Hero Scout

Slowly, Ellie shook her head.

"You are strong," she said simply. "You defeated the floor boss single-handedly, and Grand Master, we frankly feel as if you could have completed the entire dungeon faster by yourself than in a Raid team at all."

Ellie"s feet shifted, and she peered up at Dwargon who in turn gave her a thumbs up, then removed his helmet. Gone was the lush brown beard, now drenched in matted grey, matched with eyes surrounded in wrinkles far beyond the dwarves years.

But that smile spoke of hope.

"We want to stay behind. To help the younger adventurers train in the Rose Gate, and to grow strong. Strong enough we can stand beside you on our own two feet, strong enough that we can be proud to fight beside you against the evils of this world."

Kenji peered at the Sundrakes and Bloodhorns, equally determined with a fire in their eyes.

"Then let it be so. Ellie, I put you in charge of the Hero Guild while we are away," Kenji turned to leave but the sudden outcry forced him to pause.

"M-me? The leader - how - why?" Ellie said in a sudden state of panic.

"Because Almanac, Hoger and Violet are all coming with me. The Sun Elf Queen too, Arwen, anyone of sufficient power is coming and plenty of the regular adventurers too. We bringing a lot of firepowers, which made me worried about who to leave behind to see things continue here. It puts my heart at ease to know someone as trustworthy as our very own Raid team will be watching the Hero Guild"s back. If you have any questions, Violet will be leaving behind several of her attendants, they can help you through the day to day."

Waving Kenji got going, there was too much to do, and not enough time to do it.

"Ok! Everything will be great here while you"re away - no, I didn"t mean it like that! I just mean we will take really good care of everything!" Ellie bowed, raised her head, blushed, and bowed again.

Kenji nodded and entered the hallway beyond, to descend to the streets of Tariak. From there he took an old back road to a shabby stone wall that wrapt around an old creaking mansion. A n.o.ble"s estate once, yet the occupier had died in the siege, and now the lovely estate had fallen towards a secret purpose.

Arriving at a little gate, Kenji nocked twice. Paused. Knocked twice more, then slapped the wall.

"Who is it?" hissed a familiar tone.

"It"s Kenji, Scales. Pa.s.sword is "Potions before the boss fight means trouble ahead"."

The drawbar was pulled free from the other side, and the door swung open. Striding pa.s.sed the snake woman, Kenji searched the quart yard around the mansion to find several of the Headless Hunter Rogues prowling the grounds from the shadows.

"Good, stay on alert. What we do here is too important," Kenji muttered and strode on into the main building. Inside where yet more rogues, many sharpening their skills while others preferred to sharpen weapons.

"Pa.s.sword," a voice growled, claws appearing at Kenji"s throat.

"I didn"t see you come this time Kragg, well done," Kenji whispered. "The Golden Moon can only be used once per day, and Tenko used it to protect the Children."

The claws retracted, and Kragg stepped back into the darkroom he had come from.

"Have you been able to teach others how to hide like that?" Kenji asked of the darkness. Twin yellow orbs winked into life, a deep growl rumbling along with them.

"Some. Humans are not as foolish as I thought, while my pack has learned much in turn."

Peering at the rogues that threw knives, sharpened daggers, and fought Kenji wondered aloud.

"Are any of them werewolves then?"

Kragg chuckled. "Half."

Impressed, Kenji made a note and descended into the once n.o.ble"s bas.e.m.e.nt.

The torture equipment had been pushed against the walls, the spikes and chains, however, remained in use. Several men and women had their arms pulled wide within cages, a series of pullies, wooden tubes, and a rag resulting in the slight drip...drip...drip of water upon their heads.

"Report," Kenji muttered of the foul chamber, Jed detaching himself from a dark corner. Blind as a bat he didn"t seem to mind the gloom, even while one testee growled, and another panted heavily.

"Few have awakened a potential as a Dark Magician, but less have quit. I"m impressed," Jed said with barely suppressed anger, "I just wished more would prove fruitful."

"And the spells?"

"Wonderful, progress has come swiftly. Especially your idea to raise a persons body temperature. The Merchants brought back a spell called [Heat] from the Far King for a lordly sum, and we have successfully augmented it to appear within a body at range to become [Body Heat]."

A normal person might not understand why Jed cackled, or how serious a weapon such a spell could be. And that was the point, Kenji wanting it to be misunderstood and underestimated.

"Rename it, to [Death Curse] or something," because raising the internal body temperature quickly would shut down their critical organs in seconds. People of this world wouldn"t know the difference between simple temperature change and death magic, and Kenji wanted to provoke fear if this spell had to be put into use.

"I"ll make a note of that. [Store fireball] is also coming along well, although it requires the user to have a basic level of either the [Arcane] or [Enchanting] skills. The Elves had proven good at it, the rest of us less so. Still, able to store an explosive spell in objects would be useful-"

"Prepare to store it in live creatures as well," Kenji muttered, Jed, halting in his tracks.

"A suicide spell?"

"No. We could use druidic magic to control pigeons for example, then have them detonate on any targets like homing missiles."

"You want to call it [Homing Missile] than, eh? Fine, I"ll add it to the list. A list that keeps getting bigger mind you. Developing new magic takes an exceptional amount of time and resources, perhaps it would be best if we focus on a more select range in future?"

"Jed, magic is a resource like any other. Once you know these things are possible, they have come quickly, right? It"s about trying more than the difficulty, and when the time comes we have to fight demons, monsters and who knows what else...I think you can agree with me that we want our a.r.s.enal to be ready for any eventuality."

As Jed went to respond a scream tore through the dark, and a girl opened eyes shining with dark light. The rag above her smouldered with [Dark Flame] before the magic ceased and the girl went limp. Servants hurried out of the dark to pry open her cage and set her free, awakening her with smelling salts to then stand on her own two feet.

"Another success," grinned Jed. "And a slot for another candidate."

"Are you having any trouble recruiting?"

"Not at all. Our other projects too, every "inst.i.tute" needs not take but a leisurely stroll before finding those desperate to do more. The Fae enchantments suppressed the memories of that b.l.o.o.d.y siege certainly, but they always resurface. Now that the enchanters have started to charge for their services, many are wanting to find other ways to cope."

"And this...is what they choose?" Kenji rose an eyebrow at the dark, while the werewolf who had awakened a dark magicians cloak from a peg on the wall and was led upstairs.

"Of course. They choose power, something that gives them control. They want to fight, because fighting makes them feel they are making a difference. To stand still and do nothing? They destroys them far more than alcohol, drugs or hedonism ever could."

Nodding grim, Kenji turned away.

"Carry on, I have a few more Inst.i.tutes to inspect before leaving. I leave the Dark Magicians in your hands."

"As you wish, Grand Master..." turning back around with sightless eyes, Jed shuffled over to meet a powerfully build man descending the stairs. "Welcome to your first day of training. Let"s get you the dark elixirs, and then you can be strapped in."