TBATE Rogue

Chapter 6

Arthur Leywin POV

The swift, cold wind swept through the forests of the Great Mountain like a chorus of whispers, carrying an enigmatic tale from distant lands that you may never fully comprehend. The sun, once a giant burning sphere that ruled over the sky, had been hidden by the giant grey clouds. His hot rays were lost in the thick barrier formed by the clouds and by that the temperature dropped significantly.

A massive swarm of crows soared above me, their ominous calls echoing through the entire forest, serving as a stark warning for anyone daring to proceed. This was how the atmosphere felt for me at the moment and to be honest, I wasn't very pleased. That's not how I remember my birth village to be, Ashbern.

"Home, sweet home, right?" My companion got up from his sleep, remarking on the new... place we had arrived.

Once a small but thriving village for its scale, once a small but prosperous village, bustling with people engaging in agriculture and craftsmanship, with children playing a variety of games and adventurers embarking on quests and hunting E to D mana beasts, has been tragically reduced to a ghost town. 

The majority of houses made of wood had been abandoned in a rush, some of them even barricaded with planks at their windows and doors while the few houses of mortar and bricks, the ones where once the elite of this small village lived, the most prosperous humans of Asbern that they slept and they aet were now tormented, like they were caught in a middle of an active war.

This is not the same place I had spent my baby years. Something must have happened in the meantime, I'm sure of it*gasp* "You think so? And I thought they must have moved to bigger cities." Regis's voice sounded in my head, in a very sarcastic and dramatic manner, trying to sound shocked at my thoughts.You know what I am referring to. Stop being so insensitive and look for a sign of life. While it is possible that these individuals may have gone into hiding, it remains highly probable that the Syndicate's operatives are still present in the vicinity, diligently carrying out their operations. Get to work, Regis.

"Yeah, yeah. Roger, roger." He rolled his eyes. "And how should I begin? Sticking like a meteor in all of these empty houses, biting anyone that moves at first sight then asking the questions, or to save some time, just blasting have of this place with a little wave of my special flames?" He proposed some of the most idiotic ideas his mind could come.

"sigh" You know what? Just stay in me for the time being and alert me in case of something. What about this?

"You are no fun mister wanna-be-vigilante. And here I thought you would let me do the latter." His disappointment was clear on his wolf-life face.

Resisting the urge to slap my face, I moved to the village, starting to investigate what activity might have happened. The guy me and Regis cached had told us that one of the operation bases of Syndicate is located in my home village. Going through house and house, I could tell how things could go even deeper than I expected. The interiors, besides the mounts of dust and spiderwebs, were fine, even intact. No chair broken, no table turned upside down, no wall destroyed or window shattered. Like the people didn't put up a fight at all but simply disappeared.

"Knock, knock motherfucker. Hands up on your knees, the DDD had come to investigate the situation!" Regis, clearly reaching his patience, started to act like a cop.

[A/N: If you remember from the original Light Novel, DDD stands for Dicathen Dynamic Duo, as Regis stated. Idk what chapter, but it was before the first Wraith Fight.]

Can you be even more childish? How the hell we are the same person but so different? I start to doubt about this too, but I keep my cool.

"You searched half the village by now and until now zero Syndicate men. Having lost hope of finding even the tiniest piece of evidence about them, let's at least make the most of our time. Are you sure it was Asbern what that person told you?