Taking a breath as he wandered about the city of Raque, there was always something about the briny air of cold salt water that made him almost forget about the fact that he was wandering about in the noble realm. Quite recently, he had been told that he could not just be gone all the time, going wherever he pleased and only taking on assignments that he enjoyed. Clearly they had no idea who they were dealing with. Even after he had been informed of having to turn in at the crimson lions headquarters from time to time, he had still not done any such thing as he simply did not feel like having to travel into the royal capital. However, he had decided to meet them halfway by not just taking on missions he wanted to do in regions of his choosing, which was exactly why he had bothered to come to Raque in the first place as a means of apprehending a murderer and putting an end to his killing spree before things got any worse.

If for no reason other than the fact that he was wearing a magic knights mantle that was black as sin, the guy Griswold was supposed to be working with was not all that hard to find. Even as he approached him from the side, it seemed like the guy had no idea that it was actually him that he was waiting for, likely making the same old mistake that every other rookie he had worked alongside of had made at first up until now. Truth is, no more than two months ago, he thought the exact same way, trying to spot people by the clothes they were wearing and the vibe they were giving off. But above all else, checking to see whether or not they were wearing the appropriate magic knight mantle. But as the black bull would soon come to find out, the crimson lions were perhaps the only magic squad that were not wearing mantles, and he liked that quite a bit.

Because he spent the majority of his time in the common and forsaken regions of the country, it was quite beneficial to wander about without a mantle giving away that someone was belonging to this or that magic squad. As much as such a thing radiated with authority in those regions, it was also often met with mistrust and sometimes even the fear to accidentally do something wrong that might make them look shady or as someone that had something to hide. So to say that people were actually a lot more calm around him because he did not look like your average magic knight was quite the understatement. Allowing him to slip around the countryside, as well as the towns, villages and cities without anyone who did not already know him being any the wiser as to the fact that he was in fact a magic knight, it was likely going to be exactly that that would work in their benefit today. So at the risk of giving the guy a little shock, it was time for him to introduce himself.

“I take it you’re the magic knight sent by the black bulls to help me out on this one, good. The name is Griswold Cromwell, and it seems we’re here to take care of a murderer who has a thing for torturing his victims before strangling them to death.”

Having gone over the briefing, it seemed that this murderer in particular had been using a specific set of tools when it came to killing his targets. As it turned out, one of his targets had been a junior member from the silver eagles squad. And while the squad had made it known that they would prefer to handle the matter on their own, the victim’s family had pushed for it to be made a job for all of the magic knights in the region. So while Griswold did not exactly wish to step all over the silver eagles and their wishes, as he understood what it was like to want to avenge one of their own and not wanting someone else to do it for them as it was also a matter of honor, there were also a couple of things about it that made Griswold feel more personally involved. Because even if he had never really been all that bothered by nobles and what they wanted, this was not the first time he was dealing with a murderer who acted in such a psychopathic manner.

The last time he had encountered a situation such as this, a murderous mage had demolished a store with some kind of explosive magic before tearing the owner of the store in half through means of brute force. When he confronted the woman responsible for it, he would never forget how deranged she sounded as she berated him and all the other magic knights in the force about how they would never be capable of saving everyone in the country, and that they were just lying to themselves if they believed otherwise. At the time, he already knew that he would never be able to actually do such a thing, as there were people falling off of roofs, dying of sickness, attacked by bandits or wild animals and more. And for all of the attacks that might happen, for all of the accidents that occurred, there were not possible enough magic knights to take care of every single one, hovering above every single civilian like some sort of guardian angel. That would be ludicrous.

Now, returning to the issue at hand. The thing was that after the family had made it known that they wished for the killer of their son to get caught and put on trial, requesting for a public execution after the fact, several magic knights had been dispatched into the area to look for the culprit. Unfortunately, this had been exactly what he had hoped would happen, as it allowed him to claim a second victim, this time being a junior member of the purple orcas while severely wounding another. As sad at it all was, the magic knight who was still in the hospital at this time had managed to see a bit of his attacker, providing the wizard king’s office with some pretty vital information. As it turned out, it was a man with short hair and a scruffy beard who utilized chain magic in order to bind and incapacitate his targets before carving up their faces with knifes before going on to the point of actually killing them by slitting their throats and letting them bleed out on the pavement like an animal.

With this information, Griswold had come up with somewhat of a plan, as this man that they were looking for seemed to be making a habit out of attacking magic knights that were either weaker than he was, or people that he could get the drop on with his binding spells. As for the reason behind why Griswold would not just go about this mission alone, well that much was simple; he was not in possession of a magic knight’s mantle. Because the guy that he was supposed to be doing this mission with having one that stood out quite a bit from the crowd while also being a junior magic knight at the same time, it made him into the perfect bait for the killer. That said, most people who were aware of the fact that they were bait would either act out and refuse, or do such a bad job at behaving like they were not aware of the fact that they were a target that they simply did not become targeted in the first place.

But seeing as how the elven mage was not the kind of person that would keep someone in the dark as to his plans, he would still make an effort at letting him in on his infallible plot. Motioning for the man to follow him onto the docks so they could clearly be seen by anyone, as well as see anyone who might get close, Griswold’s own sensory capabilities were fairly on point. So if someone came around that had a magical signature and mana pool that was larger than that of the average junior knight, he would know about it before they’d get struck. Besides, no killer who enjoyed taking his time with his prey would attack them in the middle of a crowded street, something Gris was quite well aware of. As such, this was going to be the perfect place for him to make his plan known to the black bull. Once he did however, it would be a question as to whether the guy would trust him enough to go through with it, or if he would sooner take a leap into the briny depths to become shark bait instead.

“As you might have been able to tell, we crimson lions don’t wear magic knight mantles, so I won’t be becoming a target for our killer any time soon. You however are wearing one, and you fit the description of the killer’s favorite targets; Junior magic knights. That said, the fastest way towards drawing this guy out of hiding and catching him in the act, is if you go around doing exactly what it is you would be expected to be doing. Looking for a killer in dark alleys and loading docks.”



1586

“Well alright Kusa, it’s a good thing that you’d be willing to take on that part of the job, because I’m not sure if I could have pulled it off if I had been the one to do it. After all, you’d have to lend me your black mantle and all that, and I’m not sure if our killer would fall for that. At the end of the day, a lot of people tend to underestimate psychopaths, believing they are somehow less intelligent than the rest of us, though that is only rarely the case.”

Even though he had encountered one such psychopath with which it was fully the case that she had not seemed overly bright, and was likely missing a few brain cells by the time she met Griswold, that was not an example he was going to name in this situation. This was both because he did not want to dissuade Kusa from going along with his plan, just as it seemed like the kind of thing that would not benefit the situation in any way. Because in the other situation, he had been faced with a person that made no attempts at hiding or using stealth in order to get the job done. In fact, they went about blowing up buildings and tearing people apart in the middle of the street. So to say that that particular psychopath did not use much of their brain was quite the understatement as they were only after the simpler things in life; mayhem and chaos. But this guy was different.

He struck at people that he knew were weaker than him, which insinuated that he had at least some level of sensory prowess that allowed him to tell people apart. This also meant that even if Griswold was to take on the task that had been bestowed upon Kusa, that he might not go for the bait as he was no longer your average rookie knight. Still, had this not been his realization before hand, he would have loved to have played the bait himself, just so he could be the first to dish out a good old fashioned beating on the person that had murdered two magic knights already. Even if they were not people he had ever met before, and one of them was from one of the most elitist squads in the entire country, that did not mean that they deserved the ending that they had received to their individual tales of life. It was the kind of thing that deserved to be punished not by incarceration, but with death, and not the swift kind.

“If you just start moving along the kind of route that makes it seem like you’re overconfident, brash and in search of the truth, just like every rookie knight before and after you, you’ll likely be targeted soon enough. Now, I don’t expect this guy to attack in the middle of a crowd, and his past shows that he’s not the kind of person who would kill you right away. So expect someone to come up and try to bind you. I’ll be staying back for a bit, though I’ll keep an eye on your signature at all times. The moment something seems fishy, I’ll come running.”

With that, he just yelled something along the lines of “Thanks for telling me where to find the nearest bar mister Magic Knight, I could really use a drink right about now!” before walking into the entirely different direction. Clearly he already knew where to find the nearest tavern, though no one else knew that he knew. Besides, given the amount of time he had spent talking to Kusa, one might think the two were acquainted, which would mess with the idea to have someone go after the black bull as bait. So if the murderer was scoping out the place right now, there was a slight chance that he would believe his poor acting and still go after the guy as planned. Before that though, Griswold would need to disappear for the time being. Wandering straight into the bar and ordering a pitcher of mead, he would sit down at the bar while closing his eyes. Doing his best to keep track of Kusa’s mana as best as he could, the moment it was starting to get out of his reach would be when he would need to move as well.

Even though he would be running the risk of getting apprehended once he ventured into the street with a pitcher of ale, it would at least ring true to the story he had tried to fabricate. Besides, he was actually not that against day drinking, and if someone did come up to him and tried to bring him in, he could always tell them that he was a magic knight who was in the middle of a sting. Whether they would actually believe that or not was something that would remain to be seen, but it was something to worry about once the time came. For now, there was nothing that he could do aside from having faith in his plan, as well as believing that Kusa would be able to pull off his part of the plan flawlessly.

877 (2463)

Feeling how the black bull was currently still moving slightly within his range, Griswold knew that it was almost time to see whether he would be able to get away with wandering along the docks of Raque with a pint of mead in hand. Knowing that local law enforcement was always watching the docks, they usually remained closer to the living area as there were always drunken folk working on the ships, whether just coming in and unloading, or having spent some time around this particular tavern Griswold currently found him in while awaiting the time at which they were supposed to load up with whatever it was that they would need to take back home with them. Taking a big sip of his mead, he could imagine why most of the sailors and boatsmen went out of this place drunk. One could hardly taste the honey in this mead as it was primarily alcohol inside of his glass. Sighing deeply, he did not really know what else he was expecting from such a place.

Still, he had to keep up the ruse, so he placed his pitcher back on the bar before belching in the kind of unsightly manner only a commoner or a peasant could pull off properly. Constantly keeping an eye on any magical signatures that could be sensed within the area, he just thought about what the black bull had told him. Clearly he thought quite highly of his own ability to play the bait, which was not entirely a bad thing, though he would have been better off just taking the advice and either going with or against it once the two had split up. As of right now, it made him sound a bit smug, which was most likely not exactly what higher ranking knights wanted to hear from a junior knight. That said, he was not exactly one for taking the high and mighty route on this one, as he had been the exact same way. He had always clashed with people to some degree, even though most of them were of a noble lineage. Though that did not really matter much to him, as he would always make it known whenever he thought differently.

Truth be told, this was the same reason why some people did not like him. He was one who either wished to face a problem head on by using brain and brawn, or to first brain and then go with brawn if the situation allowed for it. As such, if he saw an opponent in an open room, he would just go forward and engage them, seeing as there was rarely any other way of going about it. But if he had seen his opponent in a location with various hiding spots, a high and a low ground, anything that was out of the ordinary, he would always try to position himself somewhere from where he could get the drop on someone. After all, when in battle, it was wise to always give oneself as much of an advantage as they could, as the threat of dying was always looming somewhere around the corner. Today was no different, which was something both the black bull and Griswold himself would soon find out. Taking a second sip of his worst pint of mead ever, he believed that it was time to move out before Kusa would get too far for him to properly track.

But that was when he sensed something, even if only for a moment. Likely using his own magical senses in order to do a quick scan of his surroundings, the robed man had allowed himself to be sensed by another who was currently within his radius. While it was only for a moment, the fact that they were both standing in the same bar allowed the two men to see one another clearly. Whereas Griswold was not so much showing the fact that he was a magic knight right now, he got a good look of the hooded man, which allowed him to see that he likely had short hair. As this part was mostly covered by his hood, he could at the very least tell that he had no long strands of hair visible, as well as having a scruffy beard. Believing that this had to be their guy, it seemed that he too had taken note of how he had been sensed, and had managed to figure out that Griswold had quite a bit of mana himself. As this made for a rather unlucky target, the crimson lion could tell that the man was trying to figure out what to do with himself.

Because of the things he had done, it made sense that he did not wish to be caught, as that would put a definite lock on his activities as he would either never see the light of day again from a cell in a dark, damp dungeon, or that he would face his death at the hands of the headsman or the magic knights that caught him. As for Griswold, if he were to engage the man now, that would bring about a fight inside of a fairly crowded tavern, which was not something that would look good on his conscience or his resume. And while he could only guess as to his reasoning, he imagined the supposed murderer was most likely not acting yet because he knew starting a fight here would lead to him getting cornered and caught, even if it meant that he might still get to kill a bunch of people in the act. But as it were, it seemed that the man did not want to get caught, almost just as much as Griswold wanted to keep anyone from actually dying because they had become collateral damage.

Being a word he hated more than anything, as it assumed people had been caught in the crossfire, and that their deaths were a nasty side effect of doing the right thing, Griswold knew that in many of the cases, people were just too afraid to do what was right and merely chose their own life above those they were supposed to protect. At the end of the day, protecting the lives of the many outweighed the lives of the one, even if the one was to be a magic knight and the many were a bunch of peasants. For the moment, he would keep drinking from his pitcher for a little while, trying to figure out what would be the best thing to do. While he could leave and walk towards the black bull, chances were that the guy would sense where he was going before hiding his mana again and sneaking off into the crowd, meaning they would be back to square one while the guy would likely become that much more subtle about his approach, which could lead to more magic knights getting killed.

As this was clearly not an option, he would need to go into another direction, one where he hoped there wouldn’t be any people around, or at least not so many clustered together like in this tavern. With that thought in mind, he had more or less settled that he was not going to be staying here, and that he had to go somewhere where he would not likely get someone else killed. Placing a few coins on the table, he lifted his pitcher as if saying “Cheers” to the barkeep before walking outside and taking it with him. Even if the guy thought he was a magic knight, which he currently had no reason to believe as he might just be a person with a fair amount of mana, the best he could do right now was make the guy believe that he had been drinking quite a bit today. So as he walked out of the building with a pretend stumble, he wandered into the opposite direction the black bull had gone into. At this point, he was either going to have to fight this guy alone, or the black bull was going to finish up in that part of the docks soon.

Regardless, Griswold had to make sure to keep the guy on his trail as they could not risk losing him. As such, he did not walk too fast, allowing him to hear his footsteps and make an attempt towards chasing the guy if he should lose his nerve. Moving towards the far side of the dock where a lonely ship was sitting in the water, the amount of people that crossed their path was gradually decreasing up until the point where the docks had gotten barren. Moving ahead for another minute, there was no longer any doubt as to what was going on. This man was the murderer who had taken the lives of various magic knights, why else would he follow him all the way out here. So as he turned around and stopped moving, he got a good look at the person in front of him as he dropped his hooded robes on the ground. Showing a fairly sickly facial area, his arms both seemed quite well trained, which was just about all he could see as the rest of him was covered in baggy clothing.

“As much as I’d enjoy someone following me home, you sir are in possession of the wrong parts, so I’m going to have to pass on your advances. That said, I would love to escort you to the nearest cell if you’d like, Mister Murderman.”

Getting nothing but a slight chuckle in return, he looked on as the man’s grimoire popped out of the robe that was laying on the ground, releasing a faint metallic glow as the man cast a spell which formed several meters of chain around his hands with a metal ornament at the end. Beginning to swing it in the air, it seemed that this guy had in essence just summoned a mid-ranged weapon which he planned to likely either ensnare him with or knock him out with. Whichever one of these two options it would be, Griswold was not so stupid as to let himself get caught. Maintaining the ten meters of distance between them, his grimoire also appeared, glowing with a gold and orange glow as the magic knight prepared for a fight.

1730 (4193)

Not sure whether the black bull would be able to join in on the fun or not, there was only so much the guy could have done anyway, especially after the fact. After all, the goal had been for him to act as bait so they could draw out their killer together and then pile on him together so as to stop him with greater ease. But now that the man had shown himself to Griswold by accident, and vice versa, there was no longer a need to play any games or try to draw someone out of hiding anymore. Clearly that part had already taken care of itself. Though not being the most powerful hand-to-hand combatant out there, he knew that he could still knock someone out if he really wanted to. He was way stronger than the average peasant, though that would only get him so far in this specific situation for a plethora of very valid reasons.

The first and foremost reason was the fact that this man seemed to excel at using binding spells through the use of his chain magic, which would put him at a disadvantage when engaging the man in close quarters. The second reason being that Griswold really did not have a whole lot of intensive training when it came to using weapons, aside from having used a dagger roughly four years ago while undergoing his training towards becoming a hunter. And finally, the third reason was the fact that he lacked any actual weapons on his person, which was a clear indication of the fact that he was not really an actual swordsman. He was a make-shift swordsman at best, though that worked out just fine for him. After all, the guy he was fighting was also a make-shift combatant since he had to call forth his weapon through the use of a magical spell, meaning he would be constantly draining his magic just to maintain it.

At times like these, he really wished he would have spent more money on upgrading and actually adding to his gear as a magic knight, as he was currently just not packing anything that would actually help him. Sure, he had his magical prowess to fall back on, as well as a bunch of spells, though having an actual weapon to wield right now would be preferable for sure. As there was really nothing else to do about his predicament, he held out his hands, causing two bright flashes of light to appear from his grimoire that shot out and into the palms of his hands. As soon as he grabbed hold of the light, it formed into two separate short swords made entirely out of solar mana. Just as his adversary wielded a weapon made from his magic, so could he, at which point it became a matter of seeing which one of them wielded theirs best.

Spinning the ornament at the ended of the chain around quickly, building up momentum and likely preparing for a swift attack, Griswold twirled his magical swords between his fingers with elegance, which was not because he was the most skilled swordsman he knew, but because the blades were essentially weightless in his hands. Acting as a last means of bluffing, there was now nothing standing between the two of them and a class of arms, leading to a final statement meant to either escalate things further or de-escalate things, depending on how trigger happy the guy was. And counting on his violent but calculated track record, there was really no way of knowing which way things would go, though Griswold clearly had his best guess picked out and his bets placed.

“You know, if you keep twirling that thing around like that, chances are you’ll hit someone over the head with it, maybe even yourself. So what do you, lets lay down our weapons and leave this briny and cold setting, and change it for a warm cell you can sit around in. Sound good?”

But as it turned out, it did not in fact sound good. Almost as soon as Griswold had finished speaking, the man just shook his head as if saying no before coming at him with his chain weapon. Tossing the ornament attached to the chain into his direction, the magic knight dashed to the side as the piece of metal struck apart several floor tiles before reeling it back in for a second attack. Not allowing him to just go about doing such a thing, Griswold quickly closed the distance before the guy could reel the ornament back in. Gripping his chain at two places roughly a meter apart, he held up both hands and the chain held between it as a means of blocking a downward strike from Griswold’s blade that was aimed towards cleaving his head. Had he not done so, the elven mage fully intended to kill the guy with his attack, as he was not so soft as he had been a few months ago.

Not too long ago, he would have hesitated several times before he would be able to bring himself to actually kill someone. But a lot had changed since that time. Because like his vice-captain had told him, the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few. While this was in no way a free pass towards him killing anyone all willy nilly, he had come to believe the same thing she did in that prison or other correctional institutions would never change a person from what they truly were inside. And the same went for this guy, as it seemed that after he had killed once, he had only started going up the ladder by finding stronger targets to capture, torture and kill at his leisure. It did however mean that he would not waste his time and effort on someone that did not want to be saved, and was quite honestly well beyond it. He had gone around killing the wrong people, and after developing a taste for it, that was really where things would hit their natural conclusion for this guy.

So as his left handed strike to the head had been blocked by the piece of chain held between the man’s hands, there was nothing that would save him from a secondary attack from his dominant right hand. Surprised at the fact that his feint actually succeeded, he brought in his blade, stabbing it right through his stomach. Applying enough force to where the blade could be seen protruding from his back, Griswold let go of his blade before dashing back. Allowing it to remain in his gut, he backed up with several leaps, all the while channeling his mana into a sphere of solar magic that was growing and decreasing in his size as it constantly compressed itself after absorbing more of his mana. Once he had reached a safe enough distance, he shot the sphere from his right hand as it crossed the distance in little to no time at all. As this was more or less his unofficial signature move, he had gone through quite a bit of training towards increasing his skill and accuracy with it.

In so doing, there was no doubt in his mind that he would miss his target, nor would it really change a whole lot if it did. Once it either hit his feet or the ground near his feet, the sphere suddenly released all compression, unleashing a torrent of flames that would rise up several meters into the sky as a pillar of light that would likely draw some attention towards it. Because of the localized damage, he was not too worried about setting anything on fire aside from the man himself. After all, stone tiles and bricks would not burn, and neither would salty sea water, meaning the murderer was to be the only effigy in the area that was going to burn to cinders. Due to the solar magic sword stuck in his gut, the intense heat would cook and eventually incinerate the man inside and out. So as he fell to his knees, his mind had already been shut down due to the intense pain moments before he passed away. As the flames died down, Griswold walked over to the statue-like, charred black remains.

“Should have taken the offer, now the next place you’ll see will be a lot warmer and a lot less hospitable than prison. Just remember, you chose this, Mister Murderer. Now, to figure out how to break the news to our friend in the Black Bulls.”

1420 (5613)

“It’s fine, I doubt this was anything either one of us had expected or could have possibly planned for. If I had known he would have been in the tavern too, I would have sent you in there first. Besides, the drinks there were horrible, so I would absolutely vote against going there any time soon.”.

Since it wasn’t all that hard to tell that the guy was feeling bad for having missed the fight, there was really only so much he could have done at this point. He was a magic knight who was even more of a rookie than he was, having a good two months of experience at this point himself. And given how their target fought, it would have been quite hard to go at him with ranged attacks as that would risk hitting Griswold as well. So unless he had something along the lines of insane marksmanship skills or remotely controlled projectile spells, there was really only so much he could have done without putting himself at risk of getting attacked. Because even if Gris had come out of the fight victoriously, that was only because he had the right tools at his disposal right now, which was clearly not the case had this same thing occurred a month ago. It just went to show how much could happen in fairly little time at all.

For when he brought up the topic of having the proper tools or not, he did not mean any actual tools, as he clearly did not possess a single one of those at this point. As much as he would have liked to get himself something along the line of a sword so he would have something to fight with without having to rely on magic, or maybe something like a helmet or a suit that would grant him some greater protection from stabbing, cutting or blunt force trauma, that much wasn’t going to be happening any time soon as he simply did not have the funds for it. But in terms of magic and spells, that was something he had complete control over. He did not need someone to craft him any spells, as that was something he had to do by himself by simply putting in the effort. And in that month of actually making an effort, he had already managed to add at least five new spells to his repertoire that all possessed superior fire power when compared to his earlier work.

“But all jokes aside, murder isn’t generally a thing we do unless given no other options. As my vice-captain once made quite clear to me when I was an impressionable rookie myself, there are people who are beyond saving, people who would not change a damn thing if they were to be taken into a prison. Besides, he was fighting to kill, so unless we took off an arm and confiscated his grimoire, he would have just kept fighting for that very reason. Because as you well know, this guy had developed a taste for killing, as well as claiming increasingly more difficult targets to torture and eventually kill.”

Even though it might have come out of his mouth rather easily, that was not the case at all. Little over a month ago, he too had been faced with a rather hard decision to make as he had been met with the aforementioned criminal psychopath who had murdered a man in the middle of the street right after blowing up his store, all of which could have caused even more civilian casualties. At the time, he had fought against this person with the will to bring her in and just shut her down to the point where she could no longer continue the fight. On the other side of the fight however was someone who had been very much focused on trying to kill him, and would certainly have killed him if he had lowered his guard for even a moment. Dealing with that had been very taxing for him as he had to constantly focus on holding back on the amount of damage he dished out, all the while receiving hits that were not held back in the slightest.

So while he was at the point of winning, there was no telling whether or not the woman would have just gone done, or if she might have tried setting off some final attack that might let her kill or harm some other people just so she might be able to get away or strike him while he was occupied with saving someone else. Luckily for him, that was around the time his vice-captain had appeared with a blade in hand, moments before utterly destroyed the woman in front of him from behind. At the time, he too had questioned her motives as he believed that the right thing to do would have been to take her down and let the justice system take care of it, which would likely have resulted in her spending the majority of her remaining years behind bars. But that was when he had been told that the correctional facilities of the country were only good for so much, and that people who were so far gone would only be taken off of the streets for a little while, just so they could get right back at it once their sentence had been served.

Truth be told, that had never been the kind of thing he had wanted to hear, not in the slightest. But it was true none the less. While a magic knight should never fight with the intention to kill, there were exceptions to the rule, though that kind of exception was something everyone had to make for themselves as there was no clear guideline as to when or why it was acceptable to go around killing someone while on the job. For someone like Griswold, this distinction had been something that had grown over the course of his magic knight career, which was still a fairly short one, if not a very eventful one indeed. When faced with animals such as wolves or bears, he would always see whether or not there was something that he could do in order to make the animal flee by scaring it with something such as fire, or by beating it so hard that it would have to run off to lick its wounds. When such a thing was not possible however, that was when he would have to make the decision to kill something, rather than to let it live and maybe kill someone or something else.

“Had he been allowed to live on as he reached the inevitable end of his sentence, he would have just gone back to further refining his arts as a killer, likely cranking it up to eleven as a means of making up for all of the years he had lost while contained behind bars. Sure I am just guessing as to what might happen, as there is always the slight possibility that he would turn his life around in prison and come out the other end wanting to become a carpenter or a barista, though I think we both know that once someone has fallen this far, the only real salvation is by putting them out of all of our collective misery.”

While it sounded like a rather high and mighty statement to make, Griswold knew quite well that there were plenty of numbers out there at the wizard king’s office that stated exactly how many criminals were let go each year, as well as how many of them returned to their former life of crime as opposed to those who decided that they did not want to go back to prison and wanted to make something more of their lives. It was a very unfortunate something, but just because it was unfortunate did not make it any less true. So chances were that if this guy had made his way over to a cell for however long, he would have just made his way back out some day, only to resume his killing in the plethora of new and exciting ways he had dreamed up while spending year after year in an old, musty cell. If anything, locking people like that up would just add more fuel to the fire and give them that much more reason to go back to killing. It was a weird thing to consider, but so was psychopathy itself.

So when he thought of the whole idea of deciding who got to die and who did not, he often thought back about the species of greenskins known as Goblins, which were among the kind of magical creatures he had been forced to fight now. The first thing he had met them was with another magic knight who used blood magic for all sorts of purposes, one of them being the creation of weaponry and golems. When they first met the Goblins, he had already learned of their cunning and their preferred treatment when it came to humans, which was not exactly something he wished to witness. So when they met them in a small clearing, the fighting had instantly started right away, what with Goblins seeing humans as something to be killed by any means required. And while Griswold had been going about it by killing them one by one and even letting one of them go so he could tell his tribe never to attempt a similar raid again, the other mage had gone around and actually massacred every single greenskin in sight with extreme prejudice.

The second time around, he had gotten around to witnessing exactly what his kindness had nearly brought about. Because where he had hoped that his particular Goblin would tell the tale of what had transpired, and use it as a point of reference for the future and a cautionary tale to tell any that might even consider another attack again, the opposite was true. While it had indeed made them more cautious, it had taught them not to try attacking any towns or settlements head on, instead focusing their aim towards the outlying farms and orchards that were far less protected and were usually not the focus of any actual attacks. Had it not been for some very observant peasants, Griswold and his temporary companion would not have heard about it in time to stop another raiding party from ransacking a bunch of farms, killing everything in sight and making away with all of the spoils. If nothing else, it had told him what to take pity on, and what not to waste such things on ever again. Something the Black Bull would undoubtedly learn for himself in due time.

“So I wouldn’t beat myself up about not being here, it was quite literally out of your control. But at least now we get to claim our golden stars for a job well done, while all of the families of those people who had been wronged and hurt beyond imagining by this guy can maybe sleep again at night, knowing the specter that hovered over them has been put to rest.”

And really, that was just about the most they could have asked for at this point. Sure, some might have wanted to see him spend the rest of his life in prison where they might be able to visit him and maybe even pay off a guard so as to have him properly beaten up from time to time, though that would only create further pain and hardship for all parties involved. At least now, the families of those who had been murdered by the charred statue kneeling in front of him would be able to come to terms with everything that had gone down and maybe even get to the point of healing that much sooner. Putting the man in jail would not have helped them, as they would always have to remember themselves about how the man that had taken so much from them continued to live and breathe, not to mention receive food and care that was paid for by their money. And more importantly, there was no telling if the man might get free one day, and might not use his newfound freedom to give them a visit and take care of the whole family at once.

At least now, such a thing would never happen, and this person would never get to hurt anyone ever again, not to mention saving someone working at the wizard king’s office a whole lot of paperwork and effort. Walking around the statue and placing his boot against its shoulder, he gave it a good push, causing the whole thing to plummet into the water where it quickly crumbled into pieces of various shapes and sizes under the weight of the crushing waves. Because little more than ash, the pieces that would not just break down entirely would likely be taken care of soon enough by the fish and bottom feeders living on the ocean floor such as crabs and eels. This way, at least his remains served a purpose, which was more than could be said for anything else the man had ever done as he was clearly only used to taking more and more until he was satisfied. And if Griswold was to make an educated guess, he could tell that the point of satisfaction would never come as he knew the type rather well by now. Noticing that the Black Bull was rather eager to leave, he would not try to keep him around any longer.

“I’m sure that when we meet again, if we ever get put on the same assignment again, that you’ll be the one who will give our target a run for their money. See you around.”

Both walking in separate directions, the Crimson Lion knew quite well that the Black Bull was not satisfied with his own contribution to this mission. Had he been the one in that position, which he had been quite often, he would not have been satisfied either. But that was exactly why he had pushed himself so hard to get stronger, because he was now getting to a point where he could turn the tables. Where he was once the one that was taken on for missions as the underdog that could learn from a somewhat more veteran knight, he could now do the same thing for others, showing them exactly how rough the world of a magic knight could truly be. Hopefully, the guy would realize in time that everyone started at the bottom and would need to put in some serious effort if they were to ever get anywhere even remotely close to the top, a place most people could not even see from where they were standing. So with that thought in mind, he reclaimed his broom from where he had stashed it and made his way up towards his next location of the day.

2513 (8162)

[END OF MISSION]