Speculations

Lucian used to have a strong bond between his father; he was so spoiled by him and gave him everything out of love.

By the age of eight, he underwent a basic swordsmanship training by his father.

Long ago, his father was a great adventurer who played a vital role on conquering dangerous labyrinths; He achieved great feats, made history, thus became well-known until today.

For this reason, Lucian always looked up to him.

His goal was to become like his father, possibly even greater than him in the future.

One day, one of his father's comrades rushed to their house.

She was severely wounded that she barely reached our house.

My mother panicked after seeing her in a bad state, but regained her composure not long after she laid her down on the sofa and asked her what happened while treating her wounds.

She suddenly hugged my mom, and cried eventually after trying to contain it.

Words got out of her mouth after my mom consoled her.

"A-Alessa, your husband."

Her voice was brittle— tears started to form at the corner of her eyes.

"Aiden, he's .. He's De"

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"What is this place? Where am I?"

My eyes wandered around the surroundings; it looks like Im in the middle of an unfamiliar place.

I started walking around; the area is shrouded by fogs however the high-rise trees are discernible in spite of it.

The place is so eerie and mysterious I cant help but to get anxious.

(It seems like no one is in here other than me.)

I wandered around, figuring out how I can get away from this place. The fear bubbles up I cant contain it anymore thus I started running aimlessly and stumbled upon a hard object.

A view of a brutally-murdered body has made my heart explode in shock

I cant scream, I cant breathe steadily.

When I finally snapped out of it, I run as fast as I can as I audibly inhale and exhale.

A sudden maniacal laugh filled the air.

I looked around to observe the place, a figure that resembles my fathers body became discernible.

"N-no, NO FATHER!"

I run towards him as fast as I can but I cant seem to get closer to him.

I gazed down—horrified, to my father's body as his blood splattered at my face, all while a beast with red eyes and cladded in a black aura that looks a bit like cerberus but only 2 heads was feasting on his flesh.

I started to cry.

"Father no! P-please, father get up! This isnt like you!"

It felt like the strength on my knees are slowly fading, I have no strength in my body, it feels like something is sucking my energy.

My knees fell to the ground, and as my tears began to flow, I looked at my father's face, he was saying something while pointing something behind me, but I cant seem to hear what he's saying. When I turned around, a hooded person was already swinging his sword, aiming at my neck.

'WHOOOSH!'

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'HAAAHH!'

I panted heavily and realized that it was just a bad dream.

(huff, huff .. That dream again huh, It seems like I've been having this kind of dream for a while now)

I looked outside the window and the sun was already up, birds are chirping outside while our neighbors are busy doing chores and others are preparing for an adventure in a dungeon.

(Its been 6 months since Eurasia started studying at Arcanum academy,)

I can hear my mom outside my room, she seems to be in a hurry. I let out a yawn while I walked outside my room, I saw my mom preparing 2 lunch boxes, when she noticed me that I was already up, she approach me and kissed me on my cheek

"I left you some breakfast on the table, I thought you would wake up late today."

She smiled while talking to me, as she continued,

"I gotta go now because your uncle Leon is already waiting for me outside. Your sister already left for school. Make sure you eat on time, and please do me a favor, wash the dishes for me. Bye hehe."

She gave me a hug before she left. My mother Alessa was an ex adventurer, she was a magic user who focused on ice magic. After my mom and dad decided to live together, my mom quitted on being an adventurer and she focused on taking care on us.

I washed my face outside, and looked at the sky,

"What a fine day we have today, I guess I'll take my morning walk after Im done eating and doing household chores."

I went back inside and sat in front of the table, I started eating what my mom made me,

(As always, mom's cooking is the best! I wonder how Eurasia is doing at school)

Ever since my father died, my mom's younger brother, uncle Leon was looking out on us, he was a merchant, and my mother is helping him selling stuffs. My uncle was also the one supporting my younger sister Eurasia to school.

After I finished my breakfast, I quickly washed the dishes my mom left me and decided to clean a bit before I went to take my morning stroll.

As I walk in our neighborhood, I saw 2 young students walking their way to the school. the other girl had a black, short hair and the other was a blonde curly hair. I decided to walk past them, and when the other girl saw me, she asked her friend,

"Hey, hey, that guy is Eurasia's brother, right? He was there during Eurasia's assessment"

A young girl asked her friend, and they took a peek right at me, I pretended not to notice them and continued walking. Her friend answered,

"Yeah thats him. Do you think he's a genius as well?"

(Hey hey, you guys know I can still hear you from this distance, right)

"No way, I heard rumors that he didnt even went to school, not even once."

Said the girl who first noticed me,

"Although his sister was considered a genius at the Academy, I dont know whats going on with his mind."

(Am I already this famous at the Academy?)

I simply ignored them, its always been like this everytime a student from the Academy sees me. Seems like rumors do spread like wildfire.

I went outside the kingdom, and sat under a nearby tree while looking at the sky.

"It seems like my sister is doing a great job at school, I wonder what could've I become if I didnt quit training myself."

The wind was blowing, the weather was so nice today, even the sun is up, it is not too hot, the wind gave a certain balance to the temperature. I let out a yawn, when suddenly someone sit right next to me,

"As expected, I knew you'd be here."

A calm voice came from the person who sat right next to me.

"Akira? What are you doing here?"

I asked,

Akira was one of my father's companion. In the past they were a three-man-team, Akira was the scout and the assassin of the group.

"I was on my way to a nearby dungeon, when I decided to make a stop at your house, but no one was there."

"You know mom was helping out uncle Leon on selling stuffs, right?"

I said to her, and she look right at me and said,

"I know. You're the one Im looking for. You see, I needed someone to keep me acompany. Dont worry, its a dungeon filled with weak monsters, so you'll be fine."

She said while giving me a light smile,

(Just what is this girl thinking? She knows I dont have any skills, and Im bad at fighting.

Even though I have an affinity to magic, she knows that I havent practice not even once on developing my skills, right?)

I gave it a quick thought about what she said but In the end I just gave a sigh and nodded,

"Just this once, okay? I dont have anything to do anyway. And besides, I know you wont take no for an answer."

I stood up and wiped my butt,

"Nice! Dont worry, theres only weak monsters on that dungeon so I can handle them easily. Lets go?"

"Yeah lets go"

As we walked our way to the dungeon, I noticed lots of people venturing out, others are resting under a tree, and others are preparing their equipment to farm on a dungeon. Some of them are even younger than me.

(There are even people younger than me, if I didnt gave up ..)

As I was in deep thoughts while walking, Akira gently patted my head and said,

"Hey, you seem to be lost in thoughts."

She said, as she took her hand off of my head, I just simply shook my head and answered,

"Nah, its nothing."

"If thats the case, shall we enter?"

I was so focused in my thoughts that I didnt even noticed that we were already in front of the dungeon. It was my first time entering a dungeon, even tho she said its only filled with weak monsters, I cant seem to calm my heart for beating loudly.

I took a big gulp as I step forward and entered the dungeon.

"From this point onwards, please stay close to me, okay?"

I gave her a nod as we went inside.

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Only a group of kobolds are the only ones we encountered ever since we entered this dungeon. There are bunch of them each time we see them, they seem to be relying on their numbers, because kobolds are known to be very weak when they are alone, thats why they always group themselves together.

(Akira isnt event breaking a sweat. Come to think of it, I still havent seen her fight seriously. I wonder how strong she is, including Kenzo.)

kenzo was my father's bestfriend, he was one of dad's comrade.

After killing the last group of kobolds, he left one while leaving a wound on its leg. The kobold tried to run for its life but Akira quickly blocked its way!

(She sure is fast!)

"Lucian, I left this kobold to let you deal with it. Dont worry, I injured its legs so it cant move freely. He's already much slower than usual, see?"

Akira said, even tho she knows I have 0 experience, she wanted me to fight that last kobold.

"What!? Are you out of your mind? You know I have 0 experience when it comes to fighting right?"

I complained to Akira's stupid plan, even tho the kobold is injured, Im not like my sister who practiced her skills daily.

"No point in complaining"

She stabbed the kobolds shoulder using her dagger and kicked its face.

The wounded kobold was brought to the ground. Akira quickly hid her presence, as the kobold got back up, it had no choice but to fight back in order to survive, the only one it saw was me so he ran towards me and swinging its claw like crazy!

I barely dodged all of its attack, but some of its attack left a wound on my chest, shoulder and arm because I was trying to block its first attack knowing its claw was sharp. Good job me! Im such an idiot!

After receiving wounds from the kobold, my survival instinct activated because Akira has no intention on helping me. I fought the kobold in order to survive.

Im recalling what my father taught me before, as the kobold swing its arm again, I blocked its arm with my left arm and punch the kobold's chest.

The kobold got pushed back but my fist hurts because I wasnt used on punching.

(I hit the enemy but it seems like Im still the one receiving damage T.T)

This time I was the one who charged the kobold, as I got closer, the kobold swung its claw, I stopped in front of the monster and leaned my body back to avoid its attack, but it still manage to scratch my chest. I kicked its right leg while punching its face downwards. The kobold fell and I started punching nonstop.

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After a few minutes of beating the kobold, I finally won against it, I was exhausted! I havent trained my body for a few years, all I do is laze around the house so my stamina is really lacking.

As I sat next to the dead kobold, Akira approached me,

"Well done on defeating it. You took quite a lot of damage from that injured kobold. Lame~"

She even congratulate me while making fun of me for receiving lots of damage from an injured kobold.

"I clearly lack stamina and you know its been a few years since I havent train right? Then you just let me fought this bastard out of nowhere."

She handed me her canteen, letting me drink so I could recover from exhaustion.

"But you do still have the skills, you didnt even ask me for a weapon and killed it barehanded"

"Did you really think I still have the time to ask for a weapon?"

She laughed as she applied herbs to my wounds to help it heal faster.

"But it still didnt changed the fact that you have some skills."

She replied while she puts herbs on my wounds. She continued talking,

"Hey, Lucian? I have something important to tell you."

She kept on putting herbs with my wounds but her face shows that what she's about to say was something serious.

"Whats with the serious look? Whats it about?"

I was curious on what she's about to say,

"I want .. I want you to become strong, to train yourself, you know you have potential right?"

I was silent for a brief moment,

As she finished putting herbs on my wounds, she wrapped my wounds with bandages and sat across me.

"You know I already gave up on my dreams right?"

I clearly told them before that I dont have any interest on becoming an adventurer or fighting. Why cant they get it?

"I know that after your father died, you gave up on everything. But Lucian ."

She suddenly stopped, she looks like she was thinking of something to say, then she continued after a few seconds.

"What if I tell you, that your father didnt died of a sudden monster attack?"

I was shocked of what I heard. They said a demonic beast suddenly appeared when my father and one on their team mate Kenzo was off gaurd, my father got hit and injured.

A demonic beast was a very strong monster. Of course my father would've been able to kill it but they said he was injured, thats how they got disadvantaged. And a bunch of monsters appeared right after.

"No way! You saw it right? That he was killed by a demonic beast!"

"Yes, I was scouting the area when a demonic beast also appeared in front of me, after I defeated it I quickly went back, but I was already too late, he was already dead. I was full of wounds so Kenzo held them back and gave me a chance to retreat."

As she explained to me what happened, she briefly stopped, took a deep breath and continued.

"I think there is no way Aiden would die that easily against a normal demonic beast. I think someone was controlling the demonic beasts that day"

She looked very serious as she said it to me. She continued explaining to me,

"As you can see Lucian, I fought a lot of monsters on the field together with your father. We fought different kinds of monsters and conquered dungeons and even the Dearil Labyrinth,"

Dearil labyrinth was considered one of the most dangerous labyrinths in the past. Different kinds of monsters are crawling inside the labyrinth and even traps are placed inside.

When some of the monsters inside the labyrinth went outside, the king issued an order to conquer the labyrinth. Royal knights and mages were sent inside the dungeon, even adventurers are hired to help conquer the labyrinth.

As they went deeper inside, they encountered bunch of monsters with intellegence, the monsters broke through their defence and attack the mages, they were almost in perish. And thats where my dad, Kenzo and Akira entered the scene and killed every monsters they see.

Akira remembered just how strong Aiden is, thats why she chose to believed that he was killed by someone, and not by some demonic beast.

So she started explaining it to me,

"Demonic beasts are strong but their intelligence is low, even if they are abnormally strong, you can easily outsmart them. Not to mention, Aiden was a strong warrior and a smart one on top of that. How can he lose to a dumb beast?"

I shook my head in disagreement,

"Yes you have a point, but they said that after they got surprise attacked by the demonic beast, my dad got injured and a bunch of monsters showed up."

"Yes but with Kenzo there, a demonic beast together with a bunch of monsters are nothing to them. But it is said that if someone is able to control a demonic beasts, they became very dangerous because you cannot outsmart them anymore. There must be someone who's controlling that beast, even the one who attacked me when I was scouting."

I was lost for words, my heart was pounding like crazy, now that Akira told me that, it seems possible that someone was able to control a demonic beast. But who? Who could it be? And on top of that, they were aiming for my father.

I gripped my hand as I cant contain my emotions, my tears started to ran down.

"S so your saying? Someone was after my, my f-father?"

My voice was trembling, I thought I already let the past be buried in the past, but if someone talks about it, it still causes me pain.

Akira held my trembling hand, and said,

"Thats why Lucian, I want you to get strong. Because if my speculation is right, then the one who killed your father, will definitely come back and kill you too."