Ten years ago, as my power and skill grew, the old bastards and con artists decided it would be a fun idea to send a kid. Not a teenager, not an adult, not an old-ass man like themselves, but a child to kill me.

First of all, incredibly stupid and evil. This kid was eleven! They gave him a tad bit of training, a claymore (who the fuck gives a kid a claymore?! You don’t train with it until you’re strong enough!), chain mail, some companions his own age or older (again, super dumb. So dumb I want to strangle the old geezers with my bare hands), and some supplies. As soon as I heard this, I went off to meet them, there was no way, no goddamn way this was real! And then they attacked me. The archer girl lost all the arrows, dwarf guy they must have hired from a gang tried to hammer my knees in when all I had to do was bonk him on the helmet with the butt of my sword hard, and their healer ran for the hills, leaving the kid.

I rose my brow under my helm as he tried to attack me, dodging every strike. Points for tenacity, points taken away for lack of discipline and swordsmanship. He had to drag the damn blade to try to hit me. I grabbed his arm and took my helm off. I shook my head. “No,” I told him. “If we’re going to do this right, we’re doing this properly. And that sword is too big!” I jerked my head at him. I turned to the guards. “Gather them all, we’re investigating this.” I told them

“‘Greenvale’?! I’m from Oak Ridge, literally over you folks. Last I heard, the King was onto those old conmen.” I told him. He looked at me. “What? I had a life before being the Night Warden of the West.” I told him. “The council-“the kid said. “Are frauds. The chief one of them- Gard, right? He got busted 20 years ago for defrauding a nobleman and the King’s own mom to boot. His second in command was tossed in prison for being a literal thug-which explains the dwarf.” I rubbed my chin. The kid looked heartbroken, all he told- a lie. I sighed. “How about…” I paused. He told me his story….shit. His parents died of the plague, then he got taken to the orphanage the Council of Righteousness had. Why is it a lot of these good-sounding organizations tend to sound like goddamn fronts for something shitty?!

I sighed, rubbing my head. Well, time to see what I could do.

ten years later

The councilors were kneeling on a line in the Night Warden’s dungeon, their heads bowed and their arms tied with rope. “I told you Gard! I told you it wouldn’t work! Now we’re all dead!” One hissed. “Shut it, Rob- I have a-“ the men looked up at the entrance to see a tall blonde kid, 20 years old, with a sheathed short sword, chainmail, and looking very much like the kid they sent to kill the Night Warden, a man onto their scheme. “Don’t. Say. One. Word.” The kid snarled. “I know what you punks did,” he growled. The smell of waste hit the air as the Night Warden came in. “You all should have stayed in the Royal Dungeons. Now- you deal with us.” The Night Warddn said, crossing his arms.