Chapter 34: Blue Blood

Tristan

November 30, 1786, Realm Timeline, Pressburg/Bratislava, The Slovakian Protectorate

Bohemian beer is the best...

Bitter and strong, the ale could have put a bull to sleep after a pint or two. For Tristan, it had only a mild intoxicating effect, and that only because his Constitution relaxed when he wanted to enjoy a drink. It was his third, and he decided to stop it there. He waved his hand to call the waitress.

"I can't!"

The strident voice attracted his attention to the table in the back. The serf hired by the Guild Mistress, the girl with the toddler, was talking to a short but stocky man with fish eyes and sleazy hair, wearing a coachman's uniform.

"Say your goodbyes tonight. We'll come for her in the morning."

No one else had paid attention to the conversation, and the overall noise made it hard to hear, except for someone with enhanced hearing, like Tristan.

"But I did all you asked," the girl said, kneading her hands.

"Except what matters. We don't want people to think the Ki... is not a man of his word."

The sounds after Ki have been barely a whisper. Opened lips letting out a faint exhale. There was reverence in the man's tone, and that first syllable Tristan heard could only mean one thing: The Kingling, the Rebel's nickname. Tristan got goosebumps.

"Anything else?" the waitress asked.

"Another one," Tristan said, changing his mind.

He had no idea what that was about, but was set to find out. Tristan's only weapon was his dagger, but at his level, it was more than enough. There was no Mana around the man; he was a Null.

The coachman said something again, but it was covered by the noise of the chair scraping against the floorboard. The ex-serf burst out of the room, her eyes filled with tears, almost bumping into another waitress carrying twelve mugs, who, despite that, managed to evade the impact.

The Coachman rolled his eyes and picked up his mug to finish it. Those two seconds were enough for Tristan to reach the table and sit down.

"I don't like company. Wipe it."

It meant 'scram' or 'go away' in Vlach, but the Universal Translator was still a work in progress.

"What do you want with the girl?" Tristan asked abruptly.

"None of your business."

Tristan put a gold coin on the table and flicked it forward.

"The other option is worse," he said.

The coachman gazed at Tristan for a second and lost the staring duel.

"You know her kid?" the man asked, pocketing the coin.

"I do."

"It's not hers. She stole it."

"From whom?"

"A noble family that wants the child back."

The words had been too fluent. A cover story, rehearsed. There was more to it, and a tavern was not the place to learn it. A dungeon with torture devices was, but that took time. Tristan unleashed his triple AOE, taking care the range was at the minimum. In front of him, the man froze, tried to gasp, brought his hand to the throat, then fell face down on the table, blood dripping out of his eyes and ears.

"Take a nap, you'll be fine in the morning," Tristan said, patting the coachman's shoulder with one hand while taking back his coin from his pocket with the other. He threw a silver thaler to the waitress and went out.

The guild was ten minutes away, if that. That was what most people said, but Tristan was not most people. He made five. The girl was already disappearing behind a corner, a parcel enveloped in a blanket tied to her chest, the child, another, wrapped in a bedsheet in hand, whatever luggage she managed to take in a hurry. Hastening, Tristan ran ahead, then turned and blocked her way.

"I know—" What you are doing was what Tristan wanted to say, but the words choked. He stepped back, his head pressed in a vice by invisible hands.

"Get. Out. Of. My. Way," the girl hissed.

She can use Mind Magic... I forgot...

Despite Tristan's Will being forty, it took every bit of it to resist.

"Stop it!" he yelled, struggling to push his hand forward. The girl instinctively turned her back on him to protect the child. Tristan patted her head, a move he had seen in a thing the Outworlder called an anime, which was supposed to be a calming gesture. "I want to help."

"You... want to help?" the girl asked.

"Yes. I've heard you talking with that man."

"But why?" she asked, rocking the little girl because she was twisting in her sleep. "You were mean to me."

You mean that time when you came to buy milk in the wrong place, and mercenaries were picking on you? I saved your life, you stupid peasant!

"I'm sorry for my attitude, but I really want to help," Tristan apologized. It was faster than arguing.

"Can you lend us some money?" the girl asked.

"Where do you want to go?"

"In Brno. I'll rent a room and take Lily to an Outworlder doctor. She's still sick."

Mechanically, Tristan touched the little girl's forehead with his index finger to check for a fever.

Unknown Curse detected.

A terrible suspicion went through Tristan's head, and she grabbed the girl by the arm.

"Who is she? Tell me the truth."

"Old Count Futak's granddaughter. I..." the girl swallowed a lump, her shoulders sagging. "My mom and I were serfs in one of Futak's sons' villages. They cared more for animals than for us. My little sister died of hunger. My mom hanged herself; she couldn't bear the pain. When the Kingling freed our village, he gathered us all and asked us to tell our stories, listening to us, one by one, no matter how long it took.

"He asked if I wanted revenge, and I said yes. He killed all the Futaks in the mansion, except Lily... he sent me to give it to the old man. Futak loved the girl... He—"

"Betrayed the Emperor for her."

"It's not Lily's fault," the girl said. "I couldn't give her away. Lily's so sweet... I... I..."

"You adopted her," Tristan said, knowing well the girl was projecting her love for her lost sister on Lily.

"Yes. When Futak tried to take her from me, I used Mind Magic and made him shoot himself. Please, can you let me go? It's cold outside, and—"

"Do you know what the Kingling does?" Tristan asked.

"He frees us," the girl said.

"He often sends sick people into towns to spread plagues. Do you think he cares about the girl? She's a blue blood; she deserves to die. That's how he thinks. If she's sick all the time, there's a curse on her."

"But she's just a kid..."

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Tristan patted her head again. "We're going back to the guild. I have a friend who can help."

"T-they'll come for us in the morning. Futak's family and the Kingling's man."

"I'll take care of them."

All of the sudden, Tristan felt fed up with his world. Incompetent nobles who were assigned to lead the troops only through their birth rights, and sent the knights to their deaths without any consideration.

Eliza was not much better... For the last few weeks, she had forbidden him to chase Tatars south of the Danube. There were still thousands in the wilds between Györ and Budapest. No explanation given.

"Come... What's your name?" he touched the girl's shoulder.

"Mariuka."

"Come, Mariuka. We shall ask my friends to take a look at Lily. You're really lucky they're in town, you know. There's nobody better at curses than them."

"You mean... The e-e-elves?" Mariuka jerked.

"Yes. Don't be afraid, they're... err... relatively good people." They promised to quit eating humans, anyway... That must count for something.

"You don't understand," Mariuka said, shaking. "I can't go back... I told them things."

"To the Kingling's people?"

"Yes. About the Outworlders. Sam, Penny, Liz. Where they like to go, when... They were so nice to me, and I betrayed them," she whispered.

"Don't worry, they'll understand. You're what, fourteen?"

The girl shook her head. "Sixteen."

Wow... Those nobles didn't feed them serfs much, did they?

After fondling her shoulder to comfort her, the girl followed him back into the building. Sam and Penny were in Vienna, and the team was taking advantage of that to throw a party, along with their guests, the elves.

On their way to the salon, Tristan's phone rang. Eliza had given him an old model, without the smart screen.

"Tristan, listen to me. I need you to come to my hotel and—"

"No can do, I'm busy," Tristan said, closing the call.

The phone rang for a second time. Tristan put it on silent and threw it in a garbage bin. He was not in the mood to speak to his Mistress now. There was a long line of notifications, and he ignored them as well.

"Hey, guys," he said once in the room, looking at Cedric and the Elves, who were smoking a thing they called weed while the rest were playing cards, a contest where the loser had to drink a shot. "Can you look at the little girl? I think she's cursed."

"That's interesting," the dark-haired elf rubbed his hands, like for good news.

His companion beckoned to Mariuka and began sniffing Lily's hair and skin. The other elf followed. It was a bit disturbing, so Tristan minded his business and went into a corner, finally inspecting his notification.

By refusing a direct order, you have broken the Vampiric Bond with your master. You have achieved a breakthrough to the Second Tier* and reached level 34. Your class has evolved into Dark Knight. You are now your own master.

Your Minion has been freed and has evolved into a Gunslinger Vampire.

+10 Will

+3 to all stats.

*At the Second tier, your stats are no longer compared to a normal human being. A Dark Knight is considered an evolved human (or your initial species). Their bodies can store and use more Mana. As such, each point in your Body and Spirit and stats is 2 times that of an average person. Applies retroactively.

Dark Knight... Excellent. No more masters. Fuck Eliza—not literally, of course, gosh, she's so ugly—fuck the Outworlders, the Emperor, the nobles, the Kingling, everyone. It's Tristan time.

In the past weeks, Tristan had invested all his points, here and there, mostly in Constitution and Endurance, and he also had gained attributes naturally. From the free points he had received for leveling up, he invested one in Strength and two in Knowledge because he was curious if there was any benefit, like instant information. The System must have interpreted his thoughts as an information request, since he received a notification.

The higher the Knowledge, the better you can remember anything you've heard or read, learn faster, and put together disparate information that belongs together.

I guess instant knowledge is asking too much.

Name: Tristan von Melk

Age: 22

Class: Dark Knight. The next evolution will occur at level 67.

Level: 34

Body

Strength: 35

Dexterity: 35

Constitution: 60

Agility: 30

Endurance: 60

Speed: 30

Mind

Intelligence: 33

Wisdom: 20

Perception: 23

Knowledge: 18

Focus: 20

Willpower: 40

Spirit

Arcane Power: 20

Darkness Potency: 28

Mana Affinity: 18

Mana Capacity: 28

Soul Resonance: 23

*Presence: 32

*Your Humanity stats have been replaced by Presence. Presence determines how much your skills affect others, breaking or bending mental resistances or even projecting various physical manifestations (TBD). A Dark Knight with zero Presence will cease to exist.

Skills:

Passives:

System Interface / Universal Translator / Mana Sense / Night Vision / Dark Toughness.

Combat:

Nocturnal: Your stats receive a 10% bonus at Night if you're in combat.

Dark Touch (fusioned with Mana Bleed): Siphon a reasonable part of the damage you deal to restore your Health and Mana.

Kill Streak: Each kill gives you a stacking plus 10% Endurance, as long as you kill another foe within twenty seconds. Can be applied up to 6 times. All stacks last as long as you are in combat if you maintain the rhythm.

Chekhov's Gun: You can make a gun fire by itself if you're within twenty feet of it. The bullet will find the most vulnerable target within a 100-foot radius and inflict critical damage. Exercise caution; this skill will not differentiate between friend and foe. An element of surprise, this skill will not work once you are already in combat.

Bloodlust, Vampiric Aura, and Killing Intent have been fused into The Dark. This ability is activated on command, unleashing an oppressive Aura of a maximum of fifty feet in diameter that is most effective against Shadow, Lightning, and Light magic. You can order the AOE to follow you or fix it to a place of your choice, as long as you remain within it. Firearms won't work within this AOE, and bullets fired from outside will be slowed to a stop at 3 feet. It can, if you will it so, apply a lesser variant of Dark Touch.

You have gained the skill: Bonded Mount. Instead of Thralls and Minions, you can bond with a mount of your choice.

Yey! That's perfect! Who needs Janosh when I can bond with Good Boy!

"Bubonic plague mixed with the flu," the Walking Curse elf said. He had approached without Tristan noticing.

"Sorry?"

"The girl was given a bubonic plague strain, mixed with the flu. The only reason the child didn't spread the disease is that the witch's aura restrained it. It's gone now."

"The aura?"

"The curse. It was effective, but crude."

The serf girl was all in tears, but smiling, rocking the toddler, who was trying to play with her locks. Isolde was making faces nearby, trying to amuse the child, who was nevertheless ignoring her.

"What are we going to do about the... You know... law?" Dorian asked. "Technically, this is kidnapping."

"I'm not going to give Lily away!" Mariuka yelled, and the toddler started to cry.

Pops arrived at the rescue, calming her by summoning an air pillow and making the girl float.

"They can come and live with us," Isolde said. "Mariuka and Lily will be the team's mascots."

"The guild is better suited for a young child," Max said. "We have to tell the truth to Penny. She's smart; she'll figure out a way."

"There's nothing to figure out. As soon as the Futaks arrive, I kill them, and we bury them in the basement," Tristan said.

"Or eat them," the white-haired elf said. "It will be the last time I eat human flesh, I promise."

"We curse them," the dark-haired elf said.

"Guys! Listen to yourself. I'm sorry to say, but any decision should be based first on the child's interest," Aldric said.

"I'm sure any court will see Lily's better off with Mariuka than with some slave owners," Isolde said.

"Of course!" Mariuka yelled.

"Boss?" Janosh asked, popping his head up from behind a couch. Tristan was sure he had slept on the floor.

"What?" Tristan snapped, annoyed that he had been interrupted during an important conversation.

"It says I'm no longer your minion..."

"Yeah, I got a new class. You're free."

"Err... Could I become... err... Eliza's minion, instead of you?"

"What? Why?"

"C'mon... She's so pretty," Janosh sighed.

"You're blind or something?" Tristan laughed. "She's anything but pretty."

"She's beautiful," Janosh retorted.

"Let's put it to a vote," Cedric said, and his slurred tongue showed he was all but drunk. "Who thinks Eliza is pretty?"

Cedric raised his hand first, followed by Janosh, Pops, Isolde, Max, and Dorian.

"A bit too skinny," Aldric said, with Mariuka nodding the next second.

"She's very flat," the dark-haired elf said, and his companion grunted in approval. "If only she would be this wide," he stretched his hands apart, about three feet, "she'd be perfect."

"Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder," Dorian said philosophically. "I think she has a discreet elegance, like Audrey Hepburn. For the connoisseurs."

"Whatever. You and Lily should go have some sleep," Tristan said to Mariuka. "I promise I won't let those fucked up Futaks take her."

"You want us to sleep alone?" Mariuka gasped. "What if they come for Lily, and break through the windows? I'll sleep here, with all of you, where it's safe."

"Don't be paranoid. We'll be nearby," Aldric said.

With heavy steps that showed she was not going to take no for an answer, the girl headed toward a couch and arranged a nook for herself and the toddler, pushing a few pillows around. In no time, they were both sound asleep.