Epic Of The Demonic Sage

When they settled down for a meal in the place that Gellor had recommended, at first, Lucius would come to hear of gossip that he had personally been through.

He didn't care much for it as he knew the truth of the events, but it was also interesting to see how people viewed it through their own personal lenses.

It was good to know what people felt about certain events, whether it was positive, negative or simply ambivalent.

"The thing with Gisir feels like it's been going on forever. How's the Armistice going along?"

"That's like old news. Did you hear about what happened with the entire army of this Viscount to the north?"

"What?"

"Completely annihilated, no survivors or anything at all. That's terrifying, isn't it? Did you think that some tried to beg mercy but just killed either way?"

"Wait, who did that?"

"Are you not paying attention to what's been happening recently?"

"I've been preoccupied with work, you can't expect me to keep up with all the news, can you? So who's this?"

"Who else? It was Count Inanis, it has got to do with the fact that this Viscount was trying to separate himself from the entire Land of Etara. Crazy, isn't it?"

"Woah. Speaking of the Count, he's been here recently, or passed through and based on how he was looking, it's no surprise that he'd make an entire army perish like that."

"I think Baron Hugh wanted to welcome him when he passed here at the Cross, but it was just so terrifying to see the Count march through here that I don't think it happened. Entire city went silent for an hour, just in case the Count returned and chose to vent his pent up wrath on us."

"I don't think that's actually true."

"You weren't here!"

"What made the Count so unhappy if he just won the battle against this Viscount? Shouldn't he be celebrating if they've won?"

"One of my relatives just came from Inanis City, and I think it's got something to do with the son of the Count. Something happened so he rushed his way back."

"Wasn't he supposed to have been meeting with the king, though? It must be really important if he left the king just to get back to his territory."

Lucius listened to all of these words with a bit of a passing attention.

If he wasn't listening to this particular gossip about Count Inanis' recent actions, he'd come across some other individuals discussing news from other nearby cities and towns and they were mostly mundane.

"Oh, oh speaking about the king—did you know that fifty soldiers from the Royal Army got killed over a week ago?"

"Soldiers always die. That's not really that much big of a deal. What makes that so different? Count Inanis just wiped out an entire army."

"Well, sure, soldiers die while in service to the Royal Army but the ones behind the murder of all those soldiers? It was only one person alone."

Lucius was ready to return to his meal and pay less attention to his surroundings, but this was something that captured his attention at last.

'Royal Army? And one murderer alone? Finally, something interesting.' Lucius thought as he sipped his drink, tuning out the conversation of Gellor and his team in lieu of this.

"How did you know that it was one person? Did they get captured already?"

"No. The warrior is still on the run and there's a bounty on him, but we really don't know his appearance as there really weren't any survivors when he attacked."

"How'd people figure out it was him, then?"

"There's this unique gift I think that lets the user figure out how a person died. Probably healer related or something. I'm not too sure, but the thing is that they were killed by one warrior alone and so swiftly in fact, that they only needed a single attack to do it."

"One attack? For each one? That doesn't sound real. We've had monsters like Count Inanis back in his youth, but now you're saying there's someone like him again and this time going around killing soldiers?"

"Yeah. This guy must be some kind of genius to have been able to kill them with one strike only."

"Or they got a special gift that lets them do just that. Could be an epic-rank?"

"Don't you think that would narrow down possible subjects?"

"Well, not knowing their face isn't really helping. Who knows if this person is just in our midst all this time?"

"Oi! Don't say stuff like that."

Lucius listened to it all with a rather calm expression, and yet he couldn't help but be impressed with what he heard.

'What kind of person would be so daring to kill royal soldiers like that? This person would have been foolish if not for the fact that he was able to escape without anyone knowing who he is. Is it someone from the kingdom of Gisir trying to sow discord within the Grantz kingdom, or is it someone with a personal vendetta against the king?' Lucius wondered silently.

'It would be valuable to have a face to face with this person, but without having a way to know what their face is like, it's important to be cautious. Is he only targeting people in the Royal Army, or is there a chance that he might go after soldiers of the nobility as well? What is this person even trying to accomplish by doing this?'

Lucius became focused on these thoughts as he continued to eat his meal and finish it. At this point, the gossip had shifted into something else, but Lucius was still preoccupied with it.

'If there's anything interesting beyond this warrior, it is the fact that there's a gift that allows a person to discover the way a person died. Nothing comparable to Soul Scry, but still valuable. Regardless, if there's any chance that I could encounter this warrior… it would be quite a meeting. Strong people like this warrior are worth following me.'