The person that just ran into the store was none other than Ragnar. He was breathing heavily and the moment he ran into the store he bent down and placed his hands on his knees. His entire face had turned red and his torso was shining brightly with sweat.

“Look, a tomato just walked in!” said Ymil while laughing. Seeing his friend in such an exhausted state was new to him. He was always working out so it was odd to see him out of breath. He quickly walked over to the door to see if he was really alright.

“Shut,” Ragnar was still puffing between every word, “up. Little. Bookworm.” He glared at Ymil who was enjoying this sight too much.

As Ragnar finished his sentence another figure ran into the store.

*Ring-eding-ling*

“Ragnar!” the new entrant exclaimed, but as she walked into the store the little girl tripped over her own feet and fell to the ground. Her body fell forward, her hands moving to the front to catch her fall. But just as she’s about to hit the ground a slender arm stopped her and pushed her back up. She looked back to see Ymil standing right besides her, grinning like a fool.

“And there we have tomato number two. Gosh, the second tomato is a clumsy one!” Ymil went to a nearby sink and brought back two cups of water. He could already guess what had transpired here, Ragnar challenged his little sister to a race and in the heat of the moment he forgot to hold back. He knew Ragnar was big on competing, but the only one that really stood a chance was Ymil himself as he was the only boy around his age.

Ragnar had already recovered a little and took the cup Ymil presented to him. He took a big swig and gulfed it all down in one downing.

“Aaaaah, that hits the spot,” he exclaimed and his breathing become much more regular. His face wasn’t as red as it was before.

Mia, on the other hand, was still gasping quite hard so Ymil stood there with the cup extended. While he was waiting he poured some of his energy into the drink and cooled it significantly. She then accepted the cooled cup.

“Thanks Ymil,” and she greedily drank from the cup.

After drinking the water, they quickly calmed down. Mia’s face had returned to the pale color she always had and Ragnar’s body went back its normal tanned hue. These two contrasted each other really well. Ragnar looked robust with lean muscles showing clearly on his naked upper body, while Mia’s slender arms and white dress made her look angelic in comparison.

“Well Mia, looks like I won,” said Ragnar with a huge grin on his face. “That means I get to call you fat little piglet.”

“Have you ever seen piglets this cute?” she replied and she struck a cutesy pose. She swatted her eyelids heavily, crossed her legs and lifted the front of her dress slightly.

Seeing this Ragnar barked out a laugh, “That’s true, pigs are way cuter than that. Look, you even wear dirty clothes!” In saying so he pointed at the back of her dress where the grass stains were.

“Not fair!” Mia exclaimed, “You’re the one who made me fall!”

“You should know better than to try and creep up on me.”

Mia stuck out her tongue to her brother and turned to Ymil.

“Ymil! Ymil! You’re on my side right?!”

The boy couldn’t hold his laughter anymore. These two were just too funny, they couldn’t go a day without making fun of each other. They were like the stereotypical siblings described in the books he read, they loved each other but also couldn’t stand each other. Off course, Ymil usually joined in on their charades.

“Sure, miss piggy, what do you want me to do?” he said and looked at Mia with a straight face.

Mia gave him an angry stare and a moment later she kicked him in the shin. As Ymil hadn’t expected this sudden outburst, he reached for his shin and started jumping up and down in pain.

“Hmph, who’s the pig now!” She exclaimed and ran out of the store again.

“Why you…” Ymil started to run after her. He’d totally forgotten that he was supposed to look after the store, he just wanted to get back at Mia.

Ragnar laughed and walked after them. As he left the store he closed the door and cast the locking spell on it. He’d learned it from Ymil some time ago when Ymil had to go run some errands. He gave the door a good rattle to check if it’s really closed and then ran after the other two.

—-

The East Bridge was one of the two bridges that connected Sophia Village to the rest of the kingdom. The village was located on an island in the Senna River and it was only accessible over these bridges. They only spanned 10 meters in length and 3 meters in width but that was more than enough to cross the shallowest part of the entire river. The grey rock had turned dark green because of the endless moss that had grown all over it as time passed by.

Mia had run all the way to the East Bridge and she was leaning against the stone railing at the middle. She had already run too much before she ran into the store and now she was exhausted again.

Ymil came running towards her a moment later and skidded to a halt in front of her. He wasn’t visibly out of breath, but his arms were still all shiny with sweat. He’d been sending spiritual energy to his legs so that he could maintain a fast pace.

“Can’t escape me!” he exclaimed and rushed towards Mia in a final sprint. Not being able to move, Mia prepared herself for what the boy was bound to do. Both Ymil’s hands extended forwards and gave the girl a mighty shove in the middle of her chest. She flew back over the railing, losing most of her breath on impact, but at the last moment she grabbed Ymil’s shirt. Unable to stop himself, he was pulled along and they both fell down into the watery abyss below.

Ragnar arrived just in time to see Ymil and Mia fall off the railing and he immediately sprinted towards the river edge. Even though both of them could swim, if either one hit their head on the way down they would be in trouble.

When he reached the riverside his heart was hit with a sudden feeling of relief. Both Mia and Ymil were sitting in the middle of the river staring at each other blankly. They were both covered in mud from head to toe, only their eyes could be distinguished from their brown slimy bodies. Mia’s hair had turned dark blue with sticks and twigs sticking out here and there. Ymil’s hair was just completely covered in goo, not a piece of his original hair could be seen.

Ragnar sat down on the edge and started to laugh. These two looked like newborn Mud Slimes, creatures that only appeared after stormy nights. Only piglets could compete in dirtiness.

“Look, two dirty little piglets!”

At these words the other two started to laugh as well. They couldn’t deny it anymore. The pointed at each other and laughed wholeheartedly. Some of the mud then entered Ymil’s mouth and he started to cough in revulsion making the other two laugh even harder.

They slowly walked back towards Ragnar. The river wasn’t very deep, but the bottom was muddy and slippery. Once they reached the side Ragnar offered them a hand to help them out. Ymil reached out and grabbed him by the wrist. He then pulled with all his might and then Ragnar also flew into the river.

As Ragnar came back up he spat out some water. He looked at the boy in front of him and wanted to get angry but Ymil was just too dirty, it was hilarious. While Ragnar swam back to the shore Ymil dipped his head underwater and cleaned his face and hair.

(Narrator’s note: keep in mind, they’re ~10, their sense of humor isn’t very good…)

Ymil climbed out first and Ragnar quickly followed. Ragnar then turned back and held out his hand to help Mia, who took the hand without trying to do anything.

When they were all out, they heard a slurping sound coming from the water. The trio looked at the spot they were just swimming in just to see the water boiling up. Bubbles formed and the water started to well up. Mud started to come up to the surface and a shape was starting to form on top of the water.

“Watch out everyone!” shouted Ragnar and he took a defensive position. Both hands extended, he summoned his icy blue sword in anticipation for an attack. Taking the same stance he took that morning, he glared at the forming figure in front of him.

The other two were quick to follow. Mia took a few steps back and materialized a pitch black hammer. It’s design was very delicate, there were golden patterns drawn all over its surface and a green gem protruded brightly at its top. She often used this hammer to “help” her father with his work, but more often than not she’d just be in his way.

Ymil, on the other hand, transformed his soul into a pair of gloves. His uncle had taught him basic forms of unarmed combat ever since the village got raided a while back. The gloves were made of a white silk-like material and single white stone was featured at the back of his left hand. This materialization was another materialization Ymil grew to like over the years. While the strings he used in the bookstore are handy, they are quite ineffective in combat.

All three of them were watching the water cautiously. The mud had formed a humanoid shape and its big green eyes formed a strange contrast with the muddy sludge that was his body. The creature was standing on top of the water and raised a muddy arm and pointed at himself, sludge dripping everywhere.

“Hello, I am friend,” it said in a low voice. He then pointed at the children and asked, “will you be friends too?”

The children had no idea how to react. They’d encountered Mud Fae before, but none of them were capable of human speech. Every time they ran into one it tried to kill them, so they’ve always had to fight the gooey monsters. They were extremely slippery and most attacks don’t seem to hurt them. Only be imbuing their soul weapons with a lot of spiritual energy were they able to slay these opponents. Off course, it still requires some skill and effort to fight them but that wasn’t much of a problem for these three.

“Mud fae, how’d you learn to talk?” Ragnar asked. Even though the creature claimed to be friendly, their past experiences told them it was very unlikely.

“I watch people, I hear people, I live under bridge,” it tried to explain. It had now completely formed its human shape. Although it was made entirely out of mud, it clearly had the shape of a chubby 8 year old boy. He even had dark brown spikes on top of his hair that looked vaguely like hair. Its big green eyes made him look adorable.

“I hear you, I watch you, I want play,” he said and he walked up to the children. The children strengthened their poses and took a step backwards.

“Halt, move no further!” Ragnar said, but the mud boy did not stop. Once he reached the riverside he climbed out. He stood up and looked at the trio with a big grin on his face. His chubby body was dripping mud all over the place, staining the beautiful grass surface with patches of dark brown.

“I am friend, I no hurt you,” he said and he walked towards the children again.

When the boy was within 5 meters of the kids, Ragnar shouted “Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you!” and he charged towards the boy. The Fae stopped at that moment and laughed loudly.

“Yes, yes! Let’s play!” He was jumping down enthusiastically. When Ragnar was within 2 meters, he struck a defensive pose.

Ragnar’s first attack was his thrust and parry. He was going to probe the Fae’s movements to determine its fighting abilities. Pointing his sword forwards, he came to a stop in front of the creature and placed all of his weight into a thrust.

The Fae saw it coming and took one step to the right while turning his body and raised its arms, reducing Ragnar’s striking area. The sword missed him by a hair’s length and the Fae started to drop down his now solid hands.

Ragnar lifted the hilt of his sword and met the hands with his blade’s side. The blow was surprisingly strong and Ragnar flew back a few steps. This gave Ymil the chance to strike and he quickly moved into the Fae’s range. Having both his hands raised, he poured a significant amount of energy into his gloves, making the white crystal glow brightly.

The Fae was caught unprepared and Ymil struck it in the back. Most of the blow was dissipated by the Fae’s blubbery body but it still packed quite the punch. The mud creature arched his back in pain and lashed out its arms at the new attacker. But Ymil was already gone, he had retreated the moment he struck so that Mia could take a jab at him as well.

Mia had seen Ragnar get pushed back so she had a rough estimate of the creature’s strength. That’s why she struck the creature on its legs. Although she was not as agile as Ymil or skilled as Ragnar, her hammer packed the largest punch out of the three of them.

The head of the hammer came down as fast as a judge’s gavel, the green crystal glowing brightly.

*WHAM*

An earth shaking blow hit the toes of her opponent. Mud flew in every direction and caused him to fall backwards. As he fell he tried to hit the little girl but he was soon met with his first opponent again.

Ragnar had rushed between Mia and the Fae and parried the incoming blow. This time he did not fly back and started the counter-attack immediately. He lifted his sword and poured a large amount of energy into his sword. The air became freezing cold. He then stepped forwards with his left foot, swung down the blade at its opponent and struck the Fae’s knees.

Unlike before, where the blubbery body had either absorbed the impact or splattered in every direction, it now cracked in place and turned solid at the sword’s touch. This time, the mud Fae cried out in pain.

“WAAAAH!”

Ragnar didn’t stop there and continued to rotate his body, lifting the blade again to continue his swirling attack. He struck a second time, this time hitting the arms. The same thing happened, the opponent’s arm was cut right off and turned solid as the sword swung through.

The Fae yelped, but didn’t give up. He recovered his balance and quickly took a few steps back. He wasn’t going to be cut to pieces like this. He started to reshape his body by redistributing the remaining mud.

The children looked at the sorry state of the Fae and looked at each other. They each gave a slight nod and prepared for their next offensive. Ymil’s gloves turned light blue and Mia’s hammer became even larger.

Before the Fae could recreate a human form, Ragnar dashed out. He thrust his sword again, this time aiming slightly to the right of the stomach and the Fae tried to dodge again. This time the sword scratched the mud and turned its body solid on impact. The Fae didn’t waste time and raised his counter attack, but this time Ymil reacted faster and hit with full force in its back again. Unlike before, however, the body didn’t not absorb the impact, but turned solid at the touch and shattered at the impact.

Only the Fae’s upper body was able to move, but not for long. Ragnar had initiated his spin attack and his sword cleaved down upon the creature’s remaining arm. It was cut off in an instant and the boy only had a head left.

At that point, both Ymil and Ragnar took a step back and Mia jumped in. She had increased her hammer to about 10 times the pervious size, and she swung it down with all her might at the remaining head.

*WHAM*

Birds flew out of a nearby tree as a result of the impact, that’s how hard the ground shook. The Fae, or whatever was left of him, splattered in every direction creating dark brown stains on their already dirty clothing.

When Mia stood back up, she looked at the other two triumphantly. All three of them raised a fist at the same time and yelled;

“YEAH!”

That was fun! They hadn’t fought a mud Fae in a few months but it was an exhilarating feeling. They remembered how slippery these guys were, how their gooey bodies could absorb most of their blows. The only way to counter them is to evaporate the water in their bodies, or to freeze it and smash them to pieces.

They chose to do the latter. When the trio realized how Ragnar’s sword made the Fae solidify, they were reminded of its weakness. Ymil changed his glove’s affinity to ice and used his spiritual energy to imbue his attacks with ice. Mia enlarged her hammer to ensure that nothing was left.

They seemed very satisfied with their work, but after a moment of cheer, Mia realized how dirty they were.

“Dad’s going to kill us…” and her face quickly turned sour.

The other two looked at their clothes as well and made the same face. Their parents weren’t strict, per say, but ruining clothes isn’t something that went unpunished.

“We should go home for now, it’s almost time for dinner,” Ymil said and the other two nodded. The sky had already started to darken and one of the two moons was already visible.

—-

When the Ragnar and Mia tried to sneak into the house, they ran into their father. They planned to clean their clothes and themselves and pretend nothing had happened. The man looked at his children in surprise and started to laugh hysterically.

“Waahaahaa,” said Olaf Forgeron. “Looks like I fathered 2 little piglets!”

He was looking at his two children with slapping his knee. They had his blue-colored hair and gentle face, but the look on their faces right now was just priceless.

“Dad, don’t laugh at us!” exclaimed Mia with a pouting face. She really didn’t like being called a pig.

“Haha, I’m sorry, honey, but how can I not laugh at this?!”

Olaf tried to calm down and tried to pull a straight face. His massive body was still shivering slightly with laughter, his usually imposingly muscular body was now hunched forward to sustain himself.

“Dad, we fought and defeated a Mud Fae! We’re not ashamed!” proclaimed Ragnar, but he too felt slightly annoyed with their dad’s reaction.

“Oh did you now? Takes one to beat one!” Olaf looked at his son with one eye and he started laughing again.

“Say what you will, we’re going to clean up now,” said Ragnar and he quickly tried to walk past their dad to get a change of clothes.

“Hold it! Those clothes were brand new, don’t think you’re getting away with it scot free,” said Olaf as he grabbed Ragnar’s arm. “You go on ahead, Mia, Ragnar and I need to talk for a bit.”

Mia nodded and she ran past them straight to her room.

Olaf pulled Ragnar in front of him and lowered his voice:

“Son, what did I tell you about fighting monsters?” he said and he looked him sternly in the eyes.

“That it’s fine as long as I protect my sister…” he sighed and hung his head.

“That’s right, and making her fight a Mud Fae is way too much. Those things could drown you, you know.” Olaf’s face turned slightly more gentle.

“I will be more careful from now on, dad. It just happened,” Ragnar tried to sound nonchalant but he, too, knew the dangers of fighting a true Mud Fae. What they fought was just a boy, but if they encountered a fully grown woman they’d be dead within the instant.

“As long as you understand,” the father said and he let his son go. “As punishment you’ll be helping me out at the store for a week.”

Ragnar started to complain but Olaf quickly added:

“Don’t worry, you’ll like what we’re going to make.”

And with that Olaf entered the house, quickly followed by Ragnar. He didn’t mind forge duty if he had to help make “that”.

—-

“And what is your excuse, little man?” asked a tall slender man. “I don’t know about you but I was sure that shirt was white when I left this morning.”

Ymil stood in the middle of the living room and stared at his feet.

“Not only was the store locked very sloppily, you closed the store 2 hours before actual closing time. You then proceeded to dirty your own clothes and disturb the local Fae. You, young man, won’t have it easy the coming week.”

The man speaking was Ymil’s uncle Max. He had short black hair and was wearing black robes. His green eyes contrasted with his pale skin. He had a handsome face, but his personality left something to be desired.

“I think I know what your punishment is going to be. I will not let you turn 11 next week. I’ll let you turn 11 whenever you’ve finished cataloguing the archives of our bookstore.”

Ymil gasped. The archives consisted of 2 rooms filled with musky old books, the only remaining books from the Liberal Library that were saved during the disaster. Having to catalogue them would take weeks, if not months! If he didn’t turn 11 next week, how could he go to Military Academy with Ragnar?

(Narrator’s note: uncle is making fun of Ymil. You can’t stop someone from turning 11, but Ymil is under the impression that Max can do anything. In case you thought this was a world where that IS possible…)

“But uncle!” started Ymil, but was interrupted by his uncle.

“Know what? I know better, I’ll have you follow a special training regimen from now on. It seems as though your punches weren’t enough to harm that mud creature.”

Ymil wanted to protest, but decided that this was the better alternative. The training may be hard, but it isn’t without its benefits. In this world it is essential to be able to fight well. Be it magical creatures, local robbers, enemy infantry or shady spies, it only takes a moment to be killed.

“Alright, uncle, I’ll do the extra training… What do you want me to do?” asked Ymil hunching his shoulders forward.

The right edge of Max’s lips lifted and he revealed a sinister smile. Ymil swallowed loudly, that smile never meant anything good. He was going to regret this, wasn’t he?

Edited by Wesley Au (Paradox).