10 Follow Me Strange Child

Finally got rid of the dead weight. Now that I think about it, I didn't level up at all after I killed him. Then again, he did get killed by a 5-year-old so he wasn't anyone worthwhile. Might as well check if I got some exp. 'Stat Screen - Levels'

[Name: Morgan Faust

Class: "Slightly" Insane Child

Title: Most Brolic 5-year-old

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

LV: 1 EXP: 10]

10 EXP, not bad for a first kill.

…I need to get help soon. Enough of that, time to review what I learned in this encounter. The seal is somewhat unstable, but still working, just not in optimal condition. I am not in the best condition mentally, I killed a man and felt nothing. Am I going to lay off the magic to fix it? No, I need magic to make me the most hench 5-year-old in the world.

Moving on, I learned that I am near civilization at last. How do I know this? Well, my master told me the biggest threat to the temple of Mulagir is Bulgar. What is Bulgar? It is only the largest city in Sacae and a major trading center. So that means there are people, people to talk to. Who knows, maybe one of them will take me in.

The point is, I can live there and forge meaningful bonds. Time to get some sleep and look for the city. I've been waiting for this moment, I don't want to screw it up.

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∩(・о・)∩ P.O.V change (???)

Ever since the baby was born I haven't had the time to do anything on my own. I could have brought some of the tribesmen with me, but I really need the alone time. I love my wife and daughter, but there are times when I like to enjoy the calmness of the plains, with my horse.

I see a pretty plump pheasant in that tree over there. I haven't had anything to eat yet so this is perfect. I think I can easily shoot it from here.

I hit my mark, but when the bird fell off the tree it must have hit something on its way down. I hear some rustling in the bushes, I then hear a shrill scream.

"AAAAAH!!! They're in the trees Clara, we have to run away! I knew the birds would get their revenge one day! They need to be better than that to take me down, they will never take me alive!"

Then I see something run out of the bushes, it is a little boy holding a gazelle skull. I would say he looks panicked, but I can't see his eyes. How is he running without any trouble? He should be tripping or bumping into things with that hair. I think he sees me? It is hard to tell, he is running towards me. I should probably calm him down before he hurts himself.

"Run Away! There are snipers in the trees, or the birds are finally getting their revenge after being hunted for so long. You have to run, they are out for blood, they attacked me in my sleep."

He attempted to run away, but I decided to hold him back. I really should calm him down, this kid seems a bit crazy, I wonder why.

"Calm down strange child, the birds haven't attacked you in your sleep."

Wow, he calmed down instantly, I wished my daughter would do that. No, I wished all the children in the tribe would do that. Now that I get a closer look, he looks like he is 5, or he could be a really tall 3-year-old.

"Hello mister, my name is Morgan and this is my friend Clara. What is your name mister?"

A child whose friend is a gazelle skull. Nothing in my life has prepared me for this conversation.

"Hello Morgan, my name is Hassar. You weren't attacked by birds, the bird I shot fell on you while you were sleeping."

I see him nod his head a couple of times and I hear him make a humming sound. How calm is this kid? Or is he just crazy? His friend is a gazelle skull, it would be smarter to expect anything from him.

"Where are your parents?"

"Both dead. My father died before I was born. My mother died very shortly after I was born, my first memory was seeing her die."

I wasn't ready for that kind of news, who tells people they saw their mother die. I told myself to be ready for anything, but I wasn't expecting to hear about a tragedy like that. This is going to be rough, but I still have a lot of questions.

"Who raised you then?"

"My master, he was a friend of my parents. He taught me everything I know, things like magic, how to talk, etiquette, and how to survive."

"Where is he?"

"Also dead."

Of course, I should've also seen that coming. The kid is all alone and his only friend is a skull. He even thought the birds were coming for his life. Not going to talk about the death of his family, I should talk about something else.

"Why did your master teach you etiquette? I can understand the other things, but why etiquette specifically."

"My master told me it is what my mother would have wanted. She was a former noble from Bern, he said she often talked about the things she would teach me. She stopped being a noble when she decided to elope with my father and marry for true love."

Okay, that's the first nice thought he brought up in this conversation. What is he going to say next, I just know what is coming is going to be even worse.

"It would have been a nice story if they could have survived long enough for it to have a happy ending. Master told me that my dad died trying to feed both of them. It is a very sad story, what do you think mister?"

That story hit a little too close to home, now I feel bad just looking at this boy. My story is pretty similar to his parents, my wife was a Lycian noble who eloped with me. We were in love, but her father disapproved of our relationship. She decided to live with me out in the plains, and left the place she knew as a home.

I rejoined my tribe shortly after we escaped her Father, and one year later our daughter was born. We were fortunate enough to have the support of my tribe, but his parents were alone. The story of his parents ended as a tragedy, and his story began tragically. Could that have happened to my daughter if I had made different decisions?

"I am so sorry to hear of your unfortunate past. Tell me, why did you come here? Bern is close to Sacae, but it is still dangerous for a child to travel here alone."

"Oh, when my master was still alive, we lived out in the middle of nowhere. He didn't like cities, so when he died I needed to choose a direction to look for people. I went up and ended up here by accident, and that was.

…Uhh? Maybe a month and a half ago? 6 weeks?"

I can still see him trying to count the days on his fingers. I haven't talked to many kids, but he seems smarter than the ones I know. He can form proper sentences and knows how to use his words correctly. Now that I think about it, maybe I just have low standards for children.

"Bulgar is pretty close by, I can get you there safely if you want the help. Really it's up to you, I don't know if you already have a plan in mind. So, what is your plan kid?

"My plan was to follow you, you seem nice enough."

"I don't want to tell you how to survive, but you really shouldn't trust strangers. Especially ones you just met, seriously you told me about your entire life and we just met."

"I only did that because I haven't talked to any human in 6 weeks. I could only talk to Clara, but she isn't nice to me, she says a lot of mean things to me. Like I said earlier you seem nice, and you have treated me nicely."

"What's your definition of being treated nicely and a nice person?"

"Basically anyone who is not trying to get me killed is someone nice, so that means anyone not trying to kill me is being nice to me."

Wait, does that mean the skull is trying to kill him? Why is he still carrying it around then? He did say that the skull is the only one who talks to him. Is he really that lonely? He carries around something trying to kill him, just to have someone to talk to? Every time the kid opens his mouth he says something heartbreaking. Does he not notice that himself?

"You have some low standards, kid. You really should be careful with who you trust, trust the wrong person and you die."

"It's fine, I am very hard to kill. I know because many things tried to kill me, but they failed and I am still alive. Don't worry I have a lot of plans to survive out in the plains and the city. I am going to follow you because I feel safer with another person. Kind of like a wolf, alone they can be scary, but together they are much more dangerous. I hate those guys, they kept stealing my food just because they outnumbered me."

I don't even want to comment on his apparent assassination attempts. Still, what a good way to describe him, a lone wolf. Well, he is more like a wolf cub. If I were to believe his story, then he did pretty well on his own.

However he is still too young to live like a lone wolf, he needs people around him, not to protect him, but to keep him sane. I can see he is pretty crazy already, he needs to spend enough time with people to make him normal again.

After learning this much about him, I would feel pretty bad if I just abandoned him out here. If my wife somehow finds out I left a little kid out to die, she would probably kill me just so I can apologize to him in the afterlife.

I am in no real hurry, I could just take him with me for now. I'll drop him off in Bulgar, get what the tribe needs, and go home to be with my family. I do what I need to do and I save a child, a pretty simple plan.

"Alright, follow me strange child. I will take you somewhere safe, when you get to Bulgar you can do what you want. If you want, I can even take you to an orphanage I know of."

"Even if you didn't want to take me, I would have followed you."

It is a good thing that it was my idea to take him along, otherwise, I would've tried my best to escape him. I hope I can get rid of this boy soon, he is too gloomy to be around. I don't know any orphanages to send him to. I have to find one in Bulgar, I only said that to reassure this kid.