30 Chapter 30- Cleansing

The party waved goodbye to Aria and her son, and they outwardly acted grateful for the assistance they had received. Dubs knew that the son was putting on a show, and that he was glad to be rid of the mercenaries who were receiving discounted prices, but gave a fake wave back anyways.

"You are on the naughty list...", Dubs thought.

The trip back to Lardis was long and tedious, however this time around it was uneventful. No thieves or other entities attacked the group, and they were able to progress through the tunnels safely all the way back to the city.

Upon arrival in the city, Dubs split off from the party and went looking around to see if there were any shops of interest in Lardis, but after looking for a while, Dubs determined that he didn't know enough yet about how useful any materials or items would be to risk purchasing something.

"Money isn't too much of an issue, but I have no idea whether or not the shopkeepers are trying to get me to buy useless goods.", Dubs thought.

After returning back to the mercenary guild, Dubs walked through the tavern to see the familiar faces of mercenaries who were there before the party had left.

The balding man was relaxing with his feet kicked back, and Harold was drunk in the corner. Clearly he had not recuperated from the beatdown Samuel had given him.

"Ay! Welcome back rookie. How did the first mission go?", the balding man asked.

Dubs took a seat across from the man and began to speak. "Nothing out of the ordinary. A simple escort, there were some thieves along the way but they proved to not be an issue."

The man sat up straight. "Hoh? You had to deal with some thieves on your first mission eh? For a veteran like me, that wouldn't be an issue but I'm surprised a group of rookies would be able to handle them so easily.", the man stated, impressed.

Dubs gave off a shrug and humbly suggested "We had five people to deal with only two thieves, and they weren't very experienced thieves at that. Our luck was good."

The man laughed and Dubs took his leave, heading back down into the resistance HQ.

Coming upon Ivan, Ivan pulled Dubs aside for a report.

"I'm getting some odd mission reports from the other party members. They seem to be telling me that Drodus displayed a magical capacity unlike anything they have seen before. Do you have an explanation for this?"

Alt came out of Dubs into his shadow form, and before Dubs could respond, he realized that he himself was inside the shadow form.

"What is this!? Whats going on?", Dubs shouted.

"Relax, Dubs. I merely switched out with you. You're in the shadow body right now, and I am in the regular body. It will be easier to explain to Ivan this way."

Ivan stared at Dubs body, who Alt was in, and somewhat had an idea of what was going on. Even though he could not sense the shadow body that Dubs was currently inhabiting, he could tell that Dubs and Alt had switched and that they were conversing with one another.

"I assume you are the other one?", Ivan asked.

Alt smiled, and responded.

"I am Alt, the alternate personality of Dubs. Over the past week of training we have managed to make significant progress, and I am even able to create and maintain a physical form separate from the body that I am currently inhabiting. Dubs is currently in this 'shadow form' of mine, and only me and Dubs can view it."

Ivan listened patiently, and urged Alt to continue.

"In my new shadow form, I am able to release energy and control magic much better than before. While things aren't completely stable, I am beginning to get a grasp on my energy. Dubs, on the other hand, should be able to control a bit more energy than he did previously.", Alt explained.

"During the mission, we were attacked by thieves. Drodus cast a flame blanket spell, but it was only powerful enough to singe the toes of the enemies we were facing. I merely enhanced the spell with my own energy, and this put the credit of taking down the thieves onto Drodus."

Dubs switched back with Alt, and Dubs also began to speak to Ivan.

"Ivan, I wish for you to keep the power I have a secret among the members of the resistance. If word gets out about me, things will surely become restless around here. I wish to at least take the time to train until that happens.", Dubs asked.

Ivan smiled and replied. "There is no need to worry. I've been monitoring your progress, and you have physical training down to a level that I can barely even comprehend. You most likely have already surpassed me, so I will give you one week before sending you away. Train your magical control, and increase your mana capacity. By the time you leave here, you should be able to at least cast some basic spells of each type.", Ivan ordered.

"You will then leave to head to Reagan's home, and there you will begin your research to become a real mage. You have the control and ability to do so, but you will need to research each spell individually. Reagan has a variety of lab equipment and study material for you, so I would advise you to finish up here and leave as soon as possible. Do not worry about doing missions yet for the resistance, for now simply focus on your studies. I will come to you when something important comes up."

Ivan finished his explanation, and Dubs agreed. "I will do my best, captain.", Dubs responded, before leaving back to the dining hall for dinner.

Upon arriving at the dining hall, Dubs face wrinkled once more and he began to giggle to himself.

"Killing those thieves back on that mission was... very enjoyable. I can't wait until I go to live on the outside where the enemies might be able to put up a fight... ehehe.... and as for the experiments... there are... many things I would like to try...", Dubs snickered.

His face went back to normal, and this time he remembered what he had just been saying. Instead of being disturbed however, he felt indifferent to the blood lust that was subconsciously motivating him.

Sitting down to eat with his squad, Dubs and the party raised their glasses to toast for their first successful mission together. "Cheers!"

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The party talked and laughed for an hour or two, and even though Samuel and Dubs sat away from each other and didn't speak to each other, they silently accepted that they would not quarrel for the sake of their mutual party members.

Tirian told stories of back when he was a noble. "And then, the Duke said to me, 'Good sir, if you didn't purchase 20 gaggles of geese, surely you didn't purchase 40!', and I replied to him, 'of course not good sir! I purchased 60!'"

The table bursted out in laughter, and Dubs started to feel some compassion for his squadmates. Despite the bloodlust and insanity that formed a large part of his personality between him and Alt, it was times like these that made him realize the value of the little things in life.

"I will become stronger, and enjoy when the time comes to crush my enemies, but I will also do so to protect my comrades.", Dubs thought.

Dubs headed back to his room for the night to get a good rest before he would have to train up his magic. "Perhaps when I have established myself as a scientist, I will invite those three to be lab assistants. It will always be useful to have more helping hands..."

Alt butted in. "But Samuel will be long gone before that happens, am I wrong?"

Dubs sinisterly grinned. "No, you are right. By the time I have established myself as a scientist, both Peter and Samuel will be long gone, as they do not seem to understand how to respect other people. I will cleanse this land of the people who do not respect those below them, and I will do it through science and magic."

Alt began to snicker. "Ehehe. I like the sound of that. We can kill two birds with one stone that way, eliminate enemies, and protect those who are righteous. One day we will be at the top of this world, and we will be able to define what is righteous."

Dubs smiled and once more started to laugh maniacally with Alt.

After going to his room and sleeping, he woke the next day and jumped out of bed, ready to improve his magical abilities.

"The time to train ourselves is now. Lets go, Alt."