Redemption

"Hello, my friend."

But as soon as he stepped inside, he slipped on something oily and almost fell. Although he caught a rope, that turned out to be a mistake, as a heap of chili powder fell on him, burned his eyes and made its way into his nose and throat.

_Cough_

_Cough_

He had fallen into a trap.

A sharp knife suddenly launched toward his head, but he managed to block it with his arms. He moved his arms forward to catch it, but failed. A small cut appeared on his arm and started to bleed.

_Crack_

A small pot hit his body and broke, but it didn't hurt. Rather, an oily substance spilled from it and stuck to his body.

_Whoosh_

Suddenly, he caught fire, the oil making the flames rage.

"Damn it!"

He took off his jacket and pants and started flailing them around to extinguish the fire.

"There you are!"

He was finally able to see Sven after his tears had cleared his eyes. He lunged toward Sven, blocking the knife with one hand and reaching out with the other to grab his neck.

"Mother! Now!"

He heard Sven call for his mother, flinched, and looked back, expecting an attack.

But the attack never came. He finally saw Shirin. She was holding a hammer in her hands, but her whole body was shivering. She couldn't even lift it properly.

When he glared at her, she fell back on her buttocks.

He ignored Shirin and focused back on Sven.

"Buddy, you messed up big time."

---

Sven had been preparing while also keeping an eye on the roads leading to his house.

He had poured some melted tallow near the door and the window. He had also gotten two weak pots from the pottery shop below and filled them with melted tallow. He kept a lighter and a kitchen knife on him. He also opened a jar of chili powder and hung it over the door with the help of a rope.

Shirin had also found a hammer that the repairman had forgotten while repairing their broken door.

"He came!"

Sven saw the man snooping around the house before getting in.

"Mother! Be prepared. He'll come through the door."

Shirin held her hammer tightly and moved to a corner of the room beside the door. Her hands were shaking, but she had told herself she could do this.

_Boom_

The door broke with a bang.

"Hello, my friend."

As soon as the man entered, his legs slipped a bit, and he tried to catch himself with the rope, which caused the chili powder to fall over him.

Sven seized the opportunity and immediately lunged at him with his knife, but the man blocked it. Sven jumped back, took out the pots, and threw them at the man. Then he took out the lighter and set the man on fire.

Sven moved back toward the two water buckets he had kept as a precaution in case the house caught fire.

But the man took off his clothes and started flailing them around, and the fire quickly died down. Without a moment's rest, the man lunged at him.

Sven put his knife in front of him and called out to Shirin.

"Mother! Now!"

But nothing happened.

Shirin didn't move. Rather, she couldn't. She had been prepared to face the man, but in the face of danger, her body gave up.

"Buddy, you messed up big time."

He was caught.

The man grabbed him by the collar and pushed him against the wall.

"Give me back my potion and I'll give you a swift death."

"Help! Help!" Sven shouted.

"No one's going to hear you. I've placed a sound barrier around the house. Now fork it over."

He slapped Sven hard across the cheek. His bandages ripped, and the wounds started bleeding again.

_Thoo_

"You're getting nothing. Fuck off." Sven spat a mouthful of blood in his face.

The man was furious and annoyed. He wiped it off, thrashed Sven to the ground, and looked down at him.

"Piece of shit. You give me exactly what I want, or else I'm going to do some nasty things to your mother in front of you. And when I'm done, I'll kill you both."

Sven flailed like crazy, cursing and thrashing his legs. But he couldn't overpower the man.

_Bang_

A hammer hit the man on the back of his head, rendering him unconscious as he fell onto Sven's body.

Shirin had mustered up all her courage after watching her son get beaten.

The hammer fell out of her hands. She quickly moved toward Sven and dragged him off the man, her body still shivering.

Sven stood up.

He grabbed his knife and thrust it into the back of the man's neck. Multiple times. Until he was sure that the man was dead.

Sven froze.

'I did it. I killed him.'

It was the first time he had taken someone's life with his own hands. But he didn't waver. He had to do it. Otherwise, he'd be the one to die.

It felt nothing like what he imagined killing someone to be like. He had moved without thinking. There was no going back now. If others knew of it, he'd be branded as a murderer from now onwards. But he had already decided he'd do everything he had to if it was to protect himself and someone close to him.

He wiped himself off, went to his mother, and hugged her.

---

Some time passed. The mother and son had gathered themselves. The room was a mess. Sven had lost a lot of blood. He needed to go to the doctor soon.

He took the bedsheets off the mattress and covered the dead body with them.

Shirin was terrified of being left alone in the room with a dead body. But she knew Sven needed to go to the doctor, and they couldn't leave the room unaccounted for.

Sven opened the door to leave.

"Care to tell me what happened here?"

A young lady was standing before him. The same one he had met at the doctor's office. The doctor's daughter. Her left leg was completely wrapped in bandages, while patches of cotton cloth covered many parts of her body beneath an oversized coat.

"Nothing."

Sven immediately tried to close the door, but she stopped him from doing so. Sven didn't have a lot of strength left in him.

She moved her eyes across the entire room and locked them on the floor, where the body lay.

"Who are you? Why are you here?"

He knew from their conversation that this girl was Dr. Brown's daughter, but she seemed mysterious.

Sven sighed visibly.

He'd just committed murder, and there was even a witness now. If the man he had killed somehow turned out to be a noble, he'd have to say goodbye to a peaceful life, even if he ended up in prison.

Ignoring Sven, she went inside the room and uncovered the dead body.

"Vini."

She knew the man.

Sven's heart sank further.

"Did you kill him?"

"Would you believe me if I told you that I didn't?"

"How?"

She didn't ask why. She was more impressed that Sven had managed to kill him.

"It was him, not us, miss!" Shirin hurriedly tried to clear the situation.

"He came to attack and kill us. He also robbed us of our money a while ago."

"We only defended ourselves."

Shirin tried her best to explain herself as if the girl standing before her were the Sheriff.

"I don't know. I just did."

"By yourself?"

"Yes."

Sven tried to take all the blame himself. Even if he were sent to prison, his mother should not have to go with him.

"Come with me."

"Where to?"

"Where are you taking him... Miss?" Shirin was worried that she would take him to prison.

"My house. Where else?"

"Huh?"

Shirin was confused.

Before she could come to a completely absurd conclusion, Sven intervened.

"Her house is the doctor's clinic. She is his daughter."

"Oh, okay."

Shirin felt relieved, but only for a moment before she remembered that she had to stay alone with a corpse for a while.

---

"What made you look for me? How did you find me?"

Sven had thought about it for a while but hadn't come up with any answers. So he decided to ask her directly on the way to the clinic.

"Let's just say you are a bit different from ordinary people. In fact, when I saw you, I thought of dissecting you to study your body structure."

"Are you serious?"

She was crazy.

Sven felt extremely insecure. But he was also curious. What made him different from others? Maybe it was the fact that he had failed to awaken. But there were others who had failed too.

"Don't worry. I find you more interesting alive. So I'll save the dissection for later."

She smirked.

She was toying with him.

She had the ability to see mana pathways inside a person using her thin mana. And to her surprise, Sven had two of them.

They reached the clinic. Crystal opened the door. Both entered.

"I'm sick of you, Crystal."

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Brown expressed his dissatisfaction.

"Can you not just stay still for a bit?"

"It's alright. I said I'd be back, no?"

"You don't have to worry about me. Here, you have a patient to tend to."

Brown noticed Sven following her, his nose broken.

"You, son, didn't Chris fix you up a while ago? Do you really hate your nose?"

...

Sven had nothing to say. He sat on the chair and leaned back. He didn't care to try to explain anything to the doctor. His daughter knew everything anyway.

After the doctor patched up his broken nose, Crystal brought a bowl filled with greenish liquid. She sat next to him.

"Explain. Why were you involved with Vini? And how did you kill him?"

Sven explained, leaving only the pouch out of it.

"You're hiding something. Vini is a member of the Union. He wouldn't come to your house to kill you if he had been specifically assigned not to do so."

"What's it? Don't worry, I won't rat you out to the authorities."

Sven thought for a bit. She already knew the entirety of his situation, and maybe... she could help him get rid of the pouch as well?

"He robbed me of my money, so I robbed him of his."

"I snatched a pouch, and inside it was a magic awakening potion."

Sven decided it was worth a shot.

Crystal nodded.

"That explains it. Good job."

"How were you going to sell it?"

Crystal assumed he had nowhere to sell it.

"I don't know."

"I know a place. But I need your help in return. Consider it a favor for keeping my mouth shut."

"What help?"

"Do you know of the black market?"

Sven shook his head.

He knew of it, but not much. He just knew that it existed and dealt in illegal trade.

"It's holding an auction the day after tomorrow in the capital. You might be able to sell your potion there. I need your help stealing something of mine from there."

"Why me?"

Sven was confused.

He was neither a mage nor someone with power. Moreover, she had just met him.

"Don't think too much of it. I was going to do it myself. You're there just for convenience."

Crystal had experienced firsthand how disadvantageous it was to go alone against a number of people just earlier. Also, Sven had just killed a guy, moreover, a mage, all by himself when he was just an ordinary guy. She liked his decisiveness.

But she didn't need to tell Sven that. And this time, there was very little chance of something dangerous happening.

"Okay."

Sven stood up to leave.

"Let me help you get rid of Vini's body."

Crystal followed him.

---

Sven opened the door to his room.

He saw Shirin holding the hammer tightly in one hand. She was afraid the body would rise again.

"I'm back, Mother."

"You don't need to be so paranoid. He's dead."

Crystal assured Shirin.

"You're back... with her?"

"She's here to help."

Crystal moved toward the body. She removed the cover and poured a vial of ash liquid over it.

"What's that?"

"This is to remove the odor. Take that bag out."

Sven unfolded a large bag he was holding. He'd gotten it from Hufferman in the market on his way home. It was the bag the butcher used for transporting animal carcasses.

They put the body in the bag and tightened the ends with a rope.

Shirin just watched from the sidelines. She stood there, thinking about what her life had become all of a sudden.

"Mother, can you go ask Mr. Almond to let us borrow his wheelbarrow for a bit?"

The potter had a wheelbarrow he used to bring clay.

"Okay."

Shirin went downstairs to borrow the wheelbarrow. She couldn't stay useless while her son was doing everything.

After a while, in front of the house, just as they finished putting the dead body down on the wheelbarrow...

"Is this Felix Ferb's house? I'm here to investigate."

They heard a voice behind them.

An upright man in uniform stood in front of them. He looked at the wheelbarrow and what basically looked like a dead body inside a bag, then he looked up at Sven.

"Are you Sven Kruse?"

---

"Are you Sven Kruse?"

"...Yes", Beads of sweat appeared on Sven's temples.

"I'm here on behalf of the Sheriff to investigate the robbery. But it looks like you left out an explanation on the report" The officer moved his eyes between the wheelbarrow and Sven's face.