9 Practice (1/2)

”How should I hide my blackeye?”, Allen muttered. He was beaten up badly by his own little brother. Now, William won't even talk to him too. The nine year old kid may be perceptive and smart, but he was still a kid nonetheless who could throw a tantrum.

Allen then thought of something and walked away from the vicinity of the house.

***

Allen walked out of a shop, he bought a worn out low quality eyepatch with his 1 bronze coin to cover up his blackeye.

Afterwards, because there was nothing to do, he went towards the Three Heads Tavern.

As soon as he entered the tavern, he heard the people drinking and eating in the establishment talk about a common issue.

”The necromancer died right in front of my house! My family could've been hurt if that man was still alive.”, a man in front of the counter declared throughout the whole tavern.

”A necromancer? You mean an old man that they said who died last night? Come on, don't exaggerate his death!”, Customer No. 1 said.

”It's true, it was really a necromancer! The chief guard himself personally approved that it was among those vile killers!”, Customer No. 2 interrupted.

”Really?”, Customer No. 1 asked.

”Yes.”, the man nodded. ”I would've never said that it was a necromancer out loud, or else everyone would think I'm crazy.”

”Then... how did he die?”, Customer No. 3 asked.

After that question, everyone's interest was piqued, including Allen's, and they lended an ear to listen.

”He.... well, I have no idea. There was nothing released on the board outside the city hall about how did he die.”, the man shook his head.

Everyone was disappointed by the man's reply and the tavern suddenly became quiet.

”How did the necromancer enter the city then?”, another customer asked.

Now, the establishment became lively again as they waited for the man to answer the question.

”Do you remember the news about a mage coming to divine the person who killed the chief guard's son?”, the man said.

”Huh?”

”Yeah.”

”So what about it?”

”The invited mage was in fact the necromancer!”, the man said.

”What?!”

”How?”

”That's impossible, you're just slandering the mayor.”, a customer, who was obviously a supporter of the mayor, said.

”No I'm not! The mayor himself wrote a note of apology about it, it's posted on the board too!”, the man said.

”Whoa!”

”I'm going to check it later.”

”Me too.”

”If it is really a necromancer... then we would've died in our sleep last night if that evil being wasn't killed!”, a customer pointed out.

All the other people felt chill in their hearts, what that customer just said was right, them and their families would've been killed if the necromancer didn't die!

They've heard of stories from travelers and merchants all over the kingdom about villages and towns getting massacred by necromancers! It frightened the populace of the villages, towns and cities to the point that the Retollian Holy Alliance took action with the help of the kingdom.

In the end, they solved the case of the circulated stories. They didn't destroy a single one of the scattered groups of necromancers, but caught the person who was the mastermind behind all the stories.

That person was a merchant who was selling fake bane protections, he started to make up the stories so his products could be bought.

Of course, there were some people that still believed that there were communities massacred by the necromancers tho.

”Hey, if you want to eat, sit down or get out of here.”, a voice said towards Allen.

Allen looked at his side and saw Kate, the latter didn't notice earlier that it was him.

Kate was caught off guard, ”Ehh, it's you Allen? I didn't know it was you with that eyepatch, and why are you even wearing one?”

Allen carefully lifted his eyepatch to show Kate and placed back down on his eye.

”How did you get a blackeye? I don't remember you having one last night.”, Kate asked.

”My little brother punched me in the face.”, Allen answered quietly, so others won't be able to hear it.

”Oh.”, Kate paused and asked. ”Why are you here?”

”I don't know where should I go.”

”You're not going to eat or drink anything?”

”No.”