Several hours of travel passed, during which Flamme and Himmel recounted their adventures and what the end of their lives was like.

— It's really a beautiful and interesting story— replied Fauna, then she frowned a bit.Mine, on the other hand, is not as thrilling as yours, I will say more, it is painfully ordinary. I lived in my village and helped my fellows and people who needed a healer, until...— She looked at Menno and did not have to say anything more.

Menno did not feel guilty about what he had done. Yes he murdered the elves, but that was the order, and as an assassin in the service of his clan he could not question the decision of the grand master, but his deliberations were interrupted by the voice of Flamme.

— There is nothing to break. Many would gladly swap their adventurous life for one like yours, A peaceful life doesn't sound so bad after all.

— And what do you think?- asked Himmel, directing his gaze towards Menno.

— Well I...I think that probably someone needs help.— He replied unexpectedly, and began to listen. Follow me!— He shouted and ran away from the guesthouse in the direction of a nearby grove, from which he heard a noise.

The others, wasting no time, rushed after him to see that their companion was right. Near a nearby grove, some unfortunate man was trying to chase away the bloodthirsty birds that surrounded him and his horse.

Himmel quickly stepped in front of him to shield him from their claws, which, however, managed to injure him several times, and Menno, using shadow magic, shot out of his hand a shadowy vine that looked like an extension of his arm, so that he grabbed the neck of one of the birds and drew it towards him, only to immediately cut it down by the head with a blow of his sword.

— Cut off?! Grave?!— choked out the stranger, to whom Menno's words did not reach. —Why?!

— It's either death, I assume you're not a medic and don't have medicine, we can only superficially treat your wounds, but without professional care it could be miserable.

— You don't need to frighten him like that. He was only defending his horse.— Interjected Himmel with calmness, who was not satisfied with the words of his companion, who instead of keeping the unfortunate man's spirits up, passed a death sentence on his hand or him.

— This is noble, but better a brutal truth than a beautiful lie, and you know it well.

— You are right, but you forget that we have someone who can heal, Fauna can you help this unfortunate man?

Menno had actually forgotten because he had been working alone for so long that he had learned to rely only on himself and his skills and knowledge.

*As I think about it now, maybe I was too quick to pass judgment* He thought, but didn't want to admit it out loud.

Fauna knelt down next to the injured man and looked at his hand.

— Menno is unfortunately right, I feel that an infection has set in, but it's nothing I couldn't handle. — Fauna whispered under her breath some incantation, and the wounds began to heal and after a while there was no scar left. — Like new— she said proudly, looking at the result of her work.

— Thank you. — Said the stranger, who suddenly regained his strength. — Thank you a hundred times over.

— It was our duty to help our neighbor in need. — Himmel replied.

— Unfortunately, I have nothing to pay you with...

— There is no need. We do not help others for money. — Himmel protested, slightly offended by the stranger's suggestion.

— Where were you headed? — Menno asked.

— To the capital, and on my hay wagon I carry several crates of the best wine in the region. My cousin is a majordomo for one of the lords, who is organizing a grand party soon.

— It looks like fate may be on our side. — Menno smiled. — Can we take you to the capital?

— Sure. I'll feel safer with such protection. — The stranger replied happily. — And my name is Milten.

(Milten appearance)

— I'm Himmel, and these are my companions: that skeptical fellow who wanted to cut off your hand is Menno, and he may not look it, but he's not so bad, and those two beautiful girls are Flamme and Fauna.

—My pleasure - Milten bowed elegantly.

— This is not a weapon that peasants usually use — Menno noticed, picking up the sword that Milten defended himself with and swinging it a few times. — It looks like a knight's sword, and the coat of arms on the crossguard confirms it..

— You have an excellent eye, Mr. Menno, it's true that I used to be a knight, but first I had an arrow in my knee, and then a shattered hand, and that's how my knight career ended —he laughed ironically. — However, I served my time and I've seen more than one thing, because although my leg would still hurt somehow, this hand prevents me from wielding a sword like in the old days, or rather, it prevented me, because now I feel as if it had regained its former efficiency, which is extraordinary, because all the medics said the same thing, that nothing could be done, and here you are. — Milten, took his sword and after a moment tears of happiness appeared on his cheeks. - You not only saved my life, but you gave me my previous one back.

— We had no idea how capable our healer was, but I'm glad we could help.— Himmel replied.

— Anyway, if you ever need help, you can count on me, and to start things off, I'll take you to the capital. — Milten grabbed the horse by the bridle and moved ahead towards the wagon standing a dozen or so meters away. — Fortunately, it's in one piece, so take your seats and we can go.

And so the team was on the trail again, and their journey continued until nightfall, when they set up camp.

—  Tomorrow at noon we should be there.— Declared Milten, adding wood to the campfire.— I haven't traveled with adventurers for a long time I'm sure you have more than one story to tell.

— Some will surely be found.— Responded without much enthusiasm Menno, who was not a bard or anyone who could elevate even the simplest activity to the rank of an epic deed.

—  Then perhaps you can tell us your story.— Suggested Himmel Of all of us you are the most secretive.

— Do you forget who I am? Well, but so be it. We are comrades in arms now, and this story may help you understand who we are dealing with. Okay...—Menno looked thoughtful for a moment.—You know the date of the uprising, so I'll tell you about when I joined the Shadowbrand clan and what happened then, and this took place about 2,300 years ago.

— How many? —Shouted a surprised Milten, who seemed not to believe Menno's words, but the latter did not seem to be making things up.

— This is true. Anyway, you should associate Himmel, because he supposedly has his own monument in the capital. The four heroes who killed the Demon King — Menno, nodded. —Generally speaking, you have before you the four heroes who rose from their graves to kill demons.— He added and hoped that these words would build their legend in the present day and fill their enemies with fear.

— If you look at him, he actually looks like him. The problem is that he has been dead for 30 years and it will be hard to convince people that it was he in the flesh who rose from the grave.

—Maybe it wasn't created, but was pulled out of it — Himmle corrected. — Is anyone of my companions alive? 

— Yes. The dwarf Eisen, but he probably won't live too long either, rumor has it that he returned home and trained a successor, but the elven mage is doing quite well from what I've heard. 

— We won't chase after your friend just to confirm who you are, besides, even Flamme, who was like a mother to her and incidentally was the most powerful human sorceress, didn't believe that returning to life was possible. — Menno, who had figured out what Himmel wanted to do, interjected firmly. — We'll forge our legend anew and then maybe they'll believe us.

— I don't want to say it, but he's right. Time is a commodity we can't afford. — Fauna, who had been sitting quietly until now, replied.

— In fact, you're right. — Himmel sighed, who was a bit resigned by his companion's words, but he and Fauna were right that personal intentions would have to wait, and if fate would have it, Frieren's and his paths would cross again.

— So if I may, I'd like to return to my story, may I?— But please, speak, speak. — Milten said, who was intrigued by the story from such a long time ago.

— I won't surprise you with the fact that people were more primitive and superstitious back then, and above all much more aggressive. "The strongest has the right to everything" was the unwritten law of those times, people were divided into clans and other communities, but the truth was that the loyalty of many people was very questionable, so betrayals, burning villages and other such attractions were not uncommon, but during such plundering I came across the Shadowmark Clan. For your information, back then, there were only a handful of people who could use magic, so the Shadowmark Clan with the power they gained could rule the entire land, but the grand master forbade us from interfering in the affairs of others and limiting ourselves to our own goals. — He said, amused, but in retrospect, it was a good thing they avoided other people. —Returning to my story, I will state right away: they did not attack us and in fact I never found out who did it, but I survived only because some scared idiot ran into me and I fell into the well, which saved my life. I will never forget that day there. I sat in that well for 8 hours, waiting for the screams and footsteps to stop, and when I came out, I found one huge battlefield, the village was burning, corpses were lying everywhere, and those who did it took everything that had any value and when I was walking through that destroyed village, deprived of all hope and purpose, I ran into three warriors from the Shadowmark, led by an older man named Menno. I will warn you about the next ones: yes, that is why I took that name, to commemorate the one who saved me, but that happened later. My savior died 4 years after my rescue, so it is appropriate for me to summarize how he died. They were chasing an elf who lured him into an ambush with several other members of the clan, to sacrifice their lives by taking them with her. Twelve set off on the mission, and two returned. They said that they had driven the elf into a valley from which she could no longer escape, but no one expected that she had lured them there, and when they were close enough, death fell from the sky. Pieces of hot rock flew through the air, the entire valley was on fire. A few days later, both could not stand the nightmares that plagued them. The first attacked another of ours, because he kept seeing the elf, and the second set off who knows where and was never heard from again. I remember to this day how they told what happened to them: Everyone burst into flames in a few seconds, and the elf stood proudly, and even when her own flames consumed her, she did not let out a single scream. We survived because we were supposed to keep her from escaping, and our companions were screaming, trying to put out the flames, but they couldn't, it was a magical fire that burned until it burned whatever it stuck to to ashes.

— Is that where your hatred of elves comes from? — Fauna asked. 

— I have never hated elves. — Menno replied calmly. 

— I simply did what the Grand Master wanted me to do. 

— And without any deeper thought, without asking any questions? I am not a good match for you. — she replied in a mocking tone.

— The Grand Master was very rarely wrong and we usually did well by listening to his orders, but back to the story. I wasn't the only one saved, each of the new recruits lives thanks to the intervention of theShadowbrand Clan. They knew that by saving someone's life, you gain their unwavering loyalty and new opportunities. The training was long and very intense, lasting until the age of 16 and focused on strengthening the body and mind. "When your muscles fail, use your head" as one of the masters used to say, of course there was no obligation to complete it, but it was the only way to gain the true strength that the clan offered. That's when someone from the Shadow Blades would appear to perform a ritual that involved marking the chosen ones or branding them, interesting fact: that's where the name of the clan comes from. It's hard to describe, but it was a very unpleasant and quite long ritual. The brand is the final pact between us and our demonic allies. Under the influence of shock, pain, specially created poison injected into the body, a demon enters the scene, which activates the Brand, and only then does the person learn the true meaning of the word pain. "For where there is pain, there is life. In the darkness lies immeasurable power. Look into the night and learn these teachings well," Menno smiled grimly, reciting at the end a fragment of the rule that had been instilled in him and everyone else.

—Oh!— whispered Flamme, who wanted everyone to have access to magic, but not like this and not on these terms.

Menno saw Flamme's disgust, but he had to tell the whole story, no matter how terrible it seemed. 

— Activation causes your body to fill with so much mana that if it was too weak, it will suffer fatal damage to both body and mind. I would compare it to opening a dam where water has been accumulating for a long time and if the trough, our body, holds it, it will gain access to it, and if it is too narrow, this water will get out of control and destroy everything. In short, even a person without magical potential could become a "magician" if they were strong enough. I will add that after this ritual you become a completely different person, you become faster, stronger, but this has its price. No drugs, medicines or painkillers work on us. We cannot lose consciousness or drown ourselves. All this so that under the influence of magic, drugs or alcohol we do not reveal even the smallest secret. Many claimed that we do not feel pain, but this is not true, we have only learned to endure it. We will die from pain, not betray it. The next 4 years were spent getting used to the new power and learning the basics, and then the rest was up to us. That's when I chose the name Menno as a symbol of a new beginning.

—So every single one of you could do the same thing, right?— Flamme asked, calming down a bit but still feeling a little uneasy. Torture to gain power? It just as much as seemed incomprehensible to her that humans could do it.

—In the beginning. Later, we discovered what we could do with this power ourselves, and I emphasize the word ourselves here, because our masters expected us to find our own way on a new path, and not to repeat patterns. And when the training ended, each of us, using the instructions of our master blacksmith, forged our own blade tempered in the blood of a shadow dragon with a touch of our own, which, combined with the spells that were cast on it, bound the sword only to the one who forged it and only he could use its full potential, and the result is the red color of the blade, which is why we were unofficially called the Bloody Blades, and we did not mind the stories people created about us, on the contrary, most people knew who we were and were afraid of us like the plague, and that is why we acted independently of each other, so as not to attract attention and we answered only to the grand master. Towards the end of this already shortened story, right after killing Fauna, which by the way wasn't easy at all, I returned home, but I didn't find anyone. Everyone, every single one, had disappeared, no traces of the attack, nothing at all as if they had only left for a moment. I was 40 years old then and I was left alone, that was the first time in a long time that I didn't know what to do, so I started looking for them for another 60 years and I didn't find them. During that time I shed a lot of blood, humans, elves, and even demons, the only thing I determined was that the demons had something to do with the disappearance of my clan. Maybe during our journey I will discover what happened to them and finally close this chapter.

— A story like one of the stories that are read to children or told in taverns sounds so fantastic that it is hard to believe that it could have happened. — Milten stated, who was nevertheless impressed by Menno's story. — With the passage of time everything sooner or later becomes a legend, legends become myths, that is simply how it is and either they will scare children with us, or hold us up as an example or simply forget about us. — Menno replied indifferently, throwing wood on the fire. — You should get some sleep, who knows what awaits us tomorrow in the capital, and I will keep an eye out so that no one makes us an unpleasant surprise.

Everyone gathered around the fire nodded and settled down to sleep near it.

Before falling asleep, Fauna wondered if what Menno had told her was true or a well-practiced lie, but if it was true, it meant that demons were responsible for her fate and the fate of others killed by Menno and others like him, and that meant that their mission had become even more personal to her. After a while, she fell asleep like the others, and Menno just stared at the dancing flames of the fire, lost in his own thoughts, but still alert, after all, he was now responsible for the fate of others, and he always took such duties very seriously.

To be continued