Chương 25: Last Grind Before the Storm

[Dexterity +1] [Dexterity: 6] The stat message arrived after a morning of grabbing, releasing, catching himself, and turning without his face ending up in a blanket. Ren stared at his fingers. They still looked like baby fingers. Round, soft, ridiculous baby fingers. They also obeyed him a little better now, and that was the important part. By the end of that week, Ren could cross the blanket road, turn, and come back without planting his face into the floor. His arms still trembled afterward.

His lungs still worked too hard. His baby body still believed crawling several lengths of the room deserved applause, milk, and legal protection. Ren denied all petitions except milk. [Skill Level Increased: Body Conditioning Lv. 5 -> Lv. 6] The message came after he collapsed beside the pillow ramp with his cheek pressed into the rug and his whole body warm from use. Tessa crouched over him like a battlefield inspector.

"You look dead." Ren slapped once.

"Yes dead?" He slapped again. Tessa nodded solemnly.

"Training dead." … She wasn't wrong. The following days were full of people watching him back. Mara came twice. The first visit was ordinary enough. She checked Ren's forehead, asked Elna about sleep, listened to Tessa explain the slate with suspicious innocence, and left after telling Bren that a barred door was less useful if he kept opening it to look worried outside. The second visit was worse. Ren had been practicing Mana Sense quietly while Tessa recited road words.

He kept the charm-thread steady in his awareness, held his own mana lightly, and reached toward room-drift in small, patient breaths. Mara's fingers paused on his wrist. Ren went loose at once. Too late. Mara's thumb stayed there, light against the soft inside of his wrist. Her frown tightened by a hair. Her eyes flicked to the blue charm, then to the empty air above Ren's blanket, then back to his face. Ren let the room-drift slip. The little pull vanished. Mara did not relax.

"He is calmer," she said instead. Elna looked down.

"He has been sleeping better."

"Has he?" Bren's hand stilled near the latch, Tessa turned the slate facedown. Mara watched all of them notice one another. Ren put the corner of his cloth in his mouth and chewed with as much idiotic commitment as he could summon. Mara's mouth twitched. He had been careless and forgot that others could be so very perceptive! And for healers, that was pretty much part of their job description!

"He watches when we talk," Mara said.

"So does Tessa," Bren said.

"Tessa talks back."

"Constantly," Bren agreed. Tessa gasped.

"Nuh uh! I help!"

"You help loudly." Mara's gaze dropped once more to Ren's wrist. Then to the charm. Then away. She did not ask, but Ren was sure she had some idea of what he was just doing. Elna touched Ren's hair.

"He is strange. We know." Mara's expression softened, but her eyes did not stop working.

"Strange is not sickness."

"No," Elna said.

"But it makes people talk." The room went quiet around that. Ren learned a new category of danger: attention. After Mara left, Tessa took charge of his disguise training. This was unfortunate for everyone with pride. Thankfully, he had over two months of practice ignoring the useless thing known as pride. …Mostly successful.

"No, that face is too old," she said. Ren blinked vacantly.

"Yes! That's better." He opened his mouth and let drool gather. Tessa nodded with solemn approval.

"Stupid baby." Ren slapped once.

"Good stupid baby." He slapped twice. Tessa laughed so hard Elna came to check on them. Ren decided Expression was the most degrading skill he owned. He also trained it every day. [Skill Level Increased: Expression Lv. 8 -> Lv. 10] [Skill Milestone Reached - Initiate: Expression Lv. 10] [Expression Initiate Bonus: Improves intentional facial control, emotional masking, and body-language consistency. Does not prevent close observers from noticing contradictions.] Ren read the message while chewing his cloth with dead-eyed commitment. Expression Initiate did not make him invisible, but it gave him a half-breath between reaction and face. That half-breath was precious. It was also humiliating, so naturally he trained it harder. And what time he didn't spend on training, he spent on playing with Tessa. He felt a little bad about using his sister's playful curiosity to help him learn things, but times were tough, and he was a baby.

Ren could not move beyond the house, but Tessa could still ask things for him and bring back pieces of the village. She brought them badly, because she was six and considered "Tovin shouted at Orwin" a complete tactical report. Ren was proud of her anyway. The important part was that the village was not waiting anymore. Hadrik had men walking west in pairs. Tovin came back with mud on his boots often enough that Elna stopped asking whether the road was bad.

Bren worked on the cellar brace because he had already decided one barred door was not enough. Elna kept the emergency basket near the hatch. The adults did not need children to make them any more careful. But… The children could still make them work faster. Lysa carried harmless-looking messages between houses. Niko mangled horn calls until Hadrik made him practice properly. Tessa copied the warning marks onto a second slate and treated every correction as proof that she was now a military office.

Children were terrible weapons. Ren loved them. The cellar brace took three attempts. The first was too high for Tessa. The second could be kicked loose if someone panicked. The third sat low enough that Elna could reach it while carrying Ren and strong enough that Bren tested it twice before admitting it would hold. Tessa sat beside Ren afterward, chin high with victory.

"Cellar door is stronger now!" she said. Slap. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"Because Papa listened." Ren slapped once. She considered that, then nodded.

"And because I told him about it!" Ren hesitated, and Tessa immediately scowled. He slapped once, and she relaxed. Danger averted! … He had chosen mercy over accuracy. Which was probably how civilizations began to rot. The basket took less effort. Elna already understood the shape of the problem, so Tessa only had to ask what happened if someone reached the hatch with both hands full. Elna looked at Ren. Then she moved the basket herself.

Ren disagreed with nothing except the part where he was not allowed to inspect the knife. [Skill Level Increased: Planning Lv. 8 -> Lv. 10] [Skill Milestone Reached - Initiate: Planning Lv. 10] [Planning Initiate Bonus: Improves multi-step preparation, priority ordering, contingency shaping, and coordination through available intermediaries. Does not create information, guarantee obedience, or prevent plans from failing under pressure.] Ren stared at the phrase available intermediaries.

The System had identified Tessa as infrastructure. Ren was proud. Though it was obvious Planning did not invent the village's preparations. It did not tell him what Hadrik would do, where goblins waited, or which mark mattered most. It only made the routes of influence easier to hold together. Tessa could carry a simple question. Elna could turn a useful answer into household law. Bren could turn household law into wood and iron. Hadrik could turn concern into assigned work.

Mara could turn suspicion into inspection. The plan still needed proof, people, and luck. But the routes were cleaner.

Ren stopped chasing every possible gain and sorted the grind into a shape he could survive. Mana work came after feeding and before naps. Body work came after naps and before Elna decided he looked tired. Language came through Tessa. Expression came whenever adults entered the room. Planning came through household arrangements. Appraisal came in short sets, always tied to the same three questions. What is it? What is it for? Has it changed? That was enough.

More than that turned practice into panic wearing a clever hat. He didn't need to be overly clever. He needed the practice to become standardized – and still remain useful. Mana work, body work, Language, Expression, Planning, and Appraisal each had their place now. Hardly perfect, certainly not painless. And it still didn't feel enough. But just knowing what to practice gave him a strange peace of mind in a situation where everything was out of his baby hands. Grind became his island of calm.

And Ren wasn't even sure if he minded it much. There was just something about each effort being rewarded that made everything feel just a little bit better. Soon after, Resting and Sleeping also increased, mostly because Ren finally stopped treating his own body like an enemy supply cart and actually rested properly. Not panicking too much certainly helped. [Skill Level Increased: Resting Lv. 6 -> Lv. 7] [Skill Level Increased: Sleeping Lv. 7 -> Lv. 8] He hated how much of survival depended on stopping.

But it worked wonders, even if it felt bad. So Ren would do it anyhow. [Level Increased: Lv. 3 -> Lv. 4] Ren stared at the message until it faded. [Unspent Stat Points: 3] Three points now. He could spend them. Strength for movement. Vitality for survival. Intelligence for mana. Willpower for control. Dexterity for this newly responsive little body. Ren closed the thought down. There was no point. A slightly stronger baby was still a baby. But a baby's arsenal was still an arsenal.

He called up his Status [Status] Name: Ren Marric Level: 4 [0/800 EXP] Unspent Stat Points: 3 Attributes: Strength: 4 Dexterity: 6 Vitality: 3 Intelligence: 8 Willpower: 6 Concentration: 7 Knowledge: 2 Resources: Health: 30/30 Stamina: 9/24 Mana: 20/34 Focus: 12/21 Skills: Discipline Lv. 8 Observation Lv. 8 Listening Lv. 6 Memory Lv. 6 Calculate Lv. 2 Athletics Lv. 11 – Initiate Language Lv. 13 – Initiate Expression Lv. 10 – Initiate Mana Sense Lv. 5 Mana Manipulation Lv. 2 Interpretation Lv. 6 Appraisal Lv.

9 Sleeping Lv. 8 Composure Lv. 7 Analysis Lv. 5 Planning Lv. 10 – Initiate Body Conditioning Lv. 6 Resting Lv. 7 Throwing Lv. 5 Ren stared at the numbers until they settled into place. Three weeks had turned helpless time into habits. His body answered faster. His face lied better. His senses separated fear from the room more often than they drowned in it. The village had turned warning into work. That was still a baby's arsenal. It was also far more than he had managed to do in the last loop. He closed his Status.

While he was training, the village was preparing. What little he heard inspired equal parts worry and optimism. Hadrik did not relax the watch. He pushed it farther west. The first marks had served their purpose; now the search had moved beyond the places Ren knew how to fear. That should have been good. It was good. It was also unbearable. Ren learned what he could through walls, doorways, and Tessa's badly gathered reports. Hadrik knew more than Ren did now. The village knew more than Ren did.

Adults were making decisions he could not see, shaping plans he could not correct, and searching places his baby body could not reach. That was the goal. But Ren hated being so helpless anyhow. The village was being careful, and slowly expanding the edges of what it knew. Ren respected that almost as much as he wanted to slap every adult in the room until certainty fell out of them. Waiting without improving felt like offering his throat to the future, so he kept grinding.

Body work, mana work, sleep before collapse, rest before headache. The details blurred into routine. The point was not each attempt anymore. The point was that he could repeat them without breaking stride. Eventually, the shape held. [Strength +1] [Strength: 5] Ren read the messages in Elna's arms and stopped himself from spending the points waiting behind Status. Waiting hurt. That was probably why Discipline existed. Hadrik arrived before dusk.

Tovin stood behind him with mud on his boots and a strip of bark wrapped in cloth. Bren opened the door with the axe within reach. Elna held Ren. Tessa stood beside the table with the slate already turned facedown. No one in the room mistook the visit for conversation. Hadrik looked over the house first anyway. His gaze moved from the door bar to the cellar hatch, then to the basket near Elna's feet and the axe by Bren's hand.

"You keep a careful house," Hadrik said. Bren's jaw tightened.

"Being careful is cheap, and solves many future issues." Tovin snorted.

"That is the first sensible thing you have said all month." Bren looked at him.

"I have said other sensible things."

"I was elsewhere." Elna said, "Where?" Right, where was he? At that very moment, Ren loved his mother's pointed questions very much. Hadrik's humor left his face. Tovin set the bark strip on the table. Three fresh cuts marked the wood. Ren's body went cold before his thoughts finished catching up. Bren looked down at the bark, then at Tovin.

"Old cart road?"

"Way past it," Tovin said.

"Near the west scrub. Fresh cuts too." Ren's fingers curled into Elna's dress. Hadrik rested one hand on the cudgel at his belt.

"I have already sent Orwin to bring the west pair in and set the outer watch. No one goes past the ditch after this. Every house barred before supper. Children inside now. Bren, you stay here unless I send for you. Is that clear?" Bren opened his mouth. Elna said, "You stay." Bren closed his mouth. Ren watched the bark strip. Fresh cuts near the west scrub. Farther out than anything he knew of before. Ren had warned them about the forest, the road, the ditch, the horn, the house, the cellar.

He had dragged the old deaths into child-marks and baby slaps until the village finally moved. Now Hadrik and Tovin had found something beyond the map Ren had built. The village knew more than he did. That was good. The unknown was also terrifying. Tessa's hand found the slate. Ren slapped once. She looked at him. He stared at the bark, then at the door bar, then at the cellar hatch. Tessa swallowed.

"Ready?" Ren slapped once. The word was too generous, but it was the only one they had. Hadrik turned toward the door.

"Tovin, stay with Orwin. Keep the west pair from pushing too far. I want eyes, not heroes." Tovin picked up the bark strip again.

"I know what eyes are."

"Then use them before your spear." Tovin muttered something unkind about old men and command, but he left quickly. The house tightened after that. Bren barred the door before Hadrik reached the lane. Elna checked the cellar basket and moved the lamp closer to the hatch. Tessa set the slate beside it instead of hiding it. Outside, voices moved from house to house without rising into panic. Shutters closed. Bars dropped. Children were called in before anyone had to shout twice.

The green bell struck once, paused, then struck again. Announcing readiness? Ren sat in Elna's arms and tried not to shake. The attack had shifted before. Searching had changed something last time. Warning changed things by existing. Now the village had found signs farther west than Ren knew of, and he had no memory for what came next. Bren stood by the barred door with the axe in hand. Elna held Ren near the cellar hatch. Tessa crouched beside the slate, one hand near the horn mark.

Ren reached for the room-drift, found the charm-thread, and held his Focus steady. Beyond the shutter, the village kept moving in orderly ways. The bell did not hammer wild. The road did not fill with running bodies. No one broke the pattern to run toward the forest or away from it. Ren's grip tightened in Elna's sleeve. For one thin, impossible breath, everything seemed fine. Then the horn sounded. Ren's body knew the sound before thought reached it. Goblins. His Focus snapped tight enough to hurt. Too early!

The attack came too early! Elna's arm locked around him. Bren lifted the axe. Tessa's hand flattened over the slate. The horn kept sounding, hard and ugly and real. Still, no one screamed, and the village was already moving. The goblins arrived early. But this time, the village was ready.