Sitting near the bonfire, Ashv recalled what happened in the room between the three of them hours ago.

“That damn Gan!! If only he would have come a bit late, I wouldn’t have to face a situation like this.”

While he was enjoying killing the sash and his family, he knew he had to wrap everything before anyone discovers him in that state. He was about to finish killing the remaining sashs, and just then, Gan suddenly appeared behind him, foiling his entertainment.

“I thought he would just ignore it or just reprimand me a little.”

Gan, as their servant, never acted up against them in their whole life, and because of that, Ashv took it for granted that whatever he would do, Gan would remain silent, no matter how vile the act is.

But instead of helping him in killing the sash, the opposite of what he thought initially happened. Gan reacted in a way Ashv never expected in his entire life.

“That damn servant had the nerve to slap me?”

From their childhood, both brothers were under Gan’s supervision. Their father assigned Gan to them as their guardian, who would teach them, protect them, help them, and be at their service until they themselves free him of his duties.

“But then again, why did he act like this now?”

No matter what he did in his childhood, Gan would just gloss over his mistakes so he never thought of restraining himself, and slowly, his acts started to take the wrong turn.

“Ahhh... I would have gotten the best view of the despair the mother would have gone through when I would have snatched its kid and killed it in front of her, just like I did to her husband.”

With a snicker, he laughed internally as he imagined the face of the devastating mother sash watching its child being killed horrendously in front of her.

“I would have then continued to kill her. Oh, how I wanted to see what expression she would have made, watching herself getting butchered with her husband and child. Hahaha!!”

He laughed in a low voice, not wanting to reveal that he has not a single amount of remorse within him even after getting lectured by his brother and Gan.

“But we have a bigger problem here now.”

He looked at the way in which they would continue their journey to their county. The way looked the way to hell to him, with his father waiting to cut his head off.

“How should I escape the situation in front of me?”

Just as he said so, the image of his father came into his view, which sent shivers down his spine. The way to their home looked like the way to hell. At the end of the path stood his father, with bloodshot eyes, waiting to slice his head off.

“I must do something, but what- Waiiiitttt a minute?”

When he was thinking of a way to get away from his father, he saw the bonfire in front of him. The fire burning in front of him vigorously reflected in his eyes while a ridiculous idea came into his mind.

“What if I...”

A plan so devious that Gan and his brother would have not expected it to ever be brewed in Ashv’s mind. Getting up, he decided to throw away the humanity he was holding onto and picked up a plank of wood in the bone fire.

“What if the tents suddenly caught the fire and somehow I survive?”

He turned around and approached the tent where his brother was sleeping with a devious smile on his face. His face burned hot, but his eyes looked like that of a psychopath.

“There would be no proof of me breaking the family’s law alive if they both somehow die, right?”

He then brought the burning stick near the tent and lit the corner side of the tent. The tent, coming in contact with the fire, quickly caught the fire, and the fire started to spread to the whole tent instantaneously.

Done with burning his brother’s tent, he then turned around and tossed the stick near the tent where Gan resided.

“Gan, you bastard of a backstabber. I hope you will burn and scream in agony by turning my brother against me. And brother-”

Turning around, he saw the burning tent of his brother with moist eyes, but his expression was different.

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“Be sure to tell everything to my father after I kill him when I get the rights of the county.”

A smile of a psychopath was plastered on his face. His tears and his smile didn’t match at all, revealing his true nature.

“Let’s meet in the afterlife. Goodbye, brother.”

With that, he ran into the forest and never looked back. He had no remorse in his heart, rather, he felt relieved that now he would get everything he wanted and can do whatever he want without anyone even stopping him or lecturing him.

***

“Hmm... What’s with this heat?”

Opening his eyelids, Gan got up as he felt an abnormal amount of heat near him. He then looked down to find out where the heat was coming from.

“This?!”

He found his tent slowly burning, while the flames slowly caught onto his sleeping bag.

“How did the tent caught the fire?”

Quickly escaping through the burning sleeping bag, Gan looked around. The entrance side of the tent is covered in flames, while the rear side is somehow safe. In a hurry, he somehow tried to find a way to exit the tent when he saw something covered whole in flames from a hole in the tent created by the flames.

“Young Master!!”

Without even thinking of his safety, Gan bashed through the entrance of his tent and came out. He didn’t spend a single second in doing so, proving Gan’s loyalty.

“Young Master!!”

After getting out, he got a clear view of the tent of the older brother, which was now covered in flames almost completely.

“Who did this? Young Master As-”

He tried to call Ashv for help, but when he turned towards Ashv’s tent, he found it empty and completely safe from the flames.

“... No! This can’t be possible.”

He realized the true culprit behind the fire that both of their tents caught. His heart raced faster, while his brain ignored the possibility that he was thinking.

“I-It can’t be!! Young master cannot do something like this.”

His legs started to tremble, and everything in front of him started to blur and rotate.

“Snap out of it!!”

He slapped both of his cheeks, which brought his senses back to control.

“This isn’t the time to think. I must rescue the young master quickly.”

Looking at the tent burning, he realized that the tent of the older brother had been burning for a long time, while he wasn’t even covered half in flames.

But he couldn’t find the means by which he could lift off the fire in the tent. Around the place where they set their camp, for about a kilometer, there is not a single source of water.

“What should I do?!”

Desperation took over Gan as he saw the fire slowly getting hotter in front of him. He knew that the tent can last a little longer with the fire slowly spreading over it due to its rigid build, but he cannot waste a single second as he had no idea when the tent would lose its durability.

“I don’t even know any water attribute skills. Damn it!!”

At the moment, he hated himself and his laziness for not learning more skills. He is a skilled magician, but not at a much higher level. Because of him getting engaged in his work, he started to ignore his practices, and slowly, the urge inside of him about being a better magician died out.

“What can I do with these skills... Hmm?”

Just as he was pondering about how he can save his young master, his gaze fell to the ground.

“The soil, it’s wet. Wait a minute...”

Suddenly, a weird yet plausible idea came into his mind that might be able to solve the problem he is facing right now and might be able to save his young master.

“I don’t know if this will work or not. But... let’s try it out.”

With his sleeves rolled up, he then slowly charged up his attack in both his palms. Mana slowly swirled around his hand and slowly started to change color from colorless to white. While it looked like a great thing, for Gan, it was an embarrassment.

“Damn!! I can only use magic missiles now? I should have continued to practice.”

Due to him leaving his practice of magic, Gan has now been demoted and is as good as a 1st-star magician. He only had a magic missile and some puny skills in his arsenal, which might not help him in the situation he is in, but instead of giving up, he thought of an insane idea.

“Let’s hope this works. Magic missile!”

Just as he shouts the name of the skill, white orbs of energy started to shoot out of his palms continuously.

“AHHHH!!”

The barrage of magic missiles continued, and the missiles struck the wet ground. Due to the blast by the missiles, the wet soil started to spill over the tent, which was on fire.

“*Pant* It’s working. It is working!!”

The wet soil slowly started to extinguish the fire. Though little, it became possible that the damp soil was doing its work and that Gan’s insane idea somehow worked.

“Let’s do *pant* the other side before *pant* I run out of mana.”

Gan started to pant heavily. He, who never used this much mana and losing his touch on magic, now made it difficult to even maintain his stance.

His body and senses became too dull that now, they are overloaded by the excess use of mana.

“Damn it!! Just some more seconds. Please, my body!!!”

Only by his sheer will, he somehow moved his body and started to circle the tent, while consecutively attacking the ground with the magic missile.

“.... Y-Young M-Master!! Please h-hold on.”

He shouted as to notify the older brother inside the tent. After a few minutes, the fire was extinguished completely. Vapors started to come out and the excess soil slowly fell off the tent.

“Ahhh!! I did it!!”

Looking at his achievement, Gan tried to rejoice, but he got a bigger matter at hand. He cannot waste any more time on his happiness.

“Y-Young Master!!”

Though his legs trembled, Gan dragged his body off and got near the tent. He tried to somehow tore apart the tent’s entrance, but his hands have now become numb from the excessive use of mana. No matter how hard he tried to lift his hands, the best he could do was just clench his fists.

“N-No!! I have to tear the tent apart. But how am I supposed to do it?”

His hands were not working, his legs were at their limits, and everything around him started to rotate. But even then, the sense of his duty pushed him harder.

“I still have my teeth. I don’t need these insignificant hands to save the young master. Let’s save young master with these jaws of mine!!”

He held the melted supports of the tents with his dangling hands tightly.

*Sizzle*

“Ughh!!”

The supports were still hot as they burned the flesh of his hands. But he never cared as he caught the tent with his teeth and, in an instant, ripped the tent apart.

The force he used made him tumble and fell on the ground, but fortunately, he was successful in making an opening, a big one at that, in the tent.

“F-Finally...”

He somehow stood up and approached the tent, hoping that his young master was safe.

***