Chapter 41 - Quinn Graham

The still recuperating Quinn had observed this afternoon's training session in its entirety from a chair placed at the outer bounds of the courtyard. As Mina and Kalin had talked a lot about how Isaac was teaching them yesterday, he had grown interested in the process and asked Isaac whether he could bear witness to it next time. To Quinn's surprise, the enigmatic man agreed quickly, asking for nothing in return.

But this afternoon, there was another unusual event, one that caused Isaac's students to collectively raise their eyebrows: Ais' behaviour had changed. While they had already seen her accompany their teacher many times before, this was the first time she simply straight up grabbed and held his hand for such a long time. She had been doing so ever since she had arrived on the scene after the training session was over. It didn't look like she was planning to let go anytime soon either. Although they couldn't be sure, they felt like she was staking a claim of some sort. Of course, Isaac knew why she did this. He had told her about what had happened in the dungeon, after all. In the beginning, he had been tempted to wait until he arrived back at the Twilight Manor to personally see her pouting face when she heard about the lap pillow but he decided against doing so. It would have just been petty, so he didn't hesitate any longer and told her as soon as things within the dungeon had calmed down somewhat. Anyway, this outcome wasn't something unwelcome for him at all. Holding Ais' hand was a desired privilege, not a punishment.

Sometime after their training session had ended and Lefiya had made her way to Riveria's study for further learning, Mina asked Isaac if it would be possible to bury the young cat girl, Millina's, body within the same clearing her parents' grave was located in. This took Isaac by surprise, as he had already prepared himself to visit one of the graveyards outside of Orario and pay for a burial there. Also, he had assumed Mina wouldn't want others to intrude upon that place. When he asked her about this, the brightly smiling Chienthrope girl explained that she wanted Quinn's little sister to rest with good company… and she would also feel better if her parents weren't all alone out there. Although he had somewhat wanted to mention that all of this was just superstition anyway and that all of their souls had already left their physical vessels a long time ago, Isaac held himself back and just agreed to Mina's request. It wouldn't take longer and would save him money - it was a great proposal.

As Averin would no doubt attract a lot of attention once he left the Twilight Manor, Isaac made sure to blur the rooster's existence when they made their way to beyond Orario's walls. After they had left the city, as they were still being followed simply due to Ais' enormous popularity, Isaac made sure to blur the entire group's existence, unbeknownst to them. This way, they easily arrived at that aforementioned clearing without anyone being able to track them. He actually couldn't have blurred the entire group's existence the whole way, as that would have put him under too much of a mental strain, at least for now.

A little later, in the early evening, Isaac, Ais, Averin, Jakk, Kalin and Mina were silently waiting for the currently kneeling Quinn to finish his prayers and goodbyes in front of the smaller one of two gravestones. Yes, that's correct. Gravestones.

The last time Isaac and Mina had been here, Isaac hadn't yet been in a condition to actually create a gravestone with relative ease, so they had simply used a large boulder in its place. This time, however, he only needed a few minutes and the simplest of tools to produce what anyone would call a professionally manufactured, beautifully designed gravestone.

[ Mina Teagle's loyalty has increased by 1. ]

To Isaac, it had been such a self-evident act that he hadn't expected Mina's increase in loyalty at all. Still, such a thing wasn't unwelcome. After all, the more loyal, the better, right? Her behaviour couldn't possibly get any more eccentric… hopefully.

Only after the mourning cat boy had knelt in front of his little sister's grave for more than thirty minutes did he rise again, quite unsteadily though. Thankfully, Kalin had rushed up immediately to help the stumbling Quinn regain his footing. Then, after having steadied himself, Quinn bowed towards his group of benefactors.

"Thank you."

He didn't know what else to say and honestly, there wasn't really any need for more words anyway. His gratitude was conveyed without a problem, a smile creeping across the group's faces. Still, as she didn't want the boy to continue bowing in such a subservient manner before her, Mina helped him to straighten up yet again, before the group set off on their way back to the base.

Because it had taken them until 7 p.m. to return, Isaac and Ais didn't have a chance to join the Loki Familia dinner in the canteen, so they decided to join the students for their meal today. Mina was pretty excited upon realizing that her lord would be dining with her today, so she tried to be even more fanciful with her cooking. But due to the fact that she had never really learned any special recipes and didn't have any out of the ordinary ingredients, she had to settle on making a simple but hearty and filling meal. As he had been helping out in the kitchen before anyway, because he didn't want to be a burden, Kalin helped her by cutting the vegetables today as well. Seeing them interact so naturally, Isaac grew even more appreciative of the two and a small, genuine smile flashed across his lips. During dinner, Ais finally let go of Isaac's hand again for a while, as it would have been really awkward to eat otherwise.

After they had finished eating, however, it was finally time to bring up more serious topics. When Isaac had carved Millina's name on her gravestone, Quinn had already told him that his last name was Graham. But this pitiful amount of information was still quite far from what Isaac would need to know to be satisfied. So, without further ado, Isaac asked the cat boy, who was relaxedly reclining in his chair, whether or not he was comfortable with sharing what had happened to him and his sister.

Although Quinn felt a little conflicted, as he didn't really like talking about his past, seeing how he had been treated well and respectfully all this time, he felt like telling these people what they wanted to know would be the least he could do. By now, he was entirely convinced that the people here had no connection to his past foes. Of course, telling Isaac would bring him closer to one of his objectives as well.

"It would probably be smart if I started from the very beginning…"

Quinn and Millina had been orphans living in the very poorest of areas of Daedalus Street for as long as they could remember. Parents? Well, they definitely needed to have had some, but the elder brother didn't remember anything about them. He only remembered his first and last name and that the extremely frail, young girl in his arms, who was barely old enough to walk, was named Millina. To be fair, he didn't know whether or not she was really his sister, but seeing how they looked very much alike and had always been together, he simply treated her as such. Therefore, no matter whether it was actually the case, her being his little sister became his truth. In any case, for as long as he could remember, he had been living on the streets.

While they were still very young, some caring and slightly less impoverished denizens of Daedalus Street occasionally gave them what little food they could spare, which helped the two kittens survive year after year, winter after winter. The moment the two finally found out about the many gods and their familias living in Daedalus Street, who were regularly handing out food and drinks to the poor, survival became a lot easier and the two didn't really have to worry about what they were going to eat tomorrow anymore. So, for many years, they kept living in an abandoned, overgrown house and survived thanks to the generosity of others.

Even though there were many compassionate people around them, the two also knew that this district harboured an unseen darkness. After all, why else would many of their friends, both kids and a.d.u.l.ts, suddenly go missing and never be seen again? It wasn't just once or twice either. Everyone knew that something was going on, but nobody knew where all the missing people were going, so they could only continue to do their best to survive.

It wasn't like Quinn and Millina hadn't tried to leave this place and possibly find some work before. But, maybe because of bad luck with the people they ended up meeting, whenever they left Daedalus Street, Orario's citizens would look upon them with scorn and disgust, feelings that were never directed at them back at their home. They were treated like trash and unwelcome rabble wherever they went. They were outcasts. As they were still quite young, the two honestly were scared by this and after a few drunk adventurers had even thrown things at them to get them to leave their sights, the two never really made any other attempts to leave their impoverished home behind and strive for a better future. Yes, this had been a stupid and naive decision. But it was so much easier to continue living the lives they were used to than to take a painful plunge of faith. After all, people in general truly feared fundamental changes.

Just like this, the two lived their own content little lives and many years passed by in what felt like the blink of an eye. Half a year ago, however, something changed. Something interrupted their daily lives.

Late in the evening, Quinn and Millina were on their way to return back to their little abode, when they suddenly heard a friend of theirs, a young human boy by the name of Martin, cry out for help just a short distance away. Of course, even though they were aware of the potential danger, they couldn't simply do nothing now that they were aware of his plight. Without further ado, the two hurried to his location, only to see him getting knocked unconscious by a group of four huge and burly men. Their faces were hidden underneath their hoods so they couldn't be sure of who they were. Still, they had little time to think about this as the group carried the unconscious Martin away with them. Thankfully, as the two hadn't rushed in mindlessly, they hadn't been noticed yet. On the other hand, they had no way of freeing their friend from the kidnappers' hands, as they would simply end up just like him if they tried to. So, with no other options, they followed the four men, intending to gather intelligence on whether they could free Martin from whatever place they were going to bring him.

It didn't take long for Quinn and Millina to regret their decision. When they saw which residence the men had entered, they felt as if their whole world was going to collapse. It was the Zagan Familia's home, which, amongst many other familias, had often given out free food for all the homeless and struggling people around. The siblings had been guests here hundreds of times themselves and thought of the people here as their close friends. If they hadn't seen all of this with their own eyes, even if somebody told them about such a charitable and respected familia possibly being connected to such a crime, they wouldn't have believed it.

Although the two had wanted to escape, they had already been spotted by the many sentries hidden around the residence's perimeter long ago. Right when they turned to run away, they suddenly came face to face with one of the gently smiling middle-aged women that had served them free food before.

"We can't allow you to tell anyone about this. So sorry about this, little ones."

Before they even had a chance to respond or defend themselves, the surprisingly swift woman had already disappeared from their field of view and a moment later, everything went black.

An unknown amount of time later, when they came to, they found themselves in very bare-bones, adjacent cells in some kind of underground complex. The only light they could see came from magic stone lamps. Two men, who, if judged by their build and attire, were most likely amongst the men who had kidnapped Martin, were playing a board game outside of their cells but made their way towards them when they noticed that the two young Cat People had awoken. After what they would later refer to as a 'comparatively harmless beating', the two men explained this place's rules to the disoriented kids. This wasn't their first rodeo, so the men were easily capable of making them understand.

The rules were actually quite simple. They had to work hard if they didn't want to get beaten or starve to death. While they worked, they weren't allowed to make mistakes. Otherwise, what would follow was, again, a beating. If they made any non-work related sounds while working… just as anyone would have guessed at that point, yes, they would get a beating.

Their workplace was pretty similar to the picture that the word 'sweatshop' evoked within Isaac's mind. Many workstations, yet again only illuminated by magic stone lamps, were positioned in what was basically an assembly line. Every worker only had to do very simple and repetitive tasks, which would ultimately culminate in a mass produced finished product. None of the workers had any idea of what it was that they were actually manufacturing, as they always only worked on specific parts of the whole thing. One thing Quinn had taken note of, however, was that his step included slotting a few small magic stone fragments into very specific places. Obviously, it was some kind of magic stone powered device, but he couldn't discern anything beyond that.

The workers all around the two siblings were partially people they had known from before, but there were also many unknown faces. What they all had in common, however, was that they seemed like their souls had already left their bodies. There was no spark of hope in their eyes as they were only mechanically doing their respective tasks, time and time again. They were haggard, emaciated and showed clear signs of beatings all over their bodies. Whenever someone's pace slowed down too much or they, for an unspecified reason, simply became an eyesore to one of the overseers, they would be whipped mercilessly and could only clench their teeth and continue to work without making a sound, ignoring the hot streams of blood trickling down their backs.

As Quinn and Millina were barely old enough to not be considered kids anymore and quite weak, they did what everyone would have expected them to. They fell in line. Although they made a few mistakes in the beginning, that and the resulting beatings couldn't be helped. Soon, they became just another two cogs within this merciless machine.

At this point is his recounting of events, Quinn couldn't help but tear up a little when thinking about what he was going to talk about soon. Still, even though he had been assured that he didn't have to continue, after taking some time to recover, a small light of conviction had been lit within the cat boy's eyes, as if he had just finalized some kind of decision. Shortly after, he continued his story.

Quite often, some people at the assembly line just fainted or even died on the spot, due to exhaustion and their acc.u.mulated injuries. Many times, some others simply didn't come back anymore the next day. The main reason for all of this was that the workers didn't get enough food. Even when they did their best, they would just get barely enough to survive another day. If one factored in their heavy workload and the regenerative processes their bodies had to undergo time and time again, death was an inevitability. As the ones who controlled this whole facility, most likely the Zagan Familia, could just get new people to involuntarily join the workforce any time they wanted to, giving their workers just the bare minimum of food was an easy decision for them. So what if hundreds died? Learning to do these simple tasks was a matter of minutes, nothing difficult. Anyone could do it. Giving these people more food than absolutely necessary would have simply been a waste. Well, at least that was what the overseers sometimes said.

Because the siblings had been doing their respective tasks for half a year already, the beatings they got had significantly lessened in the past few months. Their only problem was the very small amount of food they were allocated. By now, they were both already extremely weak, every night they weren't even sure if they would be having the energy and strength to wake up the next morning. And then, even their work pace started to suffer, as they simply didn't have enough strength to do everything swiftly. The beatings increased again… This simply couldn't continue.

Very quietly, without any of the overseers hearing it, Millina told Quinn that they had to run away. After all, that was the only thing they could do. Otherwise, death was a certainty. Admittedly, the cat boy wasn't a huge fan of his sister's plan, as he couldn't see this working out at all. But after looking at her sorry state, he agreed. He didn't want her to die down here. Maybe he would be able to buy a little bit of time for her to escape if he sacrificed himself.

As they were always either under surveillance or in their cells, the two didn't have many opportunities to escape. Only when some of the overseers got distracted could they possibly get tens of seconds of time to attempt their escape. Yeah, obviously that wouldn't be enough to escape from an underground facility whose size, scope, entrances and exits they didn't know. They both knew this. But they were desperate.

A few days later, when the overseers who brought them back to their cells got into a little argument and forgot to pay attention to them for a short moment, the two bolted off as quickly as their emaciated, frail legs could carry them. They had some idea of where they wanted to go, as they knew where the men and women who were their overseers would come from and retreat to every day. As it was unlikely for those people to also be confined to such an underground life, they had to be close to some kind of exit, right?

Well, even if they were, the two would never find out. Even just a day or two after they had arrived here, they wouldn't have been fast enough to outrun the overseers. In their currently pathetic state, they stood even less of a chance. Impressively, they managed to escape through four large halls, though, attracting the attention of many more overseers and even workers. Although they hadn't intended to trigger such a thing, some of the newer workers even thought that this was their one and only chance and tried to escape themselves.

It ended in a disaster. Many of the workers were simply cut down on the spot. Even Quinn and Millina couldn't escape this fate. But after they had already been beaten close to death, one of the more devious overseers spoke a sentence that would haunt the cat boy's nightmares forever.

"Wouldn't it be a shame if we didn't at least sample the goods before getting rid of the brat?"

Anyone would be able to tell what followed. They ravaged Millina there and then. All that Quinn was able to hear before fainting were his sister's pleas and pained screams.

Next thing he knew, he regained his consciousness in the dungeon.

A short while after the entire group had expressed their condolences and tried to make Quinn feel better again, the cat boy unblinkingly stared directly into Isaac's eyes. Although there were still tears clouding Quinn's eyes, the conviction from before hadn't faded. Instead, it had gotten stronger.

"Can you teach me as well? I want to become strong enough to kill those bastards. Every single one of them."

Quinn honestly was too weak right now. He might have already recovered a little, but if he wanted to get his revenge right now, he would be swatted to death as easily as a fly. While he had been watching today's training session, even an amateur like him, with no combat experience, could tell that Isaac was someone special. He was skillful to the point of being baffling. Like a dancer or a phantom, he moved across the training grounds. Untouched, always aware of everything. All of the spars with his students seemed like fantastical dreams to the cat boy.

In response to Quinn's request, Isaac donned a more serious expression on his face, before giving his reply.

"I will only do so if you accept my two conditions. First, swear your absolute loyalty to me. No matter what, you can't go against my orders. Secondly, never speak about any of my secrets or anything unusual happening around me to any outsider. I could give you an order to do this, but it would mean a lot more to me if you could accept this out of your own free will."

Before the overeager cat boy could reply, Isaac raised his right hand and stopped him in his tracks. It was definitely necessary to clarify a few things.

"You have to keep in mind that I won't allow you to die or leave after you got your revenge. Also, I will only let you get your revenge when the situation is favourable. After all, if the risk is too high, it's better to wait for a while. This deal will be forever binding. If you don't want to take it, I will let you stay with us until you're fully recovered and then give you enough money to start a new life. You can either live a normal life or I can introduce you to some familias which you could make use of to get stronger. But your fate will be your own. No matter what you do, it won't be my problem."

Admittedly, Isaac's words were quite harsh. But this wasn't a charity. Isaac would never help people without receiving anything in return. Still, if the return was good enough, he wouldn't mind behaving like what others would call a good person. From the very beginning, he had been a little intrigued by the young cat boy his subordinates had saved and had intended to make him join his forces as well. Still, he wouldn't force the issue.

Even though he had been cautioned and told to think about this decision a little more, it only took ten seconds before Quinn nodded and, with an air of unprecedented seriousness, voiced the following words.

"I hereby swear my absolute loyalty to Isaac Blackshaw. I swear to never reveal any secrets or unusual happenings related to Isaac Blackshaw to any outsiders."

[ Quinn Graham has sworn his loyalty to you.

Quest 'Have three retainers.' completed. 300 AP rewarded. ]

The young cat boy had already determined that this man in front of him was his fastest path to strength and revenge. Those people… if he could end them even a second earlier, he wouldn't hesitate to even sign a deal with the devil!

Now that Quinn had already agreed and wouldn't be able to escape the grasps of the system any longer, Isaac saw no problem with revealing one of his secrets - his ability to bestow a Falna.

[ Quinn Graham has joined your familia.

Quest 'Have four familia members.' completed. 400 AP rewarded. ]

[ Name: Quinn Graham ]

[ Familia: Isaac Familia ]

[ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw's Subordinate (Retainer, Familia) ]

[ Race: Cat People ]

[ Level: 1 ]

[ Age: 14 ]

[ Loyalty: 60/100 ]

[ Stats ]

[ Strength: I-9 ]

[ Endurance: I-4 ]

[ Dexterity: I-15 ]

[ Agility: I-6 ]

[ Magic: I-2 ]

[ Magic ]

[ None ]

[ Skills ]

[ Berserker ]

[ Development Abilities ]

[ None ]

Although this wasn't the first time that one of Isaac's subordinates had a skill from the very beginning, every time Isaac encountered a new skill, he was very interested in discovering what it could do.

[ Berserker: Depending on how much hatred the user harbours for their opponent, their Strength, Endurance and Agility will be increased by up to three times. In exchange, the user's Dexterity and Magic will get reduced by up to two thirds. Duration: As long as the user is in combat with an opponent they feel hatred for. ]

Even at first glance, the drawbacks of this skill were plain to see. With less Dexterity, Quinn wouldn't be able to control his body as easily as under normal circ.u.mstances and the reduction in his Magic would lead to his mind becoming a lot more cloudy than usual. Still, if he reached high enough stats, those things wouldn't really matter - he could simply stand there and nobody would be able to harm him, thanks to the increased Endurance. And with enough Strength, even if he couldn't hit his opponents as perfectly as he would want to, just the air pressure around his attacks and the shock waves battering his opponents afterwards would be enough to pulverize them. With the increase in Agility, his speed would simply be ridiculous - escaping from him would become almost impossible.

Well, whether or not a monster like this would truly be born one day wasn't set in stone yet. Just a single mistake could end this potential calamity in its early stages. Still, someone who could become a weapon of mass destruction like this wasn't easy to come by, so Isaac would do his best to keep Quinn safe. Right now, the cat boy's frail frame looked like he could simply be blown away by a strong gust of wind - he was a far cry from what anyone would associate with a berserker. But someday, he might become a fearsome deterrent to any enemy forces. Quinn only needed to be taught how to manipulate and control his hatred.

A satisfied smile played across Isaac's lips as he gave Quinn his Status sheet and explained its contents to the illiterate youth.