After Shizuka left us alone at the library, we put our books back into the shelves and left as well. I couldn’t imagine why she would just leave us like that, I guess she really must have been feeling very sick. It's been a long time since we've all been together like this, so we planned to enjoy the day and have fun. It didn’t seem like her to just leave. I hoped that she would feel better in the evening so she could attend Kuro’s party that was planned for tonight.

Today, Layla would come back to the village after completing a mission from the adventurer’s guild that lasted for almost five years. I couldn’t wait to hear everything about it. Because it was such a big event, many people were invited to celebrate Layla’s return to Greenwood. She held the position of the third strongest adventurer in the rankings, so she didn’t have the time to visit her family often. Kuro jumped around like a little kid when the message of her return reached him.

That was a side of Kuro that I couldn’t see often. Ever since I have known him, his personality was very serious, and he was overthinking things often. His mother told me that he became like that after his father’s death, and that he was a very happy and carefree child. I looked at him as we walked down the road side by side. We were both lost in our thoughts, so we didn’t talk much. We were on our way to the church, where I lived.

I lost my parents when a group of bandits attacked Greenwood almost ten years ago. Since that fateful day, I’ve been living in the church with a few other orphans. It was like a big family. The nuns that cared for me were like my parents and the other kids were like siblings to me. I met Kuro for the first time when he accompanied his mother to the church. I thought he was a little weird at first, but after we met a few times, I came to like him a lot.

We eventually became friends, and I started visiting his home often. His mother Lisbeth and his little sister Anna welcomed me warmly and I immediately felt at home. When I visited him for his eighth birthday, I met Shizuka for the first time. She has always been a quiet girl, and it was hard for me to get close to her at first. Because she was very shy, it took a long time for her to open up to me. She was often bullied because she was a half-elf, so she didn’t trust people she didn’t know well.

When I finally earned her trust, Kuro, Shizuka, and I started playing together every day and formed a strong bond with each other. We had become inseparable friends by now and would do everything together. Since Kuro and I have been very busy lately, we rarely had time to meet and do something fun. Kuro and I would become adventurers soon, so we had a lot to plan and prepare. I was kind of sad when I thought about leaving the village, my friends, and Shizuka behind when we’d leave for the kingdom’s capital.

I still hoped that Shizuka would decide to join us on our journey, but I didn’t want to pressure her on that matter. When we finally reached the church, Kuro nudged me with his elbow. I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t notice that we arrived. We entered the huge building and got our wooden swords that we used for training. The nuns of the church were kind enough to let us store our training equipment there.

Sometimes, when the nuns were out running errands, we used the church for our training. It was the perfect place to practice. The huge Hall offered much space and even if you made a few mistakes, you couldn’t get cornered easily. If they found out that we used the place for training, they’d be furious. I read many books about swordsmanship and made some of the guards and hunters of the village show me some tricks. That wasn’t comparable to real training, so I made Kuro help me with that.

That way, both of us got fighting experience, and it wouldn’t hurt Kuro to know something about close combat, even when he became a mage. Ever since I saw Kuro’s sister Layla in action, I wanted to become as strong as her. No, even stronger. I wanted to become the strongest swordsman in the entire world. I trained every day to steel my body and get ready to finally become an adventurer of whom my parents would be proud of. Today was the day that I would finally challenge Layla to a duel. I trained for many years, and when Kuro received the message about the return of his older sister, I knew that my time has come.

We left the church and brought the wooden swords to Kuro’s house. I planned to challenge Layla after she told us about the adventurer’s guild quest. When we entered the house with the swords, Kuro’s mother shot us a disapproving glance. She hated weapons. She was very against Kuro becoming an adventurer and had tried to talk Layla out of it many times as well. She was like this ever since I have met her, so I was already used to it. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea bringing the swords inside.

“Mrs. Moonshade, where should I put the swords? I don’t want you to feel bothered by them.”

Even though she offered me to call her Lisbeth, or by her nickname Lizzie many times, I stuck with calling her by her family name. She was the mother of my best friend after all, so it was important to be respectful at all times.

Her face softened slightly when she answered me. She was a very simple woman. You could basically get away with anything as long as you either apologized or asked nicely.

“You can put them next to the door, I’ll make an exception for today.”

“Thank you, I appreciate that.” I bowed slightly and put the swords down next to the door like she told me.

“She really seems to like you. I don’t think any person other than you and Layla were ever allowed to bring a weapon into this house.”

As Kuro said that to me, I felt a gentle warmth in my body. It’s nice to see when honesty and respect paid off.

“Yeah, she treats me like I’m her own son sometimes.”

Even for me it felt like I was a part of this family. I came over and brought gifts for everyone’s birthday and got gifts myself. We celebrated the new year, the national founding day of the kingdom, and even summer’s eve at the end of spring together. I was also invited for dinner almost every day, even though I had to decline that offer most of the time to avoid food poisoning. As great of a mother as Kuro’s mother was, she couldn’t cook. Her vegetable stew was the only dish that tasted good, not that I would ever say that to her face.

Just as Kuro and I were walking up the stairs to the second floor where Kuro’s room was, his mother came after us.

“Would you be so kind to stay and help me with the cleaning after the party?”

She didn’t even have to ask me. Of course I’d help out.

“Sure, no problem. I’m always happy to help.”

“Thank you very much, it’s always nice to have an additional pair of hands around to help.”

She smiled at me, bowed slightly and left us alone to continue with the preparations. We walked up the stairs, entered Kuro’s room, and I closed the door behind us.

“Kuro, we need to talk.”

At first, I wasn’t sure if we were thinking the same thing, but when Kuro turned around and looked at me with a worried expression on his face, I knew that we were on the same wavelength.

“Yeah, Shizuka’s been very weird. I’ve never seen her like that. The way she suddenly left almost seemed like she was hiding something. Do you think she’s troubled by anything?”

I was a little happy when Kuro spoke my thoughts out loud. It felt like there was a real connection between us.

“I can’t think of anything that would trouble her that she wouldn’t tell us about. We still have some time until Layla arrives and the party starts, we could visit her at home and ask her if anything’s wrong.”

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I didn’t want to miss the beginning of the party, but I really wanted to know what was up with her.

“We can make it in time if we hurry, but we have to be quick.”

So, we decided to pay her a visit at home and ask her in private if anything was wrong. As we wanted to leave Kuro’s house though, his mother called out to us.

“Kiyara hasn’t replied to my invitation yet, could you go to her shack and invite her directly?”

This destroyed our plan completely, as we couldn’t just refuse her request. I turned my head to Kuro, my eyes begging him for a solution.

“We should split up. You visit Shizuka, I talk to Kiyara.”

I was glad for his offer, because it meant that I wouldn’t have to visit Kiyara’s shack. Kiyara was a witch living in the forest next to the village. She didn’t have any friends except for Kuro and his mother Lisbeth, which was due to her gloomy personality and her shut-in lifestyle.

I agreed and we split up in opposite directions. It was already dark outside, so we had no time to waste. Layla and the guests would arrive soon. I turned around one last time to see Kuro walking away in the distance. I braced myself against the cold and started running to Shizuka’s house. Her house was in the center of Greenwood, while Kuro’s house was at the edge of the village. After running for what felt like an eternity, I stopped to catch a breath and leaned against a nearby wall. If the streets weren’t illuminated by glowing mana stones, I would be shitting my pants running around here in the dark.

Just as that thought crossed my mind, I noticed a brighter light than that of the mana stones coming from an alley next to me. I cautiously looked into the alley and spotted the source of the light. It was a flame burning in the hand of a tall, middle-aged man. A mage. Next to his feet lay the body of a young girl. I couldn’t see her face, but her reddish-brown hair and the pointy ears were enough for me to identify her.

“What are you doing to her?!? Leave her alone!”

I screamed as loud as I could, ran towards the man and pushed him away from Shizuka. He stumbled over his feet and I took the opportunity to get between him and Shizuka’s lifeless body. She was wearing a pretty dress, it looked like she was on the way to the party when the man attacked her. I took a closer look at the man. He was very tall, but his body was built like a stick. He looked like someone who hasn’t eaten anything for a few days. I should be able to beat him in a fight if I didn’t get hit by his magic. The man started approaching me, but his movements were stiff and sluggish, like that of a puppet. His face looked fake as well, his neutral expression hasn’t changed once since I have seen him.

“Get out of the way, kid. Give me the girl and I’ll be gone.”

His voice was hoarse and gave me goosebumps. It sounded like the voice that would come out of a corpse if it could talk. I tried to calm down a bit and sort my thoughts before I replied to him. My knees were shaking in fear, and cold sweat ran down my back. There was no way I’d give in and let the man take her with him though. Kuro, Shizuka and I had made a promise when we became friends. We would always be there for each other and protect us, even if it cost our lives.

“No! If you want her, you have to kill me first!”

One of the guards once told me that a surprise attack can turn a battle in your favor, so I ran at him before he even had the chance to reply. I smashed my fist into his face as hard as I could and sent him flying. I was a fifteen-year-old boy, and he looked like he was in his forties. There was no way I could just sent him flying with a punch. And yet, there he was, on the ground a few meters away from me. I looked at my hand. I was strong, I knew that. I had trained my body every day for the past four years. But still, sending a grown man flying seemed a bit much. As the man got up from the ground, I noticed his robotic movements again. It looked like he really was a puppet, the toy of a mage.

If that was the case, there was no chance that I could win against him. As long as he was supplied with mana and his body was intact, he could keep fighting and would get up from the ground again and again, no matter what I did to him. Even though I knew that fighting him was pointless, I couldn’t give up. I didn’t have a chance, but the girl behind me had even less of a chance. I needed to figure out how we could escape. If only she was awake, this would’ve been way easier. The puppet approached me again, and I had no clue how I could escape with Shizuka. Great. It threw a blade at me, and aimed directly at my face. There was no way I could dodge that.

“Sorry Kuro, sorry Shizuka. I won’t make it.” Fear and sadness took ahold of me. We had so many plans, and now it’s just gonna end here? In a dark alley in Greenwood? My eyes got wet from the thought that it was over now. The blade was approaching me at a rapid speed. I’m gonna die. I’m gonna die. It’s over. It’s…..

There was a loud ringing sound in my head.

BEEP. BEEEP. BEEP. Conditions met. Skill: Perception (F) has been unlocked and added to the skill list.

A new skill? Just as I was about to die? How unlucky, if only I had gotten that skill earlier.

Suddenly, when the blade was only one or two meters away from my face, it slowed down. But it wasn’t just the blade. Everything around me got slower. Like time itself was slowed down. I took the time to take a look at the blade. It was made from ice, so it seemed to be a product of magic. The perfect killing tool. No need to clean up afterwards, the weapon would just disappear when the sun came up. I tried to grab the blade with my hand. To my confusion, it worked. I grabbed the blade midair, just as it was about to pierce my face. I threw it back at the man, and it pierced his right leg.

He was just about to throw another blade, thinking that it was a fluke, but I wasn’t going to let him try again. I ran at him and kicked his hand away, sending his freshly created blade flying into the air. Just as I thought that I caught him off-guard, that fake face smiled at me. He opened his mouth, and I could see that he didn’t have a tongue or teeth. The inside of his mouth was made from a leathery material, and was bound with hundreds of stitches. When he spoke, his hoarse voice came out again.

“Burst.”

It was just one word. One single word. But when the Icy blade that was thrown into the air when I attacked him started to glow as it came down, Goosebumps formed on my back. The blade exploded with a force that was strong enough to send me flying back into the alley. I searched my body for any wounds, but beside some scratches, I seemed to be fine. I needed to get up, it wasn’t over yet. I used the wall next to me for support and got up to my feet. Just as I got ready to jump at him again, the man raised his hand and directed his open palm at me.

“Stop bothering me you annoying brat! Fire, burn away those who stand in my way! Bring forth agony over my enemies and let them feel the pain of hell itself! Grand fireball!”

This was bad. Grand fireball was an intermediate level spell with considerable destructive power. There was no way I could dodge it in a small alley like this. And even if I could, the unconscious Shizuka couldn’t. What a shame, to think that my dream was over even before I became an adventurer I had already gotten a second chance during the fight; there was no chance something like that was going to happen again. Maybe, if I shielded her with my body, Shizuka could survive. But even if she did, that puppet would take her with it or kill her.

I closed my eyes and prepared to be burned to ashes. I waited a few seconds, but nothing happened. I slowly opened my eyes again and saw that the man’s palm wasn’t directed at me anymore. The man directed his palm into the sky, and next to him was an old little man who seemed to have slapped away the puppet’s palm with the stick he used as a walking aid. The light of the puppet’s grand fireball let me see exactly who it was.

“Gil! What are you doing here? Get away fast, this guy is dangerous!” I couldn’t understand what that old geezer was thinking. Why did he come here?

“This isn’t my first rodeo kid. Sit back and watch a real fight.”

His voice sounded very confident. I wanted to believe him, and let him handle it. Just do what he said, sit back and watch them. But I couldn’t. Gil might have been an adventurer when he was young, but now he’s nothing more than an old geezer.

“Gil! Get away! He’s a puppet! You can’t win against him!”

My voice was full of panic and I had multiple voice cracks. Didn’t he understand that this guy was too much for him and me? This guy was a puppet, a magic tool, made to serve and destroy. An old geezer was no match for something like that.

“Just sit back and watch. You young lads should really learn not to judge a book by its cover.”

With those words he swung his stick at the puppet, which dodged it with its robotic movements. When the puppet tried to counterattack with a swing of its fist to Gils face, Gil grabbed the puppet’s hand and ripped off its arm. My jaw dropped at this sight. That frail old man, that always told us stories and fairy tales when we were younger, just ripped off a puppet’s arm. Good puppets were usually made from high quality components. Ripping off a puppet’s arm wasn’t an easy feat by any means. The power that Gil displayed was comparable to crushing iron with his bare hand. He was absolutely incredible. Gil smacked the severed arm against the puppets face and sent it flying. When it crashed into the ground, Gil raised his hand and prepared a magic spell. Unlike the puppet, he didn’t use an incantation for his spell. From incantations, to runes, to formless casting, there were thousands of ways to use magic and cast spells. Gils spell was shining in a beautiful green light that hurt my eyes when I looked at it. When he released it, my eyes were blinded for a moment, and when I could see again, everything that was left of the puppet was the severed arm on the ground. Gil picked up the arm and turned to leave.

“Ryu, you should take Shizuka and get away fast. I don’t know how much more of them there are, and I won’t be able to take down another one. Unfortunately, the pain in my back has been killing me today.”

He walked towards his house and giggled into his beard until I couldn’t hear him anymore. I sat around for a few minutes, trying to process the shock. Then I tried to wake up Shizuka, but it didn’t work. I threw my Jacket over Shizuka, trying to shield her from the cold. I gathered all my strength, picked her up, and started making my way to Kuro’s house.