Fractured God

Mr. Bentley had his head laid down and sat at his desk with Ezekiel in front of him.

“Boy, be honest… is this old man a fool?” He warily asked.

Ezekiel brought a finger to his chin and thought about it for a moment.

“Hmm, if she is who we think she is… then yeah, I can't really argue against you being an idiot, old man.” He bluntly answered.

The old man groaned as he remembered what he did yesterday.

One day earlier.

(“Amazing, most of the brats nowadays are too soft to complete something like this.”) He thought as watched Elizabeth.

She was heavily breathing with her fists and knees bruised. She quickly figured out on her first try that she couldn't afford to use only her fist. The old bastard would stop her for what felt like an imperceivable amount of time she spent using her other hand to slice the leaves.

She was forced to use her knees against the trees and even then, it took until dusk until she finally got it down. What torturous training this old bastard had put her through. Though it paled in comparison to what her master had her doing back home.

She had spent the last five minutes catching her breath.

“Anymore tests you feel like remembering old ma-” As she took a glance her way, it completely side-swiped seeing him. Her face was covered in a small amount of discomfort as she watched him.

“Mr. Bentley, are you alright?” She asked.

The old man was in tears and seemed to have started to cry. (“Damnit”) He thought to himself as he noticed her gaze. (“I really was able to do all that… Now look at me. Where did all that potential go!?”)

He hadn't created this training on the fly to appease a sick sense of sadism. All of what Elizabeth did today was a part of his weekly menu of training when he was younger. Seeing the girl nearly his age back then, struggle and pass the hardships he set for himself tugged at a heartstrings he didn't know existed.

(“She's better than me.”) He admitted internally as his tears flowed down his face. Elizabeth seemed quite uncomfortable at the current situation and started patting his back in a futile attempt to comfort him.

The whole point of choosing his training for her to conquer was so he could laugh at her for being softer and weaker than he was back then. But what did it mean if she passed it? This was training he took months to do as well as her. Yet on her first day, she could easily match him.

What was meant as a stroke of his ego ended up showing he wasn't as special as he once thought was back then.

But it was another factor that turned his defeat into anguish.

(“Why, why of people did it have to be a woman who looked exactly like her!?”)

He bawled for a few minutes before composing himself. He told her she was accepted into the adventurer’s guild, before solemnly leaving without another word leaving his mouth.

“Hmm? Do you mean that old girlfriend of yours that visite-”

Mr. Bentley raised his hand. “Boy, she simply reminded me of my youth, anything further is simply untrue.” He answered with a bitter expression.

“If you so say.”

“I can't believe I've done such a thing. What was I thinking, letting her join.”

He held his head and looked down at his desk, the embarrassment of what he did still leaving his face somewhat pink.

“Come on, you said to yourself, you'd want to leave a kid with decent potential here before you retire, right? Although you already have me.”

“Boy when we were her age, you were far weaker and I was slightly weaker as well. She has us both outmatched in potential.” He sternly answered.

“Ugh, don't say that. Besides, you were way stronger when you were in your prime, right?”

“Please boy, let's stop this. She's better than me. Plain and simple. By the time she reached the age I was at during my prime, she’d have far surpassed me. Maybe if my circumstances were different, I'd still be in my prime but it's no use thinking of that.”

The room grew silent and Ezekiel couldn't help but stare at his father absentmindedly.

“Well, don't worry old man. Even if she's stronger than I was when I was her age, that doesn't mean she's stronger than me now. I'll keep her in check while we do our dealings. Though, we're probably gonna need some more “friends”.”

“Hmm?” He removed his head from his hands and looked up to him. “Oh, you mean our informants.”

While most of the guilds didn't seem to mind Mr. Bentley’s business deals, it didn't hurt to be sure. He'd convince certain members of the more important guilds to report to him and help him keep guilds out of specific areas and other miscellaneous tasks whenever he needed it.

“Right, I think we'll need a separate group that's okay with the murders. Now that we have her taking my focus, I feel we'll need more people to watch the other guilds so they don't encounter our friends doing their work.”

Mr. Bentley sighed before opening a drawer with gold filled inside.

“Well, at least I know what I'll put the gold she gave me towards.”