Chapter 2 – Twisting Darkness

I was watching my cute daughter sleep soundly, she had looked so worried since I’d mentioned we were getting into dangerous territory, but I can protect her from anything.

Though I’m no more than 3 feet tall, I’m stronger then I look, I’ve always been stronger than normal goblins, better trained, smarter, stronger and luckier, there’s no one who could be a better father than me for my child, it doesn’t matter that we aren’t blood, she’s my daughter and I would do anything for her.

When I heard her express how much she wanted to learn magic and the sword, I was impressed and happy beyond belief.

Of course my daughter would be as incredible as me, even more so in fact.

I know what you’re thinking, ’But no one can be as incredible as Bog-gobi, first born and only surviving son of the 139th Chieftain of the Goblin Kingdom!’

But it’s true, She’s blind and can’t see at least not with her eyes, she ‘sees’ by wrapping her mana around things, it’s something that Jep the physician down the road from Hipria’s house said was impossible, such complex subconscious manipulation of mana, if someone was capable of that they would be able to become an existence equal to the great heroes of old that slayed the demon Metrath.

I could tell Jep was afraid of my daughter and what she might have been capable of becoming if she hadn’t been blind.

If only she wasn’t blind, was what I’d thought to myself every night since I learned of my daughters gifts.  

But I should have known that my daughter wouldn’t simply give up, so after I heard her speak of her resolve I left and went to contact my father, 9th seat of the Council – Gel-gobi.

I arranged a meeting, when I arrived on the day of the meeting he smiled weakly, arms wide-spread and hugged me tightly.

“Bog my boy, it’s so good to see you, what has it been, nearly 20 years since me last had a chance to talk?”

“Yes father, it’s been a while…”

I felt ashamed, we both did, we’d been avoiding each other for decades, but my daughter needed me and my father, though he seemed strong and health at that very moment,  wouldn’t live for much longer, turning 193 next year, he probably only has 1 or 2 more decades in him…

“I feel awkward coming to meet you after so long, but my daughter wants to learn magic and the sword.”

“Oh? You and your wife finally had a child?”

“No… we’re still having difficulties, we adopted a young surface elf that was being sold 10 years ago.”

He seemed to be forcing his smile a bit harder now.

“I see… so she wishes to learn magic and the sword?”

He brought his hand to his chin and scratched it.

“If she has the patience for magic, wouldn’t it be better for her to focus on that?”

“She’s blind.”

He jolted slightly, it seemed like a shock for him that his granddaughter he only just learned about would be blind.

“And she wants to learn magic AND the sword?”

He looked at me confused, but I just smiled wider and nodded.

“Yes, she does and I know she can do it.”

“But she’s blind, no one would want to teach a blind student that can’t even put it to use.”

I shook my head.

“She can learn it and she can put it to use, she’s a very incredible child, not even being blind can affect her.”

He sighed dramatically and waved his hands.

“Fine, I won’t be able to find a normal teacher for her, it’s rare for someone to learn both magic and swordsmanship unless they’re a noble or royalty… ah! Actually-”

He walked over to his desk and picked up a piece of parchment there.

“I’ve received a request from a powerful ally for us to send him an advisor, this is both an act of good will on our part and a show of trust on theirs.”

He held the parchment out to me and I walked over and accepted it from him, I began reading it as my father continued.

“We could easily send you and your wife as the advisors under the condition that your child received the same education as their own child.”

Reading the parchment, it was almost too good to be true.

“This… if you can do this for me, I don’t know how I would thank you for it.”

“Don’t thank me for it, your my son and I’ve done nothing for you, so at the very least before I die and the next chieftain is chosen, I can do at least this much.”

And so we arranged for my daughter and my sister-in-laws son to be given the best possible education, an education that most kings outside of Atitria the Kingdom of Magic never receive.

Now I watch my cute Knifey sleep as we slowly make our way to Atitria, my wife has been so excited since she heard that we were going to finally be able to spend time together, it’s been 30 years since we got married and 30 years since we started working for the council, we haven’t had time to be together, not for more than a few hours and me usually spent that time catching up with one another.

I think Knifey was unhappy with going to the surface, but she quickly changed her attitude when we started leaving, I was glad she got over it and seemed to harden her resolve for learning.

As I day dreamed about how great and power she might become in the future, the carriage was rammed from the side by a bouren, a subterranean creature that looks like a giant dung beetle, it’s often used in place of horses in the Under-Kingdom.

The carriage almost tipped over onto its side, but came crashing back down on the side that was hit, shortly after we heard the war cries of a thief clan I’d read reports of, ‘Darmonies’ they claim to be remnants of those that rebelled against the unification of the Under-Kingdom, but that’s a load of shit, they’re just thieves and bandits that plague the tunnels and roads like rodents.

Torches where lit from atop the ridges on either side of the tunnel and 18 men can running at us, swords in hands.

I instantly drew my daggers and dashed towards the man at the head of the pack, Rixel drew her long sword from behind a barrel in a fluid motion and Gren’s muscles bulged as he ran forwards with me, no weapons in his hands.

I roared out as I jumped onto the man at the front of their charge, he screamed as I thrust my dagger into his neck and dragged it across and down into his chest, I jumped off his corpse that had fallen to the ground during his death, just in time to dodge an attack from another goblin, I parried his next attack and stabbed his stomach with the dagger in my other hand.

I ran to kill a woman that was coming up on my wife from behind, she screamed with a hellish gurgle when I my dagger slit her throat.

I didn’t notice a man that had gotten behind me while distracted with protecting my wife, he jumped at me and tackled me to the ground before attempting to stab me, I deflected it and stabbed his thigh which made his eyes bulge. Before he could attempt to attack me again, his head went toppled through the air away from his body, Gren, who had gotten at sword at some point pushed off the man’s corpse and helped me up, my wife keeping back the bandits as we did so.

More bandits were coming down from the ridges on the sides of the tunnel, there must be over 50 of them.

“Take the fight to them, draw them away from Shushen and Knife!”

I said to them once I realized the severity of our situation, part of something shattered inside of me, I can’t protect my daughter against this many, not here.

We ran straight towards the bandit’s reinforcements as they charged us, the three of use took a formation in the shape of a triangle so that no one could sneak up behind us without someone being able to quickly take care of them.

Gren cleaved through multiple bandits with each swing and continually cast healing magic on the three of us, while my wife, Rixel, flowed like water with her sword killing bandits before they even realize they’d been killed. I wasn’t as strong as them, but I was just as skilled, I parried a blade here, disabled a bandit there, killed another here, I trained in the goblin kingdom’s army for 20 years, if any goblin was a better fighter then me, they’d have to be blessed by Fia-fifalie, the Goddess of War and Resurrection.

The fighting continued for an hour until suddenly all the torches, as far as the eye could see, wavered and then flew through the air towards where we left the carriage, THEY HAD A MAGE!?

Why by the carriage?

But before I could become afraid I noticed that the bandits had stopped and where terrified, and then the flamed finished gathering on that singled point by the carriage and a light so bright that it blinded me, erupted from there, it was like looking directly at the sun, I had to avert my gaze, when I did I saw that the bandits where all dropping their weapons and running, whoever this mage was, they didn’t work for the bandits, what are they doing? Who are they?

Not all the bandits ran, most noticed how worried we seemed as well and they continue fighting us, but there was only 9 of them left, they seemed like their best fighters since they’d noticed our hesitation when that spell was cast.

Shortly after we started fighting the bandits again, the light disappeared without making a sound and no more spell were cast.

The 9 were taken care of after some difficulty, it would of bad if they’d been fighting us with the rest of the 30 or so bandits that ran away.

We quickly made our way back to the carriage, there we found a dead Dark elf and a small corpse charred beyond recognition, Rixel and I ran to look in the back of the carriage, there we found my daughter and Shushen huddled together.

“Your back, I’m glad.”

My daughter said to me, it was dark and although goblin could see in the dark the same as Dark elves, we couldn’t see quite as well since we mostly lived both above and underground, she was there, seemed pale and her skin was discoloured slightly was all I could make out, but I left her to Rixel as I watched the ridge to keep watch in the chance that the bandits decided to come back for the carriage.

I heard a light thud.

“Knife?”

I turned back to them, Rixel was by Knife, shaking her slightly.

“Knife!”

I should have known something was wrong, but I didn’t want to believe it.

Rixel was holding Knife in her arms shaking her and calling her name.

Gren pushed me out of the way and I fell out of the carriage and onto the ground, a soft blue light came from inside the carriage.

“What’s her species, how old is she, has she had any major illnesses?”

Gren was firing off question at Rixel, she answered them the best she could from what she’d heard from her sister.

“She’s a Green Elf, she’s 10 years old, she’s never gotten sick-”

Gren jumped out of the carriage with Knife in his arms and placed her on the ground, he then kneel before Knife leaning over the top her with his hand together.

“The goddess of resurrection blesses the fallen warrior who falls on the field of battle, the ever twisting vines and ever growing roots of the elder tree bless the earth with its majesty, the family of the fallen and the witnesses of power pray to the old kings, the heroes of old who blessed this earth with a future, the demon Metrath who cursed this earth with death, the god-king Celisticen who blessed this earth with life, the goddess Fia-fifalie that granted us power and took pity on the fallen, let this fallen body that wishes to return to life return, let the family of the fallen be with their beloved once more.

To die, is the course of nature, we beg to it that it let go of this lost soul, we beg that it allows the soul to return to its fallen body, do not hold this fallen warrior blessed by nature, let her return from the womb of the earth and be allowed to be whole with her fallen body once more, we beg this of you, do not let her return to the cycle of life and death or turn to oblivion, bring her here to her fallen body, so that she may return from death to life once more.

Goddess.

Please.

Take pity on us, take pity on the fallen of nature.

Please put aside your differences with nature and take pity on us.

We have received the blessings as you require.

Those that slayed the fallen have been slain or scattered, please take pity and refuse this death as the fallen refuses death always.”

Gren began a long chant and then repeated it 10 or so times, I was in a daze, so she really died?

My beloved daughter died… I still refused to believe it, but reality left me unable to move.

As Gren chanted, a soft cyan light radiated from my daughter’s body, when he begged that nature not hold her soul, my daughter’s body was wrapped in vines that burst from the ground and wrapped around her until I couldn’t see her anymore, as he continued to beg the vines slackened and let off an orange light the same colour as my daughters blood.

Eventually the vines withdrew into the ground, however my Knife’s corpse was gone, they’d taken her…

Tear flowed from my eyes as I realized she was gone, Rixel had started crying some time ago and Shushen was still crying.

By the 5th recitation of the chant the vines returned and grew large and towered high above us, a fruit began growing from one of the thick vines, it grew larger each time the chant was recited, by the 10th recitation the fruit had grown larger than me and the skin of the fruit had become transparent, inside was Knife, my cute little daughter, curled up into a ball and sleeping.

Gren stopped chanting soon after and was panting, sweat pouring from his forehead.

“Something has a strong grip on her soul, but it is only temporary, she will return to us.”

He finally said after catching his breath, his voice haggard like he’d ages 20 years within the last few moments.

“Thank you Gren, this is incredible, I can’t thank you enough-“

I thanked him profusely, but he brushed me off.

“No Bog-gobi, there is no need to thank me, this is part of my purpose in working for Viscount Trastlefortem, the death of the daughter of the Viscount’s Advisor would not only damage our relation with the Under-Kingdom, but would also damage the reputation of the Viscount, there is no need to thank me.”

I nodded seriously, I am still thankful, but I can tell that he does not want my thanks, so I will thank the Viscount instead, for sending such a dutiful and reliable young man.

The fruit burst open, gallons of sticky translucent orange fluid splattered on the ground and Knife fell, I ran and caught her, getting drenched in the fluid that looked the same as my daughter’s blood.

She was unconscious, but Gren insisted that she would wake up within a few days, he also insisted that we lay her on the ground for a few hours each day, so we would lay her on the ground and guard her until Gren said it was okay for us to start moving again.

And then after 6 weeks, she opened her eyes which now gave off a faint cyan light that she didn’t have before and her iris was light blue in parts like paint peeling off.

< --/-/-- >

I materialized as a ghost floating over my corpse that my family was keeping with them as they traveled… shit, I don’t want to see this!

I tried to leave but something took hold of me.

Soul of the Fallen, I have found you, return to this fallen body

“What the fuck!?”

I yelled while freaking out before I was dragged into my corpse and blacked out.

I had a dream of laying on dry barren and cracked dirt, however as I laid there half way between sleep and being awake, the ground softened and became moist, then grass stems poked out from below the ground and grew tall reaching towards the sun and I reached towards it as well, it was like laying in a hot bath, relaxing and warm.

It rained, some water got in my mouth and it tasted like liquid sugar, but it wasn’t unpleasant.

I don’t know how long I was laying there, but it was relaxing, I didn’t sleep, but I didn’t feel tired, night, day, night again, day again.

I realized someone was sitting next to me, I looked at them and realize my eyes where working.

“So I’m dreaming?”

The person nodded to me, for some reason I couldn’t see them properly, but they looked like they were made from bark.

“What’s happening?”

It felt like they smiled.

“I am keeping you company while we wait.”

The person said, their voice sounded like leaves blowing.

“I see… what are we waiting for?”

The person place its hand on my head and covered my eyes.

“For you to open your eyes.”

Everything went black and was replaced by the familiar lines, sense of depth and feeling of colours.

I breathed in deeply and breathed out slowly, I was laying in the carriage, I felt something hot against my face, but couldn’t see what it was.

Gren was driving the carriage like usual, Rixel was sitting by my side with her hand stroking my head, Shushen was huddled up sitting at the far end on the carriage near the back looking unhappy, Bog-gobi – my father, was sharpening a dagger while sitting in the front seat talking to Gren about something, but I didn’t care about what they were saying.

I should have materialized in a child form where I designated, why did I appear as a ghost? Was that something designated in the contract?

More than that, why am I alive right now? I died, I wouldn’t have been able to return to my personal space if my body in this world was still alive, my rank isn’t high enough to manage something like that.

I gave up trying to understand what happened, I was just happy to be back.

I sat up and smiled, however I lost balance and tipped slightly to the side and had to prop myself up on my elbow.

“I’m back.”

Rixel seemed shocked but also incredibly happy and my father had a week smile on his face, Shushen instant ran at me and jumped on me giving me a hug, which made me fall onto my back again.

“You’re alive! I’m sorry, I couldn’t do anything Knife.”

I smiled and thought to try push Shushen off me, but I was still so tired and I chose to just let myself be hugged, my father and Rixel joined in as well, it was heavy…. Really heavy.

“Get off me!”

I pushed myself out from under them, for a moment I thought I would need to use ‘Transcend the Limit’ but it didn’t come to that thank fully.

“Geez, are you trying to kill me?”

I said forcing myself into a sitting position against the inside of the carriage.

They each then got pained looks in their eyes, damn, I made them feel bad.

“I, I’m kidding, but how am I alive?”

“I used an ancient spell that asked the Goddess to take pity and bring you back to us, it changes depending on race and age and whether or not you’ve had any life threatening illnesses, but it all has the same effect, you beg for the life of the recently deceased to be returned and sometimes when you get lucky you get an answered.”

“Ugh… I see, thanks?”

I didn’t really know how to reply when he acted like it wasn’t that big of a deal and just continued to face forwards, Gren, you’re a strange one…

I simply nodded once to my thanks and continued focusing on the road ahead, my parents and Shushen where sitting quietly just staring at me, I turned to them.

“What?”

I father stepped forwards and hugged me.

“I’m just so happy you’re alive.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle, I would have showed up latter even if you’d buried me anyway, you went through the trouble for nothing, but I appreciate the sentiment.

They explained to me that I’d been unconscious for the last 6 weeks since my resurrection and that we’d made it out of the tunnel 9 days ago, the reason why my skin felt hot, was because of the sun shining down on us.

We arrived in a city a few days later, it was a large human city called Dorendu, the name sounded familiar, but this city was the centre for trade in Atitria and its capital, so I most likely heard it from some traders in Nis Fae Halfinane.

Upon reaching the city gates 200 soldier came out to greet us, a man in full plate and had a silly feather coming out of the top of his helmet approached us.

“I am Robed Knight of the Elder Woods, Merah Vuntissus.”

A woman’s voice came from the person that approached, I was surprised, I thought it was a man because of how tall and how broad her shoulder where.

“I have been sent by the Viscount to guard you as you pass through the city, I hope you don-“

Part of me was still doubtful the knight was a woman, but after peaking I confirmed it was so, however when I did so she stopped talking and grabbed her sword, drew it and began looking around as if searching for something, all the other soldier drew their swords as well and started looking around restlessly without moving.

“Sorry!”

I called out from the back of the carriage before climbing over our luggage and supplies to get to the front and showing myself, I looked at her again and he head snapped towards my direction and she was staring daggers at me right in the eyes.

I smiled nervously.

“Sorry, ugh… there’s nothing to worry about… that-“

“What are you doing that’s giving off such an aura?”

She interrupted me, serious this ‘sight’ thing though good in a lot of ways, is also very troublesome, especially since I’ll be going to a school where everyone should be magically sensitive…

“I’m looking at you.”

I said after sighing loudly.

She seemed confused.

Sigh, I don’t mind explaining this every time, but oh well, all I have to do is get famous or something an then people will know that Knifelim Blindsight molests people with her eyes in order to see... well they probably would say it like that, but that’s essentially what it means.

“I’m blind, but I can recognize my surroundings by wrapping my mana around things, it’s just how I am, I’m sorry it feels disgusting.”

Oh her face I could see through her armour, I could see that she was unsure about whether or not to believe me, it sounds like a lie, but I have no reason to lie about something like that.

“I see… then you are Knifelim Blindsight, I had heard of this, but I did not think it would feel so… frightening.”

“It got stronger recently.”

Gren said to the female knight, she looked scared when he said that.

“It’s gotten that bad?”

I asked Gren, who shrugged.

“You get used to it, now it just feels like worms wriggling under my skin, between my muscles and in my stomach, not as bad as before.”

What!? That sounds horrible! And it’s not as bad as before? I need to gain some kind of control over these abilities, if it gets any stronger am I just going to be shooting laser beam from my eyes?

I resolved to try to take control of the skills ‘Creeping Feelers’ and ‘Creeping Tendrils’ they’re pretty troublesome for the people around me.

I apologize a few more times and then we were guided through the city gates and let through the city like we were part of some kind of parade, shining armour, funny feather helmets and even a hero, well a future hero, he’s not nothing at the moment.

We walked through the streets, there were plenty of large houses and merchant stalls lines the street everywhere, eventually we stopped in front of a large ornamental metal gate and where let through, once we’d entered the soldiers walked off, leaving only The female knight Merah with us.

Gren brought the carriage to a large building, which I realized was a barn when we got there.

We got off the carriage, Merah was close enough for me to see her, she felt my gaze on her and her head snapped in my direction again, I wasn’t looking at her, but she was in range of ‘Creeping feelers’ I can’t look away with that unfortunately.

“Sorry…”

I said looking at the ground.

She sighed and led us to an even larger building that looked like a castle, It had been too far away for me to see until now, but it was so large that I couldn’t see where it ended in either direction, inside the building there was a number of people in what a assume was formal ware, they all stopped what they were doing and started looking around with shocked expressions before they all gathered together and went to somewhere I couldn’t see, oops…

We approached the front door, there behind the door a large number of men and women all in expensive clothing, a man very large muscular man stood at the front of the group with a sheathed sword in his right hand, where walking quickly to the front door, he stopped and kicked the door open from the inside.

“Who dares come onto my estate and threaten my staff and family!?”

Before him, stood me, slightly behind me on the left was my cousin Shushen, then was my parents, off to the side stood Merah and behind her was Gren who was smiling.

The Muscular man seemed to lose some of the rage and ferocity he had a moment ago and looks right at me.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Why are you doing that little girl?”

Is it really that bad? I feel really bad now, it’s a skill though, so I suppose I’ve just been letting it run out of control until now, I could probably make it less… this, I don’t really know how it feels, but I assume it’s not pleasant, this could cause some serious problems, actually this has caused problems since before I died for the second time, being blind sucks arse.

Seeing I wasn’t saying anything and was just staring at the Muscle man, my father came up and pat my back.

“I apologize for my daughters actions Viscount Trastlefortem, she is blind, but somehow manages to see her surrounding by wrapping her mana around everything.”

The Viscount seemed confused.

“But my servants thought they felt this in the servant’s quarters…”

“I’m sorry, since I died and was resurrected during the trip here, my ‘sight’ has become stronger, I am still getting used to it.”

I spoke up and told another half-truth.

The Viscount looked the Gren who nodded.

The Viscount frowned and narrowed his eyes while looking at me, he seemed angry, sad and a number of other things all at once.

“Then I must apologize that you lost your life on the way here, in return I will forgive you for your ‘sight’ and tolerate it.”

Dickhead… ugh I mean –

“Thank you.”

I bowed, I refuse to curtsy, fuck that, I’d rather die again I don’t care that I’m a girl at the moment, I’ll give up on most things, but the small things like this? I’m holding onto them like a wounded animal backed into a corner.

I resolved to learn to control my ‘sight’ better, I’m sick of this kind of reaction from people that are sensitive to mana, which is basically every person trained as a mage and in a city full of mages, no thanks.

The Viscount – Crodem’s eyes lingered on me as I bowed, before he laughed heartily as he said,

“Bowing Like a true Magister! Hahahaha, you’ve an impressive daughter Mister Gobi!”

He then turned to his staff that still seemed unnerved.

“Back to work everyone, it’s just our new guest who will be living here from now on.”

He turned to Merah.

“Thank you Merah, you’ve been very helpful.”

She bowed in her armour, which must be very uncomfortable because she was making a dissatisfied face behind her helmet as she bowed.

“It’s nothing sir, I am just doing my duty.”

Crodem smiled and welcomed us in, he led us to a large room with many seats positioned at a table, is this the dining room?

I have no idea, but it could be.

“Come back here once you have all cleaned up from your long travel, I have no doubt the recently revived young lady, would be in much need of a good cleaning.”

Crodem said before we were rushed back the way we came, I was given my own room for some reason, but I guess we must have all been given our own room.

In my room the female servants brought out a large porcelain tub, which must have been incredibly heavy, but they carried it without any problem and filled it with water from metal jugs, they then proceeded to stripped me of my blood stained clothes that I’d been wearing for the last few months without saying a word like it was the most natural thing ever, they ignored my protests. I was forced into the tub and cleaned with a rough brush that felt like my skin was being ripped off, it really wasn’t pleasant.

After being scrubbed thoroughly they picked me up and plonked me on my feet, patted me off with towels and they began dressing me, I didn’t have to do a thing and I hated it, even children can dress themselves dammit!

And then they were done… I was dressed in a long sleaved blue flowing dress that went slightly past my ankles and almost touched the ground, they put ornaments in my hair, which I pulled out a few times, but they simply said nothing and put them back in my hair so I gave up.

They were golden leaves, apparently the surface people have an obsession with trees or something…

Once they finished dressing me I was led back to the dining hall and upon entering I found my father sitting at the large dining table in a neat grey outfit with a silly hat with an even sillier feather coming out of it, sucks to be him and it seems he felt the same, because he looked very fed up and unhappy with whatever just happened.

Shushen was also there, similarly dressed, but with an expensive looking blue jacket with golden buttons and without the stupid hat.

I was seated two seats down from the Viscount, he was already seated and within range of my ‘Creeping Feelers’ skill, he seemed to glance at me when he got in range, but he saw I wasn’t looking at him, so he continued speaking with a servant and my father about different foods and what under people might like.

Rixel walked in after a few minutes in pants and a shirt, both looked expensive, but it seemed she ‘convinced’ them to not touch her, the female servant that were following behind her all looked bruised and shaken, well no does mean no, so they got what they deserved if you ask me.

The Viscount looked up at Rixel when she walked in and seemed to see his battered servants.

“I would appreciate it if you didn’t beat my servants, I do not condone such actions under my roof.”

Rixel scoffed.

“I told them to leave the room or I’d hit them, they should of listened.”

In the Under-Kingdom it is seen as incredibly rude to watch someone while they clean, it is also seen as morally questionable and an affront to the God that most people of the Under-Kingdom follow, which is the God ‘Dissedere’, only family member are allowed to wash together,  honestly that she hadn’t killed them is already being lenient.

Crodem sighed and Rixel sat next to Bog-gobi, I couldn’t help but smile, which made Crodem’s eye twitch, it seems he doesn’t like me, probably because of what happened just an hour ago.

After some time food was brought out to us, if this was a restaurant the wait would make most people leave, we sat there for 3 hours talking, and it was hell for me. When the food was finally brought out I could help but be relieved, we were given mostly meat, I was never a vegetarian, but I disliked eating large amounts of meats on their own, what I would of liked was moist baked sliced potatoes with onions, cheese and bacon bits mixed in, lettuce and chicken torn into chunks with mayonnaise mixed through on top of that and then on top of that to have curry rice with fruit bits mixed in, now that would have been a fantastic meal, but what we got was a thick slab of slightly pink and bloody meat on a plate.

I’m just going to say this now, I can’t eat moist meat, it disgusts me, I’ve never known why, but I feel like I want to throw up whenever I eat moist or soggy meat, I need my meat well done, dry, stringy, tough, something that’ll rip apart with difficulty, meat is all about texture for me… this I can’t eat, not unless I want to throw up while chewing on this soggy pigs intestines sponge feeling uncooked meat.

I frowned while looking at it and didn’t touch it, my parents began eating slowly while Shushen tore into it like a rabid animal, Crodem ate slowly and with what I assume is proper manners.

I turned to Crodem who froze for a moment when I did…

“I’m sorry, I’ve already eaten and am not hungry…”

He nodded to a servant and the food in front of me was taken away, I was trying to make an excuse not to eat and to leave the room, but apparently for them it was code for ‘This tastes like shit, get me something else.’ Because the servant brought me more food, the serving was smaller, but it was some kind of stew with plenty of meat…

I sighed, I hope they over cooked the stew…

I put a fork full in my mouth, the meat was flaky and moist from the stew, but I could ignore that because it was a stew, though I was still unhappy with it and showed it visibly without hiding it as I ate.

“Is the food not to your liking Knifelim?”

Crodem asked me, pausing from eating his food.

“Sorry for being picky, but I like my meat over cooked and with texture, I also like there to be slight taste of charcoal to my meat”

“You have strange tastes for a young girl, is it because that’s how your mother cooked it for you?”

“No, it just tastes better and has an enjoyable texture to it, it is very satisfying to eat.”

“Is that why you liked our traveling rations so much, Knifey?”

Bog-gobi – My father added on, I nodded.

“Tough, charred and good tasting, the only thing better would be eating leaves coated in a weak sweet sauce and with fruit bits and small well cooked meat chunks mixed in.”

I realize it probably doesn’t sound very appetising to them and like I’m joking.

The Viscount looked at me like I’d just taken his for a ride on a roller-coaster of lies.

“I’m being serious, I realize my taste in food sounds strange to you.”

Crodem just ignored me for the rest of the meal.

I can understand why, before I died the first time I was raised with a ‘Eat what your given’ attitude to meal times, I only became picking after I’d left school and stopping caring about being good to my parents. Also I just wanted to be difficult to the Viscount, I’ve always had problems with authority.

Once we finished we were taken back to our rooms and allowed to rest since it was night time, I fell asleep almost instantly as soon as I fell onto my bed after the female servants had, had their way with me again.

I fucking hate nobility and their stupid servants, I’ve decided this.

Regardless, going back a bit, right after we finished our meals, my father and mother went off somewhere with the Viscount – Crodem.

Shushen decided he wanted to look around and asked me if I wanted to come along, I reluctantly gave in, he’d just keep asking me if I refused.

We looked around, servants followed us about like they belonged there hanging off our arses like fish droppings, when it got dark we were escorted to our rooms and told that on the surface people sleep when it gets dark, this was new to Shushen, I already knew but pretended to be amazed, it was very convincing… Not really, maybe they just don’t care?

We spent the next month doing a lot of nothing while my father and the Viscount organized various things together, including our enrolment into the Royal Academy. It’s funny but apparently you need to be a ‘noble’ to be able to enrol there, so they were having issues until my father mentioned he was the son of the goblin chieftain, which is essentially the goblin emperor.

Goblin chieftain has only been a title since the 10th Goblin Chieftain was over thrown by the Goblin King and now they are both only titles, though usually those that own the titles are or become very rich as a result of having them and they are only ever inherited by the closest relative, be that a child, a brother or a cousin.

As a result, though I’m only adopted, I am next in line after my father, who will be the next Chieftain after his father dies.

As the Goblin Chieftain, you represent all of the goblin race on the council, whereas the Goblin King represents the Goblin Kingdom ‘Ultal’ which accounts for a large portion of the Under-Kingdom, however Goblin specialize as merchants and traders, they also work closely with dwarves in mining operations and have long included Orcs, Ogres and Giants as a citizens of their kingdom.

So all in all, there was no problem with either Shushen or I enrolling in the Royal Academy.

During the month I’d spend most of my spare time in the Viscounts Library, he still didn’t like me, I almost began to wonder why, but then I remembered that I was supposed to be practicing restraining my ‘sight’, which I practiced every few day whenever I remembered, I got it to the level where they only felt grossed out by it, which was a great improvement from whatever it was before, I still don’t really know because whenever I ask they seem to be unable to explain it in words… it’s that bad I suppose.

Needless to say I learned a few interesting things, let me tell you the short version.

Atitria has long known of the Under-Kingdom and has been close allies with them since before the ‘Expedition War and Fall of Olphitis’ not sure about the naming sense they have with their wars, but it is very self-explanatory. The largest Upper-Kingdom of the time, ‘Olphitis’, had organized an expedition into the Under-Kingdom, which they call ‘The Abyss’.

They’d known of the great dangers in ‘The Abyss’, millions of goblins like an unending army, hundreds of thousands of the foul and twisted Dark Elves, the sickly and stunted beings called Dwarves and their putrid spawn, the Stone Golems, as well as countless other beasts and creatures, the likes of which Olphitis has never seen. And so to quell their fears of the ‘inevitable’ invasion from what lurks in the deep tunnels of the earth, they gathered their expedition, 40000 infantry, armed with the greatest of bronze swords and armour forged by master craftsmen.

190000 archers, their 80000 arrows tipped with the finest iron blessed by priests of the sacred Elder Tree.

6000 of the kingdoms finest Magicians capable of casting 9th class spells and led by the Archemage ‘Metraw’ that I suspect was Metra…

Anyway, they were really up themselves, already beginning to write the great epic that they were calling ‘Repelling the Dark’, they went into ‘The Abyss’ as they called it, honestly they were just being over dramatic.

They killed anything they came across, be it animal, man, woman, small child or baby, they were really just a pack of monsters. This continued for many years without much resistance, however one day they captured a goblin scout that looked battle hardened and well weathered in battle, he was captured by the command of the Archemage Metraw, the General that was leading the expedition over looked this because the Archemage was a well-respected mage and had a great deal of experience in war, in fact the Archemage had more experience in war than the General and everyone knew it.

The Archemage spoke with the goblin scout before offing him, no one know what words were spoken between the two.

Weeks past, still without any resistance, the expedition killed and slaughtered hundreds of thousands of citizens of the Under-Kingdom, until one day, the Archemage Metraw betrayed the expedition, the Archemage cast a spell go grand and powerful that half the expedition was wiped out in a single spell, shortly after millions of abominable twisted creatures of the Abyss attacked, pouring out from the walls and from deeper within the Abyss, the book says that the Archemage Metraw was actually the Demon Metrath that had taken over the body of the Archemage, though it was actually her from the start and she probably intended to do this from the start.

Honestly I think Metra is just bad at making up names… I mean I’m kind of getting that feeling a little bit that she wasn’t joking when she said she didn’t have that want idea’s, I thought she just meant in things to make, I’m starting to think she’s a very simple person that always takes the most direct route… She must of stayed up for days before coming up with the idea to hire someone to come up with ideas for her and then latter deciding to hire me so I could be the piece the ensures that the hero can ‘fix’ all her problems.

Sigh… End result the Under-Kingdoms army had taken 1 month to gather because they’d never been attacked in such a scale before, they had learned about the ‘Demon’ Metrath from their scout that the ‘demon’ had released and that it intended to turn on its human masters.

The expedition was destroyed, every last one was killed and the Under-Kingdom, in its rage, marched for Olphitis, the ‘Demon’ Metrath marched at the front of the millions of soldiers that made up the Under-Kingdom’s army, after 4 years, the Kingdom of Olphitis ceased to exist and all learned to fear the ‘Abyss’ and for the next 300 years to today, no surface kingdom has ever attempted another expedition into the Under-Kingdom.

Atitria has seen great wealth for the last 800 years since it signed a pact with the Under-Kingdom, legally Atitria is a region in the Under-Kingdom, in truth it is an independent trade centre, gaining much of its wealth through its own merits and talented citizens.

The King of Atitria is technically a member of the council, the 210th member, however he rarely attends, the Under-Kingdoms government rarely impacts on Atitria and having the trip to the Antechamber of the Council every 4 months to make a regular appearance on the council would impact on his own rulership over his own kingdom and so the King of Atitria is only ever called upon during times or war, which has only happened twice

Essentially in Atitria the existence of the Under-Kingdom is well known, however it is rare that anyone from outside the kingdom believes them, their reasoning being that the creatures of the Abyss are mere beasts incapable or anything more than killing and eating and very rarely you find one barely intelligent enough to not attempt to kill it’s betters and instead attempt to trade, though the creatures of the Abyss are known to either rip you off or be incredibly generous, not a decent merchant among them… Of course that’s a load of shit and they’re doing that on purpose because they’re military operation, they are intended to do this very thing, make them believe we are incapable of anything, apparently it’s very effective, especially on most nobles and their stupid sense of superiority.

I read a few legends, just general things, like Dragon slayings and demon culling’s as well as witch hunts and a number of other things and then one day the Viscount came by the library and noticed me reading a very interesting book about a magical creature that kidnaped a great many women from around the Kingdom of Atitria, it told about the adventure of the Hero and his companions that had been tasked with killing the horrid beast by the king. I was just up to the part when the Hero and his companions entered the den of the beast when the Viscount walked up to me and nudged my shoulder, I looked at him.

“Do you like holding that book?”

He asked me, giving me a strange look.

“I can read it, I just have to touch it more closely with my mana, you can see it or whatever with your eyes can’t you?”

He scratched his head.

“I don’t know how you found out, but yes I can see mana, most people can’t.”

He pauses for a moment, maybe waiting for me to explain, but I was waiting for his to answer me, or I wouldn’t continue the conversation, he eventually continued.

“It just looks like you’ve channelled mana into, nothing else, I guess you could be doing something else, but I don’t really know.”

I smiled weakly and shrugged.

“Well I can read by doing this, so what do you want?”

He nodded awkwardly and scratched his head.

“Ugh… well since you can read… I see you like history.”

He asked me, I wondered why he was asking me about history for a moment before nodding, he nodded back to me awkwardly.

“I see… but maybe you should leave that one for when you’re older.”

He pointed at the book in my hands, I was confused for a moment, this book is a work of fiction, right?

“This… the things in these book, they actually happened?”

He nodded awkwardly again.

My mouth hung open… if from where this book was going then…

I flicked forwards a few pages and then immediately closed it, holy fucking shit no, no, no, no!

A tentacle beast… it does what you think it does with the women it kidnaps…

I threw the book onto the table, my face drained of blood.

“I, these… Are all of these books history books?”

I eventually asked after staring at the book for a long while, horrified.

He nodded again.

“Pretty much all of them are either history, journels or bestiaries, expect for the few that are to assist in the learning of language and magic…”

I slowly sat back down, I learned of the beast of this world and I didn’t like what I read… I need to get strong, really strong if I’m going to help Shushen be a hero.

I need to be careful… or I’ll lose a lot more than my life and I don’t just mean what you’re thinking, I need to be careful of everything, I need to research everything, I need to know what I’m expected to face and what I need to expect from them, so that I can beat them, I didn’t expect creatures that had advantages over elements or physical attacks and although I think I should of, I didn’t expect magical beasts that had advantages over certain genders.

I ignored Crodem and began pulling out book after book on the creatures of this world so that I could better prepare myself, Crodem only smiled weakly and then left, he was obviously still not happy about how my sight made him feel, but I stopped really caring about that after I reduced the unpleasant feeling it gave off, I could work on lessening that further, but for now this is more important.

And so I spent most of the month reading about monsters and learning all I can about them and how to defeat them!

Then the day came, it had been decided we would be living in lodging provided by the school based off our heritage.

My parents sent us off, The Viscount Crodem also waved goodbye to us, before we’d left he asked that I greet and become good friends with his daughter since we are the same age.

The Viscount – Crodem has three children, daughter ‘Lilia’ the youngest and the same age as Shushen and I. His second son ‘Matious’ he’s 3 years our senior and should be finishing the general education given to those below 14 next month, he’s 13 years old, once he turns 14 he can specialize, think of it as choosing what he wants to do in the future, become a mage, or a swordsmen, or he could chose to do both, but that would mean he would have to do twice as much work and it’s very rare for someone to do that unless their parents were forcing them, mine aren’t but it might seem that way when I start doing that very thing. And the First son ‘Toriam’ he’s in the advanced specialization classes, which is essentially university, and turns 23 sometime this year.

His eldest son already seems to be very capable and could probably inherit his father position and maintain it without much issue.

The Second son is a lazy misfit, a good for nothing as he might have been called in my first life, however he’s very active and a very capable Swordsmen, he has shown interest in the military and his instructors have said that he could possibly flourish in a military environment and have a very strong career as a military officer.

The youngest, his daughter, it’s still too early to say, but for now but she’s spoilt like you’d expect from a rich little girl that’s pampered by her father, her studies aren’t going well and at the current rate she doesn’t have a very bright future, she’ll probably end up being married off by her brother for political gain. Needless to say, I’m going to greet her like Crodem asked and I’ll attempt to befriend her, she’s still young and impressionable, so if I can befriend her, I could get her to work hard and get her to help Shushen when he’s older and hopefully a hero.

We were taken through the city and out the city gate, travelled along a stone road for a short while before I large fort like structure appeared on the horizon… Royal Academy, the largest centre of learning in all the continent, it’s so large that its grounds are declared as neutral territory, it is self-run and sustained, becoming a student at the Academy requires that you sign a magically binding contract of brotherhood, to be a student at Royal Academy means that while there you have no power over others and your fellow student are your equals, you are there to learn, nothing more, if they who so ever breaks the contract, they who have broken the contract are given an appropriate punishment regardless of their social standing or title.

Any and all are welcome to enroll, I found out, it seems what the Viscount said was a load of crap, you don’t need a title, but I suppose it looks good for him if we had one?

We arrived at the massive stone gates of the academy, numerous soldiers in iron plate armour, all magically trained walked the top of the tall wall, large towers where located at regular intervals, from what Shushen said there where huge buildings and castle like structures that towered over the tops of the walls behind the gate, I look forwards to learning a lot from this place, but I need to be ready at any time, I have no idea when Shushen will suddenly get the hero itch and suddenly become dependable.

I resolve to learn all I can about the sword and about magic as soon as possible, as the huge stone gates open and we slowly make our way in.

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Author note's,

Thank goodness I didn't go crazy with windows.

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