Chapter 2: Conversing in the Moonlight
"What do you say now? Huh, Farmer? Am I worthy of your attention now?" Screamed Illeon. He had noticed the same things that Oulong had, yet he did not consider retreat as a feasible alternative. His honour was on the line.
"Toli, I understand why you did it, but if you ever bring dogs such as these to my doorstep again, I will kill you." Calmly mentioned Farmer, causing Toli's back to be covered in cold sweat and further angering Illeon by ignoring him.
"How dare you speak in such a way of the Ley family?!" Shouted an eager and young warrior as he jumped forward with his sword aimed at Farmer's throat. "Die!"
What happened next would become the stuff of nightmares for all members of the Ley family for generations to come.
Farmer remained standing on his spot, not attempting to dodge. Just as his opponent's blade was nearing him, he casually knocked it away with a short motion of his staff. Before the young warrior had realised what happened, he felt a hand tighten over his throat. In an instant, Farmer's fingers tore the skin and ripped the young warrior's throat as easily as paper. The young warrior only realised he had been killed when the blood sprayed forwards and he fell to his knees.
Dodging the blood, Farmer pounced towards another warrior. His speed was astonishing. As quick as thought, he wove in and out of the warriors. Every time his hands or his staff moved, another warrior would fall dead before him, either their head or their throat crushed before they could even react. His movements were hypnotic and after a few seconds had passed, only Illeon and his three strongest warriors remained. Only, by this point, the arrogance from before had disappeared. What was left was the knowledge that they had angered someone they shouldn't have. To be able to defeat so many second-dimension sorcerers meant that Farmer was at least at the fifth-dimension, maybe even sixth! This was not an opponent they could face.
However, the three guards understood that the damage had been done and that there was no use regretting their actions that night. Without waiting for their orders, all three of them moved to attack Farmer with both arcane arts and magically reinforced steel.
Farmer dodged the three arcane arts by nimbly pirouetting in the air. The fluidity of his movement was enough to astonish anyone, but the three battle-hardened warriors did not pause for a second as each one struck towards a different area of the still airborne Farmer. Farmer dodged the sword aiming for his head and blocked the other two with a skilled parry with his staff. Still in the air, he used his legs to kick at the chests of two of the warriors; which struck against them like a hammer, breaking their ribs and stopping their hearts as well as sending them flying. They were dead before their backs touched the ground.
The remaining man shouted and abandoned all hope of life as he wrapped his arms around Farmer in the hopes of stopping his momentum even for a second. He clung to Farmer with all his strength and ignored several strikes aimed at his energy centre in his lower abdomen. Each one further damaged it and he knew that Farmer had successfully crippled it by the third knee-strike. His only hope was that Illeon would be able to escape.
The young noble, however, had a different intention. Upon noticing that Farmer was occupied, he summoned all of his arcane power into one final attack. This was a secret art that his family had gone to great pains to obtain. If performed perfectly, the caster would be able to break every bone of their opponent's body so long as the art touched even a hair of the victim. The downside was that once cast, the caster would never again be able to practice arcane arts. However, Illeon was not thinking of the consequences as he drew figures with his hands and allowed the bone destroying art to fly out towards Farmer with everything he had.
To Illeon's glee, the art struck Farmer right in the face. Glee quickly turned to horror, however, when he noticed that Farmer was not affected in the least. Weakness struck Illeon's knees as he collapsed on the ground without an ounce of strength left in his body. At the same time, Farmer was able to release himself from the warrior's embrace and throw him in a manner that he landed beside Illeon with a loud thud. Glaring hatefully at Farmer, the last thing Illeon saw before fading into unconsciousness was the heel of Farmer's boot heading straight for his face.
"I stand corrected." Nonchalantly commented Farmer as he wiped the sole of his boot against the unconscious Illeon's chest. "To call these maggots dogs is an insult to dogs. Even maggots may be too much for the likes of them."
Behind Farmer the tavern erupted in cheers and chanting of his name. Before him, all of the Lady's warriors stood completely dumbfounded. Having witnessed this slaughter, they knew all too well what their fate would have been had they decided to partake in the fight: death. Only the Lady was smiling in excitement. This was exactly what she had been searching for during the last few months. Only a man of this calibre could help her! Farmer ignored the cheers and instructed Toli to provide medical assistance to the injured Illeon and his warrior.
"But Farmer!" Protested Callum and Toli almost at the same time. "If he lives he will come back seeking revenge!"
"Fools. Surely someone like him has a soul observer implanted in him. Should he die, his family will know instantly and will send many a soldier to cause us trouble. By letting him live, they will know that we are not complete bastards."
"You're wrong." Spoke up the Lady. "I know his family and they will not let this matter go just because you let him live. They will seek revenge against you; and won't forget to punish the people of this hamlet."
"I assure you they will not." Proclaimed Farmer with absolute certainty. "I will leave a message on this maggot's person that they may seek me out for retribution should they so desire it; but if they harm so much as a hair of anyone in this hamlet, then I shall completely eradicate their family from the face of this land in the most cruel and ignominious manner. This much is as certain as the Sun rising from the East come morn." Farmer wasn't lying. In fact, a part of him was hoping his warning was not heeded and they came nonetheless. He had long been staying at the hamlet and had begun feeling bored from his life there. Maybe a good battle would make his blood boil once more; make him feel alive again. "Whatever the case, I believe you have some business with me. Come, walk with me; but leave your dogs behind, I do not wish to converse and be overheard."
With that, Farmer turned around and began walking towards the pier. Some of the Lady's men began protesting but she silenced them all with a short wave of her hand and followed Farmer. He walked with long, decided, steps, and she struggled to keep up with him; only managing to reach him by running. Once beside him, she was surprised to see that he was much taller than her, perhaps even two heads taller. Beside him she felt small, and strangely safe, and even regretted that he still hid himself under a hood. Her curiosity had peaked long before. They walked in silence for a few minutes and eventually reached the largest dock. Farmer took off his hooded cloak and upper clothing to reveal himself fully in the night.
His hair was long and braided, reaching his shoulders. It was blood red; shining with an aura of slaughter. His shoulders were broad and his bare chest was covered in lean muscles which connected like metal plaques. Scars from both man and beast adorned his body, yet none plagued his face. The Lady sighed silently for she had never seen a man as handsome as this before, despite having lived all her life amidst the nobility. What most surprised her, however, was Farmer's age. He looked to be no older than twenty-five, only a few years older than her, yet there was an air of maturity surrounding him which not many adults possessed. Clearly, he was no stranger to hardship.
In the following instant, Farmer dropped his cloak and staff and dove into the water to swim for a short while. Eventually he lay motionlessly on his back and allowed himself to drift back to the shoreline. The Lady was stunned at these actions. The Sun was still many hours away from rising, and the coldness of the water must have been bone-chilling. Yet Farmer seemed relaxed and at home. Furthermore, who knew what kind of beasts would be lurking in the depths of the dark sea-water. Only a madman would act in such a manner. Still, she was growing ever more curious as to who this man really was and she silently followed him as he drifted closer to the sand. Eventually, he stood up when the water only reached his waist.
"Come, join me." He called to her without turning around. At first she was hesitant, but quickly enough she threw caution to the wind and took off her leather robe which shielded her from the night's coldness. With cautious steps, she braved the freezing waters and slowly walked to stand beside him. To her surprise, the closer she got to him, the warmer the water became. Sure enough, when she stood beside him, the water was very pleasant and she felt the urge to disrobe completely and let the water soothe her as if it were a bath. Panicked, she threw the thought to the back of her head. No man had ever seen even the skin of her bare arms before. How could she entertain disrobing in front of an absolute stranger?
"That was my fiancé you just crippled." Daring to brave the silence, the Lady spoke up; yet her tone was anything but accusatory.
"You're welcome." Farmer's tone had become incredibly warm, but his eyes were fixed on the moon's reflection on the water's surface.
"I'm welcome?"
"Aye. It seems to me, I have done you a favour. A man like that would only bring a woman like you the greatest of unhappiness."
"What makes you say that?"
"Do you know why I agreed to meet with you?"
"I do not." She replied puzzledly. It was true she had been wondering that very same question.
"Because you gave so much coin to Toli." Explained Farmer as he turned to face her. His violet eyes pierced through her, and for a moment she felt completely naked under his gaze. "You do not know this, but his daughter is suffering from a severe illness. There is no one here who can save her, so Toli needs to depart on a long journey with her to a place where she may be healed. However, he never had the coin to do so. Many a time I have offered to help him; but he is a proud warrior, a third-dimension sorcerer, and has always rejected me. I even offered him a job aboard my ship, but he refuses to leave his daughter. No one to take care of her, you see? Thus, with the coin you gave him, you may very well have saved his daughter's life. That is why he brought you to me. Otherwise, he would have fought you all to the death. And that is why I am talking to you now. And that is how I know that, at heart, you are a good person, quite unlike that maggot you call your fiancé."
"I see." The Lady was surprised. Never had she expected that the simple act of giving Toli money would have been so useful towards her objective.
"What is your name?" Asked Farmer, breaking the girl's trail of thought.
"I am Serena, youngest daughter of the Tael family." She said proudly.
"I have heard of your family. You have a reputation for being kind to the common-folk. This is good; I did not desire to kill you."
"Would you have killed me had I been, for example, a Cuej?" She asked both warily and slightly expectantly.
"Especially if you had been a Cuej."
"Why?"
"Because of an old story; ancient history to most." That was all Farmer wanted to say of the matter and so he quickly changed the topic. "So what brings a distinguished member of the Tael family to meet with a dreaded pirate such as I? I would have thought that your family, of all the nobles, would never meet with a monster like me."
"It's a matter of great urgency." Explained Serena. For a moment, she didn't know how to continue, hence she decided to speak truthfully of the events that led her to this moment. "About a year ago, my family and the recently risen Cuej's came together through a forced marriage contract. Their patriarch, Aeldan, an eighth-dimension sorcerer and one who is infinitely close to joining the ranks of arch-sorcerers, kidnapped my older sister with the intention of having her marry his son."
"His son, if I am not mistaken, should only be twelve or thirteen this year, why would he choose your older sister instead of you?"
"You're not wrong. I was Aeldan's first choice, but my sister sacrificed herself and sent me away from home a fortnight before Aeldan's forces came for me. In his anger, he crippled my father and took my sister with him. He is a cruel man; more beast than human."
"Why didn't your family do anything about it?" Farmer was suspicious. He did not believe that this story would have anything to do with him. In fact, he was beginning to believe that this woman was tricking him.
"They tried. We appealed both to the Emperor and to the Church, but both rejected our requests for justice. And we couldn't do anything ourselves because our strongest sorcerer, my grandfather, is merely in the sixth-dimension. Even if he has another breakthrough in his lifetime, he is too old to enter into the ranks of the eighth-dimension before he dies." Serena began tearing up. She felt the immensity of her frustration and the weight on her shoulders to be too much to bear.
"And how does this relate to me?" Asked Farmer.
"About four months ago, my grandfather and I journeyed to Seer's mountain and paid a vast fortune to meet with their head oracle. She peered into our future and gave us some hope. She told my grandfather and I of a man living on the Western coast. A man who had risen to become the youngest pirate captain of this world. A man so powerful, that many trembled in trepidation when they heard his name uttered. The terror of the seas, the violet-eyed devil, the Farmer who was once a Wolf. She told us about you."
"Forgive me, Serena, but I see not how this has anything to do with me." Farmer was smiling bitterly. Truthfully, he regretted his reputation amongst the cities further East. He wasn't evil, just unforgiving. Maybe that's how he had truly become the monster they said he was.
"She told us that our only chance at regaining my sister was for me to meet you and show you this map. She said that once you saw it, you would understand."
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