After I gave him that water bottle, he drank it's entirety in a couple of seconds. I guess he had been really thirsty.
And it seems like what Sylvia said was true. He didn't seem to care much about the Silverheart name. It seems that to him it was just another name.
'How peculiar. Though I doubt I can recruit him, I hope I can make a good connection with this kid.'
Next we just stared at each other. I was expecting him to introduce himself since it is basic courtesy or at least try to shake my hand but he just stared at me.
But it wasn't just staring. I noticed that he was inspecting me. His eyes were going all over my body like he was searching for something.
Next thing I knew this kid charged at me with his sword. The strength difference between us was way too large so to me, he was like a turtle.
I noticed that he aimed his sword my neck like he actually wanted to kill me.
'Ah, I see how it is.'
I find out what he was after.
His sword was approaching me but I just stood there. Though I could easily dodge it or block it, I decided to not move out of the way.
"Creak"
And when the sword came in contact with my neck, it just snapped.
Alan just stared at my neck and then at his broken sword. He kept looking back and forth for a couple of times before he started laughing.
"You really are one amazing guy. I used all I had in that strike and also infused some weird glowy stuff into it and it still broke when I hit you."
The look he had on his face. It was like one of admiration. 'It seems he reveres strength. I can understand that looking at his past.'
The reason I let him hit me was because I found out that he wanted to test out my strength.
And I guess I passed his test as he seemed to be checking my body out. 'I thought he was weird but it seems that he is just a battle junk.'
But I took a good look at his face again. His eyes still looked empty while his face looked like he was in joy.
But how does that work? You can't be empty and joyful at the same time right? Unless he was faking it which I doubted.
The answer was quite simple.
"You aren't empty, are you? You just want people to mistake your eyes for empty ones but in truth they are filled with something else."
He halted. The joy on his face was removed. An emotionless one replaced it.
'I just told him he faked his emptiness so why is he trying to fool me with a mask of it.'
He opened his mouth and his cold voice rang out. "What are you talking about old man? You think you know me? You don't know anything."
It seemed like I pushed one of his buttons. He was getting angry but tried to hide it behind this mask.
"Remove the mask, I know you made it to protect yourself."
He didn't seem to like what I was saying as he tried to shut me off.
"Shut up."
"But why would you need to protect yourself? Weren't you the strongest in the pits?"
He rushed at me and attacked me but I just let him. It wasn't like anything he could do would be able to hurt me.
"The answer is quite simple really."
"Shut up!"
He kept hitting me but instead of me taking damage, it seems like his hands and his arms were getting injured.
"You were trying to hide what you were really feeling."
"Shut up!"
"You wanted to put up a strong front in front of your foes and in front of your family."
"Shut up!!"
"Crack"
His arms were already breaking but instead of stopping, he just continued with kicking me.
"The true emotion that your eyes reflect is despair isn't it."
"SHUT UP!"
He began to scream but I could already see his legs taking big damage as well.
"The despair of failing your family. The despair of being powerless. The despair of every single person you lost. The despair of all the scars you received. The despair this world brought upon you."
"I SAID SHUT UP!!"
He screamed one final time but it seems like he finally lost strength as he dropped on his knees and stared down at the ground.
"Alan. I will tell you this once so listen well."
Though it seemed like my words didn't reach him, I could see his ears perked up.
"You are free of your responsibilities. You can become stronger. You can protect your family. And you can be happy. So let go of that despair that has been eating you all this time."
His looked up at me, he had this sad face and I saw tears in the corner of his eyes.
"How? It just doesn't go away like that. It is the torture of my existence."
He paused a bit. He seemed to be contemplating about something.
"You were right. I was indeed protecting myself with that mask. Do you know how many times I have almost killed myself? How many times I alsmost let my opponent finish me off? Removing my emotions was the only thing I could do to stay alive and protect them."
"If it were that easy to get rid off this despair than I wouldn't have struggled so much. So tell me, how do I get rid of it?"
I could see the desperation in his eyes. Though he had lost hope a long time ago, it seemed that he still hoped that I could help him.
"Let it all go."
"Huh?"
I saw confusion on his face.
"You are safe. You don't have to try so hard anymore. You don't need your strong front anymore. I hereby gave you permission to finally cry."
He just looked at me with this lost face. It was like he heard words from another language that he couldn't understand.
But it didn't take long before I saw the tears come. And his eyes, I saw some emotion in them for the first time. It was relief that I saw in them. But also sadness.
"I,I,I just didn't know what to do. Mom abandoned us and dad was broken. I was just a kid. I didn't know anything about the world. All I could do was go to the pits. The only reason I survived was by fooling my opponents and using their mercy to kill them."
And he finally broke down entirely.
"I was also just a kid. It hurt. Every single time I came home with injuries. They hurt so much. I remember the nights I left the house to just cry outside because it hurt so much."
"Everytime I came to buy bread, I'd see kids my age enjoy themselves. I also wanted that. I also wanted to eat. I ate grass many nights just to fill myself."
He looked so broken.
'He didn't deserve any of this. This is his pent-up hurt from all these years.'
"I didn't like killing those guys. I found it so disgusting everytime I did it."
He began hitting the ground with his broken hand.
"I tried. I really tried. But it wasn't enough. Dad killed himself anyway."
Though we didn't really have a close relationship, I saw that he needed some support so I decided to give him a hug.
And it seems that that was the final straw for him.
"I was so scared. All these years I had been so scared."
"It's okay. You have finally made it to a safe place. You can sleep now."
His head dropped on my shoulder. I felt his body slowly calm down as he began to wander off to sleep.
"Thanks dad, I love you."
'Dad?'
I was pretty perplexed. I looked at his face to see he had already fallen asleep.
'I guess all the exhaustion overtook him and made him mistake me for his father.'
I just patted his back for a couple of times before I layed him on the ground and fed him a healing potion.
He had taken quite the damage just from attacking me.
'He deserves some rest. I should bring him back to his bed.'
I put him on my back and went to bring him back to bed.
"Rest well kid. You deserve it."
————————————————————
Somewhere in a playground, there was a boy swinging on a swing.
He was being pushed by his mother, who was a beautiful woman.
"Hey mom. Can you explain why the hero didn't kill the demon king? I didn't understand it last night."
This boy was indeed Alan. And he was still curious about the tale of the hero.
The woman had a smile on her face. One that spoke of great joy. "Alan, tell me. Let's say that a man's family was killed by someone, and that man eventually takes revenge and kills the person who killed his family. But he doesn't just stop there, he also kills the murderer's family whom had done nothing wrong. Who in the story is evil?"
Alan contemplated about it. It was a pretty hard question for a 9 year old to understand.
"Only the first murderer was evil. But the man went too far in killing his family. That also wasn't good."
The woman stopped the swing and walked over to Alan's front side. For the first time in Alan's life, she had given him a serious expression.
"You are right. Both sides were wrong. Al, I will tell you this once so listen carefully. The villain might not always be scum and the hero might not always be righteous. And in war, there never is a good side. You will become a great man in the future, ans I need you to carefully consider who the enemy is."
It was hard for Alan to follow what she was saying at the time. He didn't understand most of it but it was the only time in his life that his mother gave him such a expression.
But that expression was quickly removed from her face and replaced with the same joyful smile.
"Let's go back, dad and Alice must be waiting for us. You'll be ten in a couple of days, is there anything you want?"
"I want to awaken."
The smile on her face dimmed. Though she didn't show it to Alan, she didn't like the idea of him awakening.
————————————————————
Alan's POV:
When I woke up, I was in the same bed as before.
'Why did I dream of her again? And what's with this weird speech she gave me?'
But one thing I knew was that if my mother seemed so serious about it, I should think about it deeply.
But that is for another time.
It would be an understatement to say I felt great. I didn't know what it was but my head just felt light.
And it was like this pain in my soul was gone, or at least for the most part. I could breathe properly and I could think without having this huge pressure in my mind.
"Was crying really the answer to all my problems? That's stupid."
I noticed that I wasn't alone in the room. The old man was here with me. The embarrassing memory of what I had just said came to my mind.
'Thanks dad, I love you.'
My face became red out of embarrassment. Why did I say something like that to him? I'm not dumb enough to think he is my dad.
"It seems you've woken up. How do you feel, besides embarrassed?" He asked me with this mocking smile on his face.
I kept a straight face and just decided to pretend like I didn't know anything.
"Pretty good actually. It feels like I became much lighter. I can finally think clearly for once and this pain I always had is gone, or ar least most of it."
"Good. It's one of the thing's I can do for the one who saved my daughter."
We just sat there again. I have been noticing that I have a lot of awkward silences with people. Is it just me or is this a normal thing?
Breaking my thoughts about my own social skills was the old man.
"I have done some research on you so I know that you will probably not accept any offer I give you. But I still owe you so tell me, is there anything you want?"
Anything I want? I didn't really want anything right now. I made my plans for the future, I got money for once and I got rid of my despair.
"I don't really need anything right now. Once I enter the academy, I'll just train and hang out with Alice in my room."
Though it sounded like a sound plan to me, the old man gave me a strange look.
"You know you can't bring her into the academy right. If they find out, you will be suspended."
Really? Why can't I have someone live with me?
'Ahh'
But I could finally think clearly so I quickly figured out why. "I take it that it's a countermeasure for any spies infiltrating."
Since it's was the most prestigious academy in the human domain, it would also be the target of many. They had to keep good security to prevent anything from happening.
"I may have a solution for your problem. Though I'm not sure if you'll like it."
My ears perked up. I didn't really have a solution for this problem. It was not like I would let her live on her own.
"How about I formally adopt your sister?"