Blade Of Life Energy:The Outcasts

2

The soldiers behind him stopped running, drew the bows from their waists, nocked their arrows, pulled the bowstrings taut, and waited for the order. At the commander's order to "fire at will," arrows came whizzing through the air toward the man.

The old man could now taste death in his throat as six arrows pierced his back simultaneously. He groaned in pain and collapsed to the ground. His journey had finally reached its end. Dying this way caused him deep agony; he had never experienced happiness throughout his life: his father was killed, his mother was forcefully taken and sold as a slave, and he had no brothers or sisters. Later, he got a new family, but his bad luck still refused to leave him. His first three children died of disease, while the last one was sold as a slave, leaving goodness knows what fate in store for him. On top of all that, his beloved wife, Alya, had suddenly fallen ill and passed away before he even understood what was happening. He began to cry, asking himself over and over: *Why? Why couldn't I be happy? What did I do to deserve this? What kind of punishment is this? Weren't the wicked supposed to pay for their deeds? At least, that's what my mother taught me.*

He was dying all alone on this cold, dark night. The bitter end of his life had arrived. The soldiers walked over and looked down at the man, pleased to have caught him—they might even get a small reward for it. One of the soldiers sat down next to the dying old man and asked, "What's your name, old man?"

With a desperate effort, the old man turned his head toward him. Blood had started leaking from his mouth. In a muffled voice, he managed to say, "Peter."

The soldier asked with curiosity, "Peter, then..." After a brief pause, he continued, "So why did you try to run? Don't you know the laws?"

Peter laughed and said, "I know them, but who cares? Did they ask me when they made the laws?"

The soldier was surprised and began to think the man was crazy. He spoke up again, "Laws exist to ensure social order and unity. If everyone did whatever they wanted, no order would remain."

Peter laughed once more. "Order, you say? What kind of order is it where the weak are crushed? The law you speak of protects no one except the high-nosed nobles. Judging by your appearance, you're a high-ranking officer. Your family must be rich, too. Can't you see what your precious laws have turned you into? You are nothing more than a bunch of murderers!"

While the two continued their conversation, the other soldiers watched in silence. Peter coughed up blood again, and his eyes slowly began to close. He mustered his strength for one final set of words: "If you're wondering why I did this, let me tell you: fighting for freedom is better than living as a slave."

Surprised, the soldier replied, "But you're dying!"

Peter smiled faintly and said, "Perhaps this is what will finally grant me true freedom," before closing his eyes and surrendering to the arms of death.

The soldier standing at his head stood frozen. All the values he believed in had been dismantled within minutes. One of the nearby soldiers called out in a low voice, "Sir, is everything good?" but received no answer. At that moment, the other ranking officer, Saton, stood up and said, "Get up, let's take the body and head back to the camp." Hearing his comrade's voice, Saton snapped out of his thoughts. He stood up and looked around. The soldiers were watching him with curious eyes. Clearing his throat with a cough, he spoke in a booming voice, "Demos and Nadal, bury the corpse. The rest of us are heading back to the camp," and set off with his squad. Something inside Saton had changed that day.

---

While Eric was waiting in front of the stable, he heard a familiar voice from behind: "What are you thinking about again, brown-haired, skinny kid?" It was none of us other than Kayn. Normally, Kayn worked alongside Eric in the stable, but for the past 3 days, he had been busy with errands for the banquet preparations, hauling supplies from the city and unloading them at the mansion. Although Eric didn't particularly appreciate Kayn's reckless and over-the-top behavior, he was the only person Eric could call a friend—not because they were close, but because Eric's concept of friendship was so empty that he could call a coworker a friend.

Eric turned back and replied, "Nothing." Kayn walked up to him immediately without dragging out the words—not that he could have, anyway, given how uncommunicative Eric was. Kayn looked at Hayne touring the garden on her horse and whispered, "Lady Hayne is as beautiful as ever, a true angel." Eric muttered under his breath, "You don't say!"

Not understanding him, Kayn asked, "Did you say something?" but receiving no answer from Eric, he turned back around and noticed that Hayne was heading back to the stable.

Both immediately bowed their heads. Hayne approached them, dismounted her horse, and said with a happy tone, "There's no need to bow your heads." The two raised their heads and greeted her. Eric quickly walked over to the horse, grabbed its reins, and led it toward the stable. Though he didn't fully understand it, he noticed Hayne asking Kayn something as he went on his way. He went inside, tied up the horse, and returned to Kayn's side. When he got there, he realized Hayne had already left.

He walked quickly back to Kayn. Looking at Kayn's face, he saw a quite happy expression. Kayn looked at him and said, "Hayne said she's going to make me a servant! I heard servants live very comfortable lives and get to eat better food." Shocked by what he heard, Eric grabbed Kayn by the arm and pulled him inside. Kayn grew frightened by Eric's sudden movements. Once inside, Eric checked their surroundings and said in a low voice, "You must escape from here immediately. Pack your things quickly, I'll help you."

Kayn didn't understand any of it and asked, "What's going on? Why should I escape?"

Eric answered, "Because you're going to die."

As Kayn tried to ask more questions, Eric cut him off: "Alright, I'll tell you everything. Remember two years ago when Hayne had a group of slaves brought in to work as servants?"

Kayn chimed in, "Yes, I know that. Two months later they died from poisoning, it was just a coincidence."

Eric retorted harshly, "A coincidence, huh? What kind of coincidence makes it so the other servants ate the same food and nothing happened to them? And even if they died by coincidence, did you ever see their bodies or witness their burials? Right after they went into that house, they vanished from sight, and then news of their deaths arrived. I think they're taking those slaves and killing them for some reason."

With a face full of terror, Kayn said, "No, I don't believe it. Lady Hayne would never do something like that, you're lying!"

This infuriated Eric. "Right, at first I thought it was just a stupid suspicion in my head, until one night during the poisoning incident, I sneaked out of the hut to look around and saw two soldiers coming out of the garden gate. Each of them was carrying a sack. One of the soldiers tripped, fell to the ground, and the sack spilled open. I couldn't believe my eyes—it was severed body parts! Think about it: 24 slaves over 24 months, and now Hayne is hiring new servants again. This can't possibly be a coincidence!"

When Eric looked at Kayn, he saw an accusing look on his face. Kayn shouted, "I knew you were jealous of me! You just wanted to get me out of the way so you could take my place, didn't you, you liar? I knew from the start you resented me because people like me, and you couldn't stand it!"

Realizing he couldn't explain anything to this fool, Eric said, "Is that how it is? I warned you, Kayn son of Frad. When you regret this one day, remember my words and don't blame me," and walked back to the stable.

Kayn sat down in front of the stable and waited for the evening. Even though Eric had annoyed him, he was excited for the evening's banquet. He had been assigned to work as a waiter, and at the end of the night, he would get to taste delicious food. He had already started imagining their flavors.

As the sun began to slip beyond the horizon, guests started arriving. Eric sat in front of the stable, watching ornate horse-drawn carriages enter the mansion's courtyard. Looking around, he spotted Kayn standing at the door in a waiter's uniform, greeting guests alongside twenty other waiters, welcoming incoming visitors and taking their extra garments.

Eric stopped watching and went back to sleep. The stable was the only place where he felt at peace; it had a quiet and calm atmosphere.

When evening arrived, everyone was seated at their tables in the banquet hall, waiting for Fergus to give a speech. Fergus rose from his seat and walked to the center of the hall, to the area cleared for dancing (the tables didn't even cover a quarter of the hall). After clearing his throat, Fergus began: "Dear friends, I express my sincere thanks to all of you for being by my side on such a special day as my beloved daughter's birthday. I wish you all a wonderful evening," and sat back down. He didn't want to bore anyone with a long speech.

The wide variety of drinks and foods on the tables, along with their legendary tastes, left everyone quite satisfied.

After the dinner phase ended, people began pairing up to dance. At that moment, Eric suddenly opened his eyes; he had fallen asleep and panicked. If it was discovered that he was late getting back to the hut, he would face punishment. Moving quickly through the darkness, he headed toward the hut. He hated sleeping in that rundown shack; there were too many slaves inside, leaving no room for him. Lost in thought, he heard a sound ahead—100 meters away, a shadow appeared, vanished just as quickly, and appeared a bit further along. Eric muttered, "That's a life energy user..."