Mark - Volume 1 - Chapter 3

Mark left the village after receiving the money. There was no way he could carry around 10 copper so he needed to bury it somewhere. Fortunately, he spotted a suitable tree to use.
Going to that tree, he started digging near the roots. 8 copper were carefully put in the hole and covered up. Mark kept 2 copper to buy bread. He was very hungry, having not eaten anything.

Then he returned into the village, and headed towards the inn. Opening the door, he saw Madam Kate sitting at the counter. She looked leisurely because of no customers.

“Dark bread?”

“Yes. Please give me two.”

“Okay. That’s 2 copper.

Mark took the bread and put forward 2 copper. Fearing that other beggars would steal his bread if they saw, he shoved them inside the waist of his trousers. He decided to eat them in the forest.
As he left the inn, standing in front of him was Jimmy.

“Hey, that’s dark bread right?”

Mark didn’t reply to his question, and was about to turn away.

“You got money from uncle Robert right?”

Hearing those words, he stopped and stared at Jimmy.

“I won’t tell George. Give me some of your bread. I’m so hungry.”

Thinking he looked a little pitiful, after a brief consideration Mark took out one loaf of bread, and broke it into half. The smaller half was given to Jimmy.

“Thanks. I won’t tell.”

Holding the piece of bread, Jimmy ran somewhere else. He was most likely going to a place without people so he could eat alone.
Mark thought that Jimmy might keep asking for bread from now on, but he resolved he wouldn’t let him off if he did.
Turning direction, Mark left the village.

Mark was back in the forest. Having eaten the other piece of bread, he was sitting still. The bread was too hard, hurting his teeth. It also made him choke, but he held it in. Going to and back from the well was too bothersome for him. Mark left half a bread to give to Jill.

Sitting on a small rock, he went into thinking. About what he should do from now. There were a few things that were clear to him.
First was to leave this village. He wouldn’t be able to advance his prospects by staying in this small place. There was a need to move to a bigger village for the sake of learning magic.

But how would he do that? Mark speculated going alone. To begin with, he didn’t know the way. Another problem was the question of safety. It was too dangerous for an eleven year old to be roaming by himself. He might run into wild animals, monsters or even a mugger. This world was a place where normal people would turn into muggers in front of easy prey.

Mark still wasn’t ready for that kind of situation, so he gave up on going alone.
This being the case, he needed to go with someone else. He remembered about the merchant group. A group of merchants had come to this village, but he hadn’t seen them around. It might have been because they were a small group.

Was there a special kind of produce from this village? Mark didn’t remember such a thing, and even if there was, there probably wasn’t an amount big enough to attract a merchant group. There was no way of making sure so he decided to ask Jill later.

He thought about another problem. It was about Jill whom he was friendly with. Jill staying by herself in this village was worrying, but even so he couldn’t take her with him.

Only taking a short moment to think about it, he came to a solution. It was to kill George. The biggest worry about Jill staying there alone was George. As for Jax, he needed to think about it more.

Mark considered how he would carry out the killing. George frequently went drinking with the money he extorted, and sometimes ended up sleeping in the alleys, completely drunk. He thought to himself that using that moment to stab his eye or throat with something sharp might work. Afterwards, the body would be buried in the mountains. He would do this right before leaving the village. After all, someone suddenly dying in the village would be problematic.

Clearing up his thoughts, Mark stood up to begin practicing magic arrow. A plan was made to get rid of George, but there was no guarantee it would go well. The only method left to him in a sticky situation was his magic. There was a need to raise his skills.
Mark practiced until night time before going back to the village.

A busy week passed.
Contrary to his worries, Jimmy didn’t ask for more bread.
Mark carried out Robert’s errand twice more for 20 copper. Apart from the money for bread, the rest was buried away.

George didn’t come to find him for his payment. According to Jill, George was following Jax around to learn how to hunt. Thanks to that, Mark didn’t need to put anymore effort into coming up with the extortion fees. All his time and effort was spent on practicing his magic.

Lately, Mark found using magic to be something fun. He had grown much faster at making the magic seals as well as quickly and accurately chanting the spell. Using magic arrow several times didn’t tire him as much as before.

Just the other day, although it was slight, he was beginning to feel the movement of mana when using magic. At that moment, he realized that it was mana.

Today he had also practiced magic, and was now resting. While he was sitting on top of a rock, Jill appeared.

“What are you doing here, Mark?”

“How did you know I was here?”

“Recently you’ve been going out of the village a lot. That’s why I followed in secret to see where you’d go.”

“You can’t follow me from next time.”

Jill didn’t answer and asked something else.

“So what were you doing here? Practicing magic?

She must have heard the sound of Mark chanting magic. He glanced sideways at her.

“Mhm. It doesn’t work no matter how much I practice.”

“There’s no way Mark could do something I couldn’t.”

But he had done just that. And easier than expected.

“Right. Oh, did you come after asking him about that?”

“Ah, mister Robert? I asked him.”

Jill said that unfortunately, no merchants came to this village. When he asked Jill if there were any villagers going to the bigger villages, she replied that from time to time, uncle Robert did go to sell his leathers. So Mark asked when Robert would go again. Lately, Robert had been acting strangely kind towards Jill.

“He said he’ll go next week or so.”

“Is that right? I got it.”

“But why are you asking about that? Going to follow him?”

Mark thought it was time to tell Jill.

“I’m going to leave this village.”

“Why? Why leave. Where will you go?”

“There’s nothing to gain from staying in this small village.”

“The other villages are the same. At least there are some people that take care of us here.”

“Right. And there are people that torment us too.”

Mark was thinking of George and Jax as he spoke.

“I want to go as well. Let’s go together.”

“It’ll be too harsh for a kid.”

“You’re younger than I am.”

“You don’t know how old you are either.”

Jill was taller than Mark. But Jill also didn’t know her own age. She was an orphan after all.

“I’m 12 years old. That’s 1 more than you.”

“I wouldn’t know if I was really 11. You might not be 12 either. Girls are usually taller at a younger age. And I’m just smaller because I didn’t eat well. I could be 12, and you 11.”

“What kind of stupid things are you saying? Being taller means I’m older.”

“Whatever…”

Mark gave up arguing. Standing up, he told Jill.

“Let’s go back.”

“Okay.”

As they returned, Mark thought that he needed to kill George within the week.

During the next three days, Mark was tracking George’s whereabouts. It seemed that George had managed to become friendly with Jax while he was following him around. The other day, George had taken some money from others, but it was most likely to buy drinks with Jax. The two of them usually drank at Jax’s house.

Jax’s residence was in the corner of the village. Judging by its plain appearance, Jax had mostly built it himself. It was better than nothing.
Mark decided to kill the both of them in the coming night. Time went by fast while he made his plans. Even today, the two were drinking in the inn.

In the alley in front of the inn, Mark was waiting for them to come.
They had drunk until dawn before coming out. It seemed that Jax was totally drunk because George was helping walk by the shoulder. They were probably heading towards Jax’s house. Mark stalked them from a distance.

On the way, the two fell over a few times. Because of those delays, it was a while before Jax’s house came into sight. Mark saw them going into the house, then went to wait in the area behind the house. Seeing how drunk they were, he assumed it wouldn’t be long before they dropped asleep.

He started moving after waiting for 30 minutes. Taking in deep breaths, he slightly opened the door into the house. As expected, the door wasn’t locked. There wasn’t much room inside, and all sorts of junk was strewed about. Mark looked around the place.

Jax was serious when it came to hunting, and that was why there must have been at the very least a dagger to skin what he hunted.
Taking care of his steps, Mark moved slowly. Searching his surroundings, he located a dagger on top of the table.

Moving closer, he picked up the dagger, and slowly made his way towards where the bed was. He then stopped and briefly considered something.
George must definitely die. But Jax? Did he have to kill Jax as well? Coming this far, these kinds of thoughts went through his mind. But his hesitation was short lived.

Tightly holding the dagger in a reverse grip, Mark inched closer to George. Pressing the tip of the blade onto George’s throat, he pressed hard.

“Kuhhk.”

George let out a short cry as he flailed his limbs about. Jax, who was right nearby on the bed, was stabbed similarly.

“Kughh.”

Jax clutched his throat as well, making noise. Looking at George again, Mark saw he was grabbing his own neck and shuddering where he laid. It looked like he would die soon. Mark looked back to Jax.

“Ugh!”

Mark fell over rolling backwards. Uprighting his body after he stopped rolling, he looked up. Jax was holding his throat, getting up from the bed with furious eyes. The wound was deadly, but not enough. He would die if left alone, but Mark thought he had to die this instant.

Dropping the dagger onto the floor, he stared at Jax. It was time to see the results of his practice.

“The mana dwelling within me, respond to my calling and destroy my enemy with the force of a hammer, faster than wind: Magic arrow!”

The magic arrow was very fast as it flew forward, hitting Jax hard on the chest. Jax collapsed without making a sound.
For a while, Mark observed the fallen Jax. He was suspicious of whether Jax was just pretending. He waited a little longer, but there was no movement. He was dead.

Stowing the dagger into the waist of his trouser, Mark checked his surroundings. He wanted to take anything that looked useful. Nothing else was on the tables. Looking under the bed, he found a box. Taking out that box, he opened it to see a pouch. Opening it, he found it was full of silver and copper. He stowed that away also.

Mark went to the lamp and flint he had spotted earlier. Striking the flint, he lit the lamp. Grabbing the linen on the floor, he set fire to it. Shortly after holding the flame to the linen, it caught on fire.
He then poured the oil in the lamp onto the bed, afterwards throwing the linen on top. Instantly the bed caught on fire.

Watching the flames burn for only a moment, Mark opened the front door outside just a little to check outside. No one was nearby. Sneaking out, he closed the door behind him.
Only then did he realize that his heart was beating madly.

Trying to calm down his heart, he took deep breaths as he walked away.
It was a long night.