Royal Blood: Chapter 9 (Patreon)

Chapter 9: Silver and Steel

In the end, she only hit me with 9 rocks.

Total.

I grinned back at the older girl as she followed me back towards the main roads. It wasn’t a bad day for me, either; I’d gotten a point of Dex from the training. It was harder to get stat points when your trainer wouldn’t literally kill you if you slipped up.

“What, did you think I was bragging?”

She grumbled, crossing her arms. Her skin was more tanned than I’d expect from someone living in the city, but I guess when you lived outside that was kinda normal. Either that or it was her archetype or something.

“You’re just a kid.”

I shrugged. “So are you.”

She pouted. Maybe if I was actually ten I would have called it a glower. Instead, I just laughed, crossing my arms behind my head.

“Whatever.” She turned away after a moment, white hair flashing in the evening light. “I’ll get you next time.” Suddenly, her bearing turned a little more hesitant. “I mean, if ya want someone ta train wif.”

“Sure.” I nodded. Even if she wasn’t some obvious waifu candidate or whatever, I was starved for human contact. Like, even back at the Palace, I’d really only had my sister, and she still treated me like a kid. This girl seemed like she had an okay head on her shoulders. Not sure what I woulda done if she’d been some vapid cardboard cutout of a character, but fortunately, she seemed like she had the makings of an actual human being under all of her tropiness.

At least, I hoped she did.

“Good.” She nodded, shoving out her hand. “I’m Nezza.”

I blinked, before taking her hand. “Alex. Now…” I trailed off. Honestly, I wasn’t really sure how to get her to show up again. Outright bribing her with food would probably come off as an insult…

“See you tomorrow?” She glanced over towards the nearest alleyway. “Still need ta find a spot for t’night.”

I paused, before pointing to the market square. “Aren’t you hungry?”

She twitched, then let out a puff of air. “Naaah! ‘Sides, I already ate today. I won’t be hungry again till day after tomorrow ‘least!”

Somehow, her stomach managed to hold back its growl after that ridiculous lie.

“Uh huh.” You know, if I was an actual prince, I probably would have left it at that. Not like anyone who lived at the Imperial Palace knew what it was like to go hungry. Even the staff were fed better than most successful merchants.

It wouldn’t do to have the servants look thin or ill cared for; they were part of the décor.

Okay, I couldn’t say that with a straight face even in my head. Point being, in my last life I knew more than a few people who didn’t eat all that often. Sometimes, that person was me.

I also knew I would have doubled down if some kid that just beat me at a stupid game offered to buy me food. I sighed. I’d already done my good deed for the day, but really, there was nothing wrong with stocking up for tomorrow, right?

Sure, sure, there were starving beggars all over the city. Well, I didn’t care about them, because I was selfish and self-interested. I’d bother worrying about everyone else when I was crowned Emperor. For now, I was lucky I could care about the person right in front of my face.

“Well, you might as well come back with me to the square. I was gonna pick up some more of Martin’s pies today.” I shrugged, as if it was no big deal. “Though he usually tries to shove more than I can eat on me, you know?”

“O-oh, really?” Yeah, girl, you could do a little bit better at hiding the interest in your eyes.

“Yeah.” I started walking, casting a glance over my shoulder. “You coming?”

She waited for a moment, shifting from foot to foot, before jogging after me. Not that it was hard for her to catch up. She was still a head taller than me. Four years is a long time for a kid. She tucked her arms under her ratty cloak, not looking at me as we walked.

Didn’t want to come across as too desperate.

Of course, because she was the one looking around, she was the one who spotted the other two.

I jerked to a stop as Nezza caught my shoulder. “Wait.”

I looked over at her in surprise before turning in the direction of her gaze. From a nearby bend in the road, two other ragged figures stepped out. I recognized them as the other two who’d tried to steal my food this morning. “Heya, Nezz.”

They looked a little bit older than her, maybe fifteen or sixteen, with gaunt faces and stringy hair. They didn’t have Nezza’s demon physiology keeping them in decent shape.

I’d once learned that full-blooded demons could go three months without food or water, and regularly did in the deserts of the southern continent.

“Arto…” Nezza managed.

“See you made a new friend here.” Arto grinned, showing a set of mismatched teeth. “Heard something about food. You know, that’s not very nice, not sharing.” He shook his head, stepping forward. His buddy matched step beside him. “Friends share.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not your friend.”

“Oi, shut it, brat.” The other boy spat out. “We having a’ adult talk ‘ere.”

I slid my hands into my coat. “You didn’t seem so brave this morning, idiot.”

Arto gave a raspy laugh. “Oh see, there was a lot of guys around then.” He waved a hand. “Not so many people now, heh?”

I looked around, and he was right. The way to my little hidden courtyard was well off the beaten path. Already, the street was almost empty. I saw a woman wrapped in layers of dull grey cloth sitting next to a boarded-up shop, head bowed. She wasn’t even looking in our direction.

“Only brave enough to take on kids two to one, huh?” I asked. Arto’s smile turned down. “Hey, Nezza, these people really aren’t your friends, right?”

She took a half step back. “That’s…”

“Of course we are!” Arto took another step forward. “Least we’re the only two who’d put up with a half-breed bitch.” He took another step. “So cough up the money, brat. We got you surrounded.”

“Hey, Nezza.” I turned to look at her. She had a deer in the headlights expression. “Don’t worry about it, okay? I’ll take care of these clowns.”

She looked at me for a moment, then gave a slight nod.

Yeah, bet they wouldn’t be too happy with her ditching them for a meal ticket no matter what, huh.

“Oi, oi, Arto!” The other boy laughed. “He’ll deal with us, he saiz. Haha, that’s—”

I took two steps forward and stabbed my knife into his throat.

You know what they say: if you’re an assassin, everyone looks like a target.

The boy fell to the ground. I took in a deep breath, then slowly let it out.

Really, I could go on and on about why this was the logical choice. I didn’t know what their levels were, and I didn’t know if I could handle two opponents if they didn’t run away when I pulled a knife. I was trained to think like that. But really, there was only one reason, the most important of all.

You have killed Grek (lvl 14)

4 500 Experience Awarded

You have reached level 6!

Error! Double level overflow detected, remaining exp lost

Current exp less than 10% of next level threshold, current exp preserved instead.

10 Stat points awarded

New Skill Unlocked! Sucker Punch

It was simple, wasn’t it? I needed the levels if I was going to survive.

And I was going to survive.

“F-fucking Crypts!” Arto scrambled backwards as I turned to look at him.

“You done?” I gestured with the knife. “Or do I still need to make my point?”

“Cocky little shit.” He bared his teeth, pulling out a stumpy-looking club from his belt. “Shoulda jus’ given me the money.”

I shrugged. “Shoulda just walked away.”

Arto came in with a massive overhead swing. He was still faster than me, and I imagine if he hit me anywhere it'd snap me in half like a twig.

Too bad for him I'd spent my whole life training against people who were faster and stronger than me.

I slipped the blow, air whipping past my face so quick it almost stung.

But not as much as my stiletto did when I jammed it into his eye. He jerked once before falling to the ground. I flicked my dagger, letting the blood splatter against the cobblestones.

You have killed Arto (lvl 16)

4 800 Experience Awarded

You have reached level 7!

Error! Double level overflow detected, remaining exp lost

Current exp less than 10% of next level threshold, current exp preserved instead.

10 Stat points awarded

New Skill Slot unlocked!

I was lower level with them, but not so much lower that the rigorous training I'd been through couldn't make up for the difference in stats. I'd keep that in mind.

I turned. “Hey, Nezza, what do you all do with bodies around here?”

Maybe I got used to this a bit too quickly, but I just couldn't find it in myself to care. If I'd had to fight them both, training or not, I'd be dead. I knew that just from my brief clash with Arto; if he'd gotten his feet under him... 

I'd keep that in mind too.

Nezza was just looking at me, blinking owlishly, as if she couldn’t understand what had just happened. “Jus’…dump ‘em off the street.” She gave a wooden shrug. “Nobody’s ever cared before…”

“Sure.” I gave her a quick smile before dragging Arto and Grek off into the nearest alley. Normally, you’d think it would be hard for a ten-year-old to do that, but I’d been grinding my strength for a while now.

Okay it was still kinda hard, but at least it wasn’t impossible.

“Right.” I clapped my hands against my pants as I rejoined Nezza on the main road. The old woman by the shop still hadn’t looked up. “I’m starving now, you want a pie? I think I’m gonna buy us some pies.”

I could see the gears turning behind those bright red eyes. On one hand, this ten-year-old kid had just killed two of her old ‘mates’ right in front of her. Of course, unless I missed my guess, they weren’t really her friends, and one or both of them might have been where she got the ‘no butt stuff’ line from. I held back a shudder.

And on the other hand, I was offering a warm meal.

“Okay.” She shrugged, a bit more naturally this time. “I could eat. If yer payin’.”

Yeah, you had to grow up pretty quick on the streets, huh? God, at least I’d always had a roof over my head.

“Sounds great.”

Nezza fell in beside me, and I pretended not to notice her glancing at me out of the corner of my eye. Or the way her gaze lingered on my coat where I hid my dagger.

It wasn’t till I bought another set of some meat skewer thing for us—not from Martin, he must have sold out and left—that she finally asked.

“How’d ya do that?”

“Hmm?” I took a bite of my skewer, holding out the other to her. It was a bit bland, but to be fair, most things were bland next to Palace Cuisine. You had to be a level 40 chef just to qualify for an interview there.

Nezza took her own food, quickly scarfing it down. I watched her with a sort of morbid fascination. Like, how did she fit so much meat in her mouth that fast?

“How’d you kill ‘em both? Arto was three times your level!”

I just sighed, holding out another skewer. I actually wasn’t that hungry, and Nezza looked like she could use it. “Practice.” I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter what level you are if you can’t hit me before I stab you to death.” Then I blinked. “Wait, how can you see my level? Do you have Observe?”

From what I’d learned, Observe wasn’t as useful in this world as most Isekai novels made it out to be. With Observe, you could see other people’s levels, and that was it. Then there was an upgrade where you could see classes, and then there was a super difficult and rare mutation upgrade where you could see parts of their stat sheet.

The boss clearly had that last type, and just as clearly he wasn’t going to wait for me to grind up that skill before I could be somewhat useful. Which was a shame, but…

“I could always see levels,” Nezza said.

That. I nodded. Yeah. “That sounds pretty useful.”

She nodded again, swallowing another massive bite of food. “S’how I always knew who ta mess with.”

I grinned. “Until you ran into me, that is.”

She gave a sheepish giggle before suffocating it in more food.

It was the start of a beautiful friendship.

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