My visit with the Church of Kronozo went exceedingly well. I was immediately seen by the head priest. He was a tall gaunt man that wore plain black robes. He was bald and very pale. He had calloused hands and a very approachable personality. He and I talked about his god Kronozo. Kronozo was the god of harvest and hidden knowledge. He was a popular god among the farmers, academics and adventurers. His priests were sought out by farmers during the growing season and harvest time. Academics favored him, particularly researchers. Finally, many adventurers prayed to him before each trip, hoping he would provide the intuition needed to survive.

  Because harvests could be destroyed by disease, his priests originally only cured plant diseases. Much later they were allowed to cure diseases associated with sapient beings, but it was a limited set of diseases.

  Since their main focus was on helping farmers have good harvest rather than curing diseases, the church actively wanted me to cure diseases and, if possible, train people in the art. They also encouraged me to use magical healing, since the Healers Guild didn’t. Besides, they did not charge for curing diseases. Now that is a religion that I can respect. All in all, it was an amiable meeting with the church officials. Finally, something went right today.

  I was headed home after my meeting with the Church of Kronozo. I was walking with my two guards lost in thought, when one of the guards placed a hand on my chest to stop me. I looked up and saw three men in cloaks standing in the road about 25 feet in front of us. It was obvious they were waiting for us. I couldn’t make out their faces, but from their stance I could tell they were looking for a fight. Two of the men started to move forward and to the sides, covering most of the road now. There was no way to move forward without engaging. My guards moved to intercept them. When my guards separated from me, the man in the middle whipped out a loaded crossbow and shot at me. The bolt was aimed directly at my chest. Slow Time activated, but the surprise was complete, and I froze for just a second. That was enough. The bolt zipped across the distance separating us. It suddenly stopped about 1 inch from me and fell to the ground. Arem’s Defense felt warm on my chest. It had activated and stopped the crossbow bolt. Jolted from my stupor, I ran toward my assailant casting Identification and hopefully engaging before he could reload.

  [Name: Quillian]

  [Race: Human]

  [Class: Assassin]

  [Level: 10]

  Before I reached him, Quillian dropped his crossbow and brought out a short sword. The sword radiated an aura of death giving off a black miasma. Considering I had Slow Time activated, he was moving fast. Barely slower than a normal person. I guessed he had either a variant of Slow Time or a quickness skill. Either way, this was going to be tough fight.

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  Quillian parried my first attack and performed an almost perfect riposte. Luckily, I was still a little faster than him and was able to parry. Quillian seemed surprised I could keep up with him. We exchanged a few strikes measuring each other’s skill. Strike, counter strike, parry, riposte. Quillian had a skill advantage and he knew it. If it wasn’t for Slow Time, I would already be dead. He pressed the attack, putting me on the defensive. My slight advantage in speed helped with my defense. The more we fought, the more obvious it became that he was the better swordsman. However, I was not alone and my two guards were better than his two accomplices. Quillian had to kill me before one of my guards killed his opponent and came to help. This made Quillian take chances that he shouldn’t.

  I kept on being defensive, knowing that Quillian couldn’t afford a long fight. He was trying to come in close, and I used my sword’s length advantage to keep him away. After a few more engagements, he started to get desperate. I kept looking for an error on his part, so I could cast Wind Blade. I was sure Quillian did not know of my ability to cast magic through my sword. When the opening did come, I quickly cast Wind Blade, but because of my nervousness, I missed his chest and hit his right side. It caught him completely by surprise and he was unable to dodge or parry. The Wind Blade torn into his right shoulder and arm. Between his shock and the damage to his arm, it caused him to drop his sword.

  Quillian quickly looked at his fellow assassins, assessing their position. One was on the ground bleeding heavily, defeated by a guard. The other was seconds away from defeat. Adding in my ability to defend myself from his attacks and his injury, this left him with no option other than retreat.

  A smoke screen exploded at Quillian’s feet, covering him immediately. I slashed my sword through the middle of the cloud hoping to hit something. Nothing. No impact, no resistance. Dammit, he got away.

  I ran back to the guards, both of whom had smoke clouds nearby also. The assassins had lost because I was still alive. But all three still managed to escape.

  “This won’t be the last time assassins come after me” I thought to myself. I picked up Quillian’s sword and offered it to the guards. Neither wanted it. I think they were put off by the black miasma flowing off the blade. I put it into my storage ring. Maybe I could sell it to a weapon’s vendor or magic shop.

  We were very careful on the rest of the trip to Covern House. Luckily it was uneventful. When we got to Covern House, I asked the guards to stay until I sent word to the Earl about our trip’s little adventure. Both agreed and I had Fabia take the letter, since she clandestinely works for the Earl, I thought she have quicker access.

  Fabia returned leading half a dozen guards. The Earl had responded to my letter by providing guards for Covern House. Two guards would travel with me wherever I went. Two would also accompany my household members if they needed to go anywhere. There were also to be two guards at Covern House at all times. They were to stay here for a week. I had a week to figure out my next move, but it looked like I would need private guards.