On the way back Wolf realized several things about the assassination attempt were strange.

He knew several ways to attract Monster Beasts to a single point, but none of the methods he could come up with were nearly as inconspicuous as what the assassin had done. In fact Wolf still had no idea how the man lured all those Monster Beasts.

Another thing which was amiss was the fact that Wolf failed to perceive any murderous intent, even though the assassin had tried to kill them. He’d barely sensed that they were being watched and the feeling was so faint he’d confused the killer with an idle guardian.

Wolf wanted to learn how to do all these things, and he knew the perfect drunkard who could teach him.

That is why, as soon as the party had reached Port Town, Wolf left the gang and instead of going back to the Mage Academy he went to pay his big brother a visit.

The youth walked into the dirty alley and saw the passed out bum snoring on a pile of rubbish, his back bent at an unnatural angle.

That looks really uncomfortable. Wolf sighed and shook his head, but still decided against waking up the drunkard.

Instead, he started taking out utensils and a bunch of ingredients, before calmly preparing a meal for two. Unsurprisingly, as soon as the rich aroma started spreading from the soup the vagrant opened his eyes and sniffed at the air.

“That smells rather nice, Little brother,” the bum complimented as he got up.

South cracked his back, unleashing a series of bone chilling popping and crunching sounds.

“You at least have some conscience,” he continued after letting out a satisfied grunt. “You left me alone to starve here for weeks while you were off frolicking with that little whore of yours—”

Wolf knew South was poking fun at him, but this time the bum poked a sore spot.

“We didn’t even hold hands the whole time,” Wolf grumbled with a dark expression, then gave an account of what had happened on the mission.

South listened and contributed to the atmosphere by making whipping noises when Wolf narrated the aftermath of the incident in which they lost their tents and camping supplies.

The youth frowned, but kept talking and soon enough he finished his short story.

In response South lazily scratched his scruffy beard while twisting his lips and revealing his teeth.

“So, you’re telling me you really don’t know how to hide your murderous intent?” the drunkard asked once more, not quite believing what he was hearing. He was so full of disbelief, he had to take a swing out of his wineskin.

Wolf shook his head in response. The way South was looking down at him right now annoyed him, but at least he knew he’d get to learn something useful.

“It’s extremely simple. Just don’t harbor murderous intent,” South said matter of factly and took another long swing out of his wineskin. “Not even a hint.”

Wolf’s face turned ugly. That really wasn’t even a hint, he thought.

“Don’t look at me like that. That’s the complete solution to the problem that’s bothering you. It’s just that you’re too dumb to understand what I’m saying,” South said with a snort, pretending to be offended by Wolf’s gaze.

“I’m sorry, oh wise one,” Wolf said apologetically. “Could you please explain it in such a way that you dumb little brother can understand?”

To top it off the youth stuck out his tongue at the bum, who just cocked an eyebrow at him.

“Cheeky brat, you need a good thrashing,” South grumbled. “Is that the way you ask for help?”

“I’ll fix you up some crepes if you tell me,” Wolf said flatly and South’s personality flipped around in a moment.

“So, when you’re trying to hide your murderous intent the best way to do it is like I said,” South explained his original words. “Don’t harbor any murderous intent towards the target at all. Unless you utterly hate the creature you’re about to kill, this isn’t that hard to achieve. Let’s take that assassin you spoke of as an example. He most certainly wasn’t burning with desire to kill that little shit you hang out with. So, until it was the time to strike, he was just observing him casually.

“Before the chance presented itself the assassin was only a casual observer. You can do pretty much the same to make people unaware that you’re observing them. Instead of carefully watching your target you instead carefully inspect a tree they are resting under. As for the person you should be observing, you leave that up to your peripheral vision. It’s clumsy, can’t trick real experts and requires a lot of practice, but if you want to learn how to do it that’s how, you just need to practice. I’ll have mine with strawberry jam,” South said as he concluded his short lesson.

“Huh?” Wolf blinked in confusion.

“Crepes. I want mine with strawberry jam,” South replied seriously.

“I… I don’t have any strawberry jam on me.” Wolf said awkwardly. “How about I make them the next time we see each other?”

Wolf tried to dig himself out of this mess, but South cocked his eyebrow again, staring the young man down.

“Are you going back on your word, Little brother?” the sly vagrant asked with a smile that was not a smile.

“No! No, no, no. I just,” Wolf hesitated and waved his hands before him as a show of innocence. “I don’t have the ingredients on me.”

He tried to pin the issue on the circumstances. The lack of jam was definitely not his fault.

Somehow South managed to raise his eyebrow even higher.

“Walk out of the alley and go right. Three streets from here turn right again. In the fifth house on the left a granny is baking cupcakes with passable strawberry jam she prepared with love. Get the jam from her. The kid’s gonna cry, but that’s not my problem. You have to take responsibility for your words.” From how serious his face was, it was plain to see that South really wanted those crepes and didn’t mind implicating little Jimmy’s birthday treat.

Wolf hesitated for a moment, but then that eyebrow shot up even higher. If it went up any further it would leave the confines of South’s face.

Not knowing what else he could do, and worried for his big brother’s eyebrow, Wolf helplessly dashed out of the alley. As he left he heard South grumble behind his back.

“It’s like he thinks I don’t know he’s planning to go whoring the first chance he gets,” the drunkard muttered loudly. “The next lunch might not be in half a year with how much he’s ignoring me.”

South’s complaining was way too loud for it to be a simple disgruntled monologue. It was plain to see that he wanted Wolf to hear his words and the youth could only smile helplessly.

Following South’s instructions, Wolf found the house in which an old woman was making sweets on the kitchen table. At the edge of her work surface stood a jar of red jam, while in the corner of the room sat a five-year-old boy.

He sat on his hands, impatiently looking at the bunch of eggs, flour, butter and other things which were to become the sweets his grandma had promised him for his birthday.

Seeing this scene Wolf realized that this old woman probably wouldn’t be willing to sell the jam. A moment later he came up with a convoluted plan on how to acquire the jam his big brother adamantly demanded…

***

It was Jimmy’s fifth birthday today.

His granny had told him that if he behaved and patiently waited in the corner she would make him cakes with strawberry jam filling.

Tommy naturally did his best to wait patiently. True, he was fidgeting a bit, but only a bit and he wasn’t doing it all the time.

Just every couple of seconds.

He was sure that he was a very patient boy and that his granny wouldn’t notice his movements. Even if she did, he was in a far corner and wasn’t distracting her in any way. So, he was most definitely a good boy.

Suddenly, right before Jimmy’s eyes, the jar of strawberry marmalade his granny had made vanished! It disappeared into thin air!

“Granny! The marmalade... it’s gone,” Jimmy wailed. His treat was gone just like that!

Tommy’s grandma looked at the spot where she’d left the strawberry jam and found a pair of silver coins. She was just as confused as Tommy. This silver was a dozen times what her jam cost to make…

***

Wolf was unaware that after “buying” the jam he’d left one hundred and eighty copper coins worth of change as a birthday present for little Jimmy.

His initial idea was to simply take the jam, but that would be stealing. Stealing would make Wolf a bandit and he really hated bandits. So, he did what any honest man would do… Well, not really, but he left some money behind which should make up for the old lady’s trouble and the loss of the precious strawberry jam his big brother demanded as payment for his teachings.

As for Jimmy and how the boy felt, Wolf really didn’t give a rat’s ass.

If the little freeloader wanted something, he should work hard and earn it. When Wolf was his age he was already killing monsters, learning magic and passing various trials. Or at least two out of three. It happened so long ago that Wolf wasn’t certain anymore.

With a clear conscience the young man returned to the trash-filled alley and started making crepes for himself and South. They turned out delicious. Wolf was proud of his handiwork, even though his dough failed to achieve the level of puffy airiness he’d tasted at the patisserie.

“I should’ve bought some whipped cream as well,” Wolf grumbled and South shot him an odd look.

“Whip it yourself you lazy brat,” the drunkard admonished. “Can you even buy freshly whipped cream?”

South had a point, but it was too late now. At least it was a lesson for the future. Wolf also knew from the experience at the gelateria that women liked crepes. He smiled a smile which oozed self satisfaction, and South found it a matter of pride to poop on his little brother’s parade.

“You’re thinking about how you can buy whores with crepes,” South didn’t pull his punches. “Just so you know, it’s better to use money. Cleaner too.”

“Can’t you say anything nice?” Wolf shot him a dejected look.

“You can get some decent whores with these crepes,” South replied without dropping a beat.

Wolf opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, trying to come up with something to say, but eventually just took another bite of his desert.

He wasn’t sure whether his big brother’s words were a compliment. Even if they were, Wolf wasn’t certain he wanted to receive such a compliment.

Thankfully the lunch came to an end.

Wolf learned what he needed to do in order to acquire two new skills, one of which didn’t seem to have much practical use, but it was good to know the option existed and that there were people who could conceal the fact that they were spying on him.

***

By the time Wolf got back to the Mage Academy, it was nearly sunset. He’d barely made it to his dorm room before the curfew started.

Wolf opened the door in his usual, carefree manner, meaning without giving a damn about the people in the room.

Like usual, Wayde was lying on the living room couch. He seemed to have been napping, but the creaky door jolted him awake.

“Hey mate,” Wayde said drowsily. “We’ve already cashed in our mission at the five star Mission Hall, and as soon as we’ve arrived they’d scheduled a make-up exam for…”

The youth yawned and grimaced before continuing. “… next Monday after classes. Barbara was pissed, it’s just a day before her birthday. She wanted to start shouting, but Matilda stopped her. That’s about all I had to tell you before you disappeared again tomorrow and caused a mess somewhere.”

With that Wayde got up from bed and dragged himself over to Wolf and closed the door, before going to his bedroom. The young man was dead tired from the trip. He didn’t even realize how much walking and sleeping under the blue sky had drained him until he got back home.

Now that he was under a solid roof the only thing on his mind was sleep and resting.

Wolf saw this and knew this happened to everyone when they’d spent the day in a tavern. However, he couldn’t understand the phenomenon. He grew up traversing the wilderness. The places he’d passed through back when he was a child made the danger zones of Northshield and Silverhound seem like a children’s playground.