by K R Zax
“It was a gift from my doc… I mean, teacher. He made it himself.” I changed Trinity’s shape from staff to spear to axe.
“He is a powerful person, huh? Oh. I smell goblins.”
There were a lot of them in the forests around Tsarigrad, a pity they weren’t worth much.
They used some bushes to get closer to us without being seen, but at a certain distance, I was able to sense their life force.
The goblins screamed, and run in all directions when I created a Ball of Darkness and throw it on the bushes. There were only six of them, Lina intercepted two, and slice their necks, while I tried some magic on the rest. I wanted to see the effect of Bind with different elements, but at the moment I only needed three of them, so once I used the magic skills, I killed the fourth with a Fire Bullet.
“You really like experimenting,” Lina muttered when she saw the goblins tied on the ground. The Bind skill created a half-inch thick tread that wrapped itself around the target and immobilized it.
The goblin bound with Darkness was barely moving, it seemed like its life force was being drained, and he soon lost consciousness.
“Giii! Giiiiiii…! Giiiiiiiiiii…!”
The one bound with Fire was lively, he frantically tried to escape the searing heat that burned his flesh. Lina killed him with a grimace, maybe the smell was affecting her nose.
The one bound with Air was alive and scared, but I couldn’t see any side effects from the magic.
“Don’t you have… Compassion? I mean, I know that they are monsters and all that. I killed a lot of them myself. But, you were looking at the burning goblin like it was nothing. I also think that the reason ‘Bind’ is used mostly with Air Magic, is because no sane person would like to witness such kind of torture. Be it a monster or not.”
“Now that you mention it, ever since I got here, I’ve been feeling different then what I used to.”
Was the Demon blood the culprit? Did it influence my body to that extent? Or is it perhaps the body that Dr. Sam created, defective in some way? I’m pretty sure that the Me from 3900 years ago, would be quite disgusted with a lot of things that I did.
“Thanks for pointing that out, I’ll try to act more ‘normal’.”
“Uh-huh, right. Anyway, you don’t have to go out of your way just because this lowly slave said so, Mr. Demon.”
It was too much of a hassle to cut their ears for the Guild, the money wasn’t that big for goblins. I began Absorbing the goblin’s life force, and while doing that, I concentrated on the various aspects of it. I tried to discern the Strength and Speed and Mana, but I was unable to. It was all inseparably connected. I knew they were there, I could sense them. But I can’t pull them apart.
After finishing with the absorption, I turned them into zombies and we headed back. Now that I had a grasp of the low-rank magic spells, we can go do some shopping.
While taking a shortcut through the forest, we heard some noise, it appeared that there was a battle going on somewhere nearby. Of course, Lina wanted to take a look, so I followed her. If I can get some more zombies, then why wouldn’t I?
There was a group of five men fighting against seven orcs. Two additional orcs were lying dead on the ground.
Nice, I didn’t have the chance to see how adventurers fought against monsters, maybe I can learn something.
One orc broke from the group and headed south. When I thought that he was trying to go around the adventurers and attack them from the back, I saw a girl running. She didn’t have any armor and was wearing a simple dress while carrying a big bag over her shoulder. The girl was slow, and the orc caught up to her in a moment.
“No! Please! Help me!” The adventurers didn’t seem concerned for the girl, but they used the sudden distraction to cut down another orc. Their odds were even now.
“Darling!” Lina looked at me with worrisome eyes, I knew what she wanted. And honestly, I didn’t want to see a scene like the one in the orc’s village.
We rushed towards the girl, and when we were near enough, I made an Air Bullet. The orc hit the girl and started tearing her clothes.
“Please! Help me! Aaaaa!” She screamed in horror when the top of the orc’s head blew off, blood and brain matter raining down on her.
“Who the hell are you?!” Roared one of the adventurers. “That’s our prey! Don’t touch anything!”
“I just helped the girl! I don’t want your spoils!” I lift my hands, and stepped away from the dead orc.
“We only wanted to help! That orc almost got her!” Lina retorted furiously while helping the shocked girl. “We could even help you beat those orcs if...”
“Shut up bitch! Just shut. The. F***. Up!” The adventurer yelled at Lina. “Do you know who we are? ‘The Fire Fist’! A D-rank party, almost C rank now. After we kill this trash, we’re gonna have a talk,” he swung his broadsword, cutting the head of an orc.
There were four orcs left, then three…
“We got this! Fire Ball!” One of the adventurers yelled in triumph when another orc went down.
They had some magic skills and were using them nicely, Air wall for defense and Fire Ball for an attack. They weren’t bad at all. I also saw the leader coating his broadsword with Air magic to increase the sharpness.
“Just to be clear, you do not want our help, right? No matter what. Right?” I asked the ‘Almost C rank Trash’.
“Shut up, you little shit! Air Wall!”
“You should run to your Mama!”
“And live the girl, she should be with a real man, not a kid!”
They were all laughing, there was only one orc left now. The orc was wearing mismatched pieces of armor, and wielding a short sword. He was almost done for.
“Yiiii! Iiiii!”
“Too many.” Lina said after sniffing the air, “They won’t make it.”
Ten orcs rushed at the surprised and tired adventurers, hacking and slashing with swords and axes, there were even two that could use magic skills.
“What! Where did argh...!”
“Koli! You fu… Gha...”
“My arm! He took m…”
Three adventurers fell one after another. There was a big orc swinging a massive battle axe around, with fire dancing on the blade. He even killed one of his fellow orc’s when the poor bastard didn't move fast enough.
I waited patiently until the last of the adventurers fell, and then summoned a swarm of Air bullets. Fire bullets are a bit stronger, but I liked the ones made from Air because they were almost invisible. You won’t notice them until is too late.
The orcs laughed evilly when they saw the girls and then advanced our way. One of them was making a Fire Ball to deal with me, but he didn’t get to throw it.
“Fire.”
Chapter 12.
The orcs screamed and shrieked in surprise when my Bullets tore them apart. The big orc was enraged when he saw all the others falling dead around him.
Quite the tough guy, he had three holes in him and was still brandishing his weapon. I kept firing the bullets, and in a few seconds, all the orcs were dead. I directed my senses to the surroundings, but couldn’t find any signs of big creatures. We should be safe for now.
“So, who are you?”
The girl looked terrified when I asked her the question, she scrambled to her knees, and then pressed her forehead against the forest ground.
“I’m just a bag carrier, my Lord. Please don’t kill me. I beg of you!”
“Eh, I am not going to kill you, relax,” I told the girl to stand up and looked at her. She was young, human, and had a simple dress that was now torn on one side. “A bag carrier you say? Is that some kind of job? You carry materials while the adventurers fight, right?”
“That is correct my Lord, it’s a good way to make a bit of money.”
“What if you die? Do your mother even know where you are?” She could make money, but she wasn’t a fighter, and those guys didn’t mind letting her fall victim to the orc. She can
only meet a horrible end in this forest.
“I, don’t have a mother. I live in the orphanage for now. Next year, when I turn 16, I will have to go, and I don’t know what I will do then. If I’m unable to find a job, I’ll probably end up as a slave.” She then looked at the slave crest on Lina’s chest and added hurriedly: “Not that I think my lord treats his slaves bad, but there are people that do. Some girls can even end up in a brothel.”
Brothel? Of course, Tsarigrad is the capital, there must be a red-light district here, or something similar.
“M’Lord.” Lina said exaggeratedly, “Would you stop smiling? You’re scaring the poor girl.”
“I wasn’t...”
“Can you give me some water and food for the girl? I will stay with her while you collect the bodies.”
“Yes, dear.” I handed her the items she asked for and added a blanket. Lina took the girl a bit away, and I started storing the corpses. It was unfortunate that I couldn’t Absorb them right now, the girl was too scared as it is, no need to push her further.
Once I finished, we left the place and went to the city. The hot afternoon sun hit us with all its might when we left the cover of the forest.
“What is your name?” I asked the girl while enjoying the nice spring weather.
“Forgive me, my lord, I am Talis.”
“I am not a lord, just an adventurer. My name is Alex Miller, and this is Lina.”
Why the suspicious look? I told her that I’m an adventurer, it should be obvious. I kill monsters and sell them to the Guild. Do nobles do that, too? Perhaps the low ranking ones, or nobles who are not firstborn and won’t have an inheritance. That would make sense.
After almost an hour we arrived at the Guild, it was almost empty since it was the middle of the day, and most adventurers were outside hunting.
“How can I help you today?” Elyn asked when we went to her desk. “Who is the girl?”
I explained what happened in the forest, and she wrote down the details. According to her, it wasn’t an unusual thing for some adventurers to leave a bag carrier to their fate, or even abuse of them if they were women. The more Talis listened to the receptionist’s words, the paler she became.
Elyn called some people to take care of the adventurer’s corpses that I hand over, and she bought the bag of materials that Talis was carrying.
“Unfortunately, since you weren’t a member of the ‘Fire Fist’, you can’t have the money, it will instead go to the Party’s family members. That is the Guild’s policy, I’m sorry.”
Elyn kept apologizing to the girl, but we all knew that what she was saying made sense. Talis even said that it would be bad if someone came to look for her, asking about the money. The orphanage didn’t need additional trouble.
“Thanks for saving my life, my lord.” Talis bowed to me, “I guess, I will need to find some other job now.”
“Could you take me to the orphanage?” Both Talis and Lina were surprised at my question, but the girl agreed, and we set off. The orphanage was located in the south-eastern part of the city, where most of the common people lived.
“What’s wrong?” Lina asked when I stopped dead on my tracks. We were standing on a slightly elevated piece of land, so I had a good look at one part of the city. Tsarigrad was huge. The walls were miles long, and I lost sight of them, the further they went.
“Those pillars, do you know what they are?” In the distance, I saw the remains of big concrete pillars, and massive chunks of stone, including some black rubble. Was that once a highway intersection?
“It is said that those pillars have been here even before the wall was built or so the nuns in the orphanage told us,” Talis explained and we continued our trip. Everything from my old world is in ruins now. Well, it has been almost 4000 years.
“We’re here, my lord.”
We were in front of an old, three stories tall building with a big iron cross on top of the roof. The orphanage was surrounded by a wooden fence and had a nice trimmed lawn in front. I could see the remains of an old sculpture and several stone benches.
Talis lead us to the entrance, but as soon as we walked up the short set of stairs, a nun opened the door. She had a worried look when she saw us.
“My Lord, did that child made some trouble?” She was a middle-age dog-kin woman wearing a long white robe. She didn’t look like the nuns I saw on TV.
There were some small kids behind her, their eyes filled with curiosity as they tried to see who the visitors were.
“No, she didn’t make any trouble. I just wanted her to show me the orphanage.”
“I am Arima, a humble servant of God, and the one in charge of this orphanage.” The nun introduced herself. “May I know your names? No offense, my lord, but I have to follow the procedures.”
“I am Alex, and this is Lina. We are adventurers.”
“Yeah, the ‘Demon Lord’ party.” Lina declared proudly to the uncomfortable looking nun.
“’ Demon Lord’? I did hear that some adventurers pick unusual names for their parties… Anyway, I’m afraid there isn’t much to be seen, my lord, but if so you wish, then please come this way.” The nun, Arima, said and guided us inside. There was a lobby with stairs leading to the upper floors, which served as dormitories, and they had a small courtyard in the back where kids could go and play.
There were currently twelve nuns in charge of the orphanage and more than two hundred children.
“As you can see my lord, we try our best to meet their needs. We receive help from the Church and the Empire, but since we are not the only orphanage out there, we also depend on the donations we get.”
I listened to Arima, as she gave me a tour of the place.
Sometimes, people would leave a child in front of the door – a classic, but most of the children lost their parents to monsters. Adventurers, merchants, or common people - it was the same.
“I was thinking to donate some meat if it’s fine with you?”
“Meat?” The children looked excited when I told her that.
“Orc meat. If you don’t mind whole orc corpses.”
“Whole corpses?” The nun looked at the other women. “Well, I guess we could skin them, and we could also sell the tusks and some of the bones. One of our Sisters is a former adventurer, she could give us advice on how to handle them.”
“OK, where should I put them?”
The nuns sent the smaller children away and called for the older ones to help, as we headed to the backyard. It was very spacious, and they even had a small building they used to smoke meat, there.
The children shout in surprise when I start taking the corpses out of the Shadow Storage. I took out all the orc bodies that I killed today, except for the big warrior – I needed that one.
“Oh, Kriss! That is a lot!” Arima looked at the big pile of orc bodies. “Thank you, my lord. May God bless you!”
“Don’t worry about it.” I also gave her five gold coins. “Here. buy some clothes for the kids.”
After that, Lina and I escaped from the orphanage. The level of gratitude was a bit too much for me.
Now it’s time to do some shopping, there were all kinds of things that I wanted to buy. But first.
“What’s wrong with you?” I asked Lina who was smiling stupidly, clinging to my arm like usual. She’s been like that ever since we left the orphanage.
“There is nothing wrong with me. I am only happy now that I know how kind you can be. All those kids will have nice meals for a while, thanks to you.”
“Shouldn’t they be scared? I dumped a lot of dead monsters in their backyard, it wouldn’t surprise me if they get traumatized.”
I bought some salt, spices, vegetables, and other things on various stalls. After putting everything inside my Storage, we went to Volseb & Voin.
“Mr. Alex, is a pleasure to have you in our shop again. Oh, but pardon me, should I perhaps address you as ‘Demon Lord'?” Koliar greeted me when I entered his shop.
&nb
sp; “Alex is fine, thank you.” Did the word spread through Tsarigrad? “Mind to tell me where have you heard of that name?” I am a relatively new adventurer, my rank is E at the moment. I certainly am not that big of a name, right?
“People talk,” he said simply. “A Dark Mage, dressed in black, who brings mountains of monster corpses to the Guild. A Demon who doesn’t hesitate to kill even women and children.”
“Okay, those were orcs, got it? I don’t just go around killing humans.” Uh, the Desert Blades were a justifiable target, and no one should know about that. Right?
“Anyway, how can I help you today?”
Koliar switched to his business appearance and helped me as I looked around the shop. I bought a nice magic pen, paper, a tent, and a few other things.
“Are these crystals?” There were five boxes full of translucent stones, some the size of a fist, and others as small as a pea.
“That is correct. The big ones cost one silver apiece, and the smallest are two copper each. Do you need some? They are good if you want to try your hand at enchanting. Who knows, maybe you’ll discover a talent for that magic skill.”
***
The woman put the last report down and took one of the pastries that Felisy brought earlier. It was a sweet, honey-flavored cake with chorlat topping. The dark cream was so tasty she could eat it every day. It was a bad thing that to make chorlat, one needed an ingredient only found in some of the southern dungeons.
One bite of the pastry was enough to lighten her mood. The last several days were very stressful. The only good news was that the High Priestess seemed to have recovered from whatever happened to her during the Divine Message. The only thing left was Alex Miller.
The leader of the ‘Demon Lord’ party. According to the reports, that name was slowly spreading through Tsarigrad’s taverns:
‘An evil Dark Mage who killed hundreds of monsters.’
‘He watched an adventurers party get slaughtered by orcs and did nothing, just because they were rude to him.’