Chapters from here on have yet to be improved.
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Quintus grabbed his fathers sword. But it refused to move, he was unable to lift it.
“Woow, slow down a bit! I understand you want revenge, but if you mindlessly rush in, you'll manage to get one of them at best, and then it will be over for you (and me as well) and who will take care of your mother then! Not only would she be sad because of your death, she is still to weak to go hunting herself!”
(honestly, I want to kill these guys too, but there's just no way we would survive trying. And if I'm forced to use mana, then all the efforts to this point would be wasted.. but.. )
“Their family seems to rely on the knowledge recorded in the books their ancestors left behind. And everyone knows that. So.. I wonder what would happen to them if those books disappeared? I understand that this wouldn't avenge your father, or the suffering your mother had to go through, but at least they would not be able to repeat this crime.”
(and maybe some of them die in the fire.. burned by the books they used to kill, a well deserved death.)
After looking at how Quintus had been treated and still was treated to this day, how the elves acted towards those weaker than them, Mana had lost all of the little empathy her skills allowed her to possess towards those she could only see as savages hiding under beautiful young faces.
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In the house of the Cabal family, a man had entered the basement in which his brother-in-law and his brother's wife were feasting.
“You.. you idiots!! What are you celebrating for?!”
“Eamon, what is the problem? There is no way we could be found out.”
“The problem?!? This family build its reputation over thousands of years, and its reputations is the only thing that lets people buy our medicine! If word gets out that his mother was cured because he did the exact opposite to what we told him, tell me, who would trust us under such circumstances!”
He had married into the Caball family, his own wife, Felicia Caball, died from an unknown disease before they could have a child due to what could only be called a sick irony of fate. For him, this family existed in it's name only, and he was adamant about maintaining and increasing its reputation.
“But brother, what are we supposed to do about it?”
“Right now we can still say that his mother recovered because he used up the last bottles at once in a desperate attempt to cure her. But these effects are only temporary, and after they are over..”
“You wouldn't suggest that we!-”
“-To kill, to let die, where is the difference? But if we loose the trust of the village, then it will be over!!!”
He was the one who came up with this plan! Not only would it bring them incredible profit, but would also serve as a constant remainder that it was their family that kept the champions wife alive. He had not thought that it would escalate like this, but what's done is done. And now these idiots would ruin everything?!? There was no way he could let that happen!!
“Listen, once Quintus has left the house to go hunting, I want you to have that woman drink this. That brat may pose no treat to us, but he seems to mistrust us, and if he voices his doubt, his mother might follow. If we don't do this, our family will be done for! Do you want to be the ones responsible for the end of your family?!”
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(The Caballs left the house? That's just perfect)
“Well, I'm going to see if I can do something about those books.”
...
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“Looks like he already left the house..”
“You.. are you sure we should do this?”
“Hmpf, you didn't hesitate even one bit when we were letting her die, and now you're scared of this?”
...
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Meanwhile, those able to see mana would have seen something very strange if they were to look at Quintus- the veins spreading from his mana core suddenly changed shape, until they resembled a single tendril that moved at incredible speed, as if to slice the building into myriads of tiny pieces, but it passed trough it like a ghost.
(and?)
Help: No problems during the scan. Strange.. there's only the child inside. Even if it's the Cabal family, no, because it is the Cabal family, shouldn't they have someone guarding the house? Anyways, I successfully made a full copy of the house's and its contents state. The books are in a separated and fireproof room in the basement. But while this means that burning the books would not cause a large scale catastrophe, no one would notice the incident, and they could just keep on selling fake medicine.
(darn it! We came here promising results, but... hmm... maybe..)
Help: Yes, that could indeed work.
“Hey Quintus, you want to avenge your father yourself right? Well, it looks like you'll get your chance.. first of all, let's go back home. There are some things that we need to prepare if you want to do it.”
...
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Upon entering his house Quintus noticed that something was amiss. He almost instinctively ran to his mothers room... and the scene he saw..
Standing in his mothers room were the 3 members of the Cabal family and collapsed on the floor..
For a moment that felt like an eternity, no one was moving. Then, swinging his fathers sword, Quintus sprinted towards the closest person. He was screaming desperately while doing so, but his scream ended as abruptly as it had begun.
(Why did this brat have to come back this early?!? It should have taken a hour at last!! F#ck, I don't deserve this! First his mother not trusting us, so Kaila and Kristan had to restrain her, and then this bastard coming back this early, is this the heavens attempt to punish me?!? Well, if this is all they've got, I'll show them who will have the last laugh!!)
Quintus had collapsed on the floor, various wounds all over his body. Luckily, they were only shallow cuts, and would heal if given time. He had been knocked out by Eamon smashing his daggers pommel into his stomach.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Kaila- “You killed him!”
Eamon- “Wrong. He isn't dead.. yet.”
Kristan- “Stop it! There.. there's no need to do this!”
Eamon- “He saw everything. If word of this gets out, it wont just be our family's reputation that will die, we will be killed alongside it!”
Kaila- “But.. given his reputation, who would believe him?”
Eamon- “And what are supposed to tell the others about his injuries??”
Kristan- “Couldn't we.. just say he got angry at us for not selling the medicine and attacked us? And we defended ourselves?”
Eamon- “..actually.. that's a good idea. But.. are you ready to take the risk? The others may just end up believing him.”
..
“Looks like others are coming.. do something about that kid, I'll try to explain this mess.”
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The scream had alerted the other villagers, and some came looking for its source, not before finishing their own business of course. The explanation they were given by the Eamon, who had arrived first, was one they understood all too well.
After her son had given her all of the remaining medicine at once in a desperate attempt to cure her, Elsia had slightly recovered. But because of the overdose, she died soon after. Eamon, who had heard about this “miraculous recovery” had come to prevent the worst from happening, but he came too late. Blaming the fault on Eamon, Quintus had attacked him, causing Eamon to injure Quintus in self defense, thus the blood in the room. Understanding he was responsible for his mothers death, Quintus had run from the village. It was impossible for him to have survived in the forest, and no one really cared for him, so there was no search.
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(well.. this sure escalated quickly. So this is what happens when you want someone dead but are too much of a coward to pull the trigger.. But really, do they honestly believe that dropping Quintus of in the deeper parts of the forest while he is unconscious and has blood all aver his body that any animal should be able to smell from afar will actually let a magical beast finish the job for them? This is just like those cliched last bosses that can create impenetrable doors but always leave the key lying around somewhere..)
You have slain a level 13 tier 2 magical beast. 650 exp earned.
(..hidden in some corner of their dungeon..)
You have slain a level 12 tier 2 magical beast. 600 exp earned.
(..surrounded by traps and monsters..)
You have slain a level 14 tier 2 magical beast. 700 exp earned.
(..but in the more challenging cases..)
There were multiple corpses of magical beast lying around Quintus. The weaker magical beast had smelled what seemed to be an easy prey, but Mana easily dealt with them. Using Mana conversion to imbue kinetic energy into the sword, it mowed as if it had a life of its own. A sword that could fly, how were the beasts supposed to defeat such an opponent? However, drawn in by the smell of the slaughter..
(..so a “miniboss” has finally shown itself.. now, I hope I'll still be able to deal with this..)
A wolf-like creature with iron-gray fur, about 2 meters tall, appeared.
(now this is a fight I should take seriously..)
The sword shot towards the beasts throat at an incredible speed, but..
“CLIIIING”
(its fur is actually MADE from iron?!? What's wrong with this world?!? But under these circumstances.. considering the weight it should have in addition to the speed it definitely has..)
(“Like being run over by a car, yes. Considering it's defense, I recommend another approach than using the sword. If it has such a strong armor.. perhaps it has weak insides? ..well, looks like using the sword is not an option anymore anyways.”)
With a single strike of its paw, the sword was sent flying. Having left Manas area of control, all “life” left the blade. And since there was no “opponent” fighting for its food anymore..
Help: Scan complete! Inflicting an internal cut to its throat should take care of it.
Ready to dig in on the feast laying before itself, shortly after it had opened its maw, the wolf suddenly felt a stinging sensation in its throat. It coughed and coughed, but the flow was just too strong. It struggled for minutes, but in the end, it had literally drowned on its own blood, was killed by its own vitality.
You have slain a level 17 tier 3 magical beast. 8500 exp earned.
(and that's it for the bossfight. I.. kinda feel bad.. but the other option would be to let myself be eaten.. well, I guess that this is how this world is. Hmm? Ah! Finally!)
“So you're finally awake?”
...
“What.. what happened here?!?”
“Ah, those things tried to eat you, so I had to save your life.(..wait.. “I” am the sword so..)Ehm.. if you could pick me up? That last one managed to throw me to this place..”
It did not take long for Quintus to come back to his senses. And alongside his mind.. came his memory. And admits the dozens of corpses, there was a boy, crying. At first they were tears of anger, frustration... but those feelings soon vanished, leaving behind nothing but sadness.