If Not, Well, You Already Know What Happens

"Lass,what are your thoughts about this one here? He's not exactly going to have any other use aside from a punching bag for you."

The little one looked at me as she smiled lightly while nodding.

"I know. I just want to try beating him up. He tried to hurt us."

"Only because we gave him and his comrades or perhaps even his friends hell in high water. This whole shindig occurred due to our actions. I have my reasons to possibly do the same things that I've to do in the future, but you? It's not inherent for you to follow in my footsteps."

She just nodded again as she still didn't lose her smile.

"You're still thinking about joining me, even after we've been arguing for hours on end on what you could do with your life aside from being by my side?"

And to affirm that, she repeated the same actions just like the last two times.

"Well, thrice I've tried to dissuade you of being one of my little helpers, and you've shown your thoughts about it. Very well, for now I'll have you deal with him how you please.

But for the sake of us getting extra knowledge about the situation, do make sure that you don't end up killing him inadvertently in your "spars". It's not going to be easy trying to constantly heal him when we're already heavily invested in our home here."

"No worries, old man. I won't kill him. He's strong, and I want to make sure he knows his place here. If we were his enemies in the future, then he'll know why we were so feared at that point."

I couldn't help but sigh at the words that came out other mouth. She was really into the sadistic side whenever it proved itself useful in situations.

"Fine, but just for you to know, once we've stayed in this place for, I suppose five more years, we'll be heading off to find different land.

We can't just be here for the rest of our lives, little lass. This forest is vast, but beyond it is what I wish to actually find. I want to travel and understand our place in this world. I want to know what exactly is the pecking order around here."

Once again she simply nodded while I sighed. This was getting into a routine that I assume would be much more often than what I would like.

"Let me go and get myself some water from the house alright? And make sure to keep the chess pieces far from you and near you him. He may be helpless whenever my supposed energy is with me, but it's still an absolute pain when you have to get yourself out of a headlock when you get too close to my own as well."

She gave me affirmation, and I went into the cottage to see our gear for the trip in five years. More tools, with the ones that we need to make ourselves different types of shelter were still in the realm, waiting to be taken out.

Yes indeed I prepared tools beforehand to make ourselves a place that we could call our own. And speaking of places of our own, the little "penthouse" that I made for myself in the realm is beautiful now.

It looks stunning in so many special little ways that I could feel myself wanting to just stay there for a really really long time. However that would mean that my contract might end up getting voided since I was neglecting my work, perhaps.

I don't actually know, it occurred to me that there wasn't anything there in the paperwork that showed off the punishment for not doing the job.

Bah! Whatever. Once I finish this job off, I'll try to see what exactly is it that I need to handle afterwards. The paperwork may not even be feasible, considering that there wasn't any instructions in the occasion of me finally finishing it. God I really should have read that paper a lot better, eh?

Well, water first, my possible fear of having to handle an entire world can come out later. Went inside, got a nice little waterskin, and then went back out to see that the lass was putting the poor bastard in a chokehold instead. He got out of his ropes, and I had just the thing to endure that he didn't get out of the tree trunk he was strapped to the second time around.

"HOLD HIM DOWN LASS. MAKE SURE HE DOESN'T SQUIRM TOO MUCH, OR ELSE THE WIRE WON'T DIG IN AND TIGHTEN."

Yep, barbed wire. It was a lot more effective than what I thought, though getting cut by it by simply accidentally brushing over one of the sharp caltrop-like protrusions is a bit of a hassle.

Luckily for me the thing isn't rusty, unluckily for the poor American that tried to escape and kill us again, it's not stainless steel wire.

It will rust, and it will eventually make itself into a health hazard for the poor little bastard that got itself stuck in.

"Alright there sonny, sorry about the worse hospitality, we just need to make sure that we can converse with you without you trying to get us killed, understand? Now then, some more information?

But in exchange-"

The lass eyed me with suspicion as I gave her the shush sound. "-I'll give you some information as well. Now, it's not going to be all that useful, I'll tell you that much. Whatever it is that I've done, well, I've done them, nothing more, nothing less.

That's to be for the future. But that's the exact thing I want to focus us on right now. What exactly happens, in the future. I want a good little idea to help me with getting this world ripe and ready for the plucking."

I then traced my sharpened nail a little bit into his leg as he did his best to hold in the discomfort of having my energy traced over his skin.

"Now, I could tell that there's a little issue that seems to plague every single one of your little friends. They all seem to hate being near me. Now I would be a little disheartened by that fact, but when I actually begin to think about what I'm doing, and I see that I'm able to hurt you this way, well, I don't really need to say the words do I?"

He didn't even say anything as I nodded at him with a good little smile.

"Good man, now then, I'm sure that you're starving right now, but don't worry, we've had the luck to find some pore obscure animals that almost killed me, though it would be rather jarring for you to see what exactly it is that you're about to be fed."

I dusted myself off for a moment as he began to pant heavily from me being in his presence for so long.

"And I'm curious of many things, son, so please, do tell whenever my curiosity begins to get you hurt, I would hate to have to see you in such a bad state when you could've asked for it to stop."

"You're no.... away..... this."

I took a moment to freeze up as I realized what he just said.

"Ah, forgive me there sonny, my hearing's not exactly the same ever since I've been here on this rock. Could you pick up the tone and tell me what it is that you've said?"

"I said, that you're not getting away with any of this. It's obvious, isn't it? You're not going to make me talk."

"Ah finally, and here I thought you and your little "class" were trained like actual soldiers.But no, it appears that while you may be better when it comes to pain tolerance, I can't exactly say the same thing when it comes to any possible others that could be sent here under the same orders or goal as you."

He just stared at me as the blood trickled from his midsection and arms from the barbed wire.

"Well if it's any consolation, you're either going to be dead from getting unconscious, or the blood loss. Sadly for you, I've got myself another thing coming for you.

I will personally get as much information out of that head of yours, whether or not it's going to be the last damned thing that you'll feel on this rock.

And no, I'm not going to sacrifice my own life just to get the chance to siphon more info or strength out of you. I'm sure that your people have records of what exactly was it that I did to myself and the little one just to survive, correct?"

He just spat blood spittle at my feet as he grinned. Hmm, ballsy, good, he'll be a very good punching bag for the little one.

"Well, I'll take that as a maybe. I hope that your healing spells work, or if you actually have a minuscule little thing that allows you to take lessened degrees of damage, or perhaps even some regeneration. Because you my friend, you're gonna need them for what the kid's gonna be doing to you."

I stood up and looked at the little one, who was already getting ready to make the guy stand up and beat down on him once again.

"Good luck there sonny, you're not gonna be alive, most likely, and I assume that's the good end for you."

I walked away as the little one began beating all over the poor sop again, making sure to not actually hit the barbed wire that I made for the man. The deer was moving off to another little spot for himself, which was the closest thing that I could call a stable.

"How's your growth there, deer? You don't seem to be moving all too much nowadays."

It lazily opened one of its eyes as it took about a minute of looking at me, before it closed it again and made it's attention to me scarce.

'Well, ain't that some shit.'

I clicked my tongue and went back to the gear within the cottage. Dried trail mix? Check. Water gallons? Check. All of the necessary tools, at even some of the more peculiar picks? Check. Climbing gear? Check, which was actually very difficult to make because God knows that trying to make metal is hard.

Well, there's still a lot more that I need to get up, but otherwise I think that there's not a whole lot for me to do after doing this. More artifacts, if I can even call them that? They're essentially just gear for battles that need to be done.

The axe I had with me was still the exact same, not a single chip or deformity. I suppose some things from my past just make themselves all the more viable to work with, since they don't break down as fast, or maybe don't even break down at all.

Well, I'm getting a little bit peckish, and I don't really have any meat. I was thinking of eating some mung beans with some aromatics, but that would mean that I need to make some to be grown.

The lass didn't really care as to what exactly was it that I would be cooking every night, but let's just say that mashed potatoes aren't exactly gonna go down easy when they've been the same thing you've been eating for weeks on end.

Which means I was getting sick of solely making them saltier and saltier every time to make them still feel palatable. This isn't really good in my eyes, I need a balanced-ish diet, and pure starch doesn't exactly give me that much confidence that they're a good little dish to constantly have for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Shepherd's pie would be absolutely amazing right now, and despite the fact that I don't really have any cheese, it doesn't really hurt that bad to try and make three little wheels of different kinds of cheeses.

Oh well, trying's half of the fun, well, most of the time that is.

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/Kid's POV/

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"Tell me everything you know."

The odd person in front of me just smiled and said "I'm not telling you a single damned thing lass. You're going straight to hell once I get out of this wir- PUAH!"

I punched him in the stomach, making sure to twist my fist to make it hurt even more. The old man said it would be extra painful if you twist your punches when you were trying to make someone talk.

"Tell-" *fist connects with shoulder, dislocating it slightly* "me-" *grabs his right hand and immediately breaks all five of his fingers*

"everything-" *goes back to the front of his face and begins trying to knock out all of his teeth*

"you-" *twists the right foot 180° in the wrong direction*

"know. Or else it'll be worse. I'll have to us the old man's tools at that point."

He was already moaning from the pain that I gave him. He would heal, I'll let him feel it for longer.

"Y-You'll. Never. Know. What. You. Were. To. Us."

He opened his eyes that were red and filled with tears. "You betrayed us, all for him."

I shook my head at his words. "If I was the one you believe betrayed you, then I would've never left you alive, unless it was important that you were alive."

He closed his eyes, and begun to cry tears quietly. I looked at my hands. The old man was right, it's annoying to have to get information whenever they're strong-willed.

"You will talk. I'm going to clean up first. You made me dirty, Amayreecon."

He begun laughing as I was confused. "The way you say my nationality. It's funny."

"Why is it funny? The old man called you that, and I know how to figure out how words are said."

"And you even said the same thing when we first met. Amazing, you really are her. You really are the Elven Monarch. I just- never mind. It's not like you would care about what I have to say."

I grabbed the knife the old man gave me and pointed it to his foot.

"Speak, or else I make it hurt even more."

"Fine, fine. I'm a dead man anyways, they would've just purged me for being in the presence of the First's Hand, let alone getting touched by him.

You wanted to know what exactly was it that you meant to us? Fine, you'll know. You were a mentor, one who taught us, one who we trusted.

You even said that there were some times that people would vie for your hand, and yet you always turned them down. Now I understand why exactly you acted the way you were. Cold and uncaring whenever we went off to battle.

You weren't trying to let yourself get hurt, you were expecting the next batch of cattle to be slaughtered off. You never even cared in the first place. If there even was any care, it died a long long time ago."

"Hmmm. You're weird, I'm going to punch you again."