Chapter 31: Training partners
Aria, the ashen-haired girl, spoke first. "They were kind to us."
She paused and looked down. "I don’t know about the others, but in my village... I used to help at the healer’s hut. Cleaning up, running errands. Then one day, a noble accused me of stealing. I didn’t even understand what I’d done wrong. After that... I was sold. Eventually, I ended up at the place you bought us from."
The others shared their own versions of the same experience.
All of them had once tried to live quiet lives—doing small jobs, staying out of trouble. But everything changed with one lie from a noble or a merchant’s accusation.
Fenric listened without a change in expression.
"I’m not like those nobles," he said finally, his voice steady and calm. "This world has good and evil... but there’s something even greater than both."
Aria tilted her head slightly. "What’s greater than that?"
Fenric’s eyes sharpened. "The side with the bigger fist."
He gestured behind him toward the large training courtyard. Runes glowed faintly on the stone floor, and at the center, a massive war golem stood silently like a sleeping guardian.
"I’m giving all of you the chance to become that fist."
He walked forward, pushing open the heavy courtyard doors. Threads of magic stirred in the air around him.
"Until now, I was poisoned—broken, stuck in bed, drowning in silence. But I’ve started to heal. And as I rise, so will the ones who choose to stand beside me."