22 Weird Guy

--Gremory Point of View--

I wake up in a carriage, I look around I see a man in his 40s wearing a blue robe with gold ornament and full of jewels in his hand, looking to my side I see the same unfriendly healer from the city.

"So you decided to finally awake?" The man asked.

'Where am I? Was I kidnapped? Is the rest of the group still alive? I think we won the fight...'

"What you did to the rest of the group?" I ask while covering my fist with shadows.

"OOhh, there is no need for that, we are friends here. I was rude about not introducing myself from the beginning, let me start over. I am the Marquis Joseph Ranseur, you can call me Joseph; The lady on your side is Sani Meltosph; It's a pleasure to finally meet you Mr. Gardwald, may I call you Gremory?" The marquis spoke.

"How do you know my last name? Why am I even here and where is the rest of my group?" I ask as I release even more energy into my hands.

"Wait wait, this must be a misunderstanding. It's on my files, some old warrior registered you as a son a few years ago and that's all I know. Your group... you mean the novices who founded that guild?"

"The name of the guild is Hjmar and yes, what happened to them?"

"They are fine... I think, they brought you to Sani, she tried to heal you but in vain, at least she realized you were a wizard, and so she brought the information to me."

"And how much did they paid you?" I ask looking to Sani.

"As much they had, I guess it was something like 250 silver coins..." She replied without turning her face to me.

"A small amount to pay for what they did, you are a very valuable asset to the city and I spent a lot of resources trying to find you and in the end, you were almost dead after going on a mission even as a child. Many people will try to abuse your powers and in the end, it will not be of much value if you simply die before developing them!" Joseph spoke while looking at me like I was owned by the city.

I mold my hands with the shadows until it forms a blade, and then I stick it in Sani's throat.

She wasn't expecting this, she falls to the floor of the carriage quickly while trying to say something but in vain, as blood seeped from her throat.

The Marquis just stood in silence and retreated as much as he could even though it was nothing more than a few inches behind the carriage while he stared at the healer taking her last breaths.

"I know how this works Marquis, you're probably using me only for political gain. So why not we both use each other?"

"You are crazy, tell me what you want?"

"I want many things, but first you need to know that I get hungry very often and when that happens... I need to feed" I spoke while opening my shell and absorbing Sani.

The healer turned into dust in front of the Marquis, who was very scared but managed to maintain his composure.

"What you did with her?"

"I only feed on her"

"You don't fit the ordinary type do you?"

"Don't know, don't care, she had any value to you?"

"No, she was just a healer from the House Malior who was making money on the city, I don't have any mage from the city, well ... I hadn't until now.

"So tell me, why I am here?"

"You remained unconscious for weeks even with all the medical and magical care from Sani, but even then the council requested your presence in the Derlvit of this year, we are traveling to Zimirt, the capital of the Empire. We are traveling for a week now, so we should be arriving in just a few more days."

"Derlvit? What is this?"

"Huh, I thought you would already know that because your father had booked a transport to take you to the Capital this week. Obviously for security reasons we are using my coach and personal escort instead of his"

'The old man booked transport for me? This was what he was talking about when he said about waiting until I had ten years?'

"By chance, this Dervilt has some correlation with my age?"

"Of course it has, it's a tradition that every mage in the age of ten, go to Zimirt and participate on the Derlvit. It is the time to show your value, power and be selected by one of the four great houses of the Empire"

'The old man was thinking in this for me? I should go and honor his name then'

"As I can see you just don't care that I killed Sani... Will this be a problem?"

"No, it wouldn't, you made a point of not leaving any rest behind so when we arrive I will simply say that Sani had an emergency case, and then she will just be a problem of the House Malior"

"That's not what I asked, you don't mind with me killing her?"

"You don't know for how much time I waited for an opportunity like this, Lathrium is just a city near the edge of the Empire when they see that this city can also provide wizards, the city will have the possibility to finally grow and my influence with her too"

"Good to know, then I am going to participate in Derlvit, but as soon as it's over I want you to look for a person for me, he probably is in your territory and I just don't give a shit about the number of resources you would have to spend"

"Deal!"

'This guy is kind of weird, but he's my best chance to find Scullery, and I am also curious to see the ability of people like me...'