Chapter eleven

Three rock bullets sped through the air, only to be slashed apart by a cracked blade.

The owner of the said sword dashed forward, wanting to close the gap between him and his opponent.

He was about to dash forward, concentrating all of his weight on one foot and fueling his touki to increase his speed.

Instead of dashing forward and reaching the magic user, his foot sunk into the ground, effectively immobilizing him.

He heard a happy laugh and looked up from his stuck leg to see Rudeus laughing, happy to catch his brother off guard.

"..."

Foolish.

Concentrating his Touki on the bottom of his stuck foot, he let the control go.

The touki now free of its restraint, burst outward, freeing his leg from the pit by boosting him into the air.

Smirking with almost palpable smugness, Gray landed on the ground and burst forward with his totally original move.

He swung down and the empty sheath met a skull.

"Ow!"

Snorting slightly, he sheathed the thousand demon dagger and smirked at his younger sibling.

Gray rolled his eyes at the pout sent his way and looked over to the house, where his father and his brother's magic mentor were watching their little spar.

Paul gave him a thumbs-up while Roxy had a small smile, seemingly pleased with the progress Rudeus made.

"You did well Rudi, just remember not to celebrate just because your trap succeeded."

He dropped his head, kicking a pebble on the ground as Gray started petting his head.

"Yeah."

Chuckling slightly, he looked over to Paul and threw a thumb over his shoulder, and raised an eyebrow, asking a silent question.

Paul nodded with a wave that meant, "Come back before sundown" and turned to go back inside the house.

Sharing a nod with Roxy he turned and headed toward the exit of the fence, waving a hand over his shoulder at Rudeus.

He and Roxy didn't talk much, but they respected each other. He respected her as a talented mage and she respected him as a talented sword practitioner.

Humming, he walked away from his house, still in thought.

___

The village was still as quiet as ever.

Gray could only sigh, nothing was happening here! No one robbed anyone, no one fought anyone unless they were drunk... Or they found out that their wife cheated on them with a friend.

Basically normal village things.

He saw a kid in the distance wearing brown shorts, a simple shirt, and a white jacket with its hood up.

He was running, seemingly hurrying somewhere but judging by the sound of more than one set of feet impacting the ground, he was running from someone.

His suspicions proved correct as he saw three boys chasing the frail kid, mud in their hands.

One of them threw the mud at the boy and Gray took note of the few brown patches on the white jacket. Sighing in exasperation at the stupidity and cruelty of kids, Gray just walked forward, since the kid was already running, he did not take long to reach the running kid.

Using his sword, which was still in the sheath, he swung it through the air, intercepting a projectile that was the mud ball previously in one of the kid's hands.

He did not do it fast, but the mere fact that he held a sword in hand made the group and the escapee pause.

Now, what was the best course of action?

... Hell if he knew!

One of the boys, seemingly the leader, stepped forward by a step before pointing at him accusingly.

"W-why are you protecting him?! Are you one of those demon lovers?!"

The finger shook, and the two behind him looked ready for a fight, their leader's bravado boosting their own confidence. Gray wanted to scoff, it was laughable, they had the number advantage, which was unfair... For them.

"... What?"

he tilted his head to the side, not knowing what they meant. His attention was grabbed by a cry of pain coming from behind him and he looked over to see the boy on the ground, clutching his leg.

Looking closer, Gray noticed the bruise on the ankle, it would hurt more the way he was holding it. Contrary to "Kids Logic" pain doesn't go away if you cover the place it's coming from.

Tilting his head slightly, he avoided the mud coming right for his head.

Turning his head back with a raised eyebrow, he peered at the three idiots that wanted to pick a fight.

"You are, aren't you?!"

... If he was in his old body, he would have at least been charged with a fee for beating up three kids... a good thing he was eight.

When everything was said and done, three bruised kids were running away, he was disappointed and the kid was saved.

So, not just anyone could get training, or people didn't train kids... Then what the hell was his father thinking?

Sighing one more time, Gray turned around and walked closer to the bruised kid who flinched at his approach.

Ignoring the concerning reaction, Gray crouched down and inspected the bruise, if he had to guess, he might have tripped, stood up, and continued running, the pain would have been numbed by adrenaline.

Humming, he decided to hold off on healing him, the bone might have been cracked and he really didn't want to make things worse.

So far, he only tried healing himself with voiceless magic but his mother did warn him about what could go wrong when using healing and to hold off on healing bones with beginner tear magic... He really should start learning intermediate healing from Zenith, he might need it someday.

Restraining another sigh, he picked the kid up, frowning at how light he felt.

The kid flailed frantically, but Gray just hoisted him over his shoulder without effort.

"Calm down, my mom can heal you, she works at the clinic."

The kid paused his flailing but resumed soon after, probably not believing him.

"Damn it all."

He muttered, he was so done with kids.

At least Rudeus was not like them.