Dagger

As soon as he entered, he saw the back of Mr. Sanchez, who was standing beside the counter.

Mr. Sanchez turned around and looked at Allen, "Good, you"re back. Have you completed the job?"

Allen removed his mask, revealing a somewhat pale face; he lowered his head down, "Yes, but... who did I just kill?"

"The son of the chief of the guards in the town.", Mr. Sanchez answered.

"W... what?! Then I"d be hunted down endlessly!", Allen bitterly complained.

Mr. Sanchez ignored Allen"s complaint and told him to just follow.

Afterwards, Allen saw an old man sitting down beside one of the tables in the tavern. The old man looked at Mr. Sanchez and asked, "Is it done?"

"Yes.", Mr. Sanchez nodded.

After which the old man left the tavern while leaving behind a pouch at the top of the table.

"You don"t know him, kid?", Mr. Sanchez suddenly asked.

"N... no.", Allen answered.

"That old man"s the chief of the guards.", Mr. Sanchez said.

"W... what?!", Allen widened his eyes and looked at Mr. Sanchez.

"His son got an incurable disease, he knew that his son won"t live much longer, however, he can"t kill his own son but he still wanted him to die in advance so he won"t suffer any longer under the sickness.", Mr. Sanchez explained.

"Hais, now the man"s son is all alone, his mother have already died long ago but the child doesn"t know about it. Luckily, he still has his grandfather.", Mr. Sanchez paused. "A parent would do anything for their child if they see them suffering, ironically even to the point of killing them."

Allen lowered his head and thought, "A parent would do anything for their child? Then what about my father?"

"Come to think of it, won"t your parents be worried sick about you if you"re not home?", Mr. Sanchez suddenly asked.

"No, not really.", Allen said and thought, "After all, I was suppose to sleep outside."

"You can go home now, there"s a location devoid of guards down at southeast of the town prepared by the chief guard, don"t worry, that old man won"t have any thoughts of catching you, in fact, he would feel indebted instead.", Mr. Sanchez said as he gave Allen 20 bronze coins from the pouch. "And come back tomorrow night or else..."

Mr. Sanchez didn"t finish the sentence and just walked up the stairs, because he knew that Allen already knows what words would come next. The latter gave back his dagger and mask and left through the back door again and went to the said location where he could exit the town.

When he exited the town, Allen immediately walked towards the foot of the hill while looking towards the starry sky.

"A parent would do anything for their child..."

"A parent would do anything for their child..."

"A parent would do anything for their child..."

The voice of the tavern owner kept echoing in his mind during his walk, he didn"t pay attention whether the path he was walking on was muddy or not due to the heavy rain earlier.

After a few minutes of walking, he finally saw a familiar house, he didn"t immediately go to the shed but washed his muddy feet from the water in the well first. After washing he looked at an opened window at the second floor of the house, thinking of his little brother William.

"Tomorrow, I"d get you a gift.", Allen thought and added. "Probably father too so that he won"t be mad anymore, at least."

Afterwards, he went to the shed and climbed up to the same spot where his blanket still was and started sleeping.

...

Next morning...

Allen sneaked in the house through the door of the kitchen at the back of the house.

He checked the table if there was any food.

"Big brother.", a voice suddenly came from behind him.

Allen turned around in fright but heaved a sigh of relief to see that it was only William.

"Father left a while ago.", William said. "Don"t worry you can eat now."

"Did you eat already?"

"Yes."

"Oh.", Allen continued checking food on the table and saw that there was a leftover porrage. He immediately sat down and started eating the porrage.

"You look tired big brother.", William said.

"Uhh... I didn"t sleep well.", Allen scratched the back of his head.

"Really?"

"Yes!", Allen said.

He wasn"t lying, he wasn"t able to sleep well due to getting nightmares about that man he killed last night, it was as if the ghost of the man was haunting him.

"Why me?!"

"Why me?!"

"Why me?!"

He could still hear the grieving shouts of the man while choking him to death in his dream.

Allen secretly clenched his fists and thought, "I had no choice, or else my family would be the one that would get killed."

"What are you thinking, big brother?", William curiously asked.

"Nothing. And why are you so noisy today?", Allen rubbed William"s head.

"Stop it. Hmph!", William left the kitchen.

Allen just smiled and thought deeply, "It"s just for my family."

After eating, he called William down from the second floor of the house.

"What is it, big brother?", William asked.

"Let"s go get you some new clothes, and boots too as a late birthday present.", Allen said.

"But didn"t father take the money?", William eyed Allen suspiciously.

The nine year old kid was always very perceptive to the point that it even scared their father, Marco. If he was enrolled into a school, he would"ve probably been smarter than most of the n.o.ble children, but the school fees are really expensive to the point that mostly only n.o.bles could pay it.

"I got to steal 20 bronze coins yesterday after the storm.", Allen said, it wasn"t a secret in his family that he would be a pickpocket to steal for money.

William further looked at Allen"s eyes, feeling something"s off.

"Alright.", William cleared off his own suspicions and asked. "I don"t know why you"re the only one who "work"? While father only gambles and get drunk with the money you get."

Allen didn"t answer and just smiled at William.

"Alright alright, I won"t disturb family matters . Now stop giving me that smile, I feel like you"re going to eat me.", William pushed away Allen and ran out the door.

"I"m going to eat you... roar!", Allen ran after William.

"Ahh... no!"

...

On the road, Allen and William were walking side by side while having a conversation on where to buy.

"You know we could buy in the marketplace.", William suggested.

Allen shook his head in disagreement, "There are a lot of greedy people there, I"ve seen a lot of them nowadays, even the people from the slums aren"t that greedy."

William just nodded, he almost doesn"t know anything about the usual happenings in the Crescent Town, as he spend most of his time being in the house.

"Hey! Aren"t you that kid?", a voice came from behind them.

Allen and William turned around a saw a guard running towards them. The nine year old kid doesn"t recognize him, but the former does!

It was that commanding guard that was after him from yesterday!

"Oh no.", before Allen even got to run away, the guard already lunged at the kid, pinning him to the ground.

"Get off me!", Allen tried to resist but more guards came and pinned him down.

"Get off my brother!", William tried to push away the guards but was pulled away by one of the them.

"Carry him to the jail, he has committed a serious crime.", the commanding guard said.

"Stop this ruckus.", another yet deeper voice said.

All the guards stopped at once, even the commanding guard.

Allen sat up and saw an old man in the guard"s uniform riding a horse.

"It"s him?", Allen recognized the old man, it was the chief guard!

"Sir!", all the guards stood up and made a bow.

The old man looked at Allen and to the guards, "What"s this all about?"

"Sir...", the commanding guard made a step forward. "This kid tried to enter the town from a different path and not from the road."

"Oh...", the old man pondered and said, "Then he"s hereby pardoned."

"W... what?!", the commanding guard and the other ones were surprised to what the old man just said.

"You heard me right? Pardoned! I have to authority to pardon a criminal.", the old man said.

"But sir...", the commanding guard was about to say something when the old man intercepted him.

"It"s not a grave crime like killing! Do you understand?!", the old man shouted, but it was a bit notable that his voice shook a little when he blurted out the word "killing".

"Yes sir.", the guards didn"t say anymore thing, they knew what happened to the old man"s son and just thought that their chief guard"s feelings were a bit unstable.

The guards immediately left the area except for the old man.

"I never get to thank you personally, kid...", the old man paused. "Hais, I think it was against my son"s will that him getting killed, but I have no choice. I"m sorry for all the trouble."

The old man immediately rode away from the location.

William overheard everything that the old man said and asked to Allen, "What did he mean, big brother?"

"No... nothing, come on, let"s go.", Allen lowered his head down, he was still a bit guilty to what he has done last night.

Seeing that William can"t make Allen speak, the former just tossed the issue at the back of his mind, but he was still wondering about the contents of the old man"s sentence. Due to his lack of wisdom, even with his perceptiveness, he couldn"t decipher the old man"s words.