The four of them arrived in front of Jack and Rem.
After seeing Fenrin walk over somewhat normally, despite the huge, imposing figure right next to him, both Jack and Rem calmed down a little.
Jack, being the brave fellow he was, mustered up his courage to talk to the ogre in human clothing.
"H-Hello, sir... What business do you have with us and our son?" he said, trying to sound passive while his legs shook.
Paul laughed loudly as if to assert himself over Jack.
"Your son is the reason why this whole town is in lockdown. I am currently escorting him."
Jack's mood improved after this. His legs stopped shaking, but he was still in an anxious state.
"What is so special about my son?"
While Jack and Paul conversed, Rem motioned for Fenrin to walk behind them. Fenrin looked at Paul, who gave his acknowledgment.
Suddenly, as if Jack had an epiphany, he shouted words that made Fenrin frown.
"Does my son have the 'Life' element!?" His words seemed to melt all the nerves from his body.
But the next words came to disappoint him.
"Your son isn't a 'Life' user," Paul snickered after he finished.
Jack, feeling more confused than anything else, decided to ask what was so special about his son.
Paul snickered and told him to ask his son.
Jack turned around to see Fenrin and Rem hugging each other; it was a very comforting scene. Although the two onlookers watching just rolled their eyes (Garmr and Paul).
Jack put his hand on Fenrin's shoulder and squatted down to his head level.
"What's so special about you, son?" Jack asked with a warm smile on his face, befitting that of a father.
Fenrin had a big smile, but after remembering Garmr's and Paul's words, it eventually downsized to a smirk. No matter what, Fenrin believed in his parents; they were his pillars.
"I have the 'Death' element, Papa."
Jack's face froze, his eyebrows twitched, and his whole body locked in place. After a few moments, he recovered enough to ask him to repeat it.
"Uh, I'm a 'Death' user, Papa?" Fenrin said, his own face no longer smiling.
Jack immediately pulled away his arm, and his face was no longer smiling. It was replaced with a look of fear, one unbefitting of a father.
Fenrin tried to call out his father's name as he noticed his mood shift, but before he could even finish, Jack pulled away from Fenrin and moved Rem aside.
Jack's face, now devoid of any trace of fatherly love, spoke silently: "S-Stay over there, Fenrin..."
Rem was confused; she couldn't hear the conversation earlier, as she was more fixated on Paul.
"What are you so scared of, honey? It's just Fenrin." As Rem said this, she tried to move past Jack, but he blocked her.
Seeing how his father was acting made Fenrin freeze. He wanted to talk and defend himself, but no words came out.
Jack, as if he were seeing a ghost, muttered words loud enough for everyone around to hear: "H-He has the 'Death' element!"
Rem's face froze; surely she had heard wrong. Surely this was a joke—there's no way her son had the 'Death' element.
"Y-You're wrong... There's no way Fenrin has the 'Death' element..." Rem said, tears falling down her cheeks as she fought to convince herself, even for another second.
As Rem started crying, Fenrin felt as if his world was crumbling apart. His shock wore off enough that he was no longer frozen in place.
Rem fell to her knees, sobbing. Fenrin tried to move closer to comfort her, but as he did, he saw Jack's eyes filled with fear—his own father, petrified.
As he met his father's gaze, he immediately ran away! He ran as fast as he could, his mind filled with memories.
His mind was overlapping with countless distinct and fond memories that now felt like knives stabbing into him.
Inside his cozy old house, surrounded by his parents, they were cuddling with him in the middle.
"We'll always love you, Fenrin," the couple said as they hugged him.
Fenrin, smiling as if he were the happiest kid in the world, responded, "I know! I love you guys too!"
Fenrin's eyes filled with tears; he could barely even discern different shapes as they all mixed together like a blender.
He recalled another memory where he was being pushed by his dad on a swing, another where his mother was cooking his favorite meal, and yet another where his parents scolded him after he injured himself but then hugged him afterwards.
Each memory became more painful; it felt as if the knives were multiplying and expanding.
Eventually, after reaching the edge of the town, he fell to his knees, sobbing uncontrollably.
Four hours later.
Fenrin's face was red and pale, his eyes bloodshot, boogers running down his nose, and his throat felt drier than a desert.
"Why, why, why... WHY!" he shouted as he punched the ground repeatedly.
After a while, he eventually collapsed, his eyes lifeless and motionless. He couldn't close his eyes; every time he did, he saw his father's eyes or his mother's disheveled state.
He just stared at the stars, thoughtless and motionless.
Eventually, after a few hours of staring at the stars, he tried to talk to Garmr.
"Garmr, hey, are you there...?" Even in his own thoughts, he felt weak; he could barely even think straight.
"I'm here, kid..." Garmr, despite being a demon, had grown fond of Fenrin. Whether it was due to Loki's influence or not, this impacted his state as well.
"Should... should I just die?"
Garmr felt a knife stab his heart. He may have grown close to Fenrin, but that was not the reason! His soul was connected to Fenrin; if Fenrin died, he would also die!
"Kid, I know life looks bleak. I mean, shit, it can't look good at all. But there's a reason why even people like us demons live."
Garmr, after not receiving a response, started to panic a little.
"If it makes you feel better, I doubt it could get literally any worse than this. You lived through probably the worst part of your life early on."
Garmr worried even more with no response.
"In a sense, you no longer have any restraints. You have complete freedom! That is something to be jealous of; not many people have that."
Garmr was startled but happy after Fenrin responded.
"Is having parents that fear and hate you something to be jealous of?"
Garmr immediately lost his smile.
"Kid, they don't hate you; they're afraid of you. There's a difference between the two."
Fenrin's eyes started to regain some color at Garmr's words.
"What's the difference between the two?"
Garmr, finally making some progress, felt a load lift off his shoulders.
"The difference is that you just have to make them not afraid of you. There are lots of ways to do that. But if they hated you, it would be very hard for you to change that."
Fenrin's eyes regained most of their color, and his miserable state started to improve slightly.
"I-I think I understand..." Fenrin still had a frown on his face, but it was a large improvement!
Garmr breathed out a sigh of relief as he metaphorically dodged a bullet!
As Fenrin stood up, his legs buckled. After he fell back down, he looked around and saw Paul sitting nearby.
"Uh, Paul, can I have a little help here?"
Paul glanced over, then returned to looking forward.
"Kid, you just cried for the past six hours. I am resisting every urge in my body to kill you right now. If you ask me to help you again, I will literally walk over there and beat you unconscious."
Fenrin actually smiled a bit at this.
"Please do."
Fenrin's response seemed strange, but don't forget his pain tolerance was incredibly high; he couldn't even close his eyes without thinking of his parents.
Paul smiled viciously at Fenrin's comment.
"Gladly."
Paul went over to Fenrin and immediately punched him repeatedly in the face until he fell unconscious. In fact, he even had a smile while punching him!
"That was not satisfying in the slightest..." Paul said as he picked up the unconscious Fenrin and walked toward a lodge.
As night passed, Paul did not sleep. He didn't even move as he sat cross-legged on the ground while waiting for night to pass.
In the morning, Fenrin was woken up by the sun's bright rays filtering through the curtains straight into his eyes.
"Urgh..." Fenrin's face ached like crazy; even though his tolerance was high, he still felt it.
Fenrin tried to return to sleep, but then he recalled the previous day, and suddenly his eyes were wide open.
He rolled over to see Paul staring at him an inch away from his face. He was inwardly startled, but it did not show on his face in the slightest.
Paul grumbled as he moved away.
"You're no fun..."
Fenrin sat up on the bed, massaging his face.
"When are we leaving? You said we would leave in the morning, and almost nothing sounds better right now."
Paul drew a sinister smile.
"What about your parents not hating you?" He snickered after mocking him.
Fenrin's face froze for a moment, but then he retorted,
"My parents don't hate me... they're just afraid of me..."
Even Fenrin couldn't keep a blank face while saying it; he unwillingly wore a frown.
Paul smiled and continued to mock Fenrin for a bit before explaining when they were leaving.
"We're leaving right now, in fact. We'll travel with a caravan to arrive at Blue Rose Academy. It will take around two days' worth of travel."
Paul didn't give Fenrin a break, continuing to mock him.
"If you want, I can beat Mr. Crybaby to sleep every night."
Fenrin responded without shame, "I might actually, thank you for asking."
After Paul's smile faded, he had Fenrin follow him toward a group of giant gophers that had a carriage attached to each one, with a person holding a rope attached to a harness on the gopher.
Fenrin had one thought on his mind after seeing the gophers: "Cute."
He suddenly remembered Garmr; he had forgotten about him after last night.
"Garmr, where are you? We're about to leave!"
As Fenrin shouted in his mind, Garmr immediately responded.
"I'm right next to you."
Fenrin turned around and saw Garmr; he immediately went to hug Garmr's cute, fuzzy appearance.
"Kid, kid, stop!" Garmr barked as Fenrin hugged him.
Fenrin looked up at Garmr's face with sad puppy eyes.
"Please, Garmr, just for a little bit..."
Garmr's heart melted; he'd never felt an emotion even close to this before!
"Just... just for a little bit, kid..." Garmr couldn't help thinking of Loki at this moment but pushed it back in his mind for now.
Paul frowned as he watched the two hug. He walked over and threw both of them onto the carriage with one hand.
Fenrin noticed how Fin was already on the carriage before them, which in turn had Fin waving at Fenrin, but he did not get a wave back in return.
Fin sighed at the thought in his head, "I'm surrounded by a 'Death' user and somebody who kills people for fun... I am truly unlucky."
Paul jumped into the carriage while smiling.
"Let's make this trip enjoyable, all right?"
Fin sat, staring down at his feet, while Fenrin conversed with Garmr, and Paul simply sat at the back of the carriage, staring outside.