God's Apostle: Rebirth of a Lazy Genius

The whole city was dead silent and cautious. Soldiers of the City Watch were actively making rounds throughout the entire night just to make sure that everything was fine.

Only the sound of crickets and owls echoed as the torches flickered in the wind creating theatrics of shadows on the walls of the houses and buildings.

The city was asleep, however, outside the walls deep in the woods a few distances away—southwest of Adenberd, two shadowy figures were lurking inside a wooden shack.

The atmosphere was serene as the run-down wooden shack was surrounded by tall trees amidst the darkness and the forest noises. Yet, the calming silvery moonlight illuminated the whole vicinity just mildly.

"You couldn't even do such a simple task?!"

The voice sounded from the wooden shack as the mysterious archer was standing by the window side with a man at their rear wearing a frustrated expression.

"Simple? Do you call that simple? Do you think it's easy to cope with that old monster?" The mysterious archer answered leaning on the wall.

"You see this? I survived but just barely… Are you gonna take responsibility for the losses we suffered?" The archer proceeded to say dramatically, pointing at their wounds.

"You!"

Alier took deep breaths as his brows twitched. He calmed himself just hardly and said, "My responsibility was to successfully get you in. You failed the job, the fault does not lie with me. Don't forget that it was me who got you out of the city as well."

"Yea, yea… I know alright… were the others captured?" The archer inquired pensively.

"Only one… He won't spill the beans right?" Alier asked calmly but a hint of nervousness slipped through his voice.

"Well look at that, who would have thought? The uncle wants to kill his nephew… How sad." The archer said in a melancholic tone as if it was truly quite sad to them.

"You want to die?!" Alier flared up in anger as a chill manifested in the surroundings.

"What? You will kill me? Assuming that you can… It would not be good for you that's for sure. I wonder what will the Duke think when he finds out that his dear brother had tried to kill his dear son." The archer muttered nonchalantly while stroking their bow.

"You! You wouldn't dare!"

"Of course not, that's not how we work. It was unexpected that somehow the plot failed. You realize that this failure has soiled my track record too, yes?" The archer spoke looking outside the window, preparing to leave.

"The Reaper of Shadows, that's what they say who you are. The one who is even able to hunt down shadows. You have never failed any mission given to you, until now that is." Alier said in a half-curious half admiring tone.

"Tch!" The archer clicked their tongue in agitation. It was unsure what was it that agitated them. The so-called title or the failure?

"We're done here, the man won't be able to tell the Duke anything, so you do not need to worry. Before leaving, a word of advice for you—that boy is very unusual."

The archer said, narrowing their eyes recalling Ethan's calm demeanor during the incident. The archer knew many kids Ethan's age who had that kind of demeanor but only after going through arduous bone-chilling training. They knew for sure that Ethan had nowhere near that kind of harsh upbringing. But despite that, he had the sharp demeanor of a veteran which was uncanny at the very least.

Alier knitted his brows in deep contemplation. Just as the archer was about to leave, Alier's attention rested on the black-colored bow in the archer's hand.

"Wait!" Alier blurted.

"What?"

"Is… That… The same famed bow?" Alier asked skeptically.

The archer smirked mockingly under their mask as they looked at Alier whose gaze couldn't move away from the bow.

"heh, why? You wish to rob me?" The archer sassed tauntingly with a jeering snort.

"Hmph! Who do you think I am? The likes of you?" Alier ranted in visible contempt and loathing as he turned back thinking, 'I didn't want to do this by my own hands... But seems there's no other choice now.'

The archer chuckled and abruptly disappeared from the spot as if they had been enveloped by the darkness into the shadows. "What a hypocrite! What right does a treacherous bastard like him have to sneer at my profession?" The archer snorted inwardly in disdain as they departed from the city.

***

Back at the mansion, Ethan was in his room quietly gazing at the moon outside up in the sky as he went through the entire day from his memory.

The bloodshed that happened and the damage that was caused weighed on his mind constantly. Contrary to his brave and calm exterior, he was a bit unnerved by his action of killing another human being.

In truth, Ethan had somewhat expected there to be an assassination attempt on him. He was also confident in his chances of survival. However, what he did not expect was for his mental fortitude to be so low as to not be able to handle the consequences of his own actions along with having trouble coping with the reality of the new world he was living in.

It was quite natural to feel that way as Ethan came from a mostly peaceful world where all he did was just laze off doing nothing all day. Where killing and scheming were nowhere close to his priorities. But now he was suddenly thrown into a completely different set of lifestyle—a world where killing and getting killed was normal.

Ethan was, again and again, being reminded by circumstances that sitting on the fence would get him killed sooner or later, despite all the knowledge and intellect that he possessed.

The moon always reminded Ethan of Earth. Although his life back home was mostly tasteless, lonely, bizarre, and anti-social, he preferred to live that way anyways.

Ethan tapped on the edge of the window rhythmically with a completely stoic expression on his face as he gazed at the brilliant sky full of twinkling stars and glistening moonlight. While inwardly, a turbulent storm of questions and doubts stirred in his mind.

What if Afriel and the Temple weren't there to help me from the arrow? What if I was alone completely? How long can I rely on others? Will I freeze on the spot after seeing bloodshed once again happening in front of me? How can I increase my Mental Fortitude?

Ethan was going through all such questions in his mind as he tried to come to a solid resolution.

In the end, he sighed in exhaustion moving away from the window with drowsy eyes.

The day had been a long one and many things had transpired. In all honesty, Ethan was rather sleepy from tiredness and needed a good rest to clear his head of all the chaos.

And so Ethan lay on his bed to sleep, momentarily catching a glimpse of the flower pot by the wall beside his bed, the same one on which he regularly practiced his Ancestral Blessing.