Forgotten Regrets, Part 2

Hours after the purge of the kingdom's enemies, as said by the Knights. Beren's body finally moved again, even though he no longer felt the pain of the punch in his stomach, his mind didn't seem to be in the same condition.

Wailing and muttering wouldn't help him, walking through the village, he couldn't let in the unnatural silence, the doors were open, showing no sign of the villagers. Not knowing what had happened, Beren went to one of the houses I saw that looked as if it had been torn apart.

Several thoughts ran through his head, but it didn't matter anymore, what could he do? In the end, they knew what they were doing when protecting criminals, or that's what Beren thought until that day, not knowing what to do anymore, he wandered through the forest, with the sun almost setting, normally someone would be in a hurry not to be eaten by wild animals.

However, he didn't see it that way, there was no reason to run, sooner or later everything would go wrong, so Beren was in no hurry.

⊛⊛⊛

The moon was already right in the middle of the starry sky, the night together with the cold winds, made the young man's body shiver, while walking in the middle of a plain, his destination was the city, however, he didn't want to have to pass by the guards, since everyone must have known of his situation, only what was left of fame for him was that of a murderer and, at the same time, a coward, no matter how contradictory.

The fine cloth clothes didn't help his body at all, letting the cold wind hit his skin as if they were countless needles, his bare feet could barely stand to walk any longer, as they hurt so much. His blurred vision then saw the silhouette of houses, which were Beren's real goal, the city's slums, the place where any lost and aimless soul can stay without having to go through the walls, now if there will ever be a place to sleep that's another story.

Entering the countless old and worn houses, Beren continued to walk until the shadows of the slum engulfed him, taking with him his regrets.

⊛⊛⊛

Years later, in a place where despair is an incentive to an attempt at redemption that rarely arrives, people of all kinds: good, bad, kind, rude, knights or thieves, however, end up having no best choice.

Houses almost falling apart were the shelters that welcomed these aimless people, but there is no free food in this world, those who want to stay alive must work, whether with smuggling, robbing people, or even looting loads of merchants.

Each case had a risk, however, for those with a minimum remnant of luck, they could find something safer than being a thief. That was the case with Beren, who n the midst of his rock-bottom despair managed to get something he could work with, a butcher amid his rock-bottom despair.

At first, his aversion to blood had taken root in him, and whenever he saw large amounts, he had to hold back vomit. But as months and even years passed, his brain became he got used to it little by little, thus making the process faster, thanks to this job he managed to find a shack cheap enough to live on.

His routine was quite simple, his boss would go hunting alone in the afternoon, and return in the morning with the tusks, leaving Beren to skin the animals and hang them so that the blood would flow. Because they have a good flow of meat in and out thanks to the In the past year, direct customers have expanded its influence even further, even managing to transport meat inside the walls.

It was a day like any other for Beren, who stayed at the reception, usually, in the afternoon there weren't that many customers anymore, so he used to sit. But then, his peace was interrupted by his boss, a man of bulging belly and long black beard, on his head a bald head with a few strands of hair that hadn't yet fallen out.

There was hardly ever a good day for your boss to smile as much as today, the that made Beren suspicious of what was going on.

"Boss, what's wrong?"

"Hahahahaha, a day to be celebrated, it happened!" said the boss, putting his arm around the neck of his employee.

"I got it, Beren, I finally got a great opportunity to leave this godforsaken place!"

"Eh? So easy like this?" Beren broke free of his boss's arm and was surprised he asked.

"Hahaha, just relax, I'll take you with me, now let's close the store, the customer wants to know everyone related to the store"

Being dragged out of nowhere, Beren blocked the door with a piece of wood and then went out the back, his next destination being a square that divided the entrance from the slum to the city.

Even apprehensive of only getting close to the city, seeing his boss's happiness, he preferred to stay quiet. It had been years since his departure from the guards, even if they remembered him now, all the knights were occupied for the beginning of a great foray into purification against the enemy races.

When they reached the square, the two sat and waited for a few minutes, until a man dressed in fancy silk clothes, on his head a large hat with a red feather. Dresses of him were quite common among the nobles of the realms, which made Beren wonder what a noble could want with a butcher shop in the slums.

Next to the nobleman was what appeared to be a butler in elegant black attire. Beren might even have come along, but the one who actually speaks was his boss, as Beren himself was too preoccupied with this whole suspicious situation.

"Beren… Beren!"


"Oh sorry boss, I got distracted."

"Don't worry, it's normal to dream in a situation like this. Mr. Vincent and I are going to finish negotiations in town, if you want to get ready for the store change, you're free." with a slap on the back, the man released his official and walked away.
Still, in doubt, Beren sighed helplessly, as he turned to leave, he suddenly felt his shoulder being grabbed.

"Boss, you pre… EH!"

To his surprise, the one holding his shoulder was none other than his old partner, Ross. Now wearing iron armor without a helmet, even though his hair was mostly shaved off and a scar running from his cheek to the right side of his head. Ross was still as he remembered, totally stunned by the reunion, and his body faltering, Beren was totally frozen in place.

"What's that Beren, don't you remember the old comrades anymore, or didn't you want to remember what happened?"

A smile spread across Ross's face, and he poked at the forgotten wound of the person in front of him.

"R-Ross, w-what are you doing here?"

"I'd say I've come to thank you for making my passage into a great future easy, but I've come to give you a mission directly from Captain Auruwin"

"I got off guard years ago, I don't want to hear about missions, see you again.” Beren turned and started walking, until the next moment he heard what Ross said.

"It's really a shame, your boss will never see his dream store again."

"You bastard, what do you think you're doing?"

Stopping abruptly, Beren came back and grabbed Ross's armor which did nothing, not even flinch, only keeping his sneer as he stared at the utterly angry person in front of him.

"Come on, don't be like this, Beren, we promise that if you fulfill your mission everything will be all right."

Pushing back the hand that held his armor, the knight pulled out a rolled-up paper marked with the royal seal, the highest authority in the kingdom.

"Look on the bright side, that's all you ever wanted, run away, so take it or not?"


Unsure what to do, Beren thought of his boss who had finally got what he wanted, if he screwed up now there would be nowhere else to go, on the other hand, if he completes the mission everything will be fine and he can go on and end his life with some tranquility.

Determined, he takes the paper in Ross's hand and looks at the knight still smiling.


"Hey, he still has some courage from what I see, follow the instructions on the paper and everything will be fine, now if you'll excuse me I have more important things to do"

Smugly, Ross turns and walks back to town.

Still in the square, Beren hides behind a tree and opens the scroll.

Dear honorable citizen, you are reading, with the words of your majesty, King Winsthon II, you will be charged with the mission to capture the demonic ex-general, which goes by the name of Hilda, her whereabouts seems to be a village far from every kind of city, which is now tormented by the ashes of a volcano in the region.

Her objective will be to infiltrate the village as a hunter with nowhere to go, earn the trust of everyone in the village, having 3 years to fulfill your mission.

During this time you will observe Hilda and see if she hides other enemies of our kingdom, Captain Invor, from the city of Bellony, will be your supervisor and will tell you everything else to be done, take the horse, and prepared supplements for you and go.
Glory and long life to the king!

— Chief minister, Marven Folghen Atlas.

Without a choice, Beren folded the letter and headed for the main headquarters of the
guard, where the start of his mission awaited him, nothing could stand in his way this time, at least that was what he thought.

⊛⊛⊛

Two years after Beren left on his mission. In the beginning, it was very difficult to adapt and at the same time get the confidence of those who stayed in the devastated village, there was a maximum of 6 people who lived there.

Two of them were easy to convince, Yurien a younger man than he looked, and his granddaughter Envy a very imperative 8-year-old girl. His mission began even when he finally met her target, Hilda or Madam Hilda was what Yurien used to call her, no one knew where she came from, nor why she helped them.

By completing a year in the village, Beren could say that as much as the scarcity of animals was worrying, it was the perfect excuse for to Beren stay days away.

It took four days to go and four days to get back from the nearest town, of course, so if you had a horse for such a thing, walking could take up to a week due to the hostile environment.

And as Beren was the only one who had a horse, he always went missing for up to a week and came back, while some thought he spent his time hunting, he actually went to town to report on the progress of the mission, and also buy supplements for him.

What helped him most was the lack of knowledge of others, even from Hilda, who made him assume she was so hidden that he cut himself off from the world almost entirely.

Without noticing how she lived in the village and realized the people's desperate situation, he subconsciously clung to people and began to help more than he should, when he finally realized, another year had passed. At this point in the championship, he didn't even, but he was trying to fight his feelings, so he started to isolate himself from people and talk less, so it wouldn't hurt as much when the end of the senior year came around.

Except for one person, Envy how remembered what her childhood was like. horrible, Beren couldn't imagine making a child innocent person going through a horrible situation that the future awaited.

So when the time came, he would convince Yurien to get Envy and the two of them to go with him. However, with a month to go before the day arrives, Hilda rarely appears, brought with him the body of a young man.

At first, Beren was lost,  he just needed to act as usual. The next day, Yurien asked Beren to teach the boy how to hunt, although it was something unusual in his routine, he accepted.

But what neither Beren nor Yurien knew was what lived inside the young.

⊛⊛⊛

Pointing the sword towards the boy, the young hunter never thought that the boy had suddenly fainted from fear.

"Young Satoru! This was excessive Beren!" Yurien yelled worriedly and approached the fallen body.

"Eh?"

There was no way I could have known the boy was that fragile. Beren tucked the sword into its scabbard and moved closer too. Lifting the boy's head, suddenly, for no apparent reason, all the hairs on his body stood up, as if fear took root in his body and enveloped him forever, something beyond anything he had ever experienced or achieved.

Perhaps, by feeling something never before experienced, it caused Beren's brain to act out of a pure instinct for self-preservation. In a sudden movement, he didn't yell or say anything, just flinched back, as if his life depended on it.

Surprised Yurien tried to move towards his acquaintance, but a figure was faster, in a totally abnormal way, he saw the previously scared young man who fainted, get up while squirming and at an abnormal speed, stopped on top of the hunter. Panting as if seeing a haunting, Beren tries to say something, but nothing comes out.

Feeling an icy hand, sliding down her cheek and stopping with fingers close to her ear. A black, gooey liquid came out of the vacant part between the skin and the nails.

With what little strength was left in his body, Beren raised his right hand and punched the young man's face, hard enough to pass out even a full-grown man, however, the target didn't even seem to feel any pain, he just kept looking with the blackened eyes.

Realizing that something was entering her right ear, tears began to fall, in his mind memories flowing more and more, everything so detailed and vivid.

Coming back to himself, he noticed the boy had a smile on his face as he withdrew his hand.

"Uncertainty… betrayal… fear… incredible.” Murmuring to himself, the young man's body shuddered and then grabbed Beren's left arm.

"I know … everything … traitor … kekeke" With his head close to the ear of Beren, he whispered and chuckled like this was amusing, then continued to whisper.

Uncomprehending, Beren saw the boy pull away and place his other hand on his left arm, before he reacted to free himself, felt the strength in his body slip away and be replaced by pain accompanied by a sound of something breaking.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

Watching the terrifying scene of his arm being twisted completely and his bone-breaking, an indescribable pain took him through and made his body completely lose its strength.

Yuriel, looking back, was terrified, until suddenly he saw a shadow rush by Beren's side in agony, realizing that it was Hilda, who grabbed Satoru and immobilized him, but it was too late; Yurien seeing that arm completely twisted.

Satoru who tried to resist Hildauddenly passed out again. And little by little people were arriving as they had heard the scream of pain and agony.