As soon as I exited my room, I was met with two choices.

‘Do I go left, or do I go right?’

Mom only ever let me go left, so this time, I decided to go right. Thanks to the chaos of Herald suddenly visiting, I could slip through the maids unnoticed. After a few minutes of aimlessly walking, I finally arrived at a small hill behind the mansion. Strangely, atop the hill was a single tree.

‘Not the best place but… it’ll do.’

Extending my right hand out, I closed my eyes in concentration and focused all my Aura on a single point. Soon, I could feel space and time breaking in front of me. I opened my eyes and stared at the space that was shattered like glass before me and reached my hand into it. 

‘Kirion, come. Let’s find some blood together.’

As soon as I felt something cylindrical in the palm of my hand, I pulled it out. As the shattered space mended itself, I stared at the weapon in my hand.

It was… not a sword. It was more of a tree branch that was vaguely shaped like a sword.

‘...Kirion?’

The tree branch vibrated as soon as I thought that.

‘What happened to you?’

Buzz.

Yeah, really helpful.

‘Can you not talk? One buzz for yes, two buzzes for no.’

It vibrated twice. 

‘Well shit…’

As I was thinking about what to do, I suddenly noticed movements near me. It was a wolf cub with gray fur rushing toward me. However, instead of bloodthirst, it was fear that exuded from it.

‘Ah, food for you, Kirion. Shall we do it like the old days?’

Kirion vibrated in affirmation.

Grinning mentally, I prepared to bring the stick that was Kirion down to the injured cub. However, that was when I noticed a huge boar a size of an adult man rushing madly toward me.

I briefly glanced at the wolf, who was shaking even more violently in fear and hiding behind my legs.

‘So you’re telling me to fight the boar, huh?’

What a sly little wolf.

‘But no matter, the boar’s a better meal for Kirion anyway.’

Licking my lips, I hugged the injured wolf with my left arm since the boar seemed to be targeting it and got into the stance I was most familiar with. 

Left foot behind right foot, shoulders relaxed, with Kirion’s tip pointed toward the ground. It was a lax and sloppy stance however you look at it, but to more competent swordsmen, it was a stance that left almost no openings.

The boar, of course not knowing this, rushed head-first toward me. 

I merely took a lazy step to the right, dodging the rush and making it ram into the tree behind me. Then, I poked Kirion into its side. However…

‘Tch, can’t pierce its thick hide, huh? I spent too much Aura summoning Kirion…’

It took me a split second after to figure out the next course of action. I jumped on top of the boar and used it as a foothold to climb up the tree. 

The boar, seeing its target up high, rammed into the tree continuously to try and make us come down.

‘Stupid, this tree is sturdier than your head.’

Kirion vibrated as if to confirm my thoughts. Even the wolf yelped mockingly at the boar.

If I left the boar on its own, it would probably die. However, doing so would tarnish my pride as a Swordmaster.

‘Do I really need to wait for a mere boar to kill itself?’

Thus, I jumped down the thick branch I was standing on with Kirion pointed downward. Focusing all my remaining Aura into Kirion’s tip, I muttered,

[Meteor sword]

Kirion glowed a color of bright orange briefly before making contact with the boar. A deafening explosion then followed, shaking the ground, and kicking up a cloud of dust. As the dust settled, I could see the aftermath of my attack.

Kirion was half-embedded in the hard ground; yet, it showed no sign of breaking. The boar, on the other hand, literally broke in half. I could see its head lying against the tree and the lower half of its body flying in the opposite direction. Its middle part, meanwhile, pulverized. The only remnants of it were the few bone shards that were sturdy enough to survive.

‘The blood evaporated too. What a waste…’

Sighing, I pulled Kirion out of the ground and walked toward the head, trying to salvage whatever amount of blood I could. 

Before I even took a step forward, however—

“Seems like Hayan wasn’t lying when she said that you were a genius.”

—a sudden voice of approval rang out.

Startled, I looked at the place where the sound was coming from—the tree.

‘Did the tree just fucking talk?’

An old man with whitened hair and orange eyes walked out from behind the tree as if to prove me wrong.

‘H-He’s behind the tree all this time?’

I couldn’t even feel his presence! Granted, I was still in a child’s body, but still! This was a disgrace!

However, my slight anger turned into confusion and fear as soon as I realized his identity.

‘That familiar face and orange eyes… don’t tell me!’

“...Leinart?” 

“Oh? Did Hayan tell you about me?” 

He confirmed my suspicions. Now, I was really at a loss as to what to do. After all, Leinart Leinfall was the Hero’s swordsmanship mentor.

‘To meet this old man this soon… is this a coincidence or…’

Unaware of my predicament, Leinart’s eyes shone. “Though, I’d prefer it if you called me ‘grandpa’.”

“G-Grandpa?”

“Oho, you’re much more talkative than Hayan made you out to be.”

I gulped. There was no more doubt anymore. I was a member of House Leinfall, famous for its swordsmen and its unusual inheritance tradition. Leinfall house was composed of two different families that would pit their children against each other to determine who would be the next Lord of the House. This meant that even though mom and Herald were from the same House, they weren’t related at all.

“But to kill a boar with a mere stick…” Leinart muttered. “...It seems like House Leinfall’s future is secured… if your Aura’s attribute is Fire, that is.”

‘So he doesn’t know that I can manifest my Gift. Good.’ I heaved a mental sigh of relief.

With pity apparent in his eyes, Leinart made his way toward me and patted my shoulder.

“If your attribute isn’t Fire, I’ll do whatever I can to save you from the curse. I promise.”

‘Right, he’s just as I remembered him.’

Kind and caring to the people he loved, that was the Leinart I knew. However, his son-in-law, whom I had only ever heard stories of, was a douchebag in comparison.

‘Seriously, how different can this person be from the current patriarch?’

“NOVA! WHAT HAPPENED?!”

Another shout rang out. This time, it was from mom, who was rushing toward me from the mansion. She ignored Leinart and hugged the air out of my lungs.

‘Ah, poor wolf, he’s probably getting crushed right now.’

“A-Are you okay? I heard a big explosion. How are you here?!” 

Faced with a flurry of questions, I could only answer,

“I’m fine.”

‘It’s the truth, anyway.’

Mom looked at the boar’s severed head and didn’t seem to believe me. However, she was forced to when Leinart stepped in.

“Don’t worry too much about him. He’s uninjured.”

“F-Father?” Mom stuttered, only now noticing Leinart.

“That’s me. Now, are you going to give your father a hug or are you going to pamper your son like always?”

Mom looked really torn between the two options. Eventually, she shook her head with a sigh.

“Sorry, I have to make sure Nova’s okay first.” Then, she bowed in gratefulness. “But thank you. I know that comparing a boar’s strength to you is like an insult but… thank you for protecting Nova from it.”

Hearing this, Leinart glanced at me. I subtly shook my head. Leinart chuckled.

“Don’t worry. That’s the least I can do for my grandson. By the way, you’re hugging him too tightly.”

“...But I don’t want to let him go.” Mom pouted.

“I’m sure you don’t, but I’m certain that the wolf would want you to.”

“Wolf? What wolf?”

As if on cue, the wolf that I was hugging popped its head out of the tight space between my and mom’s shoulders to gasp for breaths.

Before mom could ask about the wolf, Leinart chuckled.

“Little Nova saved this pup from the boar.”

‘No I didn’t. This sly wolf pulled me into it. Plus, I did it for Kirion.’

“He’s truly kind and caring. He reminds me of my old disciple… I wonder what he’s doing right now…”

‘Don’t lump me with the Hero!’

Mom nodded and patted my head. “Little one, I’m glad that you have a kind heart but… don’t get yourself into danger, okay?”

‘No promises.’

But I couldn’t say my thoughts out loud. Thus, I nodded.

Mom smiled before she pulled the wolf out and put it on my head. “So, what do you want to do with the wolf?”

I wasn’t too keen on keeping the wolf. It was sly enough to involve me in its conflict with the boar after all. However… 

‘Kirion, what do you think about emergency snacks?’

Whir.

Kirion vibrated, which I took as a ‘yes.’

“...I want to keep it.”

Mom smiled as if she had expected my answer.

“Okay, but promise me that you will feed it properly.”

‘All this seems a little bit too excessive for an emergency snack...’

“And promise me you’ll occasionally take it for a walk.”

‘More outside time?!’

“YES!” I shouted happily. Even I was surprised by my sudden display of emotion.

Soon, my face reverted to its original emotionless state. However, seeing mom grinning ear to ear was enough to almost make my cold face break again. Almost.

“Seems like my little one really likes the wolf.” She chuckled. “Okay then, what will you name it?”

‘Yeah, I expected this question.’

There was no way someone as kind as mom would allow me to simply call it “Wolf” after all.

I couldn’t have an emotional attachment to the emergency snack, so I decided to name it after something really horrible.

‘The dog guarding the Demon king’s castle that took Ihwa and me a full week of constant fighting to defeat. Surely, it’s a good name for Kirion’s emergency snack.’

Such a dog was also called by other titles;

The God slayer,

Wolf of Destruction,

The Great Devourer,

and many more.

Its name was—

‘Joe.’

The Demon king had a horrible naming sense.

Hence, I decided to use the name that Ihwa decided to call it after we killed it.

“Fenris… he’ll be Fenris.”

Mom’s expression turned ugly for a second. “Y-You named it after the Wolf that killed a God and bit off the arm of another?”

‘Oh, so that’s where Ihwa got the name from.’

I was never the one to care about Earth’s Mythology and stuff so I didn’t know. After all, I was still fighting for my life on the battlefield when people from supposed countries called “Korea,” “Japan,” and “China” got transported into this world—Astoria.

In contrast to mom, Leinart laughed heartily.

“Hahaha, that’s more like it! A fitting name for my grandson’s companion! I was afraid you’d name it ‘Wolfy’ like Hayan did with her wolf when she was little!”

“Father! Stop embarrassing me in front of Nova!”

But I couldn’t care less about them right now, as a transparent blue screen appeared right in front of me as soon as I finished naming the wolf.

'I-Is this the rumored Status screen? But I’m not even— I have to try it!’

“Status,” I said with a deceptively calm voice.

As I was staring into the Status screen, baffled, mom shook my shoulder with a worried gaze.

“Nova! W-What did you just say?”

I pointed toward the Status screen and put up an “innocent child” act.

“What’s that? Sta-tus?” 

Mom and Leinart exchanged cryptic looks with each other. Eventually, they both nodded. Sighing, mom looked me straight in the eyes and said,

“Nova, listen to me, I’m planning to tell you this later but… the situation doesn’t allow for that. You’re a smart kid, I’m sure you will understand.”

“...”

“Your grandmother…” Mom’s tone turned severe. “...She’s an Otherworlder.”