The Path of Ruin

Kael didn't really cause any trouble. He took the position he was told. He started to make a circle on the route he was told, making sure that he didn't fall behind the main group that was moving forward.

A few times, at first, he realized that he had made a mistake, that he was lagging behind the group, and corrected himself. A few times, he had to be corrected by one of the men who was constantly watching him.

But with every mistake he made, he got more into the role. He adapted quite quickly.

But he was still not happy. He was far from happy, in fact.

Because he had not encountered a single creature or wild animal for two hours... Not a single one!

'Do the other scouts move faster than me and clean everything or am I just unlucky...'

He couldn't be sure. But... frankly, he gave the second possibility more chance. That he was unlucky.

And, with that, another hour passed... Another hour without encountering a single living being.

And when he reached the end of this hour, the man who appeared at his feet every time he made a mistake appeared in front of him again.

Kael's eyes narrowed. His face took on a serious expression.

"What did I do wrong?"

It was like this every time. He was taking this job, the scouting, really seriously. He could immediately reduce the mistakes he had made before to the point where he either didn't make them again or made very few of them.

"You didn't make a mistake."

He paused for a moment at the man's words. Why had he come to him if he hadn't made a mistake...?

Only when he thought about it for a moment did he find the answer and spoke before the man.

"Ah... is it time for me to rest?"

When the man nodded, Kael couldn't help his expression twitching slightly.

According to the scouts' rules, after three hours of scouting, he was to join the main group and wait there to rest. After resting for about an hour and a half, he was to start scouting again.

Although the night watch was a bit different, this was how the day watch was organized.

The scouts were divided into three groups in total and there were two groups actively scouting. Each group worked for three hours and rested for one and a half hours. The intervals between resting and starting scouting again were arranged so that each group could rest for one and a half hours. In this way, if there was an emergency in the forest, those who were resting could understand the signs and quickly communicate the situation to the main group.

It was quite good, actually. To Kael, it was an efficient way of working.

But that didn't change the fact that he couldn't find anything to kill!

"Understood..."

Still, he did not object. Resting was also part of the work and all the scouts had a certain order. There was no need to break this order.

So, without giving anyone any difficulty, he returned to the main group and jumped onto a carriage. He watched the scouts who had switched places with him dive into the forest. Then, he sighed.

'I hope I don't die before the journey is over...'

*******

Kael was really unlucky.

It had been three days since he had been part of the scout team and the number of creatures he had encountered was really small. So few that he was at a disadvantage in terms of lifespan. The total time he had gained in the last three days was only one and a half days!

'This is not going to work...'

But he had no other choice.

He was deliberately hiding his curse and he wanted to continue doing so. Yes, maybe he wasn't the smartest guy in the world, but he wasn't too stupid to realize that his curse could be used against him. Especially not when he was in a position where he could easily fall into the clutches of the Empire.

So he had to keep it secret. And, well... he should have had a bit of luck so that he would have encountered a lot of creatures.

But... that didn't happen.

On the fourth day, he was at a loss in terms of time.

And the fifth day too.

On the sixth day, he managed to recover a little because he came across a wolf pack's den. But overall, he was still at a loss from the beginning of the journey.

So the seventh day passed.

One more day and the journey would be half over. He would have ten days left, in short.

And Kael had only six days and fourteen hours to live.

'If I hadn't killed Tharon, I would be dead by now...'

The time he had gained by killing him was a little over a week, and Kael had already fallen below that.

But, just then, he froze in place with another thought.

'What about... after we enter the capital?'

The capital, of course, was not a place where he could just go around killing things. There would be no animals or creatures like goblins or wolves. Only humans.

What was he going to do there when he was having problems even now? His curse would leave him in a much worse situation, most likely...

'It's... a problem... a very big problem...'

"Hey, kid!"

He snapped out of his thoughts. He saw the man yelling at him.

"It's our turn!"

He nodded his head immediately. He jumped down from the carriage he was sitting on. While half of the scouts in the forest joined the main group, he and the others went in the opposite direction.

He was still a beginner in many ways, but he could do scouting well enough not to cause trouble for the others. In this way, his relationship with the other scouts had shifted from nothing to slightly neutral. He had learned a few of their names, and his name had been learned by them.

Yet he didn't think about any of this, didn't care.

The only thing on his mind was how to satisfy his curse. Basically, how he could survive.

*******

And so, the days went on, one after the other.

Kael was more aggressive, faster than ever. This way, he was only at a loss for a few hours most days, or he was able to pull ahead a little bit.

Still, he was far from the performance he wanted. If he could, he would have liked to enter the capital of the Empire with a month. Then he would have had much more time to think, to formulate a proper plan.

But he couldn't. And if he was not miscalculating, he would enter the capital with only four days left to live.

"Tch."

He clicked his tongue, using his daggers to kill a strange creature belonging to a strange species of creature that resembled overgrown frogs. Yet his expression did not change.

'I have to be faster.'

So he could find more creatures.

'I must be more careful.'

So he wouldn't miss the creatures that were hiding.

Therefore, he sped up even more, scanning his surroundings even more carefully, and keeping his senses open at all times.

If he had time, he would have liked to think about what he had seen from the general, Tharon, and Hakon. He wanted to ponder them, to see if there was something he could apply to himself.

But with his life at stake, he didn't have time for that. So... he made it his first priority to kill as many things as he could.

And while he was out in the forest looking for things to kill... at the front of the main group, two people were having a conversation about him.

One of them was Hakon. He was dressed in black as usual, his eyes and expression very serious. The person walking opposite him, with his back turned, was an old man with a sword at his waist... General Loukan.

"How is the kid?"

Hakon was one of General Loukan's most trusted subordinates. He was also one of the most talented.

Yet there was only one task the general had given him during this whole journey, apart from the basic things like keeping the group safe. And that was to keep an eye on Kael, the fifteen-year-old boy who had just joined their group, and report back every day.

"Kael is... good. Much better than I thought, in fact. The job of a scout is hard. The beginners really make a lot of mistakes. But he's... a bit strange."

Most beginners didn't know how to use their senses well enough, so they missed a lot of details about their surroundings. If they didn't disguise themselves well, their presence would be discovered and they could ruin everything for the group they were scouting for.

The number of mistakes that could be made was really enormous.

And Kael was no exception. He made mistakes, he wasn't perfect.

But, as Hakon said, he was strange.

"Hmm, go on."

"Instead of getting embarrassed or angry when his mistakes are pointed out to him, he stays calm and listens. He tries to correct them, unlike his age. He adapts fast, really... I've rarely seen anyone learn as fast as he does, but that's not the only thing that's strange about him."

General Loukan's brow furrowed slightly.

"For example? What else is strange?"

"Lately... he's been more aggressive and careful than usual. It's like he's looking for danger rather than scouting and staying alert for it. It's like... he's especially looking for creatures, wild animals... just living beings. And when he finds them, he kills them without a second thought. Regardless of whether it's wild, dangerous, or not."

The general was silent for a while as if he was thinking about something.

"And how is he with eon? At what level? Does he have a Path he follows, have you been able to determine what his blessing or curse is? What you noticed might have something to do with that."

"Kael seems to have figured out how to use eon on his own. It's clear that he hasn't had any professional training, so the way he uses eon is quite bad and he doesn't overuse it. So it's hard for me to comment. But he's not a follower, I'm certain that he's just a bearer."

"I see. Good job Hakon, keep it up. You can go."

Hakon bowed his head and put his left arm over his chest.

"Understood, general."

Then, his figure disappeared, as if the place where he had been was covered with transparent leaves.

General Loukan remained silent and expressionless, watching the road they were moving through.

He didn't know why, but... this boy named Kael intrigued him. As if... he wasn't just a random person, but someone very important.

'We will wait and see, I suppose...'