"That will be two silver pieces young man" a bald blacksmith said as he handed me a pair of finely crafted daggers
I took them and sheathed them at my waist before handing over the silver that I had on me. I then walked out and sighed.
It's been a few days and I couldn't find a trace of anyone from the village. Despite being in the capital city of Melromarc I still couldn't pin down any of the soldiers that had raided the village. The whole situation was making me angry and I didn't even know what the thing was that attacked the village.
However, now that I had these daggers I could switch to ninja and skulk around the place to finally get information. I had also heard talk about the local church getting prepared to do some sort of ritual in the future.
I scowled, ever since the Dragonsong war any religious body put a bad taste in my mouth. I decided that I would watch to see what this ceremony was about when it came time to do it.
"Dad! Who's that strange person over there, the one with the cape!" A child said excitedly and I turned around seeing through my headwrap
The man and child were walking up to me with a pace that said that I was going to talk to them if they caught me.
"Excuse me, sir" the man said but I turned and walked away
Now was not the time to be distracted. I quickly made a few turns then went into a back alley where I grabbed my new daggers and focused on my ninja soulstone. Once the light faded I still had my outfit on but my vambraces were replaced with gloves. I then used my own aether to cast a simple hiding mudra and placed myself against the wall in the shadows.
The man and child walked into the alley and looked around. I took my time and walked away, keeping to the side of the streets. Eventually I came across a carnival tent and heard something metal fall. Deciding to sate my curiosity I skulked my way into the tent and saw walls of cages with creatures and demi humans in them.
Despite being angry I was relieved that my warrior of light luck hadn't quite left me. I started walking around passing several cages with demihumans in them. Eventually I came across a pudgy man in a top hat and coat.
"That last batch we sold went for quite a bit, yes sir!" The man said to himself as I perched myself nearby on a cage "Especially that weasel girl, too bad she probably won't survive this owner heh heh heh" he finished and I smirked
I dropped down behind him as I drew my daggers. I wrapped my arm around his neck and put the point of my daggers at his neck just hard enough to draw a small amount of blood.
"Thank you for that little bit of information, now if you would be so kind as to tell me where this weaselle girl was sold off too?" I said in a tone that has made the most stalwart knights shake at the knees
"My my, you're a feisty customer, I can't really tell you since that would be bad for my reputation, yes sir!" He said it with an excited tone and I clenched my teeth.
"Your reputation will be even worse should you not give me what I want, let's just say everything you have worked for will be lost with a snap of my fingers" I said bluffing, I knew that my word held no weight here but I could try to use the bluff to make it seem I was important
"Well when you put it that way there's no way I can possibly refuse! Though my services come with a cost, yes sir!" He said and I held my dagger closer "It's nothing to much I assure you, you see, the man that bought the slave girl routinely beats and tortures his slaves, and that's bad for business since all my slaves are bought up i don't get the reputation of providing good quality slaves, so if you could give them a push in the right direction then I shall call this even yes sir!"
I growled an agreement and backed away. I then left the tent and started walking down the streets drawing the attention of a few residents. I ignored them and started making my way to the man who abused the slaves.
The journey would take me a few weeks to get there just by walking but I currently had no money to facilitate a faster means of travel. As I went about my journey I had leveled up to level thirty, again leveling not super high on my priority list as I wanted to find the villagers first.
Eventually I arrived at the nobles town. Just by looking at the area I felt my anger rise. I simply shook my head and cast my hide mudra and started walking towards the gates. Once I got to the gates I looked around and saw a section of broken stone that I then quietly climbed to the top.
I then jumped down to the other side of the wall and kept walking. I eventually came across an Obelisk and just being next to it gave me a bad vibe. Ignoring it, I walked around just inspecting the place when I walked down a staircase and ended up in a dungeon.
I walked past the cells and slowly felt my anger rise. That's when I came across a cell with a small white haired girl laying down. The moment I saw her I knew it was Rifana. I crouched down and quietly picked the lock. The cell door swung open and I walked in and gently checked Rifana's pulse.
It was weak, almost nonexistent. I looked to the wall and saw a chain leading to her person. I pulled out my knives and slashed at the chain breaking it. I then scooped Rifana up into my arms and made my way out of the dungeon.
I skulked my way to the gate where I had to put Rifana down. I then walked up to the gate and dropped my hide and shouted.
"Open the gates the master wishes to be rid of the slave's corpse!"
The knights at the gate turned around and eyed me. I knew they probably didn't believe me but I had to try. I was about ready to start attacking when they just shrugged and opened the gate.
I breathed a sigh of relief, picked Rifana up and carried her out all the while the guards watched. They probably didn't want to be bothered and a slave's death probably wasn't uncommon here.
I quickly moved to a small woodline and set Rifana down. I then pulled a small branch with several leaves and sighed as I focused on my white mage class. Feeling my aether surround me and change my appearance I looked at Rifana and willed my own personal Aether through the branch I was holding as I cast a healing spell.
I felt my aether rush out of me and into Rifana, causing my vision to blur and my limbs to give out. I collapsed next to the young girl as I heard her cough violently as she looked around.
"W-Where am I…?" She asked and I forced myself to a sitting position against a tree "W-Who are you…!?"
" Easy Rifana, it's just me, Erebus" I said slowly as almost every ounce of my Aether was used in that healing spell
As soon as I said that, Rifana moved next to me and leaned against me and started crying. I just put an arm around her and held her as her sobs racked her thin body.
"Come on, let's get out of here" I said as I stood up and picked her up
I then carried her away from the town and to a small area where I had made camp the night before. I quickly made a large meal for Rifana who looked like she was starving, then pulled out some herbs that had some medical properties. Using what experience I had from the Alchemy guild back in Eorzea I made a concoction that I knew would deal with illnesses and give a small amount of strength back to the drinker, however it would all depend on the amount of Aether the person had so I had no clue if it would even work.
"Here, drink this, it should help" I said as I handed Rifana the small vial of dark green liquid
Rifana then hesitantly drank the liquid and she smiled. Just by looking at her I could tell it had some effect. I just didn't know what, or if it was even what I was hoping for.
"Let me know how you feel, okay" I said as I continued making more medicine which was more like tea made with medical herbs
Just looking at the medicinal tea made me cringe. I could hear the guild now…
'You call that medicine? That's nothing more than hot leaf juice, your patient would be seeing the halls of Thal before it even got close to taking effect on the body! Use your damn alembic and create something worthy of being labeled 'medicine''
I groaned knowing it was the truth. But after looking at Rifana who seemed to be sleeping contently with a full stomach and at least some sort of medicine in her system I knew I couldn't just stop.
A few hours passed and Rifana woke up coughing again, so I handed over some more medicinal tea. Which she gratefully drank. I then stood up and started packing up the camp.
"E-Erebus w-what are we going to do now? There are still others in there" Rifana said and I looked down
"Well come back for them, I need to get you healed up first" I said but she looked like she was about to cry
"B-But… you saved our village you can save them right?!" She pleaded and I clenched my fist
"Rifana… I'm not one or the four holy heroes, you know that, I can't take nobles on without a good backing l, and no one else in this world knows who I am. Going in there and causing a scene would only put you and those others in more danger and that's something I want to avoid" I explained "Would you want them to be in danger?" I asked and she shook her head "Alright then, let's get you someplace safe then"
I picked her up and carried her to a nobles house nearby. I had heard that this particular noble was kind and benevolent to demi humans. So I dropped her off with a small bag of medicine and instructions for her to follow. I then headed back to Melromarc castle since I heard rumors of the church of the three heroes preparing to summon the holy heroes.
'Good, finally someone that can take care of these things so I won't have to get involved' I thought to myself
It took some time but I eventually made it to Melromarc castle and changed back to ninja. I then used hide and followed what looked like church members into a special looking room. Then they started the ritual and it honestly gave me a bad vibe. The whole process looked like a primal summoning.
However, I held back as I watched four orbs of light appear in the area before taking the shape of four different humanoids. When the light vanished four young men stood in a line facing the members of the church.
Each guy held a different weapon, a bow, spear, sword, and shield. I looked them over and I saw the holder of the shield look in my direction before looking away. The church members and apparently king then apprised the heroes of the situation.
Almost immediately I felt a sort of hostility towards the man with the shield, something that didn't sit right with me. Id have to check in at a later date, surely nothing bad could happen until a week from now at minimum. I quietly skulked my way out the with feeling of someone or something knowing where I was. I continued to look around and saw nothing watching me though so I chalked it down to being paranoid.
I moved from the castle into the town and dropped my hide and just went about my normal business waiting for any new information to come in.