Alaster decided to take a break and left the shelter to stretch his legs.
The sun was up, showing that he had gotten at least some sleep, but it was still early in the morning. The sun wasn’t even high enough to fill the alleyway, and without the heat of the sun, the alleyway was freezing.
Alaster shivered as he looked around.
The snow in the alley had not been disturbed by anything new. Though, he did see the tracks of the Night Child as it left the shelter and immediately when to the building on the right, where it met with the building, and then ended. It wouldn't take a genius to know that the thing that made those tracks had climbed the building.
Sighing to himself, the young man quickly removed the tracks as he had been taught. It wasn’t perfect. An experienced tracker would still notice it, but they were in the middle of a city. Alaster wasn’t worried.
Alaster could feel his connection with the Night Child and knew that it was above him, on the building and watching the alleyway. As a form of camouflage, Alaster had made its head as pure as he could. The bone easily blended in with the pure white snow. And the bone would also be more flexible, less prone to cracking. However, any actual attack would do more damage.
Before he had gone to sleep, Alaster had ordered the Night Child to bury itself in the snow on the roof and watch over the alley. He did not want any unwelcome surprises, and right now, that was any surprise.
The brisk air swept away any vestiges of sleep from his mind. Fully awake, Alaster returned to the warmth of bony shelter and to his ongoing project, which Astrid was playing with.
“What are you doing?” Alaster asked, more confused than anything.
“Are you making this for the new one?” She asked, turning the chest piece around and looking at the inside.
“Yes. Why?”
“No real reason. I just thought you made this for you or I, but then I saw that it was too big for either of us.”
Which was true. Alaster was large for his age, but still only fifteen. While stats did affect the body, they weren’t that drastic. But Alaster had made the Black Guard to be large enough to cover Alaster from attacks. When it was in a full suit of armor, Alaster suspected that it would look like an eighteen or so man. A large one, too.
Astrid handed him the chest piece and watched closely as he finished. He didn’t bother with any fancy details and instead focused on durability. Astrid watched as the chest piece gradually grew darker and darker the more bone Alaster added. Soon enough, he felt that he couldn’t add anymore.
With careful instructions and movements, Alaster put it on the Black Guard and sealed the chest piece to its bones. Both of the young humans took a step back to admire the Blackguard. Alaster was content with it for now.
The chest armor covered any indication of the wearer being an Undead, at least from the chest. Now, if Alaster put a shirt and pants on it, many would struggle to identify it. At least visually. He was still not sure how he would cover the hands. For the feet, Alaster could just get boots. Those were expensive, but he would make it work.
The Guards of the city had been kind enough to supply Astrid with a full winter outfit, shoes included. But it wasn’t like he could just walk up with the Black Guard and ask for a pair of shoes.
Finished with his current project. It was time to familiarize himself with the city, as he suspected he would be here a while. Most people stayed in their home city, or if they didn’t live in a city, most would go to their nearest city.
“Want to show me around your city?” Alaster asked, turning to Astrid.
“Sure!” She jumped to her feet with a wide smile.
She rushed to the doorway and waited for Alaster, while slightly bouncing on her feet.
Alaster killed the fire and put everything loose back into his Ring. He left his shelter, Astrid close behind him. After checking that the coast was clear, he mentally ordered the Black Guard to exit the shelter and quickly hide behind it in the snow drift that had already piled up over the night. It quickly did so by walking into the snow drift, kicking up a flurry of the loose snow, and laying down.
Rolling his eyes, Alaster began to bury it. Astrid chuckled to herself and helped. The space between the bone shelter and the city wall was only three feet, but the snow drift was also three feet deep. With the help of Astrid, the Black Guard was quickly buried.
‘Stay still and don’t be seen.’
“Alright, let's get going.”
“Yes! I’m going to show you my favorite places!” Astrid exclaimed, lightly pulling on Alaster’s fur shawl.
Alaster let her pull him away. He wasn't worried about the shelter itself. It blended in fairly well with the surrounding snow. And there wasn’t anything valuable in it.
Coming out of the alley, they were embraced by the light of the sun. The early morning sun shone over the city, warming the stone roads. The pair stepped onto the road, which was kept clear of snow. Alaster assumed that a crew had swept the streets clear before he had woken up.
They weren’t the only ones on the street. In fact, it was quite crowded. Alaster hesitated. He had never seen so many people all in one place, all going their own way. But Astrid didn’t hesitate at all. She grabbed his sleeve and pulled him through the crowd.
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She forced her way through the crowd, sidestepping when needed, but mostly pushing through. Alaster was simply dragged along. He quickly learned that he did not like crowds at all. There were too many, too close, and too loud. The noise hit him like a brick.
In the alley, they had been mostly insulated from the sound. He had known that the actual streets would be loud, but he had underestimated the amount. He wasn’t used to this. He wasn’t used to the noises, the sights, or the smells of the city.
Alaster had grown up in a village. There were no tall walls made out of stone. The guardsmen of the village maintained a log palisade around the outskirts, but it was mainly to keep out the stray animals or monsters. It wasn’t meant to hold out against an actual attack. It was only three meters tall.
Even Onigas wasn’t nearly as crowded as this city. Alaster understood that he lived with the Siphas Family on their estate, but the Merchant District of Onigas wasn’t as full. Nor was it as chaotic.
In Onigas, while the roads weren’t as high quality as the ones here in Sicon, most people kept to the left of the road. It allowed for foot traffic to be smoother. Nor was it really anything enforced, it was just a silent rule. But here in Sicon, people just shoved their way to their destination. Astrid included.
He already wanted out, it was suffocating.
Eventually, Astrid pulled him out of the main street, onto a side street. It was much less crowded. Alaster took a deep breath, feeling as if it was the first one he had taken since he left the shelter.
Without the crowd, seeming to press in on him, he was able to watch the area. The buildings in this area, just as in the area with the bone shelter, were clearly made by Earth Magic. The walls were all made by large uniform stone blocks, just like the roads. It even looked like the roofs were made out of stone shingles.
In Onigas, very few people lived in the Merchant District, and those who did, lived in their shops. But, as Alaster quickly noticed, there were homes mixed between stores and even workshops. Similar types seemed to group together, but it was not a strong grouping. This area seemed to have a few shops that sold furniture.
“Why are we shopping for furniture?” Alaster asked, now that it was quieter.
“We aren’t! We are visiting a friend of mine.”
Alaster pulled away from her grasp and stopped, causing Astrid to face him, “What?” She asked.
“Astrid, the reason I was willing to help you was because you were alone.”
“Wha- what do you mean?”
“I have people after me. People who want to kill me and don’t seem to care about borders or innocents.”
“Why? Why are they after you?”
Alaster shrugged, “I don’t know, but I need to stay quiet and small, until I get enough power to defend myself. That means, the fewer people who know me, the better.”
“Then why am I here? If its better for you to be alone, why aren’t you?”
Alaster noticed her chin tense and the scar over her eyebrow twitch, “Because right now, it is beneficial to both of us to work together.”
“That's it? Is that why you’ve been babysitting me?” Her eyes began to glisten.
“So far? Yes.” Alaster decided to hold back, she needed the truth, “But soon, you will be able to stand up for yourself. Why do you think I was able to kill all those Goblins alone, while your entire group failed to defeat just a group of them?”
Her breath caught in her throat, “Because you are stronger.”
“No. It's because of my plan. And I was only able to execute the plan because of my mentality. A mentality to kill. You went into that forest with the idea to level up. To get stronger. Not a bad mentality. I went into that forest with the mentality to kill. Everywhere I go, I am constantly planning how to kill what is before me. I am looking for threats and figuring out how to remove them first. I am looking for escape routes.
Astrid, I cannot allow myself to grow in power slowly. Look around, everyone you see has been able to grow in power slowly and overtime. You could not due to your living situation, and that made you rush without a plan. I cannot, because I am being hunted. So I force myself in situations that, by every right, I have no hope of surviving. But I do, because I plan.
But you can’t plan for everything. So you have to plan for backups. You can’t plan to be attacked at night while you sleep. So you plan on how to defend yourself when such an event happens. That's why the Night Child was outside watching the alley. That's why I am working on the Black Guard.
In every fight, you need to have the mentality that one way or another, either you or your enemy, will die. One of you won’t be returning home. Every move you make, and every thought you have, should be about ensuring you are the one to return.
That includes everything from the weapons you use, to the area you fight in, even to the company you keep. Don’t hang out with those who will just hold you down, and if you do, let them go.
Right now, being with you will aid my need to grow stronger, and you, with yours. Together we will grow stronger. But right now, the more people that know me, the greater the risk of me being found before I am strong enough. It's a balancing act, and for now, it is in my best interest to grow stronger with you.
And while I am with you, I will do my best to teach you, and if there is anything I am missing, I hope you will teach me. Because the stronger one of us is, the stronger the both of us are.”
Astrid shook her head to clear her mind, “So that's it? I’m just a tool for you? I’m not a friend?”
Alaster took a deep sigh, “I can’t allow myself to have any friends right now. Because I know I will eventually have to leave them. The road I walk, is a lonely one. I have accepted that.”
Astrid sniffled and flicked her hair over her shoulder, “What's the plan then? You want to grow stronger, so do I, so what's the plan?”
“First step to anything should always be to familiarize yourself with your surroundings. Only then can you plan further. And currently, you know the area better than I do. So you are showing me around, and while we do that, you will also be studying the area. No matter where we are, you need to find a way to escape if we are attacked.
Memorize where certain stores or workshops are. Learn where the guard posts are and their patrol routes. Familiarize yourself with the events of the city.”
“The events?”
“Yes, like what Noble family is most prominent. What crimes are being committed. What politics are being talked about. All of that. Each bit of knowledge you acquire will most likely be useless on its own. But all together, they can paint a picture of what to plan.
If you need to get something from that might not be technically legal? You need to know the situation of the Black Market. You will always need to know prices, and everything affects prices. If you need to talk with a Noble, it is best to know who it is and what sort of person they are. And, if you are planning on going level hunting in the forest, it is best to know what sort of monsters there are and where they are.”
“So, we are learning?”
“Astrid, I am going to tell you something my father told me. Always be learning. One day, it will save your life.”