A few tendays had passed since the incident with the beast boy. Rosine had a falling out with Lola and was currently staying out our place. Lola, did not show any hint of trying to get Rosine back to her house, probably because she knew the girl was safe with us. Better than her running into the woods where her safety couldn't be confirmed.

Mother, after hearing what happened argued with Lola's decision, believing that forcing us to watch such a scene was completely unnecessary. Lola argued the importance of us understanding just how things worked and how it was better for us to not stick our nose into such matters.

Honestly, I couldn't argue against either side. They provided reasonable judgements on the matter, so I decided to simply watch it unfold.

It all ended with mother slapping Lola and them not talking for quite some time.

She'd forbidden me from going over to her cottage anymore, meaning I was left to my devices most of the time. My days were spent practicing magic on my own, entertaining Rosine, performing chores and roaming the village.

I hadn't seen Lesley in quite sometime too. From what I'd heard, he got quite the beating from his father. Something about how they were already poor, so him raking in more debt would just cause their utter downfall.

It made me realise just how truly bad things were for people in Victis villages. I knew that we were poor and weren't receiving any aid from any kingdom, but to think that it meant our lives held so little value that upon the smallest issues concerning money, anyone could end up being sold away.

Mother and Rosine had gone off to the market today, Roland was almost never in the house, I wasn't allowed to go see Lola for lessons and I was a 5-year-old with magical capabilities. Basically, I was given too much power today.

"Hehehe, what to do with my free time?", I muttered as I juggled blue and red orbs together. Upon collision, steam erupted from the combination. A shaky grin spread across my face, excited by just how easily I was manipulating the elements now.

Ever since the incident, my mana pool had grown drastically and so did my control. I had come up with the idea of combining two elements at once to create new elements if possible. So far, the best I'd done were steam, mud and hot air.

I'd realised quickly that the amount of orbs put into the combination affected the outcome. For steam, an equal amount of red and blue orbs would be more than sufficient. For mud, the combination was roughly 7 yellow orbs to 3 blue orbs and for hot air, it was 1 red orb to 3 green orbs.

As of this moment, I was still at the stage where I had to count the orbs, but I was working on learning to do this, simply through feel. For faster incantations and shots, of course.

Today though, I'd got a great idea. Well, I say great, but the idea was far too dangerous implement at home.

The last time, when I was trying to break the locks on the cage, I had to force in a great deal of red orbs to complete it. But upon realising that it was possible to combine these, I started to realise that what I'd done was a waste of both mana and time.

To create a stronger flame, what I needed wasn't more red orbs, but more green orbs. After all, more oxygen only boosted flames. If I'd used the green orbs to boost the flames the last time, I might not have struggled half as much as I did.

However, there was something also quite fishy with this theory of mine. I wasn't quite certain how well I'd be able to control the reaction should it happen. The blue flames lasted for only a moment, but considering they were so hot they easily melted metal, I didn't even want to think just what I'd accidentally break at home.

I had to find somewhere else to do it. The only problem was that, there was no good place in this crummy village. The only relatively safe place that was far from the village was Lola's cottage, but I was forbidden to go there. I didn't want the villagers to know I had magic and I didn't want to also walk into the Bewildering Forests, just to try this out.

There was news of wild beasts starting to come around the village too, so things were as bad as could be. Apparently, we were in the mating season, so their numbers had ramped up greatly.

As I walked through the village, thinking of places to go to, I saw an odd scene.

A group of kids were shouting amongst themselves. Seems like they were cheering at something.

I leaned in a bit closer to get a better image and I was surprised by what I saw. There was a fight ongoing and both the participants seemed to be heavily injured. Well, about as heavily injured a kid brawl can get you.

But that wasn't the shocking part. These children seemed to think fighting was the most exciting thing in the world. No. The shocking part was the participants. The brothers Geoffrey and Lesley—Lesley, who idolised his older brother, and Geoffrey, who treated him like his first lieutenant—were going at it, pulling at hairs and socking each other in the eye.

"Stop acting like a spoilt brat and apologise!", Geoffrey ordered, kicking Lesley away.

The younger brother quickly recovered, throwing sand into Geoffrey's eyes. The older brother grunted, trying to clear his eyes. Lesley saw this as an opportunity, as he tackled his brother to the ground and fired off a flurry of punches at his face.

"Its… your… fault… It's… all… your… fault!", He cried, not relenting on his assault. "He'd have escaped! He'd have gone home… but… you… ratted us out!"

'Oh… So that's what this is about.'

Now that I had the full picture, I couldn't quite blame Lesley for lashing out at his brother. Then again, maybe if we hadn't antagonised him moments before, he wouldn't have carelessly snitched on us. No, I couldn't even say it was our fault. At the end of the day, he was just a kid being a kid. From a higher moral standpoint, one could make the argument that Lesley was in the right, but I wasn't going to pretend that I had the moral high ground.

"Shut it! I saved yer stupid ass!" Again, Geoffrey casually kicked Lesley away from him. Through squinted eyes, he walked over to his younger brother and kicked him a few more times. "If yer won't be grateful that I saved yer stupid ass, I don't care. Go back to the forest or whatever. Just don't try fighting me, or I'll tell ma next time."

"Hehe, that's why Geoffrey's the strongest kid in the village."

'What are you cheering him on for? He just fought and almost lost to a seven-year-old!'

The strength disparity was just as wide when their ages were compared. Geoffrey shouldn't have been feeling proud of such a pathetic display.

"Didn't Rosine beat hi- uh, Geoffrey's the strongest!"

A single glare from Geoffrey was more than enough to change the boy's tune. As they started walking by, my eyes met Geoffrey's. He simply scoffed, then walked away, refusing to do anything. I shrugged, deciding not to think too much about it.

Slowly, I walked over to Lesley and reached out my hand to him.

"You good?"

He looked up at me, then frowned. Quietly, he took my hand, and I helped him up.

"Yeah. Just wish I could've beaten dat stupid rat."

He grunted, wiping the blood from his lip. He started to stare at me from the corner of his eye, as if trying to say something to me. I shrugged, feeling particularly uninterested in the ordeal all of a sudden.

"Well, whatever. As long as you're good. See ya."

I walked off. That was enough of a detour. For now, I wanted to-

"If only someone could teach me how to get stronger.", Lesley grabbed my hand, saying it strongly in my ears.

"Y-Yeah. Only if. Good luck finding that someone.", I broke free from his grip and started to walk away faster.

"Yes! Only if someone had the ability to cast mag-!"

I covered his mouth before he could finish that.

"Ssh!", I looked around, seeing if there was anyone around. "You trying to expose me or something?"

"No.", He brushed aside my hands. "But I want ta get strong enough to beat dat snake."

He looked right into my eyes with his emerald eyes, and I could tell he meant every single word. It didn't give me the impression of something as simple as a kid's anger at the moment. More like, he'd been fostering this idea for quite some time.

Then again, I was the worst at reading other people, so I may have been feeding too deeply into it.

"Hmm, in that case, stretch forth your hands and try chanting this.", I ordered, giving him the chant for the basic fireball spell.

He did it perfectly, but nothing came out. I shook my head, expecting this result. It was unfortunate, but Rosine and I were both extremely special cases. The odds of another conveniently existing in this village were close to none.

"So, I can't use magic?"

"I can't say for certain. Maybe when you turn twelve, you'll awaken, but the odds of that are slim. You don't have any magic lineage, right?"

"Don't know." Lesley shrugged.

"Well there you have it. I can't help you since you aren't a mage. Good luck though."

Now was my chance to run as quickly as possible. With no one around to search for my whereabouts, today was a rare day for me to simply fool about. I couldn't give that spare time to Lesley.

"There's other ways to get stronger.", Lesley grabbed my wrist, pulling me back.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Y-Yeah. I hope you find success,", I muttered, trying to free my wrist. This time was different, however, as he easily maintained his grip on me.

"If I can't use magic, I just need to do it the other way! I'll learn the sword." He excitedly said, his emerald green eyes barely an inch away from mine.

"G-good for you!"

'How exactly are you even going to learn that?'

I didn't bother asking this out loud, for neither did I have the interest nor time to entertain him.

"The swordsman from before. He said he was going to be a patrol guard for the next couple of months. Maybe if I ask him, he'll teach me."

'How did you know what I was saying!?'

"Come on, let's go!"

And just like that, against my will, I was dragged along by Lesley on his quest to get stronger than his brother.

"We're almost der." Lesley said, pushing apart bushes and moving through the forest.

I followed behind cautiously, taking in the scenery. Thick, tall trees that reached far beyond my scope, sunlight bleeding through the leaves, and the demon beasts that were quietly going about their business, pretending like we weren't around.

Then again, we were in the safest part of the forest during the day, so the chances of us getting attacked by a demon beast were miniscule. Still, it was fun being able to observe some of them. Steel peckers, sunny robins, black-fanged hares, dusty butterflies, and the lot.

I almost never got the opportunity to see some of these in person. Lola would sometimes bring some corpses over for a lesson, but that was less than ideal for me. These were only the safe animals, and even then, they were dangerous.

If we kept going any further, we could end up meeting more dangerous demon beasts.

But to be honest, I was a bit surprised we were seeing demon beasts this early in the forest. According to a book I'd read on the Bewildering Forests, the forest only grew more dangerous the more you went into it. It was believed that the forest was a living vein of mana, much like dungeons, meaning the mana it exuded was affecting the life near it.

The closer they were to the core of the forest, the more the wild life would be affected by it. This was called mutation. From what had been observed, this only affected animals. The affected animals took on odd forms and monstrous new appearances, hence their name, demon beasts.

According to the book, the mana vein's effects could only reach so far, meaning the edges should have been relatively safe enough to not transform the animals here. Then again, the book was written about 20 or so years ago. A lot could have happened between then and now.

"And you're sure the guard post is in the forest and not on the path?", I grumbled.

"Guard post?", Lesley stopped, looking at me with a confused expression.

"Yes. Guard post. You know? The place guards are told to stay and watch? The place we've been searching for for the past half an hour?"

He just looked at me with raised eyebrows. He very visibly did not understand what I was talking about.

"I thought you said you were going after the swordsman?"

"Oh yeah. Dat's what we're doing right now.", He cheerfully said, going back on his trail.

"W-Wait. You didn't know he was the post guard?"

"Nope."

"Then what the hell are we doing here?"

"Da forest said he's around here."

"Excuse me, the forest said what now?", I paused, looking at the back of the child as he marched forward, dauntless.

""The swordsman yer looking for is 'ere." So we're going there,", he explained, as if that made any goddamned sense.

I looked at my fist. A ball of fire was starting to form, but no. I wouldn't let it. This was just a child. A stupid, ignorant, trouble-seeking child, but still a child regardless. It was beneath me to burn such a child.

"Why are children so damn annoying?", I let out a heavy sigh, rubbing my temples.

Ignoring the fact that we were out in the bewildering forests, my biggest problem now would be convincing this kid to turn around. I couldn't just leave him to wonder aimlessly in here for the rest of eternity by himself.

"Lesley, let's turn back now."

"You say something?"

"I said, let's tu-"

"Sshh.", He put his finger on my lips, silencing me.

'Huh!?'

"Come,", he whispered, dragging me forward. Over a bush, we saw a man hunched up next to a tree, puking his guts out. Laying down on the ground next to him were a sheathed sword and his pants. He was naked from the bottom going.

I looked at Lesley then at the barfing grown up and sighed.

Somehow, Lesley's instincts were right on the money. We both walked out next to the man, but stopped when the tip of a blade appeared right before my forehead. The man had turned around, gripping the handle of his sword tightly and glaring at us.

His face was practically a strange mix of green and red with veins bulging, sweat streaming down his face and his eyes, bloodshot.

"Uh… w-we're sorry."

The moment he realised who we were, his blade clattered to the ground. He'd turned around quickly to puke some more. And that meant we were given front row tickets to this strange man's bare posterior.

Both Lesley and I stepped back, not wanting to be close to that.

"W-What are you two doing out he-ugh." He couldn't manage to get back up.

"Uuh, you good?"

"Teach me how to fight!"

'Read the room!'

This wasn't the time or place to be asking someone for something. If you truly wanted him to do you a favour, you had to have some leverage on him. At least, that's what was done to me by tons of people in my past life.

"N-Not now kid. I think I'm dying."

Reluctantly, I walked up to him to pat him on the head. Just give him a good old rub and fake care. That way he'd feel a little more favourable towards me when he was done with this.

Normally, I'd assumed this was the effects of a bad hangover, but I'd learnt that some enhancers simply couldn't get drunk. Apparently, after reaching a certain level of power, their body simply blocked off the negative effects of external toxins. Not completely, obviously, but to an extent, meaning almost no toxins would work on enhancers of decent strength.

And considering just how much Roland drunk, I figured it was fair enough to assume that Lesley was at the very least, stronger than the useless bastard.

Besides, I couldn't smell any alcohol on him. He hadn't had any for at least yesterday night till now.

What I found, however, was the corpse of a snake and it's severed head. The snake's skin was a stark grey, but its eyes were a haphazard mix of rainbow colours.

I stepped back, feeling a little bit horrified and frightened. I'd learnt about this kind of snake during my classes with Lola.

"T-The Spirit Road Viper!?"

"Ya know what dat is?", Lesley said, pinching his nose and coming up to me.

"Why are you pinching your nose?"

"The man stinks, ok? I'm surprised you can stand it.", He said, just standing next to me, his eyes watching the snake corpse closely.

"Whatever. That's a spirit road viper. They are a rare type of viper, rarely ever seen, but easily noticeable. This is because of their rainbow-coloured scales, said to look like the spirit road that the dead walk in their search for heaven."

"Uuh, that don't look rainbow coloured to me. It's more… white?", He crouched over, inspecting the corpse even further. "No. Gotta be grey."

I eye rolled; a bit exhausted by his ignorance.

"When the viper dies, the colour drains from its body into its eyes. People believe this is because the viper's soul is punished to only ever see the blessed road it forcefully sends the living to."

"Is da poison deadly?"

"It's one of the deadliest. The death rate is so high it's almost unbelievable."

Then again, considering what kind of time period I was living in, even something like the common cold could become deadly depending on the person's situation.

"Oh… so, is da swordsman gonna die?"

Upon hearing this, the swordsman grabbed me by the shoulders.

"Y-You know this thing, so I bet… urp… I bet you know of a cure-ugh- right?"

His eyes were pleading with me as his body shook mightily. I could see he was holding back the puke.

I raised two of my fingers to him.

"Fortunately, science has figured out a couple of ways to counter the poison's effects. The first one would be the Black Dragon Velucia flower."

The man held his mouth, trying to keep the puke from coming out as he listened intently.

"Great. Let's go get a bunch for him." Lesley said, turning around.

"Hold on. That's impossible for us."

"Huh?"

"The velucia flowers only grow in absurdly precise conditions. You won't find any around here."

Talking about it just made me remember how I grimaced when reading about the flower's habitat.

'In a land where the salty scent of the sea can be smelled, the maddening heat of an active volcano burning the rocks and the handful of sunlight trinkled down like a drop of water, there lays a flower, as black as the night sky and as fierce-looking as a dragon.'

The person to find this flower was a researcher by the name of Vel. Not much more was known about this place he was talking about.

The guard just plumped over, puking even more. This time, a little bit of blood coming out.

"Fortunately, the other solution is really close to us."

He looked up at me with blood dripping down his nose and mouth. I could practically read his eyes, screaming at me to tell him where the hell it was.

I couldn't contain the grin that formed on my face. He was now in the palm of my hands!

"I need you to make a promise first, before I tell you."

He nodded his head, grunting through the pain.

"You'll have to teach Lesley swordsmanship when we help you."

Again, he nodded his head.

"Alright then. The cure is right there."

His eyes traced the movement of my outstretched finger, eventually settling on the head of the cut off snake.

"The eyes-", Before I could finish my sentence, he grabbed the snake's head and simply chomped down on it whole. "-contain… the antidote… um… well he's dead."

I shrugged, turning around to walk back to the village.

"Eh?"

"HM!?"

"You just drank the source of the viper's poison as well as the cure. To be honest, I don't know which one's gonna win now. Good luck, Mr. Post Guard."

I grabbed Lesley by the arm.

"H-Hey!"

"You dragged me into this place, now get me out."

**********

"Yeah, and so Lisa berated the butcher for trying to cheat him. And he gave us the full 5 pounds of meat."

Rosine yelled excitedly, having narrated both her and mother's day at the market. It was quite the adventure.

"What about you, Belfry?", Mother came over, serving some bowls of stew. "Do anything exciting today, while home alone?"

I wouldn't call watching the rear posterior of a stranger an exciting event. It was… something, alright, but definitely not exciting.

"Nope. Nothing exciting at all."

"How's the meal?" Mother asked, looking at me with stars for eyes.

I took a spoonful of the stew. The meat was a bit chewy and undercooked, but other than that, the stew itself was quite fine. Rather than quite fine, the stew was really good. Either that, or I'd become accustomed to mother's less than stellar cooking. Most likely the latter.

"It's super tasty!"

"HMPH!", Rosine stood on her chair, crossing her arms and grinning proudly.

"What's with that stupid grin?"

"Mind your words, Belfry.", I got berated.

"Sorry, mother.", I bowed my head.

"It's because I cooked it, you stupid brat.", Rosine knocked me on the head. "Now, praise me!"

I growled, then turned to mother.

"She just called me stupid!"

"Rosine, apologise."

"No fair! He called me stupid first!"

"You have to learn to get a forgiving heart, Rosine."

"That's because you are stupid.", I muttered under my breath.

"Belfry!" It would seem I was caught. I braced myself for her rant.

Saving me from another lecture, there was a thunderous knock on the door.

"Who could be here at this hour?", She asked, getting up from the table. "By the time I return, you two should have sorted this out. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes mother."

"Yes ma'am."

She left us alone. I looked at Rosine, then at my bowl of stew.

'What the hell am I doing fighting with a child?'

I heaved a heavy sigh, then took another sip of the soup.

"The… uh, the soup's really good."

"I bet it is.", She said, with almost no energy in her voice. "How's the meat?"

"Um… it's good. Especially for your first-time cooking."

"It's hard and chewy, huh?"

"Yes. Quite undercooked too. You can really tell it's someone's first time cooking i- uh, still impressive."

"Lisa cooked the meat."

"Oh… oh… makes sense.", I shrugged, then took in a bite full of another piece of meat.

"How can you still eat that?"

I smirked, finally feeling like the superior person in the room.

"It's from years of experience, Rosine. You'll feel like puking at first, but after the tenth time, you accept the reality that this is your life, and get used to it." I beat my chest, boasting of my years of experience battling mother's cooking.

"Not the meat!", She roared, glaring at me. When she realised that she'd lost her head, she calmed down once more, looking away. "Well, the meat, but… ugh!"

I dropped my spoon then looked right at Rosine. There was definitely something more to this.

"What's the real problem here?"

"After that day… when they cut off his arm… the exposed flesh and blood has been… every time I see or smell meat… that day flashes through my head." She hunched over, squeezing her arms tightly, beads of sweat starting to form. "The blood, the exposed bone, his screams, the men's laughter. How… useless I was. Everything comes rushing in. It just makes me want to hurl up everything I've eaten. How can you still eat that? The meat."

Oh… that's what was bothering her.

I looked back at my bowl of stew, almost laughing. Not at Rosine, or her issues, but at the fact that mother, in the end, won the argument.

"Like I said, it's from experience. After the tenth time, you accept the reality that this is your life and simply get used to it. Puke your guts out till you feel a little better, but steel your stomach, because you'll eventually have to face it again. The meat, I mean."

I took another sip of the bowl. I could feel Rosine's eyes boring into me, but definitely not out of rage.

"Belfry, please come to the front door!"

Hearing mother's call, I quickly got up from the dining table. Getting to the front door, I paused when I saw the unexpected visitor.

It was the patrol guard that was puking his guts out earlier during the day.

"There you are, precocious brat."