Arttu woke up with his vision all blurry. He sat up slowly and put his hand, checking the throbbing on his head.

  The caravan was moving slowly, so he was fine waking up.

  Later, he saw Reid looking out of the window of the caravan with a still face, clearly thinking about something, worried about something.

  Arttu didn’t want to disturb him. He tried to slowly straighten himself, but Reid’s perception skills were too advanced due to the use of his beast eye. Reid stopped looking out of the window and giggled after he saw that Arttu had woken up.

  “How was the sleep, Arttu?”

  Arttu looked annoyed.

  “Not good.”

  Reid ruffled Arttu’s hair with a smile on his face.

  “I should have warned you.”

  Arttu looked curious.

  “Are we close, Reid?”

  Reid scratched the back of his head.

  “I don’t know, but let me ask.”

  Reid walked toward the front, where Morty was driving the caravan.

  “Hey, Lonesome, how much do you think we have left?”

  Morty adjusted his hat.

  “We don’t have much left, probably like thirty minutes. I can be faster if you want.”

  Reid giggled.

  “No, no, no, don’t worry. I was just curious.”

  Reid came back and said,

  “Lonesome says that we have thirty minutes left. Would you like to sleep some more?”

  Arttu shook his head as if to say no.

  They both paused for a while, both not knowing what to ask one another. That is the truth of human life. One can’t find something to talk about if they are doing everything together. In this case, Arttu and Reid were doing everything together.

  But Arttu had something in mind.

  Something to ask,

  Something he fears to learn.

  “Brother, what happened to our mother and father?”

  Reid was shocked because of the question. He never wanted to answer that question. The memories were like shattered glass. Too fragile, and too hurtful to even remember. That wasn’t even the main reason. He didn’t want his little brother to learn what happened. He didn’t want him to see this world as a dark and chaotic place. But he knew. He knew that this day would come. He knew that Arttu had the biggest right to know what happened.

  So, he told him.

  Told him what happened on that sorrowful night, told him who Lucius was. Told him what the cult is and what they did.

  Arttu was sad. Tears fell down his cheeks. But he didn’t break down. He listened.

  He endured all the pain and learnt what really happened.

  Then…

  …Reid started talking about their mother, Melan?e.

  He told Arttu how clean she was, how silky and smooth her hair was. How her smile shone like a glimpse of the sun. How she never stopped smiling through the pain she had gone through. He told him that their mother was…

  …the most beautiful person Reid had ever seen.

  Arttu couldn’t help himself. He cried and cried until his body couldn’t produce tears anymore.

  Reid held Arttu close, but he didn’t cry.

  He smiled.

  The memories he had once feared no longer brought him sadness. It brought him happiness. He was happy that all those things had happened.

  He patted Arttu’s head, and they stood there for the rest of the trip…

  …together.

  After some time, the wheels stopped. Morty turned back.

  “We are here.”

  Reid and Arttu nodded and left the caravan.

  Reid asked,

  “What are you going to do, Lonesome?”

  Morty touched his chin.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “I will be waiting for you guys here. After you find out what’s going on in this place, come back, and we’ll head back to Aquilonis.”

  Reid looked a little bit worried for Morty.

  “Are you sure that you will be okay, Lonesome?”

  Lonesome pointed himself.

  “Don’t you worry about me, boy. This old man right here is a hell of a strong one.”

  Reid laughed.

  “Yeah, my bad, Lonesome. Thank you for bringing us here.”

  They waved goodbye to Morty and started to walk through the town.

  Reid knelt down to Arttu.

  “Hey, Arttu, now that you are a knight, I must teach you how to go through a mission.”

  Arttu came closer to Reid; his curiosity was shown through his expression.

  “First, we need to know what happened, so we will ask the villagers. After we ask the villagers, we’ll think of what could really be happening here. Sometimes the villagers lie, and sometimes they try to hide something. Those are not that common, but we still need to be careful about them.”

  Reid pointed at the old man.

  “Old people are usually reliable, so asking them is the best course of action. But if they are too old, they may have problems remembering some things.”

  Reid then pointed at the kid.

  “With kids, it’s different. There are kids who are totally liars and ones who are the most reliable people on the entire planet. Good thing that they show what a person they are easily.”

  Reid thought for a bit, then pointed at another kid.

  “What do you think, Arttu? Is this kid reliable or not?”

  Arttu looked curiously at the kid and started observing him. He was near his age. Had long black hair and blue eyes. What was different about him was that he was playing alone while the other kids were playing together.

  Arttu smiled at Reid and said,

  “He is not reliable, is he?”

  Reid looked at Arttu with curious eyes.

  “Why did you think like that?”

  Arttu started answering him.

  “I mean, he doesn’t have any difference from the other kids in looks, but those kids are not playing with him. That’s probably because he is unreliable, isn’t it?”

  Reid made a cross with his fingers.

  “Nope. Not at all. He is probably the most reliable person in the entire village right now.”

  Arttu was surprised. He asked,

  “Why?”

  Reid smiled gently.

  “The reason he’s not playing with them is that either he was too shy to ask them or they did not accept him because he doesn’t speak too much.”

  Reid looked at Arttu.

  “You would like someone to talk and laugh rather than just sitting and watching outside, right?”

  Arttu looked a little sad.

  “I am also like that, aren’t I? I would like to play with him.”

  Reid giggled and hugged Arttu.

  “I know, I know. But that’s how people are, and they are not wrong for that. People who talk a lot shine in others’ eyes. They are more charismatic and cheerful. They seem closer than the ones who don’t talk as much. And closeness is warmer than distance. Some people like warmth, some people like cold.”

  Arttu looked at Reid curiously.

  “Which one do you like, brother?”

  Reid’s calmed. He started patting Arttu’s head.

  “I like both.”

  Arttu’s eyes lit up.

  “Me too.”

  Reid’s eyes gleamed.

  “Let’s start interrogating, Detective Corvane.”

  Arttu nodded, and they started questioning the villagers.

  “First, let’s ask the old man.”

  They approached the old man.

  “Hello, sir. We are knights from Aquilonis, and we’d like to ask some questions if you would not mind.”

  The old man lit up.

  “Of course, you can ask me any questions, the Red Rose.”

  Reid scratched the back of his head, clearly embarrassed.

  “We received reports that there were cursed beasts coming from the south. Could you tell us anything that you know about that?”

  The old man’s lit-up face fell in an instant.

  “Yes. The beasts started coming from the south a lot these days. And the village from the south, where my son and his wife stay, I am worried about them. The people who travelled from here to there haven’t come back either. Please help us, Red Rose,” he held Reid’s hands tightly.

  Reid looked serious.

  “We will take care of it, don’t worry, sir.”

  Reid put his hand on his chin.

  “Do you know anything else?”

  The old man said sadly,

  “I am very sorry, that’s all I know.”

  Reid said,

  “Don’t be sorry. We are really thankful.”

  They continued asking other people, too. But their answers weren’t much different. In the end they approached the little kid they talked about before. He was playing with his wooden toys, clashing them.

  Reid knelt down.

  “Hello, little man, can we ask you some questions?”

  The boy was scared. He ran and hid behind a stone. Reid apologized.

  “I am really sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I really just want to ask some questions. Can you help me?”

  The boy slowly poked his head out to take a peek. He looked at Reid, and for some reason, he felt that Reid was a reliable person. He slowly walked from behind the stone and approached Reid and Arttu.

  The boy nodded in response.

  Reid smiled.

  “Thank you.”

  He paused for a moment.

  “Could you tell me about the scary animals that are coming towards this village a little more often? Did you ever see anything different in them?”

  The boy hesitated to answer. He waited for a while, thinking, obviously scared. But he got his courage and answered.

  “Their faces...” and stopped talking.

  Reid looked happy, hearing something different from the other people.

  “Like, how?”

  The boy still hesitated to answer, but he did.

  “Their faces… Their faces…

  …looked human.”

  Reid and Arttu were shocked. Reid chuckled uneasily.

  “Are you sure? You didn’t imagine that, right?”

  The boy looked confident in himself.

  “I am sure. I saw one of them.”

  Reid mumbled. “But that would mean… Someone is… No, no, no. That’s impossible, isn’t it?”

  He looked at the boy.

  “Thank you so much. Play safe.”

  Arttu bowed to the kid, as if saying thank you, and they walked into the village's corner.

  Arttu looked a bit concerned.

  “Brother, you said he looked reliable. But then those monsters are…”

  Reid looked confused.

  “I don’t know, Arttu. I really don’t know. I hope I’m wrong. I really do. But it is unbelievable, right? The kid must have seen it wrong.”

  Arttu supported Reid.

  “I think so too.”

  Reid shook his head to steady his thoughts.

  “Anyways, let’s start going towards the south. At least we’ll get closer to the source of the problem.”

  Arttu nodded, and they started walking towards the south.

  The path was clear. It was surrounded by tall trees, but there were no obstacles or anything on the path itself, and, naturally, it was quiet, as people avoided the road due to the beasts.

  They walked for half an hour without any problem. But the sun was setting, and they knew they were getting close to something they had to face. After some time, they heard a noise coming from the trees on the right. The sound of bushes rustling.

  Reid walked in front of Arttu.

  “Always stay behind me, Arttu.”

  Arttu nodded.

  Reid activated his beast eye and closed his eyes to concentrate. He was able to listen to nearby sounds far more effectively.

  “A rattling sound. No, not that.”

  “A bird chirping—no, not that.”

  “Growling. That’s it.”

  From the trees, two hounds appeared before Arttu. Reid turned back in an instant and sliced those two hounds.

  Their faces…

  …were normal.

  Reid was relieved. But then two more sounds. Another two hounds.

  CLACK. PWAMPTH.

  Sliced two more. But more kept coming. Reid sliced each of them, coming towards him. For five more minutes, Reid sliced through at least thirty hounds. When the hounds stopped coming, Reid turned back to look at Arttu.

  “Whew, they were quite tiring.”

  Arttu was looking pale.

  “What happened, Arttu? Is everything okay?”

  Arttu slowly pointed out the face of the hound that Reid sliced up.

  Reid started walking back while trying to deny what he was seeing.

  “No… no…”

  The face of that hound was…

  …human.