Chapter 70: Returning with Full Hands (I)

"All set." Seleri's firm voice broke the silence as he gripped the rope tightly, pulling it to adjust the tension. Beside him, Bit Boy worked with the same efficiency, his agile hands ensuring each knot was perfectly tied.

Together, they raised the tent, the thick fabric stretching to form an improvised shelter. It was not only functional but also carefully planned.

Seleri secured the ladders against the sturdy fabric while Bit Boy continued adjusting the seams. The boy had a talent for crafting high-quality materials, and he did it without ever complaining about his position. He was efficient , Seleri believed even more than himself.

The tent, which once seemed small and awkward, now began to transform into a safe and protected space.

Seleri paused for a moment, assessing the work with a critical eye before giving a brief nod of approval.

"It's stable. This will hold."

They finished at the same time Dril returned from the woods. She was dragging a boar, the animal wounded at the nape, a clean strike that hadn't even drained blood. And by the way Dril pulled it, it was much fatter than the last one.

At Seleri's direct order, Bit touched the ground. A wave of Cosmic Energy began to spread, like an invisible pulse of light vibrating through the air. As his fingers rose, something started to take shape. At first, it was just a hazy outline, like a shadow sculpted in the void. Then, gradually, the wooden structure began to emerge.

The table materialized with intricate details, the planks were sturdy, without visible marks.

When the table was finally complete, Bit lowered his hand carefully, and the energy that sustained it seemed to stabilize. He stepped back, admiring the object with a hint of exhaustion, while Seleri approached to inspect the result.

"Good work," he murmured, approving with a brief nod.

Dril threw the boar onto the long table.

"Ugh, I'm exhausted." She pulled a crate near the tent and used it as a seat beside the table. "Siny isn't back yet? I thought I'd take longer than her."

"She's still scouting the area." Seleri lifted the machete Bit had forged days ago. He was still impressed by the boy's flawless creations. "We have time before we reach Triscon."

Dril shrugged, unconcerned. She simply lay on the part of the table not occupied by the animal.

"You look a bit down, Seleri."

The blade still gleamed under the sunlight, but he saw his own reflection. Black hair and deep-set eyes. A thick beard and lips chapped by the early winter cold. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen himself in a reflection, but it was not a comforting sight.

"Today's not a good day." He raised the knife and brought it down against the boar's neck. "In fact, it's a terrible day."

"It'll take a little longer before they leave," Marcus said to the seated people. "Where I live, Lady Clara will take care of things. There's room for everyone. And we can bring everything you need."

It was a bit difficult to explain to them that Clara never needed anything, not payments, not supplies. These people had been exploited so much that they refused to accept staying in a place without having something to offer in return.

He didn't blame them for their thoughts. GreamHachi had rules, but how would they enter if they had been born outside the city's gates?

"We made a deal," said one of the women, clutching a small bag, protecting her only belongings with fierce determination. "They promised us land. A place to farm."

"Oh." Marcus understood immediately. "The Feudal Aquarium."

"And they said they'd pay us," another added, more fearfully. "But when we got here, we realized they never would. That guy kept calling us Impure and Stained. He killed my friend last week."

So, they were still deceiving city dwellers just to get free labor. They offered homes, land, and food, sending them from one city to another to gather their own resources. And once they arrived, they were discarded outside.

The fear of being devoured by a Felroz at night was smaller than the fear of having nowhere safe to go.

The Feudal Aquarium had that name for a simple but cruel reason: only those born within the city were deemed worthy of enjoying its waters, its security, its wealth. A closed privilege, reserved for an elite that thrived on exclusion, leaving behind all others, those on the margins, those not born within its walls.

That name hammered in Marcus's head every time he thought about his family. He was no different from so many others who looked in from the outside, yearning for something that seemed so close but would always remain out of reach.

That was his reality until he reached adulthood and met Clara.

She was not part of the elite that controlled the Feudal Aquarium, but she had something Marcus had never known how to seek: a vision of the world beyond those walls, an idea that maybe there was something more, something different, something possible.

With Clara, he finally found a reason to look beyond what the Aquarium represented. But as time passed and reality set in, he realized that what he wanted most was precisely the opposite of what he had once longed for.

The Feudal Aquarium would never open its gates for anyone, but he would not be the same.

Not for himself, but because someone had shown it was possible to survive in the chaos: Dante.

It had been a long journey. Dante had taken a while to get there with only Marcus. Now, with all these people following in weary steps, he wouldn't dare pick up the pace. When he looked to Marcus on his right, he gave a brief nod.

The sharpshooter raised his hand in response.

"Great. We're almost there."

His words lifted the spirits of those behind them. More than thirty people, yet they had left behind much of the collected supplies in crates, knowing it wasn't worth the struggle to carry everything to the shelter.

Dante didn't know what Marcus had told them, but it had been enough to rid them of the idea that GreamHachi was the ideal place. And speaking of that, their faces held clear apprehension whenever they saw Juno walking beside them.

She felt their gazes, their fear, and nervousness about being in the same space and heading to the same place. Dante couldn't hide it, but the right thing was the right thing.

"The plan will work," Jix said from his shoulder. "Even if they don't accept the girl, she has potential. If GreamHachi got their hands on her, she'd be nurtured with more rage and hatred than she already has."

"Oh, I doubt that." Dante walked with a hand on his waist, chuckling. "Who knows what someone can do when they don't like where they are? Once, I tried to run away from my parents' house. Got a beating so bad I still have the scars. Some lessons are meant to be learned, but that was the day I understood my father didn't hit me because he wanted to, he trained me to be strong."

"And you became strong."

Dante noticed Juno had gotten closer, listening to his story. The boredom in her expression had been replaced by endless curiosity. It was as if something had awakened inside her, as if the world around her had become a vast puzzle full of questions.

There was hunger in her eyes, a relentless search for understanding. What did she want to know? Dante was almost certain it was about her own abilities and, more than that, the fight they had.

"You seem better. That kick to your chest wasn't intentional, but I had to hit hard to keep you from landing a blow."

She nodded a few times.

"It doesn't hurt, sir. How… did you train?" She looked ahead, thoughtful. "It's kind of strange, but… I want to know how you got this strong."

"Oh, you mean old?" Dante shrugged. "Age catches up with us all."

"No, no. How you got strong, sir." Juno pointed at his arm. "How did you learn to use your strength like that?"

With each movement, he dictated the rules of what Dante could or could not do with his ability, always limiting his potential, always trying to shape him within a controlled space.

"You can do much more than this, but you need to know when and how to use it. Energy is not a tool for showing off; it is a force that demands respect," he would say, with that tone that allowed no disagreement.

Now, looking at Juno, Dante saw the same spark of curiosity in her eyes, a relentless drive to understand and master something that seemed impossible to grasp. He couldn't deny that her hunger reminded him of a time when he also craved more. But he also knew that if this desire wasn't guided correctly, it could consume someone, just as it had consumed him for so long.

"I can help you if you want," he risked saying in a playful tone. "But the only way I learned was by taking a beating, so you'll have to suffer like I did with my father. What do you think?"

"You're really going to teach me?"

Juno hardly seemed to believe it.

"Of course, why not? It's not that complicated, it just takes time." He pointed upward. "Look at the sky. Winter is coming. And this old man on my shoulder teaches me too, you know? Jix is my tutor."

Juno stared at Jix and made an exaggerated, somewhat clumsy bow.

"She seems to have a screw loose," Jix said, laughing. "A lot like you, Dante."

Dante looked away and remained silent, his own memories and feelings in conflict. Jix's words, though lighthearted, clung to him in a strange way, something he couldn't simply ignore.

After all, if Juno was really like Dante, then she would have the same struggles he had in wanting to learn.