Spirit Taming

The tallest of the three men looked at Clark. His face was filled with worry as they were sure that this wasn’t the leader of anyone. However, they noticed Crim’s species. A dragon. They didn’t know that Crim was a slime dragon,. But even that would have just made them more stressed out.

It was natural that they would not expect someone as young as Clark to be in charge of anything, let alone a group. That was just the norm for age though. Not many younger people in any city would have the strength or the standing to be able to be in charge of anything at all.

"We are-"

"You are the three unfortunate people that noticed my group as we tried to travel through here. Since you have a chance, you can either deliver a letter for me and potentially get a job from this. Or... you can be dealt with here and now as enemies of the Mane family, of multiple other families from other cities, and of me, the most promising student that Nova Academy has ever had."

Clark felt he was laying it on thick, but he had to act well. This intimidation while Crim released small growls and dragon energy would make all the difference. Especially when he began clearing out the corruption that has taken deep roots in Nova City and multiple other places.

The reaction from all three was to retreat but they knew that they could not. If they even tried, they could sense that they were cornered. Their forest dingos were their beasts. They trusted everything that they warned them about. Right now. They were warning their tamers that other beasts that all smelled different were around them and waiting.

"We don’t have any loyalty to anyone right now. We don’t have jobs so we have to hunt." Clark saw the slight pain flashing on their faces.

Knowing this look that many of those living in the lower class of Nova City, Clark took a mental note. However, the less buff man out of the three didn’t seem to share this. His face winced slightly, but he recovered it the fastest.

"Then tell me, who did you serve and why are you hunting now." Crim slowly stepped forward with added growling. The dragon energy pressed down on them as Clark also used the dragon energy Crim had given him to increase his own intimidating appearance.

Regardless of the pressure, the tall man spoke out quickly. He wasn’t gambling with his life right now. He had placed his sword back in the spatial ring and understood his position.

"My brother and I worked for the crystal auction house. But we did not prepare the right items for VIP guests. When we went to have a second event, we found every merchant that sold to us had turned their backs. Before we could even leave that day, our homes had been seized for illegal trading and our families were gone."

"And that one?" Clark pointed to the man he had seen recover too fast from his earlier comments. The man he felt was the most off. It wasn’t just the man’s reactions though. Clark had a gut feeling that this was just off.

"He was our best man. He was able to better handle the merchants coming in while we worked on the money. Inventory and everything was up to him while we priced things and worked on the upper levels." it was clear that the two brothers were getting much more stressed as these words were spoken. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"So this outside man is somehow still with you but clearly doesn’t need to work as hard. Have anything to say for that?" Clark brandished the black lightning spear. The third member of this three man team flinched and tried to back away while still holding his sword.

"What? Feeling a little less like lying now? Or are you actually loyal to them?" Clark’s pressure just seemed to force the man back again.

"We can vouch for him! He is loyal to us! If you need to kill someone to make a point you can kill m-" the two brothers were both shouting similar things, but the third man didn’t say a word. He just looked on with fear before his face slacked.

"If you two had just done what you were told and handed over the materials at a lower price we would have been fine. Now we are going to get killed over stupid shit! You caused this and I tried to fix it. All we needed to do was find what the lady wanted and we would be able to get a small time position in-"

This man was cut off as Clark stuck out. The forest dingo that had been his tamed beast reflexively tried to attack the one attacking his master. But Crim had leapt forward and killed the beast in tandem, with Clark.

"Now, am I clear that I will not tolerate disloyalty? Would you like to move on and work in a small time position for a family that is ready to kill off anyone and anything that stops their own twisted desires from being fulfilled?"

There was a heavy air around everyone. It was enough to say that they were struggling just to breathe the air in while feeling the force that Clark exerted after killing a man that clearly was too afraid to stand on his own and was working with the very corruption that they all wanted to clean from their homes.

The two men looked horrified, but they also didn’t expect that Clark had so easily sniffed out the weakness from the three of them. The weakness that came from bending a knee to someone that had already trampled on them before. That had taken their livelihood, homes, and families from them. Going back to such people would be the same as saying that they didn’t have pride and were accepting their fate to be weak.

"That might seem drastic, but he was in no way loyal to you and would never be loyal to us." Clark cleaned his spear before he waved behind him. The rest of the group move out and the two brothers were shocked to see that it was a very young group. But they also started to understand. These young tamers were familiar.

"You are all of the students who won the tournament and never came back... it’s said that you are all going against Nova and refuse to come back. But the Mane family says that you are in seclusion training to show off when you come back." this sudden admittance of the rumors running round hit the entire group differently.

Maria knew that heer family would be after her. They kicked her out and now she was worth something. That was insulting. Isa also understood that her family business having yet another success was a threat. Ella was the same. Her research and knowledge was a threat to those who wished to control such knowledge.

The others all had a disgusted look. As if they knew that they would have to fight yet again. Ralph being the most angered by it since he was always fighting such things. Even when he was little and lived on the streets, the high and mighty wouldn’t even glance at him.

"You can relax a little more now. We aren’t going to kill anyone that will work hard and make something of themselves. We prefer people like that. It’s why we are gathering allies to make a change. Nova isn’t a home for anyone right now." Grace had her frost finch fly around them and create a cool breeze to help stop the nervous sweating of the two brothers.

"Yeah, just relax a bit. We will only punch you if you mess up or if you try anything dumb." Ralph wasn’t helping things and earned a slap from Grace which all he could do in return was look away. His grumbling slowly ignored by everyone else.

"For real though, why do we need a letter sent?" Isa was curious since Clark hadn’t mentioned this at all.

"Well, since we were caught sneaking by, we might as well find someone to tell Alexander and the Mane family what’s going on. Clara is definitely handling a lot of what drama and dangers might be trying to get to use before we return to the city and make waves. I figure sending them a message will be better to allow them a hint to what we are up to. Not that anyone by them will figure out what I mean. I trained with Clara and her family for a bit after my house burned down."

The casual way that Clark said this made all of them wonder if he was alright. But it quickly passed as the two brothers began to understand why they might be of value to this group of students had had clearly surpassed what a student’s strength should be.

"So, feel like winning a job and delivering a letter today? I can’t say the Mane family won’t test you, but it’s an opportunity."