Bro, I’m not an Undead!

As stated before, Eofel was a small city without many advanced structures that most of the main cities enjoyed such as Guilds, Magic Academies and other institutions of note that bettered the welfare of the people and bolstered their strength.

There was a great diversity that came with all of this but frankly, the whole setup of the whole country was incredibly poor.

With the added disadvantage of where Eofel was positioned, away from most major settlements and checkpoints, the city lord barely found any restrictions put on him by the Royal family.

Naturally, he enjoyed such a thing.

This city was just one of the tens that didn’t matter much in the eyes of the Royal family which gave free reign to the city lord.

It also existed outside the supernatural concepts that plagued other cities spawning continuous improvement within the residents, like Clusters.

The city lord, Yugefet Bonmaush had enjoyed the freedom he had as he established his own system that was closely tied to him in a range of ways.

Only the Purity was a nuisance that kept coming for communion and establishing a ‘relationship with the Deities’ as they called it, which he didn’t buy.

All those ‘wasted’ resources towards the Temples gave him a thrombin vein on his forehead.

He didn’t believe all those tales about the mysterious things that happened within the large cities. With less people migrating to Eofel, not much news passed with the exception of the burning topics like this deal with the Sif that the Royal family was considering.

That… he opposed.

As the heavily built man sat upon his thick chair while the sun began its descent from the highest rise, a wriggly frown could be seen etched above his brow.

“If that comes to pass I imagine those bastards would finally start becoming upstanding authority figures that actually care about us! Their lax attention to taxes in Eofel and the rest of us small cities has been the best grace they have shown us. If they take that away and allow those long-eared fiends to live among us…!” Yugefet bellowed while looking across from him where a short man with an attentive visage stood.

“That is indeed… troublesome, my lord,” the man said.

His immaculate suit brought out the professionalism that hailed from the blood of his family name.

He was the city lord’s ears.

Literal ears to hear what the raging mass that lazily sat in comfort had to say.

“Worst of all is that bloody bard that goes about causing panic with his cryptic nonsense! Just what we needed after there have been many reports of missing people all over the city! Dammit! How did those so-called Knights fail to catch him when he was right in the city under the bloody sun?! And how on earth do so many people vanish under their watch?!”

The short man who was on the receiving end of this noise couldn’t help but reply perfunctorily. He knew that his master didn’t have much of an appreciation of the power that came with mana.

Surely, the man knew how to deal with people to a standard degree, evidenced by how he had managed to establish a fairly strong Capital Knight army for the city with funding and promises that he strategically delivered from time to time irregularly, to keep morale above the norm at the very most.

However, this man didn’t know much about the concerns with core growth that these Knights needed. The connections needed to raise powerful units like Energy Formers to conscript into the Capital protection. Mages.

Knights could only do so much.

Yugefet didn’t even believe in the tales about Edagon, the land of the giants and only acknowledged Opungale which had regular dealings with Feinheath.

He had been listening when the man had disrespected the Purity and their belief.

All he could do was shamefully agree with his master’s misguided approach as it wasn’t his place to speak against Yugefet.

He couldn’t teach this 56 years old much considering the pride and arrogance he had accumulated over that course.

“They are truly incompetent, my lord. Perhaps it’s time to have another gathering with the Capital Knight captain and review the performance derived from the funds you gave then,” the man said with a low and respectful tone.

The city lord huffed and puffed.

“Hmm.. you’re right! Accountability! I should hold them accountable. I pay them for nothing if they can’t keep the peace and catch one crazy dolt!” Yugefet growled while nodding his head ferociously.

The short man could only sigh inwardly, hoping that the Deities wouldn’t bear a grudge. Then again, they hadn’t shown their wrath in a long time.

So perhaps…

***

“Berrie, come on now! Get inside and let me run you a bath,” a woman called to her son who was busy playing with his friends. A delightful smile could be seen on his face as he chased his fellow eight year olds in the street.

The woman couldn’t help but give a warm smile when she saw that the boy didn’t reply, clearly ignoring her.

“This little rascal.”

The community was quite close, clusters of similar families living in a very inclusive community that prompted for men, women and children to grow with healthy relationships, a fact that would make her appreciate her husband’s decision to come to Eofel a few years ago regularly.

Things weren’t all that bad.

Even though supremacy did exist, there was still enough to eat and happy faces about.

She couldn’t ask for more.

As she opened her mouth to call to her son again, she heard a familiar voice coming from her left.

“You cannot comprehend, the true beauty of death. The only true Divinity among many falsehoods. The truest reality in all the lands… You cannot…”

A quick turn of her head lead her to see the figure of her husband walking in large strides and a sturdy step as he spoke in a loud voice the same statement over and over again.

The woman was about to greet him, but when she saw the bright flames burning from his sockets, she was greatly perturbed.

“Tom? What happened to yo-…”

Before she could continue, her husband’s words caused something within her to stir. This message that he continued to speak over and over reached the very depths of her being.

Her body jerked and she trembled as her husband passed her and continued calling out.

Even behind the man, many were quivering and jerking with frightened expressions on their faces as their bodies moved on their own, breaking down!

“What’s happening?! What’s going on?! Tom!” the woman screamed as she couldn’t tell what was happening to her body.

Soon, her eyes began to bleed as he voice faded, a bright red flame bursting from her sockets as she was introduced to profound death.