He had a grin on his face as he raced through the alley.
"Hehe. Take that you grump!"
Last night, the merchant treated him poorly despite knowing that a soon-to-be legend was in his presence. The young man made a plan to teach the grumpy merchant a lesson on how to treat people, especially to the young man, with kindness and respect. In the end, the Paul got what he deserved or so the young man thinks. It was his job as a soon-to-be hero to vanquish the opposing villains. However, if one were to look at him running away with a bag of stolen food on his back, one would assume the roles were reversed.
"This is far enough, I guess."
The young man thought he was far enough for anyone to chase him. He stopped in a corner to look at what he was able to get his hands on. The bag opened to pastries and meal preps. He teared up a little, for once he had a day when he wasn't going to starve.
"Oh? That's a big catch."
The young man was startled. He turned around and gave himself some distance from the person, "Where did you come from?"
It was none other than the blacksmith who was standing behind the young man, looking inside the bag. "Are you going to eat all that in one go? That's a lot of food even for a kid like you. Although kids tend to eat a lot in order to grow big and strong."
The young man growled, "I'm not a kid! I'm already old enough to drink beer!"
The blacksmith wryly smiled, "Is that so? Then I apologize, you look very young for your age... how old are you?"
"Hmph, I'm fourteen years old." he proudly declared.
"You're just barely at the drinking age!"
The young man was in a very tight spot. He knew he had very little chance of getting out of his predicament unscathed. Now that the blacksmith had seen his face, he was certain he would be chased all over town, "Listen old man,—"
"—old?!" The blacksmith felt something had pierced his heart.
The young man ignored William's antics and continued, "How about I share some of this with you and we can act like you never found me?"
The blacksmith crossed his arms and nodded. He gave some thought to the young man's proposal, "It would've been a good bargain if the merchant hadn't already offered me double the amount I already bought. I'm sorry kid, but you're out of luck."
"So, you're siding with the enemy instead of the voice of the people…"
The blacksmith raised an eyebrow, "What are you talking about?"
With a fist in the air the young man declared, "We need to come together as one and fight the shady men who feed upon the poor! As the voice of the people, it is my duty to take down these foes for the needy to have a better lifestyle."
The man shook his head, "That's the complete opposite of what you're doing. Stop being a smartass."
If one were to act on such ideologies, it would bring unwanted attention to the people that struggle to live. The people of the lower class barely go by with their daily life. If someone such as a child were to intervene, they would have their little resources cut from them.
"No! This is a way to teach that grumpy old man a lesson and bring him to justice. After all, that is my role as a soon to be hero."
The blacksmith chuckled, ""Hero" you say? I don't believe heroes ever stole from merchants."
The young man scoffed, "Heroes bring justice in many ways! This one just happens to be in the way of a thievery."
The blacksmith sighed, "That is a twisted way of thinking… Listen, I don't feel very good today and somehow, I've been getting involved in very troublesome events. How about you give me the stolen food back and I'll—"
"—I refuse!"
Without letting the blacksmith finish what he had to say, the young man darted off with the bag on his back.
The man wryly smiled, "He looks like an actual common thief." He scratched his head. He knew what he had to do, he just wished he didn't have such a headache. "You better give me the food you promised Paul."
***
"This is not good! What do I do? What do I do?!?
The young man panicked as he raced through the alleys once again. He knew he couldn't keep running forever. He was never someone to think of a good plan on the spot, but he needed to find a way to escape the blacksmith.
"I guess there's no other choice. It's time to leave the town, but what about finding that person?"
He reached the town of Aoba in search of a person. He wondered how someone who was located far out of the capitol would be of much use, but he trusted the person who provided this knowledge to him.
He was excited about his journey, to have a traveler's experience, but the only adventurous thing he'd done so far was him being chased by a man he didn't know.
"For now, I'll focus on leaving."
He was running through the public areas of the town. Although he wished not to be seen, it was inevitable. The town had four guarded gates filled with people entering and exiting them. Despite his worries, most of the people couldn't see him. With his speed, people could only see a glimpse of his shadow before he had run out of sight. Well, everyone except,
"I thought you might come here."
"?!"
The blacksmith was a few meters ahead of the young man. The young man was so close to reaching one of the gates, but William had blocked his path. He wondered how he was able to beat him there, but there was no time for thinking.
"Then I guess I'll go this way!"
"Hey, just stop for a second."
"I refuse to listen to a man who applauds evil."
"…Maybe Paul is right about you. You really were dropped as a kid."
The young man, just before catching up with William, took a sharp turn. He gritted his teeth when he scratched himself on the brick wall. He even had trouble managing his speed. He never used more than the usual rate of his blessing. He wasn't even sure if his body would take it. Instead of slowing down, he kept going faster.
"Alright, I'll use the area to my advantage. See if you can catch up, mister!"
The young man zigzagged between the people that were passing by in hopes of losing the tail of the blacksmith. For a moment he thought he had lost him. What he didn't expect was to see him a few meters ahead of him once more.
"What? How's that possible?! Fine, let's see if you're really up to my speed!"
The young man increased his speed, running at an impeccable pace. At this point, his body barely kept with his blessing. Despite this, it wasn't enough to beat William. He kept appearing ahead of him over and over again.
It infuriated the young man. He kept making impossible turns, tried to use the public to camouflage himself and ran at an immense speed and yet it was not enough to be ahead of the blacksmith. He was always blocking every road that led to one of the gates.
Then, out of nowhere, the young man laughed.
"This is… actually kind of fun."
Despite the current situation, the young man was enjoying himself. He felt like he was doing something adventurous for once. With all the running and jumping around, he felt like he was in one of the hero books that he used to read. Being hit with the sense of nostalgia made him feel uneasy.
"That's right. I read..." The young man shook his head. He knew it wasn't the time to be reminiscing about his past. "Alright, up we go!"
He stepped into a narrow alley and jumped up the walls, all the way to the top. The sunset hit his face as he softly landed on the roof. He took a look around any direction that could possibly be his ticket out of the town.
"There it is. I see another one of the gates! This could be my way out… I haven't seen that guy in a minute either."
The young man looked back at the town. He was so close to completing his mission. It would be a shame to leave at that point. As a matter of fact, he couldn't leave. It was his dream to become a hero. He couldn't give up on it and return home without anything to show, but he would need to hide for the time being.
"Home..." The young man shook his head again, "Alright, I'll leave through the gates and think of a comeback... yeah maybe I can come back with a disguise or something. Although, a wig would be hard to find."
He swiftly jumped from rooftop to rooftop. He raced towards the gate to finally escape and take a breather from all the madness. As soon as he was about to reach the gate,
"Woah!"
Something had stuck his right shoe to the floor. With his current speed, his foot came off the shoe and caused him to lose his balance. He couldn't recuperate on time, or stop himself in general, and fell out of the building. The bag of food was sent flying one way and the young man on the other. He closed his eyes thinking he was about to meet his end, but he fell directly on the awning of a stand, breaking his fall.
"What the hell?!"
A certain merchant was next to the demolished stand and saw the whole thing unfold. He was startled by the sudden young man falling from the sky. He rushed and saw him passed out on top of the broken wood.
"Wait a minute… it was you who stole my goods, wasn't it?! Where are they?!"
"—They're right here."
The blacksmith was walking towards the merchant with the bag of stolen food in his hands. "It fell right into my hands. Who knew food came from the sky?"
"No one else but you, small brain." The merchant crossed his arms. His nostrils flared a little, "Took you long enough. The food has probably gone stale!"
The man wryly smiled, "Well, he certainly put all the cards on the table. He was very fast."
During the chase, the blacksmith struggled to keep up with the young man. William was only able to catch up because he knew the town like the palm of his hand. He had lived near Aoba for as long as he could remember. He was no stranger to shortcuts around the town.
"I knew he would aim to escape through the gates. I thought I had lost him for a second. I can't believe he climbed to the roof."
"Hmph, kids think the most reckless things… Is he dead?"
Both men looked at the young man on the floor of rubble. William leaned closer for inspection, "I don't think so. It looks like he's still breathing."
The merchant sighed with relief although it went unnoticed by the blacksmith, "Alright, well time is money, give me back the stolen goods."
The blacksmith was about to give him the bag and pulled back at the last second, "Not before you hold your end of the deal, sir."
The merchant clicked his tongue, "Grr... Alright," he grabbed William's bag filled with the amount of food he had promised, "here you go."
The blacksmith looked inside the bag. He smiled after confirming the merchant had kept his promise. "It was a pleasure doing business with you."
The merchant retrieved back his stolen goods, "Sometimes, I think you do have some spine for this line of business… So, what are you going to do about this kid?" he gestured towards the unconscious young man.
The blacksmith was taken aback, "Me?"
"Well, my house is full, and... we can't leave him like this."
Paul's tone of voice changed when speaking of the subject. It almost made him sound like he cared about what would happen to the young man if left as is.
The man couldn't help but smirk, "What's that Paul? Your paternal instincts are kicking in. Who knew you would be such a softie towards kids? Maybe I misspoke last night."
The merchant's face went bright red, "Enough of your jokes already. I need to get back to my stand."
The blacksmith sighed and looked at the unconscious young man and noticed something that piqued his interest, "Alright, alright. I'll take him in."
"Are you sure?" He said as his eyes widened.
The blacksmith shrugged his shoulders, "Yeah. Weren't you the one that said it was about time for a kid? Maybe now is the time. Besides, I won't have to change diapers with this one."
"I mean sure, but how are you going to take the big bag of food you ordered plus the kid to where you live?"
"Good point…"
William lived far out of town, deep in a dangerous forest. Not only that, but with the struggles of a day after a night out drinking. He wondered how he would be able to have the stamina to carry both things to his home.
"I got an idea."