The next day, there were strange people in Raoul’s house.

They were men clad in light armor—some injured—who had piled their spears and swords and knives next to the door, and they were eating the boy’s breakfast.

Raoul was peeking from the kitchen door when one soldier with a scar running over his mouth met eyes with him. The boy felt a shiver run down his spine and hid in the kitchen instantly.

His mother was scary, but these people were different kinds of scary. While his mother was always warm when she was scary, these people were scary because they were always cold.

It took a moment for the boy to gather the courage to peek his head out once more, and luckily, the soldier was busy stuffing his mouth with the boy’s breakfast. Since his family ran a bakery, almost all meals in the house were bread, and they were the best bread in the kingdom, the boy might argue—

“The hell is this!” The soldier stood suddenly, the chair falling backwards, a piece of bread crumbling in his hand as he spat out what he had eaten. “Why is this thing so damn hard!”

“S-sir.” Raoul’s father rushed from the corner of the room. “It is supposed to be hard like that. I can assure you that our bread is the best in this village—“

The soldier glared at his father. “Well, your best can’t even be called average in the capital! This is why I didn’t want to come to this place, damn it.” He then threw the broken pieces of bread at the boy’s father, bits of dough in the farmer’s hair and all over his body. “Go make a new one and make it soft.”

His father still put on a smile. “S-sir, we can’t afford finer flour to make other types of bread—“

“Then what use are you to the kingdom!” The soldier stepped forward, making the boy’s father step back, the other soldiers sitting where they were and silently observing the situation. “We were fighting for our lives while leaving our family behind, and you aren’t even willing to make half-decent meals? My brothers died out there, not so you can be a useless moron!”

Raoul’s mother heard the commotion and exited the kitchen, running up to them. “Sir, please calm down. We will make sure to serve you with better—“

“It’s you?” The soldier looked back, eyeing the baker up and down, mysterious glints in his eyes. “The one who served us these damn stones and told us it’s food.”

His mother kept a cool head and replied, “We apologize if the food is not to your taste. We will contact the villagers who know other cuisines that will satisfy you right away.” His mother was about to head to the door when the soldier grabbed her by the wrist.

“You will not go anywhere,” the soldier said, looking back at the other soldiers, each one of them smirking. “It’s clear what you are doing. You are trying to poison us with these things, weren’t you?”

“What outrageous—“ his mother started but was suddenly yanked toward the soldier and lost her footing, making her fall to the ground.

“Lora!” his father said, rushing forward to help her up, only for the soldier to trip him with his foot, making him fall as well.

“You both will come with me to explain your crimes.”

When Raoul first awoke this morning, he had heard the village chief talking with his parents. The chief had told them that they were to provide the soldiers with everything they asked for while giving them not a single rejection and go along with whatever they demanded. They were heroes who protected the kingdom, he said. They were distinguished guests that wouldn’t visit the village unless it was another lifetime, he said. They were loyal subjects who devoted everything to the throne, he said.

Despite knowing all that, at that moment, something inside Raoul snapped. The boy was scared of them, but he also knew when to be unafraid. With a surprisingly cool head, he lunged forward, using the fallen chair as a step to jump off. The soldier noticed him too late, and Raoul grabbed the adult by the neck and bit onto his nape.

Almost immediately, the boy tasted iron in his mouth, and a second later, the soldier screamed as he frantically tried to shake Raoul off.

The other soldiers acted quickly, getting up from their seats and pulling the boy off the soldier’s neck, throwing him to the ground. Raoul rolled on the floor a few times before grinding to a halt. He got up to his feet in an instant.

The soldier held his neck before looking at his bloody hands, his expression turning murderous in an instant. “Damn brat, do you know what you have just done?” He looked at the other soldiers. “Brothers, capture that brat!”

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“No, please!” His father got in the way first. “He’s just a child, so please forgive him just this once!”

While his father argued with the soldiers, his mother approached him and whispered, “Run away when you see the chance, Raoul.”

“What? No, I can’t leave you—“

“Raoul,” his mother continued. “We will be fine. Your father and I know someone among their ranks; he just hasn’t arrived yet. Though, even he can’t protect you, so you will have to wait until they are gone before you can return, is that understood?”

Raoul’s mouth flapped open and close, no words coming out. He hadn’t fully realized what he had done yet, but if hunting animals with Alwig taught him anything, it was that he must be decisive. And he knew that, at this moment, he couldn’t afford to be reluctant. Finally, he nodded.

“Get out of the way now!” The soldier finally pushed his father away.

“Now,” his mother whispered, and Raoul darted forward without hesitation, dashing past the soldiers when they still hadn’t prepared themselves. He easily got past them since his father had been blocking their vision all this time, creating a blind spot out in the open.

Raoul reached the door and broke into a run, trying his best to ignore the sounds from both the soldiers and villagers. At the village entrance, there were older men standing guard, and the boy rushed through without giving them a chance to stop him, and he entered the forest once more.

“W-what was that?”

“I-I don’t know…”

“What are you doing, dawdling around? Catch that brat!”

“H-huh? That was a kid?”

“L-let’s give chase first!”

It didn’t take Raoul long until he no longer heard his pursuers bickering with one another. He didn’t know where he was going, but his feet brought him to one place on instinct: the wolves’ cave.

“Child?” Upon his arrival, Agnes strode out of her abode. “What are you doing here at this time?”

The boy blinked as reality slowly sunk in.

He thought back to the soldiers, what he had done to them, and finally, how he was chased away from his own home while not knowing what they would do to his parents. Then suddenly, he felt rage taking over, his fists clenched, his teeth gritted.

Why did he have to run away when it was their fault?

“Child,” Agnes said, having reached the boy’s side without him realizing it, a paw on his shoulder, her blue eyes solemn. “Keep your composure and tell me what is going on.”

Before Raoul could tell his story, Alwig woke up and exited the cave to see the heavy atmosphere between Agnes and the boy. The young wolf might not know exactly what had occurred, but he instantly came over to hear what his friend had to say.

As Raoul recounted what happened, he once again felt rage toward those who harmed his parents, then he felt guilt toward the villagers weighing down his shoulders, and finally, he felt fear for what might happen to his parents. He had no relatives, and the two were his only family. If something were to happen to them, then he would be alone in this world without someone to rely on. If such a fate were to come true, he wouldn’t know how to react, and he was even more afraid to find out. He didn’t dare think further.

“Raoul…” Alwig whined as he strode toward the boy with tiny steps. “It will be alright. They are soldiers of the kingdom, aren’t they? They wouldn’t harm innocent villagers. Right, Mother?”

The young wolf glanced at his mother, but Agnes stayed silent momentarily with an expressionless face. Finally, she said, “That’s right, child. Your parents must be impatient for you to go back. We just need to wait for the soldiers to leave the village, so for now, you can stay with us.”

Agnes was someone who always managed to clear up any concerns the boy had and cheer him up in the past, but for some reason, he didn’t feel the same ease he had felt countless times before. Raoul stood silent with his head down for a long moment. Finally, he looked back up with a smile. “Then, I hope they will leave quickly,” he said, turning to his wolf friend. “This is great, Al! We will get to hunt together every day!”

Alwig blinked before he tried his hands at smiling, though this time, the smile came out even more inhuman-like than usual, his face stretching too unevenly, his fangs too prominent. “Yeah, Raoul! Let’s go hunt now, why don’t we?” The young wolf then darted away into the forest. “I won’t lose this time!”

“What a coincidence,” the boy shouted, lowering his body and dashing after his friend, “I won’t lose as well!”

Despite the bravado, Raoul’s steps were shaky and uncertain, his speed hindered by his mind, and his strength weakened to the point that he couldn’t shoot his arrows properly. His body seemed to be out of his control, with the hunt proceeding in a blur in his mind, the scenery of the forest spinning around him until he felt dazed. The rabbits easily escaped his pursuit, and he barely hunted half of what he would normally get.

Yet, he won against Alwig.

He didn’t know how long they hunted, but the sun had already set before he knew it. Raoul followed Agnes’s instruction to ignite fire over the pile of dead branches and prepared his dinner.

“You are definitely improving, Raoul!” Alwig said as he chomped on a dead deer.

Raoul had skinned and drained the blood out of a rabbit and was now roasting the meat. “Really?” he said, his voice smaller than he had meant it to be. “This was the least I got for the first time in years, though…”

Alwig stared at the forest and said, “I think the animals are hiding or have already migrated somewhere else?” He licked blood from the carcass. “I can’t believe how hard it is to hunt these guys nowadays.”

Raoul didn’t reply, and he slowly roasted the rabbit meat over the bonfire, watching the grease ooze and drip onto the flame. The meat became cooked, and Raoul ate the catch bite by bite, not saying a word until he finished.

“That was delicious,” Raoul said, smiling. “If there isn’t anything else, I think I’ll go sleep. I’m really tired today.”

Agnes and Alwig watched the boy from afar, the mother wolf nodding with a calm demeanor while her son bid him farewell with a worried voice. The boy gave them another smile before turning to the other side and curling himself on the ground.

That night, he cried himself to sleep.