The roof groaned under the weight of Elliot and his sword. The massive hunk of metal on his back was around 200 pounds, so he had to be careful where he stood or he’d collapse the whole area. Thankfully, the building was quite well made. Right now he was on top of the alchemist’s shop, waiting for the right time to strike. The old man hadn’t entered or left the house yet, so for now all Elliot could do was lay down and bandage up his wounds. In complete silence. The silence had him thinking about what had happened, and what he could have done to prevent it.

…He could have prevented a lot. Everything had been a disaster. His skill’s influence on him might have started the fight, but Elliot had been the one to continue it. He could have simply given up on the town and ran to the next, not needing to destroy their little drug ring. These may have been bad people, but they hadn’t done anything to him…

No, they had. His guilt quickly turned into a wave of burning anger. His ‘battle savant’ skill flared up when he remembered what they’d done. They had tried to take his sword before he had even had a chance to use it properly. Ironically, that had actually given him the greatest chance to use it.

He grinned, the “battle savant” skill going over what he could have done to take out the groups easier. In hindsight, it had been a complete mess. In his panic, he hadn’t been able to create any type of flow with the sword. If he had kept moving then he wouldn’t have gotten shot, let alone get hit. During the last fight, he had attacked them the same way he would chop wood, methodically and staticly. If he was going to get into a fight again, he’d have to rely on his agility, not his strength.

While he waited, he checked on the level he obtained from… finishing up what he had done a short while ago. His stats should have gone up, right?

Level: 3

Occupation: Royal (First Kin)

Class: Lonely Prince

Strength: 359

Vitality: 201

Dexterity: 217 (+108)

Agility: 218 (+109)

Intelligence: 197 (+98)

Wisdom: 132

Charm: 140 (+70)

Luck: 20

Spells:

Skills: Strength of a Tyrant (Passive), Cunning of a snake (Passive) Talent of the Insane (Passive) Pk Memory- AA “Elliot Dresmr” (passive, concealed) Aerial maneuvering (Passive) Battle Savant (Passive) Deep isolation (Passive)

Class skills: Royal magic (Passive) Heroism (Passive) Royal Metamorphosis (Passive, Inert) Forsaken Prince (Passive)

Unused stat points: 10

Quest: Bring your sister home. You’ll receive one free stat point as a reward.

…seemed about right. The points were all distributed equally across the charts, barring him from the ability to properly choose himself… was what he though until he saw the unused stats.

He let out an incredulous laugh, realizing why he still had ten points left unused. His luck couldn’t go higher, and he remembered just how that worked. It meant he could put five stat points into anything he wanted every level up. For a moment, he couldn’t help but feel satisfied in the small amount of control he had been able to regain in his life. It wasn’t the twenty points he could have gotten on every level up… but it was something.

He put all his remaining points in vitality, earning an extra five in strength and five in wisdom. Such a small amount of stats entered into vitality, only to be offset by the extra strength. …At this rate, he’d never grow past the flimsy-looking body he had now.

He cursed the idea that he’d have to painstakingly complete quest after quest just to increase his vitality to equal his strength.

The worst part was that the system wouldn’t give any secondary quests. He always had to complete it before he gained a new one. He’d be lying if he said that wasn’t a small part of why he was retrieving his sister in the first place. He wondered if killing so many people would have been avoided had he just holed up in his house… Next time he got in a fight, he’d definitely keep himself in check. Heads didn’t have to roll every time he got angry.

Speaking of getting in a fight... Elliot heard the sound of a group getting near, and by the sound of their voice, it seemed they found his earlier ambush. Among the voices, he heard the familiar voice of the old man. “Find him. We can’t let him live. If we let a demon like that escape then the royal guard will have a squad on us faster than lightning. If any of you see him, keep your distance and fire your bolts. We all saw out there what he can do when he gets close enough.”

Elliot ignored the blatant insults thrown at him. He had, in fact, done horrible things to them. Instead, he focused on the man saying those words. There he was, the man who had fed him and cared for him… planning out how to kill him. Elliot wanted to jump down immediately, but he knew doing so would get him nowhere. “Go see if they’ve found the cache of Rottmere, the bastard completely ruined the keel. We’ll have to work that out later. But for now, just go.” As the old man waved them away, he turned and reentered the shop.

A good amount of them turned and ran towards the place he demolished, leaving only 3 behind with the old man. He fought the urge to jump down then and there, knowing that if he didn’t finish it in one shot then everything he’d done would go down the drain. He pushed down that urge and kept watching, looking on as the old man entered the house, along with the other three. They seemed to be arguing, which was good.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

It meant they were probably as important as the alchemist. “We can't just waste men like this. What do you think will happen to the rest of the town if they learn half their family just went and died on them!” A hoarse, voice shouted. He heard them through the roof, it seemed that they were willing to shout now that they were alone. “If we don’t kill him now, then we’re basically asking to have this whole town burn! You know how the royal guard acts towards the shit we sell! You saw how strong he was, that was no normal traveler!”

“They’ll come anyway when they find half the town fucking dead! What do you think they’ll do when-” Elliot flinched as he heard the sound of furniture being destroyed, and then complete silence. The old man started speaking, but it was too quiet for Elliot to properly hear. He could hear the next part, fortunately. One man seemed to have enough, heading towards the door. “Screw this! If you really think you can fix this then fix it! I’m not staying here to get a sword through my- guh!”

Elliot grinned, pulling out the sword from the poor man’s back, having to push them away with a foot to do so. It wasn’t pretty, tearing through the side and leaving a grotesque, ruined body on the floor. These men were important, so he couldn’t let even one escape. “Eek! H-he… You told us he was hiding, Gerald!” Elliot didn’t bother letting them prepare themselves, bolting into the room with all the speed he could muster. The ground underneath him exploded as he brought his sword right into the neck of one of the people… only to have him dodge the blow.

Elliot almost gawked at the sight. The blow was too fast for even him to see. Dodging it was one hell of a reflex. He didn’t stop, though. He landed the giant blade on his shoulder, releasing it and grabbing it with the other hand midair to keep its momentum. The blade crashed into the side of one of the weaker looking of the three, tearing through like a hot knife through butter. Must have been more of a ‘brains over brawn’ type of guy.

He had almost laughed, had it not been for the searing pain of a knife gong straight through his arm. “Agh!” The bastard who had dodged didn’t seem to do it purely by luck. They had jumped right back up and lodged a knife straight through him, ignoring the vitality stat he had so desperately tried to level. It seemed he had at least enough in the stat to make it hard to pull out, though. Grabbing the hand of the panicking warrior, he brought him close enough to kick his stomach with all the force he could.

He was glad they were wearing some thick armor, because from the squelching, ripping sound he was sure the stomach had been torn apart from the force. That wasn’t something he wanted on his foot. He finished the man off with his sword, decapitating him before he had a chance to do anything else. There were only two left, now. One of them was on the floor, scurrying away from him in fear, while the alchemist was staring daggers at him. Neither seemed to want to attack, so Elliot sunk his sword into the wooden floor to sit down on a chair, doing his best to remove the dagger lodged in his arm.

It was silent as he did so, the only sounds coming from the red, flowing blood of the disfigured corpse hanging in front of him, falling slowly to the floor to create a puddle. He took a moment to look at his hands and count the fingers, making sure the blade hadn’t been poisoned. After a half-minute of no disorientation, he decided it was fine. Guess it was time for interrogation. “...You two. Tell me what this all is.”

Elliot tried not to show just how inexperienced he was with all this. Honestly, he knew nothing about what was happening, other than the fact that what they were doing was definitely illegal. They wouldn’t be crying about the royal guard attacking them otherwise. The man on his ass was still cowering from Elliot, not even looking his direction. The old alchemist, however, looked straight at him with all the anger in the world. Elliot smiled weakly, the gore in the house finally unsettling his stomach. “Let’s talk, yeah? Or… do you want to go outside, first?” The old man continued his violent gaze, before sighing and grabbing a chair behind him. As he sat it looked like he gained an extra twenty years.

He must have been hiding the stress he’d gained from the situation the whole time. “Please… The townsfolk have done nothing wrong. You can kill me, just don’t report this to the royal guard. They’ll kill whoever took a part in this and their families. We can’t let that happen, the whole town will be ruined.” Elliot flinched. He knew those responsible would probably be killed, he’d heard of the same punishment done to those who have committed lesser crimes. To have the same done to their families, though? Was he able to go through with that?

If his sister had to be killed for something he’d done… He ran a hand through his hair, finding the situation to be a bit more difficult than he thought. “Do… you have a family?” He almost bit his own tongue, completely surprised at the words that came from his mouth. It seemed to surprise the old man as well. They looked at each other wide-eyed for a moment before the old alchemist cleared his throat. “Yes… my daughter Loretta and her children. Lenneta and Demetre. Demetre is such a smart boy… And Lenneta, she’d pick a fight with a bear if it looked her the wrong way, haha.”

Elliot smiled, remembering just how violent his sister used to be when she had still around. His heart reignited painfully as he recalled the moment he was told about her death. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn’t catch the old man still doting on his grandchildre. “Demetre is a bit timid… He’s so intelligent, if only he had a bit of courage to use it…” He must have really loved his grandchildren, which made what he had to do so much harder.

Elliot stood up, tearing his sword out from the crater he created. The old man became quiet immediately, lowering his head in acceptance. “Do it quick. Since I did not resist, i expect a cleaner death than… these two. Treat the one behind me the same, please. He may be just as much a bastard as me… but he has a brother. One that won’t want to see a mangled corpse tomorrow.” The man hiding in the corner finally started sobbing as the words were spoken, probably coming to terms with his death.

He had to finish this quick before he lost his nerve. “I have… I have a sister and mother. If I was in your situation I would do the same. You’re a good man for taking responsibility. And I don’t know your situation but… A better man would have never done this in the first place.” The old man didn’t look up, so Elliot couldn’t see how he felt, but the way his fist was clenched white made him think he said too much.

He had no idea what this man had gone through, and yet he couldn’t help but wonder why that path led such a caring old man here. Well, it didn’t really matter anymore. With a swift strike, he cleaved directly through the alchemist’s neck, lopping the whole head off.

It fell to the ground with a thump, the body shuddering a bit before falling alongside it. He felt sick, and the screaming cries of the coward hiding in the corner wasn’t helping either. He sighed, the knot in his stomach only getting worse as he walked closer to the screaming bastard. “NO! Get AWAY! DON’T TOUCH ME!” He didn’t swing, the man was too curled up to do so without maiming him a disgusting amount. Instead, he thrust his sword through their chest, impaling their heart. It earned a pained yelp and dying groan from the man as they slowly slid off his sword and fell to the ground. It was a quick death, and they barely had the chance to groan in agony before the light faded from their eyes. And then?

Complete silence.