And that thief of the assassin class began the duel with complete confidence that he could plunge his blade into Miriel's neck and finally kill her, without truly analyzing the threat.
With total calm, he uttered the word "shadow," activating his only skill that made him invisible, but just as he was halfway to disappearing from everyone's sight, something unexpected happened…
[Miriel's Perspective]
"I'm tired every time I run an errand for the lady, not being able to travel in peace. And now I have to defend a brat who can't even defend himself," I thought.
I noticed that this Vargus guy talked a lot for someone of the assassin class, and when I saw how he looked at me, as if he desired me, I felt my blood boil, but being impulsive doesn't suit me. So, while he was talking, I got into position, closed my eyes, and visualized the terrain, focusing on my breathing, repeating words that didn't leave my lips: "Think, measure, evaluate." I repeated it over and over. The background noises no longer bothered me, as if I were in a soundproof room. The mild breeze spread cold through my body, a cold that pierced my veins until I felt it energize my fists, allowing me to grip my daggers even tighter. After a few seconds, I felt the airwaves distort. I saw a small purple light growing larger, taking the shape of human veins, and I knew it was him activating his invisibility skill. And though it wouldn't help him at all, I see everything, and nothing escapes me.
Then, in the split second he tried to activate his skill, I had already sliced off his left ear, though that wasn't where I was aiming. I was impressed that he managed to dodge my attack, but in the second that followed, the look of panic on his face was delightful. Though, they all do the same before I kill them.
But they're just simple thieves; I should just scare them and be done with it, because with this goody-two-shoes kid around, it's better not to frighten him. I wouldn't want trouble with the lady.
As he fell to the ground, the gust of air I brought with me threw him to his boss's feet. He tried to get up but couldn't, and he stared at me with the same eyes as all those I've left alive…
Fear.
I just stood there, looking at what was left of his ear, waiting for the pain to hit him, because, like the wind I dragged behind me, they always take a while to feel the pain—I avoided sensitive spots. But instantly, as if I had pressed a button for more trouble, they all stirred like ants. And boom, the boss lunged at me, swinging his huge sword. He might be 2 meters tall, but I'm not that short, so I leveraged myself on his sword and landed a left kick to his ribs. It didn't move him much, but it hurt him a bit. And in that mistake, he counterattacked and knocked me to the ground, with hands four times the size of a normal man's, and again I remembered he's a tank—his specialty is close combat.
And boom.
He tried to finish me with a punch, imprinting his fist into the ground with perfect detail, but I managed to escape, twisting his other arm, returning his attack, breaking his arm, and slamming his head into the ground with less force than his, but still, he'll quickly regret messing with me. I crushed his hand into his mouth while it was open, screaming in pain, and pulled back with all my strength (without physically grabbing anything), sucking all the air out of his lungs, leaving him breathless. In seconds-long movements that few could see, I brought my hands together with the air, compressed into a ball in the center of my palm, which quickly turned gray, almost dark compared to its original transparent form. I forced it back into him, making him swallow it, forcing his mouth shut while he kept thrashing for a few seconds. And boom, it caused a mini-explosion, slightly lifting his lungs above his belly, and he fell, bleeding from his nose, unconscious, leaving small cracks in the ground as the shockwave was trapped between him and the floor, finding an escape through the earth, releasing pressure equivalent to 10,000 pascals.
Then I got up and stepped away from him.
When I finished with that pathetic tank, I realized I had been too soft on him—just seeing how I left him lying there, none of them would dare to be anything more. Bleeding from his nose and unconscious.
I thought they weren't stupid enough to continue… but I was wrong. I looked at the fire user, the damn sorcerer who wrecked the cart of that insufferable old man behind us, scared like the little girl who comes with these second-rate thieves. Without hesitation, at the mere attempt to cast a fire spell, I closed the 45-meter distance between us to half a meter in half a second and slapped him like he'd never been slapped before, twisting his jaw. Before he could even hit the ground to his right, I stabbed one of my blades into his right ribs, stopping his own momentum, which would cause the pressure from the abruptly halted movement to destroy everything inside him. I slapped him on the right side and pulled out my blade before he collapsed to the ground, like a worthless toy I could kill at any moment.
Then I approached the girl, pointing my dagger between her eyes as a threat to the others, though she exuded more fear and innocence toward these acts than any of us—I could see it in her eyes. Despite that, the bad part was that for some reason, it didn't stop me from feeling pity for her. Looking at her with total coldness, my lips uttered:
"Info."
| Race: Human
| Gender: Female
| Name: ???
| Surname: ???
| Age: 11 years
| Class: Tracker
| First Skill: Search - lv1
| Second Skill: Track - lv1
| Magic Type: Green
| Rank: 2
| Ether Power: 100
"She has no name. Is she an orphan?" I wondered in my thoughts, but when I noticed her magic type was green, I realized she could be useful to the lady, and I could pay off some of my debt by delivering more talented people like this girl. So I grabbed her hand and told her firmly that from now on, she would come with me.
Then I looked at the others on the ground and said to the one who was most conscious, the assassin-class guy:
"Do you want more, or are you going to get the hell out of here?"
Slowly, one tried to lift the other big guy. The half-conscious sorcerer looked at me and hinted that I was the so-called "the cleaner" they mentioned earlier. The big guy, unable to speak, as if he lacked air, trying to catch his breath as if he'd forgotten how, pointed at the human girl with light blond hair, short and somewhat messy, with strands falling freely on the sides, and bright blue eyes. Besides her talent, the only notable thing about her was how she dressed… she wore boy's clothes: a light beige shirt, a bit dirty, long-sleeved but with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, black gloves, tight brown shorts, a thick brown belt with a long sword sheath on the left side, metal knee pads with straps over some kind of protective mesh covering her thighs, and high brown boots.
When he pointed at her, as if she were his possession, I understood he wanted me to give her back. Just by furrowing my brows, they got scared and hurried into the trees, and I lost sight of them, though I could still feel their ethers.
"But that opinion of mine was pretty selfish, since I'm doing the same with her," I thought as I looked at her, head down, completely submissive to my will.
When I looked back, I saw the pathetic boy with a savior complex, surprised by what I had just done, but it seemed he was still in shock. I looked to the other side, and as I suspected… that impostor still pretending to be someone he's not. "A musician?" I asked myself, annoyed, feeling the same as when that guy first joined us—his ether shook my whole body, and I still can't stand his presence, as if he does it on purpose. Several times, I thought about finding out how strong he might be using Info, but I didn't want to face someone unnecessarily without knowing for sure that I could beat him in a direct conflict. Even though he tries to contain his ether, just looking at him stresses me out. "Who is this guy really?" I wondered. Without a doubt, he could be above rank 6, probably 7. Even though I didn't see his eyes looking at me as I looked at him, his presence stressed me out, but I had no choice but to play along. If I don't meddle in his business, I want to believe he won't either, though I find it disgusting how he and that mediocre supaibi disguised as a human get along so well after just minutes of talking—they're two completely different sides of the coin.
Then I approached the human and asked:
"Can you get up?"
"…h… huh? I didn't hear you. What did you say, Miriel?"
"Get up, we have to go now… but… your wound on your face…"
"My wound… what happened?" he said, touching his face, not understanding his strange peculiarity.
"No. Nothing, I thought they had cut your face, but it just looks like a small cut, even though you're completely stained with your own blood…" I said, still sure of what I saw when the guy cut him in the heat of the moment, enjoying his weakness.
I stared at him, trying to understand what was wrong with this boy. It seemed to me that this fake human, pretending to be an extinct species, incapable of doing magic, with no skills, yet he keeps healing himself without casting anything or intending to. And even though his ether completely faded, he should already be dead, unable to breathe for another second, but he remains alive as if nothing… as if he were a ghost or an undead. Is the information the seal gave me last night false? But the Narzosas seal doesn't lie.
However, there's definitely something too strange and unique about this boy. Is that why the lady wants to see him?
"A question that later would raise all my doubts when I saw how dark and disturbing this boy's existence was for our world. I never fully understood it. From that first day, something about him bothered me…
It wasn't fear. It wasn't distrust. It was that feeling of being in front of something that shouldn't exist, something that breaks the rules of the world without making a sound.
He had no magic, no skills, not even a visible purpose. And yet,
he lived.
He healed.
He resisted.
And he continued.
As if the entire universe protected him… or denied him.
At that moment, I couldn't know. But his presence—so silent, so alien—
was the beginning of everything that was about to break in me. It was just the first step toward a journey that would change my path,
and that, without knowing it, had already marked me forever."