The day had finally come when Ega needed to take his leave. Having stayed at the fortress for nearly two weeks, both Ega and El had fully recovered. Just before they took their leave however, they paid one final visit to He.

  Knocking on her office door, he asked, “Can I come in?”

  “Go ahead Ega.” Her voice sounded much more worn out than usual, most likely from all the work that was piling on her.

  His assumption would be proven true, for once he opened the door, he was greeted by He sitting behind a pile of paperwork.

  “I assume you want an update on the situation involving Olian?”

  “Of course, if you even have any information.” Closing the door, he took a seat in front of He’s desk with El sitting beside him as well.

  Letting out a sigh, she prepared to give him disappointing news. “We don’t know much at all, just that this entire situation involves a much rger group and that… there’s probably someone working from the inside.”

  “What? You mean we have a rat in the Order?”

  “Not just the Order, I think it goes much deeper than that. They move around too freely, and somehow, they leave not even a single trace of their actions. I’ll try to search into this group some more, but be careful out there.”

  Ega’s face turned grim. This unknown enemy was dangerous, but he couldn’t just sit around in fear of them. There was only so much time left before the Outers would descend on them, and whether these people would get in his way, all he needed to do was cut them down.

  “Right, you don’t have to worry about me. Also, I forgot to tell you but we’re going to be taking our leave.”

  “Today?”

  “Yes, today.”

  He let out a long sigh before reprimanding him. “What is up with you and your sudden…” Realizing that those words weren’t going to get through to him, she accepted defeat. “Well, at least you actually gave me a proper goodbye. Let me give you something before you go.”

  Standing up, she grabbed a long object wrapped in cloth leaning by the window. It wasn’t there during their first meeting, so just what…

  “A… sword?” Ega could instantly tell what it was as He dropped it into his hands. It felt lighter than most swords its size, making him curious about its composition. “Can I pull it out?”

  “Isn’t that what you do with a sheathed sword?”

  Ignoring her remark, he began to unravel the cloth covering. The bde fitted nicely into a bck sheath. As he drew the sword, the shine of metal entered his eyes, causing him to pause for a second.

  “Is this made of—”

  “A mithril and steel alloy.” He finished the thought for him.

  “Are you kidding me? I can’t take this. How expensive was it?” Even if the sword wasn’t completely made out of mithril, even using a small chunk of it could cost a fortune.

  “I don’t even remember at this point. I had that thing forged for you years ago, you know, before you just up and left.”

  Ega couldn’t help but stare at the silver-colored in both awe and concern. The reason mithril cost so much was due to how it was obtained, and that was from the Outers. Whenever those monsters descended onto their world, they would leave behind traces of Mithril where they nded. It was like a glimmer of light that came alongside an incoming camity.

  “What’s with that expression? Just take it.”

  “Well I have to at least—”

  “Ega, it’s a gift. Don’t you know what that means? And besides, don’t you need a repcement for the sword you currently have? I’m surprised it's kept up with you for this long.”

  She was right. His sword had quite a few chips and cracks accumuted over his hunt for Mithril Blood. Though he had it repaired and maintained a few times on his journey, who knew when his sword would eventually fail him.

  “But—”

  “Ega.” Not wanting this conversation to drag out any further, she put her foot down.

  “Right…” He stared at the sword, feeling the weight more on his heart than his hands. “Thanks, I mean it.”

  “I know. Also, I have something for El.” Returning back behind her desk, she pulled out a thick leather bound book inside the drawer. “It’s for learning how to read and write. You probably didn’t think of this, huh?”

  Ega averted her gaze, not needing that sly look at his incompetence.

  “It's good to train yourself physically, but don’t forget about the basic things, okay?”

  “Thank you grandma.” Now it was El’s turn to say thanks.

  “Grandma?” Ega looked back and forth between El and He, unsure if his ears were working correctly.

  He smiled as she pced the book into her hands. “Is something wrong?”

  “N-no…” Ega thought about the implications of that word, “grandma.” Strangely enough, he wasn’t against it. “What, should I call you ‘mother’ then?”

  “Mom is just fine.”

  Ega shuddered at the thought. Nevermind, it did bother him. It felt strange, embarrassing even, but he didn’t detest the idea.

  “Shouldn’t you be on your way now? I know the ‘Blood Hunter’ must be a busy man.”

  “What? You want us to leave that badly?” Fully sheathing the sword, Ega got ready to leave.

  “Be safe on your adventures, and Ega.”

  “Hm?” Half turning around, he listened.

  “I know you can’t tell me why you’re hunting for Mithril Blood, but don’t try to .”

  Ega wasn’t sure how to respond to her words, so he said the only thing that came to his mind before taking his leave with El. “Thanks.”

  And with that, he closed the door behind him, ready to set off again. Although he couldn’t see, He was smiling as she sat behind her desk. It was the soft type of smile, simir to that of a mother watching her son take off from the nest. Though she worried for him, she knew Ega would get through everything one way or another.

  …

  Ega already knew where his next destination was. At first, he couldn’t believe it, but after running his finger around the map of Lanier for nearly ten minutes, he had to accept that Purgo would be his next destination.

  Purgo was like any other city, except for the fact that it was a city full of criminals and the Lord was a vampyre. It was a deal made long ago, between the kingdom of Lanier and the small group of vampyres that used to terrorize small towns. Vampyres would have their blood supplied in the form of criminals, and in return, they had to maintain and keep them within the confines of the city.

  He didn’t care too much that it was a city of criminals nor the possibility that his target could be a high profile criminal, no, he already knew who his target was. Lord Vadim of Purgo, the vampyre that possessed the Mithril Blood that Ega needed.

  The blood of a god, as a blood sucking creature, wouldn’t you get curious about its taste? Well, Vadim did, and he gathered a rge amount of it for his tasting.

  When the body of Yolu fell down onto the kingdom of Lanier, the king had tried to take control of it. They tried to protect it from those seeking to gain power from harvesting the parts of an Old God, but such a task was impossible.

  No ws could truly be enforced when it came to the body of an Old God because no one held ownership of such a thing. Strangely enough, not much power came from possessing parts of an Old God.

  Yolu’s blood only made a person a little stronger, his bones were too hard to make into any useful tools, and his flesh, though contained an unthinkable amount of souls, were insignificant. Most were just souls of simple pnts, useful only for soul burning.

  Without a real threat arising from the harvesting of Yolu’s body, his parts were passed around just like any other object. They were passed around like human souls, with a sense of guilt and shame, but passed around nonetheless.

  Being a Lord of an entire city, Vdim was bound to have gotten his hands on a good amount of it, but to try and kill a Lord, not to mention a vampyre of all things, that was suicide. Even if Ega succeeded, he’d be marked a criminal for the rest of his life. Of course, he had considered this possibility before.

  Wouldn’t it just be too convenient that all the blood that he needed to gather would come from criminals? What if they were just a normal person who lived life virtuously? What if they had too high of a standing? What justification would Ega have for stealing blood for them?

  Telling the court that he needed it to save their kingdom from Outers would only make him sound like a madman, so he had to approach his target differently this time.

  Although he was still unsure of how to get the blood from Vadim, he had to put that thought aside for now. The first issue was getting there, and where he was headed toward now was hopefully going to be a solution to that.

  Looking up, Ega read “Al’s Carriages” carved into the hanging wooden sign. It was a small store, not one that you would expect to hold a bunch of horses and carriages. Stepping inside, he was greeted by a small, but well kept shop. On one side was a man sitting behind a counter and opposite to him was a rge poster reading off all the prices for the different types of carriages.

  “Welcome! Welcome! Looking for a carriage?” The man’s face instantly lit up a new customer.

  “Yes, I just want to rent one good enough for a two week trip.”

  “Perfect! Just take a seat and we can discuss the—”

  “I’ll be heading to Purgo if that’s a problem.”

  The shopkeeper paused for a second trying to process his outndish destination.

  “Seems like that will be a problem.” Seeing the man’s face, Ega turned to take his leave. This wasn’t the first time that he had been turned down, after all, what kind of carriage business has one of their branches located in a city of criminals.

  Just as he opened the door however, the shopkeeper stopped. “No! No. That won’t be a problem at all.”

  “Really? You have a way to recover it?”

  Falling into deep thought for a second, the man nodded. “Yes, your trip to Purgo will be no problem, it's just… it’ll cost a bit extra for the recovery fee.”

  “How much?” Interested, Ega closed the door and took a seat at the counter.

  “Two silver if that’s—”

  “Done, now about the carriage.”

  The shopkeeper was stunned for a second. He had expected Ega to try and haggle down, but it seems like this deal was going to be much more profitable than he thought. Business had been slow, so he was expecting to lose some money on the recovery of the carriage and horses just to nd a customer, but it seemed like things were beginning to turn around for him.

  “Of course, two weeks, correct?” Opening a drawer, he pulled out a piece of paper. “Will it just be you two?”

  “Yes, just the two of us.”

  “Then I’d recommend a small carriage for the two of you. It should be enough to carry all the supplies needed for a two week trip.”

  “How much?”

  “Including the supplies, ten silver coins. We can organize everything by today if you need.”

  “If you could, that would be great.” Pulling out the coins from his pouch, he pced them on the table. “Where is this carriage by the way? It doesn’t look like you have space for it here.”

  “Ah, we have them stored somewhere else. Don’t worry, it’ll arrive in front of this store in about two hours so you don’t have to go anywhere else.” Taking the coins, he began to count them. Satisfied, he slid half of them back to Ega.

  “Hm?” Ega looked at the coins in curiosity.

  “It’s a tradition, you keep half until we have everything organized for you.”

  “A good practice.” Taking the coins back, Ega couldn’t help but respect this business a little more. He couldn’t remember how many times people had tried to scam him and subsequently, how many times he’d have to draw his sword to take his money back.

  “It was a pleasure doing business.” Just as the shopkeeper was about to send him off, he remembered something. “Oh, right, I never caught your name.”

  “Ega. It's Ega.”

  “Right, I’m… Paul.” Hearing that name made Paul say his own name quieter, almost as if it meant less than Ega’s.

  “It was a pleasure.” Standing up from the chair, Ega started to leave with El.

  Paul sat rooted into his chair, still stunned by the fact that he had just done business with the Blood Hunter of all people.

  As they stepped outside, Ega looked around, trying to find the road towards the st pce that he needed to visit. There was a debt that he had to repay, and though it was only a debt of three copper coins, there was also something that he needed to confirm.

  When he had asked El how she had gotten captured by Lily, the answer she gave was quite strange. She stated that the only sound she heard was when Lily had broken into the room. Maybe Ega was reading into it a bit much, more maybe El wasn’t remembering correctly, but the fact that Lily breaking into the inn didn’t wake her up was putting him on edge.

  Just how did they learn about El in less than a day? How come there was no sound of them breaking in? It was possible that they had a rge information network above ground, but just who was involved in this mysterious group?

  Ega felt like he was beginning to grasp at something. Even if it was just a small, loose string, even that could be part of a much greater web. Whatever the result would be, he would have to see it for himself.