"That one over there?" the boy asked twitching his head in the direction of the man.

She quickly glanced behind and turned back around immediately and nodded her head.

The man seemed to be in his early 20's and had a tattered brown shirt on with some torn up black pants, judging by how he as walking, the boy could tell that the man had been drinking before, upon further inspection he could see that the man was armed, there was a dagger strapped to the man's waist.

The man staggered, making his way to the counter where Jaime was and took a seat and began to drink.

I wonder if he'll recognize her...................who am I kidding........of course he'll recognize her..........this is a bad situation if she stays here

Looking at Miranda, he could see that she was clearly panic-stricken.

"Miranda.........I think we should head upstairs and go to sleep" he told her.

"I-I think you're right" she responded with fear in her voice.

"Alright, we'll walk towards the door and when we reach near him, walk faster and I'll shield you from his view," he told her as he got up.

She followed the plan and when they reached within close proximity of the man she began to walk faster and he blocked the man's line of sight obstructing his view of her and then he followed her soon after.

They both walked upstairs in silence and she entered her room and slammed the door shut behind her.

The boy walked up to his door and opened it and closed it whilst standing in front of it to give her the impression that he had gone to bed too.

He slowly made his way downstairs where the man was seated and took a seat next to him.

Jaime and the man could be seen having a discussion and were laughing.

The boy overheard them and quickly began to laugh and speak to them joining the conversation.

After around 5 hours of fake laughing and a meaningless conversation with them, it was time for Jaime to rack up shop and everyone to leave.

Everyone quickly left and only the 3 of them remained in the bar.

The man got up and began to stagger towards the door looking as if he would stumble and fall down from his drunkenness and Jaime took the wares on the counter and took it to the kitchen to wash them.

The boy quickly got up and began to walk behind the man, he quickly grabbed a dinner knife which was left on a table where someone had left their meal to be cleaned up.

They both exited the building and the man staggered across the illuminated city square heading into a street directly opposite to the inn which was like that of a ghost town with the boy tailing him.

The boy quickly looked up at the buildings and the houses to ensure no-one was looking down at them and began to walk faster to approach the man.

Should I slit his throat or run it through the jaw........................I'll slit it

As he extended his hand with the knife towards the drunk man's neck, in that split second where he was about to slice it open..............a bloodied Cornelius appeared before his eyes. His conscience wouldn't allow him to take another life so soon.

*BLAARGH

He dropped on his knees and began to vomit on the ground, tossing the knife far behind.

I can't do it.........................not right now...........

"Er mate you alright?" the man asked as he slowly turned around seeing the boy vomiting on the ground.

"I think I had too much to drink......hahaha" the boy responded laughing.

"Hahahaha, ye should know your limits boyo" the man said as he laughed and continued to stagger down the street soon disappearing from the boy's sights.

After around 10 minutes on his knees vomiting, he finally regained his composure and made his way back to the inn.

As he grabbed the door to open it and head inside................it was locked.

Jaime must have closed up huh.......

The boy slowly made his way to the illuminated city square in front the inn and sat on the ground with the cool night time breeze hitting him in the face.

Looking to the sides he could see what Jaime was talking about, the lights.

There were silver steel posts mounted on the ground about 1 meter in length and glowing blue magical runes could be seen engraved into the metal. A small blue stream of light could be seen flowing into a bulb which lit a bright white light illuminating everything in front of him.

It really is amazing......................

"It's been awhile," he said as he began to look up at the starry sky with the half moon looking down at him.

As he looked at the sky he didn't feel the urge to cry as he previously did, he was coming to terms of acceptance with what had happened.

"I think I'm finally coming to terms with accepting what has happened or maybe somethings wrong with me with accepting this so soon," he told himself whilst looking at the moon with a sad smile.

As he began to look at the stars in the sky and an image of Rex began to manifest in his mind imprinting itself upon the stars.

"Rex........................I know you would want me to live without guilt of what happened to Jason, Susan and Cornelius.........................but I can't do that...............you were like a brother to me and I have no idea why you did what you did...........but I just want you to know that I don't hate you for it, I'm sure you had your reasons and in the end you gave your life to me.........................so I'll live for all of you that died that day my family................I won't let your death and Cornelius's death be in vain............you both wanted me to live, my life which was worth nothing you gave a degree of value and I want you to know that I won't throw it away and make everything that's happened be in vain" he told the stars of the night extending his hand towards the stars reaching for that which he could not have with his voice trembling and slowly fading to the point where he could no longer speak.

He began to reminisce all the good memories he had of them all.

Although he had a great amount of affection for Cornelius's family, he considered Rex to be a brother, he was the man he trusted with everything, the man who showed him respect and kindness although he was a stranger and most importantly he was the man he felt at most ease around, the man who made his problems go away by just being around him.

His heart began to throb at the thought of them all no longer being with him.

A door could be heard opening behind him coming from the inn.

"What are you doing outside?" Miranda asked yawning as she slowly walked towards him rubbing her eyes.

"Looking at the sky............" he responded sadly not looking at her.

Somethings wrong

She could hear the sadness in his voice and looking at him and the way he was looking at the stars she could tell this was something important to him. In the end, she told him everything about herself but she knew nothing about him.

"Do you...................want me.................. to stay with you?" she asked him desperately wanting to be at his side at this time.

"Up to you" he responded staring up.

She quickly walked over and took a seat next to him on the ground and began to look at the sky.

"The night sky is pretty isn't it" she told him smiling.

"It...........really is," he said as he stared at the sky with his hair masking his eyes.

Then two teardrops fell from his eyes, running down his face, leaking to his chin and hitting the ground.

His face was expressionless as always although tears fell but in that moment she could feel it, the pain he was experiencing on the inside which he never spoke about could be felt emanating in the air around him.

Is he crying? Did I say something wrong?

"Are you alright? Is something wrong?" she asked as she reached for his hand.

".............I'm fine, let's head inside," he said as he got up and grabbed her hand pulling her up then letting go.

They both headed inside to their respective rooms and she went to sleep.

"Did you get any sl-" she barged into his room only to meet him in the wooden tub taking a shower with his back facing her.

What the hell.......

All the scars on his back were visible for her to see.

"What happe-"

"You gonna leave or just stand there staring? Doesn't affect me anyhow" he told her as he turned around.

She slammed the door shut and left the room.

After around 20 minutes he emerged from the room wearing a white shirt and brown pants, Miranda could be seen waiting in front the door.

It was none of her business but she was curious.

"So what happened to you?" she asked out of concern and curiosity.

He gave no response and just stared at her.

"Pack your stuff up, we're leaving"

"Why?"

"It's too dangerous for you to stay here"

"But where will we go?"

"I'll talk to Zerbia and find a place, he should know"

"Give me about a half hour, I have to shower and pack up"

"Can I get the money bag, I gotta pay Jaime for the food last night"

She took the bag out the coat and threw it at him.

He headed downstairs and saw Jaime at the counter talking to his wife.

"Morning, how much do I owe you for the meal last night?" he asked.

"Morning, 20 drachma will be fine, give it to Margaret" Jaime replied.

The boy quickly took out the money and paid her and exited the inn.

He looked to the left where the black smoke was coming from, it was the weapons shop.

Now's a better time than ever

He walked over to the shop and opened the door.

As he looked upon the white walls, various completed armor sets could be seen mounted on the walls made of different materials, there were large rows of weapons in front of him: katanas, longswords, greatswords, gauntlets, rapiers and so many more could be seen with different prices and on the walls as he looked closer, weapons could be seen mounted next to the armor sets with runic engravings on them, of course, the price was high too for those.

I don't like any of these.......

A granite counter with a bell on top of it could be seen at the end of the room with multiple wooden rows behind with shelves holding items of different kinds.

He made his way across the room and rang the bell.

A man emerged from a black door behind the rows holding the items and smoke emerged with him.

He was drenched in sweat and his face was covered in dust.

As the man walked closer his figure kept getting larger and larger, he was around 6 foot 4 inches, slightly taller than the boy but taller none the less, highly muscular with long wavy black hair, his skin olive in color and he was wearing a black tunic with brown pants.

"So what can I do ya for?" the man asked with a horsed voice looking down at him.

"I need a sword with high maneuverability" the boy answered looking at the swords in the racks.

"Maneuverability you say..................what do you normally use in the first place?" the man asked him from curiosity.

"A Xiphos" the boy replied.

"A XIPHOS HAHAHA..........FACE TO FACE I SEE..........SO DO YOU WIELD A SPEAR AND SHIELD WITH IT TOO" the man shouted laughing.

"Spear? Shield? No, just the sword" the boy muttered.

".........Just the sword.........you know how to use defensive magic then?" the man asked.

"No"

"Offensive magic?"

"No"

"So you just get up close and take them head on?"

"Well that's what I've been doing so far"

"I don't know what you've been fighting up to now but even the lowest tier mage knows how to focus and exert their innate mana in the form of an aura for protection, the only way to pierce that is to channel more mana into your weapon than what the person is using and exert more force into the blow to pierce that or else the sword will be stopped dead in its tracks" the man told the boy without him asking.

"Is that so"

"I don't know where you've been living prior to this but the way you fight is only applicable to people who don't know how to use magic, weak monsters, and beasts........if you were to fight a mage you'd definitely lose......you don't even know how to channel your mana into your weapon to reinforce the steel so the sword won't break do you?"

I beat the shit outta that mage before though

"No, I don't"

"That's a problem because the higher tier monsters know how to use magic too and have intelligence"

"Well shit.............."

"You don't have to worry about this though, these are things you should only know if you plan on becoming a merc or working for a kingdom as a soldier or somethin.........................so what do you need the sword for?"

I have a date

"For self-defense in case something happens" the boy responded grinning.

"You don't look like the type of man that would use a sword for self-defense................I should have a xiphos in the back but remember what I said, be careful or else you'll die quickly" the man said as he walked to the back.

The man quickly returned with a xiphos in his hand, the sword had a pitch black hilt and a clean silver double edged blade.

"I got the sword but I can't find the sheath for it and I don't have any leather for you to strap it on, I don't know if you still want it"

"How much?"

"Give me 35 drachma and it's yours"

"Wrap it with some cloth so I can hide it and we have a deal"

"Deal"

The man walked to the back and wrapped the sword with some white cloth and came back and passed it to the boy and the boy quickly paid the man.

"You know you should get something for range too" the man told the boy.

Maybe I should

"What do you have that I can use with this?" the boy asked

"See those weapons on the wall, they're called runic weapons, they work by draining the mana in your body and outputting it in different elemental forms such as fire lightning etc.........wait I now remembered you don't know how to use magic, those would be useless, how about a long sword or a katana?The katana specializes for fast & powerful slashing and the longsword is versatile with many angles of attack & defense, so which one you think is good?"

"A katana is nice but at the end of the day I don't have the technique needed to use one and in the end both require me to use both hands for me to properly use them and that can limit me quite a bit, so no thanks, this'll work just fine"

"Whatever floats your boat............goodluck in whatever it is you plan to do" the man told the boy as he walked away leaving the store.

As he re-entered the inn and walked upstairs, Miranda could be seen waiting at the top of the staircase wearing a green sundress with her bags in her hand waiting on him.

"What ya got there?" she asked him looking item wrapped in cloth in his hand.

"Nothing, give me 5 minutes and we'll move out and head to the bank to talk to Zerbia" the boy said as he walked into the room and shut the door.

He quickly packed his clothes into the cloth bag and put the sword in there with everything else and exited the room.

They walked downstairs and gave their goodbyes to Jaime and Margaret and exited the building.

They made their way through the crowded streets and entered the bank.

Upon entering, Zerbia could be seen talking to a client in the line, as he turned he saw the boy standing there with Miranda and made his way to them.

" Sir, I see you're looking better, what can I help you with today?" Zerbia asked as he looked at the boy's outfit.

"Can I talk to you in private? It's important"

"Sure, come with me"

"Miranda, wait here, I'll be back" the boy implored her as he walked away with Zerbia to the room behind the fenced counter.

"So what is it you would like to ask me sir?"

"I have a problem, the girl who's with me, Miranda, her tribe was destroyed and she was the last survivor and some men took her as a slave"

"Sorry to hear that"

"The thing is, last night she saw one of the men who had dealt with her tribe, and I don't know if they'll recognize her, so I don't think the city is safe"

"If they did take her as a slave prior to this, chances are they took her blood and registered her as a slave, do you want me to find the slave traders in the city?"

"Yes, but more importantly I need a place for her to stay for awhile that'll be safe"

"It'll take me awhile to help you find the slave traders in Mephisto as chances are they're a hidden organization. However, I can help you with the place to stay, I have a house located along the walls surrounding Mephisto near the northern exit of the city"

"Thank you, how much will it cost for me to use there?"

"It'll be no cost, Mr. Gudrun always helped me out with everything I needed so this is nothing in comparison, I'm happy to help you"

"Thank you so much Zerbia, I can't describe how thankful I am"

"No, I'm thankful that you came to me and trusted me with this, I'll find the traders for you and tell you who they are when next you come to the bank"

"Zerbia, I owe you, if you ever need me for anything, just say the word and I'll be there in a heartbeat"

Both men made their way out the room and headed back to the waiting room where Miranda was sitting.

"Miranda, Zerbia says he has a house you can stay in for the while that should be safe until I decide what I'm gonna do"

"Thank you Mr. Zerbia," she said as her face lit up and she bowed to show her gratitude.

"Please don't lower your head for me Madam, the house is located directly as you exit from the northern border, follow the walls to the left and about a half a mile away it should be there, it's a wooden house you can't miss, use it for however long you like" Zerbia responded smiling looking at her as he passed the keys for the house to her.

"Okay Miranda, I'll escort you there and drop food for you and stuff on a daily basis"

"Escort me?" she asked confused

"Well yes, I won't be living with you" the boy informed her

"WHAT!" she exclaimed

"You do understand that if I come to stay there it'll just be the two of us living there alone right, don't worry about me, I'll find a place to stay for the while" the boy said enlightening her.

"I'm not going to live there alone............."

"You have to understand, it'll just be for a short while"

"No, I'm not staying there alone..........I don't mind if you live there too...............I'll feel safer if you're there"

"Miranda..............."

"I'm not taking no for an answer"

"Zerbia, help me out here" the boy begged.

"I've helped you out enough already, this is your problem hahaha" Zerbia responded laughing

"Motherf-...........................okay Miranda, I'll stay with you for the time being"

I'll leave her once she builds back up herself and feels secure and confident when I'm no longer needed.

"Sir, in your stay there, you don't have to come in the city and take a chance, the people of the settlement located directly outside the northern gate tend to sell vegetables, meats, and cooked food during the day, so you'll be in a good position"

"I understand.......Zerbia, I'll be back to find out about the other thing soon"

"Yes sir, goodbye and I do hope you enjoy your stay in the house"

"Goodbye Zerbia and once again, thanks for everything," the boy said as he exited the building

"Goodbye Mr. Zerbia and thank you" Miranda thanked the man as she followed the boy.

Northern border, that should be where we entered the city from.......

"Let's head there quickly and get settled in, I don't want the chances of you being found out getting higher" he beseeched her.

They walked through the city fast and reached the gate of the northern border.

As they stood outside the gate, there were no tracks or roadways that could be seen leading to the left and right, they would have to make their way through the muddied grassland.

After walking for around 15 minutes along the wall following Zerbia's directions, a 2 storey dark brown log house facing the forest could be seen with a pitched roof, there were two bay windows on the first storey of the house and multiple double-hung windows on the second floor and a wooden door in the front.

It looked extremely elegant and aesthetically pleasing to the eyes.

"Wowwwwwwww, I can't believe we're going to be staying here" she said as she ran towards the house like if she didn't have a problem in the world.

How can she be so carefree........

As he walked towards the house looking up at the light blue sky he could hear the door open, she had already opened it and had gone inside.

The interior of the house made him speechless, it was just as beautiful as it looked on the exterior, there was the living room to the right, there were 3 extremely beautiful red velvet couches with a bearskin rug beneath, a small little fireplace made of some bricks and a small little rectangular glass table in the center of the couches.

To the left was a wooden kitchen counter with a circular stove made of bricks where wood and other fuel sources were put to be burned for heat for cooking with a netted piece of metal on the top the bricks for resting down pots etc.

A wooden cabinet with glass, on the inside teacups, pots, wooden spoons, glasses, and silverware could be seen to the side of the counter and on the ground next to it were plenty of pieces of dried wood which could be used for fuel along with a metal tinderbox which contained tinder and firestrikers.

On the wooden walls were small little glass boxes with only the tops exposed mounted with candles inside for light.

Directly in front of him was a wooden staircase with wooden railings leading upstairs and the washroom behind the staircase.

He walked up the stairs and emerged in the center of 4 rooms parallel to each other.

Randomly opening the door to the left in front of him he could see Miranda lying on the bed rolling around on it.

Okayyyyyyyyyyy thennnn........

He quickly closed her door and walked down to the first room on the right, the one furthest away from her.

The room was smaller than the others and was not as fancy, there was no wardrobe or chester drawer, no rugs on the floor to prevent the coldness of the wood from hitting his feet but it had a small bed pushed against the left side of the wall and a wooden tub with a tap for showering along with soap and scented oils to the right alongside a mirror and a window giving a view of the forest.

How convenient that this house is directly in front of the forest

The room would do just fine.