Chapter 47: Under the Surface

The five of them stared at him; they could feel his rage from where they stood.

"My name is Roger," the man that had attacked first said. He placed his sword down, leaning it against a wall.

"Sorry for attacking you, kid. We thought you had something to do with the pillar and the attacks," he said and walked to a chair, pulling it under him.

"I’m an adventurer and also a former noble from the house of Delap, so my full name is Roger Delap," he explained.

"You are a former noble?" Leon asked.

"Yeah, I left everything behind because I felt it was not for me at all," Roger replied.

"I see," Leon muttered.

"You are quite the kid. You managed to stand against all of us in a trapped position," Roger pointed out.

"He did not do anything to me," the bigger man said. He picked his axe and hung it on his shoulder. He had a cocky look on his face as he walked toward Leon.

He stretched out his hand to Leon. "But I have to admit, the kid is something else. I can see why everyone talks about you in town. My name is Barak."

Leon looked at the hand for a few seconds and then shook it. "People talk about me?" Leon asked, confused about that. He never knew about something like that.

"Haha? Of course people talk about you. Everyone knows about the kid adventurer who has been making waves all through the city," Roger explained.

"Someone at your age should not be capable of all you do. I’m sure you aren’t more than fifteen." Roger said, sizing Leon up with his eyes, and that was how old Leon looked.

"I am ten," Leon corrected him, and immediately everyone there froze.

Their eyes were pinned on him with utter disbelief.

Roger suddenly burst into wild laughter. He grabbed his stomach and laughed his heart off right there.

"Of course you are. You are simply the most absurd human I have ever seen. Ten, haha. When I was ten, I was chasing birds and running around."

"You can’t really be twelve, right?" the mage asked. She came close and looked at Leon. She was quite beautiful, with blonde hair and deep blue eyes. She could entrance anyone by merely looking at them. She looked to be roughly sixteen.

"Do not mind Kira. She is a magical prodigy, and she is attracted to unusual things," Roger explained.

Leon watched her as she walked around him and kept looking at him closely. He felt a bit uncomfortable but did not say anything about it.

"You cast spells so fast and move with the sword efficiently. You also look far bigger than your age," Kira analyzed.

"Kira, don’t scare the kid with your obsession," the lady with the scythe said. She stepped back and leaned against the wall while her scythe lay beside her. She had pale skin and black hair, eyes that could steal a soul easily.

"Tch." Kira clicked her tongue and stepped back.

"I am Sophia Relsword, daughter of a baron. My case is similar to that of Roger. Left home," she stated and said nothing else.

The last man walked forward. He stepped in front of Leon and looked him right in the eye.

"That flame attack you used, it looked like mine. How did you do that?" He asked while grabbing Leon by the collar. "How did you use my ability?"

"I’d like it if you let go of me, please. I’m not really a fan of being close to people," Leon explained.

The man’s eyes twitched. "What the hell are you saying? Kira was close to you only moments ago, and you said nothing," he barked.

’I’m guessing he is the hothead of the group,’ Leon thought.

"I choose who comes close, and I don’t want you close."

The man clicked his tongue and let go. "However you did that, I’m going to find a way to find out. You watch and see," he said and stepped back.

"Don’t pay him much mind. Mark is always a hothead. He’ll come around," Roger said.

"Tch." Mark clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes.

"So what are you guys? Or did you assemble to simply catch me?" Leon asked.

Roger chuckled.

"Gather all of us just for one kid?" He shook his head, still smiling. "That would be something. No, there is something else. Something deeper." He leaned forward slightly in the chair. "It has to do with the pillars."

Leon’s expression shifted immediately.

Roger saw it.

"You know something about them," Roger said, reading the look.

"Tell me what you know first," Leon said.

Roger looked at him for a moment and then sat back.

"I have been watching this city for a while now," he said. "And I noticed something that nobody else seemed to be paying attention to. Even when the pillar is inactive, even when the wave of attacks has stopped and everything looks normal, something is still happening." He paused. "Over the last few months, the undead in the forest have been increasing. The mutated monsters too. The numbers keep climbing even during the quiet periods. I believe the pillar is still doing something beneath the surface when it appears to be off."

Leon went very still.

"So even when it’s not active," he said, "it’s still causing damage."

"Yes," Roger confirmed. "Which is why we are here. While the city sends people to study the pillar itself and come back with nothing, we go into the forest. We kill the undead out there and we study them. We are trying to understand what is producing them and why."

He folded his arms.

"There is something else we noticed. The undead that come out during an active wave from the pillar, they degrade. Within a few days they break down entirely, dissolve into particles, nothing left to examine." He looked at Leon. "But the undead from the forest, they last. They hold together long after death. That gives us something we can actually work with."