The mountain they were going down was a bit perilous, the sharp rocks and the slippery slopes, the old man was familiar with it, along with him was a small boy, the boy was excitedly jumping around the rocks following the old man.

“Do not underestimate the rocks!! Simon!!! I told you!! You god damn idiot!!!” and just after the old man’s warning, the boy falls upon slipping as he lands but like nothing happened the boy just stood up and continued going down. He was tough.

The old man clicked his tongue, it was annoying that the boy was wasting his concern.

The boy was a bundle of joy laughing at anything he finds fun but the boy would do something that was more annoying.

“Stop putting everything in your damn mouth boy!!! I will tell you if it's edible!!!” the old man warns the boy again.

It was his fault in the first place that Simon only knew how to eat some berries and mostly meat… but why would the boy test taste everything? He was annoyingly weird.

Just before they reached the feet of the mountain they were already losing day light, the old man decided to rest for a while, they made camp near a small river and caught some fish… it would be Simon’s first time eating it.

The two sat on stones and logs. By finding a large stone and cleaning it, they instantly had a stone table. The old man's and the boy's heads were bent over the table as they prepared their meal.

“Spread the salt thinly, that’s right” he was instructing the boy in preparing the fish.

He then checked out the boy’s face, he was already salivating…

“Eating it raw makes it taste gummy and the stench is horrible, you have to cook it so that the flavor that comes out becomes juicy,” the old man said and like an open book, the boy stopped salivating.

“From now on while we travel, you will only eat what we cook at night” the old man added more looking at the boy’s eyes.

“We will only eat this much?!” the boy had a disappointed tone in his voice.

The old man stood up and went back near the river where he created a blockage made out of stone to catch the fish.

Simon actually said “Aw” as the old man let go of the fish that was getting caught by the blockage of stones.

“Don’t aw me… stand up Simon, we will do a hand to hand training before our dinner tonight,” as the old man said Simon stood up, the old man was actually kneeling for them to have the same height.

“You will going to have the same length of arms and height as me after you grow… or probably more because of how you eat,” the old man began their training, the boy chuckled when he said “Because of how you eat,” the old man smiled too.

“Stretch out your arms in front of me,” the boy followed the instructions of the old man. He told of how one's arms work, what could bend and what couldn't.

“By planting your feet in the ground and using all of your muscle core you can produce enough strength at one point, remember to have a stable footing,” this training was called arm’s bridge.

“What’s this for old man? Just teach me the sword!” Simon asked.

“You have too much strength in your body and you don’t know how to control it, you have to learn hand to hand combat first before you hold a sword or you are going to hurt yourself, break your sword then hurt yourself” the old man straightly answered and the boy just nodded, the boy wondered why the old man repeated “hurt yourself,” twice.

They did the arm’s bridges for a while and when the fish started to smell good they stopped and had their dinner.

<--->

In the morning, Simon woke up early easily. They had some fruits and berries and after that, their walk began again.

As soon as the 2 arrived at the feet of the mountain they started heading south.

A few kilometers and they would reach one of the main roads of the eastern frontier but the old man has other plans, they head into off road continuing south.

“Remember to try to always go off roads if you don’t want any trouble don’t follow the roads,” it was a stern warning from the old man, Simon nodded as they walked off the main roads into the forest.

Simon looked to the east, he was sure it was the village he was born in, the one they saw during their walk down the mountains, he could see smoke coming from there, they were probably cooking something nice. The old man stopped for a while and looked at him.

“We will stay here for a while, you will learn how to live with nature,” the old man said.

“Aren’t we already living with it?” Simon asked innocently.

“You will see…” the old man just smiled as the 2 walked again.

…

The forest unlike the one in the mountains was actually a bit more complicated, the old man was right with his warning, unlike in the mountains where there are good places to camp, the forest was always damp. There were places where they could start fire easily but they would always sleep on tree branches where they fasten themselves not to fall.

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At first, Simon was really struggling to sleep but after a few days, he was sleeping comfortably while hanging on the tree. After that the old man taught Simon some rope tricks like the bow line and the slip knot, additionally he taught him how to create a sling bed out of the large cloth on their bags.

It was the first time in a while that the boy really slept well on a sling bed. Not only did it protect them from insects, but it also preserved their body heat… though the old man explained it, Simon didn’t understand it anyway.

As they were staying in the forest they were slowly going westwards.

<--->

A few days later as the 2 were searching for prey they found something interesting.

Simon and the old man were hiding in the shadows of trees each of them standing on the top of a branch. It was still mid-day. They were watching a carriage and a scene unfolding.

“Simon this scene is what you call thievery, forcefully taking things from someone using violence or probably leverage is in some way or form of stealing,” the old man explained as the 2 watched the scene of thieving.

The merchant was still on his carriage with his family, he was holding a sword and his wife a bow. Two of his children were at the back shaking on their boots…. the thieves outnumbered them.

“What should we do?” Simon naively asked.

“Wait for awhile… but don’t let anyone die or it will be a tragedy-” but the thieves were starting to riled up because of the shaking children and the driver’s wife “-Oh! We should help them now!” the old man said and it was the signal for the 2 to rush out of hiding.

Before the fight began the two jumped down of the tree rushing to the area.

“Simon go for their necks it's easy!” the old man pointed to his neck as he instructed Simon. “ Hello, sir you are safe now!” the old man said it like it was a promotion. The merchant and some of his daughters sighed but when they saw the old man and child… even the thieves started laughing.

“An old man and a child? What the hell are you guys gonna do?” one of the thieves said.

“Oh I’m gonna hurt you so much that you won’t be able to chew for 3 months… boy this one's mine!”

“Is he lucky?” Simon asked.

“Yeah, he keeps his life” the old man answered.

The battle didn’t even last that long.

Simon was now lining up the bodies. The old man stared at the boy, it seemed that the boy didn’t even feel anything about killing humans. Was that good? The old man thought but then the merchant grabbed his hands.

“Sir thank you so much! I would like to offer you anything we have here feel free to take it!!! Thanks for saving us!!!” the merchant who was traveling said with heartfelt gratitude, his family was safe and his merchandise was just a second of his concerns.

The merchant was shaking the old man’s hands out of gratitude as a father… the old man felt something from the merchant’s hands, he knew that he was not a normal merchant.

“It’s okay, actually if you would like, we would like to escort you to your destination… hmm perhaps the west?” the old man said probing.

“Yes we are going to trade to the town just west of this forest and continue traveling… but the highway right now is…” the merchant was quite hesitant to say but it seemed that the tax on going into the main highways was getting higher to the point that they had to relocate themselves. They were looking for opportunities in the west.

The old man instantly knew that the man was lying, the magic he felt from him, and the way he carried himself, he knew that the merchant was a noble, he must be a fallen noble from the central continent.

The old man smiled as an idea sprouted in his mind, he began writing on a piece of paper, and even the merchant was surprised by the sudden action of the old man.

And while the old man was writing he began speaking “Don’t even try to live in the eastern frontiers, it would be hard for nobles to get used to there, rather go back to the central continent and try the west side but you need to go south first.”

The merchant was quite surprised that the old man figured out that they were nobles.

“Uhm sir… how did you know?” the merchant asked but the old man just raised his hands to stop him from his curiosity and then continued writing.

Simon was checking out the last thief's body… only a single one was kept alive but got a black eye on both sides, the old man was planning something for him.

Simon got some blood on his face, the fight was a total slaughter, after punching the first head that broke with a crunch the faces of the thieves turned souring fear.

One of the daughters of the merchant jumped down and wiped the blood off Simon’s face.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?” she softly said.

“Shelia, be careful, one of the thieves might still be alive!” the father warned her. Shelia finally noticed the strange eyes of Simon… she retracted her hands dropping the handkerchief she was using to wipe blood.

“I’m sure… only one is alive… though another one is on that tree over there watching?” Simon said nonchalantly.

Knowing that he was already busted the thief that was hiding revealed himself with guts.

“We are the Red Raiders!!! The boss wouldn’t like this!” the thief began to run away even after declaring their band’s name.

Simon was prepared to rush him down but the old man stopped him “Boy, no need to chase let him go,” the old man said as he finished up his letter.

Simon noticed the last thief that has 2 black eyes “Old man you forgot to break his jaw… I’ll do it?” Simon asked. The thief almost peed his pants and the Old man just nodded.

“BREAK!!!”

“Simon… you killed him!” the Old man exclaimed… the merchant and his family who were watching were starting to get afraid of Simon.

Even Shelia who loved children felt fear from him.

“Looks like this is your limit… we will go now… could you send this to the fisherman’s village it's for the chief, just think of it as an exchange for saving you,” The old man handed a paper to the merchant.

”Yes of course… but…” the merchant surveyed around the bloody mess.

“We will burn them don’t worry… Uhm do you have match sticks?” the old man asked with a tone calming the merchant.

The two dug a small pit and burned the bodies there. After the fire ended they buried them and collected some of their belongings as proof that they were taken out, the adventurer’s guild would pay them for that.

…

In the evening. The two just finished their dinner, they actually found a good place to rest and they didn’t need to hang themselves in the tree as per usual, it was a dry cave that was deep enough to house the 2 of them. The two were watching the fire as they were talking.

“This is a good cave old man,” Simon said as he nibbled some of the berries on his hands, the merchant gave them a few bags of food and berries as thanks.

“You forgot to give back the lady’s handkerchief Simon, that’s bad manners,” the old man said as he noticed a white redden cloth hanging in Simon’s pocket.

“She said I can have it,” Simon answered.

They still had that bunch of meat that came from the mountains, the old man was checking it out.

“The frontier has gotten worse… Simon… who’s scarier… monsters or humans?” the old man asked as he was packing the meat carefully, they could consume it or sell it in a village.

“Monsters… they are stronger… humans are weak but you are strong?” Simon answered ending with a question.

“Remember this… Monsters are simple… they will kill you to eat… to survive… Humans are different… the hell you are sleeping?” finally the old man noticed Simon who was already tuckered and sleeping. He didn’t even notice him taking out his blanket from his bag.