A scene was playing out in front of me. It was a weird kind of sight, three people had ganged up on two little children and were beating them the fuck up.

No seriously, who does that shit? At least spare children! The only reason I was ready to take children beastkin with me was because I was 100% sure that Weiss’ potion wouldn’t harm them beyond changing their species (which could be harmful, I guess) but outside of that, I was against violence!

The bigger beastkin probably was an adult, yet, he couldn’t be too old having been in Elita’s orphanage all this while.

"..."

"..."

"You two also feel the same way, right?"

As I sat on a branch and watched the sight below, my dear friends the living armors also eyed the sight with disdain.

"These CEF bastards..." It was the worst. Letting such extremist individuals get so much power. My two friends seemed to be asking about the sword in my hand.

"Oh, this? I saw that man running a while back and just snatched it."

How? Well. I was a thief, that was literally my job. In all honesty, I just saw his path, stood in between while hiding my presence, and smoothly pulled the sword out of his waist while he passed me by. Easy peasy.

As the man kicked the beastkin child and reached for his sword, I figured it was time for the heroes to make their entry. The timing was perfect as well.

I hopped down the branch and started walking out. Jake and John followed behind me. Leaves rustled.

"Where is my sword—"

"Looking for this?" I shouted at him, waving the sword in my hand. "I found it on the ground, here you go—"

At that very moment, a magic circle formed in front of my eyes and a spear came spilling out of it. As it formed, time almost slowed down.

Every single stroke, every single centimeter of the ethereal inscription forming in the air, I read. A simple spell. I moved my head lightly to the left and dodged it.

"Weird way to say hello," I said.

"Who in the world are you now?" said he. "We are the Corduil Elimination Force here on official business. You are interrupting our duties, you fuckwit. Get lost right now, or you’ll be hurt."

I passed by his magic circle and tapped his sword on my shoulder, the sheath and all. "You’re saying this after I dodged your spell?"

The man swung his arms. Two more magic circles formed once again. Though I was only as fast as a normal person could be, I again read the trajectory of his spears and stepped back. Is this all the magic he could do? Must be a strong knight, in that case.

"I’ll ask one last time. Tell me who you are, and then fuck off from here."

"The truth is..." I muttered, my voice slightly low. I lowered my gaze away from him. "I am your step-dad... I am fucking your mom."

"Tsk."

The man rushed in. In the blink of an eye, he was gone from our sight and right in front of me.

Three things happened simultaneously.

His hand got covered with mana in a condensed form, sword aura, as we called it, and he stabbed it right toward my face.

At the very same time, Jake and John also made their move. Jake had grabbed my collar, and pulled me away from harm while John was ramming his shoulder toward the knight.

In the blink of an eye, the sword aura cut down a few strands of my hair, while Jake pulled me behind him, and John sent the knight tumbling back.

"Hoh..." I said, peeking from behind Jake as I flipped his ID book in my hand.

"Scott Benley, from the central parts of the Empire. Oh man, sorry, guess it wasn’t your mom after all."

Third thing? I had stolen.

"FUCK!" Scott the knight lost his temper. His smile had shoulders had both hardened as he raged. "Get these bastards first!!"

Another tango. The two knights along with Scott came rushing and Jake and John went ahead.

It wasn’t even a battle of equals. Jake and John removed their swords and swung, cutting the very air in front of them. From a single swing of theirs, two trees snapped in half at a distance.

The knights of CEF charged in and swung their swords, but whether it was speed, technique, or strength, they were outshined.

A knight swung, Jake blocked it with his sword and swung his other arm driving his fist into its stomach. The punch shattered the armor and sent the knight back. At the same time, the other took a kick on his shin from John and then a heavy hit on the back of his head.

Scott screamed and got up, trying to charge.

"Woah, don’t interrupt in one on ones."

I snapped my fingers. From my bag, Lilith’s Grimoire peeked out as many blue butterflies of mana formed and blinded the bastard. They went straight into his eyes. He swatted them away, and I made more. These were just mana, but it was mana from Weiss.

The most powerful witch in the whole fucking world.

Just the mere blasts of mana that formed after Scott hit the butterflies was enough to send shockwaves through his veins and core, it would cause vertigo.

It didn’t take long for Jake and John to finish. Scott had reached closer by that time. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"FUCK! Fuck you..." he said. Holding his head tightly, his ears had started bleeding.

Scott looked up. His eyes falling on Jake and John who were towering over him. Then, a smirk.

A magic circle of the tiniest scale and the greatest speed formed rapidly in the air.

Before anyone could see, a thin and sharp spear shot out and went through Jake’s visor.

"GOT YOU—"

—CLANG!

It hit the back of the armor.

Scott’s mouth slowly widened.

"Wha..."

Jake didn’t let him finish. He stabbed his sword through the man’s stomach, lifting him high up in the air. The time to get surprised at learning the identity of his enemies?

He didn’t deserve it.

If he had used that spear earlier, I would have definitely lost an eye. Too bad, he used it on the wrong guy.

Jake dropped the man’s body and let him slide to the ground, off his sword.

We ignored the three dead CEF soldiers and went straight to the beastkin children on the ground, desperately looking at us with wandering eyes.

The elder one, the blonde, covered his younger sibling again. A blue haired little boy wearing ragged clothes, his face was flushed and body full of sweat and grime as every breath heaved on his chest, too much struggle for that frail body.

These CEF bastards. I looked back at them and frowned.

"You alright? You’re safe now. We won’t harm you."

The beastkin held his brother tighter. I reached into my bag and pulled out some sandwiches that I had packed for myself, placing it in front of the kids.

"Here..."

"Is this...?"

"Don’t worry, it’s safe." I took a bite of the sandwich first. "My mother used to say one should not lie about food."

The kid looked at my hands, then at the bread, he was injured but his instincts from hunger must have been stronger. He quickly took it, tore a small bite, and started feeding it to his brother.

Damn it.

Mother really did say that.

***

That evening. Elita was returning to the Orphanage with her heart in her hands. It was over... the money order that she had received... even though she passed it along, the merchant guild’s branch said it was likely false.

She could only hope.

She could only hope that it would go through. If not all then at least some amount, the kids would at least get to eat.

"Mr Arlon..." she muttered that wretched name. It would either be one she was grateful or hateful too, and time would tell.

As Elita reached the orphanage again, she saw all the children waiting for her, looking dumbfoundedly inside the room where she had sat earlier.

A mountain of cash stood there.