The Nightshade Terror (BL Harem)

"Hey," Adam led Valentius through the dungeons. If the man wanted him dead, the boy reasoned with himself, then he would have just kept him in the room until the officials came. "You did the right thing."

"I murdered him," Valentius didn't even know how he had managed to pour mana into the broom. All the other times he had tried to pour mana into a branch, or anything that was made from wood, it hadn't worked.

No, the only thing that had worked had been a piece of cloth. Something he had used to keep himself cool during the boot camp.

A hellish experience without sleep, food, or even time to relieve oneself.

Valentius shuddered to remember it.

"Were you really in the guild?" Adam took the shudder as regret. He had seen more than one boy lose himself after such an act.

For all that the guild was a hopeless place, it didn't make the hopefuls kill human beings.

"I was rejected," Valentius had not spoken with anyone about it. Not even Beth.

As far as she knew, and everyone else, he had dropped off on his own. His lie had stuck, without him even knowing why.

Maybe the academy kept records. Who was accepted, who was rejected… and got a slave rune.

For a split second, the boy thought about telling Guard Captain Adam about what went on in the guild.

About the strange person in black. About Albert… and Bartolomeo, who had looked so as if he had expected it to happen.

Valentius shook his head.

Tell Adam? Adam, who had used a child to get rid of his tormentor? What was he going to do against a necromancer? Against the guild?

"Kid?" Adam called to him. He was holding a small iron door open.

 Beyond it was the forest. Had it always been this dark?

"If you go that way," Adam seemed to ignore the way Valentius was behaving. Trying to wash his hands with one final favor.

Valentius thought that Adam, and not he, was a Valentine.

But he didn't tell it to the man's face. Who knew? Maybe he had something useful to tell him?

"You will find a deer trail. Follow it up, then, as soon as it ends, begin to go around the mountain. There are abandoned mines along the way. Don't go in them! They are full of wolves and bears! But… if you go pass them, find a paved hunting trail and go to the hunting lodge, you can find a way to Rock's Nest. It is a peaceful farming village. There is no lord in there, thank God, and the mayor is rumored to give work to young people in need. Land as well, if you do a good enough job the first year."

Adam wanted Valentius to become a serf…

"You did a good thing," the man's eyes softened. "I thank you."

To go to the other side of the mountain, to a nice and calm village, and become Valentine…

"But that's enough for one life! Don't be a hero!"

Valentius hated him…

"Live a long life, Valentine!"

"My name is Valentius!" The boy hissed. Even as angry as he was, he still had more sense than to yell.

After all, the guards on the ramparts could be loyal to the lord he had killed.

"Yes," Adam said, shaking his head. "And you will save many a Beth before you die," he smiled, taking something out. "Here, hero!"

It was a small lighter. One with a rune!

"Have a reward from me as well! I needed a new one anyway!"

Adam let out a soft chuckle. As soon as Valentius' fingers closed over the life-saving tool, the guard turned around.

Closing the iron door in Valentius' stunned face.

"Adam…" Valentius looked at the rusty iron door. A wind ruffled his hair. It was coming from the forest.

He took a deep breath and turned around. He stopped thinking.

 Taking the time to only dump the lighter inside a pocket in the bottomless backpack and to look at the sky, which was brighter now!

He realized that he didn't have time.

Valentius ran!

Before the first cries of the guards reached his ears, he was already past the tree line!

He thought only about not tripping on a bush. One foot before the other. It was a mantra he repeated to himself.

Like a fox, he ran from those who he thought had given chase!

The severity of his situation crashed down on him.

He killed a lord!

He stole from a lord!

Valentius took a left turn, going off the deer trail.

 Adam was going to cave, if someone asked him if he knew where the young hero, as the man had called him, had gone.

Valentius couldn't trust him! The man was weak! Someone who had waited to be saved by a child!

The chubby teen collapsed in a meadow. For all that he had been doing hard labor the past month, and had the training in the academy before that, he was still weighted down by his fat.

Something he had managed to gather during happier days. Days which had ended a year ago.

Valentius looked around, straining his ears.

No barking of dogs; no yelling.

He looked at the way he came. The path, if it could even be called so, didn't look so, as if someone had run through it.

He nodded to himself and laid on his back. Tiredness like no other taking a grip of his bones.

The trees were blocking out the sky, he noticed.

It was nice here, in the forest. Calm, the wind was warm, the trees were providing shade…

His eyes caught something red to his right. He looked that way.

Berries!

As soon as his tired mind came to the realization that there was food so close by, his stomach grumbled.

"Well," he told himself, as he looked back up at the canopy above. "One snack can't hurt."

With much huffing and puffing, the boy stood to his feet. Making the slow journey to what he believed was a red berry bush…