Greed is the root of all evil

After assessing that his life may be in danger, Sheyken was now calm as the day he fought the demon. He was never this calm in all the beasts' battles his been through. He looked at the two's eyes and they looked like those soldiers who wished they had the attention he had from the ladies in his camp or when he would win in tournaments and they just could not understand how they were defeated by him. They were the eyes of jealousy and greed, much more pronounced than those of his fellow mates.

The two people that had shown themselves were not that old. He estimated them to be between 13 to 15 years old. Their clothes were torn and bloody making him not be able to make out what they were wearing. They also had visible wounds that seemed to be slowly healing. The one that had his arm torn off was still bleeding profusely from his wound.

'They must be from a battle not long ago.'

Sheyken thought.

The boy that had his arm cut off came closer and closer while the other one stayed back. Sheyken had the last bit of webbing around him so he carefully moved back step by step while avoiding it and still on his guard.

The boy stopped when he reached the webbing and while still looking at Sheyken, with his intact hand, the webbing started circling around it almost like it was drowned to his hand. He then placed the webbing on the wound where he had lost his hand. It instantly tightened and stopping most of his bleeding.

"As I thought."

The boy said.

'Was he controlling mana?.... if so, that is not good. They must be mages or beast warriors. Even if their clothes are torn off, since they look the same that must mean they are in a guild or some sort of school.'

Sheyken guessed.

'This is not good. I'm tired from trying to drag the fight along so I can get more webbing and I do not think it is a coincidence that they are here. They already saw me absorbing the web into Ruby and since I did not sense their presence until they showed themselves, it might mean they had been watching my battle from a distance which also means they know about Plot Armor. The only thing I am sure they do not know about is my Blessing. Good thing I stopped using it as a secondary attack to slow down my opponents. With the look of greed on their faces, I am sure they will attack me trying to get my storage device and Plot Armor.'

"Kid, I am Acario and that is Haarica, we are from Ha-Neuldiya academy of Iraxebel."

Sheyken looked at Acario. He was the one who spoke and the one with a missing arm.

'He must be the leader of the two.'

Sheyken thought. So far, he was the one taking action and the other one was just waiting where he stood, seemingly waiting for what the one with a missing arm would do.

"I am Sheyken. Where is Iraxebel?"

Sheyken thought it would not hurt to ask. Since he was the younger of the two in appearance, he thought to faint ignorance and act his age. The two looked at each other and he could almost see a cheeky smile from both of them.

"I almost forgot. You live at the snake's end, so it would be hard for you to learn about the world. We heard that all you Finis do is train to hunt from the moment you are born. Holding a book or let alone reading one must be had for you. Iraxebel is one of the seven nations that make up the kingdom of Serpersalbum. It is far but if you travel using Teleportation gates it is easy, even though it took about 5 months to get here."

Even though Sheyken was not from around Finisrepo he did not like the way he was mocking people from there. Even though many looked like they hated the world, he was sure there were many decent people there. Ningal, the angle of all that is considered to be of beauty and good was from there after all. Mocking the people from Finisrepo was like mocking her to him.

"By the way you are dressed, you must be someone imported from there."

Acario said looking at Shadow up and down while still holding his wound. Sheyken could feel the greed from his intense stare.

"We had learned about the Trial Forest but we did not think it would be this bad. It made us go up against a big black-looking beast with a huge mouth and huge tusks with scales on its tail that it uses for attacking and defense. Do you know what it was? It did not even have a core. I never thought beasts with no core could be that powerful."

Sheyken was no longer calm.

'Two mages in an academy that are much older than me were almost killed by a Vatagreos. Fuck!.... was I lucky?..... No, I hate that word. Maybe the best way to kill it is to sneak up on it and strike it. But its defense operates somewhat automatically. Fuck.... was I really lucky?'

Sheyken could not stop swearing. He was trying to cope with the seriousness of the situation. Not the one he was facing but the one that he had jumped headfirst into his death a weak ago and managed to not only survive, but also kill something like it was a walk in the park that two mage apprentices almost died fighting. Remembering how he thought his strike from above deserved a screenshot made him tense up.

"It was a Vatagreos."

He finally answered. Haarica was still standing there looking at Sheyken like he was waiting for the kid to let his guard down. After seeing him fighting the spider monster, they knew he was no joke and they were also banged up.

"A Vatagreos. That thing is a freak of nature, bahahaha, we almost died and this was the first time we entered the Trial Forest. We have seen you entering it several times and coming out unscathed. Have you ever fought one, and why do you sleep outside all the time? Are you on a trail of your own?"

After Acario asked those words. The place went quiet almost like even the forest was expecting his answer. Acario had asked him like he was joking but his stare said otherwise.

'So they have been following me? This is bad. That means my intuition is not that great or they are just too powerful for me to perceive them when they are trailing me. Why did they not attack me or approach me when I was out of the forest? Were they afraid of the villagers since they think I am one of them or they were scouting it out and ended up concluding to ambush me in the forest? He did say it was the first time they entered it.'

"I have never fought one. I was told to run every time I see one of those."

Sheyken chose to answer one question and let them underestimate him. He did not think he could win in a head-on fight against a Vatagreos, but he did kill one. If he told them that he had killed one, they were sure to keep their guard up even though he was so much younger than them.

Seeing that the kid did not want to continue answering, Acario was growing frustrated. He was playing nice because he wanted to get answers from the boy before he killed him. Trying to capture and not kill someone with decent fighting skills was bothersome for anyone as you might get killed yourself. He was also still losing blood so he wanted to quickly round up the situation they were in.

"Kid, there had been rumors for hundreds of years that there are ruins of a lost city somewhere in the Bereavement woods. Our family sent us here to see if those rumors are true and there was a scouting mission to find out why no kids from your village have not been seen anymore. So, I want you to tell me all you know about the Bereavement woods and why you are the only kid we have seen from the village."

Sheyken was a little shocked. Now that Acario had mentioned it, he did not see any kids around the village of his presumed age or lower. He only saw those that were around Acario and Haarica age. He thought to ask Ningal about it once they got a little bit closer. As a solder, even though he was deemed not good for undercover missions, he was still told that in order to get valuable information you had to get close to the subject first. That way when you ask your questions, they won't be that suspicious of you.

"Don't you mean the Benevolent woods?"

Sheyken was a little confused. Even though Acario was becoming a little bit hostile with the way he was asking his questions, he had to ask. Apophis had said he would wake up in the Bereavement Woods but when he woke up, he called the place he was in the Benevolent woods. Not thinking about it as strange.

'Is it that different people call it or pronounce it differently depending on the place you coming from? but why did I suddenly call it Benevolent woods rather than Bereavement woods as Apophis had told me when I woke up?'

Sheyken asked himself. Acario was now looking at Sheyken in disgust.

"Do you even know anything? The Trial Forest consists of 3 different woods. The Floreremortem woods, the Benevolent woods, and the Bereavement woods at its center. Each getting dangerous as you get deeper and the Bereavement woods being one of the most dangerous places in the world. Your village is one of the closest ones to the center of the Bereavement woods as the distance between each forest is the shortest here, but it also means the beasts are much fiercer."

Acario said looking at his missing hand.

'What the hell Apophis. Did I wake up at the boundary of the Benevolent woods and Bereavement woods? What if I took the wrong direction and went deep into the Bereavement woods? Old man, are you sane? I should ask Arloch to ask you that question. When she asks, it feels like you need to answer it.'

"Acario, let us kill the kid and get his gear. It looks like it would sell for a good price. He has a Camorphiare, which in itself will bring us a lot. It is a rare item. It is almost like we giving him information and not the other way round. If he survives you can ask as many questions as you want, but as for now I think he is playing you for a fool."

Haarica said taking a step closer while licking his lips. Acario looked at Haarica who was eager to jump into a fight. On their way there, he had told him how no kid from the edge of civilization could ever beat him. After looking at his missing hand, Acario decided to give Sheyken an ultimatum.

"Kid, we do not want to hurt you. If you take out your Camorphiare from your storage space and put it down, we will let you go. You will still have to tell us what is going on at your village before we let you go though."

Sheyken was not buying it. Everything on him was screaming money to his opponents. From Plot Armor to Shadow together with Ruby that they could not see but knew he had. letting him leave was as unlikely as seeing two horses kissing.

He put his left hand behind his back and took out Plot Armor without them seeing how. He put it on the ground and took 3 steps back. As they looked at the dagger, the intricate runes on it making it feel mysterious made them know that they had struck it big.

Seeing them coming closer and closer, the plan Sheyken had made up was going up in smoke. He had hoped one of them would come to collect the dagger. Since things had progressed to that point and he was sure that no matter what he gave them they would kill him, even though they were still young, he knew a killer when he saw one.

"Greed is the root of all evil."

He said looking at and provoking Haarica with those words.

"If you want to live, you should not lay a finger on my Plot Armor or you will die."

After hearing those words coming from a Finis, Haarica could not hold himself. He wanted to prove to the little brat that he was not someone to mess with and he would do it by making him beg for his life while also telling him what kind of a name Plot Armor was for a dagger.