I Reject Quests

It was night.

The Klofar Household was quiet.

Little Rewen was peacefully sleeping on his small bed, hugging a pillow.

Beside him was laid his older self looking at the ceiling. He felt incredibly peaceful lying down on the bed he had slept in for almost the entirety of his life. He tried to fall asleep but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't. "This should be telling something." He raised his upper body, then took a look at his younger self.

Little Rewen was drooling which his older self found particularly cute.

Rewen got off the bed. 'Since I haven't yet gone back from this place, it means that there's something I have yet to see… maybe it's out there in the other room? I should check it out.'

He got out of his room and approached his parents' room. As he got near, he could hear them talking with each other.

"Heh, are you ready to take this? Brace yourself!" 

'Is he fighting with Mother?' Rewen found his father's talking sense very weird and thus, decided to take a look at what's going on inside the room.

"..." 

Immediately after he saw… what he saw, he quietly exited the room.

The only thing that could be said was - he regretted what he had seen.

"Make it quick." The other person in the room, his mother's younger self, responded in a disinterested tone.

For some reason, her partner didn't like the response. "What's with you all of a sudden? We are still young. Show some vigor you used to show back in the days. Remember how you used to be a bi- ah! Why did you slap my hand?"

"Don't speak vulgarly. If you really want to do… um, do something, then make it quick. Otherwise, good night!"

"Fine. But before that, what is 'something'? Say it out loud." The youth's tone was smug.

"Good night."

"Wait, no. Here I come!"

Rewen closed his ears as tight as he could. Sweating profusely, he went to the living. 

"This is torture. This is torture. This is nothing but torture. Holy shit! Please brain, cooperate with me in this instance; remove some part of my memories. I can't live like this! If there is a God, please hear me out."

One might think that he is overexaggerating and making a self-mocking joke but he isn't. He was not exaggerating his feelings one bit. Actual torture would have been more kind to him than this. 

"Fuck. Stage 5 Interference was better than this. I can't believe this is actually happening." After a meltdown for over a minute, he cooled down a little. Sitting on the sofa, he bitterly sighed. 'This is fixed on my memory. I hope I don't remember whenever I have… damn it! Now, I will definitely remember!'

Even though Rewen is usually a calm and collected person, his specific aversion to cringe and grossness makes him lose his mind. 

Ten minutes later, he completely calmed down.

'Good. I should check it out but… let's not be too hasty.'

He waited for another ten minutes before making his way towards his parents' room.

"Ah, they are done," Rewen said, looking inside the room through the small opening in the door as he saw his parents lying down and conversing with each other. He was too far away so he couldn't hear them clearly.

Only with naked ears though.

Rank 0 Mages have enhanced five senses. All of them increase but not all of them increase evenly. For example, sight increases by 30% but hearing increases by around 60%. The increase in sight is implemented permanently whereas an increase in hearing needs to be implemented temporarily. 

This is due to the fact that the improvement in sight can be used in every single second without having any sort of difficulties. There is no way having a good sight can lead one to a negative scenario. However, having a 60% increase in hearing all the time would definitely cause a couple of mental conditions. 

That's why there is an activation function connected to the brain.

Rewen treated it like a passive skill and used it mainly to see if he has everything covered or not.

He improved his hearing and could immediately hear his parents' conversation. Since it was night and the area was quiet, he could hear the conversation between them clearly.

Covering herself with the quilt, the young lady in the bed rolled over to her husband's side and leaned on his broad chest. "Could you… just… you know, maybe… tone down your practice session with Rewen? I'm just suggesting. He… gets hurt. Badly… and… and…. He is still young. So maybe…" 

For some reason, she was very nervous and careful with her wording. After she completed what she had to say, she raised her head and met a pair of eyes staring at her. When she got a good look at the face, she turned the quilt over her face.

"I'm sorry. I'm tired." She said in a calm voice but the quilt shook.

The young man laying beside her calmly looked at the ceiling.

"I'm sorry for letting you go through this but as you can see, I'm powerless and don't have other options. Why do you think I would be harsh to my own son if I wasn't forced to?"

"..." The quilt shook harder.

"It's not because I want my son to become a great warrior or general or even a king. I don't care if he becomes a farmer or a God. What I do care about… is his and your safety."

The response caused the young lady in the bed to violently turn over the quilt. "As if! I'm not weak. I can protect myself perfectly well. You only care about letting him carry your…. le...ga...cy…"

Both of them stared at each other for a while, then the young lady again covered herself with the quilt and started shaking again.

The youth beside her let out an amused smile, then quickly retracted the smile as he knew that it would be akin to starting a war if she saw him smile while she was in such a condition. Coughing, he spoke. 

"If that's how low you think of me… then I guess I can't say anything." 

"Don't pretend to play the victim… I know you better than anyone. You never ever ever care about anyone!" She said as she shook increasingly under the quilt.

The youth sighed as he covered his eyes with his arm as a single streak of tear escaped through an opening.

"Good night."

Rewen watched and heard the entire exchange but before he could collect his thoughts, the surroundings changed.

Once again, he found himself staring at the light which got brighter.

Rewen sucked in a mouthful of air and exhaled. Without any words, he started walking. He tried to run but realized that he couldn't. 

He felt heavier.

He felt that the gravity had increased.

'It looks like I know why I could potentially 'stumble and fall' in the future.'

Rewen continued to walk, taking large strides.

He kept walking.

He didn't know how much time had passed.

He knew that the light was still far from him but he didn't care.

The only thing that was in his mind was the conversation between his parents. 

He was curious and overwhelmed.

Curious for natural reasons. Why would he not be curious about the reason his father was so strict on him? Especially considering that there seemed to be a good reason behind it.

Overwhelmed because he realized that he wasn't the only one going through tough times. When he linked the conversation with the behavior of his mother in the past days, he found it believable. While he has his own story, his mother is also going through her own problems.

As he walked absent-mindedly, he failed to notice that the surroundings had again changed.

By the time he realized that he found himself in the middle of a dense forest.

"This has to be the forest near the village… Could this be the day…" While he was pondering about the situation, he heard footsteps and turned around.

Two young people, a man and a woman, were conversing with each other cheerfully while walking.

"Why did you come here? You could have just told me to get the berries." The young man had a discontented face.

"You would have been back by evening. Would you even come here to get berries if I told you to?"

"I suppose no." The young man admitted in a straightforward manner. "But you still shouldn't have come here."

"Okay, I get it." The woman didn't want to continue with the conversation.

*Tack*

Both of them simultaneously looked at the tree which was struck by a stone.

"Who? Is someone there?" The man came in front and searched for the person who threw the stone.

"Look there!" His wife shouted out, gasping.

The man followed her sight and saw a strange thing.