The forest didn't feel peaceful.
It felt silent in a way that warned of trouble—like even the birds didn't want to breathe too loudly.
Tall pines hemmed in the clearing ahead, their long shadows stretching like spears across the mossy ground. Morning light pushed between the branches in thin, careful rays, illuminating drifting flecks of dust.
Aria crouched behind a fallen log, fingers curled tightly around the strap of her satchel. Her knees pressed into the cool moss, her breath quiet and rhythmic—but not calm.
Not with what she saw in front of her.
Through the branches...
A slanted wooden shack leaned against a rocky outcrop, barely standing.
Smoke trickled from a crooked pipe.
Two bandits lounged outside the door.
One sat slumped in his chair, chin nearly against his chest, drifting in and out of sleep.
The other was flicking a knife between his teeth in a lazy rhythm, like he had nothing better to do and didn't care if anyone saw him doing it.
No tension.
No alertness.
Just pure boredom.
That's not normal, Aria thought.
Beside her, Sylvi lowered her goggles a fraction of an inch, the tinted lenses catching and narrowing the view. Her mint hair brushed lightly against the frame as she leaned forward to observe.
She didn't blink much.
She didn't need to.
Her eyes were sharp enough to cut glass.
"Two guards," Sylvi murmured. "Sloppy posture. Their eyes aren't even scanning properly... they're amateurs."
Her voice was steady—not annoyed, not nervous, just focused. This was the "battle Sylvi" Aria was meeting for the first time, and it was a different presence entirely.
Aria swallowed, hugging her satchel a little closer to her chest.
"I... I think we can handle this," she whispered. "As long as we move carefully."
Carefully.
A word Ryoto did not understand.
He knelt beside them, but anyone could tell he was seconds away from bursting forward. His shoulders rolled with restless energy; his legs twitched under him like a coiled spring. His eyes carried that familiar wild spark—the one that meant he was already imagining all the ways this could turn into a fight.
He cracked his neck once.
Then again.
Then rolled his shoulders with a grin.
"Let's just knock 'em out already."
Aria flinched at the volume.
Sylvi exhaled through her teeth and drew a quick layout in the soil with her finger—three dots for them, two Xs for the guards, and the small crooked shack.
"Listen carefully," Sylvi said. "We circle left—slow, low to the ground—take out the guards quietly. If we handle them before they shout, we can slip inside and get the hostages without a full brawl."
Her tone was crisp.
No nonsense.
No softness.
Pure logic.
Aria nodded, determination blooming beneath the fear.
"Right... silent approach."
Ryoto let out a dramatic huff, as if the word silent offended him personally.
"Silent approach," he repeated, slumping his shoulders. "Sure. Great. Fantastic."
Sylvi's eye twitched so hard it could've snapped a tree in half.
"Ryoto," she said, lowering her voice and forcing herself to sound halfway responsible, "just follow the—"
She turned.
There was no Ryoto behind them.
Only a Ryoto-shaped absence.
Sylvi stared at the empty space, eyebrows slowly lifting in horror.
"...where—"
Her voice cracked.
"Where did he—"
Aria leaned forward, eyes wide.
"H-he's gone!"
Sylvi's expression broke apart like shattered pottery.
"Oh... oh, you've GOT to be—"
A noise silenced her.
A sound that tore the forest open.
Ryoto's voice.
"HEY, YOU BANDIT TRASH! RETURN THE HOSTAGES RIGHT NOW!"
The entire clearing vibrated with it.
Birds exploded out of the trees.
The sleeping guard fell out of his chair.
The knife-cleaning guard dropped his blade and scrambled for it.
Aria slapped both hands over her mouth.
Sylvi dragged her fingers down her face so slowly it looked painful.
"...I swear on every bolt in my workshop," she whispered, "when this is over, I'm going to strangle him."
Aria peeked out from behind the log, already wincing as she saw Ryoto sprint into the clearing like a man possessed.
"W-we need to go help him," she whispered.
Sylvi stood up, brushing pine needles off her jacket with the dramatic misery of someone walking toward certain chaos.
"No stealth," she muttered. "No plan. Just—let's go."
She pulled her goggles down with a sharp click.
Aria breathed in, then pushed herself to her feet too.
Together—
the heart,
the mind,
and the fireball they accidentally adopted—
ran into the clearing.
Ryoto did not enter the clearing.
He burst into it.
Not with fire, not with magic—
just pure, reckless momentum.
His boots slammed into the dirt hard enough to kick up dust as he sprinted forward with all the subtlety of a charging boar.
The first guard barely had time to stand.
"W—WAIT, WHO—?!"
BAM!!
Ryoto's fist buried itself in the man's gut.
The bandit flew backward like a sack of potatoes tossed off a cart.
The second guard swung wildly, club raised.
Ryoto dug his foot into the dirt—
fwsh—
A small burst of flame flickered from under his boot, propelling him forward in a short, explosive dash.
The bandit's swing cut through thin air.
Ryoto's fist didn't.
WHAM!
The man flipped backward over his chair.
"That's two!" Ryoto yelled proudly.
From the treeline, Sylvi's horrified voice cracked:
"YOU HAD ONE JOB—!"
But shouting became pointless the moment the shack exploded with noise.
Doors slammed open.
Boots thundered.
Voices overlapped in angry panic.
"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK?!"
"WHO WOKE THE CAPTAIN?!"
"GET HIM! GET THE KID—!"
Aria sucked in a breath.
Sylvi swore under her breath.
Ryoto looked delighted.
"Finally!" he grinned. "Now we're talking!"
Four more bandits rushed out of the shack at once.
Ryoto met them head-on, slamming a fist into the closest one.
THUD!
The man sailed across the clearing.
Two more swung rusty swords.
Ryoto ducked under the first slash, burst-dashed sideways—
fwssh—
—and drove his knee into the second bandit's chest.
CRACK!
He flew backward into the shack door, knocking someone else out on the other side.
Aria ran from the treeline, heart pounding.
She raised both hands—
Wind swirled lightly around her palms.
"Light of resolve... strengthen him... Valor!"
A faint shimmer wrapped around Ryoto's forearms, tightening the impact of his blows.
Ryoto felt it instantly.
"Oh YEAH!"
His next punch sent a man spinning like a broken top.
Sylvi sprinted across the battlefield, goggles lowered, reading every movement like numbers in a formula.
A bandit charged at her, axe raised.
Sylvi flicked her wrist—
a brass mechanism snapped open in her palm.
tchk—FWIP!
A thin wire shot out and hooked around two tree roots, forming a sudden trip line.
The bandit ran straight into it.
THUD!
Face first.
Sylvi smirked.
"You really shouldn't rush an engineer."
Another bandit came from her left.
She didn't even look.
Her revolver was already up.
Click.
She fired downward behind her own boot—
a wind-pressure round, packed with compressed air, struck the dirt.
FWOOOM—!
A burst of wind blasted upward, knocking the bandit off his feet in a backward somersault.
Aria gasped softly.
"That was amazing—!"
Sylvi rolled her eyes.
"Keep watching. I'm barely getting started."
Across the clearing, Ryoto ducked a wild swing and used a tiny burst at his heel—
fwssh—
—to pivot sharply and slam his fist into the attacker's jaw.
BAM!
Aria flinched, but raised her hands again.
"Guiding winds... protect her... Grace!"
A gentle gust wrapped Sylvi's legs.
Her footwork sharpened instantly.
"Thanks," she muttered, sliding under another swing.
Sylvi launched a pressure shot from her revolver—
PCHK!
It struck a crate, sending splinters flying into a bandit's eyes.
He screamed.
Ryoto took the opening.
WHAM!
Down he went.
The clearing became a swirl of chaos:
Ryoto's movement—
short explosive bursts of flame at his feet, weaving through attackers.
fwssh—fwssh—fwssh—
Aria's soft command spells—
glowing wind wrapping her teammates.
Sylvi's gadgets—
trip lines, pellets, engineered tricks snapping into place.
It wasn't clean.
It wasn't graceful.
But it worked.
And then—
Everything slowed.
Because the shack door creaked again.
Loudly.
Deliberately.
Like someone inside was annoyed at all the noise.
Aria froze mid-step.
Sylvi's finger stopped on her holster.
Even Ryoto paused midway through a punch.
Heavy footsteps shook the small porch.
Then—
A huge silhouette filled the doorway.
Broad shoulders.
Thick, scarred arms.
An axe resting lazily on one.
Brutus.
Second-in-command of the Redmane Bandits.
He stepped onto the porch, glaring down at the chaos.
His voice rumbled like a rolling boulder.
"...who," he growled, "woke me up."
Aria's breath hitched.
Sylvi took an instinctive half-step forward, goggles reflecting his size and build.
Ryoto wiped sweat from his brow, grin already forming.
And the tension in the clearing snapped tight like a drawn bowstring—
Right as another voice drifted from behind Brutus.
A calm one.
Low.
Smirking.
The clearing fell into a strange, heavy quiet.
Not peaceful.
Not calm.
Just the kind that creeps into the air when everyone realizes—
Something bigger just arrived.
Brutus lumbered forward, the porch creaking under his weight.
Up close, he looked exactly like what he was:
A mountain of muscle wrapped in patchy leather armor, holding an axe so worn it looked chewed, with eyes so unfocused they almost drifted in different directions.
He blinked slowly at the sight of Ryoto...
then at Sylvi...
then at Aria—
like his brain was trying to load three thoughts at once
and failing all three.
Brutus scratched his beard.
Then grunted.
"...who... hit my door...?"
Ryoto blinked.
Sylvi's eyebrow twitched violently.
Aria didn't breathe.
Brutus sniffed loudly and pointed his axe at Ryoto with the full confidence of someone who had never used a brain cell in his life.
"You! Small one!
...stop... hitting my boys."
Ryoto wiped his forehead.
"Uh... you mean the ones that were trying to attack us?"
Brutus squinted so hard it looked painful.
"...att... tack...?"
He paused.
Head tilted.
The thought fell out somewhere.
"...don't care. I'm mad."
Sylvi whispered under her breath,
"Oh great. He's an idiot."
Brutus puffed out his chest proudly—
not understanding the insult
but sensing he should feel good about it.
"Heh... yeah... I'm strong."
Aria clutched her satchel, whispering,
"Ryoto... this one seems... really tough."
Ryoto cracked his knuckles.
"Oh, he's tough," he said with a grin.
"But he's also... kinda slow."
Brutus's face twitched.
Not from offense—
from the effort of processing syllables.
"...slow...?"
His lips moved, mumbling the word like it was a complicated spell.
"Slow... slow... slow means... big punch?"
Sylvi pinched the bridge of her nose.
"He doesn't even know what he's saying."
Brutus raised his axe overhead.
"RAAAAH!! HIT TIME!"
Sylvi immediately shouted,
"NO—! Not yet—!"
But then—
A voice behind Brutus cut through the tension.
Smooth.
Steady.
Annoyingly confident.
Almost amused.
The kind of voice that belonged to someone
who treated everything in front of him like entertainment.
"Well now..."
A second figure stepped into the doorway, leaning casually against the frame.
Longer coat.
Sharper eyes.
A smirk like he'd already won.
The Bandit Leader.
His gaze drifted over the battlefield—
the fallen thugs, the scattered weapons, the chaos Ryoto had unleashed—
and stopped exactly where it always would:
On the boy radiating enough heat and excitement to explain all of it.
Ryoto Ashborne.
The Leader tilted his head.
"Looks like we've got children in our camp."
Ryoto stepped forward instinctively—
not aggressive, just ready.
Sylvi and Aria moved with him, flanking him without thinking.
They didn't have to speak.
The stance said it all:
This just got real.
The clearing fell silent again.
Brutus lifted his axe, confused why everyone wasn't scared of him anymore.
The Leader smirked—
and the tension wrapped around the trio like a tightening rope.
And with that—