It was past midnight when five members of the Magic God Kingdom were forced to camp deep in the forest.
The wind howled violently, making the forest scream.
Pain flared across Ryuto's back as a heavy hand came down from behind. It was a pale-skinned man with spiky yellow hair whom everyone knew as Shinju.
"Ouch! What was that for?!"
Shinju gave Ryuto a warm smile, trying to lift everyone's spirits, and took another bowl of soup. the warmth of the soup keeping everyone at the camp comfortable in the night forest.
They were assigned to collect info and locate the demon hideout, but I'll be damned. They haven't found anything and are now spending the night in this cold forest; the only thing keeping them warm is the blazing flames.
Shinju stared at the campfire for a while; the rest of their comrades had fallen asleep, nly Ryuto and Shinju were awake, keeping watch.
Ryuto Kurogane was one of the unlucky few who weren't born with any type of magic; hence, he became the lowest-ranking student in the magic god academy. Even others who didn't have any magic were leagues stronger and smarter compared to Ryuto.
Everyone at the camp is also magicless, so they need to safely gather intel without being seen by demons and make it back home in one piece.
Shinju started closing his eyes.
"I'm going to sleep now; take a break, friend. We should be done for the night."
Ryuto was also sleepy and could hardly keep his eyes open; he went to a nearby tree a bit distant from the campfire and sat behind it.
"Alright, I suppose."
A few hours later, an unsettling feeling woke Ryuto. It was early morning before he could walk back to the camp; his eyes lit up instantly from the scene of his comrades' corpses. Ryuto dropped to his knees, shaking in fear.
They were torn apart—limbs missing, faces unrecognizable.
The wind howled through the forest, twisting the trees as if telling Ryuto he should leave from here immediately.
Ryuto began to run without knowing where the forest ended; he ran and ran until his legs felt like they were about to fall off. Again and again, he began having visions of his friends.
"How come this had happened? We were all laughing just a few moments ago."
Ryuto tripped on a rock and fell down; he tried getting up, but he had injured his leg..
"Come on, get up."
At this moment Ryuto heard a sound coming from the bush up ahead; he looked the opposite way and closed his eyes with a feared look on his face. The footsteps got closer, and someone touched Ryuto's shoulders.
"Are you okay?"
A gentle female voice came from behind. Ryuto looked back, seeing a cute girl staring at him with a confused look on her face. She was extremely short; her long blonde hair flowed in the wind. Her eyes were deep blue almost like they were made out of crystals
Ryuto heard more noise and looked behind her and saw 3 more people coming towards them.
Ryuto looked at their uniforms; they were higher-ranking students from the magic god academy, while the girl who looked calm and continued to stare at Ryuto had a different uniform color from the rest. While others were wearing a silver-colored uniform, hers had a golden tint to it.
A tall and muscular guy rushed towards them. His hair was sharp; it looked like spikes and was very dark in color. His build alone made him look older than the rest.
"Hey kid! Where are the others at?"
Ryuto stared into the dirt without answering the question; his face was pale.
The girl had a upset look on her face.
"We were late."
2 of the unmentioned people took Ryuto away for a while; the other 2 stayed behind.
"So what should we do now?"
She was still sad about not being able to save them in time.
"We should talk to the higher-ups about no longer assigning this dangerous task to anyone who doesn't have any magic."
He became a bit irritated by her words.
"What are you trying to pull here? We need them to find where demons are hiding. We can't send any of our strong mages; we need them more than the magicless ones."
She had a frustrated expression on her face.
"So we don't value their lives is what you're trying to say."
She walks away without saying much after that.
He knew she was right—they shouldn't be sacrificing so many people… But what choice did they have?
They returned to the kingdom; the place wasn't very cheerful for the most part. A few people gave them bad looks—something they chose to ignore as they carried the bodies to be buried.
They went to the infirmary to check up on Ryuto.
They saw the nurse holding him.
"Let me go! I'm alright."
He stepped forward, trying to fix the situation.
"Whoa there, easy; you should get some rest."
Ryuto didn't hear him and continued to loosen the grip of the nurse.
"My friends were killed because I fell asleep instead of watching over them; it is all my fault."
He felt sympathy for him.
"Hey, you're alive; that's all that matters."
Ryuto pretended like he didn't hear him.
The nurse gets closer to him.
"Seeing his friends die like that must have been hard for the boy. It will take a long time before he's back to how he was again."
He looked back at Ryuto, seeing her staring at him again with that hollow expression. Ryuto doesn't seem to realize he's being stared at.
He goes towards her and tilts his head down to meet her gaze.
"What are you doing?"
She looked at him, then looked away.
"His scent is strange; it's almost like a… demon."
She came towards him and whispered in his ear.
"Let's take him with us."
He flinched back from her words.
"What are you crazy? You said you don't want anyone without magic to do any dangerous tasks."
She walked toward Ryuto and looked him in the eye. She tilted her head to the side for a while, making a double V shape with her fingers and winking at him.
"I am Rikka Mori, and he over there is my apprentice Toshiro Shirogane."
Ryuto stared at her almost confusedly.
"I want you to also be my apprentice."
After hearing that, both Ryuto and Toshiro yelled.
"What?! Him?! your apprentice!?"
"Me?! your apprentice!?"
She casually smiled with her eyes closed.
"Yup!"
Toshiro gets furious and pulls her uniform towards himself.
"This is absurd; he doesn't even have any magic, and you want him to be your apprentice!"
She shook him off weirdly, unfazed by his behavior.
"I can tell something about him is unusual. Demons have a very strong scent; even if he were far away, he wouldn't have survived."
She put her arms behind her back and smiled, clearly trying to hide something.
"I'm quite lucky, you see. Let's see how far my luck takes me."
She walked towards Ryuto and held both his hands and had a bright smile on her face.
"Starting today you're part of the team. Do your best, okay?!"
Ryuto froze and had his mouth wide open in shock.
"Hey! Hey! That's crazy talk. I can't even kill a fly, and you want me to be your apprentice!"
She looked the opposite way; all Ryuto saw was her long hair hovering off the ground.
"You want to take revenge, right? The demons who killed your friends."
Ryuto stared at the ground with a sad expression.
"I do."
She smiled and grabbed Ryuto's arms, pulling him out of the infirmary.
"Then what are you waiting for? Let's go right now."
Ryuto was pulled out of the infirmary.
"Wait, where are we going?"
Toshiro was left behind and became frustrated.
"Hey! Wait for me!"
He ran towards them, leaving the nurse all alone.
"Kids these days are so energetic."
Rikka dragged Ryuto out. He doesn't know where she's taking him, but seeing the spark in her eyes gives him hope to continue on his journey and avenge his fallen friends.
Ryuto sheds small tears as his new journey of revenge begins.