7 Chapter 7: Evil People...?

"P… please don't! I… I have a daughter!"

Screams. Screams that echoed through the night. He didn't like it, but it had to happen. There was no other way to completely eradicate the evil that corrupted this evil town.

And so, he killed. He killed everything and every one that even attempted to breathe. It was easy — the books lied. They said that a part of you would go missing once you take a life, but Ragnar was not losing anything.

His vision, maybe — as the blood of the villagers started to drown his eyes. He didn't mind, however, he was used to not seeing things as they are. He just continued to cleave. It was easy, take away their legs and they would no longer be able to run.

He is not the villain of this story, he was only eradicating the evil that caused his mother's death.

"No… please… please don't kill me!"

"We… we're sorry! We… we didn't mean to–"

"Not my baby, please not my– No!"

He killed. Tearing off the villagers' flesh as it made him stronger — just like in the books that his mother used to read him. The more monsters and evil the Hero extinguishes, the stronger he gets.

There was just one detail that wasn't in the books; the fact that he needed to eat them while they were alive.

"No… what… what are you doing!?"

"S… stop!"

It's funny. When his mother begged for them to stop, they didn't. And they were expecting him to do so? It was the same in the books, once the antagonist was losing, they tried to beg for life — there was one hero that chose to spare evil, but in the end, he was killed by that very same evil.

No. None of them should live.

He had to plug them from the roots and grind them to make sure their evil does not scatter through the lands.

All of them.

Extinguish all of them from the roots.

"!!!"

A loud gasp then whistled in the air as Ragnar felt himself falling; the whistle, disappearing only as Ragnar's eyes cleared.

"That woke you up? The roads here aren't developed yet, so it's best to stay awake or you'll probably hit your head."

"..." Ragnar blinked a couple of times as he looked at the man talking to him; although Ragnar wasn't really sure if it was him talking, as his head was completely covered by something. They were in some sort of small room; which… was trembling for some reason.

Ragnar then looked at his hands to check if he could still see even though he already knew he could — and there, he saw his arms that were completely blanketed by dried blood.

"I… thought blood was red?" Ragnar then whispered to himself.

"It is," the man then removed his helmet, revealing his long red hair and equally longer beard, "Blood becomes darker over time outside the body. Sorry, we couldn't wash it off you, kid. Just—"

"Where's my mother!?" Ragnar then stood up, almost tumbling as he couldn't seem to balance himself inside the small room. He looked around, but there was only him, the man, and a lot of crates in the room; he then marched towards the curtains where light seeped from the outside, quickly opening them — only to realize the small room he was in was moving.

"What… where are we? What is this magic room!?"

"...It's a carriage," the man could only blink a couple of times as he looked at the boy, "And we… are on our way to the Military Town, Southpeak. You can call me Redvers. Knight-Captain Redvers, if you want to be so formal."

"You're… a soldier?" Ragnar's eyebrows quickly started to furrow as he looked at the man, "Where… is my mother?"

Redvers didn't really answer Ragnar's questions, only letting out a sorrowful sigh as he looked down.

"What… do you remember?"

"They… killed my mother."

"Do you remember what killed her?"

"..." Ragnar looked to the side at first; almost as if remembering everything that happened during the night. And after a few seconds, he pointed at Captain Redvers,

"Evil people."

"People… you mean humans did that?"

Most of the corpses in the tiny village were barely recognizable; their intestines laid out everywhere — and most of them were missing their limbs, almost as if whatever was trying to kill them truly didn't want any of them to escape.

Was it bandits? Did they try to make it look like a mana beast did it? But that wouldn't make any sense — they checked the houses, and none of them seemed to have been ransacked. Is it possible that the demi-humans did this?

But why? Did they want to risk a war against them? But they shouldn't have even been inside the wall—

"..." Redvers halted with his thoughts as he noticed the boy looking at him with eyes that almost felt like he wanted to kill him. To think a child would have eyes like that is tragic, but he had seen them everywhere.

"You don't have to worry," Redvers could only sigh as he tried his best to smile, "We cremated her over a funeral pyre. That's…

…how you honor your dead, right?"

And as soon as Ragnar heard that, he could not help but take in a long a very deep breath, "M… mama is… is in Valhalla now?"

And although Ragnar's voice was slightly trembling, his eyes remained clear.

"...It's not weakness to cry, kid," Redvers breathed out.

"N… no," Ragnar quickly shook his head, "The strongest doesn't cry, and I… I will become the strongest mage. I…

…will eradicate all the evil from this world."

"...Well, that's good," Redvers could really only sigh as he heard Ragnar's words. The boy… barely had any mana. He initially thought it was just because he was still weak from having survived the massacre, but no. If one were to blink, it would almost look as if… he was a Deviant.

"We'll be in the barracks soon. What's your name, boy?"

"...Ragnar."

"Well, Ragnar. You might actually just get your chance if you choose to."

And as Redvers said that, the trembling of the carriage finally stopped, with him quickly standing up and pushing the drapes to the side,

"We're here," he then said before jumping out of the carriage.

"..." Ragnar hesitated to follow Redvers for a few seconds, before ultimately nodding to himself and carefully stepping out of the carriage — and as soon as he did so, noise quickly filled his eyes.

"!!!"

Ragnar quickly crouched as he placed his palm on the paved ground, almost as if to regain his footing as he stared at all the people walking around everywhere. His heart also started to get heavy as his ears drowned in the sound of his own breaths.

These people… are they also evil?

"Is this him?"

"Stay away!" Ragnar then quickly crawled back, almost like an animal as he stared at the old woman that suddenly approached him.

"...Yes, Knight Commander," Redvers was behind the old woman, bowing his head to her.

"Another one, aye?" The old woman could only sigh and shake her head as she slowly walked near Ragnar, but stopped as soon as Ragnar showed her his teeth like a beast, "Well… I could definitely see why you want me to see him. But he's useless, Red. Barely any mana in his little bones."

"I think we could train him, Knight Commander. He has the eyes."

"What good are fiery eyes when you won't even be enough to guard the gate?"

The old woman scoffed as she once again walked closer to Ragnar. This time, slowly stretching her hand towards him,

"Take him to the orphanage, we have no use for—"

"Knight-Commander Marguerite!"

"It's fine!"

Redvers was about to rush towards Marguerite, but before he could do so, the Knight Commander ordered him to stand down. Redvers could not help but worry, however. After all…

…the little boy he brought to town was now biting their commander's hand.

"Oh…" a small smile then slowly crawled on Marguerite's face as he stared at Ragnar, who truly seemed to want to bite a chunk of her hand off. Or perhaps, more specifically, she was staring at the faded blue light that was being emitted by Ragnar's jaw— Mana.

"...Now where were you hiding that?"