“Ugh...”

The captain opened his eyes. His heavy eyelids now lifted let him get the view of the vast blue sky.

“What the... Where am I?”

With a confused look, he looked around himself.

“My head... I was beheaded!! That guy, where is he?”

He found his head perfectly attached to his body. No scratch or trace of blood can be found on him or nearby him. Nor the man that beheaded him was nowhere to be found.

“Was that a dream?”

He thought that what he saw was just a bad, terrible dream. After sighing with relief, he got up and looked around as he couldn’t remember where he really is.

“What are you doing?”

“!!”

Suddenly, someone came from behind and spoke, sending a shiver down his spine. He thought that the man he thought of is behind him. Turning around, he didn’t find the man but found a rather familiar face looking at him.

“Guild... Leader?”

Standing in front of him was the guild leader that he heard got killed by the man supposedly in his dream, fit and fine. The guild leader looked at him with his brows raised and then spoke.

“Guild Leader? Gan, are you still sleepy or what? The guild hasn’t been founded yet and you are calling me guild leader.”

“... What are you talking about?”

His voice reverberated in the ears of Gan. Gan looked at the guild leader with a confused look as he continued to hear his leader’s words.

“Did you forget? Father has given both of us brothers land to establish a guild. I think you are more excited than me that you suddenly started calling me guild leader from now.”

While the guild leader (?) laughed while he spoke, Gan stood there, stunned.

‘How is this possible?’

With a visibly confused look, Gan thought to himself deeply. 10 years ago, they established the guild known as Boulders according to the orders of the father of the guild leader. But then how come the guild leader said that the guild hasn’t been established yet?

This question haunted him and ultimately made him come to one single conclusion.

‘Then was that.... a dream?’

A logical conclusion he came to as no other logical reasons fit with the situation he is in right now. The man in his dreams, who killed him, sent him back in time? That felt absolutely absurd to him, as no man had the power to send a person back in time. Only the Goddess has the power to turn back time, probably.

Suddenly, tears formed in his eyes as his mind, which was in turmoil after he heard from the man in his dreams about the demise of the guild leader, finally settled down. He slowly accepted that it was a nightmare that he saw and he is fully alive in reality.

“W-What happened? Why are you suddenly crying?”

The guild leader, who looked at Gan’s tears, tried to console him, fearing that he might have said something bad to him that made him cry.

“N-Nothing, Gui- Young Master. I just had a terrible nightmare. Please don’t worry about me. I am just glad that you are fine.”

He tried to ensure the young master of his while wiping his tears. He had no worries now. He was just happy that he can see his young master alive.

“Gan, please don’t scare me like that. You know that my father would have beaten me to death if he would have seen you cry.”

The ‘young master’, not knowing what Gan was thinking, joked to Gan, as he knew how much respect his father has for Gan. So he has never dreamt of even talking disrespectfully to Gan.

Gan then calmed down as he looked at his young master, smiling, with relief on his face. His beating heart calmed down. The negative thoughts surrounding his mind finally dispersed as his mind finally accepted that what he saw was just a dream. A false, horrifying dream that will never come to be true.

***

“But Young Master, where is Young Master Ashv? He was with you when I went to sleep.”

Looking around, he could only find the guild master, no, the young master, in front of him. They all left for a journey together to look at the land that was given to both brothers by their father to establish a guild. Gan followed, as he has always accompanied both the young masters from their childhood.

So now, not seeing the younger brother anywhere, he got tensed.

“Don’t worry. He has gone on a stroll to get some meat for us.”

“You could have told me. Why let the Young Master do such a thing by himself?”

Gan objected, as he always did whatever both of them demanded. It was his duty to be ready for their service anytime. So hearing that young master Ashv has gone hunting by himself made him feel ashamed.

“Don’t worry, Gan. He needs to do things by himself too. You and father wouldn’t be with us always and we both also need to get out of the comfort zone you created for us.”

“But Young Master...”

“I don’t want to hear more. If you want to help him, feel free to do so. But don’t stop him. He needs to learn to live by himself too. I have also gotten exposure to the world, though I wouldn’t start acting like one this instant. Just let him do things by himself.”

Though he wanted to refute his young master, Gan couldn’t get any reason to do so. What the young master said was correct. Both brothers needed to learn more as one of them have to inherit their father’s position one day. So making them be prepared for that time, it is necessary to let them learn things on their own.

The eldest brother understood early and with that, he did things by himself. He wanted to let his younger brother get the experience by himself without Gan’s help, too.

“Fine, Young Master. Then I must immediately go to be of assistance to young master Ashv.”

“Yeah, and teach him a thing or two, too.”

“Okay.”

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After not being able to argue further with the young master, he gave up. He then quickly went to the forest where Ashv went for hunting.

“Now, where did the young master go?”

Inside the forest, he went on a search for Ashv but can’t seem to find him. He looked around for the footprints too but can’t seem to find any as the ground was covered in leaves and bushes.

“I hope that the Young Master is fine.”

With that, some minutes passed by as he searched for Ashv but he wasn’t able to find even his hair.

“Where is the young master? Did something happen to him?”

While he got restless because of his overthinking, from nearby he heard something.

“What was that?”

A sound that felt like a cry of an animal came from his left.

“No way... is that Young Master?”

With fast steps, he ran to where he heard the sound coming from. Slowly, he got a glimpse of open ground ahead of him.

“Young master must be there!!”

Slowly, a figure was seen sitting down, holding something. From the back, it looked like Ashv but because of the leaves, he couldn’t get a glimpse of what he was holding.

“Young master...”

With relief after finding his young master, he slowed down and slowly walked, hoping to surprise Ashv, but again the sound of cry came, not from Ashv but from somewhere near him.

“What the hell.... is going on?”

Just as he stepped out into the open ground, he saw something that shook him from the inside.

***

“Hmm? Gan, you came. I thought you were sleeping.”

Turning around, Ashv finds Gan standing behind him, looking at him with a stunned face.

“What happen Gan?”

He spoke with an innocent laugh, but in Gan’s eyes, it looked like the laugh of a maniac.

With a face stained full of red blood, he held the head of a sash, a rabbit-like animal, in his hands as blood slowly dripped from the beheaded head. His other hand held a bloodied dagger, with blood dripping down the blade, signifying that sash has been killed some moments ago.

“Young master... what are you...”

Stealing a glance, Gan found something behind Ashv that shocked him even more.

“What? These? They will be our breakfast, Gan. I am just preparing them so that you won’t have to work more.”

Behind him, there were two more sashs, one small than the other, that were embracing each other while crying and trembling. Their eyes, full of grief and fear, were fixated on the head that Ashv was holding.

“You. How can you do this!!”

Gan’s voice, which was soft and motherly after he woke up, now contained rage, which stunned Ashv for a moment.

“W-What’s the problem? We have to get something to eat, so I am just hunting for our breakfast.”

With a cheesy smile on his face, Ashv tried to appease Gan. He knew that even though Gan is submissive towards both him and his big brother, if he gets angry, even their father cannot save them.

After that, he quickly threw the bigger sash away and grabbed the smallest sash by its ears, and brought it toward Gan.

“Just wait here and watch. I will finish these two and we both will return to brother and eat. You know young sash tastes better? Let me-”

Slap!

“...??”

The sound of the slap resounded quite a bit. Ashv, who got slapped, dropped the sash’s head and the little sash as the sash then ran towards its mother. The air around Gan changed too as he looked at his hand, which slapped Ashv and then at Ashv.

“Shut up!!”

After that, his gaze fell upon the sash. Both of the sashs hurriedly picked the head of the beheaded sash and placed it with the torso as both of them cried and tried to wake the sash up.

“Kwi-Kwi!!”

They both tried to wake the dead sash up, thinking that placing the head with the body would wake the sash up. But the dead sash never moved an inch.

Gan, who looked at all this, felt something heavy in his heart. Something that was buried deep inside of him now escaped as the unknown (?) memories flooded his brain.

Memories in which a man with his face blurred spoke to him.

“Gan, Gan. Why even insert your nose into something that shouldn’t concern you?”

The blurred man then came near him and looked into his eyes. His eyes, full of malice and greed, looked down at Gan as he further continued.

“See, we have no problem. The Boulders are progressing further and we are slowly becoming the powerhouse on the continent. So why just nag me every time I try to enjoy my life a little?”

Gan tried to protest against the blurred man as he felt what the blurred man said was wrong. But he couldn’t do anything. His body just sat down against his will and listened to the blurred man. The blurred man then put his hand on Gan’s shoulder and smiled innocently.

“So please, don’t do the thing that will sour our relationship. By relationship, I mean between me, you, and my dear elder brother.”

“So just keep your mouth shut and keep on doing what you are supposed to do. Just look at the side like a servant you are.”

The pain then subsided as the memory, and the blurred man, disappeared from his mind. Opening his eyes, he found Ashv looking at him with a stunned face with worry in his eyes.

“Why? Why I slapped you? Isn’t that what you want to ask?”

Gan spoke with a serious and angry voice. Ashv, who heard him, got chills all over him. To appease Gan, he cried and kneeled in front of him.

“I-I am sorry!! I will not do something like this. Please overlook this, Gan.”

Ashv shouted and pleaded for mercy to Gan, but Gan never looked at him. Walking past him, he kneeled on both of his knees and looked at the sashs on the ground.

The two sashs who saw Gan then stood in front of the dead sash. The little one hid behind the taller one as the taller sash stood in front of Gan, stretching its arms out, wanting to protect what was behind it. While trembling with fear, the sash stood bravely while knowing that the man in front of them could end their life in an instant.

Gan, who looked at the sash, was filled with shame. A small creature that he could kill anytime is looking at him with the looks in the eyes that he only saw in his master’s eyes.

“I don’t know if you can understand me, but please...”

With his two knees on the ground, Gan then bowed his head. Ashv, who saw this, was left speechless. The sashs were the same.

“Please accept this apology and forgive him for me.”

“What are you..”

“I know he has done something irreversible to you two. But please, accept this apology of mine.”

“Gan!! What the hell are you doing?”

Ashv, who was interrupted, shouted at Gan. Bowing head for him in front of lowly animals. He can’t accept it. But before he could continue, a gaze sharper than his father fell upon him, silencing him in an instant.

“Young Master Ashv, shut up!!”

With a gaze that spewed murderous intent, Gan looked down at Ashv. Ashv quickly realized that if he utters even a single word, it would send his head flying, so he quiet down.

After silencing Ashv, he again looked at both the sash.

“Please... I hope you will forgive him.”

***

“... So that’s what happened.”

In a room, Gan, Ashv, and his brother were sitting on a sofa, with both the brothers sitting, facing each other.

Ashv kept his head down as he couldn’t get the courage to even look at his brother. His brother had a fiery aura surrounding him, which didn’t let him look up at his older brother at all.

“What do you have to say about this, Ashv?”

With a solemn voice, Ashv’s brother spoke. With eyes simply looking at Ashv, he looked forward to hearing his brother’s reasoning for the cruelty he did earlier.

“You know that our family has certain rules as we belong to the ancient lineage of the warrior class, the most respected among the four classes, right?”

“... Y-Yes.”

This time, Ashv spoke. With stuttering words, he somehow answered back to his brother, to which his brother then continued further.

“I know that after the Goddess created the knight order, our lineage became less known, and we were looked down upon and not paid much attention by others. But that doesn’t mean we will fall this low. If what Gan has said is true, then you are liable to even get exiled from our family. You know that, right?”

His words freaked out Ashv from the inside. He knew what his brother said was true.

The warrior class, which at a time existed among the four classes in this world, was considered being the ruling class that had the duty to protect and rule everyone that came under their rule, whether it is a human or an animal or whoever.

The warrior class had the sense of justice that they enacted when injustice ensues in their land. So even if someone in front of them is non-human, they would also help them.

“Our father has taught us many a time to not befall into the practices that those knights. Did father’s words go out of your other ear, huh?”

“T-That’s...”

“Then answer me!! How the hell can you, a warrior, do something this cruel?”

Ashv never got the chance to talk. His brother is too enraged as he slammed the table in front of him, shocking Ashv. The act that Ashv did resembled that of the knights.

“The Goddess might be the highest of the authority in this world, but we, as the warriors, never agreed with many of her rules. The knight order she created was the worst one she could have created.”

If anyone from the church hears it, they consider him blasphemous and would immediately execute him. He knew that, but he still spoke out, as he never acknowledged the goddess as a god.

“Do you even know how much one suffers if they found someone guilty by the knights?”

The older brother stood up and walked toward Ashv, who also stood up as he saw his brother walking toward him. He remained silent, which irritated his brother more. His brother then caught him by his collar, dragged him, and slammed him into a wall.

*Thud!*

“Do you not hear me? Or have you become deaf?”

Ashv tried to look straight into his brother’s eyes, only to get scared. His brother looked like a devil, with his eyes being red and vessels bulging as immense anger was clear on his face.

“Answer me!! Why the hell did you do that?”

***