ILIAS PAYNE

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A couple of days after Odetta left, the colonel picked me up to continue our lessons in the library. Jaime was already there, bored out of her mind.

“Can’t we do this when we get home?” she asked.

“No. You are too tired when you get home. You and Ilias are now on the same level, so you will learn together.”

She stuck her tongue out at me.

“Today, you two will learn about labyrinths and cursed artifacts. This is quite easy and actually one of the most fun things I learned when I was your age.” Camaro began writing on the board. “Mana is an energy source in all environments. It is present in this library, in the Great Sand Sea, in the freezing temples in Lesorias—it’s everywhere. This is how people are able to use jynx. But jynx will come later in your studies.”

Jaime raised her hand. “What about Decan the Sword Devil? He wasn’t able to control the mana around him.”

“Yeah, he was born without any gates—again you will learn that later—and he grew up to be a great fighter. So mana isn’t really needed to leave a lasting impact on the pages of history.”

Jaime hopped off her chair. “Goodbye then.”

Camaro picked her up by her shirt and propped her back to her seat. “Your hero may not have been able to control mana, but he was a great warrior because he sat down and learned.”

I was branded a traitor a hundred years ago and I still hold that label so it’s nice to see people still admire me in their own way.

‘Why are you blushing?” Jaime asked.

“It’s nothing.”

“Back to it,” Camaro said. “Naturally, like how more trees grow in certain places, this happens to mana as well. You will know that a place has a lot of mana just by feeling uneasy. These accumulations are dangerous because they attract creatures and if they stay there long enough, they will become monstrous and feral. If enough mana accumulates, then a heart will appear and an environment will slowly begin to form to protect itself. Monsters and fiends will also spawn to protect the heart. These places are called labyrinths.”

“Is that what was forming in the woods a couple of days ago?”

“Yes. We knew a labyrinth was going to appear there so we knew everything we needed to destroy it. Once the heart is destroyed, the labyrinth will disappear and return the area to what it was before.”

“I guess this is sort of interesting,” Jaime commented. “What do labyrinths look like?”

“It could be anything. Most of the time, it’ll be the same as the environment it was before. Like the labyrinth we took care of was just a forest. But they don’t have to be. I know of labyrinths in deserts that formed into a tundra and vice versa. The labyrinth could be ruins, castles, abandoned towns even.”

“If labyrinths are so dangerous, why don’t we destroy them all? There are a lot of famous ones that haven’t been destroyed.”

“First of all, history. Some labyrinths have been around for so long that they are considered a part of nature. Destroying it will equal to destroying an entire forest. But that is near impossible since their hearts would be too deep and its insides would be too dangerous.”

“Why does the country leave some be and let them grow?”

“Secondly, there are ingredients and materials that can only be harvested in labyrinths. Such as a part of a monster or a type of herb. Destroying its heart will make those harder to come by and anyone who depends on them like a company or a sickly person will suffer. Lastly, labyrinths, over time, are able to fuse mana into a piece of equipment which gives them special properties. These are called cursed artifacts.”

Jaime raised her hand. “I’ve heard of them. Weapons, shields, and armour that have abilities. Do they just appear?”

“No. The way these artifacts are made is dark. Adventurers head into a labyrinth hoping to slay its heart, find some loot, or whatever. Not everyone will make it out and the ones that die are left behind by their party. As time passes, the high concentration of mana will fuse into the objects on those dead bodies, turning them into cursed artifacts.”

I raised my hand. “Since mana is infused with the artifacts, are people not well-versed in jynx able to use it? Let’s say there’s a sword that can make fire when you slash with it, what happens if that sword were used by someone like Decan?”

“The mana is already infused with the sword so even someone who’s not well-versed in jynx will be able to summon fire. However, that’s not the case for someone like Decan. He was born with no gates and gates are needed to make use of a cursed artifact’s abilities.” Camaro unbuckled the scabbard that was strapped to his hip, presenting us his rapier. “This, right here, is a cursed artifact. Its rarity is uncommon.”

“I didn’t know that,” Jaime cried. “How come you never told me?”

“I didn’t want you playing with it.”

“Can you show us what it does?” I asked.

“I will not. As much as I want to show off, it’s not a risk I’m willing to take. When I fight someone out in the field, I don’t want them to know what I’m capable of. So, for now, I’m keeping my sword a secret. But who knows? Maybe you’ll see it in action one day.”

“You said something about rarity.”

“Yes, I was about to get to that. cursed artifacts are divided into four levels of rarity. Common, uncommon, rare, and mythic. Common cursed artifacts have either okay abilities or are easy to come by. And each rank will be better than the previous ones. Since better-quality artifacts are harder to come by, mythic-level artifacts are very expensive and highly dangerous.”

Our lesson finished around lunch. Camaro went to his office to do some work while Jaime and I stayed where we were to eat. Once Jaime and I had finished and allowed time for our meals to settle, the half-elf dragged me to the field behind the library.

“Hey, what are you two up to?” Officer Kaiser asked.

“I don’t know, Sir, she’s just pulling me along.”

When we got to the middle of the field, Jaime instructed me to stay where I was before heading back inside the building.

Camaro’s unit, who were having lunch and playing cards behind the library, shot confused looks at me.

The colonel had a personal unit that was under his command. Platoon ninety-three—which was the platoon in charge of protecting our village—would always be stationed here. However, if Camaro was ever assigned jurisdiction of another settlement, the platoon here must stay behind and serve its next colonel. The platoon of whatever settlement he was moving to would serve him when he arrived.

The exception to this was his squad, which was aptly named the Camaro unit. Every colonel and higher-up rank was able to hand select their own team and wherever their leader went, they followed.

The Camaro Unit was made up of six members.

The colonel himself, Ray Van Camaro, would be one of them.

The second was his adjutant, Lieutenant Andrea Doria, who served as his secretary and second-in-command.

Then there was Officer Maximus Kaiser. A huge looming Northman who always had his arms crossed. When meeting other people, Officer Kaiser usually served as Camaro’s guard and since he was an officer, Camaro would often trust him with keeping the soldiers in check.

Next was Sergeant Hertog Hendrik. Being the skinniest in the squad, the sergeant was physically the weakest. This made him accustomed to doing paperwork. He would usually do minor things Camaro couldn’t waste time on and review the ones he finished.

Corporal Latnik Rudolf was here as well, which was a surprise. He was the most normal-looking and was often on the move to discuss matters in Camaro’s stead. The corporal was the one I was least familiar with as he was always out of town.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Last would be the youngest out of the squad, Private Vasco Gama. The private was the wildcard out of the group—always slacking off and messing around. Even though Camaro would often yell at him for this, Gama respected his superior as he was always the first to step up when someone questioned the colonel’s authority.

“I think you get the honour of being Jaime’s first love,” Private Gama teased.

“I don’t think so. She hates me because the colonel is making her study along with me.”

“Don’t worry about it. Girls throw the cold shoulder at boys they like. It’s tempting, but don’t throw yourself at her. To draw her in, you’ll need to play hard to get.”

Rudolf flicked a card at Gama’s face. “What are you teaching him?”

“Ilias is a good-looking kid. All the girls in this town will throw themselves at him when he gets older. The doc is doing a good job of raising him, but advice like this comes from a father. My old man told me the same.”

Officer Kaiser scoffed. “You? Giving him fatherly advice? You’re only twelve years older than the kid. You don’t even have stubble on your chin.”

Sergeant Hendrik popped into the conversation. “Besides, Ilias is more responsible than you. I see him focused on reading for three hours straight. You can’t even focus for three minutes.”

“Why am I being ganged up on all of a sudden?” Gama questioned. “All I’m saying is that Jaime is a good match for him. He might think rich girls are the way to go, but most of the time, rich girls are not it.”

“I can agree with you on that.”

“How so?” Rudolf asked.

“Rich girls are too much work. They were raised spoiled, so they’ll expect that from a partner. Rich girls also stay inside so they don’t have any social skills. They stuff themselves with cake, grow up to be fat, and hide it under a bodice. They also cover their insecurities with makeup.”

“I see. The only thing they’re good for is their money.”

“Which is exactly why Ilias should go for Jaime. She’s active so she won’t grow fat. She’s got good social skills. She acts like a brat, but she isn’t spoiled. And she’ll definitely wear her insecurities proudly. So Ilias should go after Jaime.”

Have they forgotten that I’m right here?

Jaime stomped out of the library holding two wooden swords. She positioned herself five metres away from me and threw me one—which I easily caught.

“I challenge you to a duel!” Jaime declared.

“For what?”

“You’re the reason why the colonel is making me sit in the library and learn all day. It’s boring, so if I take you out, everything goes back to normal!”

I sighed. “You couldn’t have just snuck off like you always do?”

“I can’t just sneak off. Ever since he declared that we were learning together,” she shot a finger at the Camaro Unit, “those four and the lieutenant have kept a watchful eye on me.”

“You couldn’t have threatened or blackmailed me?”

“I will do no such thing. I will duel you fairly.”

Jaime’s got honour, which I can admire, but as far as she’s concerned, I don’t know how to fight with a sword.

The words she spoke were true, but she’ll only fight fair when it's in her favour. Her sense of justice is a bit skewed, but she is just a child after all.

“Listen, Jaime, I can just ask the colonel to stop his lessons—”

But the half-elf already rushed at me, striking her sword at my small body as I hopped left and right, casually dodging all of her attacks.

She lunged forward, throwing herself off balance and giving me a chance to knock her to the ground with a gentle push.

“Jaime, I’ll just teach myself what I want to learn. I’ll tell the colonel that I don’t want him to teach me.”

But she wasn’t hearing me out. She swiped her feet at mine in an attempt to knock me down, but I jumped backwards to prevent myself from landing on her legs.

I turned to Camaro’s squad. “Can I get help in calming her down?”

It was clear that these four wouldn’t do anything to stop our little duel.

“I haven’t seen young talent like this before,” Hendrik cheered.

Gama chugged his drink. “Yeah! Both of your fighting styles are beautiful. It’s like a dance.”

Jaime got back on her feet, using her sword to strike the ground to stir dust into the air.

This is my move!

With most of my vision obscured, I could react fast if she charged from the front and it would take too long to go around and attack from the back. So Jaime will be attacking me from the sides. She held her sword with her right hand which would mean—

I was able to block the blow by bringing up my blade.

This swing is full power. Is she trying to put me in a coma?

As soon as Jaime and I locked eyes, she retreated backwards, lengthening the distance between us.

She’s pretty good for a six-year-old.

“Why won’t you just fall down!” she screamed furiously.

Jaime had let her emotions control her and this was the moment her defeat was set in stone.

She raised her sword as she charged blindly. Her goal was to knock the sword out of my hand and perhaps swing at me while I was defenseless.

It wasn’t hard to read her.

I threw my sword to my left, using my now free right hand to lock her sword hand and pull her closer, raising my blade against her neck.

She pushed me away, throwing her sword at the library before running off and wiping her tears. “This isn’t fair. Why are you always better at everything?”

She passed by Camaro, who must’ve heard all of the commotion. “Hey, where are you going?”

But she didn’t answer and just ran off.

Though it felt good winning a duel after so many years, this was not a victory I was proud of.

Jaime is a kid and I am the greatest swordsman trapped in a child’s body. She’s been working so hard at everything, especially with her swordsmanship. It’s not fair for her to go against me.

“Are the four of you idiots?” Camaro asked after his unit explained everything. “Ilias only won because he’s a boy and he’s stronger. Jaime is trained and Ilias is not. He might’ve gotten hurt. Why didn’t you stop them?”

“No, Colonel, you don’t understand,” Officer Kaiser explained. “It was Jaime who was in danger of getting hurt but Ilias didn’t want to fight so he was just dodging and blocking. It was your girl that was outmatched”

I blew my cover!

“Ilias,” the colonel called out. “Have you ever trained or read about swordsmanship before?”

I shook my head.

Camaro turned to his squad. “See?”

“No, no, no,” Hendrik said. “Jaime was fighting through learned skill. But Ilias was fighting with talent. There’s a clear difference. Fight him, you will see.”

“I will not duel a child.”

I haven’t had a proper fight in years. Jaime was good, but she was still a child.

It’s not good to get cocky but…

“I’ll duel you, Colonel.”

I can worry about finding Jaime after this.

Camaro’s squad began cheering and howling, trying to get their superior to accept a kid’s request.

“Fine.” The colonel sighed and picked up the sword Jaime threw. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Could you promise me one thing, Colonel?”

Camaro unbuckled his belt and tossed his cursed artifact of a sword to Officer Kaiser. “Sure.”

“Don’t go easy on me because I’m a kid.”

It seemed as if Camaro’s squad was on my side.

“Go, Ilias, show the colonel what you can do!”

“Make him dance!”

Camaro sighed and took his stance. “I won’t move until you make your first attack.”

I let my sword dangle to my side as I walked around him, slowly gaining speed until I was running laps. I attacked him head-on and he blocked my attack as if I wasn’t a threat.

As our swords clashed, I interlocked mine with his, swinging it around and creating an opening.

Camaro shifted his body to dodge and grab my sword hand. I can tell from the look in his eye that he had just begun to take me seriously.

I dropped my blade, catching it with my other hand as I spun around and freed myself from the Colonel’s grasp.

I took this moment to retreat and began stirring dust into the air, until there was no visibility left.

Camaro was a seasoned swordsman, so he’d expect an attack from the sides. So I waited, long enough to make it seem like I ran around him before charging head-on.

If my body was stronger, I would’ve won the duel, but I was still too slow and Camaro had just enough time to react and swing his sword into my face.

I was knocked to the ground and when I awoke, the colonel and his unit has surrounded me.

My head felt like it was being turned to mush. “Ahh! It hurts. Make it go away. Help, Mother…”

Camaro’s unit hovered gloved hands above my head.

The colonel simply watched. “Their healing isn’t as good as your mother’s, but it should make you feel better.”

“Why don’t you do it instead?”

“The only jynx I can perform is summoning jynx.”

“Oh. They’re not as good, but I don’t mind.” I went to feel the bump on my temple. “I would ask why you went all out, but I did make you promise not to hold back.”

“I didn’t go all out because I promised. I forgot about that. I went all out because, in the heat of the moment, I felt like I was in danger. If you were older, you would’ve bested me with that attack.”

“Is there a bruise?”

“Yeah. Your eye is purple.”

“Can you not heal that yet?

“...”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell Mother about this. I can let them heal it later.”

“Okay then. Thanks. She would’ve crucified me. I don’t know what you’re planning, but they’ll heal it before I drop you off.”

“Is it okay if we halt our lessons for today? My head is ringing after all. And your other student is missing. Once I’m all better, I want to go make up with her.”