As I walked out of the alley, I felt I had somehow changed. What did seeing a dead man change about me? I didn’t know, but a lingering amalgam of rage, fear, melancholy, and bitterness swirled in my head, and I could tell what they meant.

I stood still for a minute, sorting myself out. Maladrain had wasted no time searching for me when he’d noticed I was gone. I saw him looking down the street with a panicked expression. When he saw me, he ran to me, with Reco following not too far behind, clearly a little annoyed.

Maladrain ran to me, then spoke harshly, “Kid, what happened? Why’d you just run off like that?!”

I pointed to the alley.

He turned the corner and saw what was down the alley. “Oh, I get it. You don’t know how it is in this part of the city...”

Reco soon followed from behind him. “Hey, Saya can handle herself Maladrain, do we really gotta follow er’ around like she’s a doll?”

Maladrain looked back to glare at Reco. “I would know better than anyone how dangerous these parts can be, Reco...Just look down the alley.”

Reco walked past me nonchalantly. “Now that’s a sore sight! What happened here?”

Maladrain shrugged. “East city plague, I’d guess.”

Reco raised her eyebrows. “Why d’you know about that, Mr.Knowitall?”

Maladrain found Reco a little insensitive but was obviously used to it. “Because it’s my job as a [scout] to gather information.”

“Well, that’s a shame. Hope they shovel em’ out soon.”

Maladrain sighed, then averted his attention to me, “Hey kid, are you alright?”

I stared at him blankly. I just didn’t feel like thinking, only feeling my emotions.

“Not used to stuff like that, I guess?” He didn’t really understand what exactly was troubling me but still tried to empathize with me...

I took a step forward...

Then another...

Then I buried my face in his chest.

“Woah, kid, are you sure you’re alright?”

I stood still, leaning against him.

He remained quiet, then put a hand on my back reassuringly. He acted a lot like a parent, protective and encouraging. What did he think of me now? Was I a troubled child, or just a young adult still learning the harshness of life?

After a minute, I took a step back, then tried something new. I tried to remember the sign language Sayanica used. I signed to him, I am leaving.

Maladrain stared at me confusedly, but Reco bent down as I fumbled through the signs. After closely observing me as I repeated the phrase, Reco Straightened her back. “Didn’t know she had signals. What’s she saying, Mal?”

Maladrain addressed Reco without looking, “Neither did I...”

Well, it was worth a try. If I could learn a widely-known sign language, that would be nice, but if nobody knew the language themselves...I pulled out my slate once more. {I’m going out on my own. I’ll be back at the} wipe, write, {mansion before dark.}

Maladrain let out a sigh of relief and smiled. “Sure, kid. Stay out of trouble, and don’t stay in the east city for longer than you need to if you’re alone, ok?”

I nodded.

“See you, kid.”

I walked down the streets, near where I had entered the city, then sat down at a table, dropping Cobaltio. On the other side, a Trungalaph gazed at me.

Trungalaphs are beaked humanoids with weird tentacle arms and brown, scaled legs. According to legend, they were originally made when Kuumon, god of the seas, dredged stone from the depths of the ocean and molded it into a Trungalaph.

It had been waiting at the table, a board game laid out so passerbys could challenge it.

It talked in a high pitch, speaking in what could only vaguely be called an ‘accent’. “So ye want teh play a game of Tutu, ey’?”

I nodded and pointed to my throat.

“I get it, ye can’t speak, just like my cousin. Well, fore’ we start, do you want to go first er’ second?”

I raised a ‘1’

“Understood, mam.”

Tutu was a board game that gained popularity in the kingdom over the past few years. My family made sure to buy a set while a merchant carrying the game was passing through the village.

The board consists of a rectangular grid with three rectangular parts, sector Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie, which each has a grid. Alpha and Charlie are beside Bravo. Then, there are pieces- small manufactured pebbles with either black or white painted on them. Each turn, one person places down one piece on a grid’s square, until the grid is filled entirely, where the number of pairs of three of the same color on each side of the board is counted, and whoever has the most wins.

What that means is that each player wants to place as many three-pairs as possible, while also sabotaging their opponent. The one outlier rule is that pairs that go between multiple grids count towards two points, meaning that both players start the game trying to get as many ‘side-pairs’ as possible.

A small pile of pieces laid on each side of the table. I began my turn and placed a piece in the middle, as was optimal.

It matched me, placing a piece near my own with its tentacle, and began talking as we played, “My cousin es’ mute because he es’ far too shy to speeeak. When e’ was younger, I used to play trieks on him, trying to make em’ squak oout a-” He paused, looking at what I had done. “Hmm, quite thee play.”

It had tried to make a pair on the side, but I’d blocked off all of his side-pairs while managing to set up two of my own. It paused playing, tapping a pebble against the table. “Yee are notheein bad. To be honeest, I am seearching for talent on they streets, and haven’t been having much luck.”

I tilted my head in confusion and intrigue. What did it mean by ‘searching for talent’?

“I see you are unfameeliar with the competeetive side of theese board games. You see, [gamemaster] geeneeral claasees from acrooos the country can join meeny tourneements in the great citeys te see if they’re thee best at the monarch’s favorite game. The winneer of thee tri-yeerly national championships may be nomeenated a night or noble by thee king, and be giveen a large soom of mooney.”

Interesting, but not very relevant to me.

“Teel me, silent child, do yeu leeve in thies citey?”

I shook my head as it placed another piece down and resumed the game.

“Weel, ei was askn’ because I sew poteential in thoos moves of ye, and wanteed to see if ye wanteed to see if ye could geet better queek. Not meeny people ayve’ sat down for a game o’ Tutu, so I’d be willing to see what you can do. So, I’d like te know if you were interested een’ some coaching.” They had easily begun to pick up the pace, beating me at every corner like he’d been going easy on me the whole game. That wasn’t a big surprise. I figured whatever class he had given him an ability to make him excel at board games.

I shook my head without much consideration of his offer, and continued to play, quickly losing without being given a chance to fight back.

“Theets a shame. Ei’d love to see ye give eet a go, but I guees you’ve goot a life to leead.” It beat me quickly, and we totaled the score up. Him: 13 points, me: 7 points.

Although it didn’t get me anywhere, playing a little game was fun, and snapped me out of thoughts about the nature of human life and stuff. It was fun.

Still, I thought something strange as I walked away.

Would it ever find a good student?

I walked back to the mansion, hoping that Symantha had already arranged for my clothes and slate, and entered without knocking. Inside, I saw Symantha holding a small boy by the arms, speaking to him sternly, “Keen, you will not use your [burning sonic] again, do you understand!?”

“Noooo! I want to! Let go of me, I’m higher level than you now, so you can’t tell me what to do!”

“I’m afraid, young mas...ter?” She looked at me, realizing I was watching the unfolding chaos. She wavered for a moment before speaking slowly, “I apologize for Keen. I was hoping to keep his ill-nature obscured, for your convenience, of course.”

Uhh, what? He was a kid, of course he would act dumb.

“Oh, I see you don’t understand? The nobility prefers to keep their children hidden from the public eye until they are thirteen, or fifteen for the more conservative. Keen has been-”

Keen burst from her arms, and when he saw me, his eyes seemed to shine. “Woah! It’s a [drake]!” He began to run towards me, then-BOOM! He zipped across the room in a blur, landing in front of me, then reached up to pet Cobaltio. While I stood stunned, Cobaltio snapped its jaw at the boy, squishing his fingers between its molars, then barking in dominance as the boy recoiled in pain.

“Ahhhh! Symantha, get me that [dra-”

He was lifted off the ground by the arms, restrained by Symantha. “Do not be so rude, Keen! The last thing any self-respecting noble should do is fail to introduce himself politely!”

“Nooooo! Stop pushing me around Symantha, I could totally beat you in a-”

“And do the best nobles solve their issues with force, young master?”

The boy hesitated for a moment, then begrudgingly admitted, “...No.”

Symantha sighed and averted her eyes, muttering quietly, “No...?” She cleared her throat. “I’m sorry for his insolence, angel. What has brought you here without those adventurers?”

I brought out my slate, {I decided to do my own thing. Do you have my stuff?}

She nodded. “Your slate and robes are on your bed.”

She got my stuff quick! I nodded and awkwardly smiled. {Thank you!}. Wouldn’t hurt to express my gratitude.

She must have put in a lot of work.

I walked to my room, where the setting sun bathed it in orange light and sat on the bed while Cobaltio leaped off of my back.

On the bed was a folded robe of the seraph, as well as a strange slate. I was ready to pick up the slate, but first, I needed to reuse my old one. Cobaltio had always salivated when I used my slate, due to it being built of cobalt, but now that I had a new one...I threw the slate onto the bed’s other side and pointed for Cobaltio to snack on it; an order he was far from reluctant to follow.

I noticed how different the new slate was as I held it in my hands. The slate, from a glance, seemed to be the same as the ones I’d always used, but upon further inspection, it was entirely different. When I first held it, I could feel the border of the slate was rough but not too rough wood, a good sign. The rougher one is, the better the slate’s grip, but a slate too rough could scratch me. Before I inspected that further, I bounced it up and down in my hands, testing its weight. It was heavier than my first slate but far lighter than the slab of cobalt I’d been using. It also had a small hoop carved into the border.

I looked back to Cobaltio, who held the old slate in place as he gnawed on part of it, like a dog with a bone, finally breaking a piece off. He chewed it with the satisfying cracks and snaps of crunching rock. Sensing my gaze, he turned to match me with curiosity.

I silent-chuckled at the sight. Someday, maybe Cobaltio would be a powerful warrior.

That’d be a sight.

I continued sizing up my slate, and eventually, I slid my hand across its surface.

Suddenly, menu popped up.

Would you like to attune to soulbound item, [seraph’s slate]?

Whhhhhhaaaaattt, it was a soulbound item?! The only soulbound items I’d ever had were my [life wing] and [soul cushion], and those were strange exceptions since I was born with one, and another was a gift from a god. There were different kinds of soulbound items, and some would even teleport to the user if lost. I hoped it could do that since losing my last one nearly cost me my life.

I tried to write with chalk to communicate with menu, but my chalk simply didn’t write because I hadn’t attuned to it, so I instead wrote ‘yes’ in midair.

Attuned to [seraph’s slate]!

I began to write on the slate, scribbling whatever words came to mind on its chalkboard. It was a wonderful surface for writing too! After wiping off the slate, I flipped it over. Strangely, it had two sides, both made of slightly different materials. This side had a strange sheen to it. I pressed my chalk to it and wrote, ‘this slate is cool’. Then, the chalk glowed. It wasn’t bright, but the sentence glowed just enough to see under my shadow. I smiled, happy to have a slate not built of raw metal. It was suuuuch a good slate...?

I lost my grin as I remembered why I had the slate. It was a handout, a free gift meant to keep me comfortable and happy as a valued priest of Seraph.

Buuuuttt...it was a super nice magical item...

Buuuuttt, it was unlikely to have been given out without expectations...

Buuuuttt, it was something I would likely be grateful for, for years.

But...

Was this a mistake? I was now an [oathbreaker], whether or not I truly defied my goddess. Were someone of the Sanctuary to learn of that, what would happen? What did it even mean to be an [oathbreaker]?

I asked menu to pull up its description.

[oathbreaker]: you have betrayed your patron. You are on your own now, oathbreaker.

I shivered. Maybe if I explained to a bishop my ridiculously complicated situation they could help me? I could always regain Seraph’s patronage, right?

To do that, though, I’d probably need to come prepared.

I decided to take a nap and asked Symantha to wake me in half an hour. I hadn’t finished exploring the city yet.