Side Story - Cless - Chapter 1 Paint (Patreon)

Note regarding side chapters: Hey all ten dollar patrons :). First of all thanks for still being in this tier! I know chapters have been pretty rare and I'm sorry.

I changed the chapter length to around 2k for side chapters so that I can hopefully get more of them out (no promises). I completely understand if you feel like you're not getting the value back and if you change to a lower tier. Just wanted to put that out there :).

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Side Story - Cless - Chapter 1 Paint

Another line, red, some more red… magic and snow? Cless breathed hard, the brush coming off the canvas, her hand shaking lightly. Ran out of mana again. She smiled brightly as she took in the vibrant colors and lifelike depiction on her latest painting. It had taken her four sessions but thanks to the new skill called Meditation that Claire had shown her, she could paint again in no time.

Looking for the woman, the girl turned but didn’t find her. She had told her to wait while she attended a meeting or something. Boring. Cless started to take out random books and looked through them. She used her skill to get back her mana but she wanted to show the picture to Claire before starting a new one. She’s always happy when she sees them. A smile tucked on her lips, the pages in the book before her completely ignored before she left the book on the floor and walked over to the big window.

It was nice here, there was always something to see. Compared to the house her parents had in the outskirts of London, the city here was more interesting. Claire had told her no when she wanted to go out into the forest. At least she was sometimes allowed to go down into the big sunny cave where aunt Leia and uncle Trian lived. Her fist tapped on the window, making a funny sound as she watched the many people walk around on the square. The suns hung high over the mountains, shining onto the snowed in city, the many flags moving in the cold winter winds.

A grating sound announced the door opening, Cless immediately turning and running at Claire who entered her office. “Hello!” The girl exclaimed, smashing into Claire’s armored skirt. Ow. She held her head, having hit something hard.

“Cless, hello. You’re not drawing anymore?” The woman asked, stepping over to her table and dumping a big pile of papers and documents.

“What’s this?” Cless asked as she looked at the papers.

Claire sighed, the door closing shut with an enchantment as she sunk into the big chair behind her, the armored skirt replaced by a long black dress, simple in design. “You tell me.”

A test? Cless narrowed her eyes as she looked at the woman. Taking the document, she started reading. “Request for monster subjugation. Level estimated to be two hundred and fifty. Area, two hours south of Thordain by wagon. Livestock slain, five cows, thirteen chickens, corpses partially eaten. Ruby adventurer team returned injured, unable to slay beast.”

She put the paper down again, “A request for Shadows!”

Claire smiled, nodding. She didn’t say anything which meant her answer was wrong, or incomplete. “The seal is missing.”

“Anything else?” Claire asked.

“Hmmmm,” Cless thought hard and looked at the paper. “The name of the beast.”

“True. Anything else?”

She shook her head after a while. “Wounds on the livestock, were they burnt? Claw marks? Any further info from the adventurer team? If they saw it they must know how it fights and where exactly it is. No mention of a suggested reward, meaning we will have to negotiate, never a good sign. None of it is particularly bothering because Thordain is pretty big and they always paid the rates so far. The information will be given once the Shadows are there but it would help to have it here still. Any idea why?”

Cless nodded, “Because an ice mage is not strong against a winter spirit.” She had learned the example from William. She smiled smugly at Claire, playing with her hair.

“Exactly. Now the only thing I’m concerned about is that none of the adventurers died. The beast is probably of a lower level than two hundred fifty. Still, the request came in and if a team chooses it, it’s theirs.” She explained and stood up. Walking over to the painting, Claire looked at it.

Cless took the next document from the table and started reading.

‘Defense proposition – Invasion by foreign troops

Budget increase from 20% to 25%, request standing Shadow force paid by the city and housed in Viscera to be increased to fifty members…’

“Can you tell me what you painted?” Claire asked, the girl dropping the paper on the table and walking over.

“Who’s that flying man? The armor reminds me of somebody but it’s not exactly the same.”

“I think it’s Kyrian.” Cless said and smiled.

The woman looked at her and nodded, “Is that snow? And that looks like some kind of ice drake. At least he’s out of that dungeon finally. Beautiful work Cless. Could you paint one later while you think of Ilea?”

She nodded in turn, “Did you not like the one I made yesterday?”

Claire looked at her and knelt down, touching her shoulders, “Of course I did. The way she looked was just different, something changed from the one you painted last week. I just wanted to make sure she’s alright.”

Cless nodded again, “Ok.”

A knock on the door half an hour later interrupted the two of them, the door opened by Claire still sitting in her chair. A man in imperial armor stepped into the room, scar blinding one of his eyes and a rough black beard and hair covering most of his face, both unkempt. Cless hid behind Claire, holding on to the paper in her hand. His one eye stared at the girl that defiantly looked back.

Claire cleared her throat, the man turning towards her and bowing lightly, “Apologies. Any news from the capital ma’am?”

“Outdated scout reports only, nothing new Officer Larken. There is a new request for a demon hunt from a village around a week’s travel by cart south. It seems Baralia hasn’t reached that far yet at least. They held this long, I’m sure they will be fine.” She said.

The officer gulped, “Easy for you to say. Did you prepare the list of registered refugees for the past week?”

Claire didn’t react to his remark, “You can get it downstairs.” The man nodded and turned, door closing again before Claire sighed, patting Cless on the head. “Come on, William should be starting soon.”

She took Cless by the hand and walked out, the girl glancing at Larken who was intently reading through the pages of names, flicking to the next one. The air was fresh when they stepped out, noises of magic as well as people talking and shouting were immediately audible after leaving. The guard in black stepped aside and nodded towards Claire, winking at Cless who waved.

The central district was pretty much filled up by now, mages adding stories to the existing buildings under the eyes of the Shadowguard as well as the imperials. “Ma’am.” A guard nodded to Claire when they passed through the gate, reaching the middle section of the city. The woman was back in her armored gear, her face mostly hidden.

“Why do you wear all that? Isn’t it heavy?”

Claire chuckled, glancing at her as they continued towards Viscera. “Once your Strength gets high enough, something like this becomes trivial Cless. We need to be careful, even in the city.”

She nodded, remembering the things she had learned about Baralia. Spies and assassins had come to the city, dangerous people trying to cause problems. “Nothing happened in a long time, is it still dangerous?”

Claire nodded to her, “As long as they pay for people causing problems we have to stay vigilant. Do you know why?”

Cless jumped into a puddle of water and giggled, “Because humans do everything for money. I don’t get it. We are fine here, why do they cause problems?”

“You’ll understand when you get older Cless. Just because Ravenhall is doing well doesn’t mean other cities and people are as well.” Claire said, the two passing through the second gate a couple minutes later. Immediately the amount of people increased, many more stalls littering the streets as well as people shouting about their wares, requesting help or asking for specific classes.

Cless noticed the grip on her hand was stronger now, Claire moving her closer to herself. She knew she had to stay quiet when they were in the outer ring. Claire had gotten really angry last time. She looked up to the woman, finding her concentrated as she scanned over the people walking past. They were closest to the mountain now, Viscera nearby.

A line of people stood in front of the entrance as they did most days, many of them looking poor and cold. Cless could identify most of them and did so as she had been instructed. The skill would level and then she would get experience. She didn’t know exactly why the numbers were so important to everybody but it was fun. Sometimes when she learned something new, her Intelligence or Wisdom would go up by one or two and then her paintings would look nicer.

“Next ten, come in. If you don’t have a combat class please check with the guilds!” A man in black leather armor shouted, stepping past the waiting people as he pointed at some of them and motioned towards the city.

“I want to fight, please.” A young girl said when the man pointed at her.

“Check with the recruiters near the north gate, they will help you get started on the class change. This is the line for the Shadowguard, no rookies.” He said and walked past, the girl remaining in the line nonetheless.

“Why didn’t she leave?” Cless asked when they were inside the entrance hall, plenty of people walking around, most of them wearing black things.

“Why do you think?” Claire replied, leading the two of them into Viscera and down towards the elevators.

Cless thought about it and spoke when they entered the moving platform, “I don’t know.”

“You can think about it, maybe you’ll get an idea.”

Cless didn’t get an idea and when they reached the classroom, she had already forgotten about the question. Some people looked at her and Claire when they entered but nobody said anything. “Now I’ll get you again in the evening, stay with William ok?”

The girl nodded, looking for the man but not finding him. She held onto Claire’s hand and found the woman looking at her when she turned, “I’ll wait with you until he’s here. Don’t worry.”

“Are you kidding me?” A loud voice could be heard in the corridor outside, “That wouldn’t even scratch her. I don’t think you get just how scary that woman was.”

“I mean all it has to do is scratch her. What do you think Philly?” Cless recognized the voice now. It was Cornelius. Immediately she stepped a little closer to Claire.

“I think you’re an idiot. You can’t even injure Dany, how do you think your attack could even scratch an actual member?”

They stepped into the classroom. Dany smiled when she saw Cless, the girl smiling back and waving. “Hello Cless, how are you?” The healer looked at Claire and nodded.

“I’ll get you later. Have fun Cless.” Claire said and let go when Dany came and lifted the girl up, twirling her in the air to the amused glances of a couple people in the room, most of them occupied with their own conversations. When she was set down again, Claire was already gone.

“Where’s William?” The girl asked.

“Finishing up something. He’ll be here soon.” Raphia said and smiled.

William suddenly appeared in front of the blackboard. Grabbing a piece of chalk, he started writing as the room quickly calmed down. “Today, we learn about Demon anatomy, weaknesses and strengths of different variants. In one month you will have the opportunity to face one of them in a team of four to seven. Next week I want you all to have formed your teams according to the classes you had in the past three months and present them to me. Yes question.”

One of the older looking people had his hand lifted, “Sir, don’t they range from one fifty to two fifty? How are we supposed to kill such a target?”

“You are not supposed to kill it. You are supposed to survive.” William said and smiled as he looked at Cless’ lifted arm. “No Cless, you won’t have to join but you will be able to watch if you feel like it. Cornelius you can take your hand down too, your team will of course be fighting as well and I expect a kill, if not several.” The man in question winced and even Dany and Raphia looked uncomfortable.

Cless was just smiled brightly, new things she could see and paint. Demons. She remembered the name. One of her paintings of Ravenhall had shown them apparently. It was the first time Claire had complimented something she had made. It depicted Ilea fighting a particularly strong one. She smiled, knowing that Claire kept the paintings in her ring because she liked them so much. Oh no. Cless realized she had already missed the first part of what William talked about, the rest all writing things down. She glanced over at Dany’s notes, the woman moving the paper a little closer to her with a smile.