The siblings parents, consumed by addiction, sold their children for mere six gold coins.
The noble who bought them set his sights on the girl, barely 15 years old, with predatory intent.
Faced with this horror, the boy made a choice—he grabbed his sister's hand and fled.
Through a world as cold and indifferent as ice, they ran. They braved the biting winds of winter, their bare feet cracking against the frozen ground.
For the first time in his life, the boy became a thief.
He stole freedom for his sister.
He stole warmth.
He stole the feeling of a full belly.
He stole hope.
And in return, his sister smiled.
She smiled because, despite knowing these comforts weren't truly theirs, she saw the price her brother paid for them. She understood the weight of his sacrifices, the scars he bore for their survival.
And so, they clung to their stolen happiness—a fragile illusion of what should have been theirs all along.
But as with all stolen things, their happiness was fleeting.
The world—the true owners of their stolen freedom, warmth, and hope—came to reclaim what was theirs.
Their shackles were forced back upon them.
The cold crept in where warmth had been.
The hunger returned, gnawing at their bellies.
And despair took root, where hope had only just begun to grow.
The world stripped everything from the siblings.
But still, the boy did not break.
He couldn't.
He had his sister to protect. She was all he had left.
So he continued to steal—freedom, warmth, food, hope—anything to keep her alive. He dragged them deeper into the wilderness, hiding among monsters and shadows.
The boy cloaked himself in the pelts of slain beasts.
The girl wrapped herself in the thin comfort of stolen warmth.
The boy gnawed on the remains of carcasses left behind by the monsters.
The girl savored every bite of stale, frozen bread.
The boy drank from filthy streams.
The girl drank clean water.
With each passing day, despair carved itself deeper into the boy's soul, while the light in the girl's eyes dimmed.
And yet, they smiled.
The boy smiled because he wanted to show his sister that there was still light in the world.
The girl smiled because she wanted to give her brother a reason to keep going.
They smiled because it was all they had left—the hope that maybe one day, things would change.
Then, finally, after what felt like an eternity of freezing nights and endless hunger, they reached the gates of Havlon Village, a place surrounded by towering walls, promising safety and warmth.
Here, they thought, they could begin again.
The villagers welcomed them with open arms.
They washed away the blood of the beasts that clung to the boy's skin.
They mended the wounds that had festered too long.
They gave them work, warm food, and a safe place to sleep.
For the first time, the siblings no longer had to steal. What they received was given freely, and it felt like a blessing—a promise of the future they had always dreamed of.
No longer did they have to cling to the stolen scraps of happiness.
For the first time, it was theirs.
As the seasons passed, and winter gave way to spring, they found their footing. The siblings thrived in the small, tight-knit village. They were no longer thieves, no longer on the run.
They were home.
But as winter approached once again, the boy felt a stirring within him—a yearning for more.
Watching the adventurers who came through the village to hunt the monsters that lurked beyond the walls, the boy made a decision.
He wanted strength.
He wanted power to protect his sister, not just to survive but to ensure that no one could ever take her or their happiness away again.
He watched the adventurers closely, studying their movements, their techniques, even the way they spoke. He learned by watching, imitating their actions when no one else was around.
It was a clumsy start, but he was determined.
Despite the fear, the pain, the exhaustion, he pushed through.
The boy—now a young man—had become Luchi the adventurer.
In just three short years, by the age of 21, Luchi had risen to the rank of Gold, a prodigy amongst adventurers.
His strength became his light.
He had finally gained the power to protect the one person who mattered most—his sister, Lux.
The harsh winters of the past seemed like a distant memory. The siblings were finally safe, their future secure.
But just as they began to believe their suffering was behind them, a stranger appeared at the gates of Havlon.
The stranger, bedraggled and worn, reminded Luchi of himself—of the boy who had once wandered the world with nothing but his sister's hand to hold.
Moved by sympathy, Luchi and the villagers offered the stranger the same kindness they had once received.
They gave him warm food, a soft bed, and honest work.
But that night...
A noble arrived at the village gates, flanked by a dozen heavily armed knights.
The noble demanded entry, claiming he was in pursuit of a thief who had stolen something valuable from him.
And then, the horn sounded.
That strange, eerie horn echoed through the village...
And Havlon fell to ruin.
* * * *
"Judging by your expression, I see you haven't completely forgotten," Luchi said.
"You... You damn monster..." The man snarled, pulling a hidden dagger from his sleeve and throwing it at Luchi.
Luchi easily deflected the blade.
"You've improved a bit. First, I think I'll deal with those twitchy legs of yours." Luchi swung his sword.
"Aaargh!!" The man's right ankle was severed.
"It's hard to aim when you keep moving. I only have one eye, after all."
Luchi swung again.
"Y-You maniac... Argh... You..." The man collapsed as his left leg was sliced off.
"You can't die just yet. I still haven't heard your reason." Luchi walked over to the fallen man and pulled out a potion, pouring it on the man's wounds.
The bleeding stopped, and the wounds began to heal.
"There, you won't die now. So tell me, why did you do it back then?"
Luchi crouched in front of the man, stabbing his sword into the man's left hand. The man writhed in agony, dropping the horn he had been clutching.
"Damn you! You psycho! Damn it! Damn it!" The man's screams echoed through Roholan village, drawing a crowd.
Adventurers. Guards.
They all watched, doing nothing.
I couldn't understand.
Why wasn't Heinzel stopping Luchi?
Why was Rubia standing in front of me, blocking my way?
"Rubia... What's going on? Why are we just standing here? Why isn't anyone..."
"Noah, I don't know if it's appropriate for me to say this as a priestess, but... It's best if we don't interfere right now," Rubia said in a low voice, cutting me off.
"W-What are you saying? That man... he's..."
"The night you fell asleep in the ruins, Luchi told me the truth about the massacre." Rubia's voice was heavy.
"The fall of Havlon Village wasn't caused by the noble. It was because of a Gnoll."
"A Gnoll...?" I recalled the high walls of Havlon, which I had seen in the ruins. The image of those walls, crumbling as blood poured out.
"That doesn't make sense. How could a Gnoll break through those walls? They couldn't even get inside the village. What does that man have to do with a Gnoll...?"
"The thief opened the gates to escape from the noble... and as soon as the gates opened, the Gnoll's leader blew a horn, and they swarmed in. The blood from the villagers awakened the red wolf..."
"The man opened the gate... and the Gnolls swarmed in...?"
Suddenly, it made sense why Heinzel and Rubia weren't stopping Luchi.
But something still felt off.
Rubia's explanation didn't match what I knew.
Gnolls don't gather in one place like that.
Especially not just at the village's entrance.
It's impossible.
Even if there were differences between the game and reality, it couldn't happen like that.
Those rabid creatures couldn't hold back their hunger long enough to gather in such numbers.
I focused my senses on Luchi and the man.
Luchi was still questioning him, while the man...
He was slowly reaching for the horn on the ground next to him.
A horn...?
"Rubia... You said a horn sounded when the Gnolls attacked, right?"
"Yes. Luchi told me he can never forget that sound—"
A horn... A horn that summoned monsters...
"It's the Frenzied Horn...! This is bad...!"
I quickly turned, drawing my sword, and charged toward the man, shouting.
"Luchi! Don't let him blow that horn!"
The man, hearing my shout, pulled another dagger from his sleeve and slashed at Luchi.
Luchi easily deflected the blow, but the man immediately brought the horn to his lips.
But before he could blow it—
"No, you don't."
"Aaaaagh!!"
Luchi grabbed the man's jaw and ripped it off.
The man's jawbone was torn from his face with a sickening crunch, leaving his mouth gaping open, unable to blow the horn.
Instead, the man screamed in agony.
Ignoring the man's cries, Luchi turned to me, speaking in a calm voice.
"Noah, do you know what this is?"
"Ugh... Yeah. If you blow that horn, every monster in the area will swarm here. That's probably what caused the fall of Havlon..."
The Frenzied Horn.
It was an item that drew every monster in the vicinity to one location.
It was effective for gathering monsters, but it also had a dangerous side effect—those monsters would become frenzied, growing stronger.
Usually, only parties of six or more would use it.
I never got to use it because I didn't have any friends...
"I see... So the thing the thief stole from the noble... was this horn."
Luchi's gaze shifted to the horn.
"The fall of Havlon... all because of this old horn..."
Luchi raised his sword slowly.
"Alright... I've heard enough from you."
Just as Luchi's sword was about to come down on the man, the man let out a scream and shoved the horn into his throat.
With a sickening squelch, the horn lodged in his windpipe.
A piercing blast echoed out from the horn, like a trumpet splitting the sky.
Luchi's sword then split the man's head, shattering the horn into pieces.
And from far off in the distance, in the ruins we had crossed, from the plains beyond...
The howls of monsters began to rise.
Heinzel and Rubia approached, looking concerned.
"That... what was that sound just now, Noah?" Rubia asked.
"Luchi, little girl. What's going on?" Heinzel added, his voice now calm.
Ignoring their questions, I expanded my senses, pushing my awareness outward.
I let my consciousness extend past Roholan, into the ruins and beyond to the plains.
Blood burst from my nose.
My head throbbed, ready to split open, and every blood vessel in my body felt like it was about to explode.
I grabbed a potion from my pocket, gulping it down, and pushed my senses even further.
"Noah! What are you doing?! You're bleeding! Stop—!" Rubia shouted.
But I ignored her and kept going.
Finally, my perception halted.
And I saw them.
Monsters. Heading toward Roholan.
They filled my mind.
They kept coming.
More and more.
Countless numbers of them.
Too many to count.
At least thousands.
No... tens of thousands of monsters were swarming toward Roholan.
We had roughly 15 minutes before they arrived.
If even just a third of the villagers died...
The Red Wolf in the ruins would awaken.
I had to stop them.
Somehow, we had to stop this.