At first, he hated the boring King who forbade him to kill everyone he would have liked. After centuries of doing whatever he wanted, as long as it had not harmed his previous master, he felt deprived of everything funny. However, at some point, his new master focused his terrifying mind on him and reshaped him to his liking. Now, he was known as Jester and was learning fast from him. Jester was now his function, occupation, and his name. He mostly remained as he was; however, he was now fully aware of the fact that he was insane. While he wasn't sure if a genuinely insane person was mindful of their insanity, he appreciated that no one cared. He enjoyed every moment since the King unleashed him on the spies and the freedom he felt afterward. He made a fool of a necromancer who attacked Avalon and later sabotaged the Cridians. He even tried to steal the golem cores from the Cridia city, but someone beat him to it. Life wasn't fair, so he blew up the waste piles instead, increasing the Cridian capital's stench tenfold and leaving the city with a "it's something" facial expression.

On his way to the north, he perhaps killed one or two... Dozens of people, but they deserved it. Admittedly, he lost all his joy when he was about to kill an innocent person. At first, that sucked. However, the more corrupted person he managed to find and execute, the bigger the thrill of the hunt he had. It was so exciting that he actually stopped even noticing ordinary people. That must have been the influence of King Theon, but Jester had to admit that whatever he had done to him, he enjoyed every bit of it. Truth be told, indiscriminate killing became boring after a few centuries, and when Jester was presented with a challenge, he fell for it. The more challenging the target was, the more satisfaction he felt. Begrudgingly, Jester had to admit that he liked the new King. King Theon was not as boring as he thought; he only had a different sense of humour. That was why Jester was sure he would laugh when he learned that he had killed a Cridian count using twelve badgers, a mushroom, and a snake. His journey to sadden the enemies of his King has just begun.

Now, he was in the north of Berna, preparing a grand diversion that would hurt the nobles of this country. Badly and literally. He got everything prepared and ready to use. Well... In fact, he was just testing it. Berna had quite an impressive number of actual monsters and mythical creatures that haunted the tales of these humans. However, most of them were not native to Berna, which made his initial efforts harder until he stumbled upon a half "urban legend," as King Theon would call it, and the real deal– a fricking Bearowl. For starters, something about them drew Jester to those mean creatures. These predators were massive wild monsters with the head, eyes, and feathers of an owl, the mouth and nose of a feline, the body of a bear, and a long feline-like tail. While their appearance was a source of fearful whispers among the people of Berna, it was the stories about the Black Bearowl that made him really curious about them. According to the locals, the Black Bearowl was a vengeful spirit that hunted in the dark. To bring of thyself its ire was like a death sentence. Oh... That was it…

Jester made an effort to find an actual Bearowl. It took him two days to track down a rather large specimen, at least in his opinion, and he observed it for the next few days. Once Jester gathered enough details about the monster, he left, leaving the Bearowl utterly clueless that it had been watched all this time. He found another one, as big as the previous one with very nice black and silver feathers, and hunted it down for its pelt. The Slimes weren't as proficient tailors as Lady Wendy, who was probably the only person in Avalon in whose presence Jester acted with respect and the best manners, but the Slimes would have to suffice. They prepared a costume of Bearowl-man for Jester, and his only problem now was fitting his hat into the costume somehow. However, the suit was as perfect as it could have been in such crude conditions. It was intimidating and made Jester even taller, easily towering over almost all humans. So there he was, wearing his Bearowl-man costume, in a secret cave with a captured Bernan noble.

"Aaaaaa!" the noble started screaming as soon as he regained consciousness. "HELP! Someone! Help!"

"No one will hear you..." Jester used his best hoarse voice while grabbing an intimidating-looking tool that made the noble even paler.

"Do you know who I am? You will pay for this!" the noble cried out loudly.

"Viscount Ivia Grioh, feudal lord of this area..." Jester's voice was cold and uncaring.

"If you release me, I promise just to fine you..."

"Just like you promised that Bunny-girl you killed?" Jester leaned closer to the chained man, who tried to back out only to hit the wall behind him.

"Who... Who are you?" the terrified noble started crying.

"I'm darkness, I'm vengeance." Jester struck his best dramatic pose and used that hoarse voice. He paused for a dramatic effect and introduced himself. "I'm Bearowl-man."

•••

Jester whistled merrily as he entered the tavern and ordered an ale. The barmaid blushed as usual when she saw his charming smile, so he capitalised on that and started a light conversation about the current gossip. He was genuinely impressed by the illusion skill he learnt from the Queen-Goddess Hestia and used it now to a significant effect on a daily basis. The Bunny-girl barmaid told him some useless things, some interesting things, and, of course, the day's main gossip: the Viscount's death. His remains were found on the City Square and quickly became the subject of everyone’s conversation.

"They say it was a half-man, half-Bearowl. Can you imagine such a monstrosity? A Bearowl-man?" she finished with a hushed voice.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Oh, I heard about it!" He smiled, and seeing her disturbed gaze, he looked around and lowered his voice. "Sorry. I heard that Viscount had committed many horrible deeds. To his wife, to his people, and to his slaves. I think he brought on himself the ire of Black Bearowl-man."

"Hmmm..." the Lady hummed and suddenly straightened in fear. "Anything else, dear customer?"

Jester saw the tavern owner in the corner of his eye. "No, Miss Pyonta. I will be on my way. Thank you for your hospitality and the directions you provided," he said loudly, noticing that the owner looked calmer, so he added, "I will be sure to tell others about this fine establishment, Miss."

The tavern owner turned away with a content smile, and the girl bowed to Jester with gratitude painted on her face. He finished his ale and stood up to take out his lute, playing a merry melody he was still working on. It had to be an ear-catching melody with simple lyrics. That would have posed a challenge under his previous master. However, King Theon had allowed him to subclass as a Bard. He planned to exploit as much as he could from both of his classes and right now, he was more than sure he would have immense fun for years, if not centuries to come. Oh, mixing the skills of a Bard and assassin might be complicated or even considered impossible, but for this, Jester would have to give a fuck. Since not a single one was given, he focused on taking all, and if that would be impossible, then taking most of the funniest skills from both classes. For now, a Bard's skills were so entertaining that he had almost forgotten that once he had been a very proficient assassin. Well... Everything for the memes.

"Thank you, sir." She caught him before he left. "You should watch out for yourself. I heard some people dislike your presence in the town."

"Don't worry, Miss Pyonta. My time in this town came to an end, anyway. I have to return to my travels." She looked sad, and Jester wondered why. She didn't know him, yet somehow she liked him.

"Oh... I would like to go away as well..." She lowered her head sadly.

"Then go," he replied carelessly, staying in character.

"I can't..." she replied with tears in her eyes, showing him a slave brand on the inner side of her wrist hidden under a wide strap made of cloth. "I'm sorry, Sir. I don't know why I did that..."

She turned away and dashed towards the kitchen. Jester scratched his head and slowly walked away, but his thoughts were already full of plans for the near future. He discreetly swept the area around him because he felt observed, but only that girl from the tavern was watching him from the window. He left the town without any obstacles and sat under a big tree. One of the perks of being an extremely powerful undead was that a very limited number of monsters would dare even bother him. But the people were... Different. They just couldn't get a clue. He enjoyed the sun and tried to think of something funny as four Bernan soldiers approached him with clubs in their hands.

"You are under arrest!" one of them shouted.

"Your mom is under arrest." Jester stroked the strings of his lute, using his Vicious Mockery skill.

The guard gasped, but his companions started laughing uncontrollably. The unfortunate soldier suddenly paled and dropped to his knees, holding his chest and fighting for the air. The four of them soon lay dead near the lonely tree, and Jester was nowhere to be found.

•••

"Your Excellency! We have a problem," the grand Paladin approached the Patriarch during his stroll in the garden.

"What problem?" the Patriarch grumbled in reply.

"Your daughter returned to Berna. According to witnesses, the avatar of Jukk'nala is with her."

"That is great news! The Holy Jukk'nala is fine then!"

“My Lord... He made it clear, and I will quote his words: ‘I learnt that enemies of our world have returned, and some of them took shelter in my beloved Berna. I won't stand for it! That is why I cancelled the engagement of Princess Elisabeth Berna and Theon Avalon and returned home. She will be my wrath and the carrier of my will! She is my Prophet and my Sword Saint.’” The Paladin's face was full of mixed feelings.

"That's... Odd. But... A Prophet? And a Sword Saint at that?" Dolren quickly regained his composure. "However, it's not our place to discuss the decision made by God! I am sure the great Jukk'nala had his reasons. But I still don't know what bad news you are talking about. The cancelled engagement?"

"No... She is leading approximately thirty-two, maybe thirty-three thousand soldiers. They are definitely the forces of Avalon... Or Arcadia? I have no clue what these heathen barbarians call themselves nowadays. Three Legions of Avalon are under the command of your daughter, Patriarch."

"What's the meaning of this?!" Dolren stopped in his tracks and paled. "Thirty thousand soldiers?!"

"They already took control over the Southern Baronies, and most probably, they have taken over the entire County even as we speak," the Grand Paladin's voice was grim.

"What?!" The Patriarch's eyes went wide in shock, but seeing the hesitation on the face of his new commander, he composed himself. "What else she is doing?!"

"According to the people who fled, she freed all slaves and abolished most of our laws. Women are equal to men and no longer can be treated... Ummm... We can't treat women like we traditionally did."

"I will..." Dolren turned red in anger.

"But Jukk'nala sanctified all her actions and condemned everyone opposing her!"

"What about the first army?" The Patriarch was boiling with fury.

"They tried to oppose one of the Legions and were pushed back after suffering exceptional losses. They are retreating now so as not to be cut off by the remaining Legions," the field marshal's voice turned quiet.

"Gods..." Dolren eyes dimmed for a moment. "And I thought our only problem would be that maniac calling himself the Bearowl-man in the north..." The Patriarch shook his head. "I heard about some masked Bard who can kill a person by simply mocking them as well..."

"My Lord?"

The Patriarch raised his hands high into the air, dropped them, and turned around. "Gods! Yes! I must speak with them at once. Follow me."