Рамиль Латыпов - Dark Lord. Book One

© Рамиль Латыпов, 2022

ISBN 978-5-0056-2258-7 (т. 1)

ISBN 978-5-0056-2259-4

Создано в интеллектуальной издательской системе Ridero

Chapter 1: Life in a Magical Village

What a beautiful summer day today. Ivor and I are thirteen years old. My whole life is ahead of me. My small village «Likhovia», is located in the middle of nowhere. And I really like it. Although taxes have been raised, but you can still live. After all, there is a forest nearby and there are a lot of animals in it. Although there are enough magical beasts. The village chief meets once a month in the city and announces the extermination of them to the Adventurers ' guild. They come, so beautiful in armor and armor. Sometimes mages with staffs. So strong, they kill all animals with magic. Even rain is called when it is necessary. I don’t have time to do that. There is very little magic. They test kids for talent. They buy out the most talented students. So my two friends Irinka and Mark were taken away. My dad Eliot is a half-elf like my mom Irina koshkolyudka died a year ago from the clutches of the count’s pet griffin, and he started drinking. It’s hard for him to be alone with me. But he doesn’t want another woman, and who’s going to go after a drunkard now? Well, at least I have a talent for hunting and gathering. We live on them. I also help in the field. We have bull Sense. Nice, affectionate, carries heavy loads. It would have been very bad without him. While I sit near the house and cook onions, local bullies came.

– Look, the drunk’s son is going to the forest. Let the animals kill him in the forest, and we’ll eat his bull. They say the wizard raccoon is raging again. That’s the monster. Elf ears and cat ears. Four-eared. – Said the dirty-looking fourteen-year-old Temyan, nicknamed «Big Root», the son of the village headman Oleg. «Throw it at the ragamuffin. He likes it anyway. – And as always, five kids, three boys and two girls about the same age, started throwing dirt and rocks at me. I’ve tried to fight them before. But I always lost. They won by numbers. So I started ignoring them. Five minutes passed. I was covered in mud and abrasions and the leader said. «Stop wasting your time on this scum and let’s move on. «And they left. And the ears help me in hunting with them you can hear better. And Thyme didn’t like me, because I’m pretty and girls like me. And I will live much longer than he is a human. I stuck out my tongue.

I dusted it off, of course. Healed with recovery magic. He walked briskly into the woods. My father is sleeping in the hayloft after last night’s drinking. As soon as he wakes up, he doesn’t start eating. And if I don’t find something for him, I’ll be worse off. The butt from his belt still hadn’t healed from the last time. In order to cure him of his drunkenness, I went to the local witch Terimuska. But all to no avail. Herbs and medicines don’t help. He’s a good man when he’s sober. He teaches me how to cultivate the land. He taught me how to shoot with a bow. He’s very good at recovery magic. But as soon as he drinks it, it’s like a demon takes over. He wants to fight. To the neighbor lonely Elena sticks. She’s already got a lot of problems. My husband and son were eaten by a magical lion six months ago. She doesn’t care about us. She has debts. She is kind. He gives me milk and tea, feeds me homemade cookies. I sometimes give her the skins in return. She makes toys out of them, sells them in the bazaar in the city of Kau. That’s how it survives. If my father hadn’t been drinking, I would have been my second mother. But where there.

Many people greeted me on the way. They wished me luck. We have a peaceful village. Poor people are our problem. Taxes were raised. I walked for a long time, about an hour, until I got deep into the forest. It’s dark out there. Just another day. I checked the snares and traps. So little things like squirrels and martens. We need to find some big game. Tax day is coming up. I’ll give you the skin of a large animal, they’ll leave us a month behind. I listened, and it was quiet. What is. Where there are birds or animals. He hid behind a tree stump and waited. In the distance I hear the trees bend. A big one is coming, even too big. I took a closer look. A large magic raccoon five meters long. Well, if he sees everything, he’ll eat it right away. He began to bury himself in mud. Maybe it will help. Buried all the good earth is loose after the rain. Left only the mouth and eyes of the rest in the ground. He held his breath. But the beast, sniffing, comes towards me. It’s scary, but you can’t be afraid. «Magical beasts can smell your fear,» is what my father always says when he’s sober. He used to be a great hunter. Here in the village I am respected, almost by everyone.

The face of a terrible beast prowls the ground. The creature sniffs. He moves his nose. Saliva and blood flow from the bloody mouth. Who did you eat, creature? Here it is above me. Well, that’s it. Goodbye my friends, goodbye father, goodbye Elena. Maybe it will be better without me. I’m just a peasant in the middle of nowhere. This is how my life will end.

The sound of bowstrings being pulled, I can’t mistake it for anything else. The arrow flies and it crashes into the raccoon’s face. The deafening cry of the beast. But you can’t kill him that easily. It rips up the ground, grazing me as well. Large wounds all over my body. A second, third arrow and the beast falls dead to the ground.

«There’s a kid all hurt. A pleasant female voice says. She came over. Beautiful aunt. It looks like a demon with small horns and short red hair. Dressed in red armor. Young, no more than twenty years old. You can’t tell by the demons, though. They can live forever. Well, neither am I a quarter elf.

«Leave him alone, Elsa, he’s a village kid. It’s second-level. Don’t waste your time and potions on him. We did the job. Now let’s go. A rough male voice said.

«No, Zaire, I’ll help him. See how beautiful it is. He will become a man, he will be a handsome man at all. She doused me with a recovery potion and kissed me on the forehead, saying. «When you grow up, find me. – And calmly left.

I lay there for a long time. After all, when I woke up, it was night. There was no one around, just the carcass of a golden deer and a gold coin. She must have left it. But who they were. I didn’t bother to find out, so I took the carcass on my shoulder, put the coin in the sole of my shoe, and ran home.

«Where have you been, kid?» I want to eat, but I’m not a piggy at home. My father said, looking terribly hungover.

«I went hunting, you see. I have to pay the tax tomorrow. Here, eat some nuts and cook some protein. I tossed three squirrels on the table.«I have to clean the carcass.» We’ll give you the skin. That’s enough for a month. And please don’t spoil the skins, Dad, I’ll give them to my neighbor Elena. It’s hard for her, too.

«Shut up, brat. I’m your dad. And you decided to teach me. I’m smarter than you. You’re still a brat. If your mother were still alive, she would teach you a lesson. «My mother loved me and didn’t beat me. «Your mother.» Then he sat down on the bench and began to cry.

I realized that everything was useless. I cooked the protein on the fire. I fed my father. And he began to clean the deer skin himself. Well, at least Dad remembered Mom today. I didn’t beat him, though. I’m going to work in the fields again tomorrow.

Morning. How nice it is to get up at four in the morning and go to work in the fields after spending the whole night cleaning a deer skin. But I’m not used to complaining. So I worked the land until noon. We planted sugar beets. Then they sold it to the local count. He makes sugar out of it for princes and nobles. We are paid a penny that Dad drinks. But thank you for that, too. I know of no other life. So I clean up the weeds. I went home at lunchtime. We need to pay the tax. The taxman came in on time, beast.