Book 3: Chapter 45: Rewards
For five generations my family has held back the tides of disease, injury, and death. Until me, we had always ultimately lost. Now, finally, I have achieved an unsteady stalemate and those ignoramuses would have me fall upon my sword.
- an excerpt from the journal of Vincenzio Barbieri.
The majority of all human conflict was born from miscommunication. This was my conclusion as I slung the bloody bundle of rat tails over my shoulder, sighing inwardly at the current state of affairs. Was there no such thing as a friendly, or at least neutral, interaction? Despite the recent tribulations, I was now faced with my favorite part of combat: going over recent gains, and looting.
It was with a note of pleasure that I noticed that both my Rust and Inferno Bolt had increased in level. Two hundred and twenty-five points in experience and an organic gain in Intelligence was the icing on the cake. At just over halfway to my next level, I was pleased, indeed.
As for the loot situation, Muram was a smoking slag heap, his armor still glowing a dull ruined red, and his equipment was unsalvageable, save for the naked Zulfikars that lay next to him. I felt no guilt at taking what I deserved, the swords would be worth a few coins, scabbards or not. Larynda and I quietly wrapped the fine curved steel, before placing them in her pack. The girl had recovered for the most part. In her, I suspected, was the iron that only a hard life could give. That, or she was simply adaptable in the way children were. Either way, it won her a pittance of my respect.
Tally was a different kettle of fish. The Inferno Bolt had struck her lower back, making a cooked and cauterized mess. Her earlier screams testified to a swift, albeit painful, demise. I flipped her corpse over and turned away as I saw her face, contorted in a final cry of anguish. This was the first woman I had ever struck, much less killed. Instead of feeling satisfaction for having dealt with a threat, I felt an overwhelming emptiness. Tally had been a significant danger, more so than Muram, and I couldn't simply let her escape. In a moment of introspection, I realized my weakness had led to her death. If I were truly strong, I wouldn’t have perceived the small woman as a threat at all.
It was a grim milestone. My magic hadn't identified her, so the death notification merely stated that I had ‘slain a human’ for a considerable amount of experience.
Acidic bile rose in my throat as I confronted what I had done. I suppressed it with a determined effort, knowing this was no time for weakness. With a tight-lipped smile, I instructed Larynda to loot Tally for valuables. It wasn’t in me to do the task myself.