I waited for Zaion before leaving. There was another brief visit where Zaion checked in on Paige to see how she was before we returned back to the manor. With very little else to do, we headed back towards home.

  We got maybe five blocks from the guildhouse before I noticed we were being followed. I’d mostly caught them because they weren’t trying too hard to be stealthy. I stalled a little to check out something in a shop window. Zaion humored me and made some small talk that I tried to care about but really couldn’t get invested in. Dirt wasn’t that interesting to me.

  I wasn’t trying to be obvious with my looking, so I probably missed someone, but I saw three people who were hanging back and trying their best to blend in. Since it was three guys whose armor and kit screamed ‘sneaky adventurer gear’ I felt a little more at ease. I did a more obvious look around and saw a woman paying close attention to us too, but if there was something more dangerous I wasn’t seeing it.

  “Zaion, how ready are you for a fight?” I said as we started walking again. I tried to keep my voice low so it couldn’t be overheard, but it’d be hard to guarantee it without Deacon’s sound barriers.

  “Eager.” He responded and I looked down and saw the cork already off of the jug I knew contained water from the river. “I have many tests I could perform with my new acquisitions.”

  There was a pause as I stopped, giving him a raised eyebrow, “You okay?”

  He gave a soft sigh, “I am rather annoyed with myself for not being there to assist in their second incident, that is all. I am eager to, as the saying goes, vent my frustration.”

  We started walking again and I found the alley I’d been looking for. I’d been consulting my Map and it was a narrow one that lead to a courtyard used for deliveries. There was a larger exit in the direction we’d originally been going, so it wouldn’t look too weird to be going in there. When we got to the large space, I saw a plethora of empty boxes and couple of ladders leaned haphazardly against the wall, cans of paint resting near them.

  I tugged Zaion towards a stack of boxes and hid so we weren’t visible from the entrance. I flicked through my traits and reactivated Monstrous Force, figuring it was as good a time as any to test it out. I considered using Juggernaut’s Charge as well… but then I remembered I had another option on hand…

  We didn’t have to wait long as four people came running to the lip of the alleyway into the wider courtyard. “Where’d they go?” One of the men said.

  “They probably noticed us and ran off, we might be able to catch up if we hurry!” Another said as he started sprinting towards the other end of the courtyard.

  “Come on, we just have to rough the elf up a bit. Don’t know who the girl is, but we should probably rough her up as well.” The woman with them said. I heard a soft smack, “And keep it in your pants and act like the professionals we’re paid to be.”

  There was a muffled apology and I couldn’t help but look at Zaion in confusion mouthing, ‘Are they serious?’ He shrugged.

  I waited until I heard them near the center of the courtyard and then activated my new spell for the first time.

  Gravity Field

  Increase the gravity in an area. Gravity field is equal in size to Mana Control divided by 2 meters squared. Strength of gravity is increased by Mana Power divided by 10. User may choose targets to be excluded from the field.

  I excluded myself and Zaion from the field, and was actually surprised when I went to cast it and found I could in fact get most of the alley within it. But, I also felt the mana cost would be fairly steep, so I reduced it so it so the field would only cover near them. I got to watch as a force seemed to hit them from above and bring them to their knees.

  I stepped out from behind the boxes and walked over towards them. I’d changed using Personal Armory, wearing my new brigandine and greaves now. I had the little Shadebolt Wand in one hand and the warhammer I’d picked up a while ago in the other. “Now, Zaion. I don’t know about you, but I’m a little concerned about people following me.”

  “It is troublesome.” Zaion said, nodding as he watched the three that had been caught by the spell struggle to stand. The fourth had stopped just before the exit to the alley, eyes wide as he saw what was going on.

  I pointed at him, “I’ll ask you, since you’re not currently struggling to breath.” I looked at the three who were caught in the spell and they had all fallen completely to the ground now, visibly struggling. I tried and found I could adjust it on the fly, but it was more mana draining away at a steady rate. “Why are you following us?”

  He looked between me and then his associates on the ground. Wetting is lips with his tongue, I could almost watch the gears turning in his brain as he tried to figure the situation out. “We were hired.”

  “By who?” I asked, twirling the warhammer in way I hoped looked effortless.

  “Jason David. We were supposed to deliver a message to him.” The guy nodded at Zaion.

  “What was the message?” I asked, letting the head of the hammer hit the ground with a satisfying crack from built up momentum.

  That seemed to rattle him a little, but he pointed at the three in the spell. “She’s got the letter.”

  I looked over at the people trapped in the gravity field and sighed. Walking over, I reached down and started to rummage through the woman’s pockets, pulling out a folded sheet of paper from the same pouch as she stored her crystals. “I’ll be taking this.”

  As I was moving, three things happened at once.

  First, I felt as the Gravity Field cut out. It was like an option on a screen just blinked out of existence.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Second, the man who hadn’t been caught in the spell rushed at Zaion, daggers drawn. He was moving fast enough I thought it might be skill or trait related. In response, Zaion had already threw out the water from the river and shooting it at the man as projectiles.

  Third, the woman who I’d just taken the letter from finished some kind of spell and knocked me away from them and into a stack of wooden crates. I tumbled head over ass and scrambled to get back to a standing position.

  By the time I did, the two men I’d had pinned down were rushing me. Luckily, I’d kept ahold of both of my weapons. I didn’t use either of them at first, instead kicking partially destroyed wooden crates at my sudden assailants. One jumped over it, but the other got tangled and fell to the ground face first.

  The remaining one had a sword as opposed to the daggers the others had. I tried to parry with the warhammer, but he just adjusted his grip and used the leverage he had to control my weapon. He pointed it down to the ground and opened his mouth to say something.

  I stuck the tip of the wand in his mouth and triggered the Shadowbolt spell.

  I did not know what I had expected, but his head literally exploding in gore had not been it. I thought that was supposed to be a weak spell! I thought as I staggered backward, the body dropping to the ground. The woman had screamed a name out, likely mourning her friend, but the other man scrambled to his feet and charged at me.

  My hammer swung out, but he ducked under it and slashed at my thigh with one dagger while the other knocked the wand out of my hand. I managed to step back to avoid the first and whipped the hammer at him again. He was knocked upside the head by the shaft in a blow that still knocked him back, leaving him sprawled on the ground.

  I started to move towards the woman, but I realized soon that Zaion had her taken care of. Her head was currently surrounded in a globe of water that she was desperately clawing at. I saw the slight sheen that depicted it as the river water still and tried not to think of how awful that death was going to be.

  I looked at the man who was struggling to stand, “Want to surrender? There’s no real need to die here, man.”

  “You just killed my friends you bitch!” He yelled and charged forward with two daggers out. He swung the first at my face, which caught the bridge of my nose as I jerked my head back. The other I felt get intercepted by the brigadine.

  Rather than retreat, I stepped into him and dropped the warhammer. I put both my hands on his shoulders and got to watch his eyes widen as I sprung up and rammed my forehead into his nose. He stumbled back and dropped one of his daggers to clutch at his nose in pain. I followed it up by ducking under a wild swipe and sweeping at his knees.

  There was a crack and it was then I remembered, I’d put on the greaves. As I stood back up, I winced as I saw bone coming out of his shin. I must have missed my target, even if it did bring him down. Walking over, I kicked his dagger out of reach and looked over at the woman. “Zaion, keep her alive!”

  I watched the water recede from the woman’s head and zoom back over to the mage’s jug. The woman collapsed, coughing and screaming in pain. I went over to check on her and the skin around her face was bright red with a rash and her eyes were squeezed shut as she rolled around covering them.

  I took the moment to catch my breath and looked over at my elven friend. I caught sight of the first man he’d taken care of and there were some pretty large holes blown out of him. “Zaion… I think we both need to learn to deal with problems less lethally.”

  “Perhaps, though I feel little remorse for anyone who pulls a knife of me.” He said simply, walking over to join me. “What do you intend?”

  I considered it. Do I get the guards? Deacon was the one who talked our way out of this last time. I looked down and realized I’d forgotten where the letter had gone in the confusion. Walking over to get it from the tangle of boxes, I took a look at it.

  Follow the elf. If you can, convince him to stay uninvolved. If you have to bribe him, you’ll be remibursed. If you have to take his ears, no one will miss him.

  I whistled lightly. “I don’t know about you, Zaion, but I’m pretty sure I just saved two of their lives.” I showed him the letter.

  His expression grew dark. “I would have sought the writer out. And with how easily they gave Jason’s name…”

  “Pretty sure this is bait.” I sighed, and looked at the two lackey, the woman had stopped screaming but she’d begun scratching at her face and it was bleeding. “Think they were adventurers?”

  “Almost certainly.” Zaion walked over to the man whose leg was now definitively broken. “Well, what is your rank?”

  “Fuck you!” The man said.

  Zaion conjured water out of the air around the man’s head. He started panicking, starting to claw at the water uselessly. I started to object but he held up a finger. “His lungs are fine. He just thinks he’s drowning.”

  That… almost seemed worse. Note to self: Do not piss Zaion off. I watched as he waterboarded the man, relieved when he cut the spell off after ten seconds.

  “Again, what is your adventurer rank?” Zaion said in his usual placid tone.

  “T-t-t-tier one.” The man stuttered out, trying to slide himself away from Zaion.

  “And your still alive friend?” He nodded over at the woman who had curled in on herself.

  “P-please don’t kill her!” He managed to get out, panicking.

  “What is her rank?” Zaion asked again, summoning a ball of water over his hand.

  “TWO! She’s tier two!” He cried out. I was pretty sure by the smell that he’d just pissed himself.

  Zaion turned to look at me, “It is your decision. It would be simpler to kill them both.”

  I ran my hand through my hair as I considered it. Killing them would stop them from coming after us later. It’d be easier too, and give me experience. But… It didn’t feel right.

  “Turn them in. The letter should be enough to prove we weren’t the ones who started it.” I sighed, “Even if this is likely to cause problems later, I don’t feel right killing people for no reason.”

  Zaion nodded, “I agree with your assessment.”

  I started for one of the alley entrances is, “Alright, so I guess I’ll go get the guard and…”

  There were two sudden ‘cracks’ that echoed through the courtyard. I turned and saw that both the man and woman had been shot in the head with one of Zaion’s water projectiles. They were both dead in moments. “Zaion! What the fuck?!”

  Zaion leaned down and grabbed the woman’s pouch that I’d pulled the letter out of. It was full of crystals, I knew that, but also likely had her adventurer badge inside. “While I applaud your desire not to kill, I do not have such qualms. And neither would they, had we been less skilled.”

  “They weren’t even talking about killing us…” I said, helplessly.

  “The letter suggests removing my ears, Danielle.” Zaion said, his tone gaining weight as he turned to look at me. “I am aware you do not know why that is so offensive, but it is often a practice by those who do not appreciate my kind.”

  I felt my face twist in disgust at the thought and looked at the letter Zaion was putting back into the woman’s pouch. “I’m starting to hate this world.”

  “Then get the power to change it. It is what my shaman always said.” Zaion said simply. He looked around at the bodies. “I hate to ask, but can you store those? We may wish to turn them in to the guild as well.”

  I sighed, slumping but walking over to the dead bodies. “Only because you asked nicely.” With a little help from him, I started piling the dead bodies into my Spatial Closet again, turning it into more of a Spatial Morgue. I hate how used to this I’m getting.