CH 6 - Yanxa

Yanxa

In the kingdom of Tartarus, Lord Ezekiel of House Ares was known for his more brutal desires. It wasn't always so, but with the loss of his one true love, Sila, he became a broken man.

He was still just a lordling when she accepted Henry Hera's marriage proposal, and because of that, he still had freedom. He visited the brothels and opium dens, and took his frustrations out on any girl he could find. It was truly a horrible time, for no one dared deny an Ares.

His father was just like him, but for a good while there had been hope Ezekiel would turn out differently. Alas, there simply wasn't anyone left to make him want to be that better man. In short, the Ares family were corrupt to the core, and Ezekiel was no longer the friend and rival Henry remembered.

It was so bad that someone ended up hiring the organization known as Death's Hand. They were known worldwide as the best assassin's guild in all of Elysia. Whether it be killing the commander of a heavily fortified naval fortress without being seen, or even killing the Head of the Church of Trinity whilst he is giving a sermon before the Council of Four, they never failed at a job.

That was, until it came to Ezekiel Ares. You see, Ezekiel had what was known as a Blessing. He had been given a gift from the gods at birth, allowing his Red magic to burn gold in its intensity. It was called Solar Flames. Against this power, the assassin that had been sent had greatly failed, being burned from the neck down.

The assassin was known as Spear Executioner Yanxa. He posed as an adventurer of B-rank, but his skills were that of an A.

He was spared by Ares, but in exchange, he wanted a job done in return. Yanxa was all too eager to agree.

Dainn

The next day I had to, for the first time, deny Emilia her request to hang out. It was harder to do than I expected, because her father had just left that morning on one of his trips, and so she was feeling lonely.

I tried to remain cool and explain it as I needed to handle something private, but when that didn't work, I had to be somewhat truthful. She was all too eager to give me a day off once she learned it was pertaining to a birthday gift for her.

In fact, when I told her, she had squealed and gave me a hug so fierce, my ribs were still sore. That was over an hour ago, but now I was in the Vatica Adventurer's Guild, sitting at the bar-side of the first floor and sipping on honey milk as I waited for my target.

The receptionist had told me there was only one person of any note that used Vatica as their main base of operations, a Bow Paladin called Eifa. She was a C-rank, but apparently she was skilled enough to do most of her jobs solo.

That was good, but it did worry me that she might not be so willing to accept my job offer. I've never dealt with any "lone wolves", though I guess I would have fit that bill in my last life.

I decided to order an ox steak as I waited, and turned around in my seat to observe the bar side of the Guildhall.

There were plenty of adventurers here, enjoying early afternoon drinks and resting after early morning jobs. I saw a man in full plate mail and a wicked looking great sword that in and of itself looked demonic, but the vibes he gave me told me he was more a rich kid with fancy toys than a real legend of a swordsman.

There was a woman in a very revealing dress of dazzling blue and gold. I could feel the power she radiated, and assumed it was at a Royal level, about where I'm currently at. However, I was four, and she was at least in her mid twenties. It seemed to me she was yet another mage that wasn't anywhere near my level. I was beginning to wonder why that was.

I gasped slightly when the doors were thrown open, and I felt a chill run down my spine. As if fighting gravity, I struggled to force myself to look towards the door, where that feeling was coming from.

That feeling of genocidal bloodlust. It felt like I was drowning all of a sudden, I couldn't even breathe.

My eyes went wide at what I saw.

It was a bald elf man in black armor, accented with white and depicting a spear on the chest. The crimson surcoat that went over his right shoulder and waist resembled blood splatter, especially since they were in tatters.

He wore no helm, so I could see how his eyes were silver and haunted, a man that had witnessed and submerged himself in murder and slaughter countless times. They were dead eyes, horrible eyes.

But what was worse than anything, was what I saw surrounding him. At first I thought it was his mana, so great I was actually able to see it, but that wasn't it at all. In fact, I was certain he had no mana at all.

No. I was seeing spirits surrounding him, ghosts and spectres clinging to him, clawing at his heart and throat and eyes. I also knew what they were.

Victims. His victims. The countless people he slaughtered were surrounding him, a hundred fold, and futilely trying to bring him down with them.

I was looking at a monster like me, and it was overwhelming. I decided to remove myself from the situation, and was getting ready to sneak out, when I saw someone come in behind the man.

It was an elf woman, her hair a bright green and her eyes a gleaming yellow. She had has a slender build, and wore nothing but some shorts that really showed her thighs and a blouse top. Other than that she had a single leather pauldron and an assortment of straps that all converged to cover her heart.

Finally, although she hid it beneath her fur cloak, I could see a white, ivory bow on her back. She stopped upon seeing the man, then nodded and placed a hand on her hip, offering him the other.

"Ah, Yanxa! Long time no see! How long has it been?" He didn't shake her hand, so she put a finger to her chin as she looked off in thought. "Two, no, three years! Oh wow! I hear you reached the rank of Executioner as a spearsman! That's so cool!"

The man looks her up and down, and then grunts. "Eifa. Good to see you again, though I hate that so much of my activities have become common knowledge."

She laughed at that, followed by a punch to the arm. He barely reacted. "It's just a rank increase! Other than that you might as well have been dead for the little I've heard. Surprising for a B-rank adventurer, but hey, fate brings us together again!"

I hesitated as I listened, wondering if the man planned to stay or to cut the conversation short. Either way, I didn't want to approach Eifa with him there. This Yanxa was a being I didn't want to mess with.

"Indeed. However, I'm afraid to say I'm here on business, and don't have the time to indulge in old acquaintances." With that he leaves, rather rudely I might have said. It rang fishy to my sixth sense, since he ended up doing actually nothing here. Had he been searching for someone?

She sighed, rolled her eyes, and muttered under her breath something rude in return, and then went over to the receptionist.

Realizing my chance was here, I got up. She was turning in a quest when I walked up, and I saw her handing over some ears of some kind. Trophies? No, probably proof of kill, for payouts. I played a console exclusive zombie motorcycle game that did something like that once upon a time.

"Excuse me, madam Eifa?" I said clearly, my hands visible and crossed in front of me. When she turned to look at who spoke, it took her a moment to spot me, until she finally looked down. I bowed as eloquently as I could, deep and with my eyes closed and head down.

"I am Damien Blackguard, ward of Lord Henry Hera." I pause, before realizing that I should provide my rank and occupation, as was custom in this world. "Master Rainbow mage."

Suddenly, the entire Guildhall went dead quiet. Everyone, from the bar side and the quest board side, hushed up and turned to look at me. Eifa was the one to break the silence.

She smiled awkwardly before quickly returning my introduction. "Oh, hello. I am Eifa the Pincushion, Bow Paladin." She chuckled uncertainly before adding a question, "I'm sorry, did you say you were a Rainbow mage? And a Master already? How old are you, kid?"

I held up my right hand, gathering mana to perform a little demonstration spell I thought up a few weeks ago as a way to quickly prove what I said. I called it the rainbow gauntlet.

Fire engulfed my flesh, giving me third degree burns. Electricity did the same as it crackled between my fingers. Rocks and water are formed from the mana in the air and begin snaking across my forearms, tearing the skin open as it went. With a little imagination, Green magic can be used not just on plants, but also the very air itself, so I added razor sharp winds around my already heavily wounded arm, shredding it.

Shadows eat the open wounds, while light screws bore holes through to the bone beneath. I did all this in less than three seconds, enough for her and everyone watching to see a four year old completely demolish his own arm into bloody ribbons, before adding White magic to completely heal it all.

I let the gauntlet persist for a full minute, a devastating self harming move unable to do anything as I simply out healed it. "Yes. I am a Rainbow mage, and my last ranking test put me at Master. Though, that's only because I am four years old, so they wouldn't let me skip from Student to Royal."

There is a silence that follows. I hated everyone staring at me. I had a sudden urge to incinerate them, but I chose to remain calm. Luckily I did, because the whole guild surprised me when they began laughing and cheering. I heard things like "Wow! That kid's a genius!" and "Lord Hera found himself a good one there!"

It felt so foreign, but I was able to accurately recognize this as praise this time. It would seem my little display was actually impressive. To these people, at least.

Eifa looks amazed, too. She whistles. "Damn, kid. Well, what can I do for you?"

I smiled, reaching to my belt and pulling out a coin purse. "How much to buy your services for one day?"

I had thought it was a normal question, but apparently it was so weird she just had to slap me. "Hey! I'm an adventurer! I'm not for sale like some sort of… and aren't you too young to be asking for such things?"

I realized what happened, and bowed again with an apology. "I'm sorry, you misunderstand me." My cheeks were burning hot, with embarrassment and anger. Who accused a child of that? "I only meant, I want to pay for you to lead a lesson in the bow for a friend of mine. Just one lesson is all I'm asking for, as a birthday gift for her."

She looked flustered for a minute, and I was sure I didn't want to know what was going on through her weirdo head, before laughing. "Oh! I see! So you want to do something nice for your girl, then? Okay, okay," she closed her eyes and started nodding, as if approving of something. I was wondering what she meant by "my girl" when I clearly had said "friend".

"Wait!" She suddenly jumped up and then gave me an accusatory point of the index finger. "You said you're Lord Hera's ward, right! Is this for the upcoming birthday of Lady Emilia the Adorable!"

I frowned. "I've never heard that title before, but yes, it is for my friend Emilia."

She looked at me like it was for the first time, and very confusingly said, "This kid's got skills." She shook her head before slapping her cheeks and then looked back at me. "Okay, kid, you've won me over! For a one time lesson with a Lord's daughter, I usually charge four gold. However, since I like ya, I've decided to give you fifty percent off!"

I was so confused, though I guess I couldn't be upset. I had expected more pushback and bargaining, and had been planning to negotiate down to five gold max. What happened instead was she talked herself into agreeing after I barely said three sentences and then she gave me a discount of her own volition. I sighed as I accepted it.

"Okay. Let me give you the date and time," I said as I burned the letters and numbers onto a piece of parchment. "Ask for Bartleby at the gate and he'll escort you to the training grounds."

She smiled as I handed her the information and three gold, just because she made this so easy. "Also, I ask you to ignore me if you see me before then, especially if I'm with Emilia. If you approach, I will blast you unconscious."

She laughed as she said, "Good one!"

I didn't.

She slowly ceased her laughter.

I departed, feeling that that went pretty well. I stopped when I remembered, I never ate that steak.