Chapter 21: Hit list.

Chapter 21 - Hit list.After visiting the largest market in Sunwell, and stacking up on ink and paper, Lee asked Tess to bring him to where Powel's mansion once was. Despite vigorous stepmother's protests, he insisted until she finally gave in.

As expected, Powel once owned a large estate right next to the palace. Lee's guess was that out of all nobles the minister of works probably had the largest piece of land in the city, even compared to the other members of the council. The only difference was that now it looked like it was struck by a localized natural disaster.

Hundreds of acres housed ruins of once lavish buildings, and next to the piles of debris Lee could see tens of lifeless bodies of Powel's household members, hanging at crudely constructed gallows. Strangely enough, while flocks of crows were feasting on the corpses, no scavengers crawled around the ruins, trying to loot valuables. Either it was the deterrence from the guards stationed around the place, or the fact that the former noble clan turned out to be traitors.

Lee did feel sad, but he had mostly made peace with the fact that he'll have to live with what he had done, probably forever. There was no way to bring anyone back to life, but if he could, there was only one person that came to his mind he would.

And after returning home, he began to draw that person, her mischievous smile, ever dancing ponytail, and her half of the amulet hanging on her chest. Seeing Lee going back to drawing gave Tess scare at first, but when on the sheet of paper instead of Powel's terrified grimace appeared Lisa's playful image, she could finally heave a sigh of relief.

"Who's that?" She curiously asked.

"A girl." Lee absentmindedly answered.

"Did we see her in the city?" Tess asked, to what Lee gave a barely visible nod and continued to draw.

She happily observed her stepson at work – he had never been too chatty, so him being silent didn't worry her. But him drawing a pretty girl was clearly a huge improvement. After a while Tess grew curious about the strange amulet the girl in the drawing had that resembled the mark on Lee's right palm, but she held back further questions and watched in silence.



Meanwhile Lee, staring at the drawing of Lisa faintly smiling back at him, tried to figure out whether at some point he could actually loose the bits of humanity that set him apart from the crown princess and her bunch.

It took some time and a lot of drawing, but in the end he mostly got over his inner struggles.

It was clear that this time only his own shortsightedness led to the tragedy. After living for several lifetimes, he inevitably began to consider himself to be something akin to a god, and, if not almighty, then undying for sure. And even though in general he treated others according to his own upbringing, he forgot that the people in this particular world mostly would be considered cold-hearted sociopaths in his first life.

Lee was amused by the paradox that according to the local standards, not only he didn't have to feel bad for what he had done – he should've been proud! But the revelation didn't make him feel better about himself.

He didn't suddenly decide to become some kind of pacifist though or forget about what those young nobles had done. On the contrary, his determination to get revenge got even stronger. But he made a simple rule for himself – he had to make sure that the ones who payed for their crime were the ones actually responsible for it.

Out of the twelve people who destroyed Pine Village, Hannah and Dale were already dead. And that left Lee with only ten. Obviously the Crown Princess Victoria and the three sons of generals – Virgil Strongheart, Mark Hardwood and Ian Foxson were the toughest nuts to crack, and before he could do anything about them, he had to become stronger, much, much stronger.

He probably even had to get his hands on one of those sparks before thinking of going against the young monsters – Virgil easily carrying Powel and Hannah by their necks was still fresh in Lee's memory.

On the other hand, the two drunkards, maritime minister's sons Drevin and Lance, along with their sister Helen, were surely easier targets. And so were minister's of justice daughters Kris and Cecil Ironfists. The last one was Karl Bishop, heir to the minister of finance, but by all standards he seemed to be the weakest of the bunch.

It was clear that for now Lee was too small to do anything, but he was not in a rush. He was certain that with enough patience an opportunity would present itself – he only had to allow circumstances to develop accordingly. And for that he had to go back to mixing in the circle of nobles again.

While Tess was thrilled by the sight of Lee returning to his daily physical exercises, he managed to upset her by joining Alan for the next Imperial Council. Fortunately her curses were mostly directed at her husband who had grown used to her manner of expression.

***

Days flew by quickly and soon dancing and singing citizens filled the streets of Sunwell, celebrating the arrival of the new year. While most people in this world were not well off, for some reason they gladly took part in any festival formally organized by the emperor, especially the New Year's celebrations.



The three day tax free period was considered an incrediblegenerosity that led almost everyone to spend their savings by decorating cities and towns across the empire. And afterwards drink like there was no tomorrow.

To the owners of taverns and alehouses this was the prime time of the year, even more profitable than the midsummer festival. Their establishments were packed day and night, but people who couldn't get in, continued to drink on the streets.

The only ones who remained more or less sober were guards, but apart from few incidents here and there their presence was generally enough to maintain peace and order.

To celebrate her stepsons sixth birthday, Tess brought Lee around the largest marketplaces, but to her disappointment he didn't ask for anything apart from more paper and ink. Of course, her son being a genius in her eyes was not enough, and she wanted to pamper him like all regular mothers did, but he never gave her a chance.

Meanwhile Lee, strolling around the busy streets, was more occupied by the social paradox that he just realized. Turns out that the poorer the people, the more they drank alcohol. It was as if the magical liquid worked as some kind of painkiller against life's problems with the only side effect being everything becoming worse the more it was consumed.

Lee was so engrossed in his thoughts and the surrounding chaos, that he didn't notice he agreed to Tess's suggestion what made his stepmother overly excited and happy. She began to pull him over to the best tailor shops she knew, and buy stacks of fancy clothing, ignoring Lee's protests and annoyed expression.

Only in the evening he realized what he had agreed to. Turns out the nobles of the capital also celebrated the event. Every year a different family hosted a feast, during which members of the younger generation performed by showing off their talents.

Some would sing or play musical instruments, while others demonstrated combat techniques and even competed by sparring. And Lee promised Tess he would draw something as a part of his performance.

After realizing the mistake, Lee's first impulse was to simply change his mind and not go, because as a child he was entitled to being moody. But then he saw Tess's excitement and, suddenly, felt for her. She was clearly over fifty years old, maybe even sixty, and never had a chance to publicly boast about her child. And while they weren't related by blood, she genuinely cared for him as if he had always been her own.

More importantly, there was no harm in drawing a quick sketch in front of everyone – maybe a bit showing off would increase his own future prospects. After all, he still had a whole life ahead of him in this world, and a bunch of people to kill.