“I’m telling you; I saw smoke somewhere around here!”

“Here? In the middle of the damn woods? You’re ridiculous.”

“Why won’t you just believe me?! I know what I saw!”

“Because it’s stupid! Why would anyone be out here this late? Sayavila is a week long journey in the other direction and it’s the closest town for miles!”

Euric scowled, crossing his arms over his large, burly chest.

“Yeah, but we’re out here this late!” He objected. His companion, Arika, groaned in response, slapping her forehead in exasperation.

"We're the exception, dumbass!" She retorted, leaning over to smack the bigger man upside the back of his head. "We're on a time crunch, here. The sooner we get back to Sayavila, the better. So we can't waste time resting every night."

Arika held an arm out to the side, stopping Euric in his tracks as they came across a rather thick clump of hanging foliage. She reached down to her side, unsheathing a dangerously sharp shortsword which she promptly used to cut a path through the brush into a small clearing.

"We've gotta get the merch back to Tevin so that we get paid, but you know how he is." She stated, looking around the clearing analytically as she sheathed her sword. "If we take too long, he'll take a bigger cut of the payout at the end of the day."

Euric scratched his chin in thought, standing back as Arika walked around the clearing, looking beneath bushes and swiping away at the grass as if she was looking for something. Euric huffed, then shook his head as he wandered over and put his back against a tree and crossed his arms.

“But if someone is alive out here, we might be able to use them!” He exclaimed, slamming his fist into his palm. Arika looked up at him, an eyebrow raised. When she didn’t say anything, though, he continued: “Think about it; if they got away, they’re probably injured, right? So, we can take their stuff and sell it to Tevin with the rest of the junk we found and they won’t be able to fight back!”

Arika squinted in his direction, turning toward him as he continued with his ‘grand plan’.

“And I know you don’t like dealing with them, but then we can take them to Mallory and her men and sell the survivor, too!” He grinned happily, spreading his arms out wide. “It’s a win-win! Even if Tevin takes a bigger cut, we’ll still be able to cash out with Mallory!”

His companion huffed incredulously, shaking her head in either disappointment or contempt as she put her hands on her hips. Arika opened her mouth to respond when a dark shadow fell from the tree above Euric, dropping him to the ground with a surprised yelp.

Before Arika even had the chance to pull her sword free, she heard a masculine voice speak up.

“Don’t. I’ve got a blade to your friend’s neck.” He called out, and Arika froze with her hand hovering over the sword’s handle. “If you move an inch, I’ll slit his throat and be on you before that sword leaves its sheath. Don’t test me.”

She squinted into the darkness, trying to make out the form of the person who’d taken Euric down. It was dark, however, and all she could make out was a head of wavy white hair and what looked like glowing pink eyes from beneath its tresses, whose gaze seemed to bore a hole straight through her forehead.

For some reason, it sent a chill up her spine. Her fingers trembled as, after a brief moment, she put her hands up, a grimace on her face.

“F-Fine. Just...just don’t hurt him.” She defended, finally averting her gaze. She couldn’t handle the way his eyes drilled through her. All was quiet for a moment before Euric’s assailant audibly sighed.

“I won’t. I don’t want to hurt either of you.” He said quietly, and Arika furrowed her brow in thought. He sounded...young. Really young. Her head snapped back to face him as he stood up and stepped off of Euric’s back, moonlight peeking through the canopy above as he took a step closer to her.

Arika couldn’t believe her eyes. He was barely half a foot shorter than her, and nearly a full foot shorter than Euric, who was still laid out on the ground behind him. Despite his stark white hair, it was clear that he wasn’t old enough for that to be from age, and the previous pink glow from his eyes had faded, to a soft, natural brown. The ‘blade’ in his hand was a simple kitchen knife, yet he held it with a confidence that Arika only ever saw in men who had hurt or killed before. A confidence that she herself lacked.

But Arika didn’t care about any of that. She was still stuck on the fact that he was just a kid.

►⚉◄

[???] - Urchin Lv. 4

[You are superior to this person in all stats.]

[???] - Urchin Lv. 3

[You are superior to this person in all stats.]

‘Hm. Nice to know,’ Desmond thought, standing off to the side of the clearing with his chin cupped in his hand. ‘⦓Eye For Detail⦔ is super useful here, but it doesn’t just tell me everything about a person off the bat.’

He spared a glance up at the two thieves. The big guy was still on the ground, rubbing his head where Desmond had hit him to knock him down earlier. The woman was standing next to him, making sure he was okay, but her eyes kept flickering back up to him as if she feared what he would do next. They both wore rather simple brown leather armor, but it certainly offered them more protection than Desmond's leather jacket.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

‘Not yet, anyway.’ He shrugged, going back to looking at the interface he’d all but ignored until now. ‘Being able to tell if someone’s stats are better than mine will be useful. If they were stronger than me, I would’ve just stayed in hiding until they left.’

Desmond looked down to the man still on the ground, taking note of his large upper body and strong arms.

‘It’s especially nice to know that even though he’s so much bigger than me...’ Desmond looked down at his own, barely muscular arms in turn and sighed. ‘My strength stat being higher than his means more than me being smaller than him.’

“Uhm, hey...kid.” He heard the woman say and he perked up, looking toward her with an eyebrow raised. For some reason, she jumped when his eyes landed on her, which made him narrow his eyes.

She was about half a foot taller than him, with peachy skin and straight, chestnut brown hair that just barely reached her chin. Her hazel eyes were wide staring at him, and he noticed she had a scar at the left corner of her mouth.

“Yes? What do you want?” He usually wouldn’t have been so rude with people he didn’t know. But, considering they had just been talking about selling him and his things off, he was certain they didn’t deserve his kindness at this point.

Before the woman had the chance to continue what she was saying, the man shoved her off and jumped back to his feet, taking three large, lumbering steps toward Desmond until he stood a scant foot away, towering over him by a full foot.

Desmond looked up at him lazily, thoroughly unimpressed. He’d already knocked him flat and out once, so the young boy was confident that he could easily do it again. He had short, close-cropped blonde hair, tan olive skin, and muddy green eyes. On his face, he wore an absolutely furious expression.

“Listen, chump. You got a lucky shot on me, y’hear?!” He crashed his fist into his palm, as if to prove a point, but it really didn’t do anything to affect Desmond. “Step to me like a man and I’ll squash you like a bug.”

“Is that so?” He replied, sighing in exasperation. ‘Does this idiot want me to knock him out again? Because I will.’

He casted a glance back to the woman behind him, who was furiously shaking her head as if asking him not to. He squinted at her—part of him was tempted to just lay the man out anyway—before sighing and shaking his head.

“Fine. Whatever. Get out of my face.” Desmond decided, pushing off of the tree he was leaning against and walking toward the woman of the group. He heard the big guy sputter behind him, but spared him no more of his attention before he pointed at the woman instead. “You. You said you’re heading to Sayavila?”

The woman pointed at herself, almost as if Desmond wasn’t already, before nodding slowly. She glanced at the man behind her, but Desmond paid it no mind.

“Uh...yeah. I-I was gonna ask you, actually, if you were...headed there too?” She ventured, trying for a smile that she probably thought looked friendlier than it did. Desmond paused, mulling it over.

‘She also said that it’s about a week’s journey from here. I don’t know any other places nearby, so it’s the best option that I have for now.’ He thought to himself, before looking up at her and nodding. She hissed in response, rubbing the back of her neck nervously.

“Well...that could be a problem. For-for you, I mean.” She stuttered out. When Desmond simply raised an eyebrow and said nothing, she continued. “Sayavila isn’t very...child-friendly, if you know what I mean?”

When Desmond continued to give her a blank stare, she sputtered and continued.

“W-well, it’s a port town, up by the mouth of the river that runs through these woods. Problem is...well...” She hesitated, wringing her hands together as if she couldn’t find the words.

“Problem is that it’s a criminal cesspool run by a gang called ‘The Scarlet Thumb’.” The man finished for her, wrapping around Desmond's side and moving to stand near his companion. “That and it’s a real popular place for seedy folk in general. Whole lotta criminals runs through Sayavila, and most of them don’t really got the time to look after kids.”

Desmond snorted in response, crossing his arms.

“Right. Criminals like you two. I get it.” He stated. The man bristled at that, but the woman put her hands up defensively. Desmond cut her off, however, before she could speak. “I don’t really care about any of that. I just need you to get me there.”

The both of them fell silent for a moment before the man snorted, busting out a guffaw of a laugh. Desmond furrowed his brow as the woman slapped a hand over her face, groaning.

“You serious? A kid like you wants to go to Sayavila?” He exclaimed condescendingly. “Lemme guess: mommy and daddy left you behind and you've got nowhere else to go?”

“Euric! You don’t have to be such a dick, he’s just a kid!” the woman objected. As she turned toward him to berate him further, though, Desmond moved faster.

He activated ⦓Eye For Detail⦔—it was practically second nature to do so by now—and watched as that familiar purple grid spread across Euric's body, starting from the legs and moving up.

'No. I need something concrete.' He thought, rushing forward to stand in front of the man before he could react. 'I need a weakness.'

As he thought about it, straining the skill once more, the grid turned lighter in color before it shrank, forming a small dot on the inside of Euric's right thigh. ⦓Eye For Detail⦔ told him that it was the location of an old wound; a stab wound, to be precise. It had healed over, for the most part, but was still relatively fresh.

Desmond reared his fist back, jutting a knuckle forward as he threw his arm forward, striking the wound through Euric's armor. The man yelled out in pain, falling back at the impact as Desmond twisted his wrist, digging his knuckle further into the wound.

'I can still aggravate that old wound of yours. It'll feel like you were stabbed all over again.' He pulled back, watching as Euric crashed to the ground, clutching his leg and moaning tearfully. ‘Don’t ever mention my parents again, you asshole.’

Desmond huffed, standing back up completely and turning to the woman—whose name he hadn't quite caught yet—with a sneer on his lips.

“Your friend is a jerk.” He said simply, shaking his hand limply. “Like I said, I just want you to take me there. I don’t care what you do after that, as long as I get there in one piece and with my things intact.”

She huffed, shaking her head as she walked past him to kneel down at Euric’s side again, who was cursing up a storm under his breath. She looked down, trying to see how badly the wound was, but it didn’t seem like there was one at all.

“Hells, what did you even do to him?” She sputtered, looking back at Desmond with an incredulous look. At the question, he simply shrugged and turned away.

"Nothing bad. It's not a serious wound." He took a couple steps away before turning back, his expression blank once more. "He'll be fine. It'll just sting for a while."

Desmond continued on his way toward the tree he previously tried to sleep under and very deftly stepped off from the base and leapt up onto its lowest branch, which was still a solid almost ten feet off of the ground. Sitting in the crook of the branch and the tree was his bag, which he promptly sat back against as he pulled a leg up, hugging it with his arms.

“This clearing is safe to rest in. We can stay here for the night, then start moving again tomorrow morning.” He called down to them, keeping his eyes averted. “I don’t care if you leave without me. I’ll just follow you. So don’t do anything dumb.”

The woman stared up at him, an incredulous look on her face, but Desmond ignored her and continued to look forward.

‘What a pain. I don’t want to have to follow these people, but it’s the best option I’ve got,’ He thought to himself. ‘Especially if Sayavila is as rotten as they say. It’ll be better if I have a guide, but...’

Desmond glanced down into the clearing below, The woman was already lying down in the grass nearby, using her pack as a pillow. Euric, on the other hand, sat up against a tree opposite his own, staring up at him with thinly veiled malice. For some reason, this irked Desmond enough for him to glare down at the man in turn.

‘...I could do without the meathead. What a waste of space.’