The Harukian Chronicler

I could feel myself grow slightly embarra.s.sed by the words that I said, but everyone else seems to be enraptured by what I said; no one says anything for a second before the Merchant comes to. He doesn"t look too happy, lord he looked genuinely p.i.s.sed off by the gall that someone; let alone a half-demon, would talk back to him.

I do wonder though; did he try to pa.s.s her off as someone without Patrons on purpose, or was there something else going on. Staring down at the poor crying girl, I could see two names within the certain tab of her own soul;

Harish - Patron of War. Purview of War - Hunt - Exploration

Suran - Patron of Fire. Purview of Fire - Heat - Cooking

Even though she has two Patrons that appear to be relatively strong ones… they aren"t activated yet; which from the looks of it is due to the fact her Mana channels aren"t opened properly. This could be from many different reasons, but the best way to cure it would be to have someone with Mana Manipulation to go in and open the veins. No one seems to have been thinking properly on that day, and so she had to go through a bit of trouble.

Though as I think this through; the Merchant decides to stop standing there with his mouth hanging open;

"Look kid, I don"t know who you think you are, but only one person in this town has the eye that can see through anything. I know for a fact that you"re just bluffing." The merchant gave a look that one would surmise was of; a cat that caught the canary? Of course, this man must have an information network within every single town, but he is unable to know everything. It would be surprising if his information was able to update that easily. Laughable, really, how some people are able to delude themselves the way this one does.

I give my own smile and point to my father, standing next to me;

"Oh, I am sure; his name is Zekiel Turmen Handriel-Haruk. A demon that is married to Indra Fern Haruk, of the main branch family within this town." My fang filled smile grows a bit as my father adjusts his gla.s.ses and gives his own form of chuckle; "Both of whom, are my parents; glad to meet you, name"s Zeriq Tigrerias Haruk. Now if you could, please release the girl into our custody, you will be compensated." I give the man a sickly sweet smile; and I can tell that the man is not happy in the slightest.

My father walks up to the man at this point; and hands over a gold coin to him, smiling as one would suspect the intelligence officer of a court would;

"Here you go sir, and may I ask, how much for the other two? I"d be more than willing to take care of your stock." My father gives the man an appraising glance; his eye blazed with flame right next to mine. We duo of demons with eyes that can see through the fabric of the universe. It would cause any sane mortal man to lose every semblance of sanity that they once had. The merchant, for his part… relents and gives my father the face, allowing him to purchase all of the thralls, for a reasonable price I might add.

…

…

Well, not like I would be able to avoid it for too long anyway; as we bring the recently purchased thralls with us back to the main hall. My father gives the two men to the guard captain to do with as he will, while the girl comes with me to meet my mother. It"s almost surprising how surprised my mother was when I brought in a recently crying child into the room… I could have sworn if it wasn"t for the quick talking of my father, that I would have been beaten.

For her credit, my mother would not have been incorrect in the a.s.sumption that I was the cause of the crying of the poor girl; though I would prefer we talk before anything. Which as I sat the girl down at the table… I just remembered something that I hadn"t done… though my eye saw it already;

"Oh, I am rude… what"s your name sister?" I tilt my head as I look at her. The girl, poor thing, looked a bit surprised at me asking, before she tries to curl in on herself… giving me the feeling her name is a bit of a… hot topic for her. I sigh softly as I sit next to her on the bench; "It"s okay, I"m only three years of age. I won"t be able to harm someone four years older than me, though I will say, no one here is willing to cause you harm. You can feel safe, as we"re all family within this building." I smile at her with a hint of innocence.

The girl, takes in a deep breath, and in a craggy voice that could use some cold liquid in it; my eyes look to Nihlis who runs to get some water;

"My name"s Juniper… I don"t have a family name anymore since becoming a thrall.. so you can call me as such. I do apologize for being silent, it"s impudent for one as lowly and without as me to share a bench with my master." This poor girl, getting off the bench and kneeling on the floor like some slave… pretty much everyone in the room gave a small laugh as I quickly try to get her to stand up and stop that; she for her part is of course giving me a small look of… wait, am I being strange to you?

"Hey ehy, Juni; you don"t need to do that." I hurriedly try to tell her as she gives me this weird look, I am starting to get hurt by the weird looks people give me. "We"re all family here, meaning you are included." I smile as I turn to look to mother; "Well, that is of course if my mother here doesn"t mind letting us three boys have an older sister?" As I say this, my mother is pretty much instantly in front of the poor girl; and for her credit, she is able to take the full crushing hug.

As my mother gives the girl a full strength hug, letting Juni know that she is more than welcome in the family, and that she isn"t alone anymore… Juni starts to cry in the shoulder of the wonderful woman. Indra sits down on the bench and begins to pet the little head of Juniper; who is now letting out every tear she has been holding in for the longest of times.

Nihlis brings in a big tankard of water for Juni to drink, crawling on the bench before staring up at the red haired girl; his eyes sparkling as he stares. Then a large smile spreads on his face, patting her knee. Did I forget to mention, that Nihlis is quite the quiet type of child; it"s almost like he only says something when there is something that needs to be said…

"Big sis, you are pretty." The green eyed boy that is my youngest brother, Nihlis, of course knows how to say things that can get anyone to think of him as the cutest of babies. Though, I sigh softly as I am dragged off by my father to explain the series of events to my grandfather; of course, he would have the final say in the matter… but mother has quite the power over him. It"s funny how he is wrapped around his daughter"s finger.

…

…

Later that night, after explaining everything to my grandfather; and getting his permission for Juni to join the family as a branch member in the hall… she doesn"t have Death as a Patron, so she can"t be a main family. We have plans to call in the appraiser and mom"s mage friend, since she has Mana Manipulation; I could learn it if given time, but I need to slow things down a bit or people would get a bit suspicious. Though at the moment, I am doing the one thing that I have been doing with my father for the past year after everyone is asleep…

"Okay boy, you know how the pieces move, you should be able to beat me at some point." My father says, a chessboard in front of both of us; and here I am losing another game to him. I have been trying for a good year to beat my father, but he seems to be an unbeatable enigma when it comes to this game. My eyes just checking over every piece to see that I am thoroughly f.u.c.ked at this junction; so I just move a piece and let him win easily this time.

Since neither of us sleep, this has been the most entertaining thing he has ever been able to do for a long while; apparently Cieri"s Blessing is a rare ability for a demon, let alone a half-demon, to be born with. He has been the only demon he has ever met with the ability; so he has been alone at night. Now that he has me, I get to suffer through the teachings of this man until I am able to get my own place. Well, as soon as I am able to be trusted with a knife, then I can start doing something like that during the night as well…

"Sir Zekiel, young Zeri… are neither of you heading to bed?" Juniper walks into the room, her hair looking much better now that she has gotten a bath; and wearing a simple linen outfit for sleep; "It is quite late, and Ma"am Indra has fallen asleep with the other young lords already."

"Oh, we forgot to tell you about that." Father gives a chuckle, before explaining to Juni about Cieri"s Blessing, to which she gives a bit of a surprised expression, though she sits next to me and gives my horns a gentle rub;

"So you"re not able to sleep, that"s quite an amazing ability. You can do anything you want without growing tired, and can even become so strong." Juniper gives a radiant smile as she probably thinks of something; "I am greatful to you both… whatever you have need of me, do let me know. I"ll even be young Zeri"s bodyguard for life if he wishes." She gives a yawn before standing up and heading off to bed, Father walking her to her room… leaving me alone…

"So you are telling me that if I am able to work through this addiction s.h.i.t that I absorbed; then I can gain a powerful ability called Strength of Will that allows me to do… what?" I chat about mentally to the four people within the small mental area of mine;

["Yes, holder. Strength of Will is a trait that allows one to break through many mental blocks of magical or physical properties. It would be within your best interest to get this, but none could think of how to get you this."] Mala gives her answer as alwats; ["That is until you absorbed that Hrash-Flower addiction… luckily you were able to figure out how to make it so you only weakened hers instead of full on absorbing it."] I could feel like I was about to be throttled or lectured if things didn"t go according to plan.

Baal gives his two cents, breathing a little now… it"s quite surprising that every time I use the ability, he seems to get a bit better. Though I have only used it twice now…

"Well then, guess I"ll have to live with this for the time being… though I gained an ally from this; I will have to be more careful with how I walk around, at least for a bit." Thinking things over, I can at least get a few more years of subtle training done before I"d have to do anything physical… at least, that"s what I thought…

"So, my son, now that you have a good partner to train with… why don"t we start your training tomorrow. We"ll start with the basics." My father, I could feel his smile from behind me, and lord I gave a shudder at the thought of the h.e.l.l that he was going to put me through…

Lord save me…

End of Chapter 19