A Soldier's Life
chapter-38

I was left in the basement as Konstantin rushed up the stairs. I heard him yell for Mateo and Felix. It was not long before the two men came down the stairs. Mateo looked at the carnage and said, “Centaur shit, Konstantin is a bloody monster.” He addressed me, “We are to get the front door completely open and wait in the street. Konstantin said you should continue to look for clues on the whereabouts of the others in the city.” They did a quick walk-through of the basement before heading back upstairs.

I could have told them that I had killed five of the seven, but I don’t think they would have believed me. It was quiet and a bit spooky with the dead eyes of the soldiers in the basement. I had killed actual people. That should have shaken me, or at least how easily I had done it without any hesitation. This brutality was my new reality.

I counted the bedrolls, and there were seven to match with the seven dead. Then I searched the bedrolls, finding nothing in them. I covered the bodies with them because it seemed like the right thing to do. I tried pulling the essence collector from my storage, but my aether was insufficient and was still recovering.

I searched as ordered, but all they had down here were supplies and weapons. It looked like mostly food and casks of water. Strangely, there were no supplies that I would equate to being tailor’s goods for sale upstairs. Maybe the owners did not use it for the business? I stopped thinking about it as I was no detective.

But I did need to find out why my aether bottomed out when I took the man’s heart. As I was thinking about it, I pulled the shields and weapons into a pile. I guessed they would be sent to the Legion Hall’s armory as they were good quality. Maybe I should search the bodies again? Konstantin had done it quickly. I started with the elf, uncovering him. The ears were not too pronounced but were pointed. Maybe a half-elf? His face was angular, and he looked on the thinner side.

I searched his body and found two secreted knives, but his musculature looked somewhat frail. Were all elves weak? Maybe he was a scout and not a fighter. I found a coin pouch, but that seemed odd to have on you when you invaded a city. Inside were five large coins: one gold, two silver, and two copper. Large coins were ten times the value of small coins, so this was a sizable sum. They were all stamped with a five-headed hydra on one side and writing that was not Latin on the other side. I could not read it.

I don’t know how I felt about robbing the dead. I tucked the pouch into my pocket for now. He had jewelry on as well, two rings and one earring. I checked for runes but did not see any, so I assumed they were not magical. It reminded me I still had my magical pendant from the dungeon in my dimensional space that needed to be identified. I stood and looked at the dwarf woman next. She had tried to sacrifice herself to kill me.

I checked again and had just enough aether to pull the essence collector from my dimensional storage. I debated the risk. What if others came, and I did not have enough aether to return it, and it was discovered? Was I even okay with harvesting dead people for essence? And how much aether did it take to activate the device? Was there even an essence to take? It had been almost twenty minutes since they had been killed. How long did you have to harvest a corpse after killing it?

Fuck it. I took the device out of my dimensional space and inspected it closely for the first time. I laughed aloud as it looked closer to a sterling silver plate the women won at Wimbledon. The runes were magical, and I could sense they had a purpose, even just holding the metal disc. I placed it on the chest of the dwarf woman and channeled my aether.

It did not take much, just a kiss of aether to activate. A light blue mist quickly pulled into the plate from the body, and a large orange orb formed. Damn, and apex essence of reasoning if I remember correctly! The dwarf woman had been all corded muscle, and she gave a mental essence, not a physical one. I only hesitated for a moment before popping it into my mouth.

I got a brain freeze and felt dizzy. Vertigo caused me to trip on the body and fall. The floor felt like the safer place for the next minute as I bathed in the euphoric changes. Next time I consumed a mental essence, I would ensure I was sitting down. I guessed that maybe it was ten times more intense for me than others since I was able to milk the essences I consumed for more power.

I covered the body and turned to the elf. I placed the collector on him and activated it. The same effect occurred, and a golf ball-sized sphere formed on the plate. The only problem was the ball was rich brown with swirls of gray and black. I had to be a magical apex affinity essence, but I did not know which affinity. I could not consume a second essence so soon. Castille said to wait an hour between, but maybe, with my spell form enhancing my gains, I should wait longer. Maybe an entire day. I pocketed the essence and moved a little excited onto the human male between the elf and the dwarf.

I placed the collector again; this time, a large marble formed from the blue smoke. It was dark purple, meaning it was a major essence of strength. One of the most common essences. I planned to go to the other side and collect more essence. But clear thuds of footsteps walked across the floor above me.

My heart thudded, and I tried to send the collector back to my space. I didn’t have enough essence to transfer it. Should I hide it in the room? Someone was on the stairs descending. I forced the plate inside my chest armor. Damn it. The hard leather was formed to my body. I sucked in my gut and stood as relaxed as I could as Adrian, Linus, Flans, and Brutus moved into the room.

Adrian looked on both sides of the stairs and asked, “Why are the bodies covered?”

I spoke softly while holding in my gut, “Because I found their eyes staring at me creepy.”

Adrian snorted and shook his head, “It gets easier. Did you find anything?”

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the coin pouch, “I only searched the elf and the dwarf. Just some coin,” I tossed him the pouch.

He caught it and tested the weight. Then, he tossed it back to me, “Keep it. Castille will be here soon. You can stand guard in the street till she arrives and then go and get some rest. Konstantin said you fought well.” He chuckled, “He actually said you fought better than expected, which probably means you impressed him.” They started searching the bodies and the room again, and I went upstairs and into the street. It was still a long time till dawn. The oil street lamps gave the city a dull light. Mateo and Felix were flanking the entrance and at attention. I stood to one side.

Mateo asked with interest, “Did you really take down five by yourself? That was what Adrian said.”

The collector was making me slightly uncomfortable, but it was manageable. I shifted slightly, “It was all luck. I got one at the bottom of the stairs, and another was just waking up. The fifth one actually impaled herself on my blade rather than be captured.”

Felix whistled, “Five kills in one evening. We need to come up with a nickname for you.” I then had to listen to the two toss nickname suggestions back and forth between them. When I tried to give my own input, they told me a person could not help choose their nickname. It had to be bestowed on them by another.

Silent Sheep, Madien’s Thief, Pocket Puncher, Ghoul, Night Prince, Graceful Fork, Foreign Spear, Thundering Demon…

The names went on and on. I was confused as no one else in the company had a nickname I knew. Mercifully, Castille returned with Konstantin just moments later. She paused to address me, “Good work, Eryk. You can go get some rest.”

Mateo and Felix started to move with me, and Konstantin rasped, “Just Eryk. You two remain here on guard.” They entered the clothing shop, and I walked away, leaving two very disappointed legionaries. There was still about four hours left before dawn. As I walked, I finally had enough aether to move the collector back with the essences and could relax. I probably would not take such a risk again.

At the villa, I found a swearing Lirkin in the kitchen. “Eryk, there are rats in the cellar. The anti-vermin wards must have expired. I need help eliminating them.” My jaw didn’t work as I thought I was going to get some time to rest and study. “Come on, Eryk, the bastards are eating the tubers and grains.”

I nodded reluctantly. “Do you want me to cut the tails off after I kill them and present them to you as proof so you can grant me a reward?” I said, trying to sound cheerful about the quest offering.

“Why the fuck would I want rat tails? Do they eat rat tails where you are from?” Lirkin sounded slightly mocking. “Just kill them and see where they are getting into the basement larder. I saw a mortar mixture in one of the outbuildings. Your reward will be not having to eat meat chewed on by a rat.”

He went to get the mortar, and I went into the basement with a glowstone from my pocket. I heard them immediately, but they hid from my light. I searched the perimeter wall and found two holes in the base of the walls. I moved the casks out of the way to get easier access to both of them. How was I supposed to catch a rat? I walked through the room and started to see them as their tails disappeared. They were definitely in here.

Lirkin returned with a bucket of gravely and powdery mixture. He inspected the two holes in the walls, “This one we can plug with mortar. This one is the drain. The grate is missing. With anti-vermin wards, no one probably thought to patch this hole and replace the grate.” He considered. “I will let Kolm know. He can bang out a replacement grate at the forge in the citadel. Let us block it with a crate for now.” We mixed the mortar with water and filled the other hole.

“I have to start on breakfast. I am sure you have the rat problem well in hand,” he patted my back and went up the stairs before I could respond. I spent hours chasing rats in the basement, crushing three, but I could still hear more of them. It was driving me insane. I got an idea and put a small pile of grain, cheese, and meat in the corner lit by a glowstone. I backed away to the extent of my dimensional space, ten feet, and waited. I had regained enough aether to try this.

Ten minutes later, the first cautious rat moved to the pile, and then, a second, I queued up the space to send the rats to my dimensional space together. Both rats popped out of existence, and I felt intense backlash as my aether bottomed out. It was even more intense than when I took the man’s heart five hours ago.

I sat with a migraine, trying to figure things out. Anything alive appeared to have resistance to being put into my dimensional space. Maybe that resistance didn’t matter since my space affinity was so high. I always won the contest of wills. Was there a related mental attribute that played a role in resisting? Maybe resilience? Maybe it is the magical trait of aether resistance? Questions that I would need to answer.

I listened for a long time and did not hear anything. I walked up the stairs triumphantly with the three dead rats. Men were already getting breakfast from the kitchen as they returned from patrol. I was mocked as some demonic slayer of the Bartiradian Army. The name that Felix and Mateo settled on was [taking suggestions readers, this will be a nickname he uses later in the story when he has to do ‘dirty jobs’, so give me something good LINK TO VOTE AND COMMENT]. Lirkin consoled me and said it would only stick for a few days before everyone forgot about it.

I ate my fill of a porridge topped with honied nuts and fruit. We also had thick bacon on the side. Not the usual strong effort from our cook, but he was busy with rats most of the morning.

I ended up in my room after filling myself on the breakfast offering. I had one more thing I wanted to test. I waited anxiously for hours, and when my aether was half full, I opened the window and expelled the rats from my dimensional space. They fell five feet, were briefly stunned by the fall, but then scurried off. Well, that was very interesting. It barely took any aether to bring them out, and the rats lived. They were unharmed from their stay in my dimensional space.