The forest in the western part of the Silversword territory was a deep one where two-third of the lights were barricaded by thick canopies. The remaining one-third peeked through the dense branches and leaves and rested themselves onto the unkempt wild plants which grew at the foot of those canopies. Amid the gigantic trees were tall bushes, forming a labyrinth of complicity for Carl and the party who were paving their way with much difficulty.
Among them were the two Silversword brothers, a few knights of the castle and several veteran hunters of the western woods. All of them numbered a total of thirty.
"We're nearing the centre."
One of the hunters leading the group raised his hand notifying the others who were foxily taking their steps behind him. The party, all armed with weapons of their choice, came to a halt on receiving the order of their supposed leader. Since nearing the central part of the forest meant they needed to be extra careful from then on. It was because the central part was where wild boars were mostly seen; the animal they were trying to hunt down.
"This is exciting. Brother, why don't we make a bet regarding who hunts the most?" Jay, who stood behind Carl, asked in a whispered voice.
However, rather than receiving a response from his older brother, Jay suddenly got pushed to the rear with an intense force; which caught him by surprise. When he looked up, he saw that it was no other than his older brother himself who was pushing him. And it pissed him off.
"What the hell, bro-"
"Grr..."
Before Jay could finish his words, the whole area became filled with the growling sound of a wild boar. The knights and hunters who were with them immediately spread around the area encircling the spot where the growl originated and readied their weapons.
Jay rapidly stood up, looked around the area and saw a massive animal, both enormous and huge, smoothly moving beside the gigantic trees and tall bushes as if fish in a water. That massive animal, of reddish-brown colour, with sharp and flexed horns on both sides of its countenance viciously advanced forth after spotting the young boy who was standing there, unengaged.
"Young master, hurry up and hide in the corner."
"Young master, run!"
The desperate shouts of the territory knights filled the area where the beast-like animal wrestled its way toward the young boy. They were throwing their spears and shoot their arrows toward the boar, but none of them seemed to be able to pierce through the sturdy coverage of the wild boar's skin.
Jay stood on his place covered with cold sweats and shivering all the way down to his spine. He indeed heard the shouts of the knights telling him to hide or either run, but could not move an inch. Slowly his vision started to blur and everything around him started to fade. He thought while looking at the advancing wild boar, 'Am I going to die here?'
It was at that moment, Carl, who had been squatting as he hid himself behind the tall bushes at some point, suddenly stood before Jay and aimed his bow toward the boar who was now viciously flaring toward him.
Shoot.
The arrow shot forward and precisely landed straight on the wild boar's eye piercing the wee brain of the boar located right behind its left eye. Immediately, the wild boar shrieked in pain and soon, fell to the ground. Dead.
'They say he was a good-for-nothing. So how?'
The leader of the group, the veteran hunter, pondered as he watched Carl who killed the wild boar so swiftly and precisely. He was instantly filled with confusion and admiration as he looked at Carl, who stood nonchalantly at his own place. It was because the leader of the hunters could sense the many years of experience behind the movement of Carl, who killed the vicious boar without even flinching. But the hunter felt something else at that moment.
'He's only seventeen years old. It isn't making any sense his movement was filled with so much experience.'
The hunter continued on looking closely at Carl.
On the other hand, Jay angrily stood in front of Carl and spoke in an irritated voice.
"Were you using me as a bait just now?"
'Kind of. But as in the form of revenge.'
Carl scoffed a little and looked down on Jay, who was two years younger than him and answered in a merry voice.
"Bait? How could I use you as a bait, Jay? I pushed you back because I noticed the boar was advancing forward and I tried to protect you. By the way, why didn't you use your magic back then? I thought you were a genius magician."
"Tch."
Instead of responding Carl's sarcasm, Jay exasperatedly turned around avoiding his brother's countenance. He felt annoyed because the words Carl just said to him were ridiculously accurate. And was annoyed even more since the reason he could not protect himself back then was because it was his first time seeing a wild boar, and got frightened at the sight of it.
No way he could have said that out loud in front of Carl.
"Young master Jay, I'm truly glad you didn't get hurt. It was all thanks to you, young master Carl." One hunter went up to the Silversword brothers and immediately sweet-talked to them.
He continued, "By the way, I'm truly glad that boar is not... wait."
The hunter suddenly stopped and fiercely turned toward his friends as he shouted, "Hurry up and see whether that boar is a female or not!"
However, they were too late. Not even when the other hunters could move an inch, they soon heard hordes of fierce growling sounds that were coming from where the wild boar was previously at.
"Shit! It was a female. Run for your lives!"
One of the hunter's voice sprang loud and clear to the ears of the others and soon, their group of thirty was scattered all over the forest with them running through every directions.
Female wild boars, unlike male boars, moved around in groups called a sounder. In supposition, if one of those groups were to attack humans all at once, the result was undeniably death. For this reason the hunters and knights, though armed with the best weapons; and Jay, known for his talent in magic, had to flee for their dear life.
"Jay, follow me." Carl commanded, to which Jay instantly nodded his head and followed his older brother who was leading him to the northern part of the forest. After running for almost an hour, the two of them took their break and stopped near a large tree trunk.
"Haaa... they won't be able to chase us now," claimed Jay, feeling relieved as he slowly took a deep breath. Carl craned his neck, let out a sigh and announced, in a tired voice, "Let's search for the others and hurry back home."
"Umm."
Carl took a glance at Jay, who had become quite obedient since they encountered the horde of wild boars and softly smiled.
'He seems to like his older brother more so than I previously thought.'
Carl chuckled at his own thought and made his way into the central part of the forest once more.
"Right. I still remember the bet you were talking about."
"..."
"Jay?"
Carl did not receive any answer. He felt it was odd since Jay would obviously counter him back on such mischievous remark. However, he was quiet. Carl stopped his footsteps and turned around. He had been having a bad feeling about the situation the moment Jay did not answer him and turned out his gut feelings were true.
Carl spotted the boy who was lying down beside the tree trunk where they rested just moments back; his back covered with blood. And beside the boy was an old man, neatly dressed in a black suit and a tie, along with a red painted knife on his hand which he carefully rubbed with a neatly folded handkerchief.
"George." Carl spat out his name.