I've encountered… a monster.
The boy's pale gray eyes stared straight into my soul, and I subconsciously backed up because they were the eyes of a broken person or a sociopath… but a murderer. A straight murderer.
Left alone, this boy would rain fear across the entire city, slums, and possibly the world…that's how much potential I saw in this boy.
Grrrrrr
"Ugh, I'm hungry," He suddenly muttered, and the aura around him shot back into his body like it was a living being.
Or… not? I guess he's just a kid, so he might improve later on with some nice guidance.
The boy thought I wasn't going to answer his question, so he just left without saying a word, ready to go have a snack something.
"Yes, it is fun. It is very fun," I muttered, and the boy's eyes shot back to me.
"Then can I hit you? I want to try hitting somebody," He muttered, walking towards me with his pale gray eyes slowly tilting upwards.
His expressionless face warped into that of a sadistic smile that sent shivers down my spine, but once his stomach grumbled again, his expression returned to a pitiful child.
"Hey, where'd you learn to make an expression like that?" I asked the little boy.
"I learned it from two big baddies. They were smiling like this when they hit me, beat me, scratched me… Don't they know that I was hurting?" He asked with an expressionless face.
Ah… I see.
So, he was a sociopath, and it was probably due to his parents abusing him when he was a child, and I assume he either killed them or something else happened.
"Do you know who those big baddies are?" I asked.
I wasn't the best at manipulation tactics, but I knew my way around extracting information with just my words, especially when my target was just a tiny kid.
"No. They were just around me all the time, but when they were, I hid behind a bookshelf in the corner of the room. That's where I made friends with friendly mice," He responded with a large, wholesome smile… kind of.
His smile was wide and big, like he was happy, but his eyes were completely expressionless.
Also, it seems they were his parents but never really acted like them. I don't even think he knows what parents are, which is a bit saddening, but everybody has their own story.
It's not like I didn't suffer as well.
"What happened to these big baddies?" I asked, and suddenly, the boy froze up, and tears began to leak from his eyes.
He gripped his head before screaming in pain, but I quickly calmed him down before regretting my decision.
Seems it's not as simple as I thought.
"What was that?!" The woman with brown hair suddenly ran into the room, already looking completely exhausted.
"What happened to this boy?" I asked with cold eyes.
"I don't know. I found him on the street, bruised, cut, and beaten, with even a few burn marks, so I took him back here. But after I realized that he couldn't really describe any of his family, I knew what was happening,"
"That sucks," I replied before helping the boy up and letting the brown-haired woman take him away.
I sat back down on my bed, ready to train some more, but I was interrupted yet again by a pair of twins who walked into the room.
"You're an asshole," The girl with black hair said.
"Asshole," The white-haired girl mimicked before hiding behind her big sister, who glared at me with resentful but weary eyes.
"Hmmmmm… What the fuck did I do? I helped out your sister, so you didn't have to bug me anymore," I said before hopping off the bed.
The two girls backed away a bit, hiding behind the frame of the entrance.
The black-haired girl increased her glare as she slowly walked out from behind the frame and suddenly lowered her head.
"Thank you very much. I know we should owe you a favor, but we won't do it even if you ask us for something. All you will get is a thank you," The black-haired girl said, and the white-haired one popped out from beneath her sister and said,
"Th-Thank you,"
"It's fine. I wasn't expecting something back from a few kids anyway. Plus, I got something out of it that will help me in the future," I muttered, and I soon hopped back onto the bed and crossed my legs.
Breathing in and out, I used [Mana Manipulation] to circulate my core with even more quantities of mana, trying to stretch it to its max capacity.
But, there was one problem.
"What are you doing?" I asked the twins, who sat on the edge of the bed, legs crossed, and watched me intently.
"You feel weird. We must watch you," The black-haired girl said, and I sighed deeply before glancing back and forth between the two girls.
"That's… ugh… You two aren't ready for it. I doubt you could even feel your mana core right now," I muttered, and suddenly, I felt something move within the white-haired girl.
Ah… So that's how it went.
"First of all, what are your names?"
"My name is Mari, and my sister is Petra,"
The white-haired girl named Petra gave me a healthy and toothy smile before bouncing on the bed with excitement.
Mari, the black-haired girl, had to calm her down, though, as she wanted to act or seem more mature in front of me.
"Okay, but if you don't have any talent for magic, I'm cutting you off. Making your future dim is not what I want…." I muttered.