As Wolf left Silver City and entered the slums he was once again overwhelmed by the stench. Just like last time, he couldn’t help but look at those filthy people milling about. They seemed mindless, but Wolf knew their minds were racing.

How do I get money? How can I get some food today? Such thoughts must have swarmed their brains, nibbling on their sanity and slowly turning them into something less than man.

Last time Wolf had gone through the slums there were no incidents, but this time a familiar scene played out before his eyes.

A man chasing a girl around Wolf’s age, crying thief. The guards walked around, patrolling, slowly heading towards Wolf and towards the unfortunate youth who was about to jump out of the crowd and onto the Silver Road.

Last time Wolf thought that the guard’s quick reaction was an accident, but he saw it clearly this time. The man had unbuckled his truncheon as soon as he’d noticed the commotion. An evil, sadistic glint was in his eyes. The man’s lips twitched expectantly as he waited for his victim to run out in front of him.

Wolf was half a dozen steps away from the patrol and quickened his pace.

Sure enough, as soon as the young woman ran out into the clearing and saw the guards she froze like a startled critter. She looked at the man’s twisted grin, and she knew she was dead. She tried to run, but her body wouldn’t move.

*Pow*

Wolf kicked her butt and sent her off the road and into the crowd as gently as possible.

“Watch where you’re going, peasant!” he shouted, thinking he’d done her a service.

Sure enough the guard had an ugly expression for a moment, but didn’t dare say anything to a Mage Academy student. Their statuses were worlds apart.

Unfortunately, Wolf didn’t help the girl as much as he’d thought. She’d kept her life, but the man whose purse she stole caught up to her. He started kicking her frail, prone form before she could get up from the ground.

The surrounding crowd mostly ignored her, save for those who cursed her because she’d hit them when Wolf sent her flying.

Nobody cursed Wolf though. They didn’t even dare turn their gazes in his direction.

The young Mage paused for a moment. He wanted to intervene, but he realized he was pitying a thief. After a moment he decided not to get involved any more than this. The man kicking her didn’t show any hints of murderous intent, and Wolf could only hope everything would turn out all right.

“Sorry for having you take care of that, your Lordship,” the head of the patrol said, trying to hide his disappointment.

Wolf simply nodded and continued walking. He tried to tune out the stench, the cries, grunts and groans, the coarse voices and even coarser words. Then he smiled mockingly.

I really am becoming a noble, he couldn’t help but think. So, this is what they all go through and how they manage not to notice…

Then, Wolf took it all in. The misery, the filthy, disgusting nature of manlings. He saw people suffering and dying from trivial injuries which had rotted. He saw the starving, who no longer had any strength to earn their bread, wasting away and just waiting to die.

Wolf didn’t awaken his senses, but he didn’t dull them down either. As he watched the countless despairing masses he came to understand something. It’s better to go out with a bang, to die with glory, than to live like a wretch.

***

Some ten weeks had passed since Wolf had left Silver City. He was lucky enough to find the kind of mission he was looking for, a bandit extermination near Oakwood Freeland.

The estimated time needed to complete it was eight to nine months, but with movement enhancing spells Wolf believed he would be back in less than half a year, even with the detour.

He could’ve made better time if he was willing to push his body like when he’d completed his first mission, but he’d decided against it. Pushing himself for such a lengthy period of time was bound to impact his health, and Wolf needlessly jeopardizing his health was against Archibald’s wishes.

Along the way, Wolf had honored one other wish of his father’s. Namely he’d been killing bandits wherever he found them. He was disappointed to find that his effort from back when he’d first arrived to Silver City didn’t leave any mark and the wilds were just as full of bandits now as they were back then.

Wolf assumed there were other Mage Academy students heading all over the duchy. The fact that there were this many bandits left made him ask some questions. Namely, Why were there so many bandits? Why didn’t the students wipe them out in passing?

Wolf guessed at the answers. They left the bandits alone because they weren’t paid to handle them. And maybe, if they grew into a big enough threat, they would get bounties and become profitable.

But that was only Wolf’s guess. Another thing he wondered about was how come these bandits haven’t attacked Mage Academy students already, getting killed in the process. He had an inkling of an idea regarding this as well. Other students probably traveled in their uniforms, or announced themselves to the bandits, while Wolf put on a common traveling getup as soon as he’d left Silver City and didn’t bother exchanging words with murderers.

Other than grim thoughts about the state of humanity, Wolf had some happy and cheerful ones too. Roger had mentioned in passing that he’d started trading lumber with people of Oakwood Freeland. Instead of useless coins they bartered for everything, and because of Wolf, Roger gave the lumberjacks a very fair price.

Apparently Oakwood Freeland was the only safe and independent timber operation within Silverhound’s borders. And the only one who knew about them was Roger. At least for now.

The other lumberjack teams came from larger settlements, under the direct jurisdiction of nobility. The woodcutters required heavy guard in the forest, otherwise they’d end up kidnapped by brigands. The villages they lived in also required armed men to watch over them, since they’d become a juicy target for bandit raids. Those additional costs, along with the increased demand for building materials, caused the price of timber to soar in all towns and cities.

Roger had inadvertently stumbled across a gold mine and started turning in a healthy profit. However, it was only a matter of time before this diamond in the rough was discovered and claimed by someone or destroyed by bandits.

During his weeks of travel Wolf also worked on other, more personally beneficial, matters. At night, after finding safe shelter and setting up proper wards, Wolf carved the sixth column, finishing it after two months on the road.

The pointless perversion Wolf believed he was carving for years had left him with an unexpected benefit. He’d learned the evil art Lonely Eagle had used to rapidly gather Soul Force he’d read about in his mother’s letter. Wolf was excited and disgusted about the matter at the same time. After the initial thrill had passed, he decided to shelve the wicked thing for now.

Other than refining his Mind Palace at night, Wolf spent his days mumbling the chant for the Call of the Netherworld, a Tenth Order spell. He managed to cast it with surprising ease, and since this was Wolf’s first Tenth Order spell he’d officially advanced into the realm of Archmages.

The ease with which he came to understand this spell, which he couldn’t freely cast in populated areas, confirmed something Wolf had read in his big brother’s books. Spells associated with the True Name you knew were much easier to learn and cast.

Wolf found these past two and a half months on the road quite fruitful, and by the time he’d reached the forest surrounding Oakwood Freeland, he felt very satisfied with himself.

Wolf passed through the forest quite quickly, and unfortunately found that wild animals were even sparser than they were the last time. Ever since he’d found out that people were rapidly exterminating wildlife in order to fill their bellies, Wolf had stopped hunting and foraging for food, leaving that for the less fortunate.

While wildlife grew sparser, the clearing created by settlers from Oakwood Freeland grew quite a bit. The settlement had likely grown too, but Wolf couldn’t see it. A large and study-looking palisade blocked his line of sight.

After following the wooden wall for a short while Wolf finally reached the gate flanked by a pair of manlings trying to pass for guards.

Wolf didn’t recognize them, and they obviously didn’t recognize him either. As soon as the pair saw the youth, they pointed their spears towards him.

The weapons were nothing fancy. They didn’t even look imposing, but seemed to be good enough to stab a man dead.

“Stop right there boy! Who are you?” the guard on the right asked in a gruff, hostile tone.

Wolf didn’t take his shouting to heart. In fact, he kind of felt glad Oakwood Freeland now had something worth guarding.

“I’m Wolf. Tell Rand to come out here. I haven’t seen him in a while,” Wolf said without showing a hint of worry. A pair like this was not something he would’ve found worrisome even back when he was five years old.

“Lord Rand doesn’t come out to see nobodies,” the guard exclaimed, shaking his spear at Wolf, as if shooing away a wild animal.

The incredulous act made Wolf no longer view these two as harmless fun. The amused look in the youth’s eyes turned into a cold glint.

“That was a nice spear you had there,” Wolf said while willing the silver-hilted long-sword into his hand.

He slashed at the wooden shaft, finally finding a proper opportunity to practice Sundering Strike.

With a simple swipe of a sword, the spear became a long staff while its head stabbed itself into the packed soil.

The whole thing took less than two blinks of an eye.

“Tell Rand to come out,” Wolf said coldly. “His master wishes to see him. And if you try pulling a stunt like that again, your arm’s the next thing I cut short.”

Wolf originally made an empty threat, but he suddenly felt a tug on his soul and knew that his word had become binding for some odd reason.

While Wolf frowned at this unexpected development, the guard just stood there, shaking. He stared at Wolf with wide eyes and tried to obey, but other than his shaking knees, no other part of his body wanted to move.

The man finally realized that if this “boy” felt like it, he could kill him like a chicken. Thankfully, his partner managed to calm down quickly enough.

“Yes Sir, right away Sir,” the man exclaimed and turned around.

He opened the palisade door and ran inside.

“Lord Rand’s master is here! He says he came to pay him a visit,” the man shouted at the top of his lungs while dashing towards the village elder’s house.

Some of the settlement’s original inhabitants immediately realized who had come to pay them a visit. An old man and an old woman, who acted as the village elders, in particular were extremely excited.

“Open the gate!” the elderly pair shouted in unison, unaware that the panicked guard had already left the gate open.

“Everyone gather ‘round in front of the gate! An important guest has arrived,” the old man shouted weakly, while his wife’s words were much simpler.

“Our benefactor is here,” she exclaimed.

She was of considerably better health than he was.

Wolf didn’t enter immediately. He wanted to give Oakwood Freeland’s people the time to prepare for his arrival. He was unaware of it, but the corners of his lips pulled in a happy and self satisfied smile.