Wolf looked at Edmund, not offended in the least by the man’s question. He thought he should just cast a Tenth Order spell, but then realized there was something else he’d been dying to try, and this was a perfect opportunity.

The youth smiled suddenly. “Well, that’s easy. I swear on Earthmother that to the best of my knowledge I really am a True-Namer and that this July I’ll be turning thirteen years old.”

As soon as he’d said those words, Wolf felt a wave of fatigue wash over him. His Mind Palace shuddered as Soul Force rapidly drained from it. A moment later, Wolf understood just why his father had said not to make Earthmother vows lightly.

Then, before the youth could gather his bearings, the very ground started rumbling. It wasn’t an earthquake, nor did it cause any shaking or damage. Rather, the rumbling formed a deep sound of rocks grating against rocks that slowly became words spoken by an ancient voice.

“No lies were uttered.” The words couldn’t be heard. They shook the bodies and bones of the thirteen people standing there, directly entering their minds. However, the rest of the world remained unaware of the phenomenon.

While the phenomenon shocked the twelve gang members to their cores, Wolf wanted to take a moment to inspect the price he’d paid to use this ancient ritual, but decided against it. These people were strangers and leaving just a tiny amount of awareness, even for a split second, could possibly result in the stupidest death in the history of ten races of man.

“Does that satisfy you?” Wolf asked, trying to keep a straight face. Hearing the voice of the world was exhilarating, but he could feel it cost him a lot of Soul Force.

Edmund was shaken. An actual True-Namer had come for him. A twelve year old True-Namer… As the man’s head spun, he realized something. They could either submit or die. True-Namers can’t lie. Some even say they can’t even lie to make a joke.

The Sword-Sage immediately went down on one knee. “My Lord, your servant Edmund of the Fallen Leaf greets you. I apologize if I’ve done anything disrespectful.”

A couple of moments later, the rest of the group followed his lead and went down on one knee.

“Get up, all of you. There’s no need for formalities. I expect that none of you will reveal my identity until it is widely known.” With those words, Wolf unleashed his baleful aura.

He wanted to intimidate the group, however the effect was lacking compared to what he had expected. The eleven followers seemed somewhat uncomfortable, while Edmund didn’t appear bothered one whit.

“You seem to have slain a thousand men or so my Lord,” the Sword-Sage calmly stated, apparently not shocked by the fact. “Could you please tell us what conditions you offer and what would you have us do for you?”

Wolf explained his ambition to the gathered men. When he said that he wanted to take down the Duke of Northshield Edmund was dubious. After the boy revealed that his true enemy was the Human Emperor, Edmund almost fainted.

Was this True-Namer dropped on his head one too many times when he was a child? the Sword-Sage wondered.

However, there was no denying Wolf’s argument that the one responsible for all the suffering the Empire of Human was going through right now was the Human Emperor. That man had turned a prosperous country into a dog eat dog world where your friends and allies were just as likely to stab you as the enemy was.

Even if he is crazy, compared to his means and ambition, we’re just playing bandits, killing that bastard’s retainers who may or may not have anything to do with what happened that night. As he had these thoughts, there was also a tiny worm, gnawing at the back of Edmund’s mind.

He really wanted to restore the country to the peace and prosperity it had before. It was a noble effort. The only thing that worried Edmund was whether it was feasible.

“Lord, if I may ask, when do you plan on marching on your enemies?” Edmund finally asked after Wolf was done with his short story.

“I’d like to take down Northshield in ten years or so,” Wolf said seriously. “As for taking down the Emperor, I don’t know. Twenty, fifty years? Who knows? I plan on killing him, not getting myself killed.”

“For the Northshield campaign, I might need your help. To conquer a dukedom you need to have the support of an army as well as other powerful individuals,” Wolf quoted Wayde on that one before continuing with a somewhat uncertain tone. “As for the Emperor, I think that will be a death match between the two of us. It’s not like anyone else will be able to help me against someone as powerful as he is.”

Edmund caught himself nodding subconsciously. The boy’s words made sense. Darius the First, the Human Emperor, was a World Power, which meant only another World Power could threaten him. Either that or millions of troops to tire him out before someone powerful finished him off.

Considering that the plan wasn’t suicidal, at least for Wolf’s followers, and more importantly that the alternative was certain death, Edmund decided to agree to Wolf’s request.

“My Lord, we will follow you,” the man said solemnly.

Wolf expected such an answer. He nodded his head matter-of-factly before speaking.

“In that case, the first order of business is for you to shave your heads and faces. You have to keep shaving them frequently. We can’t have anyone realize that you used to be bandits. Otherwise you’d end up in trouble.”

Wolf was busy scanning his Ring of Holding while waiting for the men to finish grooming themselves.

Once everyone cleaned up, the difference was so big even their own mothers would fail to recognize them.

“Great! Now for the scapegoats.” Wolf produced twelve chilly heads from his Ring of Holding. “Out of the fifty-three heads I’ve collected on the way over here these are the closest matches. You’ll have to do their hairs and beards to match the ones you used to have. And don’t forget to paint their faces.”

While the men were busy, Wolf entered one of the tents, set up an Alarm and then entered his Mind Palace to check what had happened after making the Earthmother vow.

As soon as Wolf’s Mental Aspect opened his eyes, he’d noticed that the ambient Soul Force was gone without a trace.

The Mind Hall’s columns showed slight signs of thin grooves, as if scratched by chains or cables which tightly pressed and coiled around them for a moment before releasing their grip.

Wolf had a feeling that whatever had caused those scars would’ve shattered the columns if he had lied. However, even this bit of damage would take several days’ worth of Soul Force to heal.

“Damn,” the Mental Aspect cursed. “I shouldn’t use this unless there’s no way around it. Imagine actually lying while under the influence of this.”

The Mental Aspect shuddered in an all too manling way for a mental projection. A moment later, he realized something else.

“I won’t be able to prepare the second batch of Compulsion spells!” Wolf felt thwarted. Worse still, it was he himself who’d screwed him over.

“Should I bluff it and save a couple of days, or should I play it safe and stay with them until I’m healed?” he wondered. “The exam is in a bit under nine weeks and I can make it back in five…”

He paused, and after a moment, nodded. “I should play it safe. I could follow them to a city or town where they could establish a mercenary company or something like that.”

Since there was nothing he could do here, Wolf left his Mind Hall. Like a self-centered kid that he was, Wolf didn’t consider that Silver would have to go hungry for a couple of days because of this little experiment of his.

Wolf then waited for the twelve men to create their substitutes, and once they were done they drafted out a contract which would be the terms of their geas.

Wolf’s primary concern was to maintain his secrecy, so the first two items of their deal focused on that. Firstly, whenever Edmund and his group discussed Wolf they would have to refer to him as boss or lord and leave out any details that could link them with him.

Secondly, if they were ever to meet Wolf anywhere in public, they had to treat him like a stranger, unless he hailed them first.

Thirdly, they were to follow Wolf’s orders, with certain limitations.

If those orders placed them in any sort of danger, they had the right to refuse. Next, they had to cease with banditry and take up a job as mercenary bounty hunters in order to further hone their skills.

As for Wolf, there was only one thing Edmund wanted in return for his service, and that was for Wolf to help the group get their revenge. Another thing Wolf had to do was make the world believe that the Raging Ghosts were dead, but that didn’t come as a part of the deal. The death of Raging Ghosts was the mandatory step for this cooperation to begin.

Wolf then cast six Compulsions on Edmund, Tommy, Jade and three strongest men in the gang. As for the rest, they would have to wait a couple of days before Wolf recovered his Soul Force and prepared another batch of Compulsion spells.

During their conversation, Wolf found out that other than Edmund the rest had poor talent. His disciples were Second and Third Order of Sword-Sages, while the rest were normal folk without an ounce of Internal Energy in their bodies.

Still, over the years, Edmund trained them well, and they were at least on the same level as veteran soldiers. Thanks to Edmund and his surviving disciples, this group was on par, or better than an elite squad and a great boon for Wolf’s and Wayde’s future plans.

***

Six days later, Wolf returned to New Yew.

He had the militia take him straight to the mayor’s home.

“Lord Mage! It’s so nice to see you alive and well!” the mayor exclaimed with fake sincerity.

“I’ve brought the heads,” Wolf said simply, and twelve heads with messy hairs and beards appeared on the table.

The elderly mayor paled at the sight and toppled into a chair.

Satisfied with the shock he’d induced, Wolf continued, “I thought you might want to impale them on spears outside town. You know, to show your Count how devoted you were.”

Wolf had prepared a Mind Trick to make sure the mayor would do as asked, but he wanted to try normal persuasion first.

Luckily, it didn’t take much to persuade the old man to suck up to the Count who threatened to eradicate him and his town. An hour later, Wolf left with a signed document stating that he resolved the bandit problem and that the heads of twelve bandits were impaled to scare off any other brigands.

Wolf could now just show the document without having to say a word.

Wolf had the excuse not to bring the heads back with him to the Mission Hall. Considering the Mission Hall’s Spell Formation, which detected lies, it was best to do something like this when cheating on a mission. If possible, Wolf wanted to submit the report and not say a word. Just in case.

Instead of taking the main road Wolf entered the forest as soon as he was certain nobody from New Yew could see him.

“Everything is taken care of,” he told Edmund as soon as he met up with the group. “Now all that’s left is for you to select a city that will be your base of operations and choose the name of your mercenary company.”

Names are a horrible thing. Wolf had to wait for half an hour until Raging Ghosts finally became the Fellowship of the Leaf. As for their base of operations, Edmund picked the city of Neatherfall. It was the third largest settlement in Silverhound and the closest one to the Beast-Lands, meaning he and his followers could gain experience fighting Monster Beasts.

Wolf planned to visit them as soon as his Order was high enough for the Mage Academy to pay him to go to such a dangerous region.

“My Lord, how do we contact you?” Edmund asked after everything else was finally settled. He still wasn’t sure whether it was smart to become this kid’s subordinate, but it was better than dying.

“I’m known as Wolf back at the Mage Academy,” Wolf said. “I’m a first year student, well, soon I’ll be a second year student there. Officially, I’m a Fourth Order Mage and I’ll soon take the exam for the Fifth Order. If you need anything from me, just send a letter saying I should contact you. Don’t reveal your location and make sure to send the message in disguise just in case. I’ll know where to go. You just say Sir Edmund wishes to meet Sir Wolf and mention a leaf somewhere in the text where it’s not obvious it’s a passcode.”

Wolf was paranoid. If nobles were idle enough to use scrying to monitor children’s exams, gods knew what they would do to find Wolf’s weak spots if they chose to go after him.

“Yes, my Lord.” Edmund nodded. Having reached an agreement on all important things, Wolf and the Fellowship of the Leaf parted ways for now.

Wolf took a couple of slight detours on his way back to the Mage Academy.

During his trip he’d hunted down three gangs of bandits. Some men he slaughtered, some he used in experiments and then put down once their minds broke.

Taking their ears or heads was below Wolf’s current status, so he simply collected their weapons and left the bodies to rot and be eaten by wildlife.

Without even noticing it, Wolf had killed another fifty men. To him this act was no different from cleaning up a bit of rubbish he’d noticed in passing. However, he did discover something.

Bandits he killed by the road sometimes had captives. He’d only encountered one gang who had prisoners, but the realization caused him to shudder. How many victims did he miss and leave behind, tied up and waiting to die in bandit lairs?

Wolf went to that camp and found three women, whom he escorted to a nearby village.

This wasted two more days, and by the time Wolf returned to the Mage Academy, there were only three weeks remaining before the semestral exam.

This time, Wolf came back by midday and went straight to the Mission Hall’s warehouse.

Inside, the old man on duty immediately recognized Wolf. The clerk made an ugly face and his lip twitched. The trauma from being buried by a pile of human heads was still fresh in his mind, despite all these weeks passing.

“Do you have the heads?” the man asked even before taking Wolf’s student card.

“Don’t you mean show me your student card?” Wolf asked. Some people went on missions to pick flowers and other medicinal ingredients.

“Right. Your student card please,” the veteran corrected himself, and Wolf handed over the card.

After a moment, the man looked at him once more. It was the horrified I knew it look.

“And the heads?” he asked.

He was relieved to see Wolf shake his head.

“I don’t have any,” he said. “Here’s the official document explaining the situation. The mayor of New Yew wrote it personally.”

The legless man checked the document and nodded, unable to suppress a relieved smile. “Good. Everything seems to be in order.”

Just like that, Wolf got away with fraud scot free.

Wolf was heading back to the dorm when he suddenly realized that in the three weeks he had left he could complete another mission. As soon as the thought hit him, the youth turned around and went back to the Mission Hall.

The hall was empty, save for the clerks. It was Friday afternoon and any good missions were already taken on Monday. What was left now were the dregs among dregs.

Well, if there’s nothing good, I can just wait for Monday and relax in the city, Wolf thought and went towards Mandy, who was waving at him excitedly while beckoning him to come over.

“What can I do for you Lord Mage?” the young woman inquired with a beaming smile as she took a deep breath.

“Could you please show me the list of available missions?” Wolf asked as he sat down.

Mandy immediately gave him the apple tablet.

“There’s nothing much in there that’s worth your time, Lord Mage,” the woman began. “We got an urgent mission a couple of hours ago. It’s rather lucrative, but it’s extremely dangerous and not worth—”

She was about to warn Wolf, but then saw that he was already reading the description of the mission in question. Mandy immediately knew Wolf was about to ask for the mission.

“It’s too dangerous,” she exclaimed, then lowered her voice when she’d realized what she was doing. “Lord Mage, Darkness and Silence are renowned assassins. This looks like a power struggle amongst nobles or something. Please, there’s no need to meddle in their affairs.”

“Only ten days for two hundred student credits? This is a steal. I’m taking this.” To Wolf, this mission was nothing but easy money.

“Please reconsider! It’s very dangerous! Trust me, this might seem like a lot of credits, but it’s just an above average pay compared to regular six star missions. And this mission’s difficulty is above an average six star mission!” the woman begged.

“Thank you for your concern, but everything’s fine, Miss Mandy. I know what I’m doing. Now if you don’t mind…” Wolf oozed confidence as he confirmed his choice and handed over his student card.

Mandy shut her mouth and, even though her lip quivered, she filled in the mission details into Wolf’s card.

“I’ll be seeing you soon!” the youth said with a smile as he took his card and left.

“I’ll be waiting for you,” Mandy mumbled softly, but Wolf pretended not to notice.

When he returned to the dorm room, Wolf noticed that Wayde was nowhere around. So he went straight to his bedroom. On his desk he found a letter from Anna. Wolf opened the envelope and found out he was invited to a ball.