The setting sun's afterglow painted the Training Ground in warm red hues, stretching the figures of the young warriors as they trained long across the ground. Knight Owen blew the whistle signaling the end of the training, sharp and clear. The Reserves, weary and sweating, leaned on each other as they walked towards the weapon rack to return their wooden swords, then left the camp in twos and threes. The air was thick with the heat of exertion and the scent of earth, mixing with the coolness of the evening.
Corbin, Matthew, Rhodes, and Lianna also headed for the weapon rack. Corbin gently set down his wooden sword and flexed his aching wrists. Although his Combat Aura and extraordinary Perception allowed for recovery far surpassing ordinary people, the prolonged, high-intensity training and the mental effort of deliberately suppressing his true strength still left him feeling fatigued.
Just then, a tall figure appeared at the camp entrance. The newcomer wore the standard leather armor of the Town Guard, his face serious; it was none other than Knight Boone. He seemed to have just finished his duties, an aura of travel and dust about him.
Knight Boone nodded to his daughter Lianna, then his gaze swept across the training ground, finally settling on Corbin, who was talking briefly with Knight Owen. He observed Corbin's weary but bright eyes, a complex emotion flickering in his own—a mix of concern for his old friend's son and a scrutiny of Corbin's recent changes.
Knight Owen noticed Boone's arrival and walked towards him.
"Hey, Old Man Boone! Busy with duties today? Good timing, come see Thorne's lad here, he's been training well." Owen wore his usual playful smile, but his eyes held a searching look. He was still recalling the peculiar, elusive aura he had sensed while sparring with Corbin earlier.
Boone walked up to Corbin and looked him over. Three years had passed; the sickly boy he once knew had grown into a lean but strong youth. In those blue eyes, the childish innocence had faded, replaced by a quiet stillness and determination. Boone even felt that the occasional flash of light in those eyes was just like Thorne in his youth, sharp with the look of someone who saw through many things.
"Corbin," Boone's voice was low, "How was training today? What did Owen say?"
"Very good, Uncle Boone," Corbin replied respectfully, sensing the authority of Boone's long tenure and the steadiness of a man weathered by experience. "Knight Owen said my fundamentals are solid and my Combat Aura application is refined." He didn't mention Owen's peculiar praise or the offer of a drink, and certainly not the sudden 'Stream of Consciousness'.
Boone nodded with satisfaction and turned to Owen.
"How's the lad been lately? His eyes seem brighter than before."
Owen rubbed his chin, giving Corbin a meaningful glance before winking at Boone.
"Fundamentals are very solid, exceeding most youngsters. Especially his Perception of auras, very sharp." He deliberately used vague language, not revealing the hint of unusual mental perception Corbin had shown during their spar, clearly intending to discuss it privately with Boone.
Boone was a close friend of Corbin's father and the Guard Captain of Windbreath Town, holding a crucial position. Corbin knew that Knight Owen's subtle handling was to protect him, to keep his unusual nature from attracting unwanted attention. He cast a grateful look towards Knight Owen.
Knight Owen smiled, clapped Corbin on the shoulder, and then walked aside with Boone, talking in low voices, occasionally glancing over at Corbin. Corbin could vaguely catch keywords like "Perception," "unusual," "needs observation," but he knew Owen wouldn't easily expose his secret.
After their brief conversation, Owen took his leave, whistle in hand, departing the Training Ground.
Boone then beckoned Lianna, Matthew, and Rhodes over.
"You little ones, come here," Boone said, looking at the four as they approached, his eyes filled with appreciation. "Corbin's skill, Owen said today, is very excellent, even surpassing his father, Knight Gareth Thorne."
Lianna, her face still flushed from training, smiled upon hearing her father's praise.
"Corbin is really amazing! And he's always so patient when sparring with us."
Matthew and Rhodes nodded vigorously in agreement.
Boone looked at these promising young people, the best of Windbreath Town's younger generation, with satisfaction.
"Looks like next month, you all can go together to Falling Leaf City, to the Hall of Knights - Temple of the War God, and apply for formal Knight promotion."
A flicker of surprise and excitement crossed Matthew's and Rhodes' faces. Lianna couldn't hide her anticipation either.
"Really? We can all go?"
Boone glanced at the young people still enthusiastically sparring in the distance, a look of gratification in his eyes.
"Yes, I've seen your effort and talent. Especially training with Corbin, it's made your skills surpass even ours back in the day. Falling Leaf City is the nearest important city, and it's a major border city of the Human Kingdom. The Hall of Knights is where all knights aspire to be. Get ready. Going to Falling Leaf City next month is an opportunity for you all. I also have some matters that require me to go to Falling Leaf City."
He didn't elaborate on what matters needed handling, but his tone carried a hint of heaviness, seemingly related to the recent abnormalities in the town. Corbin keenly picked up on this, adding a layer of vigilance to the thought of the trip to Falling Leaf City.
The day's training ended quickly. Corbin, Matthew, Rhodes, and Lianna tidied up and walked together down the stone path back to town. On the street at dusk, pedestrians gradually thinned, and cooking smoke curled upwards, carrying the scent of peaceful everyday life.
They followed their familiar route, chatting about interesting moments during training or their hopes for the promotion in Falling Leaf City next month. Arriving at the stone bridge in the center of town, Matthew, Rhodes, and Lianna, heading in different directions for home, smiled and bid farewell to Corbin.
"See you tomorrow, Corbin!" Rhodes waved, bounding off towards the other side of town.
"See you tomorrow!" Lianna also said goodbye gently, following her father towards the town center. Matthew headed in another direction towards his family's blacksmith shop.
Corbin smiled, returning his friends' farewells and watching them go. He walked home alone, the setting sun casting his shadow long before him. The town's bustle gradually faded, leaving only the stone path stretching beneath his feet.
Corbin liked this quiet solitude; he was also accustomed to using his extraordinary senses to gather information from the world around him. He walked slowly towards his cabin, located on higher ground in the town. His neighbor, Aunt Mary, was tidying firewood, preparing dinner. The familiar sounds and smells allowed his tense mind to relax slightly.
Reaching the higher ground, Corbin habitually gazed out towards the Solon Mountains—the place where mountains, forests, and plains converged. The town seemed peaceful in the setting sun, but beneath this tranquility, he felt a persistent sense of wrongness deep within him.
The group of human and goblin prisoners at the town entrance that morning, his friends' talk of worsening security, and the various unusual changes in Windbreath Town over recent months—he rapidly integrated these fragmented pieces of information in his mind.
He suddenly realized that the smugglers, who should have been active in the shadows, had suddenly dwindled, almost vanishing. This unnatural calm felt more unsettling to him than any chaos.
Flashes of history from the Moonfall Conflict seven hundred years ago crossed his mind: that conspiracy that had driven the Dark kin underground into the Solon Mountains. He also recalled Lord Viscount Reginald's sudden policy of "clearing out smugglers": while it curbed smuggling, it also cut off many people's livelihoods. These smugglers, stripped of their income, were perhaps forced to join Rogue bands. Simultaneously, the increasingly rampant Rogue bands in the Solon Mountains were constantly raiding remote villages, creating a large number of Refugees. These Refugees, in despair, might also have been absorbed into the bandit forces, making the composition of the Rogue bands more complex. All of this seemed to point towards a chaos that was increasingly spiraling out of control.
And the sight that morning—the raiders allied with goblins—set off alarm bells in Corbin's mind. Dark kin typically resided underground, hostile to humans, rarely crossing specific boundaries of the Solon Mountains, much less collaborating with human criminals on such a large, organized scale to openly raid near a human town. This was far from normal border conflict; it felt more like a pre-planned attack!
Following the direction of his thoughts, his gaze again settled on the distance—Elder Lysander's isolated cabin near the mountain ridge. He was an old scholar who had retired home from Falling Leaf City, preferring solitude, his only companion his granddaughter Lyra.
At this moment, Elder Lysander's home should have only had a wisp of peaceful cooking smoke rising, but in Corbin's extraordinary sight, he saw another plume of smoke, paler in color and almost imperceptible, rising slowly in an unnatural trajectory from a shadow behind the mountain ridge. The aura of that smoke was strange, certainly not from ordinary firewood.
Corbin's heart clenched. A terrible thought formed in his mind: Something is wrong. That direction! That strange aura! This is exactly the area where his father was attacked and died! He remembered Uncle Boone had taken him there to pay respects to his father; at that time, that spot near the mountain ridge seemed unusually peaceful, devoid of any abnormal signs. But now... the same location, the same feeling of wrongness, just presented differently.
He immediately integrated the anomaly of the smoke with the town's other recent, unsettling changes. Elder Lysander's cabin, near the mountain ridge, was already remote and rarely visited, and now that abnormal smoke further suggested the source of danger was close at hand. If these were just ordinary bandits, they would never choose a hideout so close to the edge of town, nor would they possibly be allied with the Dark kin.
This was far from ordinary mountain brigands; it seemed like they would be acting tonight. A hidden threat was silently approaching, like a vast curtain covering everything, slowly being pulled back, the gruesome truth hidden beneath about to be exposed, shattering this false peace.
He hesitated no longer, immediately turning and hurrying towards Knight Boone's house to report the situation.