“We’re getting close at the city of mist.” Fyuma said with a relaxed tone, can’t blame her, being home is relaxing after all. Although right now she was giving Krus a piggy back ride for some reason. I could have done it, but she insisted.
The city that was covered in mist was slowly unraveled right before my sights, this beautiful scenery was relaxing, indeed. “Wah! So beautiful!” Krus exclaimed in a joyous tone, her eyes wide opened in surprise and amazement.
“The citizens will hate you and avoid you, it’s better to get business done and leave.” I heard Fyuma’s voice whispering towards me while the younger beastman was running towards the city with ecstasy.
Yet even with that harsh tone that Fyuma has, I could tell that she’s a person that easily finds something precious. She’s someone that cares a lot, even with that tough tone that she has.
“I know. When we get there, that’s the time I leave.” Although Krus was an enjoyable fellow, to me, something like that wasn’t a thing that’s supposed to be given to me, she’s better off with better people rather than walking the same path with me.
I just don’t want to drag in someone whose future is brighter than mine. My identity was already gone by the moment I was left alone by my biological parents in that river. I'm a child, raised to wield the sword, born to kill people, and is destined to die amidst the war.
Until now, I don’t know why I survived. Was it simply luck? Or was it because I wanted to live so desperately. Although right now, that’s in the past, what’s in the past should stay in the past, what I should be focusing on is the future.
“As for now, I’ll be taking care of the kid for you.” ” Fyuma’s voice dropped the tone she had, her voice seemingly gentle, a voice that was like a divine song from the heavens. My eyes averted to her, while she smiled.
I wonder what I should do after this? The path that I’m walking on leads me to a life that I don’t even know. And all I can do is delve further into it. Although if I had a wish, I want to die peacefully, atleast. I want to die not in the middle of war.
This life should just be a life that’s supposed to be a life that my comrades lost in the war. Their lives should be my legacy.
Yet even such a resolve, really can’t make me smile. I stared at Krus right over in the distance, spinning happily around and around. I’m quite envious of her, I wonder sometimes, what would’ve happened if by some miracle we were taken up by a normal orphanage.
My thoughts then dispersed when I saw multiple wolves standing right on top of rocks staring at Krus with a nasty glare, “What are those?” I asked before abruptly stopping my walk, staring at the said wolves.
“Ah… those are neutral monsters, they don’t necessarily attack. Those wolves are Discerning Wolves, just as they sound they naturally have the ability to discern how pure a person is. And when they have discerned them, they approach them if you are somehow pure.” Fyuma explained while smiling.
“So have you been approached by one of those wolves?” My eyes retreated back to the scenery on which the wolf was slowly approaching Krus, the wolf seemed to have dropped the glare, and seemed much more relaxed.
“No. I’m the one that approaches them, they don’t necessarily hate me, but they don’t like me either,they ignore people usually.” Fyuma’s eyes were also glued on the Krus who was now patting the wolf.
“That so? They probably won’t approach me.” I said without dismay, I don’t necessarily want to be approached by them, it’s okay if they’re afraid of me.
“Why do you think so? You seem like a good person despite how you act and speak…” Fyuma chirped, before I let out a dry scoff.
“Rare for you to compliment me. But if I said I murdered a person, would you believe me?” I asked while averting my empty eyes towards the bright and unknowing eyes she had. After a few seconds of silence, she broke eye contact.
“Yes, I would. But that doesn’t justify calling you a bad guy, my intuition has always been great!” Her answer didn’t surprise me at all, but what made my eyes go wide was her sentence right after her answer.
To me, it seemed like a shock. It doesn’t justify calling me a bad guy? I murdered a person because my instinct reflexively told me to survive at that time. If you don’t have a reason to kill, then why take another person’s life? I only slew because I wanted to survive, that reason can never be a justification to killing a person that I-
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My thoughts were cut off after hearing the next sentence that came out from Fyuma’s glistening lips.
“Look, a discerning wolf had approached you, I told you, my intuitions are good.” My head immediately turned around to look at a wolf with snow-white fur right beside me, my eyes widened once more.
An unknown feeling swirled up inside me while I saw the discerning wolf approaching my hand, seemingly as if wanting a pat in the head. Although I’m in shock, I only raised my hand and started to pat the wolf’s head.
Ever since I was a kid, the only people that had accepted me as a person were my friends. I had no family, no father figure, no mother figure, a total anybody that knew nothing of the world outside, and was simply destined to die.
But right now, am I being accepted? Am I being accepted, not as a soldier, not as a killing machine for war, but rather as a person? My eyes gazed at the satisfied face the wolf had while I patted its fur.
For some reason, this swirling emotion in my body started to deeply plant itself within my heart. My heart started to ache, while I could feel my eyes tear up for a bit, relief, extremely relieved. That was what I was feeling right now, didn't I? Does this little fellow see me as pure?
A part of me didn’t believe it, I wanted to deny it. Those eyes that the wolf gazed upon me, they seemed so… beautiful.
What a pathetic person I am, crying over some wolf who saw me as an individual. But just as I was about to stop patting said wolf, a sudden holographic screen just right in my face popped up. “Hmm?”
The Discerning Wolf has found you an individual of extreme purity, it wants to make a contract with you.
[ACCEPT] [DECLINE]
After reading it, I stared at the wolf that was right in front of me, those eyes practically begging for me to accept the contract. “I see.” My eyes gazed at the wolf’s eyes, before my hand hovered to click the accept button.
Pushing gently, the wolf’s face seemed to brighten up before a magic circle appeared right below us, a light illuminated our figures before dying down after a moment.
“Hah!?” Fyuma exclaimed out in a perplexed and confused manner, her eyes comically widened while pointing at both the wolf and me. “A c-contract with a discerning wolf…” Her voice seemed to crack and stutter.
“Is this not common?” I asked while tilting my head, the wolf seemed to accept me so easily, so I thought-
“Absolutely not! Even if they find you interesting, they’d never offer a contract! What did you do!?” Both of Fyuma’s hands immediately grabbed my shoulders, before she started to shake my whole body violently.
“As if I would know, the wolf just wanted one.” I stared at her weirdly before patting the wolf’s fur which the contracted creature seemed to enjoy. “Anyways, let’s give you a name first.” My mind flashed back to the days in the orphanage.
A blonde kid with green eyes, a friend I used to have, someone who also was in the orphanage. His name was Arthur. In general, there were 13 of us kids in the orphanage, the other 13 were based on the round of the table.
Arthur was chosen to represent King Arthur, who was the founder and the one that made the peace treaty of the world, which was later broken courtesy of the Great War. A king, a valiant figure.
Although there was a reason why I was not named after a knight, because Krux was also a historical figure. Although it is unknown whether Krux, the historical figure, was fiction or not, either way he was a traveling master of the sword.
His death was a bit tragic, but his story was one filled with the darkest sides of the world, a man that couldn’t take a break even if he wanted to, I was sure he was a man filled with experience and sadness.
I was chosen to be Krux because the legend of Arthur and Krux were intertwined, they lived in the same age, but Krux was the one known to be an anomaly in the story since most of them said he was simply fiction.
Instead of the usual story of the legend of Arthur, where Mordred kills his own father, King Arthur, there’s an unusual copy that was different from the original copy. A lot of people have tried to deduce whether this was the original or not, but as of now nobody has figured it out.
But in this copy Krux and Arthur made a duel to the death, and despite having the lustrous blade of the lake, Excalibur in his hands, Arthur somehow had lost and Krux was proven to be the winner.
We were polar opposites, Arthur was generally extroverted, while I was one that only spoke 80 words a day. And despite that we were great friends in the orphanage.
“Krux!” I felt pain at the back of my neck, my head cocking back while I woke up from my thoughts. “You really think a lot don’t you, it’s been a few minutes and you still haven’t decided a name!”
“Oh yeah, anyways, I’ll call you Arthur.” I smiled before I held out my hand, the wolf understood it somehow and placed his small paw in my hands while I started to shake his paw. “Nice to meet you, Arthur. I’m Krux.”
…
Name: Arthur
Level: 96
Age: 15 (Deceased)
Race: Human
Titles: King Arthur.
Blessing: King Arthur’s Blessing (Incomplete)
Occupation: Soldier (KIA)
Affinity: Enchantment Magic
Special Abilities:
Excalibur (False): A replica of the original King Arthur’s sword. Arthur has the ability to summon a replica of the Excalibur to release its valiant and destructive power for a brief moment.