Edward told me an effect of my unique body, the stronger my mana, the stronger my body, since it is always being reinforced. 

Right now, since I’m apprentice rank and I have no training he gave me an estimate of my physical strength and stamina being somewhere between double and triple for now. 

I’m sure in a world like this it won’t be much but to deal with a few regular people, it’ll be more than enough. 

Although I managed to pry this information out of him, he seemed reluctant to speak about it, to the point where my questions about my unique body was the reason for our lesson end yesterday. 

If I didn’t bring it up I might've been taught me about black magic till the morning. He definitely knows more than he's letting on. 

Looking at the sword on the ground, I go walk over to pick it up. Even though they all see me do it, it seems none of them have enough confidence to stop me. Inspecting it, the quality seems to be rather poor. The blade isn’t sharp and its barely reflective. The handle also its quite awkward. 

“Hurry up. Come.” 

After throwing our a taunt, they seem to break out of shock. Ryan is the first one to speak.

“Impressive, where you hiding your strength? No, that can’t be, no sane man would willingly be shot by an arrow and kidnapped.” Unlike the other two, he’s more on edge than afraid. 

“Does it matter?” 

“No, but I’m asking you as of now since I can’t ask a dead man.” As he speaks he seems to tighten his grip on his sword and walk towards me slowly. 

‘I shouldn’t let down my guard just because I’m reinforced by mana. He doesn’t seem to have confidence without a reason.’ Thinking this I start to plan an escape if things go bad for me. 

He seems to notice me looking around and takes that time to jump towards me, swinging his sword down exactly where I'm standing. 

Quickly jumping back to avoid the attack, I see his sword has already landed on the ground, leaving a small impact. Ideally, I’d like to avoid blocking something like that. 

‘Maybe I could take a hostage? They seemed quite worried when Jack’s life was at risk, so if it gives me an advantage then..’ 

Just as I’m coming up with a plan to deal with this situation, another swing appears infront of me, this time from the left, forcing me to block with my sword. ‘I can’t dodge this in time..!’ 

“Kuek!” ‘Strong..!’ The hit sends me flying until I hit a tree and cough up blood. Laying on the floor I hear 3 steps of footsteps walk up to me. 

“Good job Ryan! That bastard was knocked out cold!” I hear a joyful voice leave Jack’s mouth. “Can I be the one to finish him? I can’t stand the fact this guy almost killed me.” 

“Go ahead, be careful though.” 

I hear him wait 4 steps towards me ‘Closer.. Just a little closer!’ 

“Wait!” Rebecca makes Jack stop before continuing. “He might be faking it, throw my sword at him.” Hearing this my mind race’s to find a way to escape. 

“Okay, hand it over.” Just as these words are said, I hear some moving about before a brief silence. I can already tell what is about to happen. If I run now, I won’t be able to escape Ryan. 

The sound of something getting thrown through the air enters my eyes and I clench my teeth. 

Pfft! ‘Shi-’ The sword pierces my right leg. Instantly the pain hits me and I suppress the urge to scream out loud. 

“…Okay it looks like he’s out cold, I’ll be going over to finish the job.” As Jack speaks I can hear excitement in his voice. Hearing him walk over to me, I feel him try to get on me and wrap his hands around my neck. 

‘Now!’ After feeling that, to his surprise I immediately put him in a choke hold, able to crack his head at any time. He’s making some noises but can’t get them out from being choked. 

“Fuck! Jack! Ryan do something?!" Rebecca seems scared for her friend, while Ryan seems more angry than concerned. 

“Listen, here’s how this will go. Throw your weapons away and let me leave, or else your friend here will perish.” I can’t help but laughing at the end, the sword in my leg falls out causing blood to pour out the wound, making me cut my laughter and surprise the urge to groan in pain. 

After I finish speaking the two of them throw all their visible weapons on them away, 2 knives, a sword, and a small slingshot. I still keep on edge however since I don’t know if they are hiding a weapon. 

Having done this I take a quick glance behind me and start walking back, down the path I came from. Not letting go of Jack. I feel if I lose my grip or let go Ryan will charge towards me and kill me. 

Every step I take I make sure I don’t trip before I put my weight on my leg. If I lose balanced because I step on a rock with my right leg, then there’s no coming back from that. 

Seeing how Jack is at his limit, I swiftly grab knife from his waist and hold it against his neck instead of choking him. 

Coughing, Jack looks at me in the corner of his eye. “You bastard! Let go of me!” 

‘These guys tried to kill me, failed, I almost killed one of them, and they’re the ones who get mad? Should I just.. No I can’t kill him yet, I just need to tell Edward about this. If he hears this he’ll surely value me over them.’ 

Maybe in an attempt to escape or just out of panic, Jack tries to punch me in my wounded leg. Causing me to let go, however before he can escape I plunge the knife into his neck and rip to the side. Causing him to drop to the floor, his head barely still attached by some skin. 

I feel quite empty, it’s not bad he’s dead but I didn’t want to kill him like this. My only hostage is gone now as well. 

Looking at his dead body I hear Rebecca scream only to throw up half way through just outside of my vision. 

“You fucking psycho, you don’t even feel a tiny amount bad for his family? What about his wife and kids?” Ryan looks at me, I can’t tell if he’s angry, sad, or faking an emotion. 

Throwing my hands to the side as if I don’t understand, I speak my thoughts. “Why should I care about a man who has tried not to kill me once, but twice! You think I’ll have any second thoughts?” 

After speaking Ryan charges towards me and punches me in my stomach, sending me flying. I feel my body instinctively cough blood but I suppress it and choke it back down. Hearing water behind me, I try my best to run towards it. 

After half a minute of running towards the water I finally see a river in front of me, however Ryan catches up to me just as I do so. ‘God I hope this river leads somewhere safe.’ 

“No you don’t!” Ryan does his best to catch me by I fling myself into the river, diving towards the bottom and swimming in the direction where the river is flowing. ‘Luckily its quite dirty, they shouldn’t be able to see me.’ 

After a minute and a half of swimming, I can’t hold my breath any longer and swim up to the other side of the river. 

Looking around, I can’t see them thankfully. But, I can see a cave 100 or so meters away. ‘I suppose I’ve found a place to take care of my wounds..’

Entering the cave, I check to see if it is being used as a home for any animals or creatures.

Making sure this isn’t the case, I waste no time to start ripping apart my shirt to stop the blood loss from my leg. I already feel dizzy so I make sure to do it quickly. Having patched up my leg to the best of my abilities I feel myself losing consciousness..

…

“What?! Where has he gone? What the fuck happened to my apprentice?” An old man is visibly angry and pulling at his beard.

“Village chief, if you don’t mind, I may have some useful information to share.” A man dressed in a black robe, head to toe says.

“Speak.”

“Early this morning, Ryan, Jack, and Rebecca left, only for Rebecca to come back. She was later spotted leading Rook out of the village. They have yet to return.” 

Hearing these words, veins start to appear on Edwards face, crumpling from rage. “Those insignificant.. If Ryan is there then he has a low chance of surviving, assuming the fact they didn’t go there just to talk.” 

“Chief, shall I personally try to retrieve him?”

“… Go, and kill the other 3. No, capture them instead.”

“I understand.”

Edward turns to the window and mumbles the words "Dead men" to himself.