Rivers of the Night

"Is everything prepared?" Theron asked Ruu.

"It's all finished," Ruu replied with a cold chill to her tone. It seemed that when she wasn't acting, this was her true self. Or maybe that was just another facade. It was hard to tell with assassin types.

Sometimes, you spent so long in another person's shoes, pretending to be something that you weren't, that you forgot who you were as well.

"Alright. In that case, I will be off then, as well."

"You're returning to Thistle Brook."

Theron gave Ruu a look, but she didn't avert her gaze. If anything, this woman was at least not scared of the moment. She had a vigor to her that was interesting—though by vigor, Theron meant her willingness to take on any challenge.

"Why so soon?" Ruu followed up without caring for Theron's lack of a response.

"If I don't, I have a feeling that there'll be someone who can't wait to kill me very soon."

Ruu didn't need the confirmation. That person was obviously a certain Quasi Gold Mancer who had yet to appear.

Theron obviously knew all the risks of what he was doing, so he obviously knew where his plans were most likely to fall through.

"Are you sure? It's probably better to stay under Dean Pennel's protection."

Ruu's words made it clear that she also saw through things almost as well as Theron had.

"That's probably what she expects, too," Theron said with a smile.

Dean Pennel had yet to set a schedule for his training or what he would need to do. So technically, leaving now wouldn't mean that he was ignoring her orders.

Plus… he had a sword to retrieve.

"You know that you'll almost certainly run into something on the road. There are no impenetrable walls."

"Impenetrable walls? I plan on walking right out of the city," Theron looked to the skies with a gentle smile on his face.

Two days of rain in a row. How convenient of the weather.

Actually, it wasn't all that convenient at all. He already knew that rainy season was coming as they transitioned out of winter. He had already known this would happen.

Since sensitivity toward the weather pattern and its changes only increased with his Third Eye.

"It sounds like you're looking forward to it."

Theron blinked, not expecting this response.

"Looking forward to it? No. I'm not a fan of combat and blood."

"Is that so?" Ruu tilted her head to the side, meeting his eyes intently. "In that case, what you're more sinister than I thought."

Theron's eyes flickered, but Ruu didn't explain as she vanished into the distance.

'Sinister? Am I?'

He thought back to the first time he killed someone. It was in the assassin training camp, and the little boy tried to steal his bread. He was probably three years younger than Theron, barely 10 years old, if that.

If it had been one of the bigger kids, Theron would have ignored it and let it happen. But he remembered calculating whether he could win against him first before taking action.

He could also remember that after making that decision, he acted decisively without the slightest hint of wavering intent. Rather than throwing up, he just went to bed clutching his bread, then woke up in the morning and devoured it.

All the while, the corpse by his side had been used for warmth into the night until it wasn't useful for that anymore and he threw it away.

It was just the logical thing to do. He allowed the strong to trample over him, and he snuffed out the weak. Then when he was strong enough for his revenge, he would slaughter those who slighted him.

Was that sinister?

No.

But that was likely not what Ruu was referring to.

'Let's go.'

Theron easily pushed the thoughts out of his mind. With a step, he vanished.

…

"He left?" Dean Pennel asked softly.

"If you knew he would, why didn't you stop him?!"

Teacher Fern was doing her best to try and keep her temper under control. This was her mother-in-law, after all. But it was hard to see a child go and throw his life away like this.

"Did you notice that it's raining tonight?" Dean Pennel replied with a question that seemed completely unrelated.

"What does that have to do with anything?!"

"I don't know. I just found it interesting."

"Mother!"

Dean Pennel finally looked up, and Fern's next words were cut off. There was the same gentle smile on the Dean's face, but there was a redness in her eyes as thin lines of crimson ran through them.

"Sometimes following the rules isn't enough, Little Fern. Following the rules killed your father-in-law. One day it might also kill my son… if you're too straight, you'll break.

"I believe in your eyesight. There's a reason you love this little boy so much. But it's also obvious he has an edge to him that you haven't seen yet…

"Whether this new era steamrolls over our Nightingale Empire or not might very well be decided by him. And he just might be the one holding the knife. So…

"Let him be, for now."

**

Theron strolled right out of the city just like he said he would. He checked out through the guards and slipped out with calm flare to his actions before leaping onto a horse and shooting off into the distance.

It would be a long ride back to Thistle Brook, so it was best to start now as the moon pulled into the skies.

He was a Silver Mancer now. His need for sleep had already shifted slightly, so starting a journey in the dead of night wasn't so bad at all.

But he had only barely crossed into the wilderness when the first drizzle began. And once it did, the range of his senses expanded a great deal.

Like the echolocation of a bat, one figure after another was outlined in his mind, even as far as 10 kilometers away.

For them to get ahead of him so fast… it seemed that they really were eager.

But Theron doubted that it was the Quasi Gold Mancer taking action already.

How many youths had he killed back then? How many noble Clans had he pissed off?

The more Theron thought, the calmer he became.

He didn't end up getting the rewards he wanted because of Dean Pennel's interference. It seemed that it was time to recoup some losses.

The sound of his blades unsheathing echoed in the night.

The legend of Rain would form in earnest beneath this moonlight.