He once needed help with his pack,

Now he's slinging it over his back.

With a grin and a cheer,

He said, "No more fear!"—

And vanished down life's winding track.

Goldie Honorhide

"My interest in Ivan is largely personal," Kiri said. "Yes, he has offered to help find my aunt…"

"You mean the Black Butcher, who probably doesn't need to be found and probably needs to answer for the crimes she committed," Makara clarified.

"Yes," said Kiri as she moved to face Makara directly, "I mean my aunt, the Black Butcher, with the Shadow Elemental Bond, who has killed hundreds and brought freedom to a huge number of the empire's slaves. Where, I might add, she is revered as well as feared. Ivan has offered to help find my Aunt, the Black Butcher, who personally trained me for over a year in my teens, and runs the greatest crime syndicate in both the Kingdom and the Empire."

She was now standing directly in front of Makara, looking up at her, and somehow appearing to intimidate the larger woman.

"That is my Aunt," Kiri pointed to the documents in Makara's hands, "That is a good deal. Some nobles will offer you more, but you should consider who you might make as an enemy."

"If she isn't dead," Makara mumbled.

"Even if she is dead," Kiri said. Pānihi, the pony-sized panther, made his presence known at that point by crunching down on a bone, also reminding everyone that he and Kiri were also affinity users.

"When you say personal," Yoboc asked, "what exactly do you mean by that?"

Kiri backed out of Makara's personal space and turned to face the group. "What I mean is that Ivan and I have started forming a relationship."

All eyes turn to look at me, except Leif. He was watching Makara.

"Is this what you want, Ivan?" Yoboc asked. "You don't need to do this for protection. We could leave."

I nodded. "I am not doing it for protection. I can always leave. A relationship is new, and human relationships are different, but I am learning and yes, this is what I want." I looked at Yoboc and Goldie, "Thank you. You have been like parents to me, and I needed that."

"The kids grow up so fast," Goldie grumbled.

"So you two are fucking, and you want me to watch your backs," Makara said.

"Ivan's back," Kiri clarified, "and yes, I believe you will honour the contracts you sign."

"You just want me as an in to the Chelonians," Makara said.

"No," Kiri said. "That contract is between the Bearded Sheilas and the Chelonians. I have no part of it. They are coming here, I will make my own way if I need to."

"You already know I have had two other offers, don't you?" Makara said.

Kiri nodded.

Makara handed the documents back to Leif, saying, "Thank you for the offer, but I believe I need to widen my experience. I will honour the Chelonian contract as part of the Bearded Sheilas, but that is all. I will be taking up Guildmaster Nash's offer and working directly for the Mercenary Guild."

She turned and left the building.

"That is probably for the best," Leif said.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Kiri nodded, "Nash will look after her and guide her."

I wasn't sure how I felt about this. Makara was even more different to me than dwarves and humans. We got along okay, but she didn't really fit, and she and Goldie never got along. At the end of the day, we all make choices, and she has made hers. I wished her the best.

The dinner wound down shortly after that. Kevin, Yoboc and Goldie arranged to meet with Kiri the next day.

I spent some of the evening reading the contract Kiri offered me. I was not a fan of contracts, but they are a part of life here in civilisation. This was an open-ended contract for a bodyguard position. There were several completion conditions, including a month's mutual notice and penalty clauses in the event of failure. The reasons she could fire me were pretty open. The monthly pay looked generous, and there was an equipment allowance. There was also a uniform requirement.

The contract did not mention work outside of bodyguarding, so I was not obligated to do anything besides guard Kiri. Agreements with the Duke and other parties were not part of this.

At the end of the day, we all make our choices, and I have chosen her, for better or worse. I signed the documents.

The next morning, a tailor arrived to measure me for my new uniform. "You will only have to wear it for official events," Kiri said. "Mostly, I like going in an unofficial capacity. What other gear do you want?"

I had my one-handed axe from up north, and some basic knives. "A shield," I said. I was here for protection, so a shield made sense. Kiri was an archer, so I needed something to protect her while she took out any ranged attackers. Shields were also good for keeping unwanted people away.

"I am not interested in having you follow me all the time. I would need a team like Leif's for that. We will coordinate our morning schedules and arrange contacts or signals as required. Leif is arranging a meeting with the Duke, and we both want to go to the Osteowrights. You will need your uniform for the meeting with the Duke."

The Osteowrights had a warehouse behind their storefront. I brought my astral bone, and Kiri brought the bones from the boar. The Osteowright looked at both with greed.

"I want throwing weapons with a return enchantment," I said, "Knives are good as they can be used for other things as well."

"Knives are the minimum size for the return enchantment," she said, "The sheath triggers the return, and each knife needs its own individual sheath. A bandolera is normal, I suggest troll hide, as it can be self-repairing." She sorted through my bones, "These pieces are large enough for throwing knives, we can make six. Can I have the remaining pieces in payment? That will include payment for the enchanting."

I ended up keeping half the remaining pieces as I wanted to do some carving of my own.

Kiri got in a deep discussion about the boar bones, and I left them to it. I am pretty sure she was negotiating some training from them as well.

I then went to the Lore Society, but my heart was not in it. I had too much on my mind and really just wanted to go wandering for a week or two. Healing knowledge was very effective, and the only reason I took down the boar was because of the knowledge. My mind was just too full right now to concentrate.

I need my eye fixed. I need two eyes for depth perception so I can throw knives further than my Cosmic Aura.

At least the Lore Society was quiet and let me think. I petted Felix. I envied him more and more.

I need to learn more about Kiri, specifically her classes and skills. I moved to the history section and started reading the accounts of the Black Butcher.

She was human and started here in Jern with a meteoric rise as a Crime Lord. At the end of a month of butchery in the crime war that was raging, she died in a devastating explosion. At the same time, Jern was fighting off a goblin horde.

Except, of course, she didn't die and surfaced in Obalno about a year later, and then started popping up in different places in the kingdom.

She was known to be associated with a massive Orc named Modrica—I guess that would be Kiri's Aunt Drica. Modrica was from one of the local orc tribes but had been cast out for some reason. She was known to fight in the illegal fighting pits here in Jern, earning the name Modrica the Merciless. Apparently, she died in Kirghiz several years later, but Kiri has seen her and she is not dead. These histories are quite unreliable.

The picture the historians paint is pretty dark.

Except there is a note that the King appointed the Black Butcher, who was going under the name Skygge at the time, to the nobility as a Countess at large of the Kirghiz Kingdom. The reasons for this were very conflicting. The prevailing opinion was that she blackmailed him in some way. This has never been removed, even when Queen Irene took over, so if she is alive, I guess she is still a Countess.

The histories are quite consistent in the fact that the Black Butcher and Modrica the Merciless were blood sisters, an orc thing where they bond in battle. It is highly unusual for an orc to be a blood sister with a non-orc.

I looked up Kiri's father, Wirimu Hunter. There was not much about him in Jern, except that he was a key player in several battles against the goblin horde. He wasn't connected with the Black Butcher until Kirghiz a few years later. His legend apparently started in Obalno, but he was born in the Free Republic across the continent. He spent three years in an Empire slave quarry, and that started his war against slavery. He and a beast-kin enchanter figured out how to remove the slave class, and that is what made him famous.

It all read like a fantasy story, but it was all in the history section.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.