Martin standing there with his hand trembling was thinking about his options. He was not a stupid person and knew by now that the person they were after was not him but properly George. But he didn’t care anymore, they had mocked him and insulted his honor as a warrior.

The boy waiting for an answer got impatient and decided to just take him out and take the scroll. He had already overstayed his welcome and the chance of someone finding them was getting higher by the second. So he decided to use a sneak attack and hit him hard on the head before he could do anything stupid. He had already perfected the first three stands of the sword skill and found an opening with ease, without making a sound he moved beneath Martin and hit him right on the temple. Martin didn’t feel much pain from the hit and before he knew it was lying on the ground without being able to move.

George was just a surprised as Martin and didn’t know what to do next. He wanted to help Martin but he didn’t have the ability to beat the boy and also didn’t have the confidence to run. Martin fell on the ground and for a second made eye contact with George, his eyes were open and he was clearly still conscious, he just couldn’t move his body. George couldn’t handle the stare and ashamed put his head down looking at the ground, tears were falling and this was the first time in his life he felt ashamed. Until now everything that had happened to him was not his fault, but this time it was him not having the courage to help Martin. While George was crying the boy started to search Martin but couldn’t find the scroll. When he found nothing he noticed the ring on Martin’s hand and found out to his surprise that it was a high-grade bronze storage treasure. The problem with high-grade bronze storage items was that unlike the low-grade bronze storage items, only the person who binds it can get access to the items. The only way to get the scroll was to make Martin take it out or kill him and bind the ring himself. The boy couldn’t believe his bad luck and decided to force Martin to take it out because the other options of killing him was out of the question. Killing nobles was the same as a death sentence, even the other noble families would join forces to hunt him down. The noble clans could overlook a small beating between kids but they would definitely not overlook a killing. The boy knowing he had come too far to turn back picked Martin up from the ground and pushed him against the wall. Martin had red bloodshot eyes and looked at the boy with killing intent. The boy was clearly worried but didn’t show it and had a big mocking smile on his face. He gave Martin a couple of slaps to wake him up and started to choke him.

“Give me the scroll, or I will beat you like you have never been hit before. You know that the only way to kill you without a real weapon is by internal bleeding and that if I want, I can torture you for days without killing you. Don’t make it harder on yourself than it already is and just give me the scroll and it will all be over. You can run to daddy and get a new one, is it really worth getting beaten over?”

Martin hearing the boy mention his father got even angrier and spit on the boy’s face.

“The only way you can get the scroll is over my dead body. A skill like that is not meant for a peasant like you.”

The boy getting spit on the face and seeing Martin look down on him started to beat him even harder. Martin didn’t make a sound and was doing his best to take the punches without giving the boy the satisfaction. At the same time, George was watching Martin getting a beating and didn’t know why he would so to such a length to protect him. He felt grateful and ashamed at the same time and for some reason felt a sharp pain in his heart. Martin had a smile on his face and didn't make a sound, George couldn’t understand Martin's reaction, was he enjoying the beating? Was it the feeling of being proud, or had he gone insane from getting beaten for so long?

Whatever it was George had enough of it and decided to go and give the boy the scroll. Everything had happened so fast and he didn’t think a scroll was worth all of this. He started to get out from beneath the bed and before he could get out heard a loud shout that scared him.

“Stop, Don’t you dare give it to them!”

The boy seeing George got a big fright and didn't know where he had popped up from, but before he could react Alf pointed his finger and shouted loudly.

“That’s him, That’s the boy I saw receiving the scroll from master Keven, Roy!”

At the same time as this was happening, Max woke up again and had a painful look on his face. He got the scare of his life when he saw the condition Martin was in and didn’t think there was a peaceful way out of this so stood up to block the door and made sure that they couldn’t escape.

The boy hearing Alf use his name turned around with killing intent in his eyes. They were playing with fire as it was and now this fool had used his real name in front of a noble. At the same time, Alf understood that he had done and got so scared that he fell on the ground and started to hyperventilate again. Not knowing what Roy would do to him he stood up and started to run away as fast as he could. Roy started to run after him but was stopped by Max in front of the door.

“We need to finish this first before we do anything else, we've already come too far to leave now. But don’t kill them, we can get back from getting caught stealing but if they find us after we kill them….”

Max was nodding his head and trying to calm Roy down. Roy agreed with Max like he usually would and started to walk back into the room with a tired look on his face.

“I’ve had a long day and I don’t care which one of you has it but give me the scroll or I will beat you both like dogs.”

When George quickly turned around to go get the scroll but Martin used all his strength to grab George by the leg and didn’t let him proceed. George turned around and looked at Martin shaking his head, he couldn’t understand why Martin was trying so hard. Was it that the scroll was really that precious or was there another reason he was so persistent?

‘No he doesn’t know what kind of scroll it is.’

Roy getting annoyed with Martin gave him a hard kick in the stomach and turned around and was looking at him look like Vincent would when he got really angry. George didn't care anymore got the scroll from inside the drawer, he had always done what Vincent wanted and this was the only way he knew to make people like them stop. He was looking at the ground in fear of making eye contact with Martin and he promised himself that if would make them pay for today if he had the chance. At the same time, Martin saw George getting the scroll he got even angrier and started to curse.

“You incompetent fool! Not only are you a mute but you're also a coward. I feel ashamed for sharing a room with someone who had no pride.”

Every word Martin said hitting George like a spear and his whole body started to shake, Roy hit Martin again and had a smile on his face seeing the scroll in George’s hands.

“Enough talk, give me the scroll.”

But something surprising happened what nobody was expecting. While George was walking his sight went dark and before he knew it he was inside the capsule. George overwhelmed by the experience started to cry, he felt ashamed of himself and didn’t know why he was such a coward. He promised himself that he would find a way to make the three people pay for what happened today and that he would never run away from a fight ever again. From the moment he was born he had been a coward who would always run away from fights, his sadness turned into anger and he punched the wall as hard he could. Two of his knuckles tore open and his hand started to bleed, but still the pain was not even one tenth of the pain he felt inside.