As Roy continuously knocked on the door to no answer, Daniel, the young boy he had just saved, pulled at his pants.

“Hey, brother Roy, why is he mad at you? Did something bad happen?”

Roy nervously laughed at the young boy’s question before he coughed to hide his embarrassment. “We-we just have a problem with each other, and I’m here to talk about it with him.”

“Hmm, okay…” Daniel was obviously not satisfied by Roy’s answer, but he still nodded his head and walked back towards his sister.

Roy, on the other hand, kept knocking on the door. As minutes went by, several thoughts started crawling up toward the depth of his mind. It’s fine to go back now, right? I already tried my best, but he doesn’t want to listen to me.

As such thoughts swarmed his brain, Roy shook his head and slapped both his cheeks. The hell am I thinking? This is some weak shit.

As Roy got out of his own head and was about to knock again, the door suddenly opened.

“What the hell are you coming here for? You’re not welcome anymore.” As Lorenz berated Roy, his eyes drifted towards the two kids further back. They looked at him with scared eyes, as the sister hid behind her brother.

Lorenz clicked his tongue and focused back on Roy. “Is that your plan? You bring kids with you to make me feel bad and you think everything is gonna be alright?”

Roy stayed silent for a few seconds before he sighed, “No, I was coming here to talk with you. I found them alone and decided to take them with me.”

“Why are you being so mean to brother Roy!” Daniel clenched his fist in anger. “You are so rude!”

Lorenz looked to the side before muttering under his breath, “You say that because you don’t know anything.” He then looked at Roy and said with a louder voice, “Fine! You wanna come in, be my guest. There is nothing to find here anyway.”

The tanned boy stormed into his house without waiting for any reply. Looking at the back of the angry Lorenz, Roy smiled bitterly. Well, at least there is some progress.

Even though it pained him to see Lorenz hate him so much, Roy could not take it to heart. He understood just how sad and betrayed the boy felt.

Roy followed Lorenz into the house along with Daniel and Jeanie. As he saw the young boy sitting in front of the kitchen table without saying a word, Roy looked at the pair of siblings behind him and said, “Go upstairs for now. Me and Lorenz need to have a private conversation.”

“Hmm, okay,” Daniel nodded his head and walked up the stairs along with his sister.

Roy, on the other hand, joined Lorenz whose eyes were blankly fixated on a random point. The young man sat down in front of him with a sigh. The two stayed silent for a full minute staring at each other before Lorenz finally uttered a word.

“Why… Why did you do it?” The young boy’s eyes pierced through Roy’s body with bone-chilling coldness.

“I did not kill uncle Karthus.”

“Lies!” Lorenz’s expression contorted into one full of rage. “Is this what this is? You came here to lie to me and think I will believe you.”

Roy stayed silent at Lorenz’s accusation. Anything he would say right now would only be seen as an excuse or a plan to avoid responsibility. As such, the two stayed silent as they looked at each other.

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“You should have been burned at the stake. Why did they let you go?”

Lorenz’s comment cut more deeply into flesh than any stab from a goblin or a smash from an Ogre.

“But no worries, what they couldn’t do, I will finish.”

Lorenz abruptly stood up with rage-filled eyes and grabbed a knife off the counter. He then rushed towards Roy with the intent to kill him.

As Lorenz charged towards him, Roy did not move, he simply closed his eyes with a smile. After seconds of waiting for the eventual pain in his chest, Roy opened his eyes to see the knife stuck on the table in front of him.

“Why, why did you stand still?” Lorenz bit his lips as he looked with conflicted eyes at Roy. “I could have killed you, you know. I could have really killed you.”

The young boy’s voice stammered as he tried pushing back his welling-up emotions. He looked down at the ground not daring to make eye contact.

Roy stood up and hugged Lorenz. No words needed to be said, they were too familiar with each other for that. To Roy, Lorenz was like a younger brother—one that he cherished and would give his life to protect.

“Why?” The young boy could barely mutter as he got sniffed and heaved. “Why? Why did dad have to die?!

“It’s okay, Lorenz. You’ve been strong this whole. You can cry as much as you want.”

Tears streamed down Lorenz’s face as he cried in Roy’s chest. He hugged the latter with all his might as if he was afraid that he would leave at any time. Roy kept hugging the young boy until his tears had finally dried.

“Is it true?” Lorenz looked at Roy with hopeful eyes. “You really did not kill dad, right?”

“I did not kill him,” Roy replied simply.

“Then who did?” Lorenz slammed his fist on the table next to him. “Who killed him?”

Roy sat back down on his chair and invited the young boy to do the same. He kept his silence for a few seconds as he thought about how to phrase his next words.

“Your father did not want his work to be used to invade another man’s country. He chose his value and honor as a man rather than the money and the power.” As he thought back to the old blacksmith and his short temper, Roy couldn’t help but smile. “That, and he spat on the wrong guy’s face.”

Lorenz was not stupid. Without Roy having to spell it out, he understood who the perpetrator of his father’s murder was.

“That fucking noble piece of shit.” The young boy was about to burst out in rage before he unclenched his fist and took a deep breath. He then looked at Roy with a serious expression, “Are you going to take revenge?”

Roy’s eyes were cold as he replied, “Yes, for both you and me.”

Lorenz’s expression softened at his confident words. He nodded and said, “Okay, that’s good.” He then looked at Roy with a puzzled expression. “But why did you come here? Don’t tell it was just for this.”

“Come with me, Lorenz. We’re all staying at Roger’s house—me, the boys, and a bunch of other people.”

“What would you need a blacksmith for?” Lorenz chuckled with a self-deprecating look. “What you need is strong people that can kill those monsters.”

Roy had a wry smile on his face as he listened to the young boy’s words. He knew that Lorenz wouldn’t feel good about just being saved and protected without him doing anything in return.

“Don’t worry, your skills are what we need most right now.”

“You need weapons?” Lorenz asked with interested eyes.

“Yeah. Lances, spears, and spikes that I can use for booby traps.”

“The lances and spears are all good, we have them in stock in the workshop. The spikes though, those will need to be forged.”

Roy scratched his chin in thought for a few seconds before he looked at the young boy and asked, “You think you can do it?”

“If the workshop is in good condition and there is no distraction, then it should be easy,” Lorenz replied with a confident voice.

Roy smiled back at him, “Don’t worry, you can leave that job to us.”

As the two finished their discussion, Roy made his way upstairs to look for the two little kids. To both his and their surprise, he found them sneaking peeks from between the rails.

“You’re quite the naughty little kids, aren’t you?” Roy said while pretending to be angry. The two scratched their heads and looked away in embarrassment.

“Come, we’ll be going to Roger’s house now.”

“Let’s go! Whoever is last to the door is a chicken!” Daniel said as he ran past Roy.

“Not fair! You started before me!” Jeanie followed after her brother with a vexed expression.

Looking at this sight, Roy chuckled and shook his head. With everything set, the group of four made their way to Roger’s house, which had become the base of Roy’s little operation.