A boy trudged forward with a sack slung over his shoulder, its weight dragging against the frozen earth.
Rusted gears, bent nails, and bits of copper clinked faintly with each step, his latest haul rattling like coins in an empty purse.
His bare feet, red and raw from the biting cold, left faint imprints on the frostbitten ground —Well, he actually did have shoes on, however very little of their soles remained —but he barely noticed.
Today had been a good haul, and his mood was extremely vibrant.
"Hehe..."
He grinned, his breath curling into the crisp evening air.
What else was inside the sack? A broken lock, a handful of screws, even a dented brass handle —these scraps might just fetch enough to fill his belly tonight, maybe even a little more than that.
The thought made his chest swell with warmth, a contrast to the winter wind nipping at his skin.
Then, the first snowflake drifted down.
"..."
He paused, tilting his head back and watched the sky unravel in quiet white.
"Woah..."
His eyes glittered and his teeth began to chatter.
The flake landed on his tongue, melting instantly.
"Hehe!"
He laughed in an unguarded, boyish sound that was momentarily free of hunger, of struggle, and of the weight of the world on his small shoulders.
For a moment, the cold didn't matter. The ache in his feet, the heaviness of his sack, the long road ahead—all of it faded beneath the simple wonder of winter's first snowfall.
But he quickly began walking again because he knew all too well the dangers of lingering around, especially when he carried so many items.
And so he began to run for about seven minutes until he reached a gloomy communal area that carried the heavy stench of depression —everyone there had sunken eyes that had long given up on life, they were no different from walking zombies.
The boy quickly ran up a flight of stairs until he reached a familiar door that was the entrance of his home.
"I'm home!"
He shouted enthusiastically as he bursted through the door, but what welcomed him were cockroaches scattering back into the cupboards, others even darted past him and escaped to the outside.
But he paid them no mind and ran to the other room.
"Dad! Are you here?"
He quickly glanced around and his eyes met with those of a lanky man with glasses, who looked to have been weeping.
"Liam!"
The man coiled his arms around the boy and embraced him tightly.
"Where have you been, I've been so worried about you!"
He continued weeping.
"Sorry Dad,were you super worried? Hehe!"
The boy was happy about his father's reaction to say the least.
"Of course I was! I told you to stop leaving this sector on your own, it's dangerous out there, people are savages!"
He grabbed Liam's shoulders and sternly scolded him.
"S-sorry Dad, I just..."
"Look at how much stuff I got, aren't I amazing?!"
Clank...
Liam opened the sack with a bright smile on his face.
"Son..."
The man adjusted the weak frame of his glasses and stood to his feet.
"... I don't want you to put so much responsibility on your shoulders okay?"
"I am your father, it's my job to provide for you."
The man took a very deep breath and smiled bitterly as he looked down at his son's disappointed expression.
"Ahem! B-but you know? I'm still so proud of you son! No one your age can do something like this."
"You're so brave haha!"
The man patted his son's grimy scalp.
"I know right? I'm amazing aren't I? Hehe!"
Liam snickered.
"Haha... Yes you are. Tell you what, I'll take these to the smelter and buy you something nice to eat with the money okay?"
The man picked up the sack.
"Really?! Please buy meat and chocolate!"
"I don't know if it'll be enough for all that but I'll see, okay son?"
"Okay Dad!"
Liam began humming as he thought about what he'd eat first between the meat and the chocolate.
"Alright I'll be back soon. Here, take this bread and there's canned tuna in that cupboard."
Liam's father swiftly left their apartment after that and Liam ate the hard, stale bread with the cold tuna and eventually fell asleep.
/
Bang!
[!!]
Liam was rudely awoken from his sleep and immediately grabbed a metal pipe beside the sponge he slept on.
House burglaries were not uncommon in this sector, and his father had always told him to defend himself in such occasions.
[Is Dad not back yet?]
Liam quickly darted to the door —although they didn't have anything of value, they still couldn't afford to lose what little they had.
The boy felt nervous as he —
[!!]
"... Eh? Dad?"
He felt a wave of relief upon seeing that they weren't being robbed but... Something was off.
"Oh hey son, did I wake you? Hic! "
Liam caught a whiff of the foul stench that wafted from his father's breath, the way his frame staggered and the sweet floral scent of a woman's perfume that lingered around him.
"Dad... You promised never to drink again."
Liam spoke with a pained voice, this was a scene all too familiar to him, however, his father had promised not to take another sip.
So then why?
"Huh?! Shut up you damn brat!!"
Ah... There it was, his usually calm and soft spoken father became loud whenever he was drunk.
"How dare you lecture me?! I am your father and you live under my roof!"
The man stomped his feet like a threatened horse.
"I worked... So hard for those things Dad, did you really spend all the money on —"
Slap!
"Ack!"
Liam's head crashed into the edge of the sink.
The man loomed over his son and clenched his jaw, his eyes bloodshot.
"You're just like that whore you call a mother who abandoned us here!"
"Why did she leave you huh?! Is it because you're worthless?! Hic! "
The man stepped on his son's head and continued spewing that poison from his tongue, causing Liam weep silently.
He wondered this as he looked into his father's hateful eyes: Does alcohol turn men into beasts? Or does it simply bring out who they really are on the inside.
He crouched and endured his father's beatings for a good fifteen minutes until he was left broken and bruised.
//
[!!]
"Gasp! "
Kaelen sprung up and immediately began hyperventilating, his snow-white scalp drenched in sweat and his cherry pink eyes trembling like that of a cornered antelope.
[Damn it! Why did I have that dream after all this time?!]
He clasped his chest in attempt to arrest his racing heart.
He then blinked a few times to ensure that he indeed was not inside of that hellish apartment, and took a deep breath to confirm that the foul stench of alcohol from his father's breath was not in proximity, he also perked up his ears and not a single word from his drunken fits of rage could be heard.
"Haaa..."
A sigh of relief, and he finally —
"See old man Igor? What kind of a monster would have nightmares in their sleep? He's clearly just a kid."
[!!]
Kaelen heard the sweet, almost melodic voice of a woman, and turning his eyes there, he saw her frame which was adorned by what was clearly a magician's robe.
Her eyes looked upon him with a mixture of relief, curiosity and care.
And standing beside her...
"Hmpf! You are far too naive, look at the color of his eyes and the paleness of his skin, what Human looks like that?"
... Was a grumpy-looking short man.
[... A Dwarf?]
[... No, not quite, he is a bit too tall for that.]
[He might be a mixture of Human and Dwarf.]
Kaelen made a quick assessment whilst quickly glancing around his environment.
Which was, unlike where he had set up camp, a jungle and not a forest.
He then assessed himself and saw that he wore new clothes that were unfamiliar to him, and that he had once again been washed in his sleep.
[...]
"You must be turning senile, don't you know that there's all sorts of different people in the world?"
"Well anyway, he's up now so we can ask him questions."
The woman approached Kaelen and crouched, a warm smile gracing her lips.
"Hey, what's up kiddo? My name's Margaret. Can you tell me yours?"
[I hope he can talk...]
She secretly crossed her fingers.
[...]
[... Adventurers huh...]
Kaelen noticed the metal plate resting on her voluptuous chest.
[But... If they're only at this level...]
Seeing the color of the plate, he began to pity them.
"Y-yes, my name is Kaelen, n-nice to meet you."
Kaelen purposefully stuttered and acted like he was afraid.
"Oh! See? He's definitely a Human right?"
Margaret seemed rather ecstatic.
Why?
If there existed a tribe of Humans on the First Floor just like Hank suggested, then they would naturally be powerful given how such a small child was able to defeat an Orc.
[They seem to think that I'm a Human child, otherwise they wouldn't have spared me.]
[It's natural that they would wonder what a kid like me is doing here... How will I explain it?]
Kaelen racked his brain.
"Hah! This proves nothing! If anything, shouldn't we consider the possibility that he's a Named Monster?! Wouldn't that be much scarier?!"
Igor was still not sold on the theory that a civilization of Humans could live in one of the deadliest Towers in the world.
"Seriously, you're starting to annoy me! What kind of a Named Monster would struggle with defeating an Orc?!"
"Are you really starting to become a decrepit old man before our eyes? Or are the magicules in this Tower rotting your brain?"
Margaret lost her patience, because in her eyes, Igor seemed to do everything in his power to snuff out the flicker of hope in her heart.
"..."
"Sigh... Sorry if I scared you kiddo —er, I mean Kaelen. Can you tell us a bit more about yourself? How you got here and where your parents are?"
Upon hearing that question, the mysterious pale skinned boy began trembling and chewed his lips raw.
"My name is Kaelen and I'm from - eh? I d-don't remember anything."
Kaelen clenched his hair and continued trembling.
"W-why can't I remember anything? M-mom, Dad! I can't remember their faces!"
He screamed desperately.
"Shh... It's okay, I'm sorry I shouldn't have bombarded you with questions as soon as you woke up."
Margaret embraced him.
"Tch! What a waste of time! We've been waiting for him to wake up for three days now, and for what?!"
Igor clicked his tongue and stomped away.
[Shit... I've been out for three days?!]
Kaelen's shock made him tremble even more, aiding in his facade.