The Kingdom of Ealair.

The atmosphere was extremely tense, the gazes of the customers were painfully glued to his back, and Seamus' silence was oppressive. 

*Gulp* Swallowing saliva, Kael's hand moved to his waist, more out of instinct than will. To his misfortune, his hand grazed nothing but air; his knife was not there.

-"..." Now he remembered that he had left the inn without his things, so they should be in his room. 

Weaponless, completely surrounded and with no means of escape, Kael's situation didn't look very promising.

*Clonk!

- "OUCH!" With a loud bang, Seamus' head was struck and the metallic sound of a frying pan echoed through the place. Despite that, no customer moved; they knew that no one should mess with that person, or they would experience the same hell. 

- "What was-" At that moment, Seamus' face began to lose color, until it was even whiter than a ghost. His body began to tremble slightly and his legs seemed to lose strength.

- "H-Honey, I-" 

- "Quiet!"

-"..." 

Without even the chance to be able to speak, the attacker-, Sile, shouted in an extremely powerful voice at the trembling Seamus, who paled even more.

-"What are you, stupid!? Have some sense, you're scaring poor Ciara! And our rule is clear: No fighting in my inn!"

- "Y-Your inn...? But so am I-"

-"..." 

Even as Sile remained silent, Seamus could still sense the danger and the meaning of her silence: 'One more word, and you're finished.'

Unwilling to give up, Seamus looked toward the customers, but they all averted their gazes, feigning ignorance.

- "Y-you...!" cursing under his breath, this time he looked elsewhere for allies: Ciara. Looking at her as if she was begging for help, a mischievous smile formed on the little girl's face and disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

Replacing her smile with puppy dog eyes and small tears at the corners of her eyes, she said:

- "C-Ciara doesn't want Grandpa Seamus and Brother Kael to fight! They must get along! Sniff...sniff..." Now tears began to stream down Ciara's cheeks, causing Seamus, Kael and the customers to panic.

- "Mr. Seamus and I aren't fighting, so no need to cry, Ciara!"

- "He's right, we were just talking! So don't cry, will you...?"

- "Liars! Waaah!" Apparently the negotiations had failed, and the consequences were obvious: A terrifying pressure subdued Seamus and Kael.

- "So it wasn't enough to rampage the inn, but they also made little Ciara cry, eh..."

*Clonk!* *Clonk!* 

Once again, the painful sound of the frying pan echoed through the inn.

 ◈ ◈ ◈

-"...So that's your situation. Thank you for sharing it. And I'm sorry about earlier."

- "No hard feelings, I think the frying pan made me understand you better."

Some time after the "incident", both Kael and Seamus, with Sile's 'gentle' insistence, took a seat in a spare room to chat. Of course, Kael did not tell him the whole truth, but omitted and slightly altered some parts. To summarize, Seamus now knows about Kael's partial memory loss and that he woke up in a forest, but is unaware of the existence of the "Being" and the black smoke. As for his left arm, he invented that when he was a child his house suffered a fire and his arm was trapped in the rubble, and that he still remembers it due to the trauma.

- "Mhmm... Well, I guess that sort of thing is more common than one would expect."

Despite looking doubtful in parts, Seamus decided to believe him for the moment.

- "Excuse me, Mr. Seamus, is it all right if I ask you a question?"

- "Go ahead, it's only fair that I answer your questions too."

- "Thank you... Earlier, you mentioned something that caught my attention: does my presence in this village mean anything?" Since Seamus mentioned it, those words were haunting Kael's mind, who felt that there was a deeper meaning than it seemed.

-"...So that's it, huh. I'll tell you, but it might be a bit long."

Confidently, Kael said:

- "I've got time."

- "Jo, Jo. Okay." - With a small cough and a serious expression, he began to speak -

-"As I mentioned before, we are in the Kingdom of Ealair, which is ruled by the Bolg Royal Family. The name of the current king is Connall, a king beloved by his people and who has done much for the kingdom. The queen's name is Riona, beautiful and with an unparalleled intellect, she perfectly supports her husband in every possible way. Her eldest son, the next to occupy the throne, is Prince Cormac, a young man who, like his father, demonstrates great qualities befitting a king. Finally, Princess Deirdre, dignified and beautiful like her mother, is considered the most beautiful flower in the kingdom."

- "Mhmm... Those names sound strangely familiar... But what does that have to do with the village? And, from what you say, they don't seem like the kind of people who would allow slavery..."

- "I warned you it would be long, so I ask that you listen patiently."

-"...Okay, sorry to interrupt."

-"Ehem. Although the Royal Family is the one in charge, the truth is that there are two other great families that wield great power and actively support the kingdom and the Royal Family: The Draighean Clan, which is in charge of everything related to military matters; weapons, soldiers, defense of the kingdom, etc. In turn, in their territory they have the best military academy in the kingdom, where they train great warriors. Although I heard they had some problems with a family matter... No, it doesn't matter, the next one is the Féinneala Clan, which, contrary to the Draighean Clan, is in charge of trade and transportation of goods throughout this kingdom and others. Also, they have an academy for scholars, where famous researchers and merchants have graduated."

-"...I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me about all this, but I still don't understand what it has to do with the village. If you don't want to talk about it, just-"

- "Easy," Again, his voice became extremely cold, devoid of emotion, "now comes the important part."

With a small sigh, as if to try to prepare himself, he began: 

- "Several centuries ago, when the creation of the kingdom was just beginning, there was once a great and proud family, older than the Two Clans and almost as powerful as the Royal Family. The early days were wonderful, the 4 families were united and the kingdom slowly but surely prospered. Unfortunately, greed and avarice will always dominate the human mind, making even the brightest of men blinded. - The more he spoke, the more Seamus' expression became complicated - Such was the case with the leader of that great family, who awash with nothing but thoughts of riches and unparalleled power, made a 'deal' and followed the orders of a 'God'. However, he was deceived, unleashing a curse on the entire Kingdom of Ealair. Such a curse, terrible as it sounds, forced that out of every 100 children born in the kingdom, 1 would be born with a mark of chains on their neck, indicating that they were 'enslaved' and forced to live under the orders of a 'master', otherwise they would meet their end."

- "So, the ones I saw on the way here..."

- "Yes, they were probably slaves."

 Seamus' fists began to shake, he was clenching them so tightly that blood began to pour from them, at the same time the contempt in his gaze was evident, even so, he continued:

- "Awakening from his greed, that leader was horrified at the consequences of his actions and, determined to stop this madness, he faced the 'God'. 

The only response he received was the mocking laughter of the being, and a 'deal': If he surrendered his soul, he would remove the curse. Aware that it was his fault, he decided to accept, feeling how little by little his life disappeared and of him nothing remained but an old shriveled body."

- "He sacrificed his life to make up for his mistake..." Kael's tone showed a hint of admiration.

Hearing this, Seamus' expression relaxed a little, and he continued after taking a drink of water.

- "A period of peace returned to the kingdom, and the leader was tried.

At peace because he thought he had finally made amends, he accepted the end of his life.

Unfortunately, to that 'God' we were nothing more than a source of entertainment, because when he returned, it was to tell him that the 'deal' they made was invalid because the bargaining chip, his 'soul', had been used in their previous 'deal'."

- "Wait... You mean...?" Without realizing it, Kael's full attention was on Seamus' story.

-"Yes. By 'reneging' on his part of the deal, it was nullified, causing the 'God' to spread the curse throughout the kingdom again. Faced with this situation, the Royal Family decided to send the family responsible for the suffering of the kingdom deep into the forest, forbidding all members of their family and descendants to enter. To make it worse, on a mere whim, the 'God' cast another curse on that family, a completely humiliating and shameful mark all over their backs, making them easy to identify."

After talking so much, it seemed Seamus was exhausted, his labored breathing and forehead sweat giving him away.

- "I... WOW... I have no idea what to say, it's so much information all at once..." 

- "Jo, Jo. I don't blame you, it's a long and dense story, after all."

- "Although... How does Mr. Seamus have so much information? Does he have any books or...?"

-"..." Seamus didn't answer.

- "Sir?"

- "Yes... I suppose I can show it to you, I hope I'm not mistaken."

- "Sir?" Kael didn't understand what Seamus was talking about, so he just stared at him silently.

Now standing, Seamus began to take off his shirt, confusing Kael even more.

But when Seamus was finally left with his back exposed, he understood absolutely everything.

On his back, in large letters , was written:

"TRAITOR."