Chapter 25 - The Mire

Taking Viktor's hint, she began the process of removing the hearts to destroy them while keeping an eye on Camden. 

Fluffy did the same, only more obvious. He glared at the 'guard,' unblinking, while flicking his stubby tail about. 

"So, you're still learning?" Camden asked, his blonde, short hair nearly blending in with his pale skin. He began approaching Mana to help her, and as he moved closer to her, she peered at him trying to see what he was using. 

He too had bracelets, though his were red. Who exactly is this guy? If guards in smaller villages can't be in that position until 40, just who was he? 

"Yes," Mana replied, staying friendly. "How long have you been a guard?" 

"Quite a while, actually," he replied happily. "I travel a lot while I learn the ins and outs of the trade." Then he pulled his weapons out; claws. His hands were encased in a red metal, with claws protruding from the knuckles. "I forgot my dagger," he chucked lightly as he too went over to one of the many carcasses and started to remove the heart, using his weapon like an animal as he scraped away. 

It took the pair no more than 2 hours to finish the job in order to ensure the deer wouldn't come back. Camden, as promised, gave Mana the loot from each destroyed heart, which wasn't much since they were only deer. She managed to get 2 health potions and 2 stamina potions, each in their own, tiny vial. She gave them to Fluffy to store in the pack. 

"Now that we're done, it's about time we head back before anything else comes," Mana suggested, the blood from her kills becoming coagulated on her clothes. 

She was still only level 21, the 4 kills only giving her a combined total of 18,360 XP. She sighed, why couldn't it be easier to level? She thought to herself, taking a seat on the ground to rest. After the kills, it left her with 34,140 XP before she could level. 

"Don't expect a lot of experience grinding rotted deer kills," he told her, noticing her defeated demeanor as he walked over to join her. "They're good to practice on, though," he smiled at her, sitting down near her. 

"It was my first exercise," she smiled back at him as he plopped down. "Are you ready to go, though? The blood is a bit irritating to the skin," she joked. 

Camden looked down, as if deep in thought, a silence emitting between them, amplified by the quietness of the forest that surrounded them. 

They weren't far from the village, but they weren't in distance to be heard either. "Did we kill the deer too slowly?" she finally asked, breaking the deafening silence. The entire reason they were sent to kill the rotted beasts was to avoid attraction to the village; yet there were wolves attacking it now? 

"Sometimes things, as much as we try to avoid them, just happen. So, you take the new path, and work with what you have, and make the best of it, and hopefully you come out on top." 

Mana looked up at the sky, leaning back while supporting herself with her hands; her weapons still out. 

"What tier is your weapon?" He asked, almost nervously, as he studied them. 

"White," she said, holding a hand above her to marvel in its beauty; the statement almost calming him. "I'm only level 21, and I haven't had much luck at all lately." She lowered her hand back down before turning to him, "yours?" 

Without answering he stood up, taking a few steps forward before turning around to face her. "Have you ever heard of The Mire?" 

Fluffy barked softly, almost as a cat-like whisper. 

"The Mire?" She hadn't heard of it before, but whatever it was, Fluffy was warning her. He infused his paws, putting them into her back once more. 

"Look," he redirected, "you are a nice girl, and I understand needing to learn, trust me, that's the whole reason I got sent out here instead of someone higher up. Got to level somehow, right?" 

"I'm sorry?" Mana stood up, acting confused, but her muscles were ready. "What is The Mire, Camden?" she asked again, more directly. 

"When someone does something that a person hates, they hire someone from that faction," he began, getting cocky as he explained it. "You did something that someone, well, didn't like, so they paid us to..." Camden readied himself into a fighting stance, "...kill you;" It was obvious he had killed before. "I joined low but have since gained so many levels; and I'm loving it." 

"You really don't have to do this," Mana warned more than pleaded; he had no idea what he was about to get himself into. She only lied to get the info. 

"I've already been paid," he straightened back up for a moment. "Though, I guess I do owe you an explanation of who exactly hired me right?" 

"If I'm as nice as you say I am, then at least give me that honor?" 

He crossed his arms, "the same guild that your precious bodyguard is a part of," he mocked her. "And they paid very well, so I have absolutely no choice but to do this." He readied himself again. 

"I'll be honest with you Camden..." She began, readying her weapons as well, "you don't stand a chance." 

Camden huffed at her statement. "I'm 4 levels higher than you, bitch." He didn't take intimidation well. 

"Well, I knew from the beginning you were a fraud," she informed him with a smirk. "If you really were a guard, you would have been able to tell exactly what my weapons were because of the emblem they get." 

"What do you mean?" His tone had changed to uncertainty. 

Mana gave him a side-smile, "Sometimes things just happen. So, you work with what you have, and make the best of it, and hopefully you come out on top," she copied him. "This has been my life for the past, goddamn near 2 days. You are definitely NOT going to come out on top."