In a dark corridor faintly illuminated by purple torches, a man walked. He was enshrouded in shadows.
He made his way toward a stone door, sliding it open and entering a hall with sixteen dark marble thrones. They were arranged in a circle, and at the center of the hall stood a white monolith. The room was barely illuminated by a faint blue light coming from the ceiling.
The door shut behind him, stirring the dust into the air.
The shadowed man walked up to a throne engraved with the symbol of an owl. He sat on it. Most of the thrones were empty—only five were occupied, including his own.
He laughed.
"Hahaha, it's quite empty today, isn't it?" he said. His voice was young and beautiful, he spoke as if he were singing.
A rough, raspy voice came from the throne engraved with a boar. It carried a tone of disdain.
"Apparently, you didn't die in the Swamp Cove… impressive, for you."
"Oh, don't say that about him, Boar. He's a darling. We don't want him leaving us so soon because of your bad personality," said a smooth feminine voice from the Butterfly throne.
"Heh, thank you, Lady Butterfly. You're so generous…much better than a certain boar." His white teeth flashed a smirk in the dark room.
The voices continued their exchange until they were abruptly silenced by a loud, ancient voice.
"Silence. We shall begin the meeting."
This voice echoed through the entire hall, not coming from any specific throne, but from the very void itself.
The chamber fell silent.
"First, two of our bases have been attacked by Blessed Ones. For some reason, they are more active lately. Both the Great Yellow Forest and the Ocean Phoenix are responsible for these attacks. Boar and Owl—you will work together and investigate this matter.
"Next, our stolen Essence Orbs must be recovered. They were taken from some of our storage sites. Of the five stolen, three are still imbued. That task falls to you, Lady Butterfly.
"Snake—we have a trade to complete with The Horde. I will provide more details soon. For now, find them at Lava Graveyard and finalize the exchange.
"And finally, one of our ritual areas has been desecrated. The one in Alveria. Our defensive layers remain intact—none were destroyed, and yet the coffin was activated. I sensed no anomaly, but our connection to the Homunculus was abruptly severed.
"Frog—you are to find who is responsible. If even one layer worked or if they touched the Homunculus, you should sense the mark when you are close.
"That is all. You are dismissed. Report back immediately upon completion of your assignments."
The stone door opened again, and the five individuals vanished instantly. It was too fast for any human eye to follow.
***
At night, in the village, Faust was at the inn, speaking with the blonde innkeeper.
It was crowded—people drank and laughed. The air reeked of alcohol and salt.
"What?" Faust asked.
"You heard me. I know nothing about this so-called 'group' you're talking about. As far as I'm concerned, the village was attacked by regular bandits. This is already the third day you've come here. Stop bothering me."
"You're lying. Tell me the truth." Faust pressed, demanding answers.
"Alright, that's enough. You look too aggressive for me, lad." She turned and called out, "Hey, Raks! A client is getting too aggressive. Come and deal with him, I'm too tired."
A burly man emerged from a door behind her, wearing a cooking apron. He stepped in front of her, and she returned to the kitchen.
Raks faced Faust.
"Stop causing problems. Just leave," he said, his voice rough. He held a cooking knife.
"But I'm not causi—"
Faust was cut off as the man raised his voice.
"Stop arguing. We're not giving coins to a beggar like you."
The louder he spoke, the more people glanced in their direction—then quickly returned to their games and laughter.
No one cared about a homeless kid on the verge of being killed. The world was harsh. People already had their own problems—they didn't need more.
"…"
Faust stayed silent. The man motioned for him to leave. "Shoo, shoo."
Faust turned and walked out.
"She was lying."
"I know. You already said that," Faust replied to Red.
As he made his way back to the forest, snowfall had begun. The snow impaired his vision, and even his wolfskin cape couldn't keep out the cold entirely.
He returned to his bear in the forest and had it 'hug' him to preserve his warmth.
By morning, Faust returned to the village. This time, he avoided the inn. Instead, he carried a sack full of items he had gathered previously.
He had seen a few merchant stalls earlier. He planned to sell off useless goods in exchange for coin—enough to purchase something useful.
He had five silver coins in total, barely enough for a decent weapon.
He went to a weapon stall and set the bag on the ground, opening it to reveal the contents. The sight drew attention. Greed was what moved mortals, if a child had so many items when most people struggled to eat, he was bound to attract eyes.
He pulled out two iron swords, a crossbow, a bundle of arrows, and some stone tools he had made before
An old man with white hair and a faded beard looked at him from behind the stall.
"I won't buy those stone tools, they are trash. But I'll give you four silver for the rest. The swords are damaged, and the crossbow is quite old," the old man said with a smile.
"No. Fifteen silver."
The old man almost jumped. "What!? Are you insane?" His smile turned into anger. Some people looked at them.
"Fourteen silver."
"You can do business elsewhere. What type of scam is that?"
"Twelve silver."
"No, that's too much. I'll give you six silver, at most."
"Ten silver."
"I already said. six silver, at most."
"Eight silver."
"…"
"Seven silver."
The old man shook his head, he had an ugly expression. "Seven."
"Alright. Seven," Faust finally agreed.
As he turned around, the old man smiled. Just the crossbow alone was worth more than eight silver, but for him, Faust had no idea of its value.
Faust went to the next stalls and sold pelts, goblin skins, rabbit skins, and animal meat.
Most negotiations went like that. They started with a low price, Faust would name a much higher one, and they would reach a halfway point—usually with Faust losing money. It was already dusk when he finished trading most of his possessions. In the end, he earned a total of 42 silver and 80 copper. Most of the money came from the pelts, especially the wolf ones.
"Alright. That should be enough," he thought as he walked back to the forest. His path was lightened by an oil lamp he had traded for earlier.
In the shadows, a group of five were following him—three men and two women. They wore ragged clothes, had rotten teeth, and gave off a foul odor. They were beggars.
"Maybe we can eat today…" one of them said.
"But don't hurt the kid. Let's just get the money."
"Alright, alright. I agree. When we get the money, let's leave him alone."
They followed Faust into the forest. It was already dark. The beggars were trembling—it was too cold. They could barely see in the dark.
"Hurry! We can't lose sight of him!"
They started walking faster, trying to follow Faust. Suddenly, the light from his oil lamp disappeared.
"I'm not seeing him. Did we lose him?" one man asked.
"I guess so. Damn it!" one woman replied.
"We should head ba—" The man's voice suddenly stopped.
The other woman turned around. "Wha—""
Before she could finish speaking, a shadow passed and removed half her head, leaving only her open mouth as a reaction.
What she saw to cause that reaction was the body of her companion on the ground, torn open in half.
A pair of red eyes glistened in the dark. They watched from the shadows. It could see them—they couldn't see it.
One man suddenly screamed, "IT'S WOLVES!"
"Shit! Shit!" one woman exclaimed, pulling out an iron knife, trying to protect herself from the "wolves."
The other man mumbled, "Ma-maybe if they got the kid too… his money should be scattered around here. It should!" He threw himself on the ground, ignoring the lingering threat, and began touching the snowy ground, desperatelysearching for coins.
In the next moment, his head was smashed open against the snow, painting it red.
There was one male and one female beggar left. They got closer to each other, trying to look around, but it was hard to see anything clearly with only the moonlight. Even in the cold, they were sweating.
The red eyes moved through the shadows, approaching the beggars. They still couldn't see him.
"Did the wolves leave?" the woman asked.
"I think so! Let's leave quickly."
"But what about the coins? We can't leave without them, I'm already too hungry."
"No! It's dangerous. Let's come in the morning. Wolves won't care about a few coins. We can hold up a little more."
"Alright…"
They started running. As they did, a blue light rapidly traveled through the air and hit the female beggar in the leg. She fell to the ground.
The man looked at her, breathing heavily.
"H-HELP ME!" Her leg was bleeding from the impact of the mana bullet.
"…" The man looked at her, he had a pity expression, but he started running again.
"N-NO!" she cried for help. When she stopped and turned around, she saw the pair of red eyes fluttering in front of her. "Yo-you! Wh—"
Before she could finish her sentence, a shadow lunged at her body. It was the bear. Its paw moved against her head and disconnected it from her body. Her head fell on the snow.
He looked in the direction the last beggar had run and turned away.
Faust placed all the bodies on the bear's back and returned. The severed parts, like the heads, Faust made the bear eat. There was no reason to transport them, after all.
Traveling through the forest, he arrived at a place a few hours away from the village.
There was a runic formation on the ground. The rune was far bigger than any of the ones he had made so far. It was created using rocks with little runes on them, nailed into the ground to form the same rune but on a larger scale. It had a circular formation, with a cross coming from the edges but not touching the center. The center had a small hole, not even fifteen centimeters deep.
Before he arrived on the village outskirts, Red had taught him another rune, but this one was different. It didn't just need to be drawn, it had to be prepared. According to Red, this was not a simple rune but a ritualistic one. It needed a ritual to work.
Although the rune formation was complete, Faust hadn't activated it yet. He couldn't.
The bodies were for this. Faust couldn't act freely, so he had to choose the perfect targets, people no one would miss. Gathering some money did the work of attracting them, like the bait he used to hunt in the forest. The targets were easier this time. Humans live for greed; in this case, the most basic level of it. Money to eat. A sad reality, but it worked in his favor.
He placed four beggars' bodies atop the stones, forming a kind of weird circle. Then he stood in the middle.
Faust breathed deeply and exhaled. The ritual was about to begin.