Kopii's eyes snapped open, he tried to sit up, but couldn't: his hands and feet were tightly bound. Pain shot through his entire body, and a fire seemed to rage in his head. He didn't understand where he was, he only remembered the sudden attack and loss of consciousness. A familiar voice echoed in the silence.
"Oh, you're finally awake."
He tried to focus on the source of the voice. At first, the silhouette seemed blurry, but gradually his vision returned, and he recognized in the elderly man one of the travelers he had met earlier.
His eyes widened in shock. Larsen smiled predatorily, watching his reaction.
"You recognize me? What's your name again?" He waved his hand dismissively. "It doesn't matter anymore. Hahaha. You have no idea how glad I am!"
"What do you need? Why are you doing this? Why do you need me?" he shouted, desperately trying to break free from his bonds.
"Calm down."
"What did I do to you?"
"I said, calm down!" Larsen roughly kicked Kopii in the stomach.
"Ugh… ugh…" He hadn't expected the blow. "What do you want from me?" he asked more restrained.
"That's better. Why do we need you?" Larsen thoughtfully stroked his chin. "We need money. Not you."
"I don't have any money! I'm not from a wealthy family for you to demand a ransom!"
"We know. You don't understand yet."
"What do you want?"
"Ah…" Larsen exhaled. "I told you, we need money."
"I understand that, but… I don't understand how I can help you."
"You're too stupid. Your body… your handsome face… I think we can get a lot for that. Get it?"
Kopii's heart pounded with horror. He couldn't hide his shock. Larsen grinned maliciously, seeing how the young man's face contorted.
"Yes, you're thinking right. We'll sell you into slavery and make a good profit from it, you know. I still can't believe I got so lucky with you… Ahhahaha." After his laughter, his voice became quieter. "You know, it's a pity, of course…" He came closer and roughly grabbed Kopii's face. "You know, if you were a girl, we would have some fun with you," Larsen licked his lips. "But alas. You're just a guy. Oh well, you're not the first, you won't be the last we catch. Right? Ahhahaha. Why are you silent?"
His hatred for this man grew with each passing second. Larsen noticed the change in his face, which now only showed contempt and hatred, and this gave him sadistic pleasure. Laughing again, he approached him.
"What a face… You probably want to beat me up? But come on… Oh, sorry, I forgot. You lost to us. Well, did your blessing help? Ahahaha. I'm sure you thought you were different, that you were better than ordinary people."
Kopii didn't have time to answer before Larsen forcefully shoved his face into the dirt.
"Look at yourself! Could you ever have imagined that you, the one who received the blessing of the gods, would be humiliated by an ordinary man? Ahaha."
Not letting him say a word, Larsen, looking at Kopii's face full of hatred and anger, smiled and continued:
"Yes, yes, I like your face. Look at me like that for eternity. But you know one thing? What are you going to do to me? You're wounded, you couldn't even fight back. I overestimated you too much."
Kopii decided to respond in kind. As Larsen stepped back, his hatred only intensified, to the point of grinding his teeth.
"Hahahaha, how funny… I'm only level one, and even you are afraid of me. If I were at least level two or three, you would be scared. You're just cowards. You say that my blessing gave me nothing, but I was able to get it. Maybe you're offended by adventurers? You probably once attacked adventurers and shamefully lost."
Larsen was silent, and Kopii hit the mark, but didn't stop.
"You want to boost your self-esteem by beating me up? How pathetic you are… No, you're all just pathetic."
Kopii didn't manage to finish speaking before Larsen slapped him across the face again.
"Yes, you're right," Larsen said, stepping away from Kopii after the blow. "But what does that change? If you were level two or three, we would have understood. But you're only level one. I'm sure you were noticed by some perverted god. Because I don't understand what qualities else one could accept a freak like you for."
He approached Kopii, grabbed his chin and lifted his face, forcing him to look into his eyes.
"You just want to provoke me, but what will that change? No one will help you. Neither your blessing, nor your family, not even you can help yourself."
Larsen heard Kopii's teeth grinding, and this gave him pleasure.
He understood that he was telling the truth. He understood this perfectly, but still wanted to get under his skin.
"I'm sure you were the same. You also wanted to become an adventurer, but no one accepted you."
Larsen interrupted him again.
"Yes, you're right, I was the same. All childhood I listened to fairy tales about heroes… Yes, you're right, no family accepted me. But look, do you think I'm the only one like that? Who dreamed of becoming someone higher than everyone else? Absolutely everyone dreamed about it, but you know, I faced reality. And everyone rejected me. But you know, I came to terms with it. But look, I was able to achieve it. I am now above you. You completely belong to me. I can do whatever I want with you. Because I am strong, and you are weak. The strong always devours the weak."
"You – are strong? You attacked me from behind when I wasn't ready, and a group beat me when I was wounded. Are you seriously saying that you are strong?"
"You don't understand. You're still a kid. What difference does it make how I defeated you? Because I won, and it won't change how: from behind or when you were sleeping. It's still a victory… Winners write history and not losers. Do you think that back in the hero's time, do you think he was respected. No, they were afraid of him. Or, more precisely, they were afraid of what he was capable of. They couldn't control him. Everything is based on the strong, understand?"
"I see you're not going to listen to me… Okay," he looked around. "Break time is over, so you better get some sleep."
He grabbed Kopii by the neck and began to choke him.
"Don't be afraid, I won't kill you."
"Stop…" But Kopii's words had no effect. Larsen continued to choke him until the young man's eyes rolled back and he lost consciousness. The last thing Kopii saw before passing out was Larsen's face, full of superiority.
He threw him on the ground.
"That's it, we have to go, let's continue our journey," he said. Elrik picked up Kopii and carried him on his shoulder.
Torvin ran up to Larsen:
"Father, maybe we need to teach him some manners?"
Larsen looked at his youngest son and after a moment replied:
"Calm down, Torvin, you fell for his provocations. Are you such a child like him?"
"But, Father…"
Under his father's gaze, he calmed down.
"Okay, Father, I will be better at controlling my emotions."
"Yes, that's the right decision," his father smiled in response. "Well, that's it, let's continue. We must reach the river today. We need to hurry, everyone understand?"
"Yes, Father," the sons answered in unison.
The whole group of four slowly but surely advanced through the forest to their goal. Silence reigned, no one started a conversation. The sun slowly declined towards the horizon, painting the foliage in crimson and golden hues. The forest, which had previously seemed gloomy and menacing, now exuded a warm, deceptive calm. Larsen strode ahead, his gaze fixed in the distance, and his face remained unreadable.
"That's it, we finally arrived," Larsen said. "Garvin, get some water. Torvin, collect some firewood. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Father," Torvin and Garvin replied.
After some time, Kopii began to slowly regain consciousness. His head was still splitting, and his body ached with pain and weakness. He lay on the hard ground, bound, feeling the cold gaze of the stars through the foliage. Fragments of what had happened flashed through his memory, Larsen's words burned in his mind, and the humiliation of helplessness suffocated him. Fury churned in his chest, but his body refused to obey, bound not only by ropes, but also by the realization of his own powerlessness.