only a rough estimate.

Lucan looked at Zeph’s dagger to see that it had chipped a while ago.

“Let’s go to town and get you a new weapon.” He suggested.

“Really?”

From the moment Zeph was found, he and Lucan had never once left the forest. Wolves could be used as a food source and river water would suffice, even the weapons were all handmade. Zeph was starting to suspect Lucan was afraid of people.

“Call it a gift.”

It took thirty minutes to walk to town, the pace slowing down significantly due to Zeph’s stamina, or lack of in that case.

Lucan took Zeph through a series of alleyways before finally ending up at a hole in the wall store.

At first glance you wouldn’t even be able to tell what this shop sold. It was just a counter with absolutely nothing on display.

“Old man! Come out!” Lucan yelled to the back.

Rattling noises could be heard before an old man with a cane walked out.

“Oh my, what brings you fine gentleman to my sto-”

“Cut the act old man, bring out your blades.” Lucan took off his mask inside the store.

“Lucan…” the old man grumbled. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“It’s a special occasion. This kid needs a blade.” Lucan ignored his protest.

The old man glanced over at the scrawny kid who looked like the wind could knock him over. He didn’t ask any questions and walked into the back, spending several minutes rummaging through his wares. He walked back out with a thin dagger that shimmered in the light.

“Sharp yet light enough for this kid to hold.” The shopkeep handed the blade to Lucan who then proceeded to examine it, giving it a couple of test swings.

“Well made. Here you go kid.” Lucan gave the blade to Zeph before tossing a bag on the counter.

“Of course it’s well made! Consider this my last gift to you.” The man muttered, not even looking at the bag.

On the way back home Zeph repeatedly sheathed and unsheathed the blade, admiring the beauty of it while Lucan gave a lecture on how to take care of it.

When they arrived in front of the door, Lucan abruptly froze.

Zeph wanted to ask what’s wrong before a voice spoke out.

“Lucan! How great it is to see you again.” A figure walked out of the trees behind them.

“Verith…” Lucan turned around to greet the stranger. “How did you find me?”

Verith walked up slowly to Lucan. He might not have shown it on his face but Zeph noticed. Lucan’s hands trembled ever so slightly.

Fear.

His caretaker for the past five years who could deal with every situation was being suppressed.

“You did a great job hiding from me. I would have never found you. Fortunately, you spawned a parasite somehow.” Verith slowly circled around Lucan.

“You were always one step ahead of me, yet you just threw away your position and training. For five years you just disappeared. Why was that?”

“What do you want?” Lucan grit his teeth and replied.

“To bring you back of course! Betraying the Unas Royal Empire isn’t free you know.” He pulled out a bounty paper with Lucan’s information on it.

Zeph shook violently. Five years ago? Betraying the empire? Was it all cause of… him?

“Of course, they won’t mind if I… enact on my years of frustration right?” Verith pulled out a dagger and embedded it right in the back of Lucan's leg.

Lucan let out an indignant roar.

“Lucan!” Zeph screamed out. He couldn’t do anything but watch.

Verith turned to look at Zeph, sending shivers down his spine.

“Well hello, my little primordial..” Verith turned to look at Zeph. “I guess your five years was really worth it huh?”

He walked over to Zeph slowly before putting his hand over Zeph’s head.

Zeph couldn’t move. He felt a suction force come from Verith’s hand, making him slowly lose consciousness.

All of a sudden, a dagger pierced through Verith’s arm.

“Run Zeph!” Lucan twisted the dagger, making Verith scream out in pain.

“Motherfucker! You think I need to capture you alive?!” Verith screamed and shot a wind blade at Lucan’s leg, severing it completely.

Zeph trembled, backing up slowly before booking it through the forest.

“FUCK!!!” Verith’s voice echoed through the forest as Zeph ran away. The ground shook as several trees fell over.

Zeph ran, tears fell from his eyes and blurred his vision. He didn’t know where he was going, he just knew he had to run.

Talentless.

If Lucan had trained all those five years instead of taking care of trash like him, he wouldn't have been in such dire straits.

Parasite.

The word echoed in Zeph’s head over and over again. Just what did he give Lucan? If he wasn’t a parasite then what was he?