Blood and Purity
Naya dragged the unconscious Blood Parrot back to the little tavern quite casually, as if she was just a bundle of supplies. The borders were quiet this far into the night, and even those who roamed the dark streets were nowhere to be seen. With the ruckus the mage enforcers had made with their arrival, all the doors and windows of the various alleys were shut tightly, with not a tiny crevice to peep through. The pressure of survival had broken all curiosity,
Richard followed silently, only looking slightly paler than normal. The hands hidden in his sleeves were clenched, however, and the muscles of his forearms kept twitching. Drops of fresh blood seeped out from between his fingers, the injury coming from the granules that unpolished metal bar had left on his palm. The wound had only been superficial at the start, but with the amount of pressure Richard was putting on his hand the pain from the wound was enough to suppress the wild throbbing of his heart. His mind was already a mess; had there been nobody around all he’d do was yell, kick, and smash everywhere. Only that would help him vent some of the extreme tension he’d just been through, even if it was slightly delayed.
This was the first time Richard had killed someone, and he had taken four lives in but a few moments. He’d slashed open that warrior with his own hands, damaging many organs and consigning him to a painful, fearful death. Inches away from his own demise, Richard had grown completely tranquil; awareness of movement turned into cold calculation, and every technique he’d learnt from Naya was utilised as if it was natural. The four assassins had all assumed Richard was just a rookie mage, and this thought had had them pay with their lives. Besides the fireball killing one of their numbers, the other three had died to Richard’s astonishing proficiency at the assassination arts. When it came down to it, even that fireball’s timing had to do with such techniques.
Battles of the underworld determined life and death in but a single brush with the opponent. In that decisive battle Richard had felt like he was in a dream; a real and chilling dream, filled with numbers. He only woke up once Blackgold had left, leaving his nervousness, frailty, nausea, and all sorts of negatives to erode away at his heart.
Besides the distress of killing someone for the first time, Richard was also very nervous about Blood Parrot’s upcoming fate, in a way that he could not describe. For some reason Naya’s carefreeness only increased his nervousness.
He’d always been meticulous with observations, and he’d noticed the look of unease on the faces of Naya’s companions when he hoisted her up. For but a moment, even Blood Parrot herself hadn’t been able to hide the terror and despair on her face before fainting.
Naya’s words told Richard that Blood Parrot had possessed some reputation in the underworld even a decade ago. For someone like that to grow so tense and fearful, what was it that Naya would show him soon? The very thought of the bucket Naya had reminded him to bring caused Richard’s stomach to churn, and he felt the urge to find a corner and vomit everything in his stomach immediately. Naya was just like Sharon and many of the grand mages, never joking in proper matters.
While he wanted to throw up right away, Richard still gritted his teeth and followed behind Naya, persisting all the way to the tavern. Even he himself felt like that was a miracle.
Naya’s two companions seemed to shed all their sloth the moment the Blade of Calamity left, clearing up the bodies and cleaning the scene with unbelievable speed. In mere minutes all traces had been wiped away, the only remains of the battle being the marks made by the tongues of flame in the depths of the alley.
When the people at the borders walked outside their homes early morning, they would feel like nothing happened that night. With the chaos in the borders they’d long since grown used to tremors, explosions, and all sorts of strange sounds. Deepblue law stated any breaking and entering of the houses or damaging outer walls was an invasion of the Deepblue itself, so such things were definitely disallowed. Their houses were thus safe havens from the outside world, only affecting the residents if the people themselves were too curious for their own good.
Naya dragged Blood Parrot through the tiny lobby, past the counter and into the kitchen at the back. Richard found that the kitchen in the tavern was strangely large, seemingly larger than the lobby itself. There were many liquor and food cabinets beside the stove, and there were iron rings large and small nailed into the wall. There were also a few block and tackle that hung from the ceiling, with many iron hooks of varying sizes hung down from there as well.
The concentrated smell of soot and poor alcohol permeated the air. However, these two strong odours could not suppress the smell of mould around. The walls and floor were all made of stone and had been washed clean. However, there were still irregular and faint marks left behind over a large area.
“Close the door properly,” Naya instructed, dragging Blood Parrot to the middle of the kitchen.
Richard did as he asked, seeing that there really was a rather large wooden bucket behind the door. The bucket seemed quite old, and although it had been washed clean with no strange smell Richard couldn’t hold the intense reactions of his body anymore. He bent over the bucket’s side abruptly, beginning to throw up.
Not having had the chance for dinner, there was little food that came out. Most was clear gastric acid, the strong smell filling his senses and covering all the other smells in the kitchen. However, this suppression revealed a faint smell that hadn’t been too obvious before. Richard could determine the source in an instant; this was a residue of years of blood and grit.
It was terrible that he found out at this moment, because his body’s instincts now had the upper hand. His stomach churned intensely and practically contracted, basically spurting acid from his mouth.
Naya seemed to have guessed Richard’s reaction, just sending him a nonchalant glance before beginning his own work. He pulled the iron hooks on the ceiling down to the tune of a crash, piercing them into Blood Parrot’s limbs. She was suspended in the air with a pull of the chain, her limbs stretched out in various directions.
The immense pain made her regain consciousness, crying out on instinct. The assassin immediately stopped once she grew lucid, however, relaxing her body and taking a look at her surroundings. Despair immediately flashed in her eyes when she saw Naya, however, and she couldn’t help but sigh.
Naya stretched out his hands, squeezing and caressing her body absently. His obscene expression made him seem extremely vulgar, but these caresses robbed Blood Parrot of her strength, ceasing her struggles and replacing them with complete despair.
Naya hummed a little song off-key, beginning to remove Blood Parrot’s clothing piece by piece. Only after he took the last bit of cloth off did he stop, leaving her hanging naked in the centre of the kitchen just like that. Her damaged muscles and nerves caused her to twitch on occasion, but strangely enough the pierced spots didn’t bleed much. The blood only crept out slowly, dripping to the ground.
Richard finally stood up. He was looking deathly pale, only able to hold himself steady by supporting himself with the wall. He wiped at some of the filth that had splashed to his chest and mustered his courage to look up, gazing at Blood Parrot’s naked body. He knew that what came next was the true test.
Blood Parrot was probably past middle age, but her great power had allowed her appearance and body to be maintained in a very young state. No matter how one looked at it, she did not seem to be over thirty. Her tight and powerful legs, chest, and bottom were excessively curvy, something quite enticing for men. Her appearance and body were her greatest weapons, but now they weren’t enticing to Richard. He instead remained extremely focused on it, because the numbers he saw there were strange.
The tears continued to surge out uncontrollably, causing Richard’s vision to blur. In that moment, he felt like he saw that arrogant and despotic face of his father, with a pair of eyes so calm they could make one shiver.
Father… This word held no warmth or familiarity for Richard. It only aroused hatred, bringing forth a cold and stifling pressure. He had no idea of how much strength his father possessed, and every time he recalled the man he could only judge him to be enigmatic and unmeasurable. Were Gaton here, would he find this hard to stomach?
Richard thus strived to turn up whenever he won control of his body, keeping his eyes wide open to watch what Naya was doing. He wiped away the tears that blurred his sight, shook away the buzzing in his ears so he could hear Naya clearly. When his body was so fatigued he just wanted to fall to the ground, he took hold of the metal rings on the wall and used them alongside the wooden bucket to stay upright in the least.
Richard vaguely saw Naya chattering away like some old man, using his hands to search Blood Parrot’s body carefully without leaving out an inch. Every place his hands passed ended up with large splatters of blood, something Richard’s body wanted to avoid with all strength. The boy couldn’t understand well what Naya was doing on his own, but Precision and Wisdom showed him the cold truth.
There was a sharp pain coming from his abdomen that almost caused him to faint, to the point that he suspected his stomach wasn’t whole. All sorts of filth was splattered on his body, but he couldn’t feel that anymore. The kitchen was filled with the fresh smell of sweet blood, completely suppressing the years upon years of rot.
There were no extra sounds in this space. Blood Parrot hadn’t made a peep since that first scream, and the only sounds besides Richard’s occasional dry heave was the slight whoosh of Naya’s fingers as he worked, alongside a brush that seemed to be a highland peacock feather scribbling on parchment.
Naya quickened his motions and created hundreds of gestures in a moment with his two hands. However, each movement was extremely clear. A splendid blood rose bloomed into the sky, right in Richard’s view.
It truly was a rose. When it blossomed on Blood Parrot’s body, one could even see the young petals trembling! It took up all of Richard’s vision, and by the time it faded all he could see was Naya handing something thin over to him. Although he didn’t know what this was at the start, the full wooden bucket tipped over once he got a closer look, spilling filth all over him.
The magic patterns stained in blood were something familiar to him, patterns he could draw with his eyes closed: Buff rune, Elementary Agility.
……
Richard had no idea how he managed to clean his clothes of the filth, or leave Naya’s tavern. When his body finally calmed down the rune was left lingering in his vision, as well as all sorts of bizarre weapons. Blood Parrot’s body and looks had been disposed of from his memory, the only vestiges of her existence being her voice. Naya hadn’t been able to gather any information from Blood Parrot at all. Perhaps she’d persisted all the to the end, but perhaps Naya just hadn’t given her the chance to speak at all.
A long, dark alley stretched out in front of Richard, going into the depths of darkness with no seeming end. The few dim lamps couldn’t light the entire place, each one not nearly as bright as the ones in the main tower. Every time Richard walked from post to post his shadow would grow longer.
He felt extremely cold, fatigue and hunger assailing his senses even as his mouth and throat seemed to burn with fire. Richard had long since vomited everything that he could, and having use Eruption multiple times in a row his stamina was drained completely as well. Only now, when he was relaxing his tense nerves, did everything start to act up. He felt like he couldn’t take the smallest of steps forward, but by this time a familiar door had already appeared in front of him.
This was where Erin lived.
Richard had no idea why he had returned to this place. However, after seeing this door, all the events of the night linked together like lightning. He seemed to come out from under a rock, the truth of the matter spiralling in his mind. Perhaps this was just a guess, but Richard knew it was likely true. So many coincidences would not occur in the real world. Blood Parrot and those killers had been waiting for Richard in advance, and Erin had been the bait to lure him into the trap.
*Bang! Bang! Bang!* Richard knocked the door.
A window at the side suddenly opened, and a head full of fat peeked out. Without his eyes fully open, he looked extremely ferocious, and he kept mumbling things that could not be heard clearly. Evidently he was annoyed at being disturbed from his sleep, but seeing Richard’s attire the head went back in a hundred times as fast as it had come out. The window closed rapidly, without making too much noise. This technique was miraculous in its own way.
Without his outer robes on, the complex and extravagant patterns sewn all over Richard’s clothes had been on display. This was no decoration, instead a real magic formation that had protected him from the first assassin’s dagger earlier in the night. Only those of the Deepblue’s main tower with talent, bloodline, background, and hateful luck could wear such clothing.
*Bang!* Richard smashed on the door once more, this time much louder than before. However, nobody dared to open their windows again. A small fist-sized slot on the door that was meant for letters was opened up, revealing Erin’s guarded face. She made a sound of surprise at the very sight of Richard, pulling the door open.
After the door opened completely Richard saw Erin with a wand held tightly in her hand. The materials showed it was the most ordinary of wants, and the gems embedded within could store two grade 1 spells at most. Still, such devices could cast spells instantly, and the power of two grade 1 spells was not to be trifled with in the borders. While Erin herself was already a level 3 mage, it was still difficult to cast a grade 2 spell for her. It was also impossible for her to cast grade 1 spells instantly, and in a real battle the opponent would’ve come over and sent her to the ground with a few slaps before she could finish a chant.
Low level mages were useless in solo battles. Only with the help of wands, magic rings, or scrolls could they take such fights.
Seeing Erin holding that wand tightly, Richard felt something inside himself. He instantly got a better understanding of her usual living conditions: only in an environment where danger was everywhere would she have such an instinct for self-preservation. Even if this wand was weak, the worst of wands was still worth four or five hundred gold coins minimum. Although this was nothing in the Deepblue, for someone like Erin who had debts of 1600 coins she couldn’t pay this was a huge amount. That she would rather shoulder a debt for this wand meant that she would feel no sense of security without it.Richard noticed a great many things in that moment. Erin looked like she just wanted to jump into his embrace the moment she rushed out to stand in front of him, but she suppressed it and instead pulled Richard into the room. Taking a look outside, she closed the door with a bang and locked it. Her chest heaved as she stared at him, back to the door. A flush crept up her body, making her emotions obvious.
Richard sized up the room. This was a very small, utilitarian place, formed of two rooms and a little bathroom. Its size was pitiful, with just the bedroom having a window to the patio while all the other rooms just had four walls. The room also had a magic lamp, but it wasn’t lit. In its place was a candle.
The small room with a single bed and cupboard was full of the smell of candle smoke and the girl’s own scent. The bathroom was barely large enough for one to shower in, while the hall wasn’t much larger than the bedroom itself. There were many things in the hall, but they were arranged neatly to make good enough use of the space to not seem cramped.
As Richard was looking around, Erin noticed that her own hand was slightly sticky. Raising it to take a look in the candlelight, she found her palm was full of blood! She suddenly noticed the blood flowing out from between Richard’s fingers.
She recalled that she’d pulled on Richard’s hands to bring him into the room, and couldn’t help but exclaim, “You’re hurt?!”
Richard waved his hand and answered nonchalantly, “It’s just a small wound, nothing much.” This really was how he felt, especially after he’d seen the entire process of Naya dealing with Blood Parrot.
However, Erin had a clear view of his palm. The skin had already been cut open by the coarse surface of the metal bar, and with Richard applying the pressure he did to it the wound looked terrifying. It was as if his entire hand had split apart!
She couldn’t help but raise her voice, shouting, “How did you get hurt? They told me they wouldn’t really hurt you…”
Erin cupped her mouth the moment these words left her, turning pale. Richard looked up at her without the slightest of astonishment, his piercing gaze sweeping past her face to record her reaction. The gaze grew calm and distant, his voice peaceful as he said, “So you did have a part in this. Tell me, who was it?”
The calmer Richard was, the colder Erin felt. She subconsciously grabbed at her collar and looked down, speaking so softly it was almost indiscernible, “Minnie. She looked for me and told… told me to lure you here, saying she had something personal to speak to you about. I… I couldn’t reject her, so I could only agree.
“But she promised she definitely wouldn’t hurt you! She also said that you’re Her Excellency’s favourite student, so how would she dare harm you?”! Erin’s voice became louder and louder, and seemed more like she was convincing herself.
On the other hand, Richard was calm and asked, “Minnie? How much did she give you, and what was the reason you couldn’t reject her?”
Erin gradually calmed down and laughed wryly, “A total of 500 gold coins, and she also agreed not to cause trouble for my father.”
“500 gold coins? So that’s how little I’m worth. However, with your father involved, I guess that’s enough.” Richard smiled self-mockingly and looked at Erin. The smile on his face gradually vanished, and he enquired, “You’ve sold your first time as well, right? Can you tell me how much you did it for?”
Erin paled in that instant, and hung her head lower. It took her a while to speak, “2000 gold goins.”
“Four normal mana potions,” Richard compared rather brutally. He then pressed on, “Who was it? Why were you willing to earn his money and not mine?”
This was a very old question and one that had been raised before. This time, Erin did not choose to evade it. She seemed to have nothing left to lose, and answered quickly, “Steven, another of Her Excellency’s apprentices. I was in urgent need of money then and he made the request right at that time. I… I’m just a normal person living in the borders and somewhat managed to make contact with the nobility. With his power and status, I couldn’t reject him.”
“Steven…” Richard contemplated over the name. It was like the most important piece of a puzzle had fallen into place, slowly revealing the outline of a scheme. However, even if he could understand it that violent blood within him was beginning to twitch.
“How much are you now?” Richard’s words caused Erin to involuntarily tremble, and as if unable to bear the cold she answered in a whisper, “Besides Steven, there hasn’t been anyone else. He sometimes looks for me and gives me 200 or 300 gold coins each time. Sometimes, when I… I’m in dire need, I’ll look for him as well…”
“How much are you now?” Richard asked once more.
Erin finally gritted out, “I owe you 1600 gold coins. If it’s you, 100 each time.”
Richard slowly reached out and grabbed at the front lapels of her clothing, the violent tendencies ravaging in his chest becoming dangerous and more difficult to hold in. He suddenly wanted to see blood, and the matter that Erin had doing her best to avoid kept replaying in his mind.
“You betrayed me just for 500 gold coins and almost lost me my life?!” Richard gritted out, eyes now bloodshot. He abruptly pulled his hands apart, ripping Erin’s sleeping attire in two. He grabbed the girl and walked to the bedroom, tossing her on the bed and pressing down!
Coarse gasps from the depths of the girl’s throat mixed with bestial groans to fill every corner of the room. Erin was like a little boat being ravaged by a storm, her body arching and falling repeatedly without her bidding. Her hands gripped tightly on Richard’s back, and when it grew hardest to endure she’d left behind ten deep marks of blood there. The great pain caused Richard to cry out, but it seemed to only fuel his fires. Erin’s cries rose in pitch as well.
The storm continued for some time, leaving the two with no energy when they finally parted. With how small the bed was they were nestled up to each other, staring at the grey ceiling together. Nobody knew who started it, but the girl talked about herself while Richard listened silently.
Like the protagonist of many stories, Erin came from a small noble family. Her father was a knight from his family, with a small piece of land amounting to two villages. It was situated at the borders of the Sacred Tree Empire, adjacent to Marquess Niall’s lands and not too far from Duke Solam’s fief. Because Erin’s father was thus a vassal of Marquess Niall, she couldn’t say no to Minnie or Steven.
Erin’s father was extremely taken with the arts, committed to socialising with the upper class. The one thing he was not proficient at was managing his own land, and over time the debts he had fallen into reached an astonishing number that couldn’t be returned. Erin had been sent to the Deepblue to study magic at age ten, and she did have good aptitude in the field. However, that was by the standards of her father’s lands. She was nothing in the Deepblue, and soon enough she’d used up all of her savings and the financial support from her family grew smaller and smaller. She could only rely on herself to continue her education and mere survival in the Deepblue, and with no money her progress had slowed.
The old knight had no money to support a growing mage in Deepblue, and he also did not want to nurture a great mage. What the knight truly wanted was the name of Deepblue, so that Erin could be sold for a good price. In the terms of the aristocracy, this meant that Erin could get married to a viscount, or be the mistress of some earl or marquess with some power. Without having been in the Deepblue, Erin could only be the wife of a baron, and depending upon circumstances even barons could ask for a dowry.
Hence, Erin used all her might to earn money, all so she could continue to stay in Deepblue. The moment she returned to her family, she would be used as a bargaining chip in a political marriage. On the other hand, there was another reason that the old knight had not forced her to return home. That was because his debts had escalated to a crisis for him, and his land could be taken at anytime. The reason the debtors had not forced the matter to the courts and had him declare bankruptcy was the future mage studying in the Deepblue. They didn’t want to offend a possible great mage just to collect debts, so as long as she stayed in the Deepblue they would not go too far. Of course, if she was willing to return, the problem with the debts would also be easily solved. There was already an old widower viscount with ample assets willing to take on the knight’s debts, but that was only if Erin agreed to marry him.
Minnie had obviously investigated Erin’s background and knew her father’s circumstances. If Erin was unwilling to cooperate, then she would use her own family’s power and take away the knight’s land. The knight had long since lost the means to return his debts, and with all his income going towards the interest he couldn’t even keep up with his honourable lifestyle. The loss of his land was the loss of his noble reputation, and be it the knight or Erin herself this would lead to a drop in status.
Minnie had even hinted to Erin that she wanted to make contact with Richard. Making it seem like this was an issue between a boy and a girl, she’d also promised never to hurt Richard. On top of that, wouldn’t Her Excellency’s might stop her?
“That’s why I had no way to reject her.” Having said this, the young girl reached out to grab Richard’s hand, caressing the new wounds on his hands and asking, “They didn’t do anything too harsh to you, right? Are you injuries serious?”
“It’s nothing. Everything’s taken care of.” Richard said casually.
He did not state how things had been ‘taken care of’, nor did he want to explain the process. For Erin, Niall and Solam were two large mountains blocking basically everything in her way. Marquess Niall’s battle failures were only news in the aristocracy for now, and there was a long way to go before it reached her ears.
However, despite her reasons, Erin had betrayed him for a mere 500 gold coins. In hindsight her decision seemed quite foolish, because she had no idea about Richard’s background or anything about Sharon’s relationship with the boy. However, most normal people didn’t have as much information when they were making their decisions, so the foolishness or intelligence in those choices boiled down mostly to luck.
For Erin to give up the slight purity and persistence she possessed to Steven, the superficial reason was that she had debts she couldn’t repay. However, the true reason for this debt being formed in the first place was that she and her family had no ability to bear the burden of living in the Deepblue.
“Then why don’t you return? You can regain your life as a true noble and won’t have to suffer so much,” Richard asked.
“No! I’m not going back! That’s just a tiny place in the outskirts, and you can’t even imagine how dull and boring it is there. Even if I were to marry a viscount, that’s only walking from a small village to a slightly larger village! Everyday, I’ll live in a dark castle or a villa in a town, dealing with farmers, slaves, and servants. Every other year, I’ll have a child and find a few nobles in nearby territories to be my lover. That’s the entirety of my life! In my lifetime, I can probably see an earl a few times. Things are different in Deepblue. Every inch of this place here is filled with dreams, and I can see people with great status in the continent here anytime. This is a place that can change my destiny!”
The girl’s voice was filled with emotion and earnestness, but that only made Richard silent for a long time.
“Is it that important to stay in the Deepblue?”
“Very much so!”
Having been in the Deepblue for nearly three years, Richard had seen too many people struggling everyday, only so that they could continue staying here. As long as they could stay, they were willing to give up everything. Before this day, Richard had been unperturbed by all this and had no prejudices nor sympathy for these people. Now, however, when the same thing was happening to Erin, he felt a sense of pain in his heart.
Some time later, Richard said dully, “Alright, I understand.”