Among the famous modern fairy tales was The Boy Who Cried Wolf.
The boy, bored out of his mind, falsely shouted that a wolf had appeared.
After being fooled several times, the villagers ignored him when a real wolf finally appeared.
"Grrrr—"
Johan's situation was slightly different in that he had never lied, but a wolf had appeared all the same.
And it was a very large one.
"A-A wolf!"
If it had been a lone wolf separated from its pack, they might somehow have managed to deal with it.
But the beast blocking their path looked like the pack leader.
As if to prove it, wolf howls echoed from every direction.
"AWOOOO!"
'So this is how I die.'
Children of noble families began physical training from an early age.
But Johan and his siblings were only eight years old.
Unless one was a once-in-a-generation genius, defeating wolves at that age would not be easy.
'The others can't help much.'
His siblings were more talented than Johan, but unfortunately, this was only their first life.
No matter how much talent they possessed, time was equally limited for everyone.
The wolf did not attack immediately.
It simply stared at Johan.
Johan might have been trash-tier, but that did not mean he had never hunted beasts or weak monsters before.
It was waiting for its prey to fall into confusion.
He absolutely could not let it look down on them.
'What should I do?'
Johan had a Speed Adjustment.
And because auto-progression had kept practicing mana breathing diligently, he had accumulated a chick's tear-sized amount of Mana as well.
If he truly wanted to flee, he could probably escape by himself.
"A wolf…… I've only ever seen one in books……."
"You idiot! We need to run!"
While Johan and the pack leader stared each other down, his siblings moved on their own.
Ordinary children might have frozen and cried in terror, but the four of them reacted differently.
Yodu, the second child, hid Yona, the fourth, behind his back and showed his determination to protect his younger sister.
Only then did Yona snap back to her senses.
Clutching her book tightly in both hands, she glared at the wolf.
Yodu, perhaps feeling that he had to act like a man, drew his wooden sword.
Yoser, the youngest by only a few minutes, formed a clumsy Magic Missile as well.
'Yoser made a Magic Missile?'
The child who always begged them to play house turned out to be a magical genius.
For someone with ordinary talent, forming their first Circle required an amount of money equal to the Barony of Raks's entire annual budget.
'I've decided.'
Even if it killed him, he would protect his siblings.
He could regress if he died anyway.
His siblings, on the other hand, only had one life.
The System had said they would appear as helpers later, but Yodu, Yosen, Yona, and Yoser—
His lazily named siblings, whose names had simply been taken from two, three, four, and five, could only be seen in this particular life.
Having made his decision, Johan gave them an order.
"You four, stand back-to-back. Even if the wolves charge, don't separate under any circumstances. Work together and hold out as long as you can."
"Okay!"
"What about you, Brother?"
Yodu, the most mature of the four, asked him.
Johan gave him a reassuring smile.
"Your brother has to take down the strongest one."
There was no need to make them anxious by saying things like he would definitely protect them or that they had to survive.
What mattered was making them believe that they absolutely would not die.
"I knew it! That's our brother!"
"Leave the others to me! I'll protect them!"
"Be careful……."
"When we get home……."
While Johan was listening to the youngest, Yoser, he noticed the pack leader's entire body tense.
He could not even read the play of a person's muscles properly while sparring, so he had no idea how he had read the tension in a fur-covered beast.
But none of that mattered.
All he had to do was protect his siblings.
SHING—
He drew the longsword at his waist.
It had been made for a child, but unlike a wooden sword, it had a sharpened edge.
'Cheers to auto-progression Johan for making a big fuss about killing monsters and bringing a real sword.'
THUMP!
Johan kicked off the ground.
The auto-progressing Johan had never properly utilized the adjustment.
But the moment the real Johan regained control, carrying all his memories with him, the Speed Adjustment that had been wasting away finally revealed its power.
'Three steps are enough.'
The firmness and angle of the ground, the positions of rocks and tree roots that could interfere with his movement, the resistance of the wind—
He did not understand absolutely everything, but he grasped most of it instinctively.
With only a few steps, Johan reached the pack leader.
The wolf, caught off guard by how fast a child could move, howled in surprise.
"AWOOOO—!"
At the sound, every hidden wolf rushed out.
Even while moving quickly, Johan counted them.
'Two. Three total with the leader.'
There were fewer than he expected.
The pack seemed to have formed only recently.
Taking that as good news, Johan thrust his longsword at the wolf.
SWISH- SLASH!
The blade cut through its hide and drew blood, but—
'Too shallow.'
The leader snarled in fury and swiped with its forepaw.
WHOOSH!
Clicking his tongue, Johan swiftly dodged.
If only he had a Strength Adjustment on top of the Speed Adjustment.
Even with that chick's tear-sized amount of Mana assisting him, an eight-year-old child's strength was far too weak.
"GRRAAAGH!"
The other two wolves roared and lunged at Johan from both sides.
If he stepped aside at the last moment, he could probably counterattack, but the leader was waiting for exactly such an opening.
To make sure it attacked him instead of his siblings, Johan rolled across the ground.
The Speed Adjustment made even rolling faster.
The instant his shoulder touched the ground, his posture shifted and he kicked off the earth to spring upright.
"GRRAAAGH—?"
The leader, which had thought it had found an opening, hesitated in surprise.
Johan was about to stab into that opening when he heard Yoser shout.
"Magic Arrow!"
It was a spell name Yoser had invented herself because she had never received formal magical training.
WHIZZ—
Even so, a clearly formed arrow of magic shot through the air.
Perhaps because of her lack of experience, however, it was headed toward a spot the wolf could easily evade with a small movement.
As Johan watched the wolf begin to dodge, intuition struck him.
'Its hide is thicker than I thought. We have to land that spell.'
If the fight dragged on, the wolves might turn on his siblings.
He had to kill them quickly.
"Die!!"
Johan charged and forced the wolf into a choice.
Would it let him stab out its eye?
Or would it let the Magic Arrow pierce its flank?
The beast, unfamiliar with magic, chose the latter.
It pulled its head back to protect its eyes and twisted its body enough to avoid being pierced through the heart, but—
THUNK!
The Magic Arrow struck its flank cleanly.
"YELP—!"
The wolf let out a final cry.
They had reduced the number of wolves from three to two.
But Johan did not escape unharmed.
CRUNCH!
The pack leader, which had been waiting for an opening, caught Johan's shoulder.
He twisted away in time to avoid a fatal wound, but the attack still left him badly hurt.
"Brother!"
"Brother!!"
His siblings screamed.
Johan rolled backward to avoid the wolf's follow-up attack and shouted at them at the same time.
"Hold your positions!"
"But……."
"I'm fine, so protect Yoser! This doesn't even hurt!"
In truth, it hurt badly.
Every movement made the wound burn, but Johan endured through sheer determination to protect his siblings.
"Yoser! Can you fire another arrow?"
"One more! It's hard!"
"I'll keep the wolves busy! Aim for an opening!"
Johan changed his stance.
He did not need to dodge every attack perfectly.
He did not even need to wound them.
He only had to keep them from reaching his siblings and keep them inside the path of Yoser's next arrow.
Realizing who the greater threat was, the leader roared.
The remaining wolf tried to rush toward the siblings, and Johan stepped directly into its path.
"Look at me!"
He shouted and swung his longsword.
It was clumsy because he was using his left hand instead of his usual right, but it was enough to block the wolf's route.
The battle turned into Johan desperately struggling to stop the wolves from killing Yoser.
"GRRAAAGH!"
Johan blocked a forepaw head-on.
CLANG!
"Ugh……."
By dragging up every last trace of Mana he possessed, he managed to disperse the impact after retreating only a few steps.
But that single defense emptied every last drop of his already tiny Mana reserve.
'Now it's a battle of willpower.'
His body creaked.
The body of an eight-year-old screamed at him that it had had enough and wanted to rest.
Johan forced it to obey anyway.
WHISH-!
He ducked beneath a swipe of claws.
Then he stepped forward and thrust the longsword upward.
THUNK—
The sword tip, dulled by repeated clashes, struck into the wolf's neck.
An eight-year-old child's strength was not enough to pierce the hide.
The furious wolf swung its forepaws wildly.
With both sides blocked, Johan dropped backward onto the ground.
Sharp claws swept over his head.
'Phew…….'
The skin must have been grazed.
He felt a warm trickle run down his forehead.
"……!!"
Someone was shouting, but he could no longer make out the words.
'I'm exhausted.'
Should he just collapse?
No. The wolves were still standing.
Unlike Johan, both of them were still in fighting shape.
There had been many times when he regretted having no talent, but never had he felt it as painfully as today.
Still, it was fine.
Unlike Johan, he had talented siblings.
'Ah.'
He had let his attention drift and lost track of one of the wolves.
"Grrr-"
The leader curled its lips as if mocking Johan.
In a single rush, the other wolf closed in on his siblings and opened its jaws wide to swallow Yoser.
THUD!
At the critical moment, Yodu and Yosen charged together and blocked it.
"……!"
"Ugh!"
The impact knocked them down, but Yoser was not eaten.
WHOOSH—
The wolf swiped again.
Yona thrust out the thick book she always carried.
THUD!
Yona's body lifted off the ground and flew backward, but the book blocked the claws and kept them from striking directly into her.
"……!!"
WHOOOOOM-
At last, another Magic Arrow formed in front of Yoser.
Unlike the previous one, this arrow spun as it launched at terrifying speed.
WHIIIIIZ- BOOM!
The Magic Arrow struck cleanly and dropped the wolf.
'We got it.'
Exhausted, Yoser collapsed.
Yodu and Yosen were getting back to their feet, but they were still unable to fight properly.
Johan smirked at the pack leader, which had stopped mocking him and begun attacking ferociously instead.
"I won."
Whether Johan himself survived was not part of how he judged victory.
He could regress anyway.
So what if he died once or twice?
The wolf lunged.
Johan's legs had lost their strength, making it too late to evade cleanly.
'I never planned to back away in the first place.'
He endured the hit and used the opening for one last counterattack.
'If I can't get through its hide with strength, I need to aim for a vulnerable spot.'
STAB—!
Johan's desperate thrust found its mark near the leader's eye.
"YELP—!!"
The leader screamed and hurled Johan aside.
By then, Johan could barely feel anything.
Lying there like a puppet with its strings cut, Johan saw one final message before losing consciousness.
[Achievement Acquired]
[Defeated a Wolf Pack at Age Eight]
'So the leader died too.'
That meant every threat to his siblings was gone.
Johan closed his eyes in peace.
.
.
.
His vision went dark and then brightened again.
But this was not the mental realm where the Status Window usually tried to tempt him.
'Hmm?'
A tip message appeared before the confused Johan.
[TIP. Prospective customers possessing an Otherworlder's Soul may glimpse a little of the future after death.]
WHOOSH— BOOM!
A red-haired man swung a greatsword from the front line, cutting down monsters.
'It was like this when I earned Legendary Womanizer too.'
It seemed the System was showing him a future changed by his actions.
Soon, his view shifted away from the man and toward a fortress wall.
"Oil!"
"We're out!"
"Then boil water and pour that instead! The western wall is about to fall! Send in one hundred reserves!"
A man with long blond hair shouted himself hoarse as he commanded the battlefield.
His vision shifted again.
A woman was frantically tearing through books.
"I found it……."
The last scene showed a woman with long, straight hair bringing down a rain of fire.
FWOOOOOSH-
"Yoser's Rain of Flame!"
Only then did Johan realize who they were.
They were all his siblings.
In order: Yodu, Yosen, Yona, and Yoser.
'They all grew up incredibly well.'
Johan was not someone who cried easily, but tears came to his eyes.
The scene changed again.
His siblings, who had each been active in different regions, retreated toward the County of Raks after being driven back by monsters or forced to flee pursuers.
'Hm? When did it become a county?'
In any case, they had returned to the old barony.
Unlike the days when only the inner fortress had existed, the territory now had an outer wall and many other new structures.
But the outer wall had already collapsed, and monsters had occupied the road leading to the inner fortress.
The soldiers on the inner wall were fighting desperately, but it looked like only a matter of time before the monsters overran them.
What in the world had happened?
If the System was going to show him the future, it could at least explain who, when, where, what, how, and why.
'This is way too frustrating.'
The four siblings entered the territory through different routes.
Ignoring the monsters, each of them headed for the cemetery.
When the four reunited there, they stared at one another in surprise.
"You came too? Yoser, shouldn't you be at the Magic Tower?"
"The Tower Master was taken down, and most of the mages died. What about you two? They said the front had collapsed. So it was true."
"Well, yeah."
"Still…… it's good to see all of you again."
After saying a few words to her brothers and younger sister, Yona placed a book beside a gravestone.
"You're all thinking the same thing…… right?"
"Heh."
Yodu let out a hollow laugh.
Then he removed the badge from his chest and placed it beside the book.
"Yeah. We're probably going to die soon anyway. We should at least say goodbye to our parents and Brother one last time."
Yosen placed a longsword broken in half beside the other belongings.
"I became a Sword Master. Second Brother was the commander responsible for the southern front."
"Why are you telling them my part?"
"Payback for…… when was it? Two years ago? Three?"
"I was Vice Tower Master."
Noise rumbled in the distance.
BOOOOM-!
The earth groaned and dust erupted into the air.
"I was…… a grave robber……."
"You're a royally certified archaeologist. Why call yourself a grave robber? And why leave out the fact that you're the Crown Prince's teacher?"
"The Crown Prince is dead……. Along with the King……."
The mood grew solemn.
The four of them fell silent, but their surroundings did not.
Human screams and monster roars filled the area.
Before long, a black shape rose above the grave.
Johan's view began to rise, then stopped and fixed itself on his siblings.
Yodu, the second of the quintuplets, muttered hollowly.
"Would things have been different if Brother Johan were still here?"