Meanwhile

Periklis finished his business outside as he began walking inside the cave. Though the commander had a lot on his mind, he was glad to have friends like Punks and Bo who didn’t care about who he was. He took a look at his palm as he tried opening and closing it repeatedly.

‘Why did I even become a bandit in the first place’ he asked himself as he took a trip through memory lane.

Periklis was initially an orphan due to losing his parents in a dungeon raid. He had hoped to become an adventurer like them in the future, one that would make people smile and laugh like his parents had once did but sadly that wasn’t the case. His eyes closed shut as he recalled the words people shot at him when he was a child.

~ “Oi this guy’s fucking weak” ~

~ “An E rank? Lame” ~

~ “No different from a manaless scum” ~

~ “Just let yourself get eaten by a beast and you’ll probably reincarnate as a D rank” ~

~ “Your entire existence is a joke, should’ve died with your parents” ~

In heaven, a method known commonly as a rank is used to determine a person’s mana level. Not to be confused with power level rankings that consisted of ranks creature to god. The mana rankings were F which was basically for people with no mana affinity like Shin and went all the way from E, D, C, B, A and S.

Though it wasn’t really a common case for someone to have a rank below C, they were treated like outcasts in heaven regardless.

~ ‘Why become a hero, if I’ll end up fighting for scum like them’ young Periklis thought to himself as he had enough of their abuse ~

‘They shoved me away, treated me like an animal’

Although joining the Blue hawks bandits didn’t change anything much, but the insults reduced to the point where he could only hear his fellow bandits whisper about it due to threats from the leader who hated all sorts of discrimination.

“The boss saved me that day…” He muttered with a look of gratefulness on his face. Periklis then recalled his encounter with the Boss back when he was 15. The man was beaten black and blue like always and left to rot on the street. But this time was different, he had felt like giving up the ghost on that spot.

Luckily the leader of the group had found him on the street and brought him back to the hideout.

“I can’t let him down…” Periklis smiled softly

“Let who down?”

He quickly turned his head towards Shin who held the reins of the cart filled with all the bandit’s treasures with one hand while carrying a plank of wood. The two stared at each other for a while, both having confused looks on their face.

“You…” Periklis finally broke the silence as he burst towards the child in anger “…The hell are you doing with our stuff?!”

“Tch?” Shin hissed as he quickly dodged a punch from the bandit “You need to chill, it’s not that personal”

“You’re literally robbing our hideout!”

“Pot meet kettle” Shin sneered but not before receiving a straight punch to the face, sending him crashing into the walls of the cave “NGHK”

“Hmph” Periklis cracked his knuckles “Try all you want but you won’t leave this cave on my watch”

“Ugh” Shin groaned as he stood up, wiping the dirt from his lips “Wanna bet?”

“Damn brat” Periklis muttered before leaping at the boy, a green aura formed round his fist though it was significantly small

‘He’s using mana?’ Shin stared in shock. The boy, though he lacked mana, had relied on his natural fighting skills though they could only get him as far as school fights and hunting small animals. He swore to himself it’d be too soon if he ever faced a mana user “Hey go easy on me would ya”

Periklis ignored his pleas as he threw a right hook at the boy’s face. Shin instinctively dodged it but wasn’t prepared as the bandit grabbed his face and slammed him on the ground.

‘This guy hits harder than a bus’ Shin coughed out blood. Last time he was beat this hard was when he met Theseus.

Periklis kept on pinning the boy’s face to the ground.

“I won’t let the boss down, not after all he’s done for me” he declared “Do you know what I’ve been through, what I endured-”

“Nope” Shin blankly cut in leaving the man confused

“What?” Periklis raised a brow

“Nuh uh, not doing this” said Shin as he shook his head “No one wants to hear a sob story mid fight so at least finish me off”

This infuriated the man, he had expected someone of his rank to be capable of sympathizing with him. “You fucker” he growled as he threw Shin towards a wall, destroying it in the process.

Periklis began walking towards the boy slowly “You know nothing about my pain, what it feels like to be discriminated because you have a weak mana”

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Ngh” Shin groaned before spitting out some blood. He had trained for a while since his arrival in heaven so the impact shouldn’t have a fatal effect. ‘I need to move away…’ he thought to himself as he turned his body to the side, although he suddenly felt something fallout of his pocket ‘Huh?’

The small box which he had grabbed began glowing as it slowly unlocked, revealing a small orb the size of a tennis ball. The orb was red and had a fiery disc glowing and rotating ‘The hell?’

Periklis leaped through the smoke caused by the explosion with the aim of knocking the boy out “Take this you damn shrimp!”

Without a second to think, Shin quickly grabbed the orb and pointed it at the direction of Periklis. Shin’s eyes flinched as he hoped this would actually do something and it wasn’t just a dud.

‘What’s happening? I’m not feeling anything’ Shin thought with his eyes closed, the boy couldn’t hear anything or feel what was going on around him ‘Is this death? I wonder if there’s a place after heaven if you die again, maybe I should take a look’

His eyes slowly widened as he took a look around, there was no Periklis, but instead Shin met a large hole in the cave with the main room where the boss sat and the bandits had their meals destroyed. This caused his mouth to widen before taking a look at the strange orb in disbelief.

“Did I do that?” Shin gawked as he kept on staring but suddenly realized something as he shook his head rapidly “Crap Theseus must be waiting for me” He quickly went and grabbed the reins of the horse drawn cart as he mounted it and headed out.

“Wait!”

Shin was halted by a wounded Periklis which made Shin groan in frustration ‘Ugh, what now?’ he then recalled Periklis’ words inside the cave

~ “You know nothing about my pain, what it feels like to be discriminated because you have a weak mana” ~

Shin turned his back towards the half conscious bandit “I don’t know what happened to you, but...” He cleared his throat “That aint an excuse to go hurting people, and it sure as hell isn’t one to try and push your problems onto others just cuz they’re in the same boat with you. The world doesn’t revolve around one person and even if it did it won’t definitely be your sorry ass”

‘What?!’ Periklis’ eyes stared as Shin took his leave, he couldn’t chase after the boy because he was slowly losing consciousness from the attack Shin used. Periklis decided to face the fact which was thrown at him…

…He had failed the person who saved him…

“Oi”

The bandit looked up at Shin who stared back one last time

“What was that about discrimination, I thought you had friends back there or something”

His mind quickly turned to Punks and Bo, two out of the only three people that cared about him. ‘Where are you going with this?’ he thought

“Then you’re pretty much fine to me” Shin turned back to the road as he began his trip back “You have people who can help you through whatever you’ve got going on, so be grateful”

With that, Shin was finally gone. Periklis was nearly at his limit as he was moments away from completely passing out.

“Periklis!” the cries of Punks and Bo could be heard as both rushed over to the aid of their friend and helped him up.

‘Oh… So that’s what he meant huh’ A tear formed on his face as he finally passed out.

~Scroll of the Dead~

Sunset

Shin finally arrived at the market which fairly shouldn’t have taken any more than an hour on horse. He was met with an exhausted/angry Theseus who was made to pay a fine of 5000 stars for loitering in the parking lot.

“Oi Theseus”

“Don’t…” Theseus shot a glare at the boy, he hated wasting money amongst all other things so one could understand his pain “I gave you one job”

“Not my fault” Shin climbed to his usual seat in the back “By the way got you some new stuff”

“Where’d you get all this?”

“Not important” Shin replied “Just look at how much we could make by selling this!”

Theseus paused to think about it, he could definitely make back the money he spent waiting and probably make even more. He let out a sigh as he pat his partner on the head “Fine, but this is the last time I’m trusting you with the cart”

Shin raised a brow “Ehh? If you say so”

~Scroll of the Dead~

Nighttime, Shin and Theseus had finished selling off some items to a reliable merchant. They couldn’t finish selling off the items they stole so they decided to leave it in hopes of finding another buyer on the way. For now, the two had left the city of New Macedonia to continue their journey.

“Oh by the way Theseus” Shin asked while reading one of the comics he had bought.

“Hm?”

“Been wondering, is it possible for me to learn mana” Shin asked, his encounter with Periklis had taught him something…

…He was weak, and needed to become stronger to help Theseus become a god.

“Huh? Why ask so suddenly though” Theseus looked back at the boy with a curious look

“We’re gonna fight even stronger guys from now on… So I don’t wanna be dead weight”

“…” Theseus stared at the boy before letting out a chuckle “Sure”

Shin was surprised, he was expecting a no or something worse “Wait for real???”

“Yeah, you asked and you received” Theseus shrugged “And besides, it’d be badass to see you shoot out beams of energy from your arms”

“Wait you can do that?!” Shin’s eyes lit up in excitement, he had always dreamt of trying to do stuff like a Kamehameha [1] or a Getsuga Tenshou [2]

“Maybe” Theseus replied “If you practice enough”

“Alright” Shin pumped his hands up in the air in even greater excitement

“But don’t get too carried away. And your training starts as soon as we get down to camp”

Shin yelled out “EHH?! What about rest”

“You sleep 13 hours a day, you have no right to ask about rest” Theseus shot back

“So harsh man” a sweatdrop formed on Shin’s head

“Cope” Theseus responded as the two kept on travelling towards their next destination, Thaeopolis.

Theseus then asked his partner out of curiosity “You still haven’t told me what happened in the bandit cave”

“Well…” Shin looked away

~Scroll of the Dead~

A male figure entered the cave of the Blue Hawks. His tall and muscular build was tan in color. He had a black beard which was shaped like a beak along with a moustache, his hair was also black in color but the top being bald. His golden eyes gleamed with a bright complimentary aura. He wore a large blue coat with feathers round the rims and the collar rim’s having larger feathers. This man wore a golden aura round his body as he wore an angry look on his face

He took further steps into the hideout as he saw Punks and Bo tending to Periklis’ injuries. Both people stared at the large figure in fear and cowered. Lest they further anger The Golden Hawk, Vaselios.

He ignored the two and went further into the charred room. The only thing intact was the table with a paper note placed on top, Vaselios picked it up and became even more furious beyond belief. His mana poured through not just the hideout but the whole forest which caused the two to sweat intensely.

“This pressure” Bo muttered as he was forced to the ground like a metal to a magnet “He could kill us with it”

“Is he trying to set off a nuke with this mana?” Punks exclaimed as he also was on the ground

“Oi” Vaselios called the two calmly “What happened?”

Bo struggled to form words from his mouth when he suddenly heard Punks reply “We don’t know, we were knocked-”

-SMACK BOOM

In split second, Punks was punched across the room like a rag doll. Bo stared in shock before a feet was placed on his head. Vaselios forced the man’s face to the ground in a fit of rage.

“So incompetent…” he muttered silently “SO FUCKING USELESS!!!” he forced Bo’s face to the ground which created a crater.

Vaselios raised his head up in fury as he growled “Matsumoto…”

…

On the floor in the room, a note was on the ground, it said

‘RIP BOZO XD’

‘IMAGINE BEING ROBBED BY A KID, CAN’T BE ME’

‘WON’T BE MISSED LOL’

‘- MATSUMOTO SHIN’

At the bottom was a chibi drawing of Shin sticking out his tongue and making a peace sign.