To find that the quests he got from the System correlated well with whatever happened lately was quite a … bless, to say the least. Liel had long since he believed in such a thing as blessing.
Just like this one. Even after he found out that Ruis Bagfort was the mage with a possible prowess who might be able to lift Melva Saunders' curse from Naomi's village, he couldn't do anything about it.
Naomi certainly expresses the dislike and disgust at the mage known to be a former prisoner. Liel himself, even when he could spare a little sympathy for the fellow former prisoner earlier, was no longer thinking so.
However, the wellbeing of the villagers was important to Naomi. She said to herself. He only did not know whether that would out weight her hate towards Ruis Bagfort who kidnapped, tortured, and killed children.
Liel would really like to ask her that, but he got a flash of warning from the System.
[No breach of information from the System allowed.]
So, after they watched the people beating Ruis Bagfort left in silence, Liel moved to close the distance.
The average-looking former prisoner was lying motionless on the ground, curling on himself with hands around his head. Liel couldn't see the barcode-shaped prison brand under his right eye, but he could see blood from his nose and lips, also some on his hands. There would be bruises and swollen parts – and broken bones, by the whimpers Ruis let out.
Uncaringly, Liel nudged him with the tip of his worn, dark brown ankle boots. "Are you dead?"
The whimper stopped, Ruis remained motionless.
"What are you doing? Let's get out of here. We'll still be in trouble if the city guards find us beating someone up. Even if he's a former prisoner who should be sent to hell straight away." Naomi said from behind him, having no intention to come closer to the murderer.
The law might be so, but he didn't see any city guards after Ruis Bagfort and all the ruckus that group of people made. They must have let it happen.
Instead, he seemed to remember something in the System. 'Let me see my inventory.'
A second later, the floating purplish screen showed what he got.
[Current Inventory.]
[Fallen War Boots.]
[Weightless Bag.]
[Soulmate's Tears.]
[2 Honest to God Candles.]
[Dominant's Rope.]
[Immovable Rod.]
[Lifeless Nail.]
'Damn, do I even have anything useful by now? All seems useless,' he thought to himself.
[Just like you.]
That was the System's kind comment.
'I know the boots and bag's functions, but what about the others?'
[Perhaps you should check yourself in case you develop an early sign for dementia.]
'Shut up and tell me about them.'
[Special Item – Weightless Bag: Store up to eight non-magical things.]
[Special Item – Soulmate's Tears: Give an ability for two users to sense the pair's negative emotions. Lasted until one spills the blood of the other.]
[Special Item – Honest to God Candle: Whoever is affected by the candle's light will be unable to tell nothing but the truth.]
'Oh, that one!'
[…]
'Give me the damn candle, fucker.'
[Drawing Honest to God Candle.]
In a glitch that appeared in front of him, a simple-looking purple candle dropped. He caught it with a deft hand, smirking to himself as he crouched before Ruis Bagfort.
"Hey, can you talk?" Liel asked again, accompanied with a not so gentle nudge of his worn boots.
Ruis grunted, shying away from him and curled into himself even further. Although, after almost a minute waiting impatiently, the former prisoner lifted his hands from his head, showing that – indeed – his face was uglier with blood from his nose and split lips.
Liel expected some teeth to fall down, but there wasn't.
Instead, Ruis wondered, "A-are they … go-gone?"
The red-eyed man nodded, making his white hair bopped in return. "Can you heal yourself?"
Ruis was silent again for a few seconds. But then, he craned his neck to peer at him. "Wh-what? You want– ugh … you wanna beat me too?"
Liel shrugged, finding that he actually did not care in the slightest. "Only if you give me a reason to."
The former prisoner tensed. Then, he pushed himself into a seating position. Tentatively, he looked around and found Naomi's glare behind Liel. "Ick!"
The red-eyed man scoffed, crossing his arm in front of his bare chest. "Heal yourself and we'll talk."
And so, Ruis Bagfort used healing magic to heal the effect of the beating. It looked like being beaten like a wild stray dog was not something new. In five minutes, the wound disappeared completely, leaving only a trail of blood on his skin and clothes.
"What do you want to talk about?"
He wondered how to light the candle, but it lit itself immediately. Setting it between him and Ruis Bagfort. The alley they were in was fairly dark, moreover so when the lights were flickering to shut.
"What's your name?" Liel asked the first question.
"Ruis Bagfort."
"Can you do magic?"
"Of course! I'm the best at my field."
"What is your field?"
"Healing and purifying magic. As you can see."
Liel nodded, taking his words in for consideration. "Can you lift a curse in an entire village?"
"Easy peasy."
"A dead mage's curse," the white-haired man added, waiting to see if he would react like Samir Higgins earlier. He leaned closer, making a fist by his side, ready to launch at his face if he needed to.
"I don't see why you need to point that out."
Liel smirked at that. What an arrogant scum. "Let's make a deal."
"A deal?"
"You lift the curse from the village and I will not give you over to the city guard."
"But, why do I need to fear that? As you can see, they're not chasing me."
"And yet, you want me to hide you from them. They are getting worse, right? They may kill you next, right?" Liel taunted, smirking even wider when the former prisoner stiffened, shoulders tensed at the correct guess.
"I'll lift it only if you can hide me, and guarantee that you'll protect me from everyone who wishes to attack me."
"Deal–"
"Wait!" It was Naomi's voice, hastily coming closer and standing tall beside Liel. "I don't want a murderer's help! Furthermore when you did that to children."
And this was when he knew the candle would be useful.
Therefore, Liel asked a question Naomi would like to hear the answer. "Did you enjoy all of those hideous things you do to children?"
"Yes!" Ruis Bagfort said without batting an eyelid. "Wait, I didn't mean to say that!"
Fucking hell.