Thorn stopped as he walked through the dense forest, sensing that something had been following him for quite some time. He let out an audible sigh and muttered to himself, his voice carrying a hint of mental exhaustion.
"This is really getting annoying."
Then he suddenly raised his voice, directing his words toward the grass and trees behind him.
"Come out. There's no need to hide."
A group of small children .boys and girls slowly emerged from the thick undergrowth and trees behind him, moving with great caution and hesitant, stumbling steps.
He observed them quietly through the black cloth covering his face, noticing the unmistakable exhaustion etched across their young faces. Then he sighed once more.
After storming the bandits' village and wiping them out completely, he had given the children who had been imprisoned there enough food to make it back to the nearest town. That was the most he could do at that moment provide enough supplies to keep them alive for a few more days until they reached somewhere relatively safe.
But Thorn understood all too well that even if these children made it back to the city, what awaited them would most likely be a life of homelessness and constant hunger. He was not a savior, nor did he consider himself one in any way. He understood the limits of what he could accomplish and the limits of his role in this world.
After all, he was a member of the Walt Family. Dan's blood flowed through his veins, carrying with it all of its weight, philosophy, and worldview. He understood perfectly that although his family sought to reduce the world's suffering through carefully calculated methods and offer people opportunities by establishing the Blue Dragon Kingdom, they were not saviors.
Even if a true savior of this world were to appear someday, that person would not come from the Walt Family, because their role was fundamentally different. Their purpose was to preserve the human race and ensure the continued evolution of its civilization as a whole . not to save every individual person.
Therefore, Thorn understood his father's way of thinking, one that focused on the complete picture rather than individual tragedies, no matter how painful they might seem. His father might even make decisions that appeared evil on the surface and resulted in the deaths of countless people, yet all of it would be for what he believed to be the greater good or at least according to his own perspective.
In the end, the philosophy Dan had passed down to his children, both directly and indirectly, was that only the strong possessed the right to impose their philosophies and visions upon the world. They alone also held the power to grant the weak mercy, whether that mercy came in the form of prosperity and freedom or misery and servitude.
Because of this complicated background , caught between his mother Yoko and the deep emotional wounds that had shaped her entire personality, and his father's profound and complex philosophy . Thorn had chosen to embark on this journey through the outside world. A journey whose purpose was to better understand human nature, both its noble side and its darkest one.
"Looks like I got lost in my thoughts again," he said to himself as he stared at the children before him, whose faces displayed a mixture of fear, exhaustion, and hope. Their eyes shifted between him and one another, as though trying to understand this masked savior.
Then he spoke.
"All right. Follow me, little ones."
After a brief moment of contemplation, he had decided to take them to a nearby teahouse. On the surface, it appeared to be an ordinary resting place where travelers could enjoy hot drinks. In reality, however, it was operated by an intelligence network belonging to the Blue Dragon Kingdom.
Although this region lay far beyond the kingdom's official borders, its intelligence network extended across vast portions of the continent, gathering information, monitoring important events, and occasionally providing discreet assistance for advanced operations.
Thorn knew that the people running this teahouse would recognize him immediately. They would arrange for these children to be transported to one of the kingdom's orphanages, giving them a chance at a far better future.
He began walking slowly, the children following behind him with cautious steps that gradually transformed into trust toward the strange young man who had rescued them from the living nightmare they had endured. None of them knew who this masked youth truly was, yet something about him inspired confidence despite everything they had suffered at the hands of adults.
As they walked together through the dense forest, Thorn silently reflected upon everything he had witnessed throughout this journey so far: the destroyed villages, the scattered corpses, the tortured children, and the bandits who had long since lost every trace of humanity within themselves.
Each experience added another layer to his growing understanding of this world and of human nature itself . a nature he continued striving to comprehend with as open a mind as he could, a mind still searching for answers to questions that had yet to find clear solutions.
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