Ascension of the elder

Chapter 58: Toy soldiers

"Hey Dylan what do you think about these balls?"

"Well they're quite impressive."

".....Dylan whatever anyone says never change."

"Okay??"

Deciding it would be best to leave now Kyle led Dylan out of the basement while re-activating the 'illusion' arrays behind them to maintain the secrecy of the place. They carried on towards the market when Kyle spoke to Dylan.

"Dylan tomorrow can you investigate if anyone owns the land that the ruins are on. I would like to take possession of it but if it is owned I want to know what price it would be."

"No problem sir I'll check at the imperial offices tomorrow morning."

As they got closer to the market Kyle got a feeling they were being watched. He quietly looked around trying to find the source but there were too many places where people could hide and the range of his soul force wasn't enough to pick up the source of the gaze.

Thinking it was better safe than sorry Kyle placed his hand on the hilt of his sword in preparedness. When Dylan saw Kyle slowly grasping the hilt of his sword, he became alert as well. While he didn't prepare to draw his weapon he did however move slightly to the left giving Kyle and himself more room to move.

This movement was due to the training they had undertaken earlier and with Kyle's guidance they had better means of fighting at close quarters like in the alley they were in. They carried on at a slightly slower pace being ready for anything.

As they came to a crossroads at the head of the alley a child came quickly from the right and tried to bump into Kyle. This wasn't an attack as the child had no cultivation or even a weapon. As the child rushed towards Kyle he merely stepped back and stuck out his leg tripping the child who was rushing through.

The kid ended up face first on the ground and began to sniffle. Kyle came close to him before he spoke.

"So why were you trying to bump into me?"

Hearing Kyle the kid stopped sniffling and looked up at him. Fearfully looking between Kyle and Dylan he didn't respond because of fear before Kyle spoke again in a kinder tone.

"Look I can imagine why you tried to bump into me but I want to know why. Can you tell me?"

Kyle was trying to get the kid to talk because he was young for a pickpocket so there had to be some reason for his actions and Kyle didn't want to destroy a child's life for no reason.

"Sir I need money to pay for my sister..she's sick I don't know what to do."

On saying this the kid began bawling his eye's out, Kyle used his empathy when the kid confessed and found he was telling the truth.

"Okay calm down why don't you take us to see your sister, we may be able to help okay?"

Kyle spoke to the kid trying to get him to calm down, one thing Kyle couldn't deal with in his previous life was crying kids and it seemed this life was no different. The kid looked at him with surprise which turned into suspicion but seeing no way out he stood up and led them to his home.

The kid's home was a small barely standing hovel a little way back from the main road into the market. It was in a bad state and looked as if it may collapse at any moment, it was also smaller than even the other hovels around it which showed it had been built by this kid and maybe his sister. Dylan spoke this time.

"Hey kid what happened to your parents."

"I don't really know, my sister says we were sent away when bad people came to our home to keep us safe and our parents were hurt by the bad people but I don't remember it."

Nodding to his self Kyle thought it was most likely a gang which had attacked for money or some other reason or just for shits and giggles as people had been killed for less in the slums.

Kyle looked at the size of the place and spoke to Dylan.

"You'd better stay out here, I don't know if the place would survive both of us entering."

Dylan looked over the place and felt Kyle may be right, it was in that bad a state it looked like a breath of wind could make it collapse so he stood on station next to one of the more solid buildings nearby.

The kid led Kyle into the hovel via a hole which served as a door. Kyle looked around and it looked surprisingly cosy inside. You could see the hovel was in a bad state but there were plants in broken pots around and there was a homely feeling to the place.

The kid led him to a bunch of blankets where he could see a young girl with red hair was laying. She didn't move as they approached and her breathing was rather shallow. The strange thing was that Kyle could clearly see blue veins on her face, arms and hands.

Looking her over Kyle felt she was in a bad state. He gave her a quick scan with his soul force and felt there was something familiar about her. It was just a feeling which he couldn't place, it may have been from the previous Kyle as this feeling was fleeting at best.

Kyle looked over the hovel and the girl again before making a decision.

"Okay kid I'll do what I can to heal your sister but if I do both of you will need to work as my servants is that okay with you."

Kyle wasn't aiming to create a legion of child soldiers but given what seems to be occurring within the city and the lack of care orphans seemed to be given it was better they were with him than on the streets.

The kid thought for a minute or two as it was usually his sister who made the decisions for them as she was older than he was. Unable to think of any other solution he chose to trust this young master who was the first to offer them a helping hand. The other people of the slum aren't bad people but they all have their own issues to deal with and didn't have the resources to help out a couple of kids unrelated to them.

"I agree we will work for you if you can help my sister."

"Okay I won't do anything here, let's get you both back to my mansion and then I'll have a look. Grab anything you want to bring with you."

The kid began routing around picking up various items and laid them in a sheet he had picked up from the ground to make a bundle he could carry. He was done in quick time and in just a moment they were ready.

Kyle picked up the girl who was shockingly light and they exited the hovel. Dylan saw them exiting and his eyes opened wide when he saw Kyle carrying a little girl in a princess carry.

"What's happening sir?"

"Don't worry Dylan, we are taking these 2 in and I need to heal the girl once we get back. It isn't safe to do it here. Can you carry her until we pick up the baggage?"

Dylan didn't think too much about and lifted the girl from Kyle's arms and they all began traipsing out of the slums. As they left a few people saw them with the kids which would lead to some rumours about Kyle and his preferences.

Finally they returned to the market and Kyle went to the inn to recover their steeds while Dylan waited with the kids. When Kyle reclaimed their steeds he mounted up and Dylan passed the girl to him while he hauled the kid up behind him on his steed and they headed to the guard station to pick up their new members.

The captain was the one that greeted him and passed him a file with all the details he had from his investigations. Kyle was impressed by this captain of the guards and found out his name. He was called Tobias and he had served as a guard for this market for the last fifteen years and became a captain 3 years ago.

His new members came out of the post looking down and depressed and having become slaves. This was worse than anything they had ever suffered before but it was better than dying they felt. They could only hope their new master wouldn't order them to be bait for demon beasts as they had heard stories of this happening to noble's slaves before.

With everything sorted the newly enlarged group headed back to Kyle's mansion with the former bandits jogging to keep up. When they eventually arrived back at the estate Kyle and Dylan returned their steeds to the stable and walked back to Kyle's mansion while Dylan took the girl again and carried her all the way.

When the bandits saw the mansion they thought maybe this wouldn't be so bad and began to perk up. As they entered the mansion Kyle felt a cold chill when a voice sounded from nearby.

"Who is she?"

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