After breakfast, just as Kael was about to head outside for his training, Emily bolted toward him and eagerly asked to join him so he could teach her lightning attacks. However, before she could insist further, their mother dragged her back inside, reminding her that she had only awakened today and there was no need to rush.
Since Kael hadn't done his morning workout yet, he decided to complete it before practicing his lightning spells. Once finished, he trained his lightning spells until his mana was completely exhausted. On his way home, he noticed that the number of adventurers roaming the village had increased significantly.
Curious, he stopped by the sweets shop he usually visited when buying treats for his sister. As soon as he entered, the shop owner greeted him warmly. "Kael! It's been a while! I haven't seen you around lately. How have you been?"
Kael smiled and said "I'm fine, Grandpa. Well, last weekend was my sister's birthday, so my mom made plenty of sweets at home. That's why I didn't come by last week."
The old man said looking surprised "Oh, it was Emily's birthday last weekend? You should have told me earlier! I would have gifted her some of her favorite sweets."
Kael shook his head while saying, "No, it's not that big of a deal. She'll be happy just knowing that you wanted to give her a gift." Inwardly, he thought, 'What would you even give her? Even if you give your entire shop, it wouldn't be enough for her. That sweet glutton would devour everything in a day.'
The old man laughed and asked, "So, what do you want to buy today?"
"Just the usual set of chocolates," Kael replied.
"Alright, wait a second," the old man said as he packed the chocolates. Handing them to Kael, he added, "Here you go."
As Kael took the package, he asked, "By the way, Grandpa, why are there so many adventurers in the village today?"
The old man nodded knowingly while saying "Ah, them! Apparently, a new dungeon was discovered in the forest, about 80 kilometers from here."
Kael raised an eyebrow and said, "A new dungeon? That explains the sudden influx of adventurers. Do you know anything about it?"
The oldman stroked his beard thoughtfully and said, "Not much, but from what I've overheard, it's an unexplored dungeon—completely untouched. The guild in the nearest city sent scouts to investigate, and now adventurers from all over are flocking to try their luck. You know how it is—treasure, rare monsters, and the chance to make a name for themselves."
Kael thought for a moment and said, "So, a potential goldmine, huh? No wonder the village is swarming with adventurers. But why are they gathering in our village instead of the ones closer to the forest?"
The old man replied. "The thing is, the villages near the dungeon are too small to accommodate so many adventurers. Most of them don't have proper inns or even decent supplies for a long stay. Our village, on the other hand, has larger inns, better shops, and merchants who bring in supplies regularly. It's just more convenient for them to use this place as a base before heading out."
Kael nodded and asked, "That makes sense. But still, 80 kilometers is quite far. Wouldn't it be a hassle for them to travel back and forth?"
The old man chuckled. "Not really. Most adventurers travel in groups with mounts or use magic to cover distances quickly. And besides, it's safer here. The villages closer to the dungeon are at higher risk if monsters start appearing. No one wants to set up camp in a place that could be overrun overnight."
Kael's eyes gleamed with curiosity and asked. "Do you think any famous adventurers will show up?"
The old man shrugged and said, "Who knows? If the dungeon is valuable enough, maybe even some A-rank or S-rank adventurers will come. But for now, it's mostly the usual crowd—C-rank and B-rank parties trying to get ahead."
Kael nodded and said, "Sounds interesting. I wonder how strong the monsters inside are."
The old man chuckled and said, "Strong enough that a kid like you should focus on his studies instead of daydreaming about dungeons."
Kael scoffed and said, "I wasn't planning to go in, anyway. Just curious."
When Kael reached for his money to pay, the old man waved a hand dismissively. "No, no, these are on the house. Give your sister my belated birthday wishes and bring her by once in a while."
Kael smiled and thanked him, "Thanks, Grandpa. I'll bring her one day. But don't blame me if she tries to eat your entire shop."
The old man let out a hearty laugh and said, "That little girl and her sweet tooth! I'll make sure to prepare extra just in case."
Kael chuckled before waving. "See you later, Grandpa."
"Take care, Kael," the old man replied, watching him leave with a nostalgic smile.
As Kael stepped out of the shop, he thought, 'So, a new dungeon has appeared, huh? That means they've already started preparing for the monster wave. From now on, new dungeons will probably start appearing all over the empire.'
He furrowed his brows. 'I still don't understand… In the novel, why did the emperor find nothing suspicious about dungeons suddenly appearing across the empire? Were there actual reasons, or did he just not pay much attention since dungeons bring so many benefits?'
Shaking his head, Kael muttered to himself, "Well, it doesn't matter. I just need to get strong enough to protect my family and myself. There are still five years left. Until then, I just need to keep training hard. I wonder how strong I'll be when I turn twenty."
Pushing aside his thoughts of training, Kael continued on his way home. However, a scene ahead caught his attention—a group of four kids was bullying a red-haired boy.
Kael sighed. 'They're at it again. Don't they have anything better to do than pick on him?'
He glanced around and noticed a group of adventurers sitting at a nearby table. Instead of stopping the bullying, they simply watched the scene unfold with amused expressions, as if it were some kind of entertainment.
There were three men and one woman in the adventurer group. They looked as though they were enjoying some silly kids' drama rather than a real incident.
Kael, seeing the situation in front of him, thought, "Hmm, what should I do? They're blocking my way home. If I take another route, it'll be a much longer walk."
For a moment, he debated whether he should turn back or just continue forward. After a few seconds of deep contemplation, he made up his mind.
"Why should I go another way? It's not like they'll pick on me just because I'm passing by. And even if they do… they can try their luck."
Having decided, Kael continued walking, choosing to pass by without paying them any attention.
Just as he was making his way down the road, a brown-haired girl stood a couple of feet away from him. She hesitated, her thoughts racing.
"What should I do? If I want to go to the market, this is the only way... I've seen those guys picking on that red-haired kid every time I come here for shopping or errands. The one time I tried to stop them, they threatened to pick on me next, so I ran away…"
She bit her lip in frustration before glancing at the black-haired boy walking beside her.
"Perfect! I'll just keep walking alongside him and slip away when we pass by them. They won't even notice me!"
With that plan in mind, she hastened her steps, closing the distance between her and Kael.
Both Kael and the girl continued forward. Just as they were about to pass by, one of the four bullies 'accidentally' bumped into Kael, dramatically staggering backward as if he had just crashed into a wall.
"Hey! Are you blind? Watch where you're going, loser!" the kid sneered.
Kael blinked, looking at him with a deadpan expression and said, "What? I was walking in a straight line. You were the one who bumped into me while moving like a drunk duck. If anything, you should watch where you're going."
Inwardly, he thought, 'What the hell is this brat trying to do? Does he want something, or is he just looking to pick on random people?'
"What did you just say to me?!" the bully growled.
Another kid stepped forward, cracking his knuckles and said "Hey, do you wanna get beaten to a pulp like this guy?" he motioned to the red-haired boy on the ground. "Just say sorry and go on your way"
A third bully, eyeing the sweets in Kael's hand, said, "Yeah! If you don't wanna end up like him, hand over that box in your hand."
Kael didn't understand what was going on, One moment, he was just walking home. The next, some idiot bumped into him. Then another idiot started threatening him. And now, yet another idiot was demanding his chocolates.
When he was processing what was happening, the fourth kid with a blonde hair and blue eyes stepped forward, speaking in a high-pitched, feminine voice.
"Well, well, who do we have here? Isn't it that same girl who tried to stop our fun two days ago?"
Kael followed the blonde kid's gaze and was surprised to see a girl standing just behind him. He thought 'Where the hell did she come from? I thought I was the only one walking on the road!'. Kael hadn't noticed her because she had been walking silently, and since he hadn't bothered looking back, he had assumed he was alone.
The three kids who had been harassing him suddenly shifted their focus to the girl, surrounding her instead.
Kael stood in the center of the situation, completely dumbfounded. He thought 'What the hell is happening here? First, they stormed at me for bumping into one of them. Now, they're all ganging up on her when she hasn't even done anything?'
Kael narrowed his eyes. 'Something feels off about this...' His gaze shifted to the red-haired boy on the ground. The kid was making a weird expression—his face twisted in what looked like pleasure despite being beaten up.
Even in previous days, Kael had seen this boy getting bullied. He had considered helping him once, but when he had looked closely at his face, he had been smiling like a complete pervert.
"I thought he was just a weirdo back then, so I left him alone… But now? He's literally enjoying it. Don't tell me he's a freaking masochist at this age."
While Kael was deep in thought, the brown-haired girl suddenly spoke up. "Leave me alone!" she said, frowning.
The blonde boy smirked and said, "Tch, tch, tch. That's not how this works. If you don't listen, we'll just have to show you what happens to people who disobey us!"
Another chimed in saying "Yeah! Do you even know who we are?" He puffed out his chest and said, "We are THE Four Storm Wolves of this village!"
Kael almost choked on air and asked, "The—what now? Storm Wolves?"
The blonde boy nodded proudly. "Yes! We are the Storm Wolves! You should bow before us and pray to us!"
Kael raised an eyebrow and asked, "Did you guys get that name from a bedtime story?" Inwardly, he thought, 'Well, whatever. I should just go along with this. This is getting fun.'
"Shut up!" the first kid growled. "How dare you compare our mighty group name to a bedtime story! You better apologize before we—"
"Before you what? You'll all bite me at once?" Kael interrupted, dramatically putting on a fake, terrified expression. "Oh no, I'm so scared! Please don't bite me with your mighty Storm Wolf fangs."
The blonde kid's face darkened. "You should have stayed silent when we gave you a chance," he said coldly. "Instead, you've chosen to be beaten up by us."
He turned to the brown-haired girl with a smirk. "You know what? I'll give you a demonstration first." Pointing at Kael, he declared, "I'll use my super wind magic to blow this guy away!"
The other three grinned and nodded. "Yeah! We'll show you what happens when you mess with us!"
They stepped back, raised their hands dramatically, and took a deep breath.
They said loudly, "Behold! The mighty power of the Storm Wolves! Super Wind Blast!"
A tiny gust of wind stirred from their palms.
A few dry leaves and some dust lazily drifted past Kael's feet.
…That was it.
A long silence followed.
Kael slowly looked down at the barely-moving leaves, then back up at the four kids.
The bullies smirked and said, "Ha! How do you like that?!"
"Now you'll think twice before messing with us!"
Kael opened his mouth to say something, but before he could—
The red-haired kid, who had been lying on the ground like a dead fish, suddenly stood up and moved in front of the brown-haired girl. "They're using magic attacks in public!" he declared dramatically. "Don't worry! I'll protect you from these bad gu—"
"KRRRZZZTT!"
A faint crackling sound filled the air.
When the red-haired kid and the brown-haired girl looked over, they saw the four 'Storm Wolves' sprawled on the ground, knocked out cold.
Kael smiled at them and said, "Oh, you don't need to thank me! They were kind of annoying, so I just zapped them. Now we can go on our way."
The red-haired boy's eyes widened in horror. "AAAAAHHH!!! YOU KILLED THEM!"
Kael replied nonchalantly, "I didn't. They'll wake up in ten minutes. You should probably leave before they do."
The brown-haired girl immediately thanked him before hurrying away. Kael, too, left the scene, leaving behind four unconscious 'wolves' and one masochist.
Kael was just a few meters away from his home when he suddenly heard someone calling him.
"Hey! You! Wait!"
Kael turned back, his face already set in a deadpan expression.
The red-haired boy, the same one who had been bullied, was running toward him, panting heavily.
Kael narrowed his eyes. 'Why the hell is this brat following me?'
He said, uninterested, "I already told you, you don't need to thank me. Why did you follow me?"
He had absolutely zero interest in talking to the kid, especially after seeing how he enjoyed getting bullied. 'Maybe he has some weird kinks… Ugh, I don't want to hear any of that.'
But instead of thanking him, the red-haired boy suddenly shouted, "Thanks my ass! Why would I thank you when you ruined my life?!"
Kael's mind froze for a moment. He thought, 'What the fuck?! Did he just say his life was ruined because of me? Is he saying that because of me, he can't take pleasure in their bullying anymore?'
Kael's face twisted in horror as he took a step back, thinking, 'What the hell is with this brat's weird tastes?!'
Without waiting for Kael's reply, the red-haired boy started ranting, "Because of you, the plan we carefully crafted for two months failed! How are you going to take responsibility for it?!"
Kael blinked and said, "…What plan? Why do I have to take responsibility?" Internally, he screamed, 'WHAT THE HELL IS HE TALKING ABOUT?! Responsibility?! Is this pervert asking me to take responsibility for his pleasure?!'
Then another horrifying thought hit him. 'Wait… did he plan to become a victim on purpose?! What kind of crazy brat is he?!'
The red-haired boy glared at him. "Because you ruined our plan, you have to take responsibility!"
Before Kael could misunderstand further, he saw the four 'Storm Wolves' suddenly running toward them from behind.
"YOU!" the blonde-haired kid shouted, pointing at Kael. "You ruined everything!"
The other three nodded furiously and said, "Yeah! Now you have to take responsibility!"
Kael, who was already mentally exhausted, sighed. "Alright, pause—what the hell are you guys even talking about? What plan? Explain it to me from the start so that I can understand."
The blonde kid, who was fuming, crossed his arms and began explaining.
"So… this guy"—he pointed at the red-haired boy—"has a crush on that brown-haired girl. He wanted to be friends with her and impress her. But since he didn't know how to do that, he asked for our help."
Kael raised an eyebrow. 'Alright, not too bad so far.'
"We thought about it for two whole days but couldn't come up with anything! I mean, we were only kids. How are we supposed to know how to impress a girl?"
Kael nodded. 'Fair enough.'
"But then… an adventurer uncle with white hair overheard our conversation and decided to help us out!"
At this, Kael narrowed his eyes and thought, 'A white-haired adventurer? Who the hell gives romantic advice to kids?'
The blonde kid continued, "He told us that girls like boys who are weaker than them—but also someone who will protect them. So, he gave us the perfect plan!"
Kael had a bad feeling about this. He thought, 'Why does it feel like I'm going to hear some bullshit?'
"The plan was: We pretend to bully him in front of the girl, so she will stands up for him. Then, we act all scary and intimidate her. At that moment, he will 'wake up' and 'protect her heroically'—winning her heart!"
Kael's left eye twitched. He thought, 'You've gotta be kidding me.'
"We already tried it once before!" the blonde kid added. "But the girl got scared and ran away! So this time, we picked a place where she couldn't escape. But then you showed up and RUINED EVERYTHING!"
Kael stared at them, completely dumbfounded. He had seen dumb plans before. He had even read about stupid romance clichés in his past life.
But this…? 'This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard!'
Kael exhaled and rubbed his temples. "You guys really thought this would work?" he asked, his voice filled with disbelief.
The red-haired kid crossed his arms. "Of course! It was a foolproof plan! That adventurer uncle wouldn't gain anything by lying to us!"
Kael sighed and muttered, "Yeah… foolproof, alright."
Then a thought hit him. He said, "Wait a second. If you guys planned everything, why the hell were you making weird expressions while getting beaten up?"
The red-haired boy frowned and asked, "What weird expressions?"
Kael said, "Your face looked like a masochist's the entire time. You were smiling while getting beaten up!"
The red-haired kid scoffed, "Oh, that? That adventurer uncle told me that even though I'm bullied, I shouldn't look weak. He said I should smile at the girl even while getting beaten. So I smiled the entire time!"
Kael's jaw almost dropped. He thought, 'No doubt about it. That adventurer definitely did this on purpose.'
"You call that a smile?" he asked with a deadpan expression. "You looked like a complete pervert while doing it!"
The kids looked at him, confused.
The blonde kid asked, "Wait… what's a 'masochist'?"
Kael, with a smirk, said "Oh, it's a good word. You should say it to someone, who is doing difficult works with a smile on their face."
The kids nodded, looking satisfied. "Ohhh! That makes sense!"
After a few seconds, they suddenly snapped back. "HEY! You're changing the subject!"
Kael sighed and said, "So, what do you guys want me to do? You were the ones who attacked me first. All I did was self-defense."
The blonde kid pouted. "But because of you, the plan failed!"
Kael shrugged. "That's not my fault. It was a stupid plan from the start."
The red-haired kid said, "But—"
"Look," Kael interrupted, "if you really want to impress that girl, don't act like a creep. And definitely don't listen to some weird old adventurer's love advice."
The red-haired boy asked, "Then… what should I do?"
Kael said with a smile, "Easy. Next time, just talk to her like a normal person."
The kids looked at each other, seeming deep in thought.
Finally, the blonde kid sighed. "Fine… I guess you're right."
Kael said, exhausted, "Good. Now, go home before I decide to test out another lightning spell."
The kids yelped and immediately scattered like frightened rabbits.
Kael shook his head, saying, "Idiots… If this didn't involve me, I would've found their actions hilarious. But now I'm only feeling annoyed."
After finally reaching his home, Kael walked in and saw Emily sitting inside.
"Brother! You're back!" she chirped.
Kael smiled and handed her the chocolates he had bought.
Emily's eyes sparkled as she saw the chocolates and exclaimed, "You are the best big brother in the world!"
Their mother, however, frowned.
"Kael, you're spoiling her!" she scolded. "You shouldn't buy so many sweets for her all the time!"
Kael simply smiled. "Sorry, Mom. I'll keep that in mind."
Kael spent the rest of the day at home after lunch.