On the morning of the same day, Echo had left the castle early in the morning while wearing his regular clothes. Unlike the other times, he didn't have to sneak out of the castle and could go out the normal way, through the gate.
As for the reason for going out so early is because, the other students would later go into the town as a group and would look around. Well he didn't have time for this and had to do other things in town. He needed few clothing items and better armor for himself. He could have just asked for it in the castle, but he wants to get it himself. He was taught from a young age that If you want something, you get it yourself and never ask for it.
As for his budget he could spend, it was over ten gold coins and something. Half of it has come with his bounty hunting and a few illegal activities and other was given by the king. He obviously has more but he needs to save it.
His current destination was the blacksmith store, which supposedly is the best one in the city and even has receives request from the castle. So obviously it would be the best place to start. As of now he has been walking over half an hour on the crowded street, while always making sure that his money is still there. The easiest place to pickpocket someone is in a crowded space, because you can disappear into crowd easily and it is hard to chase. He knows that method very well, because he did it too as a child.
Luckily he reaches the store without a problem and the enters the store with a sign of an anvil and a hammer on the sign, which is hanging above the door.
He looks around and sees several armor sets and different kinds of weapons on display all around the store. You could also hear the loud banging of a hammer against a metal from the other room which was connected to this display room.
So to get the attention who ever is working here , he whistles very loudly and a few seconds later the hammering stops and a short man with a long beard comes out of the room. He is a dwarf.
"Bloody hell lad. Why are ya whistling so loud?"the dwarf says.
"Because I want to buy something."Echo replies.
"Okay. So whacha want?"he asks him a d crosses his arms.
"I need a armor that is light enough not to slow me down, but strong enough to stand blows."
"So out of mithril. Before you speak any more, how much do you have?"
"Ten gold coins. Also I say it now: don't try to screw me over."Echo warns him.
"Wouldn't dare. Ya look like you have killed enough not to care....But lets get down to business. What design to you want."
Echo proceeds to explain what he wants and once he had finished, the dwarf says"That'll cost ya six gold coins. So when do you need it done?"
"For tomorrow."Echo answers.
"That is a short time, but I can do it. Okay. Come back here at tomorrow evening. I will have it ready then."
"Good to know. Until then."Echo says and leaves the store.
He looks at the sky and sees the sun slowly rising in the sky.
After letting out a sigh he starts walking and while he is doing that, he is thinking where exactly the clothes store was.
As he is wondering and walking he forgets to keep a check on his coin puch and a soon he feels his pouch missing. Immediately he touches around his waist and mutters."Ibn Al Aahra."
He is angry at himself for carrying on a such a easy place to steal, but luckily he had come prepared. How he had? Well he had put one of his cards into the pouch and If it were to be ever stolen, he could blink to it.
"[Blink]."he chants and the scenery in front of his eyes change into what looks like an alleyway. In front of him is a man in his early twenties, wearing black clothes and holding his back.
"What the fuck!"he yells and his head immediately grabbed by Echo. With his right arm, he lifts the thief up in the air and says."Any last words?"
"D-*krack*."before he could even say a second word, his neck was broken and dropped onto the ground. Echo picks up his pouch and loots the thief's money too what he had probably stolen before. He sees a black leather shoulder bag and decides to take it off from him. He opens the bag and sees a few papers there, which he puts back for a later read. He throws the money pouches in there too and puts it over his shoulder. Because he is finished here, he gets up and walks out of the alleyway onto the street, leaving a dead body back there.
Once he is out of the alleyway he looks around and sees the clothing store he wanted to come, nearby.
'Lucky me. I guess.'
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
So he walks up to the store and sees a few ära If clothing on display behind the window. The store doesn't seem to have a name, because nothing is written on the building. So Echo opens the door and immediately the door bell rings and he does that. He closes the door behind him and is greeted by a fifty year old woman behind the counter.
"Welcome costumer. How can I help?"she asks with a polite tone. Echo proceeds to tell her what he needs and when he finishes, she nods and says"I'll go get it now, Sir."
She walks away from the counter and starts going around the shop, picking up clothes and when she has collected everything, he gives it to Echo and tells him where the changing room is. He follows her lead and arrives at the dressing room, where he enters. He puts the clothes onto the chair and takes off his shirt. He puts on the clothing that was brought to him and all of it fits without a problem. Only things that didn't change were his boots and pants. The rest of it changed. He is now wearing a black t-shirt on his body and he is wearing a black long fingerless gloves that goes up his elbow. Around his neck, he is wearing a black scarf. And finally he also wanted a cloak and so he got a black cloak with a hood. Reason for the cloak is simple. To hide his face. He doesn't want to be seen as a hero and ruin his illegal activities.
'Damn. She really has a good eye.'
Once everything is nicely on, he looks at himself in the mirror and then is hit with a pain in his head. So out of reflex, he immediately holds it with his left hand. The pain is very sharp and goes away after a minute.
'What the fuck was that?'
"Costumer. Are you okay?"is asked by the lady.
"Costumer?"
"Yeah. I'm fine."Echo replies quickly. He shakes his head and thinks'Later I will figure it out. Not now.'
He opens the curtain of the dressing room and the lady says"It suits you really well, costumer."
"Thanks."he continues"So how much will it cost me?"
"Twenty silver."she replies.
So Echo proceeds to take out twenty silver from his bag and gives it to her.
"Thank you. Please visit again."she says while Echo is leaving the store. He looks up into the sky again to see what time it is about and looks like it is afternoon. Because he is bored and needs to eat, he decided to go to a bar.
Once he has arrived into a bar, he sees punch of man drinking there and having a great time. One of the man stand out because of the woman next to her. She is wearing a choker around her neck and is sitting on the ground.
'A slave.'
Slave is a person who has had a submission choker put around his or neck neck and are made to submit because of the choker. There are three ways to become a slave: one-you commit a serious crime and so you may be made a crime slave. Second- you are sold to a slaver for money. Third- you are captured by a slaver. The first and third are the most common ones and the second are rarer.
He looks at the table where the men are drinking and playing poker.
'Poker game. I want to play.'
So having made up his decision, he walks up to the table.
"May I join?"he asks and is answered"Fuck off."
Echo then throws a coin pouch onto the table and one of the ma says"What he meant was, sure. Join us."
"Well then. Give me cards."Echo says with a hidden evil smile.
As for the other students, they are walking around the city in a group and enjoying the scenery. Everyone is in their casual clothes and because of the mix of handsome guys and beautiful girls, the group draws a lot of eyes onto them.
"Evelyn. Where did you get that necklace?"asks Mari from her and she replies"I got it. It can boost my recovery speed. So I can help more often."
"Always wanting to help others. Such a good person, unlike someone else who isn't here."Mari says.
"I guess you are right. That someone really is bad."she follows it with a small laugh.
As Mari is about say something, they hear a loud noise coming few meters away from the group. After more noises that sound like fighting, a man in his forties flies out of one of the buildings through the door.
"M-monster!"he yells and tries to escape from the man who is coming behind him.
"What is going on here?"Mari whispers to Evelyn who replies"A bar fight? Maybe."
"Hey. That's not a nice thing to call a person."is a said by a far too familiar voice.
'Echo. That bastard.'She thinks to herself.
And out of the building, Echo walks out.
The man tries to crawl away, but is grabbed by his leg by Echo, who starts dragging him back.
"Your part isn't done yet. So come on now."Echo says and starts to walk back, but stops, when finally noticing his classmates.
"What? Move a long. You didn't see shit."he says and starts dragging the man again. The group is just amazed by what just happened and don't say anything.
"Lets move on."Says Chris, who remembered yesterday and didn't want that to happen again. Especially now that he didn't have his sword.
"Yeah. Sure."Says Mari and the group goes on, except Evelyn, who decides to check on the situation.
Back to Echo he had dragged the man back to the bar, where the rest of the people just ignored them. They didn't want any trouble and so didn't interfere.
"Now then prick. Take off the choker, before I start fucking ripping your fingers off one-by-one."
"Y-Yes!"he says and immediately starts working on taking off the dark elf slaves choker. The choker falls down and before he could crawl away, Echo grabs him and smashes his head onto table and holds it down, while taking the mans hand, putting it onto the table and then driving a knife through his hand, making him let out a scream of pain.
"We're not done."Echo says and smashes his head once again. The man is too afraid to say something and so stays quiet out of fear.
Echo crouches near the girl, who looks at him with her emotionless red eyes. The more he looks at her, the more him he sees in her. The same type of eyes. The poker face.
"Do you hate him?"Echo asks and the elf nods.
"Do you want to kill him?"he asks again and receives another nod.
"Then do it."he says and gets up. He reaches out his hand to her, which she looks for a few seconds, before grabbing it and being pulled up. Echo puts a knife into her hands and says.
"Kill him. Don't be afraid. You hate him. So use your hate and kill him."He says.
"Don't-"is yelled by Evelyn, but it is too late. The elf stabbed the man in the head with tears in her eyes. She kept stabbing and stabbing with more tears in her eyes with every stab. She was finally stopped by Echo, who held her arms and said"Enough. Your just making a mess now."
With her bloody and shaking hands, she lets go off the knife and breaks out into crying. So Ehco pulls her into a hug and calms her while patting her head. She turns to look at shocked Evelyn and in english, he says"What are you shocked about. This my true nature. Making the anger of a person, to come out in it's purest form."
After regaining a little of herself, she says"You truly are an evil bastard."