Siril POV: 2.3 years after the tournament
“Siril wake up, Clair will come today and you have to eat breakfast before she comes,” mom said as she woke me up.
“Mhmm,” I mumbled and turned to the side, processing what mom said.
Clair will come....CLAIR WILL COME!
“CLAIR WILL COME!” I said and bolted up, almost hitting moms head.
“Whoatoa little less stormy,” mom said with a laugh and left the room. She has to wake the other children.
Living here is nice. Way better than before, where mom had to beg for a few copper or some bread.
Here we have a nice bed, a roof that has no holes, it's warm, we have food and I have a lot of friends.
We become more and now we are 20 children, mom, me and Alina.
My best friends are Uri and Clair. Mom said all this is thanks to Clair, she also said that Clair healed my hurting throat.
Clair is also teaching me and Uri magic. Once she said she'll give me something that will help me in the future. She then placed a hand on my chest and my whole body felt warm.
After that day, it was easier to learn things. She did the same with Uri, we both want to go to the magic academy when we are old enough.
Anyway CLAIR WILL COME! She too so much to do in the last weeks, so she wasn't able to visit. Mom said something about a new city or kingdom but I didn't understand what she meant.
But I'm sure it's something good, it must be good if Clair makes it.
I quickly got dressed and run downstairs to the dining room, some other children were already sitting.
I followed suit and waited for mom and Alina to distribute the food. It gave eggs, jam, and bread.
Alina is a nice woman who watches over the children. She is strict but also friendly, she often tells us stories.
We began to eat and half way through it knocked at the entrance. The door opened and Clair came inside.
“” Clair “” We all shouted and some stood up. I was one of them, we then ran to Clair and hugged her in a giant group hug. This life is sooo much better than before.
“Morning,” Clair said and hugged us back. Clair is really nice and the prettiest girl I've ever seen.
“Hello!” I shouted cheerfully and Clair looked at me with a grin. She then said,
“Siril, your tail is wagging.”
I got red and quickly grabbed my tail, stupid thing. I can't seem to control it when I'm happy.
And Clair likes to tease me about my lack of control, but it feels nice when she strokes it.
“Muu, don't tease me. It's just that I can't control it so good,” I said and Clair patted my head.
Feels nice....
“Siril, your tail!” Frederik said and I saw as it hit him and the others around me.
“Morning Miss Clair,” Alina said, followed by mom.
“Hi, did I bother you?” Clair asked.
“Of course not, you're welcome at all times,” Alina said.
Clair smiled and then looked as if she remembered something, she then said,
“Before I forget, I have something for you.”
She then took a loot of candy out of nowhere and gave it to us. Naturally we all cheered, I quickly put some in my pockets and stood next to Clair, still hugging her side. She was speaking with Alina and mom while stroking my head absent-mindedly.
“Alina, how are the expenditures? Do you still have enough?” Clair asked.
“Yes, we still have enough. Hiras sewing helps a lot,” Alina said.
“Good, here are 10 gold in silver, in case something happens,” Clair said and took a really large sack out of nowhere. How does she do that?
“That's not necessary Miss Clair, we have enough,” Alina said and tried to push the sack back to Clair.
“I insist, I don't need it and you could need it. If not for you then use it for the children, I heard that some of them get old enough to start as an apprentice in a shop, this will help them for the tutoring fee,”
Clair said with a smile, showing her white teeth.
She has all of her teeth, I lost a few of my, mom said they will grow back. And that the next one will stay forever.
Alina smiled and then said, “Thank you very much. I'm able to see a good future for the kids since you came along and began to help us.”
“Clair, what is an apprentice?” I asked, interrupting them.
“That is when you learn something from someone,” Clair said, looking down at me.
“Then mom, Uri and I are your apprentices?” I asked.
“You could say that,” Clair said.
“But we didn't need money, why do they need money?” I asked.
“Because you, Uri and Hira are my friends. Friends teach each other but normally you have to pay someone if you want to learn something special that he knows. It's like paying for something. You pay him and he teaches you what he knows,” Clair explained.
“Can't you teach them?” I asked. I mean Clair knows everything.
“No I can't,” Clair said.
“But you know everything,” I said.
“I don't know everything, but that is not the reason. I can't teach them because I don't have the time for that,” Clair said.
“But you have time for us, why not for them?” I asked a little confused.
“I'll teach you because you and Uri are my friends, so I'll take my time for you. But I also have things to do and can't teach everyone,” Clair said.
“Does that mean that we pay someone so that he takes it as payment for using his time and teaches us in exchange for the money?” I asked.
“That is right, we pay them and in return they use their time for teaching us,” Clair said.
“But couldn't we just become friends, so that he teaches us for free?” I asked.
“It is not easy to get friends that would teach you for free,” Clair said.
“But Mark, taught me how to whistle and we aren't so good friends,” I said and showed them how good I can whistle. Sadly I'm not as good as Mark.
“But the things they will teach you can be used for earning money, people won't teach other people so willingly if they can lose money,” Clair said.
“How can they lose money if they teach me something?” I asked.
“Let's say he teaches you how to make bread, after his lessons, you would know how to make bread. He uses his knowledge in making bread so that he can sell the bread he makes. And now you also know how to make bread, that would mean that you could also sell the bread. And the people who would buy your bread wouldn't buy it from the guy who taught you how to make bread. This would mean he doesn't get as much money as normally. So he wants money before he teaches you, so that he gets the money even if he sells less bread after teaching you. Did you understand?” Clair said.
“I think yes, so friends teach each other because they don't need the money and want to help their friends but other people want money for teaching them because they will not get as much money as before if they teach other?” I said, trying to repeat what Clair said.
“Exactly,” Clair said.
I smiled and said, “Thanks for explaining.” Clair just ruffled my hair and then kept talking with mom and Alina. Half an hour later we said our farewell and walked to Uri, we want to play.
The buildings around the orphanage are looking way better since the fire. Mom said that Clair made new ones. It's really cool how she can make things out of nothing.
We reached Uris home and knocked. Uri opened the door and smiled as she saw us.
“Clair, Siril,” she said, hugged us and came outside. She then locked the door and we walked to the park. Clair made a new one as she made the new houses. This one has benches, trees, a large sand ground and things on which you can play. Clair calls them slide and swing, it's funny to play on them but making sandcastles is still the best.
“Hey Clair, why don't you have so much time now?” Uri asked as we reached the sand ground.
“I thought of making my own kingdom, naturally that takes time,” Clair said and took a shovel out of nowhere.
“A kingdom?” Uri asked astonished.
“Isn't a kingdom large?” I asked. Mom once said that Turonis is just a really tiny part of the kingdom.
“Yes, it is. That is also the reason why it takes so much time. I'm also making a magic academy,” Clair said.
“Woa” Uri said with sparkling eyes.
“Can we learn there when we are old enough?” Uri asked and I looked at Clair with stars in my eyes.
“Sure, you just have to have all of your stats over 40,” Clair said and I was confused.
“What are stats?” I asked.
“You don't know about stats?” Uri asked and then took a card out of her pocket.
“This is a status card, the numbers on it are your stats, you can raise them by running and lifting heavy things for agility and strength and for intelligence and wisdom by reading and solving math problems,” Uri said and showed me her card.
Name: UriAge: 10Gender: FemaleStrength: 9Intelligence: 22Rank: GAgility: 13Wisdom: 25Race: Human
“Are these numbers good?” I asked.
“Normal children in Uris age would have stats around 10, so yeah Uris intelligence and Wisdom are really good,” Clair said.
“How high are your stats?” I asked.
“I forgot my card,” Clair just said.
“Where do you get a card?” I asked.
“In the adventurer guild, it costs a silver,” Clair said and then asked,”do you want to have one?”
“Yes, but I don't have so much money, mom only gave me 10 copper,” I said.
“No problem, I'll buy you one,” Clair said.
“Siril!” Uri said shocked and I looked at her, not knowing what happened.
What I saw let me become red, my tail....
It hit the sandcastle and destroyed half of it.
“HAHAHAHAHA” Clair began to laugh loudly and fell down while I quickly grabbed my wagging tail. Stupid thing.
Clair needed a few minutes to stop laughing and we then walked to the adventurer guild. It's a large building but not as large as the orphanage or Clair's house, it's also not as pretty.
We went inside and a lot of people were sitting at tables, drinking something. They looked at us, then at Clair and then started to whisper.
“Look that's the goddess,” One guy said.
“What could she want?” Another guy asked.
“The girls near her are cute,”A woman said.
We walked up to the counter and a woman greeted us.
“Good day, how can I help you?” She asked.
“Hello, I'd like to purchase a guild card for this girl here,” Clair said while pointing at me and gave the woman a silver.
The woman then got a knife and a card from under the counter and said,
“Please prick your finger and put some blood on the card.”
I did as she said and pricked my finger, which hurt, but Clair healed it after I put some blood on the card. The card began to glow and then also had numbers.
Name: SirilAge: 8Gender: FemaleStrength: 20Intelligence:12Rank: GAgility: 21Wisdom: 11Race: Dogkin
Clair, Uri and I looked over it. The numbers are different then those from Uri.
“You're higher than me in strength and agility but I'm higher in intelligence and wisdom,” Uri said.
“This might be because Siril plays more often than you. You're most of the time in Lilias library,” Clair said.
“And I regret nothing,” Uri said.
“Library?” I asked.
“Yes, Miss Malinda has a giant library and I'm allowed to read in it,” Uri said proudly.
“I can give you some books later so that you can read them and raise your stats, ok?” Clair said.
“Thank you,” I said and smiled. We said goodbye and walked outside. I still had my card in my hand and just followed.
Some people chuckled as and mocked me for my wagging tail. I'm learning, Okay!?
We stepped out and suddenly I bumped into Clair and had to look up.
“Is something wrong?” Uri asked Clair.
°Flatsch°
“No nothing,” Clair said with a wry smile.
°Sniff°
“Something smells like blood and I heard a wet noise,” I said and tried to look from where it came.
“Must be the butcher,” Clair said and ushered me and Uri to walk.
“Are you hungry?” Clair asked as we passed a restaurant.
“A little,” Uri said and I nodded.
“Okay, then let's eat,” Clair said and we went inside a restaurant.
We sat down on a table in the corner and shortly after a waitress came.
“Good day, what can I bring you?” She asked with a smile.
“Hi, are there recommendations?” Clair asked in a friendly tone, she's good at speaking with strangers.
“Yes, the beef stew or the deer steak with potatoes are good,” The waitress said.
“What do you want?” Clair asked us.
“Ähm, I'd like to have the beef stew,” Uri said.
I began to fidget, I have not really enough money if I want to eat here and mom said I shouldn't expect to get things for free.
“And what do you want little Miss?” The waitress asked.
“Is..is there something I could eat for 10 copper?” I asked shyly.
“Siril, I'll pay,” Clair said.
“But mom said I shouldn't expect something for free,” I said with downcast eyes.
“That is true but she meant strangers, so what do you want?” Clair asked with one of her beautiful smiles.
“I don't know,” I said, really not knowing what I should say.
“Should I choose?” Clair asked and I nodded.
“Okay, then please a wide variety of meat with potatoes as a side dish for her and for me grilled chicken and bread,” Clair said and the waitress confirmed the order before leaving.
“Thanks,” I quietly said. Clair just smiled and ruffled my hair.
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This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Captain of the First Inquisitor Squad POV
This is the second week we're here in Turonis, our target is a young elfen girl. Around 15 years old, with white hair and everyone would say she's beautiful beyond believe. We have four teams, each has four members, all of us are the elite of the elite, none of us has a stat below 15.000 and at least one above 30.000.
And all of us have sworn to protect the holy church of Siria against any heretics.
We've killed countless heretics and usurpers but this target is just...just different. At first we tried to sneak inside her mansion but her strange stone guards don't sleep and would rush at us the moment we go beyond the mansion boundaries. Naturally we tried to destroy the guards but they kept regenerating and were extremely strong, so we had to regroup.
We then tried to poison her food, we could only poison the food she ate outside, as she mostly buys fresh ingredients by herself. The problem is, she didn't die. We tried a poison that is extremely fast working and should have killed her not even 5 seconds after the intake. But she didn't die, not even after eating an amount that would have killed 40 grown men and I'm sure I saw her smiling as if she knew what we did.
The only thing we haven't tried would be kidnapping one of her close friends. That's the reason why we're currently searching for her. She's fucking vanishing whenever we try to spy on her. Sure we find her when she's with other people, but whenever she's alone we loose her. I don't know why or how but it's disturbing.
“Hey Rodrik, do you also feel like this is not like one of our normal missions? This town feels different, there are no slaves, no beggars and the houses all seem way better than the ones in other cities,” Hurk, one of my team mates said.
“Yeah, it kinda feels surreal. And I think our target knows that we're here,” Maria said.
We're currently searching for her, she vanished the moment she left the house.
“It's true that this town seems different, however, that doesn't change our mission,” I said and put a magic device in my ear, it allows me to communicate with the other team leaders.
“Here's team A, Team B, C and D did you spot the target?” I asked.
“Team B here, we haven't seen the target but are on the way to the butcher shop,” the leader of team B answered back and the others did it with the same answer.
We continued to walk, our stay her told us that our target has a few main places it's like to go. The park, the butcher, its garden, the magic academy and an orphanage.
Our destination is the park. We reach it and are able to see our target, it has company, two young girls. One is human the other is a beastkin.
But suddenly my device speaks and the team leader of B said, “ Team B here, we found the target at the butchers shop.”
What? But the target is in front of us.
“Team C here, we also found the target, it's in its garden, it's sunbathing,” the leader of team C now also said.
“Team D here, we also found the target. It's eating in the cafeteria of the magic academy,” team D said.
“How is that possible? We're also seeing the target,” I said. And silence answered me.
“Request abortion of the mission,” team C said.
“No, let's test the waters. Team C and B, each one of you will send one to attack your target. Team D you will fall back, the magic academy is too crowded and we would get trouble if the headmaster noticed us. My team will try to kidnap one of the girls, act like you're a thief. If possible kill the target if not regroup,” I said and I got affirmations.
“You heard me, Maria you will rush in and take the beastkin girl, she's smaller. We will wait until they are at a narrower place or come out of a building,” I said and we watched as the target built a sandcastle. She's a freaking god for many people here, alas a false god, so why is she building a sandcastle?
We watched and the target moved to the adventurer guild and I said to Maria that she will act the moment the target leaves the guild.
Maria got ready and Lurk our mage signalled that the target will come out.
But the moment Maria jumped up so that she can attack, I heard a loud °Flatsch° from the side.
It came from the position of Maria, so I turned around but what I saw shocked me greatly. There was no Maria. The place, in which Maria only a moment before stood, now had a puddle of blood.
Is..is that Maria?
“Team C here, Jul is dead. The moment he got ready to attack he died and turned in a puddle of blood,” the leader of team C said with worry.
“Team B what about you?” I asked but got no reply.
“Tam B!?” I asked again, the same result.
“Run, now! The target is able to spot us and can kill without difficulty. We'll head back, split up and regroup in 3 hours. The thing that killed Maria, Jul and possibly team B was mana pressure. I've seen it once, but not this strong and fast. We have to think of a new strategy,” I hurriedly said into the device and started to run.
Three hours later I got back to our hideout and found my team, Jul, and team B were not present.
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Siril POV:
“Puh, that was good,” Uri said and I nodded in agreement. I got a large plate with many different pieces of meat, I never ate so much meat at once.
“Yeah, come I'll pay and then bring you back home, I have to do something,” Clair said and we agreed.
We first brought Uri back, as it was on our way and then walked to me. Clair held my hand and we spoke about this and that.
We reached the orphanage and Clair said goodbye, after giving me some books. I waved as she left and then went inside.
“I'm back,” I shouted as I stepped inside.
“Siril, welcome back,” Alina shouted from the kitchen. I walked to her and began to help her cutting the vegetables for today's dinner.
“How was your day?” She asked.
“Good, we've built a sandcastle, I got a status card, then ate at a restaurant and Clair gave me books,” I said.
“That's nice, did you say thank her?” Alina asked.
“Yes, and guess what?” I said.
“What?” She asked with a smile.
“Clair said we can learn at her magic school when we have all our stats in the forties,” I said happily.
“My that's nice, but you know every stat on 40 is not easy,” Alina said.
“I already have two on twenty and the books are for my other stats,” I said and Alinas stopped cutting.
“Is that true?” She then asked me.
“Yes here,” I said and gave her my status card.
“Oh my, quick show that your mother, she will be delighted,” Alina then said and I hurriedly run toworkmother, she's up in the playroom.
“Mom, look I got a status card,” I said and gave her my card.
She looked at it and the gave a tight hug.
“Your stats are wonderful,” she then said.
“And guess what, Uri and I can learn at Clairs magic academy when I have all my stats in the forties. I even got books, so that I can learn,” I said and moms hug got a little tighter.
After a few moments, she released me and said with a smile,
“That is wonderful.”
I smiled back and mom then ushered me to play with the kids but I got my books and began to read in my room.
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Clair POV:
Now that I have time, after bringing Siril home, I think I'll visit my visitors who're trying to watch me for two weeks. Today they finally did it, they tried to attack Siril.
I changed into Reaper Dex and rushed to their hideout, which I found after following them.
It's a storage house with three floors. It's one of the few that aren't rebuilt by me, the owner is the duke. He might have something to do with this.
I sneaked inside and quickly found two guards in front of a stairway that leads up.
I killed them by ripping a few blood vessels in their heads and put them in my inventory.
After sneaking up and killing two more guards I found a large room with a desk in the middle and bunk beds on the sides. All in all, there were 16 beds. Eight people were standing around it and talked in a heated discussion.
First activated my sneak skill on Max and bended the light around me and then sneaked behind one.
“I think we should try to kidnap one the two children we saw today, we could demand that she kills herself if she wants her back,” a woman said.
“That won't work, she's not stupid enough to do that. She will know that we would kill the child regardless. And I don't think she's attached enough,” a man said, he's the one that gave the orders today's evening.
I gave him an approving nod, he knows me.
“Then what should we do?” Another men asked.
“I don't know, we tried to poison her but it didn't work,” one man said.
Ah yes, they indeed tried that, but poison can't affect me and it was nice to hear their astonished remarks as I ate the whole poisoned dinner.
“You think we should attack her all at once?” A woman asked.
“That might work, but only with casualties,” the leader said.
“We already lost two and I think team B is also dead,” one guy said.
Ah yeah, the woman who tried to attack Siril, the guy who attacked me as I bathed in the sun and there were four more who tried to kill me in as I bought chicken. At first, it was only one but the moment he died three more attacked. All of them didn't make it past the roof they stood on.
“I think you should try to abduct the elfen woman named Malinda Lilia, she's in a relationship with her brother,” I said and undid my sneak skills.
At first, it was silent, but then they all sprang into motion and got away from me. Some even threw knives at me.
I caught all of them and then asked with a cheerful tone,
“What is my suggestion not good enough?”
“Who're you and how did you come in here?” The leader asked.
“Me? Don't ya recognise me? That really hurts,” I said and mimicked the tone of disappointment.
“We don't know someone with such a creepy mask,” the leader said and I acted like I was hit by an arrow.
“Right in the feels. I tried hard to imagine a cool looking mask, why isn't anyone appreciating my art?” I asked and did as if I would die from the shock.
“What kind of creep is that?” One guy asked.
“Don't know but he caught all my knives,” a woman answered.
“Why aren't Gurt,Kal, Maron and Ren coming?” Another one asked.
“What do you want and who are you?” The leader asked in a threatening voice but I felt he was nervous.
“And here I thought you would know your target” I said with a laugh and took my mask off, showing the face of Clair.
This on itself looks funny, the head of a girl on the body of a man.
I couldn't stop myself from laughing. This was also funny, as I spoke and laughed with the voice from Reaper Dex. His voice is a dark and deep voice, a with a synthetic sound.
(Autor Note: Can't decide between Cobra Commander https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOKf5r_JMAo or Bane https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgT1gtdC-PE EDITS note: Bane)
“You should see your faces, they are hilarious,” I said as I put my mask back on.
They all stood slack awed and looked as if they saw a ghost.
“Oh wait, one of you asked for your friends, well here they are,” I said and took the four dead guards out of my inventory.
“Hi Captain,” I said as I moved the mouth of one of the guards and spoke with a different voice.
“Put them down!” The leader demanded.
“Okay, Okay, I'll do it. Not,” I said mockingly and put them back in my inventory.
“I'm amazed how calm you all are, your team B were not so calm. They rushed in right after I killed their teammate,” I then said and a woman couldn't hold it in any longer and threw a knife at me.
I caught it and sent it back, right between her eyes. She died instantly.
“That was it. They did the exact same thing, thanks for demonstrating,” I said cheerfully and clapped.
“What are you?” The leader asked.
“Your target and your doom. But it's all your fault, haven't you tried to harm my friends I wouldn't have done anything, the poison even was some kind of fun,” I answered.
“RUN, REPORT TO THE GRAND CARDINAL!” The leader then screamed and all of them sprung into motion.
“Hey, that's no fun,” I said and blocked then with a conjured and extremely hard wall of wood.
They tried to burst trough but couldn't even make a crack in the wood.
“Let's play a game, you're seven. I'll allow one of you to leave. The rest will stay and suicide,” I said and they stopped.
“You really thing we would do that?!” the leader screamed and all of them attacked me at once.
“Nope,” I said and dodged the first attack.
I then rushed at a mage woman and shouted, directly in her face,
“DODGE!”
Sadly she didn't dodge the incoming hit and her head was smashed into a pulp. I even warned her.
“LILI!” One guy screamed and tried to attack me with a fire spell. It didn't worked out as he thought because I pushed more mana into his spell and it exploded so that he lost control and the fireball exploded right in his face. Killing him and a nearby woman. Well killed after they tried to extinguish the fire, but there was no hope as their lung was also burned.
“”MONSTER! “” The remaining four screamed. All their training was gone. Can't hold it against them, 12 of their team mates died in one day by a single person and without effort. And the person is even mocking them.
The leader and two other tried to cut me with his sword. A jump over his head was enough to evade them. Now the only one left, who wielded a large sledgehammer was right in front of me.
“Look up,” I said but he didn't fell for it, so I simply kicked his balls and split him almost in half.
I ripped the rest of his body in two and used his right side as a club and hit the two other, who attacked with the leader, to death with it.
Now only the leader was left, but he didn't attack. I looked closer and saw him crying.
“Is the baby crying?” I asked mockingly.
“You,” he began but I wasn't up for a `How could you?´ story, so I grabbed his head and slowly crushed his skull. At first he tried to resist but then stopped moving and simply led me crush him to death. I stopped the moment his eyeballs popped out.
“Hm, now what? I thought they would be better? I mean they said they are the elite of the elite. Shouldn't they have some stronger people? Is 34.000 really the strongest humanity can come up with? Isn't Drull way stronger than them? Or are humans just limited? Well, I can think about it at a later time,” I said as I burned the storage house down and walked back home.
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I finally got a cover for my story, one of my classmates made it for me. I like it, what do you say?
I kinda put two chapters together, there are two more left for the time skip.