It was time to leave. Attu was driven out of the village. As he left his village behind, he could sense the cold stares of the people towards him. Attu realized that day how much people could change and that there were different kinds of people among them. Gans expelled Attu from the village. Gans acted as if he had done nothing to save the child.

Attu walked out of the village. He continued on his way with the sword that Gans had given him. He walked tirelessly for a long time. As night fell, the surroundings began to darken. He searched for a place to rest as quickly as possible. However, finding a house or a hut in the forest was a difficult task. This was because the forest was close to the border and the population in the area was sparse. Attu knew he had to keep walking and continued without stopping. It was midnight. The moon and stars appeared in the sky. Attu saw the light of the moon and stars filtering through the leaves of the trees. The surroundings looked clear to him, and at that moment, a sound was heard from the bushes. Attu stopped in the middle of the path, drew his sword, and pointed it towards the bush, his hand trembling with fear as he held the blade. Something was getting closer from the bushes. He raised his sword, waiting for it to come out. Just as he was about to strike with his sword, a puppy emerged from the bushes. Seeing that it was small, Attu lowered his sword. He called to the puppy, “Hey, puppy, come here!” The puppy looked in a bad state and was very thin. It slowly approached him. Seeing its condition, Attu took a piece of bread from his bag and said, “It looks like you’re worse off than I am. Here, eat this,” stretching out his hand. The puppy began to move closer to him.

Attu thought to himself, “What is a puppy doing in the middle of the forest at midnight?” When he did, he suddenly remembered the fiend Baskervill. He realized that Baskervill was following him. Just then, the puppy bit Attu’s hand. Attu swung his sword at the puppy’s head, but he miscalculated, and the sword went into the puppy’s eye. Blood started to flow from Attu’s hand due to the bite. At that moment, the puppy began to bark loudly, calling for the other dogs. Attu, with his sword still in hand, ventured into the woods. He thought, “If I run straight along the path now, the dogs will easily find me. Therefore, it’s better for me to hide in the woods or to run away.” As he entered deeper into the thick forest, the sounds of the dogs barking grew louder and more numerous. He went further into the woods. Suddenly, the barking stopped abruptly. Attu couldn't understand what was happening.He knew that he was not standing alone among the trees. In that moment of stillness, he began to hear the sounds around him. He clearly heard the sound of paws hitting the ground. The dogs seemed to be running past him as if trying to surround him from the left. Others were coming from behind him, leaving Attu with two choices: he had to either run forward or to the right. He chose to run forward. As he was running, he thought the dogs would catch up to him. Baskervill was nowhere to be seen. Attu felt tired and decided to hide. He slipped behind a tree and stood there to catch his breath. Soon after he hid, the dogs came running, followed by Baskervill. Attu watched them from behind the tree. The dogs were sniffing the ground, searching for Attu's scent, while Baskervill was looking around. After a moment, Baskervill realized that the boy was nearby.

Baskervill said, "Hey, little boy, where did you hide? There’s no point in running away!" Attu could hear Baskervill's words.

Baskervill continued, "Just like you, your mother ran away yesterday. She ended up in my hands anyway. Do you know that when you ran into the river, your mother was constantly calling your name at the top of her lungs? But you weren't by her side. You simply watched as your mother passed away in my arms."

Hearing these words, tears filled Attu's eyes. The edge of his eyelids held back the tears.

Baskervill added, "If it weren't for you, your mother might still be alive. How painful it must be for a mother to have her son run away when she believes so much in him. How much do you think it breaks a mother's heart when her son abandons her? How much does her heart shatter into pieces? What do you think?"

These words weighed heavily on Attu. Nevertheless, he did his best to remain silent. Meanwhile, Baskervill was trying to coax him out of his hiding place with various words. Attu understood Baskervill's intentions. On the other side, one of the dogs caught Attu's scent and began to walk towards the tree where he was hiding. Baskervill bit his hand, drawing blood, and fashioned a spear from his own blood. Approaching the tree slowly, he suddenly raised his spear and pierced through the tree. There, he found a small bag covered with a brown, old, bloodstained garment. Attu was not there.

Baskervill thought to himself, “That little boy is turning out to be quite clever,” and commanded all the dogs to find him.

Meanwhile, Attu was running far away from Baskervill, holding a sword in his hand. Attu knew. While he was crossing the river, he had heard his mother’s words echoing as the dogs bit her, “Stay alive…!”. With tears in his eyes, Attu said, “Of course, I will stay alive, and I will prove that your life was not in vain,” as he wiped the tears away with his hand and ran off. Attu felt safe as he ran through the forest. At that moment, he spotted a distant house located in the middle of the woods. "There probably aren't any people in that house; it would be a good place to hide," he thought, and ran toward the house. As he got closer to the house, one of the dogs suddenly pounced at him. He had joyfully let his guard down too soon. Attu killed one dog with his sword, but more began to appear. First, there was one, then another two, and no matter how much Attu resisted, their numbers kept increasing rather than decreasing. It was too late to escape. Attu found himself unable to fend off the dogs. At that moment, one dog bit him on the leg and began to pull him. Attu fell, losing the sword from his hand. The dogs began to bite him from all sides, as if they wanted to tear him apart. The boy screamed in pain. At that moment, Baskervill approached the boy.

Baskervill said, "I see you're more clever than I thought. Usually, when you insult someone's family or friends, they get angry and are ready to kill whoever spoke those words."

Baskervill snapped his fingers, and the dogs immediately released Attu. Even in that state, Attu was trying to crawl away, despite the pain in his body.

Baskervill continued, "Seeing your interest in life makes me feel a bit sympathetic. However, I have no intention of going hungry today."

Approaching Attu, Baskervill turned his face to the sky with the bloody spear. Attu no longer had the strength to move.

Lying there, looking up, he thought, "Is this how it all ends? Is all my effort in vain? Why am I so powerless? If I only had a little more strength, would everything be different? Perhaps my mother would still be alive. If I had one more chance, I would definitely strive to be strong again!" he reflected silently.

Baskervill held the spear over Attu's heart and lifted it. Just as he was about to stab, the sound of barking dogs suddenly rose. Baskervill glanced over and saw an old man with a white beard, an old sword by his side, and worn-out clothes approaching. The dogs rushed toward him. The old man sliced through the dogs in one blow. Seeing this, Baskervill became furious and shouted, “What is this? You couldn't even kill an old man?!” and commanded all the dogs to attack the old man.

The old man sliced through all the dogs. Attu did not understand what was happening. However, he could see one elderly man approaching with a frightening gaze, ready to kill the demon. After losing almost all his dogs, Baskervill decided to attack himself.

Baskervill said, "You will pay for this, old man! I will kill you and feed your flesh to my remaining dogs!" and charged at him. The old man simply deflected the first attack with his sword. Baskervill struck again. This time, he was standing right in front of the old man when he attacked. But as he opened and closed his eyes for just a second, Baskervill saw the world seeming to shake. In another moment, his head lay on the ground. The old man skillfully struck Baskervill's head off in one blow, leaving Baskervill completely bewildered as to what had just happened. Even after losing his head, Baskervill shouted, "You wretched old man, I will kill you. I will feed your bits to my dogs!" At that moment, the old man lit a green flame in his hand and burned the demon's body, head, and the bodies of the dead dogs with that fire. Attu watched everything happening from a distance. His injuries were preventing him from moving. Leaning against the tree, he coughed up blood from his mouth. He could not understand what was happening. At that moment, he began to lose consciousness. His vision blurred, and his body felt heavy. The last thing he saw before losing awareness was the old man burning everything with green fire.

Attu came to. Then he realized that he was without his bindings. Upon waking, he found himself surrounded by unfamiliar things, and his body wrapped in cloths. He tried to move, but the wounds in his body wouldn't allow it. Suddenly, Attu felt a sharp pain in his head. As he held his head, the old man entered the room. He was putting things into a pot to cook something and spoke gently to the boy.

The old man asked:

"Is your head hurting?"

Attu replied:

"Yes, where am I?"

The old man said:

 "You are in my hut. I rescued you after the demon chased you and brought you here."

Attu:

 "Thank you very much for saving me! Sir..."

The old man responded:

 "You can just call me Valorant."

Attu:

"Sir Valorant."