It didn’t take long to find the Jagged Bear. Most classifications for monsters were an insult to someone. Dimitri class was for the weakest and angriest of monsters. They were named after the notorious mage Dimitri Balsimorth. He was allegedly known throughout the continent for boasting about great feats that he would fail miserably to achieve or recreate.

The bear had blue eyes that shimmered like gems, but the mana stone was hidden beneath it’s flesh. Very few beasts could control mana. they mainly relied in its presence to passively strengthen themselves. Apparently, the act was similar too how high-level sword masters use the mere presence of “attainment” to strengthen themselves.

Attainment was a headache inducing topic that I quickly cleared from my mind. The time was ticking on by, and I had something to kill.

“Boss, how should we proceed?”

I shrugged my shoulders at Blabbermouth’s question and stood up. I wanted to see what would happen if we just went at it until it died.

Blabbermouth followed after me and I quickly learned why it was called a Jagged bear. The creature’s tough skin was like an endless mountain range. The tough ridges kept while my blade at bay while the devious valleys sought to snatch it from me.

Blabbermouth took out it’s legs in one clean cut. Seeing this I used the point of my sword and aimed for the creature’s throat.

Without his help I would have struggled, but with him near it was far too easy. I would never learn at this rate; I needed to do things for myself. I didn’t want to end the Binding though; Mr Cedar was an added layer of safety. The old man was also… old. He knew things that I did not, like the location of the mana stone.

The grey-haired man in a suit effortlessly cut into the bear with a small knife. Many layers of muscle were torn away until a tiny blue gem was unearthed. For the size of the bear, it was underwhelming, but size didn’t matter. The only thing about mana stones that humanity knew for sure was that humans couldn’t have them naturally.

I was left to watch over the bear as Mr Cedar took the mana stone back to the guild as proof. The commission was for the entire bear, so although we would have to pay a fee we had to get the guild to transport it.

Leaving me alone with my own thoughts was a dangerous thing. But here in nature I didn’t want to explode. I found peace sitting atop the desiccated corpse of my foe. The way the light flittered in from the trees reminded me of the fountain. I had already given up on it, I was merely seeking revenge for the sake of doing something.

Empathy. I knew the meaning of the word, but it was something I failed to connect with. It was hard enough for me to feel, yet the thought of me matching my feelings to another didn’t click. I was not opposed to empathy, for objects or living creatures, I…

I just couldn’t. I remembered love, those sweet memories from when I was young. The warmth of their hands and the feeling of safety. That was what I assumed affection to be, the safety and warmth they brought. But the one who brought me such warmth was gone; they left my life without a name.

I didn’t feel sad, it was just something that happened. Things happen every day, the world continues to move regardless. The morning had been filled me with such disdain for life, but now here I sat. I was stable, oh so stably unstable.

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I wondered what the point of opening a shop was anymore. The result would be the same, and if I could earn enough from monsters then… No, I needed more than one source of income. I didn’t have to be the one making medicine either. I could teach another… No then my identity would be exposed…

My pondering was finally constructive, and time passed me by like the wind. There wasn’t much wind, and I ended up staring into space after coming to a conclusion.

I was only awoken from my emptiness by the holler of Mr Cedar.

“Boss! We can go back now.”

I nearly responded but upon seeing the others I managed to keep it in. there were three well built men that I assumed were part of the guild. I had never paid much attention to anyone but Mr Hildegard or miss lucy.

I had seen either Mr Hildegard or lucy every single day since I started moving. The only place I had seen more than the guild was the shed. I went up and down the dark staircase so many times, from two to four times a day. I was then reminded that I needed to get some more Iark, I had used up most of the torches and I was running low.

My thoughts were holding me still and I could feel the mercenary’s annoyance. Finally deciding to move I hopped down from the bear corpse and met up with blabbermouth.

“I don’t presume you have anywhere else to stop by?”

I shook my head. I hadn’t planned on doing anything else today. I just needed to see progress; any would have done.

Back at the village we ate lunch at the guild. There was plenty of profit from the bear to spend, but we needed to set some of it aside. Weapons were expensive, uncomfortably so. if we were to hunt stronger and stronger beasts then it was inevitable to break something.

After Lunch I wandered around the main street. My wandering brought me to a few empty shops. There were plenty of options as many families had returned to their ancestors. It was not uncommon in the empire for families to come together in the face of an emergency. The first emperor had made it a law that “blood must help blood”.

The first emperor had done it to stop a possible civil when the nation was facing an emergency. The emperors that came after him however abolished it as quickly as they could. The law both protected the emperor and their relatives, but a disaster was the perfect time to purge competition.

Human greed knew no bounds.

I came across a shop with a decent amount of space out the back. A decent workshop was going to be a must if we wanted to do medicine. I knew little of the craft other than the sheer quantity of equipment required for processing all the different ingredients.

I wondered if I should set up in a town further from the manor. Cliffsin was the very closest to the manor by a longshot. It was so close that I wondered why I had never seen mother. I hadn’t seen her, nor a servant. I knew that the manor delt through dedicated merchants, but I didn’t think it was to that level.

If the acting lord of the territory didn’t even bother going out to check the land, then… it didn’t bode well to think about, and I brought myself back to the shop. I needed to earn profit with medicine making before I started selling it in a shop.

To start I would have to retrieve the recipe books from that apothecary. It shouldn’t take long but I didn’t have the time today. It was quite a marvel that so many villages were within walking distance from the manor, most other territories weren’t so condensed.

How could one never go to town when it was this easy? The thought popped up again, it sought an answer I didn’t have. I would never speak to mother of my own volition.

I needed something productive to do that would distract me. A completely logical train of thought eventually led me to a great idea.

I fought an old man… and I lost. Mr Cedar had already displayed his strength by taking off the legs of the bear, but it was far greater than that. I struggled for an hour as eh relentlessly put my sword into the dirt each time. He was definitely being considerate since my wrists were the only thing that hurt, but it still felt like I was fighting a wall.

It was not a mountain, just a grey-haired wall. I would eventually walk over that wall, after all walls unlike mountains crumble and die. I however wished to overcome him while he lived, him dying would eat into my possible profits.

Just like any other day I returned to the manor exhausted. Just like any other day no one questioned my absence. Just like any other day I ate dinner and went to bed. Just like any other day I loathed existing in the silence of my room.