Hey guys! Sorry I haven't been updating for the past few days. I had some stuff to do, *cough* *cough* study for exams and procrastinating *cough*. Also, as an update, I may not be able to update as much this week as I have some exams/projects coming up. Though I'll try to get at least one or two chapters out. In any case, hope you guys enjoy.
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It was the morning of next day, and people were soon rousing awake. Fortunately for the traveling group, Cyrus secretly warded away all the dangers of the night so everyone had a peaceful rest. After waking up, the people of the traveling group were soon getting ready to head off as it would be a good idea to reach the capital as quickly as they can. While everyone was packing up, Cassidy, who was one of the early risers, saw Cyrus and started walking up to him. As she came closer, she saw Cyrus was currently making something in his hands and, being the curious girl she was, she wondered what it was. Soon she was standing in front of him and started talking to him.
“Morning to ya. You sure are up early aren’t you? Couldn’t sleep much?” Cassidy greeted.
“I didn’t sleep at all, in fact.” Cyrus absentmindedly replied while still working on the trinket in his hands.
“Eh? Wait, why didn’t you sleep? It’s bad not to get proper rest you know?” Cassidy replied a little surprised.
“Well, let’s just say I’m one of those who don’t really need much sleep. I’m not all that tired.”
“Eh, suit yourself. If you say you’re fine then you’re fine. Anyway, what are you working on there? Is that what you’ve been doing the whole night?” Cassidy asked, finally getting to the part she was curious about.
At this question, Cyrus just held up what he had in his hands. On the palm of his hands, there appeared two bracelets carved out of some sort of scaly material and had runes etched onto them. Though, for the normal person, they would just look like pretty bracelets but nothing really out of the ordinary.
“Yeah. I’ve been making these bracelets, among other things, throughout the night. I think they turned out pretty well.” Cyrus replied before he returned to working on them again.
“Hm. I never expected you to be the type of person to have that kind of hobby. You seem like the type of person who’d probably be breaking things more often than creating.”
“That’s pretty rude of you to say. I’ll have you know I consider myself to be an innovator among other things. Though, it is also true that I do break things quite often.” Cyrus replied with a grin while shrugging.
“Well, you didn’t exactly make that great a first impression. Though, I feel that’s probably just your usual personality.”
“Quite observant of you. I wouldn’t take you for that kind from your first impression either. So? Is there anything else you need? I’m sure you’re not just sticking around because of my wondrous personality?” Cyrus quipped.
“Hardly. I simply wanted to ask you something. Would you care to travel with us? I know you and Seffy have wings and can probably travel a lot faster than us, but it would be nice company having you guys with us. In the end, we’re all headed in the same direction and I’ve already convinced my dad to let you guys come with us if you want.” Cassidy asked with a rather expectant look.
“I suppose so. We haven’t had much company so it would be a nice change of pace. It’ll be a good thing for Seffy to have someone else to talk to besides me. I’m sure you may have already realized, but extended exposure to my personality isn’t good for anyone’s sanity if I do say so myself. Though, I’m sure Seffy would have some of her own objections to this as well.” Cyrus replied as he stared at Cassidy with a grin.
“Huh, why?” Cassidy asked a bit confused.
“Who knows?” Cyrus said, shrugging once more.
“Well, whatever. Where is Seffy, anyway?” Cassidy inquired while looking around.
“Still sleeping. Which reminds me…” Cyrus said as he stowed away the bracelets and stood up. He then made his way over to their tent and went inside. Soon enough, a loud thump could be heard despite the noise outside from people packing. After a bit of indiscernible groaning and complaining, Cyrus and Seffy came out of the tent with Seffy rubbing her butt.
“You just had to kick me awake, didn’t you? I swear, one of these days, I’m going to pay you back for this.” Seffy groaned after a big yawn while rubbing her eyes.
“Well, you’d have to wake up earlier than me before that, something I’m not too sure will happen anytime soon.” Cyrus continued grinning.
“Hey, you’re a cheater. You don’t even need sleep.” Seffy accused.
Cyrus just shrugged with a smirk plastered on his face after hearing Seffy’s accusations. Like this, they soon walked up to where Cassidy was still standing. Cassidy just raised her eyebrow at their performance but didn’t comment on it.
Cassidy greeted with a big smile on her face as soon as they reached her. “Morning, Seffy! Hope you had a good night’s sleep. Hey, listen. Do you want to travel with us to the capital?”
Seffy just gave her a weird look and as she was about to say otherwise, Cyrus elbowed her in the side. Giving Cyrus an annoyed look, Seffy just tiredly sighed and then shrugged.
“Well, I suppose that’s fine with me.” Seffy said as if giving up.
“Hurray! We’re going to have such a good time together! I have so much I want to talk about.” Cassidy cheerfully smiled while clapping her hands together.
“Alright, well now that that’s settled, I’ll be taking my leave. Like you guys, I still have to finish packing up. Bye!” Cassidy said as she turned around and sprinted off.
After watching her run off, Cyrus turned and smiled at Seffy, “Oh, cheer up. She’s not that bad. I’m sure she’ll grow on you. Anyway, let’s go eat breakfast. I know you’re not a morning person, but you haven’t eaten anything since yesterday morning so I’m sure you’re just grumpy from the lack of food.”
“Half the reason was because of you…” Seffy grumbled as she followed Cyrus to go eat.
After a quick breakfast, packing up their stuff, and putting on their masks, the two were ready to set off along with the rest of the travelling group. After smoothing out the conditions for travelling together with Casic, they soon departed.
Cyrus and Seffy traveled next to Cassidy’s carriage and were subjected to Cassidy’s barrage of words, much to Seffy’s displeasure. Despite that, the journey was going well and they ran into no issues. Soon, the scenery changed and they could see the large white walls of the capital far off in the distance.
In anticipation of finally reaching the city, Cyrus and Seffy, along with the rest of the traveling group, quickened their pace. However, before long, a large roaring and the galloping of many horses could be heard from a distance behind their group.
“It’s getting closer! What do we do? We’re done for if it catches up to us!”
“Hell if I know! We shouldn’t have messed with that thing in the first place! It was much too strong for us!”
“Shut up you idiots and think of a way to escape! I don’t care what it takes, you all have to protect me or else!”
“Wait! Look! There’s a bunch of travellers up ahead! Maybe we can use them as a distraction!”
“Good idea! Hurry it up! I can’t die here.”
Loud shouting could be heard as everyone turned their heads behind them, wondering what was happening. A large dust cloud soon came into view from the plains a fair distance behind them. Soon, one by one, people in knight’s armor riding on horses emerged from the dust cloud following behind what appeared to be a teenaged boy wearing lavish clothing and an elderly mage. As quickly as they appeared, they soon galloped past the travelling group, not even giving them a second glance as they rode off in the distance towards the capital.
“RAAAAAAAAAAWRRRRR”
Another large roar soon interrupted their puzzlement as everyone snapped their necks back to look at the cause of the noise. Also appearing from behind the dust cloud was the figure of a large magical beast. It had a thick, fur covered body that rippled from muscle as it stood on its four legs. Golden yellow fur covered the entirety of its body that formed into a large mane at the base of the head. The head itself was something that looked half human half beast and was scrunched into a vicious snarl as it glared at the traveling group. At the rear of its body, instead of a normal fur tail, it had a double stinger that twitched as it menacingly waved back and forth in conjunction to the beast’s movements. The beast itself stood at a height that towered above the carriages of the traveling group by almost twice the height.
The looks of surprise plastered on the travelling group’s faces soon warped into looks of horror and fear. Aside from Cyrus and Seffy, the whole group stared at the beast while trembling. Some individuals of the travelling group had even started tearing up as they fell on their behind. Cyrus, in contrast, just had a bored look on his face as he stared at the beast. Seffy on the other hand was grinning, not because of the beast, but because she saw that Cassidy was also trembling with a fearful look on her face. It was a nice change from her usual forward and positive attitude that had now turned meek and afraid as she tried to make herself seem as small as possible. It was a refreshing change of expression for Seffy as she didn’t think anything could quell the unending energy in the girl.
“Ah… ah…” Cassidy stuttered while still trembling.
“What’s wrong?” Seffy asked while holding a slight smirk.
“That… that thing… It’s going to eat all of us. We need to get away from here.” Cassidy said while panicking.
“Hmm. It doesn’t seem like much of a threat though…” Seffy nonchalantly responded.
“What the hell do you mean it isn’t much of a threat!? Do you not know what that is? That thing is a wingless manticore! A freaking Mid-Legend rank magical beast! Just one of them could massacre a whole troop of soldiers! We can’t fight that thing! Oh god, oh god, oh god. What do we do? WHAT DO WE DO?” Cassidy quickly spoke, seemingly starting to become hysteric.
Cassidy wasn’t the only one like this as even the four people of the travelling group who were proficient in combat were also shivering as they raised their swords up in nervous anticipation.
After eyeing the travelling group for a bit, the manticore deemed that they weren’t a threat and soon made its way over while slowly increasing its pace. Soon, it was just a few meters away from the first traveler where it then pounced, aiming to rip the person to shreds. However, before it could do so, the back of a large, black scythe smashed into its side, flinging it a hundred meters back.
Not only the manticore, but everyone with the exception of Cyrus looked at the cause with wide eyes full of shock. What instantly appeared between the group and the manticore, without anyone even noticing, was the figure of Seffy holding a large black scythe that was even taller than she was. She held a smirk on her face as she slowly made her way over to the manticore who was still struggling to get up.
“How fortunate. I was getting quite bored of just walking. Hopefully you’ll give me some good exercise. You’ll play with me won’t you, mister kitty cat?” Seffy playfully asked the manticore.
The manticore on the other hand just gave a low growl as it stared cautiously at the girl. After having experienced the force of that impact, it knew it had to take the girl seriously. Before Seffy could say anything else, the manticore once again pounced on her as it attempted to rip her arms off. Opening its maw wide, it attempted to bite off one of Seffy’s arms. Unfortunately for the manticore, Seffy just turned the scythe around and shoved the base of its shaft straight into the throat of the manticore with enough force that it nearly poked a hole right through to the other side.
As the manticore choked and attempted to jump back, Seffy went up to it and kicked it up right below the jaw making it lift upwards a bit. While the manticore was still in the air, Seffy turned around and gave it a spinning high kick with her other leg, breaking off most of the manticore’s teeth while also sending it flying once more. While the manticore was still in its daze, Seffy jumped up high and used her wings to get an even higher altitude. After doing so, Seffy simply dived straight down towards the manticore with blazing speed while holding her scythe above her head. With a single swing and a loud chopping noise, the manticore that was still trying to get its bearings had gotten itself cleaved in half. With a weak gurgling cry, the manticore died soon after as its two halves dropped to the ground.
After confirming its death, Seffy simply hefted her scythe on her shoulder as she walked back to the travelling group. The entire group just stared at her in disbelief as she approached. The young girl who didn’t looked like she had any fighting ability had just easily killed off a mid-Legend rank magical beast. That beast could have fought evenly with even the royal army commander and yet she killed it as if she were just playing around. As the situation slowly sunk in, cheers began to erupt from the group as they immediately came up and started praising Seffy. Seffy on the other hand, simply ignored them as she made her way back to where Cyrus was standing.
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“Quite the flashy show you put up. Had fun with it?” Cyrus smirked as he watched Seffy smile back.
“Yeah. Though it didn’t last as long as I thought it would, it was much needed stress relief. I know I’ve been moody for quite a while, but I feel a bit better now. Thanks for asking.” Seffy replied as she put her scythe away.
“Stress relief!? That’s all it was to you!? Just how strong are you? Wait, why are you even going to the academy if you’re this strong? If you’re like this, then aren’t you, like, the strongest person in this kingdom?” Cassidy asked her, still bewildered at her show of strength. However, there was also a tint of excitement in her voice as she just realized she may have befriended an extremely strong person.
Seffy just shrugged at her, not really wanting to answer. Cassidy just pouted a bit at her for not telling, but seemed to give up as she realized that everyone has their own secrets. While on the subject, Cassidy just stared at Cyrus as she wondered if he was that strong as well.
After the excitement died down, the group decided that they should probably continue towards the capital lest they attract even more unwanted attention. Of course, Cyrus made them promise not to talk about what they had just witnessed to which they agreed. After all, it would be unwise to earn the ire of their saviors.
However, as they were about to leave, they heard the familiar galloping of horses that they heard earlier approach them from the direction of the capital.
Soon, the troop of knights riding on their horses weaved around the travelling group in a circle and surrounded them. After a few moments, a few of the knights parted and a teenager wearing extravagant clothing and an old looking mage appeared in the gap.
The teenager looked around and his eyes widened as the dead manticore entered his sights. He then looked back and forth between the corpse and the group of travellers as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Soon, a look of annoyance appeared on his face.
“You all. Did you kill that manticore? No, that doesn’t matter…” The teenager started.
“Guards, arrest all of them.” The teenager continued as he started grinning.
“W-wait! For what reason are we being arrested for?” Casic asked as he started panicking.
“Reason? Well, obviously it was because you stole the kill on that manticore from me. I was just about to finish it off when you guys came along, right Cedric?” The teenager smirked as he turned to the elderly mage next to him.
“Right you are my lord. Though, I do not know how these peasants managed to kill it; maybe it was just that weakened by us. Even so, that kill on the manticore rightfully belonged to us. They should be grateful we have not executed them on the spot.” The elderly mage spoke, clearly kissing up to the teenage boy.
“And there you have it. We’ll be taking the corpse of the manticore and we’ll have you all punished for this incident.” The teenager gave another smug smirk.
“No way! You can’t do that! You were the ones who led it to us in the first place!” One person shouted out.
“That’s right! You guys just ran away right after leading it to us! We were lucky to even survive at all!” Another shouted out.
“Silence you filthy peasants! Do you not know who you are talking to? This is Salk Atkas, the son of Lord Atkas, a high noble of Sangin! Every single one of you should be grateful to even be in his presence. You all should just accept his generosity in not killing all of you this instant.” The elderly mage arrogantly shouted out.
While everyone in the group of travellers was raising their grievances, Salk just scanned through all of them as he smugly thought up ways to punish them. After looking through most them, his eyes widened as they landed on one particular girl with long blond hair. His facial expression instantly changed into one filled with lust as he greedily looked over all her features.
“Everyone, quiet!” Salk soon shouted out.
“Being the generous person I am, I’m willing to overlook this transgression. That is, if you all would just hand over that girl over there to me, I would be willing to pretend as if none of this ever happened.” Salk grinned as he pointed at Seffy who, in response, returned a disgusted glare.
“Who the hell do you think you are!? There’s no way we’d just give her to you! Go fuck yourself.” A person from the grouped shouted out once more after realizing who he was pointing towards.
“Heh. To think you were all this dumb. I gave you all a chance to go free, but instead you throw it back in my face. It doesn’t matter anyway; I will have that girl regardless of what you all may say.” Salk simply brushed away the insult as he gave another disgusting smile tinged with lewd thoughts.
Soon, the guards closed in on the group as they prepared to apprehend them. However before anyone could do anything, Cyrus stepped out from the group.
“Now now, gentlemen. Why don’t we all be civil about this? Instead of imprisoning everyone, how about we discuss the conditions for compensation over the table? You can already have the manticore corpse for all we care.” Cyrus asked with a smile.
Looking over Cyrus with an annoyed expression, Salk responded by shouting at him in his impatience over this useless charade.
“Look here you. I don’t give a damn about negotiations or anything of the sort. If I see something I want, I’ll simply take it. If I see something I don’t like, I’ll simply destroy it. Do you understand now? All of you had no say in this since the very beginning!” Salk irritating shouted out, already reaching the limits of his patience and eager to play around with his new ‘toy’.
“I see… That’s too bad then… I would’ve liked to avoid resorting to violence, but it seems my words are falling on deaf ears. Oh well, this is also convenient for me in a way” Cyrus responded while shaking his head.
“What the hell do you mean by tha-.” Salk shouted out, but was cut off.
Before anyone knew what happened, Cyrus instantly appeared right in front of Salk and his horse. Cyrus then grinned at Salk before his left arm turned into a blur as he swept across the horse, knocking the poor creature flying. After that, Cyrus seemingly teleported behind Salk and grabbed the back of his neck with his right arm. After forming a blade of darkness in his left hand, Cyrus simply placed the edge of it onto the neck of the now surprised Salk.
All this happened almost instantaneously as nobody even had the chance to register what just happened. As everyone started realizing what had just transpired, the elderly mage as well as many of the guards roared out at Cyrus and started to charge at him. However, they abruptly stopped as a little blood started dipping down Salk’s neck.
Salk himself was trembling as he realized the situation he was in. His very life could be ended by the man that was now standing behind him. Soon, tears started forming at the edge of his eyes as he started whimpering.
Cyrus, upon noticing this, just smirked at the boy. “Well then… I wonder if we’re willing to talk now?”
“No! No! Stop! Wait! Just wait! We’ll talk! We’ll talk! Just put the blade down and we’ll talk this out! We’re civil gentlemen are we not?” The elderly mage started panicking as he asked Cyrus to put the blade around the Salk’s neck down.
“Oh, no no no. You see, this boy is an important tool in our negotiations. I simply can’t do what you’re asking as that would put me in a disadvantageous position.” Cyrus smugly smirked, not budging his blade away from the Salk’s neck.
“In any case, I would appreciate it if you would drop your weapons. Those are hardly needed for negotiations now are they?” Cyrus continued while his smirk widened.
Reluctantly, the guards as well as the elderly mage all put down their weapons as they now waited for Cyrus to continue. Seffy then came up to them and started gathering all their weapons into a neat stack to the side.
“Alright, now that that’s done, how about we get some questions answered first? First off, why were you all running away from that manticore in the first place?” Cyrus inquired towards the elderly mage.
“We went to its lair that resided on the edge of the Sangin Wilderness. W-we wanted to kill it to show it off as a display of Salk’s abilities, but it was too much for us to handle.” The elderly mage honestly replied while gritting his teeth.
“I see… And you’re willing to involve innocent people in this just because you were unable to kill it?”
“T-that! Our young lord Salk’s life is worth much more than these common folk. Since Lord Salk is going to become an important figure in the future, we thought a few negligible sacrifices would be worth it…” The elderly mage hesitatingly answered before he realized his mistake.
“Hmm… so you think the worth of another life is negligible compared to this boy’s life? In that case, why don’t you demonstrate that belief yourself? If you kill yourself, I’ll let the boy live. It’s a fair deal, right? After all, you’ve said it yourself that other’s lives are worth little compared to his, right?” Cyrus smirked as he intently gazed at the elderly mage.
Salk himself was also looking towards the elderly mage for his response, as if he expected the mage to agree to this as if it were natural. Looking at the mage with eyes that threatened punishment if the mage refused, Salk made small, but still noticeable nods in the mage’s direction.
“T-that! I…! Please!... I’ll give you anything you want. Just spare that boy’s life!” The elderly mage pleaded, trying desperately to steer the direction of the negotiation away from the current topic with the use of their wealth.
“…How unsightly. In the end, all of you just value your own lives above everyone else’s. Well, I gave you a chance to redeem yourself, but it seems you are too self-centered to take it.” Cyrus spoke while still smiling.
If the elderly mage had actually attempted to kill himself for the boy, Cyrus would have stopped him and let them go out of respect for that conviction. But, it seems that that wasn’t the case here. Though, Cyrus had already expected something like this outcome even before he offered that deal. He just wanted to see if people like them could prove him otherwise.
“W-wait! Please! I’m sure we can work something out!” The elderly mage once more cried out in a desperate attempt to stop Cyrus.
However, before the elderly mage could say anything more, a column of earth shot out from below his feet and enveloped him. The same thing happened to all the other guards as well much to their surprise and horror. Soon the columns of earth started to descend back into the ground dragging the guards and the elderly mage down with them. Before long, all that could be seen was their heads that stuck out of the ground as their bodies stopped descending. All of them looked in fear at their situation as they are now at the complete mercy of the black-winged man.
“Hmm, though, I can’t exactly kill everyone. They seem to be important people after all. It’ll cause an uproar if I do so and that would be a bit troublesome for me.” Cyrus mused to himself while everyone just stared at him with a terrified expression.
Seemingly having thought up a great idea, Cyrus just gave a malicious smile as he walked towards the nearest buried person. He then placed a hand on their head and as soon as he did so, the buried person started screaming hysterically before going quiet. Cyrus then proceeded to do the same to everyone who was buried before finally finishing it off with the boy that was still being held. Cyrus then dropped the boy on the ground before patting his hands off.
All the people who Cyrus had done this to simply held a blank expression as if their mind had stopped working. With a satisfied smirk, Cyrus simply walked back to the dumbfounded expressions of the travelling group.
After informing them that there was no need to worry anymore about that troop of knights, they reluctantly continued on their way. Though, it should be noted that there were quite a few cautious gazes towards Cyrus now. Of course, Cyrus still made sure to have them all swear to never reveal anything that happened today.
“So what did you do to them? It was a bit different from the usual mind break.” Seffy curiously asked Cyrus as they walked.
“Oh, nothing much really. I just wiped their memories of this incident. Along with that, I also broke the part of their soul that controls mana. When they come to, I’m sure they’ll be in for a rough time.” Cyrus smiled amusingly as he replied back to Seffy.
And so, like that, the travelling group along with Cyrus and Seffy finally arrived at the big white gates that were the entrance to the City of Sangin.