Chapter 6

It wasn't long until we were on the road continuing towards the Twin Horns goal of escorting the Leywins to Xyrus. Reynolds was consumed in his grief and Alice had taken it as far as to try and kill herself. Inflicting enough of a wound that I needed to heal her, not missing the burning look in her eyes. I wasn't sure if she blamed me for being a part of the bandits during the attack or if she just hated seeing someone that reminded her of her son.

Physically we looked nothing alike of course but I was a 7 year old with a formed core. Most of all I was here and her son wasn't. With this I mostly kept my distance from Reynolds and Alice, sticking with the 4 women we had rescued from the bandit camp. They were all from Valden and would be separating from us there when we stopped to report the bandit slaying on the road.

We were currently setting up camp off the path, and I did help or at least offer help to most everyone. Though even as they accepted me to travel with them it still was obvious none of them quite trusted me. I suppose that's to be expected, so I took the free time to train. I used the the time when traveling for core progression, and when we set camp it was time for combat training.

This involved going through the standard motions with my daggers that Sev had taught me, as well as imagining a foe to fight. Sidestepping and slipping under the guard of my phantom opponent a blade found his side and the other plunged into his neck. The sight of the sword and shield user appeared in my mind and I flinched shaking my head to rid myself of the image. I fell back into my training when I heard footsteps approaching.

"Was the dagger wielder your trainer?" The voice was Helen's but I didn't look, just keeping my entire focus on the accuracy of my strikes. Daggers as bad as a reputation as they get for backstabbing and assassinations are a precision weapon. You don't get the luxury of a poorly timed or aimed swinging still earning you a strike. Maybe it would, but it would in turn leave you exposed and unable to defend against a skilled opponent.

"Yes." I responded between breaths that were synced with my stabs and slashes.

"Skilled with the dagger, skilled in self healing as well as healing others. What's your core stage?" She asked taking a position off to my left where I could just see her out of the corner of my eye, but I didn't show down. In fact I sped up, adding spins, crouches, leaps and kicks into my imaginary duel.

"Dark orange. Don't get too amazed I was bottle necked at light red for almost a year." I huffed.

"Dark orange? At the age of what 7? 8? That's insane to even think about, only the second persons I've even heard of having formed their core that early." She replied not able to keep the praise out of her voice.

"Some good it did me. Ended up with bandits for 2 years, and the other one… well they're not here either." I finally began to slow down until I stopped, breathing heavily I turned to Helen who stood there with crossed arms. Her expression was a mix of pity, and something I couldn't quite make out.

"Fair enough." She nodded curtly and looked over her shoulder back at the camp. I followed her gaze and saw that Alice and Reynolds had actually made it out of their tent to sit next to the campfire.

"How come you didn't stay in Valden with the ones we dropped off there?" She finally asked when she turned back around.

"Got nothing in Valden. Our home was always a wagon or an inn when I lived with my parents." I replied now going through a series of cooldown stretches I used to improve my flexibility.

"Oh? And what's in Xyrus that you would stick with us for?" She asked now sitting down across from me. Damn was she asking a lot of questions.

"The Helsteas. Mr. Helstea regularly purchased goods from my dad and they had made more than a few business deals. I figured I could work for him." Finally finished with my stretches I just lay on my back with my hand propped behind my head staring up at the night sky.

"Why not become an adventurer?" I scoffed at her words and looked at her with a deadpan.

"You're really asking a lot of questions all the sudden. What changed?" She just shrugged.

"You've travelled with us for a while now, helped or at least offered help no matter how many times you got declined. I saw the way you took care of those 4 women before we dropped them off. You gave us most of the money from the bandit killing money."

"You guys did kill most of them after all." I replied quickly, I had seen the wealth my father had kept in that ring. Maybe it did need more than just a key phrase to open it because if Lurt had ever seen the amount stored inside I doubt he'd have stayed a bandit. But she ignored my words and just continued.

"You healed us, and even healed a few people and adventurers in Valden when you thought we weren't watching." I held up a hand at that.

"No I knew you had Jasmine tailing me. She's good, but she's a fighter not a spy. I trained under Sev after all it would take more than a wind mage who can't hide her core to tail me without me knowing." She finally paused at that information and chuckled softly.

"Skilled at recon and a high perception." I sighed at her words and finally sat up to look at her directly.

"What do you want Helen?" I finally asked, but her smile never dropped as she returned my look.

"I want you to join the Twin Horns. And before you ask, yes. I've already asked the others and they agreed. Of course you would have to take a rank exam in Xyrus, but with your skills, the fact you're a healer, and that the entirety of the Twin Horns would be vouching for you, I don't see why would be any lower than a B rank." Said gaining a serious expression until she finished.

I mulled over her offer and couldn't really see a downside to it. It was dangerous sure, but if the dragon thing Arthur meets in the cave is any indication I do need to get stronger. Who knows what kind of things are out there? Though I did want to attend the academy at Xyrus to learn more about magic and this world, but most people don't go there until they're 12 anyways. Besides, I won't be able to use my other 4 elements there, but with the Twin Horns I could…

"Fine, but I gotta tell you something first. And I still need to meet with Vincent Helstea first, my family was on the way to see him when we're attacked after all." Helen just nodded so I kept speaking.

"Good. As for what I have to tell you? Well I guess it's better if I show you." And for the first time for another person to see I held a tiny fire ball in my left hand, a water ball in my right, created wind barrier around us and formed a perfect sphere of earth on the ground in between us.

"I'm also a quad elemental conjurer." I said with a nervous smile and was met with a loud yell from Helen.

"Whaaaaaat!" She yelled getting the attention of those around the campfire causing me to sigh as Adam, Durden and Jasmine made their way over.

"Surprise~." I weakly sing songed as they all arrived first confused then astonished as they saw that I was conjuring 4 different elements. It was definitely different as I usually only used them when I was inside my core where the field that I turned into a highly defended fortress was. I was able to practice freely in there only my mana would decrease as if I had used it for real, so I would always meditate when I ran out of mana.

"Happy to be a part of the Twin Horns!" I said standing and helped Helen up as well as patting Jasmine, Adam and Durden on the arms as I headed towards the campfire.

"C'mon let's eat, I can tell it's going to be great by the smell." I called over my shoulder as the 4 of them stood there dumbfounded, still looking at the earthen sphere on the ground as it was the only thing that didn't immediately dissipate. When I got to the campfire I smiled briefly at the Leywins but they just looked at me weirdly while glancing back at the others.

"Here Colt, it's not much but have as much as you like! We need to put some meat on your bones." Angela said with as much cheer as she could muster given the circumstances and patted her hand on the log next to her for me to sit there. I took the offered bowl as well as the seat and chowed enthusiastically on the bowl of stew. It was loads of times better than the crap the bandit cooks called food.

I felt an arm wrap around me and I tensed before looking up at Angela who just smiled gently at me.

"It must have been hard. Living with those bandits all this time, at such a young age no less. I hope you'll decide to stay with the Twin Horns so I can spoil you!" She said.

I didn't even realize it, but soon I could feel the tears begin to form and flow down my cheeks. I thought I had gotten rid of all the tension and emotion after the battle, but something about her words or maybe her aura finally convinced that it was truly over. I would no longer be waking up to a boot in the gut or a knife in the leg since I could just heal it. It hadn't been a long time, just a week or so, but I could already feel this group becoming a family for me.

I tried to hold back the tears, but that just made way for sobs and I found myself being enveloped in a warm hug. The type of physical comfort I hadn't felt since before I came to this world 2 years ago from my own mother. I wrapped my arms around her midsection, ignoring the eyes of the others around the camp as Angela softly hummed and stroked my hair. It really did remind me of my mother from when I was younger. Soon I found myself drifting off to sleep, the only thing I thought was how I never wanted to lose this warmth. I wanted to protect these people. I wanted to live with these people.

People I had only known for a brief time, but the only people that had shown me any sort of true care since coming to this world.

"Thank you." It was muffled, but I could feel the nod of Angela's head before I finally fell asleep. Looks like I wouldn't be doing any core training tonight.