It was an ordinary Saturday, and according to the calendar, summer had officially begun. The weather, however, seemed determined to disagree with that assessment, as rain had poured down for nearly an entire week without pause. The nearby river had swollen into a dangerous torrent, while the narrow path crossing the swamp between the new town and the Crimson Forest had become a muddy death trap. Under normal circumstances, that miserable weather made guard duty painfully uneventful.
The two recruits assigned to the forest entrance certainly thought so. They had only been declared qualified a week earlier after passing the comprehensive examination, an achievement that had filled them with pride. Their instructor had officially recognized them as capable rangers, and the entire class had immediately started celebrating their success. Unfortunately for them, that celebration lasted only until they stepped outside the examination hall.
Waiting for them outside had been Grandma Lilly. The moment they saw the gloomy expression on her face, every ounce of excitement disappeared from their bodies. Experience had already taught them that Lilly never wore that expression unless someone was about to receive the lecture of a lifetime. Unsurprisingly, that someone turned out to be them.
She had scolded the entire group for becoming arrogant after passing a single examination. According to Lilly, they had only completed the first step of their training rather than reaching its end. She explained that every movement they made now had to become instinctive, whether they were walking, hiding, listening, or controlling their breathing. Only when those actions became second nature would they be free to focus entirely on hunting or surviving dangerous encounters.
Lilly used the games they had been playing over the past several years as the perfect example. She pointed out that too many recruits still had to consciously think about remaining hidden or moving silently. Every second spent thinking about those basic actions was a second that could not be used to observe an enemy or react to danger. Until that changed, none of them deserved to call themselves true rangers.
As punishment, the newest graduates were assigned to guard duty around the forest entrance. Officially, the task was considered boring, but every veteran insisted that it was one of the best forms of training available. Standing still for hours while maintaining absolute concentration was surprisingly difficult, especially when nothing appeared to happen. Nevertheless, everyone understood why the assignment existed.
The recruits had far too much respect for Lilly to neglect their duties completely. None of them wanted to experience another one of her infamous training sessions after being caught sleeping on the job. That woman had somehow earned the nickname "the Demon" among nearly every trainee, though never to her face. Even the bravest recruits knew better than to test her patience.
Fortunately, the Sonnenberg family had a unique philosophy regarding guard posts. Rather than placing guards in obvious positions where intruders could easily identify them, they preferred concealed observation points hidden throughout the surrounding forest. If someone truly intended to attack, they would eventually find a way inside regardless of visible guards. It was therefore far more effective to lure them into believing the entrance was lightly defended before eliminating them from hidden positions.
The recruits appreciated that philosophy immensely. Hidden guard posts meant they could remain seated, protected from the weather, and avoid standing motionless in the rain for hours at a time. It also meant they were naturally harder to detect, making stealth itself part of the exercise. On most days, they even found enough quiet moments to relax without compromising security.
Today, however, was completely different. Neither recruit dared to let down his guard because they both knew someone was observing them from somewhere nearby. The only problem was that neither of them had the faintest idea where that person was hiding. That uncertainty made every rustling leaf and every movement in the forest seem suspicious.
The reason for their anxiety was surprisingly simple. Tilly was scheduled to return home from school today after remaining away an extra night because the previous day's rain had been too severe for safe travel. Whenever she returned, Arin almost always came to meet her somewhere along the entrance path. Since none of the family members had appeared openly, the recruits immediately concluded that Arin had already taken up a hidden position.
Every recruit knew who Arin Sonnenberg was. During the last three years of training inside the Crimson Forest, his name had become almost legendary among the younger generation. As the patriarch's grandson and someone who possessed a physique, he was discussed constantly during lectures and practical exercises. His experiences had even been incorporated into their training material.
Many of the tactical games the recruits played had been designed using situations Arin had personally experienced. Instructors frequently analyzed his decisions to explain why instincts often mattered more than conscious thought during combat. One famous example involved an impossible jump shot that somehow struck its target perfectly despite leaving no time for deliberate aiming. According to their instructors, the human brain simply could not consciously calculate that attack quickly enough, proving that instinct had accomplished what logic never could.
Because of those stories, every recruit also knew another important detail about Arin. He disliked unnecessary social interaction, especially with people he did not know well. That made searching for him particularly stressful because they knew he would never reveal himself voluntarily simply to make things easier for them. If they wanted to find him, they would have to earn it.
Finding him also carried another reward. Successfully locating Arin before he revealed himself counted as completing one of Lilly's hidden observational exercises, allowing the guards to be relieved from duty early. Unfortunately, despite searching desperately with both their eyes and ears, neither recruit managed to discover even the slightest clue regarding his location. The invisible pressure steadily increased with every passing minute.
That was precisely the scene Tilly encountered as she approached the entrance to the Crimson Forest. Leaving the town behind, she followed the familiar dirt road while passing the large area where travelers left their horses and wagons before continuing on foot. The final kilometer leading toward the forest remained intentionally empty so that nobody could approach unnoticed. It was a defensive measure the Sonnenbergs had maintained for generations.
"They're definitely going to receive another lecture from Grandma Lilly," Tilly thought with an amused smile.
The two guards looked almost comical as they nervously scanned every branch and bush around them. Neither realized that their panic had only begun after Tilly came within roughly two hundred meters of the entrance. Before crossing that invisible boundary, she had blended so naturally with her surroundings that they had unconsciously overlooked her presence entirely. Her affinity with nature made her movements astonishingly difficult to perceive.
There was another reason the guards struggled so much today. Ever since security around the Crimson Forest had tightened, no one was permitted to enter the forest without being detected first. Arin had deliberately chosen the perfect hiding place to challenge them. Two enormous Giant Oak trees stood on either side of the three-meter-wide path, creating ideal observation posts roughly one hundred meters before the road curved left into the deeper forest.
One recruit occupied each tree, carefully watching the road below. What neither of them realized was that Arin had quietly settled directly beneath one of those enormous trunks. Had the guard bothered to glance straight down, he should have spotted him immediately. Instead, Arin remained completely invisible.
Wrapped in his camouflage cloak, Arin blended so perfectly into the surrounding vegetation that the recruits' minds subconsciously dismissed him as part of the landscape itself. He did not merely hide inside nature; he seemed to become part of it. Even knowing he had to be nearby did little to help them overcome that illusion. It was a level of concealment they could only hope to achieve one day.
"Hello, Miss. How was your week at school?" one cheerful young guard asked after jumping down from his tree. Relief filled his voice because nobody had stepped forward to greet Tilly, convincing him that Arin must not actually be nearby after all. Completely unaware of reality, he had nearly landed on Arin's head when he leaped from the branch above. Watching that close call caused Tilly's eye to twitch ever so slightly.
"We can discuss school later," Tilly replied calmly while tilting her head a little to one side. "First, your names."
"My name is Zach," the young guard answered proudly. "His name is Mason."
"Right, Zach," Tilly said with a helpless sigh as she looked between the two nervous recruits before gesturing toward the ground beside the enormous oak. "I strongly advise both of you to visit Grandma Lilly later and honestly admit that you still need additional training. Otherwise, I'll ask about it tomorrow, and you'll both be in a world of hurt." As she finished speaking, she casually motioned for her brother to stand up from the spot where neither guard had managed to notice him.