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Chapter 64

We waited for the knights and servants to finish cleaning up the mess. This included burning all of the bodies. Dead bodies could attract more sagebeasts to an area. It was the knights, and by extension, the mercenaries, official job to keep down the local sagebeast populations so that these areas were safe for mortals to live in. This is ultimately what happened to the remaining goblins that had attacked the Tanner household all of those years ago, although I had never come into direct contact with that particular extermination squad, and Tanner had likely laid low for his reasons.

I noticed that neither of the Blanche siblings seemed to concern themselves with getting involved in the cleanup. They left the duties of cleaning up, burning the dead, and packaging up their carriage to the knights and servants. Even though the women had just been stripped naked and possibly more and were still shaking with trauma, they had no choice but to put on a new dress and get to work. It seemed unfair to me, but I quickly saw the clear divide between the noble class and what this guy Tyler liked to call peasants. I didn’t complain about it as long as they didn’t decide I was one of them.

While the peasants were hard at work, Erika was attempting to engage Mara in conversations. She seemed someone excited to see another girl only a few years younger than her and was eagerly grilling her for information. To Mara’s credit, she answered with short and vague questions, even though it irritated Erika a bit. Still, Erika’s sociability seemed to be wearing down some of the walls that Mara had up since her family died. At least, she started to speak more, and even occasionally flashed a smile. I supposed that was the power of socialization with peers, something I couldn’t provide her.

As for Tyler, he seemed to possess no desire to speak to me or form some kind of comradery. That suited me just fine. I was more comfortable in silence anyway. Furthermore, I had many things to contemplate. After our battle, I was trying to think about how to improve my skills. I knew that my strength transcended the level I used. My biggest limiting factor was my inexperience. With my various skills, I knew I could become more effective.

Other than that, I also made sure to cover up my tracks. I didn’t want to be found out for lying, so I made sure to covertly alter the battlefield to support the idea that a sagebeast appeared and started killing indiscriminately. I created tracks and turned stab wounds into bitemarks. If they looked closer at the scene, they might be able to tell the deception, but they were all traumatized and afraid of the sagebeast returning, so they were moving quickly without properly surveying the scene.

“You’re already on your way to becoming a paragon.” I overheard Erika speaking. “You can likely already learn magic if you’re willing.”

“Really? Magic?” Mara seemed uncertain, glancing in my direction.

“You shouldn’t get her hopes up,” Tyler spoke up from where he was leaning against the carriage. “You need to understand arithmetic and language to learn magic. After all, magical theory uses magical language.”

“That’s true…” Erika looked a bit unhappy. “It would be best if you knew how to read.”

“I-I know how to read,” Mara confessed, looking slightly ashamed.

“Hmph…” Tyler grunted, but it was clear by his expression that he had his doubts.

“I can!” Mara looked unhappy.

“Of course, I’m sure you can!” Erika encouraged her, shooting her brother a glare. “Ah, I know, I have something for you.”

She ran back to the carriage and started going through the bags, undoing some of the work the knights were in the process of doing. A moment later, she returned with a book in her hand. She handed it to Mara.

“This is a book on magic. If you can read it, you might start learning.”

“Th-thank you.”

Mara took the book carefully, and it looked like she had some tears in her eyes. Her mother and father had an extensive library, but she didn’t think to take any of the books before I burned the entire place down. They were likely all ash now.

“Sir, my lady, we’re done.” One of the knights bowed his head as he finished closing the bag she just opened.

“Ah… y-yes…” Erika looked somewhat embarrassed and a little reluctant.

“You can follow us in your cart… as long as you can keep up, our presence will give you some protection,” Tyler spoke to me for the first time since we had started waiting. “Sister, we need to move now. The blood may attract more sagebeasts.”

“Right.” She nodded but then looked back at Mara. “W-would you prefer to ride in the carriage with me? It’s nicer. Ah… not that this cart isn’t nice, but I have cushions and…”

“Sister, is that appropriate?” Tyle frowned as he attached the horses to the carriage.

“Enough, brother! She is my guest. I can invite her where I want. This isn’t Arcford. Who are we trying to impress?” Erika looked a bit angry, her face slightly red before she turned back to her. “Ah, that’s if it’s okay with you.”

Mara looked over at me, and for the first time in a while, I saw her looking at me hopefully. It had been a long time since I had last seen her spoiled side.

“Do as you want,” I responded, looking away.

I had almost forgotten she had a cute side to her.  She had been all but silent since we started our journey, and I had cut off contact with her before that and gone silent for some time before that. Either way, if Erika could bring back a bit of the lite that had left her eyes, I didn’t mind so much.

“You can ride in the back.” Tyler glared at me. “We’re not going to drive your cart for you.”

He helped his sister into the carriage and then jumped up to the front and took the reins. The other knights had procured horses to ride along either side, while the servants had no choice but to sit on a seat along the back of the carriage or run along the side. Truly, being a peasant in this world was unfortunate.

I got the old Tanner horse moving, and my cart followed after their carriage. Although he had talked about losing me, I found he moved quite slowly. His carriage had better shock absorption than the cart, but he seemed determined to not disturb his sister in the slightest, so he moved at a relative snail’s pace. I didn’t care. I had been riding our horse hard since we had left the farm, and I supposed it was good to give him a rest.

We traveled for the rest of the day without a break. When it was time to eat, the servants had to fetch food from the back prepare it in movement, and then provide it to the knights and the people in the carriage. I was confident Erika would make sure Mara ate something. I didn’t need to eat and I didn’t need a break, so it was no problem for me.

Finally, as the sun was starting to set, they found a clearing and pulled off the main path. Once they parked, the knights started to establish a perimeter, putting up warning alarms and preparing for a knight out. I pulled the cart up next to the carriage, and the door to the carriage opened and Mara popped out. I was surprised to see her smiling as she ran to me.

“Spirit! Spirit! Look, look what I can do?” She lifted her hand. “Fier!”

Little flickers of fire came up from her fingertips. It was so subtle that had the sun not been setting, it might have been hard to see at all. After a second of concentration, the flickers of light stopped and she started panting, sweat running down her forehead.

“Already?” Tyler seemed shocked, freezing in place as he saw what she did.

Erika stepped out of the carriage, a smug expression on her face. “She ate up everything I taught her. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone else with so much talent. If she came to the academy, she might even be able to be picked by one of his disciples like me.”

“Spirit, if I learned magic, I might be able to… to help…” A flicker of sadness and regret appeared across her face.

I didn’t need to see that expression to know what she was thinking though. She was wondering if she knew magic, would she have been able to protect her mom and father? If she learned it now, would it give her the strength to get the vengeance she craved? At the end of the day, these were still the things that consumed the majority of her mind.