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Chapter 48

When I ran away from home, it was no secret that I had joined a gang for a while. In the gang, I beat people, sold drugs, robbed stores, and vandalized countless homes. I had seen the rotten side of society, where women sold their bodies for money, and men murdered each other over a pair of shoes. Yet, despite all my years, I had never felt quite as unsettled as I had over the threats aimed at the Tanner family.

Maybe, it was because I knew the Tanner family personally. Maybe, it was because Knight Swallow was part of a rich society. He had power and money, yet he still chose to do despicable things with them. At least everyone in the gangs came from broken homes and lived in poverty. What was his excuse? Whatever the reason, I wanted Knight Swallow dead. There was no way he’d touch Carolina or Mara.

“I can send him to the pond, but I can’t make him step in,” Tanner spoke nervously. “Are you sure you can get him?”

I made bubbles. I was certain I could deal with this guy. After all, he was merely a Champion. To mortals, they may seem like grand heroes, but to me, he was just trash that hadn’t been taken out yet. It was true I had never fought a human at his level, but I had the confidence that I could take him out.

Tanner nodded. “People at his level often have death talismans. If he dies, information will be sent to his next of kin. The talisman also puts an undetectable mark on the killer. They will be able to track down the one who killed him. This is why I’m asking you. You were able to hide your tribulation, can you also hide this?”

I hesitated for a second. He still believed it had been my tribulation that had led to the investigation last year. He felt I had somehow subverted their techniques. The truth was that I never had to, because it was a kingfish that had gone through tribulation, and it had died before it even finished it. This is why the woman who had visited hadn’t bothered to follow up. She knew what level the tribulation was, and since the damage didn’t match, she could only conclude it died in the process, which was true.

However, I still had L Form Switching. When someone detected my mana signature, I could swap it out, thus losing their tracking. I believe this skill would also apply to this so-called talisman. I finally created bubbles, causing him to noticeably relax.

“I was hoping you’d say that.” Tanner let out a breath.” Then, I will send my wife and daughter away. If things go badly and you fail to kill him, I will take him out myself. If that means we have to go on the run again, so be it.”

I squirted water, trying to assure him that such a thing wouldn’t happen.

He chuckled. “You don’t want us to leave? I’m touched.”

He seemed to misunderstand, but I decided it wasn’t worth correcting him. He gave me one last nod before turning away. He headed off toward his farmhouse. A short time later, he pulled the straw bed around. He looked like he was checking some things, but my senses could determine that Carolina was sneaking into the carriage with Mara, both hidden in cloaks. I thought that their actions seemed a bit paranoid, but when I spread my senses further, I noticed a young boy watching the farm.

Knight Swallow was more despicable than I imagined. He had tasked that foolish boy Markus to run surveillance on the farm. He was just a kid, so he wasn’t doing a good job of hiding it. Fortunately, Tanner had been more cautious than me and had noticed they were under surveillance. Tanner acted casually as his family hid in the back of the cart, carefully placed in a way that the clueless Markus couldn’t see it. I couldn’t help but sweat a little as I thought of how badly that could have ended up. It turned out that this Knight didn’t mess around.

He took the cart away and then returned on foot. Perhaps, had Markus been anything but a kid, he would have noticed this was suspicious, but he likely didn’t know the extent of what his paragon idol was doing. Considering he planned to deflower the girl Markus was pursuing, I rather hoped he was clueless. Then again, I already didn’t think much of this kid. I wondered how much Mara knew about the situation, and how she’d react if she knew her precious Markus was helping ruin her.

Thankfully, Mara’s father was mildly competent, and I was also around. I waited until night fell. There was a somber atmosphere. Most days and nights passed quickly for me, but as I waited for the Knight to arrive, time seemed to slow to the point it was almost like back when I was human.

I could hear the clopping of large hoofs on the rocky path long before I could see the knight coming down the road on his horse, a lone lantern lighting his path. He moved lazily and lethargically, his face red with alcohol, and a self-satisfied expression on his face. He stopped just short of the Tanner property and then looked down at a bush. Markus jumped out of the bush and stood at attention, doing all but saluting to the man.

I couldn’t hear their conversation. Perhaps, he had done something to block it. However, after the boy gave his report, there was a flash of silver. The boy exclaimed excitedly as the knight told him to get lost. He barely noticed the disrespect as he ran off, completely unaware that he had just sold out the entire Tanner household. Knight Swallow, continued his swagger to the Tanner house. He knocked on the door with heavy thuds.

“Yes?” Tanner opened the door, an unhappy expression on his face that he didn’t have to go to too much effort to fake.

“I’ve come for my… hospitality.” Knight Swallow spoke with a slur. “Move aside, unless you like to watch.”

“Th-they’re down by the pond right now.” Tanner declared, looking off in my direction.

Knight Swallow frowned, grabbing the hilt of his sword. “Are you trying to play games with me? Do you have any idea what I’m capable of?”

“I know too well,” Tanner responded. “They’re merely bathing. I thought you would want them clean. Our women on the farms, they don’t have baths as frequently as city girls…”

He made a face. “I suppose, that’s for the best.”

“They’ll return in just a few minutes if you’d like to wait.” Tanner declared.

I tensed slightly. That hadn’t been in the script. If Knight Swallow agreed, then wouldn’t we be screwed? Thankfully, after a second of thinking about it, a lewd expression appeared on his face.

“I think I’ll go greet them myself.” Knight Swallow chuckled. “You don’t need to wait up.”

A flash of anger appeared on Tanner’s face, but he said nothing as he nodded. Knight Swallow turned away and started heading in my direction. I splashed a little bit of water, giving the impression someone was swimming in the pond at night.

“Hello, my sweets… are you ready for your uncle?” He let out a soft, lewd chuckle as he approached the shore, looking for the girls.

Another step, and he’d be in the pool, but he didn’t take it. Instead, when he didn’t see what he was looking for, a frown appeared on his face. It didn’t matter though. I had prepared for this. Slowly, a form rose from the water. It was a woman, and that woman was in the identical likeness of Carolina. She was naked, except her hair was covering her chest strategically.

This was my Mimic ability. I used it to mimic a human being. This was the first time I tried this ability to fool someone. I hoped it worked. Although my cells formed a perfect likeness of Carolina, that was where the similarities ended. If one looked closely at the mimic, they’d noticed that I was a little bit younger than the real Carolina. This was because she hadn’t entered my pond in a long time, and my last clear inspections of her body had been years prior.

However, that wasn’t the only thing off. My mimic had no impulse to blink. I had tried blinking naturally, but that seemed to look more unnatural than not blinking at all, so I had left her without the ability to blink. Her hair and upper body outside of the water also didn’t appear wet. She was already made of water, so she couldn’t become wet. Finally, her upper body was all that there was, and this part bobbed on the surface of the pool. When it was calm, there was nothing to notice, but when there were waves, her upper body would float up and down with the waves, no more or less going under the water.

If you were paying attention to all these signs, then my mimic looked particularly uncanny. One would be able to know that something was wrong. Thankfully, this foolish knight decided to go and drink before arriving. He squinted at Carolina lewdly for a moment but then frowned.

“Where is the girl?” He demanded.

That was the one flaw in my plan. I could only create half of one of them with my current number of cells. I was only mimicking Carolina’s chest and face. There was no way I could do two people at the time. I was hoping his drunken horniness would have caused him to forget about her, but it turns out a terrible person couldn’t be swayed from being terrible. I’d need to begin plan B.