"Hey Benny, how'd ya do that?
Someone teach ya before?"
Billy shouted aloud while walking over towards Ben with his father, Gunthir, in tow.
They both had puzzled and surprised expressions across their faces since they saw his handiwork with dealing with the Black Tailed Hare.
Before they walked over, Billy whispered to his father enquiring if he knew about Ben's past, but his old man didn't know either.
Other than the fact he was Vals disciple and a noble, he didn't know much.
"Haha… Kage taught me a little… other than that I watched Uncle Gungy before you guys arrived.
Other than that, no…"
Ben realising, he forgot about the people around him and went too far with his learning ability function.
He was embarrassed by all the eyes peering towards him from around the room.
Unaware, Ben had unconsciously hunched over by all the wondering eyes around him.
His actions were noticeable enough that Billy launched the closest item within his reach towards any random person.
That very item was a butcher's cleaver.
It happened to graze past two unfortunate people.
For one it grazed past his head, trimming off some hair his ear, the other was the shadow behind that man.
Billy dragged Ben over towards his own bench by Gunthir, while the old man brought over the beast letting the kids converse between themselves.
Kage returned with plenty of jars as requested by his Young Master.
Everyone watched closely, while Ben collected the blood of the Blood Iron Wolf into the jars.
Kage instructed the servants to take the full jars away for temporary storage and retrieving more empty jars for the rest of the beasts in the meantime.
While they continued to work away, everyone just watched them working, puzzled by the nobles' actions.
Typically, they would discard the blood of the beasts since it smelled foul and there was no use for it.
That's they Bens actions were perceived as strange by the people around him.
Though, they all were positive that 'one' person among them would speak up what the rest were thinking.
Long behold his voice echoed out in the confines of the room.
"What ya doing with the blood ther Benny?"
"To be honest… I got no clue man… I just have this thing in the back of my head telling me I save the blood."
Ben laughed awkwardly, trying to cover his tense expression.
He didn't want to seem weird for saving the blood, but he didn't know how to explain the blood had special properties without the mentioning of the system.
"Huh… I see. Ya wanna get us to do the same?"
"If you don't mind."
"Ya hear?! Now get to it! Not even a drop must be lost!"
Billys roar was so deafening for Ben who was be his side felt his ears would explode from the sheer volume and power behind the shout.
Everyone heard the little boss demand, they immediately started gathering the blood of the beasts before transporting them to another storage area.
Everything was noted thoroughly by the estate servants and Gunthirs team which blood was collected from which kinds of beasts.
While everyone ran around like headless chickens, operating like soulless machines, the mound of beasts slowly reduced in size.
The sight was a quite moving for everyone because the moment they entered, they never believed it would end.
The sight assured them it would end at some point.
While everyone rushed about, Billy and Ben were merrily making their way through the beasts Gunthir would collect for the duo.
The various kinds of beasts brought forth were to a test of their skills and abilities.
Funnily enough, both were unaware of Gunthirs silent test for the two, as the continued to converse and get along, creating a close bond.
"No way!
Ya got taught how to use a sword?!
Bro ya gotta teach me! Only me older brothers got taught by the old man.
He is too bloody old to teach me now."
"Haha Anytime you wanna come by, I promise to teach you.
Better yet if you really want to learn, why don't you join me during my training in the mornings!
We can train together!"
"Yeah! Let's do it!"
They were about to celebrate their new plan before a heavy hand greased in blood slapped the behind of the heads, sending their small frames to crash into the end of the wooden bench.
The force was enough to then send their heads forward and slamming their foreheads onto the bench.
Both fell back hard onto the cold floor.
Croaking in pain, they tried to move but the pain around the gut and body was quite severe that he nearly made them cry.
The only thing stopping them was the piercing pain from their heads.
It was enough to distract them from the pain their gut was feeling.
Eventually they heard the voice of the assailant, criticising their earlier plans.
"You fucking idiots thinking about playing with swords for what?
Its gonna bring you nothing but pain and suffering…
Now of ya get up and get back to it!"
Gunthir yelled at the two, cleaning his hand of the remaining blood that wasn't smeared across the back of Bens and Billys heads.
Gunthir was closely obersvering his son and Ben closely while watching everyone work or retrieveing beasts for the kids to work through.
He didn't want to intrude on his sons first meaningful conversation with another child his age.
Billy wasn't the typical type of child, rather he was observant and patient.
That's why Gunthir had better ambitions for his youngest, instead of pushing him towards certain death.
His other children were taught early on by himself or others which he did for the welling and safety, but it in course fixated them on fighting as part of an army or as an adventurer.
For years now, he hadn't seen or heard from any of them.
Typically, they would be in contact every few months by letter, but after some time they stopped. Since then,
Gunthir had a heavy heart believing they were all gone from this world.
He had some hope left, but his focus was a different path for his last child.
Therefore, he slapped the two, hoping it would cause enough fear or deterrent to stop them from pursing swordsmanship.
It was only after he reprimanded the two with his stern words that one of his disciples whispered in his ear some grave news.
"Mm-m-master… Y-yyou hit a n-n-nnoble…"
"Eh?!!!... Fuck."
The sudden realisation of his actions caused him to sweat like a waterfall, his face pale as the clouds as the blood drained from his body and soul.
He totally forgot the child was a noble.
He would never find a noble in such a place, so he completely forgot Ben was one.
He wasn't like the rest of the noble children around the Empire or like the ones that would roam the city before its annex from the Kros Empire.
Everyone had stopped working again. They were all frightened by their Masters actions. Never would they have expected him to slap the noble child, especially with the amount of strength he displayed. The simple fact was they all could be implicated and killed for their Masters actions. Nobles had wiped out cities for less, so they just waited for the verdict now.
Would they have time to escape?
Or would they be cut down within this room and processed alongside these beasts.
They all waited… and waited for Ben to get up… walked over and help Billy up?
'What the hell is going on?' confused by his actions, everyone watched on as the two just returned back to work like it wasn't much of a deal, rubbing the sore parts of their bodies from time to time.
Gunthir and everyone else just watched on for a moment before quickly returning to their work before Ben spoke up about the incident.
Gunthir even rushed outside for a 'small break' hoping to get away for a bit so Ben wouldn't do something to him in retaliation.
Only when he saw the smug face of his old friend walking over that he remembered what happened earlier within Vals workshop when Ben was hit.
"Looks like ya screwed up big time."
"Why'd ya say that?"
Vals sheepish grin was a scary sight before Gunthirs eyes. He saw Val indicating he turn around to greet his whatever Val was grinning about.
Only then he remembered the other part of what occurred in Vals workshop.
The appearance of that monster…
Before he turned around Gunthir hoped his words could help soothe the dire situation.
"I-I didn't mean to do it. P-Please, I-I'm so sorry…"
"You should have thought about that before you struck the Young Master…"
Gunthir squeaked in fright, he tried to bolt towards Val, but his body suddenly felt weightless. His body became bound by the shroud of shadows appearing around his body. Before he knew it, his entire vision was black.
His surroundings were empty of colour, sound or light.
It was empty with Gunthir the sole being.
Alone in the void of the endless darkness before him. He tried to move but he was struggling to even sense his body rather than trying to move.
The endless abyass of the unknown caused Gunthir to shudder and cry as he tried to keep his mind together.
Only then did light appear again and the sight of his old friend before him.
Val had a smirk across his face the moment he saw his worried friend, since he had this feeling that Gunthir might have done something similar to Ben like he would.
The best part was he had no clue about the deadly monster right behind him that was glaring at Gunthirs back with a frighteningly bloody smile.
He immediately knew Gunthir had screwed up and Kage had appeared to teach him a lesson for messing with Ben.
Val didn't know to what level, but once he saw his friend return from the shroud of black smoke darkness coving him, he only then understood how badly Gunthir fucked up.
Gunthir only disappeared for a second, but his appearance after was a stark comparison to how he was before.
His eyes were blood shot red, while his entire body was shaking uncontrollably from the fright and anguish of what he experienced.
Val rushed over, trying to help his old friend stabilise himself after experiencing whatever he just did within the smoke.
Val was about to yell at Kage for some answers but saw he disappeared already, leaving some servants in his stead.
'What the fuck is that guy? I've got to ask the boy sometime.'
Val kept thinking how to find out more on his new comrade and ally since he decided to help the Byazan household and Lady Liz.
He felt a little weary of Kage since he always seemed death was lurking beside him.
However, his deep connection with Ben made it difficult for him to say anything for now.
He asked the servants to guide the unconscious Gunthir towards the manor, while he headed inside the storage building trying to steel his mind before he had to revisit that 'sight' again before his eyes.
He decided to would discuss Kage with the rest another time, right now he wanted to see if what he was told earlier was true about his disciple.
'The Young Master is working side by side with Mister Gunthir and the young master Billy.
It seems our Young Master is giving them a show for their money hehe, plus he may have found another friend, My Lady.'
Val heard while he rested inside the manor as the servants of the house informed Liz about Bens actions within the storage building with the butcherers.