Chapter 16 - Surprise

....

"Do you know which direction the village is?" Khael asks and looks at the faces of the two men beside him.

Roy and the man shook their heads, indicating that they also didn't know the direction.

"We thought that you know the direction that is why we are following you.

"Wait... don't tell us that you do not know where the direction is?" Roy asks in realization.

Hearing their reply Khael's face darkened. He instantly realized that they were probably lost, without much thought Khael immediately turned around and ran in the direction where Drake had left.

Leaving the two behind in silence.

Seeing Khael run, the two of them become dumbfounded. It takes them a second before realizing what Khael is doing.

When the two of them woke up from their daze they immediately followed Khael, rushing toward the direction Drake took.

...

Two hundred meters away from Khael, Drake can be seen walking leisurely through the dark forest, on his right shoulder is the body of the bloody half-deer.

While walking he started singing a sad song from his previous life. He remembers that this song was quite popular in his past life.

His voice was quite pleasing to his ear as it traveled through the quiet forest.

As if the forest wanted Drake's song it sent a strong wind that hit the nearby branches creating a noise that further enhanced Drake's song. While the nearby beast left away in panic.

"Where did it all change? I was not aware.

When did you realize that I was not enough?

Why didn't you tell me? I wish I could have known.

It's me that you needed...But it's not whom you love..."

"Hmm, my voice is quite pleasing today," Drake said proudly after taking a deep breath.

Moments later he stopped since he heard people running behind him. Raising his eyebrow, he turned his head 90 degrees to the side.

Behind him, he saw the figure of Khael, Roy, and the man rushing to his location.

"What is wrong with these guys?" he muttered in a low voice.

Recognizing Drake from the distance, the three of them immediately rush and stop on Drake's side.

"Haha, kid we meet again." Khael greeted with a relieved expression.

"I thought you three were going to your village?" Drake confusedly asks.

"Ahem," Khael coughed awkwardly before explaining.

"It is like this we three think that it is dangerous for a child to wander inside this forest at night so we decided to accompany you to your home." He said with a smile.

Drake looked at them suspiciously. Just by looking at their expression, he could easily guess the reason why they were looking for him however he did not expose them. With a nod, Drake continues to walk in the direction of the old house.

Silence surrounded the group.

After a while of silence, Khael could not take it anymore and asked.

"Umm, Kid it looks like you know this forest very well."

"No, I didn't, I just know the direction of my current house," Drake answered as a matter of fact.

"Hmm, well this forest is quite big after all so it is understandable that you did not know the direction too much," Khael replied in a disappointed tone however he quickly hid it.

They did not think about it carefully before entering this damn forest after all, and before chasing the wounded deer.

Now he began to worry about the safety of David and the wounded man if they found their way out of this forest.

Hopefully, they did not get lost.

However, deep inside, he thinks oppositely since they only went deep inside the forest three times and this is their first time in this area of the forest as well.

Making David and the wounded man escape earlier is already a blessing for them.

"Unfortunately, the child is late for a couple of minutes... Sigh," Khael thought regretfully as he cast his gaze toward the leisurely Drake who was humming a song.

...

The group of 4 people walks in silence inside the forest. After walking for three and a half hours Drake and the other 3 reach the old house.

"This ... isn't this the house we passed before," asks Roy in surprise.

"Yes, it seems like that," Khael replied, equally surprised that the old house inside the forest was the current abode of Drake.

Drake can hear the three talking on his back but acts as if he didn't hear anything.

Without stopping he walks and reaches his left hand to open the door, creating a creaking sound in the process.

Swish!

"This..." 

He just opened the door when a sword slash came from inside the house, coming toward his right shoulder at an alarming speed, luckily, the sword hit the half-deer on his shoulder.

Without pausing Drake reached the arrow from his waist, with a precise and sharp movement the sharp arrow traveled through the void quickly heading at the neck of the attacker, however, before the arrow pierced through the attacker's neck Khael shouted anxiously from his back.

"David stop!"

Drake restrained his hand, the arrow was only 1 centimeter away from the neck of the attacker in front of him, luckily Khael shouted in time.

"Khael?" a deep surprised voice entered Drake's ear. After recognizing the person in front of him he slowly removed the arrow and backed away.

After a while David came out of the old house, his left hand was rubbing his neck while in the other hand was the metallic sword he had used earlier.

His sharp eyes scanned the surrounding area when he found that Khael and the two men were safe and only suffered small injuries, he heaved a sigh of relief. But when his gaze landed on Drake, his eyes showed fear and cold sweat appeared on his back.

He still felt like he was about to die earlier and the cold eyes of the child... The way the child looked at him, he was sure that the child would not hesitate to kill him.

This... isn't this child only 13 years old? how could he have a cold eye?

Fortunately, Khael shouted in time... If not.