The three of us left the building after that. I just couldn't stand by and let her say that to him, there's no one who should be spoken to like that.
We went around looking for a suitable inn. For a city such as this, you'd expect there to be some pretty decent inns. Well, there actually are, we just can't afford them right now. When I came here I wasn't expecting to have my sister act like that, obviously. Hector on the other hand, should've brought more money. I really doubt that he has much experience with traveling.
We were able to finally find an inn to stay in. Turns out, the man who's manning the inn we're going to stay at is a friend of Axel's dad. "I'll give you guys a discount." he said laughing heartily when we showed him our money. "This would usually be good enough for two nights but I can turn it into four for ya."
The three of us are going to share a room, Hector's got the floor.
I asked Hector for some quick sword practice, training always helps me relieve the stress of the day. Eventually, the sun finally went down, we'd been training for hours. I'd intended it to be quick but he started going in depth on some of the things I could improve on. Axel, instead of being bored watching us the whole time, joined in halfway, extending the time.
After training, we went to set down our nonexistent possessions in our rooms, then proceeded to take baths. The order was, Axel, Hector, then me. We decided based on rock paper scissors, if it was best out of three instead of first win, I guarantee anyone that I would've won. My luck isn't amazing, but when it comes to that game I'm sure I have some kind of future sight, no one would believe that after I lost to them though.
Axel also seemed to hit it off with the innkeeper's kids. Both were around our age, one boy and one girl. They had some good service stories. I excused myself from the conversation to have a walk.
The moon's back up in the sky, right now it looks like someone just took a big bite out of it. A waxing crescent. I think I like these ones the most, I think it has to do with how it's shaped. I travel down the road, not particularly searching for anything. It's a lot like our city, I miss it already.
When my master took me away, we never stayed in a place for a long time. We were simply wandering around, sure we went to places where my training could be improved but we moved mostly because he was just like that. My master, I wonder how he can just keep moving forward, he's always so resolute in his beliefs. I wonder if he has any tips for this situation I'm in, he always has something. I really want to see him again, I shouldn't have just left the last time I saw him.
I won't leave until Aisha talks to me.
Mindlessly walking down the empty deserted streets, I start kicking around a rock. It's not very big, let's say that if I try to hit it and I miss, my foot wouldn't be flying into some more air, It'd hit the ground. The rock, with it's multiple bounces, rolls into an alleyway. The rock tumbles around a little bit longer before finally resting on the ground. I stick out my foot pointed trying to roll the rock back out onto the sidewalk.
"Who're you?" a man asks. He and a bunch of others, are surrounding a young man in the middle. "Don't you say nothing, else we'll kill you too." he immediately rushes closer to me, he's trying to stop me from leaving.
The other man, the victim, lays on the ground, bloody and beaten. His nose is crooked, black eyes, and his face and arms are filled with cuts. It doesn't look like a simple robbery to me, maybe he was resisting. My first priority should be to check on him, he's breathing and he looks like he should be fine, but there are always things that might be hidden. From here, the only broken bones I can predict he has are in his face, I doubt that they didn't stomp on his chest a bit though.
"Why'd you beat him up?" I ask calmly. I'm in some common clothing, not my magician's robes. I still have my bracers equipped, if needed I could throw down a smoke bomb or two.
"He," the thug gestures over to him with his dagger, "didn't want to pay the fee to get through here. We thought that we'd teach him a lesson."
"So you took all his money and then beat him up anyways." I say. "You don't need to make excuses, you're a criminal anyways."
"Hmph! Look here kid, you're young and got a nasty mouth on ya. Tell you what, if you give me all your money, I promise on me bum I won't havta hurt you like that fella ova there." he gives me a crooked toothed grin. "What say ya?"
He's certainly a lot more talkative than the other thugs I've met before. If he had a family, I'd start to feel bad about having to beat him up and having the guards take him away. Of course, I'll just stick to that hypothesis, I don't need to feel any sympathy for these guys.
"Here, just take it. Can you let that other guy go too?" I say without acting scared. It wouldn't make sense that I act scared now, I already mouthed off to these guys. I let a smoke bomb fall into my hand, my left hand charges the stun spell, just have to wait for him to open the pouch.
"What? This is it? It's not heavy at all!" he looks hard at me. "Where you hidin the rest boy?"
"It's all in there, they're gold coins." his eyes light up at this and he opens it.
*Poof*
A puff of black smoke comes from the pouch, and I quickly throw the smoke bomb in my hand at them. They're caught unaware and they all go into a coughing fit, the guy beaten down is coughing too. Firing off a plethora of stuns, I take them all down in no time. The pouch that I gave him had a smoke bomb, it's set to release once it's opened. Only a few copper coins reside in there, my real purse still hangs by my side, slightly out of view.
"Are you alright?" I ask moving towards the downed man.
"Uhhh." he rolls around, not sure which injured body part to hold onto.
"Hold on, I'll heal you." I get him to steady and asses the damage. Judging from touch and his reaction, they've broken a bone or two. I start with his chest, leaving his more minor wounds for later. My healing magic can't do much other than heal slight wounds but they're decent in alleviating pain.
"Stop! Who are you?" someone asks from behind me. It's an authoritative voice, did the guards come here? When? There wasn't any cries for help, maybe one of them has an ability?
"Careful fifth." a different voice says. "He might be dangerous."
Fifth? That's a strange name, unless this city has those guys too. If so, I'm in trouble, if they're anywhere as strong as the other twelve then I'll basically be in jail after facing off with two. I slowly raise my hands, choosing to play this out in a peaceful manner. They shouldn't attack me if I don't do anything bad.
"I'm a passerby, I was stopped by these thugs and told to give up my money. I would've ran away but this man down here was injured. I just stunned the robbers, they're still alive." my back is still facing them, I don't want them to see my face. Even if it is dark, there's a chance that one of their abilities could be seeing in the dark, though, that's a little far fetched and very unlikely.
"A passerby you say?" I can't see it but I can imagine him holding his chin right now. "A normal person couldn't do this." he says.
"I'm a magician." I say.
"I figured when you said you stunned them. This guy up here," he's talking about the guy who grabbed my pouch. "doesn't have any physical wounds. But, his face is covered in a black smoke, that's a little... different." he says. "Did you do that also? Wait, don't answer that, I already know."
"Fifth, is it even a big deal, let's just call the guards over already." the other one says.
"Be quiet twelfth, he's interesting."
"How so?"
"Beating down six guys? That's pretty impressive for a lone magician." the fifth says. I remain quiet while they're talking. If things get bad, I'll just use my ability to get out of here, for now, I'll try to play it off.
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"Could be a noble." the twelfth says.
"That could explain how he was able to take them down but that doesn't explain his clothing. Doesn't even look like a magician." they're just talking about me as if I wasn't here.
"Could I leave? I have some friends I have to meet up with. I told them that I was going for a walk, if I'm gone too long they'll get worried." I say.
"Hold on." the fifth says. "Turn around first."
"Why?"
"So we can see your face." he says,
"And why do you need to do that." I'm preparing myself to jump away. I'll be staying in this city for a little bit longer, I don't want to be known by the local 'twelve.' Although having them on alert for a boy with black hair would be a big problem too.
"Don't want to show your face? You a criminal?" he says accusingly. I might've taken it a bit too far. The only thing I can do now is jump away.
"Don't mess with the people fifth." the other one says. "There's no reason for us to know, let's just get those guys thrown in jail already, it's getting late and I want to go home."
"Fine." he says. "You can go." I start leaving. "But!" I stop cold. "Tell us your name first."
"Nack." I say. It's the first one that popped into my head.
I wait for a response, nothing. Taking that as my cue, I make my way out of the alleyway. Thanks to the twelfth, I was able to escape a dangerous predicament. I might have to skip out on my midnight walks now, I don't want to have another encounter with people like them. I guess I also learned something new, the lower the number the more time they've spent here. The fifth had a lot more intuition than the twelfth.
I head towards a different direction than the inn Axel and Hector are staying at. I can't tell but if they're following me, I'll have to lead them astray. I go down many different alleyways without encountering anyone, after turning the corner of the next one I use my ability to jump away. I use it three times, ensuring that they can't follow me. I finish by going at a fast walking pace back to the inn.
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"I told you he was different twelfth." a tall man said. "No one disappears like that after rounding a corner, no one normal anyways."
The shorter, stockier man hung his head a little, "It's my second time doing this, give me a break. I just wanted to get the patrol done." he rubbed the back of his neck as they jumped from building top to building top.
"I don't know why the first took you in." the fifth said shaking his head. It's only been around two weeks since the new twelfth member came in but the fifth already thought him incapable. Unlike the experienced fifth, the twelfth didn't even find the black powder on the thug's face weird, there was a smell of sulfur there too.
The twelfth turned to look at the fifth, "Look into my eyes then."
"Shut up. Your ability isn't even half as scary as the First's, mostly because of what his does. I mean, other than that ability of yours."
"Because I can fight, because I'm needed to do some of the dirty work." he said.
"Then how come you couldn't do that to the kid?"
"Because I don't want to waste time on people who aren't even important." the twelfth said. "We're not patrolling to find interesting people but to stop those thugs. If the kid took care of it for me then I'm happy enough."
The fifth sighed. He hated working with the people who wouldn't do anything interesting, they were such a bore, and idiots in his eyes. That being said, the fifth almost never did anything out of pure interest, there was something he felt was off about the magician in commoner's clothing.
His face contorted when he thought about letting such a person get away without seeing his face. If there's a magician as strong as that here and so young too, then he has to have someone to teach him. The fifth was far more worried that a skilled teacher could be around and maybe even hinder some of the dirty jobs they got from the nobles.
"I'd rather be paired up with the eleventh, at least he can understand me." the fifth said.
"And I'd rather be with the sixth, at least she's pretty." the twelfth said.
"I'm handsome, maybe not pretty but I'm handsome." the fifth said.
"Uh huh."
They both dropped down a building and stopped in front of a larger one, a warehouse. A strong wind suddenly blew past them, pushing back their cowls. The fifth had a scar reaching from one cheek to another, it ran across his nose. His spiked black hair rustled around as the dying wind passed by. The twelfth had a clean shaven face and brilliant emerald eyes, matching with his also green hair.
Going faster and pushing the door open, the fifth was the first to enter followed by the twelfth. They looked around, searching for signs of other life, and found nothing. As if no one had even been in there that day, the wind's whistle could be heard through the walls. Stepping forward, the fifth put his right hand out and snapped five times.
Three people emerged from the barrels and boxes seemingly out of nowhere. Two out of the three simply laid back down while one continued to stand, a book in his hand. The fifth and twelfth moved closer, he beckoned for the other members to come as well.
Everyone waited as his finger slid across the page of the book. Bound in plain leather, no one would ever think of it as anything special, but the others knew better. This book was how they got their missions, this book held all the quests that the empire wanted them, someone, to perform. One look inside and a person would find themselves with a list of names of people to kill, observe, capture, etc.
But this book was different. Unlike the other smaller cities where no nobles lived, in the second largest city, the Green City, there were rich and powerful people who were willing to throw around their influence to have someone taken care of. The first's finger skimmed through this page, the one where nobles had personal requests.
His finger glazed over dozens of requests from the nobles, he ignored each one. He already had a certain mission in mind. No. he thought. Not this one either. he restlessly skimmed through the whole page before finding it.
"What's the mission boss?" the twelfth asked. His feet pounded against the barrel.
"Are we killing someone?" the seventh asked. Her hair was tucked inside of her tunic.
"No." he said. "We're going to kidnap someone." he read over the request again. "The reward is fifty gold coins."
"Oh? That's quite a lot for a simple kidnapping." the fifth said crossing his arms. "I don't really like handing children over to some fat old noble for them to play with."
"The requester is a woman." he said. "Her name is Millicent."
"Millicent? You mean that nasty woman in the Yurfray family?" the fourth asked.
"Yeah." the first responded.
"Couldn't someone just be using her name?" the fifth asked.
"Possible, but the reward's large and it has the family's seal. Are you guys up to do it? Unlike the normal requests you guys can refuse this one if you want."
They nod, "We'll take it." they all say.
"What does 'she' want us to do with the person?" the twelfth asked.
"It says that they want us to mess up her face so that no one can ever recognize her again." the first read off of the book.
"That's harsh, how old is the girlie?" seventh asked.
"Fourteen."
"Name?" asked the seventh.
"Aisha. Aisha Weaver."
"Oh." the fifth said. "The little red head with burns."