DanMachi: It's destined to lose its self.

Kopii examined the boar, but couldn't find his sword anywhere. It wasn't on the way back either. "Where is it? I would have noticed for sure," he thought. Kopii was distracted from his thoughts by the sound of footsteps approaching him. He looked towards the source of the noise and after a few seconds noticed a group of people emerging from behind the trees. There were four of them — adult men. They looked at each other, none of them daring to start a conversation first.

He carefully surveyed them and noticed that one of them had his sword. He immediately became wary. "They were waiting for me." Kopii's eyes narrowed, and his body tensed. They immediately noticed this, and one of them spoke.

"Oh-oh, calm down, we don't wish you any harm," the oldest of them said with a smile. Kopii immediately realized that this was probably their leader. After the man's words, Kopii remained grimly silent, preparing for anything they might have planned.

"I… I understand, this is your sword, kid," said the one who was behind everyone else, he was the youngest. He tossed the sword to Kopii's feet. He hesitated, but picking up the weapon made him feel more confident. After a moment of silence, he said:

"Who are you?"

"We are ordinary travelers," the oldest of them replied.

"And where are you headed, if it's not a secret?" Kopii asked.

"We don't know yet. We were only recently in Orario."

Hearing these words, Kopii hesitated, and his wariness increased even more. "Travelers who don't know where they're going? Ridiculous," Kopii thought. His trust in them was decreasing with each passing second.

"What are your names?"

"Ah, sorry for not introducing ourselves right away. My name is Larsen Valdemar," he introduced himself and looked at the others. He had short dark brown hair with graying at the temples and blue eyes. They all had blue eyes and the same hair.

"My name is Torvin Valdemar," the youngest of them said, stepping out from behind the others.

"And my name is Elric Valdemar," said the bearded man, he was the tallest and largest compared to the others.

"Well, my name is Garvin Valdemar," said the last man. Kopii immediately paid attention to him because he was different from all the others — he had a thin body, long hair, and pale skin. He stood out a lot.

"So you're a family?"

"Yes," Larsen replied and continued, "But you didn't say what your name is."

"My… my name is Kopii."

"Kopii? An unusual name," Larsen remarked.

"What's your last name?" Torvin asked.

"I don't have one. I'm an orphan," Kopii replied.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you," Torvin said.

"It's okay," he replied, continuing to look at them. "It was nice talking to you, but I need to go."

"Where are you headed?" Torvin asked.

"That's not important," Kopii said and went deeper into the forest.

Kopii walked quite far away from them. He only regretted one thing — his dinner, which was lying there. "They probably ate it. I should have taken a piece of that boar with me," Kopii mused, continuing to walk further and further.

Some time later, Kopii sat by the fire and looked at the starry sky, reflecting on what had happened today. The more he thought about this family, the more he doubted them. "Wait, they said they were travelers, but they didn't have anything — no backpacks." After a while, he calmed down: "Maybe they were hunting and left their things at the camp." But no matter how hard Kopii tried, his paranoia only increased. But eventually, he completely calmed down.

He decided to distract himself from such thoughts, he hoped that he was just overreacting. He felt something that he didn't expect to feel on this trip for herbs — it was thirst, but it was only fleeting, so he didn't even notice it at first. It appeared after he killed the boar: "Then, maybe thirst awakens in me when I kill someone. But why, when I killed the boar, was my thirst so small that I didn't even notice it at first, and when I killed the War Shadow, I just lost my mind from thirst?"

"What's the difference? Is it that one is a monster and the other is just an animal? Or is it because of my approach to monsters and animals? Or without realizing it, did I suppress it?" Too many possibilities why this could have happened. But which one is correct, Kopii wanted to know as soon as possible. If he can't control it, he may not stop and will simply die because of it in the future.

"Oh well," Kopii thought, stood up, walked to a tree, and climbed it. No matter how hard he tried to distract himself from the thoughts of those people, he was already paranoid. So he decided to wait out the night in the tree.

The night passed peacefully, nothing disturbed Kopii's sleep. Getting down from the tree, he felt hungry. Thoughts returned to the boar. Kopii imagined how delicious the boar meat would be. The more he thought about the boar, the more he regretted leaving it lying there. "If it weren't for them, I would have eaten well."

He rummaged through his backpack and took out the bread that he had been eating for several days. This was the only food he took with him. Kopii only now realized that it was quite foolish to take only bread. But this bread quickly satisfied his hunger, although the taste was so-so. After eating the bread, Kopii took out a map. Unfolding it, he roughly understood where he was now, but this did not please him — because it was still a long way to the destination.

"Ah," Kopii exhaled, putting the map back in his backpack. He decided not to waste time and continued his journey. After a few hours, Kopii finally left the forest. The sun blinded him, accustomed to the dim light of the forest. A wide valley stretched out before him. Kopii squinted, surveying the surroundings. It was beautiful.

Kopii decided to run to the destination, because if he continued at this pace, he would arrive in a few days, which did not please him.

He rushed forward, his boots slapping on the soft ground. The wind whistled in his ears, bringing the scents of grass and wildflowers. The valley opened up before him, like a huge green carpet, strewn with bright colors. He ran, trying not to think about anything except the road ahead. Just to get there as soon as possible.

After a while, he felt tired. Running was not easy for him, his muscles ached, his breathing became erratic. He slowed down, switching to a brisk walk. He needed to rest before continuing his journey. Kopii looked around for a suitable place to rest. In the distance, he noticed a small grove of trees.

Approaching the grove, Kopii found a small stream flowing along the trees. He squatted down and eagerly drank cool water. Then he took out the remains of the bread from his backpack and ate a little. Silence reigned around, broken only by the singing of birds and the murmur of the stream. Kopii felt the tension gradually leaving his body.

After finishing his snack, Kopii rested a little, leaning against the trunk of a tree. The sun had already begun to set, painting the sky in bright colors. He understood that night would soon come and he would need to look for a place to sleep. Sighing, Kopii got to his feet and headed further, into the valley.

At this pace, Kopii finally reached the destination. He arrived in six days. Kopii lowered his eyes — he needed to go down. It was too high. Kopii decided to leave it for tomorrow and headed to his camp.

Arriving at the camp, he lit a fire, roasted and ate some bird that he caught. Thoughts of the upcoming descent swirled in his head. He knew it wouldn't be easy, but there was no turning back. Wrapped in a cloak, Kopii closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep, but anxiety did not let him rest.

He was now completely sure that his thirst appeared after he killed someone. He was able to answer one of his questions on this trip.