After the bath and talk with Schenk Faust felt very refreshed. He was clean and had just heard that there was another survivor from Poplia. A beautiful girl at that. He quickly went through the girls his age in his head before meeting Vitus on one of the lower floors.

“Kid. You heard there’s another survivor, didn’t you?” he said happily. “A cute girl at that.” He added with a smirk in Faust’s direction, who blushed.

“I have, though I wasn’t told her name. Do you know it?”

“Her name is Flora. Mirabella is quite charmed by the little angel. Want to meet her?” the man offered.

“I… yes please.” He stammered as images of a petite girl his age shot through his mind. He had known Flora for all his life. She was the miller’s daughter and one of his friends. They often went bathing together when they were younger, though, in recent years, they avoided it due to both of them hitting puberty and their parents forbidding it. Nonetheless, they remained good friends.

A sheepish smile crept onto Faust's face when he thought of her. He thought she was beautiful and kind.

“Oh god,” Vitus laughed. “I know that look. Wipe that sheepish smile off your face loverboy. I'll bring you to her room.”

With a complicated smile, Faust followed the veteran through the hallway until they arrived at a room pretty close to his own.

“That’s her room. If you’re lucky she’s on her own right now. I'll take my leave kid. Make sure to get down to the large hall after your talk to have lunch. You have to eat. You’re barely skin and bones. How do you wanna kill an orc with that?” he pointed at the boy who put on a wry smile as he knew the old man was just joking as he watched the soldier leave.

‘He is right though. I should eat as much as I can… even more… I need strength,’ A picture of Schenk showed up in his mind.

‘I want to become as strong as him!’ Faust was determined to grow strong. For his survival, to repay Schenk, and to avenge his family.

‘No. Even stronger.’

A confident glint filled his eyes as he knocked.

“Come inside.” He could hear a sweet voice from behind the door. He gently opened the door and entered, closing the door behind him. Before he could even close the door, he felt a body slamming against his, hugging him tightly.

“Faust!” he heard the girl exclaim happily as she buried her head in his chest.

“I’m so glad you’re alive!” she exclaimed and looked up at his face with a bright smile. She was a cute blonde girl who was about a head shorter than Leona yet had been blessed in other areas of her body. Faust felt overwhelmed by her sudden assault, but slowly hugged her back as he smiled brightly.

For the first time since the raid, he was genuinely happy. He felt her soft body press against his, yet his thoughts were purely on the girl’s beaming expression as she saw him. It felt good to be hugged. Especially by Flora.

“I didn’t dare to hope you survived. But here you are!” he laughed and held her tight. They remained in their hug for a few minutes and enjoyed each other’s warmth. Then they sat down on the small bench in front of the fireplace where a small but lively fire was blazing.

They sat right next to each other and the girl, wearing a beautiful, light blue dress smiled up at him, yet Faust could see a tinge of sadness on her face. She couldn’t be alright.

She had just hugged him like a drowning person reaching for a piece of wood. He put a hand around her shoulder and pulled her closer. With a sigh, she put her head onto his shoulder.

After a few moments of silence, he could hear her husky voice.

“I don’t know how to handle what happened. I don’t know if I ever can.” He could hear the sadness in her voice, and it reflected what he felt. He could feel her frail body quivering and when he turned his head could see that she was crying silently.

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A sad smile appeared on his face, and he lifted her chin with his left hand.

“I will never forget what I saw. Never.” Then, he wiped the tears off her face which caused her to smile briefly. He found the sight enchanting.

“When I saw you, the pain briefly disappeared, but it immediately returned and I don’t know how to stop it…” she continues, but before she could speak herself into a rage Faust hugged her and after a minute the sobs slowly ebbed.

“I’m sorry…” she muttered with her head still on his chest.

“Don’t be. Were in this together, Flora. We aren’t alone.” he replies and makes her look up.

“Look around. Were in a castle. Fate was kind to us. Schenk and Mirabella have taken us in. We don’t have to worry about freezing or starving to death and we even have a future if we work hard.” He smiled and the girl pondered a bit before smiling again.

“I’ve missed your positive attitude. Even though I know that you’ve buried the sadness deep inside of you.” She put a hand on his chest, right above his heart.

“You said it yourself. We’re not alone. So don’t you dare keep all your problems to yourself.” She then punched his chest with her tender hand and laughed.

The care for him she had just shown was a bit too much for him to take in and he was unable to put order into his feelings that had been in utter disarray ever since he had entered the room. Was this happiness? Relief? Love? He didn’t know. He just knew it felt good.

Facing her cute reprimanding he didn’t mention how he nearly froze to death. They spent some more time reminiscing about the past, spending time together, making their trauma disappear for the time they spent together. Before he left Flora shot him a shy smile and blushed.

Faust was unsure how to react as he also felt a blush creeping onto his face. He quickly said his goodbyes and left hurriedly, to escape the awkward situation. Yet both of them could hear their own heartbeat.

‘She’s too cute.’ He said to himself before making his way down and into the large hall.

It was located on the ground floor and was a large room with multiple fireplaces to keep it warm and cozy. In the middle were 4 big tables with long benches next to them. On the other end of the room was the Baron's table.

The ground was elevated so the baron's table could overlook the rest of the room. The walls were filled with banners. The room was empty except for a few servants preparing lunch.

There was nothing ugly or cold about this hall. It was filled with beautiful carvings, flowers, banners, paintings, and many other things that amazed Faust. He couldn’t even imagine the worth of all of these things.

‘All of that is probably more expensive than the entire village.’ He thought before a cold feeling spread when he thought of his home.

He quickly thought of Flora’s smile, and it dampened the pain to a bearable degree. He couldn’t help but smile about himself.

‘You’re a mess.’ He snickered as he shook his head slightly.

The banners showed different motives. The one most prominently placed showed a golden 8-spoked wheel on a scarlet background. Faust had never seen such vibrant colors and was about to touch it when he heard someone clear their throat behind him.

“What are you doing? You better not touch that. I doubt you could pay it off if you damaged it.” An arrogant voice said from behind him. Faust whirled around and stared at a black-haired man about his age. He had his hair combed to the sides. He was muscular and had an aloof facial expression.

Next to him stood a slightly fat, but burly man maybe a year older than them. His short, curly brown hair and smile made him appear much nicer than the arrogant prick next to him Faust concluded.

Faust chose to choose de-escalation and sighed internally. He couldn’t offend anybody in this castle.

“My name is Faust. I’m new to the castle. Please forgive me.” He stretched out his hand and smiled. The fat boy immediately smiled and shook his hand.

“I’m Cassius. Nice to meet you. We only arrived 2 weeks ago. And this prick next to me is Aquila. He’s nicer than he appears.” He smirked at Aquila who hit Cassius on the back of his head, which caused him to giggle. It wasn’t a hard slap and Faust could see that Aquila smiled briefly.

“Don’t talk shit about me in front of the fresh meat.” Aquila reprimands with a slight smile.

“Yeah, yeah. Fuck off.” Cassius laughed. Aquila sighed and shook Faust’s hand as well.

“You heard him. Im Aquila. Welcome to the castle. What village are you from?”

“Poplia,” Faust answered after a brief moment of silence. The two men were taken aback and gulped.

“I… I didn’t mean to… you must be Faust. I’m sorry.” The previously arrogant Aquila immediately apologized.

‘Great. Knowledge about the tragedy has already spread. But at least he isn’t a heartless prick.’ Faust was glad to make new friends yet loathed the special treatment he would get from nearly anyone who knew about what had happened.

“It's alright. Let’s be friends.” He managed to press out a smile. Both boys smiled at his reaction but didn’t fail to notice the shadow that hushed over his face when Poplia was mentioned.

A week passed in a flash. Faust spent most of his time eating, resting, or talking with Flora, Aquila, and Cassius. His interactions with Flora made him temporarily forget about the events of the past week and they found comfort when they were with one another.

Both couldn’t quite figure out their feelings towards one another. They chose to just enjoy each other’s company without worrying too much.

Exactly 7 days after the raid on Poplia Faust was having dinner with his new comrades and other soldiers when a man stumbled into the great hall and looked around hectically before seeing Schenk sitting on the big table. The baron stood up abruptly and the messenger ran over to him.

It was Istvan. He fell to one knee before Schenk and with a loud and clear voice, he announced:

"Milord. I bring news from Earl Alexander."