Chapter 6: Murder

In the next week I continued my meditation routine and learned the rest of the basic spells I had the spellbooks for and once I showed Butch and Diane they basically freaked out because I was actually learning magic, apparently it's not very common in Restoris. Speaking of Diane, she's an odd one and kept calling me 'Brother' as if we were already siblings even though I wasn't formally adopted by Butch so I avoided her as much as I could but she's always trying to get close to me. She's like a hyperactive puppy.

"Brother!" she yells as she tackles my bed, giving me a rude awakening

"Gah! Diane, get off me!" I struggle under her grasp

"You're such a weak big brother, aren't you supposed to be stronger than me?" she says before getting off me "Breakfast is ready!" she runs off

I sigh and get dressed in new clothes that were provided for me from Butch, I then put on my robe and grab my staff. I know that Butch's room is right across from mine and before anyone notices I'm gone I slip under the bed and carve the Anti-Life Zone rune formation and put a common mana crystal I prepared earlier this week into the rune formation.

I activate it and quickly leave his room. You may be asking, why am I doing this? It's one of my quests I got after hanging around the first few days.

[Kill an innocent

Reward: 100 XP, Spellbook: Summon Undead

A step towards evil.

Kill any innocent person, you will complete this quest weather you kill them directly or indirectly]

I smile as I think about my reward that would appear tonight as I head downstairs and set the table with [Telekinesis].

"You're in a good mood" Butch said as he put the food on the table "What's got you smiling today?"

"Nothing, dont worry about it" I tell him as I sat down and began eating "I'm going to be studying again today if you don't need me"

"Of course I don't need you, me and Diane have the place covered, you just keep doing what your doing and we'll handle the rest" he says "but just remember, you promised that if you don't get accepted to the magic tower when you turn 15 you'll be running this place for me."

I smirk "Yeah yeah" 'You'll be dead before that happens' I thought

Butch gives me a concerned look "Are you ok, kid? You're actually smiling at my comments. You're not dying are you?" he asks. I glare at him in response and he smiles "There he is!"

Diane enters the dining room and sits down before starting to scarf down her food "don't eat so fast, you'll choke" I tell her to which she responds with shoveling more food into her mouth.

I roll my eyes and finish up before going and washing my plate. I then go back up to my room and take out 'Basics of Mana Craft and spell composition' and study it for the next few hours.

In the next few hours I meditated between breaks to refresh my mind and reflect on my study so I didn't lose focus on my studying.

[Completed Quest: Meditation. You have gained 10 XP]

It was getting late and the sun was setting but for some reason I wasn't hungry but then I got a notification:

[Completed Quest: Kill an innocent. You have gained 100 XP and Spellbook: Summon Undead]

  A spellbook appeared in front of me and I smiled and began skimming over the themes of this new spellbook. Summon Undead seemed to be not an actual summon but a way to transport undead quickly by summoning already raised undead to my location.

I began my study of the [Summon Undead] spell before anybody realized that Butch had died. When I heard the scream I quickly put away my journal, quill, and spellbook before I went to check it out and stopped in the hallway.

I quickly wipe the smile off my face when I see Diane in the doorway and put my charisma to work as I pretend to be horrified at the sight of Butch being a mummified corpse in the center of the room. She steps forward and I don't stop her but instead, I shove her into the Anti-Life Zone and she tries to scream but she can only get air out of her lungs as she shrivels up into another mummy just like her father.

[You have killed a [Human Lv. 1] and gained 10 XP]

Once I'm sure they're dead I take out my necromancer's tools and get to work on preparing their bodies. Once I'm done I raise Diane as a skeleton assassin and Butch as a Zombie, not as Diane and Butch but as Tiny and Brute. I had restored the flesh of Brute so it could have some more muscle than the average zombie and for Tiny I simply gave it my dagger.

"Go and bury yourselves in the forest, don't let yourselves be caught." I command and they move out of the room obediently and into the forest as I watch through the window one large and one tiny figure move into the forest through the darkness of the newly brought night.

Once done I pull back out the [Summon Undead] spellbook and learn the spell by the time morning comes around. I then go to sleep until late morning.

"I found someone! I think it's Varen!" I heard a voice say as I woke up

I reluctantly open my eyes and see several people around me "What.. What are you guys doing here?" I asked

"Thank gods you're ok! Butch and Diane have gone missing!" An old woman said, her name is Margaret and she's the village baker.

The village blacksmith, Percy spoke up next "Did you see anything strange last night? Hear any noises?"

I put on my best facade "W-what? No I didn't hear anything, Butch and Diane have gone missing? We should look for them!" I say as I quickly get out of bed "all of you get out, I need to change"

I say and they quickly shuffle out before I close the door and sigh 'This is going to be a bitch to deal with…' I thought as I quickly got changed and put on my robe. Next I spend the entire day with the townsfolk trying to find Diane and Butch but we've had no luck. Obviously because I killed them but it's not like anybody but me knew that.

We searched all around the town and the forest and eventually I ended back at the Inn where I had been staying for the last week. I did some math and it would only take me a year to reach level 10 if I do nothing but meditate but I don't know if I'm allowed access to the dungeon or not. Besides, wouldn't it be safer to stay a year? And why dont I make some money while I'm at it by running the Inn?

I've decided, I'll run the Inn for at least a year or until I become level 10. And that's what I did for the next year and before I knew it I was 11 years old.