Still, for just a few minutes, rating village women with his best friend had almost made things feel normal again.
Almost.
The exhaustion from their terrifying ordeal finally caught up with them, and sleep eventually claimed both boys. The room settled into the quiet breathing of slumber, with only the occasional rustle of someone shifting on their sleeping mat.
Hours passed in relative peace. The village guards maintained their watches, lanterns flickered in windows, and the night stretched on without incident.
For a brief time, it almost seemed like the immediate danger had passed with the destruction of Henrik's shop.
But around what must have been well past midnight, Kael's eyes opened.
He lay still for several minutes, listening to the soft sounds of sleep around him. Aren was breathing deeply beside him, finally free from the trauma-induced tension that had gripped him earlier. Tanya rested peacefully nearby, one arm protectively extended toward her son even in sleep. Eva slept curled up like a cat, while Kate maintained her rigid posture even while unconscious.
Something had woken him, though he couldn't identify what. Not a sound exactly, but more like... a feeling.
An instinct that something wasn't quite right.
Kael carefully got up and moved silently by channeling his mana. He stepped carefully around the sleeping bodies, avoiding the creaky floorboards that he had memorized from childhood visits to the Village Head's house.
The hallway outside their room was dimly lit by a few oil lamps. Other rooms housed more villagers, and he could hear the soft sounds of sleeping families through thin walls.
Everything seemed normal, peaceful even.
But that nagging sensation persisted.
Moving as quietly as possible, Kael made his way through the house toward one of the side exits. He needed air, space to think, and perhaps a better sense of what was bothering him.
The guards were maintaining their watch, but they were focused on external threats—not on restless teenagers who couldn't sleep.
The night air was cool against his skin as he stepped outside. Above, stars were scattered across a clear sky, and a half-moon provided just enough light to see by.
Kael walked slowly around the perimeter of the Village Head's residence, staying close enough to the building to avoid notice from the guards but giving himself room to move and think. His senses picked up nothing unusual—no strange sounds, no disturbing energy signatures like Aren had detected at Henrik's shop.
Everything was perfectly, peacefully normal.
Which was exactly what bothered him.
After their escape from the necromancers, after the explosion that had surely alerted them, shouldn't there be some response? Some attempt at pursuit or retaliation? The silence felt wrong, like the calm before a storm.
Kael had completed almost a full circle around the house and was turning back toward the entrance when a figure stepped out from behind a large oak tree directly in front of him.
Arthur.
The young chief stood perhaps ten feet away, his face partially shadowed by the moonlight but clearly visible. He wasn't wearing armor or carrying obvious weapons, just simple clothes suitable for a night watch. But there was something in his posture, his stance, that made Kael's blood run cold.
"Couldn't sleep either?" Arthur asked casually.
Kael's heart began hammering against his ribs, but he forced himself to remain calm. This could be innocent—just two people who couldn't rest meeting by chance during a crisis.
But the calculating look in Arthur's eyes suggested otherwise.
"Just needed some air," Kael replied carefully, his hand unconsciously moving toward where a weapon would hang if he'd been armed. "All those people in one room... it gets stuffy."
Arthur nodded and took a casual step closer. "Understandable. It's been a stressful night for everyone."
Another step closer.
"Especially for you and Aren," Arthur continued, his tone remaining conversational but with an undertone that made Kael's skin crawl. "That must have been quite an ordeal at Henrik's shop."
"It was," Kael agreed, trying to keep his voice steady while mentally calculating distances. Arthur was between him and the house now, cutting off his most direct route back to safety.
"You know," Arthur said thoughtfully, "I've been thinking about what you described. The explosion, the strange people you saw. It's all very... curious."
"I was wondering," Arthur continued, now close enough that Kael could see the predatory gleam in his eyes, "if perhaps you might have seen or heard something more specific. Details that could help us understand what we're really dealing with."
It was a test. Arthur was probing to see exactly how much Kael knew, how much of a threat he posed to the carefully constructed conspiracy.
"I told you everything," Kael lied, his muscles tensing as he prepared for what seemed increasingly inevitable.
Arthur's smile was cold and didn't reach his eyes.
"I don't think you did."
Kael's heart began beating faster, each pulse echoing in his ears like thunder. He probably knows everything. he thought to himself. They might have already been in contact. The necromancers could have told him exactly what happened at the shop.
But he kept his expression as neutral as possible, even as Arthur's predatory smile grew wider.
"I wasn't expecting you to be selling out your own people, Arthur," Kael said quietly, deciding there was no point in pretending anymore.
Arthur's smile faltered for just a moment, surprise flickering across his features before settling back into the usual calm.
"Well, it worked out this way. What can I say?" He shrugged. "Sometimes circumstances force us to make... practical choices."
"Practical?" Kael's voice carried genuine disbelief. "You're talking about murdering innocent people. Your own neighbors. People who trust you."
Arthur waved a dismissive hand, as if they were discussing something normal.
"You're being dramatic, Kael. This is simply the way the world works. The strong survive, the weak serve their purpose, and progress is made. Those people—Henrik, the others—they were never going to amount to anything anyway. At least this way, their deaths serve a greater purpose."
"A greater purpose?" Kael stepped back slightly. "What greater purpose could possibly justify what you're doing?"
"Power, obviously," Arthur replied, his tone growing more lively, as if he was finally able to share his thoughts with someone.
"Real power. The kind that can reshape kingdoms, that can elevate those worthy of elevation. Do you think I want to spend my entire life managing crop disputes and mediating arguments between farmers?"
"So you decided to collaborate with necromancers instead?"