Chapter 3: XCVIII — Eyes

  Killed. Just like that. While walking through the gardens.

  It almost brought Kayode some sense of peace to know he hadn’t made the wrong decision in trying to negotiate the Grand Duke into giving him Belsa.

  Standing with the Duke meant standing against his enemies—and Kayode was not strong enough to survive even being within the blast radius of their conflict.

  Not yet, at least.

  Either choice would have ended in death.

  But now, Kayode had a third option.

  Okechukwu shut the door behind him, locked it, and began to weigh Kayode, as if he were, for the very first time, considering him as something of concern. And then he saw the exact moment Okechukwu decided he could trample upon him. “If you want my alliance, change your vote—otherwise I have no use for a landless, subjectless, Classless Lord.”

  Kayode smiled at the bastard. “I am only two of those things.”

  Okechukwu’s eyes narrowed. “You lie.”

  Kayode shrugged.

  “How? What is your Class?” the Marquess demanded more than asked, hungry for information.

  “A secret, and another secret,” Kayode grinned. The latter was inappropriate to ask unless already made public by the wielder. And the former was something that, though Kayode didn’t actually know either, made perfect sense to keep to himself.

  Okechukwu ground his teeth. He weighed Kayode differently, cautiously now. “What do you want?”

  “A place to Level. Ezeria, the capital city of Igansi—your Marquisate—has adventurer parties, monsters, the occasional dungeon even. Give me access to that, and I’ll change my vote,” Kayode demanded.

  Okechukwu was silent a moment, looking for weak spots in Kayode. Going by the glint in his eyes, he found them. “If you’re looking for monsters around domestic settlements then you’re barely Levelled, somewhere between level 1 to 10—1st Awakening. You have no wealth, so I’d imagine the only class you were able to afford was an D Tier at best—common Warrior most likely.”

  Two deductions, one right, the other terribly but understandably wrong. Kayode decided to never make the mistake of underestimating this one.

  “So you won’t be useful to us in the battlefield,” Okechukwu continued. “The most you’ll be able to do for us is here, in Asoburgh Palace—right next to the Grand Duke.”

  “What do you mean?” Kayode asked shakily.

  “If you want a place by our side, a city to grow in power in, prove yourself to us first. We will have orders for you, and if you fulfill them… we will reward you.”

  Kayode clenched his teeth, his fist, and pretended like this was not exactly what he had planned from the start. Okechukwu was not the kind of man to see him as anything more than a pawn first and foremost.

  But at the very least, he had given this man no reason to kill him. And if all went according to plan, Kayode would live to see another day.

  “Fine,” Kayode got to his feet stiffly, defeatedly. And Okechukwu looked indifferent to his false misery—as if their bout could not have ended any other way.

  Well, one day it would.

  ###

  Asoburgh estate had a forest filled with low Level monsters, and it was using them that Kayode would increase in power while he waited for Okechukwu to deliver him from underneath the Grand Duke’s foot.

  With his father’s Ida sheathed by his side, boiled leather wrapped around his form, and his brown steed underneath him, Kayode rode his way out of the stable, and out into the courtyard.

  There, he saw the Duke and his attendants seeing to stabled horses just before the palace gate.

  Shit.

  The Grand Duke looked up at Kayode and beamed. “Kay, my boy!” he laughed. “Where are you off to this early morning?” he chimed, as if this were some chance meeting. Kayode knew it was no such thing, because the Duke famously fucking hated horses.

  He also wasn’t stupid enough to forget that little factoid about himself, and he knew that Kayode wouldn’t either, so this was an intentional show. ‘I’m everywhere, I see what you get up to, and you cannot escape me.’

  A moment of panic hit Kayode , one that left him certain that the man knew he was colluding with Okechukwu.

  He killed it, that was what these shows were meant to do—unsettle him. Kayode had been extra careful when sneaking about a palace he already knew like the back of his palm, and contrary to popular belief the Duke was not omnipotent.

  So he smiled back, riding towards him. “I’m out to Level,” he said, then added a grimness to his tone. “Given what’s coming.”

  The Duke’s eyes widened in genuine surprise. “Oh my—you—you’re cured?!”

  Kayode nodded and smiled. It wasn’t something he could realistically hide if he wished to explain his behaviour.

  “What Class—no, don’t tell me,” the Duke wagged a finger, “that’s personal my boy—but how?” he asked.

  Kayode could not be blatantly secretive about this without raising the Grand Duke’s suspicion. So he chose not to lie. “To tell you the truth…I…I don’t know either. After travelling across Velúndé in search of a cure, I just closed my eyes one day, and opened them knowing I was healed.”

  If the Duke thought he was lying, Kayode couldn’t tell. He just shook his head, still looking astonished. “The Ancestors truly do have their ways,” he whispered, and Kayode could feel the man look at him differently now.

  He gestured to a pair standing off to the side, and Kayode watched as they approached. Both natives by their features. One was a blonde man in his late thirties, the other a brunette in her twenties. They wore lamellar armour like Okechukwu, though theirs bore the red and green of House Adegoke. Centered on each cuirass was a sigil: a heart coiled by a serpent, fangs bared, moments from striking—the symbol of an Oathguard.

  Each had sworn to obey the commands of their House Leader or face the agony of a thousand suns burning within their hearts. They were rare things, mostly due to the Oath Stones it cost to create them, but their unquestioning obedience was what made Oathguards the backbone of any Great House.

  Save from Kayode’s, of course.

  “Sir Hale. Dame Brenner,” the Duke called.

  “Yes, your Grace?” They both said in sync, falling to a knee and waiting to be addressed.

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  “The Lord Kayode is out hunting—you must accompany him, and ensure that in these trying times, no harm comes to the Leader of the Great House of Balógun.”

  “Yes, your Grace!” they nodded, and headed out to secure their steeds.

  Spies then…Lovely.

  ###

  Most of the ride to the forest was a quiet affair, with Kayode mostly just brandishing his Ida.

  [Edge-Kindle—III: You do not meet the Requirements to Unlock this Skill.]

  [Bone-Breaker—II: You do not meet the Requirements to Unlock this Skill.]

  [Blood-Lust—I: You do not meet the Requirements to Unlock this Skill.]

  During his early days of trying to find ways around his Blightedness, he had long since discovered that the Skills locked away within most Relics were not accessible to one without a Class—making that an unviable route for him back then.

  Now, though, he could gain experience. Learn Relic Skills. And he had already begun thinking about how he’d do it.

  A Goblin, he decided.

  In the early stages of the First Awakening—more specifically between Levels 5 and 9, within E Tier—Goblins were the ideal choice.

  For a new Adventurer, they were about as safe as the world ever got.

  He imagined it would be far safer with the two Oathguards behind him. Wielding B Tier Classes, neither of them was below their 4th Awakening, Level 31 to Level 40. That meant he had nothing to fear from any Goblin they were likely to encounter.

  At the treeline, they got down from their horses and ventured into the woods.

  Kayode was barely past the forest outskirts when Dame Brenner called his attention behind. “My Lord, I believe that should be far enough,” she warned. By her side was her short spear.

  Kayode turned. “But we’re barely in.”

  “The forest is filled with all kinds of dangerous monsters. We have our orders to protect you,” Hale added. “We take our orders very seriously.”

  Kayode frowned, but sighed. “Very well then, we’ll go sidelong.”

  And they did, journeying through the greenery just beyond the edge of the forest, in search of something to kill. The Oathguards made no noise as they walked, making Kayode sound like an alarm compared to them even as he walked in hardened leather compared to their plates of steel. He imagined he alerted an entire radius of potential prey, making an already tedious ordeal even harder.

  They searched for what Kayode would have sworn was several hours, if not for the fact that he barely felt fatigued at all. A moment later, he realized it had to be his Class at work—he was only Level 1, yet his endurance was like nothing it had ever been before.

  Eventually, Kayode caught sight of a small, child-sized creature hunched over a corpse. It tore into what looked like an even smaller, furred animal, stuffing its mouth with flesh, green skin slick and red at the fingers.

  Kayode drew a breath, brandished his Ida, and dashed toward the goblin.

  Two things hit him at once—how fast he moved, clearing in a single second what might once have taken him five before—and how quickly the goblin reacted, snapping its head around and leaping to the side.

  Kayode’s blade bit deep—into bark where it had swung for flesh.

  The goblin rolled to its feet and charged, darting in manic zigzags that would’ve had even a skilled swordsman struggling to predict its next move.

  It leapt without warning, fingernails raking for his eyes.

  Kayode twisted just in time to save his sight, but felt the creature’s raking digits tear across his cheek—missing anything vital by inches and splitting open the flesh of his face like it was paper.

  He hissed, felt hot molten pain burn against the side of his face, then saw the Oathguards ready their blade to move into action. “No!” He raised a hand at them, stopping the pair in their tracks. “I’ve got this.”

  And the goblin looked up at him with red, beady eyes—challenging. Its bloody fangs glistened with saliva as it hissed, and Kayode adjusted his stance, readying himself for the charge.

  And it came.

  Fast—faster than before. Erratic, whipping through the trees like its muscles were moving without waiting to consult the brain above them. It leapt to a branch, swung overhead, landed, then sprang again—tree to tree—its shape threatening to blur and flicker with the sheer speed.

  Suddenly, Kayode understood how creatures so small had killed so many early adventurers.

  Easy to underestimate. Hard to track. Moving with a speed that bred panic in anyone who had never faced it before.

  But Kayode had always been weak. Always slower than his opponents.

  So as the goblin darted and weaved, all he saw—for the first time in his life—was a strikeable enemy.

  He stopped trying to follow it.

  Kayode planted his feet and waited, letting the creature burn its strength in useless arcs. Letting instinct drag it closer, closer—until the zigzags narrowed, until there was only one path left.

  A lunge.

  It leapt for him, eager for something to sink its fangs into.

  And Kayode swung, his blade just as eager.

  The Relic opened the creature’s side—not deep enough to kill, but more than nothing. Green vitae sprayed free as the goblin shrieked and slammed into the ground, skidding away in a tangle of limbs.

  It scrambled onto its feet, movements no longer clean—legs more like a drunk’s than a predator’s.

  It hissed, snarled, and charged again. Straighter this time. Faster, but sloppily, predictably.

  It telegraphed its leap so perfectly, in fact, that, if Kayode hadn’t known any better, he might have thought it was offering its neck.

  Whether it was or wasn’t, he cut it down all the same

  His blade met the goblin’s throat and did not stop. The head left its body in a clean arc, tumbling through the air as green blood misted the space where it had stood.The corpse collapsed a moment later.

  [You have slain a Goblin of the 1st Awakening.]

  There was a thrumming in his heart—a wave of power, long trapped within, suddenly surging free in a single, overwhelming rush. He fell to his knees. Kayode had experimented with priestly herbs and exotic plants before, but this was something else entirely. A sensation that made even the most elegant high feel like a pale imitation. It was exhilarating. Powerful. Impossible.

  [—Level 2—]

  [—Skill(s) Acquired—]

  [Class Skill ? King’s Due — I — Passive: The throne feasts well. Experience gained from recognized achievements is doubled.]

  [Class Skill ? Sovereign’s Presence — I — Active: Your presence carries weight. Those who behold you are more inclined to regard you as worthy of honour and respect. When you speak, others perceive greater wisdom and overlook errors they might otherwise question.]

  He would have thought that levelling up felt like drawing from the world—like consuming the enemy he had slain and bolstering himself with its spent life force. It wasn't that.

  It felt like cracks were forming in the dam of his soul. Like fragments of some deeper power that had always throbbed within him, but was only now finally spraying free, flooding into his veins.

  What that implied, he did not know. All he knew was that he wanted more.

  He sprang to his feet and began marching forwards. How much more powerful was he now? What could his new skills do? He going to find out—

  “That should be enough Levelling, Lord Kayode,” came Sir Hale’s voice. The man looked like he’d just appeared right in front of him.

  “What?” he breathed, barely catching his breath as his senses were still reeling from the cacophony of emotions that were the fight and the subsequent Leveling.

  “We are Oathbound to protect you, and with your injuries and the exhaustion from searching for Goblins for seven hours, we have decided that continuing to engage in combat would be detrimental to your health.” The Knight explained.

  Kayode blinked. That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. He nearly snapped, feeling the chase for the high compel him. “I’m going to keep hunting,” he told them.

  “We can’t let you do that, Lord Kayode,” he stressed, and this time there was an edge to his voice.

  Let me?

  Kayode wanted to push through him, to slice the human shaped barrier in his way and keep on pressing further. With the new strength that was surging under his flesh, he almost thought he could. Thankfully, he was not idiotic enough to indulge in such fantasies. The surge of power he was feeling now, the least of the Oathguards had felt a score of times over.

  He paused, turned around, and saw the Dame Brenner behind him as well. Standing firm, casual, but ready.

  So it was just as Kayode had suspected when they didn’t let him go deeper into the forest. The Duke is trying to limit my ability to Level.

  He grinded his teeth, resisted the urge to slam his blade into the side of a tree and took in a long, deep breath.

  “Very well then,” he told the Oathguards. “Let us go back.”

  ###

  Fucking cunt, fucking cunt, fucking cunt, cunt, cunt, cunt, cunt!

  Kayode entered his room in a state that an especially observant man, made privy to his true thoughts, might have identified as anger.

  He slammed the door behind him, and settled int began to pace before his rhythm was broken by the sight of a piece of paper upon his bed.

  Kayode picked it up and for a moment it looked like senseless scribbles on paper. And then an instant later, the ink melted into coherence.

  ‘In the Grand Duke’s Pleasure Room, there is a book with the symbol of a wolf emblazoned on the cover. You will find it and copy down the contents of its fifth page. — To the recently unblighted who needs to prove his usefulness.’

  A task from Okechukwu, and an unsavoury affair for more reasons than one.

  One that would not only put Kayode in danger if he failed, but held no risk at all for the one sending him on it. It was exactly how a King might treat a pawn—find its use and squeeze as much from it as possible, then discard it when necessary.

  And yet in that, Kayode saw an opportunity to fix his Levelling restrictions.