It's almost as if… Samur is looking forward to his own death.

That makes the most sense, given his actions.

​​

Samur cares for everyone except himself- no, maybe he does not particularly care about us; he simply believes our life has more value than his own.

And he just acts on that belief.

He also trusts his judgement that his life is worthless compared to ours, and his faith is so strong that he will not let anyone tell him otherwise.

And that's exactly why he pushes us away, because we put him above us.

From the moment he joined us, he has always maintained a certain distance from us, and has always resisted others efforts of closing that distance.

That's why he reacted with such hostility when Noelle showed care for him.

And perhaps that's why… he pulled this prank on me; to keep me away.

Did he believ that after today's events, I would start caring for him, and decided to cut the roots before the flower could blossom?

So he made up a story specifically about him being tortured by his family after predicting the way I would react to it.

Oh my God…

B-but that doesn't make any sense.

How is it possible for a 12-year-old child to think that far ahead? It would have been fine if he had just expected me to just start looking out for him.

Anyone could have predicted that after thinking a bit.

But no, not only did he foresee how I would act after he sacrificed himself for me, he immediately formed a plan to counter my worry and acted on it with supreme precision.

It was as if he knew exactly where my landmine was and deliberately stepped on it.

And I just acted the way he wanted me to; during those moments, my hatred for him had risen way above than my gratitude or care.

From the beginning till the end, I was just a marionette dancing to his tune.

Another shiver ran down my spine as I remembered those eyes.

His gaze resembled that of someone standing in a completely different plane of existence; as if I was nothing more than a pawn who had moved the way he wanted me to.

…

"Ha!"

This is too far-fetched, even for me.

Samur would have to be a monster in a boy's disguise to pull off such a feat.

First of all, I never told him about my past. The only thing he should know is that I ran away from my home at one point.

And no one in our Guild knows the full story of my past, so none of them could have told Samur.

Even if, theoretically speaking, Samur did know about my past somehow, it would still be impossible for him to predict my thought processes with such precision.

For all I know, Samur could have just been pulling a joke and it was a coincidence that it affected me the way it did.

Yup, that's the most likely explanation.

As for his tendency to put our life before his, it might be his childish desire to not lose his new family.

…

But…

Those eyes. Those damned eyes.

They have to mean something.

His demeanour as he had recounted his apparently fake past was simply too realistic. He either knew what it was like to be in that situation, or he understood how to play such a character perfectly.

And I don't know what's worse.

And then that gaze when I was beating him up. It could have been anything; confusion, fear, anger.

But instead, it was a gaze full of glee, as if the thing he had been waiting for had just occurred.

…

Haahhh…

This thing is too big for me to think about right now.

All I know is that things are not as simple as they look. I'll have to carefully mull over them. I also need more information.

For now, let's go back to Samur and heal him. This much should be enough for his punishment.

I mean, it wasn't completely his fault. He just lied about his past; it was me who reacted so seriously to it.

Perhaps I… was a bit too hard on him.

No matter my reasons, it was wrong of me to beat up a child, especially in his particular state.

I should apologise to him, though I don't know if he'll forgive me.

I turned around and made my way at my full speed.

Within seconds, I was back to the place where I had left Samur.

Except that there was a problem.

"Samur! Where are you?!" I turned into my human form and shouted.

But aside from the chirps of the birds fleeing away due to my sudden shout, all I was met with was silence.

A monster could not have gotten him; I had erected a barrier at this place to keep them away.

Even if they had, there would be some signs of struggle here as Samur would have fought back. But the place was exactly as I had left it.

Wait, where is his bag? It should have been around somewhere.

I looked around but could not find it anywhere.

Did… did he go off on his own? Did he think that I was not coming back and decided to go back to the guild by his lonesome?

"Shit- huh?" Before I could leave to search for him, however, my gaze fell on the boulder he was earlier sitting on.

Something had been scribbled on it.

'I'm going back. See you at the guild.'

"That idiot! Did he seriously think he could make it out of this forest alive- wait."

How did he write this?

From his mouth? No, the writing was simply to clean.

So unless he knows how to write with his legs…

He regrew his arms?

"…"

Gosh, I don't know anymore.

Well, he couldn't have gotten that far, so let's search around for him before going back. It's still too dangerous to leave him alone.

So, I covered my hands in a dense layer of mana and clapped. A shockwave of sound spread out.

The trees rustled while the animals and monsters fled as the shockwave hit them.

The reflections from striking them gave me their positions along with a basic structure of their body.

"He's not here…"

There was nary a human within a 50 km radius, which should be impossible unless he used flight magic. Beyond that was the city.

So unless he went off in a different direction, Samur really did go back to the city.

I guess I have no choice but check out.