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A Soldier's Life - 282 - Skeletons In The Closet (final edit 6-20-25 - big changes that ripple to book 7)
🕑 Added 2024-10-23 03:32:06 +0000 UTCChapter 282: Skeletons In The Closet
Getting to higher ground made sense, and the burned-out farm was on top of a hill. We didn’t need the glowstones with the rapid flashing lightning, but had them out anyway. Only Mateo’s horse was giving us trouble as the constant waves of thunder spooked him. He even dragged Mateo through the mud for fifty feet on one particularly close strike when he bolted.
As we returned to the farm, we were caked up to our knees in mud. We all huddled into the open shelter made from split logs. It was used for farming tools and keeping the harvest dry, but the tools looked to have been scavenged, as there were only broken and rusty ones remaining. The pounding rain only seemed to increase as we settled in. It was cramped but manageable with the six horses.
“Is this natural?” Blaze yelled over the rain as he stripped to wring out his underclothes. We had been in magical weather before, and it had never turned out well.
Raelia answered him, “Usually, there are flash storms in the plains closer to Khoura, but I don’t think it is the season. Maybe it is magically induced.” She hesitated, “It does fell that way.” Raelia was completely dry under her Ranger’s cloak, to my surprise. Was it the cloak or a spell? With rain as heavy as it was, not even legion cloaks could keep you completely dry. Raelia was averting her eyes as Mateo and Benito also began to remove their armor and wring their underclothes.
Maveith bellowed over the loud rain, “That bridge is going to be underwater in the morning. We will have to stay on this side of the river all the way back to Dewmire.” I nodded, recalling some challenging terrain for the horses on that side.
I spoke loudly so everyone could hear. “Rub down the horses and find a dry spot to get some sleep. Actually, maybe we should leave the horses here and sleep in the firewood shelter. There should be enough room for all of us. I will stand watch the half the night and Maveith the other.” By now, the others knew we both had rings that allowed us to get less sleep and food. No one objected to getting a full night’s rest. We hastily unsaddled the mounts and hung everything we could to drip dry. Heavy, wet gear was always a miserable experience the next day. The others quickly leveled the piles of wood to create beds off the ground.
The rain continued to fall for the next hour as we once again got ready for the night. I didn’t remove my armor or make an attempt to dry off as I stood watch. The others were hanging up everything they could to dry. The lightning and thunder had abated some, but the flashes played tricks on the eyes with the shadows in the trees. Fortunately, my aether sight seemed unaffected by the lightning flashes.
My earth speak was muted with the water-logged ground, but I still got fuzzy feedback. A large number of mice, snakes, and other small critters had been drowned in their burrows. The rain had just come on too fast for them to flee. I gave the group my thermal stone to set their bedrolls around while I kept watch. The heavy rain acted like white noise, and soon, my exhausted companions were asleep.
The rain didn’t abate for nearly four hours, and then it stopped instantly like someone had shut it off. The only sounds I heard were water dripping from trees, pattering on the ground, and our roof. Even that settled after thirty minutes to give way to an eerie quiet.
Raelia stirred, rolling closer to the thermal stone. With the air stilled, someone in our enclosure had fumigated it, but it had been a silent flatulence, and I didn’t know who the perpetrator was.
I saw Maveith’s eyes open, and he stared at the ceiling. Four hours was more than enough rest for him with his ring. He rose silently and crossed his legs underneath him. He nodded to me, indicating he was ready to take the watch.
For me, the woods surrounding the farm seemed too eerie, and I was going to remain awake. Maveith stood and quietly put his armor back on. He wasn’t successful as a grumpy Mateo ducked deeper inside his bedroll. Maveith moved to stand where I was.
I whispered, “I will stay up with you as long as I can see in the dark.” Suddenly, Neptune’s Tear revealed itself, casting a blue glow over our surroundings, but I remained with my friend. We sat silently, not wanting to disturb the others. Maveith’s arm extended, pointing into the woods, and I focused. My aether sight didn’t reach very far, but I did see the strange shadow he was pointing at.
“A deer or large wolf,” Maveith guessed in a flat whisper. “Probably got active after the rain finished and is hungry.”
I tried to follow the creature in the low light, but it was over a hundred yards in the woods, and I kept losing it. The spyglass appeared in my hands, and I adjusted it. Finding the creature in the distance took me a while, as it was flitting between the trees for cover. It was definitely aware of our camp. “Rouse the others quietly. It is bipedal and circling the camp.”
Maveith grunted softly and woke Raelia first. I was impressed, as she was out of her bedroll in a breath and on alert, her Ranger training taking hold. Baldo, on the other hand, was still curled into a ball and sleeping. Worried there might be more, I scanned across the fields and around the farmhouse with the spyglass. I didn’t see any other movement, and Blaze, with his amazing eyesight, helped me locate the interloper.
“I might be able to hit it,” Blaze stated, his bow ready.
“No, we should know what we are attacking and if it is a threat. It could have been out there in the storm the entire night watching us.” I kept a focus on it as everyone prepared. “Mateo and Benito stay with the horses. Blaze and Raelia trail Maveith and me.”
Moving silently in wet clothes was much harder than you would think as I headed into the woods. Even more frustrating was our feet sinking into the mud with each step. I heard Raelia tell Baldo to stay, and he let out a long, whining chirp—the one he often makes when he's hungry. He didn’t want Raelia to leave him without feeding him breakfast first. The creature in the woods was spooked and disappeared from our line of sight among the trunks.
“Do we follow it?” Maveith grumbled to keep his voice low.
Raelia was hissing at a repentant Baldo, who curled up on himself. He knew that when he was bad, he wouldn't get any food. I weighed the pros and cons before responding. “I don’t like something out there watching us. We still go investigate.”
I had Maveith stay five paces behind me and Raelia and Blaze with their bows twenty paces further back. “Don’t enter the tree line,” I told Raelia and Blaze. I don’t want you to lose sight of Mateo and Benito in case there is another threat or this one circles around. Ginger neighed as I entered the tree line, but quieted quickly at Mateo’s urging.
Entering the woods was actually a relief. The forest carpet was thick with leaves and pine needles covering dense roots. It was not muddy, even with all the rain. Either the ground had absorbed the rainfall, or the runoff was enough to make movement easier and quieter.
I kept checking with earth pulses and looking back at my companions as I ventured into the woods. I finally found something: two haphazard, recently buried skeletons. Mostly, water logged leaves and churned earth covered them. This must be where the baker’s parents had been put to rest.
I caught movement to my right, but didn’t see what caused it. Maveith couldn’t see under the denser canopy, so I hissed at him. “Retreat to Raelia’s position in case it runs.”
I walked past the buried skeletons and approached the area where I had seen the movement. It was only with the grace of earth speak that I detected the two skeletons rising behind me. My blood chilled as I alerted the others, “Undead!” I whirled to face the rising from the earth, while continuing to search for the humanoid with earth speak.
The grinding of bone on bone echoed as the two skeletons rose, wet clumps of leaves sliding off them. Faint blue light illuminated their joints, apparently welding the bones together. Some bits of charred flesh and desiccated organs hung on the frame in a macabre sight.
During Hound training, Hearne had said the only places we were likely to encounter undead skeletons were if we were foolish enough to venture into a dungeon that created them or if we were in pursuit of a necromancer. The blue aether binding them needed to be sustained by someone or something. Destroying the spine was how we were taught to fight them.
I switched Boris’ dungeon blade for the black spear. The skeletons had no weapons and were charred black from the fire as they advanced clumsily toward me. I swung the spear in an arc, trying to catch both of them. I was surprised when the ribs and spines shattered under the blow. Both skeletons collapsed to the ground in a pile of bones. The upper torsos still had some fight, both pulling themselves free and starting to crawl toward me.
I shattered one skull and then the other with quick stabs of the spear. The remaining aether holding them together evaporated into the ground. The bones must have been brittle from the fire, due to how easily they fractured, or maybe it was the spear’s magic. One of these days, I will have to get a revelation scroll on the artifact. My worry was that whoever performed the reading would know how powerful the artifact was and it would make me a target.
Maveith came rushing to help, a glowstone in one hand and his hammer in the other, ready to smash, but ending up skidding past me on muddy leaves and tripping over tree roots. As he tumbled to the ground, the figure broke and ran. I chased after what I assumed was a necromancer. Maveith got to his feet behind me as I ran and skidded to catch the fleeing person.
I surged ahead, boots pounding against the damp forest floor, and closed the distance between us. With a swift, downward thrust, my blade sank into the back of his thigh, damaging his hamstring. The orc let out a strangled cry as his leg gave out beneath him. He stumbled blindly through the darkness, crashing shoulder-first into a tree with a sickening thud before collapsing into the underbrush.
He lay there, whimpering, clutching the back of his leg with trembling fingers. Maveith arrived moments later, holding the glowstone aloft. Its pale blue light spilled over the scene, casting long shadows and illuminating the fallen figure. The orc was caked in mud from head to toe, the muck clinging to his skin like a second layer. Beneath the grime, his features looked unexpectedly youthful—smooth cheeks and wide eyes—fear, pain, and innocence highlighted his appearance.
“Were those your skeletons?” I asked in Elvish. He was too distracted from his pain to answer me, or maybe he didn’t understand Elvish. “Go get Raelia,” I told Maveith, and waited for them to return. After sending out an earth pulse, I returned my spear to my dimensional space and replaced it with Boris’ blade. Even through the pain, he noticed my weapon swap. His eyes were wide as I tossed him a bandage for his leg out of thin air.
Maveith returned with Raelia at a jog, and I stood back and let her interrogate the young orc. Raelia had boasted she was fluent in the orc language, but she struggled to keep the injured orc’s attention and stumbled through the conversation. After a time, she turned to us, “He said he was the son of the farmers.”
I was immediately confused. “Did the baker have a brother? We were not asked to check in on a brother.” My question took some back-and-forth before Raelia turned to me again.
“He was adopted a year ago,” Raelia informed me, though she sounded uncertain. “He says the old farmers never told either of their sons. One is a baker and the other a pig farmer.” We all looked at each but eventually they turned to me to decide.
“Ask him if he created those skeletons,” I said seriously. I already knew he had to be the necromancer. When I approached his hiding position, the skeletons clearly rose to defend him. Instead of answering Raelia’s inquiry, he just started sobbing uncontrollably.
I grimaced, seeing where this was going. “How does the Boutan Caliphate deal with necromancers?” I asked Raelia.
Her tone was heavy, and maybe she felt pity for the young orc, “I believe outside of talking to the deceased, it is outlawed.” Raelia looked back at the bones in the distance. “We would be doing him a favor to kill him now. Bringing undead into existence is punishable by death in most kingdoms.”
I winced. We had three choices before us. Leave him, turn him in, or kill him. Even with his orcish features, I guessed him to be no older than 14. “Ask him how the farmers died.” Maybe his answer would make my decision easier. I waited while Raelia worked to get it out of him. The pain was still distracting him. She also got more comfortable with the orc tongue as the conversation progressed.
When she finished, she looked grim. “They died in their sleep. Probably from something they ate. He got really sick as well, but lived. He didn’t know he had magic and, while mourning them, raised them as ghouls. When neighbors came to check on them, he got scared and ordered them to remain in bed and not move. The neighbors burned the house after looting it.”
“He then raised them again, but this time as skeletons,” I finished. I believe he had the necromancy spell form for raising the dead. “What do you think we should do?” I asked Maveith and Raelia while the orc simpered.
Maveith leaned on his hammer in thought while Raelia answered with some fervor. “Death. If he created zombies, his necromancy must be very powerful. The dead and living cannot coexist. In Bartiradia, he would be publicly executed for creating ghouls.”
“We are not in Bartiradia,” I reminded her.
Maveith clearly pitied the orc boy. With a sigh, he agreed with Raelia, “Powerful necromancers have caused more wars and death across the world than any single nation. If he can raise the dead at such a young age, I am afraid what he might become.” Raelia nodded in agreement. “But there are always the Death Hunters?” Maveith added.
I looked quizzically at Maveith, but it was Raelia who answered with an uncertain nod. “The Death Hunters might be a possibility. They accept necromancers into their ranks and teach them to hunt and destroy the undead. But their Citadel is all the way in Nausis.”
Maveith shook his head. “They have a stronghold in Esenhem.”
“A stronghold, yes, but they train their members in Nausis. Are we going to turn around and escort him four thousand miles there?” Raelia said a little heatedly, and Maveith winced. I could see the goliath realizing that it would delay us by many months to do so.
“I can try something…” I said, turning to the boy and he winced as I focused on him. He couldn’t run, and was at our mercy.
I made to place him in my space and sort it out later. I got immediate backlash as my aether bottomed out. An instant migraine formed and I was unsteady for a moment. His aether resistance was too strong for me as he instinctively resisted my attempt to send him to dimensional space. He didn’t even realize he had done it by the confusion on his face. Only Traeliorn had been able to resist me, and since then, I had increased my affinity. How strong was this child?
I briefly considered adding the orc to our group as a guide, but if he was found to be a necromancer, it could cause us problems in our quest. He was obviously alone, and no one knew he was out here. What would be the harm in letting him go?
“Are you all right, Eryk?” Maveith asked worriedly. He had hefted his hammer and was ready to strike the young orc. Raelia had stepped back from the orc as well, not understanding what was happening.
“He is strong,” I explained, and Maveith understood what I had tried to do.
“I will do it,” Raelia said, drawing a blade.
“No!” I stopped her with a gesture. “He cannot come with us, but he can decide his own fate. Tell him about the Stronghold in Esenhem and how to get to it.”
“You cannot let him go!” Raelia said heatedly. “Necromancers must be…”
“Tell him, Raelia!” I said angrily.
It took some time for Raelia to explain to the boy. We found out his name was Tovin. He didn’t know who his real parents were and professed he worked hard before they had been poisoned. His filthy, calloused hands made me believe his story. I gave him one of the Pathfinder potions to heal his thigh, and he drank it happily. I guessed orcs had different tastes.
When he was able to walk, I gave him some food in an old legion pack. As he shuffled off into the trees, he looked back a few times thinking it was all a trick. Raelia looked disappointed in my decision and Maveith looked indifferent.
I tried to explain myself to her. “Choices, Raelia. Everyone is capable of evil—or good. He deserves the chance to make that choice.”
Her eyes bore into me and it reminded me of when I had released her in the dungeon. “You just didn’t want to kill a boy. If he does join the Death Hunters, then you did good. If he raises an army of undead, then you contributed to his evil,” Raelia said tersely, turning her back on me and walking back to the others..
I explained what had happened in the woods. Benito, Blaze, and Mateo had no particular opinion on necromancers, viewing them the same as any other mage. Raelia just huffed, saying they had never seen an undead horde tear through a village, but she admitted on questioning that neither had she. As we mounted to leave, Blaze leaned into me. “Next time I want to take on an extra job, just remind me what a clusterfuck this was.”
I huffed in agreement, and we headed out on the muddy four-mile trek back to Adorechi.
Comments
Brianna Stormcloud
Thanks for the chapters! 'No good deed goes unpunished' 🤣. 📖🍿
Michael Fisk
I think a good resolution (and somewhat humerous) result to this chapter would be to have Erik get the necromancer to notarize completion of the guild mission to check on the family farm. The baker was worried about his family and doesn't know his adopted brother the necromancer exists. The necromancer probably does know about his older brother after learning about him from his parents, but not know where he lives or how to contact him (as he would have done so already). Noone but Raella speaks orcish, and the kid probably doesn't speak anything else, so she gets somewhat exasperated with trying to translate Erik's recommended family reunion. None of them know the local laws, and probably wonder what they should really do.. and Erik would finally point out that they have to report it at the guild anyway as part of their mission completion. "Hey kid, I don't know if I'm supposed to bring you in to the authorities or kill you like this elf here recommends.... but technically I was hired to check on this baker's family and that's apparently you. So you better go leave to live with you new brother or disappear if what you did here was illegal. I'm gonna turn this completed posting in at the Guildhall and report you. If they need to hire me to come back and kill you I WILL do it. Now scram!" Necrokid runs off. Erik gets paid. Maybe the guy DOES want Erik to go back and hunt him down. And he's all No Way I'm not backtracking, I got other shit to do to help my buddy Maevith, damn your orcish customs are wierd. Oooor something like that. I think there is an opportunity here in this chapter that just isn't fully resolved. Killing necrokid doesn't seem quite right and just letting him go feels like a wasted chapter as it doesn't do much for driving the plot forward or do much world building or anything. 🤔
Trevayne
Thanks for the chapter and the edit.
Kevin O'Malley
We have some real sociopaths in this crew. Half are upset he didn’t extract the Kid’s essence.
Marnie
By now, the others knew we both had rings that allowed us to get less sleep and food. Maybe By now, the others knew we both had rings that allowed us to get by with less sleep and food. Or By now, the others knew we both had rings that allowed us to need less sleep and food.
Marnie
“It does *fell that way.” feel
Javen
damn so he actually killed the kid in the first edition? yeah im glad this got patched. there is no such thing as evil magic, just evil people. he know intimately the terror of being persecuted for your magic affinity, its why he's been hiding it all along. killing the boy for that would've been insane.
Erick Thiemke
edited
Erick Thiemke
corrected i think
Erick Thiemke
corrected
Erick Thiemke
edit posted
Erick Thiemke
edit posted
HappyNoms
Eryk has moved on from slaughtering soliders in the wrong place at the wrong time to killing orphaned 12 year olds in the throes of grief, but it's okay, because he didn't essence harvest and felt bad about it for perhaps a minute. It would be epic if the story just unapologetically evolved into Eryk gradually becoming more and more villanous, and accepting it, until he becomes a true supervillain. He could embrace using his displacement powers to steal, and poison drinks, place contraband on people and have them arrested as traitors and assassins, unlock a Worlds spellform to send people to a hell dimension. Chef's kiss. Have the courage of your dark convictions, Eryk.
Erick Thiemke
It’s going to edited as book 6 arc starts to define necromancy more concretely
Jonah Bradley
Honestly makes me want to cancel my membership reading that. The excuses for killing a child were thin enough to be non-existent. There was no moral quandary, it was manufactured. Gotta be the least morally defensible thing I've ever read on patreon while still patting itself on the back. Especially considering the kid was a parallel to the MC and I guess that never occurred to him? An extremely powerful person magically with no world experience who is capable of great destruction? Who doesn't know how to use his power responsibly and might be used by bad actors? Yeah, doesn't sound like the guy you wrote the entire book about at all. You manufactured a situation to manufacturer a situation. Bad writing.
R. Maxwell Steele
Yeah kind of lame ending there. Perfectly good kid, his magic raised the dead and didn't hurt anyone. Essentially murdered for being the wrong kind of "witch." (I use witch since historically "witches" got murdered without just cause.) They could have just trained him to use a different affinity. And very likely he would have been able to use spells. Wouldn't be surprised if one of the secrets of the giants was a way to evolve or mold your already formed spellform thing into something different. just imagine if his savant mage friend accidentally developed a raise undead ability? Would he kill his friend? Nope. And anybody you're too ashamed to use a collector on, is also someone you shouldn't not kill in the first place. I hope he comes back as a super undead who can raise more undead and kills all the main cast. Would be an unexpected twist.
Fast Lance
Yh this was stupid and horrible, extremely inconsistent with him refusing to assassinate the kids
GucciG
Personally, I don't mind that he didn't take the essence. I'm of the opinion that he needs to stop adding new affinities willy-nilly. Master what he has at the moment and add new ones over time. He sure as hell has the time for it.
Daniel Foster
Missed opportunity to nurture a promising recruit. Might have been able to help clear out the Ghosts near the other dungeon. Definitely should have taken the essence. Just seems wasteful. I don't think it's okay to execute a kid for making a mistake / not hurting anyone. Maybe if the kid was upset and was trying to kill the village for looting his adopted family 's Farmstead. (Good nightmare fuel though) Kids more trouble than he's worth. Kill him. I think this definitely needs more foreshadowing to justify.
Andrew Crews
“He didn’t know he had magic and, while morning [❌ should be “mourning” (grieving, not morning like the time of day)] them, raised them as zombies.” Edited Version: “He didn’t know he had magic and, while mourning them, raised them as zombies.”
Andrew Crews
“Mateo and Benito stay with the horses. Blaze and Raelia trail Maveith and I [❌ should be “me” (object pronoun instead of subject pronoun)].” Edited Version: “Mateo and Benito stay with the horses. Blaze and Raelia trail Maveith and me.”
Andrew Crews
By now, the others knew we both had rings that required us to get less sleep and eat [❌ missing modifier, e.g., “less” or “minimally”], and no one objected to getting a full night’s rest [❌ awkward transition; consider rewording for clarity]. Edited Version: By now, the others knew we both had rings that required us to sleep less and eat less, so no one objected to getting a full night’s rest.
Nikolaus Sheehan
I was hoping he'd bring the kid along in the hopes of figuring out how to overcome high resistance. If the target is at peace, sleeping, boom in the box. Confronting him in the woods would have him at high alert so it would be the toughest. In addition, if he could get the kid into the box then he could find a place for him somewhere in this messed up world.
Victor Augusto Dantas Ferreira
That's kinda of a vegan mentality, and nothing wrong with that. But there's a huge difference between extraction of the soul of a monster and the soul of a person.
Lemes
The female werewolves were humanoids. He also had no qualms about using the collector on humans, elves, and orcs. Anyway, I can't see where there's a big difference between using the collector on a pregnant elf infected with lycanthropy and a necromancer boy. I still think the character is hypocritical.
daniel dantas
he couldn't be stored from what I understand, which makes sense, he can withstand his heart being removed, it wouldn't make sense if he couldn't resist being stored completely.
Erick Thiemke
gnolls - hyena humanoids - not people
Lemes
He has already collected the essences of several pregnant females, I think it is somewhat hypocritical that he does not collect the essence of the boy. What is the difference from a moral point of view? I can't see any that justifies it.
Jordan
I just read the update explaining why he didn’t use the collector. Very well written. Thank you for adding it.
Silver Beard
I thought that's what he had the oblivion pills for... to lower resistance. Unconscious he likely wouldn't have been able to resist.
Jordan
I don’t think so either, but I could be misremembering.
Jordan
Good point on not gathering essence from kids although I think this is the first time the situation has come up. Thanks for adding a sentence about it.
daniel dantas
On a side note, I would like to say that I am a big fan of your work author, I really don't like to spend money reading, spending the minimum and never subscribing to patreon and waiting for it to come out on RR to read, but your work is so good that I couldn't wait any longer and decided to help you financially to maintain this high level of writing, it's really amazing to see how eryk who used to get sick fighting gnoll, the perfect definition of a glass cannon, today manages to kill squads of beings that only a company of mages can handle alone with relative ease, but always realistic, even strong he is still a mortal who dies with enough bad luck
daniel dantas
I've read intensively over the last few days and as far as I remember, no, he was never faced with such a decision. Looking at it from that point of view, I think it would be enriching to have a brief reflection on his principles, the boy's essence was easily one of the purest he had ever found and could help him significantly, but to what extent would he go for his gains? What line would he cross? What if the child had hurt or killed one of his friends? It's a cruel world and these kinds of situations where everyone stops and thinks are very enjoyable to read and deepen your characters
Erick Thiemke
she never saw it in the dungeon - i think....
Erick Thiemke
yes I made him resist on purpose so the MC could not store the problem for a later time
Erick Thiemke
corrected
Erick Thiemke
the MC has never gathered the essence from a child - I will add something to the chapter
Erick Thiemke
i dont beleive to this point in the story he has taken a child's essence. I am doing a read edit on the chapter and will add an internal monologue
daniel dantas
I didn't like the mc's decision not to extract the boy's essence, as unpleasant as the whole situation is the act of eating the essence would make everything worse, if he wasn't so talented it wouldn't be important, but as he resisted more than 100 points of space affinity, I can only feel that it was a valuable treasure being thrown away, perhaps the mc's resistance or modeling would increase by 3 points so pure would be the essence
daniel dantas
But he doesn't believe this and has never shown this care for his enemies
Salvo
Now that I think about it, there are people who believe you need your essence in the afterlife. Some of the legionaries send their own back to their family though.
Jordan
Agreed. The question has been asked in other comments with speculation on why he didn’t. A sentence or two needs to be added to the story clarifying why he didn’t or Eryk should use the collector as this is very different than Eryk’s normal modus operandi.
Jeffrey Worrall
Not to be callous but shouldn't Eryk use the collector on the kid? He would probably get at least a major magic essence, though I guess he could get the necromancy affinity essence, which wouldn't be helpful.
Tj
For a chapter name idea "Being Heartless is not for everyone"
Jordan
Too risky as the kid can’t control his powers.
Jordan
Agreed. Dimensional space already failed so storing the kid isn’t an option
Jordan
‘Harsh Reality’ captures the feelings surrounding killing the kid the best out of these 3 options. My 2 cents.
Jordan
A sentence needs to be added saying why he didn’t use the collector. Otherwise it’s a minor unnecessary plot hole.
Sky Chicken
My thoughts as well, besides he would most likely get a resistance essence.
liltigah
Could he have stored him? His aether resistance was too high for his dimensional space to kill him so I doubt it.
K A N O
damn i wanted him to join the group
Jacob Diver
“Rose the others quietly. – “Rouse the others quietly I finally found something: two half-hazard recently buried skeletons. – I finally found something: two haphazardly recently buried skeletons (not sure on the second, this one seems like it might be an in-universe variation on the phrase)
Silver Beard
Makes Eryk hiding his space that much more insidious. He could have stashed the kid away and offered him up as bounty down the road. The nasty things he's doing to hide his space and abilities from the folks he is supposed to trust the most.
Ivan Kanewske
Raelia had boosted she was fluent in the orc language, but she was struggling to keep the injured orcs attention Boosted to boasted
Khress
Why would they torture him? For manifesting his magic? From what i have read, the orcs have no crime. Why would they be cruel for an unfortunate orc?
Khress
You do know that necromancers are sought after, right? If they are under your control they are an important strategic resource. You kill the crazy ones or the uncontrollable ones. He is just a teenage boy who lost his parents. He kind of is an amazing find for the priests
Chachi
kino chapter need more difficult choices like these for eryk would make him a better leader imo and the story more kino
1536539
Damn, i feel sorry for the child, no one should be killed for a crime they did not yet commit, that is just simply stupid and evil, i think he should either leave the boy or help him, he has no obligation to kill an innocent child in a foreign country for the potential harm the child would be capable of. Suggestion for the chapter title: Cruel Fate
Devourerofwords
Cruel Necessity
Erick Thiemke
I was thinking Deadly Decisions, or Morbid Decisions
Garrett
I think a fitting name for this chapter could be "harsh reality" as it forces the reader to remember the circumstances of the world that Eryk is in.
PatronTurtle
Because he felt guilty and isn't that cutthroat yet
NightRider
Rose the others quietly. Should be, ROUSE the others quietly.
Salvo
I would have probably used the essence collector anyway, then if it was necromancy essence, turn it in to the adventure guild and have the money go to the baker. The family is dead and proof the adopted son was a necromancer would be a nullifying apology. The neighbors robbed the place and didn’t think to look for the boy!
Andrew
Thank you!
Silver Beard
It was a mercy killing.
BubblyGhost
Because time and resources. This isn't a kind world, nor does he owe anything to the boy. The two realistic choices here were to either leave or kill. A boy with no family, money, or prospects will most likely turn to what he has, to survive; aka taking from others. Does one risk inaction causing the possible rise of a powerful monster, kill them now to prevent that scenario, or give fate an unlikely chance they turn out good? The only right answer here is. . .dude should've used the collector on him, waste not want not after all.
Silver Beard
He's capped out on opening new affinities- and he felt dirty killing a child as is. As Raelia pointed out- Necromancy is outlawed- I doubt selling the essence is any less illegal and keeping it would be constant temptation Eryk doesn't need just now.
Silver Beard
I'm wondering why Raelia hasn't said a thing about his spear. Surely she recognized it's providence.
Jordan
Why didn’t Eryk use the collector on the boy after he died? He can still sell a necromancer essence if that’s what he gets. They do have some value.
Erick Thiemke
Corrected. I was hoping to post 282 and 283 today. 283 tomorrow
TastyApple
Damn i felt bad for the orc kid. Was kinda hopping for Eryk to save him and have a necromancer ally but too risky
Khress
I am not sure why he killed the orc. He did not have to do that except if he wanted to use the essence collector on him. He is in a differenz country. He should just take the orc to the town. The only crime the boy has commited was using magic he had no control over. Since there is an institution that houses necromancer why should he be not accepted? If they kill him anyway our mc s hands are clean
Valter Anunciação
did you forget 282 or did you get the chap number wrong ?
Erick Thiemke
3rd of 4 for cycle. I was going for a spooky Halloween chapter but it kinda fell short. Next chapter tomorrow and get to meet the Orc Cleric
