Killing

Silver looked at the long worm in front of him and his eyes widened. It looked absolutely beautiful! He had never seen such a beautiful creature in his life ever before! Was this a pet Father and Mother had bought for him? If so, he loved it!

Before Silver could even finish marvelling at the masterpiece of creation, an even magnificent sight presented to him. The worm opened its mouth and revealed its teeth. Huge, sharp and shiny! The worm even made a threatening posture towards them, as if challenging them. Cute! Silver's heart melted. The poor creature must be scared of them, that's why it was acting like that! Yes, that must be it! Silver ran towards the scared worm to comfort it.

As Arthur saw Silver running towards the Ropos like it was a giant piece of candy, he began questioning his sanity. What is happening? How did this demonstration end up having the exact opposite effect of the one he intended? Also, why was he running towards the Ropos?! It was a Ropos, a freaking Arcane beast! No matter how weak it was, it still had enough strength to bite off the head of a human child!

Arthur and Sylvia ran after Silver to stop him. Arthur caught Silver by collar of his shirt and picked him up. "What in world are you doing?!" He asked sternly.

Silver looked confused upon Arthur scolding him. "Father, I was just trying to comfort the poor wormie. See, it looks so scared!"

Poor Wormie?! Arthur glanced at the Ropos which still poised in a threatening posture, its mouth baring its big deadly fangs. Blasphemous! If the Ropos knew what it was being referred to as, it might just kill itself out of anger.

"That is an Arcane Beast, Silver, not some normal animal. Haven't you read about Arcane Beasts in your studies? You should know how deadly they are!" Sylvia explained to Silver, who was still suspended in the air by Arthur's hand.

Silver clapped his hands on his cheeks and exclaimed in realization, "An Arcane Beast! So that's why it looks so beautiful! A mortal beast can never look as beautiful as this!"

Beautiful?! Both Arthur and Sylvia were speechless. Arthur again took a look at the Ropos, wanting to see which part of the Ropos looked beautiful to his son. But when he glanced at it, he realized it was nowhere to be found!

"Lord, be careful!" One of the guards warned, pointing at the Ropos crawling towards them at quick speed.

"Look, it's coming to greet us!"

Arthur ignored Silver's comment as he formed a big fireball in his right hand, much larger than the one Silver had formed, and threw it at the beast. The fireball quickly incinerated the Ropos. It could only struggle for a few seconds before it was swallowed by the fire and all that was left was black ash.

"Ha! Not on my watch you sneaky beast!"

Silence…

Arthur soon realized that perhaps he should've been a bit more considerate as a deafening silence spread across the field. Arthur turned his head to see Sylvia glaring at him and Silver staring at the black ash in a daze, the only memento left behind by the Ropos.

A few seconds later a bawling Silver was being comforted by Sylvia. Arthur began massaging his head to calm down his rising headache. Why had this gone all wrong…

***

Arthur was not willing to give up just yet. A week later, he brought Silver to hunt another Arcane Beast. Why an Arcane Beast again? This was because hunting Arcane Beasts was a very lucrative business! Almost every Battle Mage regularly participated in hunts of Arcane Beasts. Their various body parts can be sold at high rated and some rare parts can even be sold at astronomical prices. These hunting activities also helped cutting down their numbers, preventing them from going after weak mortals.

Thus, it was quiet customary for Battle Mages to form hunting parties regularly. This helped them earn money and also improved their battle experience by experiencing near death battles. After all, when there is no war going on, Battle Mages rarely get any opportunities to experience battles and improve themselves. By challenging ferocious Arcane Beasts, they can keep improving themselves.

This time Arthur gave explicit instructions to Silver, explaining him what he had to do in advance. It wouldn't do if he ran over to hug the beast again. Similar to last time, two guards were waiting for them at the training grounds. This time the cage was relatively smaller. The guards opened the cage and quickly backed away. A cute furry creature walked out.

The beast Arthur had chosen this time was a Vareol. A Vareol was a rather deceiving Arcane Beast. In appearance, it was a small and cute furry animal, not capable of doing the slightest harm. However, you should never judge a vareol by its appearance! This was the mistake usually made by most mortals and ignorant mages before it ended up costing them their lives.

A Vareol was not as strong as a Ropos. However, using its deceiving appearance, it was able to more easily catch prey than a ropos. The reason Arthur chose to have a Vareol captured was because he suspected that Silver had a weird liking for ugly looking beasts. Thus, he wanted to try a different tactic this time. The vareol's appearance was a sharp contrast to that of the ropos. While the ropos had looked like it had walked straight out of a horror story, the vareol had a cute and harmless appearance. Relief washed over Arthur when he saw that Silver's face crumbled up upon seeing the Vareol.

"So ugly," he muttered.

Arthur's lips twitched. Why had he never known his son had such a quirk? Anyways, at least he found the beast ugly. "Son, vanquish this vicious evil ugly beast before it goes about hurting weak mortals!"

"Weak mortals?" Silver frowned in contemplation. He didn't want this ugly beast to hurt weak mortals…He hesitantly formed a fireball, aiming at the Vareol, as instructed by Arthur beforehand.

The Vareol which was watching its surrounding with caution instantly became alert upon seeing the fireball. It was much smarter than a Ropos, which would just idiotically charge headfirst at the prey. This prey looked very dangerous and not like someone it could defeat. It decided to flee!

Silver threw the fireball at the Vareol, though he may or may not have intentionally aimed it a bit away from it. With the Vareol running away, the fireball completely missed the mark. The Vareol immediately skirted away. The guards wanted to stop it, but stopped when they realized that instead of them capturing it, it might end up as them getting heavily wounded. The Vareol was certainly capable of that. Although it was weak, at the end of the day, it was still a fully-fledged Arcane Beast.

Arthur was stunned for a second before he came back to himself. He immediately ran after the Vareol to catch it himself. However, he felt a hand pulling his clothes. He looked back to see Silver shaking his head at him. "Father, just let it go…"

Arthur frowned a bit but he still acted gently. He bent down and touched Silver's head. "Silver, don't you understand? That's an Arcane Beast. If you don't kill it right now, it will kill and prey on innocent mortals in the future."

Upon understanding this, Silver's face flustered a bit in embarrassment. "I know that, Father…but I just can't bring myself to kill it."

Seeing Silver's embarrassed face, Arthur's heart softened. "Okay, don't force yourself. I'll do it myself." Silver looked visibly relieved after hearing that.

Arthur got up and silently chanted a spell. Since the Vareol had already run so far away from them due to their distraction, a basic fireball won't be able to reach it. He needed to cast a spell for this. A huge fireball formed in Arthur's hands, much bigger than ever before. It was a lot larger than the one used to kill the Ropos. Silver got excited upon seeing this. He rarely witnessed his Father using spells, since they were too dangerous and energy-consuming.

Arthur threw the fireball at the fleeing Vareol. As the creature felt the intense danger coming from behind, it tried to run even faster. However, it could not outrun the fireball. The creature didn't even get a chance to resist before it was burned to death.

Silver felt a bit morose after seeing this, but not too much. He knew that the Arcane Beast would later hurt innocent mortals if left free to its devices. Also, the creature looked really ugly, so he didn't feel much remorse over its death. It was just that for some reason, he didn't want to be the one who killed it.

Arthur smiled at Silver, letting him know that it was okay to feel so.

***

At night, Arthur and Sylvia's bedroom.

Arthur sighed as he laid down on the bed. "He didn't want to kill the beast. It must be because of his kind-heartedness. The question is whether this is just the naiveness of childhood or would he forever be averse to killing?"

Sylvia sat down beside him. "You and me both know that it doesn't matter, Arthur. Our son is just not made for killing. We just have to accept this fact. Even though I too would like for Silver to become a Battle Mage just like us, we can't force Silver into this direction if he's not meant for it."

Arthur nodded his head in understanding. "I know, I have also realized this. The look he gave me told me all what I needed to know. I just wanted for him to be strong enough to protect himself if he's ever placed in a dangerous situation. With his talent, he will surely attain great accomplishments."

Sylvia smiled gently and took his hand in her own. "You're thinking too much, Arthur. If Silver chooses a path other than that of a Battle Mage, he won't even have to put himself in a dangerous situation. There are a lot of other important Paths such as an Enchanter or an Artificer. If he takes such a path, he'll be a lot richer than us. If he makes great accomplishments, he'll also be respected just as much a Battle Mage, if not more. If by chance he does end up getting caught up in a dangerous situation, I'm sure there will be Battle Mages to protect him."

Arthur chuckled. "You're right, I'm just thinking too much. I just need to get into terms with the fact that my son will not become a Battle Mage just like me."