Early Years

by TurtleMe

  "…"

  That name and title was from my old world. She knew the entire time! Did she discover something in my mana core? Was she able to look into my memories? So many questions but the only one who can answer them is gone.

  I don’t move for a while, staying in the fetal position, my eyes glazed over, deep in thought.

  Sylvia was right. She said all of this knowing what my life back in my old world was like. I won’t make the same mistake of living for the sake of training. I will be strong, but I’ll also live my life without regret. I want to live a life that Sylvia would be proud of. I don’t think she’ll be happy even if I reach whatever stage was after white while living a life of only training. No. I need to hurry up and reach my family. But before that, where am I?

  Looking around, I’m surrounded by trees that tower over my head. There’s a thick fog that covers anything a couple centimeters off the ground

  Trees and an unnaturally thick fog…

  I sank back on my knees, crestfallen at what this could only mean.

  I was in the Forest of Elshire

  *Sigh*

  Picking myself up, I prepared my mind. Looks like I won’t be meeting my family anytime soon. It’s been around 3-4 months since I fell off of the cliff. My family has most likely either gone back to Ashber or decided to stay in Xyrus.

  I don’t have anything on me except the clothes on my back and the strange stone that was wrapped in Sylvia’s feather. This damn fog limited my vision to about a couple meters around me. Reinforcing my eyes with mana helped quite a bit but that didn’t solve the problem of which direction I needed to go to get out of this place. I reinforced my body, enabling mana rotation that seems to have become second nature to me now. Right now, I can only absorb about 20% of what I can do while just meditating, but I’m not complaining.

  The only downside to mana rotation is that it’s not a replacement for strengthening your mana core. In order for me to purify my mana core and get it to the next stages, I need to solely focus on gathering the mana, from both my body and the surrounding area, and use that to get rid of the impurities little by little. One notable thing I felt rather was that after getting my mana core to dark red, the amount of mana I could store inside increased significantly. While the size doesn’t increase, I’m guessing the purity allows more mana to be gathered.

  I climb a couple meters up the first tree I find and I sat situated on a branch. This time, I concentrated the mana into only my eyes, increasing my vision even further. What I’m looking for isn’t a way out but more so for any signs of humans. Sylvia said that I would be teleported near humans so I’m hoping that there may be adventurers travelling through here that knows a way out.

  A couple seconds of searching, I find what I’m looking for. Looks like I was right; there are humans here.

  I hop from tree branch to tree branch, going towards them. Stopping a couple meters away, I hid myself behind the trunk on a branch facing away from them.

  Something’s wrong.

  I hide myself completely behind the branch and will mana into my ears.

  “NOOO!!! HELP! SOMEONE PLEASE HELP! MOMMY! DADDY! NOOO I’M SCARED!!!”

  “Someone shut her up! She’s going to attract attention!”

  *THUD*

  “Quick. Put her in the back of the carriage. We’re only a couple days away from the mountain range. We’ll be safer then. Don’t relax and let's keep moving.”

  “Hey boss! How much do ya think she’ll sell for? Elf girls go for a lot don’t they? Hehe, she’s a child too so a virgin at that! I bet she’ll fetch us a lot of money huh!”

  Slave traders!

  I carefully look around to see a small sized carriage, enough to tightly cram in about 5 adults. I turn around just in time to see a middle aged man carrying a little girl into the back of the carriage. She looked to be around 6-7 with silver blond hair with the trademark pointed ears that elves are known for.

  What should I do? How do they do know where to go in the first place? The Elshire Forest’s magical fog messes with the senses even while using mana.

  What I see next answers my second question.

  Attached to leashes are mana beasts that look like a mix between a deer and a dog, with antlers that look branch out, looking like a complicated satellite. I remember reading about those mana beasts in the encyclopedia I carried around. Apparently, these forest hounds are native to the Forest of Elshire and can navigate even better than the elves can.

  How those brutes acquired those rare mana beasts, I have no idea but I needed to think of a plan.

  Option one: Steal one of the forest hounds and have it lead me out of the forest.

  Option two: Kidnap the kidnapped elf girl to have her help me out.

  Option three: Kill all of the slave traders and set the elf girl free while I take the forest hounds and go back home.

  Pondering for a couple of minutes, I’m faced with a dilemma. Option one sees to be the easiest, but it didn’t sit right with me to leave the elf girl to her doom.

  Who knows, maybe she’ll get bought by a kind old man who will treat her well and let her visit her home every couple of months!

  …Fat chance…

  Option two had the obvious flaw that, once I save the elf kid, she won’t lead me out of the forest and will just want to go back home and the slave traders probably won’t take it too kindly. Option three had the best outcome but was the hardest, considering that there were 4 of them and only one of me. Because of the fog, I couldn’t sense if any of them were mages but I assume at least one is. Being able to capture an elf in the forest meant that they weren’t amateurs.

  Fuck! Option three it is.

  ___________________________________________

  I waited until nightfall to make my move. Those slave traders sure were vigilant. They didn’t build a fire and always had two people on guard.

  I use the chance when one of the two out on guard went around to the other side of the carriage to quiet the forest hounds that I woke up with a carefully thrown rock.

  One was sitting on a fallen log, fiddling something in his hands while the two that were sleeping were inside the tent pitched next to him. Carefully jumping to a branch directly above the carriage, I prepared my attack.

  I was going for the one that went to quiet the forest hounds first.

  I dropped down with a quiet thud behind one of the slave traders. This man had a very lanky build. While muscles were visible, he didn’t seem too strong and was only armed with a knife.

  Hearing the soft thud, lanky turns around probably only expecting a curious weasel or rat. His face turned into a mixture of surprise and amusement when he sees me, a 4-year-old child in torn clothes.

  Before he has the chance to say anything, I lunge upward towards his neck. I infuse mana into the blade of my hand, turning it into a sharp edge. This was called the swordless style in my old world but here it would be more accurate to call it a wind attribute technique.

  He flinches back reflexively, his hands trying to reach where his face is, to guard against the boy shooting towards him.

  It’s too late. I take a quick swipe at the jugular, taking his vocal chord out along with the major vein. His neck immediately spurts blood out profusely and I land behind him, supporting his lifeless body and gently placing him down to avoid making noise. Just as expected, the forest hounds that were calmed down by the Mr. Lanky jolted awake at the smell of blood and started barking up a storm.

  “Ey Pinky! Can’t even calm the hounds…What the?!”

  I had already picked up…Pinky’s? knife after disposing his body and was waiting for him at the corner of the carriage.

  While the other guard’s attention was directed at the corpse of Pinky that was being eaten by the forest hounds, I came out from behind and stabbed the side of his neck with the knife.

  The hounds quieted down while devouring the two corpses. I was heading towards the tent to kill the two left in their sleep but the
n something I didn’t calculate ruined my plans.

  “HELLLLP! MOMMY! SOMEONE! ANYONE! PLEASEE!!”

  Jesus Christ child! Why now of all times!

  On cue, I hear the rustle of the tent as the two slave traders that were left came out. Half grumbling, I hear a “Pinky! Deuce! The kid is awake! What the hell are you guys…”

  Really? Pinky? Deuce? You guys have comrades with the names pinky and poop?

  He didn’t finish his sentence as he realized something was wrong.

  I quickly hide behind the tree next to the carriage and infuse mana into Pinky’s knife.

  The two remaining slave traders came around to the other side of the carriage where their eyes bulged upon witnessing their two former companions being eaten by the forest hounds.

  Using this chance, I attack the nearest one when his gaze shoots towards me and I’m met by his blade swung directly at my face.

  Quickly ducking, I drop low and accelerate myself faster, getting in the range of my knife. I swing, reinforcing more mana into the knife and slice through his right Achilles’ heel.

  “FUCK!!”

  With his good leg, the guy who swung at me leaps out of my range before I can further damage.

  “Danton, be careful! I think this brat is a mage.” Cries the fighter whose tendon I just ripped.

  I see Danton pulling out his sword from its sheath and get in a defensive stance.

  “You see all sorts of crazy things these days! Looks like a huge sack of gold just showed itself in front of us huh George! I bet he’ll get us almost as much as the elf girl. It’s a pity he’s not a girl.”

  These bastards don’t even care that I just killed their party members.

  Danton reinforces his body with mana and walks towards me, a confident grin etched onto his scarred face.

  George is going to be out of the fight with that disabled leg, but this Augmenter is going to be trouble.

  The Augmenter named Danton suddenly disappears from my sight and blinks above me, preparing to throw a punch. He seems to not want to use his sword directly at me so I won’t get scarred and be worth less money. That makes it easier for me.

  I jump back in time to avoid the blow that left a small hole in the ground and I throw my knife. I use the same trick as I did with the conjurer I dragged down with me off the cliff but this mage is a little more experienced. He disrupts the mana string with his sword and grabs the knife with his free hand.

  Shit.

  I’m in a pretty bad position right now. Danton doesn’t seem to be too tall for his age but his reach is still a good amount longer than mine. He also has a sword, which further increases his range.

  Danton dashes toward me at this time and throws the knife that I just launched at him. I dodge, but not in time to realize that it was a diversion and he gets a hold of my ankle and flips me upside down.

  This is my chance! I reach for the hand that’s holding unto me while concentrating mana. I use a fire attribute technique, releasing all of my concentrated mana located in my fist and aim for his wrist.

  *CRACK*

  “MOTHER FUCKER!!”

  His now broken wrist lets go of my ankle and land on my back. Quickly jumping up to my feet, I pick up Pinky’s knife and dash towards the wounded Danton. While he was still preoccupied by the pain from his wrist, he angrily shouts, “You’re DEAD now you piece of shit! I don’t care if I can’t sell you anymore!”

  His left wrist is wounded, leaving a gap in his defense. I will more mana into my feet and arrive in range to land a hit to his side, when I see him swinging his sword down.

  He fell for it!

  I quickly pivot with my left foot in place, spinning to my right. Dodging the swing by a hair’s breadth, I enter into my knife’s range to his right side, open because of that last desperate swing.

  He immediately tries to jump back but I place my right foot behind his legs so he loses balance. In one quick thrust, I stab my knife right below his armpit, through the gap between his ribs and into his lungs.

  He was easy to finish off after his breath was gone from the wound.

  I was now left with an immobile George.

  I couldn’t use Danton’s sword because it was too big for my body so I made use of Pinky’s knife one last time and swiped George’s jugular. The poor fighter couldn’t really contest or run away with his useless leg and died with a look of disbelief. Much like his two comrades, fed to the hounds.

  I think the elf girl knew that there was fighting going on because it was eerily quiet now.

  I climbed up unto the back of the carriage where she was and I spotted her shivering in the corner with only rags minimally covering her. She looks up at me in doubt, her eyes almost saying, “He’s the one who saved me?”

  I untie her while she remains silent, her turquoise eyes never leaving my face.

  Tired and feeling gross, I help her up and simply say, “You should go back home now.”

  “Hic…hic…”

  She probably didn’t know whether I was an enemy or friend until now because once I said that, a look of relief washed over her tense face and she broke down.

  “Hic! I was so scared! They were going to sell me! Hic! I thought I was never going to see my family again! Hic! WAAAAAA”

  Chapter 11: To and Fro

  It felt like a good hour before the little elf girl settled down. I don’t blame her. Being taken away like that is a traumatic experience even for adults, much less a child.

  I just sat there waiting for her to settle down, sitting cross-legged, patting her head every so often.

  *Sniff* *Sniff*

  “What happened to those bad guys?” She manages to say.

  Not knowing what I should say to a 7-year-old about killing, I just dismissed it by telling her, “Er… I took care of them so we should okay.”

  She looks at me with a slightly confused face. Looking closely at her now, I would imagine she would be quite the beauty later on in the future.

  This girl, who looks around 7, has long glowing sliver hair that gently cascades down past her shoulders parted unevenly to the sides. Looking closer, her hair wasn’t exactly pure silver but more of a bright gunmetal grey color. Paired with her unique turquoise eyes that were shaped beautifully like almonds, this elf girl emitted a very mysterious, almost phantasmal feel about her. Her perky nose was slightly red with crying, as were her eyes that still had tears in them, her rose-colored lips that contrasted her fair skin, still quivering.

  I shake my head. This is no time to be checking out a child (As if there are times later on when checking out the child is okay)!

  I help her up before talking again.

  “Those people that tried to kidnap you aren’t going to chase you anymore. Do you think you can make it to your home by yourself?”

  Instantly, her eyes turned wide with panic and the tears welled up came flowing down while both her hands clench tightly unto my shirt.

  She doesn’t say anything but her actions speak loudly enough.

  *Sigh* “Look, I need to get home too. Aren’t elves generally safe in this forest?”

  She violently shakes her head in disagreement. “Beasts only scared of adults…Parents warned me that children will get eaten by hounds or tree golems.”

  I would normally be pretty amazed about something like a tree golem, but it’s pretty hard to find something that surprises you after seeing a demon king turn into a dragon.

  I rub the bridge of my nose, trying to think of the solution to all of this.

  “How long does it take to get to where you live from here?”

  “…”

  Still holding unto my badly worn shirt, she looks down and mutters, “… I don’t know.”

  Great. I let out a sigh in defeat before telling her that I’ll go with her.

  The Kingdom of Elenoir is quite a bit north. My only hope is that there will be a teleportation gate there that can send me to Sapin.

  I tell the elf girl to wait in the
carriage while I gather some necessities. I also don’t want her to see the mangled carcasses of the slave traders. Even I found it hard to stomach. Finding a backpack obviously too big for a 4 year old, I carefully fold and stuff the small tent inside, along with a leather water bag and some dried rations. I pick up Pinky’s knife from the ground where I fought Danton and George. Before heading back into the carriage, I free the forest hounds.

  “Let’s head out now.”

  “En!” She nods after hopping out of the carriage. I make sure she doesn’t go to the other side, where all of the bodies are and we head out.