While tightening clothes, Roma curled up on the bed. The cold air was like embracing and making him lazy to do anything.
But he couldn't slack off like this.
With a half sleepy state mixed with laziness. Roma slowly walked over, and sat down in front of the fireplace to warm himself.
Occasionally Roma throws a few small pieces of wood. He did this in order to make the flames a little bigger.
A warm sensation slowly flowed down, as if giving him a good wake-up call.
Roma smiles at the fire that gives him warmth, even though it may be strange, but Roma feels happy because at least there is a warm welcome from the fire, which in truth can never understand his heart.
Roma opens the lid of the old kettle that he has hung above the fireplace. to see if there is warm water he can drink or not? ... But it turned out to be empty.
Without thinking much, Roma immediately got up while carrying the old kettle, then put the snow that was nearby into the kettle.
He knew that this snow might not be clean. But the most important thing at least, he can drink and warm his body at the same time.
Suddenly there was a very familiar rumbling sound. Yes... It's a rumbling sound from his empty stomach.
Roma reached into his jacket pocket and took out some young leaves from there. Luckily, he had time to collect some of these leaves yesterday, when he returned from the forest.
These leaves may not be as green as the first time Roma picked them. It's withered. But he didn't care about that. As long as it's edible, it's fine.
Without hesitation, one by one he put the young leaves into his mouth. Chew it slowly as if it tastes really good.
Even though it doesn't really feel like it at all. But only limited to a bland, astringent, unpleasant taste, with a bit of a bitter sensation.
All those simple flavors mixed together in his mouth. None of these flavors can describe the word delicious or tasty. Because that's the truth.
This expression of enjoying was only a form of gratitude, because there was something he could eat to prop up his stomach this morning.
***
After finishing his rudimentary breakfast, Roma immediately prepared to leave for the forest. Not to play, of course, but to see the result of the trap he set yesterday.
"Yosh! Let's do our best! I'm going to have a good meal today!" Roma tries to cheer himself up.
It might sound strange, when he didn't even know whether the trap he had set would work or not. What is clear is that Roma just wanted to entertain himself.
He didn't have anything with him. The only tool he has is a wooden stick to help him walk through the thick snow.
Roma walks towards the wall, and stares at the small sign she has displayed there. On that board was a painting.
This painting is certainly not a good painting. If anyone saw it, they would probably immediately laugh at him for his ugly painting.
But what else can he do. Roma does not have talent in terms of art. However, if he was asked what his most valuable treasure was, he would definitely answer this painting.
Because this painting is indeed very valuable to him. This is a painting of Roma's father and mother, which he made while they were still alive.
Every time he looks at this painting, he imagines his father and mother. It was as if the two of them were in front of him and smiling at him.
Roma smiled, returning their smile. Even if it was just a fantasy, he didn't care. "Mom, dad, I'm going to the forest today to see the trap I set yesterday. I promise it won't take long, so please pray for me, so that nothing bad happens," he said as he stared at the painting.
he don't know whether they will hear it or not, but Roma imagines that they do, and replies with 'yes, be careful'.
***
before leaving the house. Roma peeked out, through the small gap in the door, watched and made sure, whether there were those annoying kids outside or not.
But after he looked for a while, there was no one outside. "Looks like they didn't come today," he muttered, as he continued to peek out.
Rome slowly opened the door. Again he glanced in all directions, making sure they weren't there.
Slowly he walked out of the house. "I have to hurry- Egh!"
Just now Roma intended to run, but suddenly he was startled by a head-sized ice ball, which was now flying fast and directly hitting him in the face.
Because of that, his body immediately fell backwards with a bang. Even though he fell on a pile of soft snow, the ice that hit his face still hurt.
"Hahaha, look I managed to hit him in the face!"
"Wow, that really hit the spot."
"As expected of Karl, excellent."
"Isn't that obvious.
Ha ha ha."
This sound is unmistakable... those bullies.
While trying to get up while holding his face that still hurts. Roma looked towards the source of the sound.
As expected it was them.
There were five children, and two of them were girls.
They are the mob that always bothers him. Even if it's only the boys who always bother him like now. Still for Roma the five of them are bullies in his eyes.
Even Roma doesn't care what their names are. Only the red-haired boy he knew. His name is Karl, he is the boss of this gang of bullies.
"K-karl, isn't this a bit too much? What if he gets hurt?" said the light blue-haired girl, looking worriedly at Roma.
he don't know what her name was, but she was the daughter of the village chief. Putting that aside, what was clear was that Roma hated the way she looked at him as if she pitied him.
Roma really didn't like being stared at like that.
"Noi, you just shut up!" Karl snapped at the blue-haired girl.
So her name is Noi,
Roma had seen her for years, but this was the first time he had heard her name directly like this. Who cares anyway.
"Y-yes, s-s-sorry." Noi
looks frightened after getting a loud yell from Karl.
At that time, the pink-haired girl, who was beside Noi immediately moved in front of Noi, and glared at Karl. "Hey Karl! How dare you snap at my sister!" she snapped.
"Sister Naira, please don't fight," Noi pleaded with a worried face.
"Noi, you just shut up!" Naira insisted.
"T-that...." Noi really could only be silent looking down at his sister's firm words.
'What's this all about? Why are they even fighting? Shouldn't they be bothering me now.'
But seeing how Neira was still glaring at Karl. The boy could only spit in annoyance, looking away.
'Could it be that he didn't dare to meet Neira's gaze at all? What is this. It's funny how this village bullies boss is afraid of a girl.'
It was then that Karl's eyes met Roma's.
"Hey Trash! What are you laughing at!"
'Oh, what's that? I'm completely oblivious, but I admit this is really funny.'
"Hey Karl! You are indeed a coward huh!" said Roma, looking at him with a scornful gaze.
Karl's face immediately turned red with anger. It seems he did not accept Roma's satire. But this is even more ridiculous.
"Who are you calling a coward, you trash! And how dare you look at me like that!"
"Pfft, A magic user, who dares to stealthily attack someone who can't use magic like me? What should I call you if not a coward? Ha!?" said Roma.
"Shut up you burdensome bastard!" shouted Karl.
At that time, Karl also directly pointed both palms towards Roma. An ice ball slowly formed in front of his palm, and he directly shot towards Rome.
"Tsk!" Roma without thinking immediately jumped to the side to avoid the ice ball that Karl shot.
However, Karl didn't stop there, and continued to shoot his ice magic one after another at Roma.
Of course Roma did not just stand still. He immediately ran to the side, while occasionally jumping to avoid it.
Karl immediately turned to his other friends. "Why are you even silent! Help me catch him!" he shouted.
"Y-yes!" said another boy.
But he saw the two girls there didn't respond at all.
Karl who also realized that immediately turned to the two of them.
"Hey, why are you two just stand still?" asked Karl with an irritated face.
"That is none of your business!" Neira replied firmly.
"Neira, are you not willing to obey me!" he snapped.
"If so, then what are you gonna do?!" Neira said while glaring at him.
Noi with a worried face, trying to break up the fight between the two. "B-both of you please calm down."
Seeing the fight between the two made Roma confused. At first Roma thought that Karl was afraid of the pink haired girl. But after seeing this he was even more curious, was he actually scared or what?
'But so be it, this is an opportunity after all.'
At that moment, with all his might, Roma immediately threw his staff, just like someone throwing a spear.
A kid who saw him immediately screamed. "Karl, look out!"
Hearing that, Karl immediately turned his head, but unfortunately it was too late.
The staff shot straight, and the tip directly hit Karl's head hard. Even the sound of the staff hitting his head reached Roma.
"Aargh!" Karl screamed in pain, along with his body which immediately fell backwards.
Even though the staff didn't have a sharp point, it still must have been very painful.
Another boy who saw that immediately rushed to Karl, and helped him up.
"Karl, are you okay!"
"Your head is bleeding!"
"Get out of the way y'all!" Karl struggled, breaking away from his two friends who were trying to help him. His eyes bulged like a predator seeking prey. "God damn it!"
'I'd better run away, before this gets worse,' Roma thought and immediately rushed away from there.
"L-look! He's running away!" point to another boy.
"Chase him!" cried Karl.
***
Seeing how Karl was furiously chasing Roma. Noi somehow felt very uneasy now. Not that he was worried that anything might happen to Roma, but more of all of them.
"Big Sis, what should we do? Should we chase them into the forest?" asked Noi worriedly.
Neira shook her head. "No, we will go home and tell father."
As an older sister, Neira certainly has more mature thoughts than Noi. Plus she is often invited by her father to travel out of town, making her talk more often with adults than children her age.
Thinking that if she went into the forest, she thought it would be even more dangerous. And she didn't want to bring her sister to such a situation. So Neira thought that reporting this to her father who was a village chief was the best option.
"Noi, come on we have to quickly report this to father!" Neira shouted while immediately grabbing her sister's hand.
"Um," nodded Noi, and let himself be led by Neira as he ran home.
***
When they got home, Neira immediately told her parents everything that had happened.
"What did you say!?" A man with dark red hair, around 45 years old, immediately got up from his seat with a very surprised face.
"Neira, you're not lying, right!?" replied A 40 year old woman with long blue hair. She also looks to put on a face that is not much different from her husband.
The two of them were Luke and Mina, the parents of Neira and Noi.
"N-no mom, I'm not lying," replied Neira.
Hearing that Luke turned towards Noi. It was as if he was asking for certainty from his youngest daughter.
"E-everything big sis said is true," replied Noi while hiding behind Neira.
Of course there was no intent from Luke or Mina to frighten their daughter. However, what they had just heard was truly shocking. To the extent that the two of them were not aware of the expressions they put on that scared their two daughters.
Mina immediately turned to Luke and grabbed her husband's sleeve. "Darling, isn't this bad!"
"Y-yes I know." Luke then looked down with dumbfounded eyes. His mind was also in turmoil, but he realized that he couldn't just sit around like this.
Neira, who saw the expressions of her father and mother, felt something strange. I don't know why both of them are so scared. They don't usually put on faces like that, just because they heard reports about their daughters friends fighting.
Maybe Karl was indeed his nephew, but it was still strange to see the two of them panicking like this. Plus, this should have happened often, where Roma was being bullied by her friends.
However, Neira also did not dare to ask her father directly.
Luke looked at his wife and two daughters and said. "You guys stay at home, let me and other village youths go after them."
"I understand." Mina nodded.
"Then I'll be going first."
"Yes," said Mina.
"Father, be careful."
Hearing Noi worried about him. Luke without saying anything, could only smile gently while patting his daughter's head who now looked very nervous.
After that he immediately left the house.
***
After seeing her father leave, Neira nervously worked up the courage to ask her mother about the strange feeling she was having.
"M-mom," the little pink-haired girl called out.
Mina who heard her daughter's call suddenly turned her head. "Hmm?"
"Mom, Y-you don't usually look that panicked just to hear Roma's fight with Karl and his friends. Could there be something else going on in the forest?"
Mina was stunned when she heard her daughter's question. How could she not? According to her, Neira is too sensitive in this matter, so she can read her father's expression and realizes that there really is another problem.
Mina immediately knelt down and stroked the heads of her two daughters with a loving smile. "Nothing, maybe it's just your feelings, dad is just worried if they fight in the woods and one of them gets hurt," she explained.
"So that's all there is to it." Neira looks relieved. She was grateful if it turned out to be the only thing that made her father put on a face of panic, like before.
However, even though she felt relieved in her heart, it was undeniable that Neira still felt something strange.
If talking (fear of them getting hurt). Isn't the child who must be hurt Roma? In all her life she had never seen her parents worry about Roma, even one year ago when Roma was sick, his parents didn't seem to care at all.
Unbeknownst to Neira, Mina was now looking at her with a curious face. She wondered what her daughter was thinking, to the extent that her expression that looked relieved before now looked very serious like that.
However, what Mina said just now was actually pure lies. She did that, because she really didn't want her two daughters to be scared if they found out what really happened in the forest. And what she was more afraid of was if there were other children besides Roma, what would happen to them.
***
Luke is seen running with a very panicked face. Besides that he also looks very annoyed. "Damn, those brats, always getting me in trouble!"
Just last night he got a letter from the royal soldiers on patrol. And told him, yesterday they met some dangerous monsters. And one of the monsters managed to escape from them.
According to what was written in the letter, the monsters that had escaped were seen fleeing to a mountainous area near this region.
Luke just wanted to inform that to all his citizens. However, with this incident, he realized that it seemed he had made a big mistake, for not immediately informing all of his citizens last night, after receiving the warning letter.
Luke kept running towards the guard post. From a distance he also saw that there were several youths who were on guard duty at the post.
On the other hand. One of the young men who noticed Luke's presence, looked at him with a curious face.
"Hey, look!" the young man said as he pointed with his eyes at Luke, who was seen running towards them.
"Village chief?" said another village youth. "Looking at his expression could something have happened?"
"Who knows."
When Luke arrived at their place, one of the youths immediately asked him. "Village Chief, you don't normally look this panicked, could something have happened?"
But instead of answering, Luke immediately gave orders to the three of them. "You, quickly gather the other youths, we are going to the forest now!"
Hearing that suddenly the three young men were surprised.
"Wait a minute, village chief, what's going on? Why is it so sudden?" asked one of the youths.
"There's no time to explain, and it's also related to my nephew!" Luke insisted.
"Karl? So what happened to him?" said one of the youths.
"You guys are asking too many questions! Just gather the rest of the youths as I told you, and we'll catch them into the woods before it's too late!" Luke insisted.
"U-understood!" said the youths together.
*Roma*
"Huff... Huff... Huff." Roma continues running into the forest.
His breathing was already erratic from exhaustion. Roma realized that he could not continue like this. His legs were even shaking from the exhaustion.
No matter how far he had run, Roma had no idea. What is clear is that from the start, Roma only thought of running the other way, from the place where the trap was.
Roma can't run to the direction where he set the trap. Because if it's like that, it's not impossible that Karl and his friends will actually take the results of the trap he got.
Although Roma himself is still not sure whether the trap will work or not, this is only for anticipation.
However, now is not the time for Roma to complain about this problem. what was clear is that had to find a place to hide.
'But where should I hide?' he thought.
At that time suddenly Roma saw a big tree in the distance.
'Should I hide there? But wasn't that place too flashy?'
"There is no other choice!" Without thinking, Roma immediately turned and ran towards the big tree, then hid behind it.
Because this place was too conspicuous, he also covered his body with snow.
Even though it's definitely cold. But he had no other choice. Roma realized that it was impossible to fight the three of them.
Roma is not a coward. It's just that he didn't want to injure himself because of this matter. He has dealt with them many times, and in the end, Roma always gets hurt.
Because if he gets hurt again, this will actually be a bigger problem for him. he don't have anyone either, of course there's no one to take care of him, and if it comes to that... Then how is he supposed to provide for his daily needs?
If Roma could use magic like them, this would be another story for sure. But sadly he can't possibly use it... however much Roma dreams of it, he knows it's just an empty dream.
"Shit, why am I even crying?" he muttered softly, while wiping his tears that for some reason suddenly came out on their own.
Just then, there was the sound of footsteps dragging on the snow. Roma suddenly covered his mouth so that the steam from his breath wouldn't come out too much.
Even though Roma couldn't see who was coming, he knew that it must be Karl and his gang.
"Shit! Where is that trash!"
As Roma had expected, it was indeed Karl.
"Karl, look aren't these the tracks?"
Roma was surprised to hear one of Karl's friends say that.
'How can I forget, that my footprints will surely be left in the snow that I go through. Shit! How stupid I am!'
"Wait, if those are the tracks then what are these tracks?"
'Hmm?' Rome frowned.
Roma couldn't even peek at them from here. So he didn't understand what trail they were talking about.
'Could it be the tracks of another animal?' To be honest, Roma himself wasn't sure either. But maybe because he was too panicked just now, so he didn't pay much attention to the path he walked.
"Hey Karl? Maybe we're going the wrong way?" asked one of the boys.
"No, I'm sure he ran here," Karl replied.
"But what if these are the tracks of a beast? Aren't we in danger instead?" one of the boys said that with an uneasy face.
In a way, this is the first time they have entered the forest so far.
"No way, if this is indeed the trail of a wild beast then wouldn't that trash have been devoured since yesterday?" said Karl.
"T-that's true."
"Karl, but I have a strange feeling... if you look again, don't these look like giant footprints?" said one of the boys, pointing at the large hollow in the snow that was in front of him.
Karl turned his head, and followed where his friend pointed. "You're absolutely right, but what's this creature's footprints how come they're this big? ... But if these are footprints, why is there only one, as if this creature only stepped on snow once and then disappeared?"
"You're right," said another boy.
Until suddenly. Karl and his two friends were startled by something dripping from above,
Along with that, the three of them also heard a growling sound.
Karl and his two friends looked up with terrified faces, looking in the direction the growling came from.
Their bodies immediately stiffened, when their eyes saw a giant white-furred ape monster, which was seen hanging from a large tree branch near them.
The ape monster, was now also staring at them with extremely terrifying bloodshot eyes. The monster's mouth looks smiling, showing its large fangs. As if he was excited because he had just found a prey.
"R-ru-runnnnn!" Karl shouted very loudly.
His two friends who heard that without answering immediately turned and ran away with frightened faces.