Flashback - Nathaniel Gwyn (11 years old)

A young boy, barely over ten years old, slowly opens the door to the apartment. It squeaks as he closes it and locks it. His face bears no emotion as he looks around.

After checking the floor and not seeing another pair of shoes, a small smile flashes on his lips. He quickly takes off his old, battered sneakers and removes his bag from his shoulder. The entire time, he is careful to use only his right hand.

Then he rushes towards his room, and his smile becomes even bigger when he notices the light shining under the closed door. Without knocking, he barges in, only to be rewarded by a long, annoyed sigh from a girl sitting behind a table, reading.

Her posture is near perfect. She sits without rounding her shoulders and holds the book in front of her to avoid slouching and bending her neck. There is a lamp next to her, shining on the book that she now puts on the table as she turns to her brother.

“Nat, how many times…” she pauses and her eyes move up and down her brother.

Another long sigh.

The boy seems somewhat proud as he carefully puts away his bag and sits on the edge of the bed, turning to his sister, “Is Mom not home yet?”

“She's still working and won't be coming home anytime soon. And Rob is… who knows where,” a slight hint of disgust sounds in her voice as she talks about the man she should be calling 'father' instead.

The boy only nods, and it's clear that he is waiting for his sister to ask something.

Victoria sighs for the third time and just asks, too curious to tease her cute brother any longer, “So, Nat, why is your left arm broken?”

Nathaniel smirks proudly, seemingly not bothered at all by his broken bone and the pain he must surely be feeling, “I broke it!” he sounds proud as he says so, and in the dimly lit room, his eyes seem to be shining.

Before Victoria can ask, he continues, “The older kids tried to bully me again today, and they called mom names…” There is a dangerous glow in his eyes as he says the last part but he quickly hides it, “This time more of them came, but I managed to run away,” he giggles.

The entire time, his sister quietly listens, a curious look on her face as her brother explains. As he talks, she is sitting there, her posture perfect, her hands on her lap, and her eyes bearing a hard-to-identify emotion.

“They were always careful not to hurt me too much, so I can't tell on them. So, I learned when the director leaves the school and which way he takes. Then, I broke my arm and acted as if I had run into him by mistake. I even pretended to try to hide it!” he laughs, “I made him ask me who did that. At first, he even thought it was Rob,” he quickly corrects himself.

His brown and gray eyes shine even brighter as he continues to explain to his calm sister, “I tried to cry, but you know, Vic, I'm bad at that. So I just pinched myself really hard and looked at the ground, pretending to sob, and then told him that the other kids did it.”

As if waiting for her reaction, he pauses.

“That's smart, Nathaniel, but what if the other kids have… an alibi,” she says carefully.

“I thought of that! I did all of it when they were hanging out outside and remembered who was there. I…” he pauses when both of them hear the front door unlocking and the creaking sound echoes through the apartment.

“That's Rob… now, get that smile off your face, Nat.”

For an answer, the boy only nods, and the smile disappears. His face looks as emotionless as when he entered the apartment. His sister mirrors him, and soon a man's shouts reach their ears.

“I'm sorry!” Lily lowers her head and when I stay quiet, she carefully looks up with a look on her face that makes me want to pinch her nose.

“…”

I don't have to explain anything! I just really want to pinch her tiny nose. Also, why are you like this? Shouldn't I be the one to apologize?

Probably seeing my confusion, she continues, “I'm sorry for slapping you.”

Ohhh. She's still bothered by that? It's already been like… two hours? To be honest, I think she hurt herself more than me when she slapped me, and I kind of made a big mess, so she did have the right to be a little bit angry.

Hmm, wait a moment? Should I spin it to make her feel bad for me and make her owe me a bit? I once again look at her face and then I can't bring myself to do it.

I'm truly getting weaker.

“It's fine, Lily, I'm sorry I didn't notice them trying to hypnotize you earlier and also for… this mess I made.” It's true that I could've been a bit more delicate.

But as we talk, I look at her and ask, curious to see if the death of two people in front of her caused some damage. I know for a normal person it should be… traumatizing.

“It's fine.” she says, “They were bad people, trying to hurt me and you as well.” Her eyes are serious as she says so, “They deserved that.”

Oh boy.

I'm definitely the most normal here.

I pull Biscuit's cheek and boop his nose and continue to ignore his woofing while I think over what I should do with Sophie. I really don't feel like apologizing and I won't do it. The relationship between us is delicate, to say the least.

Lately, I've started thinking that I've kept her alive only because of little Isabella, so Sophie can take care of her sister and not make a little girl sad or hate me.

Sophie is annoying to deal with constant worry about her [Manipulation] and always sitting on the border of worth and not worth to be kept alive.

“Biscuit, what should I do?” I ask probably the smartest and most normal member of Group 4 after me, obviously.

(Food?)

“Nah, we can't eat her.”

(Food.)

“Yeah, we could feed her to monsters.”

(Food!)

“No, you still can't eat monsters, you will get sick. But we were talking about Sophie, It's annoying to deal with her, isn't it?”

(Asshole!)

“Yeah, she is?”

I pet the top of his head and the best doggo closes his eyes.

Hmm, I should teach you a few more words. We're going to have you surprise Hadwin.

I give most of my food to Lily and a bit to Biscuit and then once again leave our hideout. Alone. I need to clear my head a bit and give others some space.

Tess is fine, Lily and Kim also seem to be somewhat unaffected. On the other hand, Aaron avoids me even more than before and Sophie is staying out of my sight as much as possible, keeping Isabella with her.

I guess she didn't take my feelings seriously when I let her peek at them while she was strengthening my body and helping me handle my mana. This probably opened her eyes a bit.

I check the new side quest and it's as I thought.

Side quest: Kill 800 enemies

Other side quests just need me to get [Mana Infusion] to level twenty and I'm ready to get a new passive skill.

As for my reward for killing 700 enemies...

Short Sword (Common): A practical choice for any adventurer, this iron short sword boasts a sturdy blade and a reliable leather grip. Perfect for those beginning their journey, it's simple yet effective for most combat situations.

I then tie one of my mana stones to the blade and continue trying to infuse the stone with my mana as it holds it much better than the sword, and then have the stone continuously infuse the blade with the mana.

I even etch some pathways into the blade and try to keep them working thanks to the mana from mana stone.

But as before, the sword cracks and breaks, mana leaks terribly, and pathways are not working. But it's fine, I'll learn from my constructs and create one for items as well and instead of my mana heart, the mana stones will keep them working.

How cool is that?

The icy guy, now alone, is now one of Sophie's pets if I can call it like that. When Sophie sees that I noticed that she looks at me, her eyes firm, as if asking me to say anything.

But I do not. It might be my lack of interest in the guy and not caring what happened to him or maybe a half-step back to allow Sophie to keep some face. It could easily be either option.

But later that day we finally are close to the walls. The way there was easier than before, a lot less monsters moving around and close to the wall. We also hurried to meet with Hadwin, Maya, and Dennis as they acquired one of the traps used to catch sparrows. I do not ask from where but it's easy to guess.

For the last five minutes, we are led by Aaron that finally gets within reach to communicate with his twin brother and soon enough we finally meet the last three members of our group.

Like all of us, they are thinner, messy, with wrecked clothes, and looking more like wild animals after days on the third floor.

“Hey,” Hadwin says simply as we meet, while Aaron is meeting with Dennis and Maya awkwardly keeps looking between Tess and Sophie.

Good, finally I can dump everything on Hadwin, but first, Biscuit go!

Feeling my thoughts, the best doggo on the third floor moves in front of me and speaks telepathically toward Hadwin.

(I require sustenance)