Poor boy.

It was a beautiful morning. The sun was rising, creating a gorgeous scene as the daybreak sunlight leaked through the gap between the buildings. William was going to work with a happy smile on his face.

'Boss said that if I can sell the new item quickly, I'd be promo-' William's mind blanked.

The usual shop he was more than accustomed had a giant hole in its wall, and in front of it was a red haired woman in a red dress staring at a dagger covered with blood.

'Oh, hell no.' William immediately turned around, but just as he did, he heard a hoarse sound.

"Excuse me." Phina said without taking her eyes off the dagger, almost like she was afraid it would jump from her hand into her neck. "Do you know where the Kinus clinic is?"

"Y-Y-Yes! It's in that direction!" William pointed towards the west.

"I'm...kind of occupied here. Can you lead me there?" Phina said as she shook the dagger in her hand. The blood had already dried up and clotted on the blade.

"I..." William was currently shaking in his boots. 'She's not even looking at me, she's a damn psychopath!!'

"Just...help me." Phina said as her voice cracked.

William grit his teeth as he decided. He approached Phina slowly. The young man gulped as he asked, "A-Are you hurt?"

"I can't feel my back." Phina said helplessly.

"Here." Phina jumped in fear as William offered her his hand. That was when she looked up at the man in front of her. He had messy black hair and wore a casual white collared shirt along with black pants. The man looked to be 18 or 19 years of age, though his somewhat muscular build made him look a bit older.

"T-Thanks..." Phina trailed off for a bit. William smiled nervously as he introduced, "William. William Acuter."

"Call me Phina." Phina said as she lightly chuckled. 'Acuter...seriously?'

She accepted William's hand just for her to lose whatever strength she had to keep her body from collapsing. She immediately passed out.

"I swear, she's so irresponsible." Phina heard Kara's voice vaguely.

"We should chase her away. That way, the Sparks will let us be." Fardo said.

'Shit...guess I'm on my own now.' Phina thought as she pretended to still be asleep.

"No. She only did what she did to protect me and Jack." Kara protested. "Should my dad and I abandon you if you ever offend a noble to protect me?"

"Yes." Fardo said seriously.

"I..." Kara grit her teeth. "she's my friend, Fardo...she's my FIRST actual friend. Please."

"I agree with Kara." Phina heard Jack's voice while the darkness of her eyelids covered the scene.

"Jack, you stay out of this." Fardo said threateningly.

"Or what?" Jack said with disdain. He was currently disgusted by his brother's attitude. What Fardo was doing was the equivalent of biting the hand that feeds you. She helped them and he was trying to throw her for the wolves. "What are you going to do to me, Fardo? Spank me? Tell me to sit in the corner? Or are you going to take away my toys? Get your head out of your ass! I'm a young man and you're a fully grown-ass man! What kind of man sells out his wife's savior and friend?!"

"Shut your damn mouth, boy!!" Fardo slammed a table.

"Enough!" Marrow's voice appeared. "Both of you calm down. Leave the Sparks to me, you just need to cooldown and hide her here."

"Ugh...what the hell?" Phina pretended to wake up. "Where am I?"

"You're up." Kara sighed in relief.

Fardo exploded when he heard Phina, "You irresponsible dumbass!! Do you have any-"

"Shut the fuck up, Fardo." Jack said coldly. 'To think I looked up to this bastard...'

Fardo stood from the couch. They were currently in Kara's room. Jack was leaning on the doorway, while Kara was kneeling by the couch Phina was laying on right now. Kara's room was mostly a forest, but she had a small part of it that had two couches, a small table and a wardrobe. Meanwhile, Marrow, who was standing, looked at the 2 brothers. "Calm. Down."

Fardo grit his teeth to the point where they almost cracked. 'Why's this fucker acting so rebellious all of a sudden?!'

"Seraphina, what happened?" Marrow took off his glasses as he looked to Phina seriously. Phina didn't feel the gentle air around him previously. Right now, he was radiating an aura that commanded respect. He had the air of a true noble, not the spoiled children who inherited their position through their parents, but a man who worked to achieve his success!

"Assassins. Two of them." Phina tried to recall. She began to sweat a little as she remembered the previous night. "One was a woman named Rema, and the other was cloaked man."

"What were their ranks?" Fardo asked. 'I need to know how seriously the Sparks are willing to take this.'

"I...I don't know. One of them was strong enough to throw me through a wall, and the other was strong enough to jump several meters in the air while lifting the woman." Phina started to breathe heavily. 'Holy shit...thinking back, if the girl used any weapons, I'd be dead.'

"Roughly Late stage Beginner-rank and an Early stage Intermediate-rank then?" Fardo wondered aloud. "If they weren't going all out, then it would make sense how you came out on top. You probably scared them off."

"I...yeah. I scared them off." Phina thought to how she had a chance to kill the woman assassin. "Wait...how the hell did I get here?"

"A young man came by with you on his back. It wasn't easy for the crowd outside to let him through." Marrow said with a sigh. His commanding air going away with his sigh.

"Yeah, William Acu-...hehe." Phin chuckled as she remembered the man's name. "Crap! I didn't get to thank him."

Phina got up from the couch and felt an incredible amount of pain striking her back. She grunted as she forced herself to stand.

"Lay down!" Marrow rushed to get her to lay down on the couch. "Your spine was almost shattered. It's a miracle you can even stand."

"But I need to thank him!" Phina said earnestly.

"It's honestly hard to link the murderer aura from last night to you, Phina." Jack said with a sigh. "You almost died and the first thing you want to do is thank some dude for carrying you here."

"I could've died out there!" Phina pouted.

"We would've found you eventually." Jack scoffed.

"What were the chances of you finding me faster than the assassins who knew my exact location?" Phina smirked victoriously.

"Whatever..." Jack rolled his eyes before his eyebrows lifted in realization. "wait, why the hell did you leave?!"

"I heard a voice crying and calling my name." Phina looked to the side with embarrassment. 'If I just stuck with them, none of this would've happened.'

As soon as Phina's explained herself, everyone paled in horror. Everyone was silent.

"Thank god you were attacked." Jack sighed.

"What the hell, man?" Phina looked at him with a glare.

"We didn't hear the voice." Kara said quietly.

"You also didn't hear that Spark bitch order her subordinate, but I did." Phina said with confusion.

"There's a legend. An old wives' folktale." Marrow said as he sat on the couch next to Phina's couch, signaling for Kara and Fardo to sit with him. "There was once a small child that lived with his mother. They were poor...poor, but happy. They didn't need much. The little boy did everything in his power to make his mother smile, even if just for one second. His mother's smile was his treasure."

"Are you saying the boy was crying for his mother?" Phina asked.

"No. Let me finish." Marrow continued. "One day, a noble man took fancy to the boy's mother. He ordered for her to be taken into his castle and he ordered for the boy to be held as hostage, in case she ever tried to run away. The mother was made into a slave while the boy was imprisoned. He forced himself on the woman every night. The boy had extremely sharp senses. Since the noble didn't try to hide it, the boy heard them every night. Slowly but surely, the boy's rage kept boiling to an extreme. It had reached a climax when he heard that he had half brothers from noble birth. He escaped. He swore to slaughter all nobles."

"But what about the Enforcers?" Phina asked with a slight rage in her tone. "Shouldn't they be protecting the commoners from the nobles?"

"See, that's the funny thing about the story." Marrow chuckled helplessly. Even the worst noble he knew wasn't as bad as this noble. "The boy grew stronger, dedicating his life to power. By the time he became strong enough to take back his mother, he learned that the moment she heard he escaped, she took her own life. He accepted the fact as it had been a few decades since he escaped. He was a grown man now. Both the noble and his mother were both dead. After processing it for a bit, he decided to visit his siblings and introduce himself to them. They immediately accepted him, he was a man with enough power to threaten a Royal Family in its entirety. As he grew to accept his new life, he asked his siblings about their mother's grave. They replied with 'She's in the dump, brother.' and laughed. In a fit of rage, the man slaughtered every noble in that kingdom, and then went on a quest to destroy the concept of nobility. Of course, with the order of the entire world in jeopardy, His Eternal Majesty approached the man and offered him a gift for his strength. The man refused, saying something about how the world's nobles needed to learn how to be humans. His Majesty said that it was a shame, giving him a different gift. That gift was the authority to establish a force to keep the nobles in check. Thus, the Enforcers' Exodia was established, allowing only commoners to join. When the man was about to die, he approached His Majesty once more. He asked to become an eternal spirit, forcing nobles who faked their records to join the Enforcers to go on a rampage, killing as many nobles as possible before they take their own lives."

"Are you saying he was going to make me kill you guys?" Phina looked at Kara and Marrow in fear.

"It is only a legend, yet this legend explains a lot of incidents in the past." Marrow sighed. "Good thing you didn't reach the voice to find out."

"Poor boy lost his mom, his happiness and his humanity..." Phina said with a sad sigh.