The Scarthralls were dropped off by a gaggle of guards who looked like they couldn’t wait to be rid of their charges. In fact, as soon as they saw arriving, they had yelled out sothing about completing their jobs and being back later before rushing off like they were afraid of catching the plague or sothing.
I hadn’t even gotten to ask them about the tiline of the rest of the innocent Scarthralls or anything like that.
Not that their reactions were surprising. That the guards hated the Scarthralls was obvious to anyone with eyes and ears. Moreover, I suspected their goal was to visibly make sure I had custody of the vampires and that was it. All they really wanted was to ensure there were no Scarthralls loitering about in Ring Three.
“Nasty pricks,” Hamsik muttered.
He seed to be in a rather sour mood for so reason, and I wondered if part of that was because I had made zero progress on getting to his half-brother. I wouldn’t bla him if so.
“I’ll find him,” I promised. “I’m heading to—”
“Later,” Hamsik said in a clipped voice. “We have more important things to deal with now.”
True enough.
The Scarthralls looked like a bunch of schoolchildren on an unfamiliar field trip. Their arrival had drawn the attention of so of the locals, those who weren’t employed or were otherwise busy. Attention that wasn’t really positive.
They were also not looking great. Most were thin, looking famished and starving, so even appearing monts away from collapsing. We’d have to deal with their need for blood soon.
Looking through them, I didn’t find any sign of Tural. It seed he wasn’t with this group. I… wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Just thinking about what had happened to him during the fight, about what I had done to him myself… I swallowed.
Banishing those mories, I approached the Scarthralls with an encouraging smile.
“Welco!” I said. “Or I suppose, welco back! I don’t know what it was like in the prisons, but the important thing is that you’re out.”
“Shit,” one of the Scarthralls said. “It was absolute shit.”
“Literally sotis,” said another.
My eyes twitched. Mostly because I wasn’t surprised.
“I’ll be frank with you,” I said. “The fact that you were forced into being Scarthralls is regrettable. But we still need to deal with it the best we can.”
They didn’t like the sound of that, which I had expected, but I couldn’t coddle them. We were kind of in the sa boat. Or well, they were in the boat I had been when I had first arrived here—torn from the life I had been expecting and drawn into a completely different one I hadn’t at all been prepared for.
But I had tackled it all the sa, and now I was here. And that’s what I focused on when I continued.
“I know so of you are worried, I said. “And so of you are scared. And it’s true, it’s not going to be easy at all from here on out. But that doesn’t an things have to get worse. Do you understand?”
They seed to straighten at my words. With so, their eyes sharpened and they looked straight at . For others, though, they were stepping back, still looking unsure.
“How could you know what we’re dealing with?” a woman asked. She was shaking her head, her red pupils looking like daubs of blood against the dirty whites of the rest of her eyes. “All you did was kill… kill people like us.”
I scowled. “The only ones I killed were the ones who deserved it.”
My voice had snapped out, which wasn’t good because I was trying to get them on my side. I took a quick, calming breath.
“Look, you’re the victim of a terrible cri,” I said, trying to sound as reasonable as I could. “I’m sorry for that. Genuinely. But we can’t change the past. The best we can do is take it into account as we move forward and make the best of the hand we’ve been dealt. Trust , I know. I’ve been there.”
“You’re no Scarthrall,” soone said.
Another raised his hand high in affront. “You can’t know!”
Alright, maybe trying to approach it from that angle wasn’t going to work. I was trying to be frank, but honesty was working against here.
I swallowed. This was a struggle. A real clash in my mind. I was trying my hardest not to give in to cynicism, not to let my current thoughts be infected from my experiences on Earth.
Back there, a lot of people didn’t want the truth. So many were incapable of dealing with it, and would much rather prefer simple, straightforward answers that didn’t hold any of the listeners culpable for anything that had gone wrong. They never wanted reality.
All they had sought was reassurance that things would be okay. That soone would take care of it all.
Even lies were preferable to cold, hard truths.
Maybe… maybe that was the sa everywhere. I wasn’t a real leader. I had zero experience actually understanding what people wanted as an aggregate. Sure, I had so idealistic notions that everybody desired the sa basic things like happiness and aning and safety. But reality was much more complicated than that. People were more complex than that.
“Don’t lie.” Hamsik stepped forward, and the belligerence that so of the Scarthralls had started displaying quickly lted away in the face of Hamsik’s aggressive presence. “I know so of you. I recognize you. And you! All of you were there that night. All of you were present on the day of the Sacrifice.”
I needed only a second to understand what he ant. The day of the Sacrifice. The day of my Sacrifice.
“He—he’s right,” one of the called-out Scarthralls said, stepping forward from the rest of the gathering. “I was there. So were lots of you. The cult leader had been summoned, and we were going to Sacrifice him. It was…” He lowered his head and his voice. “It was a cri, not that different from the one done to us.”
More and more of the Scarthralls corroborated that. I didn’t recognize them. The mories weren’t pleasant, but I could deal with my reactions. It was what I had brought up in the first place, after all.
“That’s right,” Hamsik said. “Ross here started with nothing in this world except for a certain power. And he used that power to claw his way to a position where even Councillors pay attention to him. He didn’t let the cri of what was done to him hold him back from using what he had to push himself forward.”
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If I was told I’d have Hamsik praising like that one day, I’d have laughed it off. Yet here he was, making sound like the hottest shit in town.
“It’s not the cri aspect I wanted to point out,” I said. “It’s the fact that you’re alive. You’re standing, in control, in full possession of your faculties and your freedom. The only restriction is that you’re a Scarthrall now, the sa way my restriction was that when I first ca here, I had to work with the cult.”
That was the crux of the matter. Working within restrictions but working forward.
“What are you suggesting?” asked the sa Scarthrall who had first admitted to being present at my summoning.
The ti for speeches and appealing to truth and emotions was done. Now they needed a direction.
It was probably a good thing I had spoken with the hospital about what to do.
“Since you’re Scarthralls now,” I said. “The best thing is for you to get your own hos. Soplace you can stay without causing too much friction. To that end, we’ve been preparing residences for you. Please settle down there and try to relax and take a breather.”
“So we won’t be returning to our families yet?” a different Scarthrall asked.
“You won’t be imprisoned. I think it’s just best if we smooth the process of integration as much as we can. You’re mistaken if you think it’s a matter of thinking you’re inclined to do the sa kind of horrid things the actual monstrous Scarthralls wanted to do.” I shook my head. “That’s not it. What I’m concerned about is the response from the community.”
Even as I said it, my head swivelled to take in the little audience we had garnered, the few non-vampiric residents of Ring Four who had wandered over to see what all the fuss was about.
The Scarthralls watched them back too, and that was proof enough of what I ant. Regardless of their proven innocence, they would be judged. I was wary of that. Ring Four was already embattled against the rest of Zairgon with the scarcity of resources and opportunities and general derogatory manner it was treated. We couldn’t afford infighting amongst ourselves.
I raised my hand. “We’ll prove to everyone that we’re not just people to regard with suspicion and concern. We’ll prove we’re not just people who need to be accepted for who we are. We’ll prove that we’re invaluable.”
It was maybe a little too cheesy, but it seed to have the right effect. Everyone’s eyes returned to , and they weren’t disbelieving. I was successful in convincing them I had a plan.
“I don’t an to sound harsh, but there are bigger things afoot than our families,” I said. “Bigger things than how people see and treat us. Bigger things just being accepted. And that’s what we’re going to use as an opportunity.”
“Bigger things like what?” a Scarthrall asked.
Slowly, I smiled. “Bigger things… like Blight Swarms.”
My plan to make the Scarthralls sothing like a militia ant to specifically tackle the challenge presented by the Blight Swarms wasn’t exactly a foolproof plan. Plus, I didn’t even like framing it as a militia.
They had the potential to be a strong fighting force, but that wasn’t their main goal and I certainly wasn’t about to force anyone to comply with my ideas.
When I ntioned it, several Scarthralls naturally bowed out. I wasn’t surprised. None of them had wanted to be Scarthralls in the first place. They didn’t care they had new Paths and powers and whatnot. This wasn’t what they had asked for. This was unfair.
So, I couldn’t bla them for shying away from a direction that would need them to make full use of their vampiric abilities. They didn’t want to beco more of a vampire.
I didn’t have a backup plan for those sorts of people, but at least they were complying with my wish for them to be careful about mingling with the rest of Ring Four.
And of course, I told them the cult’s doors were always open for them all.
“You should induct them all,” Hamsik said. “And then bind them with Oaths.”
I winced. Escinca had disliked them, and honestly, I felt the sa. Plus, as I had seen with Glonek, it had only worked so far. “Don’t think Oaths are going to stop that many Scarthralls from causing problems if they wanted to. Also, binding every single one of them to Oaths just because so of them might cause issues is problematic, Hamsik. It’s not right.”
Hamsik sighed and shook his head.
For the ti being, we had asked the Scarthralls to relocate to one of the abandoned sections of Ring Four. We were still finishing up establishing proper residences.
Since we finally had so privacy, I asked Hamsik about what was bothering him. Because when I had started talking with the Scarthralls, his initial displeasure had given the impression it wasn’t just the matter with his brother that was bothering him.
I could finally talk about it since we got so privacy. “Like I said, I’ll take care of it. I’ll be heading out to the Adventurer’s Guild—”
Hamsik eyed critically. “You can just say no, you know.”
“What?”
“Just say no. Just say you’re busy. It’s not wrong to just not want to deal with every single problem on your plate. Pits, this isn’t even a problem on your plate.”
“What are you talking about? I said I’d help, didn’t I?”
“That’s what I’m talking about. You’re starting to act like Elder Escinca.”
I frowned. “And you’re starting to act like a prick again.”
Hamsik lips curled as he bared a few fangs. “You seem to think that every little problem that cos up always needs your full attention to figure out and solve. Like every wrong you see is sothing you need to make right.”
I took a mont to consider that. Was I doing that? I didn’t think so. Sure, various issues had presented themselves and I had to deal with them in great part because I was in a position of both power and responsibility.
But it wasn’t like I was going out of my way to rescue stray kittens or make sure every single person on Ring Four was happy and sated. No one had the ti for shit like that.
I decided against responding with annoyance, though. “You’re not wrong in the sense that balance is important, and I think I’m maintaining that balance for now.”
“Maybe you are.” Hamsik closed his scarlet eyes for a mont. “You’re growing stronger bit by bit. You’re not stagnating. Yet. Just don’t let your supposed duties overwhelm you, Ross. Rember the first ti we properly talked? Rember what you said about stagnating and not progressing?”
I didn’t have to think too hard to rember it all. Back then, I had been talking in terms of external, societal things. I had warned them that simply helping in the mont wasn’t enough. Otherwise, the situation would stagnate and nothing would really improve.
Fair enough. The sa could be said for everyone’s own, individual matters.
“Just one of these days,” Hamsik said quietly. “I’d like to see you say no to sothing. No to a problem that you’re asked to deal with. Because knowing which battles to pick is half the battle, right?”
I grunted. He had a point there. It was sothing I’d have to rember.
“The issue with your brother isn’t sothing I’m going to say no to, though,” I said.
Hamsik didn’t reply to that. Maybe he’d have been satisfied with my decision if I had declined to help him, but I hadn’t, and he wasn’t going to turn down.
With all that done, and as Hamsik left, I thought about spending the rest of the day training. Well, I would need to check on a few things like how establishing the new residences for the Scarthralls was going on. I could delegate it, but I figured it would be a good break after so training.
But I only got in about an hour of flying practice before I was interrupted by a visiting Scarthrall, who was brought in by Sreketh.
“Another exciting thing, Ross,” she said with a big, toothy smile.
I looked between her and the gangly Scarthrall. He was maybe Aurier’s age. Not quite an adult yet, but close. “Oh? What’s going on?”
Sreketh nudged the Scarthrall, who cleared his throat before stepping forward.
“Um, I’ve manifested a Path, Cultists Ross,” he said. “A special Path, I an, that’s not related to anything. Well, not related to any jobs. I think it’s related to, well, you know…”
He gestured to himself sowhat hesitantly.
I was growing more and more interested. “What’s the Path called?”
“Path of Bloodforged Strength, with an Aspect of Aetherblood. It just manifested out of nowhere the other day at the guards’ prison. I’m just… not sure what to do with it now, because I figure there are things I could do with this.”
I slowly nodded. This young Scarthrall had realized he had actual power, and now, he was keen on making use of it in ways that would improve his life.
Just like I had when I had with Newborn Star.
After a mont of looking between Sreketh and the Scarthrall, I took a deep breath. “I think I know what we can try. Sothing I probably should have thought about earlier.” I smiled at the Scarthrall. “How would you like to be an adventurer?”
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