The Sword and The Shadow

“You want to bring misfortune to Bloodhand?!” Hans was frightened out of his mind. For Leguna to say something like this early in the morning… He has to still be asleep!

“Yes,” Leguna nodded matter-of-factly, “I don’t care how much they damage Semralsin. They messed with me, so they will pay.”

“But… you already killed the people–,”

If he were honest, what happened yesterday bothered him.

“–Not enough.” The way Leguna saw it, the bandits’ lives were worth nothing compared to Eirinn’s fingers. The bumbling fools had to pay. It wasn’t just compensation for Eirinn’s loss, but payback for what they did to everyone else.

“What’s your plan?” Kurdak asked.

“Yes. Quick tell it’s insane. What’s he gonna do? Bloodhand has at least a thousand people and I heard their strongest is a high-order warrior! They aren’t people you can piss off!” Hans pleaded. He’d noticed Leguna respected Kurdak somewhat and believed things would go much better with Kurdak weighing in.

Leguna ignored him chomping down on a piece of meat.

“I’ll get rid of their leaders and the rest will crumble like sand.”

“But,” Kurdak said as he waved his hand, “If you only kill the leaders, the goons will still cause lots of trouble wherever they are. It won’t solve the problem at all!”

“Yes! Tell him it’s stupid. He’s just going to make enemies and make life hard for everyone else!” Hans pleaded.

“I’m not trying to solve anything to begin with,” Leguna shrugged, “I can’t kill them all, so I’ll just kill their leaders. I doing this to vent, not to clean up.”

“Really?” Kurdak was silent in thought for a few moments, which Hans took as him attempting to dissuade Leguna. He broke down when the hulk spoke again. “Need our help?”

Pffffffffffft! Hans covered the room in his beer. If he hadn’t been away from the table, they would be having soup for dinner that night.

Hey hey! Weren’t you going to talk him out of this? Why are you his accomplice now? Do you think this is all a bandit-hunting game? What are a few damage dealers like you going to do? You’ll be long worn out before you reach the boss! Are you kidding me?! He finally realized Kurdak wasn’t going to talk Leguna out of it and was just asking after his plans.

“Whoa, friend, it’s better if you don’t drink while walking. You’re practically drinking it through your nose! Also, it’ll be hard for others to clean up if you make a mess like that,” reminded Kurdak.

Hans felt a vein pop. But he couldn’t speak thanks to the beer, so he flailed wildly instead.

Leguna shook his head.”No need. It’s more convenient to go alone.”

“Okay. Just be careful. When are you going?” asked Kurdak. Hans’s face, however, was the picture of incredulity.

“Maybe this afternoon,” Leguna answered, “Wait here. Watch over Eirinn for me. I’ll be back in a month or so.”

“Alright,” Kurdak nodded.

“Oh, I also need you to check something out for me.”

Leguna then told Kurdak about the mysterious circumstances behind Cook’s death, the former tavern owner.

“I’ll look into it. I’ll have news when you return.”

Hans finally recovered, but the two were done so he could not say anymore. He looked at the two like they were insane.

……

Leguna put on a simple disguise and left that afternoon. He turned over every rock in the down in his search.

“Your leader, take me,” he ordered as he approached a pair chatting idly on a street corner. He had just seen a nearby stall owner hand them a few silvers reluctantly. He finally had his prey.

The two stared at him in surprise. His disguise changed his appearance significantly, but he still appeared about the same age.

What? You want to join our gang? Aren’t you a little too arrogant for that? You think you can just ask and the boss will see you? the pair thought.

“Where you from, brat?! Where’d you get the guts to be this arrogant before you hair’s even grown out?!” barked the taller of the two as he swung his palm at the brat’s face.

Leguna snatched the wrist and clamped on it slightly. The join creaked.

“Don’t waste my time. You might just live if you’re quick.”

“Aaaargh!” the goon cried.

“You wanna die?!” The shorter one drew a dagger and thrust it at Leguna’s belly.

I knew I should’ve pummeled them first.

Half an hour later, the bruised and swollen local boss knelt in front of Leguna, fear spilling out of his eyes. Leguna had learned his lessons and had just gone straight to pummeling the poor man the moment he saw him. His prey didn’t even know why he was being pureed. His subordinates came in with the kid and the brat immediately started beating him.

The other gang members couldn’t just sit by idly as their boss was beaten. The eight leapt at the brat, but were soon rolling on the floor picking up their their teeth. The boss finally realized this kid was not human, he was not something he could deal with. He moved to surrender, but the kid started pummeling him again before his knees even touched the ground. He would’ve been crippled already if not for his 5th-stratum strength.

Who told him to come kill me?! Which bastard was it! Kurd?! Roen?! Zino!? Motherf*cker! Where did they get the money?! He’s at least in the mid-order!

The pummeling stopped the moment he resigned himself to death, as if it knew.

“Where is Bloodhand’s headquarters?” the brat asked.

Beating up defenseless people was fun. Maybe he should do it some more.

“Huh?!”

He didn’t think this was why he was beaten. He wouldn’t have believed it if he were told so by his own mother.

“Tell me everything you know. If you don’t want to be beaten, that is.”

“This…”

“Sheesh.” Leguna rolled his shoulders and prepared to start again.

“I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you everything I know. Spare me, heavens above!”

“Is that all?” Leguna asked a few minutes later.

“That’s all I swear! Please, just make my end quick!”

He didn’t know why the little brat came to find him for these questions, he had no hope of living beyond today.

“Thanks!” Leguna nodded and turned to leave.

The man stared at the kid dazedly.

“Hey!” his mouth shouted before he knew what was happening.

“What?”

“You… you’re not you here to kill me?”

“Come on, if I wanted to kill you, I’d do it with a knife to your throat. Why would I waste my time beating you?” Leguna rolled his eyes, “Are you crazy? Do you want to die that badly?”

“Then why–”

“To ask questions of course. Now I know what I want, you’re free to go.”

“Then why did you beat me up? Can’t you just ask?” the man cried.

“It’s much faster. I can’t stand you guys, you’re always so stubborn…” Leguna muttered to himself as he left. He couldn’t be bothered to waste his words.

“Boss…” His men came over and looked at their boss’ blank face. Their boss aside, everyone was completely clueless. Everyone was still trying to figure out what was going on.

“Go find me a shrink. I think I need counseling…” muttered the boss.