After saying such sinister words, Albert, seemingly proud of himself, smiled again.

A warm smile denuded of any edge directed at me.

Uh?

Soon enough, he nodded off. He fell asleep as suddenly as he had woken up and left Hagrid and Franky shrugging their shoulders.

“So, kid, are you really okay? If not, you can go back to sleep don’t need to strain yourself”

“N-no really, I am well, thanks for your concern”

“You heard him, old man,” he said, a tinge of impatience in his voice, “what is he, a baby?”

“Well, 11 years old is not that old”

“Oh yeah, well, that’s old enough to grow some balls,” Franky said, pumping his chest.

“Well now, now,” I tried shifting the conversation away from that.

“These evonites, how do you harvest them?”

To my surprise, Franky was the one to answer, “Cheh, you dumb kid, what would you do without Uncle Franky? Hehehe.”

“With tools.” He looked at me with stupid, proud eyes, as if waiting for me to react.

I looked back, annoyed. Even Hagrid looked a bit ruffled. “And?”

“Humph, greedy, I see.” He stroked his inexistent mustache and then chuckled. “In all seriousness, the Evonites are like the mana mineral you went to fetch in that cave. It’s an extremely valuable material for us, but with highly specific harvesting protocols. How do we harvest something so hard that no tool — even mana-enhanced — can leave a dent in it?”

He let the question hang in the air, giving me a chance to answer, but before I even had time to think about it, he told me.

“We don’t, or at least not directly. Species that are native from this peak evolved to feed of their roots, so every once in a while an evonite will fall by itself. We can then take it and use secret tools to experiment with it or use it as a building material. The only reason we don’t see war with the rest of the continent for this peak is that while it’s extremely durable, it’s also extremely rigid. We haven’t yet bent it to our will. “

In this diatribe from Franky, what had caught my ear were the words ‘Secret Tools’.

“What do you mean by secret tools?” I asked, my voice as sweet as I could make it.

“Don’t speak like that. You are scaring me.” He shuddered.

Hagrid chuckled at the sight.

“Secret tools are a genuine mystery. Geezers, like Venerable Hagrid, call them heritage tools.”

“How impudent!”

“They are remnants of a society of beings who somehow turned Evonites into weapons and tools. Their blades can’t be sharpened but their core material is so hard that there wouldn’t be a need anyway and despite their hardness, never has an evonite object chipped. Still, away, it’s infuriating to have something in our grasp yet so far away…”

“Indeed, societies of the past that ....”

“NOT NOW HAGRID!” Franky yelled.

“S-sorry.” He hid behind his book and, with a soiled sigh, immersed himself in it.

Hey not cool.

“Hmph.”

“But one day, one day, I’ll reverse engineer what those pesky ancestors made and make us the strongest power on the continent. I, Franky the great.”

His nose seemed to elongate.

Hagrid, who had just now returned to his book, started speaking again. “Remember these titans I told you about whose slashes could cleave mountains and cut seas?”

“Oh, yeah… them.”

Franky groaned and looked at the window.

Hagrid looked at him and then back at me. “We suppose that if they existed, the ones who created these heritage weapons are the descendants of these divinities.”

“Oh—“

While Hagrid said that, I suddenly remembered of the two odd snakes I had met in this cave; that and their shape-shifting. Yes, the Grimmjaws existed, however, they were humans, whose mana manifested as this transformation. They could change into a creature if they so desired, but it wasn’t their usual state. These snakes, however, seemed to be perfectly content going around in snake form. I wanted to ask to Hagrid. The question was burning my lips, but l couldn’t.

There was no way to explain the origin of such a question, especially out of nowhere like that. Albert knew I had lied. I didn’t need to fuel these hesitations further.

But really, who was she?

“Are we having a layover at Evonite peak?” I asked.

“Evonite peak, well I guess that’s a name like any other…” Hagrid said, looking pensive.

“Uh, you don’t call it that. I mean, it’d make sense, right?”

Franky was the one to answer “Hey you are right, but our ancestors had flowery naming sense. Can we call that place ‘Evonite peak’ now? It sounds good enough, and it’s perfectly descriptive. What do you think, Old Branch?”

“Have some respect for traditions, you brat!” Hagrid said.

This was weird to see, as this whole time he had been pretty receptive to Franky’s banter.

“The Unyielding Forest is a perfectly adequate name!”

“Here We Go Again...” Franky groaned.

Did I step on something?

Sparks flew as they traded verbal blows, arguing about traditions, modernity, and progressivism until they fell from exhaustion... or something like that.

I fell asleep long before they finished.

#

The fiery debate about conserving traditions and culture and changing things in favor of utility lasted the whole way to the… 3rd peak. The evonites were imposing. Even from a few kilometers away you could see them touching the sky, as if shouldering its weight by their lonesome.

Albert finally woke up from his long nap, with a yawn and a stretch that seemed to yank his soul to heaven.

“Oooooh,” he said.

Avoiding his gaze, I looked towards the window.

“Oh… hello master,” Franky said.

“Hi, Sir,” Hagrid said too.

Both their voices sounded tired and hoarse. They clearly needed rest.

“Hi everyone, what a glorious sleep.”

“Well, that’s not the subject for now”, He said while standing up to get some blood flowing.

He then sighed. “Hey kid.”

“Uh... yes?” I said, my eyes still glued to the clouds below.

“Rested well?”

These words filled me with foreboding. “Yes I did, why?”

“Good to hear. You’ll need it.”

“Didn’t you say I just had to bring—“

“I changed my mind. After all, the kid I thought was just a kid turned out to be a child of prophecy. I shall ascertain that!”

“Why do you keep calling me that?”

“You think a mysterious and powerful cloaked man would give an insignia to any old brat?” He sneered, his voice full of mockery.

Trust me, this makes more sense than whatever actually happened.

“On the peak, lives my brother.” He stared into the side of my head hard enough to drill holes in them. “Hey kid, isn’t it common courtesy to look at someone while they’re talking?”

I looked at him, still unable to sort him in my mind.

“Good.” He closed his eyes and thought for a bit before saying, “You have two weeks. Gain his approval within that time and you’ll gain mine. If you can’t, however, this piece of metal you brought is mine.”

“But that’s not what you said… and didn’t you say we had to hurry!?”

“Eh, I promised nothing, and I changed my mind,” — he yawned — “perks of being the leader.”

I looked at him, disconcerted, but knowing what he had already done this couldn’t have been a joke.

[Good luck child of prophecy oh oh oh,] He said in his telepathic voice.

Damned, petty, two-faced bastard.

“Don’t worry, my brother, while he might be weird, he is not a bad man... If you don’t gain his approval, he will give you a quick death; he never really found pleasure in human experimentations.. an oddball, really.”

Yes… an oddball.

##

We had stepped into heaven, or at least this was how it felt like. The trees were towering above us, and the bushes bustling with life. I filled my lungs with the air and became high off its freshness.

I could understand why they had called it the Unyielding Forest.”

Everything here gave an incommensurable sense of life.

Albert and I, along with Ogre, were outside. Again.

“Are you ready, little one?”

I ignored him, too, in my head to spare him a thought.

“Where’s that boldness you showed me before? Are you scared?”

“Leave him alone Ogre, he needs to get his mind ready for what’s coming.”

“Uh, life is all about moving forward and getting stronger. Is there any point to living if all you do is —”

“Didn’t I just tell you to shut up?” A composed voice said.

Ogre didn’t apologize. He looked at Albert and bowed. He then dropped any familiarity and playfulness to commit to his task: protect us until we met Albert’s brother. Ogre’s eyes were like those of a hunter, focused and steady, serene but intimidating. He wasn’t hunting for anything in particular, but his eyes seemed to say, “this is my territory now; come here at your own risk.”

“So, do you understand what you have to do, kid?” Albert said.

I was still silent. While the mission was simple, gain the approval of this crazed man's brother; the specifics were blurry and the fact that I had even more time than before made me feel wary about it all. With the metal, what I had to do was obvious. Find metal. Bring metal.

Here, though, the vague task of getting approval felt somehow intimidating. It wasn’t like I had my brother’s talent, who at birth had more mana than kids many years his age. I was just me, a broken vessel forced to rely on the Galvrungs for a power-up.

“Did I tell you I really hated you?”

“That sharp tongue of yours, rather than a crow. Are you sure you’re not a snake?”

“Oh, if you say so then, maybe?”

“Uh?”

“No, nothing.”

“Good, don’t disappoint me… child of prophecy,” He said with a chuckle.

[…]

“Do we really have to do this?” I said.

“Why? is the child of prophecy unable to do that much?”

“You know I lied, so why are you doing all that?”

“O-h you lied, that’s news to me,” He said with a loud gasp.

“Urgh.. why do we have to do this?”

“Um, you want the real reason?”

“Yes.”

Or I wouldn’t have asked.

He stopped talking for a bit. The silence was loud and my nerves were quaking.

Why is this even necessary?

Who the hell is this dude?’

What do I do if he just doesn’t like me?

“I trust my brother’s senses more than anything else in this world.”

“Uh?”

“We’ve been together since before birth, and while he was never an exceptional researcher and ended up turning his back on the family to come live here... his sense of people never led him astray, and as a result never led me astray.”

“Gain his approval, and you gain mine. Fail and I couldn’t care less if you die in a ditch or if the local fauna devours you alive without a trace.”

Oh, I see.

“Will this be the last test you give me?”

“Yes, it should be.”

“Can I have a guarantee you won’t change your mind?”

“What good would that do for you? You believe in promises?”

“…”

[…]

We walked some more, and a question sprouted in my head; a question that I hurried to ask, “but based on what you said, wouldn’t you have done that, anyway?”

“I wonder...” He said, looking at the mark on my hands with an enigmatic expression, half his face covered as always by a crimson red mask.

I didn’t ask further. I just walked silently along with this cohort to the house of the mysterious man. Admiring the scenery along the way.

“Sir, what were you talking about?” Ogre asked, probably feeling left out.

“Shut up,” Albert replied with a smile on his face.

He bowed again as an apology, looking like a kid who had just dropped his ice cream but who held back the tears.

Sorry big man.

We reached the house long too late; the monotonous but crisp cracking of leaves under my feet and the novelty of fresh air worn out and replaced by the pain of sore feet.

After having walked for that long, we finally reached what looked like an X. A literal X made of two crossing evonite trees. Had they fallen and ended up like that?

Had they just grown bent?

No way to know.

As we approached that landmark, Albert spoke.

“Finally, here.”

Below the X, a door-like thing covered what I could only assume to be a vertical hole.

“Romuald! Come out!” Albert said as he violently bashed the door with his feet with a vigor I didn’t think he could muster. To my surprise, the thing didn’t budge.

“Romuald! HURRY!”

After making a ruckus, he stopped for a bit to give Romuald the chance to come out. A few awkward minutes passed like that.

“Maybe he’s not there?” I said.

“We might as well leave, right?”

“First, don’t even dream about avoiding this. Second, no, not at this time.”

“ROMUALD, LAST WARNING!”

A muffled voice said from below the door.

“Okay, calm down, stupid brother, I am coming.”

“Humph.” Albert replied.

Boom! An explosion resounded from under our feet, making the ground quake. Albert seemed to have been expecting it, and Ogre was un-fazed; I kissed the ground.

Not even giving me enough time to wonder what was happening. With a resounding uproar, a man exploded from under the wooden door, sending it flying upwards.

This must be a pain to fix every time.

I thought as I slowly sat myself, spitting the dirt away.

After he had landed, and the cloud of dust his arrival had caused dissipated, he appeared.

A muscular man, with flowing long, luxurious gray hair and a plethora of scars all over his body.

A face showing a full white smile. His stature was the same as Albert’s, if not taller due to how their posture differed. His eye was a deep green.

A single eye, the other replaced by a glass ball.

His musculature was impressive. While the men in father’s army were muscular, no one even compared to this man.

He was only loosely dressed, wearing long baggy pants and a loose-fitting robe.

“What a wicked brother you are, even disturbing your elder’s meditation.”

“Meditation — please. The only thing you are emptying is your seminal vesicle.”

“Well, don’t disturb a man during his private time. Women in these parts are pretty thin on the ground.” He grunted.

“You are the idiot that threw everything away to live in these parts.”

“Well, you are right about that... Anyhow, for what has little brother come today?”

“I doubt you just came here to check up on me.”

“Um, yes about that. I recruited this kid for Project Azure”

“Oh, poor him.. continue.”

“Shut up.”

“Oh, why are you so sensitive? Am I right or am I right?”

“That’s not the point.”

“Then what do you mean? I would actually be surprised if he survives that.” He laughed.

“No, I don’t care about his life, just… don’t interrupt me.”

“Oh yeah, you’ve always been a man with priorities, hahaha.”

“Does little brother think he grew hair down there, talking to ‘big bro’ like that?” He said as he shook his head disapprovingly. “Ready to tussle anytime.”

The sudden light-hearted tone made me whiplash. Uh?

The banter was cut short by Albert.

“Urgh.. ok, never mind.” He turned around, grabbed my arm, and we left.

Uh-Oh Yes.

A few seconds passed. As I was breathing in relief.

“Don’t you dare take another step.”

NO.

As he got closer to us, exerting an oppressive aura upon us. Even Ogre’s tall stature seemed significantly reduced; still, he spoke in an aloof manner.

“You dare ‘never mind’ me? You better finish speaking!”

“What’s the point? You’re going to say no.”

“That’s not the point. Don’t ‘never mind’ me.”

“Will you help?”

Romuald looked at Albert with a deadly glare, still smiling.

I guess that runs in their blood.

Before kicking a nearby rock and lodging it deep into a much bigger stone nearby.

“Urgh.. alright what do you want?” Romuald grunted. “I swear I’ll break your legs someday, you fucker.”

“Good.” Albert chuckled. “So as I was saying, I recruited this kid for Project Azure [...]”

Albert took the next few minutes explaining to his estranged brother why we were here. How much of a waste I was. Why he was planning to leave me here for the next two weeks?

“Woah really?”

He looked at me like a lion scrutinizing a mouse, considering if it was worth playing with.

He then exploded in a fit of laughter. Hahahaha.

“You survived in the Abyss by yourself while being a broken vessel?”

“Hilarious, you might be fun to toss around.”

“Okay Albert, guess I’ll take him. I’ll break your legs some other time.”

“Perfect. We’ll camp here somewhere,” Albert said with a genuine smile.

He then looked at me with a meaningful look. His eyes seemed to contain a hint of laughter.

“Good luck, kid, you’ll need it.”

Before I had time to realize what he had just said, Romuald, who was a few steps away from us, appeared behind me and tossed me on his shoulder like one would carry a bag of rice.

“W- wait!”

“What are you waiting for? I’ll see for myself what you are made off you, sissy. Prove to me you got what it takes to live in this world.”

“Or what?” I asked, knowing full well what the answer would be.

“Or what you say? Hahahaha, I’ll send you to the next!”