Saga 1: The Fall of the Evening
Arc 1: The Maidens of Ashkera
Allen and Reymond were facing each other beside the river. They took off their shirts and stretched their bodies.
“It’s been a long time we see each other, Allen. I wonder how strong you are now.”
“You have promised me some magical resources to help me advance if I win. It’s just fistfight, okay? No magic, weapon, and you have to suppress your power.” Allen put up his stance and pointed his fist forward.
“Agree.”
Reymond bolted to him. He rotated in the air and kicked toward his neck. Allen evaded it with a bow, but the latter followed up with another kick on the gut.
Allen coughed and his body bounced back. “He’s so fast.”
As Allen stood again, Reymond suddenly came below him and kicked toward his chin. He barely evaded it and immediately caught his foot. With all his power, he slammed Reymond to the ground.
Reymond did some somersault before his body touched the ground; he stood again. However, Allen had anticipated his agility and jumped toward him.
“Taste this!” Allen kicked him repeatedly in the air, but Reymond defended it with his arms crossed over his chest and Reymond caught Allen’s feet as the kicks got slower.
Allen touched the ground and rotated his feet until Reymond released him. Then, he pulled up his body and used his knees to lock Reymond’s body; he pushed him down to the ground.
“You have taught me normal humans can’t fight if their center gravity isn’t functioned. I win.”
Reymond stopped struggling and sighed. “Fine, you win. I’ll give you enough resources to advance to level 3.”
Allen moved from his body and helped him got up. “So, it’s been a long time. I thought you were dead.”
Reymond gave him a bear hug and took a look at him. “You have grown; even your scars got thinner. It’s nice to meet you again, Allen. How have you been?”
“After you disappeared, I started hunting alone. I practiced all you had taught me. Where were you?”
“I met my magus master. Until now, I have been serving her.” Reymond’s face became serious. “War will happen, Allen. My sect will force strong men in this city to serve us as cannon fodder in the war.”
Allen frowned. “How can that be? We have Myriad Essence Alliance’s protection.”
“My sect has done a deal with them. This is a legal event. No one can escape Shadowperk City anymore.”
“No one? You come to me. You must have a solution, don’t you?”
Reymond nodded. “I’ll have to participate in the war too as a foot soldier. My master hasn’t had any servant beside me. I want you to serve her until the war ends. What say you?”
Allen sighed. “I don’t have any choice, do I?”
Reymond tapped his shoulder. “Don’t be sad. I’ll promise serving her is just your task. We even will pay you with magical resources each week. If you don’t have any questions, you have to prepare your belongings and come with me.”
Allen and Reymond went to the wall to fetch the magical beast Reymond brought. The carriage they would ride was white, and it was pulled by a rank two magical beast, Snow Dreadwolf.
The beast had snow-white fur. Its height was the same as the carriage. It was a beautiful creature. However, its crimson eyes with vertical slit gave a cold gaze. No one dared to approach it.
“Allen meets Snowie. Snowie meets Allen. She’s the magical beast of my master.”
Allen was amazed by the sight of this creature. It was his second time seeing rank two magical beasts. Reymond’s relationship should be nice enough with his master. She even trusted him to bring the creature alone. “What’s the realm of your master?”
“It’s rude to ask someone’s realm and level, Allen. Nah, I will teach you etiquette to be a proper butler later. She’s a mana condensation realm magus just like us. However, she’s favored. She treats her followers nicely too. She’s almost everyone’s dream. You will meet her anyway. Let’s go from this city.”
As they went into the forest, the wolf led them into the place unknown to Allen. He couldn’t help to be cautious. It was the second time he traveled outside of hunting grounds for mortals. Even, small magical beasts he saw on the way were rank one.
In a spacious area not far ahead, there were encampments. Each tent had a hanged skull at the entrance. It had magical ability to terrify beasts according to a book he had read.
“This is a place to train the newly recruited disciples. They are readied to face a war. My master’s place is in the middle of the encampments. There.”
Reymond pointed at a big tent ahead. Beside it, there was a temporary stable.
As they got out of the carriage, Allen paid attention to the middle area. They were four other big tents like the tent before him. It meant there were five experts in total.
“You don’t want to mess with other elders. Their realms are, of course, higher than the master. Come in, I will teach you and tell you many things.”
Inside the tent was dark and didn’t have ventilation like other tents, but it was spacious enough to fill so much stuff. There was a dining table after the entrance and three more rooms that were covered with just black curtains.
Reymond asked Allen to wait, while he went to put his item in his room. In just a while, he came back with a pouch.
“This is for you. It’s the magical resources I have promised.”
Allen opened the pouched and saw blue crystals. “This is mana stone, the currency of magi. It can be used to assist magus in meditation. Absorbing mana with this stone is faster with this stone.”
“You have done your research,” Reymond praised. “Then, let’s learn the etiquette of a perfect butler and a servant.”
Reymond taught him many things, like how should he behave in front of nobles, the etiquette of eating, the etiquette of greeting, etc. They stopped in the evening. There was someone calling outside of the tent.
Reymond met the man who was calling and invited him inside. Allen, of course, stood behind the chair and greeted him with a nod and smile as a butler should be. He even pulled the chair, so the man could sit.
“Mr. Skylark meets Mr. Vos. He’s the new servant of my master. You will be dealing with him in my absence. Mr. Vos meets Mr. Skylark.”
Allen bowed slightly when Mr. Skylark turned his body to see him. He had full round eyes that matched with his grim expression. His face was full of beard and mustache.
Allen glanced at Reymond. His eyes told him to wait in the next room. He left quietly as he told to. The room he entered didn’t have any furniture but a single coffin in the middle of it.
Allen caressed his nape and sniffed slightly. “I smell blood.”
Allen stuck his ear to the curtain, but oddly he couldn’t hear their conversations.
After some minutes, Reymond opened the curtain and entered this room. His expression was unsightly.
“What happens?” Allen asked.
“What are you doing here? Stand up from there!”
Allen shrugged and stood from the coffin. He noticed a girl behind Reymond. She looked like she had barely reached teen. There was still baby fat in her cheeks. “Who’s her?”
Reymond looked back and noticed he had been followed. He smiled and patted the little girl’s head. “You have to wait at the dining table. Big Brother will cook you something delicious.”
“Is that your master? Shouldn’t I greet her?”
“No, she isn’t. This is the master’s room. I told you to wait in the kitchen.”
“Oh, my bad.”
“Follow me to the kitchen. I haven’t explained about your jobs. Today, you can watch it.”
The kitchen was in one of the three rooms next to the dining table. Reymond told Allen to watch him cooking. Too much of his surprise, his hands were fast and neat. In just a short time, he handled so many stuff.
When Reymond finished, he put all foods on trays. They went to the dining table where the girl waited and served her.
The girl was confused when she saw a lot of food. Her mouth was drooling. Her eyes kept looking back and forth at Reymond and the table.
Allen didn’t see her figure well before because she hid behind Reymond, but he finally figured this little girl couldn’t be the master. Her clothes were shabby, and her face was dirty. She looked like a slave.
“Master, I can eat all of these?” The girl asked, confused.
Reymond smiled gently. “Of course, and I am not your master.”
“But, why did you free me?”
Reymond diverted the conversation, “Don’t mind it. Just eat. Does the room too dark for your eyes? Should I add more candles?”
The girl shook her head and immediately gobbled up some foods to her mouth. There was a tinge of sadness in Reymond’s face as he saw the girl, and he went to his room.
Allen was bored to watch a little girl eating, so he checked the system and read some stuff. However, as he was just immersed in reading, suddenly the girl fell on the table and dropped the glass she had drunk.
“Hey, are you alright?” Allen approached her and touched her neck. “She’s dead.”
Allen took the glass and sniffed it. “It’s poisoned.”
“You are right.” Reymond suddenly came back from his room with a large basin and black shroud. “This is one of your jobs. Feeding a slave girl and kills her with poison.”
Allen frowned. “What’s the reason behind this?”
“You will see it later. For now, you just watch. This is one hell of a job, but it doesn’t involve danger. I have known you for a long time, Allen. I know you can do it.”
Reymond suddenly sobbed. “I am sorry. I am sorry.” However, he said those lines not to him, but the deceased girl.
Reymond straightened the girl and pulled the chair. He put the basin below her and covered her body with a black shroud. He held her tiny hands and closed his eyes.
Allen watched in silence as Reymond unsheathed a knife in his waist and blood flow to the basin. He touched his chest.
“I know my heart has been hardened by watching too many deaths since I was a child. However, I don’t know I am this heartless to not feel ill from watching this,” Allen thought. Then, he remembered his wives from the dream.
“Does my feeling for them even true?”
After Reymond had done draining the girl’s blood, he ordered Allen to bury the body outside. As he went in again, Reymond had waited for him.
“Has the sun sunk yet?”
“Yes.”
“Follow me. I’ll have you see the master. Her world is reversed than us. For her, night is morning and morning is night.”
They entered the room that contained a single coffin. Reymond bought a bottle filled with blood on a tray.
“Master, the night has come.”
The coffin opened and a girl awakened from inside. She had pale, white skin; her long, pink hair was slightly curly at the edge; her eyes were crimson and glowed in the dark.
“Breakfast time?” The girl said, her voice was soft and pleasant to be heard.
Reymond poured the blood into a glass and gave it to her. She sipped it a little and commented, “A taste of happy girl. I am glad.”
“Master, there’s someone I want to introduce you.”
Allen took a step forward and knelt. “Master, my name is Allen Vos. I am Reymond’s acquaintance.”
The girl sipped the blood again. “So you are the man who will replace Reymond. Mr. Allen, how old are you?”
“I am twenty-two years old, Master.”
“You are four years older than me, then. I believe in Reymond, so I welcome you. My name is Mircalla Karnstein, an elder of this Coffin Sect. As you can see, I am a vampire.” She smiled, revealing two pairs of sharp fangs in her mouth.
nice.