“Any reports from our agent?”

“No master, we didn’t any news from her in a week.”

“Hmm…”

Two man dressed in black stand in front of each other in a dark room, with only a few torches illuminating it. The walls are made of stone with pillars supporting them. Small sounds can be heard like water dropping and little squeaks from mouses, or possibly rats.

The man who who was called master, has a rugged face and hair long enough to reach his shoulders. His silver but greenish hair makes his head noticeable in this dark room, in contrast to his attire.

The other man is younger, but he’s in his 30’s. Short blue hair covers the top of his head.

“Those two, where are they currently?” The old man asks in a tired voice.

“Our agents say they just left Bellmare a few days ago.”

“I see… Consider that girl killed in action. But if she appears, ask her why she didn’t report sooner. I’ll leave her penalty to your judgement.”

“Yes master.”

“Such a pity… She was our best shot to kill that noble, with her Inner Magic skills…”

“We overestimated her.”

“Maybe, or we underestimated our target. I wonder who killed her, the Servant or the girl...”

“...”

The old man turns his back and looks at some rats eating a human hand on the ground.

“Do you have another plan, master?”

“Hmm… I wonder…”

“Master?”

“I have an idea, but I need to work on it. We have too little time to risk any more failures.”

“I see… Please let me know as soon you’re ready, master.”

“I will, I will.”

Silence follows.

This would be the time for the younger man to leave the room, but he doesn’t.

“Do you have any questions, Tharbor?”

“Yes, if you allow me to speak freely.”

“I do. Speak your mind.”

“We, the Black Poison, never killed anyone without a contract, so why are we pursuing those two? There’s no profit to be gained.”

“Oh, you’re wrong child. The profit to be made with the white mage is greater than we ever gained.”

“...”

“Our own survival is the profit, child.”

“U-uh?” The man stutters, but he quickly composes himself. “E-Excuse my rudeness. I don’t understand master.”

“Tell me one thing child, did you ever hear about Black Poison in the other continent, from the Empire?”

“Hum, no. Now that master mentions it, I never heard or even wondered about them. Why master?”

“It’s simple child. You never did because they don’t exist anymore.”

“...”

“Once, our organization was present in every corner of this world, and our network was second to none. However, that changed centuries ago.”

“Changed?”

“If there’s one good thing I can say about the Empire, is that they are not incompetent. Oh sure, they can be as petty and arrogant as our nobles here, but they work together. All their problems are resolved with politics. They don’t resort to assassination like our dear nobles here.” He takes a deep breath. “As a result, they don’t take kindly to any underground guilds, especially ours. Everyone associated with the Black Poison was exterminated.”

“I-I see…”

“My antecessors tried many times to reestablish there, but they were never successful. As soon the Empire heard even the smallest rumor that we were there, they would pursue us like rats and squash us once we were cornered.”

“I understand… I never noticed, or imagined about… I’m really sorry master, I’m ashamed.”

“Do not worry child. You’re not the only one who never thought about this.”

“Yes, but I’m the Second. I should be aware of everything.”

“You should be aware of what’s important child… But anyway, I caught wind that the Empire is closer to invade our continent. Maybe in few weeks even.”

“I understand. If they invade us, we will have serious problems on our hands. But… Is the Empire really that strong? Aren’t our country's strong enough to fend them off?”

“No, not by a long shot. Not even if the white Servant helped them.”

“I-I… I mean, how? Are their armies really that big?”

“They are big, but not that big. If it was just the armies, our white friend would do the trick. However…”

The old man turns his head to his subordinate.

“However...?” The man asks, dying to know the rest.

“However, years ago, I heard that they summoned a Servant much stronger than him. Strong enough that I would dare to say that he could play around with our friend and not break a single sweat.”

“Surely…”

The man is at a loss for words.

“I wish this was just my imagination, but sadly… I never saw that Servant, or confirmed the rumors, but I trust my sources. They never failed me before, and they aren’t now.”

“Sources?”

“They are just merchants who dare to trade with the other continent. Although the governments don’t acknowledge the trading officially, they leave the merchants be and trade freely, as long they pay the right amount of gold of course... Those merchants are the only source of news from the other side.”

“And they said that there is another powerful Servant?”

“No. What they say is that the Empire’s God descended from the skies to watch over his children... They tell tales of how that ‘God’ can raise montains, create seas and bring rain as he wishes without stopping.”

“Sounds powerful…”

“Please child, even our white Servant can do that. The problem is that our friend would need to rest to restore his mana, while that ‘God’ can do all that without stopping, according to the rumours. And if those rumors are true, that means that his mana reserves are greater.”

“I see… If he is that powerful, I can imagine why they would believe he is a God. No, why he is a true God.”

“Don’t believe those lies, child.” The old man looks at him in the eyes. “Gods don’t exist. Gods are just fictional characters created to explain what our minds cannot comprehend. That ‘God’ is just a powerful Servant. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“Hmm.” The man closes his eyes for a moment.

This is not the first moment that their beliefs clashed.

The young man believes that there is something more. There’s something that created, or helped to create, everything. He doesn’t follow any religion in particular, but he is also not an atheist.

The old man is an atheist, and believes that every religion is just rubbish created by the greed of men who want to steal from ignorant people. He believes that every religion is just like Black Poison, they only exist to profit. But at least Black Poison is honest about their line of work and don’t lie to their clients with empty lies and false hope that ‘someone’ will save them as long they pray.

The old man realizes that he, once again, tried to impose his beliefs on his subordinate. He averts his eyes in shame.

“Forgive me, child.”

“Please, don’t worry about it, master.”

This was not the first time that this happened, so he immediately knew what the old man meant.

The old man clears his throat. “Anyway, we need to get our hands on our white haired friend before the Empire attacks. There’s a way to beat that Empire’s Servant, but we will need to get rid of the girl and capture our friend first.”

“Alright. I’ll make the preparations for a new plan.”

“Please do.”

The man bows and leaves the room.

The old man sighs and then takes a small crystal from his pocket.

It’s a dark, pure black crystal. It’s as if it was made of darkness. Not even light from the sun itself can penetrate it.

“If everything else fails, I can always use you.” He mutters.

************************

>

It’s been two days since we left that damned city.

It seems that my luck is predetermined when it comes to that place. First I failed to conquer it, then this.

We are walking on a small dirt road, under the bright sun, heading north. Nora walks besides me, while I carry the bag on my shoulder.

We are currently heading for the Yarrin village. We took some rides from merchants and farmers. But now we are heading East, towards the coast where the village is.

She told me what happened at the mansion. She said that I died right in front of her, full of arrows. She said that I even disintegrated. As she was crying, time seemed to move backwards and I was alive again.

Honestly, I don’t know what to think. I knew that we weren’t normal, I knew that our relationship was different from other Masters and Servants, but this is just another level.

And if that wasn’t weird enough, she said that she heard a voice. That told her to annul her orders.

Just wonderful. What’s next? There’s another me with rabbit ears watching us right now?

… Of course not... Right?

I look around, just in case. There’s no one around, just me and Nora.

Obviously there isn’t anyone around! Much less another me with rabbit ears... Hahaha…. I’m becoming paranoid…

God, if you exist, you must be having one heck of a ride with me. I swear that if I catch you, I’m going to snap your neck in two!

“Please Al.” Nora voice comes from my side.

Oh, I almost forgot, there was also another side effect. Because Nora promised that she would never give me orders again, she now adds ‘please’ in every, single, sentence. I am not kidding. Every. Single. Sentence.

As long her words are directed at me, she adds please. Although I appreciate the thought and carefulness, this is driving me nuts.

She meant Al. She was just calling me.

“Woman, I’m telling you, stop that!”

“Please no, I don’t want to risk and give you orders by accident.”

“Nora, seriously, I appreciate it, but I’m going crazy over here. Stop that.”

“Please Al, I don’t trust myself anymore...”

Indeed, your self confidence took a big hit. We need to fix that as soon as possible, otherwise my mental health is the one who’s going to go under.

“I understand, but you should try harder and be strong. Where’s the woman that defied her own father to come with me?”

“She’s dead.”

That’s it! You fucking asked for it!

I grab her butt with my left hand.

“Kyaaa!!”

Sadly for her, I’m not being gentle. I’m grabbing her buttock with reasonable strength, not enough to hurt her (since I can’t), but strong enough to be considered rough.

I am forced to use these tactics since I can’t hurt her. If I could, I would have just hit her in the head.

But since I can’t, I have to do something equally punishable.

People can consider me a pervert for all I care. I don’t give a damn at this point.

“From now on, everytime you say something stupid, or add please without reason, I’ll grab either your tits or your ass. Don’t even think I am kidding.”

Maybe this is a stupid way to scold her, but since I can’t hit her and she reacts strongly to this kind of thing, this is the only way I know of how to punish her.

“S-s-stop that!!”

The symbol shines on my hand. She gets away from my hand and then turns to me.

Her face is red. I can feel anger in her eyes and her teeth gritting.

I cross my arms.

“That’s more like it. But what now? Are you going to say” I put on a girly voice, as if mocking: “Oh please, don’t grab my butt mister! I don’t have self confidence in my majestic rear guard and---!”

Veins pop out from her forehead and she launches forward towards me. It doesn’t take a genius to guess that she is going to use Inner Magic.

She raises her hand.

Yup, she’s going to use Strength Inner Magic. She’s aiming for my chest.

I could dodge or block, but I won’t. She needs to vent that anger so she can get some of her self confidence back. And there’s nothing more relieving for a girl than punching a molester.

I stand my ground and the punch comes flying.

*PUMM*

A huge force impacts my chest. It hurts, but I was mentally prepared for it.

It was strong enough to send me flying a few meters.

I fall flat on the ground.

She’s taking deep breaths.

“Ahh. Ahh. Hmph! Serves you right. Forget my orders.”

I look at the sky.

“Hehe… Hehehe…” I start laughing.

“... Why are you laughing?”

“Oh, no reason. Just thinking how you finally stopped saying please every time. It’s just like if god heard my pleas.”

Actually, that’s just half of it. I was also laughing because she told me to forget the order of me grabbing her butt. The indecent me found it funny because that means that she wants me to do it more times.

But of course, the indecent me is wrong. She just wants to stick to her promise of not giving me orders.

But still, the humor was there.

Or maybe I am really going crazy.

“... I was really annoying, wasn’t I?”

“You have no idea, woman.”

“Sorry… Here, let me help you.”

She comes close and gives me a hand. I grab it and get up.

“Yeah, I’m sorry too.”

“Don’t worry about it… Did it hurt?”

“Hah! Keep dreaming. You still have a lot of milk to drink if you want to even scratch me.”

“Hmph!”

She turns away her gaze, irritated.

“C’mon, c’mon, don’t be like that.” I pat her back. “It was a good punch.”

“*Sigh*, that isn’t it. It’s just that… Bah, forget it.”

“Speak your mind.”

“No, really, I…” She looks at me and notices my gaze. I signal her to continue. “It’s just that I don’t like when you make fun of me. I don’t like that.”

“Hmm, I see.”

I understand her point, but there’s not really much I can do about it. I was always like this, and on top of that, I was influenced by Christine. I can try to tone it down a little, but this is a habit that I can’t see myself getting rid of.

I start walking and pass by her

“Well, I’ll try not to tease you so much from now on, but you’ll still have to put up with it. That’s just how I am with girls I like.”

… Wait, that came out wrong.

I look behind.

Her cheeks are red and her eyes are wide open. She gasps and looks away as soon she notices me.

Damnit, I knew she would misunderstand. I have to make it clear that what she is thinking is not what I meant.

“Don’t mi--...”

I try to say ‘Don’t misunderstand’, but I can’t. It’s as if I lost my will to say it. Or maybe I don’t have the courage?

Courage? What courage? Why do I need courage to correct someone’s misunderstanding?

She misunderstood what I meant. Or maybe… No, she misunderstood.

‘Don’t misunderstand’. I can’t bring those words out of my mouth.

“*sigh* Let’s get moving.” I turn around and start walking.

“Y-yeah.” She follows right behind me.

This means what I think it means, doesn’t it? Fuck me…

I squeeze my hand.

I’m starting to feel attracted to her. Not physically, but emotionally. If at first I thought of her as a beautiful, but annoying brat, now I think of her as someone I want to know more about.

That’s why I let her come with me… That’s why I didn’t oppose her...

I’m being stupid. It would be for the best to let her stay with her father. That’s the wisest choice. I can’t guarantee that she will be 100% safe with me.

But at the same time, I feel that I must be the one to protect her, directly.

She will get in the way. She will slow me down. Someone might use her against me. She is my weak point. Bringing her along is just like giving a hammer to someone and ask him to split my head in two.

Then why am I not opposed to her being here? Why do I want her to be here with me?

What’s up with this hypocritical, contradictory, naive and stupid train of thought!?

This is not me.

It’s that kid. It’s that fucking kid. That kid that I killed years ago, is now coming back.

Don’t you remember Alddan? Don’t you remember what happened? Your naivete, your stupidity… Do you want to repeat what happened? Is that what you want?

Why are you coming back? Haven’t you done enough? Stay dead you stupid moron!

You have no place here. You are useless.

Let me take care of your- no, our dream. Let me be the bad guy. Let me kill thousands so we can bring a better life to everyone else. Wasn’t that what we decided?

Just die and become nothing but a memory, a memory of a young Alddan who should have never been born a noble.

You are better off dead. Do not interfere with me, not now. I need to face this whole new world, I don’t have the luxury of having you holding me back.

I only need the basic emotions. I don’t need yours.

“Kyaaaaaa!!”

A scream snaps me out of my thoughts. It’s far away.

“Is someone in danger?” Nora asks.

“Probably.”

It was a high pitched scream. It was a woman.

It’s ahead. If I run, I can reach her in no time.

But, I don’t want to leave Nora alone. Just the other time she was attacked while I dealt with those guards.

“We have to see what’s happening!” She starts running.

I immediately grab her arm

“What the heck you think you’re doing?”

“I…”

“Listen, when something dangerous happens, do not move without my permission. Don’t run off just like that.”

“... You’re right, sorry.”

“Don’t worry, mosts newbies do things without thinking. You’ll get the hang of it.”

That’s right. In the heat of the moment, you do immediately what you think it’s right without second guessing. And if you don’t have experience, that habit in most cases proves to be fatal.

There’s really no other way.

“Follow me and don’t do anything stupid. Leave the fight to me and keep a good distance. If someone tries to attack you, order me to come back to you at once.”

She nods.

“Hm! Ok!”

We start running.

“Heeee----!”

Her scream was interrupted. That either means she was muffled, or worse.

Moments later, we spot a group of four men, and a girl tied up on top of one of the men’s shoulders.

All of them are black hairs. They wear leather armor and carry basic equipment. Three carry swords while the one with the girl carries an axe.

They all have scars and their skin tone is fair. They had a rough life.

The girl is young, probably 20 years old. She has a cloth covering her mouth and rope tying her arms.

“Eh?” The men spot us.

“Move along kid. Nothing to see here.”

“Nora,” I whisper. “stay here, and remember what I said.”

“Ok.”

“Good.”

After confirming with her with a final nod, I start walking towards them.

“Kid, you think we are joking around?” He draws his sword.

Typical.

“What are you planning to do with her?”

“Not your business. We only want this girl, we have no quarrel with you or your friend. So just move along before I decide to cut you down.”

He waves his sword, keeping his chin high as if he was looking down on me.

“Then I assume it’s useless to try to convince you to let her go? Then let’s not waste anymore time and get on with it.”

“Hehe, this fuckin kid…” He looks behind to the other men, laughing. “Very well, as you wish.”

He starts walking in my direction.

I probably won’t need Inner Magic for this.

Looking at his equipment again, I notice that the sword in his hand is not his only weapon. He has a knife on his belt.

I guess I could use that.

As soon he gets close enough, he launches himself forward. He raises his sword with his right arm and swings it down.

I dodge immediately to the right and reach the knife on his belt, while my left hand grabs his arm with the sword.

“Wha--!”

I draw the knife. In his surprise, he didn’t had time to react to everything I was doing, so he didn’t even try to release his arm from my hand nor try to stop me from grabbing his knife.

Since he didn’t do any of that, he also couldn’t move away from me in time. This proves to be fatal. For him.

With the knife in my right hand, I immediately put it in his neck.

“Ga---”

And pull it.

Blood spurs out from his wound and stains my sleeve.

The man lets go of the sword and falls on the ground, with both hands covering his fatal wound. He squirms around on the ground, not believing that he was going to die just like that.

The men gasp.

“Jerard!!” One of them scream. “You asshole!!”

He comes running.

I ready myself.

He gets close and swings his sword just like his previous companion.

I raise my knife to block the attack.

The sword connects right away with the knife. But because I kept the knife in angled position, the sword scrapes the knife and is diverted from the original trajectory, failing to hit me.

I launch forward to pass the man by his right side. And as I do that, I cut the artery on his neck.

“Aah--”

Just like the other, he falls on the ground behind me.

“You!!” One of the remaining two men yells in anger.

But just as he was about to run, the other yells.

“Wait!”

We both turn our focus to the man holding the girl, while still keeping our attention to each other.

He continues: “If you care about this girl, then you’ll have to put down your knife and walk away!”

He let’s the girl down and puts her in front of him. He grabs his knife and puts it on her throat.

“Hmm--!” She gasps at the sensation of the sharp metal touching her skin.

“See!? Try something and I’l----- *THUMP*!”

My knife penetrates his forehead.

I hate people who cower behind hostages. I didn’t need to think twice before throwing my knife at him.

If his head was closer to the girl, I wouldn’t have risked it, but it was far enough for me to throw without worrying.

The man falls down backwards, lifeless.

The girl looks behind and then back at me. Then she tries to scream, as if to try to warn me.

The other man runs towards me.

“Die!!!”

He thrusts his sword forward and I dodge to left. Then I raise my foot and kick his hand. He drops the sword due to the unexpected force.

Then I close my fist and punch him in the face.

He takes a few steps backwards and falters for a bit. But then he shakes his head, as if he found a new resolve, and draws the knife on his waist.

“You’ll pay for that!”

He comes again at me.

It’s easier to deal with knives.

He thrusts his knife forward, aiming for my stomach, and I jump backwards. Then I kick his hand from below and the knife is sent flying upwards.

“No wa---!”

I quickly hit his throat with my fist while he was distracted looking at the knife flying.

“Gah---!”

He puts his hands on his throat and kneels down.

My hit should be fatal, but better safe than sorry.

I grab the falling knife with my right hand and immediately stab the back of his neck.

“Guh--!”

The man falls down. Only a few more seconds and he will be dead.

I look around to make sure there were only four.

The fight is over.

“Brother, you can come.” I call Nora.

She nods and comes running.

All these corpses lying on the ground… Jeez, what a mess…

And I went through so much effort to clean myself, but now I’m dirty with blood again...

I take a few deep breaths to get rid off the adrenaline. Then I walk towards the girl.

Nora is already untying her.

“You alright?”

I ask the girl as I remove the cloth from her mouth.

“Hmm-- Y-yes, thank you!” She replies, still with tears on her eyes. “You saved me…”

“Who were those men?”

“I-I don’t know… I was just grabbing some herbs for my aunt and then these men appeared…”

Nora finally unties the rope on her hands. The girl massages her wrists. They are probably numb.

She’s about the same height as Nora. Shorter than me. Her body is slim but attractive. Her eyes are deep blue and I can honestly say that her face would charm a lot of men.

Her hair is long, but just enough to reach her scapulas.

“What did they want? Do you have any clue?”

Sell her perhaps? Or just ask for ransom?

“I don’t know… I think that they knew me. They talked how my father would do whatever they wanted… My father is the village’s chief you see...”

“I see.”

Kidnappers.

I consider kidnapping one of the worst crimes that there is. Using someone as leverage to make the other party do whatever you want. There are no guarantees that the offending party will respect their promises and not hurt the kidnapped person, much less that that person will be returned safe and sound. And there’s nothing stopping the kidnappers from making unreasonable requests. So all the victim party can do is just do whatever the other party wants and trust in the blind hope that the kidnappers will keep their word.

“What’s your name?”

“I’m Kendra.”

“Your father is the Yarrin’s chief?”

“Y-yes…”

Yarrin’s the place we’re heading.

According to the rumors I heard by chance while Nora was out after she fought with that assassin, Yarrin’s the place where refugees search for boats to take them to Qahs Holm.

Rumor or not, I have to start somewhere. Sure is better than going to a port and ask random captains if they can take me to that island.

And now that I saved this girl, I can use her gratitude to persuade her or her father to help me.

“Uhm…”

The girl snaps me out of my thoughts. I didn’t realize that I was looking at her, making an awkward atmosphere.

“Sorry. Was just thinking.”

“What’s your name? If it’s alright for me to ask…”

“You can call me Al. This is my brother, Edward.”

Nora nods at her.

“H-Hi, pleasure to meet you both.” Then she turns at me. “I don’t have anything with me… P-Please, if you come with me to the village, I’m sure father can reward you!”

“I don’t really need a reward… Just some information. I was going to your village anyway.”

“I-I see!” She claps her hands. “Then please, let’s go! Before anyone else shows up… N-not that I mean you couldn’t take care of them!! It’s just, well--”

“Relax, I know what you meant. Let’s go.” I reply while smiling.

“Y-yeah!”

We three start walking.

I look back at the corpses in wonder. Should I push them to the side of the road and hide them? Or search their belongings?

… No… I don’t really care about what they have… Maybe there are clues about who they are or what they wanted, but I don’t want to get mixed up with her problems.

“Don’t worry about the corpses!” I look at the girl, who’s looking at me. “Father will take care of them!”

“Is that so…” I look forward.

Then it’s better to leave them be.

…

Minutes later, I still feel this weird sensation.

The girl doesn’t stop looking at me. I feel her gaze, almost as if it was actually touching me.

Nora is at my left side while Kendra is at my right.

I’m doing my best to ignore, but Nora isn’t. She’s not doing anything, but I can tell that it’s bothering her.

At this point, one would expect her to make questions like where did we come from, or what did we do for a living, but she doesn’t ask anything.

Or maybe she’s expecting me to be the one to say something.

Which makes this even more awkward.

“So…” I try to break the silence. “Is your village big?”

If I could, I would facepalm so hard that I would send myself flying. What a stupid question.

“Eh? Uh! Y-yes! I mean, no! No! It’s small! We are just a small village! We are around 60 people!”

“I see.”

She could also use some calming herbs…

I look at her.

She averts her eyes and looks down.

She also keeps her hands together in front of her waist. That either means that she is used to carry a basket or that it’s just her nature. Or maybe both.

But the more I look at her, the stronger the feeling I get that she’s the submissive type. Her entire existence and way of moving screams that.

I can’t imagine her being the dominant one in a relationship.

She starts to feel troubled by my stare, so I look again forward.

… Only to feel that weird sensation again.

Nora grabs my arm.

I look at her, puzzled, but she doesn’t look at me and keeps her face pointed forward. With a frown.

Oh jeez…

I sigh mentally.

Don’t make this even more weird Nora.

…

……

…….

We finally see the village.

There are some black hairs grouped together. They are wearing cheap clothing, but they are armed with pitchforks and sickles.

One of them spots us.

“Kendra? Kendra!”

“Father!”

She runs to them while Nora and I follow behind, walking.

By the way, she’s still holding my arm.

They hug each other.

“Oh my girl! My darling girl!”

“I’m safe father.”

“I feared the worst, I did! I thought that you have been snatched away from us!”

“Then you heard about the people that attacked me?”

“Yes! I just received a letter about a ransom! We were about to run to your rescue!”

So the people behind this assumed they would succeed?

Such a shame I happened to come by… Sarcasm intended.

“It’s alright father. That man saved me.”

The man looks at us and lets go of his daughter.

The man has a short beard and gray hair. He’s probably in his 60’s. He has a fair number of wrinkles on his face and his body is considerably fat.

“I’m so grateful, I really am! I owe you my life.” He kneels down.

… This man doesn’t care about his image...?

I am caught by surprise by his sudden action.

A village chief shouldn’t kneel to simple travelers.

Not that I care that much about etiquette or formalities, but it’s always a surprise seeing someone in a seat of power reacting so humbly.

“You don’t need to kneel down, old man.”

“Nonsense! You saved my daughter and this is the least I can do!”

“I-I see…”

Suit yourself… But are your legs fine? Or back?

*crack*

That cracking sound came from his body.

“Now... If you would be so kind, could you help this poor old man to get up?”

I knew it.

“Father! You should be more careful.”

Nora let’s go of me as I extend my hand and help him up.

“It’s fine it’s fine.” He waves his hand to Kendra. “So, I suppose you need a reward. I got right the thin---”

I raise my hand to stop him.

“No need. All I want is some information.”

“Hmm?”

I look at the men behind. I wonder if it’s fine to talk in front of them. I should ask him in low voice about how to get to Qahs Holm.

“You want to get to Qahs Holm?”

The hell…?

He notices my confusion.

“Oh, don’t worry young one. You’re not the first or the last coming here for that. I’m no stranger to this.”

“I-I see…”

“Come with me. We can talk inside my house.”

The old man turns his back and walks towards the village. The men follow him as does the girl, after giving one last glance at me that is.

“This is going pretty smoothly.”

Nora nods.

“Things might just go right for once… C’mon brother.”

I give her a gently pat on the back.

“Hm!” She nods.

…

…..

…….

The village is simple. Just some small and medium sized houses made of stone and wood and that’s it. All houses are built around a big open space, which is the center of the village.

The beach is just three or four hundred meters away from the village, so one only needs to do a short walk to get there.

Nora and I are now inside the house of the old man. He asked some kids to fetch me a new shirt so they could wash mine. I didn’t have reasons to refuse so I let them.

It's dark outside.

The old man is smoking a pipe while seated on a couch. Improvised couch made of straw and leather around it. While me and Nora are seated on chairs made of wood.

Kendra stands at her father’s side. He invited her to seat down but she refused.

“Please allow me to introduce myself, I am Garrett, chief of this modest village.”

“I am Al, this is my brother Edward. I’m sorry, but he can’t speak.”

“He can’t, hmm?” He says in a wondering manner.

What a weird reply.

“So you want to get to Qahs Holm? Are you sure young man?”

“Yes. We have our reasons, so I would appreciate if you don’t inquire about it.”

“I won’t then… But wouldn’t the Empire be a better choice? Qahs Holm doesn’t take kindly to mages…”

!!!

What the fuck!?

I raise from my seat at once, ready to act.

The chair I was fall behind and Kendra lets out a small shriek. Nora looks at the development with anxiety and also gets up.

“Please calm down! Calm down! Don’t need to react like that!” The man nervously pleads.

“Ho-- I-I… How!?”

“Like I said earlier, I am not new to this kind of thing. I know dyed hair when I see it.”

Wha--… No, that’s bullshit!

“Please calm down and sit. We are friends here, no need to feel so alarmed.”

I take a breath to steady my racing heart. Then I pull up the chair and sit. But just in case, I’ll keep my self ready.

Nora also sits down.

Damn it, I totally lost my calm. What if he didn’t know I was a mage and made that question to trick me?

There’s no way he knew just by looking!

“Ok, how did you know?”

“Like I said young man, I know just by loo---”

“Father cut some of your hair earlier when you helped him to get up.”

What…? When he kneeled?

“Ah! But don’t worry!” She waves her hands nervously. “It was only a bit! Then he gave it to me so I could wash it. See?”

She grabs something from her pocket and extends her hand.

In her hand, there’s a few strands of white hair.

Son of a bitch… How did I not notice it?

“Aw Kendra, always ruining it for me…” He puts the pipe in his mouth.

“Haha, c’mon father, don’t lie to people like that.”

“But…” I let out that word unconsciously.

“How did I cut it? Sorry, that’s my trade’s secret~.”

I look at the old man, then sigh in resignation.

I admit, you got me. It’s your win here.

“But… White hair? I never imagined we would get a visit from a white mage. You must have done something very bad to run away. I thought white mages were very important or something?” The man asks.

White mage? Important? He’s not talking about me as if I was a Servant.

Does that mean that he’s out of touch with the news?

I have to confirm it.

“What do you know about the prince?”

“The prince?” He hesitates for a bit, confused by my sudden question. “We don’t really know much about those kind of things. As you can see, we are just a small village in the middle of nowhere, we don’t really care about politics and such. We only care how much we have to pay at the end of each month. That said, I only that his name is Vanadis. But what about him?”

So they don’t know about the assassination? So that must also mean that he doesn’t know about me being summoned.

“Don’t tell me you did something to him! Did you sleep with one of his mistresses!?”

“Uh, no.”

Kendra blushes.

The old man looks at her and grins.

“Sorry, just teasing my daughter.”

“Father!!”

“That’s what you get for snitching earlier!”

They start arguing loudly.

Eh…

I literally don’t know how to react.

I look at Nora. She’s as confused as me.

“Well anyway!” The man finishes the discussion with a loud voice and looks at me. “Let’s continue!”

“Sure…”

“I won’t ask about what you did. It’s not my habit of asking my clients that kind of information.”

“Clients? Then you’re a smuggler?”

“Correct. Well, not really. I take care of receiving our clients, but the one who actually takes them to Qahs Holm is my little brother.”

“Hmm.”

“We help common folk who don’t have a choice but to run away… But this is really unusual young man. It’s not like you are the first mage to come here, but, it’s very rare… Are you sure you want to go to that island? You’re better off escaping to the Empire.”

“There’s something I must do in that island.”

The man frowns as he looks at me.

“You’re putting me in a very hard spot… I am forever grateful that you saved my daughter, I really am, but I can’t imagine any kind of reason that you may have to want to go to that place. Other than malicious ones I mean. That place is not for mages. A mage being there is just like a cat being in the middle of dogs. Nothing good will come out of it.”

“What kind of place is Qahs Holm?” I lean forward.

“Hmm…” The old man looks at the ceiling, thinking. “It’s a place for black hairs. Governed by black hairs, only for black hairs. And they are very… Martial… If a black hair here is raised to hold a pitchfork to work on the fields, in Qahs Holm one is raised to hold a sword.”

“I see…”

“Why do you want to go there?” He asks, with a serious voice, looking at my eyes.

I keep the eye contact.

“It’s a long story old man. One that I do not wish to tell. All I can say is that there’s something there that is mine. And I want it back.”

“I see…”

Silence fills the room. Only few sounds can be heard from outside, like people talking.

“Young man… I am torn. We are the gate to Qahs Holm. We help common people that don’t have any other choice but to flee. If we let a spy in… Everything we worked for could be lost. Those mages that I mentioned… We hid the fact that we were smugglers and made them believe we were just a simple small village. You are the first mage who I have been honest with.”

“...”

“That’s only because you saved my daughter. But even so… Even if I am grateful… I can’t be certain that you are trustworthy.”

“If you think I am not trustworthy, then why did you tell me that you are smugglers?”

“Indeed… Why did I do that…” He mumbles to himself as he closes his eyes.

Silence.

Nora looks at me. She must be worried.

I pat her head as if to say that it will be alright.

But the man is still silent.

“Father...?”

*zzzzZZZZZZ*

… Was that a snore…?

“FATHER!” Kendra slaps her father in the forehead.

“Ouch! What!? Oh! Sorry!”

I let out a sigh.

He. Fell. Asleep. With. The. Pipe. In. His. Mouth.

Smoking.

How is that even possible?

“Jeez, I don’t understand you sometimes father. I really don’t.”

“So, Al.” The man looks at me. “Since you already know about us, I don’t really have a choice but to trust you now, do I?” He grins. “Thing is, my little brother won’t be back from Qahs Holm for a couple of weeks, so you need to wait for him!”

“I-I see…”

I got a headache...

“So you better make yourself comfortable, you---”

“So what’s going on here?” A woman enters the room.

A big woman. Not in height, but in volume. She’s also a dark hair and must be in her late 40’s.

“Ah! Aunt Haylie!”

“And here comes my little sister.”

“Good to see you are treating our ‘guests’ right.”

“You dare to doubt the host inside of me!?” The old man yells.

I think my headache is getting worse...

“Stupid brother, stop saying stupid things for once.”

“You wound me little sister. And even though I took care of you when you were just a baby.”

“Yeah yeah, go outside and get some fresh air for a change, instead of smoking that thing all day.”

“Don’t deny an old man simple life’s pleasures.” He looks nonchalantly away.

I don’t even know what to say. It feels like I shouldn’t be here.

“*sigh* Anyway, what’s your decision?” She asks.

“I’m going to let them to use our services. For free.”

“You sure you know what you are doing?”

“Not a clue.”

“Kendra dear, hit your father for me will you?”

She doesn’t waste any time and hits her own father in the head.

*pum*

“That’s not fair!” He whines while massaging the top of his head. “She’s my daughter! You can’t use her like that!”

“I just did.”

“Hmph! Women…”

“Kendra dear…”

“Alright alright! I’ll just shut up now!”

What a weird family.

“I’m going to trust you brother, like I always have, but if anything happens, it’s on you.” The woman turns her attention to me and Nora. “So I guess you’ll need a room to spend the night?”

“I suppose…”

“You can sleep in that wide house. That’s where the men of this village without their own house sleep. Kendra will take you there.”

I see… Crap, it must be a public room, where everyone sleeps in the same room. That’s not good for Nora.

I look at her.

Just as I thought, she has a worried look on her face.

Sorry Nora, but we’ll manage… Somehow.

“We better get going then.”

I get up and signal Nora to come.

“Where do you think you’re taking her?” The woman asks.

!!!

Her!?

What the!? Again!?

“You think we are a joke kid? I could see her chest from miles away.”

I look at Nora’s chest.

… I admit that it’s a bit unnatural but still… Not enough to--

“And you wanted to bring her to the men’s room!? What were you thinking!? What kind of a man are you!?”

“Ah…”

My mind is blank. I literally can’t keep up with her.

“And you girl.” Nora shrieks. “You look like a mess. You’re coming with me and sleep in my house. And I know very well you can speak, so say something damnit!”

“Wha--!? H-how did you know!?”

“I didn’t. You just told me.”

Ah ok, now it was a trap…

Note to self: do not underestimate these people.

“Kendra, take that sorry excuse for a man to his room.”

Sorry excuse for a man...?

“Y-yes!”

I don’t even know how to react. I don’t know if I should feel perplexed or insulted.

Fatwoman. That’s what I am going to call her from now on.

Fatwoman grabs Nora’s hand and pulls her away.

Nora looks behind at me.

“We’ll see each other tomorrow?”

“Y-yeah. You already know what to do if you need me.”

“Hm.” She nods.

“Let’s go girl!” She pushes her to another room.”

“Ok alright!”

Now I’m worried.

“Please, don’t worry about your friend.” Kendra says to me. “Auntie is a little rude, but that’s just how she is. She’s a good person.”

Kinda hard to believe to be honest.

“She’s more like the devil.” The old man grumbles. “That devil ate my sweet little sister.”

“I heard that!” Fatwoman’s voice comes from the other room.

“Well good for you! It means that your ears are working you devil!”

“Just wait until I am done with this brat you old geezer!”

“Kyaaaa!”

Nora!?

“Ha, hehe.” Kendra nervously laughs. “Auntie is probably changing her clothes...”

“I-I see…”

“Nooooo!”

“By the way brother, she’s a red mage!”

“Don’t look there!”

“...”

Awkward silence fills the room.

“... Kendra, is your aunt really safe?”

“Hehe.” She gives a nervous laugh.

*sigh*

“We probably should go… Before aunt comes back.”

“Yeah, sure. Lead the way.”

“See ya tomorrow boy. Tomorrow we'll talk better” The old man says while exhaling smoke.

Kendra starts walking and I follow her.

After a while, we reach the house.

It’s just like the other hourses here. Wide, but robust looking.

“Here we are. Inside there are many places where you can sleep, just choose one free.”

“Alright thanks.”

“Most should be already sleeping, so please try to not be too noisy.”

“Will do.”

“So uhm…”

She fidgets with her fingers.

“Hmm?”

I wait for her response.

“Uhm… See you tomorrow!”

She turns around and runs to the house where we were.

“...”

After seeing her enter her house, I open the wooden door and do the same.

Inside there’s a huge room full of men sleeping in different places. Some on beds and others on hammocks.

I look around and spot a empty bed.

“Guess I’ll use that one.” I murmur to myself.

I lay down on it.

“Tomorrow is another day…”

I close my eyes.

Let’s just hope my headache goes away.

I really don't have much to say other than sorry. Some irl stuff happened and I lost my will to continue writing.

I just didn't feel like it. And it's impossible for me to write when I don't feel like it. Stuff... Just comes out wrong, you know?

That's why I decided to not force myself. If I don't feel like writing, I don't. It's for the better that way. Better late and good, than soon and bad.

But as you can see with this long chapter, I came in force! I wrote everything in just one afternoon! How cool is that!? I never managed to write so much in so little time! Normally I write 1000-2000 words per afternoon, but I wrote 7000+! Seven thousand! I am proud of myself.

Obviously, that was yesterday and today I PR'ed it, with a refreshed mind.

Anyway, sorry again for the lateness, here's a nice pic to make up for it:

Spoiler :