1 Chapter 1

He stood there with the veins on his arms popping up, it was a common barrel but he couldn't really measure its weight, they wanted him to lift this thing but what did he look like? A beast with the strength of fifteen bulls?

Then the laughings resounded. He turned and gave the trio an angry look.

But do they care? Well, the answer is clear, even more so after they finally decided to speak.

"Give up Hyvall, this is no work for someone who has yet to grow hair down there." Bicius had that annoying smirk in his face, the kind that makes you wanna punch his face till he would never be able to open his mouth again.

"Was that supposed to insult me? God, you should stop before you embarrass yourself Bicius, you want to question someone's masculinity, then do so after you have dug up the grave of the which who took away your masculinity."

Sagranell and Peregor started laughing as well, it was quite the sight when two thugs twice your size with muscles bigger than your head laughed that hard.

"He wrecked you really hard Bicius." Sagranell grinned and patted his buddy who was shaking in anger.

"Heh, it suits you right, that's what you get for trying to mess up with a kid."

Bicius groaned in anger hearing Peregor, the guy was a bottomless well of pride huh? Well, not that it matters, he was the one that brought up the matter, I just finished it with some sauce.

"Tsk! What an annoying kid."

Hyvall smirked seeing Bicius leaving. It must be sad to be outdone by an eleven years old kid, I bet this doesn't feel good. Still, he would honestly feel better if he had the ability to lift the barrel instead of bringing up a comeback at him, it doesn't matter how much you can humiliate someone with words if you can't even earn money.

"Use the muscles on your back, Hyvall, there's no way you going to carry this shit in your arms."

Hyvall nodded at Peregor and tried his method, and holy cows, who would have thought it would work so well like this? He wouldn't have wasted ten minutes if he knew it could have been done like that, the weight was still a little much for him, but hey, there isn't much he can do in this situation.

He took the heavy thing with him and climbed up a wagon ramp to drop it there.

There were many others like him there, every single one of them wearing old and dirty clothes, it wasn't easy to earn money if you wanted to stay on the side of the law nowadays.

Merchant Guilds like this one would hire no less than thirty people to help with both the goods and protection. The goal this time was to get to the ruins of the Norkan Empire to the east, but first, they had to stop in Woodshaft to restock supplies before resuming their travel.

"Everyone, you guys ready? If so, the mercenaries climb up the horses and the others get inside the dorms, we're leaving now!" It was Olweris, he was a plump man with a funny face, no matter what he was thinking or saying it always looked like he was crying.

Sagranell waved towards me and left, he was part of the mercenary group together with Peregor and Bicius, plus ten other guys that Hyvall didn't even talk to in this one-month travel.

But hey, when you're working for the biggest Merchant Guild in the world you get some welcomed advantages even if you aren't one of those respected mercenaries.

The main one was simply a place to sleep and rest the whole travel, after all, they worked with tons of goods to sell, so they had to bring countless employees with them, and since buying a horse for each was simply a waste of money, they had four to six horses pulling carriages that could easily fit twelve or more people.

Hyvall was in the carriage they called 'Dorm 1' and he couldn't help but smile whenever he got there, after all, there was always a beautiful sister waiting there for him.

"Hey Gwen, been waiting to see you the whole day!"

A small girl sitting on a bed smirked hearing his words, she was pretty different from the other ladies traveling with them, for instance, she had chestnut eyes and red hair, and for someone like Hyvall who had traveled across the biggest cities of the continent, this was undoubtedly surprising.

His world was filled with black, brown, and even blonde hair, and he only ever saw people with blue and green eyes, so how couldn't he be attracted to such an exotic girl?

"Is that so? Then, why don't you cook me something, if you do it, I may even consider giving you a little bit of attention, how does that sound? Pretty good deal, right?"

"No way, If I were to cook to you, you'd had to take responsibility y'know? It's written in the sacred texts that 'Shall a man cook for a woman, then damned she is if she does not marry him!'" Hyvall spoke with passion as the other passengers gave them an amused look, they were all past twenty-five and thirty years old, and they could all remember their childhood days when they would court or be courted.

"Hah! I doubt you even know how to read, besides, how would you know what is written on them if the Church has a steel tight grasp on all copies of the text?" She shook her head and flicked her finger, hitting Hyvall's forehead as she laughed at him in a tomboyish way. "Get over your delusions, I won't marry someone like you, but if you want to be friends I can still consider it if you do everything I ask you to."

"Tsk, aren't you mistaken friends for slaves? No way lady, I might be looking forward to a beautiful wife, but I won't waste my energy with someone who just wants to be friends, and since that's the case, the best I can do for you, is entertain you in a chess match, how is it? Interested?"

"Humph, you're no fun. Why are you so eager to give up? Make me a good dinner and maybe I'll fall in love with you after tasting well-cooked food."

"Didn't you said that last time?"

"Your food wasn't well-cooked last time, this is no charity, after all, if you can't even please my tummy, you wouldn't do well as a husband." She lied her head on the pillow and waved her feet as she hummed a song.

Hyvall couldn't help but give a tired sigh, wasn't she being too hard on him? Heck, he was pretty sure that wives were the ones that cooked food, not husbands...

Laying on the bed above hers, Hyvall eyes focused on the ceiling. Life is very difficult in this world, especially for someone like him, an orphan from the very beginning, not very skilled, and lacking talent.

Much of his knowledge of the world came from the many travelers he met while working, those strangers would eagerly speak of their experience and things they saw all around the world.

It was thanks to them that he learned how his society worked, you may think an eleven-year-old looking for a wife is nuts, but some parents went as far as arranging a marriage for their kids when they are just six.

When most people die around the age of thirty, and forty, it's expected that you'd marry at sixteen and have your first kids at the age of eighteen.

Given his situation, he needs to find someone to marry on his own and needs to desperately save so that maybe he will be able to provide a good life for the one that eventually agrees with marrying him.

Hyvall tried his luck with many, but most girls he met were already engaged, and the few ones that weren't, usually aren't interested either.

Some old grandma once told him why and it made him speechless. Who would have thought that those free girls were keeping themselves pure and beautiful in case a nobleman took notice of them, it didn't matter if it was just a knight, a baronet, a lord, etc. They all looked forward to the opportunity and no one could blame them as well.

So what if you are using your body to get benefits? Life is short, and most of those girls are thinking of their future child, they all hope that their family can have a better future, something that is very unlikely with someone like him.

"Don't start crying Hyvall, you better hold your tears for when a sword spill out your guts."

Hyvall frowned and turned to the left, there was an old man sitting on a stool, he had been together with the other people of the carriage, playing some card games with them.

"Old Evahalt, is there anything you need?" The words came out naturally and calming, but a sharp ear would notice the undertone, Hyvall didn't like him.

"Hahaha! I'm just sharing a bit of my wisdom boy, be grateful because you won't meet many as old as I am. Someone like me who lived long enough to see the ascension of two princes into the position of king is rare you know." The old man struck his beard with a white toothy grin.

"Then... what do you want?"

The old man grinned at him, his eyes looked like they were shining for a moment and Hyvall felt slightly suffocated for reasons he couldn't comprehend, after a while the old man said. "The future is hazy, the path dark, but the chaos on it is recognizable way too well, it's familiar, and yet, unknown. You who walk the path of mortals will soon see what is hidden in the shadows and the realization will change you forever, many will fear you, others will hate you, whatever direction you take, death shall walk beside you till the end."

Hyvall blinked his eyes and smirked. "What's this, old man? Are you giving me a prophecy? Perhaps you are actually the Oracle of Delphi?"

"Whether or not that's the case, we shall soon see, don't you think?" The old man shrugged and didn't bother with the comment. "It should happen about now..."

"What are you talking about-"

Before Hyvall could finish his words, the carriage shook, the air became hot and heavy. Suddenly the carriage split in half as fire burst through the walls and he barely had time to react as claws bigger than he went flying past the bed right in front taking a man with it, and making the carriage roll over a few times while he clung to the bed. The cries of help and despair lingering in his ears even after it ceased a few moments after.

With a shaking body, he held the edge of the bed with a sunken expression on his face, slowly moving forward, he looked past the broken half of the carriage he was at only to see a sea of fire devouring the life of the forest around them. Scattered on the ground were bodies covered in blood, some charred to the point of being unrecognizable, others looked like they were chopped off by a giant sword, making most of the bodies uncomplete.

It was hell, he thought. The sight twisted his guts, making him want to puke, but with boiling blood, all he could think at the moment was about survival. Despite this, he quickly jumped off the bed and turned towards the place where Gwen and Evehalt were before only to notice that they were now nowhere to be seen!

"Gwen! Where are you!?" He shouted as worry took over his heart, he pulled out the blanket but there was nothing there, and below the bed there was nothing but a ripped letter.

He didn't know why but a sudden burst of curiosity took over him, in this situation common sense demanded that he fled the scene, but he just couldn't help himself. The fire had destroyed most of it, but there were some parts that could still be read.

On top of the letter, there was a crest he had never seen before, depicting four sections, each with its own color, blue, red, green, and yellow, and to every color, an animal had been drawn, yellow was a Badger, red a lion, green a snake, and blue an eagle.

Hogwarts Sc......

....

We are pleased...

That was pretty much everything that could be read, the rest of the letter had been burnt into ashes, and whatever secret it held, would remain bound to the earth now.

Shaking his head, he clenched his fist and put the letter in his pocket, if anything happened to her he would at least try and find her relatives to let them know, he did the same for a friend some years ago, and while they couldn't be considered close, he thought of her as a friend after traveling together a whole month.

He just didn't know what Hogwarts Sc meant, maybe it was the name of a person?

Before he could think things through, a powerful roar covered that piece of the forest, making his hair stand on end as he turned back and left the burning carriage.

Seeing the shadow flying over the clouds, he crouched down behind a tree as sweat poured down his face. There was a body next to it as well, he couldn't recognize the face, but seeing the sword in its scabbard, he nodded to himself and took it without even considering he was looting from a dead body.