Chương 60: Book 2 Chapter 12 - Kane Vondeer

Kane smiled to himself as he made his way to Baron Norshod's suite. He had rather enjoyed terrorizing the entire upper class of Easton tonight. The looks on their faces had been priceless. Kane had grown up in the slums of Portish. Wealthy, powerful people like the ones he had terrorized at the party tonight had always looked down on him and people like him. It was only fair they got a little taste of that in return as often as he could dish it out.

The Silver Serpent Clan had recruited him at a young age, offering him protection from the harsh realities of living in the slums of the large city. They had fed him, protected him, and helped him train his magical talent once he was found to have some. All they asked in return was a soul oath, binding him to the clan for life. The soul oath made sure that he followed the orders he was given. It was very comprehensive in the way it had been worded and performed.

Once he was given a job though, he was able to operate out in the field in whatever way he deemed best, as long as it didn't directly conflict with the clan's best interests or contradict direct orders from a superior. He couldn't rebel against the soul oath without immediate repercussions. Intense pain followed small infractions, and death followed large ones. Not that he would have rebelled anyways, he firmly believed in the clan. He was a true member, through and through.

They had even started talking about him leading his own branch of the clan at some point in the future, then he would be the one giving out orders that others couldn't disobey. That thought made him excited. He wanted more power. He had plateaued at tier 4 in his own personal journey for power, and couldn't seem to make any additional progress towards advancing to tier 5. No one really knew why some people plateaued while others were able to advance. Honestly, he was happy though.

While it would have been incredible to advance to tier 5, tier 4 already put him in the big leagues. Plus, with an upcoming advancement in the clan, he had other avenues for gaining power now. At tier 4, he had developed a magical aura. It wasn't as strong as some other tier 4s, those that had a true shot at advancing to tier 5, but it was stronger than most. On a whim, he could exude a massive spiritual pressure on those around him, reducing their ability to function properly.

Weaker individuals, like the mortal servants at the party, simply couldn't function properly once he let out his full aura. Other mages could resist it a bit better, but were still heavily affected. Even another tier 4 would feel the pressure, although they could respond in kind. Out here in Easton though, he was a lion among sheep. The baron himself was only tier 3, which was strong enough to rule successfully in a place like this. Anyone with true potential ended up moving to the larger cities, like Portish.

There simply wasn't enough opportunity in these smaller cities for anyone tier 4 or higher. Some powerful people did live in small cities, but it was rare. He was likely the most powerful person in a hundred miles. Besides, his magical sense easily told him how strong the people around him were, and no one at that party had been above tier 3. He really did love it when the clan sent him out on missions, this is when he felt the most free!

He had a clear mission, an objective to accomplish, and he knew how to get things done. Baron Norshod had contracted with the Silver Serpent Clan to help reign in the wealthy houses in Easton. Apparently, they were getting a bit too comfortable with their own senses of self-importance, and had even recently foiled the baron's plan in a city-wide tribunal. The clan didn't really care about any of that, as long as they got paid. Moral rectitude didn't even register on the clan's list of priorities.

They would take any job that paid well enough, as long as it didn't endanger the clan. There were a few houses here in Easton that Kane needed to watch out for, houses that had powerful family heads in Portish or other large cities. As long as he didn't kill anyone from those houses though, he would be fine. Scaring them like he had done tonight was fine, he was just having a bit of fun. The Baron had asked him to search out one specific person at the party, a young scion of House Yountal.

His description of her had been fairly vague: 'young, pretty, brown hair', but the fact that she was a mortal had stood out. Not many of the party attendees had been mortal, and of the mortal attendees, she was the only young, pretty one with brown hair. Kane had found her interesting. She hadn't seemed all that scared by his aura, and had honestly fared rather well against it.

The other mortals in the room, especially the older servants, had trouble standing or even breathing normally when he was near them, but she had seemed fine. More than fine even, almost… angry at him? He chuckled at the thought. He would have to visit the Yountal Estate sometime soon and get to know her a bit better. Baron Norshod wanted her specifically to be punished, as it had been her tribunal that had prompted the contract with the Silver Serpent Clan.

The baron seemed scared to stand up to Easton's upper class himself though. He said it was a balancing act, and they needed to tread cautiously. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Honestly, James Norshod was pretty incompetent, though. If Kane was the baron of Easton, things would have been handled quite a bit differently. Having said that, he was the contract worker here, so he would do things the Baron's way. For now.

He entered Baron Norshod's suite unannounced. The guards stationed outside the door knew better than to try and stop him, they were only tier 2 after all. He could squash them with his pinky finger. It was late at night, but James was still at his desk, poring over some paperwork. He jumped slightly as Kane came in.

"Oh, it's just you," James said, regaining some composure.

"Here to report back?" Kane smiled.

"Everything went smoothly. Everyone knows their place in the new pecking order with me here in town." James nodded.

"And the girl? The Yountal scion… you met her?"

"I met her, alright," Kane replied with a nod.

"How did she react to your presence? Was she frightened?"

"She seemed angry more than anything," Kane replied honestly. A look of fear flashed briefly across the baron's face at the reply. Kane smiled at the baron's lack of spine, he was obviously scared of the girl.

"She won't be any trouble," Kane clarified. James visibly relaxed at the assurance.

"Good. I worry about her family, though. Has the Silver Serpent Clan been able to find any information on House Yountal? Where she came from, who her parents are, how much power the larger house wields?" It was a good question. If Shian came from a powerful family, as the baron claimed, then she was one of the people Kane would have to be careful not to kill. They would have to tiptoe around until they found out more.

"I haven't heard anything yet from the clan about House Yountal," Kane answered. James scowled at the apparent lack of progress, but quickly hid his displeasure.

"We'll have to move slowly, then. We'll start with some of the houses that we know don't have powerful backing, and make an example out of them." * Monday, Dustin left for Portish with six of the estate guards. Kiara had originally planned on leaving with them, but she didn't want to miss her sword class if she could help it. She also really wanted to go to Portish, but as she had pondered on what to do, she had a sudden epiphany.

Portish was a three day horse ride from Easton, which she calculated was about a hundred miles. Based on how long it took her to jog to her parents house, she was pretty sure she could run to Portish in under two hours. She had sent Dustin on ahead with the guards, promising to meet them in Portish on Wednesday. Tuesday morning, Kiara had another spar with Seltzer. Unlike the first time she had sparred with him, she held her own quite well.

She was close to mastering the last three sword forms she had been working on, and her progress showed. Seltzer himself was an incredible swordsman, and she had lost to him eight points to zero at the beginning of the semester after two quick rounds. In most of her recent spars, she had been focused on learning to modify her sword forms to counter the opponents' forms, and hadn't been taking advantage of every opening she saw.

This time though, she was determined to do her very best today in an attempt to redeem her poor showing at the beginning of the semester. He started out in Mountain Form, which she remembered from their first time sparring was his favorite way to start. She started in Wind Form herself, which was technically weak against Mountain Form. She wanted to test out her ability to modify her forms slightly to counter her opponent's choice of form, and didn't want Seltzer switching forms too quickly.

After the first few engagements, Seltzer seemed slightly confused when he hadn't landed a hit yet, and he switched to Forest Form. Kiara began to notice some things. Seltzer was young, and although he seemed to have mastered all nine forms, he didn't seem to have grasped yet that the forms were all part of a larger whole. His transitions from one form to the next were jumpy. She saw that now, even though she hadn't been able to notice it the last time they sparred.

He transitioned quickly, and didn't really leave any weaknesses or openings during the transition, but the two forms he transitioned between definitely felt like two separate forms, rather than one being an extension of the other. The other thing she noticed was that he didn't seem capable of modifying the forms himself, and seemed slightly confused at why he wasn't seeing the openings he was used to when facing someone using Wind Form. She smiled to herself as their swords clashed again and again.

She flowed into River Form, which was strong into Forest Form, and when he tried to transition to a new form in response, she pressed the attack. Once she had him on the retreat, she pushed harder, scoring a hit on his thigh. They reset for the next round, and he started back in Mountain Form again. This time, Kiara picked Air Form to start. This was another form that was technically weak into Mountain Form, and Seltzer stuck with the same form for a bit as the round started.

His powerful blocks and blows should have been effective against her own, as Air Form favored engaging the enemy far away from the body, where her own strikes were weaker. Air Form was a well known counter to Fire Form, which is why most people learned it, but it tended to struggle against a lot of other forms. Kiara modified the form by using the momentum of his swings against him.

Rather than meeting his powerful swings with her own power, she allowed his swings to push her own away, helping fuel the energy of her foot movements. It wasn't a tenet of Air Form normally, and it took a lot of focus and skill to pull it off successfully. Her fast footwork helped her reposition instantly as his powerful swings met less resistance than he was used to, causing him to fall slightly off balance. Before long, she caught an opening and scored a hit on his torso, winning the match five points to zero.

Seltzer gave her a polite bow, his face still looking a bit confused as to how he had lost. She bowed in response, feeling over the moon that she had won so easily. When she returned home, there was a new letter waiting from the entrepreneur.