"Psssst! Lin! Wake up!"
"I'm awake…"
*************
This had become a common occurrence throughout the past few nights. In the dead of night, Alwyn would come to my sack and 'wake me up'.
Of course, I was already awake. But it was still jarring, going from complete, serene, silence, to Alwyn whispering in my ear.
For what?
It was our 'special lessons'. Alwyn had named them 'humanity lessons'. Why they had to be done in the middle of the night…? Well, you'll see.
The first time, I nearly couldn't believe what Alwyn was making me do. It could barely be called a lesson at all.
In fact, I don't think any licensed school would teach such a class. Perhaps they would, but they wouldn't be licensed for very much longer…
Six nights ago, Alwyn got me up for the first time. He dragged me through the woods, vague in reasoning. When we came to a dirt road, I could make out a few figures through the shadows.
We whispered in the darkness:
"Lin, those are traveling bandits. They're all over this area, I've been steering us clear of them since I wanted to avoid any conflict… but I realized this is perfect."
"Perfect for what?"
"For your lessons."
"Be more vague, won't you?"
"I'm going to have you kill them!"
Through the darkness, I could see him hold his thumbs up. Cheerful, asking me to be a murderer.
"I don't want to."
"You have to, I'm telling you as your teacher."
"But why? How does this teach me 'humanity'?"
"It teaches you morality."
"How is murder moral!?"
"Because they're bad people, see?"
I squinted through the dark and made out three captive women. The bandits were laughing and drinking, trying to start a fire.
"Are they going to kill those women?"
"Ehhh… probably."
Alwyn looked away awkwardly.
"And what, you want me to go over there and attack them? How? I'm not even half the height of one of them… you expect me to take on, what is that? Five? Six?"
"Don't worry, I'll be here the entire time. Nothing will happen, promise."
I could see his glimmering teeth reflecting the moonlight in a wide grin. He kicked me onto the road and disappeared into the darkness.
From my hat, I started to pull out the gleaming sword. I quickly shoved it back inside though, once I saw how it revealed my position.
"What was that?!" one of the men shouted out.
"I don't know… go check it to be safe."
I jumped into a bush, waiting for the man to approach me. I had no weapons I could use, and considered using magic.
I only knew how to use bright, fire spells though, and quickly crossed that off from my options. There was only one thing I could do…
The man passed the bush, and I snuck out and behind him. He towered over me, and I realized this would probably be harder than I originally thought.
In a quick instant, I leapt onto his back, pressing my hand over his mouth. I latched me jaws onto his neck and ripped the flesh off.
"MMmmMmm!"
I didn't bite deep enough, and the man threw me off of his back.
"What the hell!? What was that!?"
He spun around, not used to the darkness like I was. He seemed to think I was some sort of rabid animal…
I lunged at his legs, hoping to sweep him off his feet. Instead, I was stomped on, and sent into the dirt.
I rolled away, starting to get desperate. It would only be a few more seconds before the other men arrived. In that moment, I had an idea.
I leapt into the air again, and in one nimble movement, I brushed my hat over the man. He disappeared from the road, and I followed shortly after.
Inside the hat, the man swung violently, disoriented and scared. I plunged the sword into his chest, and kicked him outside.
"He's dead… there's someone here!" I heard from outside.
I had no choice but to grab the sword and jump out from inside the hat. I swung the sword into the first man I saw, striking his shoulder and sending him howling in pain.
From my left, a fist collided with my cheek, causing me to fly into the air. In a violent attempt, I threw the sword at one of the men.
Miraculously, the sword spun through the air and landed right down the middle of his skull, like a dart. But there were four more men closing in on me.
One of them grabbed me, holding me up above the ground. The rest took turns beating me to a pulp.
When is he going to show up? I might actually die at this rate…??
All at once, the four men collapsed onto the ground. I saw thin iron rods poking out from their backs, and looked into the night.
We spoke:
"Bravo! I didn't really expect you to get more than one… you did good!"
"Good? Isn't murder of any sort bad?" I coughed.
"I suppose for a normal person that's true. But you're a wizard, and a wizard with dark inclinations at that. One of a wizard's duties is fighting crime, and if you can take care of your… urges while you're at it, then that's two birds with one stone!"
"I think I need to know magic for it to count as a 'wizard's duty'…"
"Yeah yeah, be patient!"
That was the first night. Naturally, the nights after that got gradually easier. It wasn't just two birds with one stone, it was three.
I got to kill people deserving, one. I got to take violent 'quests' meant for more experienced wizards, two.
Three, I was getting a lot of real battle experience, which Alwyn said was very valuable whether I was using spells or not.
But, this chapter is about the seventh night.
*************
I followed Alwyn through the woods once again. It must've been a huge smuggling route, considering the amount of criminals we found every night.
This time, it was a uniquely evil crime we were witnesses to.
"They're slave traders."
"Is that a crime?" I asked.
Having grown up in a rural town, no one was wealthy enough to have even touched a slave before. But I'd heard of slavery many times.
I was mistaken, and had thought that slaves were all deserving. That they were criminals.
"It wasn't until a few years ago… but it's always been a disgrace if you ask me."
"Don't slaves deserve it?"
"Almost never. Sometimes criminals are made slaves, but the vast majority are innocents. Largely from the south."
"The south? You mean the southern continent, right?"
"The entirety of Qadithar has had a bustling slave trade for hundreds of years. They sell their own people to wealthy nobles up here for a few turns a piece."
"They're not criminals from the south?"
"No you idiot! I said their innocents, didn't I? Look over there, inside the carriage is one slave. That means the slave is probably pretty expensive. And I have a bad feeling about it too…"
"Why?"
"Well… you'll see. Go ahead, take out the traders. Don't worry about the slave inside the carriage for now."
"So I should kill everyone unless they're in the carriage?"
"Yes, go already!"
I hid beside the road, waiting for the carriage to pass. I'd become quite good at stealthily subduing someone, and snuck behind the trader that lagged farthest behind the others.
I jumped up and onto his back, but this time, instead of biting into his neck like an animal, I tightened my arm around his neck.
I wasn't very strong physically, so it took all my effort to do it correctly. Soon enough though, the man silently passed out.
Once he was unconscious on the dirt, all I had to do was stomp on him a few times. There were now three traders left.
Two sat on the carriage, riding it down the road. Only one was left walking alongside it. I snuck up behind that one and repeated the process.
The ones that rode the carriage would be difficult, since they sat right next to each other.
I climbed onto the carriage as quietly as I could, shrouded by the conversation of the two and the darkness of the night.
I sat behind them, on top of the carriage, thinking of the best way to do this. I couldn't come up with any clean way to do it, so instead, I took my hat off and shoved it on the one to the right's head.
He flailed around, confused and shrouded in darkness, and fell off the carriage onto the back of one of the horses. The one to the left turned around and snarled at me, surprised.
He grabbed at my leg and pulled me off the top of the carriage. I kicked him in the jaw, loosening his grip, and then lunged at his neck.
Why do I keep going for the neck? It was the only place I could really harm them with my current strength. But the man protected his throat, and I was forced to go for another method.
I clawed at his face, plunging my fingers into his eyes, sending him screaming in pain. He lifted his hands to his face, and I kicked him off the carriage.
The horses, now distressed, trampled him, and also ran him over with the heavy wooden wheels of the carriage.
He's dead… right??
I looked at the last one, desperately clinging to the horse. I grabbed my hat from his head, and revealed his ugly, crying face.
"Who are you!?"
How does Alwyn say it again?
"I am the great wizard Lin! Face my justice!"
I grabbed the sword from within my hat and stabbed him through the heart. Then, I cut the horses free from the carriage, bringing it to a stop.
This was the first night that I suffered no real injuries.
"Well done, my apprentice. I didn't have to step in even once. I'm afraid I'm raising an assassin rather than a wizard…"
"If you taught me magic, I wouldn't have to sneak around in the dark."
"…Right. Aren't you forgetting something?"
I killed them all, though…? Wait—the slave!
I leapt off the carriage and circled around to the back. I lifted the cloth and peered inside. I could barely make out the figure before I was sent flying out the back and onto the dirt.
The girl inside had leapt onto me like a wild animal, she was gagged and her arms and legs were bound.
I observed the girl lying on top of me, and I tried to make out where I'd seen her before. Of course, I hadn't actually ever seen her before.
That was impossible. But she did seem strangely familiar…
"Calm down, I'm here to help," I said, removing her gag.
That was a mistake, however, and the girl bared her fangs, growling and foaming at the mouth.
"RWAUAAWHG!!!"
"What the hell!? Alwyn!!!"
I lifted my arm in an act of defense, and the girl sunk her fangs into my flesh. I felt her rip through the cloth and tear away at my arm, swallowing the meat whole.
Suddenly, she was sent flying through the air by a gust of wind.
"Damn… she got you good."
"What were you doing!? She was going to eat me alive…!"
The girl had calmed down, and was now sitting upside down against a tree, silent. It didn't look comfortable. Her face was covered in my blood.
"How strange… what's your name, girl?"
She was a little taller than I was. Not that being taller than me was impressive by any means… she could've been a year younger or a year older than me.
It was hard to tell. She wore only a potato sack on her body, and her pale white hair hung down past her knees. She was very dirty.
"I don't have a name."
"What!? Didn't your parents give you a name…? Oh, I suppose not, since you're a slave. Everyone needs a name… how annoying. I'm not good at naming things. How about... Lin—wait, no… Liora? How's that?"
Déjà vu!? But… was he about to name her Lin?? That's my name…
"Liora...? Li-Li-Li-or-a~! I like it!"
The girl seemed cheerful for the predicament she was in.
She's still upside down… should I help her??
Alwyn approached her, undoing her binds. Without warning, he grabbed her face. It was quite rough, not that I felt bad for the girl. She did eat me…
The girl tried to resist, but Alwyn slapped her hands away, so she gave in. He pulled back her lips, revealing her teeth.
The two that sat beside the four front teeth were much sharper than they should've been. They looked like a…
"A siaryn? How unlikely…"
"What? A 'siaryn'? That doesn't make any sense. She's… she doesn't look like a siaryn!"
"You're thinking of the siarath. Siaryn are born from a southern practice of… interbreeding."
"You can just call me a bloodsucker or a dhampir or whatever, I know you want to and I don't really care! I'm sorry for hurting you, I was about to die of starvation…"
The girl scratched her head like she was apologizing for eating my portion of food. It was my portion of body…!
"Dhampir? I don't get it…"
"In the south, where the siarath are originally from, occasionally, a siarath and a human will have a child. That's why most siaryn have tan skin like this girl, which is common in Qadithar."
Her complexion was golden brown, and her hair was pale white. It was as I've heard many descriptions of the southern people.
Siarath, on the other hand, were described as having pale white skin and ink black hair. Now that I looked closer at her, though, I could see strange features.
Obviously, for one, were her fangs. Her ears though too were pointed. And her eyes were bright and glimmering gold, like the yolk of an egg or pot of honey.
"So you ate my flesh because you're a siaryn? You thirst for human blood?"
"Errr… yes, that's really my bad! Please forgive me!"
She stuck out her tongue in playful apology. Her playful mood evaporated when she saw the look in my eye.
"Lin, what are you doing?"
"I'm killing her. She's a monster isn't she?"
"What!? I thought you were saving me!" the girl scurried back.
"Stop, we're not killing her. Siaryn aren't monsters exactly… plus, she's far too valuable to kill!" Alwyn laughed.
"Valuable? What's that supposed to mean?"
"I forgot I haven't taught you to see mana yet. Even so, you should be able to feel it in the air."
I didn't know how to process what I felt in the moment. But there was certainly something strange in the air.
"She's… special?"
"What are the chances from a little slave girl, a siaryn and an overwhelming talent!"
"Hold on, hold on hold on hold on! You don't mean?!"