Arterion ran away from the scene of death until he reached the edge of the camp. There he vomited again, as he can still smell the lingering scent of death on him. As a slave, it was normal for him to see dead people; in fact he wasn’t fazed when someone lay dead on the ground.

But this time it was different. The soldiers were so brutally murdered that it actually made Arterion sick. If a random person were to pass by this gruesome scene, they would’ve thought that it was done by a crazed animal rather than a person.

‘Wait. A person?’ Arterion thought as he panted while covering his mouth. Was it him who did this? He was holding a sword after all. But he can’t remember anything. Arterion started shaking his head as he recalled the last moments where he was still aware of his actions. It was when he ate that apple from the woman that he remembered blacking out and waking up in that mirror-like world.

He tried his best to remember his conversation with the woman in that world, but all he got were fragmented parts of memories about that place. All that happened there suddenly turned vague, like the feeling one would get when they try to remember a dream they had. Arterion knew all of it happened, but no matter how he tried to remember, he came up with nothing.

Arterion suddenly felt pain in his knees and he plopped down to the ground. His body was sore all over, as if he worked hard labor for the whole day. He lied down on the grass beneath a tree with his arms and legs splayed about. He could still smell the horrid stench of the camp but he felt extremely tired all of a sudden. He shut his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

It was already deep into the night when Arterion woke up. The stench was even more stirring than it was when dawn arrived; obviously he knew that the bodies were starting to rot. He sat down with his back in the tree as he thought about the events that transpired one after the other. His body was very peculiar, as he reached out the right side of his chest only to feel a second heartbeat within.

This sort of thing is not uncommon for humans, but it doesn’t mean that it was common as well. Normally, if a human was to gain enough amount of ‘Vitality’, which is the Warrior class’ equivalent of ‘Mana’ to Mages, they have the possibly of growing a second heart. This occurrence however, is not a milestone for an ordinary Warrior as it requires a huge amount of resources as well as talent and potential from the Warrior’s part. Some rich and famous Warriors even almost spent all of their savings just to grow another heart but in the end, talent and potential cannot be bought and it was the one ingredient they didn’t have.

As mentioned, one would know just how valuable growing a second heart was. It meant a second life to dedicated Warriors as a blow to only one of the hearts would not kill them. Only if their two hearts were destroyed can they truly perish. Furthermore, two hearts meant an increase in pumping one’s blood. This means that any injuries sustained during battle, which will ultimately result in bleeding, can be ignored by warriors with two hearts. It also meant an increase to their stamina and life force as their blood flows so much faster than ordinary Warriors.

He knew about all of this because ever since his parents died, he spent all of his time in his father’s library. The library contained a huge amount of books about different things; from biology to astrology, mathematics and alchemy, laws and governance, blacksmithing, and of course, magic and warrior properties.

His father’s library was located in the biggest room of their mansion yet it was still filled to the brim. The only books that Arterion did not get the chance to read were the ancient tomes that his father was always reading in his study. They were written in strange languages that he couldn’t understand, and before he had a chance to, he went on and became a slave.

Arterion had no idea why he suddenly grew a second heart, but he knew it was because of that strange apple. He looked to camp once again as he thought about his life with them. It wouldn’t count to be called good memories in the least, but seeing them in such a state still made his stomach turn. Their bodies were scattered about, no one would know which body part belonged to which as they were just all over the place. It was like they passed through a meat-grinder.

It was at that time that he heard the sound of hooves in the distance. Four men in horses were travelling on the side of the road as they noticed Lorence’s camp. They abruptly stopped as they tied their horses to the side as the smell wafted through their nostrils. Four men walked to camp with a frown on their faces.

“What do you guys think?” A man with a rough beard asked the group.

“Must be a pack o’ wolves or a tribe of goblins; they set up too close to the forest. Evening Forest is no joke y’know.” Another man replied. He had an eye-patch on his right-eye, as well as a long bow strapped on his back.

“What do you think, Gerald?” One of the four asked another man who seemed to be looking at a tree in the corner of the camp.

“There’s someone there, we’ll just ask him.” A brutish large man, named Gerald, had a two-handed bastard sword on his back. It seemed to correspond with his body type and seeing him with one looked like nothing was out of place.

Arterion saw the group heading towards his direction. He thought about running away, but he remembered that he basically had nowhere to go. He didn’t know how to get to Lorence’s original destination, and he would probably be hanged for returning without Lorence as well. Here he was finally free of anything, yet nothing at the same time. Now he would worry about his own survival with no one to rely upon.

The four men approached Arterion and saw that he was basically dressed in bloody rags. They got an idea that he was some sort of slave or someone with low status in the camp. Gerald squint his eyes as he seemed to have noticed something.

“Hey boy, d’you know what happened ‘ere?” the man with the eye-patch asked.

Arterion seemed to be in deep in thought as if trying to think of how to answer. He finally said, “A.. monster passed by.”

“Hmm.. I see.” The eye-patched man looked to the other men and asked, “There you have it. We could loot the camp and see if anything is worth taking, but what do we do about this boy?”

“He’s probably a slave. We could still sell him again. I’m sure we’d find the contract somewhere in the camp.” One of the men suggested.

“I’ll take him,” Gerald suddenly cut-in. “A servant is always a great addition to a house. I also feel much better that someone is with Mila when I’m out adventuring.”

“Oh right. I almost forgot that you had a village, Gerald. Well that’s decided then. You can go ahead and go back, we’ll finish up looting the place then we’ll go home right after.”

The other men nodded with each other and Gerald led Arterion to his horse. He let Arterion handle the rest of his baggage and rein his horse through the road. Arterion learned that the village of this man, Gerald, was a six hour walk from the Evening Forest, so they would probably arrive there at about midnight.

While they were walking, Gerald looked at Arterion a couple of times atop his horse. He finally let out a sigh as he couldn’t contain his curiousness anymore.

“Kid, I know you’re not ordinary that’s why I took you. I feel strong waves of ‘Vitality’ flowing through your veins; you couldn’t have been a slave. What really happened back there?”

Arterion was surprised at the perception of this brutish man. He reevaluated this man’s strength and concluded that he was a particularly strong person of the Warrior class. He looked back at him, but he didn’t answer.

“*Sigh. Alright, if you don’t wanna answer then it’s fine. I don’t really like taking in slaves because it goes against what I believe in. So I’ll be taking you as a citizen of the village. If you survived that tragedy back there, then it means you’re quite capable. My village still needs a lot of work so you better do your part once we’re there.” Gerald said.

The two continued to walk for hours until they saw a wooden fence about a meter high in the distance. A normal human being couldn’t walk as long they did, but seeing as two of them had Warrior characteristics, it was no sweat at all.

Gerald told Arterion to lead his horse to the stable and at the same time, wash up his body as he would send someone to bring him a set of clothes. Arterion did exactly what he was told and tied the horse to the stable that looked more like a shack. He found that there was a tub filled with water inside so he proceeded to take off all his clothes and dip in.

His muscles were defined, but not so much as one would think that he looked like a brute. They were toned and accentuated, adding to his charm. As he dipped himself in the water, it immediately turned murky with a hint of red. He proceeded to wipe of all the dirt and gunk on his body then wash his dirt-stained face and ragged hair.

Now that he was clear of any dirt, his noble-like appearance shone once more. His skin was tight and fair, not minding his brunette hair that was long and ragged; his eyes were wonderfully light-purple. His face was nicely chiseled and he had great features. He almost looked out of place bathing in this rundown shack.

When he was about to finish up, he saw a blushing girl at the entrance of the stable holding a set of dry clothing. The girl looked to be 18-20 years of age, just a little bit older than he was. She had the same brown hair as Gerald, but she looked more delicate compared to Gerald’s brute-like appearance. It was obvious that she got most of her mother’s features. She was pretty and everything about her screamed of a country girl.

She lay down the clothes with her faced flushed as she turned away from Arterion, “Father told me to give you these clothes once when you were done.”

“Oh.. ah thank you very much..” Arterion realizing the awkward situation he was in, he also felt flustered.

“Then I’ll be.. taking my leave.” The blushing girl hurriedly ran away from the stable.

Arterion breathed a sigh of relief once the girl was gone. He felt quite embarrassed as this was the first time a girl his age saw him butt-naked, it was quite an experience. He suddenly had to urge to smile which was rare. He was even surprised himself.

He put on the new set of clothing and got rid of his battered clothes. Now he looked clean and dashing, one wouldn’t even think that he was a slave just a few moments ago.