“What is this?” Andel asked as he inspected the small weapon. Unstopping it, he pulled out a curved dagger from the case. The blade looked shiny but was red in color. Even then, it was polished enough to reflect his face on it.

“A dagger I made from the horns you brought last night,” Travis said while tipping his hat with his right index finger. “It’s a gift of appreciation.” He added.

“Why are you giving it now? You could have given it after you return, you know?” Andel asked.

He wasn’t a fool. He knew why Travis was doing this. But he didn’t want to accept it.

The time he spent with him maybe too short for any emotional bond but still, Andel couldn’t accept it. He looked at Travis in the eye, trying to find any hesitation.

But there’s none.

His resolution shook Andel to his very core.

“Haha! You are very funny, Andel.” Travis’s lips curved to a corner. “You know why I am giving this to you now. Don’t ask dumb questions.”

“I… okay. I won’t ask you anything more. I just hope you will come back alive.” Andel said while hiding his emotions behind a stony face.

“I can’t guarantee that,” Travis denied flatly. “We are about to infiltrate the stronghold of our enemies. But I promise, until my last breath, I will struggle to survive.” He vowed.

“I hope so. Also, when you return, I promise to surprise you.” Andel promised with his cold face back on.

“You will! Then, I will have to come back alive.”

…

After he spent a few hours practicing, Andel went to get lunch both for himself and Selina. Unfortunately, he met none of the other members.

“What’s the big face for?” Selina asked as he took a sip of soup from her spoon.

Her eyes looked from the corner at Andel, who looked dazed.

“Ah! It's about those guys who are about to leave for the mission.” Andel decided to talk about his problem. “I just felt that they are too cool with what they are going to face. I talked with Travis, but he was so okay with dying that it made me uncomfortable.”

“So that’s what you were thinking.” Selina calmly drank her soup. “You know, before we were assigned to this base, we had received twelve years of rigorous training. One of those training had instilled in us to sacrifice our lives for the better of Seras. We are ready to die for our family anytime.” She explained while and took in a spoonful of rice.

Then she calmly drank a glass of water and looked at Andel’s face.

“This is the difference between you and us.” She added.

Andel took another slap from reality.

Due to how free and relaxed Travis and others looked, Andel had forgotten the fact that they were literally death sworn soldiers ready to lay their lives. If the leader of the family so calls to it, they wouldn’t hesitate to march into enemy lines and wreak havoc.

Isn't it what they are going to do now? I have underestimated this world too much!!

But Andel didn’t regret his choice. He was an adult in a child’s body. He couldn’t and wouldn’t regert a choice he made after many years of thinking. Although he knew it would be hard to get used to the people around him.

I am not here to make friends anyway.

As he thought so, Andel lightly caressed the dagger given to him by Travis.

“Can I go now, teacher!?” Andel had settled for calling her teacher. Selina also didn’t have any problems with it.

“Yes, you can. Also, Andel, you should better contemplate on what I told you. The sooner you think it through, the better it is for you.” Selina advised before Andel left the room.

“I will.” Answering her stonily, Andel left the room and closed the door behind him.

For my own good, eh!? She is right, though!

Andel sighed as his shoulders drooped. Suddenly, he felt like the whole sky had fallen on his small shoulders. His views and beliefs were ruthlessly destroyed and rewritten.

Andel closed the door and locked it from the inside. Pulling the dagger from his back, he sat down on the bed and looked at the shiney blade.

You found an Unnamed Item.

Unnamed Dagger

Grade: C

Perks:

Attack Power +50

Armor Penetration +10%

Reflex +5

Instantly, his system showed him its detailed ability.

Although his system didn’t show attack power of his own, it was present in almost all items he had seen and held before. Of course, none will ever come close to the staff of his father that had four-digit magic damage.

You can name the item on your own.

What do you want to name it?

Name, huh? Let’s call it, Memento.

Do you want to name it Memento?

Yes

Unnamed Item’s name changed to Memento.

The dagger was powerful. If he used it in tandem with the glove and the various close-quarter martial arts, he could cause a large amount of damage to any foe. Andel should have been happy about it.

But, he couldn’t bring himself to be happy about it.

Maybe it was the tiredness from the intense knife throwing practice, Andel’s fell into a deep slumber while still holding onto the Memento.

…

When he woke up, it was already half-past seven in the evening.

Shit! Did I sleep for a whole six hours?

Not sure how it happened, Andel sheathed the blade back into its leather case and kept it inside his cupboard.

Giving it a last look, he closed the door and left the room.

In the afternoon, he used to practice boxing and weight lifting to increase his strength. Now, he would have to add running and other stamina increasing exercises to that schedule.

There were some health supplements and magic potions to quickly increase stamina too. But he decided that he would only get to those after hitting the wall from exercise.

When he entered the gym, Andel sighed at how empty it was.

No matter what time he went in there, he would always see someone doing something. Most of the time, it was Two doing his squats and practicing his sword moves. He was a sword user and a damn good at it too.

Andel had to admit that not even the instructors from Seras Manor could defeat him in all-out swordplay.

Despite how prejudiced he was towards him, Andel somewhat respected Two’s swordplay and the effort he would put into it.

Andel went to the treadmill and started to run as fast as he could with his current body.

The battle against tuskers taught him many valuable lessons. It made him see what he lacked and where he needed to improve on. But his biggest realize aside from his reliant on the stamina was his lack of combat abilities against monsters.

All the martial arts he learned until now targeted a human or humanoid foe. Judo can slam a target into the ground and instantly disarm it. But how would it work against a monster like a tusker?

Krav maga? That would be even more useless against targets who weren't human. Monsters didn’t have the same vital spots as a human.

So his second realization was to learn something that could help him deal with monsters.

I will ask Selina after the exercise.

Andel made up his mind before running on the treadmill.

While he was keeping himself busy to divert his mind, Selina called Travis and Lilia to her room.

“Are you saying that it's not Two?” Travis asked seriously while looking into Selina's equally serious face.

“That’s right. The target was changed to someone else at the very last minute. And my exposure didn’t happen until a lot later. Two didn’t know about my second target. If I have to suspect someone, it would be Julio.” Selina said.

“Julio!? Do you have any proof or claim to suspect him?” Lilia asked as her brows knitted together closely.

After all, suspecting someone of treason, who was and still is your partner needed a lot of proof.

“I have a reason to suspect him,” Selina revealed. “He was with me until we parted ways at the border of Lutifa. He knew about my new target and even where she would appear.”

Suddenly, Travis and Lilia felt like a bomb exploded in their heads.

They became unresponsive for a while.