[Warning] May contain graphic scenes... specifically bloody ones.

---

"Why... why do I have to..." I whimpered. I don't want this.

Yulan sighed as he threw another twig to feed the dying fire. "Vitaly, for the hundredth time, please stop whining and just accept your responsibility.

"Yes, he is your responsibility from now on." Iris stabbed that remark for the millionth time.

I really wanted to retort back, but everytime I spoke too loud, the kid would cry like the end of the world. It was torture. Kids were cute to strangers, but a babysitter knows of their horns. Cutesy babies were the greatest pretentious evil!

"Ugh..." I could only groan my dissatisfaction while being careful not to wake the sleeping demon. I don't hate kids, but I do hate taking care of them. They were simple too demanding.

Well, he did nothing but sleep, cry, and eye the berries in Iris' belt pocket. Besides that, he would do nothing else, a sloth so to speak. I was a little jealous.

But... this kid, after all, was found buried underneath tree roots! Yet, it was still alive and now peacefully sleeping in my arms. Seriously, by any means, I don't wanna hold him at all. Who knows, he might suddenly wake to a murderous doll like Chukie. That would be too scary even for me.

"Can you surmise again how you... how you found him?" Seirs disturbed my disturbing thoughts.

I sighed and adjusted the baby in my arms. Holding a kid was the best way to make arms go stiff and sore. It's the worse. With my right arm finally free, I happily scratched my itchy neck and began my little summary.

"Like I said, I was on my way back. Then a wolf-like animal pounced on me. I kicked it first, then rosated it immediately. It died right after, so I intended to head back here before I got attacked the second time. That's when I heard something crying... very human child-like crying. I got curious so I took a look. And found this." I ended my impromptu lies pointing to my left arm.

"...That doesn't make sense. Where did he come from? And why is he covered in dirt? ...And you said you are support magician, yet, nevermind freezing a lake, you can even roast a beast faster than a blink?" Yulan questioned.

I shrugged. "Magic, I can explain. Babies, I am completely pure and innocent."

"...Ugh." Was all he said, then leaned back while pinching the bridge of his nose.

"More importantly, isn't there a more pressing matter? What do we feed him? Just for your information, just having breasts doesn't equate to food for infants!" They all cringed back, but I ain't backing down from of silly awkwardness. "Berry extract would fill him now, but that can't last the night-"

"Uwaaaaaaaaaaa~ hic huk uwaaaaa aaa aaaaa aaa~"

Ah~ Annoying!!

So noisy, my hearing was too good to bear this kind of torturous screaming! I could just foresee it now. If I stay too close to this brat, then not only sight, but even my hearing would disappear! I'd become invalid through and through!

Ah~ I want to cry.

I raised him directly to my face. "Shut up."

"Hic- hic..." And shut up he did.

"Vitaly... that is cruel." Jasper reacted.

"And what about my ears?"

"Just bear with it. You're an adult. You can do that much, can you not?"

"No, I can't." I hissed. "I am blind so I rely on my ears, and that made my hearing way more sensitive than normal, you know. I can hear his heart beat even in this instant, you know. That's how good my hearing is. And you want me to bear with his screamin'?! How about I scream at your ears and tell you to bear with it?!!"

And so I snapped.

Jasper immediately tried to placate me, but I was too far gone.

Since I lost my eyes, my tear glands' autonomic functions were disconnected for some reason. I tried repairing it by magic, but I can't seem to find any problems with the wiring of responsible nerves. Everything should be working properly, yet I can't control my tears at all. In other words, once provoked, I could only bawl my eyes out.

Eh, like right now.

They all panicked and tried soothing me to a stop. Well, I can't. I could only sob as tears gushed out. Anyway, using their frantic concern, I figured I might as well use the this opening to craftily pass the kid away from my arms.

Jasper voluntarily took him, only to be screamed at by the baby. Same thing happened to Iris and the other two. Once they touched the screaming machine, the volume would only level up.

What, did it imprint on me already? I shivered. No, thank you.

"A-anyway, we really cannot proceed with an infant at hand. We should surrender him to the instructors immediately." Yulan supplied.

"Th-that's right!"

"Agreed."

Jasper and Seirs seconded.

"...But we cannot do so 'immediately', not with the sun down. It is too dangerous to travel back now." The idea was instantly shot down by Iris.

In the end, the child went back to my arms and it was decided that we would head back to the Academy by dawn. He would had to be satisfied being fed berries for now.

Also, apparently, the test of 'going to the other side' had no time limit, so the return trip plan would not affect our diplomas. Therefore, I can say goodbye to the kid by dawn without worries..

This was for the better.

I had a bad feeling about this kid to start with. What kind of babies survive despite being buried six feet under? Not to mention, he wasn't exactly alive the whole time. His heart beat resounded only when I was about to leave. Before that, I was absolutely sure that there was nothing alive beside insects and vegetation around me.

These facts, I didn't tell anyone because that would lead to further questioning, and it was beyond annoying to explain echolocation. However, not telling doesn't mean I forgot and was not disturbed by the kid's untold, suspicious background.

I meant, why then? Why there? Why me?

Therefore, it was only obvious to abandon ship and get the kid a good distance away from me. I don't want to get entangled with things I can't explain, like 'him'. His kind of mystery always spelled trouble for me.

-

That night, when it was supposed to be eerily quiet like a forest during night should, a particular spot in this forest was making a racket that echoed far and wide. It was like a festival was being held with all the varying sounds that seem to be trying to outvoice the other. Not the fun kind of noisy festivals, but a gut-wrenching , bloody festival where the scene could be rated PG with all the censored things flying about.

Hm, in one word, war.

Yep, our campsite became a war zone.

A series of events led to this PG, but the bottom line cause was actually quite innocent, a baby crying.

-

At first, the little kid was very obedient. He would sleep nicely after feeding him berry extracts and was not very demanding beyond that.

And so, we quietly scheduled shifts of who would remain in watch while others slept. It was agreed as Seirs, Jasper, Iris, and Yulan would successively keep watch for about two hours each. Yulan and Seirs, as our vanguard, was prioritized in getting the most sleep, while Jasper's and Iris' was the worst because stamina was not exactly what a mage needed to conserve and an archer should just climb a tree for a shooting spree.

And obviously, I was exempted because it would be too stupid for a blind to watch the vicinity. Therefore, I could sleep all night long, a privileged for the weak.

However, that was just me being optimistic. How could I possibly sleep with a baby at arms? Every two hours he would wake up to get a meal of berries.

And then I fell asleep...

The baby woke up and found his nanny being cheap with berries.

His solution: Become a screaming machine.

Result: Attracted unwanted attention.

Wailing was not a funny a way of saying you're hungry especially in the middle of a sleeping forest.

With his loud cries, I immediately woke up and tried to shut him up with berries. He drank the extracts, but he didn't calm down and continued crying. Then my robe became warm, wet, and smelled urine. He peed. On my robe. And cried.

I forgot, babies do pee, don't they?

Before I could even get angry, I heard leaves rustle, closing in our camp. Jasper, who just woke up to swap with Seirs as the watcher, also felt the incoming tremors through the trap spells he scattered in our vicinity.

And the kid still won't stop crying.

"Vitaly... I believe... something- many things are coming."

I sighed. "Yes, wake everyone up."

Within moments, everyone was on their feet. Albeit disoriented, at least they were awake.

And the guests arrived.

Not trolls, but the kinda-wolves. Their numbers... ten times ours? Nope, more. I didn't bother counting. More importantly, I could tell their bloodlust was aimed towards me. It seemed they remembered me and came for revenge, and they even howled to call more comrades... So our little predicament became a big predicament. Baby Screamer called them, while I had them multiply. We were such a good combo.

A fight broke out.

-

Just like that, the previously arranged watch shifts became essentially useless as everyone lost their chance to sleep. The kinda-wolves poured down on us in waves. Every time a ten or so of them died, they will retreat and reassemble their lines.

If it was the hastily made group hours ago, then this group would've been screwed. However, Team Silent was no longer just a silent group. We had leveled up. The exhaustion from earlier fight, stress of accomplishing this test, noise that came every two hours, sleep deprivation, a diet of berries, all while trying to rest in a bed of needles, I could easily assume their irritation had long climbed through the roof as evidenced by insta kills to all that got too close to our little camp.

There were no longer hesitation in their steps. They moved with assertiveness. No dilly dallying, just a 'go and get it over with' attitude.

When something pounced at them, it was retaliated with a bang of not holding back, not even bothering to avoid getting injuries.

At some point, past midnight, Iris even started laughing evilly. Gone was the girl who was puking not even a full day ago.

Oh, and they did get injuries all night long .

Once, Iris got circled and her shoulder bitten, a row of thumb-long fangs mangled her deltoid muscle. Jasper covered her retreat as she came to me so I could patch her up, then she went back to the melee. She had long abandoned her bow, ran out of arrows, and had her bloody daggers equipped instead.

Jasper, despite being one of the so-called pacifist druids, was actually quite vicious. There were no golems this time, his mana could not keep up. Instead, he worked in tandem with Iris by using maliciously aimed support. Dirt to the eyes or nose, and if that wasn't applicable, then simply scatter embers from our campfire that made the mobs hop. His quick, witty, and unnerving accuracy made me believe he would get along well with Lorein. It was a scary combination.

Meanwhile, Yulan and Seirs were the masochists at the fore front. Even with bitten calf or oddly limp shoulders, they would not stop harassing hostiles. Only after the wave of mobs were annihilated would they go to me and get patched. I guess retreating during fight was not exactly an option for them. Because of one of them falls, then the whole formation would crumble. Neither Iris nor Jasper could replace one of them, and neither Yulan nor Seirs could withstand a mob of twenty alone.

My contribution was quick healing. Three minutes and they were all scratch-free.

Yulan-Seirs combo upfront, dancing unbelievably well against an onslaught of fangs and claws. Over the numerous waves, carcasses had began to form a mountain around them, but the two didn't care in the slightest and even used fallen corpses creatively, as foothold, meat shield, projectile weapon, high-ground advantage, whatever worked. That can't possibly had been easy.

Iris-Jasper pair took the middle role. They usually dealt killing blows deterred by the Yulan-Seirs pair. Additionally, they also kept their space corpse-free, shoving the bodies to the side that served as their barricade tp prevent being surrounded. Their situation sounded like they had an easy time, but not really. With their low damage output, Iris could only rely on critical hits like piercing through the eyes or cutting wind pipe, while Jasper never got to last hit at all and focused solely in supporting Iris. Their's was a battle of attrition, instantaneous reaction, random insight, and largely by luck.

As for me, I hid in my «Egg Nogg» barrier with the baby who was watching the gore with unnerving concentration. I didn't pay him much attention as I tried to help the others. Ranged-healing was weaker than contact-healing, but emergency situations called for desperate measures. I healed them from afar, doing my best to repair wounds with speed over quality. For any injuries, I prioritized halting the bleeding over decreasing pain. Still, even with all my best saving up my mana, I cannot overdo it. I knew that mana management would especially be my dire concern in a prolonged fight. Any RPG players know what I meant.

And this deadlock lasted until breaking dawn...

-

With the sun slowly rising from the east, the shift from night to day also occurred naturally. The kinda-wolves retreated. Their eyes was not built to stand under too much light of the coming sun, and they could only growl and whimper dejectedly before disappearing through the woods.

With them gone, our group of five and half was left standing in the aftermath of a ground zero. It was a corpse party laid bare, a scene undoubtedly unpleasant to the eye. Every step came with sticky sound of bloodsoaked mud and scattered matter. It reminded of a certain event, making me grimace at remembrance.

I disabled my barrier as I went to the heaving Iris. Her calf still have a huge scrape which peeled a painful length of skin dangled with gruesome elasticity, an hour long wound from some dying wolf's last revenge.

"After you heal everyone, we should go. I really do not want to stay in this place any moment longer." Yulan whispered lightly. His hoarse voice carried the weight of an exhausted men.

I merely nodded. My mana had long went beyond the safe limit, and my mind was turning hazy. But I had to hold on. Three of them badly need my help. I had to do this much.

After stopping any bleeding and reducing pain, I walked away from Iris and went towards Yulan. He was sprawled on his back without care where he landed, chest rapidly rose and fell in an alarming rate. I knelt and wordlessly grabbed his hand and started the healing process. Forcing the urge to vomit blood, I steadily poured my mana to him and hastily increased his regeneration.

Then, Seirs. My head was wobbly, but I still stood up and went towards him. I was aware that I was being risky, especially with my empty bowels, but I couldn't just leave him be. Seirs have the best natural regeneration among the four, but he have lost too much blood. His peed was slower than Yulan, making him an easy target before.

Unlike others, Seirs was standing. Be it posture or breathing, there was no sign that he was heavily fatigued and injured. The deep gnash on his back did not seem to affect him at all.

"Seirs..." I called.

"..." I only received silence.

When I got two meters away from him, he suddenly flicked his arm and leveled a thrust of his glaive towards me.

Surprised, I automatically side-stepped while my right hand slapped the pole to the opposite direction.

He swiftly reacted and used my force to throw his body to me with a stance ready to deliver a low blow.

What's his problem!?

Pissed, irritated, and impatient, I also took a step forward and danced away from his rhythm and countered with my elbow against his jaw.

Seirs consequently collapsed, and I supported his falling weight on my shoulder. I groaned. With a kid in my arms and a grown man on my shoulder, I was starting to empathize with Atlas for carrying the world.

It sucked. And my migraine was getting worse, my stomach was gurgling, and I was starting to feel the need to murder people. Badly.

Thankfully, Yulan came and lifted Seirs off, placing him to the ground. Iris also came to take the baby away. The little brat didn't cry, fortunately, or I might have eaten him alive.

Briefly finishing to patch the sleeping beauty, I immediately roasted some remains and ate without words. Contrary to my expectations of the other's horrified expressions, they actually also sat down and shared the meal with me. Yulan ravaged a leg while Iris struggled with a rib. Hunger and exhaustion completely rid their reservations among these gores.

As for Jasper, he had been silently meditating for a while now. He was slightly hovering midair in a yoga position. This was the standard way for mages to refill their mana. I could sense that he was also healing himself in the process. Well, druids were the common healers of this world so that was not unexpected. I was one of the uncommon ones. After his cuts have closed, he also joined us in our breakfast.

Seirs, the sleeping beauty, woke up not too long after our little bout. Seeing three of us eating, his stomach grumbled in anticipation. When I roasted something beside him, he just stared at it for moments before finally indulging himself. No man of empty stomach could resist the charm of a burning meat. It seemed he completely forgot what he did, and I wasn't in the mood to lecture about PTSD.

-

It has been a long day, but we can't even take a break. A troll, being a troll, was attracted by the smell of blood. I didn't even spare it a glance as Iris handed me the kid, and an arrow whistled past followed by the thud of a falling ton. Iris had really become a full fledged adventurer compared to yesterday.

Because of the trespassing troll, the group was reminded that we really should start hurrying up and find us some fresh water to wash away the filth we carried or simply head straight to the academy, and rid us of the plague called babies.

Along the way back, everyone's exasperated mood was so thick it was almost palpable. There were occasional encounter with trolls, even gnolls and whatnots, no one really bothered asking for information of what those were. We simply plowed straight through regardless of malice coming our way. Still, it was quite admirable how the four still maintained rationality despite the heavy stress on both their mind and body. Considering their age and experience, I thought at least one of them would have collapsed already or just snap in one way or another.

I guess, a healthy breakfast makes for a healthy day.

-

Then, it happened.

At first, my skin just tingled. I had no idea why, so I ignored it. Then, I got goosebumps. Hair in arms and back sharply rose so suddenly. Danger.

"Don't tell me..."

"...Vitaly?"

I breathed deeply, but I can't seem to exhale? The direction of this danger... was from the Academy. This would not be good... "Iris, what's the color of the sky?"

"Huh? It is blue, why?"

"The east... look at the eastern sky."

"It.Is.Blue.Why." There was sharp drop in her voice, but I ignored it.

"Vitaly, if you have something to say, then say it. No one have the patience for your riddles." Yulan hissed.

"... I am not sure." I didn't even no know why I asked for the sky.

"Then what are we exactly waiting for?!" I momentarily felt his glare before he sighed and went forward, ignoring me. The whole group moved onward along with him.

"Vitaly, what's wrong?" Jasper grabbed my back, and guided me forward.

"Like I said, I'm not sure, but..."

"But?"

"...But something seemed to be happening in the Academy. It feels... dreadful."

"Then is it not all the more reason to go back? If something really happened, we would need instructions." He reasoned.

I only nodded.

I had never been a reliant person in this lifetime. All my achievements were from my own efforts, and that made me very independent. That's why, I felt no need to receive instructions in case something did happen. However, these four were not me. They were already at their limits as is, and I would not selfishly act like a paranoid and increase their anxiety.

I could only nod and follow.

---

A/N

I'm not sure... am I overdoing the descriptions with gore and all? Midway, I was hesitating whether to add more details or hold back. I ended doing both... I hope it's not overdone. Or should I just label this fic mature?

And I want to ask, what do you think of me trying a different POV besides MC. Just to add description of color and what characters look like, a blind MC is too restricting... T_T

and as always, thanks for reading!

___

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