At this point, most of the day had been

  spent walking from one side of the town to the other, again and again.

  The frustration was getting to Sebastian, but he didn’t let it distract

  him, not when a child’s life was on the line.

  The cabin was dilapidated, seemingly abandoned for

  decades. Sebastian frowned. As this was a short walk outside of town,

  there wasn’t really anything around the cabin either either. Just an

  overgrown grove and old empty crates next to a broken wagon.

  He took a few minutes to look around, searching for some

  sign of life. If this was a hang-out for low-lives, surely there would

  be something.

  The inside was in a similar state. There was a couch,

  dried up and partly torn. In the corner was a table, two of its legs

  were broken off at different points so it slanted quite heavily.

  Damnit… He must have seen me coming and got away again. If he was ever here in the first place, that is.

  He stepped back outside and took a deep breath to calm

  down. It failed. His frustration couldn’t be suppressed, and he let

  loose a scream as he kicked a metal bucket off to the side of the cabin.

  It flew into the trees, clanking as it bounced around the grove.

  Although it wasn’t very productive, it did help him feel

  better. He took another deep breath, this time successful in calming

  himself.

  A ruffle drew his attention. Movement, in the grove.

  He activated his [Mind’s Eye] to see if he could get a

  lock on the thief. Instead, two dozen cebids surrounded the area, baring

  teeth and ready to pounce, hidden by their Inherent Stealth Skill.

  “Oh shit!”

  Sebastian made for the door, hurrying inside as the pack

  of monkey monsters pounced. They crashed against the door just as he

  closed it behind him. He leaned all his weight against it, keeping them

  out, but his face dropped when he realized his mistake. Another dozen

  cebids were inside the cabin as well.

  Although he had seen them with his [Mind’s Eye], keeping

  track of everything while instinctively ducking for cover under extreme

  duress proved more difficult than expected.

  “Fuck!”

  He barely got the word out before the monkeys jumped him.

  The force caused him to crash back out through the door, which was

  unable to hold under the pressure.

  Buried under a horde of cebids clawing and biting at him, Sebastian desperately protected his eyes.

  Fortunately, none of them were very high leveled. They

  were even weaker than the kobolds, so their claws and teeth couldn’t do

  much more than scrape at this skin. Although, his clothes didn’t fare as

  well as his body did.

  “Alright, that’s enough!” he shouted as he flailed his arms and kicked his legs, sending monkeys flying around him.

  Once he was back on his feet, Sebastian

  drew his sword and swung wildly. Much like with the kobolds, he lost

  himself to the chaos. Unlike with the kobolds, however, these cebids

  turned out to not be much of a threat. Their main thing was their invisibility, which Sebastian’s spiritual sense negated.

  One by one, the monkeys were cut in half. To their

  credit, none of them relented. He wasn’t sure what he had done to piss

  them off so much, but they were untethered and their rage knew no

  bounds.

  Are they all controlled by Redin? He

  was… what, maybe level 20 or something like that. It’s already

  impressive that he could control upward of a dozen of these things, but

  to control all of them would be insane. That would make the [Tamer]

  Title extremely overpowered.

  Although the cebids were fairly weak, there were a lot of

  them, and their invisibility meant that he had to keep his [Mind’s Eye]

  active for the entire fight. Not only was it mentally exhausting, it

  was disorientating. He could see them all clearly, but figuring out

  exactly which way to move his body was dizzying. Much like if you try to

  draw a picture looking only through a mirror, your brain needs to

  adjust, to rewire itself.

  Gradually, Sebastian did just that.

  He moved around, avoiding being overrun by the monsters.

  As their numbers dropped, he regained a sense of control over the

  situation.

  Step, swing, step, step, swing again.

  They are actually much weaker than I

  expected, or should I say, I am a lot stronger than I think I am. At

  level 24, I’m now at the same level as those trainees we saw at the

  castle. They could destroy the side of a building in a single Spell.

  Granted, they were mages with

  destructive magic, and I don’t really have any Skills or offensive

  Techniques yet, but still. Physically, I am superhuman.

  The realization gave rise to a wave of confidence, of

  pride. He had survived everything this world had thrown at him, and even

  though he was currently running for his life, in all the ways that

  mattered, he was flourishing.

  As he adjusted to the situation, and to using his

  spiritual sense while moving, he noticed something. Some of the cebids

  looked different through his [Mind’s Eye], darker. It wasn’t a matter of

  their physical appearance but rather their essence.

  That lighter shade, that how the

  cebids back at the house looked. They were under his control. Does that

  mean that those three monkeys are under Redin’s control as well? That

  must be it! Some are wild—this is likely their nest—and he keeps some

  who are under his control to influence the wild ones.

  I can use that!

  He moved with purpose, now that he had a plan.

  Each cebid with that lighter shade of essence was killed,

  all except one. Then he went after the others. With each dead monkey

  that fell to the ground, the last remaining tamed monster became visibly

  more and more distressed.

  When the wild population was brought down to single digits, it ran. It abandoned its wild kin and ran back toward the town.

  Sebastian kicked a final cebid into the grove and took

  off after the one that ran, hoping to follow the fleeing monster to its

  master. As he ran, his head pounded. The continued use of his [Mind’s

  Eye] was causing a brutal headache, but he had no choice but to

  persevere.

  The cebid ran for quite some time. With

  every step, however, Sebastian grew more and more suspicious. He knew

  the path the monkey was taking, it was the same one he himself took on

  his way to cabin, after all. A half hour later, his suspicion proved

  correct.

  He was back at The Boarish Butter.

  It didn’t go in the main door but rather ran around to

  the back of the building. There it went to a bulkhead cellar door. It

  moved to open it, straining to lift the heavy wood. Sebastian dashed up

  to it, and cut it down before it made it inside. He didn’t enter, not

  into the basement. He stopped by the side of the house and made use of

  his [Mind’s Eye] to peer into lower level of the building.

  Motherfucker…

  Alton Redin reclined on a sofa in the basement, eating a sandwich. Next to him, unconscious on the floor, lay William.

  Every fiber of Sebastian’s body screamed at him to rush

  right in and take William. He took a deep breath, and he restrained

  himself. Although it would be satisfying to barge in, punch the man in

  the face, and bring William back to the train right now, it would likely

  invite more trouble. This man, Alton Redin, clearly still had some pull

  in this town, if the guard officer’s reaction was anything to go off.

  Also, the owner of The Boarish Butter clearly lied to him, but he may

  very well have been telling the truth about the fact that the Redin

  family would go to great lengths to deal with anyone who hurt a member

  of their family, outcast or not.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  To make things worse, time was running out. It was now

  around dinner time and the train was set to leave at sundown. Sebastian

  only had a few hours to do something.

  He deactivated his [Mind’s Eye] and rubbed his fingers

  against his temples in an attempt to soothe the crushing headache. Using

  his spiritual sense for so long had drained him. His mind struggled.

  Even so, he forced himself to think of a plan.

  After another deep breath, he smiled and hurried off toward the center of town.

  ***

  The Boarish Butter was nearly at capacity with dinner

  guests when Sebastian returned. Even after the thefts earlier in the

  day, people still needed to eat. The fact that most of the stolen items

  had been returned to their rightful owners also helped settle doubts.

  Sebastian stood a few steps into the tavern holding a

  large cloth or blanket wrapped around something surprisingly heavy for

  its size.

  He took a moment and listened to the conversations around

  the various tables. People, mostly travelers making their way across

  the country for all kinds of reasons. All of them enjoying some much

  needed change from what had become the norm over the past few weeks.

  Then he reached his hand inside the cloth and pulled out a dead cebid, or most of one at least.

  “Monsters!” he called out, holding the corpse of the slain monster over head. “There are monsters here!”

  Chaos erupted, much like it did earlier that same day.

  Patrons screamed and scurried to the door. Although the owner tried to

  stop them, to convince them that there had been a misunderstanding, he

  failed.

  Soon, the place was empty.

  “What in the hells do you think you are doing!?” he asked Sebastian, spittle practically flying out of his mouth in anger.

  Sebastian threw the dead cebid on the floor in front of the owner, bringing the man to a stop as he was stomping up toward him.

  The owner stared at the creature, his mind racing.

  “What— Uh, what is this thing?” he asked. “Is this the

  monster that have been causing all this trouble, robbing my customers?

  Thank you, for putting an end to it,” he said, changing his attitude on

  the drop of a hat as he realized that Sebastian didn’t budge, that he

  showed no sign of being intimidated. “Although, I’m not sure there was a

  need to disrupt my business for it.”

  “That isn’t the monster I spoke of,” Sebastian said. His

  eyes were locked on the man but more of his attention was on the

  basement through his [Mind’s Eye]. Redin hadn’t even reacted to the

  noise.

  “What do you mean? What other monster could there be?”

  “Bring them up from the basement, now.”

  “Who—“

  “Now,” Sebastian said as he placed a hand on his sword.

  The owner flinched. He drew heavy breaths before blinking

  and yielding. After a silent nod, he walked back behind the bar. There

  was a string on the side of the wall. A quick tug sent a signal to the

  basement, a small bell on the side of the wall down there rang.

  Redin jumped, startled at the sudden sound. Through his

  spiritual sense, Sebastian could sense the man stir, considering what

  the bell meant for him and what options he had. Then he walked up the

  stairs, leaving William on the basement floor.

  His head poked out as he carefully opened the basement door.

  “It’s alright, Alton,” the owner said. “Come out.”

  Redin stepped out. “What’s going on, why did you call me

  up here?” he asked, before seeing Sebastian stand there. “You! What

  are—“

  “Hand over the boy,” Sebastian said, leaving no room for negotiation.

  Redin laughed, a guttural guffaw. “And why would I do

  that? I took the kid for a reason, a reason you seem to have blatantly

  ignored.”

  Sebastian sighed. “How much longer, Chief?”

  The guard officer stepped out from behind a corner,

  having hidden inside the tavern with the earlier guests. “That should be

  plenty.”

  Both the owner and Redin froze. Their faces dropped.

  Redin took off in a sprint toward the back door. When he was halfway

  there, it slammed open. Three guards rushed in and grabbed him.

  “No! You can’t do this! My father won’t let you!”

  The officer looked at him with a proud grin. “Please,

  Alton, we both know he won’t do anything. Not when you’ve been caught

  red-handed. You’re under arrest for thievery and kidnapping.”

  Sebastian went down to the basement to get little William.

  Having little to no interest in staying in The Boarish

  Butter, or the town in general, he carried the still unconscious boy

  back to the train.

  It’s for the best that he’s out for this, Sebastian thought to himself. It’ll make it easier on him when he wakes up.

  There was still some time until sundown, but the sun was

  moving steadily for the horizon. A warm glow lit up the town as he

  approached the train. Verrill had apparently been pressed up against the

  window ever since he came back, just waiting anxiously for any news of

  his grandson. When he saw Sebastian bringing him back, he sprinted out

  of the train car and almost tackled Sebastian.

  Holding his grandson in a death grip, one the boy would

  most certainly be complaining about if he were awake, he thanked

  Sebastian with his whole heart, again and again. “Thank you! Thank you.

  Thank you.” Each time was quieter than the last. In the end, Sebastian

  didn’t even feel like it was directed at him any more, just a silent

  sincere whisper of gratitude to the powers that be.

  They returned to their seats, where Professor Ridgeley and Marcel greeted Sebastian.

  “Good man,” Ridgeley said along with a nod and a pat on his shoulder.

  A doctor, or medic working on the train checked the boy

  out, confirming that he was fine. They had used a sleeping elixir to

  keep him unconscious. It would wear off in a matter of hours.

  As they waited for William to wake up, they talked and had some dinner. Eventually, Marcel couldn’t hold his tongue anymore.

  “How did you get the guards to help? They didn’t seem very friendly.”

  Sebastian chuckled. “The lady we spoke to by the old

  lumber works, she said that the guards had been there several times,

  looking for Redin. I hoped that meant that they wanted to arrest him but

  could only do so if they caught him in the act. Turns out, I was right.

  They couldn’t do anything that might cross a line with the Redin

  family, but if they caught him red-handed, there would be nothing

  stopping them. So I managed to convince them that they could finally

  arrest him. Which they did.”

  The four continued talking for the rest of the night.

  Over the course of the last leg of the journey, Sebastian

  managed to squeeze in some basic rundowns of the other Techniques in

  the manual. This excursion had reminded him how much he was lacking in

  that department.

  A few days later, they came up on Luxendorf.

  The train wouldn’t actually be entering the city itself

  but rather circle it and stop on the other side, on the edge of the

  city, where it would unpack everything before filling it back up with

  various wares and such from the city to be shipped back to the capital

  in a week.

  As they approached the city, Sebastian’s jaw dropped as

  he looked out the window. He never got a chance to see the capital,

  besides wandering around the castle grounds, and all he had ever seen of

  the kingdom was a few towns of varying sizes. If anyone was paying any

  attention to him they would think he was a country bumpkin seeing the

  big city for the first time, which to some extent was true in spite of

  how familiar he was with big cities back on earth.

  Luxendorf, however, was nothing like anything he’d ever seen before, and so far all he had seen was the outside wall.

  The city was walled in by a massive stone wall, standing

  upward of 50 meters tall, glistening with magic under the light of the

  afternoon sun, with large towers at regular intervals.

  What truly impressed Sebastian wasn’t the mighty wall

  itself but rather the scars of countless battles the city had overcome

  over centuries, or however long the city had existed. The wall was

  covered in markings ranging from minor imperfections to massive claw

  marks, the biggest being several meters wide and about a dozen meters

  long.

  Even with all of Sebastian’s rather traumatic encounters

  of the dangers of this world, he still had never quite realized how real

  those dangers were. Fighting a goblin or even a gnoll was one thing,

  but the mere fact that monsters existed capable of leaving any marks at

  all on a wall like this, let alone such a massive one, sent a shiver

  down his spine.

  Sebastian’s mind wandered to the people he had just met,

  in that small town just a few days before. He naturally placed himself

  in the shoes of those who live there. The fear of knowing that at any

  day powerful monsters could attack them. And knowing that the monster

  that left that mark would barely even notice any resistance as it

  destroyed the town.

  His thoughts were interrupted by a dozen shadows flitting

  across the sky. He instinctively activated his [Mind’s Eye]. Just as

  his Skill activated, one of the figures landed on the opposite side of

  the train.

  Bam!

  With his spiritual sense in full effect, Sebastian both

  saw and felt the ground beneath the figure form a small crater and send

  out a shock wave through the earth. The outside of the train shook from

  the combined impact of a dozen of these figures landing next to it with a

  powerful force.

  The inside, however, remained completely unaffected as

  the magical arrays flowing through the walls, the floor, and the ceiling

  of the train perfectly canceled out even the slightest tremor. As if

  the two were entirely separate worlds.

  Cheers erupted from around the train as passengers in all

  cars were both happy to finally arrive and to see the famed protectors

  of the city.

  The figures escorted the train as it traveled along the

  city wall, ensuring that if any monster were to attack from the forest

  beyond the grassy field, they wouldn’t get anywhere near the train.

  Now that Sebastian had gotten a better understanding of

  just how powerful the monsters of this world could be, a sense of relief

  washed over him, knowing that the train was protected.

  Along with that sense of relief also came a feeling of shame.

  Ever since he escaped the gorge, he had this growing

  feeling like he was powerful, invincible even. This latest conflict with

  a horde of cebids had only exacerbated that feeling, cemented it in his

  mind. He believed he could handle anything this world could throw at

  him, but he was reminded of an old proverb he read about in novels back

  home—he was a frog in a well.

  Sebastian used his [Mind’s Eye] Skill to look at a

  guardian running alongside the train, dressed in all black with a large

  sword on their back—who was most certainly much stronger than himself,

  and reminded himself of his goals.

  Nothing would stop him from becoming the strongest being

  in this world, and nothing would stop him from taking revenge on those

  who sought to take everything from him.

  Sidekick Fights Back

  by TheLazyDreamer

  Arya died suddenly after touching a mysterious object—only to awaken in a world of cultivation and supernatural power.

  Reborn as Su Kang, a prodigy of the Su family, he quickly befriended Li Fang, and together they embarked on countless adventures.

  But Li Fang had a habit of face-slapping anyone who crossed him. Protected by his protagonist's halo, he feared no consequences, leaving a trail of enemies wherever he went.

  As a loyal friend, Su Kang did his best to help him—only to watch helplessly as Li Fang’s harem grew, while those around him kept dying. Even Su Kang’s own fiancée eventually fell for Li Fang.

  In the end, Su Kang’s family was destroyed, and he himself was killed by the very enemies Li Fang had made.

  But fate has given Su Kang a second chance.

  This time, he refuses to be a mere sidekick. With knowledge of the future and the same mysterious fragment that once killed him, Su Kang will forge his own path—and challenge the so-called Child of Destiny.

  Yet as he fights against fate, one twist he never expected: he ends up secretly marrying Li Fang’s beautiful mother.

  In a world of broken justice, warring sects, ancient secrets, and ruthless elites—can a former sidekick rise to become a true force to be reckoned with?

  What to Expect:

  ? Cunning Protagonist

  ? Rich World-Building

  ? Unique Destiny Manipulation (LitRPG-Adjacent)

  ? Romance and Family Building

  ? Epic Conflicts and Intriguing Mysteries

  [Winner of Writathon Challenge, April 2025]

  Chapter length: 1.4–1.6K words