Not fair

"You said you were an apprentice knight, right?"

"Yes?"

Halfway through the day- they stopped by a pond and some trees, just resting.

Nothing for lunch.

"How many years?"

"Two-" Flint slowly shaved his emerging beard and mustache- using the water's reflection-

He was feeling much better- physically.

Emotionally-

Not so much.

He didn't want to leave his village, he wanted to see his family again.

And yet-

Yet-

They were dead.

He was never going to see them again.

And even if he went back- all he'd find were the rotting corpses…

He couldn't even give them a proper burial.

All in all-

His mental sanctity was at the very lowest-

"So, a complete novice…"

"Hey! I was the best of my peers!"

"Sure- why don't you go fight that bear over there?"

"But the bear did nothing to me-" Flint said.

And he was kind of… not in the best of conditions.

"You said you were going to avenge your village, right? Are you going to show the same attitude when faced with every enemy? Back then- you wanted to kill me, that was genuine. But if you can't bring that every single time- you won't make it. Revenge? Forget about that, you won't even be able to survive in this world."

Flint looked at his hands-

Slightly rugged- two whole years of training.

He still remembered the days-

He still remembered how he begged the town knight to take him in just after reading one book-

Just one book about a hero saving the day, was enough.

He wanted to become one- he wanted to save the day.

He wanted to become someone his parents could be proud of.

And for that he traveled across three villages and straight into a town, begged the town knight and under her- trained like hell.

And through all those years of training he'd achieved the first technique-

Stance-

The stance of a knight-

The ultimate defensive technique.

Designed to protect the weak-

And himself.

To show his progress- he came back- he came back to his family to spend the weekend with them and celebrate his sister's fifteenth birthday-

But-

In the end-

He lost everything.

The few people he wanted to protect with all his might-

Were no more.

And when there was nothing to protect, what was the point of aiming to become a hero?

"Give me a weapon-" Yet, he stood up, stared at the distant bear-

Yeah, he wanted to be a hero.

He didn't want to kill for fun.

He didn't want to become a monster.

And yet-

It was true-

In order to avenge-

For vengeance-

He had to walk this path.

Ha had to walk the path of vengeance- a path where common sense and morality didn't exist.

And certainly didn't matter.

"Find your own. If people just made your road rosy- how'll you hope to get to where you want to go?"

A mild breath-

Flint picked up a dried branch- the size of his arm- and walked.

The demon- Anne- put her hands behind her back, and relaxed, casually watching.

***

Big.

The bear was big and brown.

It was eating season.

Winter was next-

"Hua!" Slow growl-

It had noticed Flint's presence.

But-

Flint just walked-

Casually.

The bear stood on its legs- twice the size of Flint- A solid slap-

Leaning to his right-

Flint dodged it.

He had a stance-

One hand free-

One hand holding the sword- or in this case, a stick.

One foot before the other-

He could move easy. Normally he'd have a shield on one hand and a sword on the other. But with just a branch- and leather armor- he didn't have to worry about the weight-

A forward thrust-

Just below the bear's chest- slightly above the stomach-

It was blunt, so it didn't go in.

'So, I can't do it at will?'

The bear growled-

Landing another paw down- another slap-

But-

But Flint took steps back, almost like he was practicing a dance.

A very complicated one- with a lot of footwork.

Swift.

He didn't look like the scrawny young man he was.

And definitely not injured.

The wounds did sting-

But-

"GRaww!!" On all four legs- the bear charged in a last-ditch effort-

Again- Flint just leaned to his side, dodging easily- "I'm so sorry-" Giving the bear a solid kick.

Wham!

It wasn't a very strong kick- but since the kick was focused near the nether-

It hurt.

And the poor bear rolled-

"Here-" Anne came over, throwing a knife- "Impressive moves."

Flint caught it- barely. "We don't need to kill him. We have food and-"

And bear pelt wasn't really that expensive, anyway- or so he wanted to argue.

But it was.

It was expensive.

"It- not him. Don't think of these as people. Once you do- there's no going back." She swiftly moved forward- almost dancing through the wind- slitting the bear's throat in quick motion. Leaving entrails behind- "Besides, I'm not sure how you grew up but- it's either kill or be killed. The world isn't simple enough for it to present you with whatever you want. If you want something- you have to take it."

Blood slowly poured out- staining the grass red-

And spreading the smell of blood…

"But-" Flint stared down-

"How old are you kid?"

"Nineteen…"

"I thought you were fifteen." She started skinning the bear. "But this is as good a time as any. Your family- was murdered. I'm not sure what happened but your whole village was wiped out and through some strokes of fate, you survived. Fate works in mysterious ways and I'm sure there was a reason why you survived. But-" She pulled up the bear- with one arm- to drain the blood; strong. "If you never grow up- if you never think past the good nature in things, would you really accomplish anything?"

"But what bad thing would have happened if we didn't kill it?"

"It would have gone around destroying some poor farmer's crops and might have even invaded someone's house- killing people. Of course, that's only hypothetical but- but it served an ever-bigger purpose."

"Bigger purpose?"

"A lesson for you. And a lesson you'd do well to remember for the rest of your life." She pointed her knife- swaying it- "'Kill with reason.' For us- it's food and money."

With a sigh Flint sat down, watching her do her thing. "You're a hunter?"

"I told you, I'm a mercenary."

"Why are you going to city? For work?"

"Why else would I go?"

"…"

He didn't really have anything else to talk about.

And he honestly didn't want to talk either.

"Why didn't you use magic or infusion?" She started chopping the meat.

She already prepared a fire to smoke the meat- too.

Efficient.

"I-" Flint paused. "Can't. I can't use infusion. When I threw that rock- that was the first time it ever worked for me. I feel as though I can do it if I practice enough but-"

"But what about magic?"

"I didn't want to kill it-"

His first spell- the lightning.

And yet-

He didn't want to use it.

"Compassion." She sighed. "Too young."

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"How old are you?"

"Not your concern."

"Hey, that's not fair!"

"Nothing in life is." A chuckle-

She started smoking the meat…