Raven

The man was swinging a sword up and down. He was wearing black pants but for some unknown reason, his top was removed. As he moved his arms, his prominent muscles were visibly twitching, shrinking, and expanding. Sweat was dripping down his face and back, indicating that he had been training for a while.

'I mean, I know the weather is hot and all but... You can't just go around half naked! What if someone sees you? Are you not embarrassed? There are kids living in this village, have a little bit of shame!'

I clicked my tongue and turned around, intending to sneak out of this place before I get noticed.

"What are you doing here?"

However, before I could even move two steps back, the black bastard's voice stopped me in my tracks. I swallowed a curse and turned my head halfway towards the man who had stopped swinging his sword and was staring at me instead.

"I was taking a walk. Are there any problems with that?"

The black-haired man raised an eyebrow.

"Weren't you injured?"

"Your friend treated me so I'm fine. Have a good night!"

I cut the conversation and hastened my steps, walking away from the small house where the man was training it.

"You could've avoided getting injured if you wanted... couldn't you? But you simply accepted the attack meant to kill you as if it was nothing much."

But then, I froze on my spot.

"You had the power to do it."

"..."

'What is he talking about?'

There is no way he knows about 'that' as well, is there? No, there can't be!

"I don't know what you are talking about. I want to go sleep, goodnight."

Not even glancing at the man's face, I responded to him in a cold voice and attempted to move again, only to stop for a second time after hearing his words.

"You know blue hair might cause you some problems in the empire. If it's really a dye, then it's better to change it to another color as soon as possible."

"..."

I don't know when my hand had moved up, but before I realized it, I was grabbing my hair and pulling it down forcefully. A few strands of hair swayed in the air and fell down to the ground and some were dangling in between my fingers.

"I... I...Currently, I don't h-have the money to do that..."

I moved down my hand, pulling out a bunch of hair that was trapped in my clenched fist. The dark-blue hairs wavered in the air, floating freely and dancing in the wind.

"How come you had the money to dye it before?"

The man sneered as if he was enjoying teasing me. His tone was that of pure ridicule and mockery, and his stance was of someone who was looking down at the others. In normal circumstances, I would've gotten mad enough to think about beating the shit out of the bastard, but I didn't get angry this time. The only thing I could feel was a nervousness spreading inside of me and a sudden rush of stress. My heartbeat had risen for no reason by the mention of my hair color and it was getting a little bit hard to breathe.

"That's none of your business."

"Is that so?"

Tap

Before I knew it, the man had walked out of the yard of the house and was leaning on the wooden fence on the other side of the road.

"Your name was Ian, right?"

"...."

I didn't look at him. I was busy covering my hair with my hands despite knowing that it would do nothing. I wanted to run away, but that was futile against this man. He could catch up to me in a second even if I ran.

'Damn it, I just wanted to take a walk!'

The man was silent for a few seconds as if waiting for my answer. To his response, I nodded my head silently.

"Is that your true name?"

Flinch

The words made my body uncontrollably jolt up a little bit, which didn't escape the sharp eyes of the black-haired man. Under the faint light of the nearby houses and the silver moonlight, a smile could be seen forming on the man's lips.

"So, you don't know who I am?"

With my hands still tightly grabbing my hair, I shook my head from side to side. I knew that I must've seen this man years ago, but I couldn't remember him. That meant I didn't know him.

"Well, I can't be sure either. I'm probably mistaken... Hmm, right. Mistaken." With a quick movement, the man stood straight and took a few steps forward. "Cause, there is no way this can be true..."

He seized me up and down, his voice cold and emotionless all of a sudden. He examined the servant clothes that I had put on when coming to a walk with narrowed eyes and clenched his fists slightly.

'What?'

Is there something wrong with my clothes? Why is he pissed off all of a sudden? Is he going to attack me? Did he really recognize me? Should I run away?

While I was considering my choices and chances of survival, the black-haired bastard took a deep breath and stepped to the side, turning his back to me and walking to the home he came out of. While doing so, he casually waved his hand in the air.

"I won't tell anything to anyone." He paused in front of the door and turned his head halfway towards me.

"Raven."

'Huh?'

I stood in the same position as before without even lifting my hands from my hair and waited for the man to leave, but he didn't.

"...."

"...."

I waited for a few more seconds, but he didn't even turn his head around. After about five or six seconds, he said once again.

"Raven!"

"...Pardon?"

I tilted my head, slowly releasing my grip on my hair.

"That's what they call me."

"Oh!"

Raven? His name is Raven? Seriously? Isn't that a little bit... Um... Strange?

As I was scared of this black bastard- no, Raven, I didn't ask any further and just nodded my head in understanding.

'Actually, I don't care about your name. I hope I'll never get to call you because I never see your face ever again!'

I held those words back as well and ran away from the place as fast as I could once Raven entered the house.

I couldn't sleep at all. I was busy considering my escape routes and future plans until Ralph and Ranger woke up.

'But I can't run away until I don't find out the truth about Alaric...'

And that young master of mine keeps acting more and more strange. His words from yesterday were so bizarre that I couldn't find any explanations for them.

'Can't I run and hide somewhere until this Raven dude forgets me? I can then return and search about Alaric's memory loss... Or I can hire people to do it for me... I can even keep studying anything related to this problem when I'm in hiding...'

Yes. Let's do that. Goodbye, my new strange young master who fed me delicious food. This version of yours will forever remain in my heart as one of the few rare good people who gave out food unconditionally. I hope you never regain your memories~

'Well then, when and how should I run away?'

I still have the money Alaric gave me a few days ago for helping him out at the dinner party with that duke's son. I can use that to live for a while. As for how I can sneak out of the group and run away unnoticed... I'll manage to pull a prank on them once we arrive at the jungle!

"Hehe~"

Not holding back my chuckle, I stood up from the bed and walked out of the room.

"Brother Ian! Brother Ian! Good morning!"

In the corridor, Ralph started to jump up and down as soon as he saw me. He was holding a trail of food that threatened to fall down when the kid suddenly jumped up.

"Good morning."

I grabbed the trail, preventing its content from falling to the ground, and pulled it out of the kid's hand to hold it myself.

"Brother Ian, young master said I could read his books! He said I could read them once I learn how to read and write! Old Ranger said he could help me with that!"

Ralph's face was flushed red from excitement and his eyes were sparkling like stars. It made me realize something I had not paid attention to in the past few days.

'Isn't Ralph a lot more energetic since we embarked on this journey?'

He was not like how he was in the mansion. He looked much more mature there, but now he acts like a kid his age. Is it because of the change in the environment? I don't really know, but whatever it is, I guess it's good.

Yeah, it's good.

I held the trial with both hands and walked to Alaric's room.

"Good for you then."

"Yeah~"

The kid followed me while jumping up and down.