Chapter 62 - Botched Infiltration in a Monster Den (long chapter)
The town of Radem had been quite festive during the last 6 years. The reason for it was that a local of the town had grown quite famous in the country and even the continent. Elijah, a local orphan, had managed to transform his life and climbed through the army ranks with unstoppable momentum.
In a local bar in the town, a middle aged man, with a kind disposition was talking to one of the locals, while the latter was bragging to him after having had a couple of drinks.
"Elijah is the greatest, I tell you. Since most of the town people knew Elijah when he was young, they are quite proud of his accomplishments, and he has become sort of a local hero, with all the young boys wanting to be like him. Hic. Many of the town's young ones train more diligently than ever, and some of them even joined the army with the hopes of meeting their hero, and also sharing some of his meteoric rise and success. It was never easy, though, to increase the level of a Warrior or Adept, or even have the talent to do so.
That being said, Elijah had never been able to return to the town. His busy life and rigorous training kept him away from his hometown and from the little brothers he had grown with at the Orphanage. At least that's what I think, he used to care a lot for the little buggers, but now, who knows. Maybe he forgot about them, after all, they are now worlds apart from each other, either in talent, riches or status. Hic.."
Said the drunkard merrily gossiping about Elijah, while hiccuping non stop. This was actually one of his favorite hobbies, and he always told the tale of how he had helped Elijah as a kid and taught him how to play with sticks, as if it was his very advice that allowed Elijah to turn into the magnificent soldier he had become. The kind looking man was simply listening, and paid for another round of ale, as he asked,
"And what about those little kids you said he grew up with. Had they become any noticeable after his brother. Who manages the Orphanage?"
"Hehehehe, you wouldn't even believe it but it's a belle, a beautiful young woman named Maya. It's a shame she has rejected most suitors, otherwise she could have even married a Viscount. Once a young noble from the Capital came and was mesmerized by her beauty and demeanor after seeing her and tried to court her, only to receive her polite but firm rejection. What a waste I tell you, hic. She says she cares too much about the little kids and she has raised them all on her own. She is 24 years old now, though, she should care a little more about herself and her future, I think.
As for the buggers, the bigger one is Silvester, the fatso. Well, I call him fatso, but he is actually quite strong. He's a 16 year old lad, and quite fat I might add, but strong as an oxen. He can usually do the work of 10 men by himself, so he is always good to have around. Also likes to fool around with the girls, but most give him the cold shoulder, tho' he is relentless, I can tell you that, hahahahahaha, hic."
Most of the men in the tavern who were listening to him laughed aloud as well.
"The rest of the boys are ok, I guess, most of them are quite honest and hard-working. Some of the young girls are as pretty as flowers, and the boys are intrepid as well. Well, there is also Nerun, that runt. He used to be quite boisterous and happy-go-lucky all the time, and he is still very kind and a bit foolish, but after the old drunkard left, I think he took it the hardest. He was also quite close to Elijah, so after both left, he was devastated I assume. People sometimes see him around the woods, but he doesn't work like the rest of his brothers, nor has he joined the training like the other boys from town," Commented one of the patrons, who used to court Maya.
"Yeah Nerun is a good kid. But he'll probably amount to nothing. At least nothing compared to Silvester and the rest of the boys. Some of them are already Qi Masters and Nerun, well, he just looks so delicate and pretty, it's almost a shame he wasn't a girl, hic, hahahahahaha" commented the drunkard.
"So interesting. What incredible young boys and girls, hehehehe", said the kind looking man. "You seemed to have mentioned a drunkard of sorts. What's all that about. He had something to do with the Orphanage?"
"Well sort of. Maikal, the old drunkard used to own the Orphanage, but he was a good for nothing, let me tell you that. Always spending what little money the kids made on booze and hitting them all the time. Abusing little prick, that he was. After Elijah joined the Army, he left the town for good. Who knows, maybe he thought Elijah would come looking for trouble for him, for all the abuse he provided the kids. Many of us old folks felt pity for the children and tried asking the mayor to do something about it, but he always refused, since the law could do nothing. So he left, and good riddance let me tell you that. Well I say that, but maybe to the children he was the father figure of sorts. Meh.. He still left and the life of the kids improved in my opinion. Maya is the one who raised them alone after that."
The kind looking man seemed interested in Maikal's stories, but most of the drunkards only remembered that he drank a lot of ale and little more. He did nothing but drink and snoop around, and after he left, many people forgot about him. Had it not been because the Orphanage and the kids were still around, they would have completely removed him from their mind.
As night was approaching, the kind looking man paid the bill and left the bar and the boisterous environment. He kept smiling all the way to the small inn he was staying in, and after entering his room, his face kept smiling, as if a mask was permanently plastered on his face. Then he changed his clothes to a black vest and a dark hood and jumping out of the window, he went towards the Orphanage.
He had not found any useful information about Mikael Dai Rosalia in any of the towns near the border. All the information that the Brotherhood got 6 years ago was that he had appeared near the border and fought Sylas Du Sacar. He seemed to be dressed like a hobo all those years ago. The brotherhood sent for an unprecedented manhunt, but it was to no avail. Eventually after 2 years of wasted effort, they left a single agent to look for information around the border.
After a lot of trial and error, he finally got to the town of Radem, the hometown of Elijah No Rademia. "No" was the patronymic used by orphans, and the last name used to be the city or town of origin. "Dai" on the other hand was the patronymic used by those with proven ancestry who had their family names engraved in the kingdom records. Most poor people could not afford such treatment though.
For the first time in a long time the man was a bit excited. Maybe he could leave this boring mission after wasting so much of his time. Looking for a strange looking vagabond was harder than finding a needle in a haystack. He had managed to find some men who seemed to fit the description previously, but they were just simple hobos. This man named Maikal on the other hand, vanished 6 years ago, like the target he was looking for, and he seemed to have some sort of relationship to the rising star of Ansem's army. Also his name was somewhat similar to his target. If he managed to find proof of this speculation, he could make a great contribution, and the reward promised by the Organization was huge.
Even though this could also be a red herring, it was worth investigating. After all, the targets were nothing but a pack of children, and even though there seemed to be some Qi Masters in the bunch, to him, who was a Qi Centurion, and an expert in assassination and subterfuge, this was nothing. And he had also heard that the girl in charge, Maya, was also quite pretty herself. Maybe he could also get a small earning on the side while doing his mission. It would not be the first time he did this, nor would it be the last, thought the man to himself while thinking of his beautiful future.
After a short amount of time, the man arrived at the old unassuming building that was the Orphanage.
He crossed the wall silently. He landed on the backyard only making a minuscule noise when he landed on some stones scattered on the ground haphazardly alongside the wall. He cursed a bit, but noticed no moves nor responses from the vicinity for the next seconds. He then relaxed since he assumed he over thought that some kids from an orphanage could do anything to him at all. He failed to notice a pair of clear, limpid eyes looking at him impassively from the roof of the house.
As he approached the back door, he stayed quiet searching for noises, but only noticed the thunderous snores coming from one of the bedrooms. He assumed it was the fatso he had heard about in the Tavern, and tried to stay away from the room. After all, even though he was quite powerful himself, and assumed the boy to be a Qi Grandmaster at best, and that was an overestimation, he wanted no unnecessary trouble. His plan was to capture the girl named Maya and obtain the information he wanted from her.
He opened the door quietly and started checking the rooms quietly. He noticed several teenagers sleeping in various rooms. Some of the boys were quite fit, and the girls were quite pretty. He thought that if he could capture them, he could sell them for a really good price but quickly ended the thought since he did not have the manpower needed for such an endeavour. He noticed that one of the doors close to the end of the house was actually empty and he found it a bit weird, but he assumed maybe the kid staying on it was out of town or something.
He then approached the room opposite to where the snorings were coming from. He thanked the snoring fatso, since it made it much simpler for him to infiltrate the house, and any noise he might accidentally make would be drowned by the snores. 'This has to be it' the man thought. He opened the door quietly, and then he saw her. A ravishing yet simple beauty sitting on her bed and staring coldy at him.
He thought it funny that the girl was looking at him as if he was a cockroach, and thought if she just happened to be awake, otherwise how was it possible for him to be caught. So, he was about to pounce on her, when all of a sudden the lady appeared in front of him much faster than what he anticipated and kicked him right in his face with unabashed ferocity.
CRACK!
Had it not been by his superhuman reflexes and his training, he was quite sure his head would have already exploded like a watermelon, yet he barely managed to defend himself with his hand, which he was sure was broken from the kick.
'Shit, shit, a Qi General. What the hell is a Qi General doing being the guardians of a bunch of brats in this lost town from Ansem', thought the man in despair, whie thinking quickly how to escape from her clutches.
However he had no time to relax, since from the room where the thunder like snores were coming from, the door was broken into a million pieces, and two arms as thick as watermelons came out trying to smother him with great momentum. A wild and ferocious looking fatso, as powerful as a warthog was coming after him like a human cannonball and even though he was much stronger with the usage of his Qi, the strength of the boy was nothing to scoff at, quite close to the Qi Centurion level, although just in the physical aspect.
The man cursed his bad luck, and he made another hasty defense with his other arm, and although this one was not broken, he felt his innards revolving, and he really wanted to puke. He was not used to fighting his enemies head on, and right now he was very disadvantaged. He feared being captured by the Qi General who was already almost on top of him, so using his wealth of experience, he used the rebound from Silvester's attack and jumped into the empty bedroom, using the open window to go out towards the backyard.
He knew that if he could get away from the Qi General for even one second, he could escape, since he had a secret technique that could help him even escape with his life from a Qi Monarch if necessary. This was one of the techniques he learnt from the Organization. All he was thinking about was running away from this den of monsters and reporting it to his superiors. He knew that it was not normal that an Orphanage housed so many powerhouses, even if that boy named Elijah came from here as well. That this was managed by that hobo named Maikal was also suspicious, and he was sure he had found his target. Once he reported it, he would ask for reinforcements, and he was sure to get quite the handsome reward. Maybe he could even ask for a night with the feisty Qi General who had broken his arm.
All of this takes a lot of time to describe, but all of these happened in less than a second from Maya's attack and the man successfully escaping through the empty room.
As he was thinking about all of this, he finally noticed someone standing on his way. A very good looking and delicate young boy, about 12 years old, with brown hair up to his shoulders, wearing a ragged shirt and some short trousers that went up to his knees. He was using some worn-out shoes, but otherwise looked quite clean and pretty, almost sickly. Some girls might even envy his complexion, and some might even think that he could very well be blown away by the wind.
The man thought of one of the names he heard in the afternoon, Nerun, a delicate looking young lad, not worth noticing compared to the rest of his brothers. He didn't try to dodge Nerun, since this would make him lose precious time, and instead decided to attack the young boy and hurt him badly. This would maybe give him some precious time to escape.
As he made his choice, he put a foot on the ground and jumped towards Nerun fiercely with his still functioning arm. Nerun, however, seemed quite calm while facing him, and was even smiling back at him. The man had a very bad premonition right there and then, and he changed his mind and tried to sidestep around Nerun, but it was already too late.
"Μεγάλο Καλειδοσκόπιο" - /Megálo Kaleidoskópio/*
The man then lost the focus in his eyes, and in front of him multiple images of Nerun, and a plethora of mirror images overlapped one after the other. As the man was trying hard to regain his focus, Nerun did not lose this chance, and after approaching him with a
"Nerun, you should be more careful. Do you realize how much it will cost to repair the wall after all of this is through?", said Maya as she was leaving the house leisurely.
"Sorry sister Maya. My bad. I didn't think he would be this weak", said Nerun with the same smile he used to have as a kid on his face.
When the man heard this, he vomited another round of blood and completely passed out.
__
Μεγάλο Καλειδοσκόπιο: Grand Kaleidoscope