Inspiring And Terrifying Figures

"Teacher, what the hell are you doing in our room...?" Laena asked, surprised.

"I just knew that you were coming back today so I waited for you with a few things to eat and drink." Jack replied, smiling mysteriously.

Sitting around a small wooden table, the two girls seemingly accepted his weird explanations and sipped their tea. Their professor was eating a biscuit, studying their condition.

"So, how did it go?" He said, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

Evelyn raised her eyes from her cup of tea and angrily explained what she had felt :

"We managed to kill them all but we nearly died ! How could you send us on such a hard mission ? Did you want us to fall during this quest ?"

"Why would I? Please tell me all the story before getting angry. Furthermore, you knew that you could run away."

"But we had to save those women !" Laena retorted, outraged.

"Is your life less important than an heroic deed?" Jack coldly asked. " If it is, feel free to go kill yourself for some other people. You will make a magnificent pawn for the nobles and others cowards but I have no use for someone like this."

The two girls huddled in their chair, trying to hide their shame and frustration in their cup of tea. Getting scolded like this reminded them of their father's anger and they both knew that this time their teacher was right.

"But master, isn't for this that we have our strength?" Evelyn shyly wondered out loud. Being an hero had been her childhood dream before and learning magic had made the spark reappear in her mind.

"You can use your strength to follow your desires once you have enough, whatever kind it is. After all, nobody could complain or try to stop you without getting killed. Still, using your powers for others is fundamentally wrong in my eyes. It's like you are asking to get used like a tool, a weapon with a brain." Jack stated.

He had seen enough heroes wannabe turning into mindless people because their gentleness had been abused. Furthermore, a little flag of "evil" was enough to motivate them to purge whatever was on their way.

'A gentle heart is akin to a wooden door : It lets whispers go through and easily get opened. I need these girls to steel themselves.' He thought.

"So... You are telling us it's ok to abuse our strength if we are powerful enough?" Laena asked while raising an eyebrow.

"Young elf, I am pretty sure that you are smart enough to see that I am right. Your justice isn't the same as an other's one. For example, orcs can speak and form communities like us. Why would it be alright to kill them and not humans, elves or dwarves ?"

"But they are monsters ! They kill, destroy and r*pe to reproduce themselves !" The swordswoman roared while slamming her fists on the table. Evelyn was also agreeing silently, her two eyes fixed on her teacher's ones.

"Indeed, but they do so because it is alright for them. If they were the dominant race, wouldn't it be normal for us to be killed like cattle's ? Fight to impose your point of view as it is like this the world work. Now, will you recount me your adventures ?"

They thus started telling their story, both giving their point of view when Jack asked the other to explain what he was doing or thinking at some points of time. He did nothing else than listen and never told them his point of view about their actions.

The tea had gotten cold when they had ended and the two students were gingerly studying their teacher's face to try to see what he was thinking. Yet, he stood there in silence and looked at them without a single word leaving his lips.

"S-So, what do you think of our fight master ?" Evelyn asked, trying to break the oppressive atmosphere around them.

"You acted like children, fools and idiots." Jack replied coldly. "Charging in such an amount of enemies was suicidal at best. Furthermore, you didn't even verify the number of your foes before attacking. What if there were five of them talking in a hut and coming out when you were exhausted ? What if they had decided to use the girls as hostages or human shields?"

Seeing his two students look at the ground and fighting back tears, he took a deep breath and continued in a gentler tone :

"Your life is more important than any other's one, don't ever forget it. Taking such risks to save a few women isn't something that you should reproduce. Even if you decide to fight to save people, what's the point if you die trying?" Getting up, he extended his arms and gently patted the two girls.

"Anyway, I'm happy that you managed to finish your mission and come back alive. You fought bravely and both did better than I expected. Standing your ground in front of so many foes and continuing onward even with the fear of death isn't something everyone is capable of. May your courage never cross the line and become recklessness as you are fine warriors now."

All the pressure, the fear and other feelings they had bottled up during their fight got out with the compliments and the warmth of their teacher. Evelyn cried her heart out while Laena tried to keep her face up, shaking a little.

"You should have some sleep, we will go on a quest together tomorrow." Jack announced before leaving the room and the students to themselves.

The two girls went to their bed shortly after, feeling both mentally and physically exhausted but with a smile on their faces. They had done what they wanted to do and managed to come back alive.This brought them to sweeter dreams than the nightmares they expected.

In his room, Jack was wryly smiling too.

'My students are really a good find. I didn't expect them to progress this much, it is really good though. Maybe they will be useful in the future... Well we'll see.'

After a good night of rest, they all walked out of the inn refreshed and went on their way toward the adventurer's guild. Hearing a few people gossip about the latest rumors while passing by, Evelyn remembered something and asked her teacher :

"Master, do you know what this "Phantom Reaper" rumor is?"

A ravenous grin appeared on the man's lips and he turned toward the young girl while saying in a grave tone :

"Who knows, I've no idea."

Laena squinted her eyes, wondering why he had such a reaction but didn't say anything. If it was a normal person who had murdered so many people his aura or mindset would have changed and she could have noticed it with all her senses. Jack always had a murderous aura and a faint smell of blood lingering around him so she didn't notice anything off except his tone and reaction.

Shrugging the matter off, they continued on their way and passed by a music instrument shop. The elf eyes shined a little and she turned toward her small friend :

"Evy, do you want to buy one ? It could be useful for your magic don't you think?"

"Hmmm... I don't think so, I use my voice to make the mana strand move. What do you think about it teacher?"

"Your voice is the most important part of your casting as you said from your experience so I don't think that an instrument would be useful. Maybe you'll find yourself a passion for it and manage to cast spells through your music but I doubt it, Evy." He explained, using a joking tone for her nickname.

She seemed to be pouting a little and Laena grumpily asked :

"You don't like her nickname Jack?"

"Oh, far from that. I just find it funny and cute you know."

Evelyn blushed a little at those compliments and they continued chatting lightly while walking around the city's streets. Adventurers carrying weapons walked by them while townsfolk's glared at their flagrant lack of elegance. Jack's smile usually made them look away as they felt like they were going to be eaten by a big bad wolf if they dared to stare a little more.

they entered the guild carrying a relaxed atmosphere around them. When they arrived at the counter they found that it was Linda behind it again and she greeted them:

"You are back from the orc extermination quest isn't it? The other girls are waiting for you in a room upstairs."

"Oh, ok. Thank you for the information." Laena said, saying goodbye before going toward the stairs.

Entering a comfier room than next time after having asked their way to the guild's employee in the corridor, the group was nicely surprised as they saw a sofa and many decorations around them. Three girls were sitting in chairs organised in a half circle form while the sofa was in the middle and in front of this half-moon was standing a heavy oak desk. Behind it was standing a young man wearing nice clothes, having a milky white vest above a grey shirt.

There were many paintings on the walls while a huge window behind the man's huge chair brought a lot of light inside.

"Ah, you are finally here !" One of the girl said, getting up to properly salute her heroes. The other two did the same and they all lowered their head to show their respect. After a few seconds of staring, a blond woman noticed Jack's presence :

"And who are you?"

"I am but a humble follower of miss Brathadh." He gently replied, playing his role and hoping that her student would do the same.

"Oh, you also noticed her strength and righteousness ?" A ginger haired girl asked.

"Yes, she is indeed an admirable person." The immortal replied, lying through his teeth.

"Would it be possible to know what we are doing here and who are you sir?" Laena said while looked at the man behind the desk. She was desperately trying to change the conversation subject as she was embarrassed and if her ears got any hotter they would have gone from their current red color to bright white.

"Thank you for your interest miss Brathadh, I was starting to think that I was transparent. I am Richard Trihion, this guild's branch director. Don't stand up by the way, the seats are here to take." The man kindly explained.

'There is something off with this guy's body. I don't know what he his but I can definitely say that he's not human.' Jack thought, noticing the abnormalities in his interlocutors's body. As a Lifomancer, he had studied the very composition of a corpse and the percentages of each mana on many subjects, alive or not.

With his experience in dealing with humans he knew that there was way too much blood mana roaming in the man's body so either he had veins way bigger than a normal human or he was something else.

Wondering why Laena's butler was staring at him with such intensity, Richard cleared his throat and passed his hand in his short brown hairs.

"You probably wonder why I convened you all in this room and I will tell you now. The orc tribe was way bigger than what we thought as we know thanks to the people you saved and I think that you adventurers deserved an apology. Because of our mistake we sent you on a C or even B classed quest and put you in danger. However, you managed to overcome the difficulties and even managed to save those women."

Taking a deep breath to continue, he said :

"As such and after hearing their testimony we hereby declare that the adventurers Evelyn and Laena Brathadh are promoted to C rank. I hope that you can accept this reward for your bravery and I wish for you to continue to be such inspiring figures."

'Not even giving a coin, what a stingy guy.' Jack sneered inwardly while glaring at the guild's branch director.