I kicked open the door to my house, then ran to the living area, panting and searching desperately for my mother and Rosine. The fireplace was lit, meaning someone was home. The scent of soul cooking in the kitchen alerted me to the fact that it was most likely mother or Rosine.

Before I could breathe out calmly, a shrill scream resounded through the house. It sounded like mother. I sprinted up the staircase, preparing a ball of fire in my arms to protect her, but paused after I laid my eyes on the gruesome scene.

In her bloody hands, she held a headless corpse that pumped out a fountain of blood. This headless corpse plumped down lifelessly to the ground, falling next to the head of a child. The child possessed cherry-red hair and a freckled face.

I stumbled forward, unable to believe the scene before me. I weakly collapsed in front of the head, grabbing it while still processing the reality of the situation.

"Rosine…" I muttered, utterly baffled.

"Janice! Janice!" Mother screamed, confusing me.

'Janice?', I thought, looking up to her.

However, the woman I saw standing there now was not my mother. Rather, she had honey-blonde hair, just like mine; hazel eyes turned bloodshot from crying; and a face turned hideous from being distraught.

This wasn't my mother. She was someone else.

I looked down into my arms, only to meet the honey-blonde hair and perfect, smooth face of a child I did not know. Shocked, I dropped the head to the ground and jumped back.

"What the fuck!?"

An ominous figure appeared in the room. A man wrapped in shadows, wielding a blade of pure light.

I couldn't move my feet, couldn't make a sound, and couldn't think. I was paralysed, fear gripping my heart tightly and keeping me trapped in my place. All I could do was watch as this shadowy figure moved his blade.

"I warned you.", He whispered, effortlessly slicing through her neck like a hot knife through butter.

Before she even realised it, the woman's head plopped to the ground. It was a scene so mundane and casual that it only served to exemplify the horror of it in my eyes.

"Now, you have failed in this life as well."

Following this statement was a flash of white light.

**********

"Aaaahhhh!" My body jolted up as I screamed, reaching for my neck to ensure everything was still intact.

"Ssshh.", A hand clasped over my mouth, muffling my screams.

I almost set the hand on fire, but the moment I realised whose it was, I stopped myself. We sat down in the darkness, for close to the minute before he let go of me. I quickly turned to face Lesley, expecting an explanation. Understanding me, he responded almost immediately.

"He was close by. Can't afford him finding us."

He walked away, picking up sticks from the ground.

"Who?", I asked, trying to get a good look at his face. Something was off about it. I grabbed him and forced him to face me, just so I could look at his face better. He furrowed his brows, confused by my actions as he responded to my question.

"Billy… what are ya doing?"

"Did he do that to your face?" I asked, touching his eye.

"Yeah. I tried to fight back, but then he just punched me in the eye and told me he'd be giving us a two-day head start."

His entire right eye was swollen and purple. My body shook in anger, just looking at it, but I somehow retained my composure.

"Two days? How long's it been?"

"A few hours... but looks like he already started hunting us down." He pulled his head out of my grasp, then continued to pick up the sticks from the ground. "It's already dark. We'll need to light a fire to keep ourselves warm. I'm sure yer also finding it hard to see, right?"

I looked around, only to realise that even though I instinctively knew it was dark, I had no problems with vision. I could see everything perfectly fine.

"Huh, actually, I can see perfectly,", I explained, picking up the sticks on the ground with him. "Rather, I'm surprised you can see perfectly fine."

"Hm, I've been doing this since I was four, so I'm not sure."

"What?"

"What?"

"You said you've been doing this since you were four?"

He nodded.

"What exactly have you been doing since you were four?"

"Coming into the forest,", He casually said, marching forward with the sticks in his hands. "Whenever things get too annoying back home, I just come out here to breathe, ya know?"

"No. I don't know. I don't walk into a dangerous forest at night to relieve myself of stress." Well, even though I said this, I did sometimes go fight in dungeons just to get away from my party members. Somehow, fighting swarms of monsters felt easier than talking to those people. "You know, on second thought, yeah. I understand."

He smiled, then kept walking.

"Sometimes it feels like the forest is my real home."

"Hmmm, wouldn't say I can relate to that part, though."

"C'mon, I've got a place where we can hide."

The journey to Lesley's secret spot was long—a 30-minute walk—and I was starting to wonder if it was worth it. We came to a seeming dead end of the road with nothing but an unclimbable wall before us littered with debris at its bottom, but Lesley moved over to one of the rocks about twice his size. She got next to it and beckoned me over.

"Help me move this."

Without a moment's hesitation, I listened to the child and acted. Together, we pushed against the boulder, forcing it out of the way and revealing a child-sized hole.

"Nice." He patted me on the shoulder and started to crawl through the hole.

'Ugh. Is he sure about this?', I put aside my questions and followed after him. Surprisingly, the hole was actually quite big. So much so that, after a certain point, I was able to walk on both feet upright. We were in some kind of tunnel, and Lesley pointed at the light at the end.

"That's it. My secret place!", His voice echoed in the cave as he ran towards the light. I simply scratched my head and followed behind him cautiously. The closer I got, though, the louder the sound of a roaring waterfall entered my ears.

When I got out, I paused to take in the magnificent view. It was an enclosed area about 100 metres in radius. A waterfall that gushed powerfully into a river at the bottom also escaped out through another tunnel, separating the place into two.

One side had scorch marks and blackened firewood, whereas the other maintained its green grass, clearly untouched by human activity. I noticed a couple of rusty swords and a pair of skeletons had been swept up against one side of the area. The green environs—moss growing on the rocks and trees—were only contrasted by the blue sky and waterbodies.

This, in addition to the beautiful allure of the silver moonlight, gave the place a fairytale-like aesthetic that was both alluring and spine-tingling.

Lesley was already down at the bottom, close to the fire spot. I chose to go down as well, but the journey down was perilous with all the slippery rocks. Somehow, I made it down safely and walked next to him.

"Welcome to my secret place." He officially welcomed me, like a host attending to a guest.

"How'd you find this place?", I wondered, considering it wasn't exactly an easy place to spot from outside the confines of its walls.

"Was running from a pack of Timber Wolves when I crawled through the hole. Led me here,", he overly simplified the entire origin. I scratched my head, trying to figure out why he had to be running from timber wolves in the first place since the village was sort of being protected.

"I think this was just last year. I got into a fight with da old man. Think it was a few months after mating season, so a group of idiots came into the forest trying to capture some baby Timber wolves. They died, but the wolves musta assumed I was a part of their group, since they normally ignore me."

"Huh…" I looked at him, a little bit overwhelmed by his story.

"Honestly, think I wasn't on their mind, but... I kinda got them angry when I tried to play with one of the pups." He timidly admitted that he was the instigator. I almost wanted to knock him for his immaturity, but children would be children.

I shrugged it off and decided to lay down on the ground and rest.

Looking up at the sky, all I could see was a black canvas splattered with splashes of white. The cool evening breeze blew over me, yet I didn't feel cold. It was like an invisible blanket was wrapped around me.

"Still, that's kinda weird. Why's the forest so damn friendly to you, but trying to kill every other person?"

It was honestly a rhetorical question. I knew there were some people who were simply loved by nature. But the next words to come out of his mouth had me flabbergasted.

"Don't know. Probably has something to do with my pops."

"Hm? The farmer?"

He shook his head.

"No. Not Geoffrey's. Mine. My real father."

"Eh?"

"Well, I don't know much about what happened. Geoffrey just told me Ma was behaving weirdly when a mysterious stranger spent about a tenday in the village."

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Oh… Oh. So she's a two-timing slimeball? How shameless of her! She was one of mother's foremost critics, yet she was out there cheating on her husband who didn't even travel for months at a time.

"So... you two are half-brothers? You and Geoffrey, I mean."

"Hm? Ya didn't know? I figured the eyes were a dead-ringer."

Now that he mentioned it, he had deep emerald eyes whereas Lesley had dull black eyes.

"Well, they should have been, but I never really paid any attention to both of you before. Well, not that I care for any of you now."

"Heh. Ya really are a snobby brat, ain't ya?"

"Whatever. Let's rest up now. We'll explain to Billy why we can't play this stupid game tomorrow morning."

"Ya think that'll work?"

"It better. If it doesn't, we're most likely to die."

**********

"And that's why we can't continue with this traini-"

A chilling breeze blew over me as something whizzed past my left ear. I felt something drip down the side of my face, followed by a painful yet numbing sensation in my ear.

Billy looked at me with cold, calculating eyes.

"The dagger that just grazed your ear was your only warning shot." He explained. "You still have an entire day before I come to hunt you. Unless you want to fight me."

**********

"Stupid Billy. Stupid forest. Stupid sword training I didn't ask for. Stupid… everything-ah!"

Having punched a rock in my anger, I ended up injuring myself. I blew on my fist a little bit, then sat down next to Lesley.

"'You're going to train in the sword? That's a wonderful idea! Belfry! Accept the kind man's offer!', she said. Tch,", I mimicked my mother, distaste for her earlier words now filling up my stomach.

"Ya good?", I asked, most of his face buried in his thighs.

"Of course I'm good! Why wouldn't I? Because I was forced into a death test I didn't ask for?"

"It's more like yer angry at yer mama.", He said it absent-mindedly.

I decided to quickly shake off any funny ideas he might have had.

"No, no. I'm just more concerned about how strangely she's been acting since she met him. It's like she's doing anything just to get his attention. Talking to him for hours whenever he sends me back home, giving me meals to give to him whenever I'm coming for training, and even washing some of his clothes. She wouldn't be doing those things for Lola."

Then again, mother and Lola were currently fighting. Well, that was a poor excuse, since she wasn't doing it for her before. It was just weird.

"Sounds like she's got the hots for Billy.", I saw a hint of a dry smirk on his face.

"What? I've seen lovestruck faces, kid. Mother doesn't have the same face when looking at Billy."

Yep. She definitely wasn't lovestruck. The only man she's ever loved and probably will ever love, is the bastard who fathered me.

"Ya said she's been talking to him a lot lately, right?"

"Yeah. Also asking about him whenever I get home and invited him home for dinner quite a number of times, but I think... Hmm, no. Let's forget this was even a topic of discussion."

I felt I was drawing towards a conclusion I didn't like.

Lesley shrugged, clearly not interested in the conversation. He was right. It had grown boring. It was time for action.

Fortunately, we managed to add an extra condition to this entire duel. If we managed to land a single blow on Billy, he'd let us go. Rather than surviving an entire tensday out here, that seemed way more manageable, especially if he'd be holding back on us because we were kids.

"Alright then. Let the trap, begin."

*********

BILLY POV

A wide, misshapen grin spread across Billy's face. Sweat rolling down his face, as he struggled to keep his body calm. It was a miracle he was even able to do so.

He just met 'Him'. The 'Him'. If he told everyone back home, they'd certainly be jealous.

But after thinking about the conversation they just had, his grin quickly faded and he was left with his usual apathetic expression.

It had been a month now and Billy felt he had made practically no progress in his mission. All because that brat was so immature. No, rather than calling him immature, the problem was the brat had the mindset of an 'honourable warrior'. The exact types of people Billy hated.

He stopped walking and looked down, his brows raised at the all too obvious trap in front of him – a duty rope tied from one tree to another, and a rough patch of Earth that was clearly softer than the other path.

Where they managed to get the rope, he wasn't sure, but the dug-out earth was most likely a product of Belfry's magic. Underneath the earth, there was probably something like a net to capture him, or mud to slow him down.

Although the plan was obvious, he had to admit that the thought process behind it in itself was smart. Even if he was in the outskirts of the Bewildering Forest, tracking the children would still be difficult if he didn't have a trail to follow on.

They must have realised the only way he'd find them was simple traces they'd be leaving behind. Even if they hadn't actually thought that, their instincts definitely told them this. Rather than them both, maybe it was Lesley's instincts. That boy was unusually sharp in this forest. He must have come with the plan and used Belfry's magic to execute. He definitely had the spirit of a true survivor.

Billy grinned, pleased by the results.

"Sorry, kid. But guess I won't play around getting caught to please you."

It was obviously the idea of a child. No way a proper adult would come up with such an obvious trap. Still, when the hell they set all of this up, was still impressive to Billy.

He simply walked over the rope, ready to walk around the patch of earth, when he felt an odd distortion between the trees next to him. They exploded in a fiery mess of fumes and spikes, forcing Billy to defend himself with his aura.

'Huh? What the hell!?'

"HUP!", From above, he heard a cry. A shadow loomed over him, with a rusty sword in hand.

Quickly, he brought up his arm to block it, causing the attack bounce off weakly.

Lesley landed on the ground and clicked his tongue, then glared at Billy.

"Heh. Knew you were the one to come up with this." Billy walked up to Lesley, his hand on the hilt of his sword. His eyes were scanning the forest, waiting for the other one. Even if Belfry wasn't nearly as proficient as Lesley with a sword, if the boy was moving according to Lesley's instincts with his magic, it'd be annoying.

"Guess dat one wasn't good enough."

"Hm?"

Lesley threw the rusty blade at Billy. Billy simply tilted his head to avoid the sword, being extra careful to see if it'd explode just like the trees before.

When he returned his attention to Lesley, he saw the boy running into the bushes. He scratched the back of his neck, then growled.

"I hope you weren't planning on doing a hit-and-run tactic for this."

He charged into the forest, right behind Lesley. Within seconds, Billy was already within arms reach of Lesley. He reached out to grab the boy's neck, but then, like speeding bolts, a handful off rock pellets came rushing at his head.

Billy drew his sword to deflect the rocks, and hanging from one of the trees, was Belfry, a piece of paper burning up in his hands.

'How did he-!?'

Billy had been keeping his senses out, in anticipation of Belfry's mana. This way, he'd easily be able to keep track of his him. Yet, somehow, the boy managed to hide himself so well, practically erasing his presence. That kind of control at such a young age was unheard of.

No. It wasn't unheard of. In fact, Billy had already met someone with such capabilities at roughly the same age.

The blonde glared at him with a certain high-and-mighty aura that it made Billy shiver.

'Those two… they really are the same.'

His first mistake was assuming Lesley was the most dangerous one. It was the one who had come up with the plan and understood that Billy saw Lesley as the real threat here.

The boy jumped off the tree to another, moving with agility that a child his age shouldn't possess. The winds aided him in this feat.

Billy took out a dagger from his pocket and flung it at Belfry, in an attempt to hit the boy in the leg. The boy twisted himself mid-air with the power of the wind, narrowly avoiding the attack. Billy clicked his tongue in annoyance, having accepted that Belfry had escaped now. His eyes then turned back to Lesley, but the boy was also long gone.

They were covering for each other, in an attempt to avoid getting caught by him.

"Haah, even after I told these kids to do their best, here I am holding back."

Billy stretched, cracking his bones. His eyes grew darker and his entire aura shifted.

**********

BELFRY POV

Crap!

He almost got me. He almost stabbed my leg.

If not for the whispers warning me of the incoming attack, I actually would have been shot down. He really wasn't holding back on us.

Once I got far enough, I leaned back on a tree and tried to catch my breath. In this life alone, I'd experience the fear of death three times over. The concept of fear really infuriated me.

I grabbed my chest and tried to calm myself down. My hands shaking and my breath haggard, it was hard trying to start thinking straightly. He wasn't kidding about killing us. He really was about to kill me just now.

That was too close for being only the first trap. Hopefully, Lesley could initiate the second phase quickly, before-

"AWOOOOO!"

A cold, haunting howl echoed through the forest, cutting off my thoughts.

Lesley did it. He managed to lead Billy to a den of timber wolves. I knew Billy was strong, but even he couldn't single-handedly annihilate an entire pack of timber wolves, especially if he wasn't ready to take on all of those bandits.

At the end of the day, he was only human. Billy would act as the distraction for Lesley to run away, back to the hideout. It was a risky job, but I was relying on Lesley's absurd affinity with this forest for him to make it back.

Now, I had to make it back to the hideout. Normally an impossible task, but I'd drawn magic circles on the trees leading to the spot. We could lead him there for the final showdown. All we needed was just one hit.

**********

BILLY POV

The last of the timber wolves whined, innards falling to the ground. Billy growled, then swung his sword, throwing off the drops of blood on the blade.

Surrounding him, a horde of timber wolf corpses – young, old, male and female. Without mercy, he cut down every single one that came for him and Billy could genuinely say he was pissed off now.

That brat Lesley led him into a group of timber wolves. It was day time, so normally they'd be sleeping, but even before he got there, they'd sensed him coming – an unfortunate result of his aura. He knew the kids were desperate, but to risk not only their lives, but those of the villagers, just to beat him, that was pure stupidity on their part.

Now that he did this, he'd messed up the balance of this part of the forest. Without the timber wolves here, who knew what monsters would start to spawn in order to keep the balance.

Right now, he wasn't sure just what next they had planned. Because the way Lesley moved, this wasn't their final plan to get him. If it was any worse than this… No. He couldn't allow it.

Billy sprinted in the direction where he sensed Lesley. The boy hadn't developed any aura. He wasn't even a stage 0 enhancer, but he was fast. Not faster than Billy, but the boy would outrun anyone just a few years ahead of him.

And he was sprinting towards what looked like an edge. To the left, Billy could hear flowing water. There was a thunderous gush and when it clicked, where the boy was going, his eyes widened in sheer confusion.

'There's no way he'd…'

Lesley paused at the edge, then turned around to look at Billy. The guard paused in his tracks, not wanting to make any rash movements that would lead to an unfortunate accident.

"Oi, kid! Don't jump! I-I won't kill you, ok?", He sheathed his sword, then raised his arms. Slowly, he walked towards Lesley. "Look… I won't attack you. Just-"

Lesley stuck out his tongue, then jumped backwards, without a moment's hesitation.

"NO!", Billy jumped over the edge.

He caught Lesley in his arms, but looking at the fall before him, the child wasn't making it out of this unscathed. His best option now was to land in the water, hoping that Lesley wouldn't take much damage from the impact.

"Heh, Belfry was right."

"What?"

Lesley kicked off of Billy, freeing himself. A wide smirk plastered across his face; Lesley yelled out.

"Now!"

Billy quickly surveyed his surroundings and at the bottom, he saw Belfry standing next to a wall, his hand pressed firmly against it. He could sense Belfry using his mana.

All around him, the walls glowed, magic circles littered all about. Balls of fire shot out at him.

The boy's application of magic circles left him utterly flabbergasted.

'Is that what happened to the trees earlier?'

He surmised that Belfry was the cause of the explosion from earlier. He'd left magic circles on the tree and caused them to explode. Without a doubt, Billy could conclude that this child was a magic genius. If he had access to proper resources, he would definitely be a great aid to the House. No matter what, he had to bring him back to the capital.

'Still, his risky ideas are quite dangerous.'

Normally, rendering his opponents stuck in mid-air, unable to avoid getting hit was a good idea. The only problem was that his ally was stuck out here as well.

Clearly, this plan was made with the belief that Billy could counter it. What was supposed to be limiting him was Lesley's presence.

"How silly." He muttered, taking in a deep breath. He roared, sending out a wave of power that cancelled out some of the balls of fire and shook the earth.

Both Lesley and Belfry were baffled by the sudden scene.

Billy summoned some aura in his feet, propelling himself forward and catching Lesley in one arm. He drew his sword, stabbing it into the wall of the enclosure, to slow their descent.

As soon as he was a few feet above the ground, he jumped from the wall, throwing Lesley into the water and charging at Belfry.

The boy reacted quickly, summoning little stubbles of earth to trip Billy. The soldier's feet easily broke through these stubbles as if they were air. He swung his blade at the boy's neck, the wind whistling behind him.

At the same time, he felt something coming up for his neck. Below him, a spike of Earth was coming for his neck. Something like that would simply break against his aura, but just then, the spike stopped. Instead, there was a flash of bright light and the sound of air exploding.

Billy was blown back by the sudden explosion.

He recovered in no time, making sure to land on his feet in a backflip. He shook his head, still reeling from the sudden flash and ringing in his ears. The first of which to recover was his sight.

However, all he was met with was steam, further clouding his vision. With his hearing still unavailable, the children had successfully rendered him incapable of reacting to their attacks. This was the perfect moment to stab him.

That is, if it wasn't Billy.

Possessing instincts refined to the absolute pinnacle, Billy simply knew the locations of the two.

'Lesley's to the right, coming from the water with a rusty sword in hand. Not a threat. Belfry isn't using mana. Either he's trying to sneak me, or he actually can't use any more mana. Either way, he's staying in place. He's… gone prone? Oh. He's out of mana.'

A satisfied smile spread across Billy's face. He combed back his hair then growled.

"Congrats.", His voice boomed, clearing out the steam. Lesley's weapon – a wooden stick - landed hit Billy's chest.

"B-beat ya.", Lesley said, huffing. His hands shook and his knees crumbled. The adrenaline finally leaving his body and leaving him exhausted.

"You beat me." Billy gently put his hands through Lesley's hair.

Belfry didn't hear this though. The boy was knocked out cold.