Rustle...Rustle...Rustle…]

Sometime later, when a shaky silence had enveloped the forest, and the quiet rustling of leaves was all that disturbed the now peaceful night. 

Suddenly, from the shadow of an incredibly narrow tree by the riverbank, near the torn apart branch wall, a sleek, well-dressed, elderly man stepped forth...

 Jacob had now somehow emerged, almost like a magic trick, from behind the tree that, logically, shouldn’t have been able to hide him, beginning to calmly walk out, into the starlight…

It seemed as though his very presence had caused the leaves to stop their gentle song, as they now became silent...

-Haaaa...it would seem as though the young master just kept making it harder on himself...hm?

He stopped, puzzled, as he now looked at the torn apart remains of the dummy that Fate attacked, walking over and kneeling down to more closely examine the chest piece that was covered in wild fang markings…

Jacob analyzed the scene, taking in the sights of ragged, wooden ‘limbs’ that had been scattered about, and the state of the faux torso, which was coated in a mix of lemon and wine-colored substances that dribbled onto the ground beneath it…

-Such a waste...I shall truly have to subtract some points from him on this assignment. Then again, given the amount that’s been used…

He ran his gloved fingers across the liquids, before rubbing them together, with a thoughtful expression on his face…

Jacob: “It seems that he’s at least been somewhat efficient in combining them...but given the young master’s personality, as described by the young miss...it’s quite likely that he had already wasted part of one of them, before deciding on this course of action.

 Though, it’s quite funny that I didn’t find a trace of one of them being used, aside from here…”

He stood up, sighing while looking over the remains of the dummy, before turning his gaze elsewhere, specifically, to a torn piece of cloth that had been left near a tree, which caused his thoughtful expression to turn cold…

Jacob instantly appeared before the torn cloth, gently picking it up, cradling it in his hands as he ran his chilling gaze along the shredded form of Fate’s vest, clenching it tightly in his hands…

His cold glare moved towards the shadowy forest in the distance, as a sadistic grin began to spread across his face…

-When I find him...I will have to be sure to give the young master a very fitting punishment for his transgression against my work, yes…

Jacob now disappeared into the shadows of the trees, and the rustling of the leaves and the blowing of the wind restarted, filling the shores of the river with sound, once again…

…

He soon appeared at the site of Fate’s battle with the boar, his cold, unsurprised eyes locking onto the unmoving forms of a child and a monstrous, black boar. Jacob quickly grabbed Fate’s body, propping it up against the nearby tree, which had a noticeable crack in its bark, as he began to examine the child’s injuries…

-He’s burnt the flesh across his entire arm...and his eye…

One of Fate’s eyes, specifically his right eye, had a thin trail of red tears leaking from it, running down his cheek. However, despite Jacob lifting his eyelid up, and beginning to wipe away the bloody tears with a handkerchief he had suddenly produced from his pocket, Fate did not stir…

Jacob sighed as he wiped the blood from Fate’s face…

-It would seem that he's already been suffering from prolonged 『Mana Exhaustion』and is facing the consequences, even as he slumbers...How irresponsible of the young master, to put himself in this condition…

The grin on Jacob’s face began to fade, as the chilling glare in his eyes was replaced by a shallow look of pity…

-What a pathetic child...

He proceeded to remove a long gauze from his pockets, which was so long that it would have made Fate gawk if he was awake, wrapping it around the child's burnt arm, before tightly tying it off. 

Looking satisfied with his work, he quickly hoisted Fate off the ground, slinging him over his shoulder before turning back around to look at the boar’s bloodied corpse…

He leaned his head downwards, beginning to speak in an uncharacteristically warm tone to the perished beast…

Jacob: “It would appear as though my selecting you, was a very wise decision on my part, yes...Your fellows would have been so proud of the strength you displayed tonight…”

As he leaned down to the beast’s unmoving ear, the warm tone he had been using just a moment ago vanished, replaced by a more menacing, icy tone that seemed to cause the branches of the trees around him to shiver, as he began to grin…

[Rustle, Rustle, Rustle!]

Jacob: “And yet, if they were able to see you now...would they truly have been proud of the monster you’ve become, I wonder?~”

His sadistic grin had now returned, though it was even more pronounced than before, as it almost threatened to split the edges of his lips…

Jacob moved one of his hands from the child on his back, keeping him stable with his other hand as he extended the lustrous, eggplant-colored ring, turning the golden ring around it with one of his, bizarrely flexible fingers, causing it to suddenly release a tiny, black mist…

The black mist then sunk back into the ring, causing the image of a small skull to emerge in front of it, as it began to turn from eggplant-colored to pure black! The skull symbol in front of the ring now loosed its jaw, allowing a mass of black mist to swarm out from the ring, which instantly enveloped the boar’s corpse!

Jacob: “Then again, I suppose it really doesn’t matter that much to me, and, after our first meeting, I don’t think it matters to your family either, now does it...?~”

The black mist swarm soon retreated back into the ring, leaving an empty ground in front of the maliciously grinning Jacob, as the skull marking slowly crumbled away, restoring the ring to its natural color...

Jacob then lifted himself back up, holding the bandaged Fate on his shoulder, as he began to disappear into the shadows, once more, while looking at the child’s calm sleeping face…

-I suppose that I’ll save the review for when he wakes up...though it will still be quite scathing, given his condition and that of his prey. Though, I’ll have to decide how to go about that after I’ve returned to the manor, and after I’ve provided him the minimum of treatment, at least...

With that, the elderly man, slumbering child, and the corpse of the destructive, monstrous beast disappeared from the forest, once again allowing the kingdom of night to fully indulge in peaceful silence…

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End of Blood on the River

P.S. - OMGesus, dudes, thanks for 1.1k favorites!!!

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