Chapter 5: Chapter 3: The Beginning Arc

In a different location, a dark brown-haired, tanned man with a very bulky aspect, from large arms and wide shoulders, a relevant sturdy chest, and the muscles that spread through the entire body had finished a casual trade with another, but thinner one.

“There you go, hunter.” The figure grabbed the coins and turned to the road, heading to a different place to spend a tenth of what he had gained.

“Timothy.” The merchant voiced before giving him a chance to escape too far.

Unhappy from being stalled, the hunter turned around, meeting the smaller man who was taking proper care of his newly gained furs. “Do you need something?”

Without waiting long to reply, he smiled cheekily and conveyed. “Send my regards to the master.”

The man nodded without wasting another breath, returning his way to the road, storing a bunch of coins inside a little leather dark brown pouch. He tightened the two black cords of it and hid the entire thing inside a pocket on his vest as thieves were common.

 ‘Filthy rain... its been at it for weeks...’ Without an umbrella or anything proper to keep him safe from the falling drops, he kept walking devoid of emotion, seeking a place that could provide him with some warmth. After walking for quite a bit more, fully drenched, he passed by an alley.

“Hum?”

His feet returned some steps backward like a crab. Deep down, the man swore to himself that something peculiar sparkled in the corner of his eye as he walked past that spot. 

‘Was it my imagination?’ His feet took two more steps, eventually turning his direction and entering deeper within the dark alley, kicking the garbage to the side as he moved, finding a peculiar yet strange aura shining on top of a little girl’s body, at the end of it.

‘A child?’ He took some steps closer to the darkened silhouette, willing to inspect it further out of curiosity as unaware to him, sixteen days had passed since the youngster incident.

“To think I’d find such a weird thing in here.” The tall and strong-looking figure leaned downward, picking the girl up with one hand, placing her belly on his shoulder, leaving her feet towards his back.

‘She’s surprisingly light and skinny! How many days has she been out here?’ His eyes looked at the girl’s appearance, not finding much of importance, as the alley was too dark.

“I wonder if the master will be content...” The man grinned.

“In case he’s not... well, it may very well be the end of this kid.” The man started laughing while carrying her out of there. A long while later, he entered the base, after the use of a wagon and some hours’ long trip.

A loud voice approached his ears after he gave a proper explanation for the kid he carried in his arms.

“Are you serious, Timothy? Was this trash really using water magic? Weren’t your eyes playing tricks like the last time you were drunk? Or maybe you were feverish due to the rain?” The old man dressed in a silk blue robe, lengthy enough to touch the floor’s exquisite red carpet that contained a golden triangle in the middle of it. The man pointed at the rescued girl in doubt as she clearly looked like a vulgar unnamed peasant who remained fully covered under a sheet.

“Yes, master warmage. I’d never get your element wrong, not yours at least. I’m willing to bet my full wage on it,” the hunter started laughing cheerfully, causing the master to become furious.

“Are you trying to work for free? No different from a slave?” The senior glared at him, but the bulky one didn’t budge nor showed a sign of hesitation. Upset and with reason, he felt mocked by the underling’s explanation, knowing fully well that unnamed kids weren’t worth feeding or receiving attention. The best purpose, such children had, was to sell them in the market for some coins, granting them a certain gruesome lifestyle till the end of their times. If they looked capable of taking someone else’s eye, sending them to the army was also a viable option, usually for better rewards.

Depending on their looks, if they had rare ginger hair, it would increase the price for a lot, nobles would expend their pockets for such servants. Right after that tone, black, brown, and red, would also be quite valuable, unlike lighter tones, leaving those unwanted, as the country consisted mainly of dark-toned men. From a buyer’s perspective, this further correlated to the aspect of their skin, and this girl not only had wooly like fur on top of her head like sheep, but she also contained a very milky pigmentation similar to snow. It was so bad of a negotiation that the girl would need to pay the patron to, ironically, buy her.

“Fool! So be it! I accept that bet,” the master made a wrinkled expression together with an evil grin, indicating a long sofa where Timothy had placed her prior to this discussion.

After a few moments, the bulky one pulled the sheet from the feet to the head, leaving half of the face displayed all the way to the tip of the nose, leaving the hair hidden.

They looked at the girl together, who looked more dead than alive.

“You truly sure she used magic? You know peasants are clueless to the words, not to forget the intricate chants.”

The man’s lips moved while he shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know.”

This person was often called and known as a hunter, not one who partook in the ways of magic, but in other interesting aspects. Through his lifetime, the master cast a couple of spells in his presence, so to some extent, he was familiar with his affinity. Despite everything, Timothy added some words from what he saw earlier that day. “Maybe she learned a few words, even though the magic was working with her asleep.”

Like a volcano that had just erupted, the elder shouted loudly, causing his voice to reach the deep ends of the building halls and also the deepest possible of the man's eardrums. “What!? That’s impossible! No magic persists whilst one sleeps...”

Upon scratching his own beard a few times, he corrected himself. “Well... there are a couple of spells, but she’s way too young. I refuse to accept that!”

Timothy shrugged, raising his large shoulders, making the elder unpleased. “That may be so, master, but my eyes didn’t fool me. I saw what I saw. Either the master acknowledges it or not.”

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The old man stood on his ground, shaking his head to the sides softly, remaining silent, knowing fully well that to not be possible.

At his abnormal quietness, the bulky man crossed his arms, remembering something simple, “there’s also a chance someone felt pity and used it on her.”

The elder laughed and scorned him, following with harsh words, “there’s no one in this kingdom that would be that nice! To the point of wasting their mana! I’d believe it if they got the first time of the kid!”

Remembering the way he found her, the hunter clarified the elder of his hypothesis, “she had her pants up, so perhaps not...”

Annoyed from the defensive act of the underling, the elder looked at him in the eyes while thinking. ‘For this fool to be so persistent, it doesn’t sound like he rescued her just for the sake of saving. This idiot sometimes has the bad habit of picking similar rats from the street. I’d accept it if he said this time was the same, but... his attitude feels different...’ 

The old man removed the linen from above the girl that covered the rest to take a clearer look, getting startled momentarily, “This... what is that?” The old man pointed at her head with his left index finger, grabbing the linen with the other one.

“Hum? What about it?” Timothy stared at the sleeping one with indifference, neglecting her appearance as he didn’t care about it. Nonetheless, he muttered what was in sight, knowing the master wouldn’t let him go otherwise. “The hair?”

In a state of rage, the elder started shouting, louder and louder as it went. “I know what it is, you fool! I have eyes in my sockets! Old ones, but still working fine! The issue is this girl’s young, and that is white!”

Both palms directed at it, showing a displeased and weirded-out expression on his face, as he glanced annoyed at the sturdy man, who nodded silently.

With a calmer tone meant to entice the underling to understand his words and keep him concentrated, he resumed. “Listen closely, Timothy.”

The man fixed his posture as his back started hurting. “To age, to my extent, in this kingdom requires great wealth, power, and most importantly, health.”

“I guess...” He looked at the master from bottom to top, then around the living room, reminding himself of all his achievements and stories the elder would tell when in a good mood, or simply drunk. The white walls filled with expensive-looking paintings with silver and gold frames around them, gifts from higher-ups at times, bought with his vast fortune at others. Tables with the thinnest and finest refinements, with relics and maps on top of them. The rest of the place had high-quality furniture made of Bubinga wood, a very rare type, as it didn’t grow in many safe places.

Both of these items were costly and hard to procure, to such an extent that through an unnamed peasant’s entire life, they wouldn’t be able to buy a single one, much less use them as they were obnoxiously complex, and for greater purposes.

“You might not know this as you’re a filthy young adult, a brat at others...”

The hunter clicked his tongue, displeased at the wording, but didn’t voice a word against him, knowing that the master was simply superior, thus remaining silent.

“Humans die early, most around their forties and fifties, and their hair progressively changes into grizzled, eventually fully grey, and lastly, an ugly, ill-looking white.” The elder pointed at his own. “Look at it fool, I’m eighty years old and the kid’s one is filthy vivid like a freaking sheep, unlike mine!”

“Does that mean she’s older than you?”

Upon the infinite ridiculous observation of Timothy, the old man facepalmed lightly, pulling the skin of his eye bags downwards, causing the eyeballs to look bigger than usual, showing a bit of red below them. At this, he gave up on the whole subject, sighing, and accepting the brainpower of his underling.

Hunter was not particularly a dumb person. The young fellow just didn’t give many fucks about the entire thing, especially since he was terribly tired from the long trip. With the awkward silence, the man decided to break the ice. “It was pretty dark when I picked her up in the alley, so I didn’t quite notice it either. If it wasn’t for the blue glow...” With a lower tone almost inaudible, the man’s lips moved. “Nonetheless, I wouldn’t have cared.”

The old man sighed once more before waving his left hand vertically, like fanning him away. “Just… get the girls to take care of her. Staying in wet clothes will get her killed. Make sure they treat her properly and make them tell me if her forehead becomes hotter, usually with red cheeks.”

“Alright. I’ll go call a couple of youngsters then,” the muscular figure nodded before moving out of the room with large, heavy steps. On his back, he felt a familiar pressure causing a grin to appear on his lips as the old man raised his right hand, causing the robe, the medium-sized white hair, and similar colored long beard to shake.

“May the water spirit reign over this young soul, bathing her in divine powers. With this humble prayer, hoping to bolster this child’s health. This lowborn servant requests for the divine liquid to drop from heaven. Come forth undine and grant us a piece of your essence, tier 4 healing wave.”

A blue stream, very much like one found at a river’s spring, poured out of four blue magical circles in front of the man’s hand, falling on the girl, making her ankle, wrist, and bruises heal, returning the entire body scars and similarly damaged and burnt tissues to normal.

Once the entire aura dispersed, the man touched her figure in diverse sections, checking the outcome of the effects. As soon as he finished, a smug filled with pride of his prowess appeared shortly after. Normally, the magus wouldn’t have healed her, but there was something he wanted to make sure of due to her hair color.

‘The ancient tomes dictate that healing magic doesn’t have a positive effect on those who are evil, harming them greatly, exorcising their bodies out of this world.’

With his left hand, the old man checked her forehead, the cheeks, and then the neck, seeking feverish or similar symptoms. “Doesn’t seem to be sick, but the way she’s drenched shows at least some days under intense rain... what kind of water spell was active on this girl...”

He looked around, noticing the item he wanted was not close. “Too bad I wasn’t present, and not wise to waste a scroll on her either.” The elder turned around and left satisfied with a faint smile on his expression, looking forward to this little lady’s potential if she had any, which he remained unsure of.

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