As he walked through the village, Silius looked at the area. The buildings themselves looked quite old, all made of trees surrounded by fences, but that didn't take away from the beauty of the nature and aura here. The locals seem rude, but you can see that they love to work and it is their main business that makes this neighborhood thrive. Everyone earns and lives here with their own efforts. Children without any worries jump and move out all over finding different objects for their fantasies. And the adults just get on with their work. In the center of everything there is a small church where quite a lot of people go. There is a forest and a lake nearby, which allows many people to hunt and fish here. A very nice place where you could live your life in peace, if only there were no bandits and hooligans.
Walking through the area, Silius could not admire the peaceful atmosphere of the people living here. Even though he found it boring, he liked it too. After all, in fact, just a year he has been studying this world and everything is very impressive to him. At the end of his time, the kid took a leaf out of his pocket.
— Well, well, where is it here... — trying to make out the inscription. There was a place and an address, which he easily understood, but it was harder to find. He went to look for a place to live, and after walking down a lot of alleys, Silius met two thieves who were stealing food from the elderly. The three grandmothers are just sitting on a bench outside their house and dare not do anything, just watching them being robbed silently.
— Hahahahahaha! It's all ours bro! — gathering everything in a bag said the man.
— Of course! The boss will be happy, he's not in the mood for aggression today. — doing the same thing as the other one.
— Yes, we should make him happy, and ourselves too.
— I agree.
— What are you doing here? You should have paid first, then taken it. — a misunderstanding Silius approached them. The two men looked at the boy with indignation.
— Hey, kid, if you don't want to get your ass kicked, mind your own business. — said the bully with a cocky look on his face.
— Uh-huh. — the other one confirmed it.
— I can't pass by when I see something like that. — Silius crossed his arms.
— Ha! What are you gonna do, make a hero of yourself?
— Let's beat him up! Let him realize what he's in for. — they were already preparing their fists to attack Silius.
— Not only heroes can do that, but ordinary creatures as well, he told them, and then he said: Shockwake! — with a sharp movement of his hand, he used his magic horizontally, without touching the two men, which was directed at them like a blade, knocking them off their feet with a strong blow to the stomach. After flying off a few centimeters, the bandits whirled away in a frightened state, leaving the bags of food behind.
— Hopefully not a second lesson. — smiled Silius, but feeling the pain inside his body.
— We are grateful to you grandson, it's been a long time since we ate properly, today at least we will be able to eat. — said one of the grandmothers carrying the heavy sack back. Seeing this, Silius came over and helped her carry them.
— And don't tell. Only pieces of bread are left to chew. — the second person sitting on the bench also spoke up. The third one silently began to eat as if beside myself.
— Hello, could you please tell me where this address is? — the boy handed them a sheet of paper.
— Oh, it's not far away, you just have to turn left twice and go to the end of the straight alley and that's it.
— Thank you, I'll be off then. Bon appetit!
— Thank you again, son. — said the third grandmother.
— Wait, boy, we'd like to thank you. — remembered the first grandma.
— No need, it's enough for me that you will eat — waving and smiling with a smile on his face, Silius went on his way.
— And it's true that even just people can be heroes and not be heroes. — said the first grandmother, having finally eaten the delicious food.
— So he seem to be using magic, did he? — the second grandmother wondered.
— It's not that important...
***
*stomach rumbling sounds*
— Gotta get something to eat. — Silius looked around at the stalls, where there was plenty of food, but the crowds kept him busy.
Smelling a good odor, he headed there, counting Kreda1.
Money in this world.
Making his way through the crowd, he looked at the goodies that made him drool.
— What do you want, young man? — the vendor asked with a sweet smile.
— I'll have two pieces of Yakitori, please! — Silius was already eating the food with his eyes.
— Good, that'll be 50 silver Credo.
— Now... — he wanted to give it to as he didn't feel the Credo on his hand, not understanding why, he started to search his pockets and suddenly found no wallet. After a good look at all the places, the boy realized with horror that he had been robbed. And the worst part was that he hadn't even felt it before.
— Come on, pay for the goods. — he said impatiently to the boy.
— I'll, uh... Excuse me, my wallet's gone somewhere... I think I've been robbed. — Silius smiled awkwardly.
After these words, the salesman turned from a polite commoner into an angry old man. Completely changing his facial expression to hostile.
— What a scoundrel! Get out of here! You're trying to cheat me, huh?! You won't get away with it. — he took a stick in his hands and started swinging it around.
— Hey! Calm down sir. I didn't mean to steal anything. That's it, I'm leaving! — Silius tried to dodge the attacks and get out of here quickly, it was impossible to take down the crowd nearby. As the man spun the tree in different directions, the people began to drift away from him, causing Silius to fall, followed by the others, and while the villagers were yelling and trying to figure out how it happened, the boy slowly got away on all fours. And after he got up and moved to a safe zone, he took a breath.
— Where could my wallet have gone? Or are there any silent burglars around here? — he stood like that for five minutes and then made his verdict. — It was mostly just money... — he tried to be in a good mood, but then he remembered that it was the wallet itself that was very dear to him. He didn't really care about any money, remembering the person who had given it to him. Pushing the thoughts and memories away, Silius walked on.
Finally finding the house, the young man knocked on the door and after waiting for a while the entrance opened slightly, where a half silhouette was visible.
— Who are you? And what do you want? — asked someone's female voice.
— My name is Silius Aylan and I know two boys named Jonah and Idama Yugai.
The girl flinched and with a sharp movement of her hand opened the door all the way, dumbfounded, looking at him. — Please come inside the house as soon as possible! — pointing with her palm inside.
When Silius entered the house he was invited to sit down. Meanwhile, the woman hurriedly went to the kitchen and brought tea.
"Oh! Thank goodness I've had a drink!" — sounded joyfully in his head.
— You probably already know my name, as they are very fond of saying it to everyone. But I'll introduce myself again. My name is Latifah Lind. Tell me, please, what happened to them and everything you know, — she sat down in front of and listened expectantly.
Silius drank some tea without emotionally said: — You won't like what I'm going to tell you. — with all his strength, melting that the drink was bitter, he continued to drink it.
— I'm ready to know what's wrong with them. — she said with a serious face.
— Well...
————— The story begins as Silius is on his third adventure, where he finds himself in the city of Milesir in the country of Nara Force. It was here that he decided to go to military training, where he would learn a lot. But it was hard for him to get there with his physical strength, because he did not dare to use magic, as people do not perceive it very well in some cases.
The days went by until the moment when Silius met them. He had just contrived to go grocery shopping in the morning. Where, while considering what to buy a light flashed in his eyes. Looking over the crowd, he saw two some small strangers just below his height. And when he noticed their wings behind their cloaks he immediately realized it was the two Luciuses.
*How did these two end up in human territory? Aren't there strict controls here? They can't even hide their wings properly, what are they thinking?* — Silius thought to himself.
For a long time he pondered what would happen to them, looking at them sometimes. Until he made a verdict: "This one is none of my business. Let it be." He continued to look for the items he needed. Until he remembered something important.
*Oh, I completely forgot! I read somewhere in the books that if a non-human is spotted in the city he will either be killed or imprisoned. I know for a fact that Luciuses, as well as other winged ones, can hide their wings so that they are indistinguishable from humans. But they apparently don't know how to do that," he looked around again and found no more of those two in that spot. *I hope they don't get caught and survive. They're still children and could be kind beings, though I've never seen a Lucius before* — he thought to himself anxiously as he walked back to his temporary home.
The next day at the military school, Silius spent two hours practicing on a mannequin. He continued to do so until he noticed the same two boys he had met yesterday. Silius stopped and stared at the two who were talking to the commander. He didn't understand how this happened and tried to realize that they now looked like humans and they didn't have wings behind them. But when he saw the Major beckoning him to come to him, he went that way.
— Aylan, we've got new recruits here, and I know you're a recent cadet. But because you've already adapted. I believe you can help them. The others are just kind of, uh, busy right now.
*Just admit you're too lazy to find someone to take your orders. So you decided to choose me. Because I'd have to show all my strength and ambition.* — not the least bit surprised at the outcome.
— Well, sir, I will do my best. — replied Silius.
— Good. — after saying goodbye, the commander left.
— How cool! — the two suddenly shouted. Silius even flinched.
— My name is Ion Yugai.
— And I'm Idam Yugai.
— We are brothers and we are very glad to be here! — they said in unison, like twins reading each other's minds, laughing all over. The people teaching here started to look over at them because of the big noise.
*Wow how funny they are I like it*. — he finally realized that they were not a threat, and seemed to be enjoying this place to the fullest.
— Nice to meet you. My name is Silius Aylan, as you've heard. Let me give you two a tour. — smiling at them, leading them away from the training area full of students.
Having already left that area enough and finding a deserted area, Silius decided to inquire directly about who they were. Just after opening his mouth, he was immediately interrupted and pelted with a million questions.
— Where is the place where the exhibition of outstanding people is located?!
— Is it true there are those who fought in droves against the Sordidus?!
— Can you show us the armory?!
— How did people ever build such buildings here?!
— What does it mean to give away honor?
— How do you get pumped up like a warrior?
— Whoa, whoa let me ask you something first, then I'll try to answer all your questions. *Even though I don't know much myself...*.
Ion and Idam hearing him fell silent and nodded. And when there was complete silence the young man whispered — Are you Luciuses by any chance? — he asked, trying to be as gentle as possible. The two of them smiled quietly at him. Smiled like that for a few seconds looking as if through him, and after a while their pupils began to narrow and their lower jaw began to drop down.
— Aaaaa!!! — suddenly they both screamed, and Idam started running around, while the other one froze like a statue — Where did we go wrong? How come we got spotted!!!! — Idam whispered in his brother's ear, stopping his circling.
— Dummy, we could have fooled him and told him no, we didn't have to be so obvious! — Ion was quietly angry, turning to Idam.
— You should have seen your own face with me, and you'd have burned yourself!
— I just didn't expect this!
— Calm down. I'm not going to do anything terrible or tell anyone, I'm just curious. I'm just a regular traveler. — trying to calm them down.
— A traveler! — their eyes lit up immediately forgetting the fight they almost had here.
— Cool! Tell us your adventures! — an enthusiastic Idam came closer, as did his brother.
— If you first tell us how you ended up in the land of men.
— All right, I'll tell you! — realizing that they had raised their voices again at the same time, Ion and Idam faced each other, growling at each other.
— Pahahahahahahaha. — Sillius laughed, at which they, surprised by this, calmed down and laughed too.
When a little time had passed and they had all relaxed Ion began his story: — Honestly, we've wanted to go to the land of men since we were children. And no matter what our nanny told us about how dangerous it was and that you were all villains. We didn't believe her and ran away. Then we ended up in the village of Liberbet, where we met the goddess Latifah.
— Goddess Latifah?
— Yes, the goddess! She sheltered us. Thanks to her, we learned a lot about the people of this land. We lived with her for four years. After that, Idam and I wanted to travel further, but Latifa said it was not safe and forbade us many times until we finally decided to run away again. But we made sure to write her a letter saying that we would be back soon. We subsequently wandered for several more months until we ended up here.
— What happened to your wings yesterday when you were at the place of trade??
— You see, we were noticed already then. — whispered Idam to his brother.
— It was due to exhaustion. Any action weakens the body and can push the wings back. Especially us on the Wingless step, who are weak compared to other Luciuses.
— Wow, that's kind of amazing.
— And now...now that we've answered your question it's your turn — their pupils glistened with the flames of curiosity, their nostrils dilated and their smiles reached their ears.
— Are you that interested in humans?
— We adore people! Their worldviews, knowledge, strength, and skills are all very cool!
— Especially their pumped up bodies," Idam suddenly added, to which Ion smacked him on the head. — Ouch!
— Hahahahahaha well I'll try to tell you everything I know.
After that Silius became friends with them and they spent training together as friends. They would get mad, laugh together. Sometimes, Silius even noticed how they would brighten up every time they interacted with him or people. Idam and Ion were very polite to others as if they were worshipping them, even when they were scolded for being childish they weren't the least bit sad about it. On the contrary, they considered it as something sacred lesson for them. The next morning Silius, as usual, arranged to meet them at their favorite place. He took with him a cake, which he would be tasting for the first time, for he had never eaten such a cake before and he wanted to give it to Ion and Idam, for he had spent a lot of Creads on it. When he reached their secluded area, he saw...bloody corpses that had been lying on the ground for a long time, as if they were rotten. Flies flying over them and their expressions of horror rolled under their eyes. It was Ion and Idam. Silius' hands immediately loosened and the cake fell to the ground. There was consternation in his face at what he saw. He couldn't believe it. His eyes, and his whole body was shaking like crazy, and there was a lump in his throat that wouldn't come down. Ice-cold sweat fell from his face. Everything seemed to turn upside down and the memory of them immediately popped into his head. It didn't settle in his mind that they had been killed so ruthlessly. You could see all the deep wounds, whoever had done it had spared no expense in stabbing them in the face, arms and all over their bodies, especially their little wings that had been torn off.
— No...No...NO-NO-NO-NO-NO!!!!! — clenching his fists to the point of blood, he came close to his dead friends. — Who!!! Who dared to do this!!! — he shouted at the top of his voice.
— I dare! — suddenly, a man's voice was heard in the distance. With dazed eyes and a blank glare, Silius looked at the stranger. — You've been caught too Aylan!
And then Silius was surrounded by guards with rifles with bayonets on their hands, completely restricting him from doing anything. The man who was in far faraway approached the commander who had appeared.
— Thank you Gifu Pinkas for eliminating the monsters before they would have wreaked havoc here.
— It was my pleasure to help you! — he said cheerfully.
— What are you talking about... — Silius said with a trembling voice — Monsters?! What the hell are monsters? They're just like us!
— No, they're not. I overheard you two talking the first time you met, and I was thinking up a plan to destroy the future consequences because of them. — Gifu looked pleased at what he'd done.
— They haven't done anything to hurt anyone in this time!!!
— That's true, but they probably would have committed later. They Luciuses were probably spies who were sent here
— You're a crazy asshole! You're the monster exactly! — Silius yelled.
That's when the Major stepped forward.
— I had the best opinion of you, but since you Silius Aylan told us nothing you're going to prison as an accomplice who supported them. Take him to the dungeon, but handcuff him first. We'll interrogate him later. — walking off somewhere he said goodbye.
Silius had to obey, lowering his head still present in shock at what had happened.
So he was imprisoned for several days. And no matter how many times they interrogated him and beat him with clubs, he told them nothing. Saying they were the real monsters. All those days he tried to get out of here, finally realizing he couldn't be here anymore.
Finally recovering, he ran away at night from this place. But Silius couldn't leave so easily. Finding the corpses of Idam and Ion, which he had heard they had thrown into a ditch, he found a note in their clothes, which contained the location of some village called Liberbet and the address of Latifa. After burying them he went to Gifu Pinkas' house where he was eager to avenge their deaths. But that required digging through the classified documents in the commander-in-chief's office, knocking out half the soldiers. And when he eventually located his house and was about to break in uninvited through the window he saw a light in the room where Gifu, and his family were eating late into the darkness happily chatting about something. It was obvious that the children, not yet talking, saying something in an inaudible language and the wife, who was feeding them, smiling all over. Silius was stunned at what he saw, he did not know what to do all these days being in prison he was seeking revenge, and having reached the goal he did not know what to do next. It pained him to see such a thing and to realize that it was this man who had killed his friends ruthlessly, thinking he had done the right thing. But it wasn't his family's fault for living a quiet life. When the light bulb in the room turned off and everyone went back to sleep, Silius decided to finish what he had started.
He was about to quietly drag the sleeping man outside when he noticed that Gifu wasn't sleeping at all. He had to knock him out immediately afterwards and take him outside.
A few hours later
— Huh? Where am I? What happened?! — Gifu asked into the void, completely tied up and far away from the city.
— Do you think you did the right thing in killing Idam and Jon? — Silius asked in a serious tone. Gifu came to his senses and saw the figure across from him.
— What are you doing Aylan! How did you even get out of prison? — Gifu tried to move his body, which was unsuccessful.
— I repeat, you think you did the right thing, taking the lives of innocent people. — in an even darker voice, saying the words.
— Yes! They're not people, they're monsters that could kill us!
— Do you know what they like? What they like, what they think about, what they are interested in? Do you know anything about them?!
— I-
— You didn't care! You're such a disgusting person without even realizing it. You didn't recognize the situation right away and went out to kill. What would happen if I did the same thing to your family?
— Don't you dare touch them! — he yelled.
— Why not? What if they are also a threat to us and can attack us at any time, eh?
— They're just people! I'm pretty sure they're not capable of such a thing! — Gifu was indignant.
— I think your wife is definitely up to something.
— She wouldn't hurt a fly! You don't even know her! — when Gifu finished, he slowed down a bit, surprised by his own words.
— That's right, Pinkas! Exactly! Idam and Ion loved you all so much that they never thought of any wrongdoing in their lives. They were just children who admired us. They told me many times how beautiful our country is, that the people here are wonderful so many questions asked how we live and how to have biceps like us. They just wanted to be friends with us. And you killed them just because they were Luciuses! Just because of that! Even probably without ever seeing these creatures you thought they were dangerous, and who gave you the right to kill them!!!!! Who!!! I could do the same thing to you right now and what would you do?!! — without any stopping in a single breath he shouted he Gifu in a blaze. Because of which there was a sepulchral silence, where the bound man just stared fearfully at Silius with his mouth open fully realizing what he had done.
Please don't kill me, my family can't survive without me. I am their breadwinner, and the children, how will grow up without a father. — he pleaded.
— You should have thought before... — whispered Silius without emotion slightly covering his eyelashes. And raising his hand upwards in his palm began to accumulate magic.
— Wha- what magic?!
— Goodbye...Centrum Saul!
— Noooooo!!!!
Already finally realizing that he couldn't be saved, he tearfully thought of his family. The ones he would never see again, with his head down. But he felt no pain and after waiting a few more seconds he looked at Silius, who was holding a clot of power in his hand.
— Don't get excited ahead of time, I just needed your face!
— AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! — the instantly bound man felt a strong burning sensation, on his face, which was like lava burning him without stopping. Twisting his head back and forth, he tried to soothe the pain, but nothing worked. It lasted for about 30 minutes, he thought, until the pain slowly receded, leaving only the burning sensation of the place.
— Am I...ah...ah...am I alive? — as if praying, he asked anyone as long as it was true.
— Unfortunately, you'll live, but you'll have a scar on your face for the rest of your life so you know what you've done.
— Thank you, God! And I'm sorry, I beg your pardon! I'm sorry. I'll never kill anyone else in my life. I'll get a new job and pray in church just to be forgiven.
— In this case, just saying sorry won't solve anything. The main thing is that you realize your mistake. — after saying that, Silius untied Gifu and left the town for the village of Liberbet. —————
After the end of the story Latifa cried tears — No, it can't be! My silly ones... — with her hands trying to wipe them away. In this long silence, only the sound of the crying maiden could be heard, which did not stop.
— I... I told them a hundred times that Luciuses shouldn't be here, that they could easily be killed or caught. I sought to help them as they were children. And their bright goals I wanted to keep, because they wanted to make friends among the humans and become friends themselves. But they did not listen to me, they left a note, where it was written that they will come back when they explore this country — said Latifa in a hoarse voice.
— You don't have to worry about their dreams. — Silius said with a sad smile — It was we who became friends with them during that time, and they were happy to know a lot about this land and people. Though I was not with them in their last moments. But I know for a fact That they would assure me to tell you not to worry about them anymore....
— Thank you for telling me. I... God, thank you. — the woman covered her face with her hands.
— *Bang! Bang!* — suddenly, there were violent explosions and noise outside. And it was no longer the screams of the residents' quarrels, it was the sound of terror in their voices. Latifah and Silius quickly jumped out of their chairs and ran to the window. When they looked out, they saw that the locals had gone mad and everything was exploding like dynamite.
Silius realized what was going on and took the woman in his arms and jumped out the window, covering her with his hands. Flying somewhere far away from the house, it exploded immediately.
— Aaah!!!" she screamed.
— Latifa it's not safe here you need to go outside the boundary of this village do you know a shortcut out of here?
— Yes, I do. — she answered in a frightened voice.
— Then go ahead. Don't get too close to the houses. — he said one last time, and then the girl ran away.
Silius took a breath — I can't be without problems, — he smiled slightly and looked to where the noise was loudest. — It seems that Saif's shop is trashed there, they won't let him fulfill my order properly. We should help. — getting to his feet, he went ahead while people were running back.