City of Sin (Yanyu Jiangnan)

An End And A Beginning

Sinclair seemed to notice Richard’s gaze, tilting her head and making a huge effort to look at him with her one eye. She smiled at him, but it wasn’t the charming smile she once had. There was an unspeakable melancholy behind the expression; this was a smile that would make others sympathise with her helplessness.

“I… look awful now, don’t I?”

Richard hadn’t expected this to be her first sentence. He hesitated for a while before nodding.

“Ha! You mages are a bunch of dull characters,” Sinclair laughed in self-mockery, “I… I want to live on, can I surrender? My body is very special, given some time I’ll slowly return to normal. There’s no need to worry about my ability in combat.”

“That was never my concern,” Richard said calmly, “But you…”

He stretched out his hand. Olar, who was adept at reading his body language at this point, immediately tossed a dagger over. The dagger was surprisingly heavy and cold, a chill permeating Richard’s body the moment he touched its handle. Originally left with the last dredges of his energy, Richard felt the cold surge through him like a tide as it stimulated the moonforce within, like cool water that refreshed his spirit. He felt strange, realising that the elven bard had given him one of Sinclair’s daggers.

Richard held the dagger as he continued, “Some hostilities can never be erased. However, if you can share the reason for your presence and give me some details about the Schumpeters, I won’t harvest your runes in your death.”

Once the removal of the rune was mentioned, Sinclair couldn’t help but shudder. Her rune hadn’t been slotted in, instead tattooed onto her body. If it were removed, her corpse would be left an unrecognisable mess. Even though she didn’t want to die, she was not afraid of death. However, death at the hands of a runemaster would definitely not end well.

The young lady inarticulately expressed that three families had joined forces to offer a sacrifice to the Eternal Dragon, changing Richard’s destination. Even though their offering was extremely valuable, there were many rules and limitations to the effects. The Dragon would not allow Richard’s destination to have a stable passage, nor would it allow a change in the basic characteristics of the destination plane. They had to find a new plane, one not registered with the Church, with fewer restrictions on level. The end result had surpassed everyone’s expectations, landing both parties in the unknown plane of Faelor. Moreover, those of this plane surprisingly could possess legendary might!

Sinclair’s mission was to kill Richard, the cost of transportation being shared by the three families.

Sinclair’s answers validated Richard’s prior suspicions. However, he still held onto a last glimmer of hope as he asked, “Do you have the coordinates to return to Norland?”

Sinclair forced out a smile, “If I did, I would have returned long ago. You should be well aware just how valuable a plane of this level is. Pity; our Lighthouse of Time was extinguished when we left the portal.”

Richard sighed before finally saying, “Do you have anything else you want to say?”

Sinclair started coughing violently, only able to speak after some time had passed, “If you… If you manage to get back to Norland in the future… Help me… Help me kill the entire senior generation of the Schumpeters… All of them! Kill them, kill their families… Don’t leave anyone. Also, kill that bitch Sisley. But… But torture her as long as you can, don’t let her die so easily!”

Richard was slightly shocked, asking, “You seem to have a lot of hatred for your family and Sisley? Isn’t she your twin sister? The people call you two the Schumpeter flowers.”

“Sister? Haha, yes, sister…” Sinclair laughed once more, but this time her smile was distorted and her voice strange. She continued mumbling, “She’s the older twin, but her training speed was slower than mine. When I was fourteen years old, she thought of a plan to sabotage me… I… I was brought to the elders for a trial… “interrogated” by nine old men… for an entire night! That was when I first became a woman… It was with nine men at once, each at least thrice my age… No matter how many men and women I’ve had in my life… I haven’t been able to erase… them from memory. My father… he was only a small character in the family at the time… He used the situation to ask for favours from the elders, making his title hereditary… This is why I want to kill them all… All these matters… I can slowly tell you about them in the future… I remember every detail of that night…”

“Not interested.” Richard plunged the blade into Sinclair’s heart, cutting it apart. Sinclair’s body shook; her eyes turned wide in shock, but they eventually turned into an expression of release before they closed forever.

He stood up and looked over the corpse, many regrets coming to mind. This mighty, beautiful, yet insane young lady had turned into just another corpse. There were many stories behind her madness, but with her death all of her glory and hatred had been reduced to a heap of yellow soil. His own perseverance in battle, his constant strive to move forward… Did it have any meaning?

His contemplation was interrupted by the broodmother’s voice, “Master, I need the manticore’s body. If I eat it, I might be able to add an ability to my drones.”

“Good!” Richard immediately agreed. The final reason for their victory in this battle was still the broodmother. It had sacrificed over four hundred of its wolves, relying solely on strength in numbers to crush the manticore, great mage, and many magic horses to death. The sheer number of wolves was in effect a fundamental change to their power.

The broodmother had used up all its energy. Not wanting to move at all, it directed the remaining wind wolves to push the large manticore over, starting to eat.

Richard cast one last glance at Sinclair’s body, about to have her cremated. Suddenly, the broodmother’s voice sounded again, “Master, this woman is very important. If I get her body, I might be able to acquire a very important ability. It is related to divinity.”

Richard frowned, “About that…Let me think about it.”

Even though Sinclair was an enemy to the death, and the broodmother’s battle capabilities were of utmost importance, Richard still had a problem with her devouring humans, live or as corpses. Just as he was hesitating, the fallen cleric Kars hurriedly rushed over to him, “Master, Miss Flowsand wanted me to tell you that she wants Sinclair’s corpse. It’s very important to her.”