Chapter 2: Mysterious ring

It was afternoon and the dazzling rays of sunlight piercing through the trees as two figures could be seen heading towards the windstar village.

They were precisely Logan and Sylvia.

"Sylvia, you don't seem to be one of the villagers. Are you a traveller?" Logan asked in a questioning gaze as he starred at her fancy clothes.

He knew that his piece of rags would never be comparable to her otherworldly dress.

"Oh! you can say that. My brother and I were finally allowed to leave the castle, so we are on a mission of exploring as many places we can visit!"

Sylvia said as he acted like some bird freed from its cage. Seeing her cute actions made Logan feel warmth in his heart.

He was extremely happy that the first person he met after he came to this world was Sylvia because it's time that he was able to laugh so heartily.

He didn't disturb Sylvia as she continued talking about her ambitions and goals.

He was also giving attention to what she was saying, especially, the 'castle'.

After hearing Sylvia talk for some time, his best guess was that she was from a noble family, even being a royal is a possibility. He had two reasons for this crazy guess. First,although she acts silly like a little girl, she was well-versed in etiquette and discipline and in his experience as a worker, this type of air was only emitted by prestigious figures and were in a top position in the world.

Second, her attire was really eye-catching. Even the mayor who had control over all the nearby villages can be considered dust in front of her.

Logan kept thinking about other possibilities and Sylvia continued her babbling.

After some time of walking, Logan and Sylvia could see the silhouette of houses in a distance.

Sylvia ran towards it and Logan followed her.

After coming out of the jungle, they were standing on a small cliff from where they could see the whole village.

The village was not too big. The houses were made stones and woods. Some people could be seen walking on the small roads and a young man about 10 to 12 years old standing near the entrance of the village anxiously. It seems like he was looking for something.

"Brother!" Sylvia cried out as she dashed out at full speed and hugged the youth. It seems like he was her brother.

The youth was tall and had a well-refined body. He had white hair similar to Sylvia and his chrome coloured eyes were comparable to hawks. His sharp facial features were right now emitting a sense of caring and tenderness as he hugged the little girl in his arms tightly.

"Little Syl! I've been looking everywhere for you. Do you know how worried I was? If something happened to you...I won't be able to forgive myself!" the youth cried out with tears in his eyes.

Seeing this, Sylvia also started crying as she hugged her brother even tightly.

"I'm sorry brother...I was sooo scared!hik* I was alone...and...hik*...there were these weird sounds...waahhh!!!" Sylvia's started crying even more more miserably.

Her cry was so loud that even the passerby were holding their ears while walking. Even Logan was surprised by her extraordinary talent in crying. Seeing this, he could only sigh and let the brother and sister pair reunite with each other.

After some time, they both left each others embrace and the boy starred at Logan with a curious gaze.

"Brother, this is Logan. He was the one who helped me come out of the forest!" Sylvia said while hugging an arm of Logan.

Logan found her actions cute and let her be.

The youth starred at the boy at the boy for a seconds is if he was analysing him.

This made Logan shudder as he sweated profusely. 'Did I do something wrong? Why is this guy starring at me as if he met his nemesis?!' these were the thoughts running in Logan's mind.

After some moments of dreadful starring, the youth smiled with a relieved expression on his face

and thought, 'Seems like a good person...'

"Hello, my name is Lukas and as you can guess, I'm Sylvia's older brother"he said.

Logan also sighed in relief seeing that the

teenager in front of him has calmed down.

"Nice to meet you too. Sylvia has been looking for you everywhere"

Hearing this, Lucas' eyes softened as he caressed the hair of the girl in front of him. Sylvia also seemed to be enjoying this.

"Sylvia told me that you both were travelling different places. It must be fun right?" Logan asked.

Hearing this, Lucas' eyes twitched and had a awkward smile on his face. Logan didn't continue to ask questions seeing Lucas' awkward smile.

"Anyways, thank you for helping my sister. l would definitely compensate you for this" Lucas said with a gratifying voice.

"No" Logan sternly refused. For him, helping Sylvia was like helping a child in need. He would never ask compensation for something like this.

Seeing the boy's reaction, Lucas was surprised as he had a newfound respect for the boy in front of him. But he was not going to give up this easily.

"Please! I insist" he said.

"Come on Logan, just accept it!"

Sylvia also started requesting Logan to accept their compensation. Seeing this, Logan was helpless. Then a idea flashed in his head.

"Alright. I'll accept your compensation but l will decide what it would be"

"Okay"

"No problem"

The siblings were curious about what the kid infront of them would ask.

"So...what l want is that you both become my friends" Logan said with a resolute voice

Both the siblings were startled by his request. Instead of asking for silver and gold, Logan asked them to become his friends.

"B-But..." before Lucas could say anything, Logan cut him short.

"No buts. You said l can decide what l want or is it that I'm not worthy of being your friend?" Logan said while pouting, acting as if he was angry.

Seeing this, Lucas just sighed while admiring the boy in front of him. In this world, people were ready to do anything in order to get some money, even commit murder. The same goes for kids...Atleast among the ones he knew.

But the boy in front of him was completely different. Not only does he not want any rewards but instead wanted to be his friend. This made him feel warmth inside his heart.

Lucas just kept smiling while Sylvia had a confused expression on her face.

"What are you talking about? Aren't we already friends" she said.

Logan scratched his head and said, "uhh...I am friends with you but I am not with your brother so I asked him to compensate by being my friend!"

"wait! Then my brother has compensated you I have not!" Sylvia said racking something out of her small pouch. I wondered what would there be in that small pouch that she is searching through it like there is an infinite space inside it.

"wait! you don't need to..." before Logan could finish Lucas cut him short.

"you have to accept my sister's gift Logan. Only that would be the right thing to do" he said with a huge grin on his face.

Logan fumed in anger on hearing Lucas' invisible provocation. He then just sighed and let the loli in front of him search inside her pouch.

"finally! I found it!" she said while pulling out a ring from her pouch.

The ring looked like it was made of silver but had a blackish glow on its surface. It had a purple stone embedded on it and it looked like it had life. Logan was instantly mesmerized by it. His body was telling him to go closer to that ring.

Seeing his reaction, Sylvia started giggling. She who seen always seen the mature side of Logan found this side of him cute.

Meanwhile, Lucas had a shocked expression on his face. It was like someone was taking his wife away from him.

He dragged Sylvia to a corner and talked to her in a hushed voice.

"Little Syl, that's the conqueror's ring. Nobody in our kingdom has been able to use it so we don't know what it's capable of. Those who used force had their lifeforce taken away. Only you are able touch it freely because of your blessing...are you really sure you want to give it away? It might also harm Logan" he said.

"Don't worry brother, I'll protect Logan if something unusual happens. Don't forget that we were also tasked to find a suitable owner for this ring. Besides, I have a feeling that that he might give us a surprise!" she said with a mischievous tone while fiddling the ring in her finger.

Logan who saw their secret discussion frowned.

"Umm... it is an expensive ring, I don't want it" or so he says, but he kept starring at the ring intensely. In reality, he was not willing to refuse this gift. He really wants that ring. His mind is shouting him to run and snatch that ring away from Sylvia's hand. Right now, he was trying his best not to attack his friend like some hooligan.

Lucas and Sylvia who had not noticed this stopped their discussion and gave a side-long glance to him.

"Don't worry! it's not as bad as you think"

"Although it might be a little costly, it's my way of returning the favour" Sylvia said while walking towards him till she was face to face in front of him.

"Show me your left hand"

Logan did as she said and held out his left hand.

Sylvia brought his hand towards her and inserted the ring in his ring finger.

The moment the ring was inserted, Logan entered a trance-like state as his mind was transferred to another place.