The God of Jesters
Chapter 621 - 9.15.4 Malidi’s childhood.

Chapter 621: 9.15.4 Malidi’s childhood.

He was born weird.

"The child is the Herald of great horror, his life will only bring tragedy." Was the decree of the eldest of the Malidi family the day Riktor was born, but none cared about his warnings. By this time, the Malidi family was already in great decline.

The reason? They were mages who had developed their industry on mage artifacts. An art that was mostly in the hands of a chosen few mage families, but with the birth of an institute system where multiple towers came together and freely disseminated knowledge, the hidden art of artifact creation was not so special anymore.

It slowly turned into one of the most common subjects that most transmutation mages dabble in. Which did a number on the Malidi family.

By the time of Riktor’s birth, their family had lost their Tower to none other than the Royal Mages, who decreed the Malidis unfit to manage such an important country’s infrastructure.

Of course, they did obtain some of the shares over the profits, but that was still too little to retain the majority of the family mages, who left for greener pastures. Leaving only the main family of the Malidi’s to remain.

And those that remained, had hatred in their eyes.

"So he is Herald of the Great Horror? Good... then let him be one." These were the words of Riktor’s father on the day of his birth, who soon died in one of the wars where he as an artificer shouldn’t have been dispatched. But this was the Royal family’s decree and for a lower noble like the Malidi’s, they couldn’t deny such an order.

An order that killed the only strong men of the Malidi family, followed by the death of the elders who all died in weird ways one after another.

And then came the time of Riktor’s mother, who seemed to have disappeared from Riktor’s life at the age of eight.

Leaving Riktor only in the hands of his older sister, who took care of him.

A noble family of mages brought down in a matter of a decade, many among the nobles called Riktor an omen, he was the bringer of his family’s end. A belief that was soon transferred among the elites of the children who then bullied Riktor in his school.

But the oddest part was, that nothing did phase Riktor.

No, it would be more appropriate to call, he was not interested in these little games. "Be powerless, unharmed we will be, as long as they consider us a non-threat." Unlike his silent self on the outside, the real Riktor had long understood the end of his family and what he needed to do to remain alive as well.

"Merchants are good; they travel a lot, so you will be safe." At the age of eleven, he helped his sister get married into a small merchant family whose house was actually in the Land of Azad. As he had expected, leaving a few servants to take care of his new brother-in-law, the merchant brought his sister to a whole new continent, fully knowing the predicament this small family was facing.

As for why he did it? A bunch of blueprints and his sister’s beauty were enough to attract that man, who did turn out to be a good husband for her. But that was it, all that remained in the old Malidi household was Riktor, who grew up powerless. Never walking the path of a mage, nor possessing the bloodline of a Knight.

He remained mediocre for the next two decades, and at the age of thirty-five, he published his first report in the mage magazine on the slight changes in simple summoning rituals depending on the time of day, year, and even place.

But barely anyone cared about it, if at all. The research was done by a mage scholar, someone who was not a mage himself but only dabbled with magic through theory and knowledge alone. Someone who was considered the lowest among the Mage society.

Riktor never cared about it, this simple post might not have brought him recognition, but it did bring some influence to reach for higher studies, and look at subjects that were generally out of reach for a mage scholar.

"Fascinating it is... immortality can be easy." At the age of forty-eight, Riktor with the new knowledge he had gained in the past decade, Riktor broke the secret to immortality. Knowledge that not only brought him hope for the future but also meant his doom.

"Dare to touch the forbidden text, you will be hanged in the gallows for this crime." Riktor had touched things he shouldn’t have, he had learned things that he shouldn’t have ever looked. Which many at the time did find bizarre considering that Riktor had been able to maintain his sanity or his physical body without mutating. But it goes to show how dangerous things were.

None of which still seemed to phase him at all, he got hanged with a smiling face. A smile that remained when his body was burned to ashes.

But oddly enough, the next day, Riktor came back, he went to his college as normal and even taught in the school who were still unaware of his incarceration. Leaving many horrified.

"Put him in cuffs, this time..." Which also never worked, after the first day in jail, Malidi would disappear and reappear back to his old habits.

Habits that did scare the inquisition a bit much. Who tried all methods they could, but none succeeded in ending his life. And to prevent mass panic, none of them dared to voice out the Malidi’s truth. Who kept doing the same things as usual.

Never harming anyone, or showing any superhuman strength, the oddest thing about him had remained his bizarre invincibility, where nothing ever fazed him. Not even death.

Of course, this couldn’t go on for too long, by the time a year had gone by, the involved parties just exposed the matter, deeming him a criminal and banning him from the libraries.

Which did seem to work, as Malidi finally left the Rudrain after all his efforts to gain new knowledge had been closed off.

And the year of weirdness for Rudrain had come to a close. The bizarre immortal mortal without any strength of his own finally left their city, giving them a sigh of relief at the end.

As for what Malidi did for the next three centuries of his freedom? That part of history was alien to the Priestess of the Cold Corpses. And the only reason she knew about such details is that when the year of oddity happened in Rudrain three centuries ago, she was a nun in training for the church of Red Sun. And she had heard from her fellow nuns of the bizarre scholar that can defy death. Which was blasphemy in the eyes of the Red Sun, who speaks of life’s eternal cycle.

A cycle within which death plays a core role or takes away the old and brings in the new.

"Such a being is somewhere in this place... was he the demon I had been warned about?’ She wondered, looking around the scenario and her broken totem. "This should be something important, well whatever, it’s too late." She spoke bringing an army of walking corpses in her shadows.

She belonged to the lineage of the Dusk Knights, though unlike the infernal, her power mutated once she entered the grandmaster, which turned her flames cold. And by the time she became a Legendary Knight, she lost all warmth in the death she brought with her, which did affect her standing in the church.

For a servant of the red sun, the death they bring should be warm, for it is the only thing with the power to purify the corrupted souls of the mortals or sinners. While the cold? It only brings torture and misery.

Making it so that the Priestess of Cold Corpses was mostly relegated to some undercover work, or brought here to deal with someone like Farhad.

"Well whatever the case is, as long as I don’t meet those dwarves or the Radiant Knight, I can kill the rest... it ought to prevent any mishap from happening."

Her job was never Farhad’s retrieval, all she needed was to follow him and reach the actual place where her mission would take place.

"It ought to be Malidi, no one else carries such oddities with him." It would be a lie to say that she didn’t look forward to meeting this bizarre figure. As for killing him? The moment she came here and learned of who was stuck inside, she abandoned it all on the side.

Killing Malidi is close to impossible, nor is sealing him. Which leaves only one path on her end. ’He is stuck here right?’ This place, this forbidden zone can be Malidi’s end, if she plays her cards right, even if it means sacrificing her own life, the Priestess of cold corpses was ready to overturn the board and prevent this demon from ever escaping from this place.

As for not harming the dwarves, who were servants of the Ancient Dragon Vesta? Well, it’s not like she is harming them in any way possible, all she is harming is this bizarre place. If the dwarves can’t save themselves from it, it’s on them.

"Be greater, we will keep moving keep devouring, and keep emptying this place." She was a Legendary Knight, the strongest in this place.

And she will be unstoppable.