"I wouldn't do that if I were you, young lady."
.
.
.
Eleanor was confused. The thug was not only not hurt by her attack, caught her punch like it was natural, and even caught Eleanor so she wouldn't be hurt when falling.
The thug made his way to the bed and put Eleanor down slowly, like handling a child. He moved away and got the chair, and put it down in front of the bed. Before sitting, he held the table up, trying to fix it.
Eleanor was stunned and embarrassed, but she stayed alarmed. Her identity was figured out by the thug, her brother might've been kidnapped, and the thug was surprisingly strong. She couldn't escape even if she tried.
She looked at the thug trying to fix the table; the thug scratched his head, and seemed to give up as he put his head down and sighed.
He stood up, walked over to the bed, and sat on the chair he had placed before.
"You should listen first before coming to a conclusion." His voice sounded in the room. He seemed a bit angry.
"...Well, I am listening now..." Eleanor said trying to plead ignorance.
The thug sighed again. He furrowed his eyebrows.
"In any case, don't make sporadic movements; you'll permanently ruin your body." The thug said with a concerned face; he raised his hand.
Eleanor was alarmed at the sudden movements, she tried to retort back but the thug caught her hand and handed him a potion.
The alchemy potion was a healing liquid made from science. It didn't have any extra properties; but since most people weren't mages, fighters, or priests, this type of potion was in very high demand. Most potions were cheap, only 5 silver. But the one in Elin's hand seemed quite expensive.
The bottle was made of glass, the size of a fist. The bottle was beautifully designed to perfectly fit in one's hand, with many intricate details etched in the glass. In the center of the etching, the word "Delight" was ingrained in beautiful calligraphy. The liquid inside was a deep crimson color. The opening of the glass bottle was sealed with a cork with wax on top.
Eleanor removed the wax, and tried to position her arms in a good position so that they wouldn't heal in a weird way. She still needed to hold a sword after all, so if it healed in an unsightly fashion it might ruin her future itself. Since both her arms were shattered, she seemed to have a hard time positioning them.
"Lay down, I'll help you", the thug spoke up.
Eleanor sent a glance at the man; she had many things to ask him. He wasn't fully trust-worthy yet. Eleanor saw the man; she was surprised; the man had a weird expression on his face. He seemed guiltier. Looking at his face, Eleanor obliged and lay down on the bed. He didn't seem to be someone who would hurt her right now.
The man put his hand on Elin's forehead, and used his other hand to make sure Eleanor was healed. He seemed to release his energy into Eleanor through his hand. Eleanor did not feel the energy coursing through her and attempt to fix his body.
"It's as I had assumed, I have become weak...very weak." Eleanor thought to herself annoyed at her current level of strength.
She remembered the times when she fell off balance while training with Alex, the time she slipped while fighting the goblins, her general amateur fight with the dark mage and the demon. If it were Rebecca, she wouldn't even be grazed by them. She also remembered the anger and shame she had been feeling lately, these feelings were somewhat unfamiliar to her, she hadn't felt anger in so long, and shame even longer than that, but she seemed to be losing her temper more recently. This was a concern, something was off.
However, it didn't matter how much concern she harbored now, she needed to be more careful, more stable; she needed to control her emotions more.
After a bit of time, the thug motioned Eleanor to drink the potion. Eleanor drank the potion and immediately felt her vitality being restored. She closed his eyes, and felt relief.
She could finally relax.
.
.
.
Eleanor stood up; the thug put out his hand and stopped Elin from standing up fully. Eleanor only stood up half way, she leaned against the wall. There was silence in the room. No words had been spoken.
"So, as you were saying, my brother…what about him?" Elin finally spoke up.
"I- well…you, you and your brother, have you been well?", the thug finally spoke up.
"…Yes, what about it? Feeling guilty that you didn't help us when we needed it the most or something?"
"…", the thug stood silent, he knew she was right even though she barely knew him.
"No, none of that matters to me, no, to us anymore. I will do what it takes so that my brother will be fine…" Eleanor seemed to want to continue-
"Look, it's not that I'm feeling guilty, or that I feel sad, as commoners we rarely get to say our opinion. When your father passed, many in this barony were sad, of course those who knew him were sad, but well those who didn't, well they wouldn't care. I'm not feeling guilty because I couldn't help but, well, because-" he stopped.
A brief silence followed. Eleanor seemed to want out of this conversation as she stood up from the bed, feeling more refreshed. She looked at the bloody silver armor, all the pain, suffering she had gone through just today, she brought her necklace up to it before she realized-
"How could he take off this armor? This armor is a divine object that is bound to me, how could someone like him take it off?" Eleanor became confused; she turned her head to look at the man, who was slouched on the seat.
She decided, it was a question for another day. The armor was sucked into the necklace, and after chanting the word again, it stuck to her body looking brand new.
"Don't tell anyone about this if you're still feel 'guilty' about it all."
"HAAAAAH", the man sighed, "You know what young miss, business secret. I'll keep quiet about this to everyone and you can keep quiet about this entire event, I'll take care of the rest", he seemed to let go of the deep seated guilt which had been gnawing him since the start of this conversation.
"That's an unfair bargain. If you want to do this that I want the ring." Elin pointed at the ring once more.
"That's not possible", the thug answered shrugging his shoulder.
Elin was silent at his audacity.
"So, let me get this straight. You know my real identity, and you don't want to negotiate even after I killed a fucking demon? A DEMON! Don't you want to make a deal with me?" Elin asked in an annoyed expression, he emphasized the 'demon' part once more.
"Look my lady, I don't really care about the money; I have enough of it."
"...With this type of accommodation, I'm honestly surprised."
The thug looked at Elin, perplexed. He sighed, and continued; not even trying to deny his words.
"Look, I want to make this a good, fair trade with you. Not that shitty 1 gold per month proposal bullshit. I ain't hurting on money that much. I, instead, want to make the trade with the warrior. So, work for me."
"Ew, why would I do that?"
"So, what? You expect to make enough money through the request board to pay your contractors? You think that shit is gonna pay you much?"
"I-"
Elin wanted to deny, but he was right. While the request board would be enough to pay the contractors enough for about 2 years, it wouldn't be sustainable enough. That was why Elin had more plans. The thug had no idea of Elin's plans so; he formulated a half-decent guess.
Still, Elin was stuck. This thug, the store owner was, in fact, quite rich. Making connections with him would be the best right now. But there was one problem, this man. Elin did not want to work under someone; he would rather be a free spirit.
"Well, 'work for me' is a bad way to put it. I guess, 'work with me' is the better choice of words."
"...Explain."
"You already know that this district is failing, and many people don't trust the baron's family; AKA your family; due to their recent situation any more. The major way this district earns money is through trade, which I do and is the reason you came to me with the proposal, I presume."
Elin nodded back.
"Well, I only handle the trade. The forest surrounding this district has been infested; infested with those monsters. I usually clear the path towards the major cities, since clearing the entire forest is quite expensive even with my money. And I have my own reasons too. Most of the requests on the board are mine anyways; so basically you can take the requests and also take my commission to clear the forest out. And, when I need to I'll send you off to other districts as an envoy so, you can make connections with the other districts too. Let's say the extra money is payback for not helping you guy till now."
Elin thought about the offer a bit more. From this offer, one of Elin's plans could be achieved in a more easy and organic fashion.
Originally, before Elin had found the necklace his plan mainly revolved around investments, and using her family's name to make connections with people outside the district. This would eventually and hopefully allow for the development of the districts and slowly remove the fear of running out of money. Elin knew this plan was full of holes when he came up with it, but for him at the moment it seemed to be the best outcome.
"That's a good deal; but envoy...you know I have a brother. Who's gonna take care of him?"
"Mmmm, I'll send someone over to check up on him from time to time then, besides taking care of you and him should've been my first priority since the late baron…"
"Then- no nothing continue"
The room was once again silent.
"It's a good deal, but I don't think it makes up for the life threatening fight I went through today" Elin hoped to get the ring once more.
The shop owner furrowed his eyes; he really didn't seem to like the idea of giving away the ring. He brought his hands to his forehead, and began massaging them.
"Ok...So, let me make you an acquaintance with the best blacksmith I know."
"A blacksmith? There's plenty in the district, I don't need to know of one."
"My lady, I know that. I handle the trade, so I know all the shop owners and shop inside this district. I also know that you know them too, so would I make a deal to make you an acquaintance with those mid to low-rate blacksmiths?"
"You know, unlike your face; you're quite smart."
"...I'll take it as a compliment...besides do you even know what that spear you use is?" He said pointing at the spear in Elin's hands.
"Do I need to know the origins of a weapon to use it?" Elin made a snarky comment.
"Of course not, but knowing so can greatly improve one's grasps of the weapon increasing their strength multiple folds. I didn't know I'd have to teach this to an expert level swordsman." The thug replied in a sarcastic tone, but his eyes seemed to hold some sorrows behind them.
He seemed overcome by his past. The thug seemed to be reminded of something; but he didn't seem to linger on that topic any longer.
"So, young lady I advise you to check out this blacksmith I am going to introduce you to. You won't regret it.", the thug continued as if he never had that melancholy look on his face.
"OK! Ok, I got it.", Elin replied back. Elin gave up on the ring...for now; he knew he would be able to get it someday.
"The thing about the demon will be kept a secret, it might make things messy. While the empire might send enforcements to stop the dark mages, simultaneously this place might attract more dark mages...it might heavily disrupt the peace in the area in a bad way..." the thug explained his reasoning for not mentioning demons.
"I understand." Elin nodded his head, although he felt something did not add up here.
After this small bickering, Elin was somewhat sure that this man was against black mages, and seemed to have some unfinished business with her late father, something he seemed to deeply regret, and was willing to help with.
A bit of thought later, Elin decided to reveal the information he knew about the demons and the mysterious things he found out to the thug...organically of course.
Their conversation continued as Elin described the tiniest details of the story to the owner. Elin told the owner about the method, the mysterious 'Miss Ve-', and the catalyst too. This information is too necessary for someone in this world to not know so, Elin told the owner about it in the most details.
"HAAAAA~~~", the owner sighed, "Is something like that even possible", he said with a grim face which showed deep disgust.
"Yes, it is. I saw it with my own eyes and even helped them..." Elin was angry at himself.
"Don't worry; I will get to the bottom of this. About this 'Miss Ve-' and I need to double check the warehouses for some suspicious materials...I will contact you when the time arises."
"Ok, I will need extra compensations though." Elin tried once again.
"My Lady, you're killing me here... Here take this", the man pulled out a pouch from thin air and threw it on Elin's hand. The pouch contained 30 more gold.
"The Tara festival is going to start soon, and I am already in the red cuz of you! So shut up and leave." The owner seemed to have lost it.
"Heh~"
Elin stood up from the bed and made his way towards the door.
"Don't tell my brother a thing about this and, about the 'travelling merchant'. Never." Elin turned his head as he spoke to the thug.
The thug sighed as he heard Elin out once more.
"Of course, partner...no my lady. This conversation shall be a secret between us." The thug laughed as he replied.
Elin put his hand on the door handle, about to leave.
"Francis. Don't forget it.", Francis formally introduced himself.
"Eleanor Von Russel. Same here." Elin replied with the same tone.
This conversation made Elin felt bitter. He had just gained a 60 gold profit, but at the same time he had lost the secrecy about his identity as Elin and the travelling merchant. For next time, he needed something to put an edge on him, something that would put him above Francis.
But, that was for the next time.
***
[Russel Estate]
Elin entered through his window. She chanted [Armor], and the armor was sucked into the necklace, she then took off her bandages, and organized her room first. She took out a box from a hidden corner of her room. She took off her clothes and stashed it in. Most of the clothes were torn or bloodied, so Eleanor contemplated on getting new ones.
She also needed to talk to the contractors and discuss the profit cuts too. But, that was for another day.
Eleanor changed into new clothes and went back out the window. She made it seem that she had gotten in through the gate, just in case. Although she was very tired, her identity had been found out by one person already and she did not want more people to find about it, especially her brother.
She was back.
The sun seemed to be just set. The sky was orange, and the birds could be seen going back to their nests.
Eleanor made her way to the training hall. It was late, but it was still early for Alex to stop training. She opened the door to the training hall. Alex was doing the strength consistency training. He was swinging the heavy wooden sword at the crude training dummy.
"...Nine hundred-", between long pauses in the slashes Alex would count the number of slashes.
Eleanor stood aside and leaned against the wall. She analyzed Alex's form, and strength. They were almost perfect.
Alex's leg was slightly off position, thus he would stumble after a couple of swings. After stumbling, his strength would be stronger than the previous one. It seemed Alex was holding his breath each time he swung his sword, so his face was very pale. He also closed his eyes when he struck the training dummy, so he would sometimes just miss his strikes slightly and have his sword graze the dummy instead. He seemed to be pushing himself. Watching Alex train so vigorously broke Eleanor's heart.
"Nine hundred and twenty..." Alex took a long breath; he saw something at the corner of his eyes.
It was Eleanor's dress. The sword in his hand fell, he ran towards Eleanor. He jumped at her intensely hugging his sister.
"You're back! You're back! I was so worried!!!"
"Yes, yes I'm back." Eleanor hugged her brother back.
Eleanor felt Alex's warm greeting and the genuine happiness. She ruffled up his hair as she tightened up her hug.
A huge wave of unknown emotions fell on Eleanor's shoulders.
If she hadn't been able to stop the demon, she wouldn't have been able to meet her brother again. Even worse, what if the demon hurt her brother? What if-
Eleanor stopped imagining. It was too painful. She had vowed to protect her brother, she couldn't doubt herself now! She steeled herself, she rubbed her teary eyes.
"Sister?" Alex asked confused.
"AH! It's nothing. Now, you need to finish your set. Today, I need to discuss some things with you today."
"Bu-But sister, I'm tired...I also want to know about your day. Can't we do it tomorrow?"
"No 'but's, today is a special day.", Eleanor steeled herself; she needed to pass off her knowledge to her brother.
Eleanor wanted to pass off her theoretical knowledge to Alex. He needed to know them to improve further. She made her way to the changing room, she needed to get another pair of clothes for Elin too, but that was for a bit later. She was back on her training clothes.
"Knowing the origins can help increase the strength of the weapon", Francis' voice rang in her head. It annoyed Eleanor a bit, but she felt a sense of familiarity with them. This familiarity made Eleanor more annoyed.
Alex finished his set after one thousand strikes and even improved his form with Eleanor's guidance.
"Sister, I'm ready!"
Eleanor stepped in front of Alex with her training sword. Alex felt a sudden change in the atmosphere, it was chilly. Although his senses were weak, he could feel the pressure emanating from his sister.
Eleanor made eye contact with Alex.
"Do you know what a sword master is?"