"She's right, you know," Arin said with an amused smile as he leaned against the tree trunk. "Your subconscious still hasn't adapted to checking whether everything is exactly where it should be or whether something has changed since the last time you looked." He casually pointed toward the trees surrounding the entrance before folding his arms. "I moved between both guard posts several times, yet neither of you noticed a thing, so Grandma Lilly is going to have quite the field day with you."
Having delivered the devastating verdict, Arin simply gestured for Tilly to follow him. He completely ignored the stunned expression on Zach's face as the young recruit instinctively jumped backward. The poor guard had leaped well over two meters into the air after suddenly discovering Arin standing directly behind him. Moments earlier, he would have sworn under oath that nobody had been there.
"Zach..." Mason muttered with a pale face once the siblings disappeared down the forest path. "We're doomed. Do you really think we should turn ourselves in?"
Zach stared silently at the ground before letting out a long sigh of defeat. "Yeah... after our shift ends," he answered while rubbing the back of his neck. "At least then we'll be confessing honestly instead of trying to hide it. You heard what Grandma Lilly did to Lukas after he lied to her, didn't you? I'm not going through that. No way."
Mason immediately shuddered at the mention of Lukas. Among every recruit currently training inside the Crimson Forest, Lukas had somehow become Grandma Lilly's favorite target whenever she needed someone to demonstrate the consequences of carelessness. The stories surrounding his punishment had already become legendary among the trainees. Nobody wanted to discover firsthand how much of those stories had been exaggerated.
The moment the siblings moved far enough away that the recruits could no longer overhear them, Arin looked sideways at Tilly with a curious smile.
"You're really going to tell Grandma Lilly, aren't you?" he asked.
Tilly immediately shook her head so hard that her ponytail swung from side to side.
"Of course not," she replied without hesitation. "I'm not an idiot. If those two confess before I report them, then I'll be the one forced to endure Grandma Lilly's training for withholding information. There is absolutely no way I'm volunteering for that."
She visibly shivered just imagining the possibility. The mere thought of becoming Grandma Lilly's next training partner was enough to send chills down her spine. Arin laughed quietly as he watched her reaction. Even after growing up in the Sonnenberg family, some fears simply never disappeared.
"Good," Arin said with a grin. "Better them than us."
The topic quickly shifted as they continued walking beneath the enormous trees lining the forest path. The rhythmic sound of rainwater dripping from the branches accompanied them while cool summer air flowed through the woods. After spending an entire year away, Arin realized there was one thing he genuinely wanted to know.
"So," he began, "how's school these days? What are they teaching you now?"
It was far from the first time he had come to pick Tilly up after classes. However, things had changed considerably over the past year. Tilly was now fourteen years old and already in her second year of high school, while Arin had spent much of that time away from the forest. She had matured noticeably since he last saw her regularly, leaving behind the mischievous little girl who laughed at nearly everything.
Tilly immediately groaned.
"Don't even mention school," she complained with visible annoyance. "I finally convinced those idiots to stop grading how I draw my bow according to their handbook. Honestly, who came up with that nonsense? A blind grandma could probably shoot faster and more accurately using our family's technique than they can using their precious target-focused method."
Arin couldn't help smiling at her passionate rant.
"Oh?" he asked with genuine curiosity. "Then what happened?"
He could understand why the instructors insisted on teaching their standardized method. From their perspective, it was easier to learn and easier to teach, and it formed the foundation of the Archer class as they knew it. Even so, he also knew something they did not.
"I know you could probably outshoot your instructor even if they brought in an Olympic champion to compete against you," Arin said confidently.
His words weren't meant as an insult toward professional athletes. On the contrary, he had enormous respect for anyone capable of reaching that level of mastery. However, comparing modern sports archery with the techniques passed down through generations inside the Sonnenberg family simply wasn't fair. The environments in which they had been raised were fundamentally different.
"That's exactly what I told them," Tilly answered proudly. "Then I proved it."
Seeing Arin's interested expression, she continued with obvious satisfaction.
"They complained to the principal," she explained. "In the end, he ruled that I was allowed to keep using my own shooting style. The catch was that I had to fire from three times farther away than everyone else, and my target had to be three times smaller."
She couldn't help smiling.
"I passed every single test anyway."
Arin chuckled softly.
"That sounds about right."
"The old principal actually understood the situation," Tilly continued. "Honestly, he was only there to build his résumé before transferring to Berlin. He wanted credit for overseeing a school with outstanding students, so he never cared much about how we achieved those results. As long as we performed well, he left us alone."
Her expression darkened almost immediately afterward.
"Unfortunately, we got a new principal."
The smile vanished from her face as irritation replaced it.
"This one is a complete control freak," she said with obvious frustration. "He's obsessed with enforcing every rule exactly as it's written because he wants everyone to recognize his authority. According to him, I wasn't following the curriculum, which apparently made me a problem student. Ever since then, he's been constantly harassing me over the smallest things."
Arin listened quietly while considering everything she had said. He knew his mother well enough to realize she would never simply accept either side's version of the story without investigating first.
"So," he asked thoughtfully, "I'm guessing Mom already looked into everything before deciding whether you were telling the truth?"
Avela had spent enough years training inside the Crimson Forest that even if she hadn't mastered every stealth technique instinctively, she was still more than capable of observing ordinary teachers without anyone noticing her presence. She always preferred gathering information herself before confronting anyone directly. That habit had saved the family from countless misunderstandings over the years.
Tilly shook her head.
"No," she replied. "I never went to Mom."
She folded her arms across her chest before speaking in a far more serious tone.
"I want him gone."
Her expression left little room for misunderstanding.
"He's making the entire school walk on eggshells because nobody knows when he's going to lose his temper. Sometimes he lashes out at students or teachers for no reason at all. According to my English teacher, he's the son of someone important inside the European Ministry of Education. Apparently, he was transferred here after causing problems at his previous position so everything could quietly blow over before his father arranged another promotion for him."
Arin let out a thoughtful sigh as they continued walking toward the central mansion. "If that's really true, then I understand why you're worried," he admitted while brushing a wet branch out of his way. "But are you sure that story is accurate? Surely someone like that would know who founded this town. We even built another large magic filtering circle here because it was such a profitable location." The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became that the gossip simply couldn't be true.
The entire town existed because of the Sonnenberg family, and almost every major investment had been approved by them. Any official assigned to the region should have received a thorough briefing before arriving, especially someone entrusted with overseeing its only school. It simply made no sense that the son of a high-ranking official would recklessly provoke one of Europe's most influential families. To Arin, the story sounded more like exaggerated school gossip than reality.
"So," Arin asked after a brief silence, "who did you tell about all of this?"
"I told Grandma," Tilly answered cheerfully without the slightest hesitation.
Arin instantly choked on the water he had just taken a sip of. He bent forward while coughing violently, barely managing to stop himself from spraying water across the forest path. Tilly merely tilted her head in confusion, wondering why such a simple answer had produced such an extreme reaction. To her, informing Grandma had seemed like the most natural decision imaginable.
Inside his mind, however, Arin could only scream in horror.
"No... what exactly did that poor bastard do to deserve inviting the living god out of the forest?"
Every member of the Sonnenberg family understood one simple truth. If Grandma Annemiek ever personally decided to involve herself in a matter, then someone had already made a catastrophic mistake. She rarely interfered with everyday affairs, but when she did, even the most stubborn people quickly discovered that refusing her was not an option.
Her authority inside the family was almost absolute. If Grandma Annemiek told Karl, the patriarch of the Sonnenberg family, to turn left, he would never even consider taking a step to the right. It wasn't just because he feared her, but because decades of experience had taught everyone that Lilly never acted without good reason. Arguing with her usually ended with someone realizing far too late that she had been right all along.
Arin slowly lowered the water bottle while letting out a long, defeated sigh. He almost felt sorry for the principal now. If Grandma Annemiek had already decided to investigate the matter personally, then the man's fate had effectively been sealed long before anyone realized it. Whether he had acted out of arrogance, ignorance, or simple incompetence no longer mattered.
"Well..." Arin muttered quietly as they continued walking toward the mansion. "That principal is finished."