Two young boys were running between the saplings. If you look at the boy who has an age difference of four to five years, the younger boy has red hair and the older one has white hair.
"Hup da!"
The young boy jumped forward while swinging his wooden sword, hitting the small branches that were thrown scattered by the older boy.
"Oh wow haha. The day you move the better. Naara."
"But still I can't match Big Brother," said the young boy, putting on a languid face.
Looks like the two of them are brothers. Big brother is definitely more trained than the younger brother.
The older brother looked at his young brother with smiles and laughter.
"Everything will happen in time. Be patient a little please?"
"But I want to be strong like you as soon as possible."
When he saw his young brother say that while looking downwards with a frown on his face, he suddenly laughed heartily.
Hearing his brother's laugh, Naara looked up and stared wide-eyed.
"Why are you laughing, Brother Isura?"
"You look cute with that expression!" said Isura with an amused laugh.
Naara frowned even more as he looked away from Isura.
"Sorry!" Isura sighed then smiled and said, "Don't be so angry. I promise, tomorrow I will teach you a new technique."
Naara looked back at his brother. "Is it true?"
"Umm."
Immediately the boy's cheeks puffed up and this time they laughed together even though nothing was so funny, they both laughed without knowing the reason.
However, suddenly the backdrop of the young trees was replaced by a gripping stormy night, the green grass on which they were based became a ferocious stream.
Now Naara was standing on a large boulder in the middle of the river, staring and calling Isura who was silent in the middle of the stream.
"Brother! Don't go! I beg you. Brother!!" His body jarked when a big wave removed Isura's figure from his sight.
Byurrrr
He threw himself in and swam toward the place where he had last seen his brother.
"Where are you brother? Don't leave me alone. Brother ...."
That night's storm had absolutely no compassion for him. A high wave formed and hit his body.
Luckily he still had time to hug a rock so that he wasn't dragged away by the current.
"Sob ... sob ... brother ....
sob .. brother. BROTHER! "
***
His eyes opened in surprise. "Again," he muttered and immediately got up.
His right hand is holding his dizzy head while his left is resting on the ground.
"So you've realized. I was a little worried earlier."
Naara turned to the source of the sound. "Who are you?"
"Ah, you forgot. It's me, the girl you saved."
"Save you?"
Hearing the girl's words, Naara narrowed his eyes and concluded that it seemed the girl had mistakenly assumed the fight earlier.
The girl might think that Naara had saved her from the anoa, when the truth was, Naara was fighting to save himself.
Now he understood the meaning of the word 'thank you' that the girl had said earlier.
"Oh yeah, how are you doing now? Just what happened to you can pass out?" The girl took a sitting position next to Naara.
"That ...." Naara looked away.
He remembers that during this one week he hasn't slept at all, maybe that is the reason why he fainted.
"Hey where are you going?" asked the girl when Naara took a nearby sword and started to stand up.
"Hey wait a minute, what's your name?" asked the girl again when Naara had stood up.
"You don't need to know."
The girl looked up, looked at Naara for a few seconds then lowered her head and said, "Take me with you."
"..."
"I'm too weak that I can't go anywhere. I want to be free to walk anywhere without having to be afraid."
"Then?"
The girl lifted her head, looked at Naara once again, stood up and said, "I beg you, make me your student," she said and bowed respectfully.
"Student?" Naara's thoughts drifted back to the past when he was someone's disciple. At that time he was very close to his teacher. But when he thought back to how his teacher had tried to kill him several times, he began to feel irritated.
"Forget it," he said taking a step away.
"But I'm very clever and quick to learn. Come on ... hey ... come on I beg ..." The girl whined as he continued to follow his tail, but her body was suddenly frozen by the sword tip touching her neck.
"I don't want to kill you. So stay away," said Naara with an expression that was no less cold than the tip of his sword but unexpected things happened, instead of being afraid, the girl smiled and said, "You won't be able to kill me, but I can kill you!"
Naara knit his brows together.
"I do not lie." The girl was reassuring.
Naara's expression didn't change until three seconds later he drew his sword then turned around and walked away without saying anything.
"I'll give you one last chance to say yes!"
Naara ignored her.
The girl's gaze sharpened. She took out a doll from her small backpack. If you look closely, the doll is made of grass.
"You forced me!" Coinciding with her words, Naara stopped walking.
"Uhkk!" Naara suddenly felt a pain in his chest, as if he was being stabbed by something.
"I told you, right?" said the girl with her right hand holding the bamboo chopsticks that were stuck into the doll's left chest.
"How ?! Want to change your mind?"
In the silence of the wind, Naara smiled sarcastically, disappeared and ....
"Uhk." The girl let out a sigh as the blade rapidly pierced the point of her heart through her back.
"It's over⁸."
"Are you sure?" The girl grinned.
"What?!"
With a grin, the girl asked Naara to draw out his sword. She explained that she was a person who could not die.
She also shared that she has the expertise to make people feel the same way with whatever media she wants.
She called it the one-flavor technique. This technique can only be done if the user's blood is combined with the victim's blood.
The user will choose whatever media they wants as the blood vessel and make the victim feel the same as the media.
"Who are you?!"
The cold question that Naara asked immediately changed the girl's expression to an expression of confusion.
"T-that, I ... I ... my name is Niin, well that's it," she said dubiously.
Naara who didn't feel the pain in his chest because the girl had removed the chopsticks from the doll was suspicious.
"Who are you? Could it be ...." Naara paused while the girl named Niin looked tense.
"Does he know?" Niin thought.
Naara was expressionless, he was silent before he finally drew his sword and turned around without saying anything.
Niin slightly grimaced holding her chest that was covered in blood and like a magic, a few seconds later the blood dried up and disappeared from all over the surface of the knee-length aqua blue dress she was wearing. After the process ended she immediately followed Naara.
"Hey, wait!" She ran. "So how? Am I hired?" she asked after walking hand in hand but Naara did not say anything.
"Can I think of silence as a yes?" This time she asked while walking backwards in front of Naara but again there was no response and because silence means yes, she smiled then raised a fist in the air. "Alright it's decided! Starting from today we are teacher and student!" she said very excitedly.
***
One month had passed, Niin's presence had completely frustrated Naara and lost his mind. There was always a situation where he really wanted to chop the girl into pieces of satay. For example, at this time, Niin eliminated Naarabo (the name of a grass doll that has one taste with Naara)
"M-Master, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I-I'll look for it." Niin's body was trembling, she slowly retreated as Naara continued advancing on her with an intimidating cold expression.
"Find or I cut your leg and I give it to the goat," said Naara very coldly.
"B-but Master, g-goats don't eat meat."
A second after Niin's words finished, Naara's eyes showed a sharp glow like the radiance of a sword that had just been sharpened, causing Niin to forcefully swallow her saliva. "O-all right!"
Without delay, Niin immediately turned around and began her search by retracing the paths she had passed before.
Time passed until the sun was getting higher and hotter but Niin had not yet found Naarabo, she continued to walk along the path under the hill she had previously passed but it was useless, she had gone back and forth many times but she could not find Naarabo .
Feeling very tired, she pulled over under a tree and sat there, for a moment she thought about running away but when she remembered how Naara was, it was impossible that she would escape, plus she also had to run away from the people who were still hunting her currently.
Why is my life like this?
She looked up at the clear blue sky that stretched wide above, she felt life was very unfair. Will she live all her life on the run, she just wants to live in peace, is that difficult?
She exhaled heavily then forced her legs to stand up and continued the search.
In another place, up in a tree, Naara was annoyed half to death because he felt hot. Even though it was already shaded by the shadows of tree leaves which in normal conditions should have made it cool, it was useless. He felt like his skin was going to burn, he was sure everything had to do with the doll that damn girl made. I swear by what, he felt like going on a rampage.
**
Returning to Niin, she arrived at a large area of the cocoa plantation, where she fell silent watching the workers clean. After a few seconds, she approached one of them and took the initiative to ask, even though she was not sure herself but there was no harm in trying. With doubt she also asked about Naarabo which confused the worker.
"... not a doll like that. The doll I mean is made of dry grass," explained Niin, having difficulty making the old man in front of her understand.
"A. Oh. No, I never saw it."
"I see ...." She bowed languidly.
"Sorry, I overheard your conversation, I found the same doll as you mentioned earlier," said a grandmother approached.
"R-really?! Please return it to me, my life is there," said Niin softly her last sentence.
"Heum. Yes, but now it's not in me."
"W-what do you mean not?"
"Because the shape is strange, so I throw it in the kiln," said the grandmother which made Niin shocked.
"Grandma is kidding ...?" Her face turned pale blue, but the grandmother smiled and said, "Don't worry, the place hasn't been burned yet—" Her words were interrupted when smoke suddenly appeared from the west. "O'oh, looks like it's been burned."
Gosh!
Without delay, Niin ran to the source of smoke, she hoped that the bad thing she imagined would not happen. Arriving at the destination, she stared at the sight of Naarabo among the leaves that a boy swept towards the fire.
"W-wait, stop !!"