1 Greenhorn

Courage is not always the best option, and Maou was about to discover it. He wielded a piece of a broken wooden spear in each hand, gripped them like daggers or even short swords. But even though he knew he could not beat Rong with it, he was not about to give it up.

Maou was just a boy, a human boy with about twelve autumns. Rong was a young man too, the same age. Nevertheless, the similarity between them went until then, because Rong was a beautiful example of the orc race, that is to say: tall, muscular and cruel. And Maou, even if he was not just a mere human since he was being forged in steel, not commom steel, but orchic steel, which made him stronger and even taller than ordinary humans.

Still, he was not strong enough to beat Rong. Maou kept his gaze on Rong, his eyes boiling with pure anger, a feeling so pure and primitive and even handsome to some. His adversary watched him with nothing but contempt as if Maou were not worthy to be breathing an air that was his alone.

Maou attacked, struck without even thinking about what he was doing. And this foolish act, added to his stupid courage, caused him to be humiliated again by Rong, wielding his mace of bone, from which he never distanced himself. He ducked with subtle movements from Maou's blows, and without effort turned his heavy mace and hit the boy's leg. At this moment, a crackle of bone broke through the air followed by an animalistic grunt of pain. Maou fell to the ground and banged his head on a stone being unconscious.

A few hours later Maou woke up with a heart racing, he wanted to continue the fight and thought he had just blinked. He tried to get up, fumbled around him for something to attack, but what he got was a slap in the head and an order between Mazzun's teeth to be still on the bed. Maou realized that his fight was over and that he had lost again, that he had once again been humiliated, and the worst of all was the pain he felt in his leg. He tried to get up to look at her, but when he did he realized that Mazzun was looking at him with a look that did not bring him any good memories. It's a little scary when a gigantic old orc rams.

- STAY QUIET AT LEAST FOR A FEW SECONDS. FOR THE GODS BOY. YOU JUST GET INTO TROUBLE! Mazzun was very nervous, Maou had seen him shout a few times, and that made his bad feeling thicker.

"Boy, I don't know what to do with you ... you know, sometimes I think that while you sleep, I should tie you to a rock and throw into the river." Mazzum cleared his throat, but in the middle of the speech, he began to smile.

While he tasted the pieces of fruits and meats that Mazzum had brought him, Maou thought of his depressing defeat.

"Well, I'm going to win one hour or another ..." he tried to convince himself, but every time he did, it was less certain than before.

Mazzun smiled at him and kept watching him as he quickly ate the fruits and meats. Maou laughed as he remembered why he was "admired" in his meals. Once, Mazzun told him that he looked like a mouse while he ate, and since then he was policing to see if that was true.

Even with a litlle good humor the boy was depressed and was not without reason, he was lower and lower in the hierarchy of the new warriors, and this was, without doubt, a bad thing, if he did not get some victory soon he could be expelled from the Tribe, at least it was the which he thought.

As if reading his thoughts Mazzun went outside to pick up some spears and training poles and led him to Maou.

-Well, it's time to train, I'll teach you some things, maybe you learn, maybe you do not lose so ridiculously again. After that nudge into the boy's wound, Mazzun began to laugh and say.

- Do not pretend that this leg is hurting, you can pick up all the time, but somehow I do not know and I think it is something of the Seven Hells, you are never hurt for more than a few minutes.

That was partly true, but whenever Mazzun said that Maou reminded him that he once fell from the apple tree and limped for two days, and yet the wound could heal, but the pain, it always continued for a long time.

And that damn time was for you to have died or been crippled, not just a little pain for a while, stupid kid. Mazzun thought.

Maou finished eating, got to his feet, and went to where Mazzun was waiting for him. They trained for hours and after Mazzun retired to go to The Patrol, Maou continued training, threw his spears and after some time took the heavy training stick and beat an old oak, he always did this same ritual, but every time I got to train for longer, and he would not stop until there was no force remaining.

The next day Maou woke up with the giant hunting dog licking him, stroked the dog's giant head and stood up. After eating the first meal of the day, he went about doing his chores. He kept the same ritual daily, was awakened by Thief, the hunting dog, and soon after breakfast he would take care of the animals. First, the battle horse and then the two traction horses, soon after he brought food to the swine and then went to the little waterfall to wash.

As he headed down the small road, as usual, Maou felt something different from everything he had ever felt before. He felt as if he were being hunted as if a very powerful presence was watching him. It made his blood freeze and even his courage vanished. Maou tried to search for his observer but found nothing. He continued his journey to the little waterfall, but he was suspicious of everything he saw or heard. From the small distance from the barn to the dirt road he stopped twice to check where the noises came from, and then from the road to the beginning of the Blessed Forest he no longer knew how many times he had stopped until he reached the waterfall.

Even feeling something, which until then was new to him: fear. He did not go down, I continue with what I wanted to do, take a nice shower.

Maou would return to the house with her thoughts still locked in the feeling he had felt. He was only a few steps away from the house when he realized there was someone behind him. In pure alarm, he found himself jumping as far as he could from behind him and prepared to fight.

What he saw was something he had never seen before, it was apparently an old man who was there, and what surprised him most was that this old man was human, just like him. Maou had never seen other humans.

The old man's voice surprised Maou, apparently a thunder from the air.

- Boy, your mistakes are not the mistakes of your enemies, but your weaknesses, these are not the weaknesses that your enemies would have ??? Your body is strong, but bodies are fragile. How do you know this? How come you do not know any of this?

At last the old man looked up at the sky and then at Maou.

- Where do the pains take longer to pass ???

After saying these last words the old man disappeared. But he did not disappear as if the wind was gone, but, as if consuming the fire, in a blink, Maou saw his body boiling, his eyes saw in the flames everything that was always there, he saw a blue fire in everything and then woke up.