The snow fell gently on that night. The area seemed tranquil and peaceful as rays of moonlight illuminated the area. In fact, it was mesmerizing. The dozens of weapons that laid stuck into the ground reflected some of the moonlight. It looked as if the weapons themselves were glowing.
In the middle of the clearing, a beast known as a Drake laid unmoving. Large, broken, rusted chains were laying around it, covered in crimson blood. It’s face was also smeared with blood from it’s last prey. It was a sight to behold.
Though, what was more impressive were the gigantic jagged spears that flanked the Drake. As if guardians stopping it from advancing. In the middle of it’s back, a similar spear was impaled through it’s extremely tough scales. Scattered around were bits and pieces of it’s shattered scales.
Just ahead of the Drake, a figure wearing a dark grey armoured coat stood just in front of someone completely encased in black armour. It was Arke and Cyrille.
“Whew- as expected of you” Cyrille said as she sat on a ruined piece of wall that fell onto the ground.
The armour around her started to fragment and slowly flake off before completely disappearing into nothing. Her white coat slowly showed itself. Though, it became clear that something was wrong. Between the cracks of her armour, part of her sleeve was dyed in crimson red. As the armour disappeared completely, it revealed that her sleeve was soaked blood halfway up her arm.
“Ah-...” She took a crimson vial from her coat- a healing potion- and quickly poured it’s contents into her mouth.
As she did that, Arke had turned away from the Drake and walked up beside her. He lifted her injured arm carefully. He sighed.
“It’s hard to believe that you let someone like him get even a single hit on you” he said while slowly pulling up her sleeve. “How did you even let him-”
Cyrille’s breath slowly got hotter and each breath she took was heavier. Her body looked like as if it barely had any strength in it. Her silky white skin was smeared with blood. He wiped it off using his own coat, making sure not to touch the wound. Arke pulled out a roll of bandages from his coat and slowly lifted her arm higher.
“Weren’t you… the one who… told me that as long as in the end you come out… on top… then the sacrifice is worth it… or something like that” she replied as her head bobbed around- as if she was half asleep.
It wasn’t because she was drowsy, of course, it was because of the vial’s effects. It became more evident when the wound on her arm had stopped bleeding as it was being bandaged.
Arke turned his head towards Cyrille. His glowing eyes seemed to stare right at her. “I did say that. But I didn’t mean to take any unnecessary risks or make any unneeded sacrifices. It’s illogical.”
Illogical- Cyrille pondered-
Behind Arke, the gigantic spears from earlier had began to crack. Small pieces of it fell off, in a similar manner to how Cyrille’s armour did, and slowly disappeared into nothing. In fact, all of the bolts that Arke had created disappeared in the same manner.
“I’d prefer it if you didn’t do things as recklessly like this” Arke added as he finished up wrapping Cyrille’s arm in the bandages.
Cyrille simply nodded with a soft smile on her face as the effects of the vial were at it’s peak. While it did speed up the healing process- it had a rather unpleasant side effect. It gave painful migraine. Enough to make a person faint the first time they use a vial.
A few seconds pass in silence as the side effects disappeared.
Cyrille chuckled as she saw Arke was fixing her sleeve ever so gently. Most likely he tried not to irritate the wound or do anything to cause pain. She also noticed that Arke’s coat was smeared with her blood from earlier when Arke used his sleeve to wipe off excess blood off her arm.
A soft smile appeared on her face. “This reminds me of that time.”
“That time” Arke questioned as he finished up fixing her sleeve.
“Yeah- Remember the first time we met?”
On that cold and snowy day- Arke thought. It’s been almost a year now since then.
“It’s a bit hard to forget…”
Cyrille lifted her other arm up, which still had the empty vial that she drank earlier. She stared at it- played with it in her hand.
“You’re telling me that-”
= = = = = = = = = = = =
The light snow had stopped some time ago. In the clearing of the forest, near the campfire. A figure wearing an armoured coat- Arke- was kneeling down in front of a lady. Her silver eyes glared at him as she firmly held a piece of cloth into her side.
“I refuse.”
“...”
For a moment, it seemed that time stood still. The opposite answer came from what Arke had expected. A response that he couldn’t fathom. The hand he held out to her slowly fell to the ground. Once it did, the black jagged spears that were behind him lunged forwards.
“Ha- hahaha…”
A broken laugh resounded.
“So.”
All of the jagged spears slowly dissolved into what looked like black sand and disappeared with the wind, leaving only the scars they carved out in the world.
“Why?”
A gust of wind blew past with an eerie whistling sound.
“Why didn’t you kill me?” The lady looked straight at Arke’s glowing eyes. Her glare had subsided into curious gaze. “Why” she added again, as if trying to put as much weight onto her words as she can.
Arke sighed. “Hmm… a couple of reasons.” He stared directly into the lady’s eyes. “Even though you wanted to believe in them- you still fought them in the end. You denied their methods and goals.”
Arke gazed at the area around the two. While it was true that Arke was the one who ended the lives of most, if not all, of the adventurers around them. It was Cyrille who fought all of them from the beginning. A feat that wasn’t easy. Looking among the adventurers, there were a handful of magus. The very fact that they were magus made them a formidable foe by itself.
“When words wouldn’t reach out to these people- if you can even call them that- you didn’t just back down or throw away the ones who needed your help. You fought.”
Yes. Cyrille held off as many of them as she could. She was only a single fortification magus, yet she fought dozens of adventurers. Though, she refused to take any of their lives. In the battle, she even refused to draw her weapon, instead focusing on evading all of their attacks while knocking them back and onto the ground. But that hesitation was costly. A blade had pierced her side because she refused to put the adventurers down.
“So, what’s the point of snuffing out a candle in this dark world?”
“...”
“You remind me of who I used to be. Maybe you and I are the same. Maybe we’re just similar. Or I could be wrong and we’re nothing alike. Whatever it is, I didn’t save you just so I could gloat before killing you off.”
Arke looked at the empty vial that he gave the lady earlier.
“So, that’s the reasons you spared me?”
“That- and you look like my sister.”
“Ha.. hahaha.” Cyrille wholeheartedly laughed as she gripped the piece of cloth in her hand. “You’re not like what I first thought.”
Arke paused for a moment.
“Neither are you. To refuse my offer under those circumstances, that’s illogical. There’s no benefit to risking your life like that.”
Arke walked behind the rock that Cyrille was propped up on and also sat down, leaning his back. The skies had cleared by now, dozens upon dozens of stars were visible in the sky.
“Illogical, huh?” The lady glanced towards the side. She thought for a moment. “Well maybe it was. Maybe you could call it intuition, but I had a feeling you wouldn’t end my life just like that. Though, I just had to make sure.”
“Yes-... Illogical.”
The lady took a deep breath. “In response to your question earlier- I changed my mind.”
“Changed your mind, huh?”
“Yeah. What I mean by I had to make sure-” the lady paused.
“...”
“Seeing what you did earlier, that slaughter, for lack of better word, really made me question if you were like those adventurers. When you finished and helped us, it made me question if you were on our side or not. To be blunt, I still don’t know.”
Arke lowered his head. Even he didn’t know if he really was her ally or not. At least, not at this point.
“And, to be honest, I had my doubts with the guild myself since a long time ago. In fact, everything you said earlier was true. I’d always wondered why the guild didn’t just host a mass extermination quest or the like to get rid of any troublesome beasts.”
The lady reached her hand out to the sky, as if grasping that was right in front of her.
“I also wondered why I didn’t move up to class 1. I’d done everything I could, yet for some reason I was barred from ever reaching the next class rank. It’s been a long time since then.”
The lady’s eyes slowly sharpened. Her expression grew cold.
“In the end, I also found out about the corrupted side of the guild.”
Arke turned his head towards the lady.
“I fought against it in my own way. I denied it. Everything you said was, rather, it still is true. You were right when you said we’re the same. It’s just that I hoped that I could change the guild from the inside. Change it’s ways without destroying it. You know, as little bloodshed as possible.”
“Noble, but naive. Sacrifices must be made to move forwards. I’d kill a dozen to save a hundred. I’d kill a hundred to save a thousand. No matter what has to be done, as long as the outcome is better, the end justifies the means.” Arke pulled out a locket from underneath his collar. “If the guild can’t be changed no matter what I do, then I’ll simply destroy it in it’s entirety.”
“You- you really are a psycho.”
“Without the guild, the army will take over where a void would be formed. The craftsmen will do the same. It sounds insane, but it’s realistic as opposed to idealistic.”
“And what if the same happens to the ones that take over?”
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“Then I’d give my everything again to change it.” Arke clutched the locket in his hand. “All so I can keep the promise I made to her.”
Arke stood up and walked in front of the lady. Before long, a dozen spears slowly materialized all around the two.
It was impossible to see for a normal person. Among the trees in the distance. A dozen or so figures moved from left to right and vice versa. Slowly, they approached while remaining hidden.
“So, they’ve finally come.”
= = = = = = = = = = = =
“Yeah- I guess it is hard to forget.”
“If it wasn’t for that- perhaps we wouldn’t have ever met.”
Arke stood up from beside Cyrille. He walked towards the two corpses of the plate armoured adventurers- or rather the two magus. In the chaos earlier, it was hard to notice, but it was clear now what this place actually was.
Moonlight Roses were blooming on the ground where the skeletons were. They were extremely rare ingredients used for curing a handful of diseases. Though- it wasn’t rare because it was hard to find. It was rare because it was only found near the aftermath of large battles.
It bloomed only where crimson blood flowed. And this place was indeed a farm for such roses.
“Arke- what are you doing? You don’t need to worry about scavenging you know”
Cyrille looked as Arke walked up to where a large amount of Moonlight roses were blooming. Skeletons still wearing the things they had from when they were alive were piled on top of each other.
Arke passed the skeletons. Instead, he was actually heading towards one of the magus that Cyrille had dealt with earlier. Arke knelt down beside one of the magus.
“Just as it looks like, retrieving something” Arke replied as he pulled out what looked like a necklace from underneath each magus’ helmet. “Catalysts.”
Catalysts, with their ability to bestow their bearer an inhuman ability, were a premium spoil of battle. Even a single weak or damaged Catalyst would easily go for a small fortune. Anyone who wanted power and combat strength could easily obtain a powerful Catalyst as long as they had enough money.
That was the kind of world this was. A world where people aren’t born with fantastic magic or powers. A world where people can’t just train hard and gain aptitude with said magic and powers. In this world- magic is a tangible thing in the form of Catalysts.
Arke placed the helmets back where they were exactly as he first saw them and began to walk up back to where Cyrille was sitting.
“Hooh, I see.”
Cyrille looked as Arke showed her the two Catalysts before placing one into a pocket in his coat.
“Here” he added as he placed the other Catalyst into Cyrille’s hands.
She simply nodded and placed it into her own coat. Arke turned around, gazing at the moonlight roses and the Drake. Beside him, Cyrille looked as if she were about to doze off.
Seeing that, Arke pulled out a vial from his coat. Unlike before- this one was a deep blue that seemed to sparkle.
“Tired? Here- this should help a bit.”
“Oh- thanks again.”
Cyrille took the vial and immediately poured it into her mouth. She licked her lips. A reaction that was far different from when she took the crimson vial.
If the crimson vial was something like an HP potion, then the blue vial that she just took was like an MP potion. It was a potion that was specifically made to give a burst of energy or to regain concentration. Much like coffee or energy drinks.
“Cough- Cough- Agh. Sweet as ever.”
Arke turned his head towards the gate. It was around that time that a small figure wearing slim fit light leather armour emerged from the gates.
As the figure walked- a dozen daggers became visible as the cloak on it shifted. All of them were securely held in place and made no sound as she moved. Though all of them looked similar- the figure held one that was much different than the others.
“...”
“...”
“...”
It would be much more appropriate to call it a short sword rather than a dagger. But it wasn’t exactly a sword either. It had a mechanism built into it and it looked as if it had a single edge- but where it’s blade edge would be instead was a slit. The figure was wiping it’s handle, cleaning it, before she placed it into a holster on her lower back.
In front of the figure, Arke and Cyrille didn’t have much of a reaction. Until the figure finally spoke.
“Sir Arke, Miss Cyrille. Good to see that everything’s-”
The figure stopped talking mid sentence as it saw the corpse of the Drake along with the fragments of it’s shattered scales that were scattered across the area.
Arke tilted his head, his glowing eyes seemed to stare at the figure in front of him. “Yes- same to you as well Eclair.”
“I guess it’s fine if you could call this fine” Cyrille lightheartedly chuckled as she lifted her crimson coloured sleeve. She was still sitting down in the same spot.
The figure- Eclair- refocused her attention towards the two. She pulled back her hood and revealed long dark hair tied into a ponytail. From her appearance alone, she looked much younger than the two, but in fact the three were the same age, give or take a year up and down.
“A- Ah- I apologize for that.”
Her pause was nothing truly worth apologizing for. Drakes were not the kind of monster that went down without a tough fight. That was common sense- yet here was an unmoving Drake. Paired with the fact that the two in front of her looked no worse than any other adventurer after a small quest- it’s no surprise that she’d be in awe.
“So this was the cause of that sound earlier?”
“Ah- yeah. I guess it was a bit loud” Arke looked at the Drake. “Though- it was the only way to deal with it.”
“Thunderous” Both Eclair and Cyrille whispered under their breath almost at the same time.
Eclair pondered Arke’s words for a moment. Unlike Cyrille, she doesn’t know, and has never seen, Arke’s fighting style or even his Catalyst’s capabilities. The only thing she could deduce was that Arke was a caster type magus considering the loud sound and the damage that was on the Drake. A powerful caster type magus at that.
“Well- that aside, I assume everything is taken care of. Including the trackers that they sent after us” Arke said as he turned towards Eclair, who was now just in front of him.
Eclair snapped back to reality from her ponderings.
“I’ve already dealt with three people following you the entire day. I’ve had the others also search the area for more just in case, but there’s no trace of a fourth tracker on the two of you” Eclair paused. “I had also interrogated the three trackers a bit, all three say that there’s only three people sent to follow you. I doubt they were lying, but I can’t be completely sure.”
Arke pondered for a moment. “That’s fine. Even if they had a fourth tracker and managed to get back- there’s really nothing they can do now.” Arke glanced at the dead Drake. “Nothing they do would matter.”
Cyrille chuckled. “Let me guess- you’ve also thought up what to do in case they did have a fourth tracker or one of the three managed to escape?”
“... Yes ... They have no evidence linking it to us and at best, they’ll assume a different clan under the Adventurer’s Guild did it. At worst, they’ll assume our fake identities did it.”
“Yep- obsessed with backup plans and overly complex plans, that’s you alright.”
Arke nodded. “For now, We’ve done our part of the contract. Is there anything else that I need to know Eclair?”
Eclair shook her head. “None as far as I know.”
“Well then, as part of the contract, your men can handle the rest. We’ve left everything just as it was since the battle ended” Arke gave a subtle nod.
Eclair’s eyes widened for a moment, as if a child seeing a brand new toy. “Yes Sir Arke!”
“Then we’ll be off to Langite again- we’ll see you there.” Arke gestured towards the Drake. “Oh- inside the Drake there’s a magus with two catalysts as well...”
Ragna- or at least whatever was left of him.
“Yes Sir Arke” Eclair nodded as she glanced at the dead Drake. An uncertain expression was on her face.
After that, Cyrille and Arke left and passed the gate. Just beside the gates on the outside, about a dozen or so men and women, wearing light leather armour like Eclair, nodded their heads as the two passed by. These were the scouts, mercenaries, that Eclair hired.
“-who’re those two?”||”-the damsel and the demon eh-”||”-that’s not their actual-”||”-I heard they’re getting real close with-”||”-t- t- that’s a Drake-”||”-h- how did t-they-”
Once the two walked away far enough, Cyrille pulled out the medallion that Ragna tossed to her earlier and handed it over to Arke. The medallion had an intricate design. In fact- it was something that no master craftsman from their time could possibly create. And there were dozens- if not hundreds- of medallions that were identical to this being used by the Adventurer’s Guild.
“So, you’re not going to inform our friends in the thieves guild of that medallion or the two catalysts?”
Arke thought for a moment. It would be beneficial to the Thieves Guild if he gave them that information, but at the same time, the benefits weren’t noteworthy enough to warrant it. It also gave him more leverage against the Thieves Guild if he didn’t tell them.
“Huh, “Friends”. Those are simply people who’ve yet to betray you. In the case of the thieves guild, they’d stab anyone’s back as soon as they can given enough incentive to do it. Though, I can’t exactly say it’s a bad way to do things in this twisted world. That’s why I don’t particularly want to assist them more than needed.”
Behind them, the scouts chatted among themselves- though the two were already far enough away that they couldn’t actually here them.
“-These are pieces of it’s scales-”||”-that’s impossible-”||”-oi shut it and help us over here-”||”-hey I found a key-”||”-I got a couple coins-”||”-don’t take all the coins you-”
The scouts said as they scavenged through the area and looked for valuables.
Eclair walked around, turning her head left and right, scanning the area for any valuables as well. Even if Eclair was a simple mercenary and worked primarily for the Thieves Guild, she wasn’t completely loyal to the thieves guild. The same went for the other mercenaries that worked for her on this specific job. At the end of the day, it was everyone for themselves. As long as they do what the contract requires, everything else if fair game.
“Isn’t that a bit too negative way of looking at things?”
“No, I’m just being realistic.
= = = = = = = = = = =
At the guild hub in Langite, the receptionist that Arke and Cyrille had talked to was in the back of the hub. The room was full of cabinets and shelves all used for filing things for adventurers. Though, she wasn’t doing any particular paperwork at that moment.
“W- We don’t have a choice- the others haven’t returned yet and almost midnight.”
Outside, the moon was nearing it’s peak. The town had become quieter compared to the day. Still- the adventurers drank their worries away inside the hub. Though- that didn’t matter much for the people inside the room.
In front of the receptionist, a younger man wearing simple leather armour was arguing against her. He looked much younger than the rest of the adventurers that were with Ragna. He also looked to be new to the world of adventurers judging by his lack of headgear.
“Wait! What if they’re just running late. There’s no way they could’ve lost. It’s only two people! We have to wait a little longer.”
“We can’t- it’s Ragna’s orders” the receptionist pointed at a hooded man leaning in the corner of the room. “Do as Ragna ordered- go as fast as you can.”
The receptionist clenched her teeth. The hooded man nodded and quickly left the room.
“Wait! Wait I said-”
The young man walked towards the hooded man and tried to stop him, but to no avail. He was simply ignored. The man clenched his fist and immediately turned towards the receptionist. His eyes were filled with anger.
“W- What if they come back and we’ve already sent word! They won’t be happy if we give them incorrect information. You realise that don’t you!?”
The receptionist’s eyes stared back at the man who had walked right up to her face. Though- she hadn’t said a single word. “...”
“And like I said, my elder brother had two other magus with him and dozens of others- how can they lose a single magus and his wench!? That makes no sense!
“...”
“They even gathered all the information they could about those two. He even had a detailed plan and backup plans, no? Are you implying that all that failed? Are you implying my brother failed!?”
“...”
The man pointed towards the general direction of the entrance of the guild hub. “They’re on their way as we speak right now, they have to be!”
“...”
“Even if that masked man and wench were strong- even if the plan did fail- my brother isn’t so weak that he’d just up and die in a single fight like this! He’s probably on his way back-”
Slap.
The man’s face was turned to the side as the receptionist’s hand swiftly smacked his cheek. For a moment, the man didn’t move- perhaps it was that shocking to be slapped like that.
A few seconds pass.
The receptionist’s eyes were firmly locked onto the man’s eyes as he held his cheek. Before the man could even open his mouth to argue further-
“And what if they don’t?”
What do you mean? That’s impossible there’s no way my brother couldn’t come back- the man probably thought in his head.
“What do-
“Ragna- no… your brother is a strong man- but he’s an adventurer at the end of the day.”
“Wh-”
“Adventurers can die. Adventurers do die. Adventurers will die. That is a simple fact that you of all people should know. And nobody is exempt from that simple fact in this twisted world.”
“They will…”
Outside the hub, the hooded man was already on the back of a horse, running through the streets. Inside his cloak, a rolled up piece of parchment with Ragna's mark. As the horse ran, it became obvious that his destination wasn't inside Langite as he headed towards the outside of the town.
His destination was-