« Chapter 05

“No!”

All grew silent once again.

“No! No! No!”

Not a single twirp or cicada noise could be heard. Such was the silence that wrapped that place.

“Stop that!” Kvothe shouted angrily, “Just do as we agreed.”

He had always hated dealing with people, especially when he needed their services. Strangely enough, when people are being paid for a service, instead of making the best they can offer, they do the sloppiest shit they can.

Silence was broken by the city bells announcing it was already 6pm. Kvothe sighed giving up.

“Look, I have to go now.” He told the other player, “When I return I want it as you said you would do. The way I agreed to pay for. You do that or I’ll hire someone else and you’ll stay without job and payment.”

Without waiting for an answer, Kvothe turned his back to the man and left. His shift at the tailor shop was about to begin. For the last couple weeks he had been working for one of the most famous tailors in town. The store was at the best location in Rhodium, the plaza. It used to be at the side of a vacant place, but it was now under construction.

“Good evening!” Kvothe greeted the customers and co-workers as he arrived.

The store always had a huge influx of customers, but since Kvothe began working there it was full all the time. His clothes were sold practically the moment they hit the shelves and he had to raise the costs of his custom made clothes three times so the demand wouldn’t overburden him. The owner was so pleased he hired Kvothe an assistant to help him with the production.

“Good evening, sir.” His assistant said, “We have three clients requiring custom clothes waiting for you already.”

Kvothe sighed. The over polite attitude of the girl didn’t fit him. It made him feel older than he was.

“Nessa, I told you to just call me Kvothe already.”

He took out the equipment the store had obtained for him. A set of high quality needles and lines that enhanced his skills. He rolled up his sleeves and entered the inner room of the store.

“Good evening...” He looked at the customers, “Ladies. My name is Kvothe. What can I help you with?”

Three girls were sitting on a sofa at the furthest wall from entrance. Like most women that played Royal Road, their characters reflected their ideal of beauty which, to Kvothe, was obviously different from their true appearance. He could see how artificial that beauty was, and to him it felt ugly. Nonetheless, he treated them courtly.

“We got this,” The girl in the center handed him some kind of pelt, “from a high level dungeon we went to. Can you do us something pretty with it?”

Kvothe took the white pelts and immediately identified them. They were white direwolf pelts, a mid two hundred level monster. He looked at the girls again, this time checking their equipments. The strongest of the trio couldn’t be higher than level 70. It was obvious they had bought the pelts and were trying to show off with them.

“You know...” Kvothe said, “This is a high level material...”

The girls eyes began sparkling.

“But...” He continued, “They’re not the right kind to make a good garment.”

A grim spread through them like an ola in a football game. They acted as if they world had just collapsed and all hope was gone. Seeing that, Kvothe couldn’t help but laugh.

“Don’t be mean.” One of the girls said, “It was really hard to get those.”

Kvothe stopped laughing and checked the pelts once again, its leather was quite resilient and probably had good magic resistance. He wouldn’t be able to do much with it, but a smith would likely pay a lot of money for it.

“I can offer you a deal.” Kvothe said, “I’ll keep this and in exchange I’ll give you something that is at the same level, but that is good for tailoring.”

The girls got up and hugged him, thanking him again and again. He went to the back and began selecting a few materials from the stock. When he returned, he had an ample variety of material for their choosing.

Cheerful like twelve year old girls, they went through all the materials while Kvothe explained their origins, qualities and parameters. In the end they chose three different materials that were ideal for refined clothes confection.

While asking their preferences in dresses, he began taking their measures. From a nearby table, he took paper and charcoal and made some sketches and wrote down some numbers. Immediately he began working on the fabrics, cutting and sewing, marking and testing. Twenty minutes later he gave the girls their dresses and lead them to the changing rooms to try them out.

“Wow! This fits so well!”

“Yeah! And it’s so pretty!”

“Oh! My! God! I look like a goddess.”

A smirk of pride appeared on Kvothe’s lips. He had grown used to it already, but being praised always felt so good…

“Can you step outside, so I can check for corrections?” He asked the girls.

They exited the changing rooms and he looked at them. Like an artist after a job well done, he was proud of his work. It fit each of the girls really well, accentuating their good features. Kvothe began marking a few places to make some adjustments and they returned to their old clothes. He made the adjustment and they tried it once more.

“Perfect!” Kvothe said with puffed chest and a smile of satisfaction on his face.

The girls blushed slightly, misunderstanding his comment. He didn’t bother to correct it, a simple compliment harms no one, au contraire, they were great for boosting self confidence and raising intimacy, not that they were NPCs or had an intimacy stat. Kvothe noticed one of the girls analysing something intently.

“What is wrong?” He asked.

“This… brand.” The girl said while touching it, “L...What does it stand for?”

“That is the brand of my master.” He replied the girl with a smile, “A little homage to the best tailor that exists.”

“Is this his shop?” The others had approached him and were now interested as well.

“It’s actually her. Lorraine. And no, this shop isn’t hers.”

The trio looked at him with puzzled faces.

“Then what happened to her?”

“Well...”

*****

Kvothe had just accompanied his last customers of the day to the door. His shift was about to end and he had another appointment twenty minutes later. He finished checking the inventory and storing the equipment the store allowed him to use.

“Hey, Nessa! I’m leaving already.” He said to his assistant, “Can you close everything when you’re done?”

Nessa was trying to learn Lorraine’s techniques from Kvothe, but her patience was lacking and she rushed things too much. She usually stayed until late sewing clothes and Kvothe evaluated her the next day.

“Yes, Master!” She answered, “Thank you for your hard work!”

Kvothe sighed once again. He had gave up on trying to understand the girl’s behaviour. It Didn’t matter what he said or did, she wouldn’t call him by the name or act like his equal. Opening the door to exit the shop, he almost hit another girl that stood just outside the door. She jumped back when she saw him and missed her step. Kvothe reacted fast and caught her by the waist.

“I’m sorry.” He apologized, “Are you okay?”

The girl’s face went vermillion with embarrassment. Kvothe put her back to her feet and backed up to a proper distance. Now that he paid attention, he realized she was one of the customers he had made a dress for that evening.

“You’re one of the girls that brought the white direwolf pelt.” He said with a smile, “Can I help you with anything?”

“Actually… Erm… Hmm… Erm...”

The girl face became an even deeper red. She broke eye contact and looked down at her own feet. Meddling with her hair, she tried to say something, but nothing that made sense came out of her mouth. Apparently the system could understand it, because a few seconds later a window appeared in front of Kvothe.

You have received a friend request.

Violet asked to be your friend, do you accept?

Yes | No

Kvothe hit the Yes button and smiled at the girl.

“Done.”

The girl smiled, hugged him and kissed his cheek. She turned her back and left without saying a word. Kvothe remained there, smiling at her running figure. Strangely enough, that was not the first time it had happened. She was actually one amongst many that had requested him to be added to his friends list. He didn’t care much since he only sporadically received any PMs from them. That many contacts could also prove useful in the future, or at least he hoped.

He was about to leave when another window popped up.

It takes a certain type of man to have a girl fall for him. And it takes a special type of man to become a successful flirt. No matter your intentions when speaking to them, you have an abnormally high amount of female contacts. The people of Rhodium have finally grown aware of you...

You have earned the title: Casanova of Rhodium

Kvothe began laughing uncontrollably. What kind of description was that?! Also, why wasn’t there any specifics about its effects? He closed the window and began walking at a fast pace, hoping he would be on time for his appointment. The female NPCs around him began looking at him with hungry eyes, as if he was a particularly delicious chocolate bar. Aware of the unusual attention he was receiving, he approached Lagertha, a vendor from a nearby shop where he usually bought ingredients and shared conversation.

“Good evening, Gertha.” He greeted her getting closer to ask in a whisper, “Do you know what is going on with those girls?”

Kvothe motioned to in the direction of the NPC girls that were blushing just from him looking at them. The NPC girls began giggling and whispering between themselves, making Kvothe sigh. Lagertha said nothing, so Kvothe looked back at her, just to find the woman blushing as well.

“Well...” Gertha answered, “We have heard about your… erm... fame...”

Kvothe looked at Gertha with a puzzled look on his face. He had talked to her so many times by now that he couldn’t understand her sudden blushing.

“Gertha… What are you talking about? What fame is that?”

Lagertha face faded into a deeper red. She diverted her gaze from Kvothe’s eyes and hid her face on her hands. Kvothe sighed once again. That could not be a good omen. His thoughts immediately went to his new title, Casanova of Rhodium. He opened the information about the skill, but there was no tip about its effects.

Deciding it was something too important to overlook, he decided to get the information from Gertha. Summoning his most charming smile and meeting her gaze, he said.

“I’m not really sure what you’re talking about, my lady. Would you mind explaining me?”

She still blushed, but this time she didn’t divert her gaze from Kvothe. Had it been the smile or the fact that he looked at her expectantly like a child, he did not know, but it worked.

“You know… The women talk about you. How gentlemanly you are, how you treat them... nicely, the way you talk to them. That sort of thing.”

He was right, it was the title’s fault. His hopes were that it limited itself by that, unfortunately it didn’t. As he was about to leave Bjorn, Gertha’s husband, appeared. He was close to two meters tall and was almost as wide, his face, that usually was ugly enough to scare any baby, grew into a uglier scowl as he saw Kvothe.

“Aye...The hero.” Bjorn said, his voice loaded with sarcasm, “Ye came to buy sumthin’ or are ye here just to flirt with me wife?!”

A sense of dread hit Kvothe and his mind began making the connections. Hoping it had been just a misunderstanding he decided to apologize.

“Nothing like that, Mr Bjorn. I would never dare do such thing. Flirting with a married woman should be punishable by death, in my opinion.”

Bjorn looked at Kvothe with squinted eyes. His face told that he wouldn’t trust Kvothe’s words even if they came wrapped in gold. Thankfully Gertha came to Kvothe’s rescue.

“Don’t worry honey, he was just asking about our vegetables shipment. I was telling him that it had been attacked by those nasty goblins.”

Facing by his wife’s words, Bjorn could do nothing except believing them.

“Sorry m’love. ‘m just a bit on edge lat’ly. Those goddamn goblins.” Bjorn said with a tired smile, “Would ye kindly go in the back take care of the inventory? I’ll take care of the lad here.”

Gertha agreed and went to the back. Bjorn’s tired smile turned into a deadly glare that settled upon Kvothe. Approaching him, Bjorn whispered.

“Ye look here, boy!” He spat the last word, “I heard ‘bout ye, how ye’re a ladies man. If I see ye close to me wife, ye’re dead. Hear me?! Dead!”

Kvothe closed his eyes and sighed slowly. Opening them, he gave Bjorn a cold smile that froze the bulky merchant in place.

“If you want to give it a try, you’re more than welcome. Just know I won’t go easy on you.” Kvothe said nonchalantly, but looking the desperation in Bjorn’s eyes he added, “Your wife might be a pretty woman, but she’s your wife nonetheless. I would never flirt with a married woman.”

Wiping his smile, Kvothe returned Bjorn’s glare. They stood there for a minute until Bjorn admitted defeat and broke eye contact.

“Ye are a bold lad, that I can see. Ye gonna buy sumthin’? If you don’t, ye better go away.”

Looking at the wares, Kvothe realized he had really run out of a few vegetables.

“How much for the chives?”

“Five copper the bundle.”

“Five copper?!” Kvothe asked dumbfounded, “I paid 2 copper last time.”

“I liked ye last time.”

The cold smile Bjorn gave Kvothe brought back the sense of dread from before. His life had just became a lot harder.

*****

Kvothe arrived at the training hall just to realize Cain wasn’t there. For the last two weeks Kvothe had been so busy he hadn’t met his friend. Shaking that weird feeling, he entered the training hall and went to the second floor. There he met the people he had come for.

After the fight against the black bunnies, Cain had introduced Kvothe to two of his ex-companions. The three had learnt their swordsmanship from the same master and shared many adventures while traveling together. Known for his great prowess in battle, their master was mentioned multiple times in Versailles history books. His name was Yoshi Yukimura.

*****

Cain was sure those were his last moments. Thinking back, he had lived very fulfilling fourteen years. Of course there were a lot of things he would have liked to be able to do. Maybe meet a girl he liked, get married, raise a family, that kind of stuff. Now he would not have the opportunity since he was about to be devoured by a giant bear. Perhaps coming alone to the forest to train and get stronger was not a very good idea after all.

The bear was just a few steps away, slowly approaching the frightened boy. From its breath Cain could already smell the bear’s last dinner, knowing he’d join it soon. Yet, he could not move a muscle. Raising on his hind legs, the bear prepared to attack. Cain closed his eyes, waiting for the imminent pain. The sound of a huge mass hitting the floor was all he heard.

Slowly opening his eyes, he saw the bear laying on the floor in front of him. Without understanding what had happened, he slowly approached the bear. The animal was dead. A cut ran across the bear’s chest and blood flowed from it. Cain crouched and began fiddling with the dead bear, relieved for being alive.

He was thanking Odin when a shadow engulfed him. Looking up he saw that a huge man towered over him.

“Are you fine, boy?” The man asked.

“Y-Yeah!” The young Cain answered, “Thank you very much!”

Cain looked the man from head to feet, trying to understand how he had killed the bear, but could not see how he could have done such a thing. All he had was a simple sword hanging on his waist and a backpack.

“What’s wrong boy, never seen a swordsman!?” The man said.

His accent was different from any other Cain had heard. The man’s face and skin color also had peculiar differences. At first Cain thought he was an elf, but his ears were not pointy and he did not have the thin, elongated limbs that defined the elven people. There was no doubt, that man was a human.

“W-Who are you?” Cain inquired the man.

The man looked at him with a puzzled look. After a few second he made a fist with his right hand, put over his heart and pulled it across the chest until it reached the other side.

“I’m Yoshi Yukimura.” The man said with a serious face, “A wanderer and swordsman.”

“Thank you again, Mr Yukimura.” Cain got up and extended his hand. “It sure is nice to meet you.”

Yukimura still held his hand over his chest and looked at Cain’s extended hand. His face became puzzled once again and he looked at Cain’s hand from one side and then the other. Cain couldn’t understand why was the man so reluctant to hold his hand.

“What are you doing?” Yukimura asked.

Understanding what was happening, Cain laughed.

“When we meet someone, we usually shake their hands.” He explained.

Slowly, Yukimura removed his hand from over his chest and extended on Cain’s direction. The boy took his hand a shook it with a smile on his face.

“My name is Cain.” He told the stranger, “Are you heading to the village?”

*****

Two men stood on the second floor of the training hall. Once again, Kvothe was impressed at the appearance of the smaller man. His hair and beard white as snow and matching white robes, the perfect sage man stereotype. He was a short man, something around 160 cm, according to his measures, but closer to 150cm from any perspective. He was a full head smaller than Kvothe.

The man besides him was not human, in fact, he was a wood elf. With his imponent height, he towered half the height of the other man above him. His limbs were so thick they would make envious even the strongest of dwarfs. To make even higher contrast with the other man, his hair was coal black and his clothes were dirty and worn out. Even his skin had a dark coloration.

Kvothe approached them, made a fist with his right hand and put his left hand over it. He held that gesture a short distance from his chest while bowing to each of the men. A signal of respect for his masters.

“Master Arthur, Master Jurgen. Thank you for your tutelage.”

The masters returned the greeting, but without the bow, as custom.

“You are late, Hirao Kvothe.” The elf said in his thick accent, “That shows you lack manners.”

“I apologise, Tura Arthur.” Kvothe said in response, “Unfortunately I had no choice in the matter.”

“There’s no need to apologise, just make sure it won’t repeat.” Jurgen said, “We should begin already, Cain said he wouldn’t be able to come again.”

Arthur went to a nearby rack and got three wood training swords. He tossed one to each of the other men and kept the last for himself. The three men created some distance between themselves and got into different fighting stances. Kvothe held his sword in front of his body, diving his profile in two. Jurgen held his sword above his head, parallel to the ground and pointed at Kvothe. Arthur’s sword was held at the opposing side of his body, facing the ground, as a sword in scabbard, ready to attack. For a few seconds they only stared at each other when, in a swift movement, Arthur attacked Kvothe.

*****

Yoshi was sipping on his tea and writing on his journal while Cain practiced his swing. The three years that have passed since he met Yoshi, made their relationship into one of master and disciple. Cain saw in Yoshi the man he wanted to become, so he followed his master on his travels throughout the Versailles continent, offering aid to those in need.

Following Yoshi’s teachings, Cain became a formidable swordsman and a caring human. Through their voyages, they faced various enemies, monsters and thugs alike, which made their names known amongst the good and bad. Their interventions enraged many powerful dark guilds, who swore to stop them in return. Among those guilds, one is particular held huge influence over the continent; the Valyrian Shade. After having their plans hindered by the swordsmen due multiple times, they decided to request the services of one of the greatest assassins.

Jurgen Schneider was an assassin for hire, famous for his strength and discretion. He never broke on a contract and never left a target alive. No one knew his appearance for he never contacted his clients directly. His method of contract involved leaving a bag with the money and the target information in a specific mailbox. If the amount was enough, a few days later the target would appear dead. Additional requests like method of death and blame placement required bigger payments.

The assassin was relaxing reading a history book, when an unexpected knock on his door called his attention. The four knocks in the correct rhythm told him he had another request. He slipped a silver coin through the hole besides his door and waited as for the errant boy to leave, before opening the door compartment that allowed him to take the package.

Opening the package, he was amazed the amount of gold the bag held, it was probably the necessary to kill a whole guild. He opened the letter that contained the request. The first thing he saw was the crest of the Valyrian Shade, a guild that had requested his services in the past. Skimming through the letter, he expected a huge list of names, but instead he found only two. He went back to reading the full content of the letter.

‘Those individuals are highly dangerous.

Kill them by any means necessary.

Godspeed.’

As usual, Jurgen observed his targets for a few days before planning how to execute the job. Despite the obvious ordinary routine they had, something gave Jurgen a bad feeling. Yoshi appeared to be a simple old man, trying to teach his successor the knowledge he had acquired through the years. That successor, on the other hand, did nothing besides swing his sword the whole day, stopping only to eat and sleep. Even with his suspicious, he decided he would attack the two men that night.

“Are you gonna reveal yourself or should I force you to do it?”

Jurgen’s heart skipped a beat. The old man said without moving a muscle, while Jurgen was observing them from his hiding spot. He could not imagine it was directed at him. His stealth skill was of the highest level and he had made no mistakes. Was it possible that the old man could see through his stealth skill?

“You better come out.” The boy said turning his head towards the place where Jurgen was, “My master is much stronger than he looks. I wouldn’t like to see him beat you up to a pulp.”

How was it possible?! How could they both of them see through the skills he had spent his life honing?! The same skills that were able to hide him so well, he had cut his target throat and he felt it only after Jurgen was so far he could not be seen.

It didn’t matter now. All he had to do was finish both of them.

Jurgen drew his short sword and his dagger and exited his hiding spot.

As soon as he saw the man exiting from behind the trees, Cain’s expression became one of excitement, like a kid that just won a new toy. A wicked smile covered his face and a creepy aura began emanating from the boy.

“Decided to attack head on, have you...”

Jurgen wordlessly dashed to attack the defenseless old man, ignoring the younger boy. But before he could get into his attack range, the boy got in front of him and made a swing at his face. Backstepping, Jurgen avoided the wild swing and tried stabbing Cain’s abdomen. Cain easily deflected the stab and began a sequence of attacks that Jurgen blocked using his sword and dagger.

After the flurry of attacks, Cain got out of Jurgen’s reach and dropped his guard.

“You were right, Master. He is really skilled.” Cain said with a mocking grin, “But his mana control is really poor, even worse than mine.”

Jurgen’s face became red with the anger. How could such a green boy be mocking him?! He, who had spent his life training to become the strongest assassin in existence. Had it not been his years of experience, Jurgen would have lost his calm. There was no need for him to stress over such a thing, he had a trick up his sleeves, after all.

Crouching, he began gathering mana for his strongest skill, Backstab. When properly done, the user would shadowstep behind the enemy at the best position for a fatal blow. That was Jurgen trademark, and his favorite skill. He closed his eyes and activated the magic, vanishing into shadows.

When he opened his eyes, Jurger was laying on the floor, facing the stars. Night had already fallen and he wasn’t dead. However, he couldn’t move a single muscle. He wondered about what had happened. His shadow step had been perfect, but after that he couldn’t remember a single thing.

“So you’re finally awake...” Said a voice on his side.

Jurgen turned his head to face the figure. It was the boy he had been fighting with, sitting, calmly eating a bowl of soup besides the fallen enemy.

“W-Why?” Jurgen managed to ask.

The boy looked at him, that mocking grin once again appearing on his face.

“Why are you laying on the floor? Why aren’t you dead? Why your skill didn’t work against me? You have to be a bit more specific.”

Gulping down his anger, Jurgen tried lifting himself to a sitting position but Cain held him down.

“Stay still, you stupid.” Cains reproachful tone didn’t suit his previous mocking one, “Master told me to keep you like that until he’s back. Apparently I’m a mindless oaf that can’t control its own strength.”

*****

Kvothe dodged Arthur’s slash and used his sword to parry Jurgen’s, retaliating with a horizontal slash. Jurgen ducked and tried a rising stab aimed at Kvothe’s ribs. Rotating his body slightly and extending his arm, Kvothe dodged the stab and grabbed Jurgen’s hand, changing the sword’s trajectory to Arthur’s exposed back. Easily avoiding the redirected attack, Arthur made a downward slash at Kvothe’s arm, forcing the disciple to release Jurgen’s hand.

Differently from Cain, the movements Arthur and Jurgen used were graceful and fluid. Jurgen moved with precision and could avoid any attack using the least amount of movement needed. He could slip under your guard and position himself with such ease that you wondered if time flowed at a slower pace for him. Arthur, on the other hand, moved with grace and had lots of wasted moves. However, using those unnecessary movements, he could attack at any moment without warning. Attacks came from the oddest positions and from the weirdest angles, making anticipating them a difficult task.

For the last two weeks, Kvothe had been training with them. Trying to learn their styles and movements as well as master the skills they taught him. One week had been enough to mimic their styles and learn their skills, but Kvothe was not content with only that. So, every night since, he sparred against them, at first one on one, and later both at once, trying to mix the three styles he had learnt.

“You have improved a lot.” Jurgen said after the initial exchange.

“Thanks.” Kvothe said nodding.

“Should we raise the speed a bit?” Arthur asked with a devious grin.

“Certainly!” Jurgen’s face showed composure, but his eyes had the same devilish gleam as Arthur’s.

When fighting against one, they would use what Kvothe measured as half their real strength. Against the two, each would use less than twenty percent so far, but now they would begin fighting at a higher pace.

“Let’s go!” Kvothe answered with excitement.

*****

It’s been three full moons since Jurgen had been defeated by Cain the first time. For some reason the young man never finished him off, despite his various comebacks and defeats. He felt as if he was being toyed with. Every time he attacked, thinking they were with guards down, the boy would face him off and his attacks were never able to reach Cain’s body. The boy’s strength was beyond anything Jurgen had ever faced, and he had the impression Cain had only been playing with him.

Every time the boy defeated him he would wake a few hours later, laying on the floor with his wounds being taken care of. They showed no strangeness to the fact that Jurgen had been trying to kill them. A few times they even forced food down his throat, despite Jurgen’s reluctance.

Whenever he was not laying on the floor or being beaten up, he observed the two. They were a strange party, always bickering, fighting for the most stupid matters, but they also took care of each other. Jurgen tried, but he could not understand such behaviour. The figure of a master he had was not the caring kind, and that had been the only relationship he had his whole life.

As far as he knew, when he was a few days old he was left to die in front of a temple. In fact, it was not even a proper temple, but the headquarters of an assassin guild. The guild rescued him and gave him food and a roof to sleep under. At his fifth summer, the guild master instructed the brothers to begin his training, and so hell began.

At the age of eleven, he had killed more people than a priest buries his whole life. Only fully trained assassins could do missions, but that did not mean they would not be killing. Their training involved weekly confrontations against one of the people you had shared meals with. At first everyone showed some reluctance, but the fear of death would prevail and only the stronger was left. Three summers later he became the youngest assassin in the guild’s records. He was the ultimate killing machine; no fear, no remorse, no pity.

His life since had been job after job, death after death. He felt nothing. Even while the guild was being annihilated by the church he felt nothing. He saw the people he had lived with his whole life dying before his own eyes but no anger or desire of vengeance surged. He just kept doing what he had been told to; the job.

That was the reason he stuck to Cain and Yoshi, if he could not finish the job, his life would still hold some meaning. When thinking about what he would do if he could not kill then, he had no answer. He had no future besides the job. So he followed them and tried to finish what he had been hired to do, hoping to at least be killed in the attempt.

While the duo traveled, Jurgen followed them from a small distance, attacking as soon as he thought a chance appeared. He knew it was a trap to lure him into, what Yoshi called, a friendly spar, but he would attack all the same. Hope was all he had, but until then, Jurgen had been defeated by Cain exact twenty two times.

The past three weeks they wandered aimlessly through the forests of Rosenhein kingdom. They were so deep into the forest that they had seen no form of life besides wild animals for a long time. The silence of the dense forest made a single break of a twig carry out by miles, yet Yoshi and Cain sang a tavern song to the top of their lunges.

Jurgen was already paranoid about the attention the two were attracting, glancing around at any small noise. He knew the stories about that forest, how everyone who entered it disappeared forever. How monsters of high caliber existed inside the forests and even the king’s army wasn’t able to face them.

“Hey, you two!” Jurgen called out the two men, “Stop for a second.”

Yoshi stopped and turned back to look at Jurgen. The puzzled look on the old man’s face made Jurgen realize it had been the first time he had called out to them on the months he had been following the duo. All he had done was give short, sharp answers and deadly glares in response to their questions.

“Yes, Mr Jurgen?” Yoshi answered politely.

Thrown back by the attitude from the older man, Jurgen began stuttering.

“Erm… So… You know… I heard this area is quite dangerous and p-people disappear here often. T-That even the royal army wasn’t able to face the monsters here.”

“We know, stupid.” Cain answered rolling his eyes, “Why do you think we are here?!”

“I thought you were wandering aimlessly.” He said honestly.

“We were.” Yoshi said, “Until two weeks ago.”

Thinking back, two weeks ago was when they had met a searching party inside the forest. They had been looking for a small boy that had vanished after running into the woods. Since it didn’t interested Jurgen, he hadn’t even given much thought about it, but since that meeting, they had been going deeper and deeper into the forest.

“So we are searching for the boy?”

“Not only the boy.” Yoshi answered.

Jurgen looked at the duo, trying to understand their actions. Whenever they met anyone in need of help, they would do it without giving it a second thought or asking anything in exchange. The “jobs” were not only related to beasts and fighting. Many times they had helped plow fields, control a herd of cattle and received in exchange just a simple meal or even nothing. He, who never had done anything for free his whole life, could not understand such selfless acts.

“Let me help!”

Even Jurgen was surprised by the words the left of his mouth, so he was not surprised by the gaping mouths of Yoshi and Cain. Jurgen had decided to try out that helping others thing. There had to be some reason for them to do it.

“I am a very capable tracker and can help with fighting if needed.”

“Of course you can help.” Yoshi said recovering from the surprise and giving Jurgen a warm smile, “The more the merrier.”

With Jurgen joining their party, things were looking better. He began searching for any signal of the boy and taught the other two what to search for, so they could cover a bigger area. Since the forest was basically a virgin that deep, there were no signs other than what they were after and what they made. It took them a week before they found a clue that led them even deeper inside the woods. They began finding strong monsters there, but the trio took care of them easily.

Three days since they had begun following the lead, it vanished. They were at the place the boy had been abducted, but there was no clue as to what had abducted the boy.

“I cannot believe there are no traces left.” Jurgen complained, “How can anyone be so skilled?! Its as if they never left.”

Yoshi touched his shoulder.

“They haven’t.” The old man said.

Quiet as a cat, twelve figures landed a few meters around them, bows aimed at them and ready to attack. They had the same shape as humans, but their limbs were longer and their bodies slender, even the ones that were visibly male had a feminine figure. Their skin was dark brown and had a pearl-like cover, as if they were constantly wet. All of that plus their big eyes and pointy ears made it clear they were wood elves.

Jurgen reached for his dagger but Yoshi blocked his hand from reaching it.

“We’ll never be able to attack them before they use us as target practice.” Yoshi said in a calm tone

“And what should we do, then?” Jurgen asked.

“Let’s try talking to them. Wood elves can be quite talkative if you treat them politely.”

Yoshi raised his hands in a universal ‘I mean no harm’ gesture and begun walking toward the elves. They were wary of him, so most of them focused their arrows on the old man.

“Amin essa Yoshi Yukimura, amin mellon en' kelvar ar' toror' en' quessir.” Yoshi said in the elven language.

Lowering his hands, he put his right hand on his left shoulder and bowed. The elves lowered their bows and returned the gesture.

“A human who knows our customs.” An elf with an uniquely embellished bow said as he approached Yoshi, “That is a rare sight.”

“I had the pleasure of meeting with a brother of the forest in my youth.” Yoshi explained, “You can lower your bows, we mean you no harm.”

The elves did as asked, and lowered their bows. They whispered amongst themselves, looking at the trio that had appeared.

“What are you doing so deep into the forest?” The same elf said, apparently he was the leader of the group.

“We are searching for a small boy that disappeared a few days ago.” Cain answered approaching the two, “Do you happen to know of him?”

“That boy is at our village.” The elf said in a sad tone, “He is waiting for trial.”

*****

“Damn.” Arthur said gasping for air, “The rate you learn at is not something to be taken lightly.”

Kvothe was sprawled on the floor. His clothes were soaked with sweat, the training sword lay at his side.

“You have truly mastered our fighting styles.” Jurgen said while sitting on a chair, “I don’t think I can teach you anything else.”

“Me neither.” Arthur agreed with the human master, “You are the second fastest person to master those techniques that I’ve ever seen.”

Kvothe smiled, pleased at the compliments. Of course he had not been able to win against the above level 200 masters, but leaving them gasping for air and receiving their praise was enough. Yet, something felt weird about what they had said.

“Wait!” Kvothe rose to a sitting position, “What do you mean, second?”

*****

Jurgen had just woken up and was washing his face. It was already the eighth day since they had arrived at the elven village. Thanks to Yoshi, they were treated like guests while waiting for the boy’s trial. Apparently the boy had trespassed into the holy land of the elves, an unforgivable sin.

Contrary to what people think, elves aren’t immortal, they just have a long lifespan. Actually, according to what Yoshi said, their lifespan was at least ten times that of humans. Which explained the fact that most people thought they were immortals. Another fact was that they would never let anyone see their dying place.

When an elf is close to his dying age, he is able to feel it and when that time comes, he retires to what they refer to as holy ground. That place must be untouched by any hands other than that of the dying elves, so their souls can rest in peace. Any trespasser should be killed on sight and their body left there to become part of the forest. The boy, however, had been running from monsters when the elven patrol saved him.

The boy would most likely, be set free, but they had to wait for the elders judgement. Yoshi had talked to them and they had no intentions to kill an innocent child without reason. The trio just decided to stay behind to escort the boy back to his village.

As soon as he left the door of the “house” he faced the scene he was growing used to. A horde of young elves were staring at him, curious of the weird human man. Strangely enough, even with his silence, they would return everyday to watch him while he explored the village.

The “village” was something he never imagined. The “houses” were actually hollowed trees that had almost the same size as his house, which was considered big by the human standards. There were no roads since it all stood thirty meters above the ground, instead the paths were the trees’ branches. Jurgen had no doubt a horse wagon would be able to ride those paths without a problem.

“Amazing!” Was Jurgen first thoughts every single day they had been there.

He put his shoes on and began to wander, the group of elves following behind. They would whisper amongst themselves about the unusual behaviour of the human, without caring if Jurgen listened it or not. Honestly, it did not bother him at all, he was even relieved at having someone with him. In case he slipped and he had no one to help, the fall would be a bit higher than usual.

So far, he had visited most of what he could figure for the village. He had observed the daily lives of the elves. The away they lived in harmony with nature was something he had believed impossible. It was not something along the lines, “do not hurt the trees” nor “we do not kill”. They simply took what they needed. There was no excess, they consumed only what was absolutely necessary.

The concept of parenthood was non-existent as well, something that was a shock for him. Until they were of age, the elves lived together in the biggest “building” in the village. There they were taught all they needed, from how to hunt to how to navigate using only the stars as a guide. Despite all that, the biggest oddity for him was that they did not use metal.

Metal was not something they were used to dealing with. Their tools were made from the bones of animals and swords were nonexistent. However, they excelled at the use of bow and arrow, most being able to hit a fly 20 meters in a windy day. Their superior sight, strength and flexibility also contributed to that. The few metal weapons they got from invaders and visitors were usually stored away and left to rust.

Jurgen stopped his walk and watched as a group of elves practiced a dance, or was it a martial art? Their motions were fluid like water but they moved as slow as the earth. He could identify the punches and kicks mixed into the movements. It was definitely a martial art. He tried to mimic them. The movements were easy, but the slow speed made it hard to keep the balance. His body lacked the strength to hold it in place.

The giggling made him return to reality. He looked back to see the elves holding their laughs. How amusing it must be a clumsy human trying to imitate them. A small elf girl was directly behind him, smiling at him. It was the kind of smile only children had. A smile defined by innocence. He caught himself smiling back at the little girl. His usual self would never talk to a kid, he had no idea how to handle them. However, looking at that small, frail looking girl, he saw that he was being stupid.

“Hello little girl!” He said as he crouched besides her, “What is your name?”

“I’m Elandir, but everyone call me Ella.” The girl answered, her smile broadening.

“Nice to meet you, Ella. My name is Jurgen.”

“I-ur-den?” The girl asked having trouble speaking the foreign name.

“You can call me Jur. Is that easier?”

“Yes, much easier. Jur.”

Jurgen felt something weird while listening to the girl saying his nickname. He tried to think of the last time he had talked to a kid, but could not remember. He sat on the floor besides the girl and quietly watched as the elves performed their dance. It was truly beautiful.

“Jur… What do you do?” Ella asked him.

“What do you mean?” Jurgen turned his head to look at the girl, his mind still trying to figure out what was that he was feeling.

“Your function in your village.”

He looked at her, wondering what would she think if he told her he was an assassin for hire. That was not something he had told anyone. He was not a social person but knew that was not something he should say openly.

“Human villages aren’t like yours.” Jurgen explained curtly trying to brush Ella away, but seeing her puzzled face and expectant eyes he decided to continue. “We don’t live all together, nor live in harmony with nature.”

He took a coin from his pocket.

“Here.” He handed her the copper coin, “This is what we call money. Its what we use to buy and sell things. We work to receive money and use it to buy food, clothes or anything we want.”

Ella looked at Jurgen, then at the coin, then at Jurgen again.

“Humans are weird.”

*****

“That is something you’ll have to ask Cain.” Jurgen said, “As much as I’d like to tell you, Cain is your true master. He is the one to decide what you have to know and when.”

“But I haven’t seen him in over a week!” Kvothe complained, “Who can say when I’ll be able to see him again?!”

“Patience, Hirao Kvothe.” Arthur said with a soothing voice, “I’m sure he’ll tell you when the time is right.”

Kvothe was about to argue once again when Arthur raised his hand.

“Instead of asking what you know we won’t tell you, why don’t you show us your progress in the wind razor.”

Taking a deep breath and sighing, Kvothe raised his sword.

“That is a stupid name by the way.” He said and closed his eyes.

As fast as it took him to blink, he manipulated his mana. He had learned quite a bit about mana manipulation in the last weeks. Ways he could make it faster, ways to make it more effective, even ways to do what he should not be able to do. In a millisecond, he moved a large chunk of air mana to the tip of the whistling sword.

Holding the urge to yell “Kaze no kizu” he made a downward diagonal slash in the air in front of him. Ten meters in front of him, two scarecrows were cleanly cut in two.

“As soon as you get the right timing to releasing the mana it gets too easy.” Kvothe said displaying a proud smile while shrugging nonchalantly.

The two swordmasters looked at him. Their eyes told that they wanted to wipe that smug grin from Kvothe’s face. Jurgen put his hand on Arthur’s shoulder and gave him a confident smile.

“How about a race?” Jurgen suggested.

That was obviously his way of asking Kvothe if he had mastered the skill he had taught. Racing was a great way of using what he had taught Kvothe.

“I actually have to go to Count Di Kontarr’s manor, can that be the finish line?” Kvothe asked, giving Jurgen a confident grin of his own.

*****

It’s strange how a single interaction might change the whole impression of a person. Until he had talked with Ella for the first time, everyone would follow him while maintaining a distance, talking amongst them but never with him. Now the young elves flocked around him and bombarded him with questions about any and everything. At first he was annoyed by it, but the elves grew on him and he began enjoying the new treatment.

Every question he could, he would answer to the best of his knowledge and in exchange, he would ask them things he wanted to know about the elves. Sometimes an especially large group of kids flocked around him and forced him to tell them a story. He would tell them stories he had read about the great kings and heroes of the human world. Whenever an elf appeared in his stories the young elves would cheer and whenever an orc made his appearance they would boo.

It was an environment he had never experienced. People came at him willingly and wanted nothing other than hearing what he had to tell them. His whole life interacting with other people had been just for the sake of the job. That was how he had been taught and how he had lived. People had always avoided him and he never made an effort to talk to them.

During his stay with the elves, he met many interesting people but none were as memorable as Ella. Everyday the small girl would greet him in the morning with her dazzling innocent smile as soon as he left the house. She would walk beside him asking about every and anything. She was annoying as hell and, no matter what he did, she would not leave his side. By the third day that pattern repeated, his patience was wearing thin.

“Why are you following me everyday?! Don’t you have better things to do?!” His tone was angry but the girl did not seem to be fazed by it, her smile grew even bigger and brighter.

“That’s because I like you, Jur!” She answered.

Jurgen sighed.

“C’mon.” He said, “You choose where we go today.”

She was too cute and lovely for him to stay annoyed with her after that.

To his surprise, she proved to be very useful, teaching him of places he would never have thought could exist. She took him to alu lanta orn, the waterfall tree. A tree so big,that sucked so much water from the ground, that when it released the water it formed a waterfall that grew into a large river. Also, she took him to her favorite place in the whole world, the library. From what he could see, the elves were fond of reading, since they had more books than Jurgen thought could possibly exist.

Browsing through them, he found rare books about magic, histories about kingdoms, kings, and heroes long forgotten. Exotic recipes with such detailed descriptions that your mouth would water just from reading it. Suffice to say that he began borrowing piles and piles of books every single day. Sometime he would stay inside the library for the whole day. Only him, the books and Ella.

She never left his side. Whenever he got too quiet, entranced in his book, and she grew too bored, she asked him to read out loud, whatever it was he was reading. He would use his deep voice to read it out loud, acting the part of a bard, except some books were reports on new species or detailed description of artwork. Sometimes the reading got so weird that they would laugh about it for hours. Those were the best days of his life.

*****

The master and the pupil stood on their marks. Despite the boasting, Kvothe was not confident in beating the master in a race. He had already mastered the skill needed for that, but Jurgen was simply too good at it. While Kvothe was able to flow like that water, Jurgen became water itself.

If he wanted to win, he would have to play dirty. Thankfully he had a trick up his sleeve...

*****

Dozing off while waiting for sleepiness to take over, a knock at the door called Jurgen back to reality. He slowly walked to the door and opened it. Looking at him with googly eyes was Elle. In her hands was a thin book, most likely filled with children stories.

“Shouldn’t you be in bed, young lady?!” He told her with a reproaching tone, while laughing.

It had been only a couple hours since they had split their ways. Other than those two hours, they had spent the whole day together, as usual. Since the day of the trial was approaching, he had told her he would have to leave soon, so he was already expecting something like this.

“I’m sorry.” She said, “I couldn’t sleep, so I came to see if you would read me a story.”

“Of course, Ella. I would love to read you a story.”

She jumped excitedly and entered the house. It was a two bedrooms house, with a living room, a kitchen and surprisingly, a bathroom. Jurgen guided Ella to the spare bedroom, prepared her bed and got her a pillow and blanket.

“So...” Jurgen asked the girl, “What is it I’m reading for you?”

She handed him the book.

“Tales of Sir Gallus?” He read the title.

She looked at him expectantly. That book was obviously her favorite. The cover had a rooster drawn on it and the book was obviously overread, since most of it was fading. He opened the first page and begun reading.

“In a time dominated by wolves, a single rooster shall rise against them, Sir Gallus. He was...”

Fifteen minutes later, Elle was almost asleep on the bed.

“...and all the chickens were saved and lived happily ever after.” Jurgen read the last sentence, “Good night princess.”

He patted her head and rose from the chair. He was about to leave when something held him from behind.

“Jur...” Elle said half asleep, she was hugging him from behind tiptoeing so she could reach his waist, “You’re a weird human, but I love you.”

Jurgen stood there, ecstatic by the words and actions of a little girl. For someone like him, whose life had been only death and loneliness, that single phrase was something alien. He had no idea how to react to such words.

He began feeling of a warmth going down his face and dripping from his chin.

“Jur...Why are you crying? Are you hurt?”

Why was he crying? Even without having experienced something like that, he was sure it could only be happiness. Yet, there was not a smile on his face.

Jurgen shook his head, unable to say a word.

“Then...are you sad?”

Jurgen shook his head again, gulping down his rising emotions.

“What is wrong?” Elle pleaded, her voice announcing she was about to cry with him.

He took a deep breath and was able to find his voice.

“Nothing, sweetie.” Jurgen got to his knees and hugged her back, tears pouring from his eyes, “Everything is finally right.”

Chapter 07 »

Spoiler : Hello peeps!

Sorry the delay in delivering this chapter...

Actually it should be an extremely long chapter, but I decided to split it into manageable parts.

As always, thanks to everyone who helped with PR, ideas and even hearing me rambling.

Hope you guys enjoy it.

See ya o/Edit: Actually...Spoiler is up in the usual spot