When I had awoken, I had already found myself to be looking at a familiar ceiling. I was at Scarlet's home. Her father must have come looking for us and brought us back to the village. I was going to fall back to sleep when I heard a slight mischievous giggle.

"Hehehe..."

It was Scarlet and she was playing with my black hair... She stroked it gently and then patted my head a bit. Then she started murmuring some words and as I was really close to her, I could hear pretty much everything she said.

"Hmm... smooth, silky and thick- just like always. Gosh, your hair is sooo~ nice to touch and play with... I wonder why your hair always grows back so quickly though, and just... how do you manage to even keep it so healthy when you don't even take care of yourself that much... I'm kinda jealous."

Well you see my dear little Scarlet- who likes to talk to herself which I find a 'little' bit creepy, that is thanks to g-

...

Hmm? What was the word I was going to think of? It feels as though I knew what to say but then the very knowledge or memory of that last word had just disappeared... or perhaps it was taken away?

Once again, I find myself thinking that something is odd... Is it my other self that is restricting my memory or knowledge? No... there wouldn't be a reason if he's trying to help me realise something. One of many conclusions I can think of is that this very world is trying to control what I can remember. Why? I'm not sure again but it may be that the knowledge my other self holds is something that this world currently has not acquired.

Haaah~ Too confusing. I wonder how my other self is able to make me think this way. My whole thought process has changed since 'that day', I used to be smart and curious but not enough to be thinking in depth about myself, other people, the world, another me, and so on...

Whatever the reason may be, I'm pretty sure the word, 'Rewind', holds some sort of significance to it. 'Rewind'... Hmm. What can I associate with that word- no that command? What can I theorise? Back then... what did I feel? What did I hear? What exactly did I see back then?

Whilst I was in the middle of organising my thoughts, Scarlet suddenly proceeded to move me closer to her and then placed my head near her chest. She held me in an embrace just like I had done to her, earlier today.

She didn't seem to know that I was awake as she then, after a while, decided to turn my head and face it directly to her chest. It was quite flat and almost as hard as wood, at least mother's chest was soft and comfortable to lay my head on.

That said, I could feel the heat radiating from Scarlet's small and nimble body. She was quite warm... I suppose it must be because we were sleeping next to each other with a blanket over us. Scarlet chuckled again but that stopped midway when her mother came in.

There was a slight awkward silence that filled the room.

"Scarlet my dear, are you- awww~"

Scarlet's mother didn't say anything at first as she couldn't clearly see well. From what Scarlet told me, apparently her mother had bad vision from time to time and this started when she first came to settle down in this village. It was odd because her bad vision was something that occurred randomly, and the true cause is still unknown...

Nonetheless, as her vision cleared, she was the first to say something after witnessing the heartwarming moment that lay in front of her. Her daughter would never be capable of doing such a thing in the past- showing affection for someone other than her family.

"Mother, shhhh~"

"Hmm?"

"Uhh, can you go away please... and let me and Sebastian enjoy our sleep. Okay?"

"Although I don't think that can be called sleeping, I guess... I could leave you two alone. Hmm?"

I had my head buried in Scarlet's chest but I managed to see her mother from the corner of my eye and she seemed to notice my gaze too as she laughed slightly...

"My, Oh my~" She said as she turned around and left the room quietly.

"I'll be going out on a short night stroll with your Father, Scarlet. Keep the house and Sebastian safe, okay?"

"Of course I will, now please leave and enjoy your walk."

"Seriously... this daughter of mine. Just when did she learn to speak like that..." Scarlet's mother left the house whilst probably shaking her head is what I thought. Scarlet should learn to sound a bit more polite...

"Hmm? Scarlet?" I pretended to slowly wake up from my 'sleep' as I couldn't bear to stay still for so long.

"Ah- umm... Good morning?"

"Although I know I've been sleeping for a while, shouldn't it be night time?"

"Good night... then?" Scarlet says with a puzzled look.

"Well I don't think I'll be sleeping again any time soon so no."

"Okay..." Scarlet says while looking down on me, at my face.

"Umm, can you please move your head back so I can move. It's a bit weird having someone stare at me so closely." That would be the truth for anyone, right?

"Ah yes! Sorry..." Scarlet replied quickly and showed an unusual expression on her face. It was a mix of confusion and... well I'm not too sure.

I finally lift my head from Scarlet's lap and steady myself. I was wearing uncomfortable and dull brown clothing. They would be worn out easily as they were very badly made but I had to deal with it.

As Father had gone missing for months now, Mother had to start looking for a job rather than simply staying at home like usual. It took her quite long to find one but she managed to secure a job at the fields where people would regularly plant and manage crops. It was quite further away from our house and I heard the pay wasn't very good, but by that time... we had already sold many things to just get food on our table.

One of the things we sold away were our clothes, we no longer kept any bright and colourful clothing. I felt that there was now sort of a distance between me and Scarlet, who was sitting next to me with a fairly comfortable looking clothing. It was a white night dress which had shades of pink that faded out near the bottom and it suited her quite well. She looked very pretty in it, that was something I couldn't deny.

Of course she wouldn't always be able to afford and wear such clothing as I heard it was quite expensive. Scarlet took great care in keeping it clean, neat, and made sure to only wear it occasionally.

Apparently, the night dress was actually her mother's when she was younger... I guess it's true that handing down clothes is pretty common around here.

"Ah- Sebastian. Father told me that you'll be staying over today."

"Uh huh, I see..."

Well either way, she seemed to be doing well as her father was back now and working as a hunter like usual. He would hunt animals for food and sell the skin or hide which wasn't worth much around here but there wasn't much else to do with it except make some clothes. He would occasionally bring the hide back home and let Scarlet's mother make some clothes out of it which she would sell but that was only on the rare occasion as Scarlet's mother didn't like doing it.

Scarlet's house was also in a better condition than mine. My small house had only two real rooms. One room for sleeping and one whole room for cooking, eating, and... playing? Well I don't really do that anymore, haha. Oh, I almost forgot about that one stinky room on the outside... where you shi- I mean poop.

I really have to stop saying that word or using it when I'm thinking, my stupid damn father made that word up. Mother didn't like the sound of it at all because it sounded insulting somehow. And now, I've been influenced by him... haah~

Well anyway, thinking about that shithole. Luckily for us it's not connected to the house but it's quite the tiny wooden room so it smells super bad. Where does all that shit go anyway? Maybe I should ask Mother? Actually nevermind, I don't think I want to know...

Quite a large number of the villagers had experienced most of our problems but by now the majority of them have recovered thanks to the return of the men.

I still want to believe that Father is somewhere out there and alive like I have done up until 'that day'- but I have other things to think about now. I can only focus on what's ahead of me. The things that are certain to happen. The things that I must change... with my very own hands.

"Scarlet, let me try doing your hair tomorrow." It was an 'out of the blue' request but in actuality I had another motive.

"Huh? Are you even able to do that? I've never seen or heard you styling someone's hair..."

"Ah... well you see, recently I've been asking Mother if I could try styling her hair."

"Uh huh." Scarlet nods but still looks at me as if asking to explain further.

"It was supposed to be just a random one-time thing as Mother was the one who initially asked for me to try and help her with doing her hair but I somehow ended up finding myself helping her everyday and now I feel pretty confident in my skills." I still remember how her face was each day.

Some mornings she would struggle to keep her eyes open and was more weary than usual, other days she was more refreshed and ready to start the day. No matter what, everyday she remembered to hug me and then kiss me on the forehead before she left.

"Mhm, alright! 'You' style 'my hair' tomorrow in the morning."

"Yup, sure will do."

"Heh-"

Scarlet seems to be imagining something in her head as she looks up slightly and stares right at the wall to the left of her. Maybe she's picturing a scene where I fail to do her hair and end up messing it up instead? Well, I'm probably not that off with my speculation...

"Hehe..." the smirking girl continues to imagine that very scene...

Sebastian will 'probably' fail to do my hair and then he'll be upset and frustrated that he couldn't do it. Usually when he isn't good at something, he keeps repeating it until he gets better. Kind of like how he used to be bad at 'Hide and Find' before and now much better- which I find a bit annoying...

Well, I'll make sure to encourage him to try different hairstyles on me everyday so that he'll slowly get better at it and... and then... Heh. A great plan to spend even more time together if I do say so myself.

For a second, I thought that I saw Scarlet smiling rather cunningly... but maybe I just need to get my eyes checked. Yeah, I must've been seeing things... right?

"Ah, what about my mother? Does she know I'm staying over, Scarlet?"

"Yeah, and she'll also come over anytime now. We're all eating together today!"

Ah yes. Finally. I've been waiting for this for ages... Meat~ Everyone knows that nothing beats the tenderness of meat as you bite into it. The taste is simply out of this world. I wonder how much better it tastes for the royal families or the people living in castles.

"You must be excited... After all, you've been waiting for your favourite food. Haha, I can tell everything from looking at your face~"

"Yeah, I sure am. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it..." I say as I try not to let my mouth water too much.

Although we're not exactly the poorest, good food is still sort of a luxury to us. Something that we cannot always afford... I've realised this after Father had gone, that life has become that much more difficult for us.

It's been quite a while since I've gotten the chance to have something that could fill my stomach. Especially since the animals in the Maulden forest have been scarce recently. That's what Scarlet's father told me once before anyway.

It's a shame that there isn't any other area near us that we can hunt or get animals from. I wonder... Why don't we have any farm animals? We could easily raise and breed them, then we could use them for various other things.

For example, sheep produce wool which can be used to make clothes and their meat can also be eaten. Cattle such as cows and oxen can produce milk and meat, and cowhide for leather.

I'm sure we used to have some before. The last time I saw animals in the farm pens located near the outskirts of our village was a month ago. But for a while now, the animal pens have been empty... To add to that, I see more and more villagers with an animal to themselves. Usually they disappear too, that's what I've seen happen within the past few weeks. It's possible that they are keeping the-

*knock* *knock*

"Hello~ Sebastian and Scarlet are you there?"

"Ah... Mother's here." I get up, rush instantly out of Scarlet's room, and head to the front door to open it.

"Mother..."

"Ah yes, sorry for the wait. I ended up not making food earlier as I was busy with something. I decided to make meat stew later on so that we could eat together with everyone."

Luckily my family owned a stewpot which we could use to cook and boil food over fire. It's something everyone has but for a family as poor as mine, I'm not sure how we'd be able to eat well without it... I'm glad that we're not the poorest one can possibly be.

"Oh, it seems like we arrived at about the same time. How do you do, Mrs Quent?" A slightly tall and skinny man appears at the door. It was Scarlet's father and just besides him was her mother.

"Ahh... although it's been just a week, it feels like I haven't seen you in ages, Sylvia!"

"It sure does feel like that for me too, it's nice to see you two like always." Mother replies whilst smiling slightly.

She hasn't been able to smile as brightly anymore for various reasons. She has to work tirelessly everyday to earn money and buy food, take care of me and the house, and most of all... Father is no longer here with us. That has affected her the most, it's clear to see for anyone.

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

Scarlet brought me back to her room to show off to me how she could style and do her own hair, she was totally in another world compared to everyone else.

I pretended to look surprised, sound impressed, praised her... and then she stood with a smug smile on her face with her hands at her hips as if boasting something amazing. While this was going on, I managed to listen in to a little bit of the conversation between the adults before it ended.

"I... I really do feel for you Sylvia. I wouldn't know what to do without my husband... But you're still going strong, and you should be proud of that. One day, I'm sure the heavens will repay you. I'm sure God is still by your side and..."

Scarlet's mother didn't say anything after that and then everyone was brought to the table to eat. Even though Scarlet's mother didn't know exactly what else to say...

What she said was without a doubt, the truth.

God is watching us. Our every breath, our every move. This world is a test. The way we lead our lives decides our outcome, heaven or hell. Whether we pass God's test is up to how much pain, sadness, and despair we can endure while still being able to remain kind, humble, and grateful.

If we're able to keep the good qualities of what makes us human, then surely we'll have a better future. Maybe, someday we'll even go to heaven.

Before I was sort of unsure, but I did believe in God. After all, everything is made by someone or something. Everything has its creator. That means that everything must go back to one single being that created everything.

I've lived my whole life believing that there is a God out there, and I will continue to do so.

I mean... just imagine how we were created. Who was the very first being on earth? How did he come into existence? Is it by the stars or is it by something else. One thing for sure is that it could not merely be by chance or coincidence. We humans could not be made out of nothingness, or something out of impossible circumstances.

If 0 is impossibility and 1 is certainty, then 0 cannot equal 1. This is simple logic that everyone learns when growing up. 'Nothingness' cannot create 'something'. Therefore there must be one being that represents that certainty and is the reason why we are here today. An eternal being that has existed forever. A being that has created the beginning, middle, and end.

There is only one being. One being that stands above everything...

[God, the creator of all.]

This power of mine must have been granted by God. I firmly believe in this. I'm not sure why I have been granted this power by God, but there's no other way I would have obtained it. I'm sure he's testing me in some way, whether it's in my faith or something else... I have to do my best to not lose sight of my true goals.

As we finished our meal, me and Scarlet stayed at the table and chatted for a while. Scarlet's mother, Amelia, was cleaning the table and then told us to go back to Scarlet's room and soon go to sleep.

"Dear little Sebastian, I'm sure you're not sleepy so can you go and keep Scarlet 'entertained' for a while."

"Okay."

"Don't stay up for too long though and make sure to head to sleep as soon as possible."

"Got it."

The two children headed off to Scarlet's room. Sebastian had the troubling task of having to keep up with Scarlet and reading all her books that she liked, but he kept up with her demands in the end.

...

"Alright, now that the kids are gone- we can have our talk. It was kind of odd that we didn't have this talk earlier but we all got busy for quite some time."

Silence grew at the table.

"Right, now then..." Amelia, not wanting to prolong the silence anymore, looked towards her husband as Sylvia waited.

...

"Cynebal?"

"Dear?"

"Ah yes, umm. Please, just let me organise my thoughts for a moment."

Scarlet's father, Cynebal, closed his eyes and began to think deeply. After a minute, he took a deep breath and started speaking.

"You know... I found it frustrating that I couldn't do anything for Sebastian's father back on the battlefield."

...

"When we entered the enemy's territory, we were overwhelmed by the other army and then were forced to retreat. We were in a forestry area at that time and many of us, foot soldiers, had been killed while the horsemen had fled. Your husband, Bernard, had gone missing in the forest too but his death was not confirmed as even the rest of his group were alive. Most of us thought that he was alive, fighting alone somewhere, and that he needed help urgently."

"Our army was organised mostly into different divisions but within each division, groups of 8 were made to be formed. With time, many of us sooner or later began to make close connections with one another. We even became friendly with other groups, although... we spoke with them less as we were often separated many times. My friends and I were retreating as instructed but when we were caught up by Bernard's group, they told us of his disappearance."

"We were still in the forest so we decided to move forward in the guise of continuing to fight and trying to hold back enemy troops, rather than retreating back. But we couldn't find him no matter how long we searched and the sky was beginning to darken, signalling our time for us to head back."

...

"By then, everyone had given up and I- I tried to persuade them to continue looking... but they shook their heads at me." Cynebal sighed for a moment as he continued to recall his past.

"They had family waiting for them and so did I."

This was the main factor for Cynebal, his friends, and Bernard's Group to return. That was clearly obvious.

"Haha~ now that I think about it... You know, the truth is that originally your husband was supposed to be an archer near the backlines but he was so poor at using a bow that he had to try something else... Then he was recognised for his 'talent' with a sword and due to the state of our army which had a lack of skilled knights, he was trained for only a few weeks and then put near the forefront of the battlefield within an instant.

He managed to handle himself pretty well but his injuries started accumulating bit by bit after each battle. It wasn't as bad as I'm making it out to be, it wasn't as bad as him not being able to stand or hold a sword. But it wasn't pleasant to see... that's for sure.

If only all that hadn't happened... if only he were good with a bow and stayed near the backlines, then I'm sure he would still be here with us..."

"I regret it every night, I think about it every time before I go to sleep... What if he was injured and couldn't move? What if he was just behind that one tree? What if he was on the other side of that boulder. What if? What if? What if..."

["What if I just had to take another few steps forward before I would see my friend alive again..."]

Scarlet's father was a rather genuine man, he wasn't afraid of showing his true emotions when it mattered most. One would understand simply from seeing the tears that slowly appeared beneath his eyes. He had his head down as it trickled downwards on his cheeks. Scarlet's mother, who was sitting next to the crying man, tried to console him. She put her right hand behind his back and grasped Cynebal's left hand with her own left.

...

"I... I am truly sorry for not being able to bring your husband back."

That sure was quite the story. I had decided to let Scarlet do her own thing as she sat up in her bed and continued to daydream. She fell asleep pretty quickly which was an odd occurrence but nonetheless, a welcome one. I had moved my blanket over near the door so that I'd be able to listen in on the conversation while pretending to sleep.

Eavesdropping wasn't exactly a good thing to do but I couldn't care any less right now. I'm focused on the future and prioritising one with my mother alive more than anything else. Rather than just keeping my ears out due to simple curiosity like I have done in the past, right now I need to be more active. I need to engage more with the people around me, and learn as much as I can about the situation we're in.

With this information... Hmm. My next step should be 'that'. Yes, if it's 'that' it might work. No, it most definitely will.

After the conversation, the adults had decided to go to sleep. It sure was a long day... I looked towards Scarlet who was fast asleep-

"For all of them I guess." I mumbled quietly.

Mother soon entered the room we were in and quietly brought a blanket over and slept beside me. Although I had my eyes shut, I could feel her gaze on me for a while but the sound of snoring and controlled breathing soon followed and I could tell that she was fast asleep.

Today, I have done enough listening and thinking. Tomorrow is where I should start putting my plan into action. Knowing more clearly won't be enough, I need to get stronger as well. I need to thoroughly prepare and be able to handle different situations. In order to do this, I must get stronger physically and not just mentally. I know that there's only so much I could do right now but... time is ticking after all.

There's only 12 days left.

------------------------------------------------------

Morning had come early for me, I was the first to be awake. The air was a bit cold and chilly but I had to proceed forward with my plan. I decided to head my way to a certain place not so far from Scarlet's house. Now that I think about it, I was going to do Scarlet's hair this morning- but I can just make up an excuse to her for why I left and forgot to.

...

"Hmm... It seems that I'm the first one here today. Not that I've ever even been here for a specific reason before or anything."

Ugh, I hate recalling that one time where I tried to actually do this but failed miserably and ended up crying...

I arrived at a large open area and pushed the small fenced gate in front of me. I could see many targets lined up in another open space next to this one. Various boxes, piles of items, and other things were left within there but they were kept to the side so that they wouldn't interfere with anyone. It could be that someone tidied that area up already or maybe no one had even been over there for a long time.

I move back slightly to take in the environment around me but my left foot ends up hitting something to the side of me. It was a large box filled with different equipment, I could see a small wooden object pointing outward and so I then decided to take it out.

"Now, all I have to do is start hitting this damn thing and wait for people to arrive."

Pretty simple, right? Is what I thought but it was a more tiresome and long procedure than what I had originally thought. It took maybe an hour or two for the specific group of people I was waiting for- to arrive.

It's a good thing that the river is quite close by here though, it makes things easier for me and my plan. If things go well, then after this I'll have another talk with that man by the river again.

"Haaah!" I repeatedly hit the dull yellow object in front of me which resembled the shape of a person. Although, it did have a red dot and circle in its centre- but it's not like everyone has a target on their chest or back. It was a sword training dummy of course, and the one I have been hitting at constantly was utilising tough sandbags. Naturally, I was holding a wooden sword in my hand.

"You're quite the resilient one, eh?" Sebastian jokingly said to the unimpressed, still and lifeless dummy.

"Not much of a talker either, huh."

In the small, open spaces near the centre of the village various tools were set up to aid the training of swordsmen and even villagers. Archers had targets, and swordsmen had their training ground. One of the most common pieces of equipment was a cloth dummy stuffed with straw and set on a pole at a man’s height.

"Oh... what do we have here?"

"My goodness... are my eyes deceiving me right now?"

"Seriously, who'd have thought that the book obsessed boy would pick up a sword?"

"Moreover, at this time? This early- No before we'd even gotten here?"

It was quite the sight to see for the oncoming group of men. They were the usual group who'd appear at the training grounds every day in the morning.

Sebastian, although a reserved child, was well-known by many of the adults in the village. His curiosity and knowledge was unparalleled amongst the children, even when compared to the more older ones.

Furthermore, the adults would sometimes unknowingly spend time chatting to him as if he too were an adult and not a child. When they later realised this, they would think and recognise how bizarre yet interesting and impressive he was as an individual... as a child.

"Sebastian? What are you doing here so early in the morning?"

Cynebal had arrived at the training grounds much later than the other group of men. A flurry of questions were aimed at him as soon as he showed his face.

"My~ if it isn't Cynebal." The biggest yet oldest looking man stepped forward to greet Cynebal.

"Aye, its 'The Great Tower'! He's back again!!" A brawny man with beefy shoulders shouted with excitement and exaggeration in his movements.

"We haven't seen you here for quite a while now..." "Hey, have you finally decided to pick up your sword again?"

The last two men looked like brothers, one was shorter and the other was taller. They were muscular but not as much as the other two, all round they were still well built.

...

"Ah... no. I'm not here for anything like that. I was just looking around for Sebastian when I saw him missing, he was staying over at my house so I was a bit worried about him when I saw him disappear early in the morning."

Cynebal then looked towards the lightly brown coloured boy who was still swinging his wooden sword relentlessly.

"As...*huff* You can see... I'm *huff*...trying to-"

"Alright alright, I got it. But why..."

Cynebal's voice trailed off at the last two words. He had many thoughts running through his mind about why Sebastian was training so hard and desperately.

Sebastian continued to repeat the motions- he would raise his arm and then strike the wooden dummy in front of him with a controlled effort. He would then switch the angle he would smack the dummy at and repeat, again and again.

The other men had finished stretching out and started to train on their own. Cynebal stood outside the gates and simply watched until Sebastian let his hands drop to his sides and sat on the ground. Sebastian looked at Cynebal dead in the eye and spoke to him firmly.

["I need to get stronger."]

It was a simple truth, one that Cynebal would instantly acknowledge and accept. Anyone could understand Sebastian after seeing the situation he and his mother were in.

"Ah..."

"I must get stronger in order to protect Mother. She's the only family I have now.I may be the worst at this type of thing but I will try and when the time comes, I will fight- even if it's at the cost of my life..."

"Isn't that the same for you?"

Cynebal stood there with his mouth open, he was simply stunned. He didn't know what to say. Sebastian's words had struck him deeply within his heart. He understood Sebastian completely.

"Don't you need to grow stronger to protect your family? I'm simply doing the same."

"I- I see..."

"But... as you have witnessed for a while now, I'm not particularly good at wielding a sword. No matter how hard or for how long I swing at this training dummy, I still feel off when I hold this wooden sword. Its been like this in the past and I don't think this is going to change anytime soon..."

"Ah- then maybe... to compensate for your size and arm strength, maybe... a dagger might suit you?"

"That's... a good idea."

"Actually you know... today I brought with me a dagger that I have personally owned for a long time. It was given to me by my father but I haven't ever used it because it never really suited to my liking. And I was planning on giving it to one of these o'l chaps here but if not, then I would've sold it I guess... but hey- now that you need one, I don't see why you can't have it!"

Cynebal looked at the tools in his hand for a moment, then handed Sebastian two daggers and smiled at him.

"Here ya go, you can have both of them. The wooden one is more for safety and training and the proper one is for- well, when you're ready of course."

"Ah I see, thank you very much. I'll be sure to repay you in the future."

"Oh... don't worry about that~ All I would really want you to do is to get along well with Scarlet like you have done up until now. Compared to before you met her, she's been smiling almost every day now. All I'll ever say to you is to just continue making her happy... so that this father of her's no longer needs to see her alone- so that I can see her smile everyday... That's all I want from you I guess."

...

"That is quite the tough job, making someone smile everyday that is."

"Haha, well yeah- it sure is..."

"I'll do my best though. I'm indebted to you for many things. For being a good friend to my father, for sharing food and helping me and Mother whilst father isn't here with us, and also for introducing me to someone I can now call a true friend."

...

"A friend, huh..."

"Hmm?"

"But... Seriously Sebastian, hearing words like that come out from your mouth- from a child... feels so odd."

"Well... get used to it?"

"Hahaha, yeah- at this point there's nothing else to do but accept it."

"Mhm."

"But now that I think about it, it feels like I'm handing my child over to a grown man."

"Wait, wha-"

"Hey you two! Get over here and start working those muscles!!" An old man had interrupted the awkward conversation between the child and the man.

...

"That's right, time is ticking. I can stay here almost all day if I wanted to, but you... You only have an hour or two before you have to get to work. Here, you can take this wooden sword." Sebastian holds out the sword in front of Cynebal.

"Ah- I..."

Cynebal was hesitant but as he began to recall what Sebastian had said earlier, he reached out his right hand to it- but then Sebastian removed the sword from his reach at the last second.

Sebastian looked at the sword and slid his finger across it. He took a glance at Cynebal and then looked back to the sword in his hand.

"Hmm, or maybe not. I think you're a bit too frail to even hold a sword. Kukuku~" Sebastian said as he held his hand over his mischievous grin.

"Why you... Alright alright, gimme that sword. I might not be in the best shape but you know I have been hunting here and there still. I'll be back in top form in no time, hehahah~"

The men continued their training alongside Sebastian and Cynebal until an hour had passed. There were hardly any conversations between them as they were immersed in their diligent training.

"Sebastian, I think that's enough for today. For both me and you..."

"Yes, you're right. I think that's enough training for me, and even though it's been an hour since you've arrived... You- well... seems like you need to get your stamina sorted out."

Sebastian looked at the men who were happily chatting without any sign of exhaustion and then went back to Cynebal who was breathing heavily.

"Well, *huff*, this is a bit different from going hunting where you're not always active. Haaa, *huff*, and... having to constantly hit the sandbag is quite draining for me."

"Mhm. I guess so."

Shortly after, the two headed back to Cynebal's house and spoke along the way. The key topic that was brought up was how Sebastian could improve his use of the dagger- his technique and also how he could get stronger generally. He instructed Sebastian to spend some time each day doing bodyweight exercises to help build muscle.

Cynebal would then shift the conversation to more ordinary thoughts and experiences like about his family and his daughter, Scarlet.

Afterwards, when they had arrived at Cynebal's house, they would talk about general daily ongoings and so on and so forth before the time would come for Cynebal to finish resting and leave to go out hunting.

"Oh wait, so... what should I do with the daggers?"

"Hmm... I think it'd be best if I keep them somewhere safe for now, having a weapon in the hands of a child isn't good after all. Even if it's someone as mature and responsible as you... I'll give them to you everyday for when you want to go training though."

...

"Alright then." Sebastian handed over only the real dagger to Cynebal and hid a small sigh before saying...

"I'll be keeping this wooden dagger for training though!"

"Alright, alright. Now off I go to work, make sure to play with Scarlet and help out your mother and my wife whenever you can!"

"Okayyy!!" I shouted back to Cynebal, who waved back at me as he departed.

With this, I've acquired one piece of the puzzle. Although, gaining access and utilising it... may prove to be difficult. I'm not fully sure if I'll need it but it's best to have it as reassurance. After all, things may change in the future so I'm not sure what exactly might happen.

It's best to prepare for the worst possible outcome.

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["■■■■■ can be held in many different forms, one of them is by holding a tool ■■■■■■ by many. A tool meant for ■■■■■■■. A ■■■■■■."]

- Sebastian Quent, the boy who sought ■■■■■.