Reincarnated extra refuses to die

Arc 2. Chapter 1-4

I made a face at the noise, but ignored it to pass Lucas the knife. "Yes, you can. You spent your whole life eating these poor animals without knowing the process of how they arrived at your table, so today you're going to compensate for a life of ignorance. Besides" I added, puffing my chest and taking Lucas' hand to forcefully place the knife in it, "those who don't have the balls to kill don't deserve to eat."

"That... doesn't make any sense..." Lucas complained but took the knife anyway. He walked over to my dad, who guided him to the corral and his respective pig.

There were big buckets under each pig with which to collect the blood for the sausages, but if experience taught me anything, most of it would go to waste. There were plenty of young men who were participating for the first time, and those were usually too scared or too clumsy to aim correctly.

I stood almost at the rear of the crowd, close enough to watch Lucas but far enough blood wouldn't splatter on me in case of incompetence. Someone gave the signal everyone was ready, and only then it started.

The older men killed the pigs with ease and expertise, aiming correctly for the veins and arteries and ending the animals' lives quickly, but, just as I predicted, plenty of the young ones couldn't aim right, their hands trembling, and the other adults had to go over to their rescue.

Luckily, Lucas was not one of them. He managed to cut the veins in his first try, much to his surprise, and I could see from where I was standing how my dad congratulated him.

"Ah, he did it" someone said from behind me. I immediately froze, unprepared for the familiar voice that caressed my ears. "It's me, Elaine. Please don't make a sound and just follow me."

Slowly, I turned around, my eyes finding a person cloaked completely in black. There was a hood over his head, but since I was much shorter, I could see his face.

Mathias.

"You... you..."

He raised an eyebrow, cocking his head to the side. "So, coming or not?"

It was a simple question, but his tone of voice brought forward all the bad memories I had of him ever since the first moment I saw him. Clenching my fists, I quickly looked around, making sure nobody was watching. To my surprise, people acted as if there wasn't a conspicuous figure clad in black standing right in front of me. Shaking my head, I took his hand and guided him to the fringe of forest off to the side, all the time keeping my guard up.

Once safely hidden, kneeling behind some bushes, he pulled down his cloak. "What the hell are you doing here?!" I yelled at him, taking advantage of the cacophony just a few meters from us. "If my parents see you...! No! If my mother sees you, she will kill you! Don't you see what they're doing to the pigs?! You will have the same fate!"

"I guess..." he responded, but by his nonchalant tone, I could see he was not taking my warnings seriously. That angered me. He hasn't changed at all! "You don't need to worry. My cloak has a special type of illusion magic that makes me inconspicuous to other people unless I will them to notice me. They'd see me, but won't pay attention to me or find anything out of place with my presence" when he finished with his explanation, I sighed in relief. I nodded, showing I understood. Once that was done he spoke again. "I need to talk to you... and I thought harvest would be as good a time as any to do it, since it will be difficult getting you alone otherwise..."

"How did you even know today was the harvest festival? Every year the date changes! And besides, what happened to you? Why didn't you contact us at all these past three months?" I asked, taking in his appearance for the first time.

Under the dark cloak, the clothes he was wearing looked expensive. He was dressed completely in black, and everything from his greatcoat to his riding boots seemed both brand new and luxurious. In the left pocket of his coat, I saw a coat of arms with the image of a roaring panther. I couldn't help but raise my eyebrows.

"It's the coat of arms of the Sellan family... look, I truly didn't know today was harvest. I mean, I knew harvest fell sometime around this time, so I was hopeful I could find you here. I was just making my way from Pramak to the duchy and since Tosca was directly in the way..."

"Wait a moment" I raised a hand, blinking and looking at him, astounded. "You mean Pramak, the prison for nobles?"

"Yeah, well... I was there for a time... but that's not the point!" he quickly changed the subject, ignoring my confusion. So he actually went to prison? Was that the reason he didn't contact us all this time? My mind could barely believe it. He went to prison. For only three months and a noble's prison to boot, but a prison nonetheless. "I need to talk to you about something important, and it will take time, so I can't do it here. I'm staying at the only inn in the nearby town. Do you think you can sneak out and go see me there tonight?"

"Sneak out and..." I repeated, dumbfounded. It has been a long time since I last saw Mathias, so I didn't really know how to feel, but now it turns out he wanted to talk to me about something... more likely in the room he was renting for the night. I frowned. "Why can't you come to my house? We can talk in the barn or something."

"I'm not allowed to go out anywhere after seven..."

"You have a curfew?" alright, this was really strange. What was this? Did his uncle think Mathias was going to escape before he could reach the duchy?

"I don't know either. I just know the guards taking me to the duchy don't allow me to go out of my room after seven. They control all my movements."

"Then how did you come here now? And why did you come in the first place? Couldn't you have sent one of the guards to deliver the message?" I asked, truly confused. Mathias shook his head.

"I don't trust any of my uncle's men. And how I managed to come here... I snuck out."

"..."

"They are less strict during the day. They tend to fool around most of the time, so it's easy to leave their sight for a short period of time. It's night when they keep an eye on me the most."

"..." what a thing to be expected from the great men of the Duke of Sellan. Didn't surprise me at all. "And how am I going to enter your room if they watch over you so much?"

"Show them this" then he reached for my hand and placed a small button on it. The button had the coat of arms of the Sellan family engraved in it with quite an amount of detail. "Just say you come with a message from the duke... there are a few children your age working for him as messengers who come and go everywhere alone, I'm sure they won't find it strange."

"..."

Had it all planned out, this little fella.

"I've been here for too long. I need to get going" he said, standing up while covering his head with his cloak. When he did, I remembered something suddenly.

"Wait!" he stopped his movements, looking at me questioningly. "What about Lucas? Can he come too? It's been a long time since the last time you saw each other and..."

And Lucas will be happy to see his older brother again. To know he was fine. I was sure he also wanted to make up with Mathias, or, at the very least, clear the air between them.

Mathias remained pensive, his eyes turning to glance at the patch of grass next to me. Whatever he said, I already decided to tell Lucas and take him with me, but, it would be better if Mathias also wanted to see his brother.

Finally, he nodded, much to my relief. "Just make sure to... cover your faces. Especially Lucas'" he warned, before giving me a nod of farewell and leaving.