As Leon and Noel walked down the creek looking for Horse root and Black Cap mushrooms, they heard a loud bang and saw a whole flock of ducks fleeing in sheer panic. It was so loud that even the mounted Balistae on the city's wall turned to aim toward the source. For a moment there, Leon hesitated and took a step back.
"What was that don't tell me it was a large monster?" He growled, trying take a few jumps to see further away a bit, but he saw nothing.
"Master! I believe there is something further down by the river. It looks like a person on the ground." Noel who was a fair bit taller than him and was quick enough to find a huge boulder to stand on shouted at him from a bit further away.
"How did she get there?" Leon gasped, but that didn't matter now. "Are there any monsters around them?" He asked and Noel shook her head. "No, unless it retreated to the water."
"It's risky, but helping them might net us a few coins. Let's go. We jump in, drag them away from the water and we'll see what can be done from there." He stared jogging, as after working for a few hours, he had no stamina to spare. Noel, unlike him, was bursting with energy still and quickly raced past him.
What they found on the ground was a young girl, not that much older than Leon himself. She wore a simple black robe and a cloak and was lying on the ground. Besides her head, a bloodied stone that she must've hit her head on when falling.
"The hell happened here?" He leaned down toward the girl, stared at her for a second, and then right back at Noel. "Check the water for any monsters, I'll check the girl's pulse." As Noel approached the shore with the stick still firmly in her hand, Leon looked at the girl's head, touched her neck and looked for a pulse.
She was breathing, had a pulse but was bleeding from the back of her head where she hit the rock. Her eyes twitched, her lips pursed tight for a second, and she groaned. "My head..."
"You're awake? Can you hear me?" Leon asked, and she did open her eyes to look at him. "Did a monster attack you?"
"No, failed skill." As she barely managed to utter those words, Leon immediately called Noel back. "She wasn't attack, come back here and keep on the lookout." He then pulled a bit of the sap they collected before and pressed it on the back of her head. "This will slow the bleeding a bit. Don't move."
As she felt him press the sap into the wound, she flinched, "Careful there! All of my wisdom is leaking out!"
Seeing her talk, Leon smiled. "Well, at least you're talkative. You said it was a failed skill, what did you do?" He looked around, noticed the bent grass, the kicked dirt, and yet they didn't see any fireball or anything earlier on.
"Been... trying to use my skill [Shockwave]. First it worked, but the recoil kicked me back..." She looked down at her legs. "I can't feel my legs or move them... I might've hurt my back a bit."
"Noel! Hurry to the gate and get a stretcher from the guards, this girl broke back. She need to see a healer immediately. Hearing his order, Noel was about to burst into a sprint, but the girl spoke again. "I'm... an adventurer."
"Doesn't change a thing, Noel hurry!" He shouted, but Noel was already sprinting toward the gate at full speed.
"Damn...it." The girl growled, "This isn't... how I wanted... my back to be blown."
Leon looked at her for a second, wanting to sigh. "Is this the time to be joking around?"
"Yeah... keeps the moral a bit high." She could only look at him with her eyes. "So, say... why is the youngest lord here trying to help me? Or am I getting delirious from smashing my head down?"
"I was nearby, that's all. For now, try to rest a bit. I know it must hurt, but bear with it." He looked at her head, and then down at her legs.
She was silent for a second, and them mumbled in an ominous voice. "That's... why I'm scared. I don't feel a thing down there."
Soon after, the guards arrived and took the girl to the guild. Leon asked Noel to go with them to the guild to deliver the sap and slime cores, while he goes secretly to the black market and see the poison sacks.
Noel hesitated to leave him alone, but eventually she agreed, so with that, Leon find himself alone and walking down the dark alleyway of the slums. He could already hear people shouting, drunkards fighting, and the guards running down thugs all over the place.
The slums weren't the place where the poor gathered. It was the lawless zone where criminals and thieves hid. That is why he is here. To access the black market and see the poison. While the guild would buy it, it would fetch more money here.
If he remembers the guards' reports correctly, he should go forward, turn right, and go inside a large abandoned inn. The entrance to the black market should be behind it.
He walked into the abandoned inn, and it was as he expected: in ruins. "First... gotta get to the backyard through the kitchen's window, which is the secret signal that would tell the black market guard to open up for me..." As he looked for the kitchen, a hand grabbed him from behind, closed his mouth, and a blood-red knife was already poking his neck, right on the vein.
A woman's voice whispered in his ear. "Don't move or I'll slit your throat open." He could already hear the guards trying to ram the inn's door open. Was the criminal the guards were chasing hiding here? Did he walk into an active zone?
"White hair, red eyes, seventh prince of the Demorian family. I didn't expect to find a lord here, but I seem to be lucky, and you aren't." She sounded shaken, exhausted, and desperate. "Sorry, but I'll have to use you as a hostage. Don't do anything stupid, and I'll let you live. Don't scream..."
She slowly pulled her hand while pressing her knife harder on his neck, ready to slit his throat.
He slowly turned his head to look at her face and could guess who she was. Long black hair, dark eyes, and a tiny mole above her beautiful plum lips.
^Shit...It's the Ripper.^ This woman was a serial killer, a hired assassin, and cold-blooded-murder.