Published at 7th of February 2023 10:58 am

Chapter 42: Birth Of the Ghost

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As Merlin approached the young bandit, he noticed that the bandit was severely wounded, it was a surprise he was even still alive.

The young bandit heard Merlin's footsteps, and as he looked up to see who was approaching him. The second he recognised who it was, his face had quickly shifted from sadness to anger.

"You..." The young bandit's voice was quivering with anger. "You did this."

He weakly stood up, brandishing a small blade while trying to cover the gash in his side, it seemed a thorn had ripped a hole in his body as it shot past him at some point.

"I overheard what you and the boss were talking about. We both did." His knees were almost buckling under the weight of his own body, but he still attempted to stand. "You lied to us, you used us. All these deaths, my dad. You did this. Not me... I was only used by you."

Merlin felt his throat tighten as he watched the young boy break down, he was being drowned in guilt, feeling like he was the one responsible for all the deaths, all because he brought Merlin to the camp.

The young bandit lunged forward, haphazardly swinging his blade at Merlin. He was blinded by anger, his body flooded itself with adrenaline to keep him conscious, allowing him to temporarily ignore the excruciating pain he would be going through.

Merlin was at a loss, there was nothing he could do to save the boy's life. Even if he could, the boy was so angry with him that he probably wouldn't accept it anyway. With little else to do, he strengthened his resolve and decided to finish him, to put him out of his misery. It was the least he could do for him, the adrenaline running through him was going to run out eventually, and when it did, the boy would experience pain once more.

The boy's movement unsteady, it looked like he could trip over at any moment. His swings were getting slower, and it looked like his grip on the blade had loosened. Merlin realised he was running out of time, so he took a step back and prepared himself.

The boy lunged towards Merlin, his blade being thrust towards Merlin's throat. Merlin flicked the blade out of his hands, sending it flying a few meters away. The boy, now weaponless, ran up to Merlin and began punching his chest, but each punch had no strength behind it, not even enough to deal a single point of damage.

"Why. Why did you do this to us." A small line of blood and mud on the boy's face was now being washed away by his tears. "I trusted you. I thought you would help us get revenge."

The young bandit started gritting his teeth as a wave of pain rushed through his body. He clutched his wound and began staggering backwards, he ran out of time.

"I'm sorry." Merlin only said those words as he drove his gladius into the boy's chest, piercing his heart.

The boy's body almost immediately went limp as the blade slipped through his heart. The boy's corpse began slowly sliding off of Merlin's blade before eventually slumping to the ground.

Merlin began looking around at the death and destruction the monster had caused, and the recent death that he had just caused, and suddenly a notification appeared before him.

┌───────────────────

[Rare Quest]

The Assassination of Arwell Lychester.

You were sent to eliminate a camp of bandits, only to find that they were merely victims of the noble's tyranny.

You witnessed the brutal murder of dozens of innocent people, all put into this position by several corrupt and greedy nobles. One name in particular seems to be on the tip of everyone's tongue, the main culprit, Arwell Lychester.

Perhaps this man deserves to taste the pain his countless victims have suffered through, an action that will prevent him from creating more victims, and one that may bring the dead some closure.

Arwell Lychester has many friends in high places, failure to finish him off and get away undetected will result in dire consequences.

Eliminate Arwell Lychester.

• Warning: This quest involves severe criminal activity.

• Warning: The completion of this quest will cause unpredictable changes within Orchomenus.

• Failure: ???

• Reward: 1000 EXP

└───────────────────

Merlin accepted the quest, it wasn't something he was yet equipped to do, but it was a goal to work towards.

He started his journey back through the forest, it was rather uneventful, but he did almost trip a few times over the various shrubbery and roots. He eventually found his way back on the main path, and as he walked towards town, he received a message from Snowbunny.

┌───────────────────

[05:40:32] Snowbunny: Heya, we just finished the dungeon, where are you now?

[05:40:57] Snowbunny: Me and Ty are gonna finish a couple more little quests and then we're heading over to the next town.

[05:41:20] Snowbunny: Get this right, so we're here fighting goblins, and then Ty gets a goblin soul. So now we're both on two souls, although his feels a bit stronger...

[05:42:12] Snowbunny: Don't tell him I said that, he hasn't shut up about it since he got it, it's driving me crazy.

└───────────────────

Merlin couldn't help but giggle while reading the messages, besides now knowing that Snowbunny was rather chatty, he was also happy to know her and Typhoeus were getting along well, even using nicknames. Something that Merlin didn't expect was that Typhoeus had got a goblin soul, this never happened in the previous timeline, so it was definitely something he influenced.

┌───────────────────

[05:43:36] Merlin: Sounds like you two are doing well, that's good to hear.

[05:44:54] Merlin: But something's telling me this wasn't the main reason for you making contact, was it?

[05:46:22] Snowbunny: No it wasn't. Do you know a user called LordKyle?

[05:46:55] Merlin: Yeah, I've had a few run-ins with them lately. Roughly half an hour ago being the latest.

[05:47:36] Snowbunny: Well, he's now trying to form a group to take you down, and it looks like his group has grown in numbers over the past couple hours.

[05:47:58] Snowbunny: They've attacked me and Ty a couple times, and are attacking other players who wont join them. They'll probably be coming after you soon, be careful.

[05:48:44] Merlin: Don't worry, I'll deal with them, just try get out of Lycoa as fast as possible.

└───────────────────

Merlin ended the conversation as he finally reached Orchomenus's gate, there stood the two guards he was familiar with, although the upbeat one seemed rather tired. When they noticed Merlin approach their eyes widened with shock.

But this was the obvious reaction, considering his white hair was dyed red, blood was covering his face and his clothes were torn, indicating that he was severely wounded at some point.

The cheerful guard was just about to ask if Merlin was okay when the stern guard took the words out of his mouth. He seemed anxious, which was unusual, from the very limited interaction he had with the guard up until this point. But when Merlin looked above the guard's head, he finally realised why.

The stern guard's name was Mosco Pollard, a name Merlin had previously only glanced over, but it held a new meaning now. He was the brother of one of the bandits, the man impaled on the tree, the man begging his brother for forgiveness as he slowly faded away, Woodrow Pollard.

"Your brother said he was sorry, that you were right." Merlin's voice tightened as he spoke to Mosco. "He knew it was stupid to jump in, but he could never have forgiven himself. But to you whose brother was branded a criminal, he is sorry."

Merlin didn't wait for an answer as he walked past, leaving the more childish guard confused, and the stern guard saddened. He received strange looks as he walked down the paved roads of Orchomenus, it seemed even in a world where death happened regularly, seeing someone covered in blood was a unique sight.

Eventually he reached the mercenary guild, and when he entered, everyone's attention snapped to him. Suddenly the rowdy environment died down, everyone sat quietly as they watched Merlin limp towards the counter.

"They're both done." Merlin said as he pulled the two quest forms out of his inventory and placed them on the counter.

The barkeeper was still surprised by Merlin's appearance, so surprised in fact, that he almost missed two mercenaries who burst through the front door.

Merlin turned around to face the two mercenaries, they seemed to be frightened by him, he wasn't quite sure why, until the barkeeper spoke up. "Speak, what did you find?"

"Boss... The entire camp was annihilated." The mercenaries started talking. "We saw countless corpses, not only the men, the women and children, even the elderly. It was a bloodbath, they weren't just killed, they were mutilated."

Merlin realised now that they were talking about the camp he was just in, it seemed the mercenaries had sent a couple scouts out after him. For what reason though, he wasn't sure.

"We found a single survivor, but all he did was ramble about a ghost." The other mercenary spoke up, his eyes kept flicking between the barkeeper and Merlin. "A pale woman with long hair, cold black eyes, and drenched in bandit blood."

When the mercenary finished talking, all the eyes in the room were locked onto Merlin, who currently had a downcast expression

"Well, that was an interesting report." The barkeeper turned to face Merlin, he began counting out silver coins, placing thirty of them neatly in three stacks. "I believe you've earned these. Unfortunately the bounty was only for twenty bandits, anything more than that is overkill."

As Merlin reached for the coins, the bartender grabbed his wrist. Merlin tried to pull away, but the bartender was too strong to resist. Merlin looked up at the man, trying to determine his intentions. When he did so, their eyes met, and moments after, the bartender spoke in a sombre tone.

"When you first came here, I thought you were just a well-spirited young lad who got in way over his head." The bartender closed his eyes and gentle shook his head, "I expected you to get into a fight and realise you bit off more than you could chew... I even sent those two to help you when you didn't come back."

"But it was a shock to see you like this, and an even bigger shock to hear the atrocities you have caused." The bartender's voice started to crack, it seemed he was actually getting emotional. "For someone so young to be capable of such evil, what sort of lifestyle have you lived?"

The bartender released his grip on Merlin's arm, allowing Merlin to collect the thirty silver reward. He wasn't happy about the lecture, but he knew it wasn't out of hostility. He wasn't even sure if he should bother trying to explain that he wasn't the mass murderer, it seemed everyone in the room believed it, and it was only a matter of time before it spread.

"Just don't get yourself killed, and don't do anything so irredeemable that you cant be saved," The bartender started lecturing him again, and as Merlin turned to walk away, the bartender spoke up one last time. "You'll always be welcome here, Ghost."

"Please don't give me weird nicknames." Merlin cringed after hearing that, he really hoped it wouldn't stick, but he knew he wasn't that lucky.

With nothing else to do at the moment, he decided he was going to visit a few stores to get new equipment, and then a bathhouse to wash himself. The dried blood clumping his hair together was an uncomfortable feeling that he really wanted to rid himself of quickly.

As he stared at his cursed arm, he noticed that the purple markings was getting dangerously close to his shoulder, he needed to solve that issue quickly too, but equipment and a bath comes first.

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