18 In Need of Money

In the middle of the forest east of Oxenfurt, Mikael the one-armed was watching carefully. His surroundings moved, the trees whispered, stalking him closely.

He unsheathed his sword, raising it proudly.

"Come out Spirit." spoke Mikael. "Fuck, I should've ask Vesemir for a bestiary…"

The spirit just kept stalking him, but it made no move whatsoever. Mikael watched closely as the roots of the trees moved around him, as if waiting for an opportunity.

"Seriously, you'll rot if you don't come out." stated Mikael again. The lands below him started to change, scarlet rot was spreading quickly throughout the grounds, to the trees, to the grass, rotting everything it touched.

Then, Crows started to appear from on top of the trees, flying frantically as a spirit appeared, a Leshen. Its head was of a stag's skull, and its body was of a dead tree's trunk.

The Leshen shrieked as it saw the forest rotting in front of its eyes. Waves of Roots then launched towards Mikael, but, as soon as the roots touched the rotten grounds, it stopped, consumed by the scarlet rot, and the Leshen had no control over it anymore.

Mikael then dashed to the Leshen, his sword in his left hand, and jumped as the Leshen summoned another wave of roots, avoiding it.

Mikael then stabbed Leshen's head, and smirked at the spirit. The bones of the stag started to be infected with scarlet rot, eating the Leshen from the inside as the Leshen got weaker and weaker. Mikael controlled the rot so it wouldn't consume the whole head, but enough to kill it.

The Leshen kept shrieking as it died from the rot. Now, only his head remains, as well as some parts of its body.

Mikael took a deep breath, he looked around, his scarlet rot everywhere, and he absorbed the rot back, leaving only dead trunks, unusable dirt, and a few shrapnels of bones.

Mikael then took its head by the antlers, and walked away from the scene.

—

Mikael was now at a nearby village. It was a bit deserted, people were starting to leave the village for a lot of reasons… war, shortage of food, and most importantly, the monsters.

He then walked to the village head's shack, and knocked on the door. The door opened, revealing a man in his thirties, looking pale as snow as he looked at Mikael.

"I've killed it." said Mikael, dropping the Leshen head. "Where's the promised reward?"

"M-Master Witcher… I'm sure you could spare us to pay… our village–"

"I'm not a witcher." grumbled Mikael. "Where's the money?"

"Y-Yes…" the man gulped loudly. "I-If you would just follow me to the barn…"

Mikael raised his eyebrow.

"It's a trick." Miquella spoke. "Be careful."

Mikael frowned, but he went it with. "Lead the way." nodded Mikael.

Mikael then followed the village head to the barn nearby. He followed him to a horse stable, and said that the money was below the hay.

As the village head acted like he was finding the money, the barn's door closed abruptly, and around 3 men with hay forks and clubs entered the room.

"I-I'm sorry master, but we really have no money." sneered the village head.

The men behind me then shouted. "Just kill the cripple! He won't fight back much!"

"Are you dumb? If I'm really helpless, how could I kill a Leshen…" whispered Mikael as the club launched towards him. He grabbed it, and took it from the man's grasp.

He turned to the club, and slammed the club to the man's head, breaking the club, and the skull.

Mikael saw the other man almost throw up as he saw his friend's head explode, and he kicked him towards the barn's door, opening it up abruptly.

"Give me the money." threatened Mikael to the village head once more, who was pissing himself. "No one will have to die anymore."

"Y-You Thug!' spat the village head in fear. He took out a pouch of crowns, and threw it to Mikael. "Go away, you heartless monster!"

"Calling me thug, yet you're trying to swindle me." scoffed Mikael. "Hypocrites."

Mikael then walked away from the barn, all of the villagers looked at him with fear, scared that he would kill someone again.

He looked at the condition of the village, it really is a poor village, some parts of him felt a bit guilty about taking the money from them, but it was a deal, he'll kill the spirit, and they give him the money.

Mikael left the village, with a pouch of gold in his pocket.

He looked at his clothes, which were bloodied, dirty from his travels. He sighed tiredly. "I need to buy new clothes…"