The Path of Ruin

*(A/N: For non-privileged: A few days ago I had to spend a few days in the hospital because of an illness. Then I was discharged, I spent one day well... and then it seems that they couldn't cure the illness because I had to spend almost five days in the hospital last week. Then I spent two days resting. And now, hopefully, I'm back... I have nothing more to say, I apologize.)*

"We will not continue training after today."

Kael paused at Hakon's words, looking at him with a puzzled expression.

"Instead of training, you will gain experience. I will send you on a mission."

And now, he couldn't help frowning.

"Isn't it too early? I don't think I have completed my training."

It was his second month in the capital. Hakon had really taught him a lot... how to fight, how to use eon, and how to be a good scout.

Not only that, he had taught him a lot about the world. Most importantly, how to read and write.

Yet Kael did not feel ready.

No, he wasn't scared. He just... had a feeling that he would be insufficient and too inexperienced. Working for the Empire was very different from simply being a mercenary.

"Even if you have not completed your training, there is nothing more I can teach you, Kael. All you can do now, at least under me, is to keep practicing what I have taught you. You will not stop training, you will continue to improve. Do you understand?"

This... was not what he expected, truth be told.

There was nothing more for him to learn, huh?

He looked at Hakon, glancing him up and down. He focused on the smile beneath his mask.

'He's lying.'

There was still so much he could learn from him. He was sure of that. About eon, about dagger techniques... about so much more.

'So... there must be a reason, right?'

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If there was one thing he had learned in these two months... it was that Hakon was actually a pretty good guy. Not just good, but someone who really wanted the best for him.

Whether it was for future purposes, or because he was his student, or because he cared about him... it didn't matter. Hakon had trained him for two months, had done everything he could to make him stronger. There was no way he could change overnight.

In short... there had to be another reason why they weren't going to continue training. A reason Kael didn't fully understand, but one that was probably more for his own good than for his harm...

"I see."

He was silent for a short while, then narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at Hakon with a serious expression.

"What do I do, then?"

Hakon crossed his arms, and Kael saw the man's smile widen.

"It's not much. There's a group leaving tomorrow morning, not a big one. You will join this group as a scout, helping with their missions if you are asked. Then you will come back."

"Is that it...?"

Did it... really make sense for him to stop his training and go on such a simple mission... just to gain experience?

"Oh, you thought the mission would be simple?"

For some reason, Kael felt himself tense for a moment at Hakon's words.

'Did I think wrong?'

"A baron. Within the barony he rules, people are going insane for no reason. First, he reaches out to adventurers and mercenaries, but they either come back empty-handed or join the ranks of the insane. Finally, he contacts the Empire. That's the mission in a nutshell."

"So... I'm going to do more than scouting. I'm going to play a role in this mission too?"

Hakon shrugged his shoulders.

"It's up to the mission leader. If he wants, he can even leave you at a random inn in the barony and try to figure it all out himself."

Kael nodded thoughtfully.

"So... why this particular mission? I'm sure there are many more. Did you just... randomly pick this one for me? Or specifically?"

Hakon drew a single dagger of his own from his belt, then looked Kael straight in the eye.

"You'll find out when you leave for your mission, Kael."

"Tch."

Kael rolled his eyes as he clicked his tongue. Then he pulled out his own daggers and took a stance. Hakon spoke sarcastically as he simply began twirling his dagger between his fingers.

"Come on, let's duel one last time before you go. Let's see how good you are!"

And... so did Kael.

He did not compromise himself at all as he pounced on Hakon without hesitation.

But... as always, he lost. Not even a single blow, just... minutes of moving and finally getting tired.

And, as always, when his time was up, he received a sound beating...

*******

"Damn it, damn it!'

Kael cursed and cursed as he gently rubbed the right side of his stomach. Hakon, of course, was the cause of all these curses.

Kael had attacked him for a few minutes today, as he regularly did every day, trying to at least scratch him. But again, as always, he had failed. When the time was up, Hakon had beaten the shit out of him!

This happened so often that some evenings he couldn't sleep well because of the bruises.

'At least I'll get away for a few days...'

Kael paused as he thought of his mission. He stopped rubbing the bruise on his stomach and squinted.

His memory flashed back to his first mission in the mercenary branch. The one where he went in as a bodyguard and came out as... an assassin. A mission in which he had admitted he was a rotten human being.

Now, he had another mission. But this time... he had no secret purpose. He was actually going to do his assigned task.

'Scout, huh...'

Frankly... he was glad he was not an assassin. Even though he didn't feel much about killing people anymore, he still didn't like it. Though there was no problem with simply being a scout.

He sighed deeply as he started walking again.

'Why this mission, I wonder...'

There were things Hakon hadn't told him. He thought he had gotten to know him a little over the past two months. He was almost certain that he was hiding something.

The question was... what was he hiding?

With these thoughts in mind, he went out into the palace garden, and without even looking in front of him, he started walking towards a certain place, as he had done every day for the two months he had been here.

A few of the people working in the palace stopped when they saw him, whispering softly if someone was with him. Hakon, a well-known and skilled commander, had trained him himself, so there were a few rumors going around. He was used to the whispers. So he ignored them.

He finally paused when he came to the front of a rather large building that... stank to his nostrils. His eyes fell on the sign right next to the entrance.

'The Animal and Creature Den.'

He had only recently learned to read and write. So he was trying hard to read most of what he saw, to get used to it.

He took his eyes off the sign and entered the huge building with slow steps. And the first thing that greeted him was... a rather huge, open space. Oh, and a version of the stench that was several times heavier...

Still, without even bothering to cover his nose, Kael made his way through the large space and down the corridor on the left to the lower floors. He entered what looked like a cellar, but no guards tried to stop him.

And after a few minutes, Kael reached his destination.

'As usual, disgusting...'

He sighed slightly as blood, feces, and many other foul odors filled his nose. And... it wasn't just the smell that disturbed his senses anymore.

"Kiek! Kha kharada!"

His ears were also filled with hideous, incomprehensible sounds.

Kael pulled out his daggers, tried to ignore the sounds as he rolled his eyes, and approached a huge pit that looked as if it had been deliberately carved. It was almost twenty meters from one end of the pit to the other. It was barred off, and inside... there was a mini village of hobgoblins looking at him like hungry dogs.

"Have they... reproduced again?"

Kael couldn't help but be surprised to see that there were more hobgoblins than usual.

A guard next to him, looking at the hobgoblins with a disgusted expression, shook his head.

"Yes. Will you enter as usual?"

Hobgoblins were a type of creature that looked a lot like goblins, but in fact had little to do with them. The places they lived, the way they fought, the little culture they had... everything separated them quite clearly. The only thing they had in common was their appearance.

And the biggest difference between them was... their strength.

"Yes, but... it seems strange that there are so many of them."

Kael paused immediately after uttering these words.

"Ah..."

Because he was going on a mission? Did they want to feed his curse more...?

'Why didn't I think of this before...'

"Whatever."

Clutching his daggers tightly, he opened the tiny hatch between the bars above the pit. Then... he fearlessly jumped into the pit.

An awkward silence fell over the area as the hobgoblins, kept in the pit like livestock, all turned towards him at once.

Seeing the red eyes focused on him, Kael remembered the first time he had entered this place. He had almost trembled with fear. The hobgoblins were all... too strong.

Much stronger than the goblins.

But now?

One of the hobgoblins finally moved like a lunatic, instead of standing quietly where it was. Saliva spattered from between its fangs, its red eyes seeing nothing but the sweet human flesh in front of it.

The other hobgoblins moved after it. They were locked on their target.

But when their target suddenly disappeared before they could reach him, they paused, not realizing what was happening.

"Khirka! Kauk!"

And then a red mark appeared on the neck of the first hobgoblin to move.

As its head separated from its body and fell to the ground, its expression made it clear that it still did not understand what had happened.

Immediately after it, its fellows suffered the same fate as it. The last thing they saw was the dagger washed in their own blood and the person holding it... looking at them with a blank expression.