Chapter 23: Performance

The man standing in front of him was a huge man full of bulging muscles, and were it not for his light skin, he would be the splitting image of the famous Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. It was obvious that he was strong and proud of it, considering his condescending gaze towards the other people in the room.

Tristan was excited to try his strength and see how it measured up against that man, but when he saw him, the Dwayne Johnson lookalike raised his hand and shook his head. The challenge was rejected before Tristan had a chance to offer it.

Tristan rubbed his forehead in disappointment. No one there dared to wrestle against him, an elf. He walked back with an empty hand to see his sister flashing a mischievous grin at him.

"Did you get anything, my dear genius brother?"

"Obviously my plan isn't that good. Maybe you want to try arm wrestling them, Layla?"

"Me? Arm wrestling? Of course not. Wait here, I have a much better idea."

Before Tristan was able to ask for further clarification, Layla took the empty wooden drinking cup lying on the table in front of her and twirled it as she walked confidently to the empty spot where the bard was singing before.

"No way, Layla, are you…" Tristan muttered to himself.

When she arrived at the spot, several pairs of eyes were already staring at her. She placed the cup on the table and started to sing, clapping her hand in a rhythm while occasionally knocking the side of the cup for instrumental variation. As she sang, more and more patrons looked at her in interest.

"I got my ticket for the long way 'round

Two bottle o' whiskey for the way

And I sure would like some sweet company

And I'm leavin' tomorrow, what do you say?

When I'm gone, When I'm gone"

It was a famous and catchy American song, and Layla put an unique twist to the country song with her own spin. Her voice, coupled with her looks, quickly made her the center of attention in that bar.

Virtually everyone lost track of what they were doing and stared at her as if entranced. Some had started to thrum their fingers on the table to the rhythm, and some even hummed along to the song, earning an enraged shush from the people next to them.

"You're gonna miss me when I'm gone

You're gonna miss me by my hair

You're gonna miss me everywhere, oh

You're gonna miss me when I'm gone"

Similar to the other patrons, Tristan could only stare at his sister in amazement. It had been a while since he listened to his sister's singing. Right as she finished the song, dozens of copper coins were thrown from all directions.

Excitement bloomed in Layla's heart, and a part of her wanted to run straight to her brother and show off what she got. But, before that, she decided to sing several Beyonce songs to try earning a few more coins.

After she finished singing, Layla came back with a pile of copper coins in the cup and a wide, mocking smile towards Tristan.

"Look, brother, I won! From now on, let me be the main breadwinner of the family!"

Tristan had to admit, while the performance was fun, it had also attracted unwanted attention towards his sister. He noticed a drunken man in fancy clothes was appraising Layla from afar, his smile looked like a starving man who had just found a huge slice of meat.

Tristan looked around, walked closer to his sister, and whispered in her ear. "Hey, sis, can you wait for me in the alley outside? I'll follow you later."

Layla was a bit surprised by the sudden request, but knowing her brother always had her best interests in mind, she nodded and did just that. Right when she walked out, the drunken man followed suit.

Outside the bar, there was a dark path leading to the unknown. As her brother asked, Layla stood near the alley, and the drunken man took the chance to approach her.

"Hello, beautiful… You have such a lovely voice, sing for me again will you?"

The drunken man stepped closer and extended his hand to touch her skin, but before he managed to do that, something stopped him.

Splat!

The attack was quick and invisible to the naked eye. One moment, Layla was staring at the approaching hand and the next she saw the hand detach from him, splatter blood on her face, and saw the man himself knocked out before he managed to express his pain. Layla touched the sticky blood tainting her face and was about to scream before an arm closed around her mouth, muffling her plea for help.

"Shhh… Sis, you'll alert everyone else like that." A familiar voice whispered in her ear.

"Bro, what did you-, wait, YOU TRICKED ME!" Layla pulled her brother's arm away from her mouth and said.

Tristan did not answer, he bent down and checked the guy's pockets before fishing out a pouch filled to the brim with copper and silver coins. With a confident smile, he played with the pouch and smiled at his sister. "Anyway, I believe I still won, and I am still the main breadwinner of the family."

"Tris, are you crazy? What did you do? Did you really kill that man?"

"Of course not, I didn't kill him… For now… and no, I'm not crazy." Tristan answered without hiding the true emotions whirling in his heart.

"Are we going to just leave him here? He's bleeding." Layla stared at the unconscious injured man.

"Nope, not just yet." Tristan shook his head.

Under the cover of darkness, Tristan carried the man while hiding in the shadows to avoid being seen. Using his enhanced senses, especially hearing, he managed to find an abandoned house. The wood of the house was rotting, its doors and windows smelled distinctly of fungi.

That night, Tristan went in to get some of the information he was seeking. The man was terrified of being questioned by an elf. Afterward, Tristan told Layla to leave the scene.

Seeing the poor man, Tristan was left with a choice of kill or not to kill.

Logically Tristan finds few reasons to kill the man, first, he doesn't want the person to make trouble in the future by telling about him, second, he really wishes to try his extraction skill towards humans this time.

Even with these reasons, Tristan was still reluctant to kill the man. He grabbed the hilt of the sword and put the pointy edge on the person's chest.

Right just before he thought about putting down the sword and spare the man, he felt a burning sensation… an urge to see blood flowing from that pointy edge.

Splaaattt…

Tristan pierces the sword through the man's chest. Blood spilling and flowing down from his body to the ground. Seeing it, Tristan unconsciously cast his spells and a red mist started to form.

[Blood extraction]

[30 low quality blood cell found]

[Extract blood cell]

[Two blood essence received]

When he finished the deeds Tristan doesn't feel any remorse, he just felt his urge was relieved with an inch of disappointment with the amount of blood essence he receives.

Tristan walked out of the building with the most neutral expression he could muster and saw Layla's worried gaze greeting him.

"What happened brother.. what.."

Tristan shakes his head and said, "Let's not talk about it…"

They walked silently, found an inn, and ordered one room. Layla slept on the bed while Tristan laid on the floor to rest.

With the information he obtained he looking forward to tomorrow