“Well then, if you don’t want to tell us I guess, I can’t do much about that, it is very private information in the end. Why don’t you tell us how you got to Pharia then? It couldn’t be that secret, that you won't be able to tell us, would it? Where are you from, what are you doing here? From what I heard you didn’t even own any identification tokens. How come?”

With the same calm voice, Torrento continued. It had some mystic quality to it, making people want to listen to what he had to say, while at the same time, his cadence made everyone tell him everything he wanted to know. Mark had to admit, this Bearman was a charismatic person, without any doubt.

“Well, it would be hard to get one, I lived in the middle of nowhere and didn’t need to go to any city, in fact, I never was in one before I came to Pharia. I just lived with what I could get from nature, I never needed to leave my place before, until the hordes of Goblins appeared, I could take all of them on of course, without a problem. But recently I have been left alone in my house, and no longer had a need to stay around, so I decided I could use some change of scenery”

Honestly, Mark was slowly starting to regret choosing the arrogant asshole persona for this conversation but oh well. Of course, he knew the Lieutenant could gather the information that this was not his real personality, but that was also a part of this game.

The difference in personality between his normal behavior and the one when he was talking to authorities, made him more unpredictable, and harder to read, whatever skill reading truth or lie from him the Scarface was using would have a much harder time detecting the differences when almost all he said was some sort of a lie.

In the end, they could not fault him much for lying about his personal matters. They would never trust him, but that was a good thing, they would never place any expectations on him, and he would be pretty much free to do his own thing without anyone interfering.

They exchanged a few more words but in the end, Torrento seemed to get enough of Mark and had him go back. When Mark left the room Torrento turned towards Tony.

“What have you got on him so far?”

“The whole thing is a lie, this man hasn’t stopped lying since he entered this room, though he did say a couple of things truthfully, I would not trust them even more, also, if he believes them to be true, I can do nothing about that.”

“Very well, during the battle I want you to have an eye on him, don’t allow him to do anything suspicious.”

“But… I was gonna have fun…

“No, you will watch him and have your fun on the side, understood?”

“Eh, it’s always like that with you, no fun to be had.”

With this Tony stood up and left the office, leaving Torrento to his thoughts. Mark was disconcerting to him, he usually had a good read on people, but he didn’t understand the boy. To him Mark looked like a trained tool for murder, he has seen many such individuals in his time at the Academy, always entering and exiting the dean's office.

But this one was different, there was this strange shine in his eyes, that was missing in these other individuals, also he took under him the orphaned kid, truly a bizarre person. He could already tell, he would not be helping the Stranglers, he looked like he would destroy them alone if the Guard didn’t interfere. He also resisted the enchantment of the room, truly remarkable. He had to have an eye on him.

He had a feeling he did not need to worry about Vesthia now, still, he would have his contingencies in place just in case. In the end, he had another task other than killing the bandits. He had to make sure they didn’t have Lady Maria, he could not afford a hostage standoff.

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He rarely saw such interesting people since he came to this backwater to lead the local Guard. He wanted to know more, maybe he could have a use for him, or if he could form some ties with him, have him as a friend. He certainly didn’t want to antagonize him, he knew such people, no reason to make an enemy out of him if he didn’t intend to kill him straight away. You either kill him, or he comes for you later, in the dark, without you suspecting a thing.

He didn’t live up to his age by doing stupid things, and he didn’t intend to start now.

……………………………………………………………………………….

Mark left the building still wondering about the meeting, not mentioning meeting another sentient race for the first time, it was truly bizarre, he could tell that the whole time he was in this office some kind of ability was being used on him, and he didn’t mean the Scarface's gaze, he could instantly tell he was some kind of truth-teller.

No, he felt oppressed, like something in the room was trying to affect him. The moment he stepped foot inside and the doors closed his Stamina started stirring strangely, like it was a cat hissing at something the owner wasn’t aware of.

Without thinking he started rotating it all over his body, making it active and sending it all over to see if it would help. Lo and behold, the moment it coursed through his head it met some kind of black mist, without waiting it lunged for it and they ‘fought’.

It was grueling but eventually, his Stamina won and expelled the mist, out of his body. Then throughout the meeting, he kept his stamina rotation just in case they tried any other tricks, while once again marveling at the usefulness of Stamina Control.

The mist tried to seep in a couple more times but every time it was expelled.

He was truly wondering how far this world’s magic could go, how many more Skills and abilities were there. He was guessing the mist was some kind of mind manipulation magic, but he couldn’t be sure. He had to increase his stamina, and constantly make use of it in case something tried to affect him without him knowing.

He returned to the inn, keeping his guard up, he noticed it the moment he walked through the doors. A force instantly tried to enter his body, this one a little different, alternating between green and yellow. This one was much calmer than the black mist, slowly seeping into his body through all his pores not only into his head.

That was when he realized something, he was way too relaxed in the inn, all the time. The first time he entered the building he instantly relaxed, didn’t even check the peripherals. Not looking for escape routes, hidden traps, ambush spots, best vintage points, nothing, he just sat down by the bar and had an ale.

He looked at Joe and noticed he was always smiling and talking with some customers, he knew that the barkeep wasn’t a malicious person, and the energy was very mellow and not pushy at all, it left him alone the moment he tried expelling it like it didn’t want to offend. He realized it must be another skill, probably something to do with the innkeeper as a class.

It was truly a weird world, now knowing how the skill worked he continued circulating his Stamina, he knew it was beneficial to relax from time to time, but now that he knew of it he could no longer allow it. He was already berating himself for not noticing any sooner.

Walking up to Donny's room he knocked and walked in. Donny was sitting on the floor, sweat dripping down his body. It would seem he trained all this time. He walked up to the boy and wanted to shake him awake from his meditation, but the moment he touched him his constantly circulating energy suddenly jerked and he saw Donny’s energy. It was much less abundant than his, but currently, it was spread thin, throughout his whole body, seeping into his muscles.

Mark could see it was not perfect, but it was a good improvement, he would probably get a skill for it soon if he didn’t already. With the Bolster, Stamina Control, and his current skill with the bow, Donny should be capable enough to come with them to the attack. Mark would have him sit with the Guard’s archers and kill them from there while he took care of Vesthia.

Releasing him, his vision returned to normal, no longer seeing Donny’s stamina.

“Master, what is it?” At this moment Donny also realized someone else was in the room.

“You should have known I was here the moment I stood behind the doors, you need to be always vigilant, even when training, remember. Now we go for a couple more body exercises and to bed, I need to have you in fighting shape if you are to come with us on the bandit invasion.”

Hearing this, Donny’s eyes burned with vengeance as he walked out ready for anything his Master would have him do.

This way the last moments before the attack, Mark and Donny spent training until the day of the attack arrived. Gearing up, Mark and Donny moved to the gathering spot for the guards. They would come out at different intervals, and through different gates. They wanted to make sure the bandits didn’t escape before the attack was ready.