After a few months of travel, Aurelius woke up one day, tied tightly to a chunky tree with some kind of wire and seated in front of a dim campfire. He raised his gaze, a splitting headache making the simple act of using his eyes feel like death.

It took a while for him to even be able to notice the boy in baggy mercenary clothing with unusually soft facial features.

"You conscious already?" the boy remarked, his voice strange and his expression barely changing since the moment he noticed Aurelius open his eyes. "Good thing you kept supplying essence for reinforcement. Otherwise, you'd be a corpse right now, and I'd be stuck with a bunch of cripples as assistants."

Aurelius' head slowly moved from side to side for a while before he managed to keep still and ask, "How did you... Wha... Who are you?"

"I can tell you what I did later. For now, all you need to know is that I'm your new partner," the person said, tilting his chin down with a lifeless stare before he loosely pointed at Aurelius. "And you're the one who will help me get my hands on some enhancers."

***

Just a day before, in a large forest, there was a tall young man in simple brown clothes that revealed his long but tightly muscular frame. The young man had smooth, hairless cheeks, which created a sharp look. Then there was his unformed golden hair that swayed as he exhaled through his teeth. And lastly, his steady, blue eyes that he opened before connecting the palms of his outstretched arms as he heard a young boy scream out.

Essence then traveled through his body to the tips of his fingers. There, the essence proceeded to build up for a short moment before abruptly shooting out in the form of a blue beam—the size of an apple—into the distance. The man felt a bit of fatigue right after, to the point of being tempted to drop his shoulders, but then there was an impact and a loud animalistic whimper.

Aurelius had expected such sounds but hurried to the scene anyway after quickly hiding his duffel bag.

After dashing to the scene, he found a small, brown-haired boy sitting limply with his eyes wide. The boy didn't seem capable of looking away from the wolf, which had a gaping hole in its torso.

Aurelius' nose crumpled up at the sight before he walked up to the boy and covered his eyes, much to the shock of the boy, who hadn't even seemed to notice Aurelius' presence.

Aurelius took hold of the boy gently and said, "Please don't look that way."

"Are you the one that did that?" the boy asked, his voice shaky.

"Yeah, I am. I didn't want to, but I didn't have time to think of a better solution than that," Aurelius said as he glanced at the wolf's remains. "Anyway, a boy like you shouldn't be wandering around a forest like this. Where do you live?"

"Uhh," the boy mumbled as he looked around and then pointed in a direction, "My house is that way."

After taking a quick look in the direction where the boy pointed, Aurelius asked, "Is it far?"

"I guess," the boy said, his voice wavy.

After hearing the boy's answer, Aurelius tapped on his forehead twice, making his brain tingle and his eye color deepen.

Suddenly, it was like he could feel the movement of every muscle, joint, and hair on his body. He could also distinguish all the different smells that the forest provided, see even the smallest details in all the trees and plants around him, hear the rustling of the leaves and the chirping of the birds much more clearly, and even vividly feel the small beads of sweat on his forehead. It was an overwhelming feeling, but he had gotten used to it over the years.

Aurelius then picked the boy up and said, "Hold on tight."

Lastly, he flexed his leg muscles twice in rapid succession and felt a pulse of essence. After having enhanced his senses and the physical prowess of his legs, he lowered himself into a running position and burst forth.

Not having reinforced his body may have been a little reckless, but reinforcing his body would have required him to split his focus even more, and since he was carrying a child, he wasn't planning on tripping or hitting a tree.

While the boy held on for dear life, Aurelius dodged the trees ahead skillfully as his hair fluttered wildly in the wind. He had gotten used to this type of travel after having done it since he was just a small child. The pace had been a bit slower back then, though.

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It didn't take long before they reached a small town, and when they did, Aurelius let the boy down and was about to apologize when the boy started jumping up and down. "Again, again!"

"Sorry, I'm too tired already," Aurelius said, scratching the back of his head with an awkward smile.

The child started sulking, so Aurelius put on an exaggerated frown and ruffled the boy's hair as a form of apology before changing the topic. "So where's your house?"

"Oh, I live right there," he said, pointing towards a flat, one-story wooden house with walls that were in rather poor condition.

"Hmm, I think your mom has some words for you," Aurelius said after seeing a brown-haired woman in a worn-out dress walking out of the house the boy had pointed to and towards them. She had probably seen them out of the window. "Well, it's time for you to meet your maker," Aurelius said with a slight smile, all too familiar with the scene.

"Lucas, how many times have I forbidden you from going into the forest?!" the woman yelled as he strode toward them menacingly.

"I know, I'm sorry," Lucas apologized with his head lowered.

'Hmm, straight-forward approach. Interesting,' Aurelius noted inwardly with a nod.

Then the woman bowed her head to Aurelius and said, "Thank you for bringing my son home."

"Ah, don't worry, it was no trouble," Aurelius said with a wave of his hand but then got a little more serious. "There are some lone wolves in these forests, so I hope you're a little stricter in the future."

Lucas watched with horror as he was betrayed by his hero, and his mother's expression grew worse by the second.

"Lucas, go to your room. Now!" the woman yelled, her face red with anger as she furiously pointed towards the house.

Aurelius watched with pursed lips as Lucas ran inside the house before turning back to the woman in front of him. "I'll be going now as well."

"Ah, would you like some food? You can take it as a thank you for saving my son," the woman offered generously.

"I don't need any kind of reward. I'm just happy to help." Aurelius said with a soft smile. "But... I haven't eaten anything for a while now. What do you have?"

"Just some rabbit stew," the woman answered.

Aurelius' shoulders dropped. "Sorry, but I don't eat rabbit," he said.

"What kind of man doesn't eat rabbit?" the woman asked, seemingly in awe.

"Oh, I just don't eat anything besides predatory animals. I don't think it's right to kill animals that aren't causing any trouble."

"Well, aren't you a saint? But people need to get food somehow."

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that." He put a hand out apologetically with an awkward smile. "I just think I should get my food from predators since I can."

Right as Aurelius thought the conversation was over and was about to walk away, however, he heard the woman call out. "Ah, there's also freshly baked bread."

***

"Thank you for the food. I'll be continuing on my travels now. Oh, and tell Lucas that I'm sorry," Aurelius said with a wave before exiting Lucas' house.

It was pretty late already. The sun was starting to fall lower than the trees on the horizon, and the clouds were getting progressively darker.

'I should probably go buy a map somewhere,' Aurelius thought after walking deeper into the town as he looked at the few bronze coins he had left from selling an animal he had hunted a few days before. It wasn't enough.

The woman had thought he was the son of a wealthy merchant or an elite soldier. Well, he was, but it sure didn't show in his funds. Then the conversation had just turned into a lecture about essence like it always did when talking to people who weren't familiar with it.

Aurelius heard some commotion in the distance. He looked around, and the few people who were out this late were walking away with hurried steps or exchanging fearful glances.

Aurelius approached and found the commotion to be caused by the outside of a pub that sure sounded like it was filled to the brim. What caught his attention, however, was a pair outside the pub. It was a woman in a shabby flower dress being harassed by an intoxicated, burly man dressed in a black outfit that had all kinds of weapons attached. That conversation likely didn't include a lecture on essence.

Aurelius' eyes narrowed slightly, and the ends of his lips curled down as he looked around at all the bystanders and held back a shake of his head. They weren't responsible, and they likely had no way of helping. He was not to judge them. Aurelius remembered his notebook and Gabriel's advice, as he always did.

'But I can help, and it is my responsibility to do so,' he thought.

He walked up to the two and grabbed the man's hand. "Hey, sorry. I just recently got introduced to the concept of romance, but even I can see that the lady isn't very enthusiastic about you. Maybe you should try your luck with another one."

"Get off of me, you—" the man was saying, but stopped when Aurelius tapped his forehead twice.

Aurelius' eye color transformed, and the man let go. Aurelius then watched as the man turned and walked inside the pub before stopping the supply of essence from being directed into his brain and sighing.

"Thank you, but you should go now." Aurelius heard the woman say as he turned around to face her.

Aurelius' brows furrowed as he put a hand on his head. "Wait, was I wrong? You were into him? Damn, sorry. I'm really bad with these things," Aurelius apologized, scratching the back of his head as he tried figuring out ways to fix the situation, thinking he had scared off an innocent man.

Then he noticed that the people who had been glancing around fearfully in the area were gone.

"No, but..." the woman said and pointed at the door of the pub that had just been opened again, tens of men in similar black outfits walking out right after.

"See, I told you his hair's golden." the man from before exited laughing while pointing at Aurelius and holding his hand out in front of one of the other mercenaries.

Aurelius turned around and immediately understood the situation. However, he stayed where he was.

"Go. Run away." the woman urged as she shook him.

Aurelius kept his gaze on the men dressed in black and answered, "No, I don't think I will."