"I'm sorry" Keru says somberly.
"It's alright, I had a feeling this was going to happen." says a female voice, laced in sadness.
"After ___________, I just wanna be alone for a bit" Keru replies
"Are you leaving? Are you gonna be alright?" Worry taints the girls's voice.
"Yeah... I think I'm gonna adventure for a bit. Try to pick my self up... make _________" Keru tries his best to sound hopeful.
"Please don't try to overdo it, I promised____________, I know that I'm not what you need right now. But no matter what, I'll always help if you ask." The voice responds pleadingly.
"Thanks... I'll be fine, I promise I won't do anything stupid hahaha" Using humor, Keru does his best to lighten the mood.
"…your still bad at lying" The voice immediately sees through his acting.
**
"Hey Keru!" Keru wakes up to find his companion in front of his bed staring at him.
"What?" Keru asks sleepily.
"Looks like your still beat from a few days ago, can't say it wasn't worth it though; it was really fun."
Using his unique bloodline magic, Keru had control over the domain of sleep. He could cause drowsiness and fatigue; or even put people to sleep instantly. Additionally, for his amusement a few days ago, he used his magic to give the adventurers nightmares that eventually caused their hearts to stop. Unfortunately aside from the mana cost, the use of his power would cause him to sleep for longer if he overused it.
"Yeah, yeah, so what's up?"
"Not much, just wanted to wake you since you said were planning to be a weirdo again today".
"Piss off, give me a few minutes to get ready."
After getting ready, the pair leave the inn and begin walk towards their destination. They had just arrived in the Efrend kingdom royal capital known as Pav the night before, they had travelled on horseback for the purpose of speed and only stopped to switch out horses at the different adventurers guilds.
"So what's the plan? Are you going to actually do something this time?"
"No, I just want watch for a bit."
"Weaaak!"
"Kehoda asshole, besides after my deal with your boss, doing "something" would probably cause problems."
"Wow, I'm disappointed, after you had a really fun idea a few days ago."
"..."
"You know if you keep this up, she'll probably want to hire you after you go; maybe have you oversee massacres or nightmares since you seem pretty good at it... or how about aiming for something higher like disasters or mayhem, that sounds pretty nice."
"Uhuh, I'll pass, managing anything is a drag. Just let me sleep."
"Lame, how can you switch to and from boring and interesting so fast."
"You know being inconsistent is probably something that falls under her territory, right?"
"Hmm... that's true."
"We're here, don't show yourself, me dressed up like this is already suspicious enough"
"Wow, no trust at all, it's almost like you think I'm irresponsible"
"It means a lot when even I feel like I'm more responsible than you"
"Hahaha, lookie she's here, her form looks pretty good too"
The pair are looking a group of knights training, in an open training area outside the royal capital. The knights wore platemail from head to toe and were practicing moving in the armor's full weight. The pair we're focused on a shorter knight who's armor was more slender and feminine. She was practicing using a mace, a weapon designed for armored opponents.
"Yeah, though she usually preferred using a rapier since we usually trained in unarmored combat at the academy"
"About that, why are they training heavy armor anyway, I thought their order focused mainly on light to medium armored fighting?"
"Mhm, but they probably want them to at least have some experience in using heavy armor since it has it's own unique advantages"
"That's true, I'd have to aim for the joints or the eyes if I had to fight a fully armored knight fairly"
"Exactly, without my bloodline magic I'd probably be screwed against a royal knight who isn't an idiot if it's just my gambeson and warpick. "
"Same here… by the way did you ever spar with her when you were in the academy?"
" Yeah, she had better footwork and distance management, I was really annoyed at myself since I could only beat her through the brute force and tricks."
"Huh, from what boss told me you were already pretty decent at fighting even before the deal, she must be really something then."
"Yeah, unlike a certain lucky idiot, she actually decided to consistently work hard with her talents" Keru said with a self-depreciating smile.
"Hahaha, humble as usual when you describe her… what magic does she use by the way? I've only ever seen them do physical training"
"She's a light element specialist with some healing magic."
"Huh, funny how you use dark element then"
"Yeah, I used to think that it meant we were incompatible. It's funny how dumb my way of thinking of was back then"
"Oh, does that mean you think your compatible now?"
"Maybe, but it doesn't really matter to be honest."
"Hmm, How so?"
"Aside from the consequences of the deal, I'm not really interested in getting back together in the first place"
"Kinda hard to believe when you keep coming back here just to see her."
"…She's the only one I have left, I don't... I want her to be safe."
"…"
"Pretty sad isn't it" Keru remarks self-deprecatingly as he looks with sad eyes to the training knight.
"…"
A few minutes pass.
"Let's go, this is enough for me" Keru finally decides.
"Hey Keru"
"Yeah?"
"I'm gonna hang out around here for a bit if you don't mind."
"Why?"
"I found the capital pretty interesting; I'll stick around for a bit and see the sights." Keru's companion looks at the knights training in the field when it says this.
"…Sure, just don't do anything stupid" Keru says with a genuine smile.
"Never have, anyway I'll yell in your head if something comes up".
"Alright, thanks by the way"
"No idea what you're talking about... what's my budget."
Keru wryly smiles and hands over a coin purse holding 30 pieces of silver.
"Ey this is pretty heavy, thanks"
"So what are you gonna call yourself by the way? We never decided on one since we met."
"Hmm, I'll think about it and see what sticks."
"Alright, I'll be leaving then, make sure you come out where no one's looking. It'll be pretty weird if someone appears out of thin air."
"Hahaha, don't worry, I'll just use the bloodline magic excuse."
"Huh why do I feel like that will cause headaches in the future haha"
"No worries, believe in the most trustworthy person you know".
"Sure, just this once, I'll see you around then."
"Take care, it would be funny but annoying if boss calls to tell me that you randomly died somewhere."
"Heh, that would be funny, I'll see what I can do".
Keru leaves, dispelling the dark magic he used to hide in the shadow of a tree.
After a few minutes, Keru's companion is about to leave when he sees a few of the nights walk towards Keru's hiding spot.
"Ohh what's this."
"Over here captain, this is where I sensed someone watching us"
"Hahaha, looks like even Keru's dark magic isn't perfect, wonder why."
"Good work, does it feel like the times before."
"Yes captain, it didn't feel malicious, same as the other times."
"Hmm…" the captain looks thoughtfully at the shadow of the tree where Keru was hiding.
"If I may captain, I'm not sure but I think I felt sadness leak out from that person's gaze this time."
"Huh? To even feel that depressed idiot's emotions, this must be bloodline magic, normal sensing magic wouldn't cut it. I was right for staying here, it looks like I'll really have some fun."
"If that's the case I don't think it's one of them but let's stay on guard. I'm thinking of having a conversation with our favorite audience member in the future".
"Well, there goes Keru's hobby, I should probably tell him, but it would be fun seeing how he would try to get out of that… hmm decisions hahaha"
Keru's companion begins walking away.
"They did say something interesting though, seems like their wary of some people, ah It looks like I get to go hunting hehe." A cruel smile forms.
"Captain! I just felt killing intent" The knight with sensing magic draws their sword.
"What!" Keru's companion freezes.
"Where!?" The captain follows suit and scans the surroundings however Keru's companion is still unperceivable.
"I… I don't know it suddenly just appeared and disappeared but it was definitely nearby."
"Hmm, if you with your blood magic can't find them, I doubt anyone else could. We should increase patrols now."
"I'm sorry captain"
"It's alright, head back quickly and tell everyone to stay on alert and use their sensing magic if they can, it looks like they might finally make a move."
The sensing knight leaves, leaving only the knight captain alone.
"Ughh that was close... bloodline magic, looks like this'll be a more of a pain then I thought, didn't know that the royal order had someone with that kind of sensing. I wonder what kind of personality the progenitor of that bloodline had, probably some paranoid asshole." Keru's companion thinks while making his way back towards the capital and hiding in an empty alley.
"Hmm, it's been a few days since I manifested physically, I should probably make the most of it. I'm terrible at planning, even more so than Keru, so to protect her I should stick to what I do best. If I burn down all the forests of weeds, I'll eventually burn the snakes hiding in them... probably"
In the alley, a hooded figure dressed in dark leather armor had suddenly materialized. Covering his face was a white mask that had a crying expression. At his waist were a pair of daggers, one was shaped like a spike while the other was single edged with a curve; both were used for stabbing and slashing, respectively. Behind the mask was a joyful smile and pair of pure black eyes.