The way back to the starting line (part 2)

*SHING* *SPLURT*

"Gu-hurgh...!"

The Medea waved his hand to the side with a well-trained motion and sloth Mathew's throat, causing the tweenager to let out some unrecognizable mumble while his hate-filled eyes rolled up into their sockets.

"Idiot. Where did he get the idea that I would let him live?"

The black-haired man shook his head in disbelief, retrieving his own weapons while adjusting the corpses so it would look like Mathew was the one to kill the old man and then finished off himself.

It was only an additional countermeasure, though; Medea returned to the main room and grabbed a few bottles of the strongest liquors, and poured them generously around the place.

He then grabbed the dim oil lamp on his way out to the stable and threw it right by the corpses, causing the alcohol to catch fire that spread out in an instant.

"Sorry, Five, we are not stopping here after all."

Medea casually closed the door on the fire and apologetically patted his horse's back.

The animal looked between him and the half-eaten feed as if being moody, but then the smell of the smoke must have reached its nose and urged it to move out on its own.

"Things aren't looking well, be prepared to gallop with all you have."

"PSHH!"

The man led the horse back on the main street and instantly moved on to another one and then, after a few turns, ended up in front of the house that should belong to the copper-haired potion master.

Gerard used to have a habit of having a lamp lit up over the main entrance at night – supposedly to make the potential robbers think that someone is inside and turn away – and because of what Medea was standing in the brightest spot in the area while his horse was nervously twitching its ears and looking towards the direction they came from as if eager to get away from the town as fast as it could.

*rustle*

Medea took out a key from his pocket – it wasn't the same one that he was using while disguised as Gerard's apprentice.

*click*

Even so, the moment that he put the key in the lock and twisted it, the mechanism moved smoothly.

"..."

That alone was all the information that he needed, but still, he wanted to make sure about a few additional details – including whether Gerard has to be dealt with like Connor.

Therefore, Medea opened the door and...

"...?"

Stopped before even taking a single step as the light from the outside illuminated a bit of the house's interior, and he locked eyes with a rather adorable child – at most four or five years old – with bright-copper hair, holding a comically disproportionally large glass of water in both hands.

"Ah! Mister with black hair!"

Instead of being scared of the unknown person simply entering their home, the child gasped in a hushed voice, almost in awe, and put the glass down.

"Mister, come inside! Papa said that if a mister with black hair would show up, he must come inside before bad people would see him!"

The child trotted towards Medea and grabbed his hand without any fear.

"..."

Medea let himself be pulled in, and the child let go of his hand and closed the door slightly too fast, causing a noise because of their excitement.

"Here, mister!"

The child grabbed Medea's hand again and led him only a few steps to the side by the window with a view of two sideroads crossing.

A spot from where it would be easy to escape in case things went wrong.

"Mister, I will go for papa! Ah...! Shhh...!"

The child gasped with excitement, but then, as if they realized something, they flinched and put a finger to their mouth and shushed.

"Good job."

"Ehehe!"

Medea's serious expression didn't budge, but he nodded his head with approval and prised the child, patting their head and making them laugh with pride.

*click*

"Papa...! Papa! Black-haired mister is here!"

Of course, despite everything looking so promising, this still could be a trap, but the black-haired man confirmed that the window could be opened just as easily as he remembered, coupled with the perfectly audible footsteps and the voice of a child that wanted to whisper but ended up speaking in their normal voice but breathing out the words, he didn't felt the urge to grab his knives.

"Nngh...? Natalie...? Did you have a bad dream...?"

"Hmm~"

The voice that responded first didn't belong to Gerard but to someone else that Medea knew – even though she definitely gained much proficiency in speaking the common language of the Wondalandor than during their last meeting.

"Mama! Make papa wake up! The black-haired mister is here!"

*rustle*

"Wha...?!"

The child spoke a bit louder, which was followed by a rustle and groan that definitely belonged to the copper-haired potion master.

"Lay down, Gerard. Natalie sees the black-haired man at least once a week since you told her about him."

"He really is here! He opened the door just like papa said he would! I was getting water and saw him!"

It sounded like the woman tried to stop the man from getting out of bed, but the child insisted, sounding adorably exasperated.

"You said that the last time too, though. Gerard, are you really going to rush out each time Natalie dozes off and hallucinates Chief returning?"

"Yes."

The woman tried to nag as the man was moving around, but he silenced her with a short but honest answer.

"Natalie, was the black-haired mister smiling?"

"No, he looked grumpy! But he said a good job and patted my head!"

The voices of the parent and child were coming closer – same with their footsteps.

That was all that was needed to make the serious-faced Medea lean against the wall by the window and tilt his head.

After a few short moments, the wait paid off, and a copper-haired man holding a small lamp descended the staircase while getting pulled on his other hand by his daughter.

"See, papa?! Black-haired mister is here!"

"!!!"

Natalie cheered out excitedly while pointing with her finger towards Medea leaning against the wall – and the black-haired man standing there so casually was a sight that caused Gerard to freeze in place with his mouth agape.