Brik entered behind him and guided X through the house's surprisingly simple layout, through the winding hallways and corridors. They passed by multiple different rooms, and X was so shocked by the size of the house that he insisted on visiting everyone.

'We have no time for that. If grandma finds out that you are here, it will be a problem.'

X nodded and asked him where they were going. He expected to hide from Brik's grandmother for the next four months and was not happy with this proposal. Although he understood that there were reasons why Brik had to hide him from his grandmother, he did not come here to hide from an aging woman, after all. He was about to ask Brik what he meant but bit his tongue. He stifled his scream from his new friend.

With a shrug, Brik led them straight toward a bedroom at the rear end of the ground floor of the house. The torches blazed just as brightly, but the area seemed to have dimmed a bit. It was like the positivity that attracted X to the mansion in the first place was gone, and they were now in the ancient, unlived part of the house. He did not want to hide there.

'Make sure you say nothing about demons, okay? Just trust me and don't speak about it.'

Brik opened the door with a loud creak. The bedroom was in stark contrast with the rest of the mansion. While the whole mansion was lit up, this room was lightless. While the mansion had more windows than any other in the whole city block, it did not even have a window. On the cushioned, comfortable bed, was a person under a thick blanket. X could not see who it was, so he helped Brik in igniting the torches.

Brik was surprised to see X light the torches without a match, simply pinging his first into the oiled torch, but didn't give it much thought. He had seen something similar just three months ago, after all. After the room was illuminated, he roused his grandmother from sleep and without caring about her sluggish sleepy behavior, excitedly spoke out.

'Grandma, this is X. I met him in the park today. He comes from a village quite far away, Tertes or something, and could not find a place to stay, so is it fine if he stays here.'

Brik's grandmother, an old, decrepit woman, was so thin she would probably be blown away by the slightest breeze. Her long white hair was stuck on her face, some of it inside her mouth. She spat out that hair and brushed aside the ones on her face, her face still hidden from X since she was looking away from him, then spoke in a small, quavering voice, filled with kindness and joy. Although she looked like a strict person who did not speak much, Brik's grandmother was actually quite friendly.

'Let him stay here. Dear, why did you come to Rossenberg? You must have a reason for leaving your friends behind. You have a lot of friends, unlike some kids right? Anyway, I should thank you for being Brik's only friend. Please don't leave him alone.'

'Grandma!'

X waited for a moment, not wanting to embarrass himself in front of his new friend. He took in a deep breath, and although he wanted to answer her sincerely, and tell her about the whole journey, he couldn't. He could barely manage to speak out certain words, hoping that the aged woman would be able to decode them.

'I...no fr...friend. Be...knight.'

Brik's eyes shone with joy, seeming to understand X's nonsensical rambling and he was about to say something when his grandmother cut him off by talking first.

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'Not much of a conversation person, eh? So you want to be a knight, is that right? Even Brik says he wants to be a knight. My son also wanted to be a knight. Tell me, why do you want to be a knight?'

'To defeat the demons and protect the people of the nation'

X said, not sure if he should tell them about his true motive of regaining his memory. He trusted Brik by now and understood his dilemma. His temper made it so that he had no friends, so he was overjoyed by the prospect of having a friend, and just like how he was able to handle X's inability to converse, X was okay with his anger.

Surprisingly, the answer worked, and Brik's grandmother got out of bed and started walking towards him. He could finally see her face, and although it was nothing special, just the gaunt face of an old person, there was something off about it. Her expressions were not what he had expected to see in the woman he had been talking to. There was no kindness on her face, no friendliness or peace. She looked mad. X turned to Brik and saw that his face was filled with panic and anger, his eyes glowing with concealed wrath, but also despair. X remembered the warning Brik had given him before they entered the room.

X stood there, unsure of what to do as Brik's grandmother walked up. She stood right in front of him, a frown on her face. Then, she punched X really hard, screaming at the top of her voice, before fainting. She fell on the floor, but Brik ran up to catch her and placed her back on the bed. Brik then took him out of the room, retracing the path they took to the room, and after a while of silence, spoke quietly.

'I guess my warning was not worth listening to, right? Oh well, at least you will remember it now that your mouth is filled with blood. She's surprisingly strong, okay.'

X nodded regretfully, unsure of how to take Brik's response.

'My grandmother was originally from a village in the west of Rossenberg, on the other side of the continent compared to your village. Demons attacked the village, lots of them. It was a planned move to make a demon nest, and there was a Stage 4 demon, so nobody survived. Nobody except my grandmother and my dad, who was three back then. She saw her husband die, then had to carry her three-year-old son, unable to help anyone, and had to watch friends and neighbors get butchered. She ran to Ridmad, an important city on the western side of Europa, and from there she departed to Rossenberg. She expected the knights to get revenge for the villages that were destroyed and the lives that were taken, but...'

Brik shrugged, breathing so loudly that X could hear it. He leaned against the wall and continued speaking.

'Instead, the previous King made a peace agreement with the demons. The Stage 4 demon was a threat they could not face, so the demon nest remained, and the western parts of the continent remained under the demon, who built an army there. My father grew up to become a knight and married my mother, a member of his knight squad. Finally, when the new King ascended the throne, he attacked the demon nest, and in that battle, both my parents died. This happened when I was very young, four or five, so I don't remember much about them besides their faces, but they saw that after they died, my grandma went mad due to grief.'

For a moment, they both were silent. X was still thinking about it, trying to understand the history of his friend's family and the whole continent. It was hard not knowing anything about the world, but it must have been harder knowing about the demon who killed your entire family, but not being able to take any action against it.

'You must be thinking, if my parents died, who took care of me? Well, Uncle Ken did that. He was my dad's best friend, Stage 2 knight and all. He should be coming here by tomorrow. He had promised to train me. Oh, by the way, I am also participating in the exam.'

X felt relieved, and he was sure that he could completely trust Brik. He spoke out, and this time, did not bite his tongue. It was like he was talking to his grandfather.

'Nice. I won't be alone.'

'Hey, you can actually speak. Wow, I'm surprised.'

They both laughed and then Brik opened the door to the room that X would be staying in. It was as big as their hut back in the village, if not bigger. It was also the brightest room in the mansion. And sitting in the middle, on a small wooden chair was a middle-aged man, with short, red hair, and extremely well-built muscles, slightly smaller than Frederick's. He was a person X knew. The knight who let him into the city. From his finger, a small stream of fire blew up, similar to a candle, which he used to light one of the torches from the distance.

'Uncle Ken'

Brik said in shock, before running up to him and hugging him tightly.