Chapter 1: Prologue - Hunt

"You damned cheater!"

Hearing the words of his friend, Fen didn't even bother to turn his head around. Every single time he would get greater score during the hunt, Bazil would start the same argument, with the same words, as if hoping that someday Fen would bother to actually admit to cheating.

"How many times do I need to repeat myself. It's not like this flame of mine is of any use while hunting!" Raising his free hand to the level of his head, Fen gently blew on the fire covering his palm, instantly ridding it off from his arm. "I know you can't bear the fact that I'm a better hunter, but are you really going to start this messy topic again?"

As much as this kind of exchange could be considered a sign of rivalry between the two young men, there wasn't even a single hint of negative feelings on their faces! Rather than that, while Fen looked slightly annoyed by this repetitive discussion, Bazil had this strange glint in his eyes, indicating that there was a deeper meaning to his words.

"Anyway, isn't today my turn to bring the spares?"

Suddenly changing the topic as the two of them passed by the line of the trees and entered the huge clearing in the forest, Bazil looked away, as if his expression could betray his thoughts.

"Is this how you are repaying me for saving your ass all those years ago? And you even have the guts to call me a cheater…" Shaking his head in disbelief, Fen didn't even bother stopping as he continued to walk on a path leading towards the sizeable hut hidden in the corner of the clearing. "Those who cheat will always call everyone else a cheater, to hide their own cheating, you cheater!"

Summing the entire situation up with a giggle, Fen continued on the path that crossed the vast vegetable field. Ever since the two of them took over the hunting part from the old Beyar, rather than just wasting his time on doing nothing, he invested it into turning this place into his retirement area. And so far, he was doing great!

"Fen, Bazil, come in."

Even before they could knock on the doors or announce their arrival in any other way, the old hunter already called them inside.

"His hearing… It will never cease to amaze me." Summing up the internal reaction that the two of them had, Bazil dropped the earlier discussions, turning nearly completely silent. Just as if he didn't want to disturb their old mentor's peace.

"Sir, in total, we have brought nine hares, four mistbirds and one young piglet."

Reporting the haul, Fen dropped the game that he hunted on a nearby table, watching how Basil did the same with a small grin of shame on his face. Even a blind man could see that his portion of the haul was far smaller than what Fen brought!

"Great, you can hop in to get the meat tomorrow. For my part…" Finally coming out from the darkness of the inner chamber of the hut, an old man with slightly hunched back appeared. "I will get the piglet, five hares and three mistbirds." With just a single look at the game placed on the huge table, he calculated the ratio in which the haul would be split, before pulling out several coins from the pouch attached to his belt.

"Two silvers and five coppers."

Throwing the coins directly onto the table, the old man grabbed the rope to which the game was bound before throwing the entire haul on his back.

"Also, the carrots seem to be ripe already. Get some and pass them to the orphanage for me. Consider it as a small bonus from me." Smiling warmly as only an old grandpa like him could do, Beyar turned his hunched back around and once again disappeared into the darkness of the inner chamber.

"I guess we will get to eat a nice stew today," Fen commented.

With the lovely gift from their mentor, all the previous disagreement that the two young men had was forgotten. After all, it wasn't that often for them to be able to enjoy such filling and nutritious dinner!

"Let's not waste our time then!" Basil replied.

Even despite their initial, slight argument, when faced with such a nice prospect for the near future, no man could hold to his silly points. In the face of the constant hunger that all the villages had to suffer, being able to eat a warm soup with both meat and vegetables was something that only those pricks from the cities could scoff at!

But as quickly as they managed to harvest several carrots from the garden that covered nearly the entirety of the clearing, as soon as they reached the village outskirts, both of the young men stopped in their tracks.

"Visitors? Isn't the tax collector due to come next month?"

Basil was the first one to react to this unorthodox sight. The shortest way to get to the imperial road, lead directly through the thickest and most dangerous parts of the forest. That's why both the officials from the lord's mansion and even the travelling merchants would come here only on a strict schedule. Yet for some unannounced quests to appear so randomly, there were only strict few ways to explain their arrival!

"It is. If my eyes are not cheating me, the marking on the sides of the carriages…" Straining his eyes, Fen assumed his hunting position, with one knee on the ground and his hands shielding his eyes from the sunlight. Yet, even after he inspected the sight, rather than moving back up and picking up the pace, only his hands fell down to his sides as his lips started to tremble. "It seems it's an inquisition."

As great of a day, it would be for most of the villagers, with the possibility of leaving this poor village for the sake of turning into Dragon's apostle, this wasn't the case for Fen nor anyone close with him. From how he was able to call forth his flames even before the initiation rite, the chances were that the inquisition would consider him either a heretic or a genius!

And as a matter of fact, Fen wasn't willing to take this gamble!

"Listen, " Basil suddenly picked up. "I will get back to the orphanage and act as I would do normally. If they came here just for the rite, I won't do anything, but if they are here for the hunt…" There was no need to finish the sentence. If the quota forced by the main temple on the inquisitors was not meet, they wouldn't stop from burning down several innocents under false accusations!

"If they are here for a hunt, I will send Galia to pick up some more vegetables at the old Beyar's hut."

With the thread of the silent understanding connecting the two friends, Fen looked up and nodded his head.

"Thanks. Let's hope this will be the last time we have to hide away like that. From next year onwards, I will be able to lie my way out by claiming to have a poor talent, but until then, I will have to count on you!"

With everything said and done, the two friends shook their hands while exchanging determined looks. The next moment, Basil was already moving down the road towards the village while holding to the one mistbird they claimed for themselves, while Fen stood up and retreated back where they came from.

But as tense as the situation could be for him, as slowly as time was passing while he was openly sitting on the bench beside Beyar's hut, there were no events indicating that something went wrong.

'As useful as it can be at times, I really wish I was born without it.'

Thinking to himself, Fen played around with a small spark jumping on top of his fingers. To his surprise, by the time the sun started to set, the old man came out of the hut with a small bowl filled with some kind of porridge.

"Eat up. Whether they will try to hunt you or not, you still need to have strength in yourself. Isn't tomorrow your woodcutting duty?"

Despite the entire conversation about the inquisition taking place already outside of the clearing, Beyar seemed to understand what was going on. But it wasn't a huge surprise either. With how eager the two of them were to pluck some carrots and see them turned into a proper meal, something enormous had to happen for Fen to go back and just rest on his bench like that!

"Thank you, master."

The old man's words were true. While Fen alone could easily earn his keep with hunting alone, with how he and Galia were the only two grown-ups in the entire orphanage with the exception for the old and handicapped nun, all the laborious task required to sustain the everyday existence of his home were pushed on his shoulders.

As much as the prospect of leaving this rotten place and seeking fortune in the wider world appealed to the young man, abandoning Galia, his foster mother and all of his brothers and sisters to their fate, was not something he was willing to do!

"Fen!"

Out of nowhere, just as the sun was about to hide behind the line of the trees, a sweet voice resounded in the area.

'Looking at the time, they most likely left already.'

Taking a quick look at the position of the sun, Fen stood up and looked towards the direction where the voice was coming from. But all the relief he felt from hearing his foster sister voice disappeared when he saw the expression of utter panic on her delicate face.

"They are on the hunt!"