Last Life

I WENT BACK TO MY ROOM after the conversation with Jacques. I had to ball up all my willpower into a fist to save myself the embarrassment of falling unconscious right in the middle of the training area. The strain again made my nose bleed, but I kept stubbornly pushing forward.

Slowly walking toward the front door of my annex, I could sense Jacques staring at the back of my head. One could never show weakness around people like him. Even though Jacques had left the service several years ago, it didn’t mean he stopped being the person he truly was on the inside — a cold-blooded hothead who had fought in many battles.

And as for my slip-up today... Well, there wasn’t much I could do. I was never really planning on going that far. It all happened on accident. As a matter of fact, I wasn’t expecting to be able to pull off the energy strike. I just got carried away with the kata and it happened automatically. As a result, I practically tore several channels. But I was glad I pulled it off, even despite the risk of damaging my whole energy system and having to repair it all over again.

When I made it to my room, something clicked in my head and darkness came over me. As I fell down in bed, I could just barely hear Bertrand give a frightened outburst.

* * *

I came back to my senses all at once. I looked around and breathed a heavy sigh. Nighttime already. I was lying in bed, covered tenderly with the comforter. Bertrand made a good effort. And there was the man himself. Settled in on the floor by my bed.

I shook my head contritely. The last thing I needed was to exhaust the old man. My stunts had already tested his patience a great deal over the last month. But thinking back on the man he’d spent the last twenty years serving, he was certainly a tough customer.

Carefully, trying not to awaken my caretaker, I got out of bed and quickly darted into the outhouse. The dry night chill instantly invigorated me and cleared my thoughts.

Once back inside, breathing quietly, I listened to the darkness. When I heard Bertrand’s measured snoring, I nodded in satisfaction.

“Good,” I whispered, and pulled the comforter over my head.

While I warmed up, I thought tensely over my next steps.

I thought the time had come. The last day proved that my body was ready for another surge. My goal was to reinforce my reservoir even further. That was exactly why I’d been saving the ink and preparing my energy system.

I had just under half of the magic ink left, and I had decided to absorb all the energy from it in one go. There was a definite risk, but it was the only way to get all the energy I needed. Otherwise, my progress would grind to a halt.

Switching to magic vision, I gave all my energy channels a thorough examination and nodded in satisfaction. Very good. Not a single rupture. The only weak link is the reservoir. Time to fix that.

I was aware that nothing too dramatic was going to happen. I didn’t have enough resources for that. But I was hoping that this was just the beginning.

I prayed my underdeveloped reservoir wouldn’t burst like a soap bubble while performing the basic energy procedures.

Taking the inkwell out from under my pillow, I carefully uncorked it.

“Let’s do this,” I muttered and dipped my right pointer finger into the ink.

I needed a few minutes to first concentrate, then relax. My energy channels reached out for the glimmering substance out of habit.

The mass of brown mana, as if sensing something was off, started flickering faster than normal.

“Connection established,” I whispered when the absorption process had begun.

At first, nothing in particular happened. The brown mana slowly but surely pumped itself into my energy structure, forming into a small glowing mass. I didn’t even get a headache, just felt an insignificant pressure in my temples.

One second... Another... And the ink turned into regular ink.

I drained all the energy from the dark liquid and carefully directed it into my reservoir. And right when I thought it was all going to go painlessly, the brown mana decided to put its unruly, stubborn character on full display. But it was too late. My reservoir, like a starving beast, threw itself on the generous offering. The fusion process went along with a sharp flash of energy that left me blind. And as I lost consciousness, I smelled the familiar aroma of freshly dug earth...

* * *

I came to my senses instantly. As if I’d never passed out at all. And the first thing I realized was that I was drowning. And how could I not have? I opened my eyes and choked on water with my first breath.

Moment two. Based on the big mitts holding my head underwater, I was not simply drowning — I was being drowned. For a fraction of a second, I considered whether all the events of the previous month were just a dream. Like someone was playing a mean trick on me.

If so, they would regret that. Dodger always returned such favors.

All these disjointed thoughts came flooding into my head in a haphazard fashion in the space of a second. At the last moment, I clenched my teeth and grasped onto the edge of the basin someone’s strong hands were forcefully dunking me into, and abruptly pulled myself deeper in.

The trick worked. The hand slipped off my neck, scratching the skin on the back of my neck painfully, but giving me the chance to quickly come up for air.

While I coughed up water mixed with some sort of brownish green slime, I had time to distantly consider that the still unknown man holding me down, to his great misfortune, hadn’t even thought to tie up my hands and feet. And that was a very big mistake...

“You really are a tough nut!” the man’s voice sputtered out furiously to my right. It seemed to be the very same person drowning me with his big hands... By the way, where exactly was he trying to drown me?

I looked around hazily at the location and, much to my own surprise, breathed a sigh of relief.

It was the familiar internal courtyard I had been using as a workout area. The place where I was getting my involuntary bath was right under the eastern gutter outlet. The bulbous old barrel, covered in a thin layer of ice and wrapped in metal bands. That was where this man was trying to drown me.

I saw it all in a flash, mechanically noting what I could use to deflect the attack. I came to my senses once and for all. And realized... I was still in the same world.

Three bodies were blocking my exit from the courtyard. The first, the fan of dunking peoples’ heads into water barrels, was a broad-shouldered bruiser of medium height. After the surprise bath, his upper body was completely soaked. He was furiously sputtering curses and wiping his unshaven face. The rays of the winter sun glinted in his bald, shimmering scalp.

The second man was the polar opposite of the first. Short. Thin. With a glorious head of curly hair. And well, the third was a taciturn giant whose ugly mug didn’t betray the slightest signs of intelligence.

The trio seemed to have just stepped off the set of a pirate movie. The sheer variety of their unusual clothing was dazzling to the eye.

“Listen, Crab,” the pipsqueak chuckled. “See, I was right. The servant assured us this scoundrel was at death’s door. But just look at how feisty he is. That’s what an ice water bath can do! What do you think, should I open a business? Eh? I could put folks back on their feet. Earn myself some dough. Better than any old healer. And most importantly — it’d be on the cheap.”

“Shut it, Beetle!” the bald man barked out and took a step in my direction. “I’m going to strangle him this instant, the dog!”

“Not so fast, curly,” I rasped back, habitually accumulating energy in my reservoir.

A sudden thought flew into my brain and practically made me miss Crab’s attack. I pulled it off! My reservoir had changed! It wasn’t any bigger, but it was much more resilient. And along with it, my entire energy system. Its glow had become more saturated. I was aware that it was just one little step on a long path but at the very least now I didn’t have to fear pushing my body too far with more difficult energy exercises.

Meanwhile, as Beetle giggled with delight, the bald Crab, covered in red hives of rage, came charging at me like a bull at a bullfighter.

“Curly!” the little one laughed. “I can’t! Haha! That’s your name from now on — Curly! Haha!”

A moment later, Beetle was no longer in such a raucous mood. Because the bald Crab had been plunked down onto the ground with his eyes rolled back. I didn’t kill him. Just ducked under his big mitt and gave him a little push to the back of the head. The human body had a great number of points one could exploit to surprise an opponent. And this one took minimal energy expenditure. This time, I used only a tiny droplet.

I decided to avoid killing anyone for the time being. Still, as a nobleman, I would have been within my rights to kill him. I would have been free to hack this whole trio to bits, and nobody would have been able to say a word about it. And these morons could be in very hot water for attacking a nephew of the Count de Gramont.

“Max, I see you’ve forgotten your manners,” Beetle squeaked, his eyes bulging. “And here I wanted to avoid bodily harm. But now... You asked for it. Block!”

The giant, who had been dispassionately observing up until then, came to life and walked my direction with his arms and weighty hands spread wide. He was slow. Too slow. But obviously very strong. In any case, I had no desire to test the strength of his embrace.

Block missed my jump to the side. He was seemingly not expecting that sort of thing out of me. The trio must have known Max well. My lookalike was not capable of such feats.

Block also must not have known how to play ball. Otherwise, my sharp burst to the left, followed by the classic foot wind-up would have told him to cover that most precious area of a man’s body.

As expected, the giant missed my kick. I didn’t hit him hard. I felt bad for the moron. He was clearly no rocket scientist. He did as instructed and kept his mouth shut. But he also fainted from the pain. And all the better. Honestly, when he woke up, he wouldn’t be walking normally for a while. But better that than lying in the snow with a broken Adam’s apple.

In the end, before even one minute had passed, the overly chatty Beetle’s two fighters were drooling on the ground.

“Now it’s your turn, chatterbox,” I said, rubbing my hands together as I came his way.

“Max!” Beetle squeaked out in fear. “What’s the big idea?”

“Well, for starters, I want to break your stupid face,” I responded darkly. “Then dip you into the healing ice water to help you recover quickly. It’ll be a great chance to test your method.”

“You are aware, after all, whose interests I represent?” he tried to bring me to reason.

I snorted and spat on the ground. Max, you bastard! Who do you owe money to now?

But out loud, I added a chill to my voice and said:

“Were I the man who sent you... You’d already be out of a job.”

That got to him. Oh how his face turned pale. But he was still in no rush to retreat. Clearly, whoever he served did not forgive mistakes easily. And that meant I also didn’t want any trouble. Until I could figure out what was what.

“Your debt won’t go anywhere,” Beetle said with a shivering voice. “Trebolt isn’t going to like this. If you think your origin will save you, you’re wrong. Our boss has squashed bigger bugs than you.”

When we were just five steps apart, Beetle snatched a curved dagger from his belt and pointed it at me.

“So, you don’t want to do it the nice way?” he hissed.

“Are you serious?” I chuckled while taking another step forward. “What were you planning to do here?”

“Come closer and find out!” Beetle kept hissing.

I shrugged.

“Well, if you insist.”

I shot forward, but at the last minute lunged to the left. Beetle tried to stick me with the dagger but hit only air.

After a stinging blow to his wrist, the dagger flew into the snow. My second blow broke Beetle’s flabby stomach muscles, making him double over and fall to his knees. And over the next few minutes, the failed debt collector expelled the contents of his stomach onto the snow.

I watched the poor criminal’s suffering for a bit, grabbed a bucket next to the barrel and, filling it with water, dumped it out on Beetle’s head.

He let loose a whole explicit tirade but stopped vomiting.

“Listen, you were right about this water having healing properties,” I laughed, turning Beetle’s dagger over in my hands. As an aside, it wasn’t a bad blade. I wondered how many thalers I could get for it.

“You’re a dead man, Max,” Beetle rasped out, shivering.

I though, despite wearing nothing but pajama bottoms, wasn’t feeling all that cold. The energy was warming my body.

“Beetle, how about you come to your senses and stop talking crap?” I responded mockingly. “If Trebolt finds out you tried to slash me up, and before that drown me, he’ll tear your head off himself.”

“You...” Beetle rasped out.

“My debt is to Trebolt, and you are the moron who just about lost him money.”

My words made Beetle instantly shudder, and I saw fear in his eyes.

“I see you’re starting to get it,” I snorted. “And if it’s come to that, you should be thanking me.”

“Kiss my ass,” he spat.

“Oh, no,” I smiled, shaking my head. “If you want that kind of thing, talk to your buddies. By the way, if you really had killed me, what would you have told your boss?”

Spitting out again, Beetle got up off his feet and, wiping his face with his sleeve, replied:

“Nothing would have happened to you. We were only going to dunk you in the water a couple times. To bring you back to your senses.”

“And what if I drowned? My servant probably told you I’m unwell. Or do you not know about my duel with de Lamar?”

“I know about your duel,” he waved it off and looked at me somewhat strangely. “And I also know that you’ve been hopping around out here like a mountain goat every morning and swinging some stick. I also know about the crimson hollowstone dust elixir. So don’t go crying to me about how sick you are. You were obviously able to get a loan somewhere.”

“Well, given you already know everything,” I nodded. “Then I have even less understanding of all the mayhem you caused.”

My calm demeanor was clearly throwing Beetle off. He was still talking to the old Max, not realizing he had been replaced by a different person altogether who, if he wanted, could have killed all three of them at the very start.

“Oh, go to hell!” Beetle had clearly run out of arguments, but he still had to say his fill. Some snot-nosed twerp had just humiliated them, tossing them around like kittens. And not all that long ago, the old Max would probably have shit his pants at the mere sight of them. “Okay, say you drown me, what then? It wouldn’t be the first time. Nothing new, you self-important ass. Who do you think you are? Who even cares about you, urchin? Your own uncle threw you out and now he doesn’t even want to hear your name. He’d even be glad if his brother’s bastard died.”

I smiled, which make Beetle even more surprised.

“By the way, speaking of urchins. I’ve been short on cash recently. How about you turn out your pockets — your buddies’ too. Don’t forget your weapons. I’m feeling nice, so I’ll let you keep the clown getups. Get started. Time’s ticking.”

Beetle first scowled but, upon noticing how easily and casually I was twirling his dagger in my fingers, spat out angrily and started looting his buddies.

“Yep,” I drawled out in disappointment a few minutes later, seeing the meager pile of silver and copper coins Beetle had gathered for me. “Not much. I see Trebolt has you on starvation rations. Or are you keeping most of your money a secret?”

My last question made Beetle shudder.

“Don’t shit your pants,” I reassured him. “I’m not going to make any trouble. So, tell your boss I’ll pay back my debt soon. Does Trebolt stay in the same place, by the way?”

“Yes,” Beetle muttered. “The Yellow Turtle.”

“Great then,” I nodded and, listening in, added: “Time for you to go. Wake up your buddies and scram. I hear guard whistles. I’m sure my trusty Bertrand is bringing them in to help me. Heh... You’ll have to pay them for their trouble. This isn’t a city, it’s ruination. Alright, until we meet again.”

I already wanted to go but stopped and, in an icy tone that made the pipsqueak tense up, said:

“I almost forgot... Listen, Beetle, for the future. And no offense. But if you ever get the itch to call me a bastard again, I’ll have no choice but to cut out your heart and feed it to the dogs.”

When I walked back into my annex, and the door closed behind me, I instantly tensed up. My nose detected a foreign but painfully familiar scent. The powerful aroma of pine needles mixed with sweet forest herbs made my whole inner being shudder. I wanted to run full speed toward the source of the divine aroma and fall at the knees of the person I’d spent my whole life adoring.