Uno rushed away from the training fields and back to the village. He ran straight through bushes, leaving him small cuts around his forearm. He didn’t care. He just wanted to go back home and make sure his family was safe.
As soon as he reached the village, he saw that some people were arguing. A lot of them were gathered around the center of the territory. Uno didn’t care what they were doing and simply just ran past them. He didn’t care that he disrespected them by bumping past and pushing them.
“Hey, kid!”
Some people tried to stop him, but he just ignored them. He didn’t even hear anything. His mind was only filled with worry and dread. What happened to his mother and siblings while he wasn’t there?
When he finally reached their wooden hut, he saw that the door was busted wide open, with signs of forced entry. Around the house were a few large and heavy footsteps. Those were not the footsteps of his little siblings and his mother. There were others in the house.
His mind already went to the worst situation. Could they have already left and sold to the human merchant as slaves? He couldn't forgive himself if that was true. While he was busy training to be a hunter, his little siblings were suffering by themselves. What kind of older brother was he if he didn’t save them?
He rushed inside and he came upon the worst situation. There was no one inside. He was too late! He couldn’t believe that he wasn’t fast enough to try and stop those wild animals from taking his family away!
Tears welled up in his eyes, but he couldn’t let them fall. No. This wasn’t the end of it. He would rescue his family even if he had to storm through the impenetrable human settlements to get them. He didn’t care if he died trying; he would save his family from slavery no matter what!
“Rule 14 of hunting. Look for clues everywhere to track your target.” He used the hunting skills he learned in class and applied them to find his family. It wasn’t that different from actual hunting because he was hunting pigs and dirty animals at this point. If they resorted to selling other Thalls, then they were less than animals.
He looked around the room to look for any clues to see where they went.
He winced when he saw a bit of blood on the floor next to their beds. There was a battle that ensued here. His mother most definitely tried to resist capture, and that led them to hit her and keep her quiet. Those bastards! How could they lift their hands on a woman?!
He then saw a broken piece of wood. It was thin, circular, and well-made by a skilled craftsman. This wasn’t here before. No. But Uno was familiar with it; this was the tail end of a spear! One of the Thalls who kidnapped his family must have broken his weapon in the struggle!
That meant that Uno knew where they were going next. He remembered one of the rules.
“Rule 9 of hunting. Never leave your home with a broken weapon.”
If those despicable Thalls were going to sell off his family to humans, they would want to come equipped. They were experienced hunters. They wouldn’t go into a confrontation with one of the deadliest sentient species out there with a broken spear.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
They would repair their weapons first! And the only place that they would go was the forest near the foot of the Icy Rock. Beneath that mountain, there was a specific type of tree that grew very strong wood that was used to construct the hunters’ weapons.
Now that he knew where they were, it was only a matter of time until he found them!
-------------
“Let us go, you beasts!” Rhita shouted. She and the rest of her children were tied down and forced to sit in a wagon.
“Quiet down, woman,” Bucko threatened Rhita. He was the mastermind of this operation. He and his friends targeted this weak family to save the entire village. From his conversation with the human merchant, Thalls fetched a high price on the slavery market. This would solve their famine.
And if added a little bit of money to his pocket, then he would just consider that as compensation for doing this good deed.
“Are you done getting wood yet? The human merchant is waiting for his new goods,” Bucko shouted to the guys chopping wood a bit further away from them.
“How could you do this? Do you even consider yourselves as Thalls anymore? Do you not care about the wrath of the Gods?!” Rhita shouted.
SLAP
Bucko slapped Rhita again, further exacerbating the wound on her cheeks. She bled even further, but she didn’t care.
She had to keep the rest of the men busy and annoyed with her so that they wouldn’t find out that she was trying to get rid of her children’s restraints. Dos, her oldest daughter, was smart enough to bring a piece of metal filer with her from the seamstress and kept it hidden in her dress.
Rhita was fine if she was sold to the slaves, but she couldn’t forgive herself if her children lived a life in cages. As long as her children were fine, she could die happy.
“WAHHH! WAHHH!” Seeing her mother bleed and get slapped many times, Tres couldn’t help but feel fear and sadness.
Bucko and the rest of the men were starting to get annoyed with all the crying. So, he raised his hand, about to hit the little child so that she wouldn’t cry anymore. He knew that he’d damage the goods if he did that, but he didn’t care. He was annoyed with the incessant crying.
“TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF MY LITTLE SISTER!!!”
Uno screamed from behind the bushes and attacked Bucko from behind with his wooden sword. His anger led him to use all the power he had in his body, making this wooden sword more lethal than it should be.
He knew that a slight cut would do nothing to an experienced hunter like Bucko, so he aimed directly for the neck. He wanted to cut it off!
However, just as the sword was about to make contact with Bucko’s neck, Bucko spoke up.
“Rule 4 of hunting. Don’t make noises when hunting or else you’ll spook your prey!” Bucko quickly ducked down and avoided Uno’s sword, with it slicing nothing but a few strands of Bucko’s hair.
Bucko then skillfully turned around and disarmed Uno’s sword by using his hand and chopping his wrist, making Uno let go of his weapon. Then, he grasped Uno’s neck and raised him in the air. The little boy was struggling to get out, but the difference in strength was far too much.
“You did well in tracking us down here, but you made a mistake at the last moment. Did no one teach you that you should never reveal your presence to your target until the very last moment?”
Bucko shook his head. “If you had kept quiet, then you could have at least given me a good scar on my neck. It wouldn’t have killed me, but you’d at least make me spill blood.”
Uno’s head turned red, not just because of the grip on his neck preventing him from breathing, but also because of anger. If Bucko hadn’t tried to hit his little sister, then he wouldn’t have lost his composure and continued to wait for the right moment.
But the moment that he saw his sister in trouble, he had to attack. And his anger and inexperience led him to shout out his frustrations.
“I can’t blame you for that, little boy. It’s your father’s fault. He should have taught you better.”
Uno opened his mouth, trying to speak up. He looked like he wanted to say something.
“What is it, boy?”
But because Bucko still had his grip on Uno’s neck, the boy couldn’t speak at all. Once Bucko lessened his grip, Uno took in a breath of fresh air.
“Your…son….”
“My son? Tucko?”
Uno smiled. “Before I left to find you…I made sure to teach him a lesson…”
A large vein made of anger pulsed from his forehead. He tried hard to keep his composure, but the mere mention of his child made him lose all the cool in his demeanor.
“What happened…” Bucko’s voice was low and full of threat. If Uno didn’t answer what he wanted to hear, then he’d face the death of a thousand animals.
“I broke every bone in his body…hahaha…he’ll never be able to wield a sword again. He won’t even be able to walk by himself!”
As soon as he said that, Bucko threw him over the tree. The impact made Uno throw up blood. The force of an adult hunter was too much for a youth like him. His ribs were broken and poked a hole in his lungs. He felt his breathing get heavier.
“I’ve had enough of you, boy. I’ll kill you.” Bucko raised his sword and quickly brought it down to Uno’s head.
However…
“You will do no such thing to my son.”