I had found more of the ensnaring traps. There wasn’t an order with how they were placed, but they did all have dream berries. The pup didn’t seem interested in them like me and simply followed me around.

It was somewhat peaceful with only small creatures running about, however, I wanted to practice sneaking around, so I disturbed the peace accidentally. The pup seemed to be amused by my acts, making it feel as if it was making fun of me, but I didn’t know for sure.

I ignored my companion and instead focused on not stepping on any traps.

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After one last trap, I heard someone talking, confusing me greatly. The pup heard it too and got lower to the ground, I looked at it for a bit before slowly making my way to where I had heard the talking.

“... that father is still mad at us! It's not our fault some beast ate what we had caught!”

A high-pitched voice sounded not too far from us, and it was getting closer.

“Calm down young master, didn’t you want to leave that mess of a camp?”

Another high-pitched voice sounded, this one slightly deeper than the other one.

“Well, yeah! But what is Alica going to think? And stop with the young master thing, we are far enough.”

I saw the owner of the voice, it was a small human, bigger than pup but not by much. It was covered by a black material that covered its entire body. The other human had blue eyes and blond hair; it was slightly taller than the other human.

“And why am I supposed to do it during the day?! If father didn’t give me these special clothes, I would have burned up already!”

The smaller human waved its arms around aggressively.

“Lord Ashencloak is simply worried about night terrors attacking you.”

The taller human calmly replied, going in front of the smaller one jumping off a log and holding out a hand for it.

Night terrors? Is that what humans call the creatures that roam the night?

The smaller human stopped momentarily and slapped the hand away.

“Finn I’m not that weak if father is letting me go out into the forest without guards overwatching me.”

“Young master I don’t think that’s-”

“I said not to be so formal around me when it's just us! Besides-”

The smaller human interrupted the human called Finn and jumped down, but it was interrupted by the fact that once it started walking its foot got stuck under a tree root peeking out of the ground causing it to trip over. Just before it hit the ground another human, larger than the two appeared suddenly and caught the smaller human by the fabric. It had a white covering on its face and wore similar dark clothing to the smaller human, yet this looked more armored.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Young master, are you alright?”

“Yeah- wait Laric? Why are you here? Let me down!”

‘Young master’ squirmed around in the grip of Laric.

“Lord Ashencloak has ordered me to watch over you while you prove yourself.”

Laric put down young master who in turn immediately turned around to face Finn and Laric.

“I thought father trusted me more than this...”

Its voice sounded shakily before it turned around and started running away from the two, Finn raised a hand towards young master, but Laric stopped it and shook its head.

However, I wished that young master would stop running considering the fact that it was coming towards us! From all my earlier interactions with humans, I didn’t want to deal with them unless it was Silven, Alea or Rod.

I nudged the pup to the side, but it was already too late, young master had already tripped on the pup. It wobbled a bit but stayed upright, what was worse was the fact that it turned over to see what had tripped it. Thankfully, it fell backwards in surprise allowing the two of us to escape. We hurriedly left the scene trying to be as quiet as possible.

“Young master, are you alright?!”

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A group of three

The young master ignored the question of his unwanted bodyguard, his attention captivated by something otherworldly.

He knew every single animal and night terror that roamed this cursed forest due to his father’s strict teachings, yet it seems he missed one.

He stared at where it had last seen the creature, its white form no longer there as if it was only a figment of his imagination, the rustling of leaves however made him think otherwise. Yet no matter how much he looked; he never even saw a speck of the creature.

“There's only a squirrel other there, no need to be alarmed young master.”

The young master finally payed his unwanted bodyguard the attention he so desired, yet he slapped away the hand that was trying to help him out, he wasn’t angry at Leric, no Leric was almost a big brother to him. He was simply mad that his father, the one who he had begged to 5 entire years to be able to go on a trip into the woods. And after all that time, his father allowed him to go if he brought a company of guards on the trip.

The young master was genuinely happy for once as this would allow himself to prove to his father that he wasn’t useless due to his disease.

Yet all that hope was crushed as his father still didn’t trust in him.

He stood up, averting his eyes away from Leric; he hung his head low.

“I'm fine, just... let's go I guess.”

He said as he turned around and continued to stomp through the leaves. His bodyguard and attendant looked at each other before they followed.

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Each trap they passed missing a dream berry, the more the young master got excited. Along with the traps missing the bait, there was a snapped twig in the jaws of each trap.

Just how intelligent are you?

Even though his father not trusting in him hurt a lot, the promise of finding a new creature would hopefully get his father to finally be proud of him.

He tried to hide the fact that a stick was used to disarm the traps as he rearmed them, this time the berries were a bit different to see what the creature liked and disliked. Reaching the last trap, he feigned a sigh of defeat and started heading back to the camp.

“Finn once we return, get me all the volumes for ‘Forest of Shadows: animals’.”

Finn looked slightly confused at the request.

“Very well young master I will prepare that for you, is there anything else?”

The young master simply shook his head.

“No that’s all.”