Allan could never understand the need for power, but he can imagine the real hunger that was deeply integrated with the ruling class of the world. They want more and more. Without quenching their thirst for greed, they would go on until being hit by a quantitative force they wouldn’t be able to defeat.

One can only hope that the kingdom of Grusha will stand against this sudden invasion, and Allan hoped for a chance to overrule the current disaster. But, the City of Waan has already fallen, never to be returned to its previous splendor.

All of a sudden, the light penetrated the cave, and Allan couldn't help but shut his eyes. It enveloped everything from a few meters before him. It took him at least a few dozen seconds to get his sight back on track. He looked warily in front of him while his hazy gaze adjusted to the sudden light.

A man with ordinary features, apart from a huge scar on half his face, was looking at Allan with indifferent eyes. A bright, small crystal was in his hands. The light came from this crystal, which was illuminating the entire cave. It cast shadows everywhere, with rocks, stalagmites, and so on, being the source of them.

“Y-y-you!?” Allan shouted. He recognized this man because of his scar. He was a man who stood behind that old man who was currently fighting with Skoll.

“Well, I found you at last. I expected this, but it is still rather disappointing. Being tasked to take a mortal kid. Man... It is surely disheartening to watch it all fall apart, isn’t it, brat?” The man talked in a monotone voice. Like someone who didn't care one bit about what the others would think.

Allan shook to his core. His fist clenched so hard he wanted to burst forth. He did not have an urge to beat someone in his entire life like the person before him. He didn't even know anything about him, but the sudden hatred from his word injected him with courage, unbeknown to him ever before.

“AAAAAHHH!!!” Allan shouted, and charged at him. He swung his short sword hidden under the blanket, right to the body of that man.

Clink!

Blade stopped its charge as its tip hit his chest. Allan stumbled away while dropping his weapon, which was shattered to pieces.

The man, unbothered by this sudden attack, kept looking at him as if he had watched the most mundane stuff of his life. No pity in his eyes. The only indifferent gaze looked at Allan as if he had seen an ant.

“I guess there should be at least some chance for survival. If someone with no chances is given a 1-time limited offer, it's so funny to see it. Hehehehehe.” Scarred man's laughter sounded throughout the cave. He touched his face in a manner of deep thoughts. A smirk of intentions and ideas appeared on his face.

“Alright, mortal brat, I've decided to give you a chance. It's time to run for your life! Run to make my time worth it! Run to your content, until your breath will light your lungs on fire!” He shouted in an exaggerated manner to Allan, who was left speechless by this madman's words and cheers.

“You want to make me into your little mice plaything?” “Dream on!” Allan shouted. Pulling his other sword, he pounced at the man with no hesitation. Not stopping himself from the earlier failure, he swung it to his head this time.

SMACK!

A blink and the dark were all that happened in a moment. Confused and dizzy, Allan was crushed to the wall. Blood rushed from his mouth while his mind was in total shambles. It was an instant pain that wasn't even processed by his sight.

“Wwwwwhahtt…” He fell to the ground upon realizing he was facing the wall. Realizing this man had just smacked him to his near death, he thought and fell into despair.

“Oh nonononononono. You are going to be good prey for me. Master is on his own hunt right now, so you will do the same for my sake.” The man crouched down and lifted his bloodied head. His father’s bandanna was left with a bloody color.

“Now, now, now, don’t you dare to end on me. Run now!” He tossed Allan towards his small temporal camp. “Take your things, of course. They are also your life, as you won’t starve! Hehehehehe. That is right.”

Allan pushed himself up. Grabbing his bag, he stumbled to an exit with a still hazy and confused mind. “Yes, yeeees. That is a suitable expression of despair! Truly emotional” Man looked at him with excitement, while walking behind Allan. But he wasn't that patient type of person, so he kicked him to his back.

There was no time to waste, and he wasn't that patient for slow action. Allan flew from the cave and with a thud, hit a small tree. This time, not with his face, which was great, but he still didn't like it. He picked himself up from the ground and ran across the stone surface of the hill, taking all chances of fleeing to the forest.

He was numb to every better possibility for survival that he forgot what to do. All in his mind was to go away as far as he could. Panting and blood dripping from his nose and mouth, he fell short of breath in a couple of minutes. It came from his shock and injuries, while not even the burst of adrenaline helped him that much.

Earlier in the cave, he felt like he had hit him with a force stronger than a hammer. Normally, you would be completely gone from such an attack, but it hit Allan in a way that he didn't lose consciousness right away. In a normal situation, the mind or whatever was hit would be no longer usable. This hit struck him so unexpectedly fast in such a fashion that his whole body went with him. Crushing into a bloody figure before the mind even realized it.

Allan's run went on while he struggled for breath. Occasionally falling over and getting up, he still felt a tingling sensation of despair everywhere. He couldn't see, nor hear the man anywhere, but there was no way he could run from him. The bag on his shoulder eased his second hit, but the first was all he needed to feel dizzy and helpless. He ran, fell, and started to stroll around the forest for 20 minutes. Not knowing where he was, Allan wasn't even in the motion to care if knew or not.

Swoooooosh!

Panting and slowing down, a piece of pebble flew from far bushes and smashed Allan's thigh with heavy force. It made him stumble for some time, while the pain woke his mind a little. He looked around in pain, while his left thigh bones were broken for sure. He couldn't run any longer, so all that was left was to stumble to safety. Yes... safety. Relevant safety of his mind, which was beginning to turn numb.

As he continued, even though the pain, the man with a scar emerged from the far bushes. He was playing with pebbles in his hands. Grinning with a playful expression as he tossed them again to Allan.

Bang! Smack!

Allan’s bag blocked these blows this time, apart from the one that hit his chest as he stumbled and around. He fell to his knee, panting hard in a try to catch his breath.

“Yehheheh. A successful hunt is a pleasurable hunt! Isn’t it a grand truth?” The man cheered himself up. Strolling toward Allan, who crawled to a nearby tree, he couldn't help but smile with his sinister face. Resting on a side of a nearby tree, Allan's bandanna slipped off from his neck to his chest, with the lack of proper security. The blood and the motions made it loose.

“You don’t have anything to say? Anything to add to your meaningless life? Those pebbles are the best that you could ask for!! Your ancestors would be proud of your accomplished death, you mortal piece of shit! Hahaha.” The man shrieked as he tossed more pebbles to him.

The wind blew up.

Pebbles struck the air before stopping and flying away into the distance. A man with a hidden appearance in a cloak emerged from the unknown. He was standing before the scarred man and Allan in an imposing manner.

“WHO the fuck are you? Do you dare to clash with me? In my hunt?” The scarred man shouted with anger while appearing unnaturally furious. Veins popped through his neck, eyes, and arms that were visible.

“I am sorry for stopping this little hunt. I don't know who you are, but I know your seniority.” The man in a cloak said in a hoarse voice.

“F-f-fucker! I was tasked with work here by someone you could never glance an eye on in your entire life!” The scarred man shouted even more furiously as he heard his words.

The cloaked man, unmoved by his remarks, put his hand into the pocket of his clothes. He pulled a piece of jade from his pocket while showing it to the man who was close to killing him on the spot. It had a bright green design with swirling draconian vines.

“Y-you? Where the fuck did you get that?” The scarred man shouted as he saw the jade.

“I got a deal with sir Meng. He is the official disciple of your master, who is by chance, an owner of Mount Raziid. Unlike you, so back off.” The cloaked man said, standing on his own against this angry man, even though he knew this madman would kill him with a single hand.

“You can take the kid after I am done with him. I won’t make things difficult for you just because I stopped you. I couldn’t care less what will happen to him either. You may as well torture him for some fun if you want afterward. Oh, wait, you already did.”

The scarred man grunted in displeasure. “Preposterous. I will take my leave since you have that jade. Do as you wish to that kid, but do not kill him.” He said after calming down and understanding the situation a little bit better. This man before him had the rulestone from his master that was given to Meng, who made his master come here. Something went behind the scenes that he didn't expect, but at this point, it was safe to say that the kid was secured.

All he could do was bitterly accept the circumstances and gulp this piece of displeasure at his throat. The scarred man left to the distant mountain to vent a little and not bother them.

“Very well.” The cloaked man said and stored the rulestone back in his pocket. Turning around, he stepped towards the beat-up Allan and sit in front of him.

“Do you recognize me? If so, just nod.” He asked in the case if Allan was too wounded to answer.

“I don't know you… I’ve seen you with father… nothing else.” Allan muttered from his bloody lips, while he could still, somewhat, see what was in front of him. He recognized this man's voice from the 3rd deal that his father did a few days ago. It was about a secret stash of legendary swords, which he traded for something, but that was about everything that he knew.

“Yea. You are much tougher than you look. I guess you don't know anything of much importance. Your father is an absolute idiot… but a good father, I guess. Still, though. You could have been much more than a piece of a pebble on the road.”

“I… don’t mind this at… all.” Barked Allan with a sharp voice, coughing afterward.

“Is this a business?” Allan asked, after calming his voice down a little.

“Sharp boy, huh?” the man wondered.

“Unfortunately not. At the moment, I am just a shameless thief who will rob you of everything… In fact, I already did so.”

This time, the man pulled a book underneath his cloak. It was a nameless, ordinary notebook, but Allan would recognize it everywhere and anytime. It was his spy diary that went missing today or somewhere? The day before? He wasn't sure, but this was his for sure.

“Y-you took my stuff? What are my little learning materials of any use to you? I am aware of your deals with my father.” Allan asked in silent rage and little fear. He would never allow this man to steal it if he knew about it.

“What's his deal with that? Is he interested in the content of that diary of where it came from? I didn't even once get to father's forge myself, so he doesn't have a chance.” He secretly thought.

Allan shouted at him with the obvious intention of not voicing any of his secrets. “That’s mine! Where did you get it?”

He didn’t imagine that someone stole his diary. His years-long journey of his father’s endeavors was more to him than any other book in his possession. He was always sure he would never lose it because he kept his most important things in his chest stash. As far as he knew, no one was aware of that book, since he didn't have a friend or anyone coming over. Moreover, his collections weren’t things one would try to steal.

They were common books with some twists and unexpected information, but the man before him intentionally stole his diary. It was, in a sense, obvious that this man had other intentions. He wasn't probably interested in this diary, but something else. He didn't know anyone who would consider looking at his stuff in hopes of gaining something. It didn't make one sure about it, but nothing happened with it until now. One little situation led to another, and Allan was facing this thief.

Allan looked at the persons in front of him with cold, yet bloody eyes. He was someone who was looking at his father with greediness and other unknown intentions. This made him both angry at him for sticking his hands where they didn’t belong and for not considering the dangers. His carelessness caused the man to somehow spy on him, or this may be something even beyond that. Who knew?

“I am sure... He knows about me, or it's about my father. Back then, I was tailing my father at that time, so he probably noticed me. That, or father's deals were exposed to some bad people, or his cause was to hurt them.” Allan was uncertain but continued to speculate even in this helpless situation. He could make some guesses in his mind, but that was about it. Only his father knew the truth, and his trust in Skoll was real.

“You seem to be mistaken about something. I like this book very much. What you wrote here was of great value to me. I can sell this information or deal with it myself for even more profit.” Man honesty said while opening the diary in front of Allan and looking at it to make him mad.

“Then what are you doing here for?” Allan questioned his intentions without falling into his trap.