Shadow Oath

Chapter 16: The Witch’s Magic

“The witch’s magic? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

Terrdin paused as he was about to mount his horse.

There was not much time left until the dawn meeting he had arranged with Jedric.

“Yes, I’ve been wanting to tell you that it might have been the witch’s magic that blocked the curse that killed Mantum.”

“Can’t you talk about it on the way to the Scara Plains?”

The general’s face was tense.

It was also weary.

He had to prepare for the king’s visit soon, and there was not enough time for him to personally handle matters like this.

It was something he could have entrusted to Adun, his adjutant. However, Terrdin chose to do it himself.

“If we talk while traveling, the chieftain Jedric might overhear…”

When Ram trailed off hesitantly, Terrdin lowered his voice.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t really given you a proper chance to speak.”

Terrdin looked up at the sky.

“When the king arrives, we won’t have moments like this anymore. Come inside for a while.”

Terrdin sat down on a chair beside the table inside the tent. He gestured for Ram to take a seat as well.

“Sit down.”

“It’s not a story long enough to require sitting.”

“It shouldn’t be long. But it’s not something to hear briefly either. Start with your story first. Then I’ll listen about the witch’s magic.”

“What story do you mean?”

Ram, becoming anxious, asked hurriedly.

“Who is your father?”

“Pardon?”

“You have a father, even if you’re of slave descent, don’t you? I want to know about you, so tell me everything.”

“Can I do that now?”

“As I said, if not now, you’ll never get another chance.”

Ram hesitated before speaking.

“My father was probably a serf. My mother was likely the child of serfs too… Can I start from there?”

“Go on.”

“After two years of drought, my father couldn’t meet the required harvest quota. My mother starved to death holding my second and third siblings. My father sold me, the eldest, as a slave to save me. With the money he received, he made graves for my mother and siblings and died in front of them. My father’s grave doesn’t exist. There was no money to bury him or anyone to take care of it.”

“You were young. How do you remember all that?”

“That’s what I heard. Judging by the faint memory of my crying father’s face, it seems about right.”

“Did you go to Baron Selkon at that time?”

“No. My first owner went bankrupt, and I was sold to the baron when I was ten or maybe eleven.”

“What work did you do at the baron’s estate?”

“I started with carrying sacks of wheat.”

I was weak and couldn’t carry them well, so I was beaten often.

Meals consisted of a piece of bread and a cup of water a day.

There were more days I was beaten than not.

Only after I started killing people did the days without beatings outnumber the ones with.

“When did you begin killing people?”

“When I was sixteen.”

“How did Baron Selkon discover such talent in you?”

“That day… The slave originally in charge of serving breakfast caught a cold, so I was tasked with bringing breakfast to the master. I was worried about waking him, so I walked silently. Fortunately, the master was already up, standing by the window. I stood still until he ordered me to place the food on the table. I didn’t know the proper procedure.”

Terrdin quickly grasped the situation.

“If I’ve observed you correctly, the baron wouldn’t have even noticed your approach, right?”

“Yes, I stood there for almost half an hour. Then he yelled, asking why I hadn’t brought his breakfast yet…”

“He was startled when he realized you were behind him?”

“Yes, he was angry at first. I also learned a rule that I should make my presence known when entering. But then he suddenly said something odd. He remarked, ‘You make no sound when you move…’ At the time, I didn’t understand what he meant. Walking silently wasn’t something praiseworthy; it was simply something that avoided punishment.”

“And that alone led him to train you as an assassin?”

“No. There were a few tests after that.”

“For example?”

“They began with having me stand behind him without him noticing while he faced the window.”

“That doesn’t sound particularly impressive.”

“No. All I did was stand behind him as instructed while he looked out the window. When he turned around, I turned along with him. If he kept turning, I kept turning.”

“You ensured no one was ever in his line of sight?”

“Yes. I could stay in an unseen position until he called for me.”

“Could you do that to me?”

“I think I could easily do it if I memorized the pattern of your steps, General.”

Terrdin stroked his chin.

His expression darkened, and Ram worried he had said something he shouldn’t have.

“Were there other tests?”

Ram made a gesture with his fingers as he explained.

“You know those small wooden rods used to press letters? He handed one to me and instructed me to press it against Young Master Zenri’s neck without him noticing. I did as instructed. When the young master arrived at his father’s call, I stood behind him and carried out the task without him noticing.”

When Zenri realized later, he fell with a crash, looking up at Ram with a pale face.

Selkon burst into laughter, showing satisfaction without a care for his injured son.

Zenri did not laugh.

The look he gave me in that moment, filled with humiliation and rage, is something I can’t forget. It was full of shame, his eyes brimming with tears yet twisted in anger. However, he didn’t harm me outright.

A few times, he went out of his way to harass me by ordering the same tasks repeatedly.

For me, though, those were small reprieves, giving me breaks from other grueling chores.

“Did you continue living as a slave even after starting assassination work?”

“Yes. It became more bearable, but my life didn’t change much.”

“He likely kept it that way deliberately to conceal your identity as an assassin.”

“Yes.”

“I don’t feel comfortable asking this, but I must. Did you find killing people enjoyable?”

“Not even once.”

“Was it difficult?”

“Not particularly.”

“Did you feel guilt?”

“No.”

“Were you happy with that life?”

“No.”

“Did you ever miss it?”

“No.”

Ram answered firmly.

There wasn’t a single moment of happiness in his memory, and he never wanted to return to that life.

Yet, at the moment he answered, a single memory of happiness came to mind.

The girl’s name was Lan.

Slave names were usually like that.

Lan often hovered around Ram.

Ram liked Lan quite a bit as well.

However, he concealed his feelings.

If rumors spread that two young slaves, neither even twenty years old, liked each other, no one could predict what misfortune might occur.

Ram had seen far too often the misfortunes that befell female slaves and hoped Lan would not suffer such a fate.

Above all, Ram was a killer.

A killer and an innocent girl should not be together.

Thus, even though he knew Lan’s feelings, he did not approach her.

He didn’t entirely give up hope, wondering if there might be a chance to meet her later.

Perhaps, once the day came when he no longer had to kill, they could meet.

On that day, he thought, he could say everything he couldn’t say before.

But one day, Lan disappeared.

Although they worked in the same castle, it was not easy for male and female slaves to meet.

So at first, he thought their paths just hadn’t crossed.

It was only later that he heard the news.

“Lan? Oh, I think she was sold a month or two ago. She worked well, so I don’t know why they sold her.”

That brief muttering from a steward was all the information he could gather.

There was nothing he could do.

Slaves who disappeared like that were all too common.

“If I ever escape slavery, I’ll go find her. I’ll tell her that I wanted to meet her, too. I’ll admit that even though I’ve done terrible things, like killing people, I always wished I could do something ordinary and live with her. Will she tell me she felt the same? Or will she say it was just my delusion?”

Ram thought of this as his moment of happiness but didn’t share it with Terrdin.

“Well, that’s enough about your past. Shall we talk about the witch’s magic? You said it blocked Mantum’s curse?”

Ram realized how much time had passed while recounting his life story, something he didn’t even know why he had to share, and hurried his speech.

“There was a time when I was ordered to kill a witch. Apparently, she had predicted Selkon’s death, and since legal punishment wasn’t feasible, I was sent to secretly eliminate her. I was even ordered to burn the body to erase all traces.”

“To burn a witch? I thought Baron Selkon wasn’t one to believe in superstitions, but I suppose there’s no helping it.”

Terrdin gestured for him to continue.

“Killing the witch was easy. She made no effort to block outside intrusion, and since she lived alone, there was no one to look for her even if I erased all traces.”

“Did the witch commit a crime serious enough to deserve death?”

“At the time, I didn’t know whether she was guilty. But that case was different. I said earlier that I felt no guilt for killing people, but for that one instance, I did feel guilt.”

“So is this a confession for killing a pitiable witch?”

Terrdin glanced briefly at the brightening eastern sky beyond the tent, pressed for time.

“In truth, I didn’t kill her.”

Terrdin turned his gaze back to Ram.

“You didn’t kill her?”

“It was, perhaps, the first and last time I disobeyed my master’s order.”

Ram found it painful to speak, as if exposing all his vulnerabilities.

But he felt that if he didn’t say it now, he never would.

“And you’re the first person I’ve told about this.”

“So how is this story relevant now?”

Terrdin spoke impatiently, driven more by curiosity than the urgency of his upcoming meeting.

“I stopped just before killing her. I told the witch, ‘Can you disappear without a trace?’ Since my master had ordered me to erase all traces anyway, I didn’t need to bring back proof of her death. My master had no way of verifying whether someone he thought was dead was still alive. I told her that if she simply vanished, she could live.”

“That’s an offer the witch had no reason to refuse.”

“But in return, she gave me something strange.”

“A strange gift?”

“She said, ‘You erased my death once, so I will erase your death once in return.’”

“Erase death?”

“I didn’t understand what she meant until I met the two mages you introduced me to.”

Ram recalled the smell of the powder they used.

The cursed powder said to be used by Geran shamans.

“The witch sprinkled powder on me. There were five types, smelling like herbs and flowers. At first, I thought she was deceiving me, using some bizarre magic to kill me. But nothing happened. All she did was give me a prophecy-like statement. ‘The north calls for you. Death will come for you, and I will block that death once. But only once. My magic cannot stop a second death.’”

Terrdin, his expression graver than ever, listened in silence, arms crossed.

Having remained motionless for so long, Ram, growing anxious, spoke again.

“If Chieftain Jedric’s words are true, I survived Mantum’s death curse. Couldn’t it be because of the magic the benevolent witch cast on me? That would mean only the second curse remains, the one that will come for those who killed Mantum.”

Terrdin shook his head.

“Both could be lies.”

“Both? What do you mean by ‘both’?”

“The curse on Mantum might be a lie, and the benevolent witch’s blessing might also be a lie. I’m not dismissing the witch’s goodwill, but back then, the best way she could repay you for sparing her might have been through words alone. There may be no first curse, no second curse, and no protective magic from the witch. The reason you infiltrated the Geran camp, assassinated your targets, and survived until now is all thanks to your own skill. No curse hindered you, and no magic aided you.”

Terrdin took Ram’s hand.

“Do you know why I asked about your past? It’s because I wanted to change your perspective. I needed to understand your life to tell you this. Be aware that you no longer have to follow others’ orders.”

Ram realized that Terrdin’s words aligned with the witch’s final statement.

“You believe you must obey your master. But the truth is, you don’t have to.”

Terrdin released Ram’s hand and stood up.

“Let’s assume the witch’s words were true. Avoid the second death by your own strength.”

Terrdin’s voice, warm at first, gradually grew stern.

“From now on, decide for yourself how you will handle ‘your Young Master Zenri.’”