His movements were sharp. Archibald charged for the three boys, he was frustrated having to watch them pick on a defenseless child.
In actuality, he was doing his best to make himself feel better. In other words, by protecting this kid he would somewhat be making right by himself. As it'd give him the special sense of feeling that he was fighting for Haruto.
Haruto was the biggest victim of bullying. But as Archibald, helping this child would somewhat make him feel like he was protecting the former. It made very little sense, but it did to Archibald.
"Cut it out!"
His abrupt movement and quickness to anger startled not only the kids bullying the boy who didn't seem to speak nor stand up for himself. It came as a shock to even Milim.
'Wait, wasn't he afraid of stepping out moments ago?' she lifted an eyebrow. Quite frankly astonished at his proliferation from a boy who dreaded the outdoors, to someone who stood up for others who could not.
The first punch drove deeply into the face of the first boy, causing severe facial fractures. The boy's body hit the ground around the same time the other two boys retaliated. They hurled stones quickly at Archibald while building distance between themselves and Archibald, progressively.
("Yeah these guys are pretty slow, I mean it's similar to the way Mages hurl fireballs during dungeon quests every Friday night on Elden Annulus, I mean, they're not bad... But I'm a dedicated gamer so I know the smartest idea isn't to go sideways or dodge in between... the easiest way is..")
Rather than dodging by alternating movements from one side to the other, Archibald chose something entirely different. Different enough that the two boys were left frozen.
He performed a strong leap into the air and moments after were several rotational spins mid-air before he leveled himself while still airborne.
As he descended, he grabbed both boys by the face and smashed behind their heads vehemently against the ground. They were down for the count.
Milim silently observed 'Wow, Archie's gotten stronger over the months... Papa must be doing a great job..'
The boy who'd received the detrimental punch to the face now had a bleeding nose. He ran, even leaving his friends behind.
"Cowards! You didn't even fight for your so-called friends!" Archibald stuck out his tongue to mock the fellow who retreated. This action was prior to a series of silly facial expressions.
But the silly face aside, Archibald was indeed right. It isn't so much ideal for a person to abandon a friend. It doesn't tell much on their reliability as a friend.
("Bunch of pussies, these guys wouldn't last a second in a serious dungeon raid... Ah, I remember it as if it were yesterday, dungeon raids... Friday nights with the gang, stealing loots of opposing parties. You are one sly devil Archibald-dono.")
...
Milim was already attending to the boy who shivered out of dread. For him to have been this traumatized only meant that he was a constant victim of bully, this wasn't the first time, nor was it the second. It may have gone on for months possibly.
"Are you okay...?" she asked the boy, but he was yet to utter a word.
Conversely, rather than ask how he was doing, Archibald closely gazed at the boy which only made him more timid. 'Holy crap..' he uttered in his thoughts. This was his first time having to see a beautiful boy, he was initially caught off-guard before regaining focus.
("This guy's a looker, he's timid too, if I know anything about anime then he'd have a harem filled with lots of ara~ara Senpais... And the lucky bastard thinks he has it hard. Those eyes scream total chick-magnet.")
"Aren't you planning on helping?" Milim was displeased she was the only one who attended to him, the boy was similar in personality to her. They both lacked the gregarious personality Archibald drove himself by. It was only natural she'd want to help him by any means she could.
She helped him up, and Archibald wondered if it'd be best they took him home. His wounds required treatment.
He wasn't dumb, in fact quite the contrary. He picked up the word "orphan" when they witnessed him get bullied. Convincing enough for anyone to know he didn't have parents. Had Archibald asked whether or not he did, it may have led to a series of negative results.
Since his reincarnation, he noticed this kid brain of his devoured knowledge much more efficiently than he ever could as Haruto. One of the few things that enabled him to learn pick up this world's idea of a default language easily.
He offered the boy a helping hand. And it was then he and Milim could clearly see the lad's face.
A blond haired boy with shaggy hair and crystallized blue eyes. His skin showed that he had features typical of Nordic people. His clothes weren't bad but neither were they ideal for going outside either. According to Archibald, he was a pretty boy, just some centimeters short of semblance with a girl.
"T-Thank you.." the boy uttered.
("Yep. Stuttering voice, he's gonna be a dude-magnet too...")
Milim placed her hands firmly on her waist, "It's fine, we're happy to help.."
"But you know, at some point you're gonna have to fight back.." Archibald didn't plan on always having to come to the boy's rescue. He still had to deal with his own fear of being outside. The only thing that kept him calm as of now was that he was already outside and had gotten so accustomed to it he'd forgotten.
...
Later on, all three kids sat against a large tree that provided them with ample shade.
"Are you guys sure you want to be around me?" he asked them both. His voice had very little power behind it, as such dictating his voice to be soft and less assertive.
"Why should that matter?" Archibald mentioned.
A question that surprised both the boy and Milim equally. "Because I'm a Dark Child of Azazoth..?" he was expecting more of a nightmarish scream from either but there was none.
"Sweet name." Archibald responded. He wasn't so much aware what such a name entailed. His ignorance led him to believe it was something like those names you'd come across in an RPG (Roleplaying Game) after one had slewn a Dragon.
"That's a bit insensitive Archie.." Milim mentioned with a tone on the same level as the boy.
"Huh?"
Archibald wasn't the best when it came to history, he knew the bare minimum but barely listened to bedtime stories his mother told him. That was ultimately the best way to learn about the world's history. As it was not only fun and engaging but also educative.
"Azazoth is also known as the Black King. A Deity of darkness and trickery. He loved to strip people of their memories and dump them in entirely new locations, which left them to despair. But he was later defeated by the Technique God.."
She gave a very brief explanation of what the terminology meant. Anyone who was Azazothʼs victim was marked as an unfortunate entity by society be it an adult or child.
"Yes, that's... What I am." the boy lowered his head in dismay. He didn't like hearing the nomenclature but he was the one who uttered it in the first place.
("Technique God? Of course this world has gods, but it's possible they're mostly myths, I know it's a fantasy world and all with pretty lolis and potential love interests but even they have to have fairytales..")
A gentle stroke of the chin, Archibald uttered, "That's a letdown, so people discriminate you just because you were unfortunate to be someone else's victim?" he didn't expect an answer and the boy hadn't planned on providing one either.
...
After discussing a bit more, it was high time they headed home, it was getting late. Archibald knew his mother didn't need him to get anything from the Biltithe River. A simple ploy to get him to leave the house.
He and Milim were some meters away from the boy where they waved at him. The sunset made the scene all the more appealing.
"Okay, bye umh..!" he discovered he hadn't asked the boy's name. "Hey! Uh what's your name?!" he asked.
The boy's voice wasn't all that loud, but Archibald clearly heard him say, "I don't have any.." he may have had, but he had no memories of his name.
"Why don't we work on that tomorrow?!" Archibald excitedly uttered.
Those words made his eyes glisten, the fact Archibald had chosen to take such interest in him. "R-Really?" he said.
"Sure! Why not?! We're friends after all aren't we?!" the constant shouting was a bit bothersome, but somewhat made the words the boy heard all the more meaningful.
It was enough to get him to tear up.
"Oh no! No! Shoot don't cry!" Archibald rushed back to him.
Milim quietly observed the scene, she couldn't be any happier.