For a moment, Raze was taken aback by what was on his fingers because there was no doubt in his mind: the consistency he had felt before, it was blood. He was in his room, all on his own; he hadn’t left it, but he was unsure if anyone had entered, yet there was blood on his cheek.
‘Was that illusion I saw while I was cultivating not really an illusion?’ Raze started to wonder. ‘No one could have come inside; the door was locked, and it would be crazy to think someone would just enter and place blood on my face. So, what was that?’ 𝑜𝗏𝐞𝓛xt.𝓬𝔬𝗆
Continued screams were heard from down below, and by now, a group of men in various kinds of clothing with swords and weapons at their hips had surrounded the dead man on the table.
“This must have been done by a Pagna warrior.”
“But why would they just kill an ordinary civilian out of the blue? The man was just enjoying a drink; he didn’t offend anyone or bump into others.”
“Maybe he messed with the wrong person and bore a grudge?”
The people below were having a deep discussion until one of them looked up and could see the hooded figure looking down at them.
“It must have been him; that uniform isn’t from any of the clans I recognize.”
“Me either; we should bring him in before he causes more chaos in the city!”
The men seemed to agree; despite their different clothing and clan affiliations, they were ready to act together. They were strangers who had been enjoying a drink and staying at the same inn today, but seeing someone causing a disturbance in their territory made them act.
The men jumped on top of the table, and with a push, managed to jump through the hole that was created. It was a bit small, so the man swung his sword, slicing it apart before he landed inside the room.
Raze took a step back and soon saw four more men enter the room, drawing their swords.
“It would be best if you came with us peacefully and let one of the clans deal with you.”
Raze was conflicted as he moved back, unsure of what to do in this situation.
‘I did kill a stranger I had no relation to, but in the situation I am in, I can’t get caught.’ Raze thought. ‘Do I attempt to run away? No, with their skills, they all seem to be beyond a first-stage Pagna warrior. They would catch me in an instant.’
Fighting back didn’t seem like much of an option for Raze either. He would lose, just as he had done before, and it would attract the attention of other Pagna warriors in the entire city.
“Wait!” A voice shouted as the door was slammed open, crashing into the wall. In his long, robe-like clothes, Dame had entered the room, with a fierce look on his face. “All of you, leave him be. I will compensate the family greatly for what has happened today, and I will punish the man appropriately.”
At first, it looked as if the other warriors weren’t going to care about what this interrupter had said, but when they took a second look at him, they started to notice who he was.
“Isn’t that Dame Narfous?” one of them whispered.
“If the Neverfall Clan is involved in this, then it is best we leave it up to them.”
Each of the men then bowed down at that moment. “We will leave this to the young master!”
As easily as that, they lifted their heads and disappeared back down to the restaurant. Down below, Dame and his group were actually clearing up what had happened and were even discussing with the owner of the place how to make up for all the mess.
The way they handled everything so smoothly made it seem like it wasn’t the first time they had gotten into trouble before.
The matter was quickly resolved, but to avoid attracting too much attention, Dame had booked another inn a few streets down for Raze to set up shop in. They didn’t talk much while all of this was going on; it seemed as if both individuals had a lot on their minds. But when they were finally checked in, it gave both of them time to talk again.
Instead of in the room, this time they were in a corner of the downstairs restaurant and had ordered a couple of drinks.
“Hey, don’t worry about what happened back there,” Dame said as he took a swig of his drink while Raze’s remained untouched. “These things happen all the time here; it’s not a problem. You’re lucky that the one who got hit was a no-name.”
“No-name?” Raze replied; he had heard this mentioned before.
“Oh, right, you probably don’t know—”
“How much?” Raze interrupted. “How much coin did you give to that family, to the no-name? What was the cost of his life in this world?”
Dame could see the mood was getting a little serious, which wasn’t a good sign for him.
“Ten gold coins; it will be enough for him and his family to live happily. Look, this might not make sense to you, or it might not be the right thing to say, but his life was worth a lot less than ten coins. Even if he worked his entire lifetime, he would have never been able to amass that much wealth.
“In fact, if you offered a total of twenty silvers, his family would have willingly sold him to work for another clan. The divide in this world between those that matter and everyone else—well, no-names are essentially just animals. As I said, whether it’s right or wrong is a different story, but I just wanted to ease your worries a bit.”
Raze had killed people before; he didn’t have a problem with that. But it was always to move forward toward his goal. Killing an innocent bystander who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time didn’t sit well with him.
‘She was just at the wrong place, at the wrong time,’ a voice played in Raze’s head, a memory from the past.
“What’s with the blood on your face anyway? Shouldn’t you have washed that off? It’s dried a bit now as well,” Dame asked. “I mean, it’s a good look if you don’t want anyone to mess with you.”
“The blood?” Raze touched his cheek again. “That’s right, the cultivation technique you taught me. The cycle of life and death. When performing it, are there any side effects, like seeing illusions and such, or does it summon anything?”
The subject made Dame a bit uneasy as he turned to look left and right.
“Side effects; it’s what I told you somewhat before. If you’re not careful with the technique, it can drive you to go mad and turn you into a literal Demon. Some of them, before turning into one, see many illusions; it’s one of the side effects before turning. Don’t tell me—”
“No,” Raze answered. “I was just curious.”
Dame took a big swig and gave Raze the side-eye. It was hard to read his facial expression with the hood covering his eyes, so he didn’t know if he was lying or not.
‘That was not an illusion,’ Raze thought. ‘I wonder, though, if only illusions are part of the cultivation technique’s bad effects, that might not even be something related to the demonic faction. There is something strange surrounding this boy’s original body in the first place. Could it be related to that, or maybe even the mysterious transmigration book I used?’
The spells and items that could be obtained through these dimensions that gave one god-like powers, perhaps there was a reason why Alter was trying their best to stop people from using them.
“Actually, I came here to talk to you because I need your help,” Dame asked. “Do you remember that woman who attacked you in that dimension from before? Well, it turns out that she has a bit of a grudge and is trying to attack the Demonic faction.”
Raze’s eyebrows were raised; an attack, wasn’t this a big deal? But everyone seemed so calm about the matter, apart from Dame, who was tense for the first time. Even his fingers were constantly tapping the table.
“I’ve been asked to lead an attack to defend the Demonic faction on my own. Well, not on my own, but they have practically sent me on a suicide mission. Beatrix is one of the strongest in the Light faction, and they are sending me with no support. If I go out there with no kind of help, I will die.”
“Which is why I’m asking, is there any way you can help me, help me win this battle?”
For the first time since the conversation began, Raze picked up the alcoholic drink in front of him. His body was a bit too young to handle it, but it had been a long time since he treated himself to the bitter and cold taste.
Taking down nearly half the drink in one go, he slammed it on the table. The image of the dead man and the blood on his face flashed through his mind.
“Nothing has changed; everything is still the same.” These words were something Raze had repeated to himself many times as he did unthinkable things as the Dark Magus. It was sometimes the only thing that kept him going, and he was using them now to flush out the memories.
“I can help you, and I can help you defeat Beatrix, but it’s going to cost you.”