The thugs surrounded Big Snout Gert.
"I’m sorry, mate. But we don’t have a choice."
"Yeah. It’s your idea to catch that girl anyway."
"Enough talking. Kill him before the high lord changes his mind." A thug said without any remorse.
Siderius turned his back to look at the last thug. He was different from the rest. A certain resolve was emanating from him. This man had guts.
Big Snout Gert looked up at his right hand man. The thug that always had his back. But now, he didn’t even hesitate to betray him. It was also him who picked up Siderius’ sword.
"Why, Kraus? I’ve always liked you..." Big Snout Gert spitted out his last words.
"I have told you before. This obsession is foolish." Kraus said. His cold eyes didn’t blink when he delivered the sword straight through Gert’s chest.
The other thugs followed suit and beat Gert to death.
Ashe turned her eyes away. She didn’t dare to look at the bloody scene.
"Finding yourself in trouble, I see." Siderius said.
"I’m sorry, master. They caught me."
"You should be sorry. We have a deal. You are my hands and feet. If my limbs are that useless, why should I need them?"
"I understand, Master. It won’t happen again."
Ashe dropped her head down. She was obviously ashamed. She failed her family for having no magic and now she failed Siderius.
Her heart wrenched and the deepest fear took over her. The fear of being abandoned. Again.
But Siderius lifted her chin up.
"The first lesson I taught you. Do you remember?"
"Yes, Master. Never show your weakness. Not even to your closest allies." Ashe said.
"Here is your second lesson. Never let your emotions take control of you. Not your sorrow, not your joy, not your pain.
Do not dwell in this failure."
Siderius’ eyes were so intense that it snapped Ashe out of her feelings. She nodded.
"Good. Now let’s go home."
Siderius helped her get up. They approached the thugs together.
Gert, or whatever was left of him, laid motionless on the floor, bloody and cold.
"Here’s your sword, high lord." Kraus lifted the sword with two hands.
The other thugs all dropped their heads down, avoiding Siderius’ gaze. They were terrified of him. Or more precisely, terrified of a magic user.
It was ironic that what Siderius used wasn’t even magic.
"Do not let me see you cause trouble again. You know the consequences."
All the thugs fell down on their knees and slammed their heads repeatedly on the floor.
"We will never do anything bad again!"
"Forgive us, my lord!"
Siderius said. "Clean this place up. Bury the body."
"Leave it to us, high lord!" Kraus shouted with all his being. Out of all of them, only him addressed Siderius correctly.
He and Ashe walked out of the inn. The two women from before also dropped to their knees.
"God be with you, high lord!" They said in unison.
The pair didn’t respond and they disappeared into the night.
On their way back, Siderius finally broke the silence.
"That commoner, Gert. He liked me. He always wanted to have me but I refused. Then today he took it a step further."
"I see. And the knife I asked of you."
"Luckily, I did manage to buy it, Master."
Ashe drew out a knife from behind her back.
"I bought this from a group of hunters. Well, retired hunters. This is one of their best knives."
Siderius took the knife and examined it. It had a thick and long blade, very durable. The handle was delicately wrapped in rope, providing a good grip for the user.
The knife was of much better quality than his silver-coated knife. It was still falling into the Weak Steel grade but it should be sufficient for him to use for a while.
"May I ask, Master?" Ashe said. Her fingers were rubbing on each other, showing her nervousness.
"Speak, my apprentice."
"The guy... Gert. Why did you kill him?"
"To avoid further troubles in the future. I don’t want you to get caught running my errands again."
"But he didn’t deserve to die."
"Really? Then what if he had raped you right then and there, would he deserve to die?"
Ashe freezed. She didn’t know what to say.
"Mercy is only necessary when it’s beneficial. Leaving him alive will only bring you more troubles. Today he led his friends and kidnapped you. Nobody intervened.
What if I wasn’t here?"
"But won’t killing him cause more trouble? His friends and his family will take revenge."
Siderius smiled. A smile that caused Ashe to shiver to the core.
"Then you just have to kill them all."
They were silent on their way back home. Before the pair left the inner walls of Mucktown, they saw a luxurious cart wheeled through the gate. Fresh chapters posted on novel·fiɾe·net
It was a fancy cart in red with dangling gold fabrics on the edges. It stopped slightly between the two guards at the gate.
The guards’ eyes lit up in joy.
"Master Beaumort! How was your trip today?"
"It was well, Danny. Here’s something for your contribution to the kingdom."
A hand reached out from the cart. It was covered in high-end silk with a puffed white animal fur on its rim. Five different gold rings on five fingers, each had a colored gem on it.
Thane flicked a shiny silver coin toward the guard.
"Share it with the boys, won’t ya, Danny?"
"Of course, Master Beaumort!"
One silver coin. That’s a hundred bronze coins. That single silver coin could feed a family for weeks. But Thane discarded it like nothing.
Siderius stared at the cart. He didn’t expect to see his previous employer so soon.
Thane allowed Lyara to chase after Snow. If he hadn’t been so eager to make a connection with a witch, Snow’s fate may have been different.
The assassin that killed River went into the circus and disappeared without a trace. He wouldn’t be able to do so without help.
Thane may not be directly linked with Snow’s misfortune. But he definitely had a role in it.
The circus boy had a good hunch. Siderius also thought that Thane was responsible. By going through him, Siderius could learn the truth.
Thane might also be a good source of money for Siderius. Wealth was always useful and instead of letting the ’Kind Man’ Thane use it all for his own desire, it would be much more useful for Siderius on his path of eternal life.
Siderius pulled his scarf closer, making sure his face was covered nicely. He kept his head down and walked past the cart with Ashe.
Thane, a fat man with a bald head, was sitting inside the cart with a slender beautiful woman. He looked out of the window and saw Siderius. A weird guard that covered his entire head with a scarf.
Thane shrugged his shoulders, keeping no mind about this ordinary encounter and going back to kissing his lover.
He didn’t see that Siderius’ pure black eyes stared at him with extreme conviction. A conviction of a murderer.
"Soon, Snow. Soon I will show them your wrath." Siderius mumbled, soothing the rage that was boiling inside him.
He was Snow and Snow was Siderius. They were one. And Siderius hated Thane for what he did to him.
The pair left Mucktown without trouble. The guards didn’t dare to interrupt Siderius this time.
"That man..." Ashe whispered.
"Thane Beaumort. My previous employer."
Ashe gazed upon Siderius’ silhouette. A lonely shadow with a half-scarf blowing in the cold wind of the night. Even here she could feel a sense of danger from him.
Ashe still couldn’t understand her master wholeheartedly. But she knew that he was not to be trifled with. She didn’t know what Beaumort had done to Siderius and she did not dare to imagine what her master would do to his enemies.