“There was an attack.”

The duke’s words reverberated in the room. The echoing effect had frozen Mash, stopping all his anger. The duke hadn’t continued, instead just looking at Mash, as if waiting for his response. Mash could only formulate a single question. He didn’t even have enough time to process the information.

“W-who?”

He had stuttered while asking the one-word question. He cursed himself for sounding so pathetic. Although, he knew that any big attacks were likely to cause a lot of damage. The kingdom was large enough that an attack here meant that it had already passed a few of the outer towns. The duke spoke solemnly now.

“A troll tribe had been invading the territories. They had somehow avoided the outer towns and struck our city with full force. We had been able to evacuate most civilians, but there was a large amount of collateral damage. Not to mention we are still getting occasional reports on goblins and other vermin. They had snuck in during the battle and have infested the outskirts of the city.”

Mash understood now. He had been forgotten because they just had more important shit to deal with. This made sense to him, but it still made him angry. They should’ve just let him go. He wanted to blame them, but with his newfound mental stats thought better of it. They were still the ones to decide his punishment and yelling at them wouldn’t change anything. A question did pop into his head though.

“Why tell me?”

He did get that there was an attack, but the duke didn’t have to justify anything to him. Neither, did it matter for whatever punishment he would receive. He would either be imprisoned longer or executed. Unless they were lenient for some reason.

“Because the punishment that we have decided for you will involve helping with the city’s reconstruction. I thought it wise to inform you what you’re working for. I hope that you will be happier doing work that is good for your home. Do your job well, and you will be able to prove your own character. One last thing, I am sorry for keeping you imprisoned, it was not what you deserved.”

Mash heard the general scoff and could guess why he had been held for so long. He didn’t care much though; the general had no idea how much he had gained in that cell. The duke had apologized to him too. He would’ve thought that the duke would be more callous, but instead seemed to hold himself to a better standard than those around him. Mash thought that he liked the man, even though the man had assigned him a punishment. So, he would help with the reconstruction effort, that honestly sounded pretty good to him. He didn’t really want to face his family and thought it would give him a good excuse to get out of the house. It would certainly be a lot of work, but that was nothing new to him. It would probably feel good to be out in the sun after having been locked up for so long. Mash nodded his head and gave his thanks.

“Thank you, sir. I will make sure to do the work to the best of my ability.”

He had said the words with resolve and tried to lace his words with as much excitement as he could muster. He wanted the general to know how happy he felt, even if it was just petty revenge. He would take whatever victories he could get.

Mash left the fort soon and was returning home with his father, after the meeting had concluded. The duke hadn’t said much, except to inform Mash that he would start tomorrow. He would have to meet with one of the reconstruction crews before the sun even rose. It was early, but not as early as he normally woke up for his exercises. He would rather go there now than go home to face his mother and sister. He was really only worried about how his sister would react; he didn’t want to see her face. He came home to a surprising sight, and it comforted him.

His mother and sister were waiting for him to return, surprising him with a warm welcome as he opened the door. His sister was somehow smiling and crying at the same time, and she immediately hugged him. She spoke through her sniffles.

“Happy b-b-birthday!”

She had struggled to get the words out. Mash hugged her back, realizing for the first time that he had missed his family. He was crying now too, happy to be back home. It wasn’t just his sister either, he was glad to be back with his parents too. Mash took the effort to look at them again, scared to see their faces. However, they were both smiling down at him. Mash felt strangely warm, he had expected the worst from them.

It was strange, they were treating him like they had before he got his class. A thought flashed through his mind, unbidden and unwanted, but it had felt like it struck true. Were his parents only treating him well because they noticed that Mash would probably get a good class. Anyone could have figured out that he was on track to receive a powerful class. He easily beat a kid with the knight apprentice class. Whatever he got would probably be useful and it was clear that he was talented. The thought stuck in his mind, clinging to him like a leech. He started feeling sick. It took him real effort to push the feeling down, and just accept his parents’ kindness.

They had set up a small party for him. The city had apparently been sparing with vegetables, as many of the fields had been burned. There was a decent variety of meat since hunters were still able to find monsters, but only a few pieces of bread. The only vegetables on the table were a single dish of beans, and another of mashed potatoes. It wasn’t the fanciest meal he had ever had, but it had certainly been better than the food from the cells. It also tasted familiar, and he finally felt like he could relax, he didn’t feel like he needed to distract himself from his situation.

There were no presents though, with all the craziness they hadn’t had the opportunity to buy him one and chose to give him money instead. They had given him a single gold coin. It was the most money he had ever held, and it could easily get him whatever he wanted. He could even get a proper training weapon with that much money. He was tempted but decided to save it instead. The party had gone well, but Mash was ready to sleep. He would have a proper bed and was excited to use it. He went to bed early so that he would have over ten hours of sleep. Before he entered his room, his sister approached him giving him a second present.

It was a single piece of chocolate. It was wrapped in some sturdy paper. She had placed it in his hand before heading to bed herself. He stared at it in awe, chocolate was rare and expensive. This one piece would cost a handful of gold. You couldn’t even find a seller within the city. It all had to be imported, so the duke was normally the only one who could get his hands on it. He wanted to ask her where she got it. He even considered selling it for a second but decided he would eat it. He bet that this was her only piece and wouldn’t waste a gift like that. He was about to go and offer her half but realized that was probably why she had rushed to bed. He slowly put the piece into his mouth, it was so sweet that he almost spit it out. After the surprise had passed, he realized how much he liked it. It was one of the best things he had ever had. He stopped chewing it, instead just letting it melt onto his tongue. He wanted to savor the flavors for as long as he could, dragging it out by letting it linger. It was still gone too fast.

“Thanks.”

He said the word for his sister, even though, she couldn’t hear them. He just felt like he needed to say the words anyways.

He went to bed, ready to finally get a good night’s rest. Instead, he just ended up laying there awake unable to push aside his thoughts. His family cared for him, but they didn’t know him anymore. They didn’t know how he thought, they wouldn’t understand why he didn’t care about killing the boy. He didn’t care about killing someone and doubted that he ever would. His family couldn’t understand him. They were healers and knights, classes that were literally meant to save lives. Mash knew he didn’t belong with them. He needed to leave. He still loved them but knew he couldn’t stay. It wouldn’t work, and Mash knew that better than anyone. That knowledge was a curse, he now fully understood why kids were told not to use their free stats. This had been a welcoming party, but now it felt more like a grand farewell. Mash knew that he would have to leave them. With that last thought, he felt a burden lift from his shoulders, and found sleep eagerly waiting to claim him.

______________________________________________________________________________

He woke up early in the morning. The sun wasn’t even out, but he still had work to do. He had been assigned to reconstruction work almost four years ago, now. The punishment had long since passed, but Mash had continued to work. He found that it was a good way to stay away from home. His sister had noticed him growing distant and had stubbornly tried to pull him back, but she also had to leave for the capital. When she turned 15, she had become a priestess and was escorted to the capital to join the main church. The entire military had been mobilized to move her there. Mash had started calling her princess when he noticed how important she had become. He understood why, she had become a priestess for the goddess of the night and no kingdom in the world would risk offending a god. People believed that they were the only reason greater beings like dragons left humans alone. Mash doubted it, from what he heard about dragons they wouldn’t care about a goddess’ protection. Mash too was planning on leaving town as soon as he could. He would turn fourteen in a few days and would get his class advancement. Despite not being an adult, he could still become an adventurer. If he could form or join a team, he would be able to leave without being an adult himself.

He wanted to leave; this town had stopped feeling like a home as soon as his sister had left. His parents were treating him fine now, but it was everyone else that had bothered him. The general hadn’t physically confronted Mash, but everyone seemed to have found out that Mash had killed his son. Mash didn’t really care about how others chose to look at him, but it had made finding work difficult. The general had gotten him banned from the fort grounds and had also stopped blacksmiths from selling him a proper weapon. Mash just needed to move on, but wouldn’t mind getting his revenge. He only had one real plan for accomplishing that. He would leave and become so strong that he could just waltz into town and kill him. It wasn’t a great plan but did also get him out of town. Contemplating his revenge, he headed to work while going over his stats.

Name: Mash Class: Runner

Level: 10

Health: 200/200

Stamina: 350/350

Mana: 340/340

Fortitude: 20

Endurance: 35

Strength: 22

Agility: 24

Intelligence: 34

Wisdom: 28

Charisma: 16

Free Stats: 0

Skills: Endure

Endure: Go beyond your limits. Continue current action even after depleting stamina

His stats were good. He knew they were a lot higher than the average for his age. Even his charisma had risen dramatically. His muscle and newfound height had done a lot for him. He was easily taller than his sister and had even outgrown the other boys who were a year or two older than him. He was tall and had some visible lean muscle on his body, together it had struck a rather imposing figure, he hadn’t stopped training either. Many people had seen him practicing with his sticks. Since he was banned from the blacksmiths, he had chosen to continue to use sticks. He did it to mock the general’s pettiness and remind him of his son’s death.

He had grown deadly with his spinning style, confident in using it endlessly. He still hadn’t come up with a name for his fighting style, but didn’t think it should matter, as it had no proper forms or attacks. It just involved continuously moving, making a fight into a single prolonged motion. He had designed it specifically for his endurance skill, and with his improved mana control had made even the stick into a proper weapon. He would easily be able to win all of his fights by just outlasting his opponents. He never directly attacked anyone but would make sure to show them that he could. People had noticed, and his ferocity had scared those around him. His parents had received more than a few complaints about him. He learned that charisma was a stat that rose with intimidation, and that was something he could work with.

Mash was on his way to work, when he heard some very distinct yelling. The reconstruction effort had finally made its way to the outskirts and Mash had seen soldiers fighting goblins over the past few years. Normally he would just move on, but the voice had halted him. He could recognize the voice in any situations, it was the general. He would have just moved on but had felt strangely compelled to follow the voice. It led him to a merchant building. He slid to the floor by one of the windows. As he got closer, he realized that the voices were coming from below. He peeked through the window.

The building was fairly large, but he did catch a glimpse of the basement through a hole on the ground floor. The scene before him was about what he had expected, the general and a group of four apprentices had surrounded a small goblin camp. The soldiers looked normal enough wearing the usual set of armor that the guards received. The general’s armor was a bit more embellished, and he wore a medal that he claimed to have received from the king. He couldn’t fully see how many goblins there were, but he counted seven of them. Most just carried a wooden shield, and short spear. It only had stone at the head, but goblins were born with a skill that let them penetrate armors. That was how they managed to hunt larger creatures. They were nasty looking things, with green skin and bulbous protrusions across their body. They were disgusting creatures that oozed filth and gunk. It wasn’t enough to pose a serious threat to the group, so Mash got up and dusted himself off. Turning to leave he noticed that the neighboring building looked like it was ready to collapse. A wicked thought flashed through his mind; he might be able to get his revenge after all. Mash smiled as he heard the fight below start.