Monsters Uprising

The night passed quickly, but before dawn, some birds rested on the branches of the trees, together in silence, until they heard the sound of something entering the river, alerting them and allowing them to see a young man washing his face and hair.

It was Sief, who sighed and pushed his hair back, seeing his reflection in the moonlit crystal-clear water. He then looked at his hands, noticing that the cuts were gone, leaving only the burn mark, making him frown slightly.

Looking down, Sief took off his shirt, already torn in new places, and muttered.

'If she saw this, she’d probably complain until my ears hurt...'

He tossed the shirt onto the ground, where it landed on an unlit lantern. Sief turned forward again and splashed water on his body, washing away the dirt and the remaining blood, which made him notice the day's fresh cuts.

Like the marks on his hands, the new wounds were now just light scars, indicating that the cuts were large but not deep.

'I know he didn’t want to kill me... but this recovery is...'

Sief squinted his eyes slightly, but soon footsteps approached, followed by a sleepy voice.

“Haven’t done it yet?” The voice came with a yawn, and the drowsy tone continued as Sief turned to see Edgar rubbing his eyes. “Let’s take care of this quickly. I still have some plans for us today.”

“Maybe I’d have finished if you had grabbed this thing earlier. They don’t sell many lanterns in the city.” Sief stepped out of the water and grabbed his shirt, stretching his arms before adding, “Shouldn’t you lead the way?”

“Yeah, I know.” Edgar gave a slight smile. “But I’ve already told you, there’s a shorter option to the plan. Are you really sticking with this one?”

Hearing that, Sief remained silent but soon removed the lantern’s lid, dipping his finger into the oil. He realized it was still slightly warm, and with a long sigh, he poured it over both wrists.

Edgar smiled lightly, shrugged, and turned toward the dark forest, walking away until he vanished from Sief's sight in the shadows.

The assassin continued to rub his hands and wrists, soaking the shackles in the oil.

‘This can’t possibly work...’

But as soon as the thought finished, his eyes widened, noticing that the shackle was moving more freely. Despite being molded to his thin wrist, after a few moments of effort, Sief forced the shackle off his hand, sighing in relief but quickly frowning.

‘I can’t believe that worked...’ He threw the shackle toward the river, where the metal piece sank. ‘But he won’t hear me say that...’

Sief went back to working on the other shackle, and time passed. In the city, the first light of the sun began to brighten the streets, where a few townsfolk and adventurers were already walking.

In a nearby alley, Sief crossed his arms, frowning, noticing that the guild and its surroundings were already completely clean, with no signs of what had happened the day before. He sighed and left the alley when he saw a familiar silhouette descending the guild's stairs.

Seeing this, Sief quickly approached, ascending the stairs to enter the guild, crossing paths with the person who gave him a slight smile.

Once inside, he raised his head and saw that the surroundings were as they had been before.

The chandeliers still adorned the ceiling, but the mineral that had reflected the image of everyone on the floor was gone. Sief resumed walking toward the counter, scratching his wrists, now free of the shackles.

As he reached the counter, the attendant greeted him.

“Good morning.”

When he looked up, Sief raised an eyebrow, recognizing the same girl who had attended to him the day before, now with a few light injuries on her face and a bandage on her cheek.

However, she seemed more surprised than Sief, standing up and exclaiming,

“You-”

Sief narrowed his eyes and slowly began closing his fist around the bracelet, but the girl smiled and clasped her hands together, saying,

“I didn’t see you yesterday, thank goodness... you look... very well.”

“Yesterday?” Sief raised both eyebrows and slowly opened his hand, sighing before replying, “Oh, right, the infirmary. It’s a long story, but I don’t have much time. Can we talk later?”

“Oh, yes, sure, sorry.” The girl sat back down, pulling a paper from under the counter, giving him a slight smile before asking, “How can I help?”

With the attendant seated, Sief glanced around and saw that the guild was almost completely empty, with only a few adventurers passing through. He then turned his gaze back to her.

“I’d like to retrieve an item from my patron’s storage.” He placed his hand on his hip before saying, “He told me to get a dagger to replace the one from yesterday, in Block 6.”

“One item, right.” She started writing in neat handwriting on the paper. Sief noticed it seemed like a report containing his name and the information he had just provided. “You know how this works, right? After all, he sent you.”

“Of course.” Sief squinted slightly, watching the attendant hand him the paper, revealing a series of numerals from 0 to 9, along with some symbols. “Just circle it?”

“Yes, in order.” She smiled again, closing her eyes as Sief circled a sequence of numbers that didn’t show up on the paper, as if the ink was invisible in that area. He frowned slightly but continued.

“Block 6, it’s a fin-bladed dagger.”

“Got it.”

With the writing finished, Sief saw something appear behind the paper he had signed. What seemed like a rectangle full of squares emerged, serving to take his measurements.

But what surprised him the most was that the rectangle appeared to be just a projection, displaying various items.

Among them was a red armor with spikes at the ends, and beside it, an armor made of constantly shifting fabrics.

Below the armors lay a large two-edged sword made of black metal, along with gauntlets, rings, and a golden necklace marked with a triangle. There was also another necklace similar to the Shaman’s, but with a much larger blue stone streaked with purple.

However, what stood out the most was a dagger with only one sharp side, the size of his old one, but with a completely different structure.

It had circular cuts in the blade, designed to tear after cutting. The metal was bluish and seemed to emit a faint aura, drawing Sief’s attention until the attendant stood up, scratching the back of her neck awkwardly.

“Well, everything’s in order. I’ll go fetch your item.”

“Alright...” Sief watched her get up and head toward a dark room. He tilted his head slightly. “Thanks, Nora.”

“You’d better be thankful.” She glanced back with a slight smile. “Sifritt.”

Time passed again, and when the sun was fully in the sky, Sief stood in the forest, watching the skies where the Kujura hovered. This time, a golden one descended toward him, raising one of his eyebrows.

The bird swooped down near his head but altered its path, landing close by, making Sief turn to see Edgar standing there, still smiling as he said,

“As I told you, it was a good plan.”

“Good plan?” Sief sighed and turned forward, holding the dagger with both hands. “I don’t know how your friend agreed to be an accomplice when the plan practically pinned everything on you. The folks from Forta think differently, but are you sure this will work?”

“If you did what I asked, yes.” Edgar smiled and looked at Sief, who rested the dagger in his lap and lifted the pen from the attendant’s desk. With a slight smile, Edgar continued. “The storage is full of defenses, aside from the code and limited access for younger adventurers. I could’ve just fetched the item for you and answered a few questions, but in the end, why did you prefer this way?”

“I already told you, I don’t want to cause problems.” He squeezed the pen between his fingers until it snapped. “This way, they might think I’m a bit dumb and don’t know all the security systems. That’ll shift suspicion away from you two, and she can claim I must have spied on Astrad to get the information. At least this way, they’ll ask questions but won’t pin it on you.”

“And Nora’s naivety might help her out of trouble. After all, we were both victims of a brat with strange powers.” Edgar crossed his arms, still amused, and the Kujura perched on his shoulder. “This story wouldn’t normally make much sense, but you’re one of those guys who creates incredible, intricate plans. I didn’t expect that from you.”

“The original plan was yours; I just tweaked it a bit. I didn’t expect you to be Astrad’s apprentice, though.” Sief held the dagger with both hands, then swung it through the air, frowning slightly. “This story doesn’t add up—it hasn’t even been told. Were you holding back against the monsters on our way?”

“About that...” Edgar scratched his head awkwardly, letting out a long sigh.

“No need.” Sief rested the dagger on the ground and stood up, lifting it again with some difficulty before finally wielding it. “You said there was another plan besides this one. Let’s get on with it. I still need to fetch my sister; that part you haven’t told me about.”

“I was going to, but you wanted to modify my first plan.”

Edgar commented with a slight smile and shrugged. He turned to Kujura and pulled two letters from his pocket, which caught Sief's attention as the bird jumped toward him, landing on his shoulder.

Sief looked at the bird with suspicion as a letter started to emerge from Kujura’s pouch. The bird tilted forward slightly, prompting Sief to sigh and grumble.

"This little bird is full of tricks."

"You already know who it's from, don't you?"

"Yeah, but I'll deal with it later."

He smiled as he took the letter, and Kujura stared at him momentarily. Sief furrowed his brow and took a coin from his pocket.

"Oh, so you expect a tip?"

"It's not required, but..."

Sief handed over the coin, and Kujura’s eyes widened. The bird moved closer, gently rubbing its head against Sief’s face before hopping onto his head, perching comfortably on top.

The assassin watched as the bird stretched its wings and, with a single leap, took off, flying low over the river and disappearing among the trees.

"What the hell was that?" Sief touched his cheek. 'That was kind of cute.'

"It's that miserly wizard's way of squeezing coins out of dummies like you," Edgar said with a smirk, to which Sief frowned.

"What’s in the letter?" Sief asked, stowing it in his bag.

"It's a letter from Astrad." Edgar smiled again, making Sief raise his eyebrows. "We have a way to find Tulla before he does."