“I would watch him practice in the courtyard every day.”

“Again and again, he would attempt those simple movements.”

“But, one can say that he did not have the talent for swordplay.”

“But Great Grandfather, didn’t you say that he was the strongest man you have ever met?”

“Yes, my child. He was the strongest.”

“The strongest, most determined, and kindest King Eden has ever had.”

“And yet, he was dethroned and executed as a traitor?”

“Hush, my child. Do not believe in the words of the few.”

“Our King is simply taking a little journey.”

“And, when will that journey reach its end?”

There, Great Grandfather would smile.

“One day your paths shall cross, and the Ice King shall return to Eden, once again…”

“Remember my words, ——…”

————————

When I came to, I found myself staring at the ceiling of a wooden cabin. Well…at least that was what I think I was looking at. I really couldn’t tell in the darkness anyway. Right away, I noticed three things. One, my arm was covered in bandages. Two, Erebus was nowhere in sight. And three, I was stripped of my clothing except for the undergarments.

…

Guess I had some fun last night without knowing about it.

“You are finally awake.”

I turned my head toward the voice. The owner of the voice was a scruffy-looking man in his…late thirties or forties, assuming that just by his unshaven appearance. I felt some part of me crumble into dust

…Oh cruel, cruel fate.

“Ah, greetings…do you perhaps know where we currently are?” I said, giving him a care-free smile.

“My home.”

Shoot. Think Zeph, think. What happened before all this?

…

Ah, right. The waterfall.

Did he perhaps rescue me from the stream? Or was he simply one of those shady guys that like to pick things up by the rivers and take them back home? No please. I was not even a fish, I taste bad, spare me-

“Your right arm was injured, so I bandaged it. I removed your wet clothes, change into the dry ones I left over there later.”

And with that, he got up from his chair, and exited the cabin.

…

Well, that was anti-climatic. But, at least my backdoor was still closed. I think.

“Oi, Erebus, are you there?”

No response.

… Let’s try this.

“Erebus, you stinky little brat. Get out this instant or else I will give your butt a good whooping.”

Still no response. Was he actually not here with me?

...I guess I am on my own for now.

Quickly, I changed into the set of clothes that he gave me. I couldn’t see my own clothes anywhere, and something is better than nothing.

…

Getting off the bed, I moved toward the front door, opening it slightly and peeking out from the crack. An endless sea of trees greeted me, stretching far beyond what my eyes could see. In the distance, the melody of gushing water could be heard, which hinted to me that perhaps I was now located on the other side of the forest separated by the waterfall.

Who knows if it was even the same waterfall though. Knowing my exact location wasn’t the most important thing. After all, I had no idea what the layout of this area was, so it wouldn’t help much. Ultimately, I had to find Erebus, and everything else comes after that.

The quickest way to gather intel would be to ask my savior directly. He didn’t seem to be a bad person, based on the act of him saving a stranger he didn’t know and on the overall vibe I felt from him, but what did I know. I was on par with Julius Caesar when it came to trusting the wrong guy.

The second option, to wander around on my own until I chance upon a village. It may take a few hours, a day, or even weeks and months to reach some sort of human civilization, and with the amount of survival skills I had, it could be deemed a suicide mission. Of course, my chances of survival may increase if I could somehow gauge the distance between my current location and distant village-like structures, but that requires one incredibly high class skill called “climbing a tree.” A skill that I do not currently possess, unfortunately.

In the end, I didn’t have much of a choice, did I? With my grand plan in mind, I closed the door, snuck back into the bed, and tucked myself right in.

————————

“Fools, do you even know who I am? I am the great being who stands above all creatures, the ruler of darkness and destruction, the creator of all shadows-“

“Speak, whose idea was it to bring him back with us again!?”

A tall, bulky-looking man sporting a wicked-looking full beard barked at the group of men surrounding him, his annoyance clear on his face. The men made themselves look more compact, shrinking against their leader’s display of anger, shuddering like cornered mice. Their leader was a very strong man, with a fiery temper on par with his strength. No one dared to answer his question, for they knew that identifying themselves as the culprit would mean that they alone would face their leader’s wrath.

“It…It is I, valiant leader!”

There was a collective, silent gasp from the group, as all heads turned toward the brave soul who had dared to speak. The leader turned his sharp, hawk-like gaze toward the speaker, and instantly, the group split up like the Red Sea, clearing a single path for their sovereign. The leader began to walk toward the speaker, his footsteps causing mini rumblings in the dingy hideout, until he stood in front of the man who dared to answer his question.

“Your name?”

The minion gulped, barely able to look his leader in the eye as he squeaked out an answer.

“John Fly-”

Before he could fully finish, his body hit the wall of the hideout, swatted to the side like a literal fly by one swing of the leader’s mighty arm. The rest of the men dared not make a single sound, lest their cries of terror angered their leader and caused them to end up the exact same way as John.

“Oh my lord, there is no need to get angry.”

From the entrance of the hideout, came a voice that seemed to belong to an aristocrat rather than a mere mountain bandit. As the leader turned his attention to the entrance, a thin, frail-looking man with neat, combed-back blond hair stepped in. He gazed at the body of John who was embedded into the wall, before shaking his head.

“He’s not wrong in suggesting we should bring the child back with us. After all, our target this time is a village blessed by the guardian deity of the Earth, Terra.”

The man who looked out of place in a room full of hardened, merciless bandits, began to walk toward the child, stopping to crouch down in front of him.

“It’s good to be cautious against an unknown enemy, don’t you think, child?”

To his and everyone else’s surprise, the ‘child’ smirked, and spat on his face in reply. Everyone but the man who got spat on himself looked enraged, but with a single wave of his hand, the man silenced them.

“Looks like he is too young to understand things. But, that’s fine. All we need is for him to come with us.”

As the man stood back up, wiping away the spit on his face, he began to smile sinisterly. He pulled out a piece of paper sporting ominous words written in ink, and slapped it on to the child’s mouth. A few moments later, the paper vanished, as if it had never been there.

“Now, shall we go?”

Erebus, who tried to toss an insult at him, found himself unable to voice a single syllable.

————————

When I came to again, I found myself staring up at the ceiling of a now familiar cabin. Rubbing my eyes, I sat up, stretching as I yawned lazily. It was only after I gave my sore body a few more good stretches, that I finally turned my gaze to the side.

“Oh, welcome back, great savior.”

With the conclusion of my grand plan, which was simply to rest until he returned, a smile broke out on my face. He was sitting silently beside my bed, not making a single sound. It was very likely that he sat there like a huge block of stone and watched me sleep for a long while.

“You should’ve woken me up, great savior. How inappropriate of me to sleep so freely in the bed of the one who saved my life.”

He stayed silent for so long after I finished speaking, that I almost feared that I had gravely misspoken. What’s worse was that there was no way I could tell what kind of expression he had, underneath his mess of dark hair that covered his eyes.

“Are you hungry?”

“Excuse me?”

I was taken by surprise at the words he finally managed to get out. Wasn’t there more things he would want to ask? For example, where I had come from, and how had I ended up floating downstream?

“I asked if you were hungry.”

I didn’t answer him right away, the wheels in my head turning as I tried to piece out any hidden messages from his words. Just as I was about to open my mouth to say I wasn’t, my stomach decided to answer for me instead. It grumbled like a starving beast who hasn’t eaten in months, causing just the lightest of a flush of embarrassment to creep up to my cheeks.

“…I guess you’re hungry.”

The man got up from his chair, and went outside. Not too long after, he came back in, holding three sticks of fire-roasted fish on a leaf, along with some berry-like things. He set the leaf on my lap, before handing me a mug of water as well.

“Eat.” He commanded, before sitting back down on his chair, watching my every move.

I looked down at the fish, and then back at him again. His stare got more intense the longer it took for me to do what he told me to do, and so, I eventually gave in. Sinking my teeth into the crispy, yet tender flesh, I soon found myself wolfing down the three sticks in no time. Chugging down the mug of water afterwards, I sighed in deep satisfaction, a rosy glow on my cheeks from getting some hearty food in my stomach after a tiring journey the day before. With a grateful smile, I turned my attention back to him.

“Thank you, great savior! Not only are you a man of a great heart, but also of great culinary skills. I daresay that this was the best meal of the century!”

It wasn’t too much of an exaggeration on my part, since it was my first good meal after my escape from purgatory. The first time I felt some warmth inside of me in a hundred years.

“…It’s just fish and fruits.”

For some reason, the man in front of me almost looked a little embarrassed at my compliment. Though, it must be a trick of my eyes, since his solemn expression returned in a fraction of a second. Deciding not to think too hard on it, I spoke again.

“It’s been on my mind, great savior. Why did you decide to save me? For a complete stranger like me, I must be more trouble than I’m worth.”

He didn’t seem like the type to go out of his way to save every helpless and needy stranger in his path. A solitary type that likely chose the forest as his home in order to get away from the greater civilization. Still, if he said it was a simple act of kindness, I wouldn’t shoot the idea down.

“………”

Or, he could simply not answer. That was a form of an answer in itself. To break up the tension in the air, I changed the topic.

“I was wondering, great savior. When you picked me up, did you happen to see anyone else nearby? For example…”

I stretched out a hand, patting the air beside me, visually showing him what I meant.

“A child with midnight black hair and ruby red eyes. About this tall, wearing a long black cloak that hangs to his feet.”

What else?

“Ah, and he has a bad attitude. A kind of a sulky, old-man face when he is angry at you. Also likes to unleash the most foul of language…”

I sighed dramatically, shrugging my shoulders as I closed my eyes, before peeking at him from the corner of my eye, searching for his reaction. His expression didn’t change at all as he shook his head.

I sighed for a second time.

“Oh no, what should I do… he’s a neighbor’s child that I was tasked with looking after. I must find him quickly or else his mother’s wrath shall descend upon me-”

“There is a village downstream. If he continued floating down the river, he would likely be found by the villagers there.”

I trailed off as the mysterious man cut in, stopping me in mid-sentence without any regard for my one-star acting.

“…It’ll take you half a day by foot. You should reach it by nightfall.”

Having obtained valuable information, the corner of my lips curled up. It seemed that there was no need to put on a show in front of the man.

“Then, I’ll be on my way. Due to your wonderful care, I had recovered sufficiently for the short journey.”

Apart from my one wounded arm, I was in no worse condition than I had started with. With my hunger and thirst taken care of, I could make it to the village without much issue, provided that I don’t encounter anything on the way. If I do… it’s more than likely that I won’t be able to fend them off. I was uncertain of my magic working, after the failed demonstrations last night.

It would probably be safer going with someone who can fight, right.

I eyed the monstrous, mummy-wrapped object he carried on his back, even as he was sitting inside his own home. The way it was shaped made me think that it was a weapon of some sort, a huge sword that would need a lot of strength to swing. His heavy aura certainly matched the size of his weapon, and the way he carried himself reminded me of a few of the royal sword masters that I used to see in the palace. He wasn’t an overly large man himself, but I had no doubt that he could intimidate much larger opponents with his presence alone.

Smiling to myself, I got off the bed.

“Thank you for your hospitality.”

The man had no reason to help me any further than he already had, and I wasn’t going to ask him to. Finding Erebus was my mission, no one else’s.

Having given him my proper thanks, I proceeded toward the door, giving him another polite bow on my way out. The man sat there, unmoving, not saying anything as I left his cabin.

————————

A peaceful day in the tranquil village of Hydrick became not so peaceful when a mob of ogres broke out of the surrounding forests, chasing after what seemed to be a father and his son. The father’s loud cries for help were heard by the villagers, who piled out of their houses with pitchforks and other household tools, in attempts to help the father-son duo. With the joint efforts of the villagers and the village elder, who happened to know a fair bit of earth magic, the small band of ogres were soon defeated, and the traumatized father and son welcomed into the village.

According to the father, him and his son were of noble birth, traveling from their town beyond the forests to the imperial capital, when their carriage was attacked and destroyed by the band of ogres living inside the forest. The two barely managed to escape with their lives, the mother of the child less lucky, and fortunately, came across across the village of Hydrick where they sought for help.

Although getting attacked by creatures in the forest wasn’t anything rare, the elder still thought that their story was a bit strange. After all, the creatures in their area were fairly tame, and lived in relative harmony with the humans under the protection of the guardian of Earth, Terra, who watched over them all. It could be said that a much more likely culprit of an attack on the innocent would be the malicious mountain bandits, who had been active in the region recently, hiding in the dense forest and preying on helpless nobles who passed by.

Any shred of doubt that the elder had with the two strangers soon disappeared, as the father won him and the villagers over with his charm. He was certainly well-dressed for his part, and had the air of an aristocrat. Plus, how could the villagers turn them away, especially the child who seemed to be so traumatized by the experience that he would not utter a single word?

The villagers welcomed them with open arms, and even prepared a lavish feast with all the delicacies they could offer. By the time night fell, the guests were provided with a room to sleep in, in the house of the kind elder. As the village sunk into a gentle sleep, the crackling of flames and the heavy scent of smoke rose in the air. It started out as a small fire in the elder’s house, eventually growing into a raging inferno and quickly spreading across the village.

As everything was falling into disarray, the child of the man, who was presently nowhere to be found, was trying his best to wake the elder. His mouth opened and closed wordlessly, as his efforts bore no fruit. No matter how much he shook or slapped or bit the elder, the latter wouldn’t stir. It were as if the elder was under some kind of spell.

Frustration was clear on the child’s face, as his crimson red eyes began to shine in the darkness. The light quickly dimmed from his eyes, and his frustration grew. He had no way to break the spell, not in his current state. Giving up on shaking the elder, he set about to bundle the elder up in his blankets, tying some knots to the elder’s arms and legs, before pulling the mattress off and using it as a soft slide to transfer the elder to the floor. Once the elder was on the floor, still sound asleep, the child began to drag him by the blankets out of the burning cabin, sweat staining his forehead as he focused on the laborious task of bringing the elder to safety.

Dodging flaming debris, the child bit his lips and struggled on, with the sole goal of getting both of them out in one piece. After what felt like an eternity, he finally made it out the door...only to be faced with the gruesome sight of the massacre going on in the village. In the middle of the night, while everyone was asleep, the father, who was only pretending to be one in order to sneak into the village in preparation for the raid, had lit the houses on fire. As the villagers woke to the hellish nightmare, they quickly began to evacuate, the strongest of the men staying behind to fend off the mountain bandits who had emerged from their hiding spots in the forest at the signal of the flames.

“Protect the women and children! Get the elder and them away!”

The courageous men who were putting their lives on the line confronted the bandits with axes and pitchforks, blocking their way from the fleeing villagers. Although they put up a good fight against the ogres, they were no match against a much larger group of experienced killers. As the bandits cut the men down one by one, the leader of the bandits spotted two people in front of the elder’s house. The child was already trying his best to drag the elder into the nearby forest, but he was far too late, and far too slow. With thunderous steps, the leader closed the distance between him and the child, his humongous shadow illuminated by the flames nearby.

“Where are you going, kid?” He asked, his voice deep and sinister, a smile full of crooked teeth spreading across his face.

The child instinctively moved in front of the elder, as if he wanted to shield him with his tiny body. Fixing his defiant gaze on the leader, the child did not answer.

The bandit leader’s smile widened.

“Like you can answer me, with Tarian’s seal on your pretty little mouth.”

He laughed, clearly pleased with the turn of events. Without another word, he raised his falchion, the cold blade gleaming underneath the moonlight-

A single stone hit him square in his jaw, causing him to freeze with his weapon in the air. The leader’s eyes darkened with fury, as he turned to face his attacker.

“Oops. Hand slipped. Don’t be too mad?”

In front of him, a short distance away, stood a red-headed man in his early twenties. The man smiled, tossing another stone up into the air, before catching it.

“I’m sorry, will you accept my heartfelt apology?”

As he spoke, the child, whose seal on his lips finally lost its magic, opened his mouth to shout.

“Cut that crap, human. Beat this smelly blockhead up already!”

The young man blinked at his companion, before laughing.

“How am I supposed to do that, Ere-ere~?”

———————

Erebus wasn’t only the god of chaos, but also the god of getting-himself-in-trouble. I guess chaos follows him like a shadow, so his constant bad luck was just a part of his job description.

I had walked along the river for many hours, until I could see smoke in the sky. The presence of smoke often meant a presence of a human civilization, and well, I did find the village I was looking for by following the smoke trail.

Except...

The closer I got, the more I realize that there was far too much smoke. It wasn’t just a nice large campfire burning in the middle of the village, or smoke from individual chimneys.

The whole village was on fire.

It would’ve been difficult to find Erebus in the mess of burning buildings and people trying to kill each other, but perhaps in a stroke of good luck amongst all the bad, the gigantic body of the likely leader of the massacring side drew my eyes. Beside him, drum roll...

“Cut that crap, human. Beat this smelly blockhead up already!”

Was my very cute companion, Erebus. So cute that he was already swearing at me like a sailor within the first minute of our tear-jerking reunion.

“How am I supposed to do that, Ere-ere~?”

It was troublesome indeed. I could try using magic, but it would take a miracle for it to work suddenly after many failed attempts along the way to the village. I could also try using a discarded weapon of some sort...but that was likely worse than just continuing to toss zero-damage stones at him, since my swordsmanship was non-existent.

As I pondered over my options, ignoring the annoyed shouting of Erebus and the increasingly agitated leader who kept on asking for my name, I felt a sudden chill on the back of my neck.

...

A smile broke out on my face once again, as I tossed my stone right at the leader’s face, interrupting his name-asking mid sentence.

“Come at me then, if you want to know my name.” I challenged, as the stone crumpled to the ground, revealing the contorted features of the raging bearded man.

As he rushed at me, swinging his falchion...

A shadow leaped in front of me, blocking me from his line of sight. The sound of metal hitting an object echoed in the night, as the fatal blow coming my way was stopped by a person I was acquainted with.

“...If you don’t have the skills to defend yourself, don’t instigate anything.”

The swordsman wearing clothes of the purest black stood in front of me, his mummy-wrapped sword intercepting the falchion almost effortlessly. His back was to me, but even without directly facing him, I could feel the pressure he exerted on his enemy.

...

I grinned at the back of the man who had saved me twice in the same day.

“Looks like our great savior has arrived, Ere-ere.”